Alaska Sites

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) restored/recarved the Gonaqadate Pole between 1938 and 1940. The restoration was part of a larger U.S. Forest Service program focused on the conservation of totems and Native cultural assets. The pole was originally found at the abandoned village of Tuxekan. With the accord of the former residents, the CCC and the U.S. Forrest Service relocated the pole to the Klawock Totem Park on the Prince of Wales Island. According to Viola Garfield and Linn Forrest (1961), the Raven at the top of the pole suggests that the totem belonged to the Wolf clan. The figure below the Raven...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) recarved the Kats the Bear Hunter Pole between 1938 and 1940. The restoration was part of a larger U.S. Forest Service program focused on the conservation of totems and Native cultural assets. The pole was originally found at the abandoned village of Tuxekan. With the accord of the former residents, the CCC and the U.S. Forrest Service relocated the pole to the Klawock Totem Park on the Prince of Wales Island. The pole illustrates the story of a hunter who married a bear. In their 1961 volume, The Wolf and the Raven, anthropologist Viola Garfield and architect Linn Forrest...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) recarved/restored the Mortuary Column between 1938 and 1940. The restoration was part of a larger U.S. Forest Service program focused on the conservation of totems and Native cultural assets. The pole was originally found at the abandoned village of Tuxekan. With the accord of the former residents, the CCC and the U.S. Forrest Service relocated the pole to the Klawock Totem Park on the Prince of Wales Island. The owner of this totem is unknown. The column represents a brown bear figure at the bottom. According to the anthropologist Viola Garfield and architect Linn Forrest (1961), this figure...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) restored/recarved the Mythical Raven Pole between 1938 and 1940. The restoration was part of a larger U.S. Forest Service program focused on the conservation of totems and Native cultural assets. The pole was originally found at the abandoned village of Tuxekan. With the accord of the former residents, the CCC and the U.S. Forrest Service relocated the pole to the Klawock Totem Park on the Prince of Wales Island. In their 1961 volume, The Wolf and the Raven, anthropologist Viola Garfield and architect Linn Forrest examine the history the symbolic meaning of the figures represented on the Mythical Raven Pole: “This pole...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) recarved/restored the Raven and Giant Clam Pole between 1938 and 1940. The restoration was part of a larger U.S. Forest Service program focused on the conservation of totems and Native cultural assets. The pole was originally found at the abandoned village of Tuxekan. With the accord of the former residents, the CCC and the U.S. Forrest Service relocated the pole to the Klawock Totem Park on the Prince of Wales Island. In their 1961 volume, The Wolf and the Raven, anthropologist Viola Garfield and architect Linn Forrest describe the figures of the original pole, which was in a deteriorated...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) restored the Raven and the Whale Pole between 1938 and 1940. The restoration was part of a larger U.S. Forest Service program focused on the conservation of totems and Native cultural assets. The pole was originally found at the abandoned village of Tuxekan. With the accord of the former residents, the CCC and the U.S. Forrest Service relocated the pole to the Klawock Totem Park on the Prince of Wales Island. The carvings represent the figure of Raven at the bottom of the pole, and a whale at the upper part. In their 1961 volume, The Wolf and the...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) restored/recarved the Sockeye-Salmon Pole between 1938 and 1940. The restoration was part of a larger U.S. Forest Service program focused on the conservation of totems and Native cultural assets. The pole was originally found at the abandoned village of Tuxekan. With the accord of the former residents, the CCC and the U.S. Forrest Service relocated the pole to the Klawock Totem Park on the Prince of Wales Island. The pole marked the resting place of a member of the Wolf clan. The figures of the pole illustrate the fact that the owner of the pole also owned a...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) recarved the Dog-Eater Spirit Pole between 1938 and 1940. The restoration was part of a larger U.S. Forest Service program focused on the conservation of totems and Native cultural assets. The pole was originally found at the abandoned village of Tuxekan. With the accord of the former residents, the CCC and the U.S. Forrest Service relocated the pole to the Klawock Totem Park on the Prince of Wales Island. The pole marked the resting place of a man who was an ancestor of Gunya. The human figure at the top of the pole holds the body of a...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) restored/recarved the First Blackfish Pole between 1938 and 1940. The restoration was part of a larger U.S. Forest Service program focused on the conservation of totems and Native cultural assets. The pole was originally found at the abandoned village of Tuxekan. With the accord of the former residents, the CCC and the U.S. Forrest Service relocated the pole to the Klawock Totem Park on the Prince of Wales Island. In their 1961 volume, The Wolf and the Raven, anthropologist Viola Garfield and architect Linn Forrest describe the symbolic meaning of the carvings. The figures of the pole illustrate the story...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) restored/recarved the Giant Clam Pole between 1938 and 1940. The restoration was part of a larger U.S. Forest Service program focused on the conservation of totems and Native cultural assets. The pole was originally found at the abandoned village of Tuxekan. With the accord of the former residents, the CCC and the U.S. Forrest Service relocated the pole to the Klawock Totem Park on the Prince of Wales Island. In their 1961 volume, The Wolf and the Raven, anthropologist Viola Garfield and architect Linn Forrest note that the Giant Clam Pole belonged to a member of the Raven clan....

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) restored/recarved the Long-Eared Monster Pole between 1938 and 1940. The restoration was part of a larger U.S. Forest Service program focused on the conservation of totems and Native cultural assets. The pole was originally found on a rocky point in the abandoned village of Tuxekan. With the accord of the former residents, the CCC and the U.S. Forrest Service relocated the pole to the Klawock Totem Park on the Prince of Wales Island. This pole belongs to the Raven clan, the same lineage that created the Bullhead and the Fight with the Land Otters Pole. It was created...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) restored/recarved the The Raven-Finned Blackfish Pole between 1938 and 1940. The restoration was part of a larger U.S. Forest Service program focused on the conservation of totems and Native cultural assets. The pole was originally found in the abandoned village of Tuxekan. With the accord of the former residents, the CCC and the U.S. Forrest Service relocated the pole to the Klawock Totem Park on the Prince of Wales Island. This pole belongs to the Wolf clan at Klawock. A niche at the back of the pole contains the ashes of a member of the clan. The pole...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) recarved the Spirit of Hazy Island Pole between 1938 and 1940. The restoration was part of a larger U.S. Forest Service program focused on the conservation of totems and Native cultural assets. The pole was originally found at the abandoned village of Tuxekan. With the accord of the former residents, the CCC and the U.S. Forrest Service relocated the pole to the Klawock Totem Park on the Prince of Wales Island. The pole was found in deteriorated condition when it was brought to the Klawock Totem Park from Tuxekan. Only the human figure at the bottom of the...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) recarved/restored the Woodworm Pole between 1938 and 1940. The restoration was part of a larger U.S. Forest Service program focused on the conservation of totems and Native cultural assets. The pole was originally found at the abandoned village of Tuxekan. With the accord of the former residents, the CCC and the U.S. Forrest Service relocated the pole to the Klawock Totem Park on the Prince of Wales Island. The Tlingit master carvers made a copy of the original pole for the Klawock Totem Park. At the bottom of the pole the figure of the Tlingit Maiden holds is nursing...

"The Alexander Lake Shelter Cabin is a three-sided Adirondack style shelter built by the Civilian Conservation Corps on the Admiralty Island Canoe Route in 1935. The natural environment surrounding the cabin is unchanged from the 1930s. Since its construction, the shelter cabin has been maintained with materials similar to the original." "The cabin has a peeled log superstructure and shake walls and roof. The structure is well-maintained, and its current appearance matches its original appearance. The sill logs on the two short sides have been replaced and are beginning to rot again; the back sill log has been replaced and is in...

This is a historic cabin located on the east side of Lake Guerin, part of the Admiralty Island Canoe Route. As reported on a registration form of the National Register of Historic Places, the cabin was in ruins as of 1995. “Civilian Conservation Corps workers built the three-sided Adirondack style Lake Guerin East Shelter Cabin as part of the Admiralty Island Canoe Route in the 1930s. It had a peeled log superstructure and shake walls and roof. The cabin is a jumble of flattened timbers and shakes, some bleached white and some moss-covered, with galvanized nails jutting from the wood....

"The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built the Lake Guerin West Shelter Cabin as part of the Admiralty Island canoe route. It is a three-sided Adirondack style shelter. It has a peeled log superstructure and shake walls and roof. The structure is well-maintained, and it looks the same as it did when built. The sill logs on one short side wall and the back wall have been recently replaced; but the sill log on the other side wall appears to be original. Several of the vertical posts have been replaced, and all the angle braces appear to have been replaced....

What is now the Palmer Alaska Historic District was founded in 1935 as the Matanuska Colony Project. It was one of 100 New Deal resettlement programs and involved major efforts by FERA and the Resettlement Administration. The town site of Palmer expanded rapidly with the relocation of 203 colonists from Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin in 1935 under the Relocation project.  Prior to that the area was composed of homesteads primarily. The Palmer Historical Society has a Colony House Museum that is a 'house' as it would have been in 1935-1945.  It is an original colony house moved into the historic...

The Mayflower School was built and the cost of $9,500 by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, with the help of a PWA grant. Lester Troster, a local architect and superintendent of the regional Bureau of Indian Affairs, designed the two story structure.1 The architectural features include Colonial Revival elements. "The accentuated doors with decorative pediments and pilasters, symmetrically-balanced windows and center door, double hung sashes and multiple panes are indicative of the Colonial Revival (1880-1955) style." "The U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs built Mayflower School in 1933-1934 to serve as a model for Native schools in Alaska. The Bureau wanted the school to provide...

Construction of the McKinley Park Hotel began on July 12, 1937 and was largely completed in 1938.  The New Deal’s Public Works Administration (PWA) contributed $350,000 to the project, and the Alaska Railroad contributed an additional $100,000.  “The main building of the unit, designed and constructed under the supervision of the National Park Service , contains 90 guest rooms with accommodations for 120 to 160 persons, dining room facilities, and a lobby. In addition, there is a dormitory for employees, a power house, water reservoir, and provisions for other utilities” (Report of the Governor of Alaska). The hotel was not very...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built many shelters and cabins in Alaska during the 1930s, including this one. The Mendenhall Glacier shelter is located at the intersection of the Trail of Time and the East Glacier Trail. The Forest Service visitor brochure for the Mendenhall Glacier notes that, "used by early visitors, this shelter is located next to the old footpath to the glacier, which includes part of the path you are hiking today. At that time, it was just a three minute walk to the toe of the glacier from here!" The shelter used to overlook the glacier, which has retreated up the valley...

The Mitchell Bay Shelter Cabin is a historic cabin in the Admiralty Island National Monument. It is one of several cabins in the Tongass National Forest built for public recreation during the 1930s, and is part of the Admiralty Island Canoe Route. “Civilian Conservation Corps workers built the Mitchell Bay shelter cabin during the 1930s. It is a three-sided Adirondack style shelter. It has a peeled log superstructure and shake walls and roof. The cabin visually looks like the original. The sill logs have been recently replaced. The bottoms of the posts show where old nails have been removed to replace the sill...

The Mole Harbor Shelter Lookout/Cabin is a historic cabin in the Admiralty Island National Monument. It is one of several cabins in the Tongass National Forest built for public recreation during the 1930s, and is part of the Admiralty Island Canoe Route. “Civilian Conservation Corps workers built the Mole Harbor Shelter Cabin in the Adirondack style as a three-sided shelter along the Admiralty Island canoe route. It has a peeled log superstructure and shake walls and roof. The structure is well-maintained, and its current appearance is similar to its original appearance. None of the roof or wall shakes is original. The front...

"Mount Edgecumbe can be easily ascended in a day hike. Although finding marine transportation from the nearby town of Sitka to Kruzof Island is often the biggest obstacle, once hikers reach the island and the Mt. Edgecumbe's trailhead of Fred's Creek, the trip to the base of volcano is relatively flat while passing through open expanses of muskeg. There is a three-sided shelter at about mile 3.5, halfway to the mountain and a small campsite right before the final ascent . At about mile six, the climb begins. Soon tree line is achieved and a series of posts guide hikers...

Per the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) supplied labor toward projects at "Teller Mission"—presumably referring the community of Brevig Mission (in which the facility was located), Alaska in 1934. The "CWA"* work at the Teller Mission is progressing rapidly under the direction of Miss Mildred Keaton, traveling nurse for this part of the country. Besides building a couple of bridges and digging drains they have made other improvements to the village. * The FERA had succeeded the Civil Works Administration (CWA) by this point; presumably the article means FERA.

Multiple New Deal agencies conducted municipal improvement projects in Nome, Alaska. The Civil Works Administration (CWA) conducted did the following, per The Nome Nugget: Through ... the Civil Work Administration, Nome is daily bring improved and plans are being carried out thru the Alaska Road Commission to repair municipal buildings, clean necessary thoroughfares and gravel public property of value for purposes of fire-prevention and safety. The paper also refers to a water project: The fresh water project of the CWA has been completed and gives every appearance of being an extremely beneficial piece of work. The CWA was succeeded by the Federal Emergency Relief...

Per the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, the Civil Works Administration (CWA) supplied labor toward constructing a large trail from Nenana, Alaska in 1934: the unemployed men of Nenana had cut eighteen and a half miles of winter trail from Nenana to Totatlanika Canyon, as part of the first project allotted by the CWA for this community. In detail, the report shows that the total man hours worked was 1920, and the amount of money expended $1,584.63. One and a half miles of old trail was used and about seventeen miles of new trail. Thirteen miles of the new trail is 10...

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) supplied labor toward the construction of an a "landing field out in front of Nome," a likely reference to what is now Nome City Field Airport.

The addition to the Main School was built with the help of the Public Works Administration. The main structure was built in 1934, and it replaced a wooden structure that had previously served as the city’s only school. “By the late 1930s additional space was needed to accommodate a growing school population. In1939, an addition of 12,350 square feet was constructed as a Public Works Administration project with the design purportedly prepared by Alaska Architectural Company. The addition was added to the south side of the building. It more than doubled the south facade and wrapped around the auditorium to...

The Palmer Depot is a historic train station built in 1935 to provide transportation to the Matanuska Valley Colony. The Alaska Railroad was the main means of transportation by which colonists arrived in the Matanuska Valley in 1935. A New Deal homesteading experiment, the Matanuska Valley Colony was established to foster economic growth and the development of agriculture in the new territory. Land plots in Matanuska Valley had been subdivided and open for homesteading starting with 1914. But the land was difficult to cultivate and economic growth between 1914 and 1935 turned out to be slower than expected. The land...

The Patten Colony Farm is a historic structure representative of the farmsteads associated with the Alaska Rural Rehabilitation Corporation's Matanuska Colony project, established with help of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. The complex includes a log house, two log and frame barns, a chicken coop, an outhouse, and another outbuilding. A registration form of the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) describes the log house: “The one-and-one-half story log house was built by a colony construction crew and has an "L" shaped floor plan. A green house was added on the southeast corner around 1972. The main roof ridge runs...

"Location.— Petersburg Harbor is situated inside the northern entrance to Wrangell Narrows, on the northwesterly end of Mitkof Island, 779 miles northwesterly from Seattle, and 107 miles south westerly from Juneau. (SeeU.S.CoastandGeodeticSurvevChart No. 8170.) Existing project.— This provides for dredging suitable approaches with a depth of 24 feet to the existing wharves; a small boat basin 11 feet deep between the Trading Union Wharf and Citizens Wharf to a line substantially following the present mean lower low water line; and a short channel 40 feet wide and 8 feet deep to the south side of the Forestry Service float. All depths...

Developed by the CCC, this "trail connected Port Graham and Nanwalek residents to seasonal fishing camps and a cannery, providing an alternative to coastal water travel when the ocean was too rough.” It now serves primarily as an ATV trail.

The historic U.S. Post Office and Customs House in Wrangell, Alaska was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds. The building, which was completed in 1942, houses an example of New Deal artwork and is still in use today.

Nome, Alaska's old post office and courthouse was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds and opened in 1938. The building, which still stands, is located along Front Street adjacent to Federal Way. It has since been heavily modified and is privately owned.

The historic post office in Wrangell, Alaska houses an example of New Deal artwork: "Old Town in Alaska," commissioned by the federal Treasury Section of Fine Arts. Austin Mecklem and Marianne Appel (husband and wife) painted the Wrangell mural in 1943 in NY state. It was shipped via railway on Oct 19, 1943 and arrived in Wrangell AK early December 1943. A telegram dated October 20, 1943 stated the Mr. Arnold Prusi installed the mural the previous week."

Per the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, the Civil Works Administration (CWA) supplied labor toward "the cutting down of the brush on the public reserves" in Nenana, Alaska in 1934.

Public Works Administration project W1026 funded improvements to the Ketchikan waterworks ($7,307), phone system ($4,411), and electric plant ($4,140). Waterworks and phone system improvements were approved 6/22/1938 and the electric plant was approved 7/7/1938. Construction began during August 1938 and was completed between January 1939 and July 1939 on all 3 sites.

The Puhl House is a historic farm associated with the Alaska Rural Rehabilitation Corporation's Matanuska Colony project, established with help of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA). Built in 1935, the complex includes a log house, a barn, and four sheds. While the structures were built by private individuals, the farmstead is associated with the New Deal because it was made possible by FERA’s Matanuska Colony initiative and the land it distributed to farmers. A registration form of the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) describes the characteristics of the log house: “The house is a one-story log building. It is rectangular...

The Raymond Rebarchek Colony Farm is a historic farm associated with the Alaska Rural Rehabilitation Corporation’s Matanuska Colony project, established with help of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA). Built withe the help of the WPA between 1935 and 1937, the complex is located on the original 40 acres allotted to Mr. Rebarcheck when he drew tract # 52 from a hat in 1935. The plot consists of a 25-acre hayfield, 7 acres in pasture, one acre in natural vegetation, two acres of house and barn yard, and five acres of forest. While the construction of the house was started by...