Hasselborg Creek Cabin – Admiralty Island AK

Description

Hasselborg Cabin, built in 1937,  is part of the Admiralty Island Canoe Route built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) between 1933 and 1937.  This route included shelters, portages, dams, cabins, boathouses, and skiffs and was part of a program to enhance recreational opportunities in Alaska. The cabin has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The registration form for the National Trust says this:

“Hasselborg cabin is a standard Adirondack shelter — a saltbox style that is timber-framed, rectangular in plan view and three-sided. […]

Two features distinguish this shelter from others in the canoe route, the floor and a fireplace. Only two of the shelters built for the canoe route had fireplaces. The Hasselborg Cabin has a stone and brick fireplace and chimney built into the west wall. Angular granite stones were used for the fireplace, mantle and chimney while the interior is lined with firebrick. The fireplace is 6’2″ wide and 4’4” tall. The chimney is capped by a rectangular concrete spark arrester. Two other structures built by the CCC in the region, Skaters Cabin and the Auke Bay Recreation Area Shelter, have fireplaces that are similar.

The other distinguishing feature of this cabin is the floor/foundation. Other shelters have a dirt floor, [but] Hasselborg Cabin has a poured concrete slab. The vertical timbers rest on the slab. Hasselborg Cabin may be the only Adirondack shelter on Admiralty Island, and perhaps southeast Alaska, to have a concrete floor in its original design. […]

The cabin is on the beach near the south end of Hasselborg Lake, […] Located on a strategic spot for visitors traversing Admiralty Island by the canoe route and flying in to fish, the cabin is used for the same purposes for which it was built half a century ago. While the addition of the front wall and the metal roof alters the cabin somewhat from its original appearance, it retains its style and construction. Above all the cabin is a representative, in appearance and use, of the CCC shelters constructed on Admirality Island. Together, these shelters comprise an assembly unique to CCC construction in Alaska.”