Alaskan Roadhouses: Finding Shelter, Food, and Lodging Along Alaska’s Roads and Trails

Now on Kindle, this book presents historic photos of dozens of individual roadhouses, and along with the colorful histories are first-hand accounts of those who stayed at the roadhouses while traveling the early trails and roads of Alaska, including the Reverend Samuel Hall Young, Frank G. Carpenter, Judge James Wickersham, Leonhard Seppala, Col. Walter L. Goodwin, and Matilda Clark Buller, who opened a roadhouse near Nome in 1901, at the height of the Nome Gold Rush.

From Haly’s Roadhouse at Fort Yukon to the Grandview Roadhouse near Seward, and from the Slana Roadhouse south of Tok to the Deering Roadhouse on Kotzebue Sound, these respected establishments made travel in territorial Alaska possible. From the chapter on the Black Rapids Roadhouse:

“The Orr Stage Company was one of the first businesses to carry passengers and freight over the Valdez-Fairbanks Trail. Rapids Roadhouse was described as a crucial stop for the company’s stages. At the roadhouse, southbound travelers changed from four- and six-horse stages to double-ender sleds pulled by single horses to go over Isabel Pass to Paxson. At some time the roadhouse was said to be a Northern Commericial Company (NCC) store. Later, hunters frequently stayed at the roadhouse. It was described in an early travel guide to the highway as ‘the hunter’s paradise….”

The book is divided into three parts. In Part One are the stories of those who traveled the trails and frequented the roadhouses. Part Two features in-depth histories and photographs of two dozen historic roadhouses. Part Three showcases photographs of another thirty roadhouses, including some rarely seen and hard to find. The References section shares many sources for those who wish to continue researching these historic structures.

The Kindle edition of this 2016 book is formatted as a print replica Kindle book, which maintains the rich formatting and layout of the print edition, while offering many of the advantages of standard Kindle books. Features include a pop-out and linked table of contents, page numbers matching the print edition, the ability to zoom in or pan out on a page, and search, copy, and paste features. Visit the Kindle store on Amazon to preview a sample of the book or to order your own copy today for only $5.99 (Kindle MatchBook $2.99)!

CLICK THE LINK ABOVE TO VISIT THE AMAZON KINDLE STORE