Alaska Road Commission, created in 1905, federal agency responsible for roads, trails, and later, airports, in Alaska during much of territorial period
“Old Town” Homer is located on the benchlands of Kachemak Bay’s north shore, southwest of modern Homer’s business district. The Sterling Highway delineates the area’s northern boundary, with Bishop’s Beach to the south, and...
In the past two days our Kickstarter campaign has met and then greatly exceeded our funding goal! Thanks to an article in Thursday’s Fairbanks Daily News-Miner newspaper, our Kickstarter campaign went from about $850...
Petersville Road began as short cut to Peters Creek and Cache Creek mining areas The 1929 Ford Model AA dump truck shown in the drawing sits in front of the Trapper Creek Museum, at...
The Kickstarter campaign to fund the printing of my new book, Interior Sketches III, More ramblings around Interior Alaska historic sites,” just reached 50% funding after only one week. The campaign runs for another three...
Mines in the Wrangell Mountains, 65 miles east of Chitina and only a few miles south of McCarthy, were world-class copper producers during the early 1900s. However, by the 1930s the copper reserves were...
This is a painting of the first Paxson’s Roadhouse, 172 miles from Fairbanks (188 miles from Valdez). In the winter of 1905-06, Alvin Paxson operated a tent-based roadhouse near Isabel Pass, along the section...
Buses have ferried Denali National Park and Preserve (originally Mt. McKinley National Park) visitors into the park for more than 80 years. The Fageol Safety Bus shown in the drawing (the most modern bus...
The first headquarters site for Mount McKinley National Park (now Denali National Park and Preserve) was on low-lying ground near the confluence of Riley and Hines creeks. This site was subject to flooding and...
McCallum Creek is a tributary of Phelan Creek, which in turn flows into the Delta River. (Several early guidebooks confused Phelan Creek with the Delta River.) Located about 160 miles southeast of Fairbanks along...
Jay Livengood and Teddy Hudson discovered gold in the headwaters of the Tolovana River in 1914, leading to a minor gold rush in 1915. The resulting camp (eventually named Livengood) was remote, even though...
