Tag Archives: Fairbanks

A Site for the Railroad Book

Posted on January 26, 2024 by Helen Hegener

I am pleased to announce a website for my newest book, The Alaska Railroad 1902-1923, which shares the content and the research materials and resources which I used in writing the book. Continue reading →

Posted in Alaska History, Alaska Railroad, Books, News & Information, Transportation, Uncategorized | Tagged Alaska, Alaska Central Railroad, Alaska Northern Railroad, Alaska Railroad, Anchorage, ARR, Fairbanks, Helen Hegener, Nenana, Seward, Tanana Valley Railroad, travel | Leave a comment

Alaskan Roadhouses

Posted on August 24, 2020 by Helen Hegener

Alaskan Roadhouses: Shelter, Food and Lodging Along Alaska’s Roads and Trails, by Helen Hegener This 284-page book presents historic photos of dozens of individual roadhouses, along with the colorful histories are first-hand accounts of those who stayed at the roadhouses … Continue reading →

Posted in News & Information | Tagged Fairbanks, Judge James Wickersham, Leonhard Seppala, Nome, Roadhouses, Samuel Hall Young | Leave a comment

A People at Large

Posted on April 17, 2020 by Helen Hegener

That more or less indefinite region north of the Yukon known as the Chandalar Country owes its name to one given by the early French-Canadian traders of the Hudson’s Bay Company to the singular native tribes that ranged there. Because these came from none knew where, recognizing no boundaries and taking to themselves no local designations, they were called gens de large––people at large. With peculiar fitness the name applies to all Alaskans, for in more ways than one we are a people at large. Continue reading →

Posted in Alaska History, Books, News & Information | Tagged Anchorage, Chandalar, Chitina, Copper-Tints, Cordova, Eustace P. Ziegler, Fairbanks, Gulkana, Hudson's Bay Company, Iditarod, Interior, Juneau, Katherine Wilson, Ketchikan, Kodiak, Koyukuk, Kuskokwim, Nome, Nushagak, Paxson’s Roadhouse, Porcupine, Sitka, St. Michaels, Strelna or Kennekott, Tanana, The Trail | Leave a comment

The Yukon Quest Trail

Posted on December 29, 2019 by Helen Hegener

The 2020 Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race begins in Fairbanks at 11:00 am on February 1, and runs to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory; the Yukon Quest 300 starts at 3:00 pm the same day and runs to Circle, on the Yukon River. There are many exciting books about the race, and many written by the mushers who have run the race, but one book focuses on the trail between Fairbanks and Whitehorse, highlighting the incredible route followed by those mushers who accept the very real challenge of the Yukon Quest. Continue reading →

Posted in Alaska History, Book Reviews, Books, News & Information, Sled Dog Races, Yukon Quest | Tagged Alaska, Dawson City, Eric Vercammen, Fairbanks, Helen Hegener, Lance Mackey, mushing, mushing history, Northern Light Media, Robert Service, Scott Chesney, sled dog race, sled dog racing, sled dogs, The Spell of the Yukon, Whitehorse, Yukon Quest | Leave a comment

Across Alaska in 1907-08

Posted on March 22, 2019 by Helen Hegener

In October 1907, his work for the 1906-1908 Anglo-American Polar Expedition completed, Ejnar Mikkelsen set out on a formidable journey home, which would take him west along the Arctic coast from Flaxman Island, where he left Leffingwell to continue doing scientific research and mapping. Mikkelsen’s trail led to Barrow, Nome, Fort Gibbon, Manley Hot Springs, Fairbanks, and then down the Fairbanks-Valdez Trail to Valdez, where he boarded a ship for home. The first part of his journey was made by dogsled, the second half riding in the horse-drawn sledges which travelled the winter trails. Continue reading →

Posted in Alaska History, Book Reviews, Books, Explorers, News & Information | Tagged Conquering the Arctic Ice, Ejnar Mikkelsen, Ernest de Koven Leffingwell, Fairbanks, Flaxman Island, Fort Gibbon, Icy Cape, Manley Hot Springs, Nome, Pitt Point, Valdez, Valdez-to-Fairbanks Trail | 1 Comment

Alaska Railroad 1902-1923

Posted on December 7, 2018 by Helen Hegener

This 400-page book is a wide-ranging look at the many ways in which the railroad played a major role in Alaska’s growth and development. Continue reading →

Posted in Alaska History, Alaska Railroad, Book Reviews, Books | Tagged Alaska Central Railroad, Alaska Railroad, Anchorage, coal mining, Fairbanks, Golden Spike, Guggenheim, Hurricane Gulch, monopoly, Morgan-Guggenheim Syndicate, Nenana, Palmer, Seward, steamboats, Talkeetna, Turnagain Arm, Wasilla | Leave a comment

Jujiro Wada, Trailblazer

Posted on June 14, 2018 by Helen Hegener

There are many strange and unusual stories in the annals of northern sled dog travel, but one of the most fascinating concerns an enigmatic Japanese explorer and adventurer named Jujiro Wada. Born in Japan in the 1870s, the second son of a lower-class samurai warrior, he traveled to the U.S. in 1890 and worked as a cabin boy for the Pacific Steam Whaling Company and at Barrow for the renowned Charlie Brower, manager of the Cape Smythe Whaling and Trading Company, which history buffs agree was probably where he learned to handle sled dogs and began learning the Alaska Native languages. Continue reading →

Posted in Alaska History, Book Reviews, Books, News & Information, Sled Dog History | Tagged Barrow, Charlie Brower, E.T. Barnette, Fairbanks, Felix Pedro, Iditarod, Iditarod Trail, Jujiro Wada, musher, mushing history, Nome, Seward, Seward-Nome Trail, trailblazer, Yukon Quest, Yukon River | 1 Comment

New Book: Alaska & the Klondike

Posted on April 29, 2018 by Helen Hegener

The newest book from Northern Light Media is an anthology, Alaska & the Klondike, Early Writings and Historic Photographs, compiled and edited by Helen Hegener, published May 10, 2018. Charting an unknown country, exploring a wondrous land, searching for gold, … Continue reading →

Posted in Alaska History, Books, News & Information, Sled Dog History | Tagged Alaska, Anchorage, Fairbanks, Helen Hegener, history, Hudson Stuck, Klondike, Nome, Robert Service, Yukon | 1 Comment

The Alaska Railroad 1902-1923

Posted on May 18, 2017 by Helen Hegener

The Alaska Railroad: 1902-1923 , subtitled Blazing an Iron Trail Across The Last Frontier, shares the compelling story of the construction of the Alaska Railroad and its predecessors, from 1902, when John Ballaine built the Alaska Central Railroad; through 1923, … Continue reading →

Posted in Alaska History, Alaska Railroad, Books, News & Information | Tagged A.E.C., AEC, Alaska, Alaska Central Railroad, Alaska Northern Railroad, Alaska Railroad, Alaskan Engineering Commission, Anchorage, ARR, Denali, Fairbanks, Golden Spike, Helen Hegener, Nenana, President Harding, Seward, Tanana Valley Railroad | 3 Comments

The Yukon Quest

Posted on January 21, 2017 by Helen Hegener

The Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race spans some of the harshest and most beautiful winter territory anywhere: 1,000 miles between Fairbanks, Alaska and the city of Whitehorse in Canada’s Yukon Territory. Known as ‘The World’s Toughest Sled Dog Race,’ … Continue reading →