The dedication of the Alaska Highway on Nov. 20, 1942, received great publicity. However, stories often paid scant attention to the actual condition of the road when it first began accepting through traffic. The...
The Chilkat Pass corridor, crossing the Coast Mountains in Southeast Alaska, connects Lynn Canal with the Kluane Lake area of the Yukon Territory. The 1977 environmental impact statement for the Shakwak Project, a joint...
Suntrana, near Healy, takes its name from an Athabascan word meaning “burning hills,” denoting the smoke rising from smoldering coal seams nearby. Besides Usibelli Coal Mine, the area is best-known for the old Suntrana...
During and right after World War II there was a rapid influx of people into the Fairbanks area as the U.S. military expanded its presence. With the increased demands on the Alaska Railroad during...
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...
Ladd Field, now Fort Wainwright, began as an Army Air Corps cold weather testing facility. Initial operations began in September 1940 even though the only portion of the field completed by then was the...
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 townsite of Dyea (from the Tlingit word Dayéi, meaning “to pack”) sits at the beginning of the Chilkoot Trail. During 1897/1898 it was a fierce competitor with neighboring Skagway, just five miles away....
Murphy Dome, named by prospectors in the early 1900s, is a 2,930-foot-tall mountain 20 miles northwest of Fairbanks. It is the highest point in the area, and with a summit almost 2,500 feet above...
