Burg, Amos

"Amos Burg lived a life most people only dream about -- explorer, adventurer, writer, filmmaker, even secret agent. Burg, a long-time Juneau resident, died Wednesday, June 11, 1986 at the age of 84, but his exploits -- the stuff of legend- are likely to be permanently etched in history. Burg grew up in Oregon along the Columbia River and early on developed a love for rivers which would take him on treks down most of the major waterways of the West including the Columbia, Snake, Salmon, Mackenzie, Porcupine, Yukon, Colorado and Mississippi. As a youth he worked as a merchant marine along the West Coast, sailed to Hawaii and Australia and eventually around the world, surviving a typhoon and a collision at sea. He began his river expeditions in1920, starting on the Snake and Columbia rivers; He took time out from his adventures to attend the University of Oregon where he studied journalism, science and film making. In 1928, Burg took a canoe down the Yukon River, filming the crossing of a half million caribou in the process. He turned the experience into a film called "Alaska Wilds" and an article for National Geographic Magazine. In 1932, he was back in Alaska filming "Giants of the North" about the brown bears of Admiralty Island. In 1934, in an expedition sponsored by the National Geographic Society,he took a 26-foot wooden sail boat around Cape Horn to study the people living in that stormy region.Two years later he used the same boat to explore the coast of British Columbia and Alaska. In 1938, he took the first inflatable raft down the Colorado River while filming "Conquering the Colorado." In 1939, he descended the middle fork of the Salmon River. In 1940, he traveled to Japan, Hong Kong and Chungking where he survived 21 bombings by Japanese planes. On his return through Japan he was arrested as a spy but released. In 1943, during World War II, he worked as a secret agent for the U.S. in Argentina and Chile. In 1946, he bought the sailboat "Endeavour" and sailed to Alaska where he lived on the vessel for years. From 1947-50, he made a series of 30 films for Encyclopedia Britannica. In 1955, he set up the information and education section of the Alaska Department of Fisheries (later it became the Department of Fish and Game) in Juneau and worked there until his retirement in 1974. He made 15 fish and game films during that time. Mark Kissel, a friend and former co-worker of Burg's, said the most amazing thing about Burg was that despite his incredible exploits, he remained humble. "Everyone who knew him had the greatest respect for him," Kissel said. "He was an amazing guy who had a very full life. What amazed me the most was he had such a fine out-look on life and always remained interested in other people not just himself. He was the closest thing to a saint I've ever seen." By Kirk McAllister, Juneau Empire, Friday, June 13, 1986.

From the description of Amos Burg papers and photographs, 1922-1989. (Alaska State Library). WorldCat record id: 499177354

River-runner and explorer.

From the description of Diary, August 26 to November 3, 1938. (Utah Historical Society). WorldCat record id: 122537708

Amos Burg (1901-1986) was a cinematographer, lecturer, explorer, author and photographer. He was born and raised in Portland. In the late 1920s he learned filmmaking from Jesse Sill, pioneer Oregon filmmaker. For one of Burg’s first independent assignments, in 1928, Sill sent him, with his friend Fred Hill, to Alaska to cover the migration of the caribou. It was the start of a career that lasted more than 50 years. Burg visited every continent, made nearly 50 films, and gave illustrated lectures of his travels to the National Geographic Society and the Explorers Club, among others. He canoed nearly every major river in North America, including the Columbia, Yellowstone, Colorado, Missouri, Mississippi, Yukon, Snake and the Mackenzie and Canoe rivers of Canada. He wrote articles for National Geographic magazine and other publications. He filmed the coronation of King George VI of Great Britain. In Japan in 1940 to make a film about children for Encyclopaedia Britannica Films, he was arrested as a spy, but released immediately. Eventually he settled in Alaska, making films for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, from where he retired in 1974. He died in Alaska in 1986.

From the guide to the Amos Burg Motion Picture Collection, 1928-1979, (Oregon Historical Society Research Library)

Amos Burg, Jr. (1901-1986) was a Portland, Oregon, native who traveled the world as a photographer, film maker, writer, and explorer, venturing down the entirety of most of the major rivers of North America.

He settled in Juneau, Alaska in his middle age but always maintained close ties to Oregon and to his family in the area. He attended several colleges and graduated from the Oregon Institue of Technology in 1937. He worked for The National Geographic Society, Encyclopedia Britannica, and ERPI Films, as a photographer, writer, and film maker on assignment and freelance from 1927-1954. In 1954 he established, and then, managed the Education and Information Office of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, until his retirement in 1974. While working for the Department of Fish and Game he scripted and shot many short films on Alaskan subjects for distribution among the schools for educational purposes.

From the description of Papers, [ca. 1917-1985]. (Oregon Historical Society Research Library). WorldCat record id: 53892306

Amos Burg, Jr. (1901-1986) was a Portland native who traveled the world as a photographer, film maker, writer, and explorer, venturing down the entirety of most of the major rivers of North America. He settled in Juneau, Alaska in his middle age but always maintained close ties to Oregon and his family in the area.

Between the years of 1919-1937 Burg sporadically attended the University of Oregon, Oregon Agricultural College, and eventually attained his degree from Oregon Institute of Technology, 1937. He worked for The National Geographic Society, Encyclopedia Britannica, and ERPI Films, as a photographer, writer, and film maker on assignment and freelance from 1927-1954. In 1954 he established, and then, managed the Education and Information Office of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, until his retirement in 1974. While working for the Department of Fish and Game he scripted and shot many short films on Alaskan subjects for distribution among the schools for educational purposes.

He wrote a large number of articles and columns for newspapers in Juneau, under the name Sourdough Sam. Among other writings he authored a column titled "Campfire reflections" in the magazine Fish tales and game trails published by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. He collected the majority of his writings for The National Geographic into a book that is held by the Oregon Historical Society Research Library.

From the guide to the Amos Burg Papers, ca. 1917-1985, (Oregon Historical Society Research Library)

Amos Burg (1901-1986) was born in Portland, Or., to Amos Burg, Sr., and Minerva Ann James Burg (Annie Laurie Burg). Burg, Sr. (1863-1938), immigrated from Norway in 1877 to Council Bluffs, Iowa, where he worked in the laundry business and married Minerva Ann James in 1889. They and their infant son, Charles, moved to Portland in 1890, and the senior Burg became part owner of the City Laundry. In Portland, the couple had seven more children, including Amos, Jr. The Burgs' longtime family home at 1706 N.E. Dekum Avenue was still standing as of 2004.

Upon graduation from grammar school in June 1917, Burg persuaded his parents to let him go to sea as bell boy on the passenger ship, Rose City, Portland to San Francisco and Los Angeles. At the end of the summer, he returned to Portland to start high school but the call of the sea was so strong that he returned to sea, where during many voyages in the next several years, he continued his education using the Encyclopaedia Britannica . This whetted his appetite for more learning, so between voyages, he completed a college preparatory course at the Oregon Institute of Technology and then enrolled in science, photography, and journalism courses at the University of Oregon (Eugene) and Oregon State College (now Oregon State University, Corvallis) between adventures (1926-1929), although he never earned a degree. He helped to finance his education and adventures by using his sea voyages as an opportunity to earn some money importing Oriental rug, silks, and pearls.

Burg was heralded for making the first complete canoe voyage on the Columbia River from its headwaters in Columbia Lake, B.C., to the Pacific Oct. 20, 1924-Jan. 7, 1925. The newspapers followed his adventure, and this voyage started his lecture career, as he became a sought-after speaker in Portland and elsewhere in western Oregon. By 1930, he was becoming a successsful lecturer on the national circuit with tales of his adventures, illustrated with his own films and slides, accompanied by narration in his self-depracating witty style. Burg followed up his Columbia River triumph in the summer of 1925 with a canoe voyage from the headwaters of the Snake River at Jackson Lake, Wyo., through Hells Canyon, and down the Columbia River to its mouth. At the Cascades of the Columbia (site of the Bonneville Dam in 2004), Fox Movietone and International Newsreel cameramen persuaded Burg to run the cascades in his canoe, which resulted in International newsreel headlines, "Amos Burg first man to attempt passage of swirling Columbia waters in frail craft." Well into the 1930s, Burg continued to make periodic canoe trips on the Columbia, Snake, Yukon and Northwest Territories rivers, culminating in his 1938 trip to film Buzz Holmstrom's re-creation of his 1937 one-man trip down the Green and Colorado rivers. Burg took the first inflatable rubber raft down the Colorado on this trip, and his film, Conquering the Colorado won an Academy Award nomination for short subjects in 1939.

Burg extended his travels around the world aboard the yacht, Camargo, 1931-1932, and followed up in 1933-1934 with a trip in a small boat around Cape Horn. Filmmaking for ERPI and Encyclopaedia Britannica subsequently took him throughout the western United States, Central and South America, Alaska, Europe, and Asia.

In the early 1950s, Burg settled down in Alaska, working forst for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and then establishing himself with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, 1955-1974. He established the department's Information and Education Section and made many films as part of his work. He also made the Alaska Centennial film, Juneau, Alaska's Capital City . He continued to make many river trips well after his retirement. He died in Alaska in 1985, and his ashes have since been scattered on many of the rivers he voyaged.

From the guide to the Amos Burg photographs, 1889-1985, (Oregon Historical Society Research Library)