Sketches of Alaska

Winter's Wild Iris, Fairbanks, Alaska

2012-02-23T18:08:00.000-09:00

I am slowly turning our frontyard into a native species garden. Years ago I planted several clumps of wild Alaska iris(Iris setosa) and have found the plants to be just a beautiful in the middle ofwinter as in summer. Here are several photos I took today.

Quirky Eielson building at University of Alaska, Fairbanks, has an art deco history all its own

2012-02-18T23:19:00.000-09:00

The University of Alaska (established in 1915 as the AlaskaCollege of Agriculture and School of Mines) sits on a ridge with a commandingview of the Tanana and Chena River flats. People have been using the site sinceprehistoric times to scout for game on the floodplain, and there are severalarcheological sites on campus. The ridge, adjacent to the FairbanksAgricultural Experiment Station, was a natural choice for the university.

The first generation of campus buildings were all wood-frame, and no majorstructures survive from that time period. The second generation of campusbuildings were reinforced-concrete structures. The Eielson Memorial Building(with a modified Art Deco design) and the adjacent Signers’ Hall (originallythe university gymnasium) date from the mid-1930s.

The Eielson Building has a fascinating history to go along with its design. Thebuilding is named after Colonel Carl Ben Eielson, Fairbanks schoolteacher andpioneering aviator. In 1924 Eielson received the first air mail contract inAlaska, delivering mail from Fairbanks to McGrath. He is perhaps better knownfor flying the first airplane across the Arctic Ocean in 1928. Eielson and hismechanic were killed in 1929 when their airplane crashed during a flight torescue the passengers and crew of a three-masted schooner, the Nanuk, trapped by sea-iceoff the coast of Siberia. (The Nanuk survived the winter and was later sold to MGM studios. It was used in "Mutiny on the Bounty," "Treausre Island" and other movies.)

According to university records, sentiment in Alaska quickly turned to establishing a permanent memorial forEielson. A committee representing the fraternal and civic organization inFairbanks decided that a concrete building, the "Colonel CarlBen Eielson Building of Aeronautical Engineering" should be constructed atthe University of Alaska.

The building, as originally designed, would have been an impressive structure:two stories plus daylight basement, 54 feet wide by 84 feet long, with Jacobian(17th Century English) embellishments and octagonal towers at the southwesternand northwestern corners. Construction began in 1934 but the building committeequickly ran into problems raising funds and by 1935 only the first floor hadbeen completed. The designers then modified their plans, simplified the building. When it was completedin 1940 it emerged as an Art Deco-style structure.

It is still an impressive building (the same size as that called for in theoriginal plans), and one of my favorites in the Fairbanks area. The cornertowers were never completed, but if you look closely the first floors of thetowers are visible. The northwestern tower base is partially hidden by SiberianPeas and other shrubs, but the southwestern base (sheltered by a largechoke-cherry tree) is plainly visible from Salcha Street. I'm also captivatedby the decorative metalwork on the fire-escape at the southern end of thebuilding.

Looking at the original architectural drawing, it appears the southwesterntower may have been planned as a stairwell. Now, the tower base is a largecorner nook (housing the manager's small library) in the university's Office of MulticulturalAffairs and Diversity.

All-in-all it’s a quirky building with a quirky history, but I love it.

Sagging snow sculpture outside my door

2012-02-17T00:03:00.000-09:00

It was a beautiful day today--clear and about 25 degrees F. above zero (shirt-sleeve weather). I've been wanting to take photos of the snow on top of our arbor gate, and this was a perfect opportunity. It is amazing how much the snow can destort in this weather.

Fairbanks history--going, going, gone? What's different about these photos?

2012-02-14T00:14:00.000-09:00

I love back yards. They show so much about the true character of the house's residents.

Both of these photos show the back yard of the house at 303 Illinois Street, here is Fairbanks. The house was built in 1930 by the Fairbanks Exploration Company for one of its managers. Sitting in the back yard is a 1940s era Army bus.

I took the photo on the top about 15 years ago. The one on the bottom was taken last week. The more recent photo is missing an important historic structure. Can you spot it? It's the Fairbanks coal bunkers that I posted about recently.

Museum at Central, Alaska shows early dog sled development

2012-02-10T10:06:00.000-09:00

Old freight-type toboggan sled in the Central museum as it would have looked in 1900. Kennels in the background are similar in design to early kennels used around the Interior in locations such as the ranger patrol cabins at Denali.

The Circle District Historical Society Museum in Central,Alaska houses several lovely old dog sleds, including some that would befamiliar to most Alaskans—“basket” sleds with runners. But one different typeof sled, what could be described as a flat-sterned snow-canoe, caught my eye.About 11 feet long and only 18 inches wide, it has an upturned front end like atoboggan, is flat-bottomed, has form-fitted canvas sides, a canvas coveringover its prow, and a backboard with back-sweeping handles. The drawing showsthis freight-style toboggan as it would have looked at the beginning of the1900s.

This is what Canadian fur traders called a “cariole,”developed from the traditional Indian toboggan for the needs of the “voyageurs,”and businesses like the Hudson’s Bay Company. Toboggans, used by Indiansthroughout the boreal forest stretching across the northern regions of NorthAmerica, were ideally suited for winter travel through deep powder snow. Attheir simplest, they were long narrow pieces of birch bark with woodencross-pieces, lashed together with babiche (lacings made from sinew or rawhide),much as Jack London described in “White Fang.” The prow of the toboggan wascurved back (to deflect snow) and lashed into place. Light in weight—these sledsessentially floated on top of the snow, and were narrow so they would fitwithin the track of a man on snowshoes.

As the sleds developed, wooden planks replaced the birchbark. Birch and ash were commonly used—the prows steamed and bent into shape. Earlyfur traders took the basic toboggan and refined the design to meet their needs,adding a backboard and rawhide or canvas sides so the sled could carryadditional cargo, and introducing dogs to pull the sleds. In the more “civilized”areas of Canada a covering was often added to the front half of the cariole sopassengers could ride more comfortably.

The Hudson’s Bay Company carried this sled design acrossCanada and into Alaska, establishing a trading post in 1846 at Fort Yukon. ThroughoutCanada, local inhabitants adapted the cariole design to their own needs.

Thomas Swan, a musher in Two Rivers, Alaska, and localauthority on toboggan-style sleds, says it was here in Alaska that the twobasic types of dogsleds: toboggans and basket sleds, began to influence eachother.

The Russian-American Company had established a trading postat Nulato (on the Lower Yukon River) in 1839. Its employees pushed further up the Yukon River on seasonal tradingtrips, and were well-aware of the British presence at Fort Yukon. The Russiansused Siberian-influenced basket sleds for winter excursions, so it was there onthe middle Yukon that the two sled-building traditions met.

However, it wasn’t until after the popularization of mushingby arctic explorers such as Fridtjof Nansen and Robert Peary (who usedInuit-influenced basket sleds) and the North American gold rushes at the end ofthe 19th century that basket sleds began to overtake toboggan-type sleds inpopularity.

Westerners pushing into Interior Alaska and the Klondikeestablished regular winter trails frequented by freighters and mail carriers.On these packed trails, sleds with runners were faster and could haul more thanflat-bottomed toboggans. Soon people began racing basket sleds.

Toboggans were still superior off established trails and indeep snow, so remained useful. Hudson Stuck (Episcopal Archdeacon for Alaska)mentioned in his book “Ten Thousand Miles with a Dog Sled,” that in the early1900s many Indians still used toboggans. Toboggan-style sleds have seen resurgencein popularity by subsistence users and recreationists since the 1960s, althoughthe cariole design is all but lost.

Old Sled dogs never quit--they just keep pulling for you

2012-02-08T22:21:00.000-09:00

I have heard some people say that huskies were born to pull. I don't know whether that is true for all huskies, but the ones I have known that were trained to the harness certainly bear that out.

We have some friends who skijor, and one summer we took care of their oldest dog, a gentle husky named Panda. Panda was about 12 or 13 years old--with grizzled muzzle, arthritic hips, and failing hearing and eyesight. She wobbled when she walked, looked tired most of the time and spent a lot of time just resting.

Once or twice a day we took her for a walk, and the moment we snapped the lead on to her harness her demeanor changed. A gleam would come to her tired old eyes and she started to pull. She always started a bit hesitantly, but the farther we walked the stronger she pulled. Soon those husky endorphins would kick in and Panda was loping along like a dog half her age. She was usually pooped when the walk was over, but you could tell that she was happy.

Panda is gone now but I still remember her fondly. She was a gallant old lady.

Wind-sculpted Snow--Natural Art/Found Art?

2012-02-07T00:25:00.000-09:00

There is no art in nature. “Natural art” is only an imagefrom nature that we call art, and it is the image—not the object—that is art.

It was a nice sunny day, about +25 degrees Fahrenheit, and Iwas walking along the Chena River. There were these marvelous wind-sculptedsnow formations, but until I looked at them, photographed them and manipulatedthe images, they did not exist as art.

When viewed this way, much of what we call nature art, whether it bephotography, painting, collage or sculpture, is perhaps a form of found art. We find the image and mentally or physically transform it into art.

Fairbanks coal bunkers were the last of their kind in Alaska

2012-02-03T01:24:00.000-09:00

Coal bunkers as they looked in 1994

Fairbanks was never a coal-mining town, but coal did helpFairbanks recover from the lean times of the late 1910s and early 1920s. In1910 about 11,000 people lived in the Fairbanks area (the city had 3,541residents) but after the drift mines were played out, most miners moved on. By1920 the city had shrunk to about 1,100 residents and most mining camps werevirtually deserted.

The opening of the Alaska Agricultural College and Schoolof Mines in 1922 began to revive Fairbanks. However, John Boswell, in his book on thehistory of the Fairbanks Exploration Company (F. E. Co.), shows that thecompany’s gold dredges (which began operating in the late 1920s) were what really returned prosperity to the area. And the F.E.Company’s operations would not have been possible without the completion of theAlaska Railroad in 1923, coupled with the nearby and readily accessible coalmines at Suntrana (present-day Healy area).

Coal provided power for the dredges, but also found a readymarket elsewhere in Fairbanks. Nearby hills had been denuded of trees toprovide timbers for mines, lumber for construction, and cordwood to fireboilers and heat buildings. People readily converted to coal since wood wasbecoming scarce.

In 1932 the Fairbanks coal bunkers (shown in the drawing)were built at 270 Illinois Street by the Healy River Coal Corporation. Of heavy timber-frame construction, thebunkers were 54 feet tall and over 180 feet long. Originally, a long inclined wooden railroadtrestle led up to the bunkers and a locomotive would push loaded coal cars upthe rails to dump their loads inside the top shed. Storage bins were locatedbeneath the top floor and there were 13 chutes on either side of the structurefor dispensing coal.

During the early 1960s the trestle was replaced by a steelconveyor system. With that system, coal was dumped into a pit about 70 feetfrom the bunkers, and the conveyor lifted the coal to the bunkers’ top level. Thereit was transferred to a horizontal conveyor and dropped into storage bins.

Oil gradually replaced coal as the fuel of choice for mostindividuals and businesses, and by the 1990s the bunkers were selling littlecoal. The owners of OK Lumber (their store was beside the bunkers) bought thestructure in 1996, planning to dismantle it to expand their store operation. InDecember of that year the last load of coal was sold.

Hearing of the plans to dismantle the bunkers, the “Friends of the Coal Bunkers” organized in an effort to save the structure. RandyGriffin (one of the group’s organizers) told me that unfortunately, even withthe support of many Fairbanks residents, the group was unable to secure a placeto move the bunkers to, or the funds necessary to save even a small portion ofit. Eventually, most of the timbers were salvaged and used for other constructionprojects. A small section of the bunkers was donated to the owners of GoldDredge No. 8 and now sits on its side at the gold dredge parking lot in Fox. Otherbit and pieces of the bunkers, like the ventilators that used to sit atop theroof, are lying in people’s back yards.

Bunkers also used to be located in Anchorage, Cordova,Nenana and Skagway, but those disappeared years ago. The Fairbanks coal bunkerswere the last of their kind in Alaska.

Fairbanks life--moose in my back yard

2012-01-30T11:30:00.000-09:00

The moose are back. Every year towardsthe end of winter, as the snow piles up in the hills and food sources diminish,many moose move down into the valleys and flatlands. Some migrate into populated areas. Most areno problem but you always have to be cautious. A couple of days ago there wasan advisory out for an aggressive moose near the dorms on the University ofAlaska campus.

We have a large back-yard gardenevery summer, and a corresponding compost pile. Pretty much every year we alsoget moose in our back yard, pawing through the compost pile looking for browse,and chewing on our birch trees. Sometimes they even bed down for the night,

You will notice that there is a fencearound our back yard. This means nothing to a moose! One year there was a moosecalf in our driveway and the mother was in the neighbor’s yard (on the otherside of a 4' fence). I thought I was safe going outside to take photos of thecalf, but before I realized what had happened, the mother moose jumped thefence and I was face to face with her. Time for a hasty retreat—don’t mess witha mother moose!

Out my back door at 40 degrees below zero

2012-01-28T22:42:00.000-09:00

At 1:00 pm today it was -40° (doesn't matter whether I say Fahrenheit or Celsius, they're both the same at 40 below). We had heavy ice fog, and the sun barely cleared the buildings behind my house. Moodily beautiful but frigidly cold!

Attitude, attitude--everything is attitude! Life is good as long as the furnace works. Its not even too bad going outside if you are dressed properly.

Meandering mining camp? Where is Meehan, Alaska?

2012-01-26T23:49:00.000-09:00

The Eagan cabin at Meehan, Alaska—allthat's left of the mining camp

Where, oh, where, oh, where is Meehan? That’s what you might wonder looking at different U.S. Geological Survey maps of Fairbanks Creek. Meehan, active during the early 1900s, was a mining community about 20 miles northeast of Fairbanks. Early maps show it upstream from the confluence of Alder and Fairbanks Creeks, but later maps show it about a mile or so downstream.

In an article in "Alaska Sportsman Magazine" titled “The Silent Creek,” Isabel Eagan Richards (who grew up at Meehan) writes the town was on the north bank of Fairbanks Creek at Discovery claim (the first mining claim staked on a creek). That would place the town where older maps show
it—west of Alder Creek.

Later maps may be in error because Alder Creek moved. The “Dictionary of Alaska Place Names” indicates that Alder Creek’s channel was altered by mining, and its outlet at Fairbanks Creek moved about one-half mile to the west. It may be that some mapmaker, confused by the surveyor’s notes, moved the town to the east rather than move the creek to the west.

The town was established in about 1905, after the Meehan brothers (Matt, Pat and Tom) staked the Discovery claim (and most other claims along Fairbanks Creek.) The town was the center of social life on Fairbanks Creek during the early 1900s and had a post office, several stores and roadhouses, two dance halls, a restaurant, four saloons and a school. In 1907 it had 300 residents, with maybe another thousand living in the surrounding area.

Isabel Richards’ father, Dan Eagan Sr., walked the 380-mile Valdez-Fairbanks Trail in 1908 and ended up working as a bookkeeper for a Meehan merchant. By 1913 Dan was doing well enough that he and his partner, George Griffin, bought the store, renaming it Eagan and Griffin General Merchandise. That same year, Dan brought his childhood sweetheart, Isabelle, to Alaska, married her, and they set up housekeeping on Fairbanks Creek. The Eagans raised seven children there.

Eagan and Griffin General Merchandise sold a little bit of everything and was a social center for the area. (It was also the post office.) At the center of its large main room was a big barrel stove surrounded by chairs.

The store also acted as agent for the two banks in Fairbanks: Washington-Alaska Bank and First National Bank. At the back of the store was a small room with a barred window, a counter with a large gold scale and large safe. It was there that miners brought their gold dust to be weighed and traded for currency. Isabel estimated that her father weighed out over $10 million in gold dust at the store.

By the 1930s mining activities at Meehan had ebbed. In 1937 there were only a handful of residents, and in 1942 the post office closed. The store closed and was torn down, and the Eagan clan moved into Fairbanks, leaving the empty family home to decay.

Today all that remains at Meehan is part of Dan and Isabelle Eagan’s home. Their home, which stood next to the store, originally was a large two-story log and frame house. The main part of the home has collapsed and disappeared, and all that remains is what used to be the family kitchen.

Rock art and cracked pots (or is that crackpots?)

2012-01-24T23:47:00.000-09:00

In one of my meanders around Alaska I picked up a stone. Its not a big stone--only 3 ½” x 1 ½” x ¼”. I wasmainly interested in the patterns the white seams in the stone made.

Imagine my surprise when I turnedit over and found a bas-relief bust of a Norseman! Proof positive that Vikingswere the first to navigate the Northwest Passage! Its obviously a valuableartifact and I'm thinking of calling the Smithsonian--or maybe Ebay. Anybodygot a bid?

To the right is another carving ofa Viking, this one an 11th-century carving in elk horn found in an excavation in Sigtuna, Sweden. It isnow in the National Historical Museum in Stockholm. Obviously the stone figure is a bit worn from rolling around for hundreds of years, but isn't the resemblance uncanny?

Fairbanks Creek--mining camps, churn drills and gold dredges

2012-01-22T16:46:00.000-09:00

Churn drill on Fairbanks Creek

When I visited Fairbanks Creekin the 1990s there were several old churn drills sitting on the dredgetailings, obscured by trees. They had probably been sitting there for 30years. (Look closely at the tree in front of the drill.) These drills, used to obtain ore samples, were essential for successfulgold dredging. Dredges in Fairbanks operated on a slim profit margin — madeeven slimmer since the gold-bearing gravels were covered by varying thicknessesof overburden (silt and frozen “muck”) that had to be stripped away.

In his book about the FairbanksExploration Company (FE Co.), John Boswell (the company's retired manager)wrote that a rule of thumb was than any ground that had been good enough fordrifting (underground mining of placer gold deposits) could be dredgedprofitably. However, that did not mean the dredges could indiscriminately plowup the land. The dredges followed predetermined paths based on drillingresults. Systematic drilling provided data to estimate the amount of overburdento be stripped, the volume of gravel to be dredged, and the amount of gold thatcould be recovered. One of the deepest holes drilled on Fairbanks Creek showed152 feet of overburden and 144 feet of gravel.

Fairbanks Creek, 20 miles northeast of Fairbanks and just east of ClearySummit, was the site for two separate dredging operations. It also had moregold camps than most creeks in the Fairbanks area. Ester and Cleary Creeks eachhad two camps, but Fairbanks Creek boasted three.

The earliest camp was Meehan, which grew near the claims of three brothers:Matt, Pat and Tom Meehan. Communities also sprang up at Alder Creek Camp (onemile to the east) and at Fairbanks Creek Camp (three miles to the southeast).In reality, mines, cabins and businesses were located all along the creek, andin the 1910s there may have been about 1500 people living along the creek.

It may be that the differentcamp names just represent different times periods. According to the FairbanksNorth Star Borough Planning Department, Meeham began around 1905 andmining activity there petered out in the early 1930s. Next came Alder CreekCamp, established in 1939. Finally, Fairbanks Creek Camp came into being in1949.

During the “Meehan period” andabout the time drift mining played out in the late 1910s, activity on the creek was re-invigoratedwhen one of the earliest dredging operations in the Fairbanks area began. TheFairbanks Gold Dredge Company (FGDC), also called the “English Company” sinceit was English-owned, subleased some of the Meehan brothers’ claims. It built asupport camp (add one more camp to the list), moved in a small dredge, and in1919 began dredging.

The FGDC’s first dredge originally operated on the Stewart River above DawsonCity in Canada, but was disassembled and shipped via The Yukon and TananaRivers to Chena, nearthe confluence of the Chena and Tanana Rivers. Then it was transferred to theTanana Valley Railroad and shipped to Gilmore, a few miles northeast of Fox.From there it was freighted overland by wagon and reassembled.

The company also built and operateda second dredge on Fish Creek (the present location of the FortKnox mine). A third dredge was constructed in 1928 to replace the first onewhich had worn out. The FGDC dredges ran until 1931 when the company went intoreceivership.

The FE Company bought the FGDC assets and in 1949 moved its gold dredge No. 2from Goldstream Creek to Fairbanks Creek. The company also built FairbanksCreek Camp to support the dredge operations. Dredge No. 2 operated until 1963,which was the year the FE Company permanently closed down its remainingdredges. The old dredge still sits in its dredge pond at the lower end of thecreek, with the remains of Fairbanks Creek Camp about a mile away.

No Trespassing--Really? Tumbled-down building on Fairbanks creek

2012-01-20T22:44:00.000-09:00

This photo amuses me, but maybe I just have a weird sense ofhumor. The building’s front door was locked (or maybe it was just jammed) and there was a “No Trespassing” signposted. However, the only parts of the building still standing were the door andthe front wall around it.

The whole scene seems like something out of a Bugs Bunnycartoon to me—the big bad wolf just blew the house down, or the bomb-stuffedrubber duck delivered to Elmer Fudd just exploded. Anyway, this photo was takena few years ago at an old mining camp on Fairbanks Creek, northeast of town. By the way, I had permission to be there.

A frosty January stroll

2012-01-19T01:57:00.000-09:00

The Chena River about 1:00 PM on a frosty January day

The really frigid temperatures are waning, so I have beentrying to get out more. The temperature got up to about -25° F today so I walked down to the Chena River, about a ¼ milefrom my house.

There’s a small patch of woods between here and the river—coveredwith white spruce, birch and cottonwood mostly, with alder and willow down bythe river. I took a round-about route and was out about an hour.

I was on the look-out for moose, sincethis is the time of year they move into town. Didn’t see any moose, but there were plenty of other tracks.

I saw lots of snowshoe hare and fox sign. There was one spotwhere it looked like a fox had flushed a hare out from a snow hollow at thebase of spruce tree.

The sun still doesn’t get very high(only 5 ½ hours of sunlight) but the light has a marvelous golden tone to it.As the days get longer and temperatures warm I plan to get out and do somesnowshoeing farther from town.

Found Art - Snowy Fences

2012-01-16T22:17:00.000-09:00

Fences are like trees in some ways. Their character changes with the seasons. These photos are of the fence surrounding the community garden plots near out house. Just for your information, the fence is eight feet tall and topped with barbed wire to keep the moose out.

Fort Egbert at Eagle, Alaska brought order to Alaska-Canada border

2012-01-14T00:06:00.000-09:00

Fort Egbert NCO quarters as it looked in 2000

The non-commissioned officers (NCO) quarters at Fort Egbert, Alaska is one of the few buildings remaining at the former Army post(now managed cooperatively by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the EagleHistorical Society and Museums).

Fort Egbert (adjacent to Eagle, Alaska) was established in responseto the 1897 Klondike Gold Rush in Canada. This was a rough and tumble period. Rumors of disorder, food shortages, andlawlessness, especially on the U.S. side of the border, caused consternationwhen they eventually reached Washington, D.C.

The U.S. War Department investigated in 1898 and decided toestablish a series of forts along the major transportation routes in Alaska andnear mining regions. A fort at Eagle, Alaska (12 miles from the Canadianborder) was the closest to the Klondike.

In July 1899 a contingent of about 100 Army personnel arrivedin Eagle by steamer. According to BLM literature, the troops were sent to “provide law and order, protect commerce,care for impoverished miners, build roads and trails, and develop bettercommunication with the nation.” Thesoldiers hastily began constructing barracks, barns and other facilities beforewinter set in.

The next year Fort Egbert became headquarters forconstruction of the first telegraph line in Alaska. The Washington-Alaska Military Cable and Telegraph System (WAMCATS), built between 1900 and 1904, linkedmilitary posts in Alaska with the rest of the nation.

Maintaining the telegraph lines proved more difficult thananticipated. A 1903 U.S. War Department report lamented that although thetelegraph lines were meant simply to link Alaska’s military posts, almost theentire garrison of several forts (including Fort Egbert) were constantly maintainingthe lines and not available for any other duties.

More dependable and easily maintained wireless telegraphsystems (radio) gradually replaced the land lines. By 1911 infantry troops wereno longer needed to maintain the lines, and the Army withdrew most of its soldiersfrom Fort Egbert. A wireless telegraph station was operated by the Army SignalCorps there until 1925 when the station burned down.

After the Army departed, the Alaska Road Commission (ARC)took over a portion of the site. Some of the buildings were moved orsalvaged—others simply fell apart. But by 1940 only five of the fort’s original45 building remained in decent condition. The remaining buildings included the quartermaster's storehouse. mule barn, granary, water wagon shed, and NCO quarters.

Eagle’s residents have worked diligently to preserve whatis left of Fort Egbert. In the 1970s they secured funding from The NationalTrust for Historic Preservation and the federal government. The funds wereadministered by BLM, and the fort’s buildings were restored between 1975 and1980. In 1975 the Eagle Historic District (including Fort Egbert) was declareda National Historic Landmark.

In 1991 the Eagle Historical Society and Museums, the Cityof Eagle, and the BLM signed a Cooperative Agreement to continue protectingsignificant cultural resources and historic properties within the EagleHistoric District National Historic Landmark.

One of the most recent projects at Fort Egbert wasadditional restoration work (completed in 2008) on the NCO quarters. Theproject included repairing original materials such as doors and floor,replicating and replacing the wallpaper, and stabilizing the building’sfoundation.

There were originally three NCO quarters buildings. Only one remains at the fort, but another was moved to the riverbank in 1915 (after Fort Egbert closed) and used as the Customs Service office and residence. It has also been restored as a period residence and Customs Service museum, and is open to the public.

WAMCATS linked Fairbanks to the rest of the world

2012-01-08T19:04:00.000-09:00

McCarty telegraph station at Big Delta State Historical Park

When I started reading early editions of Fairbanks newspapers certain thingspiqued my interest. For instance, some issues from the 1910s printedannouncements for goods soon arriving from Valdez via the Valdez-FairbanksTrail. How did Fairbanks businesses, isolated in Interior Alaska, know whensomething was coming?

Then I learned that running parallel to parts of the trail were telegraphlines—a segment of the Washington-AlaskaMilitary Cable and Telegraph System (WAMCATS). Cargo lists for stages couldbe telegraphed from Valdez, and travelers had access to the line at telegraphstations about 20-30 miles apart along the trail (often near roadhouses).Indeed, from its earliest days, Fairbanks, though physically isolated, wasconnected to the outside world by telegraph.

The U.S. government, spurred by the Klondike gold rush, had established Armyposts across Alaska at the close of the 1890s, including Fort Davis at Nome,Fort St. Michael near the mouth of the Yukon River, Fort Gibbon at Tanana onthe Middle Yukon, Fort Egbert at Eagle (six miles from Canadian border) andFort Liscum at Valdez. In 1900 the U.S. Army Signal Corps began constructing atelegraph system to link those posts with each other and the contiguous UnitedStates.

Amazingly, the entire system was completed and operating within five years. Alink with the rest of the world was actually established by 1901 when a linewas run from Fort Egbert at Eagle to Dawson City in Canada. (Canadianauthorities had already strung telegraph lines from Dawson City and Whitehorseto British Columbia.) The U.S. however, wanted an “All-American” system, sosubmarine cables were eventually laid from Valdez to Southeast Alaska andSeattle.

The system, as completed in 1904, included 1,439 miles of land lines, a107-mile wireless link across Norton Sound, and 2,079 miles of submarine cable.Congress judiciously planned for civilian as well as military use of the newsystem and by 1906 about 80 percent of all messages sent across the governmentwires were civilian in nature.

A telegraph line to Fairbanks wasn’t included in the original plans. The telegraph linefrom Fort St. Michael would have followed the Yukon River most of the way toEagle, but Felix Pedro’s 1902 gold discovery changed that. The line from St.Michael was diverted at Tanana and quickly extended along the Tanana River(with a slight detour to Fairbanks) to link up with the WAMCATS Eagle-Valdezsection.

The telegraph station at McCarty (now called Big Delta and Rika’s Roadhouse)is shown in the drawing. McCarty Station originally consisted of at least fourlog structures containing the telegraph office, living quarters and warehousespace. Several of those buildings have been restored and are now part of Big Delta StateHistorical Park. The building pictured has been outfitted to reflect thelife of the early telegraph operators.

WAMCATS landlines, because of harsh winters and poor soil conditions,were extremely hard to maintain, and as sections wore out they were replaced byless expensive, more dependable and more easily maintained wireless telegraph(radio) communications. All the telegraph stations that supported land-lineshad closed by 1925 but McCarty received a 50 watt radio in 1926 which was in operationuntil 1935. That same year the WAMCATS buildings were transferred to the Alaska Road Commission (ARC).

With the switch from telegraph to radio, WAMCATS was renamed the AlaskaCommunications System (ACS), still under Army control. ACS wended it way fromArmy to Air Force control and eventually to private ownership. As a privatecorporation it was renamed Alascom and is now part of AT&T. (For a briefhistory of the system after it became ACS click here.)

Summer morning at Nenana Native Cemetery

2012-01-06T12:02:00.000-09:00

Since my last post was about the Salcha Native cemetery, Ithought I’d highlight a trip we made this summer to the native cemetery inNenana. I have spent almost 30 years in Fairbanks, but until last summer I hadnot spent more than an hour or so in Nenana (my bad—especially since Nenana isonly an hour drive south of town!)

Anyway, we spent an entiremorning wandering about the cemetery, which is on the south slope ofToghetthele Hill, across the Tanana River from Nenana. (The old native villageused to be on the same side of the river as the cemetery.)
It is a wonderfully peacefulplace, shaded by aspen, cottonwood and spruce trees. We were there in late Juneand luckily, Spotted Lady’s Slipper flowers (Cypripedium guttatum) profuselycovered much of the hillside. (They only bloom for about two weeks.)Unfortunately none of my flower photos turned out very well. (It was the middleof summer—the mosquitoes wee vicious and I couldn’t stand still long enough totake a decent close-up photo. I’ll be back this summer to get better photos.)

Athabascan Indians have occupied the lands around Nenana for hundreds of years andthere was a seasonal village there before westerners entered the country, soI’m not sure anyone knows how old the cemetery is. It dates to at least 1907, when theEpiscopal Church started a mission there.

Looking at old photos it appears that the cemetery was originally located at the base of Toghotthele Hill. However, whenthe Alaska Railroad built the Mears Memorial Bridge across the Tanana River andran its tracks along the base of Toghotthele Hill in the early 1920s it had torelocate the cemetery. (Here is a link to a historicalphoto in the "Alaska Digital Archive.") .

One of the surprises at the cemetery is a huge concretecross that marks the grave of Annie Cragg Farthing, the first Episcopal missionaryat Nenana. She was in charge of the mission for its first four years. (It appears her grave and memorial cross were also moved up the hill when the railroad was built.)

There is no overarching design to the cemetery. Most of thegraves are in small hollows or on the gentler slopes. Narrow footpaths wind upand down the hillside linking the burial areas. Many of the graves are infamily groupings.

A majority of the graves are surrounded by fences, which isfairly common for native burials in many parts of Alaska. Fenced graves are afrequent feature in Alaska’a Russian Orthodox cemeteries, but fenced gravesalso occur outside areas of Russian influence. I don’t think anyone reallyknows whether this is an example of “cultural diffusion” or reflects an older indigenoustradition.

I was surprised by how large the cemetery was, and we didn’thave time to see everything. We will definitely be returning.

Salcha Native Cemetery--A people and place worth remembering

2011-12-31T13:22:00.002-09:00

Salcha Native Cemetery

A couple of miles northwest of the Salcha River bridge onthe Richardson Highway is a small cemetery perched on the bluff overlookingMunson’s Slough and the Tanana River. Thepicturesque Salcha Native Cemetery, only a short distance from where the nativevillage used to be, is one of the last vestiges of the Salchaket band of TananaAthabaskan Indians. (Salchaket means“the mouth of the Salcha,” but was used to refer to the people and location.)

Tanana Athabaskans were semi-nomadic. Each small band normallyhad a central winter camp with several seasonal hunting and fishing camps, andthey moved cyclically, depending on the season and availability of resources.The region’s primary villages were located near the best fishing and huntingareas, usually on clear water tributaries of the Tanana River or near largerlakes.

The Salcha River, second-largest tributary of the Tanana River, is a salmon spawning streamand the Salchaket main village was located at its confluence with the TananaRiver. It was here in 1898 that A.H. Brooks (with the U.S. Geological Survey)made the first recorded contact with Salcha natives.

Interactionbetween the Salchaket and Westerners was limited before the Klondike (1897) andsubsequent gold rushes, but shortly after 1900 Westerners began moving into thearea. In 1902 the U.S. Army Signal Corp constructeda telegraph station several miles upriver from the native village, and in 1904William F. Munson established Munson’s Roadhouse near the village. The Alaska Road Commission (ARC) completed a winter trail between Valdez and Fairbanks(which passed near the Salcha telegraph station) in 1907 and a summer wagontrail by 1910.

An Episcopalmission at the native village opened in 1909, the same year that a post officewas established. By 1911 it was recorded that 40 natives were living there. The mission closed in 1920, and during the mid1920s the community lost its post office and the telegraph station. By the late1920s the community’s population had dwindled to about 25 people. The area’snative population continued to shrink and by the 1940s only a handful of Indiansremained.

Before theEpiscopal mission’s demise, the native cemetery was established. A 1914Episcopal publication wrote of the cemetery being started after the death ofthe village’s chief Jarvis. Aside from that little is known about thecemetery’s history. There are only seven graves there, most of them old withspruce trees growing up in their midst. Severalhave picket fences around them. The most recent grave dates to 1988, whenBessie Barnabus, one of the last Salchakets familiar with the traditional wayof life was buried there. Her family estimated that she was over 100 when shedied.

The bluff is apeaceful location with a lovely view of the Tanana River. I enjoy watching chickadeesand I drew the cemetery in late winter, after the birch catkins had droppedtheir winter seeds. I hope that BessieBarnabus is at peace with chickadees dancing on her grave.

From outhouse to your house—Happy Holidays!

2011-12-27T21:05:00.000-09:00

Midnight rest stop on the homestead circuit

West Coast Grocery warehouse and a ghost of Christmas past

2011-12-25T09:39:00.000-09:00

West Coast Grocery warehouse as it looked in early winter, 2011

The unpretentiousmetal-sided building at 318 Driveway Street (across from the News-Minerbuilding) looks similar to the NC Company warehouse at the end of Turner Street(a few blocks away, near the river). Since it began life as a warehouse for theWest Coast Grocery, any similarity in design and construction is understandable.

Built in 1936, (about30 years younger than the NC building) the grocery warehouse is elevated abovethe ground on posts, just as the NC warehouse is elevated on pilings. In addition, both buildings are of post and beam construction (also called timber framing) and sheathed with corrugated metal siding and roofing.

West CoastGrocery, which was a wholesaler serving small grocery stores such as Lindy’s inCollege, closed in the mid 1960’s. The building has seen several owners sincethen, but is now owned by Johnson River Enterprises, run by Sonny Lindner (the Yukon Quest and Iditarod musher).

Duringrenovations, much of the interior has been remodeled, but Lindner, who isinterested in historic preservation, decided not to replace the corrugatedmetal siding. Consequently, the building’s exterior still looks similar to theway it did years ago. (You can still see lettering from West Coast Grocery dayson the northeast facade.)

Lindner also facedfoundation problems. Although differential settling had caused rippling of thefloor he decided the best course of action was to just stabilize rather thanreplace the post and pad foundation.

Since the building used to be a grocery warehouse, I thoughtI could talk about a “cold-storage Christmas” and what Christmas dinner used tobe like back in the “good old days.” Imagine my disappointment when a friendand long-time Fairbanks resident, Glenn Gibson, said Christmas dinner duringthe 50s and 60s wasn’t much different from now.

It’s true that in the early 1900s the bulk of Fairbanks freighthad to come via ship (usually an Alaska Steamship Company vessel) to St. Michael’s (on Norton Sound near the mouth of the Yukon River), and by riverboats up the Yukon andTanana rivers. Small amounts also came by ship to Valdez and then overland along the Valdez-Alaska Trail. The only“fresh” foods available during much of the year were those grown and storedlocally. Completion of the Alaska Railroad in 1923 improved this somewhat butfreight still had to come by steamer from Seattle to Seward.

The advent of air travel changed all that. Pan American Airlines (through its Alaska subsidiary, Pacific Alaska Airways) began flightsfrom Juneau to Fairbanks in 1932. The airlines received permission in 1940 tofly directly from Seattle to Alaska, and by the 50s the airline was flying twoor three times a week into Fairbanks. During that time period it used Douglas DC-6s, which (depending on configuration) could carry up to 28,188 pounds offreight, or up to 102 passengers. (These were the same type of aircraft Pan Amused on its first trans-Atlantic tourist class flights, starting in 1952.)

With fresh groceries arriving on regular flights, Fairbanksresidents achieved a rough parity with their cousins in the lower 48 (at leastin availability if not price). Of course, that parity didn’t extend tocommunities not linked to Fairbanks by road or rail.

Found Art - Raven Gravings

2011-12-22T21:49:00.000-09:00

I was out walking today—we hadfresh snow yesterday and it was about 10 degrees above zero (F). Near my houseis a field with an old split rail fence, and raven tracks were scattered aboutthe fence's base.

At one spot near the end of thefence were three sets of impressions of a raven's wings in the snow. They weresort of stacked up (totem pole-like) perpendicular to the fence. (The photo isof the best-defined wing impressions.)

I have no idea what was going on—whetherthe raven was standing on the fence and then jumped off into the snow, or what.I do know that ravens are playful creatures and seem to just enjoy larkingaround. Was the raven simply having fun?

Desjardin-Stroecker Farm--a remnant of early Fairbanks agriculture

2011-12-17T14:45:00.001-09:00

Desjardin-Stroecker farm as it looked in 1995

The Desjardin-Stroecker Farm, located at 2.5 mile onFarmer’s Loop Road, is one of the few remaining signs of Fairbanks, Alaska’sagricultural past (besides Creamer’s Dairy, which is probably the subject of afuture column).

Gold may have been the impetus for bringing Westerners to the Chena Riverdrainage in the early 1900s, but minerswere not the only people attracted to the area. The history of farming inFairbanks is almost as old as that of mining.

Homesteaders also arrived in Fairbanks on the early steamboats and by 1908there were 130 homesteads in the area. By 1920 there were 1,700 acres undercultivation. The federal government was also quick to notice the agriculturalpotential of the area and in 1906 established an Agricultural Experiment Station near where the University of Alaska would eventually be established.

Early gardens and farms provided all the fresh produce for Fairbanks and thesurrounding area. Before construction of the Alaska Railroad (ARR) all freightto Interior Alaska took months via steamer and riverboat. Even after the ARRcompleted a line to Fairbanks in 1923 the term “fresh” was relative.

The earliest farms and truck gardens were developed on the outskirts of thetown: on Garden Island to the north, and to the south of 14th Avenue (presentday Airport Way). As the city grew and land near town became more valuable, thefarms and truck gardens moved to outlying areas such as Yankovich Road, FarmersLoop Road, Fairbanks Creek and Chena Hot Springs Road.

In 1912 local farms grew 300 tons of potatoes and by 1934 that had increased to700 tons. Grain crops were also successfully grown, with 6,000 bushels reapedin 1920. The Interior proved so conducive to grain production that a flour millwas constructed in Fairbanks during the 1920s. Unfortunately, the mill burneddown in the 1930s and was never rebuilt.

Farming became such an integral part of the local economy and culture that theTanana Valley Fair Association (now the Tanana Valley State Fair Association)was formed in 1924. Fairbanks first agricultural fair was held Sept. 11-13,1924 on the playground at the city’s public school.

Most of the early farms are gone, either absorbed by the city or subdivisions,or lying abandoned and overgrown. There are still some old farm buildings outin the hills, but the Desjardin-Stroecker Farm is perhaps the most visible. Itwas developed by the Desjardin family, who moved from Quebec to Fairbanks inthe 1920s and farmed in the area for many years. They raised potatoes, hay,produce and livestock. Some of their fields were leased by Charles Creamerbefore World War II. For many years the fields and buildings have been owned bythe Stroecker family of Fairbanks, which is related to the Creamers.

Included at the site are three structures: a small log cabin, a barn which hasa lower level of logs and an upper frame section, and the lower log courses ofanother structure which looks like it may have been a greenhouse. Although thefarm buildings are no longer occupied the fields behind them are stillcultivated.

Mad Dogs and Moose

2011-12-15T23:21:00.000-09:00

DeliveringNewspapers at 40 degrees below zero (part 3)

Who cares about mad dogs?

When I was delivering newspaperson foot in the middle of the night I had to deal with loose dogs on severaloccasions. Most of them were yappy little mutts who were no threat, but a fewtimes I was fearful of being attacked. I quickly learned to carry a stoutwalking stick, and a bright flashlight to shine in the dog’s eyes.

Curiously, as the temperaturedropped, the loose dogs disappeared. I guess even mad dogs are smart enough tostay in a warm place on a frigid night. I’m not sure it would have matteredwhen the nights got really cold though. I was so bundled up I don’t think a dogwould have been able to bite me.

Moose are another matter though.During late winter, as the snow piles up in the hills, moose move down into thevalleys and flatlands. Some moose move into Fairbanks where the roads areplowed and there is plenty of browse. It’s not uncommon for moose to spend latewinter in our subdivision, and many times they have come into our backyard toraid our compost pile and bed down for the night. (We have a five-foot fencearound our yard, which believe me, is no hindrance to a moose.)

A 1200-pound moose I care about!

Even all bundled up I would be nomatch for a 1200-pound moose. Also, many of the moose who over-winter in townare cows with calves, and coming between a protective mother moose and her calfis a recipe for quick disaster.

Whenever I came across moosetracks while out on my rounds, I would stop to determine which way the moose was heading and whether Ihad to follow it to deliver papers. It was nerve-wracking following moosetracks around the subdivision, especially when I had to walk down narrow woodedalleys. Moose will bed down in protected locations such as under trees or upagainst houses where they are not readily obvious, so walking up to a residencewas sometimes fraught with excitement.

When I did see moose, they wouldnormally take off in the other direction, but sometimes, especially if theywere browsing, they would ignore me. That meant changing my newspaper route soI could avoid the moose. Hopefully, when I came back later the moose would begone. On at least one occasion though, because of a recalcitrant moose, I hadto go home and get my truck to complete my route.

Oh well, I guess encounteringmoose on a frigid night is one way to keep you blood racing and warm (as longas the encounter is not too close that is).

Find memories, welcome and soothing waters at Chena Hot Springs, Alaska

2011-12-11T16:40:00.001-09:00

Historic cabins at Chena Hot Springs in 2009

Most Westerners exploring the Chena River drainage in theearly 1900s had gold fever and were looking to get rich. Robert Swan hadrheumatism and was just looking to ease his aching body.

He and his brother Tom were Fairbanks miners, but they heard about a U.S.Geological Survey party that had been working on the Upper Chena in 1904. Thesurvey crew had seen steam rising from a valley somewhere ahead of them.Although they did not investigate, the workers thought there might be hotsprings in the area.

In the summer of 1905 the two Swan brothers headed up theChena with a boat-load of supplies. Over a month later they discovered hotsprings about 60 miles northeast of Fairbanks on Monument Creek, a tributary of the North Fork of the Chena River.Supposedly they also found an old campfire ring that Felix Pedro had used.

When the Swans returned to Fairbanks, rejuvenated by thehot springs, other sore and weary residents headed there as well. George Wilson arrived at the springs and likedthem so much he homesteaded the site in 1906, developing it as a health spa forInterior residents. By 1911 the spa's facilities consisted of a bathhouse,stable and 12 small log cabins. (The drawing shows the two surviving cabinsfrom that period.)

Fairbanks residents were proud of their little home-grownspa, and in 1912 James Wickersham, who was by then Alaska’s delegate toCongress, asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture to analyze the hot springs’water. The government’s analysis showed the water was very similar to that ofhot springs in Karlsbad, Bohemia (present day Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic).

Perhaps buoyed by this information, local residentspetitioned the territorial government to get a road to the springs constructed.The Alaska Road Commission punched through a winter trail from Fairbanks to thehot springs in 1913. It had originally planned on constructing a regular road,but with short funding a trail was the best that could be accomplished.

Today it takes less than two hours to reach Chena HotSprings from Fairbanks via the paved year-round Chena Hot Springs Road (CHSR), but in theearly 1900s it was at least a four-day journey. To serve the hot-springs-boundtravelers three roadhouses were built: Little Chena Roadhouse (14-mile CHSR),Colorado Creek Roadhouse (near 32-mile CHSR), and Greg’s Roadhouse (48-mileCHSR).

Much has changed over the years. With the construction of theroad to the springs, the old roadhouses (no longer needed) were bypassed and fellinto ruin. Development along the road increased, but fortunately, the State ofAlaska set aside over 250,000 acres along the Upper Chena as the Chena River State Recreation Area. Chena Hot Springs is just outside the park’s northeastboundary.

The water from the springs has been diverted and channelednumerous times, just as the building housing the in-door pool has been rebuiltand modified many times. But the water still bubbles up out of the ground atabout 110 degrees Fahrenheit. (It has to be cooled down before entering theindoor pool.)

All the old buildings except for the two small 10’ x 10’cabins (across the path from the pool building) have disappeared. Other thanthe cabins, the oldest building at the springs is the original portion of the mainlodge and restaurant, constructed in 1939. Numerous other buildings, including lodgingunits, smaller cabins, greenhouses and dog kennels have sprung up, but Chena Hot Springs still retains its rustic charm. And there is really nothing quite likefloating in the large outdoor hot springs pool while the air temperature hoversaround -40°Fahrenheit and the Northern Lights dance overhead.

Remembrance of a Warmer Climb - Eagle Trail State Recreation Area, Fall 2011

2011-12-09T04:13:00.001-09:00

View of the Tok River Valley from trail's end

I should have taken more photos,but it was only going to be a short walk before breakfast—just a 2.5 milestroll to a spot overlooking the Tok River valley, then back to the truck and adrive in to Tok in time for breakfast. Yeah, that’s the way it was supposed tobe.

We had driven down to the MentastaPass area at the end of September for an extended weekend and camped the lastnight at the Eagle Trail State Recreation Area (16 miles south of Tok on the GlennHighway). It’s a lovely campground located next to Clearwater Creek and at the baseof the Mentasta Mountains. Many opportunities for hiking, including a shortnature trail on a portion of the old Slana Cut-off—a road (following the old Valdez-Eagle Trail) constructed by the military during World War II to link the new AlcanHighway with the community of Slana, 60 miles to the south.

The nature trail hike the eveningbefore had been an easy outing and we figured the slightly longer lookout trailwould only be a little tougher. A map atthe trailhead vaguely outlined the trail but didn’t show topography, traillength, or how much rise in elevation to expect.

The lookout trail started about ahalf mile up the nature trail, and in hindsight, perhaps the flight of stairsthat led to the upper trail was a hint (which we didn’t take). After the firstshort steep rise the trail led along the edge of a ridge through spruce andaspen to an opening overlooking the valley. There was a bench there and as wesat down I thought to myself, what a lovely little hike.

Along the trail

But the trail didn’t end thereand we pressed on, up through the spruce forest—along the occasional zigzagsthat didn’t show on the map—the brief 45-degree rises—always up. Itwas a beautiful clear day and a nice trail (with benches to rest on occasionally) but wesoon began wondering how much higher—how much further it was to trail’s end.

Out biggest failing was notbringing along a water bottle. (After all, the hike was only supposed to lastan hour or so.) Fortunately, there were lots of ripe low-bush cranberries alongthe trail, and we ate berries to slake out thirst. (Not a bad before-breakfastappetizer I thought.)

An occasional grouse crossed outpath, and robins and grey jays flitted about, but otherwise we saw no animals.There were occasional moose tracks though, and black bear scat. The bear scat wasn’t fresh enough to be of immediateconcern, so we pressed on.

Betsy at the top

We finally reached the lookout and it was well worth the effort. The rocky outcropping at trail's end was about 1,500feet elevation above the valley floor (our starting point) and provided apanoramic view of the Tok River valley. The rocks were nature-made chairs(some with backrests) and if a person brought along binoculars it would be agreat place to spot game. (Oh well, another item to add to the take-alonglist.)

The trip to the top had takenabout 1 ½ hours—not the anticipated 30 minutes. We had abandoned hope ofgetting to Tok in time for breakfast, but we were hungry, so reluctantly startedback down the trail.

Me at the top

Bear scat at the top of thetrail was fresher than at the bottom, so we talked and made noise on the waydown. My wife. Betsy, does a pretty mean raven imitation, and as we descended shecawed or clucked periodically. To our great surprise AND amusement, at one point her ravenimpersonation raised an alarm throughout the grey jay population. We were suddenlysurrounded by a cacophony of jays, evidently warning each other about theintruder. The only thing I can figure is that ravens and grey jays are competitorsand the thought of a raven in their territory was more than the jays couldstand.

Knowing there was water and foodback at the truck, our pace quickened and the trip down the trail took half thetime of the ascent (making the total round-trip time about 2 ½ hours). Wedidn’t make it to Tok until lunch time (which means we missed the really greatbiscuits and gravy at the White Bear Café), but we do not regret our “little”jaunt up the mountain.

2011 Alaska Historical Society award a pleasant surprise

2011-12-07T01:17:00.001-09:00

I was taken by surprise the other day. A friend called amonth or so ago and asked me why I wasn’t at the recent Alaska Historical Society’s annual meeting held in Valdez, especially since I had won an award. Ireplied that I hadn’t known anything about it. (My job had me working over atthe Canadian border that week.)

Turns out TheFairbanks Daily News-Miner and I won a Contributions to Alaska HistoryAward, presented to an “individual or individuals who have made singular andsignificant recent contributions to Alaska history.” We won for my column, “Sketchesof Alaska,” which I have been producing for the newspaper for over a year now.

My friend accepted the award for me but wouldn’t give methe plaque since there was supposed to be a local award ceremony to recognize all the Fairbanks residents who had won historical societyawards. (There were about five people from Fairbanks, quite a sweep.)

The local ceremony keeps getting pushed back and is now scheduled forJanuary. However, my friend decided that was too long to wait so she gave methe plaque this week. I guess in January I have to give the plaque back so itcan be given to me again.

Valdez-Fairbank Trail, a lifeline for early Interior Alaskans

2011-12-04T21:25:00.001-09:00

Stage operated by Ed S. Orr between Fairbanks and Valdez

The Ed S. Orr Stage Co., also called the Fairbanks-ValdezStage Co., was the most successful of several stage lines that operated alongthe old Valdez-Fairbanks Trail between 1904 and the mid-1910s. One of hisstages (now in the Pioneer Museum at Pioneer Park in Fairbanks) is depicted in the drawingparked in front of a now-gone building on Dunkel Street that was used as agarage by Orr.

This route, an essential lifeline to Fairbanks (especially during the winter),actually began as an offshoot of the Valdez-Eagle Trail (Trans-Alaska MilitaryRoad). That trail was established by the U.S. government in response to theclamor for an all-American route from the ice-free waters of southern Alaska tothe Yukon River and gold-fields of the Klondike. It wound northwest from Valdezover Thompson Pass, north across the Copper River Valley to Gakona, and thencenorthwest across Mentasta Pass and on to Eagle. The trail was begun in 1899 andcompleted by 1901, but by the time it was finished the Klondike Gold Rush wasdying down and gold would soon be discovered in the hills above the ChenaRiver.

Gold seekers heading for Fairbanks began taking the Valdez-Eagle Trail as faras the Gakona River, then crossing Isabelle Pass to the north, and followingthe Delta River north and west into the Tanana River Valley. This route,following old Indian trails, would become the route for winter mail deliverybetween Fairbanks and Valdez, and later for pack trains and wagons.

In 1904 the Valdez Transportation Co. began running pack trains and stages overthe winter trail. That same year the federal government recommended that theWar Department build a system of trails in Alaska and upgrade the Valdez-EagleTrail to a wagon Road. The Alaska Road Commission headed by Capt. Wilds P.Richardson, was created to oversee Alaska’s road and trail system.

The ARC quickly began improving the winter mail route from Fairbanks to Valdez,eventually linking the trail up with the Valdez-Eagle Trail. The improvedwinter trail out of Fairbanks was completed in 1907 and an all-season wagonroad was completed in 1910.

Ed Orr was already an experienced freighter when he began the Fairbanks-ValdezStage in 1906. He had run pack trains up the Chilkoot Trail out of Dyea in1898, and operated a successful stage company out of Dawson City between 1899and 1905. On the Valdez-Fairbanks Trail he ran stages 2-3 times a week out ofboth cities, and each stage took about eight days for a one-way trip. Sincehorses had to be changed every 20-25 miles, and the stages had to overnightevery 40-50 miles, numerous roundhouses along the route were essential.

The Northern Commercial Company bought the stage line from Orr in 1910 and itcontinued to operate until 1914. By then newly formed automobile stage lineshad taken much of the business away from horse-drawn stages. However, the introductionof automobiles to the Valdez-Fairbanks trail is fodder for another column.

If you are interested in more information about the Valdez-Fairbanks Trail check out the book, "The Trail: the Story of the Historic Valdez-Fairbanks Trail" by Ken Marsh.

Winter Sunrise at Birch Hill Cemetery, Fairbanks, Alaska

2011-12-02T00:49:00.001-09:00

Clear and 20 degrees below zero. Life is good.

I hiked up to Birch Hill Cemeterya couple of days ago to watch the sunrise. (Sunrise was at 10:15 am.) Birchhill is a large promontory at the northern edge of the Fairbanks city limits,and the cemetery is on its southern flank. Only a couple of miles from my house,it’s an easy walk.

I used to be a groundskeeper atthe cemetery and it is one of my favorite places—very peaceful up there. Thetemperature was only 20 degrees below zero (Fahrenheit) and I knew I was goingto be active so I dressed lightly (for an Alaskan winter that is—longjohns,wool shirt and trousers, wool socks and Sorel boots, polarfleece vest,insulated coat, insulated mittens, muffler and trapper hat).

Big Dipper on hillside

North Star with fox tracks

The lower, steeper part of thehillside has an ironwork representation of the Big Dipper and North Starplanted on it. In the summer the yellow stars really stand out, but they have amore subtle effect in winter.

Sunrise

I had the hill all to myself. It was too early for the chickadees, and theonly wildlife I saw was a raven flying overhead. There were signs everywherethough. The older sections of the cemetery are riddled with vole burrows and theirtrails crisscrossed the hillside. Of course, vole activity is of great interestto foxes, so fox tracks were also evident.

Raven's Brew tops Starbucks in Fairbanks

2011-11-29T17:34:00.001-09:00

ormaybe it should be "Raven’s Crew topsStarbucks."

Item – Ravens in Fairbanks, after a busy day of dumpsterdiving and food recycling, used to fly home to their roosts, which were usually located in large trees upin the hills. It was common to see large flights of ravens headed for the hillsas the evening light faded. Increasingly, ravens are now forgoing the commute and roosting in Fairbanks, especially around the shopping district on thenorthern edge of town. Wherever there is a sign or protected area you can seethe birds sitting after dark, plumage fluffed up against the cold.

Item – Raven’s Brewis a regional coffee roasting company that started in Ketchikan, Alaska, and nowhas roasting operations in Anchorage, Alaska and Tumwater, Washington. Thecompany makes wonderfully flavored coffee with beans grown and harvested in anecological and sustainable manner, and it also treats its growers and suppliersequitably. On top of that its coffee packages feature the fantastic art ofKetchikan artist, Ray Troll. I drink Raven’s Brew.

Historic roadhouse at Black Rapids, Alaska escapes destruction

2011-11-27T15:35:00.001-09:00

Black Rapids Roadhouse in Fall 2011

Roadhouseswere essential in Alaska during the early historical period. Situated a day’stravel apart (about 25 miles) along main trails they provided shelter and foodfor travelers, and often served as community centers. As trails and roadsimproved or were re-routed, some roadhouses fell into disuse. With theintroduction of automobiles people could travel further in a day, and moreroadhouses were abandoned or converted to other uses.

Thereused to be about 30 roadhouses along the Valdez-Fairbanks Trail (RichardsonHighway). Now only a handful are left. One of those is Black Rapids Roadhouse(shown in the drawing) about 40 miles south of Delta Junction. It is rightacross the highway from the Delta River and Black Rapids glacier.

Theroadhouse opened around 1904, and was added onto Alaska-fashion over the years.It appears the oldest part of the roadhouse (the two-story log section at the south end) began as a single story, and the second floor was added later. Sectionswere gradually added to the north, south and east.

Bythe 1990s it was a rambling structure, and like an ancient English manor house,parts of it had fallen into decay. It finally closed in 1993 and by the end ofthe decade I thought it was destined for destruction. Several of the additionshad collapsed, the roof on the center section was caving in and thetwo-story portion was propped upright with poles.

In1999, Annie and Michael Hopper bought the property, planning to build a lodge (the new Lodge at Black Rapids) on the ridge behind the decaying roadhouse. Convinced the old roadhousecould be saved, the couple undertook restoring the roadhouse as well asbuilding a new lodge. After getting the structure added to the National Registerof Historic Places and obtaining some grant funding, they (assisted by a small group of dedicated volunteers) tore down irreparable portions of the structure, and set about stabilizing theroadhouse’s oldest section.

Aftercarefully raising the structure in sections, they put in concrete footings andnew bottom courses of treated timbers. Salvaged or new logs replaced damagedones and roofing was repaired. Now the building looks about like it did in1915. The Hoppers hope to rebuild additional portions of the roadhouse with salvagedmaterials, finish the restoration, and eventually open it as a museum.

Ofcourse, if the Black Rapids Glacier had its way, there might not be a roadhouseto restore. Back in 1937 the glacier, which now sits far up the valley acrossthe river, surged forward, threatening to overrun the Delta River, RichardsonHighway, and roadhouse. Experts estimated that the glacier traveled 220 feetper day. Between December 3, 1936 and March 7, 1937 it covered about fourmiles.

Themile and a quarter face of the glacier stopped just short of the Delta River. Ifthe glacier had overrun the river, it wouldn’t have been the first time.Geologic evidence points to another surge about 600 years ago that dammed theriver. The Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline runs along the base of the mountains behind the new lodge, and engineers were very concerned about possible threats to the pipeline from the glacier. Fortunately for the old roadhouse, new lodge and pipeline, scientists think arepeat of the galloping glacier is unlikely any time soon.

Found Art - Alaska Minimalist

2011-11-24T23:47:00.001-09:00

This is a photo (actually threestitched together) of 55-gallon barrels stacked behind a welding shop in myneighborhood. To me, the strong verticals of the fenceposts and trees, circles of the barrels, and the diagonal grid of the chain-linkfence evoke the Minimalist Movement of the 1960s and '70s. Minimalism, in which designelements were reduced to basic colors and geometric forms, was a reaction to Abstract Expressionism . I find the photo vaguely reminiscentof some Frank Stella paintings.Then again, the use of everyday objects might make thecomposition Pop Art.

Whatever you call it, I like it.By the way, some might think this scene (stacks of possibly leaky barrels) is an environmentalaccident waiting to happen. However, the other ends of the barrels were cut offand the barrels contained scrap metal and parts—found art AND recycledshelving!

Modern Placer Drift Mining - Chatanika Valley, Alaska

2011-11-23T17:12:00.001-09:00

When its -40° F. above ground, its only +28° F. underground

I had a mining engineer friendwho, knowing I was interested in modern mining as well as mining history, invitedme to see an operating placer drift mine operation in the Chatanika Valley. In placerdrift mines, vertical or diagonal shafts are sunk into alluvial deposits (usuallyto bedrock where the gold accumulates) and horizontal tunnels (the drifts) aredug following the gold deposit.

Mine Entrance

At the mine I visited, the goldwas about 200 feet underground in permanently frozen ground (permafrost). Inthis type of operation, the tunnels are worked only during the winter, toprevent thawing of the ground.

Tunnel slanting down into mine

Heavily insulated doors at theentrance to the tunnel seal it off during the summer. A sloping shaft, large enough to drive down,was dug to the gold-bearing level. The tunnel was then flooded, allowing athick layer of ice to form on the walls, reinforcing them. You can see a pneumatichose on the upper right side of the tunnel.

Mine ventilator

The mine is ventilated. Air inthe mine is continually exhausted to the outside through vertical shafts toprevent heat buildup. Machinery and human bodies can put out enough heat toraise the air temperature a few degrees.

Gallery slowly collapsing

Even when it is -40° F outside,the temperature underground is about +28° F, so a small rise in air temperatureis enough to thaw the frozen gravel. No cribbing or tunnels supports are used, and when the frozen gravels are allowed to thaw, the tunnels will start sagging and eventually collapse.

Pneumatic drill

Horizontal drifts and galleriesare blasted out of the frozen gravel. Pneumatic drills are used, and air pressure is also used to pump blasting powder into the holes. Pneumatically powered equipment (with the air pumping machinery above ground) is used wherever possible

Loading gravel

The loose gold-bearing gravel is scoopedup by small front-end loaders and put in equally small dump trucks to be takento the surface. The loaders and trucks were specially designed for underground work.

Hauling gravel to the surface

The gold-bearing gravel isstockpiled until summer, when liquid water from nearby streams will gushthrough large sluices to separate the dense gold from the lighter gravels.

It wasa fascinating trip and gave me lots of material for future drawings.