Rika's Landing Roadhouse
| Rika's Landing Roadhouse | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| National Register of Historic Places | |||
| Historic District Contributing Property | |||
 Rika's Landing Roadhouse |
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| location | Big Delta , Southeast Fairbanks Census Area , Alaska | ||
| Coordinates | 64 ° 9 '18.8 " N , 145 ° 50' 25.7" W | ||
| Built | 1909 | ||
| NRHP number | 76000364 | ||
| Data | |||
| The NRHP added | September 1, 1976 | ||
| Declared as CP | March 20, 1991 | ||
Rika's Landing Roadhouse , also known as Rika's Landing Site or McCarty Roadhouse , is a rest house on a historically significant crossing over the Tanana River at milestone 274.5 along the Richardson Highway in the Big Delta in the Southeast Fairbanks Census Area in Alaska , United States . It is located within the Big Delta State Historical Park and has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1976 and part of a Historic District since 1991 . The rest house is named after Rika Wallen, who received it from John Hajdukovich and managed it for many years.
Start time
Today's Richardson Highway originated as a packhorse route from the port in Valdez to Eagle , located downstream on the Yukon River from Dawson , which was built by the US Army in 1898 to allow all-American access to the gold deposits, their discovery led to the Klondike gold rush . After the gold rush ended, the army kept the road operating to supply the Fort Liscum , Valdez and Fort Egbert outposts . The 1902 Fairbanks Gold Rush and the construction of a WAMCATS telegraph line by the US Army Signal Corps under then Lieutenant Billy Mitchell in 1903 made the Valdez-to-Eagle Trail and its branch line to Fairbanks one of the most important access routes into the Alaska Interior .
37 rest houses - some of which are also on the National Register of Historic Places - have been built along the trail to make the journey more comfortable for travelers. Meals and sleeping quarters were offered and equipment was sold. These rest houses were mostly 15-20 miles (25-35 km) apart.
The Tanana River was one of the largest rivers that had to be crossed on this route. A ferry was set up just above the confluence of the Tanana River and Delta River . This, then called Bates Landing, was about 12 km north of today's Delta Junction settlement , in the area that is now known as the Big Delta. The government imposed a toll on the south side for crossings from those traveling north.
On the south bank of the river, a prospector named Ben Bennett set up a trading post on his 80 acre property at Bates Landing in April 1904 , but in 1905 he sold his property to Daniel G. McCarty. However, since ET Barnette , founder of the City of Fairbanks and former McCarty employer, had financed the goods, he remained the owner of the goods. The trading post was now used as a rest house and became known as McCarty's. Another prospector by the name of Alonzo Maxey built Bradley's Roadhouse with a friend to compete with the McCartys, and in 1907 McCarty transferred his rest house to Maxey.
The crossing of the Tanana River by the WAMCATS telegraph line justified the establishment of a telegraph station, McCarty Station, in 1907 when the location of this station was relocated after a fire. Several log cabins housed the telegraph office, an agent's office, accommodation for two workers to maintain the connection, and stores for their equipment and supplies.
Hajdukovich era
In 1906, or possibly some time later, Jovo 'John' Hajdukovich, an entrepreneur who had come to Alaska from Montenegro in 1903, sensed the business opportunity and bought the trading post with Maxey's rest house. Hajdukovich built a new and larger rest house in 1909, using logs that he brought down the river, but he continued to use the old buildings to store his equipment.
Hadukovich had other business interests including prospecting, freight haulage, and hunting guide - he ran hunting parties in the Granite Mountains . He also stood up for the Athabaska , with whom he traded, and later played an important role in the creation of the Tetlin Reserve. Hadukovich also served as the US Game Commissioner of the area and was unable to fully operate the rest house. As with many other such rest houses that were not continuously operated, Hadukovich urged travelers to accommodate themselves and leave some money behind for whatever they used. Despite this informal business conduct, his business prospered.
From 1904 on, the trail was expanded. In 1907, or certainly before 1910, the Alaska Road Commission had completed the expansion so that the packhorse route had become a road for vehicles. The project was led by Major Wilds P. Richardson , after which the highway was later named. Carts used the road busily, with horse-drawn sleighs in winter and carriages in summer. Around 1913 the rest house was a local center for gold washers, hunters, traders and wagoners.
In the meantime Erika 'Rika' Wallen, who was born in 1874 as Lovisa Erika Jakobson on a farm near Örebro in Sweden , came to America. She settled in Minneapolis , Minnesota with her sister and brother Carl Jakobson in 1891 , changing her last name to Wallen. After Carl died in an accident, the two sisters went to San Francisco , where Rika accepted a job as cook for the Hills Brothers family . It remained in this position until the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 . In 1916, Rika traveled to Valdez because she thought it was said that Alaska was like Sweden.
Rika takes over the roadhouse
After working as a cook at the Kennecott copper mine and for a boarding house in Fairbanks, Rika ended up in the Big Delta and in 1917 or 1918 John Hadukovich hired Rika Wallen to run the rest house, then known as McCarty's .
Although John had several business activities, he was not always solvent. For example, he was once not paid for lumber he supplied to build the ALCAN Highway because he did not keep the necessary records. Either 1918 or 1923, he transferred the roadhouse to Rika Wallen to an amount of 10 US dollars and other considerations, presumably regarding backlogs in payment of wages. Their friendship and partnership continued for many years, there is uncertainty about the relationship between Wallen and Hadukovich. The rest house was soon called Rika's Roadhouse , following local customs . At the time, the rest house had eleven bedrooms, a living room, and a large dining and kitchen area.
In 1925, Rika was granted US citizenship and claimed 160 acres of land under the Homestead Act , where she cultivated food and raised livestock, including sheep, poultry and goats. She processed the sheep's wool as well as milk, butter and cheese. She also raised silver foxes, ducks, geese, hares and honey bees. With the help of oxen, she plowed the field and planted grain. Rika was a natural at agriculture and managed to farm where others failed. She developed a heating and ventilation system for her stables to enable the cattle to survive in the harsh winter.
When Rika bought the rest house, the floors were still packed and the walls were raw. To improve the interior, she collected wallpaper here and there, wallpapering the individual walls differently and laying hardwood planks on the floor, which she received from carts and boatmen who visited the rest house. Their ability to produce agricultural products and their hospitality made the rest house a place where travelers were served a dining table with fresh milk and eggs, berries, fish, game, and fruits and vegetables from Rika's garden before moving to the accommodation rooms withdrew in the multi-storey building. A Richardson Highway guidebook published in 1929 described the rest house as "a spacious rest house boasting such luxuries as fresh milk and domestic poultry".
Around 1926, Rika added a side wing that created additional living space and housed a liquor store, fur warehouse, and the Big Delta Post Office (then known as Washburn). She was postmaster until 1946. Eventually, Rika also owned a demarcation plot of land that spanned 320 acres.
end of an era
In 1922 the Alaska Railroad was completed. This and other factors, such as the Great Depression , led to a decline in freight traffic along the route in the 1930s. In 1935, the Alaska Road Commission attempted to induce wagoners to use the railroad by increasing the ferry fee to nearly ten dollars per ton. The carters rebelled against it and in the period up to the beginning of the Second World War there were a number of clashes and the operation of a non-licensed ferry.
With the outbreak of war and the construction of the ALCAN Highway , which was connected to the Richardson Highway south of the Big Delta, traffic continued to decline. The ferry crossing was replaced by a wooden bridge and a few years later a larger steel bridge was built a little further downstream so that the road ran further away from the rest house. Rika ran the rest house during the 1940s and early 1950s, although guests were only accepted by invitation in later years. John Hajdukovich died in 1965 and Rika Wallen four years later.
“For fifty years, Rika was a cornerstone of the wandering John. While John was trading and prospecting, Rika directed the fulcrum of the crossroads at Upper Tanana. Their establishment was a "city" for three hundred people who moved along the paths on the Alaskan-Canadian border. John and Rika were the story of the Upper Tanana Valley. "
Rika's Roadhouse and its outbuildings are now part of the Big Delta State Historical Park and the rest house was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 1, 1976. As of March 20, 1991, Rika's Roadhouse is a Contributing Property of the Big Delta Historic District .
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ James Cooke: Billy Mitchell ( English ). Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2002, ISBN 978-1-58826-082-6 , pp. 33-37.
- ↑ Kris Valencia: The Milepost 2009 ( English ). Morris Communications Corporation, ISBN 978-1-892154-26-2 , pp. 465, 482.
- ↑ a b c d e Interior Alaska 1896-1910 Changing Lifestyles, Different Values ( English ) In: Alaska's History & Cultural Studies . Archived from the original on December 3, 2010. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved November 20, 2009.
- ^ A b Murray Lundberg: Northern Roadhouses, an Introduction ( English ) In: ExploreNorth . Retrieved November 20, 2009.
- ↑ a b History ( English ) In: Delta Junction - Alaska's Friendly Frontier . Archived from the original on June 29, 2009. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved November 20, 2009.
- ↑ Murray Lundberg: The History of Big Delta ( English ) In: ExploreNorth . Archived from the original on January 21, 2010. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved November 20, 2009.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Big Delta State Historical Park ( English ) Retrieved November 20, 2009.
- ↑ a b Delta Junction ( English ) In: Travel Alaska . Retrieved November 20, 2009.
- ↑ a b c d e Debbie Cook: Review of Parallel Destinies ( English ) In: Delta News Web . Archived from the original on August 10, 2009. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved November 20, 2009.
- ^ Judy Ferguson: Parallel Destinies, An Alaskan Odyssey ( English ) In: Judy Ferguson's Outpost . Archived from the original on April 11, 2009. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved November 20, 2009.
- ↑ a b c d Rika’s Virtual Tour - roadhouse ( English ) In: Rika's Landing Concessionaire . Retrieved November 20, 2009.
- ↑ Historic Roadhouse ( English ). Retrieved November 20, 2009.
- ↑ a b Richardson Highway ( English ) In: Delta Junction - Alaska's Friendly Frontier . Archived from the original on January 20, 2011. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved November 20, 2009.
- ↑ a b Visitor Guide: Museums ( English ) In: City of Delta Junction, Alaska . Archived from the original on May 1, 2011. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved November 20, 2009.
- ↑ a b Alan Winquist, Jessica Rousselow-Winquist: Touring Swedish America: where to go and what to see ( English ). Minnesota Historical Society, Minneapolis 2006, ISBN 978-0-87351-559-7 , p. 370.
- ↑ Wikipedia has an article on Kennecott, Alaska .
- ↑ a b c d e Big Delta ( English ) In: Vacation Country Travel Guide . Retrieved November 20, 2009.
- ↑ Alaska Highway ( English ) In: John Hall's Alaska . Archived from the original on November 2, 2008. Retrieved November 20, 2009.
- ↑ Rika's Virtual Tour - farm animals ( English ) In: Rika's Landing Concessionaire . Retrieved November 20, 2009: " a commodious roadhouse boasting of such luxuries as fresh milk and domestic fowls "
- ↑ Rika's Virtual Tour - ferry ( English ) In: Rika's Landing concessionaire . Retrieved November 20, 2009.
- ↑ Alaskrafts® ~ Book Store ~ Parallel Destinies ( English ) In: furshack.com . Archived from the original on June 9, 2009. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved November 20, 2009: “ For fifty years, Rika was a stake in the ground for the roaming John. While John traded and prospected, Rika ran the hub of the Upper Tanana's cross-roads. Her establishment was "town" to the three hundred people who walked the trails to the Alaskan-Canadian border. John and Rika were the history of the Upper Tanana Valley. "(Quoted in the book abstract and elsewhere)
- ↑ Entry in the National Register Information System . National Park Service , accessed April 20, 2016
- ↑ Big Delta Historic District on the National Register Information System. National Park Service , accessed July 27, 2017
Web links
- Big Delta State Historical Park
- Big Delta ( Alaska Department of Commerce Community Information Database)
- Photographs of John, Rika and two other pioneers
- Photograph of the ferry across the Tanana (1930), Rika's Roadhouse visible in the background ( Digital Alaska )
- Film recording of the ferry across the Tanana (1935–36), Rika's Roadhouse visible in the background. ( Digital Alaska )
literature
- Parallel Destinies by Judy Ferguson, Glas Publishing (January 2002) ISBN 978-0-9716044-0-7 . Biography of Rika Wallens and John Hajdukovich