Richardson Highway:
Roadhouses and Recreation
Traveling through Time on the Richardson Highway
By Theresa Bakker
In an old Quonset hut in Fairbanks, an antique car is covered
with an undisturbed layer of dust. The1916 Dodge logged less than 1200
miles as an early traveler along the Richardson Highway, but the
automobile only made the trip twice before an unlikely accident
sidelined it.
Today, it takes most people a full day to drive from Fairbanks to
Valdez, but when the first car made the journey in 1914, conditions
were more demanding. Those early explorers could only attempt a few
miles at a time, slowed by massive ruts, ice heaves and mud. They were
mostly miners, newly arrived in Valdez on steamships, looking for a
route inland to the Tanana Valley gold fields. People like Tom Gibson
were ready to rent them a ride.
That's his Valdez Trail car in George Clayton's garage,
festooned with an old-timey sign that says "Gibson Auto Line." The
vehicle was damaged when it hit a huge rock on the way to a gold claim
near Chatanika. It had to be towed back to town. Clayton paid $800 for
it in the early 1950's. He says it's worth ten times that amount today.
Clayton is 85 years old. He collects old cars and parts for
old cars. Take a walk with him through his lot off Trainor Gate Road
and he'll have something to say about each and every item, who gave it
to him, why it's interesting and what he plans to do with it.
He also owns another Valdez Trail alum, a 1917 Model T Ford.
It's been stored somewhere on the North Slope since it participated in
the Detroit-Arctic expedition of 1927. It crashed on the trip and
hasn't been driven since.
"I was fascinated by those cars," Clayton said. "I knew the
owner. Tom Gibson used to bring me cords of wood every winter to keep
me from freezing. When he asked me if I wanted those cars, I jumped at
the chance and I've hung on to them all these years."
Clayton himself was the first person to drive from Seattle to
Fairbanks along the Alaska and Richardson Highways. It took him seven
months to make the trip, arriving on November 1, 1943. "I did it to
satisfy my own ego," he said.
Long before Clayton appeared in Fairbanks, Gibson and his
partner Carl Sheldon were transporting miners to Interior gold fields.
Thousands of prospectors were blazing a trail to the Tanana Valley, so
when the federal government created the Alaska Road Commission, its
first project was to improve the Valdez-Fairbanks route.
To accommodate all those travelers, more than 30 roadhouses
operated along the 386-mile road during the first half of the century.
The Black Rapids Roadhouse is one of the few survivors. It was
constructed by Joe Hansen and his sons in 1904. Hunters originally
operated from the lodge to stock the meat markets in Fairbanks.
By 1922, the roadhouse had facilities to serve 23 people. Meals were
going for $2 and you could get a bed for a buck a night. But in the
1970's, the creation of the Parks Highway to the west spelled the end
of the historic roadside businesses as people took advantage of the
more modern road.
Abandoned in the 1980's, the Black Rapids Roadhouse began its
slow slide into oblivion until Michael and Annie Hopper bought the
property a few years ago. They wanted to build a new modern lodge on
the bluff to serve as a gateway into the wilderness they'd come to
love. But Annie, a history buff, also convinced her husband to preserve
the original roadhouse.
"One of the coziest spots on the highway was Black Rapids," she said.
"It was well known for its good food and is mentioned in the very first
Milepost. There are so many stories about the people who worked and
spent the night there."
The Hoppers have stabilized the original two-story roadhouse
structure and will eventually turn it into a museum and restaurant.
It's the Hoppers' dream that people will get to experience both the
past on the road and the future on the bluff.
"The roadhouse will be as flavorful as it once was," she said. "It will
serve the roadside traffic with homemade soups and coffee. You'll be
able to stop for a rest like the world-weary traveler of old, while the
new lodge offers a whole different kind of accommodation."
Today it's tourism that's bringing folks to the Tanana Valley
instead of gold. The Richardson Highway is full of dipnetters headed to
Chitina and tourists trying to find the new Wrangell-St. Elias
Visitor's Center. It's a scenic byway that connects snowmachiners and
skiers with pristine slopes in Thompson Pass. And in another hundred
years, the roadhouse will almost certainly have new stories to tell.
Theresa Bakker is a researcher for KUAC's new travel show, "Anywhere, Alaska." Send her an e-mail at theresa.bakker@kuac.org.
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