Alaska Nellie was an Alaska legend
Nellie Neal Lawing was born in 1873 and grew up on a Missouri farm. According to her 1940 autobiography, “Alaska Nellie,” since childhood she had an adventuresome spirit, and her mother called her “half...
Category: Alaska roadhouses and highway lodges
History of traditional Alaskan roadhouses and roadside lodges
Marge Gull painting of Paxson’s Roadhouse
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...
Marge Gull painting of Yost’s (McCallum’s) Roadhouse, Mile 203 of Valdez-Fairbanks Trail
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...
Marge Gull Painting of Miller’s Roadhouse, at Mile 214 of Valdez-Fairbanks Trail
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...
Glenn Highway’s King Mountain Lodge was once an essential stop
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...
Marge Gull painting of Black Rapids Roadhouse
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...
Marge Gull painting of Donnelly’s Roadhouse
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...
Marge Gull painting of Gordon’s Roadhouse
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...
Marge Gull painting of Sulivan’s Roadhouse
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...
Marge Gull painting of Beal’s Cache roadhouse
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....
