Overrated/Underrated: Historic Trail

I am introducing a brief posting that I will go with from time to time called Overrated/Underrated.  It will examine places, people, and events in Alaska history that have generally been regarded as more important than they should be or have been ignored and forgotten.  In today's installment, trails in Alaska history.

Overrated:  Chilkoot Pass Trail

It is one of the iconic images of Alaska history.  A stampede of miners heading up over the Chilkoot Pass separating Alaska from the Gold Fields of the Klondike.  The image adorned the Alaska license plate for a while a few years back, and many consider it the real start of the Americanization of Alaska after decades of official neglect following the Alaska Purchase.  Still, the Chilkoot Pass trail has been oversold.  It was only used for a couple years before the railroad at White Pass was built.  Dyea, the boomtown at the Alaska end of the trail, quickly died out while Skagway, start of the railroad, continued on.  The Canadian government required so much equipment be brought in that most all miners hired help ferrying their gear over the pass.  The route is 33 miles, about half of that downhill.  The Chilkoot trail is now a popular hike for those who wish to retrace the prospectors of '98, but it has been oversold. 

Miners hoping to strike it rich head over the Chilkoot Pass into Canada

Underrated:  Telaquana Trail

In Alaska, with numerous systems and rivers and mountain passes, many of the historic trade routes of Native Alaskans are determined by geography.  Many of the highways follow these old Native routes to get between river systems.  Used for centuries, it is difficult to pick among these trails.  Still,  among these Telaquana stands out.  Located in Lake Clark national park, this trail was used for centuries by the Dena'ina Athabascans as part of a trail system connecting the villages and camps on the Alaska Peninsula.  The trail combines the gorgeous scenery of the Alaska Peninsula with the history of native peoples.  While the trail fell into disuse following European contact and diseases, there has been an effort to have Dena'ina elders impart their knowledge of landmarks of the trail for preservation.  These routes and trails of Native Alaskans still do not get the recognition they deserve, but hopefully that will change.  A great website is: http://jukebox.uaf.edu/lakeclark/html/whmap.html 

In the area of the Telaquana Trail

Alaska Books: Fifty Miles from Tomorrow

I have not posted in over a week, but during that time I read a book dealing with a crucial turning point in recent Alaska history.  The book is Fifty miles from Tomorrow, by Willie Hensley.  For those who don't, Hensley is an Alaska Native former state legislator from Kotzebue who was instrumental in building the foundation for native political and land rights.  His book, which is a year or two old, is an excellent look at the story of his life. 

Cover of the book

Hensley was born in Kotzebue in 1941, during the territorial days.  He speaks of not knowing his biological father, and was taken away from his mother by relatives when he was still a toddler.  His uncle's family takes him in, and he spent much of his youth living a subsistence lifestyle.  His family traveled around from camp to camp, living of what the could hunted and fished.  At 15, he takes up a job with a local Kotzebue white man, who helps to send him down to a boarding school in Tennessee.  From there, he is able to attend college and returns to Kotzebue an educated man, but with no job.

Hensley as a state legislator

The real turning point for Hensley's life happens in 1966, when as graduate student at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, he takes a course on Alaska Law taught by the Chief Justice of the Alaska Supreme Court, Jay Rabinowitz.  Over writing his paper about Alaska Native Land Rights, he has an epiphany.  In the statehood act, the state of Alaska will be able to pick millions of acres of federal land to become state land.  He knows that the state will pick the spots with the best chance of natural resource development, and that Alaska Natives would be shut out if the status quo continues.  The nomadic peoples of arctic Alaska had never had a real concept of doling out parcels of land, and miners and newcomers had taken advantage of this to shut natives out. 

Jay Rabinowitz

Hensley leaves school to make Native land claims his life, writing letters to the editor, speaking with groups, and making everyone aware that the land swap must not go through without settling native claims.  Long story short, once oil is discovered on the north slope, claims must be settled before the pipeline could be built.  Ultimately, this effort by Hensley and others results in the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, ANCSA, which lays the foundation for the modern Native Corporations that own the land and send out stock dividends to their native shareholders. 

Anchorage Daily News announcing the ANCSA up for Congressional Votes

All in all, this book is an excellent read, highly recommended.  A real important look at the growth of Alaska native political power and the life of an extraordinary individual.

Willie Hensley

The Greatest Iditarod Finish

Today is the official start of the 39th Iditarod sled dog race in Willow, Alaska.  All eyes will be on Lance Mackey, who is going for an unheard of 5th straight victory.  The grueling race goes 1,100 miles across the Alaska Range, through the Kuskokwim and Yukon River valleys, along Norton Sound to Front Street in Nome.  The winning musher can make the trip in around 10 days with even far back finishers can make it in under two weeks, which was usually the winning time when the race started in the 1970s.  It can be expected that the winner of the race will likely have Front Street to themselves next week when they finish.  A race of this length is rarely close at the end, but there was one exception in 1978.

Official Trail map from Iditarod.com, showing the two routes.  This year the race follows the southern route.

In 1978, Dick Mackey, father of Lance, and Rick Swenson, winner of the 1977 Iditarod, raced into Nome neck and neck.  It had been a close race all the way through.  Through the Alaskan interior and along the sea, they had traded leads.  On the approach to Nome, Swenson had led by the length of a sled.  At 100 yards from the finish, the two were neck and neck.  Approaching the finish line, both had got off the sled runners and were running alongside holding on the their sleds.  Mackey's lead dog crossed the finish line first, but then he fell, and Swenson and his sled crossed the line before Mackey.

Dick Mackey sprints with his dog team to the finish line (Anchorage Daily News)

  

So with this finish, the race official had to decide who was the winner.  No one had ever thought a race of this length would come down to such a tight finish.  Finally, the head official determined Mackey to be the winner due to his dog crossing the line first.  His official winning time was 14 days, 18 hours, 52 minutes and 24 seconds.  Swenson clocked in officially 1 second behind!  Swenson would go on to win four more Iditarods, bringing his total to five.  Mackey would not race again in the Iditarod, but has had two sons win the race, Rick in 1983 and Lance the last four years. 

Mackey (Right) and his sled builder Vern Hill celebrate the victory (Anchorage Daily News)

So we shall see who wins and by how much this year.  Since 1978, the training has gotten better, the technology has improved, and more racers from all over the world now compete.  Still, it will be hard for there to be more excitement than 1978.  Best of luck to all the racers.