Northern Light Media

Road Trippin’ Roadhouses

Posted on May 7, 2015 by Helen Hegener

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been watching with interest as reporters from KTUU Channel 2 in Anchorage have been visiting old roadhouses around the state for their program Road Trippin’ Alaska. They’ve already visited several of the classic roadhouses I’d earmarked for inclusion in my upcoming book about the roadhouses, such as the Talkeetna Roadhouse, the Chatanika Roadhouse, the Black Rapids Roadhouse, and the Gakona Roadhouse. These great roadhouses have also been featured by artist and author Ray Bonnell in Alaska Sketchbook and his column for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.

The short video visits are fun and informative, and many of the roadhouses have been filmed more than once. For example, at the Talkeetna Roadhouse there’s an overview of the history of Talkeetna and the roadhouse, and in other videos the reporters join roadhouse owner Trisha Costello to learn pie-making, visit the local radio station and check out the recycling center.

An Instagram feed and additional photos showcase more history and details about the roadhouses, and there’s a Road Trippin’ ‘I Spy‘ game to play in conjunction with the program. Check out KTUU’s Morning Edition for the next roadhouse on their statewide tour!

Posted in Roadhouses | Tagged 1973 Iditarod, Black Rapids Roadhouse, Chatanika Roadhouse, Gakona Roadhouse, Ray Bonnell, Roadhouses, Sketches of Alaska, Talkeetna Roadhouse, Trisha Costello | Leave a comment

S. Hall Young, Mushing Parson

Posted on May 3, 2015 by Helen Hegener

“In the summer of 1879 I was stationed at Fort Wrangell in southeastern Alaska, whence I had come the year before, a green young student fresh from college and seminary–very green and very fresh–to do what I could towards establishing the white man’s civilization among the Thlinget Indians. I had very many things to learn and many more to unlearn.” These are the opening words of Reverend Samuel Hall Young’s classic 1915 book, Alaska Days with John Muir (Fleming H. Revell Co., New York 1915). Young paints a vivid picture of the iconic naturalist, arriving on a steamboat with a group of people Young had come down to the dock to meet: “Standing a little apart from them as the steamboat drew to the dock, his peering blue eyes already eagerly scanning the islands and mountains, was a lean, sinewy man of forty, with waving, reddish-brown hair and beard, and shoulders slightly stooped. He wore a Scotch cap and a long, gray tweed ulster, which I have always since associated with him, and which seemed the same garment, unsoiled and unchanged, that he wore later on his northern trips. He was introduced as Professor Muir, the Naturalist.”

S. Hall Young, circa 1879

Reverend Young and Mr. Muir were destined to become great friends, and Young details their first mountain-climbing jaunt with great relish: “I had been with mountain climbers before, but never one like him. A deer-lope over the smoother slopes, a sure instinct for the easiest way into a rocky fortress, an instant and unerring attack, a serpent-glide up the steep; eye, hand and foot all connected dynamically; with no appearance of weight to his body—as though he had Stockton’s negative gravity machine strapped on his back.” The book is online to read or download free. The first two chapters are a breathless recitation of the thrilling climb across a glacier and up a sheer mountainside to see the sunset from the peak, and when near-tragedy befalls Reverend Young the story relates Muir’s almost unbelievably heroic rescue of his friend.

Reverend Young, the first missionary in Alaska, recounts a six-week voyage through southeastern waters he undertook in a great cedar canoe with Muir and a half-dozen Thlinget Indians as scouts and crew. Visiting villages along the route, Young noted: “I took the census of each village, getting the heads of the families to count their relatives with the aid of beans,—the large brown beans representing men, the large white ones, women, and the small Boston beans, children. In this manner the first census of southeastern Alaska was taken.”

John Muir circa 1875

One night John Muir stumbled into their Glacier Bay camp with two Indians who’d guided the great explorer off the glacier which would bear his name. Muir had been long overdue when Reverend Young sent them to build a beacon fire, which Muir admitted turned his back in the right direction, but then he excitedly added, “Man, man; you ought to have been with me. You’ll never make up what you have lost to-day. I’ve been wandering through a thousand rooms of God’s crystal temple. I’ve been a thousand feet down in the crevasses, with matchless domes and sculptured figures and carved ice-work all about me. Solomon’s marble and ivory palaces were nothing to it. Such purity, such color, such delicate beauty! I was tempted to stay there and feast my soul, and softly freeze, until I would become part of the glacier. What a great death that would be!”

Glacier, Stickeen Valley

At the end of the voyage Reverend Young wrote, “I have made many voyages in that great Alexandrian Archipelago since, traveling by canoe over fifteen thousand miles—not one of them a dull one—through its intricate passages; but none compared, in the number and intensity of its thrills, in the variety and excitement of its incidents and in its lasting impressions of beauty and grandeur, with this first voyage when we groped our way northward with only Vancouver’s old chart as our guide.”

Stickeen

The following spring John Muir returned from his home in the sunny south, determined to visit the glaciers they had not seen on their trip the previous fall, and they once more set out in a cedar canoe with Native guides. Reverend Young wrote: “When we were about to embark I suddenly thought of my little dog Stickeen and made the resolve to take him along. My wife and Muir both protested and I almost yielded to their persuasion. I shudder now to think what the world would have lost had their arguments prevailed! That little, long-haired, brisk, beautiful, but very independent dog, in co-ordination with Muir’s genius, was to give to the world one of its greatest dog-classics.”

Stickeen: John Muir and the Brave Little Dog, by John Muir, as retold by Donnell Rubay. Scholastic Inc., 1998, 30 pages. Illustrated in color by Christopher Canyon.

The book which Muir would later write was, of course, the classic Stickeen: The Story of a Dog (Riverside Press,Cambridge, MA 1909), which relates one of John Muir’s most harrowing adventures, accompanied only by his friend’s small dog. Unable to convince the adventure-loving dog to remain behind, Muir set out to explore the face of a great glacier, and reached a dangerous crevasse blocking his way, with only a thin ice-bridge as a crossing and unimaginable black depths below it. He wrote of little Stickeen, showing something of his own nature in telling the story: “Never before had the daring midget seemed to know that ice was slippery or that there was any such thing as danger anywhere. His looks and tones of voice when he began to complain and speak his fears were so human that I unconsciously talked to him as I would to a frightened boy, and in trying to calm his fears perhaps in some measure moderated my own. ‘Hush your fears, my boy,’ I said, ‘we will get across safe, although it is not going to be easy. No right way is easy in this rough world. We must risk our lives to save them. At the worst we can only slip, and then how grand a grave we will have, and by and by our nice bones will do good in the terminal moraine.'”

“The Mushing Parson” frontispiece of his autobiography, Hall Young of Alaska, An Autobiography

Reverend Young and John Muir remained lifelong friends. During the 10 years he lived and worked in Wrangell with his family, Rev. Young established several southeastern missions and became a man of some standing. In 1897 he was strongly considered for appointment as governor of the territory of Alaska by President McKinley. Instead he traveled over Chilkoot Pass and down the Yukon River at the height of the Klondike gold rush, and established the first Presbyterian church in Dawson City in 1898. Traveling down the Yukon River over the next three years, he organized missions at Eagle, Rampart, Nome, and Teller. In 1901 he was appointed superintendent of all Alaska Presbyterian missions. He lived at Skagway in 1902-1903, at Council in 1903-1904, at Fairbanks from 1904-06 and again 1907-08, at Teller in 1907, at Cordova in 1908-10, and Iditarod in 1911-12. During those years he gained a ‘Doctor of Divinity’ designation and became known as “the mushing parson” because of his many long journeys by dogteam.

In 1913 Dr. Young wrote an article for the church publication The Continent in which he shared his story of a journey via dogteam from Iditarod to Seward over the Iditarod Trail, and then by steamer to Cordova, for an important General Assembly of the church. He was accompanied by a young Scotchman and experienced dog musher named Breeze, and his colorful first-hand descriptions of the trail are a delight to read, the few photographs accompanying the article are to treasure. “The journey is to lead across three high ranges of mountains and two great valleys, the Kuskokwim and the Susitna. The trail has been but recently laid out by the government and is little used, but there are roadhouses here and there at irregular intervals and we will take enough provisions with us for emergencies. As to its being at all a formidable undertaking, why, the prospectors, miners and hunters of Alaska take far harder and longer trips constantly and break the trail for their dogs the whole way in unexplored territory. I anticipate the pleasure of that trip across new country with keen delight.”

Reverend Young ready for the winter trail.

Dr. Young ready for the winter trail.

Dr. Young regaled his readers with wonderful descriptions of the trail. Upon arriving at Knik he hopes to board a boat and cross the wide Cook’s Inlet to Sunrise, on the northern end of the Kenai Peninsula, but the boat doesn’t come before Rev. Young determines that he must continue in order to arrive in time for the meeting. “The worst mountain pass of all is before us–Crow Creek Pass over the high Alaska range. Fearsome tales are told me of this pass, but there is nothing to do but to try it. Breeze leaves me here and I hire a young prospector, Fred Taulman, to take me to Seward. Were it not for my lame back I would go alone, but they all say that the pass is too dangerous to be traveled singly even by a strong and vigorous person. So on March 21 we hitched up our eager dogs, whose three days rest has put them in high spirits, and hit the trail again around the head of Knik Arm.

Old Knik Roadhouse circa 1914

“Over dangerous ice, sometimes through the salt water that covers it, with now and then a stretch of good trail, we come to Old Knik. It is only a seventeen mile stretch, but my back is so bad that when I arrive at the roadhouse I am in convulsions of pain. A hot drink and hot applications soothe me, but there is little sleep for me that night.

Summit of Crow Creek Pass

“Now hard climbing up a steep road to the base of the pass at Raven Creek roadhouse. A storm is blowing. The snow banners on the mountains that overlook the pass and the fast falling snow make it impossible for us to go on, so we spend a day at this fine roadhouse, kept by three men who are hunters, prospectors and hotel keepers as occasion requires. The second day they hitch up four big dogs as big as Shetland ponies to supplement our smaller ones, and a sturdy mountaineer with ‘creepers’ on his feet comes to pilot us over the summit. From daylight until noon we struggle before reaching the summit, making only five miles in six hours. The descent from the summit is almost sheer for 2,000 feet.”

The Mushing Parson and his team

The good reverend had many such adventures over the years, and he shared them in numerous articles and books, including his landmark autobiography, Hall Young of Alaska, “The Mushing Parson.” In 1991 a reference librarian at the public library in Anchorage tracked down a lengthy letter from John Muir to his friend S. Hall Young, dated March 31, 1910, in which the respected naturalist shared his opinion of the title of the book: “I feel pretty sure that you should change the name of the book which you say you will call the ‘Mushing Parson.’ ‘Mushing’ is slang, even in Alaska, and parsons should be better described no matter how they travel. I am sure that it would be a very bad title. Nothing of that catchy character should ever be attached to a sound hard work of real literature.”

The librarian, Bruce Merrell, noted, “S. Hall Young bristled at Muir’s suggestion that he abandon the term ‘mushing person.’ ‘…I have consulted my most literary Alaska friends and some in the East,’ he wrote Muir in his next letter, ‘and all are taken with the title…In fact, there is no other word used up here to express the same idea.'”

Dr. S. Hall Young, 1914

The remaining years of Rev. Young’s life were detailed in a biography by Alaskan historian Robert DeArmond: “From 1913 until 1921, Young held the title Special Representative of the Presbyterian National Board of Missions, with headquarters in New York, and during that time he made many trips back to Alaska. His wife, Fannie Kellogg Young died in 1915. He was named general missionary for Alaska in 1922 and superintendent of Alaska missions in 1924, with headquarters in Seattle. In the summer of 1927, as he approached his 80th birthday, he escorted three different groups of Presbyterians to Alaska; then went east to attend a reunion. He was riding in a friend’s car when it had a flat tire. When Young stepped out, he was struck by an inter-urban trolley. He died in the Clarksburg, West Virginia, Hospital September 2, 1927, and was buried beside Mrs. Young at Syracuse, New York. His books include The Klondike Clan, Adventures in Alaska, and an autobiography, Hall Young of Alaska, published shortly after his death. It dwells particularly upon his first decade in Alaska and his work with the Natives. Mount Young in the Chilkat Range, Young Island in Glacier Bay, and Young Rock, which he discovered near Wrangell, were all named for S. Hall Young.”

For more information:

• S. Hall Young: The Sierra Club John Muir Exhibit

• An Alaskan “Mush” to Presbytery

• A Letter from John Muir to S. Hall Young, May 31, 1910

• Hall Young of Alaska, An Autobiography

• Alaska Days with John Muir

• S. Hall Young at Wikipedia

Posted in Alaska History | Tagged Alaska, Alaska Days with John Muir, Chilkoot Pass, Crow Creek Pass, Dr. Young, Fort Wrangell, Glacier Bay, Helen Hegener, Iditarod Trail, John Muir, Klondike, Knik, mushing, mushing history, Northern Light Media, Old Knik, Reverend Young, S. Hall Young, Samuel Hall Young, Seward, Stickeen, The Mushing Parson, Yukon River | 3 Comments

Alaskan Roads and Trails History

Posted on April 30, 2015 by Helen Hegener

Alaska’s history can be defined in large part by the network of trails and roads which criss-cross the state, threading through the seemingly endless forests and across the wide tundra lands; winding over great mountain ranges and bridging tumultuous rivers. From the Valdez-to-Eagle Trail to the Iditarod Trail to the trails which became the Glenn Highway, the Seward Highway and others, there have always been pathways through the wilderness, whether made by animals on the move, natives seeking better hunting and fishing, or pioneers prospecting for gold.

The roads and trails, some long abandoned and others still in use, have played a large role in Alaska’s history, providing not only access and a means for the delivery of freight, mail and passengers, but also providing jobs for untold thousands of men and women. Surveying, mapping, building and maintaining the roads and trails of our state have given many a reason for being here, and for many others a reason to stay.

Alaska Highway

The 352-mile Richardson Highway, which links the coastal town of Valdez with the Interior towns of Delta Junction and Fairbanks, began as the aptly-named Valdez-Fairbanks Trail, and before that much of it was the Valdez-Eagle Trail, one of the first inroads to the Klondike gold fields in Canada, built by the U.S. Army in 1898.

The southernmost part of the Glenn Highway, which runs 328 miles from Anchorage to Tok, near the Canadian border, was originally part of the Iditarod Trail, which linked the seacoast town of Seward, on the Kenai Peninsula, with the seacoast town of Nome, on the Seward Peninsula (still with me?). The longest stretch of freeway in Alaska, and the only road access to Anchorage for most of the state, runs primarily along the Glenn Highway, beginning in north Anchorage, continuing onto the Parks Highway just south of Palmer, and ending in Wasilla, for a total of approximately 38 miles.

Crossing Thompson Pass on the Valdez-Fairbanks Road

This history of the roads and trails of Alaska is a fascinating study, full of colorful characters and epic events. Follow a few links and spend some time learning more about the roads and highways we all use, and those who built and used them before us. It’s an important part of our history – and our future.

For more information:

• A list of Alaska Routes

• The Milepost

• The History of Alaska’s Roads

• The Evolution of the Richardson Highway

• Iditarod National Historic Trail

• Alaska State Parks Trail Maps and Guides

• Alaska Road Commission

Posted in Alaska History | Tagged Alaska Highway, Alaska Road Commission, Anchorage, Fairbanks, Glenn Highway, Iditarod National Historic Trail, Iditarod Trail, Nome, Richardson Highway, roads, routes, trails, U.S. Army, Valdez | 1 Comment

The Matanuska Colony Barns

Posted on April 25, 2015 by Helen Hegener

In 1935 the U.S. Government transported 200 families from the Great Depression-stricken midwest to a valley of unparalleled beauty in Alaska, where they were given the chance to begin new lives as part of a federally-funded social experiment, the Matanuska Colony Project. As part of each family’s farmstead, a magnificent barn was raised, a sturdy square structure 32′ by 32′ and soaring 32′ high. Today these Colony barns are an iconic reminder of what has been called the last great pioneering adventure in America.

The history of the Colony barns is told in this book, beginning with an introduction to many of the barns built by the earliest pioneering farmers in Alaska, then sharing an overview of the 1935 Matanuska Colony Project (detailed in the book of the same title), with dozens of black-and-white and color photos. The details of construction are highlighted, with prices for everything from the hinges on the doors to the cupolas on the roofs. And then the barns are introduced one-by-one, those still in use today, those falling into disrepair, and those which have been lovingly restored for future generations to admire. There are half-barns, double barns, many moved across the valley barns, and the unusually magnificent arch-roofed barns, of which four were built and only two remain.

From the back cover: “Anyone who travels through the eastern part of Alaska’s dramatically beautiful Matanuska Valley soon finds a Colony barn enhancing the landscape. These striking Valley landmarks are the enduring legacy of an all-but-forgotten chapter in American history, when the U.S. government took a direct hand in the lives of thousands of its citizens, offering Depression-distraught farm families an opportunity to begin again in a far-off land with government financing and support. Central to every Colony farm was the barn, a core structure integral to the operation of these family farms.”

• The Matanuska Colony Barns: The Enduring Legacy of the 1935 Matanuska Colony Project, by Helen Hegener, photographs by Eric Vercammen, Stewart Amgwert, Albert Marquez, Dave Rose, Joanie Juster, Ron Day and others. Foreword by Barbara Hecker. Introduction by James H. Fox. 140 pages, full color. ISBN 978-0-9843977-4-7. Includes Colonist families listing, maps, bibliography, resources, index. List price $29.00.

Order from the publisher or from your local bookstore via IndieBound. Also available at Amazon. To order via check or money order, mail to Northern Light Media, Post Office Box 298023, Wasilla, Alaska 99629. To order from the author via credit card or Paypal, CLICK HERE and send payment to helenhegener@gmail.com

Posted in Alaska History, Books | Tagged Alaska, Albert Marquez, Barbara Hecker, barn, barns, Breeden, Colony farm, Colony Project, Dave Rose, Eric Vercammen, Great Depression, Havemeister, Hegener, Jim Fox, Joanie Juster, Matanuska Valley, MATI, Northern Light Media, Palmer, Ron Day, Stewart Amgwert, The Matanuska Colony Barns | Leave a comment

Iditarod National Historic Trail

Posted on April 17, 2015 by Helen Hegener

The 2015 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is over, but the Iditarod Trail is much more than just a sled dog racetrack. This network of over 2,300-miles of winter trails, which first connected ancient Native Alaskan villages, opened the territory for the last great American gold rush, and it now plays a vital role for travel and recreation in modern-day Alaska. Multiple groups use the historic trail every year, from the super-fast Iron Dog snowmachiners to long-distance trekkers and modern-day explorers seeking adventure in the Alaskan backcountry.

Portions of the Iditarod National Historic Trail from Seward to Nome are open to the public, and while the northern stretches of trail are generally impassable in the summer, you can explore the Historic Trail year-round on foot, by auto, or by rail between Seward and Knik, especially in the Chugach National Forest on the Kenai Peninsula, and Chugach State Park right outside of Anchorage.

Iditarod waterfront, 1911

National Historic Trails commemorate major routes of exploration, migration, trade, communications, and military actions that formed America, and only 16 trails in the U.S. have been honored as National Historic Trails. The Iditarod is the only Alaskan trail in the National system, and the only Historic Trail celebrating the indispensable role played by man’s best friend in America’s Last Great Gold Rush. Without the dependable sled dog hauling freight, passengers, mail and more, the history of Alaska and the north country would have been quite different.

One of the many resources available free from the BLM Alaska site for the Iditarod National Historic Trail is a downloadable PDF of the beautiful and informative full-color, 24-page Visitor Guide by Alaska Geographic, which details the route, the history, and the current projects along the trail. Of special note are the numerous easily accessible sites of interest along the present-day trail, especially between Seward and the Mat-Su area, and the wonderful old historic photos with their interesting descriptions.

Several other free guides are also available, including Chugach National Forest, Denali National Park, and the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. Alaska Geographic’s visitor guides include detailed maps, trip planning information, wildlife viewing opportunities, and much more. Developed in coordination with agency partners, these guides offer up-to-date information to enhance your visits to these popular destinations in Alaska.

For more information:

• Iditarod National Historic Trail

• Frequently Asked Questions

• Iditarod Trail at Wikipedia

• Alaska State Trails Program – Iditarod Trail

Posted in Alaska History | Tagged Iditarod, Iditarod National Historic Trail, Iditarod Trail, Knik, National Historic Trail, Nome, Seward | Leave a comment

Along Alaskan Trails

Posted on April 14, 2015 by Helen Hegener

Along Alaskan Trails, Adventures in Sled Dog History, by Helen Hegener, is a collection of true stories about Alaskan sled dogs and the role they played in the development of the north, with dozens of historic photos from the archives of the Alaska State Library, the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and other sources.

The history of Alaska was in large part written behind a team of sled dogs. Or, more accurately, thousands of teams of sled dogs. Man’s dependence on these canine workhorses of the north can be seen in photo after photo: A dog team carrying passengers on the Richardson Trail, a dog team hauling freight across the Iditarod Trail, two dog teams loaded with the U.S. Mail and bound for Anchorage from Seward, a dog team on patrol from Fort Gibbon near Eagle, a dog team making its way along the frozen Yukon River to the next missionary stopover…

U.S. Mail team on the Yukon River. Photo: University of Alaska Fairbanks, John Zug Collection UAF 1980-68-252

Among the tales shared in this book is the story of an intrepid Japanese musher who blazed a wide swath across Alaska, an Archdeacon who wrote the classic Ten Thousand Miles with a Dogsled, legendary mushers such as Scotty Allan and Leonhard Seppala, Arctic explorers like Ernest de Koven Leffingwell, and intrepid adventurers like Slim Williams and Mary Joyce.

And the dogs! From Baldy to Balto, Togo to Wolf, Chinook to Rembrandt, these are the dogs who blazed across Alaskan trails and into the history books. From the fiercely-argued conflict between sled dogs and reindeer, to the spooky apparitions along the Iditarod Trail, this book captures the fascinating stories of the dogs of the north.

Ben Atwater arriving at Lake Bennet from Circle City with U.S. Mail, 1909.

The history of Alaska would be very different without the criss-crossing trails of thousands of sled dog teams. Sifting through hundreds of photos of Alaskan dog teams makes clear their important role in the history of the northland. Before cars and trucks, there were sled dogs. Before ships, trains, and airplanes, there were sled dogs. In every part of this great land, from the misty fjords of southeastern Alaska to the farthest northern tip of the continent, sled dogs were the most dependable – and often the only – form of transportation. The dog team made travel and moving loads over otherwise impassable trails possible. In The Cruelest Miles (2003, W.W. Norton & Co.) Gay and Laney Salisbury wrote: “On the Alaskan trail, sled dogs becsme partners in a game of survival. Drivers depended on their dogs so that they could make a living as freighters, mailmen, and trappers, and relied on the animals’ skill and intelligence to get them safely across the rough, dangerous terrain.”

Their stories are gathered and shared in this splendid collection of well-researched essays and historic photographs.

• Along Alaskan Trails, Adventures in Sled Dog History, by Helen Hegener. Published in July, 2012 by Northern Light Media (ISBN 978-0-9843977-2-3). $19.00 postpaid (also available at Indiebound and Amazon). To order via check or money order, mail to Northern Light Media, PO Box 298023, Wasilla, Alaska 99629. To order via credit card or Paypal, CLICK HERE and send payment to helenhegener@gmail.com

Posted in Alaska History, Books | Tagged Baldy, Balto, Chinook, Fritz, Helen Hegener, Iditarod Trail, Jujiro Wada, Leonhard Seppala, Mary Joyce, mushing, mushing history, Northern Light Media, Scotty Allan, Slim Williams, Togo | Leave a comment

Arthur Treadwell Walden

Posted on April 11, 2015 by Helen Hegener

“Let me tell you about this man Walden.” These words, found in the introduction to Arthur Treadwell Walden’s classic book, A Dog-Puncher on the Yukon (Houghton Mifflin Co., 1928), are the reader’s invitation to meet one of the most respected and heralded pioneers of the Klondike and Alaskan gold rushes, a man who, as the Introduction explains, “…reached the country of the Yukon in the early part of ’96, when Circle City was the center and the Birch Creek mines the magnet.”

Walden traveled north with his collie dog, Shirley, up the Inside Passage and over the Chilkoot Pass, down the Yukon River through the fearsome Whitehorse Rapids and downriver to Circle City, at that time “…the banner town of the interior.” He learned to drive dogs across the vast white wilderness and became a musher, “…making trips with freight and mail and passengers behind his dogs.” Walden would later write knowingly in what was a good description of himself: “The dog driver was a good deal like the old-fashioned sailor. He never expected to stay anywhere for any length of time. He was constantly thinking either of turning back or of striking off for some new region. he hood-winked himself with the delusion that he was out there for the money. In reality, it was the adventurous life which appealed to him.”

From the Circle Mining District Arthur Walden traveled east to the Klondike when gold was discovered near Dawson City in 1897, and two years later, when gold was discovered in the black sand beaches of Nome, Walden traveled down the Yukon River to the new goldfields. Again from the Introduction to his book: “Here was a man who had the zeal to seek the utmost of new experience, the nerve to dare what most men would shrink from, the mental background to appreciate what he saw, and a sense of humor to lighten even the times when he flirted with death. And by good fortune, he hit upon the Alaska of the gold rush, unique, vivid, splashed with color like a bizarre canvas.” Walden’s adventurous tales and colorful descriptions of the north and its inhabitants gave his book an enduring quality, and it’s still considered a northland classic. The history is accurate because Arthur Walden was there, he lived the history, and he wrote what he knew to be true: “In comparing the richness of the Birch Creek Mines with the Klondike, it is interesting to know that a prospect at Birch Creek which had yielded twenty-five cents to the pan was considered above the average, while on the Klondike they found as much as five hundred and six hundred dollars to the pan.”

In 1902 Arthur Walden returned to New England and in 1904 he married his longtime friend and cousin by marriage, Katherine Sleeper, the daughter of a well-to-do Boston newspaper family. Kate owned the 1300-acre Wonalancet Farm and Inn in New Hampshire, and it was there Walden began raising and training sled dogs, and developed a new breed he called the Chinook, after a favorite dog from his gold rush days. He is credited for bringing the sport of sled dog racing to New England, and in 1927 the New England Sled Dog Club was founded at Wonalancet Farm, with Arthur Walden elected its first president.

In 1927 he helped train sled dogs and drivers for Admiral Richard E. Byrd’s Antarctic expedition. Walden was in charge of hauling supplies to Byrd’s base camp for the expedition. In the winter of 1927 the dogs, drivers and equipment began arriving at the Walden farm in Wonalancet, and in September, 1928, 97 dogs, along with nine drivers, sleds and equipment, traveled to Antarctica, arriving on Christmas Day. For the next three months Walden and his men freighted 650 tons of equipment and supplies from the ships to the base camp named “Little America,” nine miles inland. Byrd later wrote in his book about the expedition, Little America: “Had it not been for the dogs, our attempts to conquer the Antarctic by air must have ended in failure. On January 17th, Walden’s single team of thirteen dogs moves 3,500 pounds of supplies from ship to base, a distance of 16 miles each trip, in two journeys. Walden’s team was the backbone of our transport. Seeing him rush his heavy loads along the trail, outstripping the younger men, it was difficult to believe that he was an old man. He was 58 years old, but he had the determination and strength of youth.”

In 1930 Admiral Byrd presented Arthur Walden a large photographic album containing 542 photographs, which was put together by Admiral Byrd and other members of the 1928-1930 expedition to the Antarctic.

Tragically, Arthur Treadwell Walden died on March 26, 1947, after saving his wife Kate from a fire in the kitchen of their farmhouse. They are both buried next to a lovely chapel near their former Wonalancet Farm.

1935 Matanuska Colony Talk

Posted on April 3, 2015 by Helen Hegener

On the third Wednesday of May I’ll be giving a presentation about my book on the 1935 Matanuska Colony for the Palmer Historical Society’s History Night. Through photos, stories, and a look at the history behind the Colony Project, I’ll share what led me to write the book, how my research was done, and what I learned about this important chapter of Alaska’s history, when 200 families traveled north on a government troopship to carve their homes and farms from the Alaskan wilderness.

Although fraught with inevitable bureaucratic entanglements, frustrating delays, and a variety of other distractions, the Matanuska Colony actually thrived for the most part. Highways were built, the wide Matanuska and Knik Rivers were bridged, and the town of Palmer became the center of commerce and society in the Valley, and by 1948 production from the Colony Project farms provided over half of the total Alaskan agricultural products sold.

Join us if you can on May 20th, in the conference room in the Palmer Public Library, for a look at this all-but-forgotten chapter of Alaskan history. I’ll have books on hand for those who wish to purchase copies at the meeting, or you can purchase a copy ahead of time at Fireside Books in Palmer or online at my website or from Amazon.

Posted in Alaska History, Books | Tagged Alaska, Colonist, Colony, Fireside Books, Helen Hegener, Matanuska, Matanuska Valley, New Deal, Northern Light Media, Palmer | 1 Comment

The Huskies and the Reindeer

Posted on March 30, 2015 by Helen Hegener

From 2009 through 2013 the twice-weekly Team & Trail column, written by Northern Light Media’s Helen Hegener, ran in the online newsmagazine Alaska Dispatch, and featured news of interest to the mushing community, including sled dog race reports, news, photos, articles, history, personality profiles, book reviews, and much more.The articles about the personalities and the history of mushing were particularly interesting, and over the coming weeks I will be presenting some of them for our new readers, starting with this gem from December, 2009:

Excerpted from Along Alaskan Trails, by Helen Hegener [Northern Light Media, 2012]

“I spent almost the entire winter freighting with my dogs to the outlying creeks, and so was away from civilization most of the time. There was more money in it than in ordinary freighting to the mines, and the life suited me better. I had to camp out, but this was less difficult now than formerly, as by this time we all had tents and stoves.”
— Arthur Treadwell Walden, “A Dog-Puncher on the Yukon” (Houghton Mifflin Co., 1928)

Archdeacon of the Yukon Hudson Stuck

The colorful history of sled dog travel has been well documented over the years, in books ranging from the classic “Gold, Men and Dogs,” by A.A. Scotty Allen (G.P. Putnam Sons, 1931), to Archdeacon of the Yukon Hudson Stuck’s “Ten Thousand Miles with a Dogsled” (1914). But one of the most compelling books ever written about sled dog travel in the north country is a newer title, published in 2003 by W.W. Norton & Company.

“The Cruelest Miles: The Heroic Story of Dogs and Men in a Race Against an Epidemic,” by cousins Gay Salisbury and Laney Salisbury, details the heroic relay dash of 20 men and more than 200 dogs who raced across 674 miles of Alaskan backcountry to deliver lifesaving serum and save the citizens of Nome from a diphtheria outbreak. The book includes some wonderful history of our state, and at one point the Salisbury cousins noted the central role of sled dogs in the history and development of the territory of Alaska: “…It was dogs and dog traction, for centuries the mainstay of Eskimo survival, that made this new world run. During the gold rushes, dogs brought the modern world to Alaska, hauling food, mining supplies, medicine, passengers, and gold across the network of rivers and trails that Eskimos and Athabaskans had been following for hundreds of years.”

Reindeer team in Alaska

Then, in the next paragraph, the Salisburys report a little-known aspect of Alaskan history: “In addition to trade goods, the gold rush brought some strange ideas to Alaska, and the most bizarre may have been the belief of some U.S. government officials that Alaskans would be better off living in Alaska without dogs. Ambitious entrepreneurs tried many alternative forms of transportation and communication that they hoped would be superior to dogs, including horses, goats, hot-air balloons, bicycles, ice skates, ice boats, ice trains. and passenger pigeons. But the favorite choice of several key officials was the reindeer.”

Sheldon Jackson

Incredibly, the primary proponent for reindeer was Dr. Sheldon Jackson, a Presbyterian minister and the head of Alaska’s fledgling education system at the turn of the century. A staunch supporter of reindeer who argued their qualities far and wide, Jackson even testified before Congress that dogs were treacherous and unreliable beasts, and claimed that they “require considerable food for their support, while reindeer are gentle, timid and eat little, foraging on the moss and spruce of the tundra.”

Fortunately for our canine friends, the aforementioned Archdeacon Hudson Stuck challenged Jackson’s assertions. He’d written compellingly in “Ten Thousand Miles With a Dogsled” that the husky dog was prized and called “the Friend of Man,” and he observed “There is not a dog the less in Alaska because of the reindeer, nor ever will be…” When the Canadian government introduced reindeer into Labrador under the direction of Dr. Wilfred Grenfell, who stated his hope they would “eliminate that scourge of the country, the husky dog,” the Archdeacon Stuck responded, “Instead of the reindeer eliminating the dog, there is far greater likelihood of the dog eliminating the reindeer…”

After a few side paragraphs on feeding and caring for reindeer as opposed to dogs, the Archdeacon went on, warming to the argument: “Speaking broadly, the reindeer is a stupid, unwieldy, and intractable brute, not comparing for a moment with the dog in intelligence or adaptability.” He did, however, admit to the reindeer’s usefulness in one regard: “Wherein lies the success of the reindeer experiment in Alaska? Chiefly in the provision of a regular meat supply…”

Excerpted from Along Alaskan Trails, by Helen Hegener [Northern Light Media, 2012]

Links:

• Reindeer as Mail Carriers • November 1901 • Newspaper article: Boston College’s The Sacred Heart Review

• Alaska Reindeer Chronology • by The International Sami Journal

• Alaska Reindeer Herdsmen: A Study of Native Management in Transition
by Dean F. Olson, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 1969

• Reindeer Research Program, University of Alaska Fairbanks

• History of Reindeer in Alaska, University of Alaska Fairbanks Newsroom

Posted in Alaska History | Tagged A Dog-Puncher on the Yukon, Along Alaskan Trails, Archdeacon of the Yukon, Archdeacon Stuck, Arthur Treadwell Walden, Dr. Wilfred Grenfell, Helen Hegener, Hudson Stuck, huskies, Northern Light Media, reindeer, Scotty Allen, Sheldon Jackson, Ten Thousand Miles with a Dogsled, The Cruelest Miles | Leave a comment

Alaskan Roadhouses

Posted on March 26, 2015 by Helen Hegener

My current writing project is a book chronicling the old roadhouses of Alaska, and I’ve been sharing progress reports at a site I created for the book which is titled, as the book will probably be titled, Alaskan Roadhouses. From the earliest tent-style roadhouses to today’s picturesque roadside lodges, Alaskan roadhouses are a colorful reminder of the state’s past, and many are still an important part of Alaska’s transportation network. With this new book I plan to share the history of these iconic Alaskan structures.

As I wrote in a post at the site last week, there is really “no way a complete compilation would ever be possible, as the vagaries of time have swallowed up numerous once notable roadhouses. Trails have been shifted and moved by rivers changing course, or by men doing the same, and the roadhouses have shifted and moved with them. Locations have been reported for many years which eventually proved to be wrong, confusing historians and those who would record the often very sparse details.”

This book won’t be an easy one to research and write, but when it is finished I hope it will prove to be a worthwhile addition to the colorful history of our great state.