History of traditional Alaskan roadhouses and roadside lodges
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...
The painting is of McCallum’s or Yost’s Roadhouse, at Mile 203 of the Valdez-Fairbanks Trail. In 1905 a Mrs. McCallum began operating a roadhouse out of a small single-story log cabin on the east...
The painting is of Miller’s Roadhouse at mile 214 of the trail (144 miles from Fairbanks). It was sometimes called McDevitt’s in its early years, but incomplete records from that period mean that who...
The Glenn Highway, which winds along the Matanuska River before climbing over Tahneta Pass to the Copper River Basin, opened in 1943. In the late 1940s the roughly 145-mile section of narrow, gravel-surfaced road...
This painting shows Black Rapids Roadhouse, which was one of the most important and longest-operating roadhouses along the Valdez-Fairbanks Trail. The remains of the roadhouse are still visible at Mile 227.5 of the Richardson...
This painting shows Donnelly’s Roadhouse, which was one of the key roadhouses along the Valdez-Fairbanks Trail. It was located at the junction of the Delta cut-off winter trail and the summer trail (which eventually...
This painting shows Gordon’s Roadhouse, which was about 261 miles from Valdez and 110 miles from Fairbanks). Like Sullivan’s Roadhouse, Gordon’s Roadhouse was located along the Delta Winter Cutoff, a 55-mile stretch of trail...
This painting shows the Sullivan Roadhouse, which was about 278 miles from Valdez (86 miles from Fairbanks). John and Florence Sullivan (veterans of the Klondike, Nome and Fairbanks gold rushes) built a sod-roofed...
This is a painting by Marge Gull depicting Beal’s Cache, at approximately 257 miles on the old Valdez-Fairbanks Trail (about 108 miles from Fairbanks). It was located south of Big Delta near Donnelly Dome....
Richardson Roadhouse in the 1960s Opening and operating a roadhouse in Interior Alaska was always a gamble. A poorly chosen location could hobble a roadhouse’s ability to attract travelers, new routes might bypass a...
