Denali Historic Resource Study

Cover

List of Maps

List of Photographs

Introduction

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1: Traditional Times

Chapter 2: Early Exploration

Chapter 3: Challenge of the Mountain

Chapter 4: The Kantishna and Nearby Mining Districts

Chapter 5: Charles Sheldon and the Mount McKinley Park Movement

Chapter 6: Conditions in Alaska in the World War I and Postwar Periods

Chapter 7: The Pioneer Park

Chapter 8: Consolidation of the Prewar Park and Postwar Visions of Its Future

Epilogue: McKinley becomes Denali with Dubious Future

Bibliography

Index (omitted from the online edition)

Map 1. Alaska, superimposed on a map of the United States.

Map 2. Alaska base map, showing location of Denali National Park and Preserve

Map 3. Route of the 1903 Cook Expedition.

Map 4. Trails in the Nenana Kantishna Area, 1922.

Map 5. L.M. Prindle's map of the Bonnifield and Kantishna Regions, 1906.

Map 6. Proposed boundaries for Mount McKinley National Park, 1916-1917.

Map 7. The Alaska Railroad during the 1930s.

Map 8. The park and surrounding area, drawn shortly after the 1922 park expansion.

Map 9. The only known map of the early park headquarters area.

Map 10. Architectural rendering of the proposed Wonder Lake Lodge, 1935.

Map 11. Map showing 1922 park addition.

Map 12. Map showing 1932 park addition.

Map 13. Earl Pilgrim's proposed road to Stampede Mine along the Toklat River, 1947.

Map 14. Mount McKinley National Park, 1953.

Map 15. The park and surrounding area, 1957.

Map 16. Adolph Murie's park expansion proposal, 1965.

Map 17. Area of 9,000 acre Kantishna mining withdrawal, 1965.

Map 18. Pioneers of Alaska (Igloo No. 4) Boundary Proposal, 1965.

Fig 1. Roosevelt John and wife, 1919.

Fig 2. Chief Thomas of the Birch Creek Athabascans, at Nenana, 1917.

Fig 3. Fish camp at Cape of Good Hope, on Lake Minchumina.

Fig 4. Nenana natives, 1917,

Fig 5. Carl Sesui and wife, 1919.

Fig 6. Mosquito netting was an integral part of the early surveyors' outfits.

Fig 7. A U.S. Geological Survey party at work, near present-day Talkeetna.

Fig 8. Mount McKinley, showing one of Brooks' campsites during his 1902 expedition.

Fig 9. An early climbing party on Mount McKinley.

Fig 10. Members of the 1909-1910 Sourdough Expedition were (left to right): Charley McGonagall, Pete Anderson, Tom Lloyd (seated), and Billy Taylor.

Fig 11. Claim No. 2a on Eureka, Kantishna area, 1906.

Fig 12. Bench mining on Glacier Creek, 1906.

Fig 13. Sluice boxes, Spruce Creek, Kantishna area, 1906.

Fig 14. Placer miners in the Kantishna area, 1919.

Fig 15. Miners whipsawing logs, a tough and thankless task.

Fig 16. Glacier City, 1906.

Fig 17. Roosevelt, on Kantishna River, ca. 1917.

Fig 18. Sluicing in the Kantishna area in the early 1920s.

Fig 19. John, Einar and Emil Hanson.

Fig 20. Quigley Hill from across Friday Creek, near Kantishna, shows Quigley's mine on Red Top Claim, early 1930s.

Fig 21. Moose hunt, November 1919. Fanny Quigley is at extreme left; Joe Quigley is second from left.

Fig 22. Miners and government men at the Quigley cabin, August 30, 1931. Shown (left to right) are Mr. Edmonds (ARC), Fanny Quigley, Mrs. Edmonds, Philip Smith (USGS), and Joe Quigley.

Fig 23. Lillian Crosson, Fanny Quigley and Joe Crosson (left to right) at Kantishna in the early 1930s. Joe Crosson was the first pilot to land at the mining camp.

Fig 24. Tanana and Fort Gibbon, at the junction of the Tanana and Yukon rivers, in 1919.

Fig 25. McGrath, on the upper Kuskokwim, in 1919. McGrath was the first sizable village west of the park.

Fig 26. Curry Hotel, on the Alaska Railroad near Talkeetna.

Fig 27. Early automobile ferry, probably the Big Delta Ferry crossing the Tanana River.

Fig 28. Sternwheeler pushing a barge at Nenana, 1918.

Fig 29. Nenana during the 1920s.

Fig 30. Tanana Mission, at Tanana, 1934.

Fig 31. Teams hauling the mail, and a locomotive, through the Nenana River canyon in February 1921.

Fig 32. Alaska Railroad engine crossing the Tanana River on the ice at Nenana, just prior to completion of the railroad.

Fig 33. Crane work at Nenana, ca. 1921.

Fig 34. The Tanana River bridge, at Nenana, under construction.

Fig 35. The first McKinley Park station, in 1922, was a converted Tanana Valley Railroad car. R.T. Nichols, the first station agent and postmaster, is shown at right.

Fig 36. McKinley Park station and display booth, August 3, 1930.

Fig 37. Railroad bridge and sternwheelers at Nenana, during the 1947 break-up season.

Fig 38. Henry P. (Harry) Karstens, first park superintendent, 1921-1928.

Fig 39. Riley Creek bridge construction camp, during the winter of 1921-22.

Fig 40. Squatter's cabin near the park headquarters, ca. 1930.

Fig 41. Morino's Roadhouse and McKinley Park post office, 1938.

Fig 42. Morino's Roadhouse from Riley Creek bridge, showing ruins remaining after World War II.

Fig 43. The Brooklyn Eagle party at the park's dedication ceremony, June 1923.

Fig 44. Dan Kennedy was the park's first concessioner.

Fig 45. The Mt. McKinley Tourist and Transportation Company took over from Dan Kennedy in 1925. It retained park concession rights until the eve of World War II.

Fig 46. A Yellowstone stage at Savage Camp. The social hall, adorned with a moose rack, is at the right.

Fig 47. Alaska Road Commission road crew.

Fig 48. Savage River cabin of Alaska Road Commission, early 1930s.

Fig 49. Alaska Road Commission fill work along the main park road.

Fig 50. Arthur Gardner and a Fordson grader, along the park road, during the 1930s.

Fig 51. Alaska Road Commission Camp at the East Fork of the Toklat River.

Fig 52. Grant Pearson (fourth from right) with a group of government officials and Kantishna prospectors, 1931. Pearson began as a ranger in 1926, and was active in park affairs for the next 30 years.

Fig 53. Park headquarters complex, ca. 1932.

Fig 54. Dog and food barn, in park headquarters complex, 1950.

Fig 55. Civilian Conservation Corps camp (location of present-day seasonal employee complex), 1938.

Fig 56. Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes, during his 1938 visit, near Camp Eielson.

Fig 57. Savage River cabin and cache, 1946. Both were built in 1931; the cache is no longer standing.

Fig 58. Park rangers at Stony Creek ranger cabin, 1931. Built in 1926, the cabin is now in ruins.

Fig 59. Pulling a touring car out of Savage River. The tourist camp is in the background.

Fig 60. By the 1930s, the concessioner was relying on large tour buses.

Fig 61. Adventurous tourists have long sought out areas not reached by the road system. This pack train visited Polychrome Pass in the 1920s.

Fig 62. A few rugged tourists took pack trips to McGonagall Pass, or to the ice formations at Muldrow Glacier. This photo of an Muldrow Glacier ice bridge was taken in 1931.

Fig 63. McKinley Park Hotel under construction, 1938. The hotel opened on June 1, 1939.

Fig 64. Interior of McKinley Park Hotel, 1946.

Fig 65. Alaska Railroad Tour Limousine at Igloo Cabin, 1948.

Fig 66. McKinley Park railroad station, 1963.

Fig 67. Mt. McKinley from Camp Eielson (location of present-day Eielson Visitor Center).