Richardson Highway – 368-mile road running from Valdez on Prince William Sound to Fairbanks in Interior Alaska. Began as Valdez-Fairbanks Trail in about 1903.
The Kickstarter project to fund a first printing of my new book, Interior Sketches III, More ramblings around Interior Alaska historic sites, is now live and accepting pledges. The book features 70 historic...
The vehicle in the drawing is an automobile built by Robert. E. “Bobby” Sheldon at Skagway in 1905. Bobby was born in Snohomish, Washington, in 1883. In 1897 he and his father landed in...
Bert Bingle was a Presbyterian minister who came to Cordova in 1928 to serve the people along the Copper River and Northwestern Railroad, and then moved to Palmer in 1935 to start a church...
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...
James Casey set up a primitive roadhouse (just a few tents and tarps) along the Delta River, possibly as early as 1901. It was located at what would become Mile 212.5 of the Valdez-Fairbanks...
The portion of the Valdez-Fairbanks Trail crossing the Alaska Range at Isabel Pass was one of the most dangerous sections of the trail. The distance between Paxson’s Roadhouse, on the south side of Isabel...
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...
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...
