Crown Jewel of the North: 

An Administrative History of 

Denali National Park and Preserve 

Volume 2 - General Park History Since 1980, Plus Specialized Themes 

Produced by the Alaska Regional Office 

National Park Service 

U.S. Department of the Interior 

Anchorage, Alaska 

Author: Frank Norris 

2008 

Front cover: This view shows Stony Hill Overlook on a 

busy summer day. Brad Ebel Collection 

Back cover: Photo CKennan Ward, NPS lnterp. Collection. 

#4821, Denali National Park and Preserve 
Table of Contents 

LISt of rigures IV 

List of Maps IV 

Preface v 

A<:knowledgements VI 

Abbreviations vii 

9. Managing the New Park and Preserve, 1981-1994 1 

Getttng St8rted 

The 1981 Bus Accident and Its Ramifications ,., 

. } 

Renewtng the Park Concessions Contract 9 

Parkwide Management Plans, 1981-1986 13 

Wilderness and Backcountry Management 20 

Subsistence Issues 23 

Controversy over Snowmachines 26 

Working with Park Neighbors 28 

Shutlle Bus Capacity Issues 33 

The Vis1tor Entrance Fee Issue 38 

Shoulder Sea~on Tra ffic and the Lottery System 39 

rhe Park Road Ownershtp Issue 42 

New kant1stma Route Proposals 45 

lnfrasu ucture and Staff Growth so 

fhe Fate of the Park Hotel 52 

Con ttnutng Frustrations Over South Side Development 55 

Note<; 59 

10. Denali at the Cusp of the Millenium, 1995-Present 71 

Front Country Development Planning 71 

Concessions Issues 79 

Continuing Controversy over Kantishna Access 83 

Clashes Over Snowmachine Access 89 

Cantwell-Area All-Terrain Vehicle Access Issues 95 

Backcountry Management Planning 99 

South Side Planntng Efforts 105 

Issues with Park Neighbors 11 I 

Operational Realities: Staff. Budgets, and Seasonal Road Access Issues 1 1/ 

Notes 121 

11. Interpretive Issues; the Park from the Visitor's Point of View 131 

Park Interpretation During the "Cabins-and-Snowshoes Era" 131 

Interpretive Growth/ 1938-1956 136 

Mission 66 and Its Impacts 144 

Interpretation During the 1960s '148 

The Impact of Tr aff1c Restrictions on Park Interpretation 152 

Park Interpretation Dunng the 1980s 157 

Park Interpretation, 1991-Present 159 

Interpreting Beyond the Park's Boundaries 16b 

Notes 169 

12. Natural and Cultural Resource Management 177 

Natural Resource Management the Early Years 177 

Predator Control and the Emergence of the Wolf-Sheep Controversy 186 

Wolf Management: the Role of Science, Congress. and Advocacy Groups 192 

The Growtng Popularity of Fishing 197 

Postwar Natural Resource Issues 201 

ii Crown Jewel of the North: An Administrative History of Denali National Park and Preserve 
12. Natural and Cultural Resource Management (continued) 

Mtsston 66. the Prom1se and the Real1ty 

Postwar Bear Management: AVOidance, Protection, and Study 

Park Wildlife Planning and its Ramifications, 1961-1971 

Establishtng a Park Resource Management Program, 1972-1980 

Resource Planntng for the Newly-Expanded Park Unit 

Btolog1cal Reseat ch, 1986 to Present 

Creattng an Inventory and Monitonng Network 

New Dtrections in Natural Resource Management 

Mount McKtnley's Hetght· New Studies. Greater Accuracy 

Cultural Reso\trce Issues at Mount McKinley National Park 

Cultural Resource Management at Denali National Park and Preserve 

Subststence Issues 

Notes 

13. A Century of Mountaineering 

early History of Alaska Range Climbs 

Climbmg Exped1t1ons tn 1932 

Early Climbing Management 

Mount McKinley as a Soentific Operations Base, 194 7-1963 

The Rtse and Fall of Sc1ence as a Climbmg Justification 

The Evolution of Rescue Operat1ons 

Mountaineering Growth, 1961-1966 

The 1967 Wilcox Dtsaster and Its Impact on Climbing Policy 

Mountatneering, 1968·1975: Growth, Guides, and Garbage 

The Btcentennial Cltmbing Season and Its Aftermath 

Guide RegulatiOn 

Cltmb1ng Management, 1979-1984 

New Regulattons. The1r Context and Consequences. 1985-1995 

Recent Trends Rescue. Access, and Waste Management 

No res 

14. Mining and Kantishna-Area Management 

Mining and the Mount McKmley Park Bill 

Pdtk Mining, 1917-1941 

Kantishna Mintng and the NPS, 1937-1945 

M1111ng in l<anttshna and the Park. 1945-1975 

Earl Pilgnm and the Stampede Mine 

Plans to Mine limestone Along Windy Creek 

Attempts to Mine Buildtng Stone in the Park 

Congress Moves to Eliminate Mineral Entry tn the Park 

Deliberat1ons Over Mintng 1n the New Park Units 

Managmg the Park's Mineral Resources, 19 78-1985 

The 1985 District Court lnjunctton and its Impacts 

Devclopinq and Implementing a Buyout Plan 

Stampede Mtne: f:arl Pilgrim, the University of Alaska. and the U S. Army 

Kantt~hna-area Reclamation ActiVIties 

The Spruce 4 Controversy 

Note.s 

Appendices: 

A. 

B 

Park VIsitation, Budget, and Staff, 1981-Present 

Selected List of Park Employees, 1980-Present 

A Note About Sources 

Selected Bibliography 

Index 

204 

206 

210 

211 

214 

218 

220 

222 

227 

229 

232 

236 

240 

253 

253 

255 

258 

262 

269 

271 

273 

217 

280 

2811 

287 

290 

293 

301 

313 

325 

325 

328 

332 

335 

338 

342 

349 

352 

358 

361 

369 

311 

381 

384 

386 

390 

402 

402 

403 

406 

408 

431 

Table of Contents iii 
list of Figures 

Fiqure 1. Denali Commerctal Vtsitor Service Provtders, 1981 to Present 

Figure 2. Park Cooperating Association Revenues, 1960 to Presen l 

Figure 3. Mount McKmley Climbmg Statisncs, 1913 to Present 

Figure tl. Number of Anempts on Mount McKinley by Year, 1970 w Pre~ent 

Ftgure 5. South Distnct Chmbtng and Rescue StatisttC>, 1976 ro Present 

List of Maps 

M.;p 1 Denali Nat1onal Park and Preserve Backcountry Map 

Map 2. Accommodations Growth in Nenana Canyon, 1978 to Present 

Map 3. Souths1de Developmem Sties, 1981 to Present 

Map 4. Historical Ad1v1t1es in the Riley Creek/Hotel Area, 1921 to Present 

Map 5. Ptoposed Stampede Road Alignment to Kanttsllna 

Map 6. Area Burned by the July 1924 Forest Ftre 

Map I Wtndy Creek Ltmestone Activity, 1948-1960 

Mar 8. Kanttshna Hills Administrative Actions, 1965-1984 

Map 9. Kantishna Mtning Claim Acqwsition!., 1979 to Present 

fv Crown Jewel of t he North: An Administrative History of Denali National Park and Preserve 

165 

2S4 

282 

1.8'1 

5t> 

88 

187 

365 

361 
Preface 

By Jny definition, tJ11.· area surrounding N<)rrh 

Amcrit.:a \ highc~t pe;~k is vast. He tween 1917 

and the late •970s, Mount McKinley National 

Purk was AmcricLl"s second largest national park 

(only Ycllow~tone was bigger), and since 1980, 

Denali Nationnl Park and Prct.erve at more 

than 6,ooo,ooo acres- hm, been almost twice ac; 

!Jrgc a::. any -Lower 4W' nntional park unit and it 

i::. excn:ded in sue by only the Gates of the Arctic 

and Wrangell ~t. Elias park unit~, both located in 

Abska. Thc~e two Alaska park units, however, 

arc fairly young; horh were h<,rn during a tumultuous 197os-era statewide planning effort, and 

they were nut c~tab ished until Jlrcsiucmjimmy 

Carrer. in December 1980, signed the Alaska 

Nationnllmc.rcst Lands Conservation Act. The 

a rca rhnr began as tYhmnt McKinley Nati<mal 

Park, hv contra:;t. is almo::.t 90 years old. It was 

Ala~ka'<, tiN national park. and for much of ib 

hi~rory, the -;rntf headquarrcred ncar the Me Kinlev Park railroad dcpor represented virtually the 

llnly National Park Service presence in America's 

northernmost tcrrirory. 

Given rhe park\ enormou:. ~ize, it~ long history, 

and its statewide importance, ecord~ related to 

.VInunt McKinley National Park and irs succcs-

~or, Denali '\lntionnl Park and Prc~erve, arc far 

more numcrou~ than rhusc associated with any 

other Alaska park unir. The historian hoping to 

write the manngcmenr hi&tory for mosr Alaska 

pm·k units has n rea:,onablc expcrtatinn of lu{;ating and incorporating most of the pertinent record~ about that unit into a single-volume srudy. 

Hut such is nur d1e case as it relates rn the Mounr 

vkKinley/Denali park unit. So an obvious quest ion prcscm::. itself: -;hould this history attempt to 

olTcr rhc !>3rnc level uf detail as Mher Alaska park 

lw.;tork", or should completeness he sacrificed 

for hrcviry·~ sake~ Over the years, 1 PS historians 

have had wildly differing interpretations of their 

mandate; a recc11tly-published Grand Canyon 

'\lational P::1rk ad mini~>trativc history, for exampit\ is ju~t n6 pages long, while an administrative 

hist1)ry nf tiny Pipt' Spring ~nlitmal t'vltmument, 

abo in Arit.ona, run a daunting R47 pages. 

rhe author of rhi~ study has attcm ptcd to "tecr 

.1 middle course between these rwn exrremcs. 

It W;h felt important ro discu:.:. the essential 

details ahout this park's hi<;torical development, 

but ir was als1) rccogni.r.t•d that too much dcttil 

W<lttld make the tudy unwieldy and unusahle. 

Giwn that middle cour;,c. the history of the Mt. 

McKinley/Denali unit is longer rban most park 

historie&, and for that reaM>n it b being printed in 

twu separate volume.<;. Volume 1, containing eight 

chapters and Ct)mplt.:tcd in 2006, is a general pHrk 

hbtory f1>r year:, up until ll)llu; it is thu~ a history 

of Mount McKinley National Park, although lour 

specialized themes relmed w that hbtory Interpretation, re~ources management, mountaineering, and mincrab management have hc~·n omitted. Volume 2, containing ~ix chnptt•rs, provide~ 

a general history of Denali National Park anu 

Preserve (for the years 19Ro to the present), plus a 

detailed luok at the four the e~ noted ahovc. 

Dcfipitc the grcatcr-rhan-;wcrage length or rhi~ 

srudy, it is readily admirred thar hundn•ds if no! 

thousand!> of key docu m<.:nt~ were ov<.:rlonkcd 

during its preparation. Given those omi~sion~. 

many key events may have certainly. if inadv<.:rrcntly, been discussed eithcr briefly or not ar all. 

The sheer V<.Jiumc of ovcrlot>kcd record+> ..,orn ~ 

known. other~ a::.-yct-uncnrrhcd i:-. naturally 

an open invitation for futu re rC!>l'Hrchcr!> who, it 

is fervently hoped, will provide an incrcnsingly 

comprehensive and sophisticated trcat·ment of 

the park's history. 1(, assist tom1HTow\ hi~tt>ri 

ans, a brief gl1ide to potential research ;wenue~ 

has been included in a bibliographic nott' near 

the end of this volume. 

ffeface v 
Acknowledgements 

Although historical writing may initially appear 

to be· a solitary endeavor, it is in fact a ream effort, 

and l have been fortunate indeed to be able ro 

work with people who are smart, experienced, 

and generous with their time and talents. A large 

number of caring, committed individuals some 

in the Park Service, .some not have gone to great 

lengths to ensure that this story would be told 

accurately and with a h igh degree of objectivity. 

1-figh on this list are five individuals whose familiarity wit11 the park's history considerably eased 

the research process. T hey include William F.. 

Brown, the author of the park's histQric resource 

study, who has long been an inspiration to me, 

both personally and professionally; Kristen Griffin, whose acquisition of park archival files gave 

me an enormous head start; jane Bryanr, who has 

generously, and on uncounted occasions, shared 

her forty-plus years of park-related knowledge 

with me; Steve Carwile, a longtime park employee whose library, and his insight into park affairs, 

are irreplaceable; and William NancarrliW, who 

arrived at the park in June 1948 and has enriched 

the local communiry ever since. 1 have heavily 

relied on the source materials, opinions, anecdotes, and critical observations from all five of 

these individuals; some of these are reflected in 

the endnotes, some not. This study is, to a large 

extent, a func tion of theiJ· collective assistance. 

I am indebted to two park cmplt1yees for the 

graphics contained in this report. Geographic 

Information Systems specialist jo n Paynter, as in 

the previous volume, has produced the various 

maps for this study. And jane llryant, who is the 

acknowh.:dged cx.pt:rt on the park'~ hf1..torical 

r hotographs, graciously took on the enormous 

job of locating, scanning, placing, captioning, 

and crediting the large numher of photographs. T 

gratefully appreciate both of their efforts. 

Many others have helped along the way. Denali-area resident Tom Walker, for example, has 

written a number of books and articles about the 

park's cultural and natural history. Ann Kain, 

the park's cultu ral resource manager, has ablv 

assisted me on a number of occasions, and Jane 

Lakeman ha.<; gone out CJf her way to unearth fi les 

from the park archives. Bruce Men·ell at Loussac 

Library, and the Alaska Resource Library and 

Information Services staff (especially Sh aron 

Prien and Cathy Vitale), have taken a keen imercst in the study and guided me to a number of 

new sources. National Archives and Records 

Administration ~tatf in Anchorage, San Bruno, 

vi Crown Jewel of the North: An Adminis-trative History of Denali National Park and Preserve 

and College Park have bet'n eno mou~lv llt:lpfu.l. 1 have received consistent support frnm 

many colleagues in the agency's Alasb1 Rcgitmal 

Office: Ralph Tingey, Kev)n Apgar, Brad Richie, 

Bill Hcubncr, Chuck Gilbert, Martin l Jansen. 

Bob Sn·obc, Sarn Wcsscr,.Jcrry Kyle, Stephanie 

Stephens, and others. And $pecial thunl\." gt1 rn 

the park staff, who wurtcously rc~pondcd ro mv 

many requests fur obscure infum1atinn or difficult-to-locate historicnl document'>. 

I wish to single our for praise rhe cooperation 

I haw rccclwd from park superintendent:;, all 

the way from George Hall, a remarkable gentleman who scrvcu at the helm during the 1960~. 

to the present chief, Paul Anderson, who h<l ~ 

ably managed the park since earV 2.002. I thank 

all of these gGntlemen for the fo rthright, htlllt'~t 

discu:;sion~ they provided on a wide rMgc of 

park issues. l greatly appreciate the assit>tance 

of my two supervisors, Sande McD~.:rm >tt (nm\' 

in the lnrermountain Region office in Denver) 

and Ted Birkedal, who gaw me the qpportunity 

to devote rht> necessary time rn cnmpkrc t·hi:; 

study. I'd also like to thank my editorial advi~tll'~. 

all of whom are park empl(\yce . . Paul Andcr:-on, 

joe Van l--lurn, Ann Kain,jane Bryant, and Steve 

Carwile graciously ag•·eed to read over the entire 

manuscript, while Ingrid Nixon, Tom Meier, Guy 

Adema, Roger R\lbinson, and Phil Brcasc cdirt.:J 

individual chap[Crs and cun!'iderably improved 

the fina l product as a result. 
Abbreviations 

AAC American t\lpine Club 

AAI- Alpine Asccnrs lntcrnational, Tnc. 

ADP&G - Alaska Deparrment of Fish and Game 

A DOT- Alaska Department ofTransportation 

and Public Facilities 

AI DEA - Alaska Indusr:rial Development and 

Export Authority 

AlP - Alnskan Tndepcndence Party 

A l.C - Alaska Limesrone Corporation 

AKRO - Alaska Regional Office (NPS) 

AMG- Alaska Mountain Guides, Inc. 

ANCSA Alaska l arivc Claims Settlement Act 

ANHA- Alaska Natural History Association 

ANILCA - Alaska National fnrcrest Lands 

Conservation Act 

AOPA - Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association 

APG - Alaska Planning Group 

AR - Alaska Region (NPS) 

ARA - Automatic Retailers of America 

ARC- Alaska Road Commission 

ARCC - Alaska Region (NPS) Curatorial 

Co II ecti on 

ARG- Alaska Rescue Group 

ASA- Alaska State Archives 

ATCO- Alberra "Ji·ailer Company 

ATIA - Alaska Travel Industry Association 

ATV - aU-terrain vehicle 

BHS- Bureau of Biological Survey 

HLM - Bureau of Land Management 

BPR - Bureau of Public Roads 

CAKN Central Alaska etwork (inventory and 

Monitoring Program) 

CCF - Central Classified Files 

CD-ROM - compnct disk - read-only memory 

CFR - Code of Fedeml Rebrulations 

CIRl Cooklnlct Region, Inc. 

CMC - Clean Mountain Can 

CPSU - Cooperative Park Studies Unit 

CUL - Commercial Usc License 

DARC - Denali Administrative Record ~ 

Collection 

DCP - OC'velopment Concept Plan 

DE A - Denali National Park and PreserVt: 

DMRC - Denali Mountaineering Records 

Collection 

DNR- (Alaska) Department of Natural Resources 

DOT(&PF) - Department of Transportation (anJ 

Public f-acilities) 

DSC - Denver Service Center 

FA Environmental Assessment 

EIS- Environmental Impact Statement 

en - Endnote 

FH WA- Fedc:ral Highways Administration 

FJ REPRO - Fire Program lanagement (NPS) 

FLPMA Federal Land Polley and Management 

Act 

FY- fiscal year 

GM P- General Managcmc·nt Plan 

G 1'0 - General Prinring Office 

GVP.A - Golden Vnlley Elccrric As~ociarion 

HFC - Harpers Ferry Center (NPS) 

l l.fR - House joint Resolution 

HLRG High Lalitutc Rc~earch Group 

HSR- Historic Structure Report 

IBP - Incidenwl Rut>ine~s Permit 

I&M- inventory and monitoring 

ICOMOS - International Council on Monument'> 

and Sites 

ISTEA - lntermodal Surface Transportation 

EfHciency Act 

JKS- James K. Singleton (judge) 

JWS - joh n W. Sedwick (judge) 

LTEM - Long-lerm Environmental Monitoring 

MOMC - Mount McKinley National Park 

MORA - Mount Rainier National Purk 

MOU- Mcmoranc..lum of Understanding 

M PNAR- Master Plan Narrative 

MSLC- Murie Science and !.earning Center 

NARA ANC - National Archives and Reconh; 

Center, Anchorage 

NARA CP- National Arthiv<:s and Recurds 

Center, College Park, Md. 

NARA SB National Art hives and Records 

Center, San Bruno, Cali f. 

NARA SP - National Archives and Records 

Center, Sand Point (ScaltiL:), Wash. 

N EPA - National Environmt.:ntal Policy 1\cl· 

NOLS National Outdoor LeaJcr!>hip !:>chon I 

NPCA - National Park;, (and.) Conservation 

Association 

NPS - National Park Service 

TSB - National Tr:m:,portarion Safety Board 

N.W.T - North WcstTcrritorics 

ONR - Office of Naval Research 

ORV - off-road vd1icle 

PA - physician's assistant 

P.L. - Public Law 

PNRO - Pacific Northwest Regional Office 

(NPS/Seattle) 

PRJP- Park Restoration and Improvement:; 

Program 

R4 - Region four (N PS, based in San Francisw) 

RAC- (Subsistence) Regional Advisory c,nmcil 

RCC- Rescue Coordination Center 

RCR- Cultural Rest>uree!. Di\risinn (in the PS's 

Alaska Regional 01Ticc) 

RD Regional Director 

RG - Record Group 

RML ·- e~ource Management Library (at 

DENA) 

RS - Revised Sratures 

Abbreviations vii 
R\' - rccrcnriunal vl!hiclc 

SAR - Supc:rinrcndcnt\ Annual Report 

SCA - Sc rvicc Contract Acl 

SCA - Student Conservation A~~ociation 

SOCCC- South Denali Citizens Comultation 

Committee 

SJ R Senate joinr Re-..olurion 

SM R .)upcrinrcndcm's Monrhly Report 

SRC - Sub~tsrcnce Resource Commil!,ion 

SST <,weet ~mclling roilcr 

TEA-21 - Transportation Equiry Act ft1r the zp,r 

Ccnrury 

TJC - Technical Information Center(. P$). 

Denver 

'I'RAAK - Trails and Recreational Acces-. for 

Alm,ka (citizt>ns' advbory board) 

UA - Univt:rsity nf Alaskn (Fa rbank~) 

UAF University uf Ala~ka Fai ba k~ 

UNESCO - United Nations Educational, 

Scirntilk, and Cul11.tral O rganization 

USGS - U.S. Geological Survey 

VAC - Visitor cct:~o.c; Center 

WASO- Wa:-.hingrun (DC) Service Office, NP~ 

WSR - \Vllderness Suirability Review 

viii Crown Jewel of the North: An Administrative History of DEmali National Park and Preserve 
I have done my ~hare of camping armmd l\.orlh America and far 

hcyond ... hut I cannot recall another camping experience to 

match the one we enj{)ycu ... within the boundarie~ nf :vlount 

\1cKinley National Park. Individually and collectively, rhc cnmpgmunds have nothing: no clecrriciry or ho okup~. no bathhouses or 

playgrounds, nn commissaries or coke machint:.s, no moming milk 

and new~papcr deliveric~. nor even any running water exc~:pt in 

the nearest ~now- or glacier-fed tre<~ms. The individual camp~itcs 

<lrt! so f:1r apart that you may not even be ahlc to see your ncighhnrr; 

... [and] nn cnmpflre sing-ttlongs are held at night in summertime. 

,'vic Kinley i•m't a typical national park with acrivirics ami factlitie., rhm arc well nrgani;.ed and charred. There i<, a l>inglc winJing 

road rhat extend!> from rhe park enn·ancc and headquarters on 

the cast ~ide for about eighty miles we~rward to Wonder Lake and 

<1l'rumbling ghost town, Kantishna, just heynnd. But thor'~ all. 

There arc no !>purs or <;ccnic loops to drive and only a fraction of 

the road is paved. Tralnc control signs exist only at a few danger 

poinrs in order not to inrrudc on the roadside beauty .... There is 

nu network nf well-marked u·ails, either. A single visitor center ... 

..,ervc~ the eotin: park. 

So why camp ar .\1cKinley? Bccau~c it's !>imp!\ there. h i~ Ala:,kan 

wilderncs~ as it alwa~'S was, a place where visitors can hike and 

dimb ns they choose. exploring where they wbh <1nJ at their own 

puce .... It ls a park thut ~erious nutdnorsmcn can enjoy. 

Chnrlc:, "Jansen, ''The Pnrk Thatl las 'wthing:• 

Field a11d Stream, Mo~' 1971, pp. )'j, 190-')1. 

~ 
· .. .. .. 

-· 
The 1980 Alaska National Interest 

Lands Conservation Act added federal 

lands to Mt. McKin ley National Park 

.;~ nd renamed t he enlarged area 

Denali National Park and Preserve. 

NPS file, Denali National Park and 

Preserve 

Chapter Nine: Managing the Newly-Expanded 

Park and Preserve, 1981-1994 

Getting Started 

As noted in ChapterS, President jimmy Carter 

~igned the Ala~J.:a. ariunal Interest Lantis Conservation Act on December 2, I()So, culminating 

.1 long, ~omL'times hi ncr struggle over the f.:~rc uf 

m11n.: than nne hundred million acres of previouc;ly-tmdc1->ignated kdcralland in Ala:,ku. One 

denwnt in that hill Section 2o2(3)(n) addl·d 

more rhnn 2.') million acre' of national park 

lo Mount Mcl(inlcv National Park and added 

another I.J million acr~~s of national preserve; as a 

n.:sult, the riewly renamed Denali ~at al Park 

and Pn•>en'l' spn:ad out \lVCr almost 6.1 million 

aCI'L's of lnnd nn both the north and south sides 

of the al>k~, Range. On ih surface, Currer\ 

;.igning of rhe bill meant that the new park and 

preserve "V<h actually :>Omewhat c;maller than 

the previott1-o parklahd (composed of Mount 

McJ..:inley :'\arional Park and Denali 'Jational 

Jv1onumcnn had been. Bur hecausc Carrcr\ 

monument proclamations had heen temporary 

measures intended w provide interim rmnectiCJn 

until Congn:s!> completed it!> work, thl' National 

Pnrk Service and Congress had pwvided min imal 

funding durin!-\ tht: prcviuu;, twu yea ~ for managing the nnrillnal monument::.. \x.'irh the lnnds hill 

pa!>~ed, the N rs W3,.'\ finally able to contemplate 

long-term management()( an enlargcJ park unit. 

Park )en•icc officiab recugnit.ed that, due to 1he 

enormous acreRge that had just been added, rhe 

purpo!>t: of the new parklanJ was. in some way1. 

!>ubstantially difl'ercnt thru1 before. The 1917 Rct 

thnt esrab!i:,hed 1\\ount McKin ley National Park 

crvptically :.tared rhar rh<.: park wns "e!>tablished 

a:- a game refuge·· and that it also provided '·for 

recre:uion purpo:.c~ by the public anJ for rhc 

preservation of animals, birds, and fish om.l for 

the preserv:.Jtion of the natlJl·al curio!>itics and 

-,cenic beauty thL'I'C.:(lf:'' But when c~>ident Carter, in 1978, moved to c~tahlish Denali Natinn::rl 

1\1\onumcm on land:, north. \\'L'St, and ::.outh of 

rhc existing p;trk. he fe lt tlw need ru prm.luct· 

an elaborarc rationale rc> ju:;tify his action.· His 

prod~ mation thcr<.:fore gav~: a derai led description of rhe need w prnrecr 1) rhc enrire mountain 

mas~if. 2) the various glacier!> flowing )>ourhward 

from the AI:L..,ka Range, the "geologically 

unique" Cathedral Spir~.:s. area, .f) the habitat for 

the McKinley caribou herd, 5) the '!i1klat River's 

Warm Spring~ area. and 6) "the unique ~ub::.blc.:ncc culture: ,,f the local rcsidenr-,.''t Language 

in U1e 19H<1 Ala!>ka ~ationa l Intcrc.<.r Lands 

Conservarion Act (AI\!!LCA), by contrast, did 

not dem:1nd rh~: :.a me degree of legal ju~rification 

tor protecting the new acreage ~u roundi g lh~· 

exi!>ting park. The ad rherl'f'ore stated thnt 

The park additions and pre~~.:rve shall 

be managed for the fo llm.ving purposes. among other~; ·n, protect and 

interpret rhe tnlirc mountain ma.~!.if, 

and addirionRI scenic mounrain peaks 

anJ formation~; and to protect habitat 

for, and populations of fish and 

wildlife including, but not limited w, 

brown/grinly bea ~, mO<)~t·, carihou, 

D<lll cep, wolve!>, ::.wa ~ and 1>1hcr 

warerfuwl; nnu ro provlc.lc continued 

upporrunitie~. including rea!>onab!e acces1>, fi1r mou ntain climbing, 

mountaineering and other wildcrnc~~ 

recreational nctivi ie~

The purpo~c~ in the 1980 act difft:red from Lho~e 

in rhu 11)7R pmclamation in o;everal way~>. The 

1980 aCL\ reference tl) the "entire mountain 

ma~s f," f<)r example, effectively cumpa~~cd the 

first th ree urpose~ laid out in the 1978 prodama 

tion. The 19Ho act broadened the protection of a 

specific caribou herd to include a broad "pccrrum of fish anc.l wildlife. However, it omitted 

any mention of t he 'fi1klat Warm lip ring~>, because 

the 1980 bound<~ ric~ did nor include that area. 

And ~ub~i>::t~.:ncc wa>. pmviJcd fi.>r in the t980 acl, 

though it was no longer an expre:-.s purpo:-e fnr 

the cnla g~.: J parkland. 

A~ nnted in Chapter 8. it had become apparent 

by the late summer of rlJSO that Congress would 

pass an Alaska lands bill. On that ba!-ob, Alask;1 

Area Direcror john Cuok' set inrn motion a pro 

t:e~s rhat rusultcd in the preparation of vacant:~' 

annuu nccmcnr!> fur ~urc in endcnt!> and mhcr 

-..rafl' in the vuriou" newly-established parkland-.. 

During tbar same period, the early retirement c1f 

Superintendent Frank Betts at Mou nt McKinley, 

in March 1y~o, ml'ant tbar a ~.: pl accmcn t was 

needed there as well. PS ranger Charles A. 

(Chuck) Rudge unril then th ~: ranger-in-charge 

at volatile Wrangell-St. Elias :"Jational Monu 

rncnt ably serwJ a~ the park\ nctingsupcrinwndcnr for almost :.ix months durin~ rhc :spring 

and ~ummer nf l')go. Hw..lge, however, h in line 

to hccomc angell-~t. Elias·:, fi r.,l supcrinttn 

dent once Congress Ct)mpleted it'> ddibcra ion~.'· 

As a result, Conk ca~t about for a new ~upc intell 

Jent. After ~crecn ng numerou!>-applicant, , h~: 

hired Rnhl!rt C. "ClAy" Cunningham, a hiologb1 
Superintendent Robert "Clay" 

Cunmngham is shown here with his 

secretary, Marsha Karle, in July, 1982. 

He was the first superintendent to 

administer the newly-enlarged and 

renamed Denali National Park and 

Preserve. DENA 9025, Denali National 

Park and Preserve Museum Collection 

who at that time was the Operation~ and f\ lain -

tenance Chief at Gateway National Recreation 

Area in New ·York and New Jersey. Cook hired 

Cunningham, in part, because of hi~ ability to 

think and act independently; he also sought that 

same quality in the otht•r superintendent~ he 

hired in the week~ and month!> after ANILCA 

wn~ ~igncd. Cunningham began hi~ job on August 2.4, 19R0, knowing full well that the management of more than 4,ooo,ooo acre~ ~urrounding 

the exi~ting park which wa), then managed 

minimally, and primarily out of Anchorage 

would ~oon be his responsibilitv.l 

As Cunningham ~ertlcd into hb new p(bition, 

he o;oon rccogni.~ed that Congre~s apparently 

looked with ftwor upon Denali, with the result 

being that the park'" budget increased dramatically during the early 1qSo~. During the 1979 

fiscal year. Mount McKinle~··s budget had been 

$1.6million, but a year later it shot up mon: than 

a million dollar~. Jn the wake of ANTLCA, the 

budget incrca:-.cd by almo~t n half-million dollar>., 

and during the twt> succeeding year~ it rose more 

than S7oo,ooo each yenr. the result being that in 

1983, the park\ budget wa~> a lofty S4.6 million 

almost three..: time'> what it had hcen in 1979.' The 

incrca~cd budget, in turn, meant that additional 

fund~ were availahle for staff (hoth permanent 

and seasonal), equipment, and other necc<,sary 

item!>. 

An incrca~ed budget. however, did little to 

aUUI es~ the 11lUI I)' CUilCerll>o related tu huW the 

newly-expanded park and the newly-established 

prc:.ervc should he managed. Park :-.tatr knew, in 

the wake of Carter's ll)7g proclamations, that the 

agency had cobbled together a set (If management regulations that provided ~pt'dfic advice 

on how the newly e~tahli;,hcd Alaska national 

monuments would ht· mana~ed. J'hert· wa~ 

a general recognition that, in !-.nmc way,, the 

new national momnncnt land:. wuld he man 

aged similar to>-! PS unit:, elsewhl're. Bur in 

Alaska, long-established I ifcways demanded that 

management p11lidc~ reflect distinct approaches 

to ~ubsr!.tence, accc..,s, cabin occupmK~ . vehicle 

usnge, and kindred matters. Interim regulation>. 

to addrc-.;s these matters had taken l'lfecr in late 

December 197R. and a proposed rule was is~ued 

in june 1979.'' These remained in effect until 

ANILCA\ pas~agc. Soon afterwarJ. however, 

an N PS team began work on establishing a new 

~ct of regulation~; some of rho-,e (i.L'., most of the 

~cction~ pertaining to public U'>C und recreation) 

would be applied ro all of Alaska\ park area:., 

while other~ (..,pcdtkallv the '>l'ctions rclared ro 

suhsbtence) would apply llnly in tho.,~: park area~ 

designated for ~uhsistcnce usc. (:\r Denali, sub-

.,istem:c..: uses. were ~an~:tioncd in Denali l'\arional 

Preserve and in the newly-expanded portion of 

Denali National Park; rhc "old park," howen:-r, 

would remain off limit~ rn ::.ub),btcnce acrh'-

iry.)'" ln order to ensure that the public would 

have regulations rhat rcficcrcd Congre>.~\ inrcnt 

(a'> o;tatcd in ANILCA), rhc NPS rushed our a 

proposed rule in Janunry r9S1. Till' agency then 

had a public commenr period, which included 

a ~erie~ of public meeting:-., prim to tinaliting it'> 

regulations in June 1981." 
On June 15, 1981, an eastbound tour 

bus rolled off the park road just east 

of Thorofare Pass, resulting in the 

death of three passengers. Brad Ebel 

Collection 

Cunningham and mo~t of the other personnel 

who supervi~ed the ncwly-e:-tabli!>hed parkland!. had experience that was limited to the 

"Lower 48" parks. A;, a result, many were un~u e 

regarding the nuance~ of the new law and of the 

regulations that followed. Fornmarely, however, 

Cunningham was able to enlist the con!.idcrablc 

talent:. of Dr. Lois Daile-Molle, "vifc of the park's 

resource management ~pecialist. Dr. DaileMolle, an accomplished researcher, compi led a 

three-ring b inder of legi;,lative and admini!>trntive matcriab pertaining to ANJLCA and the 

subsequent rcgulatiom.. That compilation was 

repeatedly u!-.ed to amwer questions related to 

the management of Denali\ newly-acquired 

parkland; in time, superintendents of many od1er 

Alaska parks and monuments also benefited from 

the materials that she had compiled." 

The 1981 Bus Accident and its Ramifications 

As noted in Chapter 8, the 1970l> witnessed a 

major upsurge in park visitation; between 1971 

and 1980 the number of recreational visitors to 

Mount Md.:inley National Park rose from about 

4'),000 to more than 215,000, an almost fivefold 

increa~c in nine year!>. In 1971, prior to the opening of the Park~ Highway;• private automobiles 

comprbed most of the traffic along the park road, 

but beginning the fo llowing year, park road traltic 

~hrank considerably and con!-.i~ted primarily of 

either PS-!>pon~ored shuttle bu!>t:!-. or on e~

~ioner ~ponsored [OUr buses. Mo~t or the hu:, 

driver~ along the park road during the 1960~ 

and 1970s compiled an t:nviable ~afcry record, 

but ~everal accident~ had resulted in pa'>),enger 

injuries, and a 1974 accident resulted in an elderly 

visitor's death. 

In 1981, more park visitors rhan ever before came 

to Denali National Park. The flow oft ho ... e 

vi!.itors in and out of the park, however, wa~ 

marred on june 15, when the park road witnessetl 

its wor~t bus accident ewr. That evening, ju~t 

after 11 p.m., an ea~tbound tour bw. operated by 

Outdoor World, Ltd. rolled off the road ju'>t wt:.,t 

of Thorofare Pass, tipped over on it~ c,ide, and 

rolled down the hillside. (The mi!-.hap look place 

at mile 64-5 on the park road, abour two mile., 

cast of Eielson \ 'bitor Center and within a few 

hundred yard~ of the 1974 bu!> accident site.) ·1\vo 

elderly women died at rhe scene and a third died 

ar Fairbank~> Memorial Hospital; another 28 wert: 

injured. three seriously.' ' A National Tram.portation Safety Board (NTSB) investigative team 

1-.00n arrived at the ~ite; the road\ overal l !>afcry, 

however, was not in que~tion. Shunk hu'> traflic 

continued to Eiel!.on antl beyond, as it had hefore. lour bmc~:o, however, immediately ~topped 

Chaplet Ntne. Manag•r•g lht> N<"wly-Fxranded Pdrk <1t1d Pt~••. ·tv•·. l'JRl l'l<l•l 3 
Road surface dust. shown here 

on Teklanika Flats, was one of the 

park road problems documented 

by Federal Highway Administration 

studies. Federal Highway 

Administration, from "1984 Road 

Improvement Study" 

serving points west of Stony Hill, a practice that 

continues to the present day.'' Recogni;;ing that 

the TSB report would take months to complete, 

and also in response ro statements from those 

involved in the mishap, the park concessioner 

assumed all responsibility for the accident and 

settled the resuJting claims.'" In 1983, however, 

the concessioner sued the federal governmcm 

hascd on the idea that the TPS was negligent 

in the road'~ design, construction, and maintenance. That case dragged on for years, and the 

NPS ultimately assumed some financial responsibil ity.'7 

The NPS, during this period, was in the midst of 

reassessing the condition of the park road and 

evaluating ways to improve it. In early 1978, Congress became sufficiendy concerned about the 

problem that it directed the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to complete an engineering 

reconnaissance study of the road. That study, 

completed later that year, gave the NPS five alternatives; they ranged from the minimally-intrusive 

application of a dust palliative to the construction of a 40-foot-wide paved road. Each of these 

alternatives were applied in one of two scenarios: 

if road gravel would be obtained within the park, 

and if external gravel sources (primarily from 

sites near Kantishna and Healy) were utilized. 

The FHWA recommended no specific alternative. NPS regional office personnel then wrote 

an addendum to the report in which they framed 

the FHWA within a broader context: "The most 

difficult aspect of managing the ... Park road 

is that d1e public disagrees as ro what the road 

should be. Views are polarized; solutions for 

4 llown Jt•w•·l ol lh(• Nor ill An Ad lllnr~lfcl iiVI" Hrstory of DE>nah Nal•onal Pnr¥ anrl PrPSI'IVP 

even relatively simple problems on the mad have 

become difficult because they a rc perceived as a 

prelude to more drastic o r undesirabk actions." 

The addendum then li~red a litany of po!-~ible 

actions, along with d1e various stakeholders who 

supported or opposed each of them. TheN PS, 

significantly, also failed to support any specific 

alternativt·. Perhap:; bccaLJSe Congre!>s was 

then in the midst of tic bating far larger Alaska 

actions- those which resulted in A II .CA- no 

ncar-term changes took place pertaining to the 

improvement or maintenance of the park road.'' 

Soon after the N PS released its February 1979 

report, the agency launched a sy~re mwidc Road 

Inspection and Inventory Program (RIP), and in 

1980 FH\XIA per.;onnel completed a Road Inventory and Needs Srudy- mucb lengthier than its 

1978 study- that numerically rated the sullicicncy 

of structu ral, safety, and service characteristics 

along the park road. The studv noted that the 

quality of the roadbed diminished steadilv as the 

traveler headed wcsr. A major cause of rhe road's 

poor condition, moreover, was the lack of gmvel. 

Traffic-generated dust 1.>n the road easr of the 

Teklanika River had removed almost all .surface 

material, and the road from Teklanika to Wonder 

Lake had had no upgrading with additional surface material since the 1930S, making it '"dilficult 

through normal grading procedures to maintain a 

suitable riding surface." Blowing dust, moreover, 

continued to be a nagging problem.''' 

Agency personnel responded to the problem hy 

recommending that the park commence a new 

road maintenance program that involved the 
In 1982 a gravel crushing plant was 

set up on Stony Creek, where it 

operated from 1983 through 1985. 

Brad Ebel Collection 

addition of new gravel; this solution allowed the 

park road to maintain its scen ic, rustic charncrcr, bur it did not involve additional widening 

o r paving. That gravel, moreover, would be 

obraincd within the park. The agency, therefore, 

sought additional funding for the purchase of 

rock crushing equipment. Congress, in response, 

included S8oo,ooo fo r that purpose in a supplemental appropriation bill that war, signed into law 

on june 4· 1981."' 

By the rime of the june 1981 bus accident, therefore, the agency was well aware that portion~ 

of rhc park road were in poor shape, and it had 

taken initial steps toward its improvement. It 

did not, however, feel thm it wa culpnble for the 

bus rollover. Shortly after the accident, an PS 

spokesperson (according to a news account) 

stated that the park road was ·'safe if driven at 

mode nne speeds;· and more specilkally that "the 

section of road where the tour bus overturned 

... wnsn't seen as n trouble spot on the d irt and 

crushed-gravel road.""' The accident, however, 

mny have spurred the agency to speed up its road 

im provement plans. Later that year, personnel 

from rhc PS's Dt:nver Service Cenrer began 

work on an cnvironmenral assessment (EA) 

for the park's road rehabilitation p rogram; that 

document, which apparently reiterated FHWA 

recommendations that had been made prior ro 

the accident, was completed in February 1982. It 

stared that the park road, west of the Teklanika 

River, was "between 18 and 24 feet" wide, and 

recommended that "the established width of the 

road ... be retained [at! approximately 20 feet in 

width between rhe shouldt:rs." It further recommended that 

The existing gravel surface would be 

rehabilitated through rhe placement 

of additio nal gravel fine;,, and coarse 

base and shoulder material in deteriorated section::.. In general, the road 

would not be upgraded or widened 

beyond the previously establ i!-.hed 

standard. Gravel material from inpark source~ i~ avai lable in adequatt: 

quality and quantity ro produce an add itio nal 4 to 6 inche~:. of surfncc marcrial for the R6.6-mile-long road ... . In 

some ~mall sections the road would be 

raised by as much as 48 inches during 

rchahilitarion efforts. a 

The EA's preferred alternative also suggested potential grnvcl ;,ourct:~. It called "for the uti lization 

of borrow material fn1m exi:,ting gravd p it<. and 

streamside source!> along the park road, as wel l as 

stockpiled material in the l(>nn of 'river training' 

or channeling structures herein referred to as 

Cttapter Nine Manilqtnq th£' Newly-Et.pand~d Park ~nd Pre\ervP, 1981-1994 5 
The park road maintenance crew 

began widening Thorofare Pass in 

1984. Brad Ebel Collection 

'berms."' lt noted that front-end loaders would 

feed ·'gravel material ... into a mobile rockcrushing/screenjng unit." The processed gravel 

would then be taken (if po:-.sible) directly to the 

road site; material not immediately used "would 

he stockpiled in previously disturbed pit and 

~crape sites unnoticeable to travelers along the 

road." The EA identified eight difl'erent potenrial 

borro"v site~; they ranged from the Jenny Creek 

area (mile 10.2) we~t to Stony Creek Terrace (mile 

59.8). Alternatives that recommended the usc of 

gravel source~ either outside of the park or in the 

Kantishna area were ruled out due to cost factors, 

and an alternative recommending that the road 

be paved was rejected for various environmental 

reason:,.~·. 

Once the report was completed and approved, 

the park- thanks to support from Sen. Ted 

Stevens- received an additional Ssoo,ooo congressional add-on ro purchase rhe needed rock 

crusher. As a resu lt, park maintenance crews 

bought a crusher from the U.S. l avy in late 1981 

and set it up at Stony Creek Terrace during the 

summer of 1982."-l 

NPS officials, who were unsure where gravel 

for the park road might be obtained, asked the 

HIWA in late 1981 to weigh in with a new study 

that would provide a "professional appraisal of 

rock sources along the park road." They abo 

i'i ( IOWI1 )t'WPI nf til,. North 1\n AdnHJll'>tliltJVP IIJ'>tmy of DerMfl N,liiOOdl Park and Preservr 

asked for ··profe:.sional assistance in survey, 

minor realignment, dc~ign of road protile anJ 

formulation of a construction plan."., That 

request resulted in a park road improYcmcnt 

study, which FHWA ofiicials worked on during 

the 19R2 field season. That same year, Congress 

passed the Surface Transportation Act of 198.2,"' 

and just a week before its passage, N PS oliicials 

decided to convene a Park Road Standards lask 

force which, specifically, would review on a 

national level- the agency park road standard~ 

that had first been formulated in 1968. The 1968 

road standards report provided general guidance; 

it did not, however, mandate a specific width for 

any portion of Denali's park road. 

In May 1983, in the midst of the task force's work, 

the Fli \XI A completed its d raft road improvement srudv for the Denali park road and asked 

r PS officials at the park, Alaska Regional Ollicc, 

and Denver Service Center to review it. 'I The 

draft report recommended a minimum uniform 22-foot road width between 1cklanika and 

Kanrishna, which was two feet wider than DSC 

had recommended in its February 19R2 EA. 1 PS 

officials were then asked to comment on rhc 

report, and Superintendent Cunningham on june 

15 recommended to other N PS officials that about 

29.9 miles of the 34-4 miles of park road between 

the 'lcklanika River and Eidson Visitor Center 

should have a "top width" of 2-1 feev~ (The park 
In the summer of 1986 the rock 

crusher was moved from Stony 

Creek to the alluvial fan of a small 

creek near the Toklat Road Camp. 

NPS Roads Office Collection, Denali 

National Park and Preserve 

superintendent may have suggested a wider road 

due to recommendations that the NPS task force 

was providing- which called for a .24-foot road 

for light-duty gravel roads with tour bus rraflk'"- or he may have simply erred on the side of 

caution because the park, in the past ten ye<lrs, 

hnc! endur('d r;wn cara~trnphic bus accidents on 

a narrow, winding portion of the park road.) 

Other NPS officials agreed with Cun ningham's 

assessment, and the final FH WA report, which 

was dated February 1984, called for a 24-foot 

roadbed (except in ''rugged terrai n" areas, where 

greater widths might be possible) for the 31-mile 

stretch of road betv,reen the Teklanika River and 

Thorofare Pass.!'' 

During thc ~ummer of 1983, gravel extraction operations began. (This was necessary to provide 

much-needed gravel for normal road maintenance, but also for additional materials should 

widening be necessary.) Wally jones, a mechanic 

brought up from Gateway National Recreation 

Area, supervised the Stony Creek lerrace gravel 

crushing operations; these operations continued 

throughout the 1983 season and for the next two 

summers as well. Meanwhile, officials in the 

PS's regional office reviewed the park's decision regarding road widths. Perhaps in search of 

a middle ground, they asked the FHWA fo r "further srudy'' in 1984 of ''steep and unstable areas at 

Eielson Bluffs, Polychrome Pass and Sable Pass:' 

all of which had been proposed for widening." 

The agency, as requested, provided the NPS d1e 

prel iminary draft of a feasibility study for upgrading the park road at these sites. This study was 

quietly shelved.\.' 

The f'[ I WA Road Improvement Study- both in 

its draft and fina l forms- had recommended four 

priorities for widening and othcrwi~e improving the 31 .nile::. of road between 'lcklanika and 

Tho rofare Pass, and based on those prioritic-., 

Cunningham asked his road crew!> to begin 

widening, in the ~ummer of 1981, the ) . .2-mi lc 

segment betwccn Stony Hill and Eicbon. (Thi.-. 

was the S(Xtion of road wh('re hoth th(' '974 and 

1981 bu~ accident:-. had taken place.} During the 

following two summers, crewf; continued their 

work on that 5egmcnt. In 1985, after thc segment 

was completed, road crews were di:-patched to 

next-highest priority area, the cight-mile !>trctch 

of road between the Tekl:lnika River and Sable 

Pass (which included Igloo Canyon, where 

overflow icc problem~ had long bcdcviled ~pring 

road-opening crew~ . But in mid-August 19R5, 

Cunningham haltcd work on the !:>CCond profccr 

because the approved improvement program in 

Igloo Canyon called for up to 48 inchc!> of new 

material, and he was chagrined to !iCC thar such 

a deep fill wa:s creating an unacceptably widc 

road corridor.H Given that change of heart, the 

remainder of FHWA's park road improveml·nt 

program was abandoned. 

In 1986, the rock crusher was moved ea~t to the 

alluvial fan adjacent to the western Toklat River 

bridge- another of the approvcd 1q82 extraction sites- and a smal l amount of material was 

processed there, to be u~cd in normal road maintenance work. In addition, the gravel screen -

ing plant was moveu to the long-estahlished 

Teklanika pit (mile .28.0}; because of d1e excellent 

mate rial available there, "only minimal cru~h ng 

and screening·· was needed. In later year-;, park 

maintenance crews continued to usc the 'lcklanika pit. But hecau~l' of provision~ in the 1982 ruad 

improvemcnr plan. Teklanika'1> gravel was u-,cd 

r)nly for annual maintenance work .•1 
A park road maintenance crew 

replaced the wooden bridge at Hogan 

Creek with two large culverts in 1983. 

NPS Roads Office Collection, Denali 

National Park and Preserve 

8 Crown Jewt'l of the North· An Adrn1n1strativc History of Denah NatiOnal Park nnd PrPSPrve 
It b abo impurranr ru noll: that the ... arne plan 

ning cll"ort that identified the poor condition 

of the park road alf>o pointed out the Jismal 

condition of many of the bridges in the mad 

c:orritltlr . .-\t the time of A'J I LCA's pas!>agc only 

om: britlgc alon!! that routt: the Igloo Creek 

Rridgc.:, 34 mil<:!' "'e~t of the !)arks Highway waf. 

IL-~~ than .w vcar::. ukl, amlrnauy of the I'Clll<.tilling hndgt"> were treated rim her hridg<:'> that were 

a1 or beyond thdr replaccmt:nl agt:. A broad 

cro~~-~ection of interc~ts Kanti1-.hna miner::.. 

park ~~~1ff. the general public, hue, drivers, and 

FIIWA ~tatf agreetl thar ~cveral of the~e bridge.~ 

nec.:dt.!tl to be.: either replacetl or repaired. A team 

t)f l'IIWA engineer., whtl inspected tht• park'::. 

Vlll'lllUS hritlges m rqSo con<.:urred with thnr 

as~essment.ll A~ early as H)70,I·JIWA per~onnd had hl'com..- l'Ol'l<:crncd about the ~tn1ct1..1ral 

stahility of the ~avage River Bridge, a wooden 

tn.:!=ttlc that t.latcd from llJ)I. That agency had 

repaired the 2K4-font-h,ng bridge in 197'>• but by 

Jl)/{o 11tricials recogni1ed that the bridge neetlcd 

to be rcrlaccd.1

" 

(roadc.!u by a gr:wdy-wonled Fll \XI A bridge-inspection n·pon, concern turned inw acrion in 

Jum: 1'f I<)HI, when Congrcs~ pa~s.ct.l a supplemental funding hill that provided S176,oon to 

replace the ~avagc River bridge.'' Work on the 

hridge wa~ completed in 19H1. By this time, adJitionall'und~ were being provilled to replace 

other bridge;,. Between 191·i2 and 1985, at k•ast 

nine smull bridge~ were tor11 out and replaced 

with large cu lverts. '~ Then. Juring the ~tunmers 

l)f sq8h and 1987, contractor~ working for thl' 

FH\XIA rcplaceJ the two ma~sivc 'fi>kl:ll River 

bridge~ each ~orne 410 feet long a-, wdl a& 

the Moose Crrck bridgl' m•ar Wondt:r Lake.'" 

A~ a result of that masstve ~cries ol proJe<.:t~, tlw 

park mad hy rh~: entl of rqR7 sported ~ted or 

rt'inforceJ·connetc bridges that were fullv in 

conformance with fcc.lt:ral guide! in~. During tht: 

twcntv years that have elap~cd since that time, 

none of thc~e bridge\. ha!> been replaced, and 

thcv huve renminecl sufficiently strong thm the 

most recent r.woy) impcctinn report!. huvc notctl 

..til •>fthe park hr1dges have an e-.timated remaining life of 2.0 year-. nr rnore.l•• 

Renewing the Park Concessions Contract 

Throughout the 19Xos and on into the ry()OS, 

per hap~ the biggest challenge ar rhe park and 

certainly the isslll: with the highest public vi~­

ihility wns how to pnllec:t the park ~ values 

in the face of increasing vbirarion. As noted in 

Chapter 8, recreational vi~itation ro the park had 

t.oomed up from l-!1-l,ooo in 1972. (the fir~! ~urn · 

mer after tlw Park~ ll ighway had opened. and 

the lint Yl'Ur in which rhl• pork ro~H;l was rlml'd 

ro most pnvatc \'chicle:-) up to 2.r6,ooo in rq8o. 

The ll)8o:-. brought on l'Ven higher visitation (sec 

Appendix A); in 1984 more than 39s,ooo people 

visited Denali • ational Park and Pr!.!serve, and 

in 198K thur number exceetled )l)2,ooo. Park 

staff were well awan.: rhat thesc visitor'>, t.lespitc 

their high volume, had wml! to Denali to -;eek 

what, ro many of them, wn~ a wildeme~s setting: 

sum it vistas, wi ltllirc, an uncluuered landscape, 

and other values rhat were <.:t'ntrnl to the goa l~"> :>ct 

forth in the park lebri:,latitm. Recognit.ing that the 

agcnq needed to provit.lc vi~itors with a quality 

pari... experience, NP~ Maff did their hest tluring 

thi., period to provide that experience while 

protecting the park's natural value~. 

When Congress wa~ tldiberating the.! Alask:1land-. 

act during the late I<J]OS, it was well aware thar 

ph1oning ft•r the n~:w r•1rk~ (,_•r Ji.•r th~: ~.:xpandcd 

areas of existing parks) was a key aspect of the 

parks' ~ucccss. A'i> a n:.,ult, Section qor of the 

bill that President Carter signed in Decem her 

1980 stated that rhe agency needed to "tlcvclop 

and transmit to the appropriate Committees ol 

the Congrc:-.<t a con5crvation and management 

plan'' for each new or expanded unit· and have it 

complc.:ted wrrhin a fivc-yeur rime frame. " 

Bur because of the park's dramatically increasing 

visitation during rhi~> period. the agency did not 

need a congressional nudge to begin a pbnning 

pmces:o.. In March 1980, planners from the.! Denvr.:r ~erviCL' Center began the gene ral management planning pn1<.:css for the park, and n task 

directive for tJ1e project wa:s igncd on May 30.

4' 

DSC pcr~onnel recogni~cd that the preparation 

of a GM P would require a multi-year efl'ort. 

hut because of the park's exploding visitation, a 

nmn.: immcdi:m: plnnning proccs'i> was needed ro 

adt.lre-.s development-related prohlcms. Agency 

plannerc,, therefore, decidetl that the.: best ncar 

term action was the preparation of a ~upplc.:­

ment to the park·~ interim development concept 

plan. (Agency officials had approved that plan in 

\tlarch 1t)76, hur few of its recommendation~ had 

heen actc.:d upun .)'l 

The primary impcru!. for the c,upplcmenr to the 

mrcrim DCP wa ... the pressing need to i~~Ul' a new 

parJ.. concc~~ iom cont met. t\s norctl in curlier 

chapter:-., Mr. McKinlt:y National Park Company 

had -.ign~:d a twenty-year conces5inn!> contract 

with the :-JPS in September 1967, and since thar 

riml! lhc contract had changed hands to U.S. 

Natmal Re~uurces (rgyo), Outdoor World (1972), 

and ARA Scrvic~. lnc. (tenS). The turnover in 

companie~ meant that the.! park conce~sion grew 

from a fairlv modc~rlv capitalized operation to 

one in which it became on increasingly smoll parr 

of R IA rg.l'-sr:Jif' sl'rvirc~~ prnvic!N. This tn!ncl 

wn:. indicative of what wn-. taking place at NP!> 
George Fleharty had a long t enure as 

concessions representative. from the 

late 1960s to his retirement in 1989. 

Butterfield Photo, DENA 9021, Denali 

National Park and Preserve Museum 

Collection 

<.:onccs::.ions operation::. throughout the country. 

\X! hat made th<.: o.;ituation distinct ar Denali, however, was that the on-l>itc conces!>ions reprcscnrativc ever since the late 1960s had been the same 

individual: George Flehartv. Fleharty combined 

his business expcrrise with an obvious love for 

rhe park, and because he was effective as both a 

company representati\'C and in his dealings with 

N PS per~onnel, he wa:> a welcome, long-term 

presence at the park throughout this period. He 

would remain at the park, in fact, until hi~ retirement in 1989 .... 

/\I! hough ARA Scn icc~. in 1980, srill had seven 

years to go on its concessions contract, the NPS 

moved to establbh a new contract for two rcasons. First, ARA had unsuccessfully attempted 

to establish a new twenty-ye.'l! comract back in 

1978, when the company was in the process of 

purchasing Ourdoor World. In addition, NPS 

officials belatedly recognized that the "temporary" hotel that had been hastily constructed 

during the wimcr of 1972-73- in rhe wake of the 

~cprember 1972 tire-had attained a measure of 

permanence and rhac the agency had nn plans ro 

replace it anytime soon. Agency officials further 

recogni~:ed that they wanted to effect some improvements to the hotel area, many of which they 

hoped would be paid for by the conce.<;sioner, 

and that the concessinner was ~eeking a longterm contract in order m justify any major new 

investments:'\ Inasmuch as the concessioner had 

already con~tructed a new hotel just outside the 

park (the McKinley Chalets, which had opened 

I!J r ruw11 h'W(~I• ollil(' Nortli An Adilllltt>lrauve H1storv ul De1rali National Pill k aml Preservf' 

in 1978 and had expanded in succeeding years}, 

the concessioner did not attempt tll prc.S!>trre the 

~PS into replacing the i\ ld~inh:y Park Hot~.: I 

with a more modern, sophi<.ticalcd facility. ''' 

Given that scenario, NPS otliciab from Denver 

arrived at the park in ll)i'lo In work on the strpplcmcnr ro the interim DCP, which wa~ published 

in February 1981. The document listed a seric!> of 

problems in the hotel/depot area; thc!->c problems were familiar to most park \ isitors and had 

bel!n discussed among park ollicials since llJ?tl 

if not before. They included 1) replaci ng the 

cooccssioner's din-floor bus shelter with a new, 

larger bus maintenance fnciliry, 2) replacing tht· 

conccssioner's housing cumple"X (in "the mead 

ows'' area) with n larger complex rhar is srrucrurally sound and meet~ all health and safety wdes, 

3) expand ing the hotel coffee shnp and replating 

the inadequate, year-uld · x 6o· "circus tent" 

with a proper site for N PS interpretive progrum::., 

4) improving facilities for backpacker::., both at 

the hostel and the Morino W<11k-in campground. 

and 5) rcas~cssing the appearance and function~ 

of both the filling station/general store and the 

hotel's k1ading /One area. The agency laid llUt 

a suggested "long range de\'dupmcnt concept'' 

with a series of intended outcome~. hut the document made no specific recommendations on 

how, or by whom, these improvements should he 

underwritten. There wa.; an implil:it recognition, 

however, that the park concessinncr would need 

to absorb many of thc'>e costs u::. purt of any new 

concessions contract.ll 

On February .20, shortlv <lfter olnl·ials had issued 

the Supple//le/1/ w the lnteri/11 Del ~l<>[>lllt'/1/ ( :(111-

cepi Phw, the agency announcet.l l'ia the fedl'nd 

RL'gister d1at ir proposed "to ncgutiatt· a conce~­

sion contract with ARA Services dba Outdta)r 

World Ltd." at Denali for a .:w-year period. Les::. 

U1an a month later. Interior Department olikiuls 

"found ir necessary to revi~e eertain require· 

mt•nts of the proposed contract.'' It in\'itet.l any 

outside intcrc~r~ to submit new bids, bur cautioned that the concession cr. due to provisions 

in the 1965 Concessions Policy Act, was "entitled 

to he given preference in the renewal of the contract and in the negotiation of a new ct>ntract." 

Interested parties were given until May t. Jl)til w 

submit proposals to the N PS.~' 

Several months later, PS and AR.A. olliciab mer 

to hammer out a new contract. Superintendent 

Cunningham, in a recent interview, rcculled thnt 

he and a concessions speciali~t from the regional 

oftlce met in Anchorage for a week-long meeting 

with Fleharty and five Philadc phia ha~cd ARA 

attorneys. He noted that "it vvas David and Goli· 

atb. And I ~at at the table, anJ I was determineJ 
The original park entrance road 

passed the concession-run gas station 

and mercantile, on the right, and the 

Alaska Railroad depot. in the center. 

Federal Highway Administration, 

from "1984 Road Improvement Study" 

to listen for four days before l uttered a word." 

What came out of that meeting was a 20-year 

concession:, contract that was signed on September 26, 1981. A~ pan of the pact, ARA agreed ro 

underwrite a S2.1 million building and improvement program. 1t also rewrote the relationship 

between the conces~ioner and the shuttle bus 

system; whereas the concessioncr previously 

had an exclusive right to operate the shuttle bus 

svstem and was guaranteed a 10 per cent profit 

margin, the new contract removed the exclusiverights clause. In return, however, the franchise 

fcc rate dropped in half (from r.s'Yc, to 0-75'V., of 

the conccssioncr's gross receipts) along with 

other favorable considcrations.4'' Indeed, shuttle 

bus operations soon became independent of the 

conccssioner, and beginning in 1982 the NPS 

solicited annual shuttle bus operadons conrracrs. 

Those who were awarded the conrracrs supplied both the buses and rhe drivers; some of the 

drivers were veterans who had served shuttle-bus 

passengers for many years, while the experience 

of others had been limited to driving primary and 

secondary students to and from school.>" 

While ARA was certainly the most visible company to most park visitors during this period, 

d1e passage of AN I LCA 5Ct into motion an 

entirely new class of tourism operators: that ~. 

companies that operated under commercial use 

licenses, or CUL~ . ror mo~t of the previou!> '>ixty 

years, the vast majority of touri~rs had :,cen the 

park's scenic wonders and remarkable wiltllifc 

from the !.Cat of a tour bu~ or ~hu rt le bu!-., while a 

significant minority of other visitors (particularly 

beginning in the 1960s) had hoisted packs on 

their bacb and taken self-guided trips into the 

park':, backcountry. Bur beginning in the 1970s, 

an increasing 111.1mbcr of visitors clamored for 

guided trips into the park's backcountry. Prior 

to President Carter\ December 197R proclamations, language in the park's concessions contract 

had effectively prevented most other for-profit 

bu!.inesses from conducting tours in the park:' 

Bur on the margim of rhe "old park," and in rhc 

millions of acres of newly-established national 

monuments, there were a growing number of 

companies that provided ftightsceing tour-,, backpacking guide services, river float trip ~ervices, 

photography and hunting h'llidc !.crvicc~. and 

similar backcountrv adventure npportuniric'>. 

N PS officials recogn i;:cd that these operator!> 

had a legitimate right to usc the land as they had 

before, and language in ANILCA, passed two 
Denali Dog Tours & Wi lderness 

Freighters operated with a 

commercial use license in Denali 

National Park and Preserve, providing 

sled dog trips for park visitors and 

commercial gear hauling services 

for mountain climbers on the north 

side of Mt. McKinley. Will and Linda 

Forsberg are shown here hauling 

climbers' supplies to McGonagall Pass. 

Jon Nierenberg Collection 

years later, similarly guaranteed that the operators that had historically provided commercial 

services with in the new parklands would be able 

to continue providing those services." 

Given that legal sanction, many companies 

began operating in the park with CULs. These 

licenses, which were inexpensive to obtain and 

easy to renew, allowed outside companies to 

12 Crown Jewf'l o l the North. An Ac mtmstra tv~ Ht ~to y o1 Denalt Nattonal Park dnd Preserve 

carry on a wide range of outdoor activities in 

the newly-established park lands, including both 

Denali's "new park" and the preserve. All that 

was needed was evidence of adequate insurance 

and an Alaska business license. The only real 

drawback to these licenses, from the operator's 

point of view, was that they could not erect any 

buildings or other permanent structures within 

a park unit. In addition, the fact that they were 
By 1982, the Riley Creek Information 

Center had become an inadequate 

facility. DENA 11471. Denali National 

Park and Preserve Museum Collection 

freely available to all 4ualificd applicant~ prevented anyone from limiting competition. Given 

steadily rising risitor volumes, touri!>m operarorl> 

readily agreed ro obtain CUl.s in order w bring 

more visitors into rhe park. By 1983, almost 40 

difl"ercnr operators were providing one or more 

!>crviccs to Denali visitor:> under a commercial 

u~c license. The numher of those operators remained fairly Mable (between 35 and 50) for more 

than a decade." (Sec Figure 1.) 

Parkwide Management Plans, 1981-1986 

Once the concession conn·acr had been signed, 

NPS staff was now free to tackle a broader mngc 

of general park issues and resume work on the 

park\ general management plan (GMP). Rut 

Denver Service Center planners, in an apparenr about-face, decided instead w concentrate 

on n DeYdopment Concept Plan (DCP) for the 

park road corridor. After noting that DCPs arc 

··action plan& that lead to rhc implementation 

of proposals contained in the park\\·ide G :--1 P" 

(and thus fo llt>W the G !VI r·s publicarilm), they 

then noted that the road-corridor DCP at Denali 

was "being accomplished in conjunction with 

the general planning effort and will become nn 

integral part of the Gl\ I P." They justified this 

approach based on 1) the deterioration ofvit>itor and management facilities and the lack of a 

comprchen~ive plan ro guide fururc improvement, z.) the recent pas!>agc of A. IJLCA ~ugge!>tcd 

that "there is reason to anticipate funding for 

a number of improvement projects with in the 

park," and 3) rhe recently-completed concessions 

conrract demanded major improvements in the 

hotel area. Planner!> may not have known it at 

the time, but the completion of the ocr- which 

purportedly was being done "in conjunction with 

the general planning cffort"- would predate the 

G1\1 P's completion by almost four years.>• 

Planners worked on the road-corridor DCP during the winter o f 1981-82, and in March 1982 they 

i~sued an environmental assessment that laid our 

the agency's options and suggested plans. The 

agency issued a flurry nf recommendatio n:,, the 

most prominent of which included: 

a new interpretive/rransportarion 

center to replace the Riley Creek 

info rmation center 

a major addition to Riley Creek campground 

a new camper services building adjacent w the campground 

a new audio -visual building adjacent 

ro the horel 

a new hotel co free shop to replace the 

existing railcar facility 

a n ew din ing room and housing for 

con cessions employees 

a new bus maintenance shop 

C haptN Nme Manaqong the NPwly·hpdnded Pilrl: <Jnd PrC'serve. 1981·199<1 13 
7 

;,. 

{ 

-

-

k 

!:• 

.-

~ ~ 

~ 

~ 

< 

'=-

-

-

§ 

.... 

;:. 

-

~ 

~ ~ 

Figure 1. Denali Commercial Visitor Service Providers, 1982 to Present 

98~ H!S!! 1282 1288 1220 122~ 1224 ]992 99~ 2QQQ ~QQ~ &QQ!! 20Q!;i 

Air Taxi/Air Tours* 311 10 12. 16 17 10 20 26 73/9 7319 70/7 1217 1 1/5 

Backpacking Guide Service 7 11 12 15 6 3 5 10 9 5 5 3 2 

Big Game Transporters 0 1 1 0 0 1 4 3 0 0 1 2 2 

Dog Sfed Services (various) 0/1 3 3 4 2 0 0 111 1 4 3 3 3 

Flight seeing k ~ * 7 4 9 1411 812 712 112 * * 

Group Camping 0 0 0 5 6 1 9 10 12 13 14 9 13 

Hiking 0 0 0 0 10 4 7 912 1013 5/3 813 3/3 212 

Horse Packing and Wagon Rides 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 

Hunt ing Guide Service 3 3 3 4 3 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 

M ountaineering (Old Park) 7 6 7 7 7 6 7 6 6 6 6 6 6 

M ountaineering (New Park) 4 8 9 14 6 l) 3 8 10 14 11 8 12 

Photography Guide Service 4 0 0 6 2 1 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 

River Trip Guide Service 9 6 10 8 8 3 5 511 311 1 1 1 1 

Sport Fishing Guide Service 1 4 5 3 2 1 1 2. 0 0 0 0 0 

Wint er Backcountr~ Guides 4 8 7 6 9 3 7 6 2 2 3 1 2 

TOTAL 26 40 45 48 49 24 47 64 61 65 56 47 53 

Notes; 

This chart is based on licenses granted, not on actual activities; thus the number of firms conducting the above activities may be much less than the 

figures noted above. 

The businesses summarized above, in most cases, obtained Commercial Use Licenses to operated in the park. (Beginning in 1996, these licenses 

were called Incidental Business Permits, a11d in 2006 these were known as Concession Use Authoriza tions.) But in a few cases, the NPS limited the number of 

entrants. Numbers in bold indicate categories in which all businesses operated with Limited Concession Permits, while the double numbers in italics indicate 

both non-exclusive and el(clusive entrants. 

• - Flight seeing was considered part of the "Air Taxi/Air Tours" category from 1981 to 1 988~ After 1988, figures in the top row are for air taxi only. 

After 2003, flightseeing was once again categorized in the ''Air Taxi/Air Tours" category. 

Source of data: NPS/AKSO, Commercial Visitor Service Directory, various issues, 1 981 2006~ 
This view shows Stony Hill Overlook 

on a busy summer day. Increasing 

visitation prompted recommendations 

for transportation and interpretive 

changes along the park road. Brad 

Ebel Collection 

a relocation of the store and tilling station 

at Morino, replacement of the campground wirh a picnic area 

replacement of the railroad hostel 

cars with an upgraded facility at Riley 

Creek 

a major upgrade at '·C' camp (of both 

housing and maintenance facilities) 

an expansion ofTeklanika campground for walk-in visitors 

a reduction in size of Wonder Lake 

campground to eliminate sites on the 

knoll 

various new roadside interpretive 

waysides and historical restoration 

projects 

the eventual renovarion or replacement of Eiclson Visitor Center 

A key ro the new plan was a growing recognition that rhe volume of buses (and thus passengers) was reaching unacceptably high levels. 

The report\ authors stared that ''the park road 

corridor cannot continue to accommodate ever 

increasing numbers of visitors without affecting 

its role as the gateway to a remarkable wilderness 

area . ... to ensure a quality experience, the number of passengers carried on the shuttle system 

may haYe to he limited." While ''traffic along the 

mad will be maintained ar 1981 optimal levels;' 

they warned that "the shuttle system will not be 

able to serve all visitors who wish to usc it," and 

in order to ensure ''a quality visit .. . the number 

of visitor!> carried may have to be reduced." ln 

response to those pressures, planners took care 

to recommend a ::.cries of transportation and 

interpretive upgrade~ along the q-mile segment 

of paved road between the hotel and the Savage 

River bridge; and they fmther recommended the 

construction of a shelter and interpretive exhibits 

at the Primrose Ridge Wayside (mile 16.0) in 

anticipation of short excursions that would 

terminate at that point. Few large developments, 

by contrast, were recommended adjacent to the 

central and western sections of the park road.•' 

The plan made no move to prohihil camper~ 

with passenger cars from staying at Sanctuary, 

Teklanika, Tgloo, or Wonder Lake campgrounds, 

but planner!> made no moves to expand such uses 

either, instead emphasizing an interest in walk-in 

campers.'" 

The Environmental A),),essment (EA) was distributed beginning in May 1982, after which the 

public was given lllltil the end of July tn provide 

comments on the agency\ recommendation~. 

Of the recommendations received, a majority expressed general support for the preferred 

alternative57 As a result, the f1nal DCP that NPS 

officials approved in January 1983 was largely a 

duplication of the previous year\ EA. The only 

significant change was at \'<fo nder Lake; while the 

EA had recommended that the campground be 

reduced at its current site, the fin al DCP urged 

that it be relocated (to just east of the park road, 

near the Wonder Lake spur road inrer!>ection) 

and expanded (from its current 20-23 it e), to 

approximately 40 :,ire~), wirh the exi~ring campground converted to <1 day usc area and interpretive wayside. This recommendation would not he 

considered final, however, pending the completion of an environmental a!>sessment for the 

newly-proposed site.'' 
This grizzly bear is sampling a 

roadside interpretive sign before the 

protective cover has been removed in 

spring. Brad Ebel Collection 

The DCP made a number of recommendations, 

several of which had first been broached in documents made preparatory to the issuance uf the 

September 1981 concessions contract renewal. In 

the year~ to come, many of the promises made in 

this conn·act came to fruition. ARA completed a 

new auditorium (audio visual room) for rps interpretive presentations in late 1982 and opened it 

in May 1983. This was followed by a bus main16 Crown Jewel of thP North: An Achnnustrauve Hostory of Denalo Natoonal Park and Preserve 

tenancc facility in June 1984, a snack shop later 

that summer, and an employee dining room in 

1985. The PS helped out, too; using S63o,ooo 

in Park Restoration and Improvements Program 

(PRlP) funding, it let a contract to rehabilitate 

the agency-owned (though concession-operated) employee dormitory. This contract, along 

with ancillary hotel-area support projects, was 

completed in 198v·• 
Once tht.: DCP was completed, NPS planners set 

ru work unce again preparing the park'~ general 

managcmcnr plan. Inasmuch as ANILCA had 

created ten new park area~ and expanded three 

othcr~, and na~much a::. Section 1301 of that act 

had demanded that GM Ps be completed on nll 

thirteen of these area~, there wa:. by ncces!'!ity an 

asscmhly-line qualiry in the way thar agency planncr~ product:d these document~. "' In practice, 

planners focused on four Alaska park areas first; 

draft GMP~ for these park!> were completed 

in 1982 and 1983, with finaJ product:, issued in 

19R4 or early 1985.'" The other units had to wait; 

Dcnali's plan was doubtless in this latter category 

bcc.:ause agency planners had been otherwise occupied with the park road DCP. 

A GM P team gathered and began work in january 1983, and the proces.s ''began in earnest" that 

Jvlay. The following rebruary, rhc: Learn issut:d a 

plnnning ncwslerrcr, and in .\!larch 1985, keep" 

ing ru its sclf-imposcd schedule, rhc agency 

released the draft park GMP"> That plan offered 

tvm altcrnariveq: 1) n conti nuatilm of pre~enr 

managemcnr with no new development sourh 

of thc- Ala!lk;J Range, <111d 2 ) developing a southside visitor ~ervice n.nd activity center, and a 

conl.eljuent reductilm in privutt:. vehicle use and 

camping along the park mad. NPS officials opted 

fClr the :;econd alternative."• They prefaced their 

rationale by noting that recreational visitation 

bcrween 19T!. and 1984 had risen an average 

zs,ouo visitor days pcr year, and also that "within 

rhe put-t 15 years ... the ational Park Service has 

bccomt: aware that increasing rrnffic has been 

detrimental rn oppnrtun iti e~ for viewing wildlife 

allmg the park road corridor." They then !>tared 

that 

The c::;calating dem;mds un Denali's 

resources, coupled wirh the need to 

provide a ' 'isiror t:.'xpcrience equal 

m rhe resources, is the single most 

critical problem facing park managers. 

The :,olution sugge~>ted by rhi;. plan 

is co expand recreational opportunities <m the somh side of Denali, then 

to mndify usc on the north to protect 

n.'source value~>. Rased on current 

trcndt- it is expected that the demand 

for usc of Denali wil! increase hy 

ant>ther 2)0,000 peuple per year ]sic! 

by the end of the 1o-year planning 

period. Thi~ amount of additinnal demand c.:annol be uccommod<Jted in the 

existing park road corridor without a 

significant decline in the visible wi ld -

lift.:, btl[ iL can be accommodated if the 

~<luth side i!> developed as an alternative de:,tinatiun for visitors."; 

N PS officials appeared to base the goals of their 

plan on the results of an unpublished t984 study, 

by biologists Frank Singer and joan Beattie, d1at 

showed dose correlations between increased 

traili.c volumes and reduced opportunities to 

observe roadside wild life, particularly moose and 

griz.zly bem·.' 1 In ordcr to incrta'>c wildlife viewing opportunities while sinmltunenusly providing 

for increased visitation, the agency stated that it 

"would make additionaJ use of the shuttle bu~ 

system and allow fewer private vehicles on the 

park road." 

Given a 1()84 flow of about 4,00(1 bu~t:~> lllld o,Z)<> 

private vehicles, otlkiab proposed during rhc 

short term that bu)> 1 raffic wmtld he allowed lo 

increase, but wml traffic could not vary fr(lm 

1984levcls bymnre than 15 pt:rct.:nl. Tht:n. one<.: 

new ~outh sidc fncilitit.:~ had betn opened, additional bu~cs would he allowed (up 10 .w percent 

more than in 1984), hut because privarc-vchick 

traffic would be trimmed by some 41 pcn;:ent, 

t~>tal traffic would he 17 percent less than in 1984. 

In order to reduce private vehidc traffic, onicials 

planned to clo~c three campgroumJ:.. currently 

open m vehicle camper:- San<.:tuary, Igloo, and 

·li:klanika primarily to "rt:ducc ... the pou.:ntial fl>r human/bear cncounn.:rs io an area that 

already has a high incidcncc of problcrn~." The 

small Wonder Lake Camrgrow11d would remain 

upen, howcwr, as would campground~ at Riky 

Creek and Savage Riwr.'"' NPS officials recog,-

nized that " the prnposcd 20 percent increa~e in 

bus ~ervice will not he enough to accomnwdatc 

all of the demand ." The development of a viable 

south-side facility, however, would gcnt:r;Ht: "ad 

ditional recreational t)pportunities, re,ulting in 

a leveling off of demand for rmn~portation ::.crvices and accommodatk>ns in the northern part 

uf the park." The p0tcntial ro devell)p commercial vbitor facilities in the Knntishna area was, to 

tht: PS, admittedly worrbumc bccau~c- of their 

effect on traffic levels: thu~ the draft GM P stated 

Lhat anv such dcvclopmcnt ''will he con~idtrt'u 

incompatible with the planned purpo~cs of thtpark.''h' 

In many other Wa)0>. the drafr GM P\ rccommen 

dation:; along the road corridor were rcirerarion<, 

ofwhnt the NPS had suggested in ib 19H~ DCP. 

But several of the 1981 recommendation'> had already been imrlemcntcd, as 1wtcd nbovc, and the 

1985 plan also had ::t few new ideas or revision11 a~ 

well. The primary new recommendation was the: 

construction of a m·w Denali Park llotcl, rat her 

than renovating the existing hord "to mecr code1.." 

a~ in 1983. (Sec :,ection below t(>r n nwn: detailed 

discussion of d1i~ topic.) In <J<.idition, the idea 

of moving rhe Wonder l.akc (tllnpground a mih• 

away was scrapped in favor uf cun~rructing a new 
This view of the Alaska Range is 

taken from a proposed development 

site on Curry Ridge. National Park 

Service Photo 

campground adjacent to the exbting one. NPS 

officiab !>till advocated a new park visitor center 

between the railroad tracks and Alaska Highwav 

3; this new facility, however, was now termed a 

visitor access center rather than an interpretive/ 

transportation center (as listed in the 1982-83 

road corridor development concept plan)."' 

The NPS'!> south side recommendations, 

however, were entirely new. Noting that "the 

most striking vantage point for viewing Mount 

McKinley through the corridor opened by the 

Ruth Glacier occurs on the south end of Curry 

Ridge;' agency officials proposed the ;,ite for a 

"visitor service and activity center" which would 

include ''a full service lodge oriented to views of 

the Alaska Range and the Chulitna River Valley." 

This area, apparently pushed by Ala~ka Division 

of Parks officials, wa~ located not within the 

national park bur on state land in Denali State 

Park; as a consequence, NPS officials operating 

from a july 1984 cooperative agreement fully 

recognized that the proposal "relics :1cavily upon 

the Alaska state park system for the implementation of an activity center." The two entities 

promised to work together during the final site 

selection process."" The plan implied that the 

public sector would construct the activity center, 

whiJe private enterprise would finnnce and built 

the hotel. Although initial GM P-related ideas 

called for "a new road to the southern flank of 

Denali arional Park" and "a tramway to Ruth 

Glacier," the draft GMP proposed little development (only primitive cabins and mountain huts) 

within the boundaries of the national park's 

south side.7" 

18 <•own J€'wPiol thr> North An J\dmuus!latove H•story of OPnal• Ndtl onc~ l Par~ iJnd PresPrve 

The draft GMP was d istributed w the public in 

early April1985, and in early june agency oli1cials 

held public meetings on the plan in variou~ 

nearby cities?' The public wa:, given until July tS 

to send comments. and at thb rime the Denali 

plan- which wa.<. still being compiled under the 

same timetable as eight other Alaska GM Ps vvas 

still on track to be completed in December 1985, 

as Sec. I)OI of ANILCA had mandated. But the 

response to the variou~ Alaskn park GMPs was 

enormous and, according to one new~ article, 

"state officials, environmental and development interests complained [ thatJmon: time was 

needed if all plans were to be digested nnd reviewed over simultaneous comment periods.'' As 

a result, the NPS (apparently with Congressional 

authorit.ation) agreed on ovembcr ~to extend 

the deadline. A month later, agency plan ners 

issued a series of revised draftGMPs, Denali 

included. They then opened a new public comment period (from December q, 1985 through 

February 9, 1986) and did not complete the linal 

park plnns until late TqR6 .i" 

The many changes in Denali's revised draft GM P 

reflected the massive number of comments 

that the public had provided. Several of those 

changes suggested significant policy shifts regarding how the agency would balance the needs of 

visitors vv hile sti II protecting the park's wild life 

and other nann·nl values. "lb implement those 

twin goals, park oflicials still planned to make additional use of the shuttle bus svsrcm while allowing fewer private vehicles on the park road. Stage 

one of a three-stage plan called for "decreasing 

vehicle usc by campers, professional phorogra-
Meant to provide intermediate-scale 

accommodations. the youth hostel 

consisted of 3 railroad bunk cars. 

which were utilized from 1973 to 

1987. DENA 12-78, DENA M useum 

Collection; NPS lnterp. Collection, 

#453, Denali National Park & Preserve 

phers, NPS employees, and people traveli ng to 

Kanti~hna" by having the campgrounds west 1)f 

~avage River accessible only by shuttle bus, for 

rhe shuttle bus "to bt• u~ed increal>ingly" by NPS 

employees and Kanrbhnil visitors, and for a reduction in the number of private vehicle~ driven 

hy profcs.,ional photogrnphers. In stage two, 

which would he implemcnred ··once an adequate 

number 1>f campsite:-. arc available outside thL' 

park entrance," the Wonder Lake Campground 

would remain open hut the three other WC!>t· 

end campgrounds would close. Implementing 

this stage Wlluld reduce private vehicle usc by 4'> 

percent. Once that goal was reached, stage three 

could d1en begin, in which tour and ~huttlc bu~ 

u~e W(luld "be allowed to increa~c w a levellhal 

docs not unacceprably affect wildlife behavior." 

Given thb scenario, it was predicted that-as in 

the draft plan bus traffic could increa&e 20 pcr 

c~.:nr from irs 1984 levels (ti1Ul> allowing an additional 24000 vi~irors per year) while snnultancl>U~Iy decrca~ing toral park-road traffic by 17 per 

cenu Regarding south-side development, the 

rcviscd GM P recommended only two change!> 

in the scenario that had been outlined in thc 

initial draft nine month" earlier: the elimination 

of rhe propo.o;cd cabim and wildcrne~!:> hut&, and 

the prohibition of h~.:licopter~ to acce:-.:> Ruth 

Glacier/ 4 

After tlw revbed draft was released, the public was given until February l), 19il6 to providc 

fe~.:dback on the plan . Officials cumidcred the 

new round of comment:. and modified the plan 

as needed. That .June, park and regional otftciab 

approved rhe plan; it \vas then sent on to Washingtlln, where it was approved by NPS Director 

William Mott in Ocwber and Assisranr fntcrior 

~ccremry William !lorn in November/~ 

fht: final GM P Wa!> much like the revised draft. 

The proposal discussed previously about shurt ing down three park-road campground~ was 

abandoned; park authoririe~ d id , however, srate 

thai "eventually ... visitors will no longer be able 

to drive their private vehicles t11 their campsites." 

The Wonder Lake Campground, it noted, would 

he enlarged by ten spaces.7" And a~ for southside development, all parries still favored a Cu rry 

Rldge site (within Denali Sta[C Park). However, 

perhaps becnu~cAia;,ka in 1986 was in the midst 

of an "oil bust" which had a cat.'l::.trophic inJiucncc on the state's finances, rhc final plan clearly 

stated the need for private enterprise-nut rhc 

stare or federal governments- to play a key 

flnanci<1l role in the construction of the hotel and 

related racilities. It noted that 

The Alaska Division of Parks and 

Outdoor Recreation will serve as 

project lead and make linal decision~ 

regarding the u:-.e of state land:.. Th~.: 

National Park Service will work with 

the ~tate in the joint devcJ(,pment 

and oper<llion of a visitor ~ervtc~.: 

and activity center. ... Private sccrnr 

participation will be c<,~cntial for the 

development of commercial componentf> I)[ the <,nuth-~ide development, 

primarily the lodge and related facilitic& and utilitb. 

The NPS, furthcrmorc, ~tatcd that it planned [(I 

write an environmental impact statement for a 

!>tiUth-side DCP before any development project~ 

began in d1at area.li 

A key part of the public process that led to the 

recommendation!:> in the final plan was the 

agency\ decision (advocated by rhc agency'-> 

new regional director, Boyd Evison) Ill write a 

Development Concept Plan regarding the park 

hotel. As pan of that proccs~, N PS officials would 

decide whether rhc 13-year-old "temporary" hn 

ref would it be replaced with a new 11nsite hotel, 

replaced with a new hotel nearhy, t.kmoli~hcJ, or 

left as b. That proccs~, and subsequent hotelrelated events, arc discussed in a sccriun hclow. 

In addition, the plan gave a green light to many 

planned actions that had first been hroughr forth 

in L.he 1982-83 road-corridor DCP, or even earlier 

(.quch as the negotiatiom. that led [(1 the 1981 concessions conrract). The final GM P, for example, 

recommended that the existing ho-.tcl (which wa!. 

several railroad car~ 011 a ::.iding near the railroo.1J 
depot) be closed. That same summl:r of 1986, 

in fact, the conccssiom:r "was notified rhar for 

numemus safery code violations ... the railroad 

cnrs at the par k hotel could no longer be used:· 

and the following year rhe old hostel cars were 

hauled away. And in 1991, another GMP r~commcndation- u new conccssi(lflS housing unit, 

locally known as ''the tapeworm;' was opened .I" 

Other recommcndarj<.ln!:., h(1wevcr, were pur off 

tmtillatcr or were never enacted. 

Wilderness and Backcountry Management 

Section 1317 of ANILCA :;tared that Denali and 

other Ala!-.ka national park un its needed ro 

consider wi dcrnc~s in their ncar·tcrm planning 

effort~.. It stated that 

Within five year!> from the date of 

enacnn cn t of this Act, the JlnteriorJ 

Secretory shall ... review, as ro their 

suitabil ity or nonsuitability for preservation as wilderness, all lands within 

un its of the National Park System ... 

in Alaska not designated as wilderness 

by thb Act and report i~ find ng~> to 

the President . ... The t>residenr shall 

advise the Congress (lf his recommendations with respect ro ~uch areas 

within .;even years from the date ()f 

enactment of this Act. 

As no red in Chaf)tCr 8, Congre!-S in irs ANTLCA 

deliberations had concluded that the vast major· 

ity of the "old park" everything except rlw 

head4uartcrs-cntrance area, Wonder I ,akc and 

vicinity, and 150 fccr on either side of rhe pru·k 

road- would bt: part of rhc National Wilderness 

Preservation System/'> The pas~agc of A~lLCA, 

howewr, set in motion a procest. tl) decide how 

much of the 3,81),8t8-acre addition to Denali 

Nation al Park and Preserve should be added to 

the wilderness system. 

G iven A~!LCA's rnandare, 1'\PS officials incorpomtcd wilderne!>S studies a.s part of the gl·ncral 

management plann ing process that began in 

1982 and 1983, and Wilderness Suitab;lity Review 

(WSR) sections were included in each of the 

various dr-aft, revised d raft, and final GMP~ that 

were produced fo r the various AlaskaN PS unit~ 

in 19H4, J<}8), and 1986. These WSRs, at ka~t 

injtfaJiy, were brief and inconclusive. T he WSR 

in Dena i'~ d raft GMP (isst1cd in M.arch 1985). 

for exam ph.:, was jusr three pages long. This 

"prelimi nary analysis'' duly noted that ·'lands in 

other than fuJI federal ownershi p are ineligible 

for wilderness designation," and it furthe r noted 

that the area surrounding Ruth G lacier was ab1l 

ineligible '·because of the nature of thl' visitor 

usc prop1>sed" for that area. The plan did not 

~recity any acrtage figurco., hut the ;tccompany 

ing map suggested that with the exception of tlH.: 

Ruth Glacier corridt>r, virtually .ttl or the 11l'Wiy 

acquired park and preserve lands were "~11itable 

for wilderness de~ignatinn." ·· Thl: park's rl:visl:d 

dr::lft GM r. i~s cd in December l9l\), W;1s nlmo~t 

as vague. It stated that the Kantishn:1mining 

district wa:-. "ineligible fm·wildl'rncss dc~ignat on 

because of the d i~t rbance to t he landscape hy 

mining and rhe road ~y~tem," ami Jue to changing development priorities, planner~ decidcd I hal 

the Ruth Glacier area was nnw eligibk f(lf wtlderncs~ dc~ignation ~' And thc linal ('\Jovemhcr 

H)86) kept the ~.;umt' wi lderness recomm.:ndations 

no rhe revised draft, nnting rhar "the appi·t,xi 

miltely ).<}million acres determined suitahlc for 

wilderness designation cnmhinl'd with the :::trea~ 

already designated amounr to approsinta[Civ 9'1 

percent t)f the park complex.''" 'J PS sr::tlT later 

made a more exact accounting of these bnumlar 

ies nnd determined that thl' land in thl' comhint·d 

park and preserve that was "-;uitabk for wilder 

ne<,s designation" nm<Junted t·o 1.7-~6, H) acre-; 

rather than approximatch· ~.q million acre~ ~I s 

stared in the finn! GMP." 1 

Clearly a more speciiic process wn~ needed ro 

determine the wildcrnc~~ viahility of land~ in 

Denali and the other Alaska park;;, ~o in 19R7 

per!>onnel from the agency\ Denver Service Center commenced an effort to prepnre a ~cries of 

wilderness-related t•nvironmental impact 'tatements.st By Pt:bruary tt;8R the lirsl wiiJerne:-.srelated d raft ETSs (at other;\! PS units) were being 

published and available for public comment, and 

a mnnrh later, NPS offic ~ made p ublic their 

initial recommendat on~ reg<trding wildernC'>$ 

additions at Denali. 

Available information from this period suggests 

that the wilderness viewpoints or '\1 PS stnff 

contrasted sharplv with those of William P. I lorn, 

who served as the A~sistnnl Secretary \)f the 

Interior for Fish ;md Wildlife and Parks. At t)ne 

roint during the process ihat kcl to the draft EIS 

for Denali, Alaska Regional Oflice (ARO) starr 

put forth the recommendation that of the -;p. 

million acres in thl: wilderness !';tudv ar~:;.1, ) .)6 

million acr(~~ should he desigmncd a~ wilderness. Bur by March 1988 the Ala~kn Region\ 

planning chief, Linda Nebel, rold the IDeal rress 

that the agency would he rccommenJing 1Hll) 

L'i million additional acres of wilderness for 

Denali National Park; exduded from wilderne~" 

consideration would be an additional 900,0oo 

ncres in the .. new pru·k" nnd alii.) million unl'S of 

Dcnafl National Preserve." That recommcnda· 

tion, however, was still -;ubject w change, bl'causc 

when the draft wilderncs~ F.lS for rhe unir wa~ 

complett·J in mid -june 19SS, the lll!n1ber of ncrc!-1 
Visitors' use of the backcountry 

increased dramatically during the 

1980s. NPS lnterp. Collection, #4248, 

Denali National Park and Preserve 

recommended fur wilderness had increased. or 

the 1,726, Hi acres in the park unit's wildt.:rness 

study area, 2,254,293 acres- located entirely 

within the "new park"- were recommended for 

wildt.:rness designation. 

The acreage recommended in the june 1988 draft 

EIS, if enacted by Congress, meant that 93 percent of Denali National Park, and 73 percent of 

the com hi ned park and preserve, would become 

rart of the ational Wilderness Preservation 

Sy!>tem. As noted above, it wa:. a hard-fought 

compromi ... e; it was 750,000 acres larger than 

had been recommended in l'v1arch bU[ 1.3 million 

acres le!.s than ARO planners had recommended. 

The only park area!> not recommended in the 

june 1988 draft EIS were six or seven isolated 

polygons, none comprbing more than 36,ooo 

::~crt.:~, along the unit's exterior boundary. Some 

of these exclusions were brought about by a 

multiplicity of mining claims; others were to 

allow for the development of trail systems or 

public u~e cabin~; and still others were to foster 

planned land exchanges. Much to the chagrin of 

consen·ation organizations, the document did 

not explicitly state why Denali National Pre~ervt.: 

land~ were excluded from wilderness con~id

eration (and the agency further noted that "the 

purpose of thb EIS is to evaluate the impaCt!. of 

the proposed action, not to provide a ju!-.tification for it"), but a diverse land ownership pattern 

and a desire to accommodate nearby recreational 

devt.:lopments appear to have played key roles in 

the agency\ decision."'' 

After the agency issued its draft wilderness recommendations for Denali and the other a~ka 

park unit~. it held numerous public hearings; of 

those that pertained &pecifically to the Denali 

proposal, one was held in Arlington, Virginia on 

july 19, and three were held in Alaska (in Anchorage, 'Jalkeetna, and Fairbanks) between july 18 

and .July 20. The public was given 67 days from 

.June 17 until August 29 to comment on these 

plans.'7 A month later, the NPS i~sued its final 

Denali wilderness recommendations, which were 

identical to tho~e in it~ June 1988 draft document. 

On December 1, 1988, NPS Director William 

Penn Mott i5~ucd a record of decision recommending Lht.: addirion of 2,254,293 acres within 

Denali National Park ro the 1 mional Wilderness 

Preservation System. That recommendation, 

however, "\vas never signed by the designated 

authority, who was Assi~tant Interior Secretary 

William P. Horn. As a result, the NPS's recommendation was not forwarded to the President, 

and Congress has not yet heen given the opportunity to weigh its merits.'" 

ChoPIN N1nC' Manaq1nq 1111' Nf'wly·l:xpalldl'd Pill~ nrJ PrC'St!IVe, 198 1 1994 21 
Map 1. This 43-unit version of the 

backcountry map was utilized from 

1984 until 2006. DENA 9169, Box Z, 

Administrative Records Coli., Denali 

National Park and Preserve Museum 

Collection 

Throughout the 19Ro~. and on into the 1990s, the 

agency continued to manage Old Park backcoun1 ry ust: ar the field level, much as it had !>incc the 

hackcountry management plan had been put into 

dfcct in the mid-1970s. The usc of the backcountry increased dramatically during trus period, 

the result being that many of the more popular 

backcuuntry zones quickly filled to capacity 

and many would-be backpackers had to choose 

either less-desirable areas or aYoid the most 

popular summertime periods. lo aid in backcountry management, park staff in 1984 decided 

to increase the number of "old park'' backcountry zones from 35 to 39· Tn addition, managers in 

the wake of ANILCA recognized that most of the 

"new park'' located between Stampede Mine and 

the Brooker Mountain-Eagle Gorge area was also 

popular with backpackers; as a result, four new 

backpacking zones were added within a year or 

two of ANILCA's passage (Sec Nlap. r). These 43 

zones- 39 in the "old park" and another four in 

Lhe "new park" remained until 2006, when d1c 

park's backcounrry plan was approved.'" 

An important aspect of backcountry managemcnr involved various land exchanges proposed 

for acreage in the newly-acquired portions of 

the park unit. As noted in previous chapters, 

the NPS in 1963 was able to acquire the lasr of 

the privately-owned parcels in Mount McKinley National Park. However, the passage of the 

Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation 

Act in 1980, which created a newly-expanded 

park and a new preserve, brought tens of thou-

)) ( 11•W1I II'WI'I nl :liP Ni>t llt A11 Admtnt~lr.tlllio? Htstoryof Dennh N~tional Park and PI'PSNV!' 

sands of acres uf non-fedcralland \.\"ithin the 

unit's boundaric~. 

Two years later, nn Interior Deparrmell{ directive 

called for the preparation of land m<~nngcmcnl 

plans for all park units that contained non-federal lands. The NPS, in response, attached a land 

protection plan to the general management plan 

that was prepared between 1983 and 1986. The 

plan noted that rhe combined park and preserve 

contained 70-576 acres of non-federall:-mus, plus 

an additional 8-400 acres of unpatented mining 

claims for which the federal govern mcm owned 

the land bur not the mineral estate. These parcels 

and claims were concentrated in four areas: 1) the 

Kantishna Hills, which contained 292 patented 

and unpatented mining claims, 2) the Dunkle 

Hills area, which contained an additional163 

unpatented mining claims, 3) an area west of 

Can[\:VCII, wruch contained selected lands frnm 

d1c state and both regional and village corporations, and 4) a broad area cast of Lake Minchumina, which contained a large (47,843-acre) block 

of regional corporation selected lands, along with 

scattered village corporation lands and small tract 

entries. Almost all of the 6<>.948 acres claimed by 

the regional or village corporations, at that time, 

were still in the application process; theN PS, as 

a result, wru; unsure how much of this acreage 

would eventually be deeded to the applicants."'' 

The NPS, in its land protection plan, made four 

broad recommendations. 1) In the Kantishna 

area, the agency recognized that "the use of 
pntcnted mining claims for new visitor facilities 

would conflict with the objective of the general 

managemenr plan to reduce the traffic in the 

rond cmridor." It therefore decided "to acquire 

... the f>llrfacc e5tatcs tu th<t mining properties to 

preclude large-s.:ale recrearionul development." 

And regarding the area\. numerous tmpatented 

min.ing claims, the agency rccommend~td the 

completion nf validity determinations "ns yuickly 

a~ feasible to determine starus:· 2) Along the 

Swift Fork at the west end of the park unir, and 

ncar the Ruth Glacier terminus, the agency 

recommended that the boundary be modified (through both the addition and deletion of 

land) in order "to fo!lnw natural geographic and 

hydrographic features whenever possible." 3) It 

recommended that the NPS expand rhe park by 

incorporati ng thl' thrl'c "wolf rown:,hips" within 

it~ boundary. It planned to do so via a l~md exchange with the State of Alaska. 4) Tn the Dunkle 

Hills, an interagency work group in December 

1984 rccommcndetl that "mining activities could 

commence on the undeveloped valid unpatented 

~ile&." And assuming the rer.umption of mining activities, the NPS recommended- and rhe 

Alaska Jcgislaturl' similarly re:.olved rhat rhe entire "Dunkle rownship" be deleted from the park 

via land exchangel;, Owing to the fluid nature 

of the selectillll process as it pertained to Alaska 

ative Claims Settlement Act land applications, 

the agency made no recommendation~:. regarding 

the Minchumina or Cantwell areas.''' 

During tht• t98os, several land e..xchange proposals were considered petween the rs and the 

Start: of Alaska. In 1982, tbt> stare announced iu. 

intention to d~.:velop 14,000 acres of its land ncar 

McCarthy. in Wrnngdl-St Elias National Park. 

ln re~ponse, the NPS offered several parcels in 

or near various NP~ areas in rhcstatc. Two of 

those parcels were near Denali; one was a tract 

of "about 2,;oo acres" just west of the Yanert 

Fork-Nenana River conliuencc, and another 

was "about2z,ooo acres in the Ohio Creek Vallt'y;• ncar llurricane. That land swap, however, 

was never consummated:~-' In the park\ 1983-

84 environmental impact statements for the 

Ka11tislma I lills/Dullkfe Mine Study Report, one 

alternative- which proved popular with miners 

and l0cul resident:, culled for the deletion of the 

Kantbhna Hill:, and Dunkle Mine area!> from the 

park, perhap~ in exchange for the ··w0 lf wwn-

:ohips" corridor:" (Sec Chapter 14.) Thi:s action 

brought fmrh som~ communication with ~tate 

DNR orficiab along with an Alaska State Senate 

resolution that was introduced in january IC)85 

and ~igncd by Governor Shdticld a month later."' 

And, u~ noted above1 the agency's t985-86 land 

protection plan noted several areas that might he 

adued ro, or deleted from, the pnrk. 

ln the late summer of 1987, the NP<; and the 

/\Iaska Department of Natural Re~ourccs actil1g on recommendation::, in the rcccntly-:lp 

pwvctl park land protecrion plan- teamed up 

to recommend u '><:ril.'s of land swaps: in the 

Stampede corridor ("wolf township!>") area, 

the Swift Fork area at the west end (.1[ the park 

and in rhe Dunkle Mine :md Ruthtlokosirna 

areas. During the course of !.iX public meet 

ings in September and Octobl'r, cnmmenrf. werl' 

"mostly positive" regarding rhc proposed Swift 

Fork and Ruthtlhkositnn ooundary adju!.tment~. 

Rut vinually everyom: who a trended miner!>, 

hunters, local politicianl;, conservation i!)h, and 

other:> decried the proposal a~ ir pertained to 

the Stampede and Dunkle area<;.'" E;1rly the fnll<>wing year thl' National Parks and Con~ervation 

Association (NPCA)-ti,llowing up on issul.!:-, 

rai~>eJ in 1987 published a rep orr -;uggcsring <1 

sweeping series of park houndary recommcmlations. These largely mirrorctl tho~e of thl' land 

management plan. Beyond that, the NPC:A 

report recommended ~evcral adc.litional area!. or 

<Jdditions and ut:lt:titm!> to conform to "natural 

geographic and hydrograrhic fcarurc~." In tht: 

"wolf rown!>hip~" :'lrea, the group n::cnmmendt:d 

a fairly modest acn:ngc nddirion, cnmhined with 

a deletion in the rowm.hjp:. to the north, anu it 

also recommended a fairly substantial "~ushana/ 

"lbklat Addition" of about 6o,ooo acre-., most 

nf which had been included in thl' 1978 Denali 

Narional Monument proclamation hut hnd been 

removed when the park boundarie~ hncJ hecn 

finalized two years later."'' Congres:; ha~ not yet 

acted on any of rhe~e proposal!>. 

Subsistence Issues 

\Vhcn Congress pas!:lcd ANI LCA in December 

tgflo, it put Ala&ka rark managers (and tho~t' 

managing other Alaska conservation area~) 

squarely in the busincs'> of ~uhsislcnce management. Ever since thl.' early r970~, whl'n the NPS 

had released irs first master plans and environmental staremems f()l· the variou~ rropo:,ed park 

ru·eas, there had been a widespread recognition 

that the Alaska parh, unlike tho&c in most of tbc 

"Lower 4~" states, would be managed in a way 

rhar sanctionecJ the continuance of traditional 

lifcways-hoth Native and non-Native-in most 

if not all of tho: newly-established park acreage.:. By early 1977, when Congress hegan its fir~t 

earnesr dehates of the Alaska hmd~ queo,tioll, th ~: 

N PS had cobbled together a ~eric:, of increa~­

ingly-sophisticated policy ratcm enrc, on the 

need for continuing sub!>iStt'nce activities in rht! 

proposed parklands. The various legislative hilb 

addres!>ing the Ala~ka lands tjUestion, however, 

were tn no mean5 con~iMc nt in their approaeh 

coward subsistence manngemcnt; some urged its 

implcmcntntion in all uf the proposed park Iantis, 
In the 1980 park additions, the 

harvest of wild plants, fish and game 

by local residents was provided for 

in the Alaska National Interest lands 

Conservation Act. That practice 

continues to this day. Miki & Julie 

Collins Collection 

while others were more selective. During the 95'" 

Congress, the bill that passed the House in Mav 

1978 sanctioned subsistence activities in all of the 

new and expanded NPS units, bur the bill that 

emerged from the Senate Energy and ratural 

Resources Committee that October allowed 

subsistence only in a few proposed units, primarily those in northwestern Alaska. As mentioned 

in Chapter 8, however, Congress was unable to 

reconcile the substantial differences between 

24 Crown Jewel of lhe North An rntnr~tra rvt? Htstory of Denair Natrona! Park and Prescrv!' 

the £\vo bills before it adjourned rhar year. A:, a 

result, President Carter e~tablished 17 new national monument~, including a 4.18-million-acre 

Denali ationai Jvlonument. Shortly afterward, 

Interior Department olilcials fashioned regulations to govern the newlv-esrablished monuments; these proposed regu lations noted that 

£\vo ncarb~' communities Lake linchumina 

and Tel ida - would be designated "resident ;.one 

communities," where all residents would have 
The efforts of the Denali Subsistence 

Resource Commission were led and 

coordinated by SRC Chairperson 

Florence Collins and NPS Subsistence 

Manager Hollis Twitchell. Julie Collins 

Collection 

subsistence harvesting privileges on national 

monument lands. \I'' 

Because of Congress's failure to pass a comprehensive Alaska lands bill, legislators agreed to 

rackle Alaska lands questions again when the 

90'11 Congress commenced. The bill t hat passed 

the House in May 1979 ~'a!Jctioned subsistence 

activitie!> in all of d1e proposed unjrs except 

Kenai Fjords National Park. The bill that 

emerged from the Senate in August 19Ro- and 

which became law- was more complex; it 

fully sanctioned subsistence activities in some 

unics, ir sanctioned subsjstence in otber uruts 

"where such uses are traditional:' and prohibited 

subsistence activities in still other units. As it 

pertained to Denali, two management options 

emerged; in the newly-added parklands, subsistence was sanctioned on a "where traditional'' 

basis. but- because Title II did not apply to 

existing units subsistence remained off-limits 

within the ''old park" boundaries."" 

The passage of Al JLCA set in motion a rapid 

schedule of deadlines, which were intended to 

insritutionalizc a federal subsistence management bureaucracy and to formalize subsistence-related relationships between state and 

federal officials. The fu·st of these deadlines 

concerned the passage of NPS regulations that 

relawd to subjec~ with which the other park 

unirs had little experience; subsistence, along 

·with access, were major elements covered in 

these new regulations. On january 19, 1981, lc~s 

than two months after Ar 1LCA was passed, 

the NPS issued a new "proposed rule" regarding the newly-established national park units. 

These proposed regulations were then subject ro 

public comment, and on June q, 1981, the agency 

issued it~> final regulations. One element of thel>e 

final regulations stared that the new park and 

preserve would have four designated resident 

zone communities; thes.e included Cantwell and 

Nikolai, as well as Lake Minchumina and Tel ida 

which had been proposed two years earlier. 

"\lot long afterward, the Alaska Department of 

Fish and Game (ADF&G) agreed tl.) set up a 

series of six regional advisory councils (RACs) 

dealing with subsistence issues, and in May 1982, 

Interior Secretary james Watt cerrified that the 

state's rmbsi!>tence program was consistent with 

ANI LCA guidelines.''" 

More specific tu park management, NPS officials 

recognit.ed that Section 8o8 of ANILCA called 

for the agency to establish subsistence resource 

commissions (SRCs) related ro Denali National 

Park (and si.x other Alaska national parks and 

monuments) within one year of the Act's passage. 

A-, a result, federal officials worked frantically 

in late 1981 to appoint appropriate commission 

members.'"" Regional NPS official Robert 'Belous 

dutifully told an ADF&G meeting on December 

1, 1981 one day befon: the Congressionally-imposed deadline- that the NPS had fulfilled its 

mission in tl1is regard. Little more could take 

place wiili the SRCs for the time being, however; the state and the various RACs had not yet 

appointed their members (indeed, the various 

ANlLCA-based RACs had nor yet been formally 

established), and the NPS had nut been provided 

a budget that allowed the SRCs to get o!I the 

ground. Throughout this period, most subsistence-related problems at Denali were resolved 

by Management Assistant Ralph Tingey and 

other park personnel.'"' 

During the mid-tqSos, ~ub istence management 

in the parks became more :.ophisricatcd when the 

agency hired its first staff Louis Waller, in the 

regional office whose sole job wa~ to organize 

the agency's subsistence efforts. During this 

period, the agency was fully involved with its 

general management planning process, and due 

to Waller's influence, each iteration of tJ1e various 

park GM Ps showed an increasing regard for subsistence-related concerns."" Finally, rhe agency, 

in the spring of 1984, was able to actively c::.tnblish 

the Denali National Park Subsistence Resource 

Commission, along with six ::.imilar commission:-

for other park units. Denali's fir<>r meeting, which 

was held in concert with the l.ake Clark SRC, 

took place in Am:hr>rage on May 10-11, 1984. FM 

the next several yean, meetings of rnis advisor) 

body were held every six months or sn.'Q1 Unlike 

seveml of the other SRC~. whose relationship 

with the '-IPS wa'\ often contentious, the Denali 

SRC cooperated with the NPS on a number of 

issues. Much of that cooperation was due ro the 

presence of Florence Collins, a Lake Minchumina (later Fairbanks) resident who art fully guided 

the SRC for more than twenty years. The details 

of what this commission has accomplished are 

noted in another NPS publication. This advisory 

body continues to meet approximately twice 

each year at sites in and around the park.'"·l 

Chapter N1ne: Managmg the Newly txpartcJP.O Park and l'lt'St'rVf:'. 1981· 191)11 E 
Subsistence Resource Commission 

members and park staff worked 

diligently t ogether on subsistence 

related issues and formulation of 

recommendations. NPS Photo 

Controversy over Snowmachines 

An issue that had more than a pa~sing relationship with subsistence wa~ the legal basb for 

snowmachinc u::.agc at Denali. As nmctl in 

Chapter 7, NPS rnngcrs used a Bombardier 

snowmachinc (with varyi ng degrees of 5ucccss) 

fnr patrol work between I<.J60 and 1963. Occasional snowmobile usc continued in later years a-; 

well; as superintendent Daniel Kuehn di~covcred 

when he arrived at the park in 1973, various employees and their families owned !.nowmachines 

and used them wid1in the park. But on April!, 

1974, the NPS implemented a regulation that prohibited ::.nowmobilc usc in almost all park un its. 

Kuehn, perhaps in response, ordered the ccs~ation of all snowmachinc usc in Mount McKinley 

National Park.'"; 

By the early 1970s, planners for a variety of 

government agencies were well aware that 

snowmachine use among Alaskans was becoming 

increasi ngly common. The tlnal environmental 

statement for the park ad ition~, published in 

October 1974, made no decisions as to the legality 

of snowmachinc usc for subsistence activities, 

citing the need for more fie ld study: it did, however, state that the agency would "not pcrm it intensive recreational activities'' (such as snowmobiling) "on the land~ included within the park."'·•· 

President Carter's December 1978 proclamation, 

which e~tabl shed Denali National Monument, 

made no mention about whether snowmachinc 

acccs'>, or any other forms of acccss, would be 

specifically allowed; it did, however, ~ta[C th<lt 

"the opportunity for the local residents to engage 

in subsistence hunting is a value to be protected 

and will continue under the administration of 

)I:> lJown J"wel of the Norlh An Arhnmrslfi!lJVe Hrstorv of Denair NatiOnal Pdrl .mel Preo;erve 

tbc monumcnt."'"• .Ju~t six month~ later, the 

NPS issued a proposed rule which establbhed 

at leasr n.:mporary regulatory guidance ti)r the 

newlv-proclaimcd monuments; among its other 

provision!>, it stated that snowmobilc1> "would 

he permitted on ly in specific nrca~ or on specific 

route~."'"' 

More permanent regulation::-. regarding snowmobile usage had to await the December 19So 

passage of the Alaska National Interest Lands 

Con'>ervatinn Act. Sect ion 8n(b) of A:-..J J LCA, 

fo llowing Carter's le<:~d, stated that ''Notwithstanding any other prov ~ion of this Act or other 

law, the [Interior! Secretary ~hall permit on the 

public lund::. appropriate use for subsistence 

purpo::.es of snowmobiles ... bv local rcsidcms, 

subject to reasonable regulation." Denali, a~ 

noted abovc, was a conservation unit where 

subsistence was s<mctioncd ·-where su<.:h uses 

are traditional."""' Section 1110(a) of the Act gnvc 

snmvmobile:, an add itional avenue fnr access to 

Denali. It stated that 

otwithstanding any other provision 

of this Act or other law. the Secretary 

shall permir, on con~ervat on system 

units .. . the use of snowmachincs 

(during periods of adequate -.now 

cover) ... for trad itional activ tic~ 

(where such activities arc permitted 

by thb Act tlr other law) and for travel 

to and frtm1 ill age~ and horncsites. 

Such usc shall be !>ubjcct to rca!:>on· 

able regulations by the Secretary to 

protect the narural and other value)) of 

the conservatitm system un it;. ... and 
.,hall nor lx: prohibited unlc:-.s ... !he 

Secretarv linds that ~uch usc wnultl he 

detrimc.:ntaltll the rc.,omcc va ue~ of 

the unit or area."" 

Six month~ aftl.!r ANILCA\, pas:-.agc, th:> final 

park regulations- rcfkcrmg Congrcssionol 

intent ~tatt•d thnt "the.: usc of snowmobiles ... 

employed h~ lncal rural residc.:ms l.!nga11cd in sub 

'>i~ic.:nce usc" is permirtcd within park o.rl.!a~ .. :·•" 

No pmvi-.ions were made for recreational snow 

mnchiners in Ala~kn\ parks. 

N I'~ ofilciab. hovVC\'er, came to n:cogni1.c that 

ANILC\, for all its protection~. had nor prohibitc.:tl recrenli<>nal -.nowm:.ll'hine •lccc.:~:- into till' 

l(,rmcr i\ \ount 1vkKinley National Park. li, corrt•ct that owrsight, park ollicials began a:- early a~ 

rt.:bruary ll)HZ to craft rt.:gui<Hiom closing the "old 

pnrk" t<J..,nmvmachine~-.." Ry early Aprii19S3, the 

Interior 0L·partmcnr had completed it~ w<,rk. and 

il prop<l~cd in the Federal Register a regulation for 

"tht: permanent dnsure of certain areas within 

Denali National Park and Prt:~ervc ... ro snowmohilcs" and other mnll)ritcd vehicle!>. Given 

that announcc.:ment, a Pandora's hox of controver,;y c.:n'>ued. Thrnughoul thb period, both u~t:r 

group~ nn<.l cnn-.('rvMionish hud O'•!>Urncd that the 

"11lu park" wa., , Llo~cd to rhc.:~e vehicle~. Thl.! lmcrior Dcpnrrmc.:nt, however, stated that ANILCAeilht'l' purposely or inadvcncntly had opened 

rhc area up ro ~nowmachine acce~s. Speciflcally, 

lnrcriur DepHITment pcr-.onnel closely examined 

Sccrion 1110(<1) of the Act and inlc.:rpn.:tcd the 

clause to mean rhat ''the u~e of -;nowmal.!hinc., ... 

lor rraditional acrivltil'~ ... on con~crvariun unit~" 

applied not on ly ro newly-acquired parkland~ 

but to pre-rq8o parkland:; a~ well. Recllgnit.rng 

rhar Section 1 ~.w(c) allowed for "permanent 

clo:-urc:.or re~trictiom" on parl..land<. after going 

through a public prol.!es~, rhe department that 

mtmth i~sued a proposed n1lc that was "llltcndcd 

to prohibit usc~ which will he detrimental ro the 

re»ourct:5" in "<;en~irive area~" at Denali. I :om 

specitic closure~ were mvolved: a ten-mile-wide 

~.-orridur altmg the length t>f the park road, two 

area~ that contained "the majority or the park's 

dwindling caribou herd and wol r pupulntion:· 

a t•vo-milt:-wide cnrriJor in rhe ~ab e Pn:.~ area 

(where foot trafilc \Vould be prohibited away from 

thl' road ),and l-t:veral"priml' dc.:nningar<:n~ for 

rhe dwmdling wolf population;· which would be 

cln~t:d ro all human acccs:-. between mid-April 

nnd late Sc.:ptt•rnhcr. The proposed action~ would 

close )6 percent of the "oiJ park'' tu airplo.nt: 

landing!>. ~nt1wmachinc:,, three-wheeler:. and 

other motorii'cd craft.'" 

Rcrwecn April It> and April21, !')public hennng& 

were held on th~· proposed regulation; Lhrt:e of 

these meetings (in Fairbank~, Anchorage, aml 

Healy) -;pccilkally related l<llhc.: Denali pn>pOl>al. 

At tho-.e mcering!>. conscrvar ioni;.h n:m:lrkt:d 

that rhey had bl!CIJ t;1kcn aha<.:k hy lht: propw.,tl. 

This w~b not ht:catht: the 0L·p:H1mcnt wa~ offering w close the!.e areu>., hut heulU'il' they h;H.I 

a.,1:-umcd all along and a broad varit'ty of inter 

e!.t grnups had l1 mg rcwgnit.ed- that ,til of tlw 

"old pari(' wa-, clmcd to ~nowmnhilc~ and other 

mode~ of off-roat.l vehicle tral11c, just a~ il had 

been bd11rc ANI L CA\ pnssagt·. The Ala~ka C•mgn.:s~ional dclt:garion prote~tt:d jusl a~ vm:ifcrou~

ly as conscrvationir.t~. hut for entirely uill'trent 

reasons. In a letit:r 1o lnrt:rior St•crc.:rary Jame~ 

\Vatr, they ~tared thai "C1111grc.~s knl'W whul it 

\\1('1'> doing Wht'n it orenct.l "-armai. Gl:lClcr Ba). 

anu Denali (formcrlv McKinley 'J:1tional PurJ.:) 

to motorizetl acccs~." Aftt:r noting that the 1981 

~PS regulations allowed closures only when 

motorized u~e would be detrimentall•l an arca'l> 

fl.!f>l)Uf<.:t: value-., the dcleg<ltion argueJ that the 

agency had not -.hown sutllcicnr cau .. e lor do'· 

ing these area~. Murkow:.ki, in a press release, 

furthc:r noted thnl "these new regulalilln~ would 

... keep all but the heartic:.t hikcr~ out of ~omL' 

of the most beautiful rcmott• area-, in Denali and 

Karmai National Par b. t'he blanket do!>Urc.: of 

these;: lurge art'u~ appear!> unwarranted.''"" 

The '-il~~ had originally announced thul public 

c< m1mc:nr~ Wl1Uid he accepted for (w day<,. until 

June 6. But "in re~ponw to a number of requL'Sb 

for adJitionol time," the t'll111111Cnl pt•riou wa!. 

extended unril August 6. In adt.lition, rhc: agc.:nL)' 

::.chcduled another round or '>t'vcn puhli<.: meering~, helt.l berwccn .Jul) 6 and .July .2H. i\frcr lht: 

public comment peri<,tl clmed. howt;:ver, NPS 

official:. held of!' on issuing a tina! rule."; Bccm1~c 

that rule was nt'ver i-;~ucd in Jinnl ftii'ITl, rhe "old 

park" rt:mained open tu ~nl>wmachine~. Ry thi'> 

rime, the general management planning process 

for each of the new unt.l expanded park. area~ wa~ 

well underway, and thar process nfl'orded a new 

opportunity, via the variou~ park GMPs that were: 

heing prepared, ro shed new light on the morori;cd-acct'~s i~:.ue. 

Denali\ final General Mnnagclllt'nt Ptnn, issuc.:u 

in larc 19R6, sratcd thar l:xecurivt: Order n<,44, 

which President Nixon hud ~igneu in Fehrunry 

rqy2, applied to allulf-roat.l vehicle~ (indud 

ing ~.nnw machines) that operated on the public 

land~. vlore !>pedficnlly, St•ction 3 of thatmder 

required that park managcrr-. needed to ~-opecify 

anv area~ in the national pal'k ~y.,tem areas that 

\Vould he opened up to ORV uses, and to do \O, 

they needed rn ju~tify that ORV usc in the!-.c ar<!a~ 

w1 m ld not adversely affect the park ·s natt1rnl, 

aesthetic, or 5Ccnic value~. Tht• ordL'J\ furthermore, ~pccifically prohibited ORV rourcs 1n 
Tom Habecker Collection 

The Alaska Railroad crosses Riley 

Creek just south of the McKinley 

Station Depot. Tom Habecker 

Collection 

designated wildcrne~s areas. The plan also stated 

that "Section 1110(a) of A 1llCA provides for 

rhe u:,e of snowmach ine~ " (And unlike verbiage in other GM P~ written during thi~ period, 

the Denali GM P made no recommendation to 

limit either '>nowmachine~ or orher ORV~ to 

specifically designated routes.) Bur recreational 

!:>nowmachining, to be legal, had ro have been a 

traditional acriviry (a!-i noted in Section 1110(a)), 

and ina~much a~ owmachi e~ had never been 

commonly used, these vehicles were therefore 

closed from the Old Park. Bur bccau~c neither 

the executive order nor the GM P wa1. backed up 

by :;pecific regulations, the document\ recommendation& were unenforceable.'"' 

Between rhe mid-198os and the carlv 19<.JO~, 

~nowmachine access into the "old park" remained a minor b-,uc. Park staffrecogni;cd that 

no federa l regulations prevented snowmachinc 

riders (for recreational purpose~) from entering the "old park." But few snowmachine riders 

from Anchorage, Fairbanks, or other communiric:. howcd much interc~t in gain ing acce1. ·. The 

"old park," therefore, witnc&&cd little snowmachine u~age du ring thb period."' 

Working with Park Neighbors 

Prior to the 1970s, as noted in Chapters 6 and 7, 

park t.tatf at Mount McKinley lived and worked in 

/8 Crow11 Jewel oi lhP Nnrlh An AdllllfliSir<~tiVP lll>torv ol D('n«ll Ndtrorrdl Pdrk ~nrl Pr0SNV!' 

relative isolation from the uur::.idc worlt.l. The early 

1970s, to be ~ure, savr some loo~ening of thi~ i~nla

tion with the completion of the Park~ ll i~hway. By 

the end of the decade (M~e ( :hapter H), commercial 

development.; wert' beginning to ~pring up along 

the milc-long::.trip ju~t north of the Nenana River\ 

third crossing bridge (at .\1ile 218) as well a~ in 

the long road corridor bet\vl·en Cantwell <lnd the 

!-.econd cro::.sing bridge (at Mile 2)1). The number 

of nearby resident~ wa~ still small; severn I of the:-.e 

residents, morem·er, were pre;.ent and llm11l'r N PS 

employees. There were relatiwly il'W in:-.wnce~ in 

which N PS employees interacted (or fdt the neetl 

to interact) with rc:,idents of Cantwell, Healy, and 

other nearby communitic~. Public meetings and 

smaller in formal gathering~ related to the propo~ed 

Alaska land1. bill provided !-.Oille opportunities for 

local residents to speak with N PS \lllkiab, and on a 

more intimmll k:\·cl, N PS cmplowe~ with schoolaged children spent time at lea ,·~ li-i-Valley 

School."" The 1980s, however, wa-; a ditferenr story, 

and IPS sraff found numerous opporrunitie'> to 

work and partner with its neighbor~. The primary 

matters of mutual interest between the park and 

it;. neighbors concerned the Ala~ka Railroad and 

its ownership transfer; the formation of the Denali 

Borough; the propo::.ed Heal~' ''clean coal" plant; 

the el>tnblishment of rhe Dl'nali foundation; and 

the establishment and maintenance nf a local 

medical presence. 
During the early ro mid-tl)Ros, the National Park 

Service ·worked with thl: Srate nf Alaska offidab 

a;. part or n prm:css thut culmmntcd m thl: t\Jaskn 

R;tilmaJ\ mm:-.fcr fn)m the fL·dcral to the <.,tare 

gowrnml'!m •. r·h._. Ala!:.ka Railroad, of cour-;e, 

hnd played an integrnl rok in providing atcc.,-. 

to the park cwr ... incl' the early l<).w:-., <lnd until 

rhe early 1950-; the railroad had also played a key 

role in park development project;., including rhe 

mnnagcmenr 1 >f both the park h1 >tel and the rour 

bu, llperntion. The railroad had been an lnteri11r 

Dcpartnwnt entity until 1967, when it was transferred to the l·ederal Railroad Adminbtration 

within tht m·w Dl·partment of'lramportariun. 

Throughout thi~ period. thL' railroad was rcspon-

-.iblc for brin!?,ing a large majority of visito r~ ro 

the park;,,,. nored above, rhe mil road had hl.!en 

virtually tlw only way ro acces-. the park until 

rhe Denali llighwny wa~ opened 1n I<J57· and thi::. 

long-distance dirr rond wa~ the only non-mil link 

to the park until the fall 1lf 1971, when thl: Park!. 

Highway wa~ opened. Although the completion of thi~ highwa) con~idcrably ea::.ed ncce~>~ to 

thc park fur residents of Anchorage, fairhanb. 

und other rnilhdrcotnmtmirie::., a c<m.~iderable 

number ur park vbitor~ many of them on package wur~ continut:d to rcncl1 tht: park by rail 

Ullring the ll)7U~ ami early ll)8U~. J1ut dcspitc thc 

railroud\ increa:;ing popularity with Out~ide visitor~. the line had a con:::.istently negative ca~h flow. 

During rhi~ ->:llnl: period, C1mgrc!-.:-. began ro 

re-cxaminc the paternal relations that it had long 

kept ""ith the nation·~ variou~ tramponatiun 

nHH.Ic~ . Until the mid-1970~. the l·edcral guvcrnmem had clo::.cly regulared the airline, trucking, 

and railnlad indusrde~; ir had a strong role in 

rranspnrtanun nwrger~. rute~;, line uhandonments, and rclared marten,. Bur encouraged in 

large part hy the cri;,i~ that the U.S. railroad!> 

endured bcginning in rhe late ll)fH)&, Congrc~!> 

passed a series of ace- that played a major role 

in deregulating the principal r ran~porr;\1 ion 

im.lu~tric-.. Jhe'>l' dTorts included the Railroad 

Rcvitalitation and Regulatory Reform Act of 

1976. the Airlinc Deregulution i\ct of ~<)78, the 

Stagger~ Rail •\cr of rqRu, and the.\ l\ltor Carrier 

Act uf i!JHn. 

l'hc~..: bilb haJ their clfl'l:t on Al~1~k:'t :11-. well. 

Co ngrc~~. in 19Ro. had tach·cl a provision onto 

Titll' \If or the Stagger~ Rail Act a:-.king the 

ln rcr~»tntc Commt•rcc Commission to invcsti~ZfHe 

whether rhe .\Iaska Railt·oad'f> rare ~tructure 

wa!> out of Jim· The followingJuly, nfrer the 

du~t frnm .\\iiLCA had finally !>cttled, Alaska\ 

Congre;.~ional delegation made a bold move: 

it introduced bills "directing the Set:retary [of 

Tran'>portation I w rram.fer the Ala).ka RailroaJ 

to the State of Alaska before Oct()her 1, 19S2 ... 

Such an action wa~ logical given the rrcvailing 

deregulatory dimute, the Alaska Railroad\ public 

owncr~hip, itf> poor t'C1>nomic performance, and 

the stare'~ excellent financia l posit" ion in the wake 

of the Alaska Pipeline. 

The various bill~> I)Uhmtttecl in tq!l t enjoyed vary 

ing Jcgrce~ of !>Uccc~~. Rep. Don Young\ hill 

(II.R. 427S) made little headway, but rhe languuge 

in hi:, hill wa~ f,\Jon incorp1)rarcd into a larg\.'r 

bill (H.R. (.,.~oil) rclnrcd to Amtrak is~ucs in tilt· 

Norrhca!.t Corridor. That hill pa.~~cd the llou:,e 

but bogged down in the Senate. Alaska\, )tcnior 

-.en a tor, Ted Stcvcn1-., had better luck v. irh hb 

bill, S. t')OO. Just a mnnrh after he introduced it, 

Srevcn~·,. bill n.:ccived a two-d•l.Y hearing in thl' 

Senate Commerce, Sdent:e, und Trnn)tportatiqn 

Committet:. After ten nwnth:, of behind the 

scene;. work. tht• bill wa::. "ordered to he reported 

with an amendment in lhc nattn·t· or a -;uhstitult: 

favornhlv,'' and 1n late June! 11.)82 Rnhcrt Packwood (R-Ore,), the Committee chair, hroughr ir 

up ro the full Senate. On December .2t, in the la:-.1 

davs ot the 97' 1

' Congre~~. !'len. Howard Mell.cnbaum (D-Ohio) who had prcviou~l y had !>omc 

:,~rong disagreement~ with Steven~ regarding 

\'ariou;. a::.pect~ ofS. 1500, agreed to submit a new 

bill (which, likl' Young ~ bill, dealt primarily with 

Northeast Corridor rail opt:ration<.) that incorpuratc!d most of Steven~\ hill. ·l'hat hill, in turn, 

wa'; folded int<> an en:n larger bill dealing with 

pipeline ~afery.'"' In \lilt.: diu.ying day, thi~ bill wa~ 

introduced, it pa~scd the Senate, and the House 

ngreed ro the ncwly-pa~~cd ~enatc.<.ub~titurt:. 

l'ht: new bill was thcn forwarded on to President 

Ronald Reagan, wb(l signed the hill (Jn january 

q, t':)il3. What had been prt:viou:,ly known a~ the 

.. Ainska Rnilroud Tmnsfer Act of 19lb." became 

Title VI of the pipeline saft:ty act.'" 

The new law p1·ovidt:d for a mm!>ition reriod 

during which the U.S. Secretory ofTmnsporta· 

rion and the Ala~b Governor would prepare. 

and join.Liy present to Congres!., a repl>rt on all 

r;liln)ad prupcrries that Wt:re ~ubjt•ct to rrnn:-.-

fer. That report, hy Secretary Eli1.ahcth Dole 

and Govt:rnor Bill ">hcf!kld, wa!> completed and 

signt:d un july 1), tl)t-11. The following May, thr 

Alaska lcgblaturc passed u hill (S~ ttl) authori;ing 

Sheffield ro negotiate with thl' federa l government about the transfer, ;md two month:, later, 

Sheffield c~tahli:-.hccl the Alm,ka Railroad Corporation. Having met all requi ement~ pur~uant to 

Congrtss\january 19H) at:t, the Ala!»ka Railroad 

was tran:;fcrrcd from rhe federal ro the o;tatl' gov -

cmrnent on January'), 19R).'" 

Thi:, ,tct huJ rwo -;po:t:ific pnrk-rcl:ttcd provi.-.ion~ . 

~ection ho4(h)( 1 )(d), combined with C:,ee tion {>l.l 
The Alaska Railroad has been 

bringing visitors to the park since 

1922. NPS lnterp. Collection, #479, 

Denali National Park and Preserve 

noted that the railroad righr-of-way would "be 

transferred to the Secretary of the Interior for administration as part of the Denali National Park 

and Preserve." The ~tate, however, wou ld be able 

to usc, without compensation, lands along the 

railroad right-of-way within the park's boundary necessary for it!-> tracks, terminal, and other 

cxi~ting facilities. This usc, however, was -.ubject 

w federal law'> and reglJiations that protected 

park re~l)urce~. In nddition, Section 6o4(c)(3) of 

the hill recognized that the NPS would be able 

to continue its usc of railroad land at 'Ihlkeetna 

for park administrative purposes (see Chapter 

1)). The agency had been leasing a so' X 100' 

parcel nenr the railroad depot since April 1980 

(and had been paying the railroad S6oo per year 

for the privilege), but language in the transfer act 

allowed the NPS to usc and occupy the parcel 

without compcnsnrion.'J..' 

Not long after the railroad issue was resolved, 

the park and its neighbors pondered a new issue: 

whether a new borough hould be establi~hed in 

the area. In the spring of 1987, Matanuska-Susitna Borough Manager John I laic first suggested 

changing the borough's name to Denali and 

extending its boundaries north to include Mount 

McKin ley. A yea r later, however, official;. in 

Nenana asked the srate to study a different plan, 

onc that would create a new borough extending 

~outh from Nenana to Mat-Su's northern boundary and thus include Mount McKinley and most 

of the park unit. The :--Jcnana olticials' proposal 

was formulated by a desire to unite Nemma, 

Cantwell, and Anderson on issues before the 

stnrc government; in addition. it was a defensive 

~0 C 11own lr·w"l nt rho• Nnnlo Arl/\thnorw.11.111vc• Ho~HIIY 11! Dt:'llclil Nauonal Pilrl. and Pri'',PoV~ 

action intended to prevent Mat-Su borough 

from extendi ng too far north. Later in 19H8. Hak 

revived his proposal, and borough as~cmblymen backed him to some degree; one, 'led Smith, 

dryly noted that the pre!5ent name wa~ "certainly 

descriptiw, but it doe~n't actuallv inspire the 

imagination." Mat-Su planners who had ~tudicd 

thc matter concluded thnt it would probably raise 

more money than it Wtluld cost; Nenana oftkial!' 

countered that they hoped tn keep the area\ tax 

base within their orbit.'11 

In January 1989, Mat-Su upped rhe ante when 

the borough assembly passed a re:,nlution ask -

ing that the srate drop irs Nenana study until 

Mat-Su could complete its own. That, however, brought forth a protest from residents of 

Healy and surrounding areas (including ~ome 

NPS ~taff), who on September 7 filed for the 

creation of a new Denali Borough hascd in 

Healy. And in October of that year, a Nenanabased group filed a new proposal for a ·'Valley 

Rorough" that would cncompa~s most of the 

terri tory between Mm-Su and the Fairbanks 

North Star boroughs. A'::o a re:-.u lr of these actions, the state's Department of Community 

and Regional Affairs (DCRA) had to consider 

three petitions for the ~lcKinlcy-Railhl.'lt region: a Mat-Su extension proposal and proposals for new boroughs based in eithe r llculy or 

Nenana. As one Healv meeting attendee frankly admitted, " I think everybody sitting at thb 

table wnuld just as soon have no government." 

Another, however, recogni1..ed that "we're all 

here becau:;e Mat-Sui::. trying to annex this 

area ... our mis ... ion here i~ to hlock that an-
ncxarion '-O that thcv Jon't Jraw revenue I rom 

our nrca and rakt· our loc::tl conrrul:'"' 

On Occcrnhcr )U, 1ySy, DCRI\ weighed in with 

1t., dcci..,itm- In a draft report, it decided in favm 

of llealy\ proposal, thus rcjccring plans from 

both Nenana und i'vlat-Su. That proposal, it 

noted. made gol)d economic ~cmc. Rur while the 

Department\ report rejected the ~enann-hascd 

proposal, the reporr ironicallv noted that DCRA 

would welcome tht: addition of the Nenana 

area ro the Hcaly-ba-;cd proposal a:-:suming, of 

course, rhm Nenana n:..,idcnts backed rhc ide:•.''' 

The Denali Borough. with llealy as it'> ~cat of 

government, wn.., e1.tablishcd <lll December 7• 

lt)QO. Its boundaries included more than twothirds nf Denali "Jational Pnrk and Preserve 

and cornprbed "i" main popularion cluster!.: 

1\nJen;on/Cicar. Ferry. Lignite, llcaly, Denali 

ational P;1rkh\lcf...inley Village, and Cantwt'll. 

It~ ycar-rnu nd populntion that yeur, uccordmg to 

U.S. Cen~u~ figure:., wa~ 1,441, and more than half 

of that population was located within live mile& 

of the pari\ b~lundary. l'hc borough, mon:~~wr, 

dcciJed thar its primary n:vcnue source at least 

in its early years would be a tax on overnight 

accommodation~: thu~ revenues genera red by 

park vb1tor" played a major rniL· in financing 

borough 11pcration5."" 

rhe NPS al!>o worked'' ith park neighbor~ nn 

rhe long runnmg Heal~· "denn coal .. power plant 

prnpo...al. Coal had b~·en mined at Suntrnna 

,.ince rhe early t<)20l>, aml '>ince !<).f) the Usibdli 

Coal Mine had hccn actiw~ both mine~ v.'l·rc 

located along Heuly Creek erN of Heal\'. Coal 

mining remained active in the I lealy arca for the 

next several decade:-, and in 1967 the GoiJen 

Valley Electric t\!-.50Cilltion (the Fairbank!> art·n·, 

primnry electric utili~ ) openet.l a 25 mt•gaw::m 

power planr udjacenr to rhe Lhibclli mine . . , 

111 ll)Sl), a potential new ~ourt:e for electric power 

looml'U in the region when :-;cvcral cntitie)o the 

Aluo..ka lndu~trial Development and Export Authori~· (AJDEt\),l..olden Valley Electric l\s-,uciation (GYEA), L'sibdli Coal Mine, aml orher.., 

hmrtted an applicarron to rhc U.S. Department 

of Enerh':' to fund a )O megawatt j1(lwcr plant at 

llcaly under the federal Clean Coal Tech nolo~ 

program. (Officials pitched tht: idea that a Healy 

plant could '·dcmonsh·arc hnw t(l hurn cual for 

energy without spewing nur the pulluranrs mo!:it 

rt·~pon;;it'llc f()r acid rain: .,ulfur dioxide and 

nitrogen oxides.") Later that vear, the DOf ;,elct'ted the ~O·G1lled Healy Clean Coal ProjeLt for 

federal fund mg.' " Plans called for the con~truction of a SII1J-million-p]u;, plnnt (S91 milli•m of ir 

from OOFl, to he completed in '9Y1·'"' 

J>rohlcms, howcvc1. d(1ggcd the project from If'.. 

carlie!-.t days. ProJeCt proponent-. -;poke ot diver-

:;if'ying the Railtwlf, energy base. att•lining L·nergv 

independence for I nterinr \la~ka, onc.J hencfil111g 

L'Cllnomically fr<lm plant cunsrruction at:! tviry. 

But opponent~ ot which there were muny 

clnimeu that the pl'llJeCt wa.., cconomir•llly ab~ut d 

becau~e it would force Interior re!-!ldL·nts to pm 

high electrical raw' ,1( n t irm· when low w~t 

clcctrici~' wa~ plcnttfully available. r he project 

abo pitted utility ngaimr utrlir~· ;.llld natural gu.., 

producers again~t LJ,ihelli M inc~ m <llldith1n, at 

cording to une account, it hecnmL' "nnother front 

in the o;eemingly endlc'>' war hctweL·n Anchoragl' 

nnd l·nirhank!> over regionL!I dominance.''''" In 

addition, finam:ing bt•camc a 11rohlcm: hv earlv 

1991, the project tah had risen tn StiH millio11, 

and non fcd~:r:1l '>Ullrc~.:~ Wl'l'e unnbk to r:ti'e S ~'i 

million in nece ... ..,al'\1 prnje<.:r funding. Although 

Ctmgn.·:,., appnwcd project funding that .\pril, ;1n 

Anchorage new ... paper editmial noted I hut rlw fi 

nancing package• w:h ··a dubiou~ dcnl at bc~t" and 

"a ca~c- of federal pork gruhhin~gone awry."'" 

B~ the end <1f tl)CJI, the plant\ prk~· t;lg h;1d ri'>t:n 

to StqH.') million and it ... e-;rimatcJ compk•t1nn 

date had been pw.hcd hack to ll)l)Cl .. ami juq thn:c 

month, lntN ihe "roughly l\2oo milf1on" pmj<·cl 

had an estimated 1997 'tart date. Tht: pi'Ojcct 

wa~ now pitting \.hug<1t'h Electric /\;...,ociation 

(in J\nchmngc ) again~t GVEA (in Fnirhanb); 

in addition, environmental groups were lining 

up against the plant ht•c:m'e any .:•wl plant in 

rhat area threatened the park\ air and Wilft•r. 

Despite all that oppll~ition, the Ala~b PuhliL 

Utiliric:-. Commr~~ion approved a key nwrkcting contru..:t (between the plant ond C ,v 1.1\) in 

Scptcmbt·r 19()2." 

"Jcxt to weigh in on I he pro jeer wet't' '-•1tional 

Park <;crvicc officiab who ~hared environmenl1tl 

iM,.· concern'> -,pecitk,tlly, that cmis..,ion.., from 

rht: phlnt would thrententht: region\ pri~nm· 

air quality. They noted that park vi ... rtors would 

have their scenic view.., tain11.•J hy Lhl' plant\ 

smokt· plume, and 111 Fehruory I C)')~, dlt·lntnim 

Department i!>~L1ed a notkc that L·mi~ ... loll'> frnrn 

the propo.,ed power plan W(ltdtl hnve Hl1 a<.lvcr~c 

illlp3Ct on lhe park\ at!' (jlJality. ~el <lli~L' or 

ndditinnal con~c:rn~ wJih the park\ .. lt'l'l'l''tn.d 

and aqwHic re-,u\Jrce..._'' H recommended that tiK' 

plant':. n.rr l)Uality permit hc dcnied."4 Project 

~ptm1>nr..,, upon reCL'i\·ing that recommendation. 

worked with Interior Dt:parrmcnr olfit:ial' ru 

meet their concern,. They promi ... ed to reduce 

emb::.ion ... on rhelr l'xisting llcaly power pla.nt to 

~uch a degree that, when rhe ncv. plant wa.., up 

nnd running, the total cmi!> ... ion-. from both pl;lnh 

wotJid he closL· to then-current k·wk Bn"L'U on 

tho~t: a~~urance!>, !Ill' federal gol'ernmenl. .,latl' 
In 1993 the f irst lntergenerational 

Elderhostel group w as hosted at 

the Denali Foundation campus. 

Elderhostel Collection. Denali 

Education Center 

government, and GVEA signed a Memorandum 

of Agreement to that effect on November 9, 1993, 

and the following March, Energy Department official:, agreed to spend about Sno million to fulfil l 

their role in constructing the S227 million planr."' 

Rv this time, Tru!>tecs for Alaska (a group of lawyers advocating fur environmental protection) 

had challenged the project in the Alaska Supreme 

Court. But in june 1994, Trustees reached an 

out-of-court ~ettlcment with project developers 

that allowed plant construction to proceed, and 

in May 1995 construction on the S267 million 

generating plant finally got underway.''" Details 

of plant operations are noted in Chapter ro. 

Yet another way in which NPS oftlciab interacted 

with its park neighbors was in the establishment 

of the Denali Foundation. As noted in Chaprer 

8, resident!> in areas surrounding the park- and 

some in areas as far away a1. Anchorage and 

Fairbanh had banded together in April 1974 

to establish th~.: DenaJi Citizen::. Council. Thm 

group, which was "honestly concerned and interested in protecting the unique values of McKinley Park and region surrounding it;' has remained 

active to the pre-,ent day. During the late 198os, 

however, it wa<. felt thar a new organization wa::. 

necessary: one more related to interpretation 

and education rather than ~pecific lobbying 

auivirie1., and one that appealed to Outsiders as 

well as Rail belt residents. Thar new organization, the Denali Foundation, was incorporated 

in November 1989, largely through the efforts of 

park supcrintendent Robert C. Cunningham and 

longtime concessioner George Fleharty. Tht'se 

two men had been working together fur nine 

years and had an excellent working relationship; 

rhe Foundation, w some extent, was a logical 

extension of Fleharty's interest in expanding the 

park\ Eldcrhosrel program,'17 combined with 

Cunningham';. interest in having a home-awayfrom-home for ~cientiSt!> conducting rc,ean.:h in 

the park. 

The self-stated purpose of the Denali Foundation 

was ''to develop and implement rc::.eurch, education and communication programs that benefit 

rhc Denali Park region, the state or Alaska, and 

our planet. We believe that il derne~s provide!> 

an educational opportu nity to teach and to share 

value!> common wall of us." Cunningham al1.u 

hoped, through this program, to develop a gro up 

of park defenders. As he noted in a recent book, 

"1 was looking fo r allies to support regui:Jtions 

that would prevcm the degradation of Denali 

National Park.'' Thus after Fleharty approached 

him with the derho~tel concept, " I immediately supported George's idea because I saw the 

opportunity to possibly recruit supporters from 

arnund the world to ht: an environmental voice 

for the park.""' Fleharty also provided the new 

organization a long-term home; as part of ARA\ 

1987 purcha.~e oC the 27-acrc t\kl--:inky Village 

property from Linda Crabb, he reserved 10 acres 

of that parcel fur the Denali Foundation. as well 

as housing for ARA employee~.'~'' 
The Denali Foundation's 90-seat 

lecture hall and offices, completed 

in 1998 with over 4,000 hours of 

volunteer effort, are located in the 

Charles Sheldon Center. named 

in honor of the founder of Denali 

National Park. Denali Education 

Center Collection 

Since it~ founding. the Denali Foundation ha~ t!.~­

tabli~hed a hroad network of pmgram~ designed 

for all age . Elderhostcl program-. m the park. 

which h<1d hegun in 1984, were incorporated into 

thL' foundation beginn ing in 1990. That ~ame 

year. n new Elderho~td cumru~ wa<. erected at 

.'vlcKinlcy \~llage. And a third major a-.pecr of 

rhe foundation's program- communicating thL' 

n:,tl t~ of scientilk re~earch to the puhlic hlli> 

resulted in a lecture program that bring!-. ~cores of 

... cienri,t!-. toLhc lectern each 5ummer for lectures, 

lilms, l'Uitural dcmon~rrarions, and other prescntatitms. The Foundation al!>o ntkr~ program-. 

lailorcd to meet the needs of local resident~. borh 

children and adult!>. and it also ~pl>n!->Or'- various 

wilderne!->.., l'ducation programs. Since 1992, thi!> 

organitarion has partnered with the N P~ via a 

cooperative agreement. but no goYernment fund~ 

arc ~pecifically allotted ro fund Denali Fou ndal ion acti, itie~.' '" During the winrcr of 2006-2007, 

the Denali Foundation changed ir~ name to 

the Denali Education Center in order to more 

appropriately '>tart• it~ empha~i<. on educational 

programming. "-~' 

Finalh, the ~P!:> worked with park neighbor~ to 

estahli!.h a medical facili()' in the park vicinity. 

During the 1970~. park ra ger~ and other local 

employee~ (boLh NPS and concc~siom a!f) 

were trainl'd in first aid <1nd rescue technique~: in 

addition, the conce~~ioner -;up ported a regi~­

kred nurse, who \\'orked out of the park hotel. 

Otherwise, the nean:~t medical ~peciali't wa~ a 

physician\ <N.,i-.tanr ( PA) located in 1-kaly. some 

12 mile-. north of the ptlrk l10tcl. (The Tri-\'alley 

Communi~ Center was complcred in the late 

llJ?O~, <lnd Jnhn \X'inklcman, the local PA. had 

hb office in that building.) But given the cxplo -

~ion in annual park ,.i!>itaLion during the 1970~ 

and early 1980!->, both NPS official<, anu the park 

concc!>sioncr became acutely aware that a more 

;,nphisricnred medical pre-.cncc W<ls nece~sary. 

So wht:n a retired thoracic :-urgeon from New 

Mexico arrived at the park in the ~pring of 19S'), 

the park community welcomed his prc~encc; hl· 

spent the '->UI11mer providing volu nteer emcrgt•ncy medical service" to park visitor!> and t:mployces. The physician returned the following year 

to perform tilL' ... ame 1>ervice~ .' ' And in ll)87, the 

N rs C!.tabl i!.hed agreemenrs with the Tri-Valley 

Fire Department !->O that the hotel and headquarter!-> aren5 would have better tire and cmergencv 

medical -.en•ice protcction.'-1 1 Thc;.e -.cr"icc;. 

became incrca~ingly ~ophi~t cated in later yenr~. 

Most medical "en 'ices pertained w minor dbea~e::.., phy~ical ailment~. di~ca~e prevention, and 

accident re!'.pon~c;.. 'H 

Shuttle Bus Capacity Issues 

As noted in Chapter l{, the mile-long ::..trctch of 

the Park'> l lighwayju!-.t north of it' intcr::.cction 

with the park road witnc!.'>ed the first inkling::.. of 

commercial development ~oo n after the highway 

wa~ wmpletcd in the early H)?O~- For the next 

~cvcraJ year::.., only a few ~ca.trc ed rc~idences 

were ~een . Bur in the ~>p ri ng of 1978. Outdoor 

World Ltd. opened the ti ~t unit of the McKi nley 

Chalets, and by th(! end of 1980, rhc PS noted 

that "three new hotd unit.'> were utili1ed, and 

comtruction on a gift shop, lobby, restaurant, 

and lounge' ' wa~ underway ut the hotel. The~e 

impnwemenl'!-> ::..oon ::,pawnc::u ancillary devclopmenr..., and by 19R~ the park ;.uperintend(!nt stared that "a major ti)Urist indu~rry 1s ~pring ng up." 

SllOn after the hotel was completed. "numerow. 

~mall hu~ine~~e:.. mushmomed around the area : 

taco ~rand;., hor;.c ride!-, two campground::.., rvvo 

other 24-unit motel::.., and a liquor store .... All 
Map 2. Accomodatfons Growth in 

Nenana Canyon, 1978 to Present. 

Accommodations Growth 

in Nenana Canyon. 

'\___-- 1978 to Present 

/J P~n<s / { HIQhway 

these additional tourist facilitie~:· he added, "will 

have: an incrca~ed impact on the park ruad cor 

ridor." (Sec ,\t\ap 2.) The mid-1980::. brought nL'W 

bu~ine~1.cs to the mile-long strip, locally culled 

I ~ealy Canyon, Nenana Canyon, or ~imply "the 

canyon:" the l!)fl) construction of a seriL•s 11f touri~t cabins on the slope:-. of Sugar !.oaf Mnuntain 

increased the width of rhe commercial corridor 

and portended futurc devclopmcnt~ up~lopL: 

fmm the Parks llighway.'l• 

In late 1986, a!> mentioned earlier in this chapter, 

the NPS complctcd a gcm:ruii!lunngemenr plan 

f( 1r the park. A key aspect of that plan was a proposal to allow an increased u~c of hus traffic -up 

to 20 perccnt higher than had hecn recorded 

in 1984- while simultaneously cutting back on 

private vchicle traffic. The agency planned a !>equential three-step approach ro implementing its 

road-corridor rrat]k plan, and although the plan 

Jid not give a specific time hMizon, NPS offidals 

generally agreed that live years or more would 

be needed for it!> full implementation. ln 198(), 

however, two major r:venrs took place: ARA (the 

&11Cce~sor to OutclliOr World) added 36 room~ to 

rhc McKinlt:y Chalet1'>, and Prince~!> Tours began 

to construct the 154-bed Harper Lodge, which 

was slated for completion in the ~pring of 1987.'4" 

The construction of this lodge promised to 

put further pres::.ure on the bus rrnffic over the 

park road. In response, therefore, park officials 

decided to immr:diatcly implement the fir~t 

<otage of the GMP's traffic plan. As a resu It, park 

officiab in 1987 adth:d l'j pcrcent more capacity 

1971 

Canyo11 Stauon at 

Deoah Pnncess 

IMidemess Lodge. 2006 

(focmer s.te of 

Denali RlveNoewlnn 1992) 

to the combined tour bus and ~hurtle hus fleet:-., 

but they also imposed severe reducrions on park 

road traffic by agenc\· and cnncessiom. emplnyccs, 1-:anti~hna lodge owner~ and claim holders, 

and profe~sionnl photographer'-. Hy 'ievcrdy 

rationalizing long-established access and ofFering prudent alternative>., the agency was able to 

generallv meet the traffic targets th:H the G.\11 P 

had outlincd.'47 

De~pite the fact thar rhe traffic plan allowed liH· 

substantial growth in bus capacity, rhl' increased 

numbers were still insufficient to meet peak 

'>~ason needs. and some park visitors were 

inconvenienced. In 1985, the llrst year in which 

the agency adhered to its hu>o-capacity limit!>, a 

few mid-season visitors were turned away. T he 

following year, according w a government report. 

"approximately l,)OU visitors were unable to 

ohtain shuttle bus scars on the day rhey arrived," 

and ''long lines at early hours were commonplace." (Some of these visitors were parricularly 

chagrined m the lack of bus capacity, inasmuch as 

they had obtained campground reservations via u 

newly-installed ·nckctron sy~tcrn hut wcrc unable 

to access their cnmpsitcs.) Long lines conrinucd 

untii19RS. when thc park imtitutccl a shuttle bu~ 

rc~crvation system that offered a 24-hour lead 

time for rcservations.'lx 

For the remainder of the decade:, the agency Jid 

it5 best ro meet the GM r·s traffic goals. Prcssurcs on the road, however, built ever greater. By 

19H8, Denali recreational visitation at 592-431 

reached ir~ greatest total ever. A year later, the 
Tom Habecker Lollection 

The new Kantishna Roadhouse lodge 

building is located in the area of the 

gold rush town site of Eureka, now 

called Kantishna. Tom Habecker 

Collection 

park supcrintcndcnt remarked that "local hotels 

continu~.:d to build additional rooms," and he 

further remarked that the hoom in ··wholcbale 

touri-.m development on the ea::.tcrn boundary" continued into the early 199os.'4'• 'fhuri.-,m 

growth was ab1J taking place in the Kanrishna 

area. Beginning about 198 3, Roberta Wi Is on 11M 

brought touri:-.ts w her 1-..anrbhna Roadhou!>c 

property,''" and in the late 198os the new North 

Face Lodgc owners made substantial renovations to thci r property.''' Another new hostelry, 

opened in 1989. wa~ the Denali Mountain Lodge, 

located ncar the KantishnaAirstrip.'" During 

this period, the capacity of all t>f the:>e ho~telries 

n:maLncd relatively mode~t; even ::.o, su!:>taining 

tll(lse opera tion~> put additional strains on thc 

park road's capacity. 

Park officiab, trying ro remain under rhc capacity 

limits, continued to limit private vehicle traJiic according to method1. inaugurated in 1987- But they 

also did what they could to imp lement ::.tagcs 2 

and 3 of the GJ'vl P\ traffic plan. Specifically, rhey 

allowed additionnl passenger:; (though nor additional hu~e~) by allowing both the conce~~ioner 

:1 11rl tht• ,.;hnrtlt'-hns opPr:ltnr to n~P l:1rg~ r- siz!'rl 

buse:;.'s' In the '-Ummer of 1988, regional-ofIke wild life biologist Dale -laylor began the tir~t 

pha~c of a four· year study that, like the previou!> 

Tracy-Dean and Singcr-Bcartic -..rudics, monitored the impact of road tratnc on the park'~ 

wildlife."• 

Beginning in 1989, the !>Uperinrendcm began a 

public proce:-.~ that gradually pha.,ed out motorit.cd acccs~ to most of the park campgrou nd!> 

located west of Savage River. The fir~t step in rhi~ 

procc:-.'> took plaec.~ in the !>tun mer of H)lll), when 

the Wonder Lake Campground wa-. relocated 

from the knoll top to area~ nearer the lake; hccau-.e of ongoing construction, the agency clo-.cd 

the campground to all visitor~. The following 

year, N PS provided ten additional Wonder l.nke 

camp~ites; thi~ larger facility, however, remained 

clo~cd to motorited camping. In January 1990, 

the agency announced additional clmurcs; i.lt a 

~eric~ of public meetings, the ugency -,aid that 

it would close Teklan ika •md Sanctunry campgrounds to motori,ts as ··part of n long-term plan 

to n:duce vchicle rratric becau~>c of ih dl'ed tlll 

Denali\ renowned wildlife." Superintendent 

Bt:rrv noted that thc~c actions were a logical 

fo llow-up to recommendation!. made in th<.: 1986 

GMP. The agency\ plam, prcdictahly, arou~cd 

scnrtcred public grumbling; perhnp-. <h a re1>ult 

of tho~c protc~t~. camper-. retained tht:ir ability 

to drive to Tcklanika Campground, though they 

would now be limited to a 3-day min imum stny. 

Starring in 1990, all park campground~ wc~t of 

Savage River were do!>cd ro d rive-in camping.''' 

The NPS. during thi::. period, cffecrivcly -,crved 

as n rnmmunitv ccnlcr for local rcsidenb. 

whether park employee~ o r nor. A~ nored in 

Chapter 7, a ~ix unit apartment building had 

been built at headquarter~ in 1958, and evcr ... incc 

that Lime, the rccrL·ation mom in that building 

had ::.ervcd as an informal meeting rol)m and 

!>llCinl center. Sea-;onal parties, dnncc!>, movie 

nights, and other community !-.ocial event~ were 

held there until1983, when work hegan on the 

l>tatc ~pon~orcd McJ..:inley Village Communiry 

Center, located between McKin ley Village and 

the Denali (Lingo) Airstrip. (The center l>pcned 
The Denali Fruit Express, privately 

owned and operated by Denise Taylor 

(pictured on the right), brought fresh 

produce, baked goods, coffee and 

good cheer to the park vicinity every 

week during the summer season. 

Denise Taylor Collection 

in 1984.) NPS employees abo played key rob, 

in organit.ing and supporting ,·m·ious other 

community evenb, including the Pygmy Tundra 

Hutfalo Run (a half-marathon race begun in the 

mid-1970s), the Panguingue Creek Co-op (for 

hulk foods), and the "Denali Fruit Express" 

(which since 1981 has hrought peri~hablc food:- to 

the area fi·om Anchorage and the Palmer area on 

u regular y-~cheduled basis).''' 

A fina l way in which the NPS reo,ponded ro the 

C\'er-greater demand!> for park -road Yi~itatinn 

was to wo k with the conccssioner on a new 

tour, o ne that would go no farther than Primrose Ridge. The idea was conceived, developed 

and approved during the mid-1980!', hut 1wt 

implemented unti l J()90·'" Park management 

assistant Ralph Tingey, who helped develop the 

rour, reasoned that many park visitor~ had little 

interest in a long bus ride; they did, however, 

want a dear view of .'vlount McKin ley. The 

Savage River check !>tation (which at that time 

was just we~r of Savage River Campground ) 

offered such a ' 'iev\'; this location, however, did 

not have a -;pot where bul>es could turn around. 

Primro~e Ridge, located 1.2 mill'~ beyond the 

Sa,'agc River bridge, offered both a turnaround 

loop and a panoramic !'vlounr i\lcKin lcy vio;ta. 

Thi~ site, moreover, wa~ ju1ot 3.2 mile-; beyond 

Savage River Bridge, where the check o.tation was 

sited beginning in 1990. N PS officials felt that a 

mile segment was sufficicnrlv short that hu~ 

trip!> terminating at Primrose Ridge :-.hould not 

impact the park road\ bu~ capacity ct:iling. Thi~ 

"Natural History Tour .. initialh· had few patrom, 

but by the mic.i Jl)l)O~ it was carrying almost a~ 

many visitors as rhe Tundra Wildlife Tour and the 

:-hurtle hus.'··• 

In oddirion rn cnpaciry pre:-.;.ures, cosr pressun:~ 

were aJ..,o a growing bu..,-system problem. A, 

noted in Chapter 8, the -.,hurtle hu ... e-, hcginning in L9T! had hecn run hy the conce-.sioner 

on a ·'co..,t plus" cnntroct. A yeor bn:r the NPS, 

hoping to guaramcc grenter reliability 1hnn the 

concessiom:r had thu-.. far pruvided, made the 

11r-.,t of severa.l attempts to purcha~e it~ own tlcct 

of -,hurtle hu..,e~. In 1975· howevn. the General 

Services Admini-.,tration tlntly rejected that 

request.''" Due to hallnoni ng cn..,ts brought on 

by a lack of incentive to re ... train ex]1en~c.., the 

agency in 19R2 implemented a year-to-year 

contract '-Y1>tcm, and !->incc then scwral ditferenr 

cornpanic~ had ~upplicd the park with it~ ~hurtle 

hu., fleet. But the explosion in vi..,itation during 

the 198oq resulted in c\'er-higher cosh tn the hu:-. 

contractor.'"" In 1991 these costs became a critical 

pnrk issue because the park budget prm·ided $1.1 

million for the ... hurtle bu~ conrmct, hut the hl\vcst bid submitted to fu lfi ll that contract totaled 

S1.8 million. The superintendent rrlucwntly 

accepted that hid. l Ic noted, in hi~ year-end repon, rhar the terms of the contrnct were fullillcd 

"through careful accumulation nf lapsl' monic.., 

and a!.~i rance from the region.""" N PS oltkial.., 

recogni;.ed that the bu~ contract\ n~cal arrangements were untenable and needed to l'w changed. 

Park oflicials, looking for a way out of it~ 11scal 

crbb. recngni;ed that the Conces.;ion~ Policy r\cr 
The Denali Natural History Tour 

destination at Primrose Pullout 

provides a panoramic view of the 

Alaska Range, as seen in this 1998 

photo. Courtesy of Doyon/ARAMARK 

Joint Venture 

of 1965 demanded rhat the NPS, each five years. 

needed to rccon~ider the concessioner's fran -

chi&e fees.''' Given that law, the NPS in 1992 began dbcu!>sinn!-. with ARA Lei~u e Se vice~. Inc. 

regarding a renegotiation of its fra nchise fcc. A 

key aspect of those negotiations was to allow the 

concessioncr to operate the shuttle-bus ~ystem . 

Thi~ arrangcmem, as not~:d abnve, hod been in 

place hetvvccn 1972 (when the shuttle bus ::.yf.tcm 

was inauguratL·d) and 19Hr. What made the new 

proposal substantially different, however, was 

that the conce::.sioner would assume total control 

of the shuttle-bus operation; it would purc a~c 

its own fleet of shuttle buses, hire its own dr ver~, 

and charge visitors a b reak-even rate for t.huttlc 

hu1. usc. It would also require the co cc~<.ioner 

to invest in new employee homing and to im.tall 

new bus maintenance facil ities. The amendmenr 

was adva tageou~ ro the NPS in two key ways; it 

resulted in a sharp spike in the fra nchif.e fcc that 

concessioncr paid to the government from o.y') 

percent up to 12 percent and it also allowed the 

NPS to divert it::. annual Su million bu::. sysrem 

cxpen::.cs to ()ther park-related p urposes. Tn 

the park vbitor, the proposed amendment to the 

19R1 conce:-~ions conrract promised newer bu~e!> 

and thu!-> a more comforrable ride down the park 

road; the cml of that ride, however, would swell 

from the currcm S4cntrance fe~.: regardlc~s 

of kngrh) to a more expen~ive trip, \Vith co~ls 

dependent on dbrance: pa~scnger:, bound for 

Eiclson would he charged S2o, for example, while 

\X'ondcr Lake pa~senger~ would pay S3o.'''' 

Both parric::. hoped that the contract amendment 

cnuld be -;igned and implemented in time for 

the 1994 :,ca::.on. Hut hy early 1994, negntimions 

were ::.tailed. '!alb took a new turn, however, 

when ARA repre~entati\'c::. propo:,cd operating 

a reservation sy::.rem for hoth the shuttle bu~ and 

the park campgrounds. N PS rcp c~entativcs 

were amenable ro this proposal, and on June 3-

'994· agency director Roger Kennedy ~igncd the 

contract amendment."'' 

When new~ of hi~ contract was made public, 

various interest group::. protested "almost every 

a ... pecr of the contract," according to one newo., 

item. The NPS, critic:- noted, rushed to clo~e 

the deal hcforc conducting nece~~ary &afety and 

environmental studies, and ::.omc were irked that 

the tlnnncial detaib were being kept confidential, 

leading some to believe that the NPS wa~ being 

~ho tchangcd . Another annoyed group w:t~ 

the Dennl i Task Force, an N PS Advi~o y Board 

grou p that In terior Secretarv Bru ce lhbbit1 had 

sclectl·d, hccau~c the contract amendment wa-. tlnalited without their knowledge or input."'' NPS 

Regional Director Jack Morehead, in re~pon~e to 

the criticism, agreed to pr~.:parc an environmental 

assessment (EA) on the proposed new concc.~

sioncr facilities, and Morehead\ succe~~or. Bob 

Barbee, agreed to begin worl-; on yd another 

managemcnr plan li.>r the 90-mile-long road 

corridor. Thi~ latter plan i~ detai led in Chapter 

10.) On September 1, the Department authorit.cd 

ARA to purcha~e ~ufficient busc!-. to operate the 

system. Two mo th~ later, the PS completed 

and distributed its conccs~ioner facilitiec, !:A, and 

in the spring of '99'i· t\ramark (the conccssioner\ 

new name) began operating the n~:w :-.hut!le bu.., 

&ysrem."'" The bus neet W~h Cnmpri-.cd of 2') 
Campers traveling to or from 

campgrounds without private vehicle 

access, including Sanctuary, Igloo, 

and Wonder lake campgrounds, use 

designated camper shuttle buses for 

transportation. NPS Photo, Denali 

National Park and Preserve 

blue-green "Blue.: Bird" 48-pas::.enger bu~es for 

trips a ... far west as Eielson Visitor Cemer; for 

poinr!-. farther WC~>t, however, yellow-colored 40-

pa:.scngcr buses were on hand. A shuttle-bus trip 

from the entrance area to Eiels<m cost $20, while 

a Wonder Lake trip cost S26."'' 

A key provi..,inn worked out in the cnnccssioncr':-. 

comracr amendment dealt with rhe long-running 

is~ue of bw. '>y~tcm capacity. As noted above. 

N PS oflicinls had reacted to the capaciry limit., 

laid out in the lt)86 GM P by clo:.ing most of the 

park'::. campgrounds to motorized camper traffic, 

cutting back on road ust.' by concession and NPS 

'>taff, and hy in'>tituring a new ··:-.Jatural Historv 

T<1ur" that terminared ar Primrose Ridge. Those 

measure:, successfully kept road traffic under the 

GMP's limirs. Visitation between 19~1 and 1994, 

moreover, had Jropped more than 10 percent, 

re~ulting in an ea..,ing up of the capacity i'-'5Ue.'''" 

The cunccssioner was willing to entertain a 

major contrac-t modification, with a concomitant 

lnvcsllnenr in buses and support facilitic..,. It 

was reluctant w take that step, however, without 

~ome gurtrant\.:c that future vi::.itnrs- whatl!ver 

rhcir number- would bl' able ro access the park's 

wonder~ via the cxi~ting park mad. So when the 

contract amendment was announced on june 6, 

rhc press relea::.c ~rated that ~the improvements 

ro the srem include a 40 percent increase in 

the number of shuttle bus scars," \Vhich wus far 

higher than rhe GMP allowed. P:1rk supcrinrcndent Russell Berry, moreover, jusrined the 

new ridership numbers bv staring thar the road's 

··~ra/!t:: rhrcc" capaciry ""as 38 percent higher 

than in 19H4: not 20 percent higher, a~ many had 

previou!>ly concluded.'"'' But the barrage nf criti 

cism that theN rs faced after the detaib of thL· 

contract amendment were n.:kaf.ed to the public, 

plus the Interior Dcpartmt:nt's dcci~ion to embark on yet another park-road management plan, 

put nn hold any immediate plan~ to abandon 

capa<:iry limits that were more than 20 percent 

greater than in 1984- Trafllc capacity, meanwhih.:. 

ceased being a t:ritical public is!>ue, primarily hecause vi~itors volumes remained gcnerall~· -;ruble 

for the m:xl several vcars. 

The Visitor Entrance Fee Issue 

As nored in Chaptt.!r 1-), typH.:al park vi~iwr.., prior 

to the 1970s paid no fcc~ to the NP~ fur U~>ing 

rhe park. Fees were charged only for rhoSL' 

taking the concession-sponsored bus tour nul 

the park road, along with the usu81 cbargc!-. for 

the park hotel, coffee ~hop, and other cnncc~

sion operations. About 1970 the t PS bcgun 

to charge fe~:s fo r those sraying ar the park 

campgrounds, hut two year~ later, when private 

vehicle traffic was restricted west nf the Savage River campground, no fees were as.se,5.ecl 

to rho~c who traveled on thc pari(, ~hurtle bus 

!>ystem. Thi1. arrangement continued for the 

remainder of the decade. 

The question of' fees arose during the debate that 

led to ANl LC/\. In the spring nf llJ7IJ· the N PS 

announced irs intcnrion to charge a S5 fcc tor riding rhe shuttle bu~. Alat>kan~, hnwewr, strongly 

protested rhe proposed fcc, and after Senator 

led Steven~ introduced legislation to pn>hibit 

the fee's implementation, the agencv wirhdrcw 

itf. fcc propLl~al. On October 1, 1979, I he Senate considered a I louse bill un an unrelated 

matter, and ~cnawr Stevens sure thnt thl• bill 

would pass- inserted an amendment (Sec. 402) 

prohibiting theN PS from establishing user fees 

for bus service, nnd also barring the N PS l'r11m 

establishing an entrance fee <It Mount 1\t\cl-.:inlcy 

National Park. Thar hill passed the Sl.:nntc the 

!>a me day and became law on October 12.'1' Tha( 

fcc prohibition was rei [crated in Section 203 of 

ANILCA, which stated that "n<,twith~tanding :my 

other provisilm of law, nn fcc~ ~hall he charg,L·d 

for entrance or admio;swn to any unit or the NatinnaJ Park !:lystem lot:ated in !\Iaska."'·' 

The costs of the bu& operation, hmvever. broughr 

pressure on the agency to instihHe a fcc. During 

the summ<.'r <,f 1982, for example, lh<.: PS estimated that each of the 68,774 visitor:-. who rode 

the free shuttle: bus cost the government S11.32. 

Perhaps based on pre%ttrc from Interior Secretar~· james Watt, who visited Alaska in August 

1983, NPS Rcginnnl Director Roger Contnr ~tared 

that theN PS wanted to sec tourists pay S5 fi>r 

U1c bm. riLle. That propo!>al wrh srnved off for thl' 
tim<.' being, perhap~ because of the t.'lfons of Rep. 

Don Young.'' 

~unn afterward, however, pre1>~ure began to 

dcvdop in Congress ro allow a shunk bus ft·e by 

eliminating rhe operative clause from rhc.: t\ ct of 

October 12, 1979. (Al'.ILCA's Section 203 would 

remain unalrccred, inasmuch as the proposed 

fcc was a ridership fcc and not an cnrrance fcc.) 

Bv l•dJrUnry 1985 the Interior Department- rccogni;ing thar SJJ'i million had been budgeted 

Juring the currenr fl::.cal year to keer the pa rk's 

!>huttlc buses going-wa:, proposing the implementation of a shuttk hu:. fcc ~Lrucru : one 

day fM S'j, three days for S1o, and a scaMm pass 

for S.w. ThL";e fceo,, it was projected, would 

gent:t·ate approximately Sooo,ooo in annual rcvcnue.'71 Congress did not take up the issue that 

ycar, but the economic pressures conrimu.:d; in 

july 19S6, fm example. a Reagan administration 

hill proposed new entrance fees at many pari\ 

unit'> ,tnd an inc.:rcn~e in cmrancc fees at uther 

r:uk lll1ib.'l~ 

The 1~st1t: tinnily came to a head in ll)KJ. Superintendent Cunningham recall~ that during the 

summer congre.~~ional reCC!>~, Rep. John Kasich 

(R-Ohio) visircd the park, and the two convcrstd 

in thl' park hotel. Cunningham. who wa<.. worrit:J I hat Congrcs~ was going to reduce the park's 

hudgct, w~1s relieved to hear Kasich mention 

1hn1 rhc budgt:t would not be cut. What l<asich 

lll UV not have 111L'ntiom:d, however, wa.'> that a 

congres!oional plan wa;, in the works to institute 

a hu;, fcc pn>po:-al and that Congrc:-.;,';, gencralt\tnJ :tllotmenl lO 1 he park would bt: reduced to 

the dcgn.'l.' that bus revenues would he gcncr:.tted. 

Shortly after that I'ISIL, Rep. William H. G1-;1y 

( D-Pa.) inrrmluccd u ma:.;,ivc budget bill (I Lit 

3523). The hill pa~;,ed thl.' llou;,e on October 21). 

/\t some point hetwcen then and December 11 

(when the Senate pa'>st:d the bill}, an amendment 

1..va:s added that authori1.cd rhe Interior Secretary 

to charge an admi~o,ion fcc ar [)enali National 

Park. Tile bill was ~igned by President Reagan 

anJ became law un Dcct:mhcr 22, rq87.·;; 

Park :-tafT, in oh'>ervancc nf the new law, began 

collecting fees from everyone who conLinued 

wesr of the Savage River check ation . Hcgin 

ning in 1988 a$) fel.! wns charged to all <JdUIL~ 

ugl.!d '7 or more; tho~e on the ;,hutrlc huses paid 

when they hoarded ar the Riley Creek information ~.:enter, while the conc.:cs:>ionc.:r c.:ollcc.:tcd 

the fcc a~:o part of tht: limJra Wildlife Tour ti<.:kcl 

prke. By 19':)1, these entrance fees brought in 

S<;oo,ooo to government colTer!., and by H)l)3 '·reCllrd amounb nf fees were collected and remit 

ted." fn 1993, ~hurtle bu~> ric.:J..:ers still co~:orjusr $) 

pt:r per'oon."'' 

Shoulder Season Traffic and the lottery System 

Visitation to Alaska's Railhdt has hmg ht:en 

highly f.Ca~nnnl. In keeping with I hat pattt:rn, 

rail-borne visitation w Mount McKinley has hlllg 

been concentrated in :111 11- or rz-weck ~ummt:l 

sca~on. Automobile traliic along thl' park rnud, 

which eased park acct:~~ to Railbdt rt:~idenl.~ 

hl'ginning in rhe lall' ll)'jm, lollmvcd a -;imilar 

pattern. A few hraw rt:~tdent"> came a' early 11'> 

April, and a few a:, late a., Octobl.!r, hut tht vtt<.,t 

majority of tourists (particularly ll10'>e from 

outside of t\la~ka } arm·ed betwc.:t:n latt: .'vlay and 

early September. A.., wa') nott•d tn Chnptl'r R. '-fH; 

oflkials in 1972 annnuneed rh~H rheir nl'w ... hutrlt: 

bu::. !>y<;tt.:m would operatl' from June 1 until 

~cptcmbl.!r 10, and in latl.'r yt.::m, the hu ... '>l':t..,on 

mol'eJ 10 a Memnrini-Day-weekenJ-t<)·mkl-\l.!ptembcr schL·c.luk. 

F(lr auromohiiL' touri~b whn ~1rrivcd in the 

springtime, rht:y could drive as far a!--lhl.! loklal 

River (if opt:n rhar fnr) unt1l '>hurtle bu'e~ ht·gau 

their <otheduled 'en 1ce. In <l !>lmilar way, lntL' 

~easo n ruu rist!> were free to use 1 he par), ro:.td 

until the snow rt:ndereJ tht: road impa ... ~:tble. 

lna!>much as :-.rPS maintenance tTl.'\\'' rypically began their cfl'ort:, m Murch Ill" l'nrly Apr·ll , 

... pringlimc tourht~ if they werL lucky multi 

drivt: 1m the park road for a month m mort' priur 

fll tvlcmorial Day; anJ during the fall, loun!-ol~ 

typically lwd hcrwecn a month and 1-i~ week-. I•) 

U'>t: the park road. lo encourage local vi..,iratiotl 

to the park, 1\la),knn ncw~pnpcr.., dunng rhc 970~ 

often publi~ht:J mid 1\lav articles inviting loc;lf.., 

to avoid the "..,ummcr horde~ ol rourht..,," ;lntl in 

mid-St:ptembcr there were tr:.t\t'l pice~:.., de~crih 

ing the "perfect wealhcr" along the park road.' 

.\sa practical mntter, however, few pt:opll' ~pt:nt 

much time driving the park road during either 

the spring or fall month~. l"hb wa~> hecau;.e thl· 

park hotel lhL· only m0:1jor accommmlation in 

the area - was nor open during mn~t of the ~houl 

der st:a:.on. Tht: park campground~, moreovt'l. 

were either ... nowh(lUnd or lhl'Y \o\'t:rc simplv Cllid, 

damp. aml uncumfortahlc. 

This p!ttrern- l)f an open rouJ and an opt:n inv1ta 

tion tu vi;.it- rl.!mained during the fip,f half of the 

198o:,:t• But by eqRo, the spc:ctc.:r of owrc.:rowding 

had dt:~ccnJt:d on the ~houklt:r sea~on\ tran4uil 

ity. Thutycur, the agent:~ opcnC'd the tntire length 

of the road ro general rmffic on Munday, t..,t:plt:111 

her 8:1•• Heginning that day, about 2'jn car ... ;t dav 

trundled over the road. (1 hi-. number wa.., f•lr 

greater than rhe numhl.'r of vehicles thar rypicallv 

traveled over the.: park road Juring mid-~l.!a..,on; 

::-.JPS otTicials 111Hed th:lt on., J')t:ak day rnJuly, rill 

number of hu::.e~, work whirl<·'· rangt:r patrnfc.. 

and private car~ "mtght get a,., htgh as I)O.~) '·" 

Then, on Saturday, ~eptemher 1 ), o.,omc ')OI> c;u-. 
During the 1980s, the park road 

stayed open for private traffic from 

Labor Day weekend (when the 

shuttle bus system ended for the 

season) until winter snows closed 

it. The increasing popularity of the 

park during the late 1980s resulted in 

bumper-to-bumper traffic congestion. 

NPS lnterp. Collection, #4374, Denali 

National Park and Preserve 

hendcd west from Savage River, creating bumperto-bumper traffic, frayed n~:rvc:,, and at l<:a!it one 

fender-bender. Hoping m avoid a repeat of those 

difficulties, rhe :"JPS in 1987 waited until Mondav, 

September 14 to open the road; as a result, officials happily noted that "we did nor -.vitnes~ the 

u~ua l influx ... with dust clouds, wildlife/people 

conflicts, etc." '~' The following year, officiab limited the fall road opening to ju:,t three days, and 

in 1989 it was open for ju<>t t\vo days: Saturday 

;md Sunday, September 16 and '7· (In both of 

tho:-c years. the road remain<:d open after the 

de!>ignated "open" period, bur only ao;; far w~:~t a:-. 

rhe loklat Rest Area at J'vl ile 53; a "·eek after that, 

the mad wa:, closed we~t of rhe Teklanika Rest 

Area ar Mile )0.) Rangers, asked to explain the 

new restrictions, stated that they wen: attempting 

to shift road use more tmvard a .. mass tran:,it'. 

system in order to increase wildlife habitat, and 

thus wildlife sightings."' 

The rwo-day road opening in September tQ8C), 

as it turned our, was exceedingly popular; on 

Saturday the 16'", almost r,soo \·chicles headed 

down the park road. Based on that SC\'ere overcrowding, park olllcials moved to eliminate the 

September overcrowding by instittrting a lcxtcry 

l!ystcm. That plan, which W<b announced in May 

1990 and open for puhlic comment until june 8, 

resulted in a light and variable rc~ron~e; of 34 

response~. slightly over half were in fa\'or of the 

plan. Ru<,sell Berry, the park's new superintendent, felt that the lottery was a good, fair sy~tem, 

'lOin mid-June the NPS announced its implementation, at least for the fall of 1990. In late July, 

anyone interested in driving the park road during 

a four-day period friday, September q through 

1!0 c mwn JPII\IC'I of the> North· An Admllll\lf<111Vf' Ho~ ory of Denalo Naloonal Parl and f'o• '>!'rve 

Monday. September ty- was asked to send the 

:-.1 PS a postcard expressing their interest. On August 10, ~uperintendent BetTY senr letter<, tn the 

winning enrranr!>. Eighty percent of rhe r,suo entrants were awarded the opporru niry to drive the 

road: 300 people on each nf the fnur d~1y!-.. The 

fall road opening took place as scheduled. during 

which time all car:, withnut succe!>sfullorrery entries were ~topped at the Savage checl.. -.tat ion. In 

the spring of IC)Qo, thi:-. ~rarion had been mm·ed 

two miles we~t from just beyond the Savage 

River campground to the far ~ide of the Savage 

River bridge a~ part of a road paving project. It 

ha:; remained ~1t it~ new ,;ite ever since.''1 

The opening was '>o successful, both to participants and rhe park\ wildlife, tharth<: agencv 

decided lO continue the lottery in future year'. 

Reginning in IQqt, those interested in driving the 

road were given the entire month nf July to -.end 

cntrie~ tn the park showing their dare~ of ill[ere~t. 

and during early August the agency selected and 

notified the winning entries. The only major 

change that took p lace during thl' next ... cveral 

year:, was that the number llf awarded permib 

(1,2oo) l>tayed constant, while the number of 

interc,ted applicants steadily increa~ed. The only 

lHher variable wa~ the weather. 1PS olticiab 

reserved the right to close the road at any rime 

due to earlv-~ca~on :.now, and in 1992, a major 

-;nnwsrorm hit ju~t before the flr;,t day of the September road opening. A!> a re~ult, the road wa.; 

closed to all vehicles midway through the second 

road-opening day, and sS people who had driven 

all the way to J..:antishna were stranded for several 

day:-. until crews could clear the park road nnd allow motorists to get back to the Parks H ighway.'' 1 
The Savage check station, shown 

here. was located just w est of 

the entrance to Savage River 

Campground. In 1990 it was moved 

to the west side of the Savage River 

b ridge. Brad Ebel Collection 

Beginning on September 11. 1992, 

the park experienced a major 

storm with heavy snowfall and 

high w inds. making the park road 

impassable. Road crews began 

plowing a single lane. encountering 

12' deep drifts, opening the road 

enough to convoy vehicles & people 

from Kantishna out of the park on 

the evening of September 18. This 

photo shows Eielson Visitor Center 

with an approaching plow. Brad Ebel 

Collection 

Between the mid-198os and the carlv 1990s, when 

such major change~ were raking place regarding 

the fall road opening, the policy regarding spring 

road opening remained much the same. Throughout this period, NPS maintenance crews began 

clearing the park road in early April and, as they 

worked their way west, park staff opened the road 

to regular pa~senger car traffic. They never, however, opened the road west of"leklanika Rest Stop 

until the Memorial Day weekend, when the shuttle 

hu1>es began running and the regular summer 

traffic restrictions were put into effect. During the 

general management planning process of the mid198os, NPS official~ briefly toyed with the idea of 

starting up the shuttle bus system "as soon as the 

road opens." The final GMP, however, reverted to 

the former pattern, with a Memorial Day weekend 

opening for the shurtle bus system.'s, 

During these year::., there wa!> increasing pressure 

to open the road each spring in time to provide 

access to park visitors, Kantishna-area businesses, and other Kantishna-area landowner!>. 

N PS maintenance crews, however, still faced the 

dau nting annual :-.now-removal ta~k. As noted 

in previous chapters, stan· had tried several innovative method!> (including icc fence:-. and the 

usc of Primacord) to minimil'.e auf cis at three 

major trouble spots along the park road. By rhc 

late 1970s, however, crews had abandoned those 

mcd1ods; instead, they relied on a grader to keep 

the road-su rface open, and steam and oil heaters 

to keep the culverts free of icc. 

During the early 1980~, park maintenance crews 

attempted to speed up the spring road-opening 

process a5. best as they could. The 1983 purchase 
This "ripper" attachment on the 

park's 0-7 Caterpillar was used in 

the spring to break up the aufeis, or 

overflow, which had accumulated 

over the winter at locations along the 

park road. Roads, NPS Photo, Denali 

National Park and Preserve 

Road crew and equipment clear snow 

from Polychrome Pass during the 

spring road opening, 1991. Brad Ebel 

Collection 

of a "ripper" attachment for the park's D-7 

Caterpillar successfully removed the accumulated aufeis layers at several problem areas along 

the park road. (Problem areas were located at 

approximately fifteen places along the park road, 

especially at Mile 4, t'vlile 5, and Miley.) That 

method, however, severely damaged the pavement surface layer, so park staff :>ought our a 

new icc-removal method. '1\.vo years later, crews 

constructed an insulated underdrain sy~tcm in 

the Mile 4 area, but it proved inelfenivc in dealing with the perennial aufei~ buildup. Between 

the mid-198os and the early 1990s, road crew:. 

worked to prevent aufeis accumulation by periodically .going over the problem areas on a grader 

d} Crow11 JPw••l ol tlw North. An Adm llstr<~ II Vf> H"tory ol Den~ , Nat1onal Park ~nd Preserve 

with a ripper arrachmenr; rhar method minimitcd 

the need to employ a bulldo~:cr, \\'ith a ripper 

attachment, during the !>pring mad opening. Bttt 

two ne"" complication~ arose that pre\'ented the 

long-term implcmenration of that two-pronged 

strategy. The first, in the late 19Xo~, took place 

hecau:.e dog mu;.hcrs and skiers ~bowed an 

increasing intere"t in using the park road a" an 

access route. In response w their conct•rn;., road 

crews agreed to limit their pre-spring dearing operations to a single lane of the park road. 

Then, beginning in lt)92, road crew ... were a~ked 

to stop their midwinter grading activities in the 

variou:> aufei~ problem area~; a~ a re~ult, icc again 

emerged a:o. a major, if occa~ionnl, problem for 

the spring road opening crews. Bet\\'een the 

C<1rly 1980!> and the mid ll)l)O~, '>pring road opening operations typicully begun in lote 1\ larch or 

early Apri I, and 1 ht: road was normally open to 

bus tratllc, both to Eiclson Vi~itor Center and to 

Wonder Lake, between june 3 and june to.'"' 

The Park Road Ownership Issue 

A nagging question that arose c.luring the 19Sos 

and early 1990:. wa~ ha:.ic to the N PS\ ahiliLy ro 

manage the park and it~ \'i'>itors: namely, who 

owned the park road? As noted in Chapters 3 

through s. the con~truction of the park road wa'> 
Spring road opening includes removal 

of snow and ice by the park road 

crew and the work of sunny weather 

to dry out the road. Brad Ebel 

Collection 

the direct result of an April1922 agreement between NPS Dirccror Stephen ,'Y\ather and Alaska 

Road Commission President james Steese. As 

a result of that agreement, the ARC laid out a 

right-of-wav between t\\cKinley (lark Station 

and rhe town:.ite of Kanrishna in the :,ummer 

of 1922, and Commission employees using 

primarily NPS fund~ built the road, a. few miles 

at a time, between H)23 and 1938. For more than 

forty year!> after the road\ completion, there 

had been little di~pure regarding who owned 

it. Bur shorrl~· after ,\NILCA's passage, State 

uf Alaska ofliciab reinterpreted the road's legal 

::.raru1-o. Noting that theN PS had recemlv "raised 

questions regarding the aurhority of rhc :.rate 

to police tbe rond~ within ~1L J'vlcKinlcy [sic! 

National Park," A~si~rant Atmrney General William F. Cummings stated that "there o,ecms to he 

little qw.:stion thnt the ~rare hns rhe nuthoritv to 

exercise control O\'er highways within the park." 

The -,tare used, a~ it~ primary argument, language in Section 21(a) of the Alaska Omnibus Act 

(which Congress pa%ed in 1959) and a ::.eric!> of 

quit-claim deed!-. that followed a~ a rc~mlt of that 

bill. One of thc.,e quit-claim deed~ called for rhe 

Secretary of Commerce (of which the Bureau 

of Public Rond~ wa~ nn agency) to transfer the 

enrire Denali Highway to the Stare of Ala~ka, including allnf the highway mileage located within 

the "old park'' boundarie::.. '~ 1 

N PS otlkiab, when apprised of Cumming~· 

memo, asked the [nrerior Department Solicitor\ 

office to weigh in on the matter. In February 

1983, U.S. attorney Robert C. Babson responded 

and L'oncluded that the reasoning contained in 

the state's opinion wa::. ·'singularly unpersuasive." 

Noting that Section u(a) of the Ala~kn Statehood 

Act had conferred exclusive jurisdicrion 's~ on 

the "old park" and any future ndJitiom to it, he 

stated that "the complete inapplicability of Stale 

jurisdiction in areas wherein the federal Government has acquired either exclusive or partial 

legi::.lative jurisdiction i::. a well settled principii: 

of constitutional law." He also contradicted the 

!>tare's memo by :-.rating that the Ala!>ka Omnihu., 

Act and the resulting quit-claim deed npplied 

only for those road-; over which the Bureau of 

Public Roads (BPR) had legal jun..,diction. The 

Denali llighway, however, had nlway'> lx·en under 

NPS ownership nnd control; the BPR'~ role at the 

park wa~ limited to murine maintenance. Thus 

the Secretary of Commerce de~pitc the in ad ~ 

vertenr language in the 1959 quit-claim deed did 

not have the power to div~:~t road mileage loc.ncd 

within the park. A follow-up opinion by Interior 

Solicitor Don Rauer arrived at much the !->amc 

conclusion as Rabson; he further noted that in 

19')9, the state :1pparentl) "acquired nothing 

more than a limited right m usc rhc road for road 

purro~es, in acCilrdance with N PS regulation~ 

nnd management prerngativc~." ''" 

For the remainder of rhc decade, the i'>~llc uf ronJ 

ownership lay yuict, and -.rare otlkial-, continued 

to recognize federal hegemony over the road. 

\XIhen the issue erupted again, it came from an 

unexpected source: a 1-:antishna-area landowner. 

Throughout the HJSO\, an AN I LCA provi'>ion 

guaranteed inholders "adequate and fea-.iblc 

access for economic and other purpo-.e'> ... "."'" 

Given that provi ... ion, NPS and 1-::mti-.lm;l-area 
Once the park road is plowed in the 

spring and before it opens to regular 

traffic, outdoor enthusiasts find 

excellent biking and skiing. Brad Ebel 

Collection 

businesses had maintained an informal access 

agreement; the lodges provided vans to transport guests back and forth, but motori;,ed acccs!> 

by individual lodge guests and employee::. was 

discouraged. 

In the spring of 1990, however, Dan A~hbrook, 

who owned r8o acres of patented land ncar 

the Moose Creek-Eldorado Creek confluence, 

announced his intention to open a 26o-space 

recreational vehicle (RV) park on his land that 

summer. Rn.:aking up the longstanding informal agreement, he contacted N PS otriciab and 

demanded that his customers be allowed access 

along the park road. Park officials recognized 

that putting hundreds of RVs and other vehicles 

on the park road might have major impacts on 

visitor safety and park wildlife, and they al~o 

predicted a sharp reduction in bus traffic. Given 

existing law~ and regulations, the agency reluctantly acceded to Ashbrook's request. Beginning 

on June 12, anyone was free to drive the park 

road so long as they had ~ome ~on of business in 

.-111 ( row11 JL'wt·l uf the Nu•tlr An Aclmm•mauvr Hl\tory of De11al1 Nat1onal Pa1k. dllcl Prrs<'rv~> 

Kantishna or had been invited by a Kantishnaarca landowner.''" 

Denali Superintendent Russell Berry rc~ponded 

ro the agency's decision by holding public meeting~ at Denali Park, Fairbanks, and Anchorage on 

June 13, 14, and 15, respectively. Large crowds attended these meetings, most of them angry at the 

recent turn of events."'" The N PS's decision to 

publici;,e the new acces~ rules rankled Ashbrook 

and his fiancee, Valerie Mundt, who felr rhar their 

business transaction should have been kept private. But the agency's action did not stop them 

from developing their property, which they called 

the Mount McKinley Gold Camp.'" 1 

Publicity about the new Kantishna campground, 

both in Alaska and elsewhere, resulted in a huge 

level of interest, both from those hoping to camp 

rherc and in those who looked forward ro a midseason auto trip along the park road. Bur private 

vehicle traffic along the park road turned out to 

be far ~parser than had been expected. Some 
trnvelcr'>, to be <.urc, were turned back at the ~avage River check station becausL' they had no verifiable husine'~ in Kunti~>hnn. But muny other.., 

opted not (0 go bcrau~c or media report!. that the 

"cnmpground" C0nsi-.tctl of J1ve untinishcJ lCnt 

(rome.> placed on an uncycn ..,-wath ut mint: tailings; rhc camp had no !>ign, no water or re&troom 

faci itic~, no on~m~ staff, and nn acce::.;. without 

lilrding Moo~\.' Creek."'

4 Traffic [(l rhe RV pork, H!> 

it turned \lUt, wn:. -,ufficicnrly ~light that Lhc NPS 

never ft•lt the need to reduce the numher of daily 

tour or ;,huttle bu~c'>. ''" After the 1990 '>l'a!>on, the 

RV pnrk opera! ion (which wa::. managed by M~. 

~lund r) struggkd on, and for the next several 

wars the campground\ clientele continued to 

drive our thl' park road. Her orerarion closed 

down after thL ll)C)6 season.'"'' 

In the full1\f ll)l)O. dcn:lopment advocate 

Walter llickel and K.nnti..,Jmu road ad\'ocate 

Jad-. Coghill werc decrr:d i\la~ka's governor and 

licutenallt governor, l'l'::.pr:ctively, on the Aln~kan 

lnJcpr.:ndence Parry (.\IPlt icket. Both f I ickcl 

<llld Coghill fell th~tt the stJte not tht' federal 

go"ernment "hould own thr: pnrk n>ad and 

thus have I he right ro rmmage it!> acces::.. :\eiLilcr 

man ovr:rtlv protc~ted tht.' N rs·,. m\'nt.'r'>hip or 

mana~emr.:m of' the road. In ;\'lnrch rq~J3. however, a rndic.:nl AI P taction culling itself th~: Alaska 

Reclamation Commirrcc announced ir... intention 

to drive their prh·nre Vl'hicle!. over the park road 

during rhc july-!'" weekend. i\ memher of' thi~ 

group, having ~poken to Kanri::.hna-an:n miners nbmll park ac<..es:-. cbimed rhar the federal 

government had given rhe park road ro rhe stare 

in 19)9· 1i> '>take that claim. the group planned 1\) 

drive ten or twentv carload-., ot' people to the ~avnge River check -.tatitln and blockade the road. 

~up~.:rintendt.'nt Berry rc,ptmdt.'d tolht.' impending rhrem by m~.:eting with tht.' group\ lcnder-, 

in Fairbank~ nn .Jul\ 1''. Atth:u mer.:ring, lknv 

(according wonc of the ARC's organi.ters) stated 

that ''he would l1llt cite ll'> ~md woukl not try to 

sl!lp u~." Berry did, lwwever, :-.tate that he would 

hr: mailing chat ion~ ro each dnver."'· Given rho~r.: 

ground rule~. nbour ;o proiL'<;t<.:r~-. arrived at the 

park on .'.nrurday evening, jul\ ;, 5ta:l'l'd uwrnight 

ar Kn.ntishna, panned for gold in ,\1\oose Creek, 

:1nct t·cmrncd rhc following d:1y."'

1

' 

At rh-: ~nvngl· Ri\er ~:heck srntinn on july 3, 0. PS 

mngcr-;- a!> expected-jotted down thl• licen;.L 

plate::. of ~evl·rnl vehicle~ and mailed citntion~ 

[II thl'ir \)vVI1el''l. \ioi ::.urpristngly. [Vv(l of the~C 

ownt.'l'&, D~:xter Clark and Kc11ncrh Lt.'ake, 

appealed rhetr L'itation::. ro the Federal district 

courr in a~t1it that W:l'> -.upportcd by the Hickel 

adminisrrntilln. 'I he following April,judge James 

Singleton ruled that the pru·k rond belonged lo 

the federal g11vernmcnr: as J n:~ult, Clark and 

Leake Wl'rC fuunJ guilry of trr::;pa~sing and giYen 

a S1 suspendl'd fine.""' 

The statt.', however, wa:-. not lcrring rhe marrcr 

drop. Beginning in the summer of 1991, C.ummbsioner jjruce Campbell ond other stare Depart 

ment ofTran~port:uion and Public Faci itir.:~ nf 

fic1als compikd an l'xtens1ve h1stoncal summary 

of juri:-.diction and ownership 1ssue1. pertaining 

tuthc McKinlt.'y Pnrk Ro<HI. And after the April 

1994 court decision, it was <;till pursuing a coun 

case to have a judge look at more evidence. US. 

~enator f-rank :'vturkow::.ki, sid ing with the state 

and hoping to build an R.S. 2477-rclatcd case, 

pur our :1 call Lo pre:,enl and former 1\la::.kans t'o 

Sl'arch family alhum~ l(lr maps, photos, letters, 

or diaries for any evidcnct.' of a trail u~l'd beli•rl' 

1917 that roughly fol low<:J the pre:,cnt ro11u 

right-of-way. The ~tate attorney general'::. ollice 

repcatr.:dly <otated th;lt it pl:\nned to appeal the 

judge\ dt.'ci!:!ion. Nom· of rhe evidence gathered, 

h(,wcvcr, was <;utlicicnt to justify a law:>uit. and 

;.ince rhnr time, no further threat~ have alisl'n to 

tht.' federal government\ hegemony m•t•r the park 

road. "' 

New Kantishna Route Proposals 

Dunn)! the ltJ8os, the ~tate ni'Aia::.k~l n1)t only 

yuco;tioncd the fcd~:ral government's ownership 

of the pnrk road; ir al!.o pressed the :Jtional 

Park Service tiH· onl' or morc new acce!.s route!> 

to Kann~hna. State lllficialf., hoping ro develop 

the ~rate's resource!-., had nl'ver been parricularly 

comfortable with the agt.:ncy'!. 1972. deci-;ion to 

limit rrallic on thl' park road west of the Savage Rivl'r Campground, and ht.>forc long, the 

state's frustration resulted in efforts to construct 

<l not·thern route from tht.' Pnrk-.1 tigbway lo 

K.antbhna. 

Year" curlier. there had lK·en a number of way!> 10 

reach thl' K:mtishna arL·a. t\s noted in Chaptn 

3 • ..,everal trail~ and wagon roads had ~pan nell 

the di~>t;lnce bctwct.'n the Ala!>ka RaiJroad and 

Kanti~hna during the early 1920s; one llf these 

was a so-called "lower rouw" which ht.'aded west 

fmm Lignite to the "li>klat River, then -.outhwe'>t 

via Clearwater f-ork and Moose Creek to the guld 

camp. Prospecrors hud also been uble to acces-; 

the community hy a~ct.:nding various watL•rway~ 

to R(,OSe\·dr, Dinmond. or Glucicr City, all of 

which were shorr-lived \ettlemt.:nl~ locar~:d not 

fnr north o( Kanrishna. Pro::.pecrorf. continued 

to tl6c these mute~ until the late 19 ~o~, when tlw 

park road (u~ing the "upper routt:") was t.'Xrcntlr.:d ro the Kanti~hno rown ~it e. Thr.: federal 

govcmment's decision to construct the pari\ 

road, Jollnwing the Alu!-ka Road Comm s~ion'::. 

long-term pulicy, mt.'ttnt thai the ARC cea~cd 

maimaining othl'r area route;.. Thnt actio11, plus 
This former Fairbanks school bus, 

now more than 20 miles west of the 

Parks Highway near Healy, was used 

by a Stampede Trail construction crew 

in 1961, then abandoned. In 1992, 

24-year-old Chris McCandless lived 

(and died) in this bus. His life, and the 

four-month ordeal prior to his death, 

became the subject of a 1997 Jon 

Krakauer book (Into the Wild) and a 

2007 Sean Penn movie of the same 

name. NPS Photo 

a diminished level of Kantishna-area mining 

activity, brought about the abandonment of other 

nearby trails and wagon road~. " 

Ber:wcen the late 1930~ and the early 1970~, various people tried to build an add ititmal access 

road in rhe area; the primary parry was Earl 

Pilgrim, owner and operator of the Stampede 

Mine. A-. is described more fully in Chapter 14, 

Pilgrim purchased the mine in 1936, and that fall 

he hewed out an informal "tractor road" to the 

f .ignite railroad stop and hauled out ->everalloads 

of o;ribnite (antimony ore). This route was the 

Stampede winter trail, which was along a rightof-way that was similar to the so-called "lower 

route" that ARC personnel had ~urvcycd during 

the early 1920~ ~ That route, however, was 

uneconomkal, and during the war years Pilgrim 

bladed out an airstrip. ln addition, he worked 

with NPS officials to rough out a route from his 

mine south along the lbklat River to the park 

road. But impediments- initially financial, later 

policy-related- prevented the route's construction. 

By 1960, Pilgrim was working on new road plans 

with officials for the new State of Alaska's pioneer 

road program. That ovcmb<.:r. Yutan Construction Co. of Fairbanks !>ubmitted a winning (and 

low) bid of S250,ooo to build a road between 

Lignite and Stampede. Yutan personnel began 

work in the spring of 1961. and in order ro supII(• c rnwn 11•wc•l c.t lht• N<><lll All Adrlllnostr.liiVP Hrstooy of Denalo Nat onc~l Pdrk ilnrt Pre,f'rvl' 

port the field crew, the company hauled n retired 

Fairbanks school bus out to a site just cast of the 

Sushana River. Two seasons were allotted for the 

work, but by October 1961, -;tate Department of 

Public \'\forks per~onnel declared thar the term:. 

of the contract had been sari~fied.-'" 1 Pilgrim, 

prior ro con>.truction, had made it known rhat 

anv viable route between Stampede and the railroad needed to follow the relativclywcll-dmincd 

terraces. But the contractor instead decided to 

follow much of the same wet, bog,!..,'Y ground that 

Alaska Road Commission personnel had rejL·cted 

back in rhe 1920s. A Yutan employee, with ;.orne 

diflkulty, was ahle to drive a four-wheel-drive 

vehicle all the way west ro the Stampede airstrip 

and back; that "road," however, wa~ m:wr u~cd 

again by a wheeled vehicle.""• 

Soon after the N PS limited traiHc over the park 

road in 1972, some Alaskans began to advocate 

the construction llf a new road to 1-.:.nnti~hna. 

State transportation planners, during thi!> period, 

tried to legitimi1e several diiJ'crent routes connecting the Anchorage-Fairbank.~ Highway wirh 

Kanrishna. But hy late '974· when the Alnl>ka 

Planning Group published its Fi11al Em•iniii//It'lttal Statcmcm on the proposed park additium .• 

the state proposed only one new route in the 

area. That route avoided the old Stampede route; 

instead, it left the new highway ::tt Rex (l8 milc:-. 

north of Lignite and 41 mile::. north of McKinley 

Park Station), headed west ro the 1(.1klat River, 
then angled ,.oulhwc::.r to k:mth.hna ht:fon.: he:1ding almost due west to lelidn. '"' 

Shortly after Congress pa~~eu AN J LCA, ;.tate 

SL·nator Fran I-. rcrgusnn ( D· " Ot!Chlll') and Rep. 

.foe Hayes (R-Anchorage) ~howed their dispkasure with rhc new I) -enlarged park by filing 

resolution!> "requesting rhe . PS ro improve nn 

uld mining road through the northern additions 

to Denali [i.e., the old Stampede .vline road] 

and extend the rouk to the Denali Park Road at 

Wonder Lake." Suprortcr~. hoping to see a oneway lonp rond con~tructed through the park 

and ... howing it~ concnn about the park rnad\ 

saferv in the wake of Llll' 1981 bus accident, 

noted that the road would hcnt:lit p:1rk v•~•tnr1. 

and improve saferv. On h•hruary .24, 1q!b, the 

~cnnrc hcg:m moving Fcrgu~on's l'<.•solurion, and 

on March~. the Senate pa~scd it with a unanimow: \'Otc. Thl' resolution then moved owr to 

the House. On .'vlay ;q, the House defeated it, 

17-13; a day later, howen:'r, the vote was rccon 

sidered and it pa~~ed, 24- 11 . Governor I Iammond signed it on June 2 . ..... Nothing came of it, 

however. 

During the mid 148o~. scattered 'oice.~ in 1hc 

Fmrhanks oren continued to pw.h for Jn Jlternate 

routt: to "onti-.hna. TheN PS. however. ~bowed 

no enthusiasm for it. As noted in rhe park\ draft 

c, i\1 P. 

l"he potential for upgrading the 

Stampede Tmil ro rrovide access into 

rhc rar northern arcn of the park wa .. 

eliminated from funher con~idt:r 

arion bccau:,c tlf the csrimatl'U cost 

of construction and the porcntial f01 

environmental damage. Thl· futc1/ 

Em'iromnelltallmpact Swte/ltc•nt. 

Kamisl11w Hills/Dunkle Mi11e Slta~\' 

(LISDI llJ84) estimated the CO'>t llf thi<. 

road to he Stoo million to S I)O million. 

Tlll•re is currently no economic justification for building this road. Thi:. 

trail cTn'>-..cS the denning areas qf the 

Tc1klat and Savage wolf packs, the winter rangl' of the Denali caribou herd, 

the major movement corridor along 

the 'h1klat River for hnth '.\'olvc~ nnd 

carihm1, and many mile~ of pri-..tine 

country thn! currently nrc ~uitAblc fnr 

wiltlt>rnl'~~ dc~ignatilln. 

ln rl':-[1cll1st: 10 lhi~ ... tarcmenr, thL· \tare pf /\Ia., 

k~t responded with it-; own 'tatcmcnt, portion' 

of which were incorporated into the agency\ 

lin a I GMP. Thl' N PS\ overallstanc~: regarding alternate road nct"css, however, remailll'd 

largclv unchanged.. ·•. 

During the I arc t<JHo~. !:>enaror John B. ""Jatk 

Coghill (R-Ncnana ) rcviwtlmornent1.1111 in thl' 

norrhern-acce'' idea. In ll)R8, he and Scn:H1>1 

Ken Fanmng (R-Fairhanb) lent vol'al :o.uprwt 

to the idea, and a ye•lr l.lrer, C1lghill introduc..:d 

'ienate bills SB 18~ and ~B 1H(1 to authmitc· and 

flmd the con-.truction nt a "kanti,hnalligl1w•'~ .. 

between Lignite, Stampede, and "ani i~hna. I he 

propo-.cd Syz million highw:1y would ht.. fundeJ 

almost cntirl•ly from kdcral ~owTc~. Neitlwr hill 

got pa!>t the l'nmmittcc ,1,\gt· 1\llnthcr iJca th:11 

canw fnrrh dming thi.' period wa' that Kanti~hna 

might be accessed by railroad. l~oh I hom;J~, ,1 

Fairbank~ tran~pnrtarion cnginter, 'Pt'arht'>tlk·d 

the idea and noted that a raflro<ld ofrnL·d th• 

po.,!>ihility of ucl'C!>' hut without tht• d:lng,t•r, In 

wildlife that a nMd woulu l'ntaii."' 

During the mid-to-latt ll)Ho5., anothu issue 

welled to the surface that 11ffcred the p<lll'11l ial 

lo oren up not only a ne\\' northern act·e~~ rout<. 

but othl•r ccc~., wute~ he~itk-.. ll~ using :111 old 

federal Ia\\, called Rcvi-,ed Statute 2477, :o.t:1tt· 

oflkials hoped ro regain umtrol over hundred' 

(lflederally-managed route:- Ll1roughout \!:1-..ka. 

•tnd in 1990 they nnnounct·tl thnt thL'\' intel1lkd 

lo u~t· rhc prm'i'>Hlll'> in tht' o..~arutt· lo opL·n up ;1 

northern .tt:ct·~~ route to l-::1111 i~oiHlH, 

rhe COnti"OVer~Y over this is'>ll~ h;aJ hl'l'll biV\V 

ing thr :1 long rime. In Jul) 1i<6h. t ongrL·..,~ h;ld 

pas!>ctl a hill that dvalt with lode mmmg, among 

other [11"0\'i'>illllS, "l(l ;\JIOW :\Cl'l'SS to lllillC'> Oil 

public lands, Sell ron li ot tht• hill contaim·d thl' 

follmving acct'"' pro\ i'1on: "And he it ful'tlwr 

l'nacted, That the nght-ot-wav for I he um~tJ"llttion of highw<tY' over public lnnd'>, not rcscrwd 

for public u~e~. j, hereby granlt•d." ~l'Ven Vl'ar .... 

kiter, Congn''' rcorganilt'U the ftdcrnllaws 

and th<.: ahovc ... r;ttemcnl hcLanw a right-otway ordinnnce known :h Scction1.477 of th<.: 

Rcl•ist•d Statllft'S ~~t thr U11i1cd .\'rates. "· In 1476, 

the Fed~:1·al Land PoliC\' and f\ lanagcmenl 1\ct 

rc.:pe.1lcd R.S. 2477: (.ongrl'""• howcwr, inwrted 

a clnu!'>c protecting "ex1~1in~ right!'.," intludin)!. 

anv right~-of wm that may hnw hl't'n l''>lnhlt~hl'd 

heron.• 1~76. lht: "'latl·of AJa..,k<.~. rl'cognitill!.( 1lw 

impnrtancc of thi' dall'>L', l'mh;lrkl·d on .tn '''ten 

sivt: effort ro idl'ntit) a'> many rotlle~ as po..,:;ihk 

thnt had known. l'~ta hlishl'd hbtmic11tN"" anti 

by the mid ·tt)llm. lht'\ had itknlitied 2H pott'nlial 

R.!-.. 2477 nghh-of-\\':1\ \\"lthin Dt•n,\11 t-:at10nill 

Park :md Prl·~cr\'e. (A dl'<.,cription of the~e 

nght">-ol-\\'a~· wnsmcludcd in rlw park\ li1111i 

GMP.) In ll)H~, Interior ~ecrclnry l )on aid IIPJl'i 

c~rabli:,hcd a bm,1d definition ol wh,!l qu:tlitil'd 

a-, a pre-exi~ting right-nf-wny; and if that ri,ghtllf-way wa" later incorpomred into a con~ervatioll 

unil o.,u<.:h as a nat1onul pnrJ.;, prl!·l"<i-;ting rights 

!>till rrcdominatl'J. r hi"> action cmholdclll'd 

M.dt.ll!UICJ !11'1 Nt"WI'{I XflcU!rl!'Cf I'"' il•~ll'l ,c+l'"'• 1flfl.•l 1'1·1 I 
official~ in wesrern states who hoped to gain 

control ove:r ro::u..l <lCCe~s, and in 1990 :,wtc of 

Alaska official!> annoum:cd that they intended to 

open the q2-mile-lon)! "Ka ti~hnali·air' as a test 

case for rublic nccc~~ nero:,::. federal park I anti:.. 

Thi'> route, which was one of the 2S tb:u ~tate 

land planner~ h:.td prcviuu~ly !>Ciectcd, wcnr from 

Rex to the '(( lklat River and tm to 1-:.antislma; it 

was similar, tlwugh not id<:mic:tl, t1' the route in 

the "1-:.nntishna Highway" pmpo~al thar Senator 

Coghill and uthcr~ had been advocating in the 

'\bska legislature."" 

The northern an:cs~ is::.ue hcntcu up cun:,ider 

ahly during the early 19901>. In Novcmhl..'r 1990, 

W~dtcr Hickel. running un the Alaska lndepen -

Jencc Party ticket, w:h elected Alu~ka's governor 

along with his running mntc, Senator Coghill. 

llickcl, shonly after hi~ clct .-tion, made no !:>CCrer 

(according to one ncw~papcr article) that he 

wa~ .. Aiaskn\ biggest dreamer,'' and Coghill, rhe 

ncwly-electcJ lieutenant governot·. wa~ one nf 

the most visible and out~poken critic~ of NPS 

maJ nccc~1> policy. The new governor helicwd 

in dcvclopmcm thmugh tlw construction of 

majt>r projcctb, and hy the ~ummer of 1991 he had 

focwscd on the con~tn1ction of ~ix major rmtd 

segment~. one of which wno; tht· Stampede Trnil 

Road from I kaly to 1-:.:tnti~hna!" llickel. l ~. 

!-.cnator Frank Murkowski, and various privnrc 

dcvdopcr~ recogni;.cd that the 1-:.antbhna area 

had some h.ooo acre'> in private hand1> (mo~r 

nfwhich were nn unp:HcntcJ mining cl:tim~). 

and given proper ucccss, they hoped to sec the 

construction ~11' one or more lnrgc-~calc IH>rcl~ in 

the area. The ~tare. during thb period, felt that 

conr,tructing n new Knntishna acccs:, road would 

co:-.t hctwten $85 million anJ S125 milliun.w 

During thi" same period, private intcr<:~t» continuing the notions firsr :-oct forth by Bob Thomas 

in the late 19So~ advanced new proposab for 

rail road acccs~ into the heart of the pBrk. Dw·-

ing rhe early 1990s. rhc idea took ~hape among 

several ~uirhank~o rcsidl..'ntS thHt a railroad, using 

private financing, !>hould be huilr h<:tween I [caly 

and Wonder Lake. That group, led by former 

comractor Joc ric.lds, hc:came rhe nudcu~ for 

Kanti~-ohna Holding~, Inc. For rhc next several 

vcar~ the group worked brgdy out of thL: public 

eve. Several smre .,;cnuror~ and legislurors, however, were '>td1kienlly aware of their acrivitie~ 

rhar rhl.!y gave Jdercncc ro rhc group\ proposal'> 

in upcoming lcgi-..iation.''

1 

111 shed further llght on rhc access issue, the NP~ 

organit.cd ir~ uwn ~n.nJy. Thb dfort gor Mnrted 

soon after thL· Ashhrook-RV pnrk conrrover~y 

(set previou~ scc.:tH.>n) made headline!>: mnn: 

-;pecilicallv, it fi11iowed a meeting herwecn Sen. 

Frank Murkowski (R-AJaska) and N PS Din:t'-

tor Jamc~ Ridenour. The ad lH>C, >tvcn-mcmbcr 

group included john Morehl..'nd from the Wash -

ington office, Bob Barbee from Yrllnwswnc, Paul 

llaerrd from the rcgional ollicc, and park :-.u -

perinrendcnt Russ Herry ... " The group hcgnn irs 

work with <;cvcral high-level meetings in Ala~ka 

in mid-February 191)1. It reconvcneJ in July with 

n vi& it nlong the Denali park road, and in l\t)VL'I11 -

ber it issul'd its report. The Vl'llali r1ccess '/ask 

Forn• He{lort n.:commemkJ that pnrk congt·~tion 

cut.tiJ be cased wit·h a passenger railroad or C\'cn 

n monorail system, and it suggested tlwt both 

modes hc srmlied further. Rut rhc rc.:purt dashed 

cold water 011 alt(.)rnate road ncce!-.s. "A second 

road wuuiJ Jramarically change the characrcr of 

rhc park," thl' report noted. Such a road ~pul'> 

at rl:>k the up-close viewing of animals that draw 

pcopk· to Denali. lt adds nothing to a vi~ito \ 

•1hility to sec 1 he mountain. And it hange~ 1 he 

visitor'~ percep[ion thar he is riding ton special 

place, a place '>CI apart from the urban World <•f 

pavement and high-::.pced trnnsportntion." Thl' 

report candidly admitted that the co:-.t nf build 

ing a railroad or monorail ''i" hij;hcr than for a 

road, and wuld prow nn impo:-.sihlc ohstucle." 

But ir abo non.:u that "the :-.ystem cou lu pro\'l' a 

valuable dcmon~ tmrion project for other federal 

parh ... "."' ~ew :1Cce&s modes. in f:tu, were 

already being proposed fill' fu rther srudy; in late 

t<)L)J, vi~t ISTEA (!':cc below), Congrc-.t. authori1.eJ 

fund~ tilr the studv of alternative tr::tn:-.portation 

sy~tcm& in ~c.:vcral national parko. .. ,.. 

L itrlc activity wok place regarding nltcrnntt· purk 

:tccc::.s for more rhnn n year. hut in rhc ~ummcr M 

1993, the} lickci adminbtration unveiled n nc\\' 

set of highway projects for which it wa>o adV\JCaring. Gone wns the Stnmpede Trail Road, which it 

had highlighted in 1991; in it~ place, (H)Wcvcr, \Vrt~ 

a new 2ou-milc highway that spanned the distance bt'twccn ~cnana (on till' Prtrk~ llighwayl 

and the Kuskokwim River village o!' .'vlcGr::tth. 

State ofllciab also planned a "pos~ib lc ~pur 10 

1-:.antishna if the Mate can get post the ohjection~ 

of the !'lational Park Service." The NP~ huJ no 

prohlem with the consrructlon of the McGrath 

road, even if it (in the words of agency -;pokcsmnn john Quinley) "nipped Denali National 

Park by a mile or so." The o.;tatc applil·d for, and 

rccciveu, a Su. million federal g rant to ~rudy rhc 

proposed road, and variou!i park -;rafLt~!.isrl'd tilL' 

"tatt! in that '>tudy. During rhc stud) period, MLGrath reo.;idents ca.mc forth ;md statl'd that tlll'y 

were far mort inrcrl'~tcd in a ro:td to the Yukon 

River (wh ich would rcyuirc about 75 mill's of 

new r<1aJ con~tructi1m) than the 2.0t)-milc r•>utc 

to ~enana. Resident~ of other point!> nlong the 

propo::.cd road. ::.uch as Nikolai and Lake Min 

chum ina, likewise came uut ::~gainst the proposed 
1\.>l'nnn:J-McGrarh road. Aml n -,rote tran-,por 

ration ollicial, queried on rhe suhjecr, readily 

ndmittc:d that the primary pmject goal wa:-. acu:::.~ 

hl Konti:-hnn, not the Kuskokwim; having been 

thw~uted in an enrlic:r altempt tll -;tudy a highway 

to Kantbhna, h(' '>imply incorporated those idl:<h 

into the larger McGrath projt:t:l. ··; 

During thi:-. ~'niod, the Ala;.ka legi!-olature- rccogni;ing that Dc:nali wa., fcJcmlland and that any 

fund~ ~.:xpenueJ on transportation improvemenr1. 

would he largl'ly funded hv federal ~ource~ did 

what it wuld to push Kantishna-rclated develop -

ment. In February tl)':)2. Shirley Craft (D-l air

hank.s) and other Railbdr ~t:nator~ had introduced a rc .... olution urging "the Governor and the 

~:xecutive branch to he ag,_~res;.ive in their rc;.olve 

to .. . develop ... new en vi romm.:ntally sound acce-.~ route~ into Kanrbhna and a Kanrishna activitY <trca:· And then - perhaps having 1-.:anti~hnn 

I hllding~' r:.Jilroad plan~ in mind ~rar~: ~enaror.s 

al;.o asked ~tare agencies to work with others 

"tn thoroughly invc~rigatc the porenrial for the 

pri\·atl' ~ector ro construct and ope rare arran::.-

portation '>)~rem. -,uch a~ an dectric railro:ld, 

and urhcr lacilitle'> thar would ~erve the puhlic 

llCccb." rb:u rC.,\)Iurion ~JR 44) rn~!>Cd the Sl'll-

:ltl' March 2), una 16-1 volt•. hur got htl&_\cd down 

in the I h'u:-c. ·•x A year later. Hm1 Grice (0- Fairhanb) and other I louse memh~.:r:- introd11ced a 

:,imilar rc~olution. Tht: main focus, m. b~:ft,re, wa5 

"<.uppmting increased acLe~!> ncar ,\lr. McKinlev thrm1gh C!>tahlbhment of a visitor acti,·iry 

a1-ca at ~antishmt:· 1.:\ur given Interior Secretary 

Babbitt\, ~tared intere~t for a railroad into Llw 

area. thc ncw n::o.\llurion ( IIJ R 2~) asked ~tate 

and fedl!ral authoritic~ to "thoroughly inveMigate 

the porential of ~:~rablishing a rail utility corridor 

into Kantbhml in which the private ::,ector could 

construct and l)perate a transportation ~y!>tc..:m 

and otht:r facilitit:::. that would sc..:rvc the public need!>." That re1-olution handily pas<;ed the 

I louse (in March llJlJ3), bur fi1r Lhc rime being it 

made little headwaY in the Scnatl!."" 

The: lcgio,lururc\ effort to encourage a new 

K:mti~hna nccc:~~ rourc dnveraileJ wirh plan~ 

being ~u~gcsted by a top kderal oltlcial. Interior 

Secretary Bruce Babbitt, during a mid-Augu:-.t 

l()lH auto tTip down rhe park road with Governor 

I litkcl, n111cd that .. , think rail i., the furure for 

the national park::,;· and flahbitt stated during 

tht:ir day long 1:\li1Vl'rsation that he wa:. willing to 

consider ~.:ither a light rail 5y:-.rcm, a narmw-gauge 

line, or a cog rail>vay to bridge the distance between Kanti::ohna and the Parks Highway. The~e 

statement~ were consistent with the rccnmm~:n 

dation::, of rhe 1992 Denali Acce.S!> Study. lna-..-

much a.~ llickd wanted tramportatinn improv(~ 

mcnt' in any f(mu a railroad, a new road, or an 

\tpgrade Lo the ext;.\ ing road Hahbiu'o., o.,tatl'· 

mcnts ~ounded an opnmi~ric nnw with llickl·l 

and other dcvclllpmcnt advocate~. ''' Perhnp' 

ha.st:d on what nahbitt !>aid, the re~ollltion that 

had withered in thc ll)lJ~ t\(a.,k:J lcgi.,J.nurL' gaim:u 

ni.'W lift.: Wh<.:n tl1l' CoiJO\VIng year\ '>l.:S.,IIlll ht:g;.m; 

the reSIIIUtiOn passed thc <.,enalt.: inJnnuttrv 191)4, 

and Governor llickcl ... ignc:J it on Fchru:t1·y R:' 

During 1()1)2 and 199 ), in the miJ~t tlf tlw '-,tntl· 1,f 

Alaska\ efforts ro prov1J..: for lll'W nccc~~ inw the 

park, the NPS wa~ hard at work on ito, 11wn !-lUll) 

that was intended to cvaluate the et:onorniL nnd 

environmcnral impact:. 1 ,f variou~ propn.,l·d aL 

{;e~::, mode::.. \'\'hen Congre~~. in late lt)l)l, pa;.wd 

Ll1c lntcrmodal SurffiCl' ·1 ran;.porr:1l ion Efllcient:v 

Act (commonly known as IS'I EA), it included a 

pnwi;.illll ('\ection IO')O) reyue'iting "that il 'itudv 

be conducted of nlternat ivc~ for vio,itor tran~ptll' 

tation in the national park '>Yl>tcm:· ,. llw :"oJP!-> 

rc::;.ponded hy clwoo,ing cwu park.., fqr "'tudy: 'ld 

low;.tnnc and Denali. 

The Denali ~n1dv, rormallv known as the Alternative Tran~rortati()n \>lm.Jc;. Feasibility \tudv, was 

completed in Jv1ay 1Q94; it wa~ a loglc:ll follow-up 

to the ,lg~:ncy';, Denali ,\cce~~ 5tuJv, is.,ued in 

t•nrlv 1492. 'I he: study made no pohc\ recommendation<;; it did, however, pro\'idc linancial 

e!>tim::trc~ for con~rntct lln, plu~ annuall,pel'llrion und m.untcnant:e, for n1rious alternative 

tran~portation scenario~>. The leust expensive 

alternative, not ~urprbinglv. wa~ a rcpl:Kt.:111l'nt 

of the existtng -;hurtle hus fleet with 12 passenger 

bu:-.e~ ($21.4 million). ~lightlv tn1>re <.:lhtly wa'> thl' 

purchase nf n flel!t of larger 72-pa...,-.enger husl·s 

($36.7 million). ·1 ht: least expensive IH:w I rnnspormtton mode was a /1-mile aerial tram conned 

ing the Chulitna River crn~sing arcu with Aldct 

Point (SH7.2 million) .. 'v\orc expl:mivc alterna 

tivcs induded a n~.:w road connc:cung llcttly with 

Kant1:-hna alon~ the Stamp<.:dt: Road right of wav 

(S1n million), :1 railroad along Ull! ~ante route 

(S21S million), a cog rail between rhc IJL·nali Pari-. 

f ltltcl and Eicl~nn Vbitor Ctnrcr (S'\14·5 million), 

and a cog rail hl!twcen lhc hotel and Wonder 

Lake ($411-5 million) . . , 

By the time this study wns released, <1 mor<: highprofile group the Denali Ta~k Force, n hnndpicked group that operated under the aegt'> of rh<: 

NPS Advbory Board had hegun tu tldihernte a 

varil!t)' of park-related i~sues. The la:-.k Force\ 

report, i!.~ucd in Octl)ber 1994; C<mrain..:J n num 

bl!r of recotnml!ndation;. aboul park acces!. ami 

transportation, but nnnc 'uggesll'U new rourl' 

con&trucrion. Specifically, rh~: report did nor 

recommend a new northt·rn route to Kanti;.hna, 

a railroad along tlw ~t::tmpt:dl' Rl)llll', 11 o1g roil 

paralleling the: pnrk mad, or an aerialtramw<J\ 
Russell W. Berry, Jr. served as park 

superintendent from June 1989 to 

October 1994. NPS Photo 

-.outh of the Ala~ka Rangt:. lhl: report even lOok 

a dim view of tht.: 1<.lca that the ~.:xi sting !>hurtle 

hl.l!> ncct bt: replaced hy larger-:-.it.cd hu!>e,. I [S 

only n::commem.lation for improvcmcnt- mod6t 

indeed, under tht: circum;.tances was rhm tht: 

agency "improve the ... huttlc hu~ :-v..,rem hy u~ing 

bu~e-. dc ... igncd for the park road with .<;afcty, 

~·om fort, anJ vit:wing in mind." 

Infrastructure and Staff Growth 

A;, nntcu above a11tl in prcviou!-, chapter,, the 

rark despite many year~ of high vi ... itation ;md 

n:pertrcJ proposals ro remedy the ;,ituatiun had 

never had ih own entrance-area vi~itor center, 

either during the Jq!:los or in any prior decade. 

Beginning in 19~9. thl' nev'' pnrl' hotd became thl' 

ad hoc visitor congregation point, and until the 

late 1950S the small number of visirors und tht:ir 

way.., nf being 1 ran~ ported to nnd rhrough rhc 

park rcaflirmed the importance of the hotel\ 

t:enrraliry a~ it pt:rtained t<l vi ... itor activity. But in 

1\ugtL'>t 1957, the completion of the Denali llighwav to the park hn>ught thou~ands nf motori~t-. 

to the park, manv of whom paid ~cant attention 

to rhe hotel. Jh c1tl'r to the new and growing 

lchoiom, the :--JJ>~ in I<)59 built a~mallentrance 

... ration 1m the park n JUd jmt ca'>t of the Ala~>ka 

Railroad cro~~mg. Thirteen year'> ltltc·r, the 

'\JPS tTccted a larger hut ~till inadequutt' \ 1-.iror 

lnrormal ion< :enter (u~ing a douhlc-wide trailer) 

ul the cntranc<.: to Rilev Creek Campground. A-, 

tHHeu in Chapter II, variou ... propmal.., had been 

put forth tu e::.tablbh a park vbitor center, ~ome 

a-. ~·arly as thl' ,\li-.-.ion b6 tiny'> of the mH.l·lt)')Of., 

hur nont: hau e·ver come to fruition. 

( hroughout thi.., period, the primary park 

lntl!rprcti\'c locutinn remained the r-.kl-.:inlcv 

['ark f lore!: ranger-led lecture~ and .,Jide shows 

Wt'rt.! ofrcrl'U here, and for many year.., the agency 

:llso ~raffe<.l an interprcti\'e dt:sk. But heginning 

1n the l<)bns, tht• incrt:asing popularity of the 

hotel and the e\'er-larger ... pace n:4tiin:menr~ 

that accompanied that popularity made it more 

ditllculr t\) conduct intc.:rprctivc progr~m-. there. 

De~pite thn~c pre.,.,ure.-., the agency continued 

to offer interpretive .. erviccs at the ht.td through 

thl' '>ummer of 1972, and it continued its pre.,-

L:nCe at the new (1973) hotel for the remaindt:r 11f 

I he decade. Rut in the spring of 1979, the N P~ 

in.,tallcd a .~o· x 6o' "circu~ tent'' ju!>t behind the 

hotel. '"' Thi!> fac!litv soon ~utrered '>tructural 

problem", and it worked only marginally a~ an 

mtcrpretivc.: l>itc.:. As part of thl' arrangement that 

re~ulted in the Jt)SI cnnce~!>ion-. agrct:ment, the 

park conce~1.ioncr agreed rn huild a new "audio 

vi-.ual room" <ldjaccnt to the hotel. This ~truetun.:, later coiled an auditorium, wa~ eompkted 

hv the late -.ummt•r of t()H.2 and opened to the 

puhlit in .Junl' 19H~. 

In rhe carl) 19t\o;.. the'~'"' .,ig11<1ln.l ih intt·rt''-t 

in tle-emphasi;ing rhl hord\ intc111rctivc roll' 

hy moving to e~tahli::.h ih 1lWt1 vi..,it11r centct·. In 

V\arch 1982. thl' ,1gcncy (a>; noted .1bove) rck<l~t'U 

a draft Development Concq~t Plan (DCP) for tlw 

p~1rk road corridm, and a kc~ a~pect of I hat plan 

wa~ the construction of a m·w intt:rpretive <Jnd 

transportation center to replace the exi,ting Jou 

hie-wide tmilcr at the Riley Crl·ek C;,mpground 

cntnmcc. That rt'commcndation remained in tilt' 

final DCP issuc.:d in January 19!:l~. Later thnt )ear, 

f\ PS planner-. hegnn wt~rking on a pnrk general 

management plan. Perhap-. becau~e park road 

facilitic~ had hl.'en ~tudicd .so exhumti\'dy li11· the 

jli.St-completed OCP, the agency\ drnfr c;,\1 P, 

relca!'ied in Marcil 1qX), t:ontinued to rccommcnu 

what wa~ now callt:d a "vi~itor acce'" center" in 

1hc Rilt:y Creek enrrancc.: nrea. Thl' HnaltNm•l'l11-

her 19H6) GMP reitcratt:d thar rt•commcml.llion 

and further sugge~ted the addition of an adjat't'nt 

~huttk bus staging are;l. ... 

Funding tht' new I.Tntcr, hii\Ve'\ cr.provt•d rnlh 

lematic. By the end uf I9H), \!P~ otTidab noted 

that rhcv gained "lt'ntatiw appro\'al to have· tilt· 

'>lrut:tun.: built in 19X6," and rhe ,\ l<lrt'h Jt)X') dr:tfl 

C t\ I P optimi.-.rically noted thar '\:on-.t rlll'l i. 111 • 1f '' 

ncv. S~-7 million vi ... itur acce'" ccrHe'l' i" LimkrWa\ 

unci will he complett'd 111 lht• ... pnng ol Il)Xy.'' Bur 

ria: final ( Nnvemht·r 1yHh) <. .. \•1 P, rdlt-Lting I he 

los~ nl tunuing, ~ll&lll'...red that the \'i\(: wa~ :-.till 

in the pn>pll~al 'tage. II wn~ not until ~·nrh 19X7 

thar the agency wa' ;lbk to <1\\'ard <I con..,rructi1111 

contract; thnt September, the winnmg L·ontracror Ahtna Nativt: Reg,ion:1l C11rpnrati1•11 began 

'He preparation. By the em.l of 19XK, the "haf.ic 

'hell" llf the new building hnd be•en \'rt•de·d. and 

h\' late lt)l'il) the building \\·as compk'le, along 

w1th an adjacent 271-~pact' parking lot. I he new 

\'lsi tor Access Center orcned during ,\ lcnwr1al 

Du) wct:kend 1990; a~ the q1pcrintendcnt noted, 

the facility wa~ "a ,.a.,t improvl·ment" over the· 

18-ycar-old double wide lntiler that i[ rL:plllt:eJ. ··• 

Since rhen, the VAC (tod:w known a~ the Wilder 

ne~~ Acce..,~ Center} ha~ ~crwd a:-. tht: primary 

wav in which motOI'it.eJ \'i>.itor ~ arc introdul-cd 

tu the park and ih vnrious tru11~pmtntion, camping, and bnd.cuunrr~ up! iun-.. ln addition, the 

wtriou'> auJuH•isual program" in ir., auditnnum 

have playeJ a key interprl.'t iw role formam 

incoming vi~irors. 

Rcrween the pm.sage of AN I LCA and the mid19<.)0'>, thl' park\ budget more than doubled, 

from S2.h million in 19iiu to more than S6.q 

mil linn in ll)l)). This budgl't growth is pt•rh•tf'" 

not ~urprising for a park unit that had ju-.t tripled 

in sil.c and in vvhich rccrcation;.~l vi-.itarion h:1d 

:1lmo~r tripled (from J.lh,ouo in llJHo to ) .. n.oll\1 

in H)'))). (Sl'l' Appendrx A.) The numhcr ol ... tnll 
The new Visitor Access Center, 

opened in 1990, provided a much 

larger space for visitor services 

including a theater for interpretive 

programs and areas for issuing 

shunle bus tickets, campground 

permitS, and backcountry permits. 

Tom Habecker Collection 

during thi" period abo grew to !>om~: ex rent; tht: 

number of "f-ull-time equivalents" grew from 21 

to 55· "' The amount of park hou:,ing available 

for employees, however, rose not at all. People 

who were selccret.l to work at the park were u~ually informed that government housing was not 

available, and given rhc severe climate and rhe 

relative lack of dcvclopmt:nt in areas surrounding 

the park, several new hires reluctantly decided to 

not accept the position~ that had bt:en o!Tered to 

them. Those who sraycd, howc,·er, !>oon became 

settled in area>. ~-.cattercd from Deneki Lakes and 

1\rlcKinley Village north to Otto Lake and Healy, 

and several n~:ighborhoods located most closely 

to the park houndary were populated primarily 

by current or former NPS t:mployees.,'" Within 

the park, the growth in seasonal employment 

at the park re~ultcd in an increased number of 

employee~ living at the 'f()klat Road Camp, ''C 

Camp," and adjacent to the Wonder Lake Ranger 

Station.'" 

The park, during thi~ period, enjoyed a remarkably !-.table management regime. As noted earlier 

in rhi~ chapter, Ala~ka Area Dirccwr John Cook 

hired Robert C. "Clay" Cunningham, a biologi~t 

from Gate•vay National Recreation Area. (Sec 

Appendix B.) Cunningham, as did his immediate predecessor~, worked during a time of major 

conflict and change; he ncvcrthde~~ rdained 

hb po:-.ition for more than H1 • year~. Cunning 

ham ~tcpped down in t\ larch 19H\) and moved 

on to become the General Superintendent of 

the ~outhern Ari1.ona Group, a du..,tcr of '\i p<.., 

units headquartered in Ph1)cnix. For lhl: nc;...t 

six months, the park was managed hyThoma-. \\-. 

Griffiths, who had bl:en the park'-, chief rang<.·r 

since 1981. That September, Regional D1rector 

Boyd Evi~on appointed as the next park '>Upcrintendem Russell\'</, Berry, Jr., who ar the time 

was ... erving as the superintendt!nl at \'o~ agcurs 

National Park in northeastern Minnesota. Berry, 

a native of Pommouth, Virginia, remained on the 

job until late October 1994, when he became the 

superintendent of Cape Hatteras National St•a-

..,hore in eastern North Carolina. Upon Berry\ 

departure, Regional Director Robert Ilurhee 

a'>kcd Steve Martin- at that time the sUJx·rin 

tendcnt at Gates of the Arctic National Park and 

Preserve to take over the Denali joh in an acting 

capacity. Martin remained acting '>uperintt·ndenl 

until rhe following March. at which time the "acting'' dc!>ignation was removed."' 

During most of the 1980'> and on into the IC)l)O.,, 

the lcader~hip respon~ihilit1es ar Denali were lo 

some e::-.-rent a ~hared task. Ralph rin).!cy, a rangl'r 

at Grand Teton National Park. became Denali\ 
The west side of the new Visitor 

Access Center provides for boarding 

of shuttle buses. NPS lnterp. 

Collection, #5004, Denali National 

Park and Preserve 

Ralph Tingey served as Denali's 

management assistant from 1981 to 

August 1990. He retired from the 

National Park Service as the Associate 

Regional Director for Resources and 

Operations in June 2006. NPS Photo 

management a~sistant beginning in May 1981, 

and for the next eight years he and Cunningham 

worked together on a wide range of managemenr 

issue::.. That teamwork remained until August 

IC)C)O, when Tingey moved to K.ou:ebue and 

became the l orthwesr Alaska Areas superintendent. Another decision maker appeared in 

1989, when Assistant Superintendent Linda T<m1s 

came on board. Toms, later known as Linda 

Buswell, continued to serve in that capacity until 

the late 1990s.' 11 

The Fate of the Park Hotel 

A major question that hung over the heads of 

park managers throughout the 198os and on into 

the 1990s was what to do about the prk horel. 

As noted in Chapter 8, the McKinley Park Hotel 

had burned in September 1972, and due to the 

frenetic efforts of all parties im·olvcd, a new 

McKinlev Park Station Hotel was ready for park 

visitors in late 1'vlay 19n. For the next several 

year~, N PS officials repeatedly mentioned the 

hotel's "temporary·· role, but in the mid- to lare1970S- wirh the much larger debate over the fate 

of Alaska's public lands being dehatl'd both by 

administration oflkials and by Congress the 

hotel issue receded into the background. 

Throughout this period, and on into the 198os, 

a -.mall numhcr of conservatio nists advocated 

">7 1 rown Jo•wcl of <he No!lh 1\n 1\rhmn ~lri!IIVE' HMory of Denali Naltonal Park d l1cl Pr~~NIIl' 

removing the hotel, while the Alaska Congressional delegation advocated either retaining 

the exbring hotel or constructing a replacement. (The development-minded Anc/roragc 

Times, during this period, published a series 

of poignant cartoons emphasi;;ing the ru~ric, 

inadequate horcl accommodarions.>'4) The park 

concessioner, by the early 198os, strongly fa\'oreu 

retaining the exi~ting park hotel - in September 

19H1, as noted above, it signed a new concessions 

contract calling for numl.!rous impmvements in 

the immediate hotel \'icinitv but inasmuch as 

the conccssioncr also operated the newly-constructed Mcl(inley Chaleh. just outside the park 

boundary. it did not have a vested interest in 

expanding the present hotel or replacing it with 

a larger facilit~ . 

During the early to mid-198os, as noted above, 

the park underwent a ~cries of planning ellorts, 

most of which included an analysis of the park 

hotel. Between 1981 and 1983, agency ollicials 

wrote an cnvironmcnral assessment (EA) and dc-

\'clopment concept plan (DCP) for rhc park road 

corridor. In March 1982, the draft DCP - which 

echoed similar comments in the park\ February 

1981 interim DCP- noted thar "The McKinley 

Park Station Hotel wi ll recei\'e extensive renovation, primarily to replace obsolete facilitie~ 
Stephen P. Martin served as Acting 

Superintendent of Denali National 

Park and Preserve for 5 months 

befo re becoming Superintendent, 

a post he held from March 1995 to 

January 2002. NPS Photo 

and conform with lifc/saferv codes .... The hotel 

will not be expanded." These <.:ommcnr; were 

repeated in the final (February 1983) park road 

cor rid( I!' ocr .. ,, 

Soon niter the park's development concept plan 

was released, the N PS's an~ regarding the pnrk 

hotel ahruptly changed. Development advocate~. 

either inside or out~idc the agency, recogni1ed 

that the NPS maintained a Visitor Facility Fund, 

which w:1s a rcpositor\' for concessioner franchbe fees. The existence of this fund brought 

forth a SI2,2)0,ooo propof>al to replace the deteriorating hotel, gift shop and ~upport facilitie!> with 

new, permanent replacements. That fall, regi(>nal 

oflkials forwarded the propo!>al w NPS Director 

u~s Dickenson. In February 191\4, Dickenson 

reJected the proposal. noting the extent to which 

the project vvnuld tkpktc the fund. But soon 

after that rejection, funding fnr the hotel project was quickly inserted into the Service-wide 

Line Item Construction Program. (This i' the 

program through which the majority of all large 

NPS constructiOn nr rehabilitation projects arc 

accomplished.) The Denali Park Hotel project 

wa~ given a relatively high priority within that 

program. Advance planning monies were appropriated in fbcal year 19!;5, and in February 19H'i a 

S4oo,ooo contract wa:, awarded ro rhe Anchorage architectural firm of Maynard and Partch for 

preliminary site analysis and design. At rhar time, 

the construction cnsr for the reconstruction work 

Wa!> an estimated Sli,200,ooo. Predictions called 

fo r on-the-ground work to being Juring the 1987 

fiscal year.'''' !'he park\ draft general management plan. which was rdea!>ctl in March 19R5, 

reflected the agency's new direction; it ~tared 

that "the re<.:on-;truction of rhe Denali National 

Park Hotel. a S14 mil lion construction project, IS 

!>cheduled to begin in t9H7-'' 

Later in J9S'i, the NPS decided to once again 

examine the necessity of n new park hotel, and 

by year's end the park\ revised G M P pwp<,..,cd 

the preparation of a new DCP that would focu' 

specifically on d1e park hotel. Du ring 19Ro, the 

~cope of the pnlpllSed DCP WaS further refined, 

and the park's final GMP, ~~ut:d in Novcmbt:r of 

that year, noted that "An amendment to tht: 1llll3 

Developmcllt ConccfJI Plan is being develop<.:d 

for rhe park entrance. It will discw.~ the oprinn~ 

of removing rhc hotel from the park, replacing 

or rehabilitnting the cxbting temporary ~rr ctu e~. or building a new hotd. The public wil l he 

invnlved in the de\·elopment and review of the 

DCP/EA."'u The entrance-area DCP, in fact, was 

initiated before the close of 19H5, and by Decem 

her rgR6 rhe documem had heen finalized and 

was awaiting public commen r.''k 

ln Jum· 1987 the draft DCP billed <ban addcn· 

dum tu the 19S3 DCP/EA- was rclcas<.:d to the 

publ ic. By thi~ time theN PS. after analyzing the 

hotel\ structural and ~afety-rc ated problem!>, 

had concludt:J thnt ''the construction of a new 

hotel wirh the same capacit)' ~ now <.onsidcrcd 

a better choice than renovaring the cxi<:ting 

hotel." The draft DCP, therefore, offered two 

choit:es: either replnct: the existing hotel with 

a new hotel (to he located between the exi:-.t 

ing horel and the railroad depot). nr remove 

the cxi>.tlllg hntel. A key to the first option wa~ 

that the new hotel wou ld provide un '·array 111' 

alternntive activities for people who were not 

scheduled for a bus tour .. that •·w,luld help vi~ito ~> gain a better understanding and apprcciu 

tion of Denali\ resources." Given that intent. 

the agency p lanned to convert ib four-year-old 

auditmium into a vbirnr center, and it al~o 

planned to offer ea~y acce~~ to ~led-dog dem 

omtrations, horseback ride<>, scenic overtli)!.hl!>, 

and Nenana River llonr rrir-.. ·n, give the puhlil 

a chance to wl'igh in on the hotel option, I hc 

agency off~.:red a 6o-Jay public comment period, 

t·o t\ugusr 14; midway through that procc:.s, it 

held publk meeting!> in Anchorage, Fairbanks, 

and ar the park. The followi ng March, the 

agency chn~e the flrst option; it announced it·s 

inrenrion ro bui ld a new, 140-room hotel tore 

place the pre~cn£ Denali Park Hotel and to open 

up an adjacent visitor center.'''' 

c;ivcn the final g<l·ahcad, work on the project 

edged forward. ln ll)HlJ, however, a new Anch11r 

age architectural firm, CJOM Incorporated, wa:-. 
This 1980s view of the McKinley 

Park Hotel area shows concession 

employee housing in a clearing on 

the right, the temporary hotel in 

the center, and the original 1938 

dormitory and powerhouse near the 

hotel. NPS lnterp. Collection, #3S02, 

Denali National Park and Preserve 

ar:.ked to rake over hotel planning. By the end 

of rhe year the park superintcndem noted that 

"there was a very charged and energi;.ed feeling 

from everyone involved that this time the project 

would he carried to completion.'''4 " 

During 1990 and 1991, design work on the hotel 

slowly progressed to completion, and top ofllcials 

at both the park and the agency's regional office 

continued to push the project forward. A presentation prepared after a May 199r work session 

predicted that the hotel would open in June 1994. 

During this period, however, an increasing number of people began to argue against the project 

Some did so on co::,t grounds, because a project 

budgeted at S7 million during the late 1980s had 

ballooned ro S25 million in late 1990 and ro S32 

million in early 1991; the S7 million, moreover, 

would have been paid for by the park concessioncr, while the proposed $25 million and S32 

million price rags were to he funded by the U.S. 

taxpayer. Other people decried d1e increasingly 

large footprint of the proposed hotel, inasmuch 

as the hotel complex that was proposed in 1988 

would occupy 7 acres of ground, but by 1991 it 

had !>Welled to LJ-5 acre::.. Several protesred on 

environmental grounds, noting chat the brief 

environmental analysb conducted as part of the 

1982 park-road corridor ocr was insufficient 

I IIJWil '''WI·I Ollllt· N<lllh An lllll\I~IJ,)IJVt' History ot D~nail NatJOJMI Patt ancl Pre,etve 

to address National Environmenwl Policy Act 

( EPA) criteria. And still other:- 1-aw that the hotel was increasingly unnecessary, becau~e of the 

large and incrca~ing number of ht>tel room~ on 

land jttsr outside of the park\ ca::.tern entrance. 

The first organi;.ed group to come nut again~t 

the hotel during this period wa~ the Healy-based 

'·No Hotel Committee," which is~ued a long 

manifesto on the ::.ubjcct in 1990. Before long, 

this committee was joined hy the Denali Citi;.ens 

Council (which had supported a new hotel in 

1987) and a number of park employees, acting on 

an individual basis. •' 

These protests forced l PS oflkials to take 

another look at the horcl issue. In August 1991 

the agency\ new n.:gional director, John M. 

Morehead, noted that "to adequately address 

the concerns exprcs1.ed by the Denali Citit.en:, 

Council and other local residents with regard to 

NEPA compliance, we now propose to con~oli

datc and evaluate all change~ by producing an 

amendment/environmental assessmenr to the 

19H~ DCP ... Public review of the document will 

include a series of public meetings."~ ,\lnrehC<ld's proposal resulted in a ,\\arch 1992 public 

re,·iew process, after which park otriciab released 

a new plan amendment That dr:1ft document 

stated that the new hotel (which wa.; "designed to 
oe symbolic uf the Ala!>ka wildcrncs~ rather than 

a .. . collection of architecturally unrelutc.:d buildings") woukl be just 115 feer c.:a~t of the present 

hotel, hut thc proposed camper st•rvices complex 

and the hostc,:l would be located ncar Riley Creek 

Campground, not adjacent to the hotel, a~ had 

been suggested earlier. Park headquarter!> would 

move to a new wing of the c.:xisting park auditorium, the.: -;huttle bus parking area would be moved 

to an area bcrwct.:n the sewage lagoon and Parks 

11 ighway, and Riley Cn:ek Campground would 

be expanded by 50 sires. and a new conce!>~ion

cr\ employee dining room would he constructed. 

Other improvements were planned a:. well. That 

July, Morehead ruled that the pmposcd project 

was suflicicntly minor that no cnvinmmcnral 

impnct statement was required.~~' 

Meanwhile, project planning continued. The 

project schedule called fur a final review of plans 

in mid-May of 199.2, a groundhreal-.ing larcr that 

year, and the projeq's compll'tion in the spring of 

1995. By the 'Pring l)f 1992. rhe cost for the prqposcd new hotel had increased to S34.6 million. 

and scores \lf additional hl>rel room:; hnd bc.:cn 

built ncar rhe park's eastern entrance. Tht.: pnrk 

concessiont.:r, moreover. had &till not ngreed to 

commit to a financial sponsorship for construe 

li< >n of the new park hott.:J. Thc~e and l)thcr factor~ brought continued. and increasingly pointed, 

protest lt.:rrers to lnrenor Department ofticiab. 

Those letter!>, individually or collt.:ctively, apparently piqued rht.: curio~iry of the Jnterior 

Ot•partment's Otticc of Inspector General, 

which announced much rn I he -.,urpri~t' of 

NPS official~ that itwould perform a pn1j 

ect audit. That audit began in mid-May, anJ 

it was completed when lr i%ued its report in 

September. The report concluded that a new 

140-room hotl'l was unnecc.:ssary because 

there was enough private lodging ouhidc the 

park enrrance tn satisfy demand, and because 

the hotel's S325-per-square-f'oot construction 

cost was more than three times that <>f outside 

l.!nterpriscs. Thar report wa~:. soon :.bared with 

the projl.!ct'.s prime sponsor, U.S. Scna1or Ted 

Stt.:vcns (R-t\laska}, altmg with other legislator!-. 

:md adminisrrarion officials. In early December 

1992, Sleven!; went over the report with NPS 

Director Janlt'i> Ridenour. Shortly afterwan.L 

StC'vens capitulated; noting that ·'we have better 

ways m spend the mt,ney to mt.:et the need~ 11f 

Alasknns," he stared rhar "T'm nor guing to push 

forward ro add w the budget of that hotcl.''•l4 

Stevens's decision brought to an end all efforts to construct a new pnrk hotel. Still to be 

decided, however, was whether- or for how 

long the NPS would allow the existing hord ro 

remain l>perating. 

Continuing Frustrations 

Over South Side Development 

An i1-.~uc similar tn that of the Denali Park 

Horcl, and that al~o ddil'd an easy ~(>Ill I illll, 

wa~ whc..:rher a nl'W h<>tcl would he con:-lructo.:tl 

south of the Ala)'.ka Range. 1 >uring the gc..:m·r.tl 

management planning prlll:e~s of 19H1-H6, thL 

NPS nnd the.: !:>tate ol Ala~kn had coopt.:rntcd t>n 

a plan ti>r ·'the dt.:vcloptnt·nr of a full rang~: qf 

lodging and other vbitor :-.ervice'i ... on rht.: south 

end of Curry Ridge:· That plan callctJ for "maJor 

involvcmt·nr fwm the private sector."·., By th~· 

rime the Gtvl P wa . ., rch.:a~>t.: d, however, Ala'ka wa~ 

in the miJ~t of h~lrd times broughton hy rostoil-boom economic doldrums and low uil priu:,, 

nnd neither the ~tate.: of Alaska nor private L'ntcrprise was in any mood to scri ou~ y con-.iJ~:r ~u h 

a hold new Jcvclopmtnt rmjecr. In addition, 

scattered cnvironmentali->t" and ln calrc~id cn t., 

publicly llppm,eJ the !>iring of nny major facilirie'> 

on Curry Ridge,4" 

Given thll!>l' condition~. state w1d federal otlici:iJ,, 

acting joinrly, ~rcppe<.l hack and con-.iJered 

a variety of 'itc nrtion>. The NP~. a!\ part of 

that crrort. provided <;roo,ono, and nwwd to 

conrrnct a derailed <.tudy lH variou:-. potential 

dcvclopmen t .sites. ~tate otllcin.ls felt likewise. 

hut given the stutt•\ finance.:'>, thev wac urwhlc 

to provide nt.:ar-term linancial nssi.o;tancc. lrt 

Junt.: HJ87, privatt.: devdopCrl> announced th:ll 

they Wt·re moving aht.:nd with pl<ms to btrild n S4 

million, 150-room hKigc convention center ar tlw 

~uuth l.!nt.l of Dcn:Jii ~tate Park, just north ol rhe 

Chulitna River bridge; they noted that cnn'>truction would begin "within rhc..: nc..:xt '>t:wral week~" 

with a ll)l:ifl complc.:tion date. State and federal 

official' applauded t hl.' mow; planner:-., howc·;cr, 

pinned their hopt·-'> on a larger, S.2o million to S4o 

million project at on a:.-vct-undct~·rmincd -;itt· in 

the ~rate park. ' (Sec Map J.) ln ll)l-lli, the NPS 

and the Srate of Alaskn agrt.:ed to work coo peru 

tively on the completion of rhc Denali '->tate Park 

master plan, a process that had been stnrl·cd in 

t9Sb.'·'x That plan, whith wa~ com plctt.:u mJunc 

19H9, called for the con~truction of a 20<1-room 

hot~: I and a visitt>r center at the.: ~tate park's north 

end: more ~pecifically near so-cnlkd lligh Lak~:, 

jusr sourh of rhc Parks llighway-Aiaska Railn1od 

ntcr~c..:clion. (This wa' in the same gencml area 

a!> Chulitna Pass,"' ht:rc· EconomiL Dcvclnpmcnt 

Adminbtrnrion conrractnr., had :sclct:tcd a hotel 

site hack in Decem her 1961{; l'.ee Chapter 7-) In 

addition, the plan called ror a 20-ruom wildcrnc~s lodge in the lilkositna area and a road (with 

a nc..:w Chulitna Rivc..:r hridge) from the north-end 

hotel to n<:nrhy Cldridgc Glader.""l" 

Five mon thh after rhe cnmpktion oft he tcvi:.cd 

state park maswr rlan, Statt· Park~ 11irct·tor 'kil 
Map 3. Southside Development Sites, 

1981 to Present. 

... ,_ Southside Development Sites. 

1981 to esent 

Denali thtionar Park 

Johannsen decided that the stare would forge 

ahead, on its own, with rhe High Lake hotel 

project; he hoped to solicit bids during the winter 

of 1989-90, with construction to hegin in the 

~ummer of 1991. Two months later, in January 

1990, Alaska Governor Steve Cowper did what he 

could to back Johannsen; he announced that the 

state would forego S4 million in federal funds for 

the project in order to skirt any delays that might 

be incurred in preparing a federal cnvironmenral 

impact statement. Instead, Cowper asked the 

Alaska legislature for S4-4 million to fund a visitor 

center and an additional S10 million for a road 

and utilities related to the proposed hotel. !,rate 

officiaJs promised, at the time, that they would 

prepare an environmenral study for the project. 

They ad mittcd, however, that the hotel construction plan was on a "'fast track.'' which meant that 

the environ mcnral sn1dy might not be begun unril 

after a potential developer signed a contract; furthermore, the study might not be completed until 

after construction had begun. Environmenral 

gmups, chagrined at the perceived high-handed 

action, fi led suit against d1e state that spring. 

Almost a year later, in February 1991, Superior 

Court Judge Victor Carlson sided with the plaintitTs and demanded that the hotel plan go through 

a new series of hearings and studies before 

construction could begin . .Johannsen and other 

Hickel admi nistration officials viewed the ruling, 

at the time. as only a temporary setback. and they 

considered appealing the judge's decision. But 

no such appeal was fi led, and based on ongoing 

NPS action~ (sec helow), the stare appnrcntly 

abandoned its en·orr ro sreer the consrr11ction of ;l 

High Lake hotel and visitor center .. , .. 

While state officials pushed thci r own agenda 

regarding a south side hot<.:!. rs oflicials did 

what they could to push for visitor facilitic!> in the 

state park. ·]a fultlll promises that had been made 

in the national park and preserve's 1986 general 

management plan, and also to fultlll the agency·~ 

obligations pertaining to the tat~.: park master 

plan, NPS planners in October 1gSq announc~.:d 

rhar rheywould prepare an ~.:nvironmcnml impnc1 

statement for a "South Dcnnli Visitor Cenrcr;' 

whid1 would be located at one of two site!> ncnr 

the state park's northern boundary.'i' That idea 

quickly faded, and by August i9<)0 planners from 

the agency's Denver Service Center (DSC) fu -

eled wirh a S~Ss,ooo Congressional appropriation had hegun work on a development concept 

plan (DCP) for the park's so-called "!,1lUih Slope." 

By the end of 1990, DSC planner:,. had concluded 

that the plan, still in its preliminary stages, would 

focus on visitor centers in Talkeetna and Denali 

State Park; ir would also allow incrcast?d recreational access across the Chulitna Riv r. ~'-" 

In March 1991, PS planners completed a drai"l 

environmental assessment that brought nc''' 

controversy to the s<Juth slope development i~>suc. 

That report, rclea~ed in July. proposed a $1') million, 
Here federal and state planners visit 

one of the proposed southside visitor 

center sites offering this spectacular 

view of the Tokositna Glacier, Mt. 

McKinley and the main Alaska 

Range. Pictured in this 1995 photo, 

left to right, are J.D. Swed, South 

District Ranger; Dave Porter, Alaska 

State Parks; Bob Barbee, Alaska 

Regional Director; John Quinley. 

Public Information Officer; and Nancy 

Swanton, Park Planner. NPS Photo 

q,ooo-square-foot visitor center on a bluff ahout 

a mile south ofThlkcerna. The proposed visitor 

cenrer wa~ located next w a propol>ed .250-TOllln, 

low-rise hotel; hoth were located on land owned 

by Cook Inlet Region. Inc., which was the Native regional corporation in that area.''1 ·r.1.lkeetna 

n.::-Jdents were relatively unconcerned about the 

prnpl>sed new hotel; nne local shop owner said 

thar the hotel wa.~ '·a famastic idea ... we could 

ahsorb rhc number of !,'l.lests they would bring in." 

Hut there wa.-, widespread opposition to the vi~itor 

center, because ir would bring an e~timated 2,ooo 

daily tourists to Talkeetna. Many local residents, 

who loved Thlkeetna\ --~mall town charm," railed 

against the "industrial tourism'' (and the attendant 

tour bus traffic and "Disneyland atmosphere") that 

the visitor center would bring. Given those fear~, 

more than ')OO residents signed a petition asking rhc 

agc.:ncy rn place the facility elsewhere. The NPS, for 

it!> parr, recogni;ed that the Talkeetna site was one 

of t\vo eyed by agency planners; the other wa& the.: 

High I .akc site (ncar the north end of Denali Srate 

Park) that the State of Ala:,ka had proposed as part 

of its smte park master planning effort. Park superintc.:ndenr Rus:.. Berry sugg,estcd that the.: Talkeetna 

site would be ea.'iier to get through the planning 

:-.tages, inasmuch <1!1 d1c l ligh Lake site "could face 

years of full-blown environmental impact sntdies 

to paf>S muster." Public opinion, however, was key 

to the process. The public which was apparenrly 

evenly divideJ according to one informal poll - was 

given until August 31 to give the NPS its opinions on 

the matter.1'-' 

For the next 1H month:,, NPS officiab continued their work on the South Slope DCP. In 

Febn.1nry 1992, the 1 PS i::;sued an "altwnati\'c~ 

workbook" for the plan. That workbook o!Teretl 

four alternative~, one.: or more of which recommended vi::.iror cemers at c.:ither '111lkcc.:t na, 

the Chulitna River cross!!lg, at the norrh end 

of Denali Stare Park, nr a ~itc ju:.t norrh of tht: 

state park boundary. None of these alternative::. 

recommended hotel;,, however, and the NPS 

noted that it had made no decisions regarding 

vi:.itor centers or other improvements.''' In the 

midst of this process, a number of Talkeetna 

residents continued to protest the pmp11:o.cd ·ntlkeetna-arca visitor center, which wa::. illustrated 

in just one alternative; in addition to previou.;ly 

stated concern~ about the potential loss of their 

small-town character, one .rc.o.;idcnt complained 

about ''people whn buy a package deal and really don't spend any money locally,·· while other 

local resident~ worried that their property taxe~ 

would be raised to cover increased ~anilation, 

water, and nrher infrastructure improvement~ ''" 

Rut officials in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, 

by contra~t, were generally in favor of the vi~i

tor center project; the Borough assembly had 

voiced its support for the project in a spring 1991 

re!>olution. At a March 1992 m.~emhly meeting in 

Palmer, just before the Apri l 10 deadline for com· 

ments, the borough dbcus~cd the idea of placing 

an advisory vote on the project on the May 

ballot. But protc~b frnm Talkeetna resident::.. 

plus the dubious legality of orcl1e-.rrating such a 

vote, resulted in the assembly backing awny from 

that course of action.~'' In late 1\tarch 199.2, the 

assembly held a meeting in Talkeetna, where a 

solid majority of rhe 140-plu~ attendees favored 

the project!'" 
A year later, in Jvlay 1993, the PS finally released 

it~ Jraft South Slope Development Concept Plan. 

f\s it pertained to facilitie::. devclopmt.:nt, the 

agency considered four alternatives: 1) no action, 

2) a t6,ooo-squarc-footTalkeetna-area vi~itor 

center, 3) a l6,ooo-~quare -foot itor center at 

the north end of Denali Srate Park, and 4) the 

immediate construcricJn of a w,ouo-square-fom 

visitor ccnrcr just north of the Chulitna River 

highway crossing, comhincc.l with the possible fu -

rure construction of a r6,ooo-..;quarc-foot vbiror 

center near lal kectna. :-.ione of the alternarives 

proposed a new access mad acros~ the Chulitna, 

as DSC planners had con'lidered in 1990; all three 

of the action-related alternative-;, by C1 mtraM, 

recommended a new 30-:;o site campground just 

south t)f Cantwell. Among the plan's four alternatives, the NPS chu~e the last as it" propmed 

action. The public wa!> originally given unril 

September 17 w commem nn the agency's draft 

plan; that deadline, ht,wcver, was later extended 

1o Novcmber r.''" 

Agc111.:y plnnncrf> who hailed from the Dcnver 

Service Center quickly recognized that ~om!.' 

Alaskans were t>pposed to the draft plan. Tho~c 

must vehement in their opposition were lalkcctna-arca residents, who louJly denounced 

any plan that included a vbitor center or hotel 

ln thcir midst. So ~rrong was their npptNtion 

Lhat park ::.upcnntcndcnt Russ Bcny agreed t11 

proceed no further with the sourh slope planning 

process: Bcrrv, in fact, recalled the Jocurncnt and 

had a numher of copieJo. de::.rroyed.'"" 

ln an attempt to breathe new life into the plan· 

ning procc!;S, Interior Sec.:retary Bruce.: Bnbhitl 

stcppcJ in. Babbitt, a& noted above, had visited 

the park in id-Augu~t 19<)1, and he was obviously concerned about the park's future. So he 

directed theN PS to study the matter in greater 

detail. The:: follnwing March, agency director 

Roger Kennedy wrote thnt 

Dcnali National Park, remote, wild 

and increasingly popular, should serve 

as a model park, to be emulated by 

others in the System, but a high degrec 

of contrnversy within the State of 

Ala!>ka ha5 .<,lowed progrc~s toward 

d1is goal. The Secretarr I therefore I 

wishe~ to convene a Committee of 

diverse individual~ who can wnrk 

together toward recommendations 

which, if implemented, can <,erve to 

resolve these seemingly inu·actiblc 

l::.icl co nflict~. 

According to Kennelly\ ll'tter, this W<.lrking 

group- which would report to the i atiunal 

r,~;. rr >Wh J·•wc'1 .. llllo• NoHth An Acll!\1 111 ~traUVP l ll;tory of f)Pni!li Nn\IOOiil PniK i!IICI PrPSf'VP 

Park System Ac.lvi~n1'Y B11arcJ wouiJ he c..\tllcc.J 

the Denali arional PnrJ,. Commiltl'c. ( 11 wa' 

later known, more infill'1n~1lly, as r11L' Dt.•nnliT.'l:-.1, 

Force.) This In-member committl!e wn:-. chnircd 

by Advi:-ury Board memlwr Loren Croxton, who 

hailed from Pctcr~hmg, c\la<.ka. The '>Puth Slupc 

wa~ one of the three is~m !> it wa~ a~kl'J to dL•t:itk; 

mt>re .;pecificall\'. !he pnnc.:l wus asked w "rl' view 

and m:1kc rcCI)mmenllarttHb 11n a 1ramt:wnrk 

within which the Federal, State and Borough 

govemmenr~ can jointly dt.:vtdop n n.:gionall·ecrc 

ati<m management plan.""" Given 1·he Setretnrv's 

initiative, agencY persnnnel def<.:l'f'ed ir-. planning 

clforrs until after the Task Force completed ih 

work. The· Ta~k h m:t Cllmplctcd ib rerun in 

October 1994, and the rull Nutional l'ark Sy:>tcm 

Advisory Board at:cep1cd it~ rewtnml·ndation~ 

rwo month~ later. The reporr concluded that "all 

major landowm.:r~ and interest groupo.." indllding the two ~a rive regional corpnrari, ms as well 

a~ the federal. stHte, t\1\d homugh gtwcrnmcnts 

"must be involved in development planning to 

emun.: that \'isitnr center:-., lnclging ,tnd acc:c~s 

improvement'> arc coordinarell. and conflich 

and objccdvcs are comprl'l1en~ivcly atldrc6,L'd ... 

The group rccommctHkll small vio,iror ccntcr, 

at thn:e ~outh slope sires (li)kositna, Uycr~ Lake, 

and Tt1lkcetna). And il furthn rL'commcndcd thai 

"Judging and other primarilv t'ommercial facilitiC!> shCJuld only lw devclopl·d on privart lunc.ls.""'' 

~PS planner~ positi\'l:ly e~ronJed to tht: ~~~~k 

Fore~: report. Fur the tinw being, howcvl'r. d. 

forts to complete the South Slope Dcvcloptnel1t 

Concept Plan ·were at J st;mll:--till. The pn•ec-;:, h) 

whic.:h this plan w~ c:tmlpleted, and the ramifications of that plan, :1r~· c.li~nts~t·d in Chapt~·r 10. 
Notes - Chapter 9 

G4''· Congress, Pubhc. 353 (February 26, 1917). Secttons 5 and 6. 

Based on a 1945 JUdtclal ruling aher Pres1dent Franklin Roosevelt had estabh~hed JaLkson Hole NdiiOIIiil 

Monument in Wyomtnq, Carter and his In tenor Secretary, Cecil Andrus, I Pit that d dPtailed resnmc e descnplion 

was necessary to fend off any legal challenges based on the1r apphcat1on of th£> Anuqutttt'~ Art. See Dnwl H 

Getches, "Manag1ng the Pt~bhc Lands: The Authority of the Execut1ve to Wnhdrr~w I ,;nd\" Natural Resourcec; 

Journa/22 (April 1982), 305; Hal Rothman, Preserving Different Pasts (Champ;ugn, Untv of llhnots Pres~. Marrh 

1989), 216-20. 

· Proclamation 4616, December 1, 1978, as noted in tht> FPderal Regtster 43 IDecernber '-'· 1978), 5703'1 

' Public Law 96--187 (December 2, 1980), Sectton 202(3l(a) 

As noted tn Frank Wtlliss·s "Do Things Riqht the first Time • The National ParA Servru? c1nd the Alaska 

Nat1nnaltnterest Lands Act of 1980. rev1sed ed1t1on (Anchorage, NPS. february 2005), 133, NPS Dtredol 

Willtan·1 Whalen htred Cook as Area Dtrector <in late 1978) under the condition that Cook would llciVf> tlir 

latitude and authonty ot a req1onal d11ector, and that as ~oon as an Alaska la11d~ bill J..ld>seci, he wuuld rt'll'IVe 

that de>ignatlon 

Willic;s, "Do Things Right the Flfst Time," 149, 152t7, NPS, Hrstonc L1stmg of Nat1onal Park ServrcP Oftroals. 

Mi!y 1, 1 Y!:lb, I'J, 1':>.:! 

hiPS, Htstonc Listmg, 153: Robert C Cunnmgham, tnterv1ew by the author, October 13, 7004 

U.S. Department of the In tenor, Budget Jusrificattons, National Park Service, various year~ 

Federal Regtster 43 \December 26, 1978), 60251-58; Federal Register 44 (JUik .28, 1979), 37731-'J I 

· Federa/Register46(January 19. 1981), 5643. 

·' lbtd., 5641-65, Federal Regisrer 46 (June 17, 1981 ). 31835-64; Frank Norns, Alaska Subs1ste/1("' t7 Natroncil 

Park Serv1ce Management History (Anchorage, NPS, 2002), 88-92. 

Cunn1ngham tntervtew, October 13, 2004 

1 In July 1975 the newly-completed h1ghway between Anchorage and Fatrhanks was renamed to hon01 

Gt•orge Parks, a former Alnska Governor (1925· 33), surveyor, and General Lnnd Offtce admirustrdtor SPt 

Al.1~ka Northwest, rhc Milepost \Anchorage, the author, 1985), 217. 

1 Anrhorage Daily T1mes, June 16, 1981, A-1, A 3 Judith Guevara and Mana Elena Garfros de ~ilvc~, both 

from ME'x1co C1ty, d1eci al the scene, while Margaret Chappell ot L1ttle Rock. Art..ansa~ d1eJ 111 Fauba11ks 011e 

or two others may have died later, however; a June 17 Anchorage Daily Time.~ editorial (p A·1 OJ notE.'d lhrlt 

four had rl1ed 111 the r~wdent. and a June 21, 1983 Ttmes art1cle IP B-2) noteu f1ve deaths 

After June 1981, tour bus traffiC has generally gone west to Stony H1ll (on dear day~) or to an c1t1"<~, I nnwn 

as the "~oapberry patch," on the east s1de of the Toklat Rtver ton days Wtlhou1 iJ McK111Iey VIPW) In 1990, the 

1 loudy-day turnaround point sh1f1ed to a cleared area JUSt west of the Toklat River anti JUSt north of the park 

10ad. Steve Carwtle tntervtew, July 27, 2006. 

'·Anchorage Daily Times, June 17, 1981, A-I A-3, A-10, June 19, 1981, A-I, A-3; "Memorandumu1 (>11pport 

of Molton for Summary Judgment" tn ARA Serv1ces. Inc., et at. v U.S. {r83-011 ( tvd), I 

ARA Serv1ces, eta/. v. US. (F83-011 C1vi111n Alac;ka D1stnct Court was deoded tn the gover11ment's favor 011 

May 28, 1986. The concesstoner, however, asked the 9'' Circwt Coutt of Appeals to rev1ew tht? case. and tn 

1987 tht=> C trcun Coun reversed the Distnct Court's deos1ort. See Anl110rage Daily T1mcs, June 21, 1983, B-/, 

SAR, 1987, 7. 

'" Federr~l Highway Adm1n1strat1on. McKinley Park Highway. 1978 Study Repoll, MrKrnluy Pdrk Station 

ro Wonder Lake, 2- 12; NPS, Pacific Northwes• Region, Road Surface Trf'•ltinr>nt Planning An,lly!>t~. Mount 

McKinley Nartonal Park, Alaska, February 1, 1979, 3-4. 

Federal Highway Adrnu11~tratton, Roacl/nvt=>ntory and Nr:eds Study, Mount MrKt/1/ey NattoncJI Par/.., 191j0, 

Study 184/D-4/, TIC Collection; NPS, Park Road Rehabilitation Program, DENA. EnVIfonmental Assessmeut 

(Denver, theo author, February 1982), I, 9 I 0 

Anchorage Daily Tunes, Ju11e 23, 1981, 8·1 

Ibid, June 23, 1981, B-1 . 

NPS, l:nVIfonmental Assessment for Park Road Rehabtlltc11ion Program, 21-22 

Ibid., 22-32, 55-62 The po~sible pavtng of the rark road was also constdered. and reJected, 1r1 rt 10o1d 

corndor plann1ng effort that concluded JUS! a month after the road rehc1bthtatton program report NPS, 

Development Concept Plan, Park Road Corridor, DENA. Environmental Assessment (De"lver, the olulhm, MatCI1 

1982), 95-99. 

SAR, 1982, 3; Cunmngham 1ntervtew, October 13, 2004. 

John E Cook to Manager, Denver Serv1ce Center, December 9, 1981, 111 Roads files, DI:NA 

Th1s act passed Congress on December 23, 1982, Prestdent Reagan stgned 1t on January b I 9H3, and 1t 

lwcame Public. Law Y/-4L4 
·James N Hall <FHWA) to Dents P Galvtn (DSC), May 2, 1983, tn Road~ ltles, D£NA, ~t.1nley T All>11qht tn 

Russell Dtckenson !Director NPS), July 9, 1984, 111 pref.;~ce to NPS, Park Road StanclcJrd~. luly 1984 

Federal Htghways Admtntstration, DNP Route tO, Denali Nattonal Park. Road Improvement Study lrutrt ~ldll' 

Route 3 to Kantishna (draft), May 1983, I, 6a, 21. Page 6a was tnsertetl duri11g the revtew pe11nd alte1 lite 

wmpletior1 of tlte May 1983 study. 

" NPS, Park Road StancJ,1rds, July 1984, 29. 

Robert Cunnmgham to Drrector DSC, June 15, 1983, Jeraltl M . LorcnllO Asststanl Mrtnagt•r, DSC July 

5, 1983; Kenneth Raithel, Jr. to Director ARO, July 13. 1983; oil 111 Road~ file), DCI\IA. Federal llt9hwily 

Admtntstration, DNP Roure 10. Denali National Park, Road Improvement Study from StJlt' Route Jtu 

Kancishna (ftnal), February 1984. The final reporl was ldt•ntKal to tf1e drilft f'xcept lor the in~ertton of fl.-i(le bii 

and Appendtx G 

·• Actlllg Regtonal Director, ARO to Manager, DSC, September 30, 1983, in l~oacls file~. DENA 

FHWA, 1-ea..,ibiliry Stvdy for Upgrading the DPnali Park Road at Sable P<Jss, Polychrome Pa~s and fte/~t}/1 

Bluff~. preliminary draft, 1985, 111 DENA Roads ftles; Brad Ebel email. March 14, 2007 

SAR, 1982, 3; SAR, 1983, 1, Cunntngham to Jack O'Neale (Maintenante Gent-'ral f·ort•rtwl), Auqu~t '14, 

1985, tn " Rehab Program/P1ts" sectton oi "Road Rehabilttallon" 3-ring btnde1, Joe VrJn Hotn Coflt'l lion, DfNA. 

· SAR, 1986, 4; NPS, Environmental Assessment for ParA Road Rehabi/itatton Program. 28-31 

FHWA. Bndge Inspection Reports (varrous), June 1980 (TIC 184/07 A-24AI, NPS, RuJu Suri.:JC•: TreatmPnr 

Planning Analysis, 6, SAR, 1980, 6 

"' SAR, 1973, 8; Donold t Bolton, Statvs Report for Savage River Bndge, MOMC. National P.ltk Route Nl' 1·1\ 

(Juneau, FHWA), November 19/0, TIC 184/D 129; FHWA, Stvdr Report No 2, Savage Rrver Bridge. NPS Rnvtr· 

1-A. MOMC. Alaska, 1980, l iC 184/044. 

' NPS. Savage River Bridge Replacernr.Hil, Environmental Assessment (Denver. NP5). M.:uch 1981. TIC 

184/1/42. 

·~ SAR, 1983, 1. Bndges were rerlaced over s1x small creeks east of Savdge Rtver as well as Hoyan (reel- (nHII' 

21 7), Belty's Brook (fTlile 63.21. and Lake Creek (mile 88.5}. Source: vanous HIWA bndge tnspettttm repom, 

tn DCNA TIC Collectton. 

'' SAR, 1987, 3, NPS, Etwtronmental Assessment, Replace loklat River ancf Mome Cn•Pk Bridyl.'~ ID!!nvrr, liH' 

author). June 1985. 

' Federal Highway Administration, Bndge lmoertmn Report.~ for vanuus Denalt Park Road bntlges. June 2007 

01 the 12 ma1or bt'tdges tn the park, the shortest esttmated rernam1nq hfe was Rock Creek (20 years>; at IIi<' 

other extreme. foUl bridges had a pred1cted 50 year est1mated hfet11 ne. 

' Public Law 96-487 (December 2, 1980), Sec. 1301(a). Sec 604(b) of the Nauonal Parks and Rec.refltton Art 

(Public Law 95-625). passed on November 10, 1978, slated that general management plc111S for e.Kh of 11~ 

untts needed to be "prepared and revt~eutn a ttrnely manner,'' wh1le Sec. 130 I of ANILCA speri1icafly askrd 

that these plans be completed by December 1985. U 5 Sratvtes at Large, vol 92 (1978}, fl. 3518 Jltd vol. q,l 

11980), p. 2472 

:. SAR, 1980, 1; NPS, "I ask D11 ecuve for the Prepilrauon of a General Mandgement PI.Hl fot Moum Mt Ktnl1•y 

National Park/Denali Nattonal Monument," May 30, 1980, 1n "D 18 - Planmng Prog1ams and Master Plan· •• 

1979-80" file. Box 1, Collection 00495, DENA Arthtve~ 

,. NPS. Supplement to lntenm Development Concept Plan Headquarters/Hotel Area (Denver, I he autho1. 

February 1981 ), I . 

1' George S. Strout!, History of the Concess1on at Denal1 Nattonal Pari.. (formerly Mount McKmley Natton.ll 

Park}, tmpub. mss. (Anchorage, NPS, March 1985), 22, 26-32 

·"· NPS, Supplement to lntenm Development Concept Plan. Headqua11ers!Hotel Area, 2 

'' SAR, 1980, 2. 

Stroud. History of thE' Concess1on. 33, NPS, Supplement to the Interim Development Comepc PJ,m, 

Headquarters/Howl Area, 7-16; SAR, 1980, 2, 4 The need to replace the bus barn and employee d11111lq 

room, ann alternat•ves on where they should be lotated, were also c1ddressed 111 the d91:'11(y's lnvtruwnt:llt.JI 

Assessment, Bus Mamtenance Facility I l:.mployee Dinmg Facility, Denali Nilttonal Pr~rk anrl Preserve. Alas~., 

(Denver. NPS), February 1981 . 

• Federal Regtster 46 (March 13, 1981 ), 16737; Federal Regrster .16 (Apnl 1, 1981 ). 19859-60. 

·''' Stroud, History of the Concesston, /8, 33; Robert Cunningham 111terview 

·" Stroud, Htslory of the Concesston, 28. In 1982, the NPS awr1rded a $1.2 m1lhon contract fnr Denali shuttlebus serv1ce that summer to Burton-Carver Transportation Inc of Soldotna; the followtng yea1 that C<JIIlrdct 

was renewed tor $992.000. SAR, 1982, 3; Anchorage Darly T1mes, May 14, 1983, B-2 Other l.lus contrJdors 

during the 1980s and early 1990~ Included Trdnsportatton and Marketing ~ervice (or ::,ystems), Tundrc1 Tour>, 

Mayflower Contract Servtces. and Latdlaw Transtt S/\R, 1987, 8, SAR, 1988, I; RalfJh Ttngey HHervtew, Mrrv 

17, 2006, Steve Carwile interview. May 25. 2006 and Mav 3. 2007. 
Tile only known Pxceptions to the concessroner's monopoly on park tours rhmng the pre-ANILCJ\ pPnorl 

were the Vdnous mountameenng gurde servrce~ on Mt. McKrnley and other Alaskd Rdnqe peah (see 

Chapter 13). plus Camp Denali's tr adttton of conducting htkes at various locattons toward the western end 

of the park road. Camp Den,1li's h1kes. whrch began dunng the 1950s, techntcally VIolated the terms of thE 

pr:u k Loncesstons contract. but they were freely tolerated because they had no discernable impact on tiiP 

concessroner's profitability. Lamwage rn ANILCA's Section 1307(a) has c!llowed C.Jmp Denali to conttnur· ltlo;e 

hikes rn recent vears. 

Se~ ANILCA (PL. 96-487), Set 1307; U.S Statutes at Large 94 ( 1980), 24/Y-80 

' NPS, Commerual Visitor SeNice Directory. Alaska Region. annual tssues, 1981 to 199~ The develop~ttcnl uf 

the CLJL sy~tem tn 1980-81 tS discussed tn Frank Noms's Tounsm in Katmat Country (Anchorage. NPS. 1997), 

137 38 

1 NPS, Development Concept Plan, Park Road Corridor; Denali Nattonal Park and Preserve /!.Iaska. 

Envtronmental Assessment (Denver, the arJlhor, March 1982), 3 

SAR, 1987, 3; NPS, DCP, Park Rnacl Comdor, EA, 35-67. 

1 NPS. DCP Park Road Comdor; £A, 5.2-57. Tek.laruka Campground wa~ thP only ite beyond Savaqt• Rrwr 

tl1at allowed recreauonal vehtcle> camping 

' NPS, Development Concept Plan, Park Ro<.ICI Comdor, Denali Nattonal Park and Preserve, AI,J.ska (DenvPr, thl' 

dll thor, February 1983). 92-93 

·' SAR, 1983, 3; NPS, Development Concept Plan, Park Road Corridor, Enwonmental Asses!>ment. ~;,c,J,? ; NP'>. 

Development Concept Plan, Park Road Corridor, 54-55. 

"> troud, I its tory of the Concession, 33-34; SAR, 1982, 1. 1983, 1-2 

Wtlhss. "Do I hmgs Right the First Time," 150 

The draft GMP for Lale Clark Natrona! Park and Preserve was compiMed rn May 1982 and finillin•d 111 

AuQuSI 1984, lOt Glacrer Bay Nattonal Park and Preserve 111 Apnl1983 dnd Septotnber 1984, [C>I Konar r1ords 

Nat tonal Pat k 10 May 1983 and June 1984; and for Yukon-Charley Rtvers Natrona! Preserve tn September 1983 

and January 1985 

··· SAR, 1983. 3, SAR, 1984, 2, NPS, Drclft General Management Plan!FnVIfonrnental As.~Ps\mt'nt, Luncl 

Proteaion Plan, Wilderness Stntability Review, DENA (Denver7. tl1e author, March 198':>). 125 

NPS, Draft General ManagPment Plan/Environmental Assessment, 9, 76-77 

1 lbicf., 10. The reference to •· 250,000 people per year" on page 1 0 was a mrspnn1. mstead. 11 should haw 

tead "25,000 peopiP per year" for ten years, ;hus allowrng for an additional 250,000 people. 1\lso '>C'E! NPS 

General Management Plan, Land Protecuon Plan, Wilderness Swtabiliry Review, DENA CDenver, the autltut, 

November 1986}, 145 

Thts study, 111 1t~ presem form, was entitled "W1Idlife Vtewtng and the Mandatory Pubhc lransj.)OII<1ii(Hl 

System 111 Denali Ndtlonal Park" ( 1984). It wa; later published as "The Controlled Traffic System and 

Assoctalecl W1ldlife Kesponses rn Denah National Park." Arctic 39 (September 1986), 195-203 

•·• NPS, Draft General Management Plan!Enwronmental Assessment, 13, 15 . 

• lblri .. 15. 

I. Ibid' 16. 

1

'" NPS, Draft GMPIEA. 19-20, 146-50, Alaska DtVISton of Parks, Alaska State Park S}'!.lt'm: Southcentral Rt>qtun 

Plan, February 1982. 65. The NPS votced its support for the Curry Rtdqe stte, the s1ate's similar preference W.l' 

c~ n ctpparent outgrowth of recent Tokosttnd Project feasibility study (see Chapter 8) to tntlude Curry Rtdqe. 

By 1985, both the state and federal governments felt that a maJOr developtnenl Sill' near Tokosnna GlcKIE'f 

··appears 1mpr actKal ., 

Anchorage Daily News, October 30, 1984, (-1, C -3, Anchorage Daily Times. November 13. 1984, A 1 0; 

NP~. Draft GMP/EA, 20-25. 

1 Meetrngs wet e held lune 3 in Fall banks, June 4 111 Healy; June 6 tn Talkeetna, and June 12 in Anchoragv 

SAR for Kalmar National Pc!rk and Preserve, 1985, 2; Anchorage Time~. December 7, 1985, A-4, All( horage 

Dill/y New~. December 7. 1985. C-2. The State of Alaska's response was rnore titan one hundrf>d paqr·~ long, 

ariC1 the Alctska 1 and Use Councrl (a consultative body that had been established by Sec. 1201 of ANILCA1 

spent torlSideraule ttme deliberating the vanous plans. Sandy Rabtnowuch 111tervrew, Apnl17, 2006. 

NPS, General Management Plan, Land Protection Plan, Wilderness Suitability Revtew, Dpnalr National Pari 

and Preserve, Alaska. reviSed draft (Anchorage, the author, DPcember 1985). 14. The revrsed draft, oddly, 

stated hrgher 1984 traffic volumes than was shown 111 the rntttal draft. thrs recahbratton thus allowed lltl' 

number of buses at "full plan implernPntauon" to be 10.6% h1gher than rt would have bern olherwtse 

' lbtd .. 20-/1, 27; NPS, General Management Plan, November 1986, 11i . Ironically, the r£'v1sed draft makPs no 

mentton ot 1hese two changes, but the finaiiNovernber 1986) GMP. 1n ll~ master hsl of changes, flt..rkl's tltP>f• 

assert tons. 

"· f\JPS, Draft GMP (March 1985) and RettisPd Draft GMP (December 1985), rnsrde front cover 

1 NPS. General Management Plan, November 1986, v, 17 
Ibid .. 22 29. 

SAR, 1986, 1. 1987, 8, Anchorage Daily Nt>ws. January 1 &, 1987, D·lO 

·' Wh1le many agency documents, mcludmg vanous 1ssues of the Nattonal Park Index. stated 111at tile 

"old park" contained 1,900,000 acres of wilderness, the agency's final wilderness recommendai1ons (11 1 

~ep ember 1988, p 1 OJ stated that of 2,214,273 acres tn the "old park," 2, 124.783 aCie~ (96%) was 

designated Wilderness. 

" 1 NPS. Draft General Management Plan (DENA), March 1985, 69-71 . 

' NPS, General Mr:magement Plan tDENA), reVIsed drafr, December 1985, 89-95. 

NPS, Gt.Jneral Management Plan (DENA), November 1986, 109 IS 

NPS. Fmal EnVIronmental Impact Statement, Wilderness Recommendauon, Denali Naltonal Patk and 

Preserve, Alaskd (Denve1, the autho1~ September 1988), 10 

<I SAR, 1987, 4. 

· "Summary Chart Nattonal Park Service, Alaska il dern~s Proposals." RIChard J. Stc•nrnark to D1rerto1 NPS, 

May 23, 1988, I.Joth 1n Judy Alderson files, AKRO; Anchorage Daily Times, March 4. 1988. B-8. 

'· NPS, Draft Environmental Impact Statement, Wilderness Recommendation, Denali National Pdti. and 

Preserve, Alaska (Denvc1, the auLh01, June 1988), vii, 6, 20; NPS, Final Wilderness EIS, DENA (September 1988), 

143, 187-89 

·• NPS. Drafr tiS, Wilderness Recommendation, iii. 

'' NPS, final £15, 14, 20-24, 66-79; Boyd Ev1son to Dtrector NPS, November 10, 1988, 111 Judy Alderson fliP~. 

AKKO; Wllliatrl P. Matt, "Record ot Decis1on. " December 1, 1988. document 184/88-43A, fl( Colleclion; Judy 

Alderson mwrview, May '2, 2006. 

'Joe V.:Hl Horn Lo author, ematl, May 11, 2006, NPS, General Management Plan, DENA, November 1986, 

60-61 . 

NPS, Fma/ GMt; DENA, November 1986, 72, 76-77, 80-81 . 

lb1d., 98-101; NPS, Final Environmental Impact Statt:'menr for (he Kant1shna 1/ills!Dunkle Mine Study Report 

\Anchorage, the author, December 1984), x1i1, State Of Alaska, Fourteenth Legislature, Legtslative> Resolve No. 

4. SJR 3 was introduced LJy Senator Bettye Fahrenkamp (D-Fa1rbanks) on January 14, 1985; the 1esolu1ton 

was ratified with Governor William Shetfteld's stgnature on february 25. Ala!>ka Senate Bill H1:.rory. 1985-

1986, p. 207. 

· NPS, "Meettng on NPS/State Land Exchange, DENA Headquarters" (attendance sheet), Febnwry 22, 1982, 

1n "Puhllr Lands. Lands Acquisition (1950-1990)" folder, Box 32, Denali Administrative Records Collee11on 

(OARO, DCNA Arch1ves. Anchorage Ttmes, August 13, 1982, B-6, New York Times, September 1, 1982, 17, 

frank Norns, Legacy of the Gold Rusll: An Admiru!.trative History of Klondike Gold Rush National Historical 

Park (Anchorage, NPS, 1996), 314-15; Joe Van Horn tnterv1ew, April 20, 2007. 

·· NPS, Final Environmental impact SratemPnt for the Kancishna Hills!Dunkle Mme Stul.iy Report. 58-66. 81-87. 

" Senate Jotnt Resolut1on 3. tn Alaska Senate Bill History, 7985-86, 207; v.:mous corrt>spondence 1n "Publi( 

Lands: Lands AcqUISitiOn ( 1950-1990)" ftlc, Box 32, DARC 

" Geoftrey L Hasken to RD, /\Iaska Reg1on, October 5, 1987: Garey E. Coatney to Steve Carwile, November 

12, 1987; Coatney to John Netll, November 12, 1987; all in "Public Lands: Lands Acqubition, 1950-1990'' file, 

Box 32, DARC. 

" Nat1onal Parks and Con~ervatton Associat1on. Park Boundanes: Where We Draw rhe Line (Wc'l~hll1aton, D.C. 

the auU1o1, February 1988), 508-09. 

1 Norns, Alaska SubsJstmce, 59, 89-90. 

Ibid : ANILCA (P.L %-487>. Sec 202\3)(a/ 

1 Norris, Alaska Subsi5tence, 90-94, 98-101 

" Ibid., 103. Each oi the seven subsistence resource cornm1SS1ons had nme members. three appotnted by thP 

Interior Secretary (who delegated th1s re~ponstbility to the NPS), three by the Alaska governo1, and three by the 

appropnate Regional AdviSOry Counul Ralph Tingey, an ass1stant to Supenntendent Cunntngham, played a 

key role in the appointment of fedcrally-appomted mt>mbers to tht> Denali SRC Ralph Tingey 111 tE>rv1ew, /\pril 

26, 2006. 

Norns, Alaska Subsistence. 1 03-04; Tmgey interview. 

·' Norris, Alaska Subsistence, 1 04 The draft Denal1 GMP. released in March 1985, orllllted ubsts en(e 

concerns almost entirely; the final GMP released in November 1986, by contra~!. contained a four-page 

"SubststencP Man,Jgement" section plus an additional subseliion related to "Contemporary Na11vP Amencan 

Concerns." 

"' Norns. Alaska Subststence. 1 05, 281. 

1 1 Ray Collins IS the current SRC chair. Norr1s's Alaska Subsistence notes t·he ma101 issues over Lilt' years in 

whiCh the Denali SRC has been mvolved 

1 The agency's 19/4 snowmobile rt>gulatlon was implemented in conformance w1th sect1on~ 3 and 4 of 

Executtve Order 11644, which was signed by President N1xon on February 8, 1972 It followe>d the Janu.11y 
1974 puhltcatlon of a final environmental statement on the !Hlfklcts of off-road vehtdr use on the JJUbli( 

lands. Federal Register 39 (Apnl 1, 1974), 11882-83; Daniel Kuehn 1nterv1ew, October II 7004 rhe NP<,\ 

<1drn1nistrattve record for a 1999 snowmobile lawsuit (Alaska State Snowmobile As~oriation, lnr v B<~hbtfl 

1n rederal Su(lplement, 2" Senes, Vol. 79 [November 8, 1999]. p. 1122) 11113takenly lilted th,l the flrtrk's 

~nowmob1le prohibition had been implemented in 1972 

1

'" Norris, Alaska Subsistence, 61, 137, Alaska Planning Group, Final FnVtronrnencal Statement, Propow<l 

Mount McKinley National Park Additions, Alaska (Washington?, U.S. lnt!!nor DepartrT•ent, OciobPr 197.4). 123. 

128 The APG at thts time, did not state whether •'snowmobiling" was an established form ot ~ubsistencf'­

hunttng elsewhere 1n Alaska. 

1

" Proclamation 4616, as noted in Federal Regtster43 (December 5, 1978), 5703~ 

'"· Federal Regtster 44 (June 28, 1979), 37737-38. In 1978 and 1979, the NPS rev1~ed 1ts agenryw1de 

snowmobile policy, but Inasmuch as "snowmobtle use 1n Alaskan park areas will be manaqeclunder Spr>c1r1l 

Reg11lat1ons whtch are currently betng developed," off1oals stated that the 1'ev1sed ~JOlley would dpply only to 

the ''cotermtnous United States." Federal Register 44 (August 13, 1979), 4 7412-1 3 

1

' • Publtc Law 96-487, Sec. 811 (b); U.S. Statures at Large, vol. 94 (1980), 1-J. 2428. 

P.L 96-487, Sec 202(3)(a) and SectiOn 1110(a); US. Statutes at Larg1'. vol 911 11980), 2382 rtnrl 2464-65 

Federal Rerpster 46 Uune 1 7, 1981 ), 3184 1 , 3 1861 

Steve Carwile mterviE'W, October 19, 2006. A copy of the draft regulation ~~ rn Mr CcJI'Wilr>\ 1110s 

· Federal Regisrer 48 (April 6, 1983), 14978-79; Anchorage Daily Time~. Apnl 6, 1983, B-1/ 

' 4nchorageDailyNews, Apnl17, 1983, C-1. April25, 1983, A-18; April30, 1983, B-6. 

Federal Regisrer48 (June 7, 1983), 26319; Anchorage Datly Times, June 7, 1983, B-5 

Executive Order 11644 (februa•y 8, 1972), 1n Federal Register 37 (1972), 2877; NPS, General Managemenl 

Pla11, DENA, November 1986, 33-34, 45. The GMP al~o noted that only snowmachlnt•s, motorboc~t~. r1nrl dnq 

teams were "authonzed means of access for subsistence use" in Denali Nat1onal Pr~rk and Preserve Other 

fonns of transpo1tatton, whose "tradntonal" role had not been woved, were 'lot allowed. 

· Ralph Tingey, mterview w1th the author, May 16, 2006 Several snowrnachines entered the "old park·· 

111 1987, and 111 1993, the park supenntendent glumly noted that "mechilntzed Intrusions into the DPnah 

wilderness continue but the necessary tools, both in rhe fteld and regulatory, are sorely lackmq " See SAR 

1987, 6; SAR, 1993, 5-6. 

1 Supt. Dan Kuehn. 111 h1s October 1 l. 2004 tnterv1ew, noted that he and lli~ w1te, Kate, served .i~ 

chaperones for Tn-Valley's basketball team during the mid-1970s. 

1 See ltbracy of Conqre"s webstte, http://thomds.loc.gov, " B1II Summa1y a11d )tatu~" link. The vanou~ Alil~k.d 

Ra1lroad prov1S10ns were folded into H.R. 3420, the primary purpose of wh1ch wa~ to appropnilte lund~ to 

comply with the Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of 1968 and the Hazardous Ltqutd Pcpeline Safpty An or 1 q7q 

Th1s b1ll was sponsored by Rep. Glenn Anderson (D-Calif.). See Congres~tonal Rewrd 128 ( 1982), pp 331 ')I 

511, 3327 4-81' 33594-95. 

"' The bill became Public Law 97-468 Th1s law has been called the Alaska Railroad franster Act, 11111 

Ala~ka rclated provisions are contained only 111 T1tle VI The 12'' Alaska legislature ( 1981-82) put fonh 

several resolut1ons-includtng SJR 28, SJR 69, SJR 76, and SJR 77-that attempted to 1nfluence the evolvllt<J 

legcslauon All failed Alaska Senate Bill History. 1981- 1982, passim 

1 ' "Alaska Ra1lroad- H1story" web page (www.akrr.com/arrc119.html). 

11 Congressional Record 128 (1 982), pp. 33152, 33275, and 33282-83; 97"' Congress, 2"'1 ~~·sstoll, 5f'JI·I1P 

Report 97-4/9 (June 22. 1982), 15; "Runmng the Rails in Alaska," National Parks 56 CSepternlJt•r/0< totJC'I 

1982), 33; Alrlska Railroad, "Memorandum of Rental Ayreement" (Contract No 69-25-0003-5 165), Ap11l Ill. 

1980, 111 "Front M1sc." file, Box 1, Collection 00495, DENA A1chives; Raymond C Kremer to Alask<t Ra1I10t1U 

Corp., May 1, 1986, in "Mise" file, Box 1, Collect1on 00495, DENA ArchivPs. 

Anchorage Daily News, December 29, 1988, C 1, C -2 

• Anchotage Daily News, October 29, 1989, M-11 to M-'13. 

·" Anchorage Datly News, January 2. 1990, B-1, B-3; January 5, 1990, A-3 

•· Alaska Department of Labor. Alaska Populauon OverVIeW. 1990 Ceno:.us and Eswnate~ ( IUilC'.tiJ ; , July 1 'l91 I, 

132-'33; Denali Borough web page (www.denaliborough.com), ''Ordinances" lt n~ 

Us1belli Coal Mine web page, "H1story" link (www.us1bellt.com/chron hlntl), 

1 lbtrl.; Anchorage Daily News, December 17, 1991, B-4. 

Anchorage Daily News, Apnt 29, 1990, C-1. 

Ibid. 

1 Anchorage Daily News, March 6, Jq91, D-1, D-5; Apnl 7. 1991 , E-2. www usibelli com/ciM11 1111111 

1 Anchorage Daily News. December 17, 1991 , 8-4; February 28, 1992, G-1. G-2, March 23, 1997 C-1, C -6; 

Jllly 10. 1992, r-1. F·3. 

Anchorage Daily News, September 5, 1992, A-1 . 

federal Register 58 (I ebruary 11, 1993), 8058-59 
Anchorage Dally News, December 17, 1993, D-1. D-8; Federal Register 59 (March 21, 1994). 13310-1 7. 

"Agreement Will Shreld Denali from Pollution, " National Parks 68 (January-Februdry 1 994), 13· 14, 16. 

" Anchorage Daily News, March 16, 1994, D-1, D-2, June 3, 1994, A-\, A-12; July 5, 1996, E-1, E'-2: 

''Usibelh Coal Mine History'' website, cited above 

< Steve Carwrle rntervrew, January 16, 2007. 

1 ~ Denair Foundatron web page (www.dcnali.org); Robert Cunningham, rntervrcw by the author, OctobN I i , 

2004, Clay Cunnrngham, )'ellowstone to Denali,· Bears, Bison, Poachers, Thieves and Other Characters (Denver, 

Outskrrts Press, 2005), 128-31 . 

'' Willre Karadrs. email to Jrll Boelsma, May 29, 2006. 

1

'

1

' Cunnrnqham, Yellowstone to Denali, 128-31, Karadis to Boelsma email, May 29, 2006; Trrcra Bmwrr, 

"Hostel Takeover." Alaska Magazine 63 (February 1997), 4S-49. 

''11 Steve Carwtle emarl, Janudry 22, 2007 

·' SAR, 1985, 2; SAR, 1986, 3; Robert Cunningham rntervrew, October 13, 2004. A~ noted rn Chapt"'r 13, 

the medrcal presence was a contrnuatron of ~ervices that doctors had ofiered on the ~lopes of Ml McKrnlt•y 

rnce 1982. Cunninqham advertrsed for the headquarters positron in the New England Journal of MedKtnC. 

''' SAR, 1987, 7; SAR, 1991, 6; SAR, 1993, 5; SAR, 199':>, 9 

'

1 1 A few rniuries were also the result of criminal activity, see. tor exarnrle. Anchorage Daily NPw . Auqlr'\1 7 l , 

I <J92, B- 1, August 8, 2001, B-1 . 

' SAR, 1980, 2; SAR, 1983, 1; SAR, 1984, 1; The Milepost, vanous annualrssues; Anchorage Datly New•,, 

August 13, 1989. F-8. Inasmuch as no other known motels were built rn the Parks Htghwdy commerctal ~tnp 

before 1987, the supenntendent's 1983 descnption of two "24-untt motels" apparently refer~ to the 11ew 

( 1979 1980) units added to the McKrnley Chalets. The tounst cabrns were the Denali Crow'; Nest Log Ccrlm1~. 

"' NPS, Ttnal GMP, DENA, November 1986, 15, SAR, DCNA, 1986, 1; SAR, DENA, 1987, 5. 

11 Ralph Tingey, 111terv1ew wtth the author, May 1 /, 2006. Mr. Tingey noted that tlte tralir<.. tar(.let was met by 

rcquinng Kantishna-area lodge guests to use lodge buses rather than thE'ir pnvatE' vehides; by requir111g Toklatarea NPS employees to nde a bus to and from the hotel area: and by askrng certatn pnvate-vehrcle opPrator'\ to 

tlrrve the park roatl at nrgl1t, when traffic volumes were low. 

'· SAR, DENA, for 1985, 1; 1986, 1; 1987, 4; 1988, 1; Ralph Tingey intervrew, May 18, 2006. Don Hummel, 

'" h1s Stealing the Nauonal Parks, p 313, cited a 1986 newspaper article 111 whiCh r<mger-ndtur<Jirst Krm 

t·leacox stated, With a dash of hyperbole, that "vrsitors were turned away at Denali last summer " 

'•''' SAR, DENA, 1989, 3; SAR, DENA, 1991, 1-2 

.... In 1986, this facility was known as the Kantishna Road House and Bu~h Carnp, but by 1988 rt was 1-..nown 

Simply as the Kanttshna Roadhouse. Today's VISitor facility is JUSt yards ilway rrom Lhe OIIC]Inal ( 191 9) Kantr!>hfl(l 

Roadhouse. NPS, Commercial Vis1tor Serv~ce Directory, Alaska Region, 1986 and 1988 edrllon<,, '>AR, DFNA, 

1987, 6; Bill Sherwonrt, "No Going Back," Alaska Magazine 56(Aprrl1990), 68. As noted in the June 15. 

1990 Anchorage Daily New5, pp. C -1 and C 3, Wilson and fellow Kantishnil landowner Dan Ashbrook had 

LHJstne~s Interests (Including the management of thi~ property) that began in 1976 and ended rn February 

1988 with a settlement agreement separating Ashbrook frorn all tour operations Also see ''Settlement 

Agreement" in Wilson, era/. v. Ashbrook eta/., Case 4FA-88-67, February 23, 1988. 

·• North Face:< Lodge owner Gary Crabb died on April 17, 1987. On Sepl<!mbcr 25 of thclt yC'ar, hts widC1W 

lrnda Crabb sold thf' parcel to Wallace and Jerryne Cole, who had owned nearby Camp Denali srnce 197'i 

The Coles strll own both properties. In early 1987, the lodge's capacity was still JUSt 15 gucst!-o; the Coles 

renovations apparently added only a small number to that total. Anchorage Daily New~. April 24, 198/ 

transler deed rn AKRO Lands Drv1sion hies, Steve Carvvtle rntervrew, April 24, 2006; "Carrbou, Tundrd, 

Whitewater, Mount McKrnley Alaska Adventures," Sunset 178 (June 1987). 74 

''·' NPS. Commercial Visitor Serw.e D1rectorv, vanous rssues, 1990-91; Sherwonit, "No Gotnq ac~:· 70; 

Alaska Denali Tours web page (http://www.alaskadenahtours.com) 

'· Ralph Trngey interview. May 17, 2006. 

,.,, SAR, 1988, 2; SAR, 1989, 2; NPS, "Bas1c Park Issues, DENA, 1989,'' attachment 1o 'iAR, 1989; S1eve 

Carwile to Jack Morehead memo, June 3, 1994, rn Ci!rwile files. As noted above and tn Chilpter 8, Universrty 

of Alas~a re~earcher Diane C Tracy had researched this problem between 1973 and 1975, whtle Joan Beattte 

and Frank Singer had updated that study during the summers of 1983 and 1984. See SAR, 197 3, 8; SAR, 

1974, 5; SAR, 1975, 4; SAR. 1983, 2; SAR, 1984, 2; Tracy, " Human-Wildlife lntera<..trons Along Mt. Mc.Kmley 

Road," 1n Alaska Cooperative Park Studies Unit, Final Report: Fiscal Year 1975 (F<urbank~. UN 1975), I, 4, 6, 

T-1 through T-85; Beattie and Singer, "Wildlrfe Viewing and the Mandatory Public an~portatrort System 111 

Denali National Park" ( 1984), 

" Anchorage Daily News, January 24, 1990, C-1, C-3; SAR, 1989, 1 2, SAR, 1990, 2-3 

' Jane Bryant emarl, November 6 and November 22, 2006; '>teve Carwile enrarl, November 6, 2006 l he 

hall-marathon has been run each August since rts rncept1on. Founder Denrse Tavlor sold ihP Denilh FrUit 

Express rn 2001. 
f'llylh~ Motsko t•J Jane Bryant pmatl, February 22, 2007, Jane Bryant to author em.111. Mr~r< II o, J007 Ml~, 

CobuolcJ, wl1o as the concess1oner's tran~portatton manager played a key role m rlevelnptnq tl11• !Iilii, rl(lfl•d 

that Supenntend~>nt Cunntngham "recetved pressure about ti1E' tout" al\1:1 tis 1986 approv.tl, till'. f>re·.surc•, 

regardless of tts 01191t1, may have played a rolE• m delay1ng 1 he tour's 1mplement.;t1on 

' Ralph T1ngey mtervtew, May 17, 2006 

1 ''iAR, 1973, 3; SAR, 19/4, 2; SAR, 1975, 3. 

As noted 111 the dtscuss1on of park entrance fees (see section IJP!ow), thP',<" fpt~s Wl'rf! trnpiPitl!.>nh•d 

begtnntnq 111 1988 Congress, l1owever, offsrt tlw budtjetary benefit of entrance fee<:. Wllltttilb.tr h 

elsewhere, thus re.,ulung en the same level ot tund1ng w1th wh1ch to ope1ate thP. park's '>hlltll~> hu•, w··t""' 

'SAR. 1991.2-3 

· The ConceSSIOns Policy Act (Public law 89 249, enacted Octobe>r 9, 1965) r nlhl lor thP r~>nr·qnl!.llt'lll, 

each ltve yrars, of each concess1onef's franchts(.l fee 

·' SAR, 1993, 3, NPS, [nwonrnenldl Asse5sment on the Proposed Constructton of VtsttOt Ttanspurf.ll/c >n 

System Faoltttes, UPnalt Nattonal Park and Prr!serve, Alaska (November 1994), 1, 5. The bus fPP, tliuwJI' q1J1It• 

h1gh compared to wlla1 passengers had pard prev1ously. was set 111 the contract to be sufftCIPntly low •,n o~•. In 

"not allow 1\RA to fully recover 1ts operattonal and admtntstratiVP cots as~ouatPd w1th til(• SySil'lll · 1\ '"'"' 

report notE'd that the fully-amort•zed co~t of a bus 1 np 111 1995-96 would be $112 -111011.! t.hcHI IWIU' the • tmt 111 

tile propo~ed bus tiCke-t cost Anchomge Datly News, July 13, 1994, A-8 

SAR, 1993, 8; i'JPS, Enwonmcncal Assessment on the Proposed Com1ructton of Vmtor Tt·ampnrtdlton 

System raultltes, 1, 5 

Anchorage Datly News, July 13, 199'1, A 1, A-8; "NPCA and OIIIE:IS I aull Df'nali Bus Co11t1dl I,,. Nr~ttOII>~I 

Parks 68 (September/October 1994l, 19-20 

' SAR, 1995, 1, 4-5, 12 -13; Anchorag~ Dally News. 5E'ptember 2, 1994, F-1, F-4, JeanntP Wuodr111Q, 

"Buss1ng Denali," Alaska Business Monthly 10 (Novemhe1 1994), 10. In 1994, the operat1o11 ol thP D1•no~h 

concesston chanqed from ARA Leisure Servtces, Inc to Aramark Sports and Lt•tswe. The> pur~ Wll(P',SI011c.:'r 

WtJ~ do1ng bus1ness as Denah Park Resorts. both before and afte1 the name change. The COIIIp.!ny\ lll'.t p.11 f 

conte5slon had been at Shenandoah Nattonal Park (Vtrg1111a) 111 1972. See www.t~ramar~ .c CHI I, ".:~houl/hist<ll'(' 

lin I.., Charlie Ess, "Vacat10111ng at Denali." Alaska Busmess Monthly 15 !August 1999), 29 

Anchorage Dvily News, May Ill, 1995, M 1 The concess1oner, at ftrst, had hopt>d to tun H1P 4H fl""'''IHit'l 

buses all the way out to Wonder lake and d1~pense wtth the neecl for 40-passengel uu~e·. A SlcHE' luqi•W>~V 

oH1ndl, howt>ver. protested that 48-pa;senger buses caused stgntficantly more wear to thl• ror1d ~~~~ f.1r r> 

than 40-passenger buses In add1tcon, an early-season test of the 48-paso;enger buses cause>d lhr> p.11 h 

~upenntendent to conclude that they ~hould not be used west of E1elson Vtsitor Center Anrl>r>rdrtr lJ,lt/1' 

News. Julv 13, 1994, A-8 

' As noteci 111 Appendix A, reoeattonal vtS1tat1on to Denali dropped from 5':>8.870 111 1991 to 490,311 111 1'1')11 

' NPS, "Fees1o be Charged Begtnntng 1n 1995 for Denal1 N.P. Shuttle Buses" <new; r<"lr,osP), htnP h, IC)<JI\, 

rn John Qu1nley files, AKRO Berry reasoned that the key GMP data -1n Table 1 on pr~4e 1/ ·.ltotild IH· 

ll\te1preted to stc~te that the 20 percent 1ncrease allowed 1n stage 3 of the traffK pla11 ·,hould IJP on top c,l tl11• 

15 percent alloweclm stage 1 Berry, "An Anr~ly51s ot Bus Numbers. or How We Got Hetf'," hllll' I CJ, 1 lJ'lll, 111 

Steve Carwtle ftles 

Anchorage Datly T1mes. October 2, 1979, 4, October 4, 1979, A-3. ThP b1ll thrtt Stf'Vt'll'> diiH'ildvd Wd', 

H .R 5419, which dealt With the Appaluc.lnan Trail and also authonted Fwdenc k Lc1w Oll!l'.tecl Ni1tiOII.tl llt•.l• ''" 

S1te 1n Massachusetts. 

Public Law 96-487 (December 2. 1980), Sec. 703; 94 Stat. 2384. A(l':ord1ng to Frank WIIIM's ANILCA 

h•story ("Do Things Righr the Ftrst Ttme", p. 128/fn 186). the entrance-feP ls>ue was one of ~everal "t~chntcdl 

or perfecting" changes that were resolved between the House and Sen.lte b1lls 111 the days tnHnt>dlcJtl'ly bdnt•' 

Pres1dent Carter s1gned the fmal bill. 

Anchorage Datly News, August 2 3, 1983, A-12. Anchorage Datly Times, Marcil 23. 1984, A-1 0 

llnter1or) Secretary [Donald Hodel] to Honorable Thomas P. O'Ne1ll [drdft); Jclmes T. Chnsty to DctVIri A 

Stoc~man, February 7, 1985; both en "Denali Nat1onal Park/User Fees" folcier. D!::NA AtchiVI'~ 

' Hawatt Tnbune-Herald, July 10, 1986, 1, 1 '2. 

fL. 100-203. T1tle V. Part F. Subt1tle C. 111 www.thomas loc.gov. SAR. 1987. 5; Cuii11111CJI1o~IJ1 1111\'fVIPW, 

October 13, 2004. 

· SAR. 1988, 1, SAR 1991,6, SAR, 1993, 5; Anchorage Dat!yNews, June 12, 1994, M-2. 

Examples of these arttcles tnclude the tollowtng: Anchorage Datly Times, August 30, 197 4, 8. Septembf'' 

11 1974.47, Apni 22. 1976, 17; Septembet 3, 1976,21, Torn Walker, "Season's End 111 McK1nley Park," 

Alaska Magatme 43 (October 1977), 93 

5ee the Anchorage Daily Times, October 1, 1981, D-1; September 4, 1983, 8-3, SeptembN 3, t •JP.·l. B 

3, September 5, 1984. C -1. Anchorage Daily News, Sep~emher 11, 1980. B-1. September 1 fl. I QRCJ, I+ 1 U, 

Sep1ember 11, 198.3, F I, May 17, 1984, F-13 
1" Anchorage Daily News, September 14, 1986, B-3 September 8, a week after Labor Day, was 111 keeping 

wi'h the evolvtng general management plan, which stated that 1he ~huttle bus sy~lem wot,td operate "1n1o the 

iall for as long as VISitor use rema1ns high ... 

" Anchorage Daily News, September 14, 1986, 8-1, 8-3; August 26, 1990, K-5 . 

. , Anchorage Daily News, September 14, 1986, B-3; SAR, 1987, 5 A year later (Anrhorayf:' Daily New~. 

Septembe1 13, 1987, J-1 ), an NPS offiCial stated that the crowd on September 13, 1985 numbered 900 cars, 

not 500 as she had noted in 1986; and in 1989 (see source below), another NPS official stated that "almost 

700 private vehiCles" crowded 1nto the park that day 111 1986 

· Anchorage Daily News, September 10, 1989, G-1. G-3 

SAR, 1990, 3, Anchorage Daily News, August 26, 1990. K-5, Rus~ell W Berry, Jr. to wu1ntny applicants, 

August 1 0, 1990, 1n " Road Opemng H1story" file, Roads fib, DENA; NPS, ··Newsletter 111 , DEN/\," lanuary 

1990, 3; "NewsiP.ltN #3," May 1 990, 1-2, "Newsletter #4," June 1990, 1; Joe Van Horn. revtew comment. 

March 28, 2007. 

·' Anchorage Daily News, September 11 , 1992, B-3; September 13, 1992, B-1. B-2; Seplembl'r I I 1992, 

B-2; July 2, 1993, A-3 

1

' NPS, Draft GMP, DENA (March 198~). 13; NPS, !'ina/ GMP. DENA (November 1986). t 4. 

,.,. T1m Taylor to Ted V1nson email. March 27, 2003; Ted S Vinson and Davrt.f Lofgren. "Den<~h P<Hk Access 

Road ICing Prohlems and M1t1gauon Options" (draft, Nov. :?002), pp. 3-6; Brad Ebel to Julie> Wrlker·1on memo, 

OcLOber 2 I, 2002; varrous Items rn "Road Openrng Hrstory" irle; ill I 111 Roads flies, DENA; SAR, 19/8, ~. 1986, 

4, Brad Ebel ernarl, Aprrl 17, 2003 and August 28, 2006 

'Cummrngs to Col TR. Ander~on. Marcl118, 1982, 1n Box I "Denali Park Road Issue" fries, Btll Brown 

Cnllectcon, AKRO. 

' Today 1n the "old park," the NPS "ha~ parttallegislattve 1urrsd1ctron because the ~tate wr~~ riflort.fed the 

right to tal< persons and corporatiOns and people residinq 111 the old park have tilt:> IIQlit to vote 1n local 

t•lerltons. In all other respects, the Federal government has JUrisdtctron " • Junsdrctional Cornpend1um, Alr~s~a 

Regron." l\RO Ranger D1v1sion tiles. 

'John E. Cook to Reg1onal Soltcltor, Alaska Reg1on, January 7, 1983; Babs011 to Regronal Dlfector, NF'S. 

Febrcrary 7. 1983, Don Bauer. "ResParch Note. " April 12. 1983: all1n Box 1 ''Denc.11i Park RoaJ Issue" 

fcles, AKRO. 

· · MarkS Hrckey (DOT&Pr tomm1ssroner1 to Stan Leaphart, Apnl 29, 1988. rn Steve C. arvvtl<> lil t'~. ANILCA, 

~ec lion I II O(b); U 5 Statutes at Large 94 \ 1980), 2465 

, . ., Btll Sherwomt, " Nev€'1 Gorng Ba,k," '3 1, Anchorage Daily News, J11ne 12, 1990, A-1 A-8 

·' Anchorage Daily News. June 14. 1990, D-1. D-3; June 15, 1990, C -3; JunE:> 16, 1990, 6-l, 8-3 . 

·• 1\nchorage Daily News, June 17, 1990, A6; New York Times, July 30, 1990, 9. 

'' llnrhorage Daily T1mes. June 17, 1990. A-1, A-6, Jtlly 8, 1990, B-3 

'I', An(horage Daily Times, JunE> 17 1990, A-1, A-7, "RV Park Planned W1lhrn Dt•nnh," N.!11onal Parks 64 

(<,eptember/October 1990). 8. 

"· Steve Carwilt> intervieW, May 25, 2006 and July 25, 2007. 

'" Anctwraqe Daily News, July 2, 1993, D-1; July 3, 1993, 8-1, B-2. 

· Anclroragr> Daily News, July~. 1993, A-1 A-8. By th~ July 4•r· wcekt'nci, tilt' group had chan<wd II\ r1arne 

to the Alaska ReclamatiOn Crew 

···Anchorage Daily News, Aprrl 2. 1994, A-1, ''Minutes of the U 5. Drstnct Court, Dt>tnc! of Alaska," Case No. 

r93-072 and F93-073 (JKS), November 8, 1993, 111 lntenor Department Sollcrtor's Oliice fries, Anchoraqe. A12; "Stn1ggle Con11n11es Over Denair Roads, .. Nattonal Parks 58 (May/June 1994), 10- 11 

1 'B.A. Campbell to Charles 1: . Cole, September 17, 1993, 111 DOT&PF. Historical Analysis, Md<miPy Park ROild 

luriscfictmn and Owner~htp, September 13. 1993. Bruce M. Botelho to Bruce Babbitt. M,1y 2, 1994, Bmell1n to 

Babbitt, May 5, 1994; alllnlrrtenor Department Soltc1tor's Office fries. Androrage· "Road Warrrors." Alaska 60 

(Auqust 1994) 13 

" ' Wtlham E. Brown, A History of the Dcnalt-Mount McKmtey Regton, AtasKa \Santa Fe, NPS. 1991 ). 1 ri7 -12. 

" /hid, 207, Farrbanks Darty News-Miner, October 15, 1936, 1, November 4, 1936, '::>; Decernbt>r 30, 193G, 

12; Marrh 2, 1937,7, March 9, 1937,4. 

" · Farrbanks Darly News-Miner. March 24, 1961, 3, May 27, 1961, 3; June 20, 1961, 1, August 19, 1963, 

4; Fugene Therriault, A Road to Stampede (Fairbanks, State of Alaska, Northern Region. Department of 

TransportatiOn, 1989), 8 13, Item 869. DENA RML 

"' Ibid • 209-1 0; Bill Brown to author, email, November 21, 2005. Celia I hmter, 111 d Fa1rbanb Oarly NewsMmer ed1tonal (March 3, 1988, p. 4), stated that Prlgnm "used up the enlire f1roneer r~ccess road appropriatton 

lor one year" to construct tilts route. 

"' Anchorage Daily Times, May l 0, 19n, 9, John Reynolds (Team Captain, Team 2) to ProjPct leader, Alaska 

lask Force. April 26, 1973, rn Alaska Plann1ng Group. rina/ Environmental Statempflt, Proposed Mount 

McKinlrw National Park 1\ddirions, Alaska, 35, 37, 127 28 

"" 1 tiiWII 11•W1•1 111 II••' 1~111111 Aill-llll"""'·'l<'''v ... lr"t"ry l•r IJrn~h N.tlloJI,JI P1rk .1n0 Pr<''t'IV<• 
Anchorage Darly Ttrnes, May 28. 1982, D-6, May 30, 1982, E-5 HJR 65, 1n /\Iaska Ho11~r> F/1/llli'itnry, 

1981-1982, p 513; SJR 53, 1n Alaska SenateB!11 History. 7981-1982, p. 1053 Thr. ~1g ned IP">ohllloll bt•tcJIIl" 

Leg1slat1ve Resolve 16 111 the 12" Alaska Leg1slaturP. 

Anchorage Daily Times, Novembe1 22, 1G84, A-12, NPS, Draft GMP<Mc~rclt 198S), /5, NPS, Fma/GM!l 

(November 1986), v, 31-32 

Fairbanks Dady News Minr.>r, March 3, 1988,4, Anchorage Dally News, Aull\lst 13, Jfl89, 1·7. /1/o~•,}<l ''-'II<~/~' 

Br/1 Htstory. 1989-1990, 1 0 7. 

• Untied States Statutes at I arge 14 (July Lb, 1 Hbb), L':> 1-':>.:l; Hevtsf'cl !:JtatutP.5 oltfiP Until'rl \/,liPS, •,pconcf 

ed111on (Wa~htngton, GPO, 1878). 453. 

M1chael Mdc;telll, "Roads to Rwn." National Parks 67 ISeptemlwr/Ottoilrr I '1<13), 29-3i. Nl'\ f ina/ CiMF' 

DENA <November 1986), v, 31-32, 185-88; SAR, DENA, 1990, 1 

Anchorage Dally News. August 26, 1991, D-1 

'Anchorage Datly News, February 25, 1992, B-2. 

Anchorage Dally News, June 4, 1995, B-1. 

'SAR, DENA, 1990, 1, Russell Berry to James Parham (elf .1. November 21, 1900, 111 "Notihrm 1\" ~>·..s. 

1981-1994" f1le, DENAAdmtrt HIStoryColleCtiOII, NPS, OcnaltAcce>s l<isk For<f'Rt'f!WI, Novt•mb••l ICJ?1 , I tll 

ARLIS. The final three members were Don Castleberry (head of the Midwest Req1on.11 Otftcl') and tWI) I >~>nver 

Servtcc Ccntc1 transportation plannc1s, J1m Struughan and Elmer Hern.:mdcz 

' NPS, Denalt Access Task f-orce Report, 8, 21, 2 5; Anchorage Dally News, F ebru.Jry 7 S, 1992. B-1, 11 2. 

February 29, 1992. B-6, "NPS Report Supports Present Access r~t Denal1." National P.ul;•. 66 frvl.tv/Jitll•' ICJ'~i> 

20, Davtd Hulen, "Denali Htts Roadblock," Alaska Magazine 58 (July 199/), 7 

I Anchor aye Dally News, r ebruary 25, 1992, B-2 

An<.twrage Daily News, July 1 9, 1993, A '::l: January 24, 1994, A-1, A-8: "Ope11111q Ui • Al,,~l.t\ lntNIIH," 

Alaska 59 (Aug11st 1993), 12; SAR. 1993, 2. "Struggle Continues Over Ol'nah Road\," 11, •· l'alk. llt<JI W•IV tP 

McGrath, 1993 Field lnvesttga110n" (unpubltshed resea1ch noteboor. ), C.=~rwlie file~ 

· Alaska SenatP Bill Htstory, T991-7 992, 253, Fatrbank.s DcJtly News-Mmer, August 73, 19'11, I 

Alaska legtslature web page, "Btlls and Resolut1ons" lmk fnr 17'' and 18" Alaska leqlsl<ll\lll ·~ (littp.//uld 

www.legts.state.ak.us); Alaska House Btl/ History. 7 993-1994, for HJR 28 (p 316) 

·•· Anchorage Datly News. August 17. 1993. A-8 The Babbtlt-HICkel tnp t.Jown til•.• park tO• ttl ll!llk pl.l'.f.: <HI 

August 16. Sup! Russ Berry, who accompanied the two men, told Httkell hr11 r1 rPtr•nt r <m•.ult.u1!\ l"fl' Ht l11td 

cottduded that a ratlroad to Kanlishna would cost an csttmatPd \7'>0 m1il11111. lild..el, howevt'l, w.l'> IJ!liiHJV"d, 

hP ft•lt that a the propo~ed rail hne was ··a necess1ty" 

'Alaska Lcg1~lature web page, "Bills and Resolutions·· link io1 1 1'1' .:md 18" Alaskc1 leqt~lcJlUi£>~ <lilljl'//nld 

www.legis.state.ak.usl; Alaska House Bill History, 1993-1994, 316 The -;igned fl')OIIII io11 wr~s LPQI'.I.illvt 

Resolve 19 tor the 18'1' Alaska Leg1slature 

Public Law 102-240 <December 18, 19911. Sec 1050, U 5. Statutes ar LargP 105 ( 19911, rP ,WOO·il1 

' NPS, Alternative Transportation Mode~. Feasibility Study. Vol. II ExecutiVP SurnmcJry (I >eiiVN, [>PilV"r Sr•t"l' ,, 

CE>nter, May 1994), ES-1, ES-14 through ES-16 

''· Denalt Task Force, Denal1 Task Force Repon.; Findmgs and Recommendations for the Nationo~l f'a11· )/•IVIft 

Advisory Board. October 25, 1994, 7-8, Rep01 t 1811/D-221, TIC CollectiOn The task for< f' fJ<lVf' tlu• .HIVI~UI)' 

board an 111tenm progress report at 1ts mid-August meettnq, c~nd the bocJrd formolly adopted the t.1·.k lortf' 

report at 1ts December 14 meet1ng Federal Reg1ster :,9 (Auqusf 1, 1994), 38986-87, dnd rrd.;or,ll Nr•IJt~tN r,y 

(December 1, 1994), 61636 

" See Anchorage Times, August 17, 1980, E-8 . 

. , NPS, Draft GMP, DENA, 16, NPS, Final GMP, DENA. 18 

SAR, 1983. 2; 1985. 2; NPS. Draft GMP, 15; NPS, Final GMP, 1 7 

'' SAR, 1987, 3, 1988, 1; 1989, 2; 1990,2. 

·' U.S. Depanment of the lntenor, Budget Justrficatlans: National Park. SerVICf', d11flll<~l 1ssue\ 1981 > In I '1'1'::: 

A tull-ttme eqUivalent, or fTE, is a compostte number that accounts for tile tutdllc~uu1 lutLe II c1 pdl~ .• l•11 

example, has 4 full-t1me employees plus 4 other employees that work a 3-month sedson, til•• pMic 11•1 I••IIH• 

!lcJs 5 FTEs. People h~red under "local htre" prov1sions are exempt from the FTE ce1hnq 

Ralph T1ngey 1nterv1ew, May 16, 2006. 

1 Jane Bryant ema1l, January 18, 2007. 

· NPS, H1storic L!stmg of Natlonaf Park Service Offioals, May 1991. 90, 176, 186; frllfhank ·. llr~ily Nt-w~ 

Mmer. October 26. 1994. B-2 

Ralph Tingey interview, May 16, 2006; Robert C. Cunningham interv1ew, OctobPr 13, /004, H11~\!'1i Berll' 

lntervtew. June 18, 2004; Anchorage Da1/y News, June 8, 1992, B-2 

·'Anchorage Ttmes, August23, 1981, B-4, August 24. 1981, A-6; OctoiK·t 3 1981, B-8, MrlY ~~~. I~IH3,1\ 

10; July 11, 1983, A-6 
· NPS, Supplement to lntenm DCP, Headquarters!Hotelllrea. February 1981. 11 NPS, E:nvtrwunc'f!I.JI 

A~!.essmenr, DCP, Park Road Corridor, March 1982. 51-52; NPS, DCP, DENA Pari. Road (CJr(ldor, h:!HUdl v 

1983, so 

' Stroud, Htstury of the Concession, 35-36, SAR, 1984. 1 

NPS, Revtsed Draft GMP, December 1985, 17, NPS, Final GMP, November 1986, 1v-v, 17 

SAR, 1985, 1; SAR, 1986, 1 

'NPS. DENA, Addendum to the 1983 Developmellf Concept Plan I Envtronmental Assessment fot the 

Par~ Road Corridor(Denver. the autllor, June 1987). 1. 5, 11; NPS, Riley Creek Proposal and Findinq nl No 

Stgmftcant Impact (pamphlet), March 1988, SAR, 1987,4. ThE' 1dea of a newv1S1tor center-wlllth would la• 

JU~l a mile away from the v1s1tor access center that was JUSt qenmg underway near R1ley (r(·e~ ( di11JlCJH1lllldwas discussed by NPS off1cials 1n the August 12, 1987 F,wbanks Datly News-tv/mer. p. 2. 

1 SAR, 1988. 3. 1989, 2, Brad R1cl11e lntervK•W, June 8. ?006 GDM\ 111111al plans called tor the constru< t1ull 

11f a new hotel on the same sitP a~; the exist1ng hotel, thus muHml£1119 the tootpnnt of hotel developmenl on 

the surround1ng landscape But 111 a December 1989 work SE'~Sit'>n. the NPS chdnged course dnd tleutk·d to 

~eep the old hotel open dt1nng ttle construct10n of a nP.w hotel; th1s mcreased the 11npacted drt'd from I tJUL'~ 

to 102 acres. 

" Mlsce>llnneous notes and correspondPn(e, 111 ''Denali Hotel'' folder, Steve Ca1w1le f1les. 

" 1-' Julin M. Morehead to Jack O'Neale, Auyust 29. 1991, 111 "Denali Holel" folder. StevP Carwile hie' 

1 NPS, Amendment to the 1983 Development Concept Plan/EnwonmentcJ! Assessment tot the Pari. 

Road Comdor and 1987 Addendum, Riley Creek, DENA (Denver!, tile author, Ma1ch 19921, S-13, John M 

Moorhead. "F1nding ol No Sign1flrant hnpnct, Construttlon of Hotl'l and Other Vts1tor ReldtPd F.Kihttes , " 

July 1, 1992, StevE' Carw1le files 

'

1 John M Morehead to Ass1stant Inspector General fur Aud1t~. lntenor, Mc~y 6, 199.?. m "Den.Jh Hotel ' 

folder, Steve Carwile files, Anchorage Oatly News, June 8, 1992, B-1, B-2; Anchorage Datly Nf'w~. Ot toher 2, 

1992, B-1, Fatrbanks Daily News-Miner, December 6, 1992, B-5, "Plans Scuttled for New Denali llotel. ··Alaska 

'i9 (February 1993), 12 

, .. Anchorage Daily News, Decembe>r 5, 1985, A-1, February 28, 1986. B-1, NPS. Ftnal GMP. NovembC't I QSb, 

? 1-22, Alaska Department of Natural Resources and Nauon<JI Park Serv1ce. South Denalt. II (ontf'pt Propo~al 

for Developmg a MaJOr Visttur Df'stlnt~tlon m Ot'nalt State Park on thP ~outh Sl!f(' <.d thP Ald~J..~ Nam;t'. 1 qgG 

I• SAR, 1986, 1. 

1 SAR, 1987, 4; Anchorage Datly New~. June 11, 1987, D-1 

Anchorage Datly News, June 27, 1986, B·l : July 23. 1988, B-1, )AR, 1988, 1. 1-alfbank~ Datft N(•w\·MIIIt't, 

tviMch 3, 1988,4. In Janudry 1988, Sl'veral members of both the Alasl.d Hnuw dnd Alas~a Sel~<llr> ·,pon•,ored 

resolut1ons (HJR 49 and SJR 49, respectiVely) throw1ng leg1slat1Vt' support bc·lund "JOIIll ~tate, trodPs.!l, .111d 

pnvate part1Cipcltion 1n the cooperatiVE' plannrng and deveiOJ11m'rtl of,, Soulh Den,1il Vl'>ltors compl1'' " Tlu 

House resolution, more succf'S'>fut thc~n Its SE'nate counterpart, hcmcl1ly pilS'>ed the full House on M,11ch 17, h1Jt 

11 qu1etly di('d rn 1he State Sertdte Alaska House Btl/ H1SI01y. /987-1988. 318, Alaska Senate Btl/ Htstoty 1981· 

1988,289 

1 • The mc~ster plan, released 111 m1d-June 1989, called for ttw hult'l, a /0-room w1ldenw ... s lodqP tn tlw 

Toko;ttna area, and a road from the hotel to nearby Eldndge Glaoer lim lrurage Datfy New). ~r·ptt•n1bt•l Hi. 

1988, B- 1, September 29, 1988, B-6; March 1. 1989, A-1, Mil It h 21, 1989, B-1, Aliis~a Dt•p.11 ti11Pnt of N.l\tlf .11 

Resources. Denali State Par~ MastPt Pl•m. 1989 

Anchorage Daily News, Nove1nber 14, 1989, 8-6. December 3, 1989. H-2: Jr~nucHY 30, 1990. D· l. f) ~. 

f ebrur~ry 23. tCJ90, A-1, February 7, 1991, A-1, SAR, 1989, J..l. 7 <1nd Addc•mlu1n, p. 1, Jondthcttl Wdtt•rlll<lll, 

")TPalm<J Denal1's Crown Jewels." Backpacker 18 (Apnl 1990), I '1 

~ federal Register 54 (October 11. 1989), 41691-92 

' SAR. 1990, 2 

-· Park planners '>elected the Site. m petri, herause Sed1on 1306 ot ANILC.A noted that "to the extent 

prac11cable and des~rable, thE' llnwnor] Secretary shall attempt to locate ~urh [adfl11111StlatlvPj <;1JPS r~ncl [v1~11or 1 

f<~Cilltle'> on Nat1ve ldnds 1n the V1tin1ty of I hE' [park! umt" 

" 1 Federal Register 56 (April 18, 1991 ), 15931; NPS. Draft DL'Vf>lopm£>nf ( unrcopt Plan Lnv11wunt!ntallmpatt 

~lt11Pmmt. South Slope. DENA (Denver. the author. May 1993), 10, Ancltclr.Jqe Dally News, Aunust !.J, I <.Jt) 1, 

1\ 1. A 1/ 

NPS. 11/temattVes Workbook fo1 tlw South Slope Deve/opmPnt Conc,opt Plan. DFNA, WitJI('t 19q/ \th., 

dLJtlmr, Denver Serv1ce Center. February 1 992). 1-12 

~ llncnorage Daily News, January 14, 1992, B-6. 

Anchorage Daily News. M<~rch 5, 1992, B-3 

.. ·Anchorage Daily News. March 25, 1992, B-2 
... , Federal Regtster 58 (July 8, 1993}, 36699-700, Federal Register 58 (Octobel 18, 1993), 53746, NPS, Dr<•tr 

Development Concepr Plan, South Slope (May 1993), 18-21 , 33, 35, 40, 4 3, ':>0 ':l 1· llnchorage Da1ly New}. 

September 1 5, 1993, E-1 ; September 28, 1993, F-1 

' Mike Tranellntervtew, October 25, 2006 

'' ' Roger G. Kennedy to Roger L Williams (NPS Adv•~ory Board), March 18, 19911, 111 "(o11espondrnct•, 7') 

on'' folder (DENA}, WASO Htstory Office Collec110n 

''' · SAR, 1995, 1; Denali Task Force, Denali Task Force Report. October 25, 1994, 6-8: federall?egi\ter 60 

~October 25, 1995), 54705. 
JD l'IJSJifJ 

70 c ro wn Jc>wrl of the Nonh . A n AdminiStrative HISIO ry of Denali Nat•onal Pa r a k nd Pre5erve 
Denali's welcome sign, w intertime. 

Tom Habecker Collection 

Chapter Ten: Denali at the Cusp of the Millennium, 

1995-present 

By [hl.l mid·1990S, it had become increasingly 

dtar rhat if new commercial growth were to take 

place in the park, d1at growth would be located 

south of the Alaska Range. In rhar :~rca, NPS 

man:tger::. and planners had been worki ng with 

rhe State of Alaska and rhe private sector since 

the late 196os on a plan that might bting about a 

hnteJ or other maj{>r visitor developmem. The 

Denali Task Fot·ce, in it:s I<J94 report, reiterated this long-;tanding interest .. rht report nlso 

underscored another longstandi ng policy, that 

"the existing character of the park road should 

be mnintained."' New growrh cuuld mH take 

place along the park road corridor, ltlr ecological 

rea~ons; nrw accommodation::. in the entrance 

area, or an increased number of buses along 

the park road, would have a demonstrable and 

negative impact on wildlift sightings and wildlife 

behavior and IJlU!' Je.,troy the very charactcri~ · 

tics that an racn.:d visitor!> to Denali. 

Front Country Development Planning 

As had been true since the earl~, ~<;Sos. the park\ 

most critit:al i~:>ucs dealr with gmwth and it~ im· 

pacL-;. Inasmuch oc; mosr park visitor:. spent the 

lion\ ~hare of their time in the so-called "front 

counrry" - that is, the park entrance area and 

road corridor agency nfficiaili concentrated 

much of thci r management cft'orts within that 

urea. N. noted in Chaprer 9, N PS official:, had 

signed a key amendment to the park':; concession~ contmct in June 1994, and the cr itici ~m~ 

rhar arose from that contract signing- from the 

Denali Task Force and from various advocac) 

groups prodded theN P~ into commencing 

:vet another management plan for that area. 

Park-based NPS personnel, assisted by Denver 

Service Center ">latr, worked on the plan and, in 

./Unc 1996, rhc agc.ncy presented a draft of that 

plan for public comment. 

It wa~ recognized from the outset that certain 

managemcm actiOn!'! were sc.r in place, rcgardles~ 

of rhc plan's outcome. For example, the total 

nnnual bus capncity and the number of camp· 

ground spaces west of the entrance area would 

nn1 change; and 1PS road maintenance crews 

would continue, as bcfnrc, to obtain gravel from 

the Teklanika Pit (mile 26.o of the pnrk road) and 

Tuklat River (mile 53.4). And certain improvement:; were similarly incorporated into all plan 

alternative!.: new interpretive signs would be 

erected around headquarters, new rc~idences 

nnd support facilities wuuld be built at 1i'lklar 

Road Camp, hou:,ing would be improwd ar 

huth "C"Camp" und 'lilklat, and utilities would 

be upgraded in the hcadl)uarters and entrance 

areas.' But other potential actions would be 

decided via the public involvemcnr pr<>cess. 

For instance, would Eielson Visitor Ct•nter be 

retained or replaced? Would the existing howl 

be retained, improved, or demolished? Would 

the exi!>ling entrance area support facilities (the 

store, showers, and post ntfice) be retained or 

replaced? Would interpretive. facilirief. be limited 

to the existing Visitor Access Center {YAC) or 

would rhe agency construct· a new visitor center 

to complement it? Poti!ntial scenarios regarding 

these and nrher questions were encapsulateJ 

in the draft environmental impact statement 

{EIS) for the enrrance area and road corridor 

development concept plan. In addition tu the 

two no-action scenario:;, three other alternatives 

were pre!>enrcd . The purpose of one no-action 

alternative wa!. simply to ensure that the various 

recommcndatiqns from previously·approved 

plan!> ~pecifkally the 1986 General Manage· 

ment Plan and a 1992 document that. among its 

other provisions, updated the 1983 Development 

Concept Plan (DCP) for the park road corridor- would be 1mplcml'ntcd. One of the action 

alternarives wao; intended to reduce park facili· 

tics and se rvi ce~; noth~..:r was lo "emphasize 

traditional NPS program!>," and a final alternative was aimed to "emphasi1.e visitor services 

and recreational opportunities. Alternative D, 

the aim of which wa~> to "empha&ize tradition<.~ I 

NPS programs," was a comrromisc betwtcl\ thl' 

cautious tone of Alternative C (which called ft~r 

a reduction in facilities and services) rtnd the 

development-oriented Alternative E, and agcncv 

per~onncl recommended Alternative D as its 

proroscd action.l 

The document was open to public <:omment be · 

ginning june 21, 1996, and between August 5 and 

August 14 the agency held hearings on the plan 

in Anchorage, Fairbank:,, and four communities 

adjacenr w the park. By rhe August rq deadline, 

262 members of the public had offered written 

comments and another 40 peuple had tcsrificd 

r~t the public hearings. Agency planners st11died 

those comments and, in December, published an 

abbreviated Final EIS which called for the adoption of Alternative D, but with several significant 

modifications that incorporated clements from 

alternatives C and E.' 

The plan recommended a detailed package ot' 

actions that wa!; intended tt> guide the future 

Ch.; ~>r Ten: Df'ltdh "' ltre Cusp of rtw Mrllrnnnm1, 1'195-prrwnr I 1 
Since the 1988 demolition of the 

two-story railroad depot that housed 

the post office. the Denali National 

Park post office was located in a 

temporary building near the railroad 

wye. Outdoor postal boxes, on 

the right. were used for seasonal 

residents during the summer. This 

facility remained at this site until 

2002. Tom Habecker Collection 

park. Perhaps most ~ignificant were recommen· 

dations to completely restructure th~.: entrance 

area by: 

clo~ing the park hotel (no l:lter than 

2002. the plan specified), 

expanding the VAC, 

constructing an entrance station ju:,t 

west of the Parks Highway junction, 

constructing n new visitor services 

building adjacent to the VAC (an idea 

that, as noted in Chapter 9, had first 

surfaced during the 19Ros when the 

VAC was being considered) 

building a new environmental education and science center near the 

former hotel site, 

tearing down the old store (now 

kno·wn as the park mercantile), nHl\'-

ing the existing post office (then located on the former railroad wye), and 

erecting new visitor support facilities 

(post office, store, and showers) ncar 

Riley Creek Campground, 

adding so new tent-only and walk-in 

&paces to Riley Creek Campground, 

which would allow agency officials ro 

dose the old, 6o-site Morino Campground 

building a large new parking lot for 

the visitor ::.en•ices building, 

prohibiting the construction of a 

"hostel or other economy lodging" (as 

had been specified in the 1986 GM P), 

and 

closing the McKinley Park a.ir!>trip. 

72 1 town JPwt>l uf ll1e North 1\n 1\dmlntstrallve History of D<-nali Nauonal P.Jrk ~nci rf'~f'<VE' 

Away from the entrance nrea, rhc major recommended change was to replace Eiebon Visirnr 

Center, construct a rest area at 111klat River 

(where pa'>sengers on both the ttlur huse'> and 

~hurrlc bu!>cs often lingered), build rest areas 

both on the west side of San1gc River and ncar 

Savage River Campground, and ctm~rrucr backpacker campgrounds in both the Kantishna area 

and along a wHo-be-built trail paralleling the 

Nenana River. The plan rccommendcd many 

other changes as well.' 

NPS Regional Director Robert Bnrhcc ~igncd 

the Record of Decision for the DCP in February 

1997.'' Meanwhile, the agency proceeded that 

year with planning the various spccific action::. 

that would be needed to carrr out the plan. And 

in 1998, work included ~ill: design for the entrance area, site plans for expanding Riley Creek 

Campground, and interpretive plans liw entrance 

area faci litics.7 

For the time being, all park facilities continued 

as before until project funds could be obtained 

from Congress. The Denali National Park llotel, 

fur example, continued to operate. llotcl opera· 

tion~, however, were predicntcd on Aramark's 

conce>.sions contract, and that contract was set 

to expire in late September 2001. lna~much <Th 

Aramark was operating orhcr horcl prnpcrtie~ 

outside the park, the\· made no move to protc~L 

the hotel's imminent closure, and hy J:lnuar) 

2om travel magazines were announcing rhnr the 

upcoming sum mer would he the hotel'-: la;.r year 

of operation. The hotel closed ir~ doors, for the 

final time, in mid-September 2001.~ 
Map 4. Historical Activities in the 

Riley Creek/Hotel Area, 1921 to 

Present 

In 2002, the 5,000 square-foot 

auditorium was moved in one piece 

from its location behind the park 

hotel to a site just north of Healy. 

Clayton Flagg Collection 

Historical Activities in the Rilex/ creek/Hotel Area, 1921 to Present 

Alaska VoSdOr Aco::eRCenter, 1990 

Raolr~1; (Widemeu Access Center since 2005) 

Entrance Station, 

1960-72 -----

The hotel's closure neatly coincided with the 

PS's plans for alternative site uses. During the 

following winter, Congress allotted the necessary funds to proceed with hotel site demolition; 

and in 2002 the auditorium that had formerly 

stood behind the hotel was detached and moved 

outside of the park.

9 Other parts of the hotel 

were also recycled. The concessioner moved the 

32-year-old west wing to McKinley Village for 

use as employee housing; a contractor moved 

the northern and southern hotel-room modules 

north to Healy, where they were reassembled and 

used as a hotel; the employee dining facility was 

moved just a few hundred yards to the concessions area, where it became "Horseshoe Creek 

Pizza;" and a local contractor disassembled the 

hotel's gift shop and salvaged nearly all of the 

building materials for reuse. The eight railroad 

cars that had formerly surrounded the hotel 

entrance were sold for S1 apiece and moved away. 

What then remained of the hotel- the lobby, 

kitchen, and dining area, along with some ancillary buildings-was demolished. By the fall of 

2003, no structures remained at the former hotel 

site.'" (See Map 4.) T he adjacent powerhouse 

and dormitory, both built during the late 1930s, 

remained stancting. 

The same bureaucratic process that funded the 

razing of the park hotel also provided for other 

Chapter Ten: Denah at the Cusp of the Millemuum, 1995-pr~r 73 
The railroad cars that had formerly 

been pressed into service to create 

part of the "temporary" hotel after 

the 1972 fire were sold for S 1 each 

and moved away. NPS Photo 

Those parts of the former McKinley 

P;,rk Hot<>l th;,t WPre not moven for 

reuse elsewhere were d emolished. 

NPS Photo 

area construction activities. By rhe fall of 2001, 

for example, the construction of a new "Camper 

Convenience Center" (including a store and 

shower facilities) and the so-space expansion of 

Riley Creek Campground were well underway." 

And work also began on realigning the park 

road; supported by project funds in the Interior 

Department's 2000 budget bill, the park road was 

moved from the cast to the west side of the hotel 

site, and by the end of the 2002 summer season 

a new traffic roundabout had been installed just 

northwest of the Denali Park railroad station.' .. 

74 llown Jewel of the> North An Admonoma tove Hostooy of DPnah Natoonal Park ami Preseove 

NPS officials, however, could not proceed with 

other area improvements without completing a 

;,ite-specific environmental assessment (EA). So 

in November 2001, park oflkiab released such 

a document to the public. Some clements in 

the EA were a logical follow-up to actions that 

had been recommended in the 1997 road-corridor DCP; these included the construction of a 

Science and Learning Center, a ·'\'isitor service~ 

building," and the construction of a large parking 

lor. But PS oflicials, in this latest plan, decided 

to transform the visitor services bui lding into 
The new Murie Science and l earning 

Center, completed in 2004, functions 

as the winter visitor contact station 

f or t he park from October into May, 

and other educational functions are 

located there during the summer 

season. NPS Photo 

a large, mulri-u:;c ~tructure that would house a 

visitor center, a theatre. a food court, a conce:,-

sions area and an art gallery. Moreover, th is 

new structure and the accompanying parking 

lot- would he located on or ncar the footprint 

of the old hotel, because the site was adjacent 

to the railroad station and because the new site 

protected park resources and animal habitat 

by using "pre-d isturbed land ." And pcrhap::. 

because of the large size of the new visitor center 

complex, oiTicials decided to not go ahead with 

the planned VAC expansion.' 1 

After N PS offici::! Is issued the Visitor Facility EA, 

they held three open houses to solicit public 

comment; the::.e were held bet\.vcen December 6 

and 12 in Anchorage, Fairbank!:., and Healy. The 

public was given until January n, 2002 ro provide 

comments. The agency incorporated those 

comments into final environmental documents 

that were approved at the end of January. Those 

latter-day documents provided greater specificity t1) what was proposed; the major project 

elements now consisted of a L4,50o-square-foot 

visitor center and a new Denali Science and 

Learning Center ... 

During the summer of .200.2, crews demuli!>hcd 

the 44-year-old ~tore (the so-called "park mercantile" );'' thar ~amc year, the double-wide trailer 

that had served us the Denali National Park post 

office since the late 19Sos wa::. moved to a site 

ncar the entrance to Rl ley Creek Campground."' 

And based l)O the results of the recently-completed environmental assessment, NPS officiab 

wenr ahead with design work on rv...-o major new 

entrance-area structural complexes: the so-called 

·'Denali Science and Learning Center" and the 

visitor center complex. By the end of 2002, 

planni ng and de:,ign work on the two building 

complexes wa::. e~sentially complete. The following year, Su perinrendent Anderson with the 

concu rrence of Louise Mu rie MacLeod, Adolph 

Murie\ widow- decided to name the proposed 

educational faciljty in honor of the Mm ie family; 

that year al!>o, the Criterion and Davi!> construction firm won the contract to build the Murie 

Science and Learning Center (MSLC) as well a5 

the park's \risitor center. By the fall of 2003, work 

on both b uilding complexes was "underway and 

on :.cheduJe." A lack of funding, howev!..'r, fnrced 

NPS officials t() delay work on the visitor center 

and exh ibits package.'• 

A~ a result, contractors commenced work on the 

learning center1irst. Plans for the complex had 

originally called for three build ings at the site: 

one organized around meeting rooms, a second 

for dining facilities, and a third that served as a 

dormitory for park employees and visiting scholar!>. The winning contract included funds fo r the 

first two structure:-, but funds were not sufficient 

to fund the dormitory building. Contractors 

worked through the winter and into the following ~ummer. On August 16,2004, NPS officials 

dedicated the Muric Science and Learning 

Center with a publ ic open house, accompanied 

by a lecture on ,\tlurie by Alaska Pacific University profes~orTim Rawson . .Jan Murie, Adolph's 

~on, represemed the family at that event.'' Just a 

month later, MSLC gained a new function when 

it began serving as the park's wintertime.: visitor 

center. During the winter of 2004-05, construction crews and interpretive specialists completed 

their work on the three-build ing Denali Visitor 

Center complex. That complex, which con~ sted 

Chapter Ten: Oef1d11 al lht• ()JSp ol tl11• Mrllt'llllllllfl. 1q95·prPSelll 7'• 
The new facilities of the Murie 

Science and Learning Center were 

officially dedicated w ith a public open 

house on August 16, 2004. Officials 

presiding at the ribbon-cutting 

ceremony are, from left to right, 

Or. Mike Sfraga, Jack Reiss, Marcia 

Blaszak. Dr. Jan Murie, Dr. James Tate. 

Mark Moderow, Randy Jones. Dr. 

Carol Lewis, and Superintendent Paul 

Anderson. NPS Photo 

of tht: vi1--itor center along with the adjacent 

Denali Bookf,rore and the Morino Gri ll , opened 

tu the public in stage~ between May 14 and May 

27,2005. Three month~ later, on Augmt 1S, NPS 

otncialc; dedicated the new center: tho:.e on hand 

included Director Fran J\lainclla, Regional Director Marcia Blaszak, and Superintendent Paul 

Anderson. 

The opening of the new vbiror center al!--o 

brought changes to the fifteen-year-o ld Visitor 

Accc:-.::. Center ea!>t of the.: Ala!>ka Railroad track~ . 

The park concessioner, rather than the 0J PS, 

a~::.umcd management over the facility; it wa::. renamed the Wilderne::." Access Center; its theater 

began showing the hi~rorical film Across Time 

and ·n111dra rather than the 22-year-old Dc11ali 

Wilde mess film: and the Alaska Natural H isrory 

As~ociation bookstore moved from the center 

itself to the adjacent (and new) Denali Book~tore. 

In addition, all fu ction~ related to backcountry 

activitie'> moved out to the new Backcountry 

Information Center, located in an adjacent ATCO 

trailer. The primary function of the Wilderness 

Acce1.1. Cc.:nter was providing vi:,itor'> the opportun ity to enter the park- through reservations 

and actual boarding- via the conccssioncr-nperated shuttle bus system.''' 

The last major construction projects to emerge 

from the entrance-area DCP were the replacement of Eidson Visitor Center and the construction of visitor facil ities adjacent to the Toklat 

Hridge. As noted in chapter~ 7 and 8, Eicl~on 

Jr, IH•Wn IPW"I ollltt• North All Adlnllll>liillrv.. Htstory ol Detlith Nat.on.ll P;,rk ""d Prewrw 

Visitor Ccnrer wa:-. built between 1958 anJ 196o 

and expanded hetwecn 1974 and 1976. Even 

with the expan~ion, howc\·er, the center wa., 

!'-Omctimc~ overcrowdcd (particularly on inclcmcnt days), and it abo ufl'crcd from structural 

deterioration. Tb improve sire inrerprctati1111, 

N rs personnel in 1993 started ()Jl Je~ign \VIifk In 

rehabilitate the center"s interior and to add new 

exhibits and interpretive &.,play~. That work 

wa~ completed and insrallcd in June I9CJ'i· '" But 

more substnmial work did not rake place until 

after the 1997 cornplc1 ion nf tht: t•ntranct:-are;l 

DCP. l n 20o3, the NPS completed most of the 

design work a:-.!-.nciated with a new visitor ct:ntt:r 

at the site, and in early April 2004 the agency released an environmental assessment pertaining 

to thc proposed project. Public comment, originally set ro cnd in early May, wa~ larer extentled 

to May 21 .. , Shortly afterward, ugency tlfficials 

approved a plan alternative that cal lt-d for thc 

new visitor center, and the -year J i~itor 

center cloo,ed for the last time in Septemher 

2004. Demolition began in mid-summer 200). 

Each summer since rbar time. con:-.truction 

~::rews rathc.:r thi1n vbirors have occupied the ~itc; 

during rhis period, shuttle-bu, pm;,enger~ wh(t 

for year~ had gone 1)n to Eicl~on before turning around- have instead gone only ao; far a~ an 

unimproved turnaround at "Fish Crt:ek" ( l.ittle 

Stony Creek) at mi le 63 of the park road. three 

miles cast of Eicbon. Plans call for a new Eidson Visirnr Center, which will have more rhon 

twice the interior pace as the fo rmer facility, ro 

open in the spring o f 200!:! . . , 
Shown center, in this fall 2004 photo, 

IS the large new parking lot on the 

former McKinley Park Hotel site, with 

the hotel powerhouse and dormitory 

to the right. The Denali Visitor 

Center is left of center, still under 

construction. Note the rerouting of 

the park road from the roundabout 

on the far right and going to the 

north of the new parking lot. The 

old routing of the park road provides 

access to the depot and terminates 

there. Fire Management Collection, 

NPS, Denali National Park and 

Preserve 

The other project planned during thi~ period 

wa~ the construcrion of a new rc!-.t area just WCl>t 

of the Toklat River. Since 1972, when pa!>!>enger 

traffic had been rc!>trictcd on the park road, the 

'tundra \'<lildlifc lour had terminated at variou~> 

points along the park road. For a number of 

year!> until the mid-19701>, the bus turnaround 

poim on clear day~ had been Stony Hill Overlook (mile 62). which offered a superb view of 

l\1ount McKinley, hut on cloudy days buses had 

turned around at the so-called "soap berry parch" 

ju~t east of the loklat River Bridge. In 1976, the 

expansion of Eielson Vbiror Center allm.ved tour 

buses- on fair days or l(>ul to continue to the 

l\ lile 66 visitor center. But after the june 1981 bus 

accident (see Chapter g), rhe cloudy-weather 

terminus reverted to rhc soapberry parch. Nine 

year:-. later, tour buses rnm·cd their foul-weather 

turnaround point a half-mile west to a cleared 

area ncar the west bank of the Toklat River and 

ju~t 200 yards north of the park road. The 1997 

DCP called for improvements there: specifically a 

rest urea, with a shelter and a permanenr comfort 

station. But action regarding those recommendations did not take place until 200-f, when 'TI>klat 

improvements were included a~ part of the same 

funding package (and environmental a~se~smcnt) a~ the Eielson Visitor Center replacement. 

(Of the two action alternatives in the EA, one 

called for site development at the cxi~-oting site, 

200 yards north of the park road, wh ilc the other 

recommended that improvements be placed 6oo 

yards north of park road. l PS officials chose the 

second alternative.) Soon after NPS officials approved the project in the late spring of 2004, the 

site work began, and hy late July 2005 a renH.tylc 

shelter and newly-installed restroom:. {the latter 

known as "SST.~") were ready for vi'>itor u:.c."1 

Several other projects that were approved in rhc 

1997 ocr have recenrly heen complctcJ or arc 

under construction. They include a reopened 

(and rerouted) Triple Lakes Trail, which had been 

effectively closed for more than twenty years; a 

Riley Creek cultural re.~ourccs trail {now called 

the Mel..:inlcy Station Trail), and the Savage Alpine Trail which ascend~ the hill from the Savage 

River parking arca.'4 Other projects ::Jrc slated for 

ncar-term development. The NPS, for example, 

is gearing up to construct an cnrrancc station ju-.t 

Ct1apter Ten. Dc>nah at the Cu;p ot thP IV11llenrmun, 19')'> pre-R111 77 
Eielson Visitor Center was demolished 

duri ng the late summer of 2005. NPS 

Photo 

This area, just west of the Toklat River 

bridge, was used as a rest stop for 

shuttle a nd tour buses. Th e number 

of chemical toilets gradually increased 

over the years. NPS Photo 

west of the Parks Highway junction. There are 

also plans in the works to build a permanent post 

office near Riley Creek campground. The NPS 

is also planning, in the not-too-distant future, to 

build a rest area along the park road in the vicinity of Savage River Campground. 

Other portions of the plan, however, have thus 

far not been acted upon and may not be fulfilled 

for years if at all. Plans to convert some housing from concessioner to NPS use have thus far 

been stalled, and there are no immed iate plans to 

construct any new NPS housing. The projected 

closure of the McKinley Park Airstrip was put 

on indefinite hold due to protests from both 

78 Crown Jewel of the North: An Adn11n1Strativc History of Denali National Park and Preserve 

legislators and pilot advocacy groups.2

' Because 

of protests from existing lodge owners, ir is 

doubtful that any new hostelries will open in the 

Kantishna area during the foreseeable future. 

And along the park's eastern boundary, no action 

has yet been taken on a Nenana Canyon trail, 

with or without an accompanying campground. 

One recent project that is unrelated to the DCP is 

a proposed railroad turnaround track. just north 

of the McKinley Park railroad depot, the Alaska 

Railroad had had a wye since the 1920s; that 

short turnaround spur, however, had been taken 

up during the 198os. [n 1999, Alaska Railroad 

president Bill Sheffield broached the idea of a 
The new Toklat conta ct station a nd 

"SSTs" (Sweet Smelling Toilets) 

comprised the ma in rest area for 

bus passengers during the Eielson 

Visitor Center demolition and new 

construction of 2005-2007. NPS Photo 

ne•v wyc thar would be located just north of the 

Lagoon maintenance-of-way station and ea:,.r 

of rhc main right-of-way. That idea made little 

headway, but in 2006 railroad officials initiated 

discussions about the construction of a balloon 'vvye (i.e., a loop track that enabled trains 

rn change direction) in order ro allow r.rain sets 

to move from Fairbanks to the park and return 

northbound immediately thereafrer. Thb loop 

would be in the same general area where the wye 

had been proposed seven year:. earlier. Park 

officials quickly recognized the need for such a 

track. To remove remaining legal barriers to the 

deal the Ala:,ka congressional delegation suppaned a proposed land trade: 25 acre~ of new 

railroad easemem on park land (in the immediate 

vicinity nf the proposed wye) fo r 25 fewer acres 

of railroad easemenr (just west of the railroad 

rrack in the Moody area). Bil ls ro implemenr the 

trade were introduced in the House and Senate 

in February and july 2007. respectively, and in 

late September hearings on the bills were held 

in both chamber~. An amended bill pru,~ed the 

House on October 22, 2007. As of this writing, 

the bill awaits Senate acrion.'" 

Concessions Issues 

ARA Service~, l nc., which was doing business as 

Outdoor World, Ltd., signed a 2o-year concessions contract with the PS on September 26, 

1981 (sec Chapter q); this contract allowed ARA to 

operate both the Denali Park Hotel and tour buses into the park. By the early 19<JOS. ARA's name 

had ch;mged ru ARA Leisure Services, Inc., and 

in 1994 it changed again to A ram ark Sports and 

Leisure; throughout this period, however. the 

park conces<tioner was doing busines~ as Denali 

Park Resorts. Between 1981 and 1995, the NPS 

and the conccssioner had amended rhe contract 

three time~; one of those amendments, as Chaptcr 9 noted, had made newspaper head lines and 

had brought a ~ignificant ~hifting of operational 

responsibility for the park's bus system from NPS 

to the concessiom:r. During the remainder of the 

1990s the contract was amended two more time:,, 

but neither of the'>c amendments wa:-. of particular public interc~t. 

Both the park conce~sioncr and ' PS oftlcials 

were well aw.,rc that the concessions contract 

would expire shmtly after the 2001 vi-..itor sca:-.on. 

NPS officials, in response. had much of the paperwork for a new contract ready as early a!; 1999. 

But bureaucratic fallout from Congrc-.s's past-age 

of d1e 1998 concc~sion-.. law,'7 plus new a!!-encv 

procedure:. which brought a non-NP~ partner 

inro the prospcc[U::.-writing prnces!>, forc.:cd :J 

protracted reYil>ion of that paperwork. 1\s an: 

suit, concession~ and agency personnel were unable to fashion a new contmct in time: in its stead, 

they inked an interim document. On October 1, 

2001, the NPS and the conces::.ioner which wa:,. 

now called Aramark Sports and Entertainment 

Service::., Inc. - ::.igned ~1 one-year extension to 

the 1981 contract.·'" 

Late in 2001, NPS officials were final it.ing bid 

specilkatiom for a new 1o-ycar contract. On 

February 15, 2002, the agency issued a contract 

prospectus for "tran:-.portation and rclared ~c:rvices" at the park, and bidders were given unril 

May 20 ro re::.pond. The c11nce::.<;ioner, during 

this period, may have been aware that. accord 

ing to Section t307(a) of ANlLCA. wnce1-&ioncr:, 

who had been providing visitor ~crvices within 

Alaska\ con~ervation units prior to January 

£979 would be able to continue provJding tho-..c 

services, so long as thme services were con!-. istent with the purpoY>cs of that conservation unit. 

But beginning in 19R4, a series of stock transfer~ 

Chapter Ten. Dena., atth<' Cu~p of tb•• Mtlk·m"'""· t'r·~·. I'"·" 111 '" 
The Denali Visitor Center opened in 

the spring of 2005 and was officially 

dedicated on August 18, 2005. NPS 

Photo 

changed ARA Service!>, Inc. from an independent 

corporation into a subsidiary of ARA Holding 

Co. Because of thi~ action, 1 PS officiab infomled the cuncessioner that it was no longer a 

"hi11toric operator of visitor services" and wa~ 

thus ineligible for a preference on its renewal 

application.0

" 

The NPS received two ref>ponses to the bid 

prospectus, and both met all of the minimum 

contract requirement:;. One bid came from Delaware orrh Parks Senriccs, a Buffalo, New Yorkbased company that had concessions operations 

at Yosemite and Sequoia national parks as well 

a~ in several state parks and other visitor areas. 

The other bidder wa~ a joint venture between 

the existing conccssioner (Ar;~mark) and Doyon, 

Limited. Doyon, which since the early 1970s has 

been the designated Native regional corporarion 

serving much of Interior Alaska, had a ')t'Xo controlling interest in the new venture. Inasmuch as 

Section 1307 of A I LCA provided a preference 

in the provision of visitor services for either local 

residents or for .. the Native Corporation which 

... is most directly affected by the establishment 

or expansion of such unit,""' this partnership 

was doubtless crcmed in order to take advantage 

of that preference. That preference, however, 

was not needed. Rccau~e of cost factor::., and a 

commitment to provide fuel-efficiency in both 

buses and fue l type," N PS Director Fran Main ella 

approved the Aramark/Doyon partnership 

proposal on july 24,2002. Six days later, NPS 

officials announced that they had awarded the 

Doyon/Aramark joint vcnrun: a ren-ye~lr park 

concession contract.'-' It was the tlr~t time in 

which an Alaska-hascd Native corporation had 

partnered and succes;Jully bid on a lu g~: PS 

concession:. contrncr.n 

The ne\v contrnct required the concessioncr 

to con~truct S4-55 mil lion in facilities improve 

mcnts, including the Muric Science and Learning 

C:cnrer and the lvlorino Gril l. In addition, the 

conccssioner assumed control o\'er the operath111 

and maintenance of both the Riley Creek and 

Savage River campgrounds. The joint venture\ 

bid promised higher income to the government; 

rhc concessioncr would now be paying the 

NPS l')-4 percent of gn>~!-. revenue rarher than 

approximately 7-5 percent, which had been the 

norm :,incc 1996. The conce,'-.f>inncr\ franch1:.e 

fee, almost S2 mi llion ba~ed on an annual (.wo)) 

gross of S13 million, would he u~ed for conCl'~

sion related needs llrst, and secondarily for other 

park operations (as opposed to the previous conrract, when all fcc:; were used for conccs:-;ion related capiral improvemcnb at the park). For tht• 

park visitor, rhc new contracr prom bed newer 

hus cquipment and, temporari ly, a reduction in 

shuttle hus fees. These fees, in 2002, ranged from 

S17 to about S3o depending on ride length anJ 

thc rider\ age.H 

As noted in Chapter 9, the >-u rgc in park visitarion between the early 1q8o» and the mid-J<;)()Os 

had forced NPS oflkials to devntc nn enurmou~ 

amount of attention ro the bus capacity issue. 
Part of the Denali Visitor Center 

complex, the Denali Bookstore, on the 

left, and the Morino Grill, right, were 

completed and opened in May, 2005. 

NPS Photo 

This had been a particularly high-profile s~uc 

during the mid-1g8os, when the park general 

management plan (G M P) was being p rcpan:d; 

during the late 1980s and early 1990!>, when officials prevented passenger car:-. from acccs!>ing 

most of the park\ campgrounds; during the early 

1990:>, wht:n b:mle~ were fought over road ownership and a second road to Kantishna; and during the mid-ll)()O'>, when a propo:,cd concess on~ 

contract amendment temporarily offered the 

prom be of additional ::,hurtle bus capacity. The 

1990 intwduction of the Denali Natural History 

Tour, to Primrose Ridge, provided an additional 

oppornmiry for tour bu~ pas!>cngcrs; visitor!-. took 

the tour because their tour-package option gave 

them a limited amount of time to sec the park, 

and NPS officials rtcognit.cd the need for the 

tour because it provided an opportunity for increased visitor access without pushing again:,t the 

established bu~ passenger capacity ceilings that 

had been esrnblished in the 1986 GMP. And perhaps becau!>e of the increasing popularity of the 

Denali atural History Tour which by the late 

1990s wm, hauling as many pas~enger~ a~ both the: 

shuttle bus and the Tundra Wild life 1bur- the 

bus-capacity issue ceased to be the high-prntilc 

headache that it had been earlier'' 

Part of the reason thar the bu~-capaci y issue 

receded into rhc background was a simple matter of \'isitor volume. Bct\veen 1981 and 1992, 

the number of passengers heading out the park 

road (beyond Primrose Ridge) had stead ily 

climbed from about ros,ooo to 2r2,ooo. But after 

1992, traffic we~t of Primrost: Ridge lcvdcd off, 

and annual passcnger tratlk tota ~ ~ince 1992 

have consistently ranged from about 1S4,<H)<> to 

20g,ooo.'" The reason for the "llattening" in the 

annual number of visitors we~t 11f Primrose is 

not related to general Alaska vic;itation trcnd\; 

indeed, the: annual numbcr of out-uf:.,rnrc visitors to Alaska more than douhlcd during this 

period.•7 Instead , additional visitor J cmand was 

apparently satisfied by tho~c who took the D~:nali 

Natural Hi!>tory1hur. Pressure on the park\ huo, 

sy:;tem ha~ also ea!-.ed ~omcwhat because in the 

ten-year-period aftcr ICJ9~, total recreational park 

visiwtion neither rose nor fell to any dramatil dc -

grec. Thil> state t>f afrair!-. ha~ taken plocc, tu ~orne 

extent, becau&e Outside rnur operator., have bet:n 

successful in offering their patrons b.~ crowded 

alternative tour destinations. In addition, the"c 

operator:;, have olfered tours with a two-night 

rather than unt:-night ~tay at their Denali-a rca 

properties; this lengthened stay has decreased 

to tal demand fnr hu:-. tour~ out the pnrk mau.'' 

The .wor concession!> contract, similar to it<; 19ll4 

antecedent, institutionalit.cd tht: application c>f 

feel:! for rlw:;e wbhing to ride the park'~'> c;hurtlc 

bus. As earlier chapter~ have noted, visitor~ ~ince 

the earlie~t days had paid a fcc to ride into the 

park on the concessioner·~ tour whick!-., and 

visitors who u:sed the park campground, had 

paid overnight camping fees ~ince about 1970. 

Bur the shuttle bu&, which had begun opL'rarion~ 

in 1972, had remained free for year-, afterward. ln 

the spring of 1988, :\l PS officiah. began a~ses..,ing a 
lour buses regularly stop at 

Polychrome Rest Stop for passengers 

to use the restroom facilities and to 

enjoy the panoramic views. Photo © 

Kennan Ward, NPS lnterp. Collection, 

#4629 

S1 entrance fcc, both to tour bu~ and shuttle bus 

pa!.~cngcrs. That fcc wa!-> raised to S4 in 1994; for 

tour bu~ pa~sengcrs, the fee was included as part 

of the $49 ticker price. But a~ noted in Chapter 

q, the conce~sion~ contract amcndmenr inked in 

june 1994 called for the fin,t-c\·er fees for ~hunle

bu-, ridership: those fees. moreover. would be 

based on the distance traveled. Inj;muary 1995, 

theN PS announced that bus riders that ~ummer 

would pay Sz6 for a Wonder Lake round trip, S2o 

to Eicl~on, or S12 to Thklat; discount~ or special 

fare~ were provided for children, camper~. and 

tho~e who purchased multiple-ride package~. ln 

addition, bus rider!> were required to pay the lower park entrance fcc of S3 per person, although a 

new family fcc of Ss was also availab:~. ''' 

The coming years brought additional fcc increaM'!'> that were unrelated to Visitor Transportation Sy~tem operatiom. In November 1996, 

Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt announced that 

beginning in 1997, the park entrance fcc would 

be roughly doubled, toSs per pcr~on and S1o 

per family. Then, in April 2004, an N PS spokcspersun announced a new fcc increase, to S10 per 

pcrst)n or S2o per family. That increase went into 

effect in january zoos. That action, as all previous fcc-related action~. assumed that on ly adults 

aged 17 or more would be charged entrance fees; 

but in January 2006, in response to the rccentlypa1.~ed Federal Lands Recreation Enhanccmenr 

Act, the agency began assessing fees to all visitors 

who were at least 16 years old. The 1997 and 2005 

increases which were conscious decisions by 

NPS personnel to spread park fees :1mong all 

park visitors- affected not on ly those who rode 

out the park road, but it was also extended to 

the relatively small number of mountain climbers and fiightseeing pa~senger~-. who f1ew into the 

park\ backcountry.~" As for shuttle bus ridership fees !>ince the mid-1990s, 1110i>t have risen 

fairly modestly; the adult Wonder Lake bus ride 

in 2006 cost $·33.25 (a 27°A• increase since 1995). 

Trip~ that year to the "Fish Creek" turnaround 

o;pot ()miles cast of Eiclson) anJ 1hklat cost 

$24.25 (up 21 % over the 1995 Eidson fcc) and S19 

(up 58'Yr· from 1995), respectively.•• 

Rcyond the ever-present capacity issues, the 

park's bus systems in recent year::. have operated with a minimum of mishap~ and rancor. A::. 

noted in Chapter q, the safety of the park's buses 

had come into question because or a disastrous 

1981 tour bus accident; what followed wa:'> an 

internal investigatinn and the concc..,sioner\ 

decision to go no farther than Stony Hill, four 

miles short of Eiclson Visitor Center. Since then, 

the park's buses have been plagued by on ly twQ 
Shuttle bus drivers, shown here at 

Eielson Visitor Center. orchestrate a 

compl ex schedule. NPS Photo 

high-prtlfile mishaps: one in 1989, the other in 

1998. (In July t989, a colli~ion of two &hultle 

buses ncar \X'onder Lake re!>ulrcd in fuur injuric!>, 

two of them ~criou~, while in july 1998 a Natural 

History Tour bus heading wcMhound near the 

Savage River b...-camc engulfed in !lame:., but all 

4!3 passenger& were safely evacuated and avoided 

injury.)"J The drivers, ton, retained relatively harmoniow, relations with the conces~ioncr. In june 

19l)n, the various tour- and ..,Jmttlc-bu~ drivcr!-

had :.tartcd a Tcam!>tcr~-afiiliated union, called 

the Denali National Park Profcs.,iunal Driver~ 

A:...~ociation, and in mid-julv 1999 its members 

voted o\'c.:rwhclmingly ro authorit.c a strike if the 

company refused their wage-related dc.:mand:.. 

But on july 21, the drivers and Aramark reached a 

tc.:ntative agreement on a new, two-year contract 

calling for h igher wages and benefits; union 

members fi nalized the agreement via a lop~ided 

vote that August. The contract renc\val proces~ 

in the year<, since thcn ha~ gunc fnirlv ~moothly.H 

ln .wo6 and 2007, bus driver~ figur...-d prominently in another labor issue that ntfcctcd a 

hroad range of park conces~ion1. worker~. for 

a number of years, Team!.tcrs Union rcprc~entative~ had claimed that the provi!>ions of the 

Service Contract Act (SCA)+~ applied to conceson~ employee:- in Denali. NPS leader!> resisted 

thi'>, relying on a long:.tanding inrerpn.:tation of 

U.S. Labor Depnrm1enr regulations exempting 

NPS concessions from the SCI\, but on June .2), 

.:wo6 the Labor Department ruled in the Teamsters' favor. As a result. the Doyon/Aramark 

joinr venture w~ required to otfl·r its employees increased wage~ and benefits. (Bus drivers 

would receh·e marginally higher pay, while more 

poorly-compensated employees would receive 

more ... ub:>tnntial wage bon:--t.,.) Tht:"e incren"1'd 

wage~, moreover, had to he elfect iw July .2~, 

2006. Doyon/Aramark requested a fnmchi'>t' kt· 

reduction to ofher the higher wage ... , claiming tht· 

higl1cr wage., were nor a~.:countcd I(H· in tlw finan 

cia! model on which the fram:hi..,e ke had bet:n 

calculated. In March 2007, the NPS\ Alaska Rt· 

gional Otlke and Doyon/Aramark agreed to a l'i 

percent i ncrca~e in the rates for shuttle hu~e)o. for 

2007. (li1ur bu;. rate., were nnt chan~cJ hct:<lll'•e 

most nf the~c tickets had alrcaJy he en ~old.) 

In aJdition, the two partic'> agrct·J to ~upptm 

a franchi!.c fee reduction to cover SCi\ related 

cosb for 20o6-2oo7. Begmning with the .2001\ 

~ca~on, both partie:, agreed to cowr )l/\ rt·latL·d 

co~r... with an increa"e in rare~ for tour hu"t:" •md 

ro~sih y other ~ervin: ... rather than a frandli"l' ti:c 

reduction.4' 

Continuing Cont roversy 

Over Kantishna Access 

:\;,norco in Chapter 9, rhc State of t\la~kn nnd 

local commercial intcrc-.t~ had f(>rwarJeJ varinu.., 

propn!-.al.o; during the 19So~ and early IQl)o~ for an 

alternate route into the park. Mo~t ofthc prnp''" 

als tluring the 19Ro~ involved a ~econd road he 

tween the Parb l lighway and Kantishna m·er tilt• 

general Stamped...- Trail right-of-way; in 1ql'iq tlivl>t' 

proposa ~ were supplemented hy a phrn, touted h\ 

a Fairbank~ engineer, f(Jr a railroad to Kanti..,hn;\ 

that followed much the same right-of-way :1'> 

the variou" road propo.,ab. Two yean .. later, 

thc~e were followed by mon.: sophisticated idea~ 

backctl by joe field" and other Fairbank~ haseJ 

development advocate!>. The Ahl~kn legi'>l~ttll'L', 

in rc.~pun~c, pas~cd rcsolurion!': <bking the federal 

government to ... upport new acce ... .., rout~·.,, and 

the state transportation department puhlicited 

Ch .. pler T1•n 0Pndlo allhe Cusp of JhP Mrll<-ruwrm, 1'.19'> fi" ~·f'lll 8~ 
a proposed road to McGrath that W<l!:> later recognit.ed as a hack-door route t(\ Kanri~hna. The 

NPS, however, :>howC'd little enthm;ia~m for any 

new acce:.s routes; nit hough lnreritH" Secretary 

Bruce Babbitt infi>rmally hroachcd the idea of a 

new railroad in the park during a 19l)) visit, an 

,tgcncy report in early 1992 u:o. well as the Denali 

fask Foret· rcporl in late 1994 rc~.:om mendcd no 

'>ignificam change~> to cxi:-.ling acce-;s patrerm, 

\lu~">kans hoping ro sec :1 new route inw rhe park 

wl:rc encnuraged to sec that the National Park 

':lysrcm AJvisnry Board, at its Deccmhcr 1994 

tnl't'ting, endorsed the idea of "a new northern 

railroad route·· into Denali. And they were also 

glad to hear that Kantishna lloldings, Inc. the 

Fairbank-; group headed by joe 1-'ields that had 

fnnncd several years earlier wa~ getting more 

~criuu!> with its plan~ tu build a privately-financed, 

t)(Hnile-long railroad between Hea ly and Wondtr 

Lakl.·. In June 1995, Fields. nnnounccd specific 

plan~ fm the railroad, which \Vould run all year 

long aml woultl wn:-bt of a natu rnl g:.h-fil-ed locomotive hauling doublv-decker train cars. Fields 

felt that the pmject could he profitable became 

there were 250,000 annual visitors, in b is estimation, who arrived at the park bur were unable to 

access the park's more distant we:-. tern points. He 

estimated that S2~o million would be able to pn\' 

for a 90-mile-long railroad ;u, well a~ a 300-room 

hotel ut both end' of the prop(l::.ed rail lim'. H> 

finance the prnjecl. f"7ield, averred that then: wen.! 

private (although undisdn'>ed) ~yndicates \Villing 

to put up rhe .. big money.'· The thret'-membcr 

Ala!>b congres~innal delegation, upon hearing 

of the plan, rcitcrotcd its -;uppon for the con -

~trucrion of a railrn:ttl inw OL·naJi. Sen. f-rank 

:\1urkow~ki v\'aS especially !>Lipportiw of any plun 

that promi:-.ed new :~cces.~; he did. however. :tdmir 

that "there has alw<l)''> been a light hrusht wer of 

the financing" for the J7ields prnpmal, and he 

likewise encouragL·d a rail terminus ar Kantlshna 

rather than Wonder Lake.1" 

tvlurkowski, a Fairhank1. Rcpublic.1n wid1 t6 years 

of Senate seniority, responded to the Fields propo::.al by af.king the NPS to conduct a new park 

access study. ~oting that the agency had reported 

about 'iOO,ooo re-creational visits inm the park 

during cach of the three prcv1nu~ sea!.uns, and 

rccogni1.ing that about 25(1,000 people rode buses 

into the park in 1<)94· .vl urknw~ki concluded that 

the other 2')o,ooo visitors "were nor able to enter 

rhe park" becau:-;c the buses were fu ll. Swting th:<t 

the park had "a short se()snn and everything is 

plugged,'' Murkowski in August 1995 u~ed hi!> position as the Senate Energy and NamraJ Resources 

Committee chair to insert an amendment into 

Lhe ll)Q6 Interior Department budget bill call ing 

for the NPS "'to conduct a Feasibility Study for a 

northern accc:,.~ route" inro the p<lrk. l• That hilL 

which becrunc l::tw the l~lllnwing ~pring, t'<llk-d f(>r 

the study's completion hy Aprilll)97Y 

The 'J PS rl'sponded n> Congress\ dircl·tiw in 

two way~. Fi r~L. it rccognil.vdthat it nt•cded to 

~hange ih Vl'>itor counting mcthoJology from (lilt' 

that cmrnwd totul vehicle tTaffic hc<lding up tht· 

park road (i.e., number of vbit:>, including tu.;unl 

local rraflk) rn one rh:1t mm\: nccurately rdkctl'd 

the actual number of park visitor~o.. Gl\'l'n thnt 

change in counting mL:tlwd<,, recrnuinmd parf.. 

visitation slipped from '54 ~,JOt) in 19LJ'i ro Hl,)t)'i 

in H.)C)6 (a 37 per cenr drop), even thnugh overall 

visitation dropped onlv slightly. The~e new ,·isit~ttion figure~ demonstrated ~enator Murkow~f..i\ 

claims w rhc comrary- thar rclativdy few vi~itOP· 

Wl!rc unable ro acce:.~ the park\ inlcrinr and th:ll , 

consequently, the market for aJl aJternative ncce~~ 

route wa:-; significantly smalkr thun hnd ht"l'n 

pi.! rceived .l" 

Second, rhc NP~ rc:;rundcd to till' Cnngre~:-.iun:-~1 

mandntt hy completing mwthcr study inve~llgur

ing the viability uf variuu~ rHll"l hcrn ;Kte~:-. mute~ 

into the park. As noted in the park\ nnnua1 

report, rht "park stafTWiltkcd clo~dvwith tlw 

Alaska Deptlrtment ofTran~portation and Puhiic 

£7acilitie"l DOT&PF], the Aln~ka Railroad Cnr 

poration and others to insure that the linal report 

cont:<in.; accurate inform:uion pre<>emcd in an 

objt·crivc manner." ln late .famwry llJl)7, N ~s ,rnll 

conducted tlpcn hmtst~ in 1\nchmctge, fkal~· and 

f-airbank~ "dcf.igned to ~hare inti>nnation aho11t 

tbe "!orthern Acccs~ Feasibility Snady~' i\t riHlSl' 

meeting~. agen~ official~ 't:ued chat a pr11p11~ed 

road ur railroad along the Sr-ampede routl' did not 

.1ppcar to po-;c any insoluble engineering hurd le~. 

The route::. would, hovvcvcr. be expensi\'e: al1tlllt 

S1no million tin· u narrow pavl•d rond nnd up w 

S19R million for a railroad. llw ~tuJy also tenr-ativcly concluded Uu\l visito ~ nh\llg :llllll"llwrn 

mute would sec fL'wt:r bear~. wuiVc!., and lither 

wildlife, a lthough they would have nwrc \'lew., 

of Mount McKinley, weather permitting. The 

stud~' Wt:l!> compkted, Hi. scheduled, in April 1997. 

The j2-pagc final rcpurr pwvidl·d a munber nf 

detailed opri(lll!> regarding tlm;;rruc.:tion t(\Sh; 

S87.4 million for a narrow, So-mik-l11ng gr:tvt'l 

road, S1oo.1 million for a paved road, and between 

Sq6.1 million and $.227.') million for an !l6-ttH}'i 

milt.'-lung railroad. Given the ~rudy's co~t fi),'Ure;., 

NPS officials condudcd U1at building a new 

access roun: wa' "not a high priority of the tollrism indu:-;try when compared to other potential 

developments in the state.''•" 

During rhis ~amc period, hnwvwr, Kantishna 

Holdings remained active in it~ pursULr tlf u 

privately-funded mill inc bcrween th~: I k~lh 
area and Wonder Lake. In response, variuu~ 

Railhdt communities (both citie~ and horoughs) 

ent..lnr~cd the project.>' The Ala~ka [ .cgislaturc 

al~o did what it could to advance the project. 

During its 1997 session, I Iou~c and Senate 

members -;pon::.ored identically-worded joint 

rc,oltlli1>n:. ··~upporting enhancement of visitor 

access" rn rhe park ''through development of a 

northern ruilroau route corridor acc<.:s~ to tht: 

vidnity nf \'<'onder l.akc.'' The Senarc\ rcsolutiiHI which was sponsored hy four senotors and 

two rcpre~entativc:., most of whom hailed from 

Lht> FairhanJ.:s area-mewed quic.:kly and uneventfully through the legblamre, and Governor "fhny 

Knowles signed the measure on May 21.>' 

Mt<.:r lht: '\IPS's Denver Service Center complctnl the north accc~s feasibility ~rudy in .'\pril1997, 

it was approved by successively higher-echelon 

officiah, and in late October 1997, the lntt:rior 

Department was finally ablt: Lo transmit rhc 

<.Ludy to Alaska Senator (and C.nergy nnd 'lanu·al 

~ources Chairman) Frank Murkowski. !'hat 

report noted rh:u as many a:> 241,000 peopk 

per yc:u wnuld usc thl· new route. but the route 

··would have agreatt:r effect on the numher of 

visits I han the number of visitor::.." l'hc Department also staled that the new routl! would he 

conlr:lry ro the park's general management plan 

::IOU that the Clln~trUCUOil COSt - l!VC:!O for a gravel 

road would (according m the Department\ 

rrnn~miltnlletter) "cat up e\'cry dollar plann<.:d 

fl)t park access ucveh1pmenr in rhc :.rare for the 

next decade." Senator Murkowski, however, was 

not di*'~uaded lw the high cnst figures; he nnted 

that hy thl! time project design wa1- completed, 

··rhl.!rc il> no d11ubr ... that rht: existing park road, 

which i:; in~ufficient now t11 handle currt>nt vbitnlHHl, will he totally inaucquatc to serve Alaska'-; 

No. t Wttri-..r arrmcrion ." 1 h.: therefore f.tarcd 

that in 19l)K, ht.: w!\uld introduce lt:gislarion to 

;HIIhorile funding for an extcn~ivc cnvironmenttd revicw and planning for the new access route: 

the-.t" hmd!-. Wl)uld underwrite an environmental 

impact study and mort: dc.:Lailed engineering 

proposal::..' Murknw'>ki did as pn>miscu, and on 

Jun<: l), H)l)!l, Pre~ident Clinrun signcd a ma'isivc 

highway b1ll knl)wn a~ the Transportation Equit) 

Act liw tlw 2r·' Century, otht:rwise known at 

···1 E.A-21." A provision within that hill aurhcwit.ed 

Lhc:: t:xpcnditure of St.s million to "cnn5trruct 

Ia I North Denali acccs:. route."' ' Stare officials 

designated that rhc nc::nali Borough. within 

which the proposed route was located, would be 

10 Charge \lf OVef'il'l'ing the exrcnditUI"C Of thc~e 

htnd:-..'' 

ben bdnre that bill became:: law, the a~k::t ~tare 

Legislature intervened to :.timulatc interest in 

the project. In f'ehruary tqgR, lhc:: T louse Rules 

Commirtc.:t:, a1 Governor Knowlef>' rcyuesr, had 

inrroduct.:u a hill to provide projects and funJ~ 

for the Ala:,ka Industrial Development and 

Export Authonty (AIDJ·.A). As Lhc hill made 

its initial Mt:ps through the legislative proces~. 

it made no mention uf Dcnali-rclarcd pr1)jcct-... 

But on M.ay II) less than a month bcfort: TEA-21 

became law the Senare Transportation Committee cmt:rgt:c:J with a committee substitute thnt 

provided for A IDEA to "issue bonds t<> finanCL' 

the devdopmenr of a railroad right-of-way 

within n railroad and utility CLJrridor fmm ncar 

the village of HeAly Along the general alignment 

of the litampedc Trail to tht: eastern boundarv 

of Denali ?-Jational Park." Up to S2!i,ooo,ooo m 

bond~ would be made available for thi::. purpose. 

The bill also :.latcd thnt the state would gran! 

ATDEA a 300-foot-wide curridor in tht: '>O-called 

"wolf township::.:' the land to be used to a-;si!)l 

Kantishna llolding<,, lnc. for a proposed ut'ility 

corridor and for "maintenance of:) railroad anu 

facilities w ~upporl that development projet:t_·· 

.Ju~r rwo day~ later, on May 11. the bill pas~cd rhc 

Senate, ;mu Govcrnor Knowles signt:d it imo luw 

on .June 18. The hill, however, pcrraincd only 10 

state-owned Janus, and hccause Congre~., nwuc 

no move to provide an casement for the rt>main 

ing 'iS milcs <•f federal land in the proposed rai lroad c<>rridor, A!DEA made 11(> arrc::mpt l(l i~:>UC 

the bonds rhut the legislature had authorit.cd 

A IDEA'~> lat:k of activity, p!Uf. the legi~lahlre\ arparcnt lack of interest in providing state match -

ing fund:,, prevented much progrcs:o. from taking 

plact: during rhi!) pL·riod.•" One person who wa::. 

un acrive proje<:t parricipant, however, wa" Don 

Lowell, a Fairbanks con~ultant wdl-known to 

DOT&PF official-;. Lowell, beginning in late 

.woo and continuing into 2001. apparently wa:-

paid $1Ro,ooo for plan ning ~crviccs pertaining Lo 

an altcrnare route into Kantishna.ii 

The funds that ClHlgl'ess had authorited for en 

vironmental work originally ST.') million, n1>W 

reduced tn S1.32 million required state match 

ing fund,, "O on the opening day of the 2001 

Ala~ka legislative ~c~sion, )tate Senator l"ugt:nt" 

Therriault suhmittcd a hill "making a special 

appropriution for ~tudil.!s for the northt>rn ucce"~-o 

inm Denali Narillnal P~1rk and Prc~erw." The 

hill initially allotted S264,ooo in matching fund ~ 

for thc~e ~tt1die~, but a nHmth lutt:r the t<Hal 

increased to S31Q,ooo. Therriaul(~ hill wa::.later 

folded into the shlte"s capital hudgct hill, wiH.:re it 

became St:criun 2u; this hill passed the lc::gi ... lalun· 

•ln Moy I{ anc:.J was <;J~ned hy Governor Krwwle-. 

on June iO. Tht''"!l' funds wt:rl' matched with tht· 

k)2 million that rt·mainc.!u from the ''TEA 21" 

bill.,w A total 11f S1.6') millic)11 wa., thercfim: av1.ul 

able for the prt:paration of a North D..:nali /\c 

ce"" Rowe Planning and Rcconnai!->..,ancc:: ~tudv. 
Where the Stampede Road crosses the 

Sushana River, a bus was left by the 

Stampede Road contractor. Since the 

1960s it has been used as a temporary 

shelter by hunters, trappers and other 

travelers along the trail. NPS Photo 

Neither TEA-21 nor the matching state grant gave 

any specific direction regarding where the state 

should locate its northern access route. Another 

bill that year in the Alaska legislature, however, 

recomrnended the Stampede Road route. A"" 

noted above, legislators in 1998 had passed a bill 

authorizingAIDEA to issue bonds for relevant 

development activities on state lands in rhe "wolf 

townships'' corridor. Following on that previous 

effort, Rep. Jeannette James (R- orth Pole) and 

six other House members sponsored a bill thm 

would remove A IDEA's bond issuing authority; it 

would also remove the Authority's "wolf townships" land grants, and instead transfer those land 

parcels to the Denali Borough. james's bill moved 

quickly and it passed the Alaska House, with only 

a single dissenting vote, on April29."' 

But after holding a hearing on the bill, the Senate 

Resources Committee chose to not move the bill 

because the bill was a givea,vay of state lands for a 

private development project. Critics, noting that 

the bill named Kantishna Holdings, Inc. (which 

had long espoused n Stampede Road right-ofway), called the bill premature, inasmuch as the 

8b l oown JPwel of ll•e Nolih An Adr11uustratwe Hrstory of Denali Nat•onal Pari< and Preserve 

S1.65 million planning sn1dy- which had not yet 

begun would compare and contrasr a number 

of potential northern access routes. james and 

orher supporters, however, were able to get the 

bill moving again . It passed the Resources Committee on May 4, and three days later it passed the 

Senate on a 13-6 vote. Governor Knowles, weighing the bill's merits, fe lt that "the basic premise of 

this bill ... is in the best interests of the state." But 

he vetoed the bill because it would transfer land 

"of undeniable statewide and national interest 

to a borough [Denali Borough] which currently 

lacks adeqtJate authoriry or capacity to administer transportntion services or ro conducr land 

planning and zoning." James and other legislators 

angrily denounced Knowles' veto and vowed to 

override it during the upcoming legislative session. Sure enough, Senator Loren Leman moved 

to overturn the veto on January 16, 2002, and thnt 

day both the House and the Senate (by votes of 

28-11 and 13-7) had overridden Knowles'sveto and 

thus passed Representative James's bill.'"' 

Given the passage of both the "TEA-21" bill in 

1998 and the state's matching funds in 2001, state 
This open landscape. as seen near 

Eightmile Lake, is typical of the 

Stampede Road corridor. NPS Photo 

officials moved to start work on the North Denali 

Access Route Planning and Reconnaissance 

Srudy. On March 6, 200.2, the AJaska Department 

ofTr:msportntion and Public Facilities signed 

a Transfer of Responsibilities Agreement with 

Denali Borough. Soon afterward, the project's 

11 rst phase began, and Eileen Armstrong was 

selected as the borough's study coordinator. In 

January 2003, Armstrong hosted public meetings 

in Healy, Fairbank.~, and Anchorage, hoping to 

solicit ideas on the best route to follow between 

the Stampede Road area and Kantishna.•·• In 

April .2003, borough per!.onnel completed a 

preliminary report. The next step, according to a 

state DOT&PF official, was the prcparJtion of a 

more derailed reconnaissance study, and in january 2005, the department was preparing to hire a 

contractor to "look at the possibility of extending 

a road or rail line" into the park.''~ 

The study, an effort by CH2MHill, assisted by 

Dowl Engineers, began that April; it was the subject of an October 2005 open house in Healy, and 

in August 2006 it was completed. It investigated 

four possible route alignments between the Parks 

Highway-Alaska Railroad corridor and Kantishna: the Rex Corridor (beginning just !>outh of 

Rex), two Rock Creek corridors (both beginning 

near Ferry), and the Stampede Corridor (beginning ju ~t north of Healy). The study examined 

the economic and environmental feasibility of 

these corridor~ as they pertained to trail, road, 

and rail access. The study was thorough- it 

was 652 pages long- but the recommendations 

were less than conclusive. They stated that '·no 

alignment stands out as having a distinct advantage over the others with respect to engi neering, 

enviro nmental, or user-benefit considerations." 

It also found, perhaps not su rprisingly, that of the 

three modes studied, a trail offen:d the smallest footprint, cost, and user benefit and that a 

railroad had the large!>l footp rint, cost, and u~er 

benefit. Based on these findings. "the recommendation at the conclw,ion of the North Denali 

Route Reconnaissance Study is to defer further 

work on the North Denali Acce~s Route project 

until funding is available for recommended additional studies." (Sec Map s.)''1 

In May zoos, the state legislature - perhaps hoping to stimulate Lntercst in one possiblc access 

corridor provided aSs million appropriation 

(via the FY 2005 supplementary capital budget) 

to improve rhe existing Stampede Road, usinb 

state funds only, between the Parks Highway 

and Eightmile Lake. That fall, DOT personnel 

announced !>pecific plan~ for the project; they 

planned to start the eight-mile construction job 

in the spring of 2oo6, and hoped to extend the 

road that summer all the way west to Savage 

Rivcr.''4 In early 2006, Governor Murkowski 

requested in his proposed capital budget that the 

legislature provide the DOT an additional Sg million that would extend those road improvements 

to the Denali National Park boundary. The legislature, however, did nor accede to thar request.'•; 

Meanwhile, construction of the initial eight-mile 

road improvement was held up by DOT's inability to secure Army Corps of Engineer permib.h" 

Murkowski, whose administration pushed for the 

road improvements, wa!. not rc-clecred in 2006. 

Just a month after his ~ucccssor, Sarah Palin, was 

sworn into (>ffice, the Fairbanks DOT oflke withdrew its support for the project Recognizing 

that many local residents were strongly opposed 

to the project, DOT official Howard Thies noted 

~p er Ten . Denair at the Cusp of the Mlllenntum, 1995 l)tf">ent 87 
p alii Boundary 

Map 5. This map shows the 

"Stampede Road Alignment" for 

planning purposes to ident ify 

possible locations for visitor facilities 

between Healy and th e Kantishna 

area. North Access Visitor Facilities 

Study, National Park Service and 

Alaska Department of Natural 

Resources 

~·· l\ '--~ ____./ 

' ~ 

.., Denali ..... 

NationaJ 

Park 

that "recreational road!> ~uch as the Stampede 

Ro::~rl projc.:ct ar<' going to hDvc.: to d<'mnnstrate a 

greater need in this time of fiscal re:.rraint.""' 

Congress gave thl' "'rS further development 

recommendations in 2001. Because of difficulties designing a visitor center for Glacier Bay 

National Park, Senator Murkowsk.i recommended that the Interior Department. as part of itc; 

appropriations bill, reprogram S372,ooo in PS 

fund~ for a "cooperative st1Jdy with the State of 

Alaska to l!Xplure the.! location of campgrounds, 

trails, and other visitor facilities along the Stampede Road alignmenr."M NPS official and others 

were perplexed at the senator's actitln, inasmuch 

a:. the TF.A-21 bill, in 1998. had asked the State 

of Alaska to examine a number of northern 

acces~ route options. They nevertheless moved 

to satisf)' Congress's intent. By early 2003, the 

agency had allocated Swo,ooo of those funds 

to the Alaska Department oft atural Resources 

to <>uppnrt a coordinator (Michelle Roller) for 

the study, and by that summer the preparation 

of a Visitor facilities Study was well underway. 

In July 2001 :-.fPS planner Pat Welch, assisted 

hy Roller, hosted a serie~ of public open houses 

in Fairhanks, Healy, Cantwell, and Anchorage. 

Given rhe comments gathered at those meetings, 

the state and federal agencies jointly completed a 

draft ~ort11 Access Visitor Facilities Study in late 

April 2004 and, afrcr a public commcnr period, 

they released a final study four months later_ 

The ~tudy recommended th!lt up to ten "nodes 

of development" should be located along the 

8R < IIJWII lo•wd nl1hr• No1 ih An AdniHH\IIoiiiV<' H•\lnrv C>t Denali NniiOnal i'arl onrl Pre~erve 

proposed Stampede Road alignment between 

tbc Park.; l!jghway and the Kantishna/ \XIondcr 

Lake area; within those nodes, a broad variety of 

dcvdopmenr option::. from trails and way&idc.:s 

to a lodge or food service facility might be considered."" Based on these recommendations, the 

State of Alaska, at some time in the futu re, may 

commence visitor development activitil'S along its 

portion of the road; development nn lands within 

Denalj ~ational Park, however, will be precluded 

until the construction uf a full qo-mile road has 

hcl!n authuri1.ed. 

Throughout this period, it seemed clear that 

many Alaska officials- including the state's 

Congressional delegation, the state Jcgislature, 

cities and boroughs up and down the Rail belt, 

and many local residents were in favor of a 

new access route into Denali. Large numbers nf 

Alaska residents. however. were opposed to the 

idea. Opponents included the Panguingue Creek 

llomcowners Association (located just west of 

Healy), the IJenall Cibzens Council, the WrldernessSocicty (which in 2000 nominated Denali 

as one uf its "15 must endangered wildlands"), 

and the National Parks Conservation Association 

(which in 2001 cited Denali in it~ annual "10 most 

endangered parks" listing). Even Htxpayers for 

Common Sense came out against Lhe proposed 

road, decrying it as one of the ·'ten worst highway 

projects in America."·'" 

The National Park Service, as it had !'or years, opposed new access. Agency officials continued ro 
Snowmachine tracks in the Broad Pass 

area attest to the popularity of this 

activity. NPS Photo 

abide by the recommendations contained in tht! 

1<)86 general management plan, the 1992 Denali 

Accel>:. Sn1tly, the II.J94 Denali Task rorce report, 

and thl.! 1997 North Acccs:. Feasibility Sntdy. N, 

park planning chief Mike Tranel noted in 2003, 

cxi!>ting facilities and routes were adequate tor 

the forcsc('ahle furun.:. "We have room for more 

people on the existing road . ... This is where we 

would like fl> foc.:us our immediate efforts." And 

recognizing that Congrc~~ was in the mid~r of 

providing planning and design funds for visitor 

fadlitit:s south of (he Ala$ka Range, Tranel added, 

"when you ask the bigger question of whafs the 

hcst way to provide for more visitor me of Denali 

National Park, we are saying we thin k we can do 

it with the road we have now and with the !>outh 

-;idl.! coming on line."7' 

Clashes Over Snowmachine Access 

During the 1980s and on inw rhe 1990s, diffcn:nt 

parts of the park unit following rhc dictates of 

ANlLCA and rht: regulation!> that followctl - offcrcd varying level'\ of off-road vehicle (ORV) 

acccs~. In 11enali National Pn.:serve and in those 

pru·ts of Denali lational Park that Congress had 

established in 1980, subsistence U'ier;, were free 

to access the park so long as they used "tradirional" transporration modt:s. ln addition. these 

users needed to hail from either one of four dt:!>-

ignatcd rc.sident· zone communities (Cantwell, 

l.nkc Minchttmina, 'likolai, or Tel ida) or for 

tlm:.c who lived nut:-idc of these communitil-~ they ncet.letl t~> lx: holtlcrs of a subsistence 

permit (al~o known us a 13.44 pcrmit).T' Because 

nf administrative action in 1983 (sec Chapter 9), 

federal and state oft1cial5 recngn ii'ed that areas 

wirhin rhe boundaries of thl! oltl Mount Mcl-.:inley National Pnrk were npcn to snowmachine 

access fi.lr recrcationnl purpo'>e.~. Most u:.er 

groups, however, ;,howed little intl.!n:st in obtain -

ing SJ1(\Wmachinc or <llhcr ORV access into the 

"old park'' during this period, either during the 

II)S3-86 general management planning process 

or for the remainder of the decat.lt:. And during much of the JC)qos. there was a widespread 

public belief that snowmobiles could not legaJly 

enter this area. But the i8suc remained low-key 

throughout this period; snowmachinerl> never 

made a public demonstration of entering the 

··old park," and 'iPS officials never publicly 

stated that U1c uold park" wa~ do~cJ to snowmobiles, nor ditl they othetwi-.e ~utempt ro 

pmhibit snowmachine usc. 1 

Beginning in the early ll)yos, snowmachincl> 

hccamc an increasingly popular f~>rm of recreation in Alasku, particularly among Anchorage 

and Fairbanks residents, and one byproduct of 

thar popularity was an cver-hroadening search 

among its enthusiasts for recreational destinarion.,. Ry thc mid-T9yos, snowmachining had 

hccomc so popular that the l11kositna drainage (primarily on Denali State Park land) was 

descrihed as a '·heavy usc" area, und state park 

statr citing usc conflicts puhlici;.cd the need 

to establish a large ··quiet zo e~ - off-limits to 

snowmachincs in the hilb cast of the Parks 

Highway.J4 Other snowmachine enthusiasts enjoyed rheir sport in tile newly-added portions of 

Denali National Par k, particularly ncar t hc Yent 

na, Kahiltna, Tokositna and Ruth glaciers and in 

arcn!:t ·u rround ing the Dunkle and G<1ldcn Znne 

mines.?; And a few riders, perhaps holder than 

othl.!rs. began to take thl.!ir snowmachines into 

the Cantwell Creek and Easy Pas~ areas of the 

"old park." r<· 

In rhc face of snowmobiling's growing popularity, many NPS officials grew increasingly 

restive. They recognit.cd that most of the "old 

park" v.:al> designated wiltlerne ~, and !hey al~n 

rccognit.ed that the "old park"- 11nlikc most of 

the land that surrounded it - had experie11ccd 

only light and occasional snowm1lhilc activ 

iry over the years~ as a result, o.;nowmachines 

were not a "tratlirional" way to gain acccf>s into 

the pre-1qSo park. They had received ample 

evidence, based on experience in other nal irma! 

park:., rh:1t snnwmachinc activity h::td had negative impacts on both wildl ife and vegetation, and 

they also felt that it was an inadvcrlenr nvcr:.ight 

in the ANILCA legislannn that had sanctioned 

~nowmachinc acces~ '>incc 1980. For all those 

reasons, the N PS personnel in 1996 began c.: rafting rcgulatiom. that would have closed the "old 

park .. ()nee aga in to snowmachincs.n That drort 

stalled, but in October 11)98, a Joe Gauna article 

in the newsletter 1llaska11 Snow Rider stated thtlt 

the :'uthor intended 

to he back at Andcrl>on Pa:,!> as soon 

a~ snow allow~. as well as Easy Pass 

and Foggy Pas~ I all three of which an 

within rhe Old Park! .... The rourc 

from llealy via the ~tampedl· Trail to 

Wonder Lake and I he EiciStlll Vi~itor 

Center i~ quite interesting, I'm told, 

and I expect to ride it ar. '>onn as Luntlitions allow. 
Rangers mark the location of the park 

boundary with visible signs erected in 

the snow. Tom Habecker Collection 

These and similar Alaskan Snow Rider articles 

re-invigorated rhe agency's earlier efforts 

a nd pushed park officials to prorecr the park's 

resourccs.7" 

On November 10, 1998, the PS announced 

that it was temporarily closing the ''old park'' to 

snowmachines. Park superintendent Steve Martin stated that the action, which might be in effect 

for as I ong as a year,7" was necessary because 

snowmobi les- which in his opinion were not 

traditional according to the Section mo(a) provisions- damaged wilderness values and clashed 

with traditional forms of backcount.ry travel such 

as ski!> and dog teams. He tentatively planned to 

place the ban in effect on December r. He and 

other park officials, however, promised to keep 

an open mind on the marter; they scheduJed a 

l>e ries of public hearingl> and promised to rule, 

within a year, regarding whether the closure 

would be made permanent."'' Snowmachine 

users, not surprisingly, howled in protest at the 

agency's actio n, and d1e four public meetings that 

were held ovember 22-25 were contentiou!>. 

well-artended affairs (200 people showed up 

in Anchorage, and some 400 in Fairbanks) that 

pitted wilderness advocates against motor sports 

fans. The public comment deadline, originally 

90 Crown Jewel of the North· An Adm•n•stra11ve History of Denal1 National Park and Preserve 

scheduled for December r, was extended to December 15, and the apparcnr volume of protests 

against the proposed rule convinced NPS officials to hold off enforci ng the snowmachine ban 

until early 1999, after it had evaJuated the public's 

written and oral comments ~• 

Meanwhile, the U.S. and Alaska legislatures 

weighed in on the b!.ue. In early December, 

U.S. Representative Don Young (R-Alaska), who 

headed the House Resources Committee, wrote 

an Interior Department official and asked him to 

drop the proposed regulations. Shortly afterward, Young launched a Resources Committee 

investigation into "why the agency has apparently 

misapplied the access provisions" of ANlLCA. 

He asked the Interior Department ro provide, by 

.January 8, 1999, a ny records related to the snowmachine regulationl>. Officials complied with 

the House Committee's request; the commirtee, 

in response, made no specific actions based on 

this data.K' Also in early 1999, members of both 

the Alaska Hou~ e and Alaska Senate submitted 

nearly identically-worded resolutions that oppo~ed the proposed sno\\'machinc closure. The 

House resolution, which opposed "the closure of 

any portion of Denali National Park and Preserve 

to snowmachine access:' never made it beyond 
the committe~ qagc, but the Senate'" re ... olution, 

whi<..-h more ~pecifically oppo~cd "the closure of 

the former Mount 1\1\cKinley portions of Denali 

'Jational Park and Preserve to snowmachine 

usc," proved uncontroversial. Introduced on 

janu;.~ry 27, it passed the Senate on Ft•bruury 10 

anc..l rhe !louse un March 12; two wccb later, 

Governor ·nlfly Knowle1. sent it on to the Licurenanr Governor\ office fur ll ing.s~ 

During rhe <same period, u~er group~ contemplntcd whether they ~hould tllc u Juwsuit as a way 

to ~top the regulations from being implemented. 

On a more pragmnric level, ~nowmachine groups 

informed NP"i oflkinb that their area of gtearc~t 

interest W<l!; a ~mall area ncar Cant\vcll; and in 

respc>n5c, ~uperintcndem Martin ~ta ed that he 

·was willing to consider opening some areas nf the 

"old park" to ~nowm:tchine:.. J 

On Febru:1ry + 1999, the ::-.iP~ made it~ ucch .. ion 

in the matter. Trying to reach a reasonable halnncc ht:twe~n C()mpering groups. agenl.~ officials 

cho:,e to prohihit snnwmachine access in most 

of th~ "t lid p:1rk." bur ~tared that access would 

bl.' allowed una total of 6,500 acres, located in 

two corridnr::. near Canrwell. One corridor wa~ 

.a 2') mill- loop that included Windy Creek and its 

W<:~>L fork. foggy Pass, and the Cantwell Creek 

clr.linage; the other corridor includcc..l portion~ of 

the Bull Rlver valley. Park oflkials o;;rared thar Ehe 

order would be in effect for the following year, by 

which time formal regulations would he in place; 

in the meantime, the corridor area would be 

studied to :,ee how snuwmachinc traffic impacted 

wildlife md (lther P•trk value:,. An Ala~ka State 

Snowmobile Association leader was so miffed 

at the "\IPS\ decision that the group planned to 

lilt' a law~uit again~t the order; con::.ervationist~ 

were also disappointed at the ruling, ~me noting 

that he needed tu "decide on what legal remedie!> 

arc available."'' f\oth groups, in fact, followed 

through on their prediction!>; the ::.nowmubilc 

group tiled suit again::.t the Interior Department ln U.~. Di:,trict Court in late February, and 

in early April a coalition of nine C\lll'>ervation 

groups also sut:d the gowmmcnt in hopes of gcrting the agency w renege on its decision wallow 

::.nowmachinc acccs~ in the ·'old park.""'' The 

ca~c:-,, which gainetl nationwide attention, were 

:,lateJ Ill begin that fall, the thnught being that the 

matter might he resolved hcfnre the winter (and 

rhc snowmobiling ~t'<1.~on ) bcgan.x, 

ln.Julv 1999, rhc NP~ a~ it predicted it would 

in February moved lO tilrmalit.c its rt•gulations when it announced rhat it had fi1rmu lated 

a Proposed ~pecial Regulation~ Package. One 

dl·mcnr of rhh five-pan package srmcu that the 

agcncv phtlineu 10 •·c(mtinue the pmhihiti<)n 

on snowmachinc:-. lsiclu::.e in tht: core area of 

the park ... ro protect wildlife and other par].; 

resources in the 'Old Park."' Pour months later. 

after Lhe Offkc of Management and Budget had 

wmpletcd its review, the agency went through 

with it:. plan when it issued its package or regulations (as a so- called .. propo~:,c.:d rule") in the 

Federal Register. These regulation~ cal It'd lor all 

of rhe "old park"- including lht• 6,500 acre~ m•ar 

Cantwell excludec..l in f-ebruary to he closed to 

snowmobiles, and it also pro\'idt.:d a definition 11f 

a "traditional activity.'' Superintendent Marrin 

moved to close thest: corridor~ becau::.c, according to Al\."lLCA, hi<. February 1999 acti(ln allowing !>nU\1\flllachinc acces::. in t\Vo corridor!> had not 

bet.:n legal."' 

Jusr one day hcfurc the Interior Dcpanmenr is-

!>UCd it~ proposed regulatium, the NPS comrletcd an environmental as~c~~llll'llt 1m the Jamage 

that :.nowmachine~ might Cilli!>C W vegetal ion anJ 

wildl ife in the park\ core; in that document, the 

agency ~tared that rhc '·pcm1ancnr dost1re of rh~· 

old park to Slluwmohilc usc" was it\ prefu-rcJ 

alternative (among four alrl'rnarivt: prc~t.:ntcJ). 

This document, as well, defined a '"rraditi11nal 

activity,'' using the same definition that appc;11·~·d 

in the "proposed rule.""" 

During tht: ~arne week that the propo~ed rule 

and rhc environmental a~~l s!>mcnt were rc 

lea:.ed, two major ~v~nr~ tonk place in th~ i;"JWMI!r 

that the snowmachine groups had fi led in lore 

Fehruary. The ca~c now pitted till' Ala~ka litatc 

Snowmobile A,.:.ociation and three individual' 

again:-t two Interior Dep:mmcnt otncial:-., thrcl· 

~ PS officials, and nine environmental organi-

/.ation~. On ~\JVember H. .Judge John ')edwick 

issued a Preliminary Order in the c:u.e. Ba~ing his 

decision on what h~1d bct.:n filed on b11th ">ic..ll·~. 

he stated that the NPS\ Fchruarv 4 deci!..ion to 

close most of the "old park" ro snowmachinc 

access wa~ ''arbitrary and capricinu'> hcl:ame tilt' 

absence of any definition of traditi(lnal act ivitie~ 

necessarily means that the Decision contains no 

rational basis fllr the cnnclusirm thalth<.: U!i<..' or 

5nowmachim:~ fur traditional a~ livitie~ in rhe 

Old Park is dctrimenral ro the resource value:.. of 

rhe Old Park.'' lie cautioned, however. that his 

decision did "not pre .,ent the court'~ final order." 

Recognit.ing rhar H court dare w:l'> ~ct for November 12, Sedwick is~11ed hi::. preliminary order to 

"as:.ist the parties rrcparc for and conuuct oral 

argument.""" 

On Nowmber 1.2, the snowmachine indusrry\ 

lawsuit was adjudicated heforc.Judge Sedwick ot 

rht.: Anchorage Dbtrict Court. Pertinent yucs 

tions aired that day in dulled, fir.,t, the ex rem 

to which ~nowmachine Ll~t: would Jamagc tht: 
Snowmachine tracks lead t o upper 

Cantwell Creek, on the south side of 

the Alaska Range. NPS Photo 

park, and also the definiri(m of a ·'traditional" 

activity. Because Interior Department lawyers 

could not answer either question w the judge's 

satisfaction their recently-issued "traditional 

activities" definition was still in the proposal 

stage- Sedwick ruled on November 18 in favor of 

the plaintiffs. His fina l decision. to a larg~.: extent, 

reaffirmed his preliminary order und invalidated 

the NPS's eight-mond1-old snowmachining ban. 

Park Service officials admitted that they were un-

~un: of the agency's next steps; they did. however, 

plan to incorporate d)e judgt:'s concerns into the 

recently-issued proposed rule, which would be 

:;ubjcct to public hearings during tht: following 

month.'•' 

The agency advertised a series of four public 

meetings on the issue (between December 6 and 

December 9), with a December 10 public comment deadline. Given that time frame, the I' PS 

hoped to issue a rule as soon as January 2000 

that wouiJ temporarily ban snowmachines from 

the "old pru·k" for the remainder tlf the v1:intcr. 

At the same rime, rhe agency fol ~1wcd up its 

issuance of the November m proposed rule (for 

a permanent closure) by giving the puhlic until 

January 11 to comment on its provisionsY 

The four meetings- which allowed the public to 

commenr on boili d1e short-term and long-term 

snowmobile bans-were held as scheduled in 

communities up and down the Rail belt About 

330 peQple attended one of the four hearings, 

and most of the attendees supporred the NPS's 

proposals_ Both sides in d1e fight, by this rime, 

were fearing the worst; snowmachine advocate::. 

fdt tbat an N PS victory would be a prelude to 

closures on ten!> of millions of acres of other 

Alaska parkland::., while con!.crvationists openly 

worried that if snowmachines gained a toehold ar 

Denali's "old park:' the pristine values of one of 

Alaska's most protected, treasured place:, would 

he lost.'11 

Because d1ere were no legal or regulatory rrohibitions in place, the "old park" was open to 

snowmach ine enthusiasts throughout the winter 

of 1999-20oo.'l-f In mid~December, Superinten-

'12 r 1own t•wt• <~ i lht• No1 th: An Adnlll) ~ratiW' HI\IOIY of Of'nJii Nilt1r>nal Par~ anrl r~I'IV'' 

dent Martin announced that areas -;outh of the 

Alask::t Range were npt:n if rhey werL·Iwlnw j,ooo 

teet in elevation:" (Areas north of the mountains, he noted, did not yet have atlequate <>now 

cover.) The park , however, would be accessible 

nnly to those who engaged in ·'trad itional actiVltie~," whatever rhar implicd.0" And in adJirion, 

riders would he expccred rn follow cxisring NP~ 

regulations regarding ~m,wmohilc List:; thc~t: 

included a 45 mile-rer-hour speed limit, a helmet 

use requirement. a minimum age limit, and ~o 

forth. Given the new reality, riders continued 

to vi~it the Bull River, Cantwell Creek, Windy 

Creek, and other corridors~ so far'~" is known, all 

sm)\·Vmachine cnthu&iasts remained ~outh \If 1hc 

i\la~ka Range save nne group that rode into the 

Wonder Lake areo1."1 

Meanwhile, the agency concentrated on hnw 

it would respond to the permanent han which 

it had propw;ed on Novernhl·r 10, 1999. Public 

comment::. about rhe ban, pro :111d con, were so 

strong that officials decided to move the com 

ment deadline back from january 11 ro january 

25.11~ Two months later, pru·k spokl!Swoman ja11e 

Tranel noted rhar the public htHillverwhdmingly backeJ tht: agency's proposed rule; of more 

than l),wo re~">ponses to the propos:::~!. 96 percent 

favored nn "old park" snowmachinc b;m~ among 

the 2,ooo-plus Alaskan comment~, 91 perccnr 

favored rhc ban. During thb ~ame period, the 

National Parks Conservation Associati(m shed 

additional light on the i%Ut: when ir nominated 

Denali as one of it~ "Ten M11st Endangcrcll 

Parks," largely due to the perceived snowmachine threat.'"' 

Ra5ed on the public's overwhelming support for 

the prop<.1Scd rule, d1e NPS moved to han snowmobile~ from o ld Mount McKinley National 

Park. In .June zooo. it issued a ';tarcment of 

Finding" which determined "that any snowmachine use in the Old Park would be- detrirnmtal 

due to the uni4ue hisrnry and resource values of 

tht· area." The agency aiso concluded rhar "there 

arc no traditional activities in the Old Park that 

uriliz.c snowmachines during periods of a de 

quare snow cover."" '" 13ast:d on these and similar 

conclusion'l>, the Jnterior Ocpartment moved to 

rermanently clo!.e the Old Park to snowmachine 

usc. Assistant interior Secretary Donald J. Barry 

issued the final rule on June 19, 2000."" Since 

d1aL rime, several violators have been ~uccessfully 

pwsecuted under theN PS closure regulations."'' 

The rule went unchallenged for 1he nexr sevcml month~. but the Novemhrr 2000 election 

brought forth a new, conservative presidc.nt, 

Geurgc W. Bush. The presiJcnt c.lt•ct'~ nominee as Interior Secretary, Gulc W. Norton, had 
Tne popularity of snow machine riding 

in the Broad Pass area increased 

dramatically in the 1990s. NPS Photo 

previously worked as an attorney in d1c Reagan 

administration. Given the apparent change 

in political winds, the snowmachine industry, 

which had protested the june 2000 ·'old park" 

snowmachinc prohibition, renewed its two-yearold lawsuit against the 1 PS; shortly afterward, a 

coalition of environmental groups renewed rheir 

own lawsuit as weJJ.m> 

Shortly after Bush was sworn into office, Interior 

Department leaders began discussions with 

\XIilliam Horn, the snowmachine industry's 

legal representative, over N PS policies at both 

Yellowstone and Denali national parks. Horn, 

in mid-April2001, noted that he was engaged in 

"preliminary discussions" aimed at settling the 

industry's lawsuit. But environmental groups, 

who had filed their own lawsuit, were not part of 

those discussions and were "totally kept in the 

dark"' about d1e progress of d10se discussions.'0 4 

By the end of April, Horn announced the 

results of those talks; the industry would drop 

its lawsuit if the NPS would open up some of 

the "old park" to recreational snowmachines, 

and more specifically if me agency agreed to 

participate in the development of legislation that 

wou ld allow increased snowmachine access. 

Upon hearing the news, snow machine enthusiast 

joe Gauna made the groups' intentions clear: 

"All we ever wamed is to ride snowmobiles in 

the southeast corner of the Alaska Range:' ncar 

Cantwell. And NPS spokesman John Quinley 

averred that the new proposal might be an 

acceptable compromise.'"' 

By the end of May, a draft bill had been prepared 

that would have opened up 30o,ooo acres of the 

1,90o,ooo-acre "old park" to snowmachines. 

Given that potential legislation, snowmachine 

groups announced that they were dropping 

their lawsuit, hoping for a legislative rather than 

judicial solution. In response, Interior Secretary 

Norton stated that "'the department intends to 

review in good faith any such introduced legislation." But a conservation-group spokesman worried that Norton and the snowmachinc groups 

had ··cut a deal" to push the draft legislation.'"'' 

A year later, the snowmachiners' concerns 

resulted in a renewed attempt at Congressional 

legislation. On May 7, 2002, Rep. Don Young 

(R-Aiaska) introduced a bill that would open up 

about one-fifth of the "old park"- approximatcly 

4oo,ooo acres to recreational snowmach ine 

access. Young, at the time, noted d1at "this compromise gives each side what they f.ay they want," 

hut environmentalists vowed to fight his bi11.'"7 A 

month later, Sen. Frank Murkowski submitted 

a similar bill. Neiilier bill, however, got beyond 

the committee stage. ''"~ Early in 2003, Sen. Ted 

Stevens (R-Aiaska) indicated an interest in continuing the efforts begun by the other members of 

the statc·s congressional delegation. That interest, 

however, did nor result in a bill submission.''"' 

ChaptN Ten: Denalt.;llhe Cu;p of lhf.' Mtllenmum, 1995 present 93 
Studies were conducted by the 

National Park Service to guide 

backcountry management planning 

for the park. NPS Photo 

Beginning in 1999, the NPS began wurk on a 

hackcountry management plan for rhc park, 

and question~ regarding access were a major 

clemenr of that plan. The plan and its evolution 

is discussed in greater detail in the next section 

of this chapter. But one of the major elemenrs 

\)f the plan dealt with snowmach ine regulation; 

indeed, one of the major reasom for the plan's 

formulation was the need to manage the growing number of snowmachines using ponions of 

the "new park.""" 

Based on that premise, the draft hackcounrry plan (released in February 2003) created 

29 management ~.:ones in the "new park" and 

preserve. In the agency's preferred alternative, 

all of these zones would be open to qualified 

<;ubsisrencc users. But onlv two of them, plus 

small portions of two others, would be "concentrated use" area!> where ''wide corridors would 

be designated ... for day use and overnight 

touring and access." A majority of the new park 

and preserve wa.<; composed of "dispersed use'' 

areas that "would allow snowmobile access for 

subsistence and for a limited number of day 

and overnight trips by permit." And six units, 

comprising perhaps one-fifth of the "new park'' 

and preserve, prevented motorized access to all 

but subsi!.tence users.'" 

As noted below, there was a massive puhlic response to the draft plan. More than 90 percenr 

'II) C.:1nwn )!'Wei ol I Iii? NIJilh An Ad1111n1~tr~t1ve Hostury of DPnalo Nul1onal Par~ and p,p,pove 

of individual commenrs supported the agency's 

proposal; fewer than 1 percent, by contrast, specifically opposed restrictions on snowmachinc 

use in the park and preserve. The State of Alaska, which had gone on record two yean; earlier 

to keep the "old park" open to snowmachincs, 

was vehement in its opposition to the plan: 

stare officials had no problem with the N PS's 

division of the park into managemcnr w nes 

(which were a key feature of the plan); they 

did, however, protest that the prohibition of 

recreational snowmachines in six management 

zones was a potential violation of Section 1110(a) 

of ANILCA. In August 2003, officials from the 

NPS (led by Deputy Director Randy jones) and 

the State of Alaska met to discuss their differences; at that meeting, state officials- whose 

views were similar to those of Interior Secretary 

Norton and her assistants- hinted that major 

changes would be necessary if the NPS wanted 

ro move from a draft ro a final plan. As a result, 

park officials agreed to issue a revised draft plan 

that, among other changes, would not prohibit 

snowmachine access anywhere outside of the 

"old park'' but would instead place that access 

in the broader context of overall management 

planning.'" 

fn the midst of the agency's prepararion of the 

park's revised draft, the ''traditional activ ities" 

issue which had been a key clement of the 

1999-2000 process that had closed snowma-
chine access in lhe old park-came m the fore 

as it permined to land in the new park and 

preserve. The draft backcountry plan had norl!d 

that in the preumhlc to the june zooo final regulations, rhe N PS inrcnded "to define traditional 

activities and apply such definitions to other 

park areas, including !he n:mainder of Denali. in 

~ubsequent processes, such as future rulc.:makings tl> implement backcountry management 

plam." The draft plan, however, did not recommend a ~pec fk definition or the application nf 

nn existing dctinition ro an:as outside of the old 

park. NPS officials readily admitted that there 

was no enforceahlc dcfini1iun of "traditional 

activities" fnr these a reas. As a result, the deliniLi<ln (as it pertained to 1he~e areas) was a "can uf 

worm<' according to a park spokesper:.on, and 

wa~ unenforccable.'ll 

The revbcd draft, relem;cd in April 200'), divided 

the ··new park" and pre.~erve into four levcb 

of "mnnagcmcnr areas." Management Area A, 

which allowed the h ighesr level of visitor acces~ 

and a "diwrsiry M oppurtunit e~ for wilderness 

recreational activities," comprised 17.7 percent of 

the ~tudy areo in the agenC) \preferred :lltcrnarive, and nu areas were specifically excluded 

from recreational snowmachine use. The rlan, 

in gt'ncral, srared that "snowmachine access for 

tradirhmal activities would continue," bur as in 

the draft rl:ln, rhc agency did nor rry to define 

the rcrm "rradirional activities." In addition, 

it !>tared rhat "snowmachine access would be 

milnaged ro meer the standards ... specified for 

each manngemcnr area;' and several use corridors were demarcurcd."' Conservation grours, 

frustrated hy the change in the agency's recommendations, complained that the plan gave 

snowmachinc~ "virtually unlimited acces:." tu 

rhe new park and preserve, so they vov,.-cd to 

"devi,c an alternate managemenr plan.'' Not 

l1mg afterward, r.hey did so."; 

fhe tina! plan, rclt.!ascd in January 2006, reduced 

the si)!c llf acreage allmted ro Management Area 

A from 17.7 percent to 9.2 percent."" Otherwise, 

however, the plan continued to &tate !hat "snowmachine ncccss li1r traditional activiric~ W(luld 

tontinue." The.! agency "would gcncmlly allow 

independent, cross-country travel hy any legal 

mean~," and lhe agencv v.ra!> "commirtcd 10 pmviding vi~irors .. . wilh reasonable acces<; for wildcrnes;. recreational acrivitic-,, rraditional activilie~. and for orha purpn!>cs ... ''. (No definiti<m 

of "traditional activities'' was provided, however.) 

.\'I me '>pecifically, rhe plan stated that "racing 

or high-marking w1th nowmachine~" was "n01 

aprropriate at Dcnali given the park's statutory 

guidnnce." The plan, wirh its :.nowmachine provisions, wenr into cfft·cr in mid-.Yiarch 20o6."1 

Cantwell-Area 

All-Terrain Vehicle Access Issues 

In the mitl;,l uf !he long-running tontmverw 

over <;nowmohilcs in the ·'oltl park," a -.imibr 

battle erupted over suhsi~tt•ncc accc'~ rights for 

certain off-road vehicles, u~ed during the '>tlln -

mer :.cason, in th\: "new park.'' Thi~ lll'W battle 

was fought in the \.antwcll are:1: mort: -.pl:cificall\ 

in the Windv Creek, Bull Rivn, anJ < :a111well 

Creck drainages, ncar the ~ccnc of simi lor fig.ht11 

over '\nmvmachinc U!-l'. 

As noted in Chaptl'r 1), rl·gulation.., written ful 

lowing the pasf.age of ANil.CA h:Jd 'Jx>citit•d that 

Cantwell would he one of ((IUJ' "r~·,idt n! <'.<)11\: 

commt.miticc;," wht-re "pt•r,un~ who haw customarily and traditionally eng;-1ged in -.uhsi~tcnce u~o,;), 

within the national park or monument permo 

nernfy r~:;idc.""x I'hc implcmcnra!Jon of rlwit 

·'cu-.tomar} and lraJitionuJ" provi~ion, how~:wr. 

demanded a ~pt'cilk dekrmination rcgard111g 

the ex rent of lhul customary and rrad•tiom1f w,.;_ 

Lacking dul( dclcrminatilll1. nnd ~1ven 1h~: fact 

that the <>ta te of Ala..,ka enforced the ~uh~isrt•nce 

hunting regulation~. Cuntwdl rc~idcnh during 

lhc 19Ho:. hunted a-. they hnd f11r dec;.JUI.'!- in a 

varicry of area:- ~urrounding thl•ir \'illnge, "< •me or 

which were within the houndaric~ of 1 he nC>wlv· 

designmed Denali ~ational P:1rk. 

During the mid-19Xo~, as nott•d in Chnpt~r •i· 

the NPS underwent a three·) tat· proc~::-.~ that 

rcsulrl·d in rhe park·,., 19Xo (il!llcral M.lllogclllt'IIT 

Plu11 (GMP). The actc~., provbion~ of lht· plan, 

which to some exrcnt"verl' hasccl nnl:.111gungc 

in ANI LCA and the June 1981 n.:gula11ons, ..,tatt'd 

rh::H rhl.!rc wa~ no -;pecilk provision for "trans 

portarion mode;, other than \nowmohik-'>, 1n11 

torhoars, and other mean;, of '>urfacc 1 ran,porratiun h·nditionally empl•l)'ed." A~ it ;.1pplit·d to tlw 

Denali National Park ndditit>n~. thc plan nott•J 

that "existing inf(u·matinn indicate'> that o;pecitic 

ORV usc hu~> Ollt n:gulurly been u-.c:d lcJr ... uh;,t.., 

renee rurp~>:-.C'>." f.lut it also norcd that ··nny .1d 

dith1nal informati~)n ahout traditional mean~ will 

be rcvlcwed on a c::t;,c•-hy-ca~e hn.,t~" and thm 

"'otf-roa.J vt: iclc~ arc pcrmirted for n<.:<.:c'~ fot· 

:;ubsbtencc purpo~c:-; where they can hl· :-.hown 

ro be a traditional mean-,< ,f actc ... .,.'' ( .. I rad ili\mol 

activilic::." wen: thol't: det.!mcd to hnvL' been nn 

estnhlished cultural pattern ... prior tu ((,178 when 

the unil I Denali Nnrion:JI Monument! wn ~ cstah· 

lished.") Most Cantwell re .,itknb, however, welT 

unaware of the plan\ pr\1\ i~ions; thi~ i~nprancc·, 

lo ~nmc extt'nt, exi~tcd hccausc nnnl' tlftht: run- lie meetings during the pl:.m \ prl'Jl:lfill ion hnd 

been held there."' 

During the 198os, thl' Ala),k<l Department elf l'io.,h 

and Game (ADI-&C) in rc~ron .. e ro :1 pro<.:c:-;~ 
Advances in ORV technology have 

allowed an increasing number of 

subsistence hunters to access areas in 

the park. NPS Photo 

meted (IUL in Section 8os( d) of AN"lLCA- managed subsistence hunting regulations throughout 

the ~tate. And more ::.pecifically, the un-sire regulation of Cantwell-area hunting provisions came 

cachl.pring, when an ADF&G ufficcrvisited t.hc 

village and issued regbtmtion permits for Unit 

1' moose and caribou harvesting. Rur on July 1, 

1990, in the wake of the December 1989 McDowell court deci~inn, the federal government 

as~umed jurisdiction over subsistence hunting 

activiric:, un many of the state's federal land:.. 

Thl' following spring, Hollis '1\vitchell, a subsistence specialist for Denali National Park and 

Preserve, arrived in Cant\Nell ro issue the Unit 

q regbrration permit1>. He did much the same 

job as had his ADF&G predecessor, but with 

one notable exception: given the language in the 

park\ 1086 general management plan, all ufrhc 

permits stattd that no all-terrain vt:hicles wuul<..l 

he allowed for subl.istence activities in Denali 

National Park.'"" 

~everal Cantwell residents, predictably, chafed at 

the new provision, and at least sumc of the resitlents' dissat.isfaction was based on d1eir opinion 

that off-road vehidcs had been used for subsistence activities in the "new park" prior to 1978. 

They demanded ro know the legal basis for the 

park·~ action, and in 1992, cightlucal residents 

responded with affidavits stating that because 

they had rraditionally used off road vehicles fi)r 

access into the national park, they requested the 

removal of the ORV restrictions. Superinrendent 

Russell Berry, upon receiving lhc atlldavits, recognized that there was sufficient merit in the rcsi 

dents' protests that he asked park staff to make 

an assessment of historical ORV usc. Berry held 

a public meeting in CantweU on the issue, whi<.:h 

was attended by r6 local residcnrs, and he also 

requested an open comment period in which a 

broader range of Cantwell residents might weigh 

in on their long-tenn suhsistence patterns. Berry 

t.ransferred to another park before a decision 

could be made in the matter; his replacement, in 

the fall of 1994, was Steve Martin."' 

When Marrin began his tenure, a n:gionaJ office task fo rce was in the midst of analy;ing the 

agency\ off road vehicle policies. This effort 

prevemed him, for the time being, from making 

sweeping changes to ORV policy in the Cantwell 

area. t\tlartin did, however, agree to visit several 

areas west of Cantwell with two local subsisrem:e 

users, Lee Basner and Vernon Carlson. (Bulb 

men were members of the Denali Subsistence 

Resource Commission, and both had signed affidavits back in r992 protesting the NPS\ changed 

policy.) The field party recognized that portions 

of several ATV trails either rested on gravel or 

were denuded of vegetation; other trail segments, 

however, needed to be protected from further 

resource damage. As a result of that visit, Mnrtin 

established an interim policy stating that tl1L' 

agency would not enforce ORV usc prohibitions 

on portions of dl!'ce area trails: the lower section 

of the Windy Creek trail, the old airport road 

(Cant\vcll Ajrstrip trail), and a short segment of' 

lower Cantwell Creek. Agency personnel then 

proceeded to begin writing a draft environmental a~sessment that would have officially sanetinned usc on those trails. TI1at EA was never 

completed. Even so, park subsistence specialist 

Hollis Twitchell was authorized to issue ORV use 

permit~ lWCr these three routes, and for year& 

afterward, some Cantwell residents had been 

permitted ORV access for subsistence purposes 

imo ponions of the "new park.'''" 

Key ro any decision over the legal ity of ORV use 

in the Cantwell a rea was whether local residents 

had established patterns of subsistence access 

into the "new park'' prior to 197S. To shed more 

light on this question, the PS sponsored a 1999 

study- a Community Use Profile update- which, 

among other purposes, would gather data establishing a specific historical context fur residents' 

subsistence activities. State of Alaska anthropologist WiJliam Simeone was asked to undertal'c the study, and in 2002 he completed ir. The 

study noted that -after World War 11 people used 

surplus military vehicles and commercially maJe 

all terrain vehicles or ATVs .... Some of the areas 

where Cantwell people hunted with ATVs were 

Lhe Dunkle Hills ... BuLl River, an<.! Windy Creek 

up to the National Park boundary, and Cantwell 

Creek." And lands in the "new park" were a 

key part of local subsistence harvests; as Simeone wrote, ''Cantwell residents feel squeezed 
In September, 2003, three ORVs used 

during one subsistence hunting 

excursion created several miles of 

new ORV tracks, impacting an area of 

the "new park" west of the Bull River. 

NPS Photo 

between urban Alaska and the National Park Service. Pressure from urban hunters [particularly 

after the 1971 completion of the Parh llighwayj 

has ... cau5ed game populations to dwinJlc, especially in areas that were once traditionally u~ed 

by the residents of Cantwell. As a consequence 

many Cant\.vell residents now hunt almof>t exclusively on National Park lands, which arc clo!>ed to 

urban residents."" 1 

By the time Simeone's study was complete, a new 

park superintendent was in place: Paul Anderson . Not long after Anderson assumed the job in 

January 2002, 1\vitchell apprised him of the situation. Anderson, in response, was surprised that 

such a policy existed without an N PS determination that ORVs were "tmditionally employed" for 

subsistence access, and without accompanying 

regulations, as prmrided for by ANILCA. Accordingly, he concluded that the existing policy 

was likely illcgal.l4 Ander<;on, in response, made 

no moves to alter the .':>tatu!l lJUO for the time 

being, and NPS officials continued the policy 

that had been set in the mid-1990s. That policy, 

as noted in Chapter 9, stated that local residents 

were offic.:ially prohibited from entering the "new 

park" on ORV~ for sub!>i~tence purpo::.es, but on 

an informal level, regulations were not enforced 

on portions of three specific trail segments."' 

Thi~ state of affairs abruptly changed in September .2003, when three Cantwell subsistence 

hunters rode their ORV:-. into the area between 

the Rull River and th(• Dunkle Hills in the "new 

park.'' They inflic.:ted damage on several mile~ 

of tundra vegetation, -.ome of it in wetland.., nrens.'·'" That winter, Andcr..,on nollficd local ~uh 

:,i-.tence Rcsnurcl' Commi~"ion (SRC) members 

that the NPS wouiJ no longer allow ..,uh!'.l~tcncc 

hunter::. totbt' thcir ORV.., on an~ trail., or an::1s 

within the park bccau::.e they were not "tradi 

tionally employed" acnu·ding the park\, 19Hh 

management plan.' '' 

By this time, the SRC was already on re~.:onl re 

questing that theN PS rcconsiJer it'> Jercrmination (from the 19H6 GMP) ha-.ed upon c\"idencc 

provided by Cantwell subsistence U\('r .... A ... n 

follow-up to that n:que~t , Canrwell n.:-.ilknrs 

attended an Augu!->t 2004 SRC ml.'cting anu indicated that rhev had ndditionalll1formation for 

the park to consider in rt:gard to the "trauit ion -

ally employed" b'>l.le. rhar -.arne month, park 

officiul!'. visited Cantwell. At a public meeting, 

they stated that they would cstuhlbh a Cantwell 

"traditional use area" thnt would include the 

mo1.t popular ORV u~e art:a~: they then noted 

that they would conJuct a new review of all 

available information anJ make a new dclermination a!> to whether ORV1:. were "tradition 

ally employed" in that area by memhcr~ of the 

Cantwell Re:,idcnt Zone Community. (A ... noted 

in Chapter 9, Cantwell haJ been n re~iJent /.one 

community since 19g1.) Park oftidal-. srarL·d 

that any ~auctioned activities fitting the "t raditional" detinirinn needed ro han~ occurred inlhc 

'>pecific area for "'at least two generation..,·· prior 

to the withdrawal of the land::. a~ part of thl' Ill'W 

Denali National Monument on December 1, 

1978. This new interrretation, whid1 W<h based 

C tlapter len • Dendh atlhe Cu~p ol ll•e Mlll~•uu••n,, I 'l'lS-pre .~nl •) 7 
In response to increasing resource 

damage, the NPS began documenting 

the location and condition of ORV 

trails. NPS Photo 

on the "traditional" definition cited in both the 

GMP and in 1979 House and Senate reports, 

irked not only Cantwell residents but also Stare 

of Alaska officials and the Alaska Congre!>sional 

delegation.'~" 

Given the looming controverl>y, 'PS officials 

intensified their interest in resolving the issue. 

They recognized that in order ro accurately 

determine the status of Cantwell's ''traditional 

uses" in the newly-expanded national park as 

part of an upcoming environmental assessment 

(EA), they needed to gather additional material 

about the village's historical subsistence patterns. 

They therefore asked two anthropologists from 

the agency's Alaska Regional Office, Donald Callaway and Rachel Mason, to conduct interviews 

with area residents. (These interviews would 

be a logical follow-up to Simeone's 2002 study.) 

The researchers, in response, interviewed 17 

long-time Cantwell-area residents o;1 various 

dates between December 2004 and February 

2005."') 

Callaway, on May 12, summari:ted the results 

of the transcribed interviews to a meeting of 

Cantwell residents. Two months later, the 

interviews served as the keystone of a large N PS 

report that discussed historical patterns of ORV 

use by Cantwell-area subsistence users. The 

report's purpose was to help determine "whether 

there was traditional ORV access for subsistence 

purposes by the Cantwell community to Denali 

arional Park T .ands in the Cantwell area." The 

98 Crown Jewel oil he North An dmom~tr rve Hosiery of <~h Nauonal P<ork and Preserve 

interview~ confirmed that, indeed, there haJ 

been "multi-generational usc utilidng ORV technologies for the Canrwell area with some families 

demonstrating as much as three or even four 

generations:' The finding:., in a detailed fashion, 

corroborated what Simeone had noted three 

year::. earlier. Specifically, the reporr srawd that 

the first ORYs had been Willysjeeps, used during 

the 1940s, after which several other ORV types 

were introduced, in stages, between the 1950s nnd 

ANILCA's passage in 198o.·~ · 

Based on the conclu5ions in lhe Callaway-Mason 

report, the NPS assembled a brief report that 

determined whether specific ORV use areas ncar 

Cantwell were "traditional." That " traditionally 

employed" study, completed on July .22, stated 

that the NPS would allow subsistence ORV U!>C 

by Cantwell resident~ in a 32,159-acrc "traditional 

usc area'' of the New Park that would comprise 

the Windy Creek, Cantwell Creek, and Bull River 

drainages. (According ton news report, areas 

west of the Bull River did not meet ··rrad itionar· 

standards.)'!' As noted above, 1 PS ntlicials had 

decided in August .2004 how "traditional,'' in 

a general sense, would be deli ned. The report 

completed on .July 22, however, provided three 

specific criteria that would be used to determine whether or not ORVs were "traditionally 

employed" in the various drainages west of 

Cantwell."' 

The following day- Saturday, july 23 the park 

superintendent concurred in the study's find-
ings, and the agency ruled "that ORV's have been 

tr:1dit ion ally employed for access for subsistence 

purpose"> hy residents in the Cantwell area of the 

ANTI.CA park additions to Denali National Park 

ttncl Preserve." But "ro protect sensitive park 

n:sourccs in thi!> area from adverse impact by 

ORV\,'' the agency simultaneously decided ''to 

t~:mporari y close pnrtions of the an:as to ORV 

usc while ~tudics and a permanent management 

plan are being developed." Thb 120-day clo!>ure, 

\\rl1ich wa!> ~-ufficient to cover the 2oor; hunting 

~t·n~on as it pertained to ORV use, CllVered all of 

thl' "rraliitional ust area'' except for three trails 

hecause they "were conl>idered stable enough 

that they would not exhibit adverse impacts." 

( l'hcse three were the Windy Crcl'k rrai1, the 

Cantwell .A.ir'>ttip trall, anli the Canrwell Creek 

u·rul.) Agency oificiab ;,cheduled a public hearing 

:11 C:mtwell for Monday, july 2/j; at that meeting, 

they dbcu~'>ed rhe issue with local resident!> and 

explained the ratiqnalc for their actions." 1 

An NPS ream. \ovith employees from hod1 the 

park and the regil)nal office, then began to 

compile an environmental assessment outlining -.everal alwrnative5 for manuging subsi.<;lence 

ORV u~c in tho5e portions of the ·•new park'' 

located near Cantwell. In December 2005, the 

agenc~' mailed out a ~coping lctkr and held 

open mel.'tings un the subject in both Cantwell 

.tnd Anchorage. fly ~nrch 2006, the team had 

t'lllerged with a newsletter outlining five prelimiTHiry manngcmcnr :1lternatives; it also announced 

additional public meeting!'> on the ~uhject, ro 

he held April4-5 in Cantwell and Anchorage, 

respectively. The 1\ PS, at this point, had not 

puhlicly identified a preliminary alternative. But 

after a contentious process, the agency in August 

il:>sucd an internal review draft of the environmental assc~~mcnt. None of the alternatives 

outlined in that document was announced as the 

:.1gency·~ preferred alternative: the document d id, 

however, note t.hat Alternative 4 l which would 

d\>se che enrirc Canrwclltraditionalul>e area to 

ORV use. altlwugh the NPS would encourage the 

implementation of a winter sub~iste ce hunt by 

... n<lwmachinc] "is the environmentally preferred 

:1ltcrnativc.: because it would have the fewest 

impact'> tn the biological and physical environnH.:nL"11·1 

BcC<\USt: the rublic proce:,s was still in flux, NPS 

otlicials decided to again issue a 120-day clo~ re 

order as they hau in Aut,rust 2005; U1is order like 

wise allowcJ OR.V acccs~ along the !lame three 

Je:.ignatcd routes, and it was likewise preceded 

h) a public hearing hdd in Canrwcll (on Augu1>t 

1), where local re!>ident~ were invited to apply 

fnr subsistence hunting permits. At the Canrwell 

meeting, NPS officials stated that the agency's 

environmenml af!sc~smcnt for t.hc permanent 

ORV management plan would he completcu by 

the end of the calendar year.' 1' Other matters 

interve ned, however, and it was not untii.June 

4· 2007 thar the agency i!<sued it~ F.11viromnental 

tlssessmmt for Managi1~~ Off-mad Vehicle Use for 

Sr~bsistence in the Cautwc/1 Area. The document 

offered four access alternatives. The preferred 

:'\JPS alternative called lbr the continued ORV use 

of rhe Cnnrwcll ·li·aditional Usc Arcn by 4uali 

ned subsistence users, so long <l~ they remninctl 

on specific, designated trails and routes. Tbe 

alternative also called fnr the Park <;ervic~: and 

the Pederal ~ubsisrencc Board co work coop 

erativcly un implementing a winter suhsi~tenre 

moose hunt. 

The NPS invited th~: puhlic tu comment on the 

proposal throughout July. A wcil-attentleu, 

slightly cnnrentiou!> meeting was helu in Cnmwdl 

on july g. ;tnd rhc agency held a ~econd meeting in Anchorage three day:.. later. Poil\lWing the 

puhlic comment period, pHrk staff prepn.rc.:d a 

Jocument that, with minor change:,, mirrored 

the recommendations ser forth in rhe agcnt.:y'~ 

preferred alternntivc. 'I hi5 uoc:umellt, called a 

"l'inJing of No Significant lmpa<..t'' fur the prcvillusly-published environmental assessment, wa' 

approved by Regional DireL"tor Marcia Bla~>t ak 

on Septemher 1H. Agency ..,taff then ~ct to work 

lm dr::tfting rcgularion:o. h> implement the rewmmcndatiOJ11> in that document. 1

'' 

Backcountry M anagement Planning 

As noted in ChapterS. the first planning specifically related to the park's backcountry took plan· 

in the early- to mid 19705, &honly after the park 

had hcgun regulating traffic over the park roau. 

Due to a boom in backpacking activity and the 

envir(ln mentaltmpact~ of rhat activity, park officials concluded that there was "a need f'or Jirect 

on site management'' in area~ of the (old) park 

char were remote from the road cmridor. Hy rh0 

spring nf 1974, :.taff had c:.tabli'>ht:d 31 backwunrry :wnes and provided maximum overnight use 

limits for each 1.one; in atlditinn.the park that 

year hired the firsr seasonal hackcountry ranger!> . 

During the succeeding decade, the.: populariry 

\lf Denali\ backcounrry continued to incrcUM'. 

Park sraff. in reaction, increa~cJ the number uf 

backcounrry zones in the .. old par).:" !'rom 11 to 

19· and four additional wnes were ~:~tabli~hed 

in the Kantishna Hill~ ptlrtion of the "new 

park." But given rhe usc limitation~, un incr<.:a11 

ing number of backpackers were unable rn visit 

their areas of interest, and some were unable to 

overnight in the park at all. Backcountry i~~uc<., 

moreover, were omitted ::tlmost entirely frnmthe 

parks general management planning process of 

Chall\l'f Tt;n Dmah ;;I u,., Cll~ l ollht• MtiiPPilllllll, 1Y9'rpf!V.m l '~'l 
Backcountry rangers are tasked with 

a number of responsibilities, including 

monitoring natural and cultural 

resource conditions in remote areas. 

The ranger above checks the Stony 

Creek Patrol Cabin, built in 1926, 

one of the early ranger patrol cabins 

along the northern park boundary. 

NPS Photo. Kennels Collection 

H)S3-R6. Indeed, the only majur backcounn·yrclared agency actions during this period were 

thmc that led to the preparation of a review of the 

park's wilderne-;s eligibility. As noted in Chapter 

q, thi::. proces!>, which \va:- completed in 1988, 

resulted in a recommendation that of 3,726,3-B 

acre!> in the park\ wilderness studv area. The 

agency recommended that about 6o percent of 

it- or .2,254,293 ncres ~hou ld be added ro the 

National Wilderness Preservation System. 

After the completion of two other major park 

plan~ (dealing with the ~o-callcd "front country"" and the south side), the time was ripe for a 

rccnn~ideration of how the backcountry- which 

compris<:d q8 percent of the total area in the 

combined park and pre~erve should be managed. Park officials recognized that all a)>pects of 

rhe park'~ hackcountr~· were popular: individual 

backpacking parties continued to fill most if nor 

all available slot:-. during much of the summer 

sea~on, mountaineering visitation increased, and 

guided hackcounrry trips became so popular that 

the number of licensed hackcountry operators 

increased from )h in 1991 to 64 in 1996. Many 

of the activitie;. undertaken by these operator;. 

were minimally regulated, hut other~ such as 

Kantishna-arca hiking service::., hunting guide 

service1-., river trip guide services, and various 

dog ~led -,ervice'>- wcrc regulated by concessions 

permits rather than incidental business permits 

( rBPs). The usc of concessions permit~ allowed 

theN PS to e'>tnblish a ceiling on the number of 

operator<,; the action did nothing, however, to 

regulate the number of visitors who were served 

by those operators.'1

' 

NPS officials were concerned about the continued growth in the number of flighb to Kahiltna Glacier, Ruth Glacier, and similar nea rby 

locations. Hoping to ·'preYent thi~ place from 

becoming another Grand Canyon;' N PS officials 

in 1997 decided to limit the number of air taxi 

and flightseeing tour operators to the eighr currently !BP holders by issuing concession permit~ 

to them. That action, by itself, did not limit air 

tramc, but agency officials let it be known that 

the number of annual glacier landings might he 

restricted in the not-too-distant future. Local air 

raxi operators, proudly independent, had varying 

reactions to the proposal; as one of them noted, 

"In some ways, ... it's kind of nice bcc.1usc it gives 

you limited competition ... hut I don't know, I 

don't think that's really the way that America was 

bascd."•Vi The limitation was implemented in the 

spring of 1998. 

Because of growing backcountry visitation- and 

more specifically because of a spike in the 

number of climbers, snowmachincrs, tlightseeing tourists and air taxi patrons- agency otlkials 

recognized the need for a broad planning efforr. 

The agency thus started the process "to address 

the rapidly growing level and diversity of uses, 

resource management needs, and the anticipated 

demand for future uses not foreseen or addressed in the 1986 General Managemt:nt Plan." 

Park superintendent Steve Martin's appraisal was 

honest and to the point: "lt isn't that we have a 

lot of problems right now, but we need to plan 

ahead to know where we're going, so it's not just 

whoever gets there first wins:' Martin envisioned that the plan would likely scr up .wnes for 
Planning for management of the 

park's backcountry use began in 

earnest in 1998. Photo © Kennan 

Ward, NPS lnterp. Collection, #5573 

different types of park experiences, from quiet 

and remote ro potentially noisy or crowded; he 

anticipated that one result of the plan might be a 

limit on the number of flighrsecing trips per day 

or on the annual number of Mount McKinley 

climbers.•l•• (Specifics of the plan's impact on the 

snowmachine activity is detailed in the section 

above, while the plan's treatment of park mountainecTing is detailed in Chapter 13.) 

Park planner M.ike Tranel began his work on the 

plan (originally conceived as a winter usc plan) in 

the spring of 1998, and it was announced to the 

public in early September 1999. A series of four 

"open house scoping sessions" followed berwecn 

October 11 and October 14, and the public was 

given until ovember 15 to send in comments, 

both about "who uses what in the park" and 

about what the final plan should recommend. 

The agency, ur that time, had hoped to s~uc a 

draft plan in September 2000.'4" But for reasons 

related to the impending 2000 election:,, progress on the plan was delayed for about a year. By 

January 2001, park officials had compiled a series 

of five preliminary management alternatives and 

a nnounced five meetings-to be held between 

Fehruary 12 and February 21-vVhere the public 

could weigh in on the plan's progress. After a 

March 15 public comment deadline, officials 

began preparing an internal review draft of the 

plan. During and after this process, the interested public was kept informed of progress on the 

plan, primarily via period ic updates in the park's 

newsletter.'4' 

Throughout 2002, park officials compiled a new 

version of the draft plan, whlch was released to 

the public in mid-February 2003.'+> The document, which was formally called the park's BnckCOIIIIlry Ma11agement Plan, General Mnnaf(el/le71f Pla11 Amendme11t, Environm£'11/al Impact 

Statel/lell/, was so massive that the agency 

simultaneously released an executive summary 

which wa:, one-tenth as long. The d raft plan, 

which was intended to "describe the future for 

glacier landings, air taxi operators, the number 

of climbers on Mount McKinley and managing 

snowmachining in the park additions,"'4' tnok 

the same general direction as had the public 

meetings two years earlier, but it provided a far 

more detailed view of what the various alternatives envisioned and what their impact~ would 

be on the multitude of puk resources. Of the 

five out I ined scenarios, the N PS\ "preferred 

alternative" (Alternative D) called for a balnnce 

between consumptive and nun-consumptive 

activities. (Alternatives Band C had emphasi~cd 

wilderness values and opportunities for '>olitude, while Alternative E called for expanded 

visitor services, additional facilities, and greater 

motorized acces~ ) 

As noted in the section on snowmachine management (above), alternatives R through E (i.e., 

all but the no-action alternative) divided the 

new park and the preserve into 29 management 

a reas. Three types of usc levels were dclincateJ. 

The "natural area.'' the most restrictive clas~ifica

tion, provided for "wilderness recreation with 

outstanding opportunjtics for solitude;" "primitive areas" provideJ for 'high quality wildernes~ 

experience with a range of options ti.1r acce:-.~;" 

and "backcountry areas" offered "opportunitic!> 

for backcountry experience for a range of user:-..'' 

Chapter lefl Delldlt a! lhe Cusp ollhe Milh:-nn1uno. 199'>-pr£'"'"1 1111 
During the park's backcountry use 

planning effort, it was recognized 

that the number of climbers on Mt. 

McKinley would increase. NPS Photo 

The agency's preferred alternarive called for the 

designation of 11 zones, containing 58-4 percent 

of the area in question, to be "natural areas;" all 

or part of 16 zones, containing 36.2 percent of the 

study area, robe "primitive areas;" and 2 zones, 

plus a portion of 2 others, were "backcountry 

areas" which comprised 5-4 percent of the study 

area. The plan also recommended some changes 

to use patterns in the "old park;" due to the surge 

in mountaineering activity, the number of backcountry units was increased from 39 to 46, and 

a "mountaineering special use area" was recommended for the small but popular route corridor 

between the Kahiltna Glacier base camp and the 

Mount McKin ley summit.'-H 

Given the new zone-based system, which was an 

extension of the Old Park backcountry units that 

had been established in 1974, the agency made a 

number of recommendations to allow high-quality park visits to continue despite the increasing 

visitor volumes. Hiking groups, for example, 

would be limited to 12 to 15 people; motorboats 

would be allowed on some rivers but not on others; recommendations were made for designated 

10£ Crown Jpwel of I he North An Admlnl~tratiVI:~ H1story of Denah Nat1onal P;uk and Preserve 

air taxi landing areas; shorr loop trails would 

be established, in high-usc areas, to prevent 

resource degradation; additional visitor facilities and trails were proposed in the entrance and 

headquarters areas; and a public lands information center was proposed in the Cantwell-Broad 

Pass area. '4' 

After releasing the plan, the agency scheduled a 

series of seven informational meetings and public 

hearings at various Railbelt locations. Plans 

originally called for a May 7 public comment 

deadline, but by the time the meetings were held 

in late April, the level of public interest was sufficiently great that the deadl ine had been pushed 

back to May 30. 04" Agency officials, at that time, 

hoped to have a final plan ready by early 2004. 

But in the midst of the comment period, state legislative leaders announced that they were objecting to the plan. Senate President Gene Therriault 

(R-North Pole) stated that the plan contained 

"references to restricting access to areas of the 

park because it could impact somebody's feeling of isolation." Given those references, he 

protested because "when ANlLCA was passed 
Ranger-led day hikes represent 

another park user group. NPS Photo 

... traditional access was only supposed to be 

restricted when it was detrimental to the re:-.ourcc 

it~clf." House Speaker Pete Kott (R-Eagle River) 

offered a similar concern. Therriault and Kott 

recognized that while soliUide wa~ an attraction, 

it should not be considered a re~ource; instead, 

they noted, "resource~ are physical, tangible 

resources such a:-. fish and wildlife, water, air, soil~ 

and vegctarion.''•n 

The sheer volume of the public rcsponl>e- the 

agency received 9.37n cum mcnt!> on the plan 

between mid-February and late May- plu:-. the 

"many ~ub tantive comment!> that recommended 

changes in the approach of the plan" caused NPS 

officials to reconsider -.orne of rhc notions that 

they had put forth in the draft plan. As alluded 

n 1 in the section above, protest:; from the State 

of Alaska related to acc s~ related to snowmachines, a limitation on airplane landings, and 

registration requirement~ for overnight users 

caused NPS olllciah. to reconsider the projecr.' 1

" 

"After careful consideration:' therefore, "the NPS 

Ctlncludcd rhat ]the]alternative~ pre:;ented in 

the draft would require significant modification 

to respond to the range of intcrc~ots expressed in 

public comment." ln late july 2004, the agency 

declared its intention to write a revised draft of 

the park'~ backcountry management plan. (A-, 

noted in the Federal Register, the agency's "decision to revise the plan is in response to ptiblic 

comment ... which indicated the need for revised 

management area descriptions and additional 

actions.") The new plan would .. present fi>ur new 

action alternatives" that responded to specific 

public comments; these alternatives would 

"broaden the range of potential acrions, clarify 

the descriptionio of management area~. and describe methodologies for managing access to the 

park and pre~ervc."14•• 

During the next few months, NPS oflicials spoke 

with variou~ major u~er groups about their oppo~ tion to the draft plan. The Aircraft Owner~o and Pi lob As~oc at on, which represented 

private pilots, railed against the prohibition 

again~t airplane landings (save f(>r emergencies) 

in the Old Park; in rcspon~c, the prohibition was 

lifted, although PS officials rc~ervcd the right 

to regulate rhb activity in the future. Point-topoint air taxi operators were able to move from 

a ~c ies of prescriptive actions (as stated in the 

draft plan) to a series of tlesired conditions. And 

scenic air tour operators, who had grumbled that 

the N PS wm, on the verge of setting up a quota 

sysrem, were able to work out a ~:.~rem in which 

their acrivities were governed by encounter rates 

and activity evel~ rather than simple volume. 

A fi nal area of contention dealt with climbing. 

Here, a~ noted in greater detail in Chaprcr ~. 

language in the draft remained; American Alpine 

Club leaders, despite in itial prore~r~. came ro 

rccogni;.c that an annual limit of I,c;oo climbers 

made sense.''" 

On April zo, 2005, theN PS announced the 

completion of its revi;.ed draft plan. Thi~ plan, 

like its predecessor, olfercd llve alternatives for 

Chapler Ten Dt'l\<th ill Ih!' Cusp ol thP MIIIPnnourn. 1995-presenl 1 0~ 
At the Backcountry Desk in the 

Visitor Access Center, backcountry 

rangers provide information to 

hikers about units available, hiking 

conditions and safety. They facilitate 

backcountry management by issuing 

overnight backcountry permits and 

bear resistant food containers to 

backpackers. In 2005 this function 

moved just outside the renamed 

Wilderness Access Center. Photo © 

Kennan Ward, NPS lnterp. Collection, 

114612 

the fururc managemenr of the park's backcountry. As suggested by the agencv's effons after rhc 

draft plan's issuance, planners made numerous 

changes to the park'!> draft plan. As noted in a 

press release describin..~ the plan, 

The revised draft focuses on setting 

goals for vi!>itor experience andresource protection for d ifferent regions 

of the backcountry. The !agency's! 

preferred alternative prov de~ for 

increased access to the park and 

preserve backcounrry and proposed 

almost no initial limitations to existing 

ai rplanc or snowmachinc access. Areas for commercial airplane landing~ 

are clearly defined . The preferred 

alternative calls for monitoring visitor 

experience and resource conditions, 

and identifies both voluntary and 

regulatory steps that could be taken to 

manage access if monitoring demonstt·ates that goals are not achieved.''' 

The agency's rcvi~ed draft abandoned the 2')-

zone management system that had been featured 

in the earlier draft, and instead of a three-tiered 

hierarchy of "backcountry," "primitive," and 

'' natural" areas, the new plan divided the new 

park and p reserve into 48 backcounrry units 

which wou ld be managed in five general gradations of usc. These use classifications would be 

called areas A through E. Area A wa~ to "provide 

a diversity of opportunities ... that arc relatively 

accessible to day-users and to those who have 

limited wilderness travel skills or equipment, and 

Area E- at the other end of the scale would 

}04 C. town )f'Wf·l of tlw Notth An AdmtntslrilttV!' ~tory of Dt>nnh N<>tlonal Pad and Preserve 

"provide opportunities for extended cxpcdition' 

in remote areas where other parties and sign!- of 

civilization would generally not he encountered." 

Areas Band D offered a gradation between these 

two extremes, while Area C spccifically proYidcd 

·•oppnrtunitie!> for climbing and mountaineering 

in a wilderness setting." 

Given those criteria, each of the four action alternatives divided up the new park and preserve 

into one of the five management nrcas. i\s in rhc 

draft plan, the third acrion altcrnati\'C (Aitcrnativc 4 in thi::. case) wa!> the N PS\ prcferred 

alternative; as he fore, the first and secund action 

alrernarives cmphasi;.ed protection to a relative 

extenr, and the fourth action alternative cmphasil.cd expanded visitatinn and greater motori;.ed 

access. 

Perhaps because the NPS'!> preferred alternative 

was le~s restrictive than two other plan alternJtives, it did nor recommend that any acreage 

for the Area E classificalion . lm.tead, it cla~sified more than one-sixth of the study area ( 17-7 

pcrcenr) as Area A and another 8.2 percent a~ 

Area B. About two-th irds of the study nre:1 MI.~ 

percent) was assigned to the relatively restrictive 

Area D. Land allotted !>pecificnlly for climbing 

and mountaineering (Area C) would comprise 

the remaining 6-3 percent of the study area. Abo 

included in the plan was a large Ruth Glacier 

Special Usc area, within Area A. that provided 

for "high usc of transportation services'' for 

those accessing the Ruth Amphitheatre between 

May and August. Inasmuch as mo:-;t ncar-term 

visimtion was anticipated in the th ree ditferent units marked Area A, the plan allowed for 
growth "along the park road in the Old l'ark and 

Kamishna; at the Ruth, Tokositna, and Kahiltna 

Glacier~; and in the Dunkle Hills/Bro<ld Pas!> 

area.'' The revised draft gave specitic usc limits 

for each of 75 backc,>untry tmits: 46 units in the 

old park, 4 new-park units (in tht: Kantishna 

Hills) that had Jon~ operated under use limits, 

and 2) additional, ncwly-establisht:d unir:, in 1 hi.! 

new park and pn:servc, The plan made many 

add itional rc~ommendatil)ns regardingacccs!:>, 

commercial .::ervices, buckcounrry facilities, and 

atlminh .. rrative and :.cicntific nctivities:;• 

When the revised plan was released, the • PS 

announced t:har it would be holding public meetings in five Railbelt communities; these meetings, 

which would includl' a formal public hearing, 

woultl be hdd between June 8 and .June 15. The 

pllblic, at fir!:>r, wa~ asked to submit comments by 

June 27; that deadline was later extended to June 

30, and still later tu July 15.'" l'bt: tiL-ad lines were 

extended bccau~:>e rhc public responded to the 

rcvisetl draft even more than it had to the original 

drJft; in all, the NPS received 15,19R public<·tln1-

ments, almost 6,ooo more than it had received 

two years earlier. More than 96 pcn;cnt of the 

comment:; were form letters, most of which 

came from adherents w various environmental 

urganitat ion~.''< 

In response ro the •·overwhelming" public 

interest in the plan, the agency made numerous 

change!> to the revised draft; th<.: puhlic C(lmmenb, which (according to park Supt. Paul Antkr~on) "resulted in' a much stronger and more 

l'elincd managemt:nt plan than would have heen 

pos!>ible otherwise:· were reflected in the final 

backcountry plan, which wa~ released to the puplie in January 2006.';' fn nrder robe a<; mmsparent as p()ssible, the agency took the unusual step 

of induding, on a word-for-word basis, all text 

that had been either :ldded ro, or deleted from, 

rhe revised draft plan. There were, therefore, a 

large number of change~, of both a subs.t~mtive 

<1nd technical naturt.:. Overall, however, the public had a 11.!~::. contentious re::.ponse to the revised 

draft than it had had to the draft.';" 

In the final plan, the new "modified'' prcferrcJ 

alternative kept the same four-riered management classification as bcforc''i"l and defined the 

f\>ur tiers the same way, but many changes were 

made to the management philosophy to be applied to specific areas. For example, a large area 

ju!>t cast of Ruth Glacier wa~ moved from Area 

A to either Area B or Area C, and acreage north 

of the Dunkle Hills was moved from Area A w 

Area 13, and a lnrge area on both sides of the road 

in the Kantishna area was also moved from Area 

A 10 Area B. On the other hand, a vast swath of 

land in the northern park addition ~.:ast nf Moo~e 

Creek from Area D to Area P,. The result of these 

reclas~ifications meant that acreage managed O.'-

Area A compri~ed 9.2. percent of the new pari' 

nnd preserve (down from 17.2. percent in the 

revised plan), but Area B comprised another 24.R 

percent ()f the study area (up from f\.2 percent). 

Acrcagl.! in the n:lnrivcly rt:strktive Arl.!a D da:--

sificatfon declined from 68.3 percent to 57-9 

pcrcenr, while lands allotted rn dim her:-.. and 

mountaineen, t·onstituted 8.1 percent of the study 

area, up from a recommended 6.3 percent in thl· 

revised draft. The agt.:ncy nlso made 1\ever(ll other 

modificarion'-o dealing with commcrci<JI <;ervice~ .. 

backcnunrry tacilities, and administTative and 

scientific activitie~.''i" 

The issuance l)f the plan markctl the beginning 

of a 30·day no action period. On February 2.1, 

shortly after the conclu~ion of that pcriou, Acting 

Regional Director Victor Knox iss1Jed a rt'cord of 

decision, after which the NPS ht·gan implementing lhc plan.•;•• Easing the agency·~ management 

challenges Juring irs eight year planning dfort 

wa~ the relative lack of growth in b;lckcuuntry 

visitation; the number of annual overnight stay,, 

for example, declined from N,.224 in ltJ()!l to 

34,or6 in 2004 and t·o 2B,62.3 in 2006. The msmbe:r of commercial operator~ licensed to bring 

visitors into the rark ha<; similarly declined, from 

64 in 1996 to 53 in 2006.'''" 

South Side Planning Efforts 

During the 19805 and early t<)C)OS, theN P.t> and 

the State of Alaska had cooperated on ~evcral 

pmposals relllted to facilities development o;outh 

of rhe Alas.k<t Range. (Sec Chapter y.) During the 

mid-1980::., as part of the park\ ~encrnl management p lanning process, rhc 1:\vo govcrnmems had 

recommended a hntd/visitor center com rlcx at 

the south end of Curry Ritlgc, located in Denali 

State Park. In 1989, <~' part of the ~rate park'::. 

master planning proccsf., tlw state ::i1.1pj)l)rled 

by the NPS· recommended facilities at High 

Lake at the state park's northern end, ncar the 

intersection of UlC Alnska Railro<Jd and the Park-; 

Highway, plus 3 small lodge in the Toko:;itna 

area. Shortly afterward, the N l'S began work 

on itfi South Slope Devc.:l(1pm~nr Concept Plan 

(IJCP). ln 1991, an cnvironm\!ntal a~~C:!.!-.mcnt 

was released that included pltms for a largt.: hotel 

and visitor center, ju:,t south llf'lalkcctna, on bnd 

owned by the Cook Inlet Regional Corporation. 

Additional site ~rudie" were completed in 1992. 

By May 1993, when the NPS issued it~ drnf1 DCP. 

it had down played the idea of constructing u 

south-side hotel. ln:.tead, lhe agt:ncy's preferred 

alternative advoc<ttcd two development .site!>: an 

initial visitor center tn he located just north ol 
where the Parks Highway bridged the Chulitna 

River and, if condition!. warranted. a visitor center and possible hotel complex ncar Talkeetna. 

Despite rhe fact that the plan tn:aretl Talkeetna 

:~~a second-tier development site, area resid<.:nts 

j(.1 ughr the plan so srridendy that par].; ~urcrin

rt·ndcnl Russell Berry stepped in and sropped 

the planning process. Soon afterward, Interior 

C.,ec..·retary Bruce Babbitt recommended the 

csrahlishrnent of the ~o-callcd Denali Task Force 

1\1 investigate south slope development. among 

other park-related tupk~. The ta~k force report, 

i!>sucd in October t994 anJ approved by the 

advbmy bunrd two months later, rc..•commentled 

small visitor centers ar rhree south slope sites: 

Tnknsitna, Byers Lake, and 'Jalkecrna. !Sec Map 

~-) It::. approach, howcVl'r, differed from pl'l·vious 

plan~ in that "all major landowner~ and interc.,t groups ... must he involved in Ul'veiuprnent 

planning to en~>ure that visitor centers, l(.ldging 

and access improvement~ arc cuordinarcd." And 

lt further recommended that '·lodging and other 

primarily commercial facilitic:. should only he developed on privntc lands.·· A lllp-down approach, 

in which fctlcro.ll nnd staw intc..TeSt!> dictated rhc 

direcrion of area development, would no longer 

work; in it.~ place a more cooperative planning 

elft 1rt was needed that included key :-.takeht 1ldcrs 

and local commumtic:.. 

just u few week:; after the Dcnali '[ask Force b-

~;ued its report, the Alaska Region\ new regtunal 

director. Bob Barbee, visited the park and met 

with acting park superintendent Steve Marrin 

and hi;, staff. Well aware that the south slope 

planning proce'>!'. was at a standstill, Barbee arranged for the park ro hire Nancy Swanron rn 

put m:w life inro the plan. Before long, Sw:mton 

hcgan meeting with a host of other players-the 

sttlte, rwo borough!-, and rwo Native corpmations-on a more cooperative planning effort. 

which t·venrually became rhc Revised Dr(lfi De·vclt1{1/llent Cnncept Plan and envinmmcntal impact 

!->ratement for Denali's south side."' 

Soon after Swanton began her work, private 

sector developers at lung last began ro seize the 

economic potential of vurious 'titcs in the ~outh 

~iJc planning area. A:-. noted in Chaprer y, dcvelopmenr interests a.<> far back as june t9H7 had annr,unced plans for a lodge and convention center 

at a site juc,t north of the Chulitna River nridgc. 

Tho!>e plan!> gained new traction in early t995 

when Leonard "Sunny" Kragness, the uwner of 

a qo-acre parcel just north of the bridge. sold 

hi~ parcel tu Princess Tours, one uf Ala!>l..a\ 

large<;t cruise tour operators.'h' That August. the 

company announced that it would build a large 

new hotel on the parcel. A pre~!'. rekase noted 

rhat the hotel W<1uld he marketed to "indepcndent tnwelers nnd those who umw on t·nn~~., 

bu~-. and 1>ther package tour .... " Pnm·c..,-, lour 

ollicials douhtle;,..; knew that the March tl)9) 

draft DCP recnmmentlcd a 0.000-~ljll:ln.: follt 

\'isitor center in the -.amc g~·ncrul area, but thcr~· 

is no indication that tlw tour company's hor\!1 

plan ... WC'l'C predicated •ln the vi!>il11r center'' 

consrrucrion. Instead, rhe rompanv's morives 

wcr<.: entirely pragmatic; its businl'"" volume 

wa~ incrc:1sing, and it knew that It had a limitl·d 

range of expansion p11s~ibihtics Jt il" cxi~tmg 

hotel proper!} (the Denali Prinre-.~ l.nJgc) ;11 

the park's ea,tern entrance. Company per .. unnel 

were well a war<.: rhm the h1Ht'l \\ 11ttld he "rlw fir'>t 

major toulist development on th~· ~(Jllth :-.ide or 

Mount McKinley." They were nhn wdl •tWlll'l' 

thar rhc hotel'-. major ~clling point wn:-. lr... location ".p mile~ from the peak with an unlimited 

view, Wl'ather pl'rmitring." Bv mid~ummer ll.)t)(l, 

con:-.lruc.:tion work on rhc ncw hntd l11 bl' 

callctl the 1\1\IUnt McKinley Princc:-.s l.odgc 

wn~ underway. The 1tu-ronm, S;a5 m1ilion lodge 

opened on -.chcdulc in mid- Ma\ llJlJ7, just in 

rime fm the ~ummer rnuri~m ~lhlll"l. Thi1> h•'tcl 

b ~rill in operation: it i:-. now C;11led the 'vk"-inh.:~· 

Princess \Xiilderncs~ Lodge o:~nd ha" mme <1lmosr 

tripled in size t11 460 rooms.'''' 

This kmg-~><lught privutl'·"ector lit:vcloptnt'IH 

further supported llll' ncetl fm additi\Jnal federal 

and ~tate plannmg effort'> f'or that area. t\s 

noted above, purk planner Nancy \wctnton led 

the agcnt.:y', l'ffort::. toward producing a rcvi,cd 

drafr of the ~omh Side DCP, antl in v1a\ llJI.J), 

a newly-assembled cooperative plonning team 

began meeting on :1 monthly basi:-. l.ale that 

Augu,-;t, the agencies hosted a -;eric" uf puhli<.: 

open house., at v~1riou:. Railbclr poinh."'l Thnt 

October the vnriou!. agencies announccd - heftll'C rhc cvi~cd draft was completed th:1t 

tlwir preferred altern aLive would include, a.-. it' 

centerpiece, "an upgrade and extcthilm 11f the 

Pcrer:."Ville Road. and a new vi~itor l~·nter al 

the end of the Pl'tcrsvillc Rllad upgrade in the 

wel>tern end of Denali Stare Park overlooking d1c 

Tokositna Glacier." The pl:mnctl vi~itl)t center 

would bc ju~r three miles frnm the nation;:rl park 

boundnry. In Man.:h ")1)5, th~.: agcnciet- relea1.cd 

a TeVi:.cd draft J)CP and cnvironmcnt:l( imp:lct 

statement. As predicted, the focus of the ncw 

plan W:ll> "rhc To!..osirna arcn of Denali Srat~: 

Park" specifically the Ramsdvke Creek and 

Long l'nint area where "a lan~c vi-;itor ccnrcr 

(up W 11,uoo square feet)" was planned ulong 

With a 50-o;itc Catnpgrounc.J, up tO fllUr pub! it U:,e 

cabins, and Sl·wral trails. The plan also caJied 

for the devdopment llf '"visitor facilitic., :md !-er 

vices at Talkeetna, Broad Pass, antl in the central 

develnpmcnr ;.one of Denali Srate Phrk li.l'- the 

Byers L::1ke VICinity! when the need anJ 1)p 
On a clear day from the proposed 

visitor center site in the Peters Hills, 

the view looking up the Tokositna 

Glacier toward Mt. M cKinley is 

spectacular. NPS Photo 

portunity to do so arc e:.tablishcd." Bur perhaps 

because Princess Tours had already announced 

the construction of a hotel at the south end of 

the state park., the south side plan did not cal l 

fur a new agcnc~ -funded or agency-constructed 

horel. The NPS estimared that implementing 

the proposal would cost abour S42.9 million, S3o 

million of which would be spent on rebuilding 

and extending rhe Petersville Road."'' 

Soon after the plan was disn·ibuted, the intergovernmental team began holding a series of public 

hearings on the plan; these took place in six 

Railbelt communities between April r6 and April 

25, 1996. Plan backers hoped that the cooperative 

nature of the plan's development- with federaL 

state, borough, and Native representationwould pave the way toward it:, eventual approyal. 

Bur an Anchorage new reporter predicted that 

·'if previous Denali plans are a guide, controversy 

is likely." That prediction came true. Agencies 

received hundreds of written comments in re-

::.pon~c, plus additional testimony at the hearing~. 

Although one conservation group felt that the 

plan was "on the right track," many of the comments were heavily critical of the plan. So strong 

was the criticism that the agency scheduled a 

seventh hearing (on May 15), and the original 

comment deadline of J'vlay 2r was pushed back to 

june 'i·'"" 

In November the assembly for the MaranuskaSu~itna Borough- which wa~ one of the plan's 

major partners- met to pass a resolution supporting the plan. Bur it ran into a wall of opposition, with 6o people denouncing the plan 

and just one supporting it. After a three-hour 

hearing, assembly members decided to postpone their vote. Two weeks later, the a~~cmhly 

postponed the matter again. Those who opposed 

the plan, according to one new~ report, were an 

"unusual coalition" of pro-development business owners, local politician:., environmental 

groups and Petersville-area mine claimant<:.. 

Their primary argument wa~ that chon~ing the 

lokositna ~ire was too expensive ($44 million, 

as opposed to a S9 million plan that included n 

visitor center along the Parks Highw<1Y ncar Byers 

Lake) and that the proposal would ruin an area 

that wac; used "only by the more adventuresome 

people." Both backers and opponent~ of the 

plan circulated petitions; more than 6o Trapper 

Creek residents signed one supporting the plan, 

but an anti-plan petition garnered more than 100 

signanrrc~. The NPS, during thi::. period, hacked 

the idea because it gave people more places to go 

in the park, because it was a "superior destination" that offered a wilderness experience, and 

because it promised to relieve pressure on the 

often crowded eastern enrrance. As such, it wa~ 

cast in the somewhat unusual position of backing 

development and road construction against the 

wishes of environmentalists.'"7 

On .January 7, 1997, the Mat-Su Rorough fu.~em

bly addressed the matter again and voted 7-0 to 

support the plan despite "overwhelming testimony" against it. More than 100 local residents, hy 

this rime, had signed petitions favoring rhc project, but ''about five times that number" opposed 

it. Project opponents, claiming that "the will of 

the people'' had been thwarted, vowed to lobby 

state and federal officials to prevent the project 

from being funded.'"" The NPS and its partners, 

Chdpler Ten Denal1 dt the Cu>j> of lhe Mlllf'nnum, 199~-prE">t·n l 107 
meanwhile, completed their work un the final 

DCP. T he new plan, released in !nrc janua ry, 

was largely similar to rhe revised draft. One of 

rhe major changes was a 6o percent reduction in 

clle size of the Tokositna vbiwr center, w s,ooo 

.,quare feet nHhcr than I),OOO squtlre fect. In 

addition, the visitor center's completion date 

was pushed back from 2000 to 2002, and other 

changes were recommended a!> well.'"" 

The complcrion of the plan, lwwcver, did not 

->quclch the voice of the plan'l> dissenwr~, and in 

April this group-which was now composed of 

environmenralil-.tr., hunters, min , mushers and 

"nowmachiners-mct and formed the Coalition 

for Rc'>ponsible South Denali Development. The 

gmup held a May 1 press conference in Anchorage nnd recom mended thnt planners save lh5 

mill ion by building a visit<lr renter along the 

Park!> I lighway ncar Byers l.ake. NPS oflkial~ 

countered thar .;;uch a center would not solve 

congestion at the northern entranct, nor would 

it uffcr much of a wilderness experience. But 

t~ccording to one new::. report, coalition member:; 

protc!.tcd '1\PS plan!> because they ·'would simply 

provide a place for 'industrial tourism' to dump 

more tourists to the detriment of Alaska recreationists and tlm~e few guides selling wilderness 

experience.,.'''''' Alaska's wngrcs::,ional delegation, during this period, was less Lhan enthu!.ia:;,tic 

about implementing the plan, both because of local opposition and becaust: its primary park-area 

dcv~lopment effMts were then being directed 

toward the construction of a new northern route 

intll Kanrishlhl. 

!\~the controversy continued over the 1997 DCP, 

~ub~tan t ialmodificatit>ns were maLic ro address 

public <.:tlncerns. To address implementation of 

the south -.ide plan, Governor Knowles in 1997 

chartered the twelve-member South Denali Citi-

.lCn~ Con~ul tati n Committee, which included 

rl!prescntatives from many of the same south side 

communiti ~ and interested ll'>Cr groups that had 

fought over the failed 1996-1997 plan . The committee, at first, met monthly. For mo~;t o f its first 

year o f existence, however, this committee was 

generally unsuccessful in accomplishing its goab. 

\1\eanwhilc, privurc ~ector developmenb continued . ln May 1997, as noted <1bove, Princess 

'ltlurs' new lodge ncar the Chulitna River hridge 

n pencu for bu~ine:-.:>, and St)on afterward another 

wdl-runded tourism operator decided to locate 

a lodge in the vicinity. Cook Jnlet Region, Inc. 

(Cl Rl), which was the Native regional corporarion in much of ~outhccntral Alaf>ka, began in 

"'i97 to make major investments in the Alaska 

touri:;m industry, and in 1998 it formed a subsidiary, Alaska He ritage ·llmr<;;, to oversee its Alaska 

busincsSl!S and ..,cJI pat..:bgc tum..,. I hat -.ume 

year, CiRl'<> top touri-;m ofTkial, Ot•nni.; RrnnJ~m. 

noted that the area just ..,m,th of Denali Nntl<llhll 

Park was ripe for dl·vclopmcnt becau~e of thv 

crowded condition., at the park\ main cntrnnce 

in the north. Based on tho.,e conditions, nnd 

in pe~ of abo a prealing ro iH•~e »ecking a 

weekend getaway from Anchoragc. CTRI dcl'ldcd 

to construct~~ nc1.v, qS-room lodgl' just -;out)l 

ofT.1Ikccrna. (Al> noted in Chapter<),~~ \i:-dtor 

cenrer-to be lot·ott.:J on CIRI ln11d .md lH.ljaccnt 

to ayeHo-hc-huilt CIRI-:-pon:-.orcd hotel h:.tL! 

been a key part ofNPS planl, betWel'n H)<)ll anL! 

1994. But protcs.ro; from Htlkcctna re-.ilknt., h<1d 

halted any ft1 rther visitor center plat h.) In \'\ay 

1999, the new lnlkeernn Ala!>k:ln Lodge opcneu 

for busiliCS!>. Since then, thl' lodge ha:-. morl' than 

doubled its ..:npncil}'; ir now 11lfcr~ 2 12 room:. II, 

the touring puhlic.'7' 

Because [he decision on where ro )ocate till' 

area's major visitor center W:h ~ril l being dd1:11cd. 

governmental olliciall, during this pcriml were 

uncertain \-Vhethcr Petl'rwilk· Road would he .1 

major touri~l nee<.:~~ corri<lor. Dl'~pi c 1ha1un 

ccrrainry, ,\1\atnnus\.:a-Su;;itna Rorough Otlkinlh 

worked with local rc:-.idcnt~ and, tn ugu~l 19<}8, 

11nali7,cd a Pctc rwiliL• Rqnd Corridor Manug~

ment l'lnn. One of the: rlan\ ckmcnts WH.., lu l'll 

hance the visitor experience for JletL· ~ville Road 

U~ers; lO that end, the plan included prnvJ:..ion~ 

fo r interpretive panels, informational ~io'>k-., vcg 

dative bun·er~, and retenri11n of "n'nlc <Jllalittl'~ 

along the road corridor.'~" 

In e:~ rl y 19'-J(), after almost a year of inaction, 

gov!.'rnmcnt ll'adcr:-. once again .,hl)wcd an intt:r 

est in rroducing a viable pion for n~ nuli\ south 

~ide. Attaining a unitieu plHil proved dillkult, 

but in March 1999 the SDCCC ttnvelleJ :1 d1·nfr 

proposal that was aired at u public meeting in 

Wasilla. The plan wa:- similar to thl' tinol Sollth 

Side DCP in [hat it featured a mode<;l \"i:;itor 

center (0f up w s,ooo ~quar~ tcu) thrt'c 011lc~ 

~outhwcst of Long Point. I nstt·nd (lf u nearby 

campgrounu and parking lot. hnwcvt'r, thc!-.1.' 

facilities would he located w mik:, Jway, llt':\r 

Fork:. Roadhouse; access between the madlwu~c 

and rhc visitor center, via a propost·d two lunl· 

road, would he limircd rn ... lntUk• hmel>. T'lw 

committee's plan also called for <l vi-;itor ct•ntt•r 

along the ark~ llighwny near Bycr~ Lake.'l 

In mid·Decembt.T ll)l)<J, thl· wmmitt!.'c issul!c.l 

irs linal report, which W<b ddinitc in n·com 

mending a Pnrks llighway visiror ccnter (ttl lw 

located ncar rht• ·'Chulitna Blutl~·· in che ByL'r-. 

l.akl! oren). Rut it... plans about Tbko~it n<l·arl·a 

faci lities were lel,!> certain; it gaVl' no location 

for itf- "Peter~.; llilb naturl' center," and 4 of tlw 

12 committel' member" rt'lt1sed tn "upport tlw 
The state-ope rated campground 

at Byers l a ke. in Denali State Pa rk. 

is show n here between the Parks 

Highway and the lake. NPS Photo 

idea. The report was forwarded on ro smte and 

fcderaloflkiab.''" Congrc~s. in response, provided S17),ooo to theN rs to help implement the 

recently-complett.:d plan, which wa:, to "be used 

for National Park Scn·ice planners and engineers 

and for funding the cooperative agreement:-. for 

local participation in this effort." \Xfhat emerged 

from that funding was the 2002 Community/ 

Touri~m plan for Talkeetna, and a ~cries of meetings for the Trapper Creek and ··y" community 

council area which, in partnership with borough 

officiaJ!'>, led to comprehensive communi!.)' plans 

for those area)>. 

In June 2002, J\latanuska-Susitna Borough officials completed and distributed a borough-wide 

economic development plan. Among its other 

pnwi!->iOn),, that document stated that the norrht.:rn Su~itm1 \'alley was borough·), the key area 

for tourist-related economic growth. On the 

heeb of that report, Borough officials requested 

a S7w,ooo federal appropriation that would 

he u~ed to prepare nn implementation plan 

for South Denali facilities. Congress approved 

the reque:-.t, and plam were made public in the 

~pring of 2001. Governmental ofticiab, a£ fir:-.r, 

::.tared that their primary pttrpo~e was '"ro implement the 1997 South Side Plan," the centerpiect: 

of ;vhich was a visitor center in the Long Point 

area, plus upgrades to Petersvillc Road.'7• Officials, however, soon reconsidered rhat notion, 

::md '>tatcd that the new implementation Plan 

would "evaluate specific locations for proposed 

vi-.itor and administrative facilities." 

In Fehruury 2004, the sponsoring agencies held 

fire public meeting!> a:, rarr of their scoring 

procef.~. The public wa'> given 6o day), to provide 

idea:, nn where development mighr he directed.'''' 

Most of tho~e who commented during this period recommended a development site away from 

the Peters Hil ls, and in mid-April2oo4 at the 

conclusion of the public comment period government officials announced that the Peters II ills 

sire was no longer being considered.; in its place 

were three other sites, al l fewc·r th:u1 5 miles away 

from the Parks llighway. By June 2004, the multiagency team smred that it wa~ con~idering ~ix 

potential development sites: 1) 1hlwsirna, 2) Peters Hills, 3) Kroto Creek, just south of the Pettrs 

Hills ~ire, 4) the Chulitna Bluff., (Byer!'> Lake) site, 

which had been noted in the 1999 consultation 

committee report, 5) Cari Creek (South Curry 

Ridge), to be acces.,ed via a road junction ar Mile 

140 of the Parks Highway, c;cven mile!> '>outh of 

Byers Lake, and 6) "llilltoo7," located at the 

south end of Dena! i Stare Park, ju~t west of the 

Chulitna River-Parks Highway corridor.''' 

Ahno~t a year later, in March 2005, the government planning team provided the puhlic a 

preview of the draft implcmt:ntation plan. By 

this time, they had oflkially ~carded all action 

alternatives except for the South Curry Ridge and 

Peters Hills sites. Their recommended action, 

however, called for a vi5itor center midway up the 

west side of Curry Ridge in addition to Pder:.-

villc Road facility upgrades, a hi cycle-pedc!>trian 

path paralleling the road, campground-., hiking 

trails, and two Park~ Highway trailhead parking 

Chdpter Ten Denali ill tlw Cusp nl tl••· Mtllr•rm11111 1. 191J'> prco•;•nt 109 
This view is seen from the most 

recent site selected for a south side 

visitor center. NPS Photo 

areas. The draft plan, issued in September 2005, 

again noted that Curry Ridge was the agencie:,· 

preferred alternative. The proposed vi!>itor center plan, however, differed from what had been 

proposed in 2004 inasmuch as the site would 

be accessed from Mile 134.6 of the Park!> I Iighway, not from Mile 140 as had been proposed a 

year earlier. More :.pecifically, planner:, recommended that the turnoff which was sandwiched 

between Mary's McKinley View Lodge and the 

state's Denali Viewpoint South "vayside- would 

mark the beginning of a 3-5 mile paved road to 

a 16,ooo-square-font visitor center complex 

which would be located at the qoo-foot level of 

Curry Ridge. Most of the access road, moreover, 

would be closed to touri~t traflk; instead, a large 

parking lot and camping area would be Inca ted 

les!> than one-half mile cast of the Parks Highway, 

and shuttle bu!>es would provide visitor access 

from there to the visitor center. The draft plan 

noted d1at d1c govcromenr1.' preferred option 

would cost S26.9 million (up from an estimated 

S19 million in April 2005); d1c plan also evaluated 

a second-tier, 599·5 million alternative that called 

for a Peters Hills dcvclopment.''x 

Shortly after the draft plan was issued, the N PS 

announced a series of public meetings on the 

plan, which were held between October 19 and 

November 3 in five Railbelt locations. Turnout 

at these meetings was generally light; the best 

attended of them was a November 2 meeting at 

rhc Upper Su~itna Valley Senior Center. which 

attracted "about two dozen" 'lalkccma and Trapper Creek residents. As noted in one newspaper 

article, "the relatively low cost of the [eastern] 

state park ~ite and nor bu ilding along Petcrsvillc 

Road appear to be the plan's biggest draws." 

Bur some worried that "the center could spark 

developmenr that would rutn the area's rural 

character." Citizens were givt!n until November ''ito comment on the draft plan; during the 

public comment period, the sponsoring agencie~ 

received just 72 comments.'''' 

Bccau~e public- opinion favored the Curry Ridge 

Site far more than the Peters Hills Site, the three 

spon!>oring agencies continued w support a 

Curry Ridge visitor center when, in early May 

2006, they jointly issued the Final SvutiJ Denali 

Implementation Plan and Environmcntall111pact 

Swte1nent. The final plan closely resembled the 

draft plan in most if nor all major aspecrs.'H" The 

i!>suancc of the plan, which was annnunccd in 

the Federal Register on june q, started a 30-day 

no-action period. On July 31, Acting Regional 

Director Vic Knox signed a Record of Decision for the plan's environmental impact statement.'' ' Finally, almost 40 years after state and 

federal authoritic~ had begun to entertain !>pccific 

proposals for Denali south-side development, a 

workable plan for that development had finally 

been completed and signed . Actions that have 

followed since the plan's completinn, moreoYer, 

suggest that Alaska's Congressional delegation 

appears to be amenable to ncar-term funding of 

the estimated S28.1 million needed ro implement 

the final plan.'"·' 
Issues w ith Park Neighbors 

The large numtx·r of tourists to rhe park, the 

growing number of an~a resident~, and the area·~ 

role in the state: ~ economic development has 

combined, in recent years, to make it all-important that N PS officials work cooperatively with it:; 

neighbors on various development plans. Since 

the mid-Jqqos, major i~sucs on the park's pcriphny have included the I lealy Clean Coal Project, 

entrance-area de\'elopment issues, and rdarions 

l:wrween the park and nearby commun itic". 

As noted in Chapter q, the Healy Clean Coal 

Project had begun in 1989 when public and private authorities teamed up to apply f<Jr a Department of En erg) grant fnr a so megawatt powl·r 

plant under the federal Clean Coal Technui<Jgy 

program. l.nrer rhar year, DOE nflicials approved 

thl' grunt; ar that time, rht.! costs for ccmstructing 

thl· plant were on el>timated S161 million, and the 

plant was ;;cheduled m be completed in ll)lJ5· But 

rhcn: wen: -,qu:lhble-, over pmject financing, and 

un cnvironml!ntallawsuit intervened. 

Hy tqqc;, plam construction costs had ballooned 

Ill $267 million, making it more than twice as 

expensive as other coal plants. atural ga~ 

producer~ who produced a competing form uf 

energy ridiculed the project becau:,e there was 

no ncar-tl!rm demand fnr the electricity d1at rhe 

plant would generatt.:. '~' And even though the 

plnnt v\':t~ purporrcdly u~lng cutting edge technology, rhe coal industry bv this time had already 

relined less expent>ivc proces::es that were jus! ns 

ctl'c.!crivc in rcduL'ing pollurion.'K' 

In ~pirc of tho~c factors. power plant con-

;;tructinn finally began in i'vlav 1995. By July 

l()Q6 the plant was one-quarter finished, and 

~c;o pcoplt'- 95 percent of them Ala~ka rt.:siclt.:nt<t were working on rhe coal-fired generator 

that, accordint.t w one new~ account. "will feed 

dct'tric'ity Ill n new gold mine [Fort Knox! and 

orh.:r 1::1irhanb-m·ea power users." Plan~ called 

lm the plant'<> completion in August 1997, afrer 

which it would operate in a dcmnnsrratiun mode 

f•>r a year; commercial (lperation was expected 

to begin in early 19l)l). In term!-- of horh ~u fur 

dioxidt: and nitrogen dioxide emissions, it wa~ 

hoped that the plant, according ro one official, 

\\ ould ·•probably he four times cleaner than 

mnnv plants operating in r.he Lower 4s:·,x, 

I :nnstruction nn the plnnr was completeu tn lgtq, 

and according to one of the project parrners, the 

new pl:tnt began t>pt.:rarions in January tqq8.'~" 

Uut in ih first momhs of operation, Golden Valk-y lectric Association (GVEA) officiulf> discuvcred rhar the experimental technology made the 

pl.mt more w~tly to run thA.n the utiliry's other 

power generating facilities; in add it ton, rht:y felt 

rhar UH:~ pbntwas u11saft: and unreliable. Bnsed 

on those conclusiom, GVEi\ tiled alow:-uit in 

the spring (>f 1998 in hope!> of hack in~ out of 

its part nf tbc contract. The Alaska I mlu~trial 

Oevelopmem and Expon Authority (AI DEA), 

which helped provide financing for the project, 

then countersued tn ensure GVEA's conti nued 

participation. 

In mid-August 191)9, more than a year after the 

plant opencu, the GVEA wmmcnced a crucial 

90-day te'it of it-. powcr-genemting capabilities; 

as callt:d for in the contract. the utility could hack 

out of the deal if rhe plant could not maintain~') 

pcrce111 efficiency. The test, IHiwcwr, ">howed 

that its efficiency wa~ well ahove thnt level; even 

so, GVEA stared rhar i1 didn'rwanreithcr the 

plant or its cleelricity hccnw;c cheaper electricity 

wa~ available clsewhcre.'w7 The plant, in t:1c1, .,hut 

down after the conclusion of its qo-dav test period, and largely becam .. e of the ongoing litigation 

between GVEA and AT OEt\, the plant hJs het"'n 

mothballed ewr since. 

For the ti1':-t vcar and a half after rhe plant shut 

down, GVEA and AJ DEA remained at log 

gerheads. But A IDEA, which was pnytng Sn,'j 

million per year for an idle plant. recogni1.ed that 

it was in tht•authority's best intere~t to get the 

plant running again. In late :woo the rwo panic:; 

!>ettled their law~uit; that scrtlcm<.'nt gave the utility the option to proceed with a fu ll or partial retrolittiog of the plant, bur it also ohlignted CVEA 

to work wirh AIDr.A to get the plant operating 

again.''" In a juint r~ttempt to get the plnnt back in 

operation, GVF.A :JtHl AIOF.A offered a propn~al 

in 5cptemher 20111 rhar centered on replacing the 

plant'.; expcrimt.:nral comhu<.tu ~ with more cc~l· 

nomit:al standard burners. That propo:;LJI hin!l,ed 

on obtaining a 512.') million lu;m for th;H purpose, 

perhap~ from the Rttral Utiliric'> ~crvice or !>omc 

other fedt•ral agency. And of concern to environmcntali~t~. they also needed to convince ;;tote uir 

regulator'- that rt:placing the combustors would 

not result in incn:a:-.ed pollution ll'vd!>.'"'' 

Tht• NPS, in the mid~t of thi., debate, baJ -.cnt 

out mixed messages; in 2oou. tht· agcncv had 

gunc on record staring that any GY EA ret ro11t 

haJ to undcrgo a formaltcchnnlogv review a.., 

dc~cribed in clean air laws, but in early 20112. 

the i'-IPS and GYEA jointly agreed rhat the 

utilirv needed 1mly to prepare an "enginl'erinll, 

analysis" explaining why additionaltwllul ion 

cnnrrnl device~ were not feasible. Thi.'> apparent 

change in ~tancc drew nrc from environmental 

groups, although NP.S official-., ju~t a!. vehc: 

mcntly, argued rhat the agency's posit ion bad 

m1t changed: the agreed-upon level~ 11f nitrogen 
In 1993, the Department of the 

Interior negotiated a mitigation 

agreement with state, federal, and 

industry proponents of the new Healy 

power plant to insure protection of 

the park's Class I airshed. Photo @ 

Kennan Ward, NPS lnterp. Collection, 

#4932 

oxide, in fact, were 7 percent lo"ver than had 

been con~idered acceptable back in 1993. In 

order to obtain the 5125 million loan, the Alaska 

Congre~~ional delegation tried to include it in 

a ::.pring 2002 energy bill.'"" In mid-April, the 

Senate voted to include this provision, and later 

that month the energy bill passed the Senate. 

The bill then moved to a Senate-House conference committee. The bill remained active until 

the waning hours of the 107'11 Congress, but it 

never reached the president's desk."" Given the 

failure of that bill and Golden Valley's continued 

lack of interest, A IDEA wrote off as a loss about 

half of its 5125 million inve~tment in the clean 

coal project. A IDEA officials, however, 1->howed 

their displeasure by filing suit against the utility; 

rhc main conrcnrion of rhc S167 million suir was 

that GV EA had breached the terms of a 2000 

settlement by denying AI DEA the opportunity to 

restart the power plant.'"' 

Since early 2005, several parties have acted to get 

the mothballed plant running again. On August 

8, Congres:, passed the Energy Policy Act of 

2005 that included S8o million in loan5 for plant 

repair~. These fundl> were sufficient to get the 

plane running again. A IDEA officials, however, 

did not request the loans and showed little interest in borrowing money for this purpose."' ' But 

in early October, a new urility- 1 ~omer Electric 

Association- showed interest in the plant by 

l>igning an agreement with AlDl A. Thl' Homer 

utility, which wa:; uependcll[ on nnrural ga:, for 

its electricity !>Ource, was concerned about the 

rising price of natural gas; as part of its agreement, A1DEA and the utility would a~~ess the 

plant (which b~· now had coo.;t S2q7 million) and 

determine what work was needed to get the 

plant operating again using state-of-the-art clean 

coal technology. The following year, the :,tare 

legi!>lature did what it could to help; a~ part of 

the 2007 capital budget, it authoriLed AI DEA 

to :,pend 51.2.) million from the Railhelt Em:rg~· 

Fund to help re~tart the llealy power planl. But 

Homer· Electric ofticial~ recognized rhat S12.5 

million was insufficient to get the plant running 

again, and one Fnirbank!>-arca legislator oppm.ed 

the lcgislan11·e's move, calling it "throwing g\lllll 

money after had.""•4 Perhaps bccau~e of thu::.e 

criticisms, Governor Murkowski vetoed AIDEt\'s 

reque::.L Homer Electric, however, continued 

in its yuest to obtain the power from llc.:aly\ 

clean coal plant. In November .wo6, the utility 

announced that it had worked \lllt a "potential 

landmark agreement" with AI DEA to restart the 

mothballed plant, and in late February 2007 the 
The Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge, 

located 1 mile north of the entrance 

to the park. opened in 1987 as Harper 

Lodge. The lodge has had several 

expansions since that time and is now 

operated during the summer by more 

than 500 seasonal and full-time staff. 

NPS Photo 

two entities finali6ed rhar deal. A IDEA, according to the plan, would assume the plant's startup 

cost!>, but Horner Electric would operate the 

plant. The plan, however, wa!> contingent on a 

resolution of A IDEA's lawsuit against Golden 

Valley. An A IDEA official, a~kcd ahour a pos~ihlc 

rimetahle for resolving the legal dispute, ~tated 

that he hoped ro clear it up "in the ncar term." 

pos~ibly within the next six months.'"' 

A !>ccond major is)>ue with which park official& 

needed to grapple was how to manage growth on 

the park\ eastern margim. A~ noted in Chapter 9, hotel development on the park's margins 

began in c<1rncsr in 1978-So wirh the construction 

and expansion of the JvlcKinlcy Chalet/>. This 

c.:omplcx wa!> owned by AR.A Servicc!>, the park 

conccssioncr, and it included a gift &hop, restaurant, and lounge. Continued tourbtgrowth 

soon spawned additional area businesses, and 

by 1983 "the canyon" (as it Wa!> then known) had 

become home ro "taco stand:-.. hor~e rides, t\:vo 

campground~ ... and a liquor store." A smal l (39-

room) hostelry, called Denali Crow's J e:o.t Log 

Cabins, opened in 1985, and the following year 

witnessed an additional McKinley C halcb expansion. In 1987, major new growth arrived wirh 

the 154-ruom Harper Lodge, which wa~ ovvned 

by a division of Princc~s Cruises and operate<.! 

as part of the Princess 'fhur::. network.'··•· Hy rhc 

~ummer of 1989 one news report nott•u that the 

mile-long strip of highway offered "about eight 

motel~, a half-dozen river raft outfit~. several 

gas stations, a piuaria !sic I and mon: or le!>~ 

a brand-new community." In 1992, three new 

hostelries opened in the area, and during thL· 

early 1990s other new bu::.incs~es induued a 

gift shop and mini-golf coursc."'7 (~ce Map 2.) 

Growth in .. the canyon" was matched by similar 

development to rhe n1Hth and south; during the 

198os anti early 1990s eleven new touri~m-relatcd busincs~cs ~prang up along the two-mile 

Parks Highway scgment1:.urrounding the I kaly 

rurnotl, along with fin: additional bu~ines.,cs on 

rhe seven-mile stretch of road ::.outh of McKinley Village.'"' 

Since the mid-1990S, gnm'th has continued 

along the entire 40 mile!> of the Park~ Highway 

between Cantwell and I fcaly, the only exception 

ChdpU:r fen Denah ,otlht' Cu<.p of tltf' Mill••ruuum, 199S·p<P"'"t Ill 
With increasing visitation and 

availability of lodging. a variety of 

activities have developed to interest 

area visitors, including raft trips on 

the Nenana River, fl ightseeing, hiking 

front country trails, classes at the 

Murie Science and Learning Center, 

and visits to the Denali Visitor Center. 

NPS lnterp. Collection, 112768, Denali 

National Park and Preserve 

to that growrh being tbe 6.8 miles of highway 

located inside the park. According ro one 

compilation, more than 40 new businesses- 21 

of them hostelries- have opened up along the 

park's eastern margin during this period. Most 

of the new hostelries were fairly modc~t in 

scale.''''' Three, howe,·er, exceeded roo rooms 

apiece, and two were located in Nenana Canyon, 

just north of the park entrance: the 112-room Denali Bluffs Hotel, which opened in 1996, and the 

150-room Grande Denali Lodge, which opened 

in the spring of 2001."'"' Both of these hotels were 

cast of and up a steep slope from- the Parks 

Highway corridor and offered commanding 

views of the park's eastern entrance area""' The 

Holland America Line, moreover, is in rhe midst 

of adding :,till rnnre hotel room~ in the area; d1c 

150-room Denali Canyon Lodge, located between 

the Denali Prince!>!> Wilderness Lodge and the 

McKinley Chalets Resort, broke ground in 2005 

and opened to the public in the ~pring of .wo6. 

Plans call for the eventual construction of more 

than 400 additional rooms on the property.'"' In 

addirion, Cook Inlet Region, Inc., the Anchoragebased Native regional corporation, announced 

plans in 2005 to build a 250-room hotel on the 

bluff just south of the McKinley Village Resort 

and we~t of the Parks llighway. These plans have 

seen been shelved, at least for the time being.'"' 

The ever-increa!>ing crowds flocking into these 

hotels put increased prel>sure for new acce!>S into 

the park. As noted earlie r in this chapter. the 

NPS in its front country plan tried its best, given 

the agency\ legal and ecological constraints, to 

accommodate the need for visitor activities. The 

114 Crow11 ll'WI!i u l ti1C' Nortll All Ad1111ntslrill1ve Hlstnry ot Denali NaliOn.ll P,d and Pre"''v" 

mid-1990s had witnessed strong growth in visitation to the park's backcountry, and particularly 

heady growth had taken place with flightseeing 

and air tour operations. But the geographical restrictions of rhe park's eastern entrance area limited the number of commercial group options to 

the tour bu~ trip down the park road or perhap!> 

a flightseeing trip, and relatively few visitors have 

showed an interest in hikes to Mt. Healy or other 

park destinations. Other recreational alternatives 

have included gold panning, horseback riding, 

and the increa~ing number of programs offered 

through the Murie Science and Learning Center 

(sec Chapter n). Perhaps rnosr popular has been 

rafting down the Nenana River. Raft tTips on the 

Nenana have been offered since the early 1980:>, 

::md by the late 1990s the activity had become so 

popular that six companies were taking ~orne 

40,000 people cm.:h summer on either the t}-mile 

"scenic" or "wilderness" run starring at McKin· 

ley Village or the more adventurous "canyon" 

run beginning at Kingfisher Crcck ~"·l 

G iven such a concentration of economic activity 

in such a limited area, and lhe <)bvious conrra.st 

between these businesses and the relatively undeveloped land outside llf that corridor, various 

critics have denounced the area as unsightly, and 

since the mid-JC)90~ a few publications have used 

the pejorative term "Glitter Gulch" to dc~cribc 

the area:'"' A~ one 2005 vi~itor e<lustically noted, 

the area u!l'cred 

row after row of cheap motl'ls, 

theme eateries and cbain franchiseb, 

all bunched up agajnst the canyon 
"Glitter Gulch" received the first 

two stop lights in the area in 2003 

as part of the Alaska Department of 

Transportation program to improve 

safety along this busy section of the 

George Parks Highway. NPS Photo 

wall~ like commercial lions around a 

wurbr watering hole .... The highe1.t 

building of all I the Grande Denali 

Hotel] i~ an architectural expletive, 

a motel carved into a cliff prone to 

landslide& .... This juxtaposition 

of Denali and commercial crapola 

mocks rwo notions at once: wilderness and sensible land usc ~"" 

Such development has im·ited comparison with 

other park entrance-gate communities such as 

West Yellowstone, Montana; Gatlinburg, Tennessee, m:ar Grear Smoky Mountains National Park; 

or 1i..t~ayan, Arizona, on the margins of Grand 

Canyon ~ational Park. Reporters for Alaska 

ncw~ papcr1. have been no less critical, and typicnlly usc the "Glitter Gulch'' monike1· rather than 

"Nenana Canyon" as suggested by local business 

interests.~"7 

National Park Service officials were well aware 

of the area\ growing unsigbdincss but, because 

the area was on state and private land, they were 

in little or no position to directly influence land 

usc changec,. But they were able to participate, to 

some degree, in a planning process that provided 

various basic tram.portation improvcmentr-. in 

the mile-long commercial ~trip. In the mid-1990:, 

the Alaska Department of Transportation and 

Public Facilities (/\DOT) developed the J enana 

Canyon Safety Improvement~ Project a!> a way 

to safcl ' allow both local and bypass traffic; a~ 

noted in an October 1996 environmental document, the agency recommended a two-lane highway through the area plu~ the com.truction of 

adjacent frontage roads and bicycle paths. Bur 

local businesses, the rs, and the general public 

all objected to A DOT's plans. 

T<> work out a more acceptable alternative, the 

NPS and ADOTworkcd with various partners- Denali Borough, the Greater Healy/Denali Chamber of Commerce, and the Alaska 

Natural History A~~ociation on a Designing 

for Community Workshop that was held at the 

Denali Princess Hotel in September 1998.'"" At 

rhar workshop, local resident~ argued against 

the ADOT plan and instead recommended more 

emphasis on creating a worthy gateway community with more of an emphasis on non-rnotorited transportation. Those concern1>, in turn, 

were transmitted to d1e powerful ~rate TRAAK 

board,'"'' which successfully urged ADOT to d iscard irs existing plans. In the wake of that cancellation, Denali Borough appointed an Ad Hoc 

Committee consbting of local bu~>incss owners, 

rps stall. and other local residents. That committee worked with borough and ADOT officials 

on a plan that was finalized in mid-November 

Cilapler Ten Oen.111 dl tlw (u!>!J of lh<' MIIIPI\IIIlllrl, 19qS·p~n1 115 
Winteriest activities revolve around 

demonstrations and participation in 

winter-related events, including a chili 

cookoff, cross country skiing lessons 

and avalanche awareness education. 

NPS Photo 

:woo. Key co the commirree·~ recommendations was the retention of the e>..isting, two-lane 

highway, the establishment of bicycle pathways 

rather than frontage road!>, and the construction of several pedestrian underpas~cs under the 

Parks Highway. Provision::. \Vcre abo included 

for two pedestrian bridges (over Kingfisher 

Creek and the enana River), a raft put-in spot 

at the mouth of Kingfisher Creek, a pedestrian 

walkway on NPS land south of the Nenana River 

b ridge. and the installation of various interpretive sign~. "" 

!vlatters got more complicated, however, when 

ADOT officials announced plans for a Park~ 

Highway Corridor Study. This proposed, multiyear study would encompass the entire 323-mile 

length of the highway, and officials nnnounced 

that no project fund::. could he spent along the 

highway until the ::.rudy was completed.>" Prore::.t::. from Denali-area residents, however, were 

so strong that ADOT quickly backed down from 

its announced plans- at least in the Nenana 

Canyon. Instead, the agency decided to con-

~rruct an interim project that included mo~t of 

what the Ad Hoc Committee had recommended. 

The only major deviation from the earlier plan 

was A DOT's decision to drop the pedestrian 

undcrpa~ses in favor of traffic signals; these two 

stoplights would remain only until the completion of ADOT's Park~ Highway corridor study. 

The larger !>tudy, however. got bogged down and 

wa<, never completed. As a result, the "temporary" stoplights that were installed in 2003 have 

11" c rowoo Jo·wPI r,f rlw Nunlr Aro Adnnn1m ... uve HMorv of DPnal1 o~ uonal P<1rk and Preserve 

remained to thl' pre~oent day. Con~rruction of 

the remaining project elements abo began in the 

spring of 2003. Most project work was completed that season, but the pedestrian b ridges were 

finished the following summer.'" 

Given the relatively large size of the tourist infrastructu re just outside the park and the relatively 

high seasonal population, local residents began 

to formulate ways to attract people to the park'!> 

margins. Many permanent residents liked the 

idea of attracting visitors to the area for other 

than the usual park visitation, and local entrepreneurs were always on the looktlUt for way-; w 

arrract more people to rhe area. Perhnr~ rhe fir~t 

such widely-puhlicized effort was the "Moose 

Sent Scoot," which was fir::.t orgnni;.ed in 1994-

This event was n ser c~ of races; perhnp~ the 

mol>t publicized was a q-mile (or half-marathon) 

run, hut as noted in one press release, shorter 

distances were abo ofl'ered that could "b~.: run, 

walked, bicycled, or done on a scooter." The 

event ha~ been sponsored by Denali 1

1ark Re~orr~ 

and organized by the company's employees; 

proceeds have benefited the Alaskan AIDS A~­

si5.tance Association."1 

Jn early 2001 there began a new. commun itybased event: the Denali Winter Fc~tival. Fir~t held 

over rhc weekend of February 2~ .z;, "\Vinlcrfe:>f~ 

was an eclectic mix of outdoor !>ports activities, 

outdoor education, fiddle mu!>ic. lectures, and 

saf<:tv demonstrations. Events were held both at 

Healy's Tri-Valley Community Center ;md at the 
In 2004, Denali's management team, 

left to right, included Mike Cobbold, 

Safety Officer, Kris Fister, Public 

Affairs. Dutch Scholten, Chief of 

Maintenance, Philip Hooge, Assistant 

Superintendent for Resources, 

Science a nd Learning. Paul Anderson, 

Superintendent, Blanca Stransky, 

Chief of Interpretation, Mike Tranel, 

Chief of Planning, Julie Wilkerson, 

Chief of Administration, Elwood 

Lynn, Assistant Superintendent for 

Operations. Donna Sisson, Chief of 

Concessions, Hollis Twitchell, Chief of 

Subsistence and Cultural Resources, 

and Pete Armington, Chief Ranger. 

NPS Photo 

park's visitor center; the park and its employee~ 

played an active role in the program as organizers, 

presenters, and participants.,'4 ln the years since 

2001, \XIinterfest has remained an active, popular 

event: though specific events have changed from 

year to year, event!:' have remained focused on the 

area hcrwecn McKinley Village and Healy, though 

some attendees hail from Anchorage, Fairbanks, 

and elsewhere. Winterfcsts arc held between late 

February and mid-;\\arch; most recently, the gathering has proven so popular that events arc held 

over a four-day period, beginning on Thursday. 

The NPS, in most cases, has served as Winterfcst's 

publicist, and park employees have helped organize the weekend's various event~ ' 

Operational Realities: Staff. Budgets, 

and Seasonal Road Access Issues 

During the late 198os and early 1990s (sec Chapter 9), Russell Berry served as the Denali Superintendent. ln late 1994, Berry left Alaska for the 

~uperintendency of Cape Hatteras National Seashore in North Carolina, and Steve Martin- then 

the superintendent for Gates of the Arctic National Park and Pre~erve was asked to take over 

the reins at Denali in an acting capacity. Martin 

hecame the superintendent proper the following 

March, and he remaincu on the job until early 

January 2002, when he moved to Wyoming and 

became the Grand Teton National Park :.upcrinrendent. Throughout thb periud, r>ennli had 

also had a deputy superintendent: T .inda ' li>mo, 

(larer Linda Buswell) beginning in late 1989, and 

Diane Chung commencing in july 2000, ahout 

a year after Ruswdl\ retirement. After Martin\ 

transfer, Chung briefly as~umed the helm unril 

the arrival of the new superintcndenl, Paul Anderson, who wa..., selected at the end of january 

2002. Anderson, a .23-vear NPS veteran who had 

served for the past nine years as Alaska's Deputy 

Regional Director, served as Denali\ !>Upcrintendent until late 2007, when he wa~ succeeded 

by Elwood Lynn in an acting capacity. '"' Sharing 

park management responsibilities in recent vcar., 

have been two new assistant superintendent~: 

Philip Hooge, who tran~ferred to the park from 

rhe U.S. Geological Survey\ Glacier Ray Field 

Station in May 2003, and longtime maintcnann: 

chief Elwood Lynn, who held his new pn5ition 

from April2oo4 until he became the park's acting 

superintendent."; 

Since the mid-tgyos, park visitation has increa!ied 

about 25 percent (from approximately 341,400 

ChaptPr Ten Denah dl thl' Cu>p rlf llu• Mril(•ffflll ffll. 99~·Prr>'>!'Jl1 11 7 
Each year the seasonal NPS staff 

is welcomed with an orientation 

program and lunch. shown here being 

held in the Headquarters Historic 

District in 2006. That year the park. 

officially employed 110 permanents 

and 208 seasonals. NPS Photo 

in 1996 to 425,846 in 2006). The park's annual 

base budger, during rhe past decade, has also 

changed in fairly modest increments in recent 

years; the inflation-adjusted base budget rose 

approximately 25 percent between 1996 ;md 

2005 ~ Given these budgetary changes, park 

officials have been able to hire additional stnff. rn 

1996, the park had a workforce of 77 permanent 

positions, plus another 113 seasonal positions; by 

2004, the number of permanent employees on 

the park payroll had risen to 105, plus another 

194 seasonals; and by 2006 the staff to raJ stood at 

JJO permanents and 208 seasonals."'" Contributing greatly to the park's overall vitality have been 

the efforts of a dedicated corps of volunteers. Jn 

1996, 68 volunteers contributed 19,717 hours to 

the park, but by 2004 the number of so-called 

YIPs (Volunteers in Parks) had climbed to 306 

and they had donated 27,136 hours of efrort to all 

phases of park operations, primarily in kennel 

care, vegetation reseeding, maintenance work 

and 1111lUntaineering.""' 

As noted above, as well as in Chapter 9, the 

problem of managing the park road during the 

~ummer season has been a continuing challenge 

in recent years. Vexing problems have also been 

a longtime pattern as they pertain ro road management during the so-called shouJder seasons. 

Each spring, NPS officials arc asked- within a 

murow, challenging time frame- to clear the 

park road of snow and prepare it for the upcoming summer season, and each fall , the agency 

needs to provide access to private vehicular rraffie while simulrancously protecting park resources. To improve spring road management, agency 

officials experimented with new road-clearing 

methods. and to better manage fall vehicular 

rraffic, park staff tried out new management 

methods. These cxpcrimems have continued w 

the present day. 

As noted in Chapter 9, the NPS during the 

1983-1985 period tried to improve the spring 

road-opening process in t\vo ways: by purchasing 

a "ripper" attachment for the park's D-7 Carerpillar, and by constructing an insulated underdrain system in the Mile 4 area. Both methods, 

however, proved imperfect: the former because 

it damaged the paved road surface, and the latter because it was unable to mitigate the Mile 4 

aufeis problem. Berween rhc mid-rqSos and the 

early 1990:.. road crews prevented icc buildup by 

periodically going over problem areas with a road 

grader that had o ripper attached. But beginning in 1992, rhat option waf> n1l longer available, 

and tor the next decade m1dwmtcr icc bUildup 

re-emerged as a major if intermittent problem. 

one that had to be taken care nf during spring 

road opening. Significant icc problems during 

the winters of 1996, 1999. and 2001, however, 

forced park &taff to re-examine the situation. An 

Outside study of the problem. draftctl in 2002 

and published in 2001. recommended the imporrarion of snowmaking c4uipmcnt. to be used 

as necessary during October through December.,.,, The park'~ maintenance division, hmvcvcr, 

rejected that idea un both economic and en vi-
The annual fall road opening 

to lottery winners provides an 

opportunity for motorists to drive the 

park road in their personal vehicles, 

stopping whenever they wish to view 

something interesting. The lottery's 

success depends on favorabl e 

weather conditions. NPS Photo 

ronmentaJ grounds; instead, ir asked for authority 

to manage midwinter ice buildup as it had prior 

to 1992. Park officials granted that request, and 

since the winter of 2002-03, park road crews bave 

again worked to prevent midwinter icc buildup. 

Employing this technique has increased opcraror safety, and has lessened the amount of time 

and effort needed to remove aufeis during spring 

road opening ~..., 

Major changes have also come to those who 

visit the park during the fall shoulder season. As 

mentioned in Chapter g, the rising popularity 

of fall visitation- brought on by the beautiful 

fall colors, the increa~ed level of animal activity, 

and the lack of summertime traffic restrictionsforced the NPS in 1990 to adopt a lottery system. 

Each year, for a four-day period in September, 

the entire park road was open to moror vehicles; 

those able to drive the road, however, had robe 

one of the lucky 1,200 people 300 each day for 

each of the four days -selected in rhe lottery. 

(Before that four-day period, motorists could not 

drive farther west than the Savage River check 

station; aJtcr those four days, motorists were free 

to drive as far west as Teklanika until snow closed 

the park road.) By the mid-1990s, the lottery was 

a well-established, popular way to provide public 

access to portion:> of the park that would o therwise be closed to the motori ng public. 

Beginning in 1995, NPS officials- recognizing rhe 

increasing popularity of the fa ll road lottery and 

evidently feeling that the four-day event was having no la:,ting harm on the park'.<, wildlife- decided to allow an additional roo people each day 

ro drive the park road . This change increased, if 

slightly, the possibility of success for each lottery 

application. Those improved chances, however, 

soon faded away as the lottery became ever more 

popular; while perhaps 4,ooo people sent in applications in 1995, that number climbed to more 

than 10,000 in 2000.

221 

After 2000, the number of fall lottery applications continued to rise, and by 2003 the agency 

received about 18,ooo entries. This volume 

meant that the chance of an applicant gaining 

one of the coveted slots was less than 1 in 11. 

Managing that volume, moreover, was turn ing 

into a bureaucratic headache; while the costs 

of operating the lottery system had once been 

fairly nominal, deali ng with 18,ooo applications- plus on-the-ground costs for rangers and 

other park personnel during the four-day lottery 

period- now cost an estimated S8o,ooo to 

S9o,ooo. Given those costs, and the ever-tightening budget with which the park had to operate, 

officials reluctantly decided that new funds were 

necessary. ln May 2004, therefore, the agency 

announced that beginning that summer, all applicants for that fall's road lottery would need to 

pay a nonrefundable Sto fcc, and those who were 

selected for the lo ttery would be obligated to pay 

an additional S35, of which Sto would pay for the 

park's entrance fee. Members of the public, not 

surprisingly, were disappointed at the agency's 

move. And as a res ult, only about 5,900 people 

Chapter Ten Denah ilt th'" Cusp of the Millen mum, 199'i·present I 1'' 
~t:nt in applications in July 2004- abouc onetlmd the number rhar had applied the pn:\'iou-. 

n:ar. • · In the! short time ~ince th~ n~w. fee-ha-,cd 

~y-.tem wa!> m5rirured, tht: number ol applicant-. 

ha., rbcn; the number of 2oob application..,, fC'Ir 

example, was 6,R8s.~' 
Notes- Chapter 10 

Denali Task Force. Denali Task Force Report; Findings and Recommendations tor the Nattonal Park Sl'rVIct• 

Advisory Board, October 25, 1994, 6-7. 

· NPS, Drah Development Concept Plan Enwronmental/mpact Statement. Entrance Area and Road Comdor, 

DENA (Denver, the author, June 1996), 25-28. 

lbtd .. iii-iv, 29-98; Anchorage Dally News, June 18, 1996, A-1 

" NPS, Final Development Concept Plan /and/ AbbreVIated Final Enwonmenrallntpacr Sratt'mPnr, EntranctArea and Road Corridor, DENA (Denver, the author, December 1996), 1; Anchorage Dat/y News, Auyu~t 3, 

1996, 0·4. 

NPS, Final Development Concept Plan, December 1996, 23-56. 

NPS, Entrance Area and Road Comdor Developmenr Concept Plan, DENA (Denver, the author), M<~y 1 !J97, 

Kathennc M Heinrich, "NPS Finalizes Denali Plans," National Parks 71 (May/June 1997). 21-22. 

SAR, 1996, 2; SAR 1997, 1; SAR, 1998, 1. 

'"Denali Hotel Shut.'' Travel Agent 302 (Janua1y 22, 2001), 2; "Denali Park to Close," Travel Agent 303 

(March 12, .WOl), 86; Jerry Brown, "Hotel rs History," TraveiAge West 36 (April 16, 2001 ), ~4 

The 22-year-old, 5,000-square-foot auditorium was placed on a truck and moved to the Junction o1 the 

Parks Highway and Stampede Road, TWo mrles north of Healy. It now serves as the ma1n church bulld1nq ku 

the In His Shadow Mimstries. Anchorage Daily News, August 2., 2002, B-3. 

'" SAR, 2002. 15; SAR, 2003, 7. Joe Durrenberger ernarl, August 2, 2006; Steve Carw1le intervrew, July ln, 

2006, Randy Thompson email, November 20, 2006. Three railroad cars were moved to a s1te near the Pi-lrk•, 

Hrghway-Otto Lake Road intersection, near l lealy's golf course Two others were relocated to a railroad 

museum in Nenana, and two more became part of a bed-and-breakfast 1n Fairbanks. 

NPS, "Environmental Assessment for Locat1on of Vrs1tor Facrlit1es rn the Cntrcrnce Area of Dr>nah Nation.rl 

Park" (DENA press release), December 6, 7001; Scott N. Re1sland, testimony rn Hou~e Heanng on 'Teder.11 

Government Competition With Small Business," Serial No 107 19, July 18, 2001, 144-48. 

SAR, 2002, 7, 15, Public law 106-113, Appendix c (NPS), Signed NovembeJ 29, 1999, 111 us. '>lrHIIfi'S rll 

Large 113 (1999), p. 1501A-1 43. 

SAR, 2002. 7, 15. 

·• NPS, "Frnding of No S1gn1ficant Impart, ConstructiOn of New V1sitor f-aCi lities in the Entrance Area, DENA," 

January 31, 2002, Steve Carwtle files. 

· The mercantile building, bu1lt in 1958 (see Chapter 7), had served for many years as a comb1necl store and 

serv1ce station, but by the early 1990s at least one service station was rn business 1n "Glitter Gulch" less lhan 

two miles away. The park concessioner, as a result, converted lhe entire bulldrng 1nto a store Steve Carvvrle 

tntervleW. June 26, 2006. 

"· SAR, 2002, 15. The park post off1ce had been locarerf1n 1 he Denali Park railroad statiOn pnor to 1ts move to 

the double-wide trailer Steve Carwrle 1nterv1ew, July 2.7, 2006_ 

' SAR. 2002, 15; SAR, 2003, 7, 19; Paul Anderson ernail, January 23, 2007 

·- SAR, 2002, 15; NPS. "National Park Serv1ce to Ded1cate New Mune Scrence and Learn1ng Center," AK2Day 

(AKRO electronic newsletter). August 12, 2004; Paul Anderson email, January 23, 2007 

''' NPS. "New Facilities and V1sitor Services in Denali Opening in May," AK2Day, May 5, 2005, "Focu~ on the 

Parks." Arrowhead (NPS newsletter), Vol. 12 (Spnng 2005), 2; Steve Carwile rnterview, July 26, 2006; ''Park to 

Celebrate Completion of New Visitor Facilitie~ wrth Speoal Activities" (DFNA Press Release), Auyust 9, 200':> 

l:arher plans tor an art gallery at the new vtsitor center complex have not yet been fulfilled. 

'' Draw1ng DENA-14001-2, TIC Ape1ture Card Collection; SAR, 1995, 8, 11 

1 NPS, "E•elson EA Out for Comment,·· AK2Day, April 11, 2004; NPS, "Comment Penod Extended f01 

Enwonmenlal Assessment for the Construction of a New belson Vi!.itor Center and a Permanent Toklat Rest 

Stop," AK2Day, Apnl 26, 2004. 

Anchorage Daily News, September 22, 2004, B-1; NPS, "New Facilities dnd V1sitor Service~ ir 1 Dendli 

Opentng in May," AK2Day. May 5, 2005, Mary Tidlow emad, July 26, 2006. 

• AK2Day, 1ssucs of Apnl11 and April26, 2004 (see above); Steve Carw1le interview, July 27, 2006; Mi~c· 

Tranel and Mary Tid low emails, August 24, 2007. At the Toklat Site, the DCP env1sroned a permanent structure 

with a partially-covered deck, but given the 1mrninent demolition of the E1elson structu1·es, the agency opled 

for the 1mrnedlacy of a tent structure. "SSTs". an acronym for "sweet smelling toi e~." were a signif1cant 

1mprovement over c;hemrcal torlets. They were frrst used 1n Alaska at the Veterans' Wa1 Memor 1al (al MiiP 

147.5 of the Parks Highway) and have srnce been installed at several Denair locations. 

'

1 Steve Carwile mterview, May 3, 2007. 

" Mike Tranel mterv1ew, October 25, 2006, Alaska House Bill H1story. 7997-7998, tor HJR 68 (p 281) HJK 

68, on June 9, 1998, became Leqrslative Resolve No 85 forthe Twentieth Alil~ a Le41Sia111re. 
·• H.R. 830 (February 5, 2007), and 5 1808 (July 1 7 2007), 111 11 0''' Congres~; ~~.-e http.//thoma~ lwl .. qov. 'ltP.vtCarwile 1ntetv1ew, November 16, 2007. 

' Congress passed the NPS Concessions Management lmproveme11t Act of \998, wh1ch was 1ttle IV ol thr 

National Parks Omnibus Management Act of 1998 (5. 1693l. P1'eS1den1 Cltnto11 signed the btll into l.tw (PubltL 

Law 105-391) on November 13, 1998. 

"' Mary Wysong rev1ew comments, March 13, 2007; Kevin Apgar comments, Apnl 12, 2007; R1chard G. R1ng 

(Assooate D1rector, Park Operations and Education) to RD/AR, June 28, 2001, NPS, Amendmf'nr Number Stx, 

Concesston Contract Number CC-91 00-1-002 (DENAOOI-87 ), ARAMARK Sports and Enterramment Servicer. 

Inc., DENA, October 1, 2001; both in AKRO Concessions DIVISion files. Al~o Ff'deral Regt!>ter 66 (October 1, 

2001 ). 49975. 

· • Dav1d A Watts to Stephen P. Martm. October 4, 1999, and D1rector. NP~ to Michael C !<..elly, ty!,ud1 17, 

2000. both from DENA Concessions D1V1sion files; Wysong revtE'W commen~. March 13, 2007 

•n ANILCA (Pl. 96-487), Sec. l307(b); Untted States Statutes at Large 94 (Decembet 2. 1980). 2480 

'Mary Wysong and Kev1n Apgar (DCNA) chapter IC'Vtew notes, March 13, 200/ and Apnl12, 200/, 

respectively 

' MarCia Blaszak (Acting RD/AR) to Director. NP<;, July 11. 2002, in AKRO Concess1ons Iiies, NP\ "Denali 

National Park Announces Select1on of Concess1one1 Proposal for Transportation dnd Other ~erv1ces" CDI:NA 

Press Release), July 30, 2002; Anchorage Daily News, August 1, 2002, B-1. The announcement ~tdted thdt thE' 

<ontract to an entity officially known as the Doyon/Aramark Denali Nat1onCJI Park Conn:".~ on Joint Venturewould begin in October 2002, but the interested parties needed time to rev1ew detatls of the (Ont1act and 

Congress had a designated 60-day notification pertod. The final contract was awarded on Mnv 12. 2003, wtlh 

a contract termination date of December 31, 2012 Robert I Amberger (RD/AR) tn One Wtllltlms, Mny 1 2, 

2003, tn AKRO Concessions files. 

' In 1996, the first Alaska Native corporation had obtained an NPS concessions contract whon Goldbelt lnl. 

(the Juneau-based v1llage corporation) had purchased the Glac1e1 Bay concess1ons c.ontrdc.t. Cook Inlet Rl'g1on, 

Inc (C1RI} also expressed an interest 1n the contract but deoded to not ~11bm11 a b1d Kev1n Apg,:~r mterv1ew. 

November 22, 2006. 

'

1 Ibid: NPS1 Prospectus, A Concesston Busmess Opportuntty for Transportation and Other Serv,ces, DENA 

(So/iotatlon D[NAOO 7-02 (Anchorage, the author, February 1 5, 2002), 1 0 11, 1n AKRO Concess1on~ hies, Kev1r1 

Apgar, rev1ew comments, Aprtl 12, 2007 

'" NPS, Prospectus, 15. 

<\ NPS, Monthly Public Use Reports (Form I 0-157), various years, see the agency's Publ1c Use Stati~tics Office 

website (http://www2.nature.nps.gov) The total passenger traffic for 2005 (about 220,500) was Significantly 

h1gher than the histoncal norm. 

'

1 See, for example, Alaska Department of Commerce and Ewnom1c Development, Alaska l:conomtc 

Performance Report, 1ssues of 2002 (pp. 19-20) and 2005 \PP 63-64). 

>f NPS, Prospe\tus, 15; Pncewaterhouse Coopers. LLP. National Park ServiCe, Financial 1-easibi/ity Analysis 

DENA (February 14, 2002), 6, 1n AKRO Concessions D1v1sion Iiies 

'"Anchorage Daily News, Janua1y 12, 1995, B-1 and May 14, 1995, M-1, Stephen Montetro, ''Rack on the 

Bus," Backparker 23 (April 1995), 18. 

1

" Anchorage Daily News, November 27, 1996, A-1 and January 2, 1997, B-2. April 20, 200t.1, R-1, NPS, "Ntw 

and Increased Fees to Take Effect at Denali Nat1onal Par~" tDENA Press Release), 1\pnl 1 9, 2004; AK2Day 

(AKRO electronic newsletter), September 16, 2005; Kris f-ister entail, August 6, 7006. 1 he ~ederal lands 

Recreation Enhancement Act was Title VIII of the Consolidated Appropriations Act (PL. /08-441), wh1clt 

passed Congress on November 20, 2004 and was signed by Prestdent George W Bush on December 8. 

•

11 "Shuttle Bus Fees'' section of park website (http://www.nps.gov/dena/homelvisitorinfo/buslfees.html). /\s 

noted on an website calculattng 1nflat1on over the years (http'//eh.neUhmlt/ppowerusd). 1nflat1on rose 28.2°.{, 

from 1995 to 2006; thus both the Wonder Lake and Fish Creekl£1elson tnps cost less in 2006 (in term~ of 

purchasmg power) than in 1995. 

'

11 Anchorage Daily News, July 10, 1989, B-1 and July 4, 1998, C -3 

1 Anchorage Dat!y News, July 15, 1999, A-1; July 16, 1999, B-3, July 1 7, 1999, A-1. July 22, 1999, B-1: the 

Association's webs1te (www dnppro.com); Mary Wysong 1nterv1ew, Novembe1 22, 2006 

11 The McNamara-O'Hara Serv1ce Contract Act of 1965 (P.L 89-746) be<.ame law when President Johnson 

signed H.R 10238 on October 22, 1965; 1t was the result of the elforts of Sen. Patri<.J... V McNarrwa and Rep. 

James G O'Hara (both D-Mich). The law (U.S. Code 41, pp. 351 -57) has smce been amended. 

·" Kev111 Apgar interview. March 26, 2007 

·••· Anchorage Daily News, June 4, 1995, B-1 

'

11 Anchorage Daily News, August 1 1, 1995. B-1; Congressional Record 141 (Auqust 9. 1995), 22853-54 

A H R 3019, which 1ncluded the budget of several federal departments, wAs SICJnerl by PrPstdent Clinton rm 

Apnl 26, 1996 after which 1t became Public law 104-134. 

ru II•IWI II'Wt'i ultht• Nonh All Adnllm tr~tlvP H15tory of Denali Nai•onnl PMI< illlll Preserve 
·

1" SAR, 1996, 3-4, Butch Street (DSC) to author, email. Apnl12. 2006; Street 10 author, telephone call, Apnl 

13, 2006. 

'·" SAR. 1996, 2-3; Anchorage Daily News, January 18, 1997, B-3; January 21. 1997, A-1; NPS, North Arress 

Route Feasibility Srudy, DENA (Denver, DPnver Service Center. April I 99 7), 7-9; M Katherine Heinnch, '' NPS 

Ftna!lzes Denali Plans," National Parks 71 (May/June 1997), 21-22 Kanttshna Holdings, Inc felt that a railroad 

could be bUilt for $136.1 mtllton; the Alaska Railroad estimated a $227.5 1 nilhon rrice tag, and the BRW 

consulting company, g1ven the results of 1ts 1994 study, prov1ded a construction estimate of $213 6 million 

· Anch01age Daily News, October 9, 1996, B-2 

· Alaska House Bill History, 1997-1998, for HJR 28 (p. 262}; Alaska Senate Btl/ History, 7997-1998. lor ~JR 2 ') 

(p. 212). SJR 25 became Legtslattve Resolve No. 26 tor the Twent1eth Alaska I l!gtslature 

· Anchorage Daily News, October 30, 1997, A-1, A-4, "U.S.-Aiaska Study on Cost of Denah Road: A Million c1 

M1le," Travel Weekly 57 (January 15, 1998), 80 . 

... 4ncl1orage Daily News, May 23, 1998, A-1; 1 05'" Congress, 1 1 Sesston, H .R. 2400; Public Law 1 05-178 

(TEA·Z 1 ), Section 1602, Item 1494. 

· Denalt Borough Assembly, Minute:, of Regular Meetmg, June 11, 2000, p. 4 

Ala::.ka House Bill H1story, 7997-1998, for HB 386 (pp. 191-92), Anchorage Daily New5, May 1, 2001, A I, 

NPS, ''Northern Ac.cpss to DENA" brieftng statement, March 30, 2001. tn DENA Public Affatrs Offtce files. 

' Thts work took place pnot to the state legislature's actton because, according to Denali Borough Assf'rnbly 

chair Scott Stowell, Senato1 Murkowski was impatient that work had not yet begun Murkowski also assuwtl 

borough offroals that addtttonal funds could be procured If necessary. Mtke Traneltntervtew. Oc.tobN 13. 

2006; Steve Carwile to Steve Martin, et al.. email, July 21 , 2000 

Alaska Sr!nate Bill History, 2007 ·2002, for SB 3 (p. 2) and SB 29 (pp. 18-20). 

Alaska House Bill H1scory, 200 1·2002, for HB 244 (pp 181·82); Alaska House Journal 22: 1 (200 1 ), p 9S9 ~ 

Anchorage Daily News, May 1. 2001, A·l 

" 4.1aska House Bill History, 2001·2002, for l iB 144 (pp. 182·83), Alaska House Journal 22' 1 (2001 ), pp 

1 908· 10, 1988-89, Anchotage Daily News, May 1, 200 1, A· l; May 24, 2001. 8·6, July 6, 2001, B 1. July 9, 

2001, B-4. January 15, 2002, B-4. 

• In the early fall of 2000, the Borough Assembly had passed a resolution which had paved the way toward 

the state's actton. "North Denali Access Route Planntng/Reconnaissance" page on thP Denah Boto11gll wPbs•te 

(www.denallborough.govoffice.com), Fairbanks Datly News-Miner, January 9, 2003, B· l. B-2; NPS, "Northern 

Access Issue into DENA" (briehng statement). November 2000, tn DENA Public Affatrs OlticP ftiPs 

~ Denali Borough, North Denali Access Route Plannmg!Reconnaissance Szudy. Phase I Repon.. Apnl 1, J.OOJ, 

l\K2Day (NPS newsletter), January 4, 2005; Anchorage Daily New.:., January 16, 2005, B-3 

Anchorage Daily News, February 28, 2006, B-4; Alaska Department t)f Transportalion and Pt1hli1. F<Jc.dltiC'S, 

Fmal North Denali Access Route Reconnaissanre Study, Fmdings and Recommendations Report. A11g11st lOOn 

1 1 Anchorage Daily News, November 27, 2005, 8· 1, B-3; December 23, 2005, B-4; February 28, 2006, B-4; 

/\Iaska Legislature, "Project Detail by Agency - FY 2006 Capttal Budget" (chan), p. 132. v1a http://www t;ov 

state.ak uslomb/Archive/lndex.htm 

r., Anchorage Daily News, February 28, 2006, B-4; Alaska Legislat11re, "PIOject Dett~il by Agency FY 2007 

Capital Budget" (chart}, p. 117, via hltiJ://www.gov.state.ak.us/omiJ/ArciHVe/lndPx.htm. 

' Steve Carwile to author, ema1l, September 21, 2006 

' Anchorage Daily News, January 20, 2007, B-1 . 

' 106" Congtess, /'I Session, Senale Report /06-312 for H.R. 4578 (June n. 2000), p. 37. 

• 'Fatrbanks Dat/y News·Mmer, January 9, 2003. B-1, B-2, AK2Day, May 28, 2003; Anchorage Da11y NeW!>, 

J11ne 8, 2003, B-5; Denali Borough, North Denalt Access Route, Phase I Report, Apnl 1, 2003; NPS and AldS~,rJ 

DNR, Draft North Access Visitor Facilities Szudy, April 2004; NPS and Alaska DNR, North Access Visitor F-anhtles 

Study, August 2004. 

•" Anchorage Daily News, May 17, 2001, B-6; November 22, 2005, B-1, B-3: .. Amenra's 1 5 Moo;t l:ndangered 

Wildlands. " Wilderness Society's Qvan.erly Newsletter 2 (Sum met 2000), 3, Kate Hi mot, "ren Most 

Endangered, ·• Nat1ona/ Parks 75 (May-June 2001). 24. 

1 FMbanks Daily News-Miner, January 9, 2003, B-1, B-2. 

• Notrts, Alaska SubSIStence, 124, 127 

ArKhorage Da1ly News, November 11, 1998. B· 1: Steve Carwile interview. October 19, 2006 

"' Anchorage Daily News, November 14, 1996, B-1, B-3, Federal Register 64 (November 12, 19991, 6156 7 

' Anchorage Daily News, November 11. 19CJ8, B-1 . 

'" lb1d .. Anchorage Daily News, November 30, 1998, B-4 

·' Stephen P. Martin to Sandy Kogl, May 16, 1996, m Carwile files; Steve Carwile interview, OctobN I q, 2006, 

Chtp Dennerle1n, '' Reg1onal Report, Alaska," National Parks 72 (November/Derembet 1998), 18 

'

8 Anchorage Da1ly News, November 11, 1998, B-1; Joe Gauna, "Denali Wilderness Zone Should St<Jy Opun 

to Moton zed Recreation Says Alaska Se11atot," Alaska Snow Rider 9 (October 1998), t . In that arttcle, Ga11n,1 
qiJOted Sen Murkowski as saytng that "he will be with us tn our ftght to keep the Denalt Natton.tl P,Hk 

wilderne~s tone open to snowmobiling, as ANILCA says it SHALL be," 

"I Federal regulations (specifically portions of the Code of Federal Regulauons, volume 43, .secltCH1 ib 111 

stated that a park superintendent could make a temporary closure (for one ypar or less), wh1le long·tNm 

closures required the 1ssuance of a rule in the federal Reg1.ster 

'il' "Snowmach1ne Proposal [xtends Riding Prohibition m Wilderness Core of Denali Nattonal Park" 1DCNA 

Press Release), November 1 0, 1998, in DCNA Box 1. HFC; Anchorage Dally NPws, Novet nbet 1 I, 1 !)98, IH 

•; Anchorage Dajly News, November 11 , 1998, B-1; November 25, 1998, D-2; November 16, 1998, D 1, 

November 30, 1998, B-4; December 2, 1998, B-7; Fa1rbanks Daily New-.-Miner. November 22. 1998, A-ll 

November 23. 1998, A-1, A-7 

·Anchorage Daily News, December 29, 1998, B-1, December 30, 1998, B-6, Steve Carwile lntPrvtew, 

October 19, 2006. 

"' !\Iaska Hou~e Bill History, 1999-2000, 298; Senate Bill History, 1999-2000. 214-1 ':>, ~enate Jotnt i{e-,oltJtton 

s. after pa'>sage, became Leg1sla11ve Resolve 3 tor the 21 Alaska I eg1~lature 

·Anchorage Daily News, December 29, 1998. B-1, Decem her 30, 1998, B-6. 

Anchorage Daily News. February 5, 1999, A-1 , "Snowmachmes Banned 1n Denali Park 1\rec!S," tl.f.1sk,1 

Magazine 65 (May~June 1999), 1 7; Dean Littlepage, "Good Fight A Snow Job in Denali Wilde111e'>~. Advot.-1\C'!> 

,mel "inowmobilers Battle Ovet Trackless Alaska Lands." Backpacker 28 (February 2000). p. 15 

"'' Anchorage Daily News, February 24. 1999. B-1 , April9, 1999, B·l. Wall Street Journal, May 13, 1999, B 1. 

·' Ch1p Dennerlein, "Alaska Regional Report," Nal1onal Parks 73 (July-August 1999), 18 

"" NPS. Denali National Park and Preserve, Briefing Presentation· Proposed Speoal Regulation Pack<~ge, July 

1999, DENA Public lnformatton Office files, "Core of Denali Would RE'ma1n Closed to S11owmohiles Undt•l NPS 

Regulation Proposal" IDENA Press Release\, November 9, 1999, m DENA Box 1, I H:C; AnchoraqP Da1ly News 

November 10. 1999, B-1, Federal Register 64 (November 12, 1999), 615G3-71. Ma1t1n's dem1on was tiiE•grtl 

beCduse 1t vtolated both ANILCA (based on the lack of a "traditiOnal acttvltlf'~" definition) and the Nat1onc1l 

Enwonmental Policy Act 

·• NPS, Enwonmental Assessment for Permanenc Clo!>ure of the Former Mount McKmley National Park ro 

Snowmobile Use. November 9, 1999, 2: Anchorage Daily News, Novernbe1 23, 1 qgq, B-1. 

• • Federal Supplement, 2nd Senes, Vol. 79 (November 8, 1999), pp 1119, 1146. 

'

1 Anchorage Daily News, November 20, 1999, A-1; Case No. A99·59 CV UWS), tn 1999 US Di51. Lex1~. 21148 

• Anchorage Daily News, November 23, 1999, B-1. 

" Anchorage Daily News. December 5. 1999, B-1. Decembe1 10, 1999, A-1 

·· Margaret Myre's March 2000 statement that the park 1e1nained t losed to snowmachines betau~e ot ", 

senes ot 12-month proh1bitions" IS mcorrect. See Myre. "L1m1ts on Snowmachmes Favored," T1avel Wevkly ':>9 

(March 30, 2000>, 22 

1 Anchorage Daily News. December 18, 1999, C -9. Mamn's announcement. at 1 he beyinn1nq of the 1999 

2000 wmter rec.reatton season, was followed by a s1m11ar announcement the following spnng !:vet ~111ee that 

li1ne, park pre~s releases have provided ~1m1lar gUidance to snowmachine nder~ at the heg1nninq and end of 

C'iKh sea~on Kns Fister to author, email, October 11, 2006. 

'I" Anchorage Daily News, December 18, 1999, C-9. 

" Steve Carwile interview, October 19, 2006 

' Anchorage Daily News. January 12, 2000, B-3; Federal Reg1ster 65 (January 19, 2000), 2920 

'' Myre, "Ltmtts on Snowmachmes Favored." 22. William A. Undrke, "Letters Call for 5nowm.Khll1e B<ln 111 

Denali," National Parks 74 (May-June 2000), 52; "Snowmobile Enthusiasts Seel.. tn Open Dendli'S Wild Heart to 

Harmful Recreation" (NPCA Press Release), April 5, 2000. in DENA Box 1, HFC, M1ke Tranel, rev1ew commc•nt. 

June 22, 2007 The State of Alaska. however, apparently did not support tile p10posed rule As notecl in ttK• 

Anchorage Daily News for March 12, 2000, p. A-12, Sean Parnell, who was a State Senate Finance Comm1tlre 

co-rha1r, stated that "statehood defense is an extraordinarily 11 nportant tSSIIe nght now" and turther noted 

that snowmachme access to Denali National Park was one of the major elements 1n that fighl. 1

' NPS, Scatemenr of Fmding: Permanent Closure of the Former Mr McKinley National Park Area of Dena/1 

National Park and Preserve to the Use of Snowmachines, June, 2000, 3, 23. Th1s docu1nent, alonq wtth an 

accompanying final rule (Federal Reg1ster 65 [JunE' 19, 2000], 37863-79), provicied a c.Jefinitton ot "tradtt•onill 

ae11vrty." That defintt1on dtffered "in two main ways'· <n 37866) from what the NPS hdd propounded m 

November 1999. 

Elizabeth G Daerr. "Park Servtce to Issue Rules on Off-Road Vehicles." Nat1onal Park\ 74 tMdy-hmt> .2000), 

1 J; Elizabeth G. Daerr, "Reg1onal Report on NPCA's Wor~ m the Parks,·· Nat1onal Parks 74 (July AuQII~t 2000), 

20, Federal Register 65 (June 19, 2000), 37863· 79. 

Anchorage Daily News. April 27, 2006, B-1; Peter Arrntngton (Chtef Rcmqer, DENA), ematlto <1Utl10r, 

October 1 t, 2006 
1 Ehlabeth G Daerr, "Reg1onal Rep01t," National Parks 75 (January-February 2001 ), 26 The "snowmilrh1ne 

1ncius1ry," 1n thts context, conststed of the Alaska State Snowmobile Assoetat1on and the International 

Snowmobtle Manufactttrers Assooation 

""South Flonda Sun-Sentmel, Apnl 11. 2001, 1-A Horn, at the 11me, was drscnbed as "a Wash~nqton I11WYI't 

w1th dose ties to the lnter101 Department " See Daerr, "Regional Report." 26 

1 Anchorage Daily News, April 22, 2001, B-1. 

" Ch1cago Tribune, June 1, 2001, 8, Anchorage Dally News. June> 5, 2001. B-4 

" Anchorage Daily News, May 15, 2002, B- 1; May 18, 2002, A-3; 1 07'' Congress, 2'"' SeS.SIOil, H.R 4677 

(May 7, 2002) The Daily News ongtnally reported t11at Young's bill would "open up most of the drea tllSidf' 

the onginal park boundanes." but three days later, Young's spokesperson noted that the bill would "open only 

a '\mall area of the old park to snowmob1les " 

1" Anchorage Daily News, June 19, 2002, B-6; 107' ·Congress. 2"' SessiOn, 5 2589 (June 5, 20021; "Reg1onal 

Report." National Parks 76 (September-October 2002), 11 

1

" Washmgron Post, January 16, 2003, A-1 

1 Littlepage, "Good F1ght." 15; Mtke Traneltntervtew, Octobet 19, 2006 

1 Anchorage Daily News, October 15, 1999, C -1, NPS, DENA Draft Back country Manaqernenr Plan, GenE·ral 

Management Plan Amendment. Environmental Impact Statement (Denah Park, Ala~ka, the author, ri"bruary 

2003), 57, 94, 109. The pnmary demarcatton!> 1n the draft plan, as noted 111the secU011 below, were thtPe 

management zones known as "backcountry areas," "prtmtttve nreas," and ''natu1al areas." lKII de~1C}rta11 on•, 

of snowmach1ne access d1d not correspond to these zone designation~ 

· NPS. DtNA ReVIsed Draft Backcountry Management Plan General Management Plan AmPndrnent, 

[nVtronmenrallmpact Statement (Denali Park. Alaska, the author, April2005), 431 -32.436-371 Mike Tremel 

1nrervrew. October 19, 2006. 

1 • NPS, DENA Draft Backcountry Management Plan (February 2003) 209·1 0. 22 5-26, Anchorage> Dally 

News. January 6, 2005, B-1. 

1 ' NPS, DENA Rev1sed Draft Back country Management Plan .. (Apnl 2005), 41, ·11, I 0 1, 183, 187-88 

1 Eleanor H11ff1nes. "Alaska." Amenca's Wilderness (Wilderness SoCiety newsletter), 7 (Summer 2005), 4, 

Paul Anderson. revtew comments, Marth 2007, 

1 Tlte plan noted (on pp. 44 and 64) that Area A comprised 6 percent of 1 he entire Jiill k and preserve wl1111t 

constrtuted 9 2 percent of NPS land outsrde of the Old Park, 

1 NPS, DENA Fma/Backcountry Manag~ment Plan ... (January 2006), 46, 157 58; Federal Reg1ster 11 (Milr<ll 

1-1, 2006), 13160-61 

1 • See the ftnal regulations for the new NPS areas, as noted in Federal Register 46 (June 17, 1981), 3186(). 

1 NPS, DENA General Management Plan (November 1986), 37, 45, 195. HoUts Tw1tchell1ntervtew, Ja11uat y 

12,2007 

111 Hollts Twttchell 1ntervrew. January 12, 2007; Norns. Alaska Substsrence, 184, ?05, 233 (end11ote 1')) 

1 NPS. Subsistence Management Plan. DENA (rev1sed August 18, 2000), chapter 5, page 5-6, Tw1td1ell 

tnterv1ew. 

1 · Don Callaway, tnterview With the author, November 8, 2006; Steve Cdrwile interv1ew, D1~cernbcr 1, /006: 

Twltchelltntervtew. 

Steve Carw1le 1ntervtew, December 1, 2006; Wilham E S1rneone, Wild Resource Harvests and U~c~ I>Y 

Restdems of Cantwell, Alaska 2000, Technical Paper Number 272 (Jun~clu, ADF&G Dtv1s1on of ')ub\IStenc..e, 

September 2002l, 15. 19. 

Twltcllelllntervtew, Paul Anderson 1nterv1ew, Apnl12, 2007 

" ' Twitchell1nterview 

' SAR, 2003, 9; Peter Arrr11ngton. ema1ls to the author, November 1 G dnd December 12. 2006. The tno was 

brought before the U S Attorney's Office in Fatrbanks; two patd $1 ,000 ftnes, while the tlmcl pa1d a $250 1me. 

Paul Anderson to the author, rev1ew comments, April 16, 2007 

"Don Callaway tnterview, November 8, 2006; Paul Anderson 1ntervtew, April 12, 2007: Ancler'>CJn rf'Yit'W 

romments, Aprd 16, 2007 Specifrc defin1t1ons came rrom the 1986 GMP (p, 195>; frorn U 'i'. HousP Renou 

96-97 (p 280); and U.S. 5enate Report 96-413 (p. 269) 

·• NPS, A Compilation and Rev1ew of Information Pertaining to Use of ORV.s a.~ AccPSS for 5ubstS/Pfl«' 

Pvrposes m che Cantwell area by Federally Qualdted Subsistence Users. A Report 10 che Surerllllenclc•nt, UfNA, 

July 9, 2005, pp. 6, 55, 106; Tw1tchelltnterv1ew 

"lbtd 

NPS, CantweiiS11bsistence TraditiOnally Employed ORV Detc minc~tlon, Fmal Det~~rrninatwn, DENA. JiJiy 21, 

2005: Anchorage Daily News, August 1, 2005, B-7 

·Paul Anderson. review comments, Apnl 16. 2007. These cntena 11Kiuded I 1 an established lfrldtllntlill 

pnttern of ORV use ior subsistence a<.cess that occurred Wlthtn tlte evaluated Mea in whilt IS now Den<llt 

Nattonal Park and Pteserve pnor to 1978, 2) a consistent pattern of use by sufCessive genet altons exdud1nq 
generations beyond the control of the community or area, and 3) CJ S1gn1hcant community prdc.. tltl' and pa1tt•1 n 

of subsistence ORV use (rather than Individual practice) recurnng 1n SiJeuiiC seasons for many year\ 

NPS, Cantwell Subsistence ORV Management Preliminary Alternatives Newsletter, DENA, March 2006lp. 

3], SAR. 2005, 21; NPS, "Nat1onal Park Serv1ce to Hold Public HC'aring on Proposed Temporary Closure " 

(DENA Press Release), July 23, 2005 As noted above, two of the three sana1o11ed ORV routes had bee11 

1dent1f1ed In late 1994, but the Cantwell Creek tr.:ul had not 

1 ••• NPS, LnV/{onmental Assessment, Cantwell Subsrstence Off-Road Vehicle Management, DENA lntem.ll 

Rev1ew Draft (And1orage?, the author, August 2006), 29 30. 

11' NPS, "National Park Servtce to Issue Subsistence Perm1ts and Hold Public l leanng" (DENA P1ess Reled~e), 

July 19, 2006 

1 " AK2Day, July 11, 2007; Mike franel emad, August 24, 2007; NPS, Finding of No 5Jgndicantlmpar:t, 

Cantwell Subsr!>tence Off-Road Vehtcle Management [nvtronmental Assessment. DENA. SeptemhPr 18, 2007. 

Steve Cnrwile rnterview, November 16, 2007. 

1 NPS, Commerci(;JI Visitor Servrce Drreaory, Alaska Regron. vanous 1ssues, 1993 to 1996. The IBP. mttlated m 

1996. was s1m1lar to the Commeroal Use l icense (see Chapter 9), WhiCh had been in use since 1981 

·• Robert K. Yearou1 (WA50) to Reg1onal Di1ector. Alaska Region. June 1 1, 1997, 10 "(3823 IBP Converted to 

CP (Air Taxi Operation DENA)" file, AKRO Concessions files; Chnstian Scif!nce Monitor. Septr>mber 8, 1997. 4 

''' Anchorage Daily News, Oc..tober 15, 1999, C - 1; Federal Register 64 (September 13, 1999), 119503. 

1

" 1birl.; Littlepage, "Good Fight," 15, Federal Register 64 (September 13, 1999), 49503; NPS, "Planning for 

rile Backcountry of Denali National Park and Preserve, Invitation to Public Open Houses" (DENA Pres~ Release). 

rcJ. September 1999; Mike Tranel1nterview, October 19, 2006 

1

'" NPS. "NPS Seeking Ideas on Managing the Backwuntry of Denali National Park and Prese!Vl•" (DLNA ptess 

reiPase), January 2001; Anr:horage Daily News. February 27. 2001. B 1; Elizabeth G. Daerr, "Regional Reporl 

on NPCA's Work in the Parks," National Parks 75 (May-June 2001 ), p 20. The 1-1ark newsletter, the Dendi! 

Dtwatch. had been published SH1(e the mld-1990s. 

• Anchorage Daily News, January 18, 2002, B-3; May 15, 2002, B-1, Federal Regtster 68 (February 25, 2003), 

8782-83. 

' The quote is from park supenntendent Paul Anderson from tht' Anchorage Daily News. June 15, 2005, B-3 

" NPS. DENA Draft Backcountry Management Plan, General Management Plan Amendment Envrronmental 

Impact 5tatemenr (February 2003), ':>6, 94 

1

'

1 lbrd .• 56-61 . 

"' federal Register 68 (February 25, 2003). 8783, Federal Register 68 (May 2, 2003), 23485, (;urbanks Daily 

Nf'WS-Miner, Apnl 23, 2003, A-1, A-11 . 

' Anchorage Daily News, June 8, 2003, B-3. 

1l< As noted tn the rev1sed draft plan, 8.301 of the 9,341 responses were form letters. The "vast ma,only" 

of these came from devotees of e1ther the Wilderness Society or the National Parks Conservation Association; 

another 300 "addressed only a11 craft issues" and were gel"'erated by members of the Aircraft Own~1 s and 

Pilots Assooation . NPS, DENA Revised Draft Backcountry Management Plan. (April 2005), 1 431-32, 436-

41 . AOPA members sent 1n about 400 form letters-not 8,000, a~ noted 1n the Anchorage Daily News, JunE' 

15, 2005, B-3. 

1

'

1 federal Register 69 (July 27, 2004), 44678, and Federal Register 70 \April 26, 2005), 21440·41 

NPS, DENA Draft Backcountry Management Plan ... (February 2003). 57, 105: NPS. DENA Rev1sed Draft 

Backcountry Management Plan ... (April2005), 193, 442-68; Mike Tranel mterv1ew, October 19,2006 

Federal Regrster 70 (April 26, 2005), 214110-41; NPS, "DENA Releases Revtsed Drah Back country 

Management Plan '' 1DFNA Press Relf'ase), April 25, 2005 Page 2 of the newly-released plan (NPS, DEN/\ 

Rr.:vised Draft Backcountry Management Plan ... , April 2005) gave a deta1led description of the differcntc'> 

between the February 2003 draft and the Apnl 2005 revision 

•·' NPS, DtNA Revised Draft Backcountry Management Plan ... (April 2005), 41-42. 70-711, 101, 511-15 

IWo of tile 46 Old Park bc:~ckcountry units- those which -;urrounded Mount McKinley and Mount Forake1, 

respectively-also 1ncluded a small amount of New Park acreage. 

' NPS, ''DENA Releases Revised Draft Backcountrv Management Plan" (DENA Press RE!Iease), April 25, 

2005, Federal Register 70 (April 26, 2005), 21440-41 ; Federal Register 70 (May 31, 2005), 30969-70; Feeler a! 

Reg1ster 70 (June 28, 2005), 37108. 

1

' '

1 NPS, Fmal Backounrry Management Plan, General Management Plan Amendment, Environmentallmp c c 

Statement, DENA (January 7006), 2, 179. 

·····Federal Register 71 (January 19, 2006), 3118-19; NPS, "DENA Relt~ases F1nal Backcountry 

Management Plan and Envtronmental Impact Siatement" (DENA press release), January 18, 2006, 111 

DENA PubliC Affairs files. 

1

'"· Mike Tranel tnterv1ew, Oaober 19. 2006. 

IlL U uwu lt•W11I f1l tilr Nnttl1 A11 Adii'IIM1lrol11ve Hl~tory ol 1Jpn.111 Nhll lllli\ll'~rl .• Jntl i'l'f•··•'M· 
ThE' t~?vr ed draft had espoused a five-t1ered management system. but the NPS's preferred alternative 

recommended no acreage rn Area E, its most restricttve classrf!latron 

' · NPS, DENA Revised Draft Backcountry Management Plan (Apnl2005), 41, 70, 101, NPS. Ftn.JI 

Backcountry Management Plan ... (January 2006), 2-3, 36, 44, 81 . The Ruth Glaner Spenal Use Area. fir t 

p1opounded in the revtsed draft, rema1ned unchanged in the final plan 

,. NPS, " DENA Releases Final Backcountry Management Plan and Envrronmentallmpact Statement" (DI:I\IA 

press release), January 18, 2006; Federal Reg1ster 71 (March 14, 2006), 13160-61 . 

1 ' NPS, Commemal Services Dtreczory, Alaska Region, various annual issues, 1996 to 2005; NPS, !-mal Sou1h 

Denaltlmplementarton Plan and environmental Impact Statement (Denali Park, lht• author, Apnl ,W06), 3 1/. 

11' SAR, 1995, 2, Steve Carwile lnteiVIew, October 25, /006. 

" Mrke Tranelmterv1ew, October 25, 2006. 

1

' ' Anchorage Daily New.s, August 5, 1995, C-1, July 31, 1996, D-1, D-4, May 1 J, 1997, 8-1, B-4, "Towt~rn." 1\lo~\k.J 

Business Monthly 12 (November 1996), 14. fhe lodge 1s actually 43 miles" as the crow fh~> '' from Morml McKtniC'y 

1'" SAR, 1995, 3, Anchorage Daily News, August 27, 1995, B-3. 

' Federal Regt'lter 60 (October 25. 1995). 54705; Federal Regtster 61 (March 25. 1996), 12095 9b, NP<, 

Revtsed Draft, Development Concept Plan, l:nvironmenrallmpact Statrment, South Sidr Denali Ala~Aa (DPnvPr, 

thf' author, March 1996), iv, 13, 31-36, 209-10. 

•··· Federal Register 61 (March 25, 1996), 12095-96; Federal RegiSter 61 (May 13, 1996), 22072; New York 

Times, Apnl28, 1996, V.3; Ch1p Dennerlern, "Regronal Report," Nattonal Parlu 70 (July-August 1996), 2/, 

SAR, 1996, 1-2; Anchorage Daily News, November 4, 1996, 8-1, December 1, 19%, WA 9. 

1 Anchorage Daily News, November 4, 1996, 8-1; November 7, 1996. B-5; November 18, 1996, C -1 , 

November 20, 1996, B-1, B-3 

'' Anchorage Daily News. January8,1997, C-1 

.... Fede1al Register62 (January 23, 1997), 3521; NPS, Development Concept Plan, South Sid(', D~>nali, fii,J k" 

(Denver, the aut nor, February 1997), 11 1-vit, 14-22; NPS, Final Development Cunrept Plan, Fnvironmentdl 

Impact Statement, South Stde, Denalt, Alaska (Denver. the author, December 1996), v-vit, 35-42, Kc1thenrw M 

~le1nnch, "NPS Frnali7es Denalt Plans," Narional Par/..s 71 (May-June 1!!97), pp 21 22 

'" AnclwrageDailyNPws, May 1,1997,8-2, May2, 1997, B-6. 

' Anchorage Daily News, Apnl 22, 1999, F-1, F-4 

1 Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Petersville Road Comdor Management Plan, A\lgu~t 1 <198; see www w mdl 

su .a k. us/denah/documen ts/Petersville% 20Road% 20Comdor.pdf. 

' Anchorage Daily News, January 21, 1999, B-1 ; March 30, 1999, B-1 

1 • Anchorage Daily News, December 14, 1999, B-1 

Anchorage Daily News, May 19, 2003, 8-1, B-7 

Federal Register 69 (February 13, 2004), 7253-54, At~tliorage Datly New . April15, 20011, B-2, NPS, Dt,Jft 

!>ourh Denali Implementation Plan and [nvtronmenraltmpact Statement (Denali Park, lht• au11101, Srpteornbl:'l 

2005). 221. 

Anchorage Daily News, Apnl 15, 2004, B-1, B-2 

1 

·• Anchorage Daily News, Apnl 13, 2005, G-4, NPS. Draft. South Denali Implementation Plan, September 

2005, 25-29, 247, Figure 2-10 and 2-11, AK2Day, September 14, 2005, Federal Rf:'gister 70 (SepternbN.! 1. 

2005), 554 14-15 

·• Anchorage Daily News, November 2, 2005, G-4; November 9, 2005, G-1 ; NPS, Fmal South Df>n.Jii 

Implementation Plan (April 2006), 237, 245. 

· AK2Day, May 1, 2006; NPS, Final South Denali Implementation Plan (April 2006), 26-30, 40-50 plu~ thr 

"Summary of Changes" page before the executive summa1y 

·

1 Fec.Jeral Register 71 (May 5, 2006), 26498, Fee/era/ Regtsrer 71 (June 13, /006), 34 1 59, F<>detal Reg1stflf 71 

(~eptember 18, 2006), 54687-88. 

Steve Carwile Interview, October 31, 2006; NPS, Fmal South Denali tmplementalton IJian (Aprtl 2006), ~00 

AnrhorageDatlyNews, October 10,1999, F-1 . 

Anchorage Daily News, September 30, 2001, J-1, J-4. 

Anchorage Daily News, July 5, 1996, E-1, E-2 

· Grnny Fay, "A History of Alaska's Mega Projects," unpub. mss., Alaska ConservatiOn Allrance, J1 tne 2003, 

17, in Denali Adm1ntstrative History Collection; www.ustbelh.com/chron.html. 

Anchorage Daily News, October 10, 1999, r - 1, November 9, 2005, ~-1 , r-S 

Anchorage Daily News, November 9, 2005, F-5. 

'Anchorage Daily News, September 30, 2001, J-1, J-4 

''" Anchorage Daily News, March 2. 2002, B-1 

' R~>becca Adams, "Coal Takes Stronger Pos1t10n rn Nation's Energy Strategy." CQ Weekly 60 (June 1, 2002), 

1440-47; 1 or Congress, H.R. 4 EAS \April 25, 2002), Sec 1237, tn www.thomas.qov 

' Anchorage Daily News, November 20, 2002, A-1 , November 9, 2005, f-1 , f-5. 

~p1er lt>r1 Oenall,olilll' ll'~• llir• MIIIt•f\ 1111 11 11. l"'t<,.pll•·< •lll I ll 
An<.horage Daily News. November 9, 2005, F-5 The bill, whrch bee elm~" Pubh< Lt~w 109 :,s, wa' H H h '" 

tire 1 og· · Congress, Sec. 412 noted the Healy power plam provrsron 

1 

' " 24" Alaska Legrslature. SB 231, Section 62(f), Anchorage Daily News. Ottober 18, 2005, D-1, D-4; Mtly 6, 

2006, D-1, D-4 The 512.5 million expendrture had ongrnally been Included m HB 463. Introduced on Feb1 uary 

13, 2006 by Rep Pete Kelly (R-Fairbanks). 

•I·, Anchorage Daily Nr~ws. September 29, 2006, F-1; November 17, 2006. D-4; Mar(h 1. 2007, F 1 

'I SAR. 1983, 1; SAR, 1986, 1; SAR, 1987, 5; Anchorage Dally News, September 29. 200/, H-/ llw llnr pt•r 

I odge was Princess Tours' first Alaska l1otel. 

•· Anchorage Daily News, August 13, 1989. F 3; August 3, 1991. B-5. The Mitepo~l. 1992. pp. 341 112 

According to The Milepost. the Den;;li River View Inn. Mount McKmley Motor Lodge. and Sourdouqh lab1ns 

dll opened for the first tune 1n 199/ 

1 " The Mrlepost, vanous years, 1981-1993. 1 

• The Mileposr. vanous years. 1994-2005. 

' "New Hotel Slated for Denah Park Entrance," Alaska Busmess Monthly 16 (September :WOO). 7 The thlfli 

lc1rge hotel was the 242-room Denah North Star Inn, which operr!'d at the Healy turnoff rn 1996 Onr:> yt'dr 

E'drher, thrs "111rr" had been housing Endrcott Freid (North Slope) oil workers; rn 1994, 1ts tonstrtuent parts 

had been brought to Healy to accommodate construction crews for the Healy Clean Coal Pldnt Since 200''· 

the facrlrty, called "fhe Princess Homestead" and own-ed by the Ala~ka Hotel Pro~rt e~ ~ub~ thc1ry of Pflll\t'~~ 

Tor11s, has served as contract employee housing Anchorage Datly News. July 5, 1996. E-2; September 30, 

2001, I I, The Milepost. 1996-97 edrtion. pp. 391, 442-43; Mary Wysong email, November 8, 2006, l<.lrl•' 

Bryont emoil, November /9, 2006 

· On March 20, 1996, an early mornir1g fire-caused by a faulty Jurnare: <lt•stroyed rnorC' th,ln h,JII of lilt• 

Denf!h Pnncess Lodge (formerly known as Harper Lodge) Prospect~ tor 1tre tou11s1 ~easorr, whrctr wa~ ~~>I to 

beg1n 1n Jlrst 55 days, seemed d11n c1t frrst But rn the f~re's waked Prtnw~~ Tour'> offrcral, Torn Dnw, '>lf!tt:•d tl1dt 

"We're shootmg for berng tn full opE-ration in the mrd-May time tr.=~me" Aher an e~lraustiVL', round-thP-clock 

effort (cmd $18-21 million rn rebuilding expenses), the Job was completed on trme c1nd the hotel W<Js reatly 

for the 5eason's hrst tounsts. who arrrved on May 14. Anchorage Dally News, March 2 I, 1996. 1\-1 Jwrt• I h. 

1996. C -I. C -3: ''Winter Frre Destroy'> Buildings." Alaska Magazme 62 (August 1996), 12: ~AR. 19%. 4. 11 Several years before constructron commenced, there had been Orhrgacn, oH-agarn pldrr> lor d largt• hot!'l 

rn the area In March 2000, CIRI and Doyon Ltd announced plans to JOrrHiy open a 350 room hotel. dl1d 111 

August 2001, Holland AmPnca first released plans for a 300·roorn hotel on the property. Anl/ICJ/age Daily 

News. March 31. 2000, B-6. August 16. 2001 A-1: October 27. 2005. 1--1 

Anchorage Datly News, December 6, 2005, F-1; June 22, 2006, I 1, Char he I oeb emarl, Morell 1 L.. 2007 

' Anchorage Darty News, June 13, 1999. 8-1; Dan Randle, "Cris1s of Confidence." /\Iaska 66 (August 2000>, 

26-29; Brute Woods. "Undeniably Denah," Alaska 66 (December/January 2001), 6, 8 fhree people, allrr1 

therr 70s. have died whrle runnrng the Nenana Rrver over the years· a Massachusetts woman 111 l ggo nnd two 

t:Jeorgra women in 1999. 

1 • The frrst known, published use ol the term was apparently in the 1111d 1990s, but some lclC,ll rt''> rd t>nl~ u~ed 

the name begrnning 111 the late 1980s. Anchorage Daily News, Augusr 4. 1996, A-6. Steve Carwrle mtervrew, 

November 3. 2006. 1 • Robert M Thorson, ''Spoiled or Preserved' Edgartown's a Gem; Not So the Doorway to Denilh," Hatlforrf 

Courant, September 1, 2005, rn AK2Day, September 15, 2005 

1 F;urbanh Daily News-Miner, July 17, 2000, A-1, Anchorage Daily News. August 5, 2005, H-5, Juneau 

Lmptre. June 19. 2006, A-3. 

' SAR, 1997, 1; 1998. 1, Charlie Loeb to author. email, Novemher 6, 2006; Ttm Woster to duthor. ernatl. 

November 7, 2006. 

"' "The TRAAK Board" was an acronyrn for the Governor's Trarls and Rerreatronal Access ior 1\ld~ko Crtrterrs' 

Advrsory Board This board was established by admrnrstratrve order rn rebrudry 1996 'iee llttp://Www qov 

stare a~ .us/admrn-orders/16 1 .html. 

11' Charhe Loeb email, November 6, 2006; Tirn Woster email, November 7, 2006; rcllrf>anks Ouily NPws Mim•1 

J1rly 17. 2000, A-1. A-6 

1 Anchorage Daily News, November 20, 2000, A-1; Charlie Loeb ematl, November 6. 2006 

SAR, 2002. 8. 9: Char he I oeb emarl. November 6, 2006; 1 rm Woster emarl, Nuveml.)er 7. 2006, 1\11< hOttiY<' 

Daily News, July 3, 2004, D-1. 

1 Anchorage Dally News, June 26, 2001, D-3; www.rUllWdlkJOg.com_(Airl'>kd nrnnrng calendar) for 2006 As 

noted rn Chapter 9, a half-marathon (the Pygmy Tundra BuffCllo Run) had been held at the park srnrf' the nwl1970s, but that event had qenerally not been pubhuzed outsrdE' of the pc1k Vl(lf1rty 'ltevE' Carwile lr' tervrew, 

November 6, 2006. 

1' Anrhorage Dally New;,, February 18, 200 I, K-3. 

Anchorage Daily News. March 14, 2002, B-3 
"·DENA Press Release, January 28, 2002, kns f1ster email. November 17,2006 

' SAR, 2003, 35, NPS, "New Asststanl Su~erintendenl Selected for DENA'' (DEN/\ r'res'> Kelp,,·,~~. Mdy 13, 

2003) and "New ASSIStant Supenntendent for Operations Selected" (DENA Press Release, AJ.Hil 2.l, 1004), tn 

Pubhl Information Officer\ files, DENA 

.,. As noted in Append1x A, the pa1k.'s base budget betweeo 1996 a11d 2005 ros~ approxnnately 51 penPnt 

from ~7 2 to $10.8 million. About halt of the budget increase, however, was cons11merl hy 1nflat1on. See the 

"Purchasing Power of Money in the Untted States from 17711 to 2005" website: http://www.measunnl"]wortb 

corn/calculators/ppowerus/. In add1t1on to the park bilse. additional funds come to the park through variou'> 

project funds, 1ecreational fee (formedy "fe-e demo'') funds, concession fr<1nchise fee\ special11se perm1t 

funds, ilnd vanous m1srellaneous funds. G1ven these additional tundmg sources, the total park allocation 

in recent years has been approximately twice th€' level of base funding. So-called "fee demo" 1noney 

was authorized under the Recreational Fee Demonstratron Program that Congres~ had authori;eclln Apnf 

1996; these funds, begmn1ng .n December 2004, were managed under ti1P prov1s1ons of the Federall;lllrl~ 

Rerreat1on fee Enhancement Act Anchorage Daily News, December 14, 1998, B-1; Shane McGoldrttk 

Interview, November 16, 2006, Sec. 315 of Public Law 104-134, s1gned April 26, 1996; T1tle VIII of Pohlic Law 

108-447, S1gnetl December 8. 2004. 

SAR, 1996, 15; SAR, 2004, 42; Juli(• Wilkerson ema1l, January 30, 2007 

' SAR, 1996, 14; SAR, 2004, 9, Anchurage Daily News. August 8, 2004 D-3. 

' Ted S. V1nson and Dav1d I ofgren, "Denah Par~ Access Road lcrng Problems and Mlt1gat10t1 Option'." 

1n Ma1oa Ph1llips, Sarah M. Springman, and Lukas U Arenson, ed, Permafrost· Proceedings C)/till"' 8th 

International Conferenw on Permafrost, Zurich, Swttzerland, 2 7-25 July 2003 (L,sse, Netherlands. AA 

Balkema. 2003), 1189-94. 

'.'.' Brad Ebel emarl, August 29, 2006 and March 7, 2007 

Clare Schuster, telephone interview oy Kr'ISten Griffm, September 25, 2000, Clare Schu~ter) <. urtis ernilll, 

October 20, 2006; /\K2Day, May 11, 2004 

1 AK20ay, May 11, 2004, Anchorage Daily News, September 29, 2002, G-1 ; May 10, 2004, B-1, B-9, 

September 26, 2004, K-3: June 2 5, 2005, B- 1. 

,. Clare CurtiS ernad, OlLOber 20. 2006. Oddly enough, the 1mpos1tion of thP registriltlon fpe rlirl not 

neLessarily d1rni111Sh the number of "no-shows." Whereils about 15% of all applica,\ts typically fatled to 

appear at the Savage R1ver check station during the 1995-2003 penod, the number of September 2004 

"no-shows" was 29.1 %, followed by 24.5% in 2005. The percentage in 2006 d1opped to 13.5% dllhough 

accord1ng to CurtiS, "2006 isn't the best cornpanson year because of the exceptiOnally good we.1the1 " 

1 hapter Ten: Oenailaitl·,.'"-11'.1' '1' th••r.AIIIt•rll ulilll, l'l'J', pw.1·1•t 11!1 
1 30 Crown Jewel of 1he North An Adm1nowauve H1s1ory of Denali Nauonal Park and PrPserve 
Sled dog demonstration, July 1959. 

DENA 11-60, Denali National Park and 

Preserve Museum Collectton 

Chapter Eleven: Interpretive Issues; 

The Park from the Visitor's Point of View 

The first several chapiCr~ of this study have 

detruled the ~rep<; that vanous major group~ over 

the years Congress, the anonal Park Service, 

the Alaska Ra1lroad, the Alaska Road Commis-

~ion, the State of Ala~ka, conce,siOncr~. auvocaC) 

organitations, and other cntiues have played 

during rhe park's go-year htstory. The act.ivtties 

undertaken by many if not most of t.hc:.e groups 

had enher a direct or indirect effect on the park's 

vtsiturs. Tht<; chapter, hy contr·aq, emphasite'> 

the other end of the telescope, ~o to <;peak. Of 

interest in rhi!. chapter i'> how visttors, over the 

years, have been attracted to the park, what their 

paception'> of t.he park have hcen, how rhe experiences of package-tour \'1St tors have dificreJ 

from those of mdepcnJent travelers, and what 

vtsttor activirie~ have been offered in the park. 

Park Interpretation 

During the "Cabins-and-Snow shoes Era" 

A~ Chapter 3 notes, Congress cstablbhcu Mount 

McKinley Nanonal Park in 1917 I larry Karstens, 

the park\ first employee, arnved at Mc(...inley 

Park Station in 1921. l·or thL' tJmc being, Karstens 

was the &o le park employee, flithough by tht' end 

uf r.hat year he haLl htrcd thc park's lir\t ranger. 

Development proceeded ~oon afterword. In early 1922. Alaska Engineering Commi-.-.um crews 

based :u 'Ackinlev Park \tation had completed 

tht: maJestic R.tb Crt:ck Bridge, and h" June 1923 

t.hey had completed rhe la'r remammg construelion hurdles: tht: completion of a hridge over 

rhe Tanana River, and the convc:r-.ion of the old 

Tanana Valle}' Railroad track~ from narrow gauge 

to standard gauge. Just a monrh later, President 

Warren G. Harding <.kdicated the Ala,ka Railroad at the "golden -.pike'' ceremony just north of 

Nenana. After June 1923, passenger~ were able to 

nde from ~eward all the way t(> Fairbanks tn the 

\arne train car; the train\ 'chcdulc. however, wa!> 

such that those hopi ng to vi'>lt Mount McKinley 

attonal Park ryptc:llly dctr::uned m Lh..: late night 

or early mornmg hour,. 

Desptte the con~truction related impediments, 

a few early vtsttor~ filtered tnto the park. some as 

early as the completton of the ratlltne to McKinley Pru·k Station. Dunng the -,ummer of 1922 the 

local railroad station wa-. <1 rude, converted boxcar; the only local accommouanon was Maurice 

Morino's rustic "Mount McKinley Park Hotel," a 

roadhouse that had been completed the previous December.' The park. at tht~ time. lacked a 

concessioner; the park\ ca,tcrn boundary was 

four mtle~ west of th~: 1 racks; and the only route 

connecting the ratlftlad 'tatton ro parkland was 

a rough trail that d1<. 1\lask,1 Road Commts~ion 

had just latd out. Gtven rho<,e condttJons, it is 

perhup~ not surprbing that Kar,tem and his staff 

recorded Jmt seven purl.. VISitor'> that year. By 

the foll owmg year theN PS had -,elected tts first 

concessioner Dan Kennedy and the Alaska 

Road Commission had bladed out its first two 

m1le~ of road west from the ratlroad depot. 

Kennedy, for hts patt, lmd out a rustic camp just 

east of Savage Rtvcr. \ Jsttattnn mto the park, 

however, remamcd anemtc; although 217 people 

got oil' the tram that sumnll'r at \II; Kmlev Park 

Station. on I) 3-1 vi1-itors a .. ccndcd the trail and 

entered the park. loun-.m 111 1924 was not much 

better; although the road wn<, by now extended 

almo'>t all the way to Kennedy\ \avagc Rtver 

Camp, continumg dtfficultie., wtth train schedules hmited d1e number of park n-.Jtors to just 

62. The level of overall Alaska roumm dunng 

this period, it must bc noted, was greater than it 

had ever been bcforc, and by thts time busines~es 

in many towns, hnth :~long the Pacific Coa~t and 

in the Interior a., well, were benefiting from the 

increasing number-. ol wunst<,. lourism at that 

time, however, wa" a mcre shaJow of what tt is 

today, tn all prohabihl), fewer rhon to,ooo rourtsts \"t,ited Alaska each summer. 

Tourism at "-1ount MLk.tnley linall} began to 

come mto 11~ own 111 Jq2'j. The l\lount l'v1cK.inle) 

Touri~t and Tran!>porrauon Company mmuc; 

Dan Kennedy, who had helped C'>tabhsh the firm 

a year earlier wa'> thl..' park\ ronccs!>JOner that 

year; the company wa~ run b] Fatrbank~ mayor 

Thomas Marquam anu Richaru,on Highway 

Tran~portation Company ch tcfJame-. I . Galen, 

while Robert Sheldon served a' camp manager.1 

These three mcn wc.:n: wcll-connccted and wellfunded. They were expt•rtcnced with tourists 

and re~pcctcd throughout the territory, and for 

more than a decade they proved to be iueal conce~sioner~- They pnl\'tdeJ accommodarions that 

were well-suited to the park\ itors. The concessioner t.hu~ gave rounsr-. tht: proper balance 

of comfort and adventure. and mauc a comtstent 

profit'' htlc doiug -.o. 

During the penod tn which tht· \..1ount \1cKinley Tourist and Tran-.portanon Com pan.,. operated as the ~ole park concess10ner, m<>st vtsttors 

to the Alaska Railbclt took package tours that 

combined the 'ervtce~ offered by the major 

rransportauon earners. By the early 1920s, the 

(h~p r Eleven In terpretive Jssue5, Tt1e Pnr . I rom th•• Vt~tto '\ Plltnt ol V1£>Vv 13 1 
During its earliest years, Savage Camp 

was a small collection of temporary 

tent structures: a horse barn and 

corral in the center. with a main tent 

structure to the right, and individual 

sleeping tents to the left. Karstens 

Library Collection #1476 

Transportation routes of the 1920s 

package tours are shown here, and 

involved several modes including 

steamship, railroad, river steamer 

and overland road. Alaska's "Great 

Circle Tour" via the Alaska Railroad, 

Yukon River, and White Pass & Yukon 

Railway required 28 to 30 days of 

travel. Karstens library Collection, 

Alaska Railroad Brochure 1927 

main inland carriers were the Copper River and 

Northwestern Railroad, which in 19JI had completed its line from Cordova to Chitina and on to 

the Kennecott copper mine; the Richardson Highway Transportation Company, which hauled stages 

(small buses) over the former Valdet-Fairbanh 

wagon road; the Alaska Railroad, noted above, 

132 Crown Jewel or the North An Adm1mstrat1ve H1storv of Denali Nat1onal Par~ and Pre>>t'rve 

which opened to d1rough traffic in 1923; and d1e 

White Pass and Yukon Route, which in 1922 began 

to offer d1rect steamboat serv1ce between enana 

and Dawson City, Yukon Territory.4 

In d1e first two years after the Alaska Railroad's 

completion, there was little coordination, on 
Savage Camp provided park visitors 

with accommodations, meals and 

activities. The family pictured above 

travelled by stagecoach along the 

Big Game Drove to the headwaters of 

Savage River where they were served 

lunch. Candy Waugaman Collection 

either pricing or ~chcdule~, between thc~e 

transportatiOn companies. But durmg the wmter 

of 1923-24, the vanou~ earner., worked out a 

"Gendemen's Agreement" that pledged greater 

cooperation, and thereafter most touri-.ts \'lSiting inland Alaska were part of a tour package. 

The "Great Circle Tour" or "Yukon Belt Tour"' 

combined a Yukon River '>tcamboat tnp with an 

Alaska Railroad trip. The "Golden Belt Tour" 

combined an Alal>ka Railroad tnp wtth a nde 

along the Richardson Highway and, optionally, 

a ride on the Copper River and Northwc!>tcrn 

Railroad. Still others adopted the "All-Rail Tour" 

and took an Alaska Railroad round rnp from 

Seward to Fairbanks and back. Becau~e Mounr 

McKinlev wa~ a major territorial icon the 

Alaska Ratlroad, in fact, adopted "the Mount 

1cl(jnley Route'' ao; its '>logan in 1924 taking 

a tnp through the area wa~ a prtmarv de .. rinarion of most Alaska vt~itor'>, and begmning in the 

mid-1920~ manv thousand'> of ,.i.,itor~ marveled 

ar \-lount McKmley through the wmdow'> of a 

train car. Tour packagcc., moreover, t) pically gave 

vbitors the option to detr~un at 'v1cKmle~ Park 

Statton for etthcr 24 or 48 hours before resuming their travels. Park w.ttation totals, however, 

sugge t that a fatrl} strong maJOrtl\ of Ala~ka 

Rrulroad roumts-regardle~' of the tour package 

they selected thrilled to vtews of Mt. McKinley 

from a train window but chose not ro head west 

mto the park.' 

Those tourists who opted for a McKinley Park 

vacation were met at the ... tatton bv the concessioner's auro ':>tage ... and were then t:~corred up 

to Savage Rh·er camp. twelve mtJc... awav. (See 

Chapter 4.) avage Camp. whtch wa.. sub':>tantialh expanded and tmprovcd in t926. was the 

tounsts' pnmary park dc~tinntion, and the great 

majority of park touri~r~ 'pent all of thetr evenings there.' One of th~ mmt popular tours that 

departed from camp wa~ the "Btg Game Drive," 

which was a nine-mile hor~c-drawn l>tagecoach 

or automohile trip up the Savage Rtver valley to 

"Caribou Camp" at it~ head; hrochurcs noted 

that ~heep, carib\JU, bear,, and foxes might be 

seen along the route .I The i\lal>ka Road Commission, supporting the company\ effort, 

improved thi~ route during the ~ummer of 1927. 

The following year, the AR chipped 111 again 

and roughed nut at\\ o-mile pack trail down the 

west s1de of the Savage River, begmnmg at the 

bridge, and dunng the lat~ 1920s and early 1930s 

the conce,~toner olfercd hor ... chack tnps oYer the 

route. -ro foster acccs~ and provtdc an addtttonal 

acttvit)•, the ARC bladed out an mrfield at Sa\·age 

Camp tn 1910· after \\htch sccntc flight~ were 

periodically offered to advenrurous tourists. 

For the relativelv few touri<.t~ who were able to 

arrange a park vhtt thar exceeded 48 hours, the 

concessioner offered manv way-. to o,ee the more 

remore porttom, of the park. One two-day l>addlc-hor~c trip, for e-<amplc, took the vistror up 

the ·'Btg Game Drive" route ro Caribou Camp; tt 

then headed westtnto the upper Sanctuary River 

drainage south of Double Mountam before descending the valley to the road. Another ~addle 

horse offering wa~ a rnp to the conce~sioner ., 

Chapter Eleven Interpretive Issues. The P<r~ from th~ ~uor's Poont of V1PW 133 
Park superintendent Harry Karstens, 

seen center above, often stopped at 

Savage Camp and entertained visitors 

with stories of his Mt. McKinley climb. 

Karstens Library Collection #844 

Igloo tent camp via Caribou Creek and the 

northern slopes of Double Mountain. And for 

the most dedicated adventurers, eight-day saddle 

horse trips could be taken all the way to the Copper Mountain area and the remarkable scenery 

surrounding Muldrow Glacier. In order to 

~upport these rrip~, the conccssioner built small 

tent camp!> at Toklat River and Copper Mountain as well as at igloo Creek. These trips, by 

necessity, were modified or eliminated altogether 

when construction of the park road made these 

previously-distanr points more accessible. A~ 

park road construction progressed farther into 

the park, visitors were taken to more distant road 

destinations on "interpretive" auto trips. 

What visitors learned while visiting the park was 

an eclectic mix of what the Alaska tourist brochures, the concessioner, and the park provided 

them. Contemporary accounts suggest that camp 

manager Robert Sheldon, along with o ther concessions personnel, provided most of the on-thespot interpretation to park visitors. NPS staff, at 

the time, was so preoccupied with game patrols, 

building construction, and other tasks that most 

rangers and other park personnel had relatively 

litde direct contact with vb to ~. Supt. Karstens, 

however, frequently stopped at Savage Camp and 

told visitors about his Mount McKinley ascent, 

and at headquarters, rangers as early as 1926 were 

catering to curious visitors who stopped at d1e 

134 Crown Jewel of the North An Admimstrauve H1story of Denali Nat1onal Park and Preserve 

newly-moved kennels; "the Alaskan sled-dogs," 

Karstens wrote, "are alway!> a source of interest 

to our park visitors here:•s 

Park personnel had other interpretive jobs, roo. 

During the mid-192os, Karstens ~pent "a great 

deal of time ... in answering letters of inquiring 

from prospective visitors, etc." He complained 

d1at "in the ab cnce of a park folder, it is necessary to write quite lengthy letters on the various 

topics of interest." During the winter of 1925-

26, park staff began assembling the first park 

interpretive folder, hoping to have it ready by the 

following summer. ln 1927 the first such gujde 

appeared, bearing the rather inelegant tide Rules 

and Regulatio11S, Mount McKinley Natiorzal Park, 

Alaska. Two years later, an updated and expanded product appeared, called Circular of General 

Informatiou Regardi11g Mount McKi11ley National 

Park, Alaska.• Ever in ce the 1920s, the agency 

has had either booklets or brochures available to 

park visitors.•o 

Park staff also reached out to provide information to other Ala~kans. In April 1924, informal 

weekly or bi-weekly "news notes" about the park 

and the McKinley Park community began appearing in the major Railbelt newspapers. By July 

1927, these tidbits-which were probably written 

by the park's clerk, Ralph Mackie- had evolved 

into the '·McKinley Parklets." Later called 
As this July 1, 1927 photo shows, 

park visitors stopped by the 

superintendent's office at park 

headquarters on their way from the 

railroad station to their destination at 

Savage Camp. Haskell Photo, DENA 

#14976, Denali National Park and 

Preserve Museum Collection 

Ranger Aubrey F. Houston presented 

interpretive t"lks "bout the flora and 

fauna of the park to Savage Camp 

guests, as seen in this photograph 

taken near the camp. Ickes Collection, 

875-175-331, Anchorage Museum of 

History & Art 

"McKinley Park ewl>,'' these continued at least 

until the mid-1930s." 

During the depths of the Great Depression, the 

park esrablished the first inklings of an interpretive program. In mid-May 1932, well-known 

wildlife biologist joseph M_ Dixon arrived at 

the park for a summer-long faunal study (sec 

Chapter 12), and accompanying him during much 

of his field work was a newly-appointed ranger, 

Dav1d Kaye. The two, according to Superintendent Harry Lick, were ''spending much time 

studying conditions among the wild animals with 

the view of determining the cau~e for our great 

losses in sheep." Liek noted that Kaye "has taken 

to the naturali t work with a vim;' and by the 

end of June he had given seven "lectures on the 

subjects." He gave additional lectures in July." 

Dixon, dw-ing the summer, took ''exceptionally 

fine colored slides" of the park's animal and plant 

life, and beginning in 1933, Supt. Lick repeatedly 

gave two different talks to the assembled Savage 

Camp vbitors: one that featured the park's plant 

and animal species, the other (complete with 

motion-picture footage) detailing the ascent of 

Mount McKinley that he, Alfred Lindley, Erling 

Strom and Grant Pearson had undertaken the 

previous year.'l The following year, Liek followed 

Chapter Eleven lnterprettve Issues. The Park from the Vtsttor's Potnt of V•ew 135 
Thrs 1929 photo shows the six·srded 

Interpretive kiosk, and park visitors at 

the McKinley Station railroad depot 

berng met by the Mt. McKinley Tourist 

& Transportation Company touring 

cars. Herbert Heller Collection, 79-44· 

130S, University of Alaska Fairbanks 

Archive 

a ... imilar pattern: he gave 20 shdc 'how ... and 6 

motion-picture prc..,entations at Savage Camp.'-~ 

In 1935, the park arrractetl 877 visitor~, more than 

had visited in any year since 1930 In re!.ponsc, 

Lick asked 1\ubrev ou~ron, who had hccn a 

park ranger for th(• past year, to take over <.,avage 

Camp mtcrpretlvc dunes. How .. ron. that 'ummer. 

gave talk<. on rhc park\ flora and fauna.•; The 

following ... ummer, with vrsitatron at an all-time 

hrgh. H ousrnn continued his Savage Camp rail.;,; 

in addition, the ... upcrintendenr im ited itor~ to 

lm residence at headquarters and ga\'e a number 

of talb (accompanrcd by movrc foorag~:) about 

hrs \1ount \lck.inlc~ ascem:•· In 19~7. hoth the 

mountaineenng and biology program' were 

again 'hown; Lrek gave most of hr' programs 

at the park hcad4uarters, while Edward (lcJ) 

Ogston. along with llou\ton, conducted the !lora 

and fauna program at Savage Ri,·er Camp.'' rhe 

conces~ro cr, ... ince 1935, had opcrat\.•d a lunch 

station at Camp Denali (at \tile 66 on the park 

road. where Cunp Cielson was lat!:r lo~o:atcd). hut 

the t\PS made no attempt dunng thi' period m 

conduct tntl'rprctJvc acrivitres enher hal' or .tt 

any other place we!>t of Savage Ri\'er Camp. 

Interpretive Growth, 1938-1956 

By 1938, change wa~ rn the air. UnJer federal au'-

pice~. a large hotel wa~ bemg constructed adjacent to the \1cKinlc\ Park railroad '-tatJon. That 

!>Ummer, however. the "'PS moved to expand Its 

interpretive olfcnng' at Savage Rrvcr Camp A~ 

before. Aubrey llow-.tnn and Harr} Lick continued ro provide programs on the park\ florn 

and fauna and the rcn2 a!>cent, re1.pectivcl\. In 

13() Crown Je>\el of the North Aro Adr!"ofiiSt!~twe H•storv ot Den1' N.ltoonal Park dtld Pre"St:!V(" 

addrtron, llou~tcm began olfcring nature walks in 

the Savage Camp area (m mrd-.ummer these were 

held almo~t daily), and he al!>o led occasronal 

auto <.:aravan tnps out the park road. 1 Iou!.ton, 

ar one point, e\ en gave a flora-and-fauna talk to 

the re~rdents o f the new Crv11ian Conservation 

Corp<. camp.'' •\ !.hort-lived "mu-.eum" which 

may abo have been Houston\ handrwork- was 

hou!>ed \\ nhin a stx-sided kimk ncar che railroad 

depot. )car.., later, a wnter who had <,pent time 

ar the park 111 1938 recalled that ··v ~itor~ stood 

oun.rde the -.ma ll stru cture and looked inside at 

wildlife and photo displays."" 

The new \1<.:1\.mley Park llotel opened on June 

1. 1939. and that summer the park\ interpretive 

actr\'ltre" shrftcd according!). According to new 

!>Uperintl'ndcnt Frank Been, "the h()tel management ha., cooperated in providing ade4uate 

space am.l ..,eatrng facilities and welcomes this 

means for entt.rtainmg rts guest.,. ced le ... s to 

sa~.\ rsllor., have been mo~t appreciatr\·e of th1s 

.,en rce." led Ogston gave the lt'trure!> for most 

ol the ~ummcr: after his late-Augu!.t departure, "icnror Clerk Gerald j ane' filled in for the 

remarndcr nf rhc ~cason. Been wa.., eager to offer 

what he termed an "active educationa l service" to 

the irin g public. To fulfill that goal. he assigned 

a ranger ro accompany each of the bu~ trips that 

the conces~10ner ~ent out the park road. (As 

noted 111 Chapter '>• the park\ conccssroner and 

huo,-tnp provider Wa!. snll rhc '\lount McKinle) 

Toun~t and Transponanon Company, and rt 

would remain that way until the clo~c of the 1941 

season.) lhc N PS's on-board interpretive ser-

\'ice, whrch wa~ conducted bv Lou h. Corbley but 
This 1939 photo shows (left to nght) 

the interpretive kiosk, the McKinley 

Station railroad de pot, and the Mt. 

McKinley Tourist & Transpo rtation 

Compa ny wareho use. DENA 4-72, 

Denali National Park and Preserve 

Museum Collectio n 

implemented by John Rumohr and Ted Ogl>tOn, 

allowed N PS rangers the opportunity to personally interact with almol>t all of the park\ 2,262 

visitor5 that year. ''' 

Been, unlike the park\ two previous '>Upcnntendents, had experience a~ a park nan1rali<,t, and 

he obviou~l~ enjoyed hi~ former job." Midwa} 

through the ICJ39 ~cason, he wrote to agencv 

director Arno Cammerer about the park\ newlyexpanded interpretive program: 

Tht: '>ourdough park ranger~ of 

Mount McKinley National Park have 

become naturalists and lecturers m 

the program for public contacts established here. Chief Ranger Corblcy 

and Ranger Rumohr, hard bitten 

Alal>kan' from way back, and Ranger 

Ogston ... are '>howing their mettle 

in an acttvity which i~ a far c ry from 

mmhing dog teams. The fine ~pirit 

which the men ha\'e ~hown in thic; 

educarional work i~ almo~t mspirational. 

Due to the small ranger force and 

lack of maintenance crew, the ranger~ 

have been jacks of all trades. Hence, 

enforced occupation on maintenance 

jobs ... has kept the rangers from one 

of their mo't important duties direct 

service to park visitors. The presence 

of the CCC camp has liberated the 

rangers to a large extent '>O d1at we 

have felt free to establbh a definite 

educational program. 

When the train bearing tourists arrives, a ranger is ar the ~ration to meet 

the group and accompanies It to the 

hotel. There by moving about among 

the new arrivab, answering questions and being generally pleasant, 

a National Park Service contact i~ 

e:.tabli::.hcd. From the hotel, bu~ tnp5 

embark for sight-~eeing and ro carry 

people to Camp Eielson, a tent hotd 

sixty-~ix miles in~tdc the park. A 

ranger accompanie~ each hu-,. If there 

arc more buse~ than ranger'>, the men 

mo\'e from one conveyance to the 

other during the trip .. . 

A unique featme of the~e trip> il> the 

night time travel. Usually, departure 

from the hotel is in the afternoon 

and cause~ the buses to rcrurn about 

nudnight or larer. One party, a few 

week., ago, ~tarred out Just after 

midnight and returned for a late 

breakfast . ... The ranger!> accompany 

these expeditions with fine ~ptrit and 

the tourists enjoy them becaul>e there 

is no darkn e~s . In fact, night time offer5 the greatest possibility for seeing 

that unforgettable spectacle, Mount 

1

vtcKinley, a!> the cloud., are l~:s~ apt to 

ob~cure the view. 

At the hotel, illustrated lecrures are 

given in the evening; or dunng the day. 

if the arrangement of groups justifies 

ada~ time presentation. A~ windows 

must be darkened for cit.hcr day or 

night lectures, the conditions are practically the ~am e. 

A feature of constant attraction. to 

which many visitors return during 

their stay in the park, is the kennel of 

Alaska huskies. These fine friendly 

Chapter Eleven lnterpr!'IIV" i'>'>ues. The Par~ flom the> Vr~rt ors Pornt C•f V•ew 137 
In 1939, ranger John Rumohr 

expettmented w•th attaching wheels 

to a dog sled so it could be used for 

summer sled dog demonstrations. No 

other national park unit offered this 

mterpretlve activity, which w as begun 

on a full-time basis in 1940. DENA 

11-135, Denali National Park and 

Preserve Museum Collection 

am mal<; arc alwav~ a~ glad to ~cc rhc 

\'iSitor~ <b the latter are the former 

Frequently, th~: ranger~ demomtrate 

the USC of dog eds by harnC'iSIIlg UJ" 

a team. Then excitement prevails for 

all tht> dog:, are raring to go, rangers 

at wit\ end w keep dogs and ~led on 

even keel and tourists shoutmg and 

hopping around attempting to photograph the melee .... The plea~un.. of 

the roun<.t!> I'> mcrea~ed because of a 

rather general impression that husk1cs 

arc ~avagc bca<;ts 

To simplif) and tmprove the exhib1 

rion of this rvpicall\ Ala~kan insrirution, Ranger Rumohr IS workmg our a 

device for placing a dog sled on mcon~ 

~picuou<; wheels. Then we expect to 

be able to gwe the dogs much needed 

exerc1se as well a~ to provide more 

adequate dcmon~trat ons. As dog 

teams arc gwmg way to a~rplanc!>, \\e 

hope that the McKinley Park hu~kies 

w1ll always be rctnmed a!> parr of the 

111Stom.al mtcrest of the park a' well a<; 

of the lermory. 

In 1940, the intcrpreuve program was largely a 

contmuation of the previous year\ acll\'ltic~. and 

Supt. Been continued ro ~tres' the 1mpurrancc of 

interpretation wh1ch mcluded both the lecture-, 

and the gwdc '>en ICC in park operauon.., There 

were. in add1t1on. two ne\\ act1v t1e~. One, con~ 

ducted occa\ionally, wa~ a ranger-led h1ke from 

the park hotel to ll orsc~ oc Lake. ( fhb 1.5-mile 

trail wa., completeu hy Alaska Road Comml~ltion 

personnel dunng the summer of 1940) In addition. rangers began ,Jed-dog demonstratmn-. that 

vcar at park headquarter~; the~ d1d so 111 r<.•cog138 C ow. I• wei of lh~ North An AdmllltWattve HIStory ol DPnal• NatiOndl Park c~nd Preserve 

mllon ol the cnn-.istent fondnes!> that vi'1tors 

\howcd toward sled dog,, and hccaU'>L sled do~ 

were J well-known Alaska 1con. Been, writmg ro 

doubtles'>h-skcplical supenor'> 1!'1 wa~hington, 

noted that "the hitching up and 'mushing' of a 

dog team, which demonstratiOn is made po'>Slble 

b\ hanng a sled mounted on n1bber nred wheeb, 

never fat!, to arouse the tourists' cnthu'iiasm and 

man~ cons1der It the h1gh point of their \'1Slt."' 

Been, pleased h\ the puhhc\ respomc to lw, mterpretiw mnovanon&, moved to establl~ h a new, 

!>Ca!>onal ranger-naturalist position al the park. In 

June 1941 llerbcrt Bratil, a University of Alaska 

graduate '>ludcnt, commenced work. That -;urnmer, Bratil'>houldered most of the park\ imerprenve program respon ... tblhtle..,, wh1ch consi!-tted 

of hotel lecture,, bm tnp~. '>led dog demonstration ... , and guided hikes. He performed those 

duric'> admirably; because of time LOnflicts, Supt. 

Been and the park\ equipment ope rotor. Wilham 

Clemons, also lt:d a number of interpretive acrivincs thar summer."" 

Gl\'Cn thl unset of \X'orld \X'ar I I, Alaska W3!> 

clmed 10 cwtlian tourism for the durnnon, and 

m 19·F onl~ 63 VISitor'> were recorded at Mount 

,\-lc.ktnlc\ National Park. But mll itarv officiab 

'>howed a connnuing intere~r m the park, and on 

April 10, 194 3· the park hotel hccamc the home 

ba-.~: forrhe \-lount \ 1cKmley L.">. Armv Recreannn C..Jmp, and for the next two vcar., rruhtar) 

pcr~onnd I rom throughout .-\lil>ka came to the 

park for mt1ch-needed re~t and rdaxanon. Mo-.r 

of the faulit1e~ that the sold1er~ u~ed were located in the tmmcdiate vicinity of the hotel and were 

prov1ded b) the army. NPS .,raff, however, did 

what the\ could to prov1de recreational opportunJtie., fhe on..,et of war had 5c.:vercl~ reduced the 

numher ol park employee~; m June and Jul) 1942. 
This 1940 photo shows the sled dog 

demonstration held at the park's dog 

kennels near headquarters. Tour 

buses brought visitors right up to the 

kennels area. DENA 11-13.5, Denali 

National Park and Preserve Museum 

Collection 

for example, there were just two people on the 

park'!> payroll. But three new employees signed 

up over the next few months, and in April1943 all 

five helped welcome the troops to the park hotel. 

During the first several months after the recreation camp opened, Actmg Superintendent Grant 

Pear~on gave a number of lecture~ and showed 

motion picture ~ of his 1932 climb up Mount 

McKinley. Ranger~ john Rumohr and Oscar 

Dick, working our of the hotel, showed motion 

ptctures that wildlife biologist Adolph Murie had 

filmed four years earlier. They also gave talks and 

conducted dog-sled demom.trations, and beginning in june they accompanied several groups 

that drove out the park road. The remaining 

park staff, Principal Clerk Louis Maupin and 

Clerk-Stenographer Raye Ann Ayers, remained 

ar headquarter!> where they provided interpretive 

information and am.wered visitors' questions.'' 

Another adtlition to the interpretive program was 

the park museum, which opened in June 1943. 

The museum, apparently the result of the efforts 

of Wildlife Ranger Oscar Dick, was located in 

the original (1925) superintendent's office, at the 

north edge of the headquarters complex. Granr 

Pear~on noted that the museum, as originally 

comtituted, "contains trophies of some of our 

better known animals and a fl ower display.'' He 

felt that Dick "did a remarkable job with meager 

material on hand ... we have had many fine comments on it." That fall, longtime Kanrishna resident Fannie Quigley donated "several intere!>ting 

items to be placed on display," to which were 

added items from the 1942 equipment-testing 

expedition and other accumulated memorabilia. 

During the war most hotel residents ventured up 

to headquarters during their stay, and mam of 

tho~e who toured the headquarters area ~pent a 

few minutes at the "little log museum.'''" 

By Augu~t 1943, the U.S. Army had i!>sucd a 

30-page booklet outlining the military's recreation program at the park. PS interpretation, 

however, suffered that summer; because park 

employees were obligated to take on a wide 

range of administrative duties, certain parts of 

the interpretive program had to be eliminated. 

Hotel-area interpretation, for example, was 

limited to "regular illustrated talks.'' These talh, 

supplemented by occasional ~tatT led tours of the 

headquarters area, continued until the recreation 

camp closed down in early 1945.'1 

Because wartime restrictions remained m effect, 

Ala:,ka remained off-l1mits to Outside residents 

during the summer of 1945. The park attracted 

some Alaskans: military officers, Anchorage 

business people, and scattered murists. The 

hotel, however, was closed, so those that came 

either camped, stayed at park headquarters, or 

overnighted at the \XIonder Lake Ranger Station. 

Given the small numbers involved, the only interpretation earned on was when visitors toured the 

park museum!~ 

Chdpter Eleven Interpretive s~ues, The Par• !rorn the ViSitOr'' Po1nt of W~w 139 
Constructed on 1926 as the 

superintendent's office at the current 

park headquarters, this building 

was converted, on its origonal 

location, shown here, into the park 

museum ln 1943. It served as such 

until1950 when it was moved 

to the maintenance area of park 

headquarters and used as an office. 

DENA S-2, Denali National Park and 

Preserve Museum Collection 

When the McKinley Park Hotel 

opened In 1939, it provided 

accommodations and meals and 

it became the center of most 

Interpretive activities for park 

visitors. Thos 1949 photo shows 

two tour buses in front of the hotel. 

NPS Photo 

In the spring of 1946, the hotel opened for the 

fir~t time m I') month!>, and for the liN tunc tht 

Alaska Railroad wa<; rhc active operator of not 

only the McKmlc} Park Hotel but the park conces~ iom contract a~ well."' That summer, "illmrrated talk-. were g1vcn w each group of\ I'>Jror~" 

to rhe park hotel. In addH10n, rangers rode m the 

conce~~ioncr\ hme' w1rh groups of \"l'•ltors ''to 

explam the wonders of the Park tn them." ·r he 

only literature ava1lablc for distnbutwn that vear 

was the park information circular."" But the following summer, additional publica !1om became 

available; these included a u.~. Geological ~urve\ 

-10 r~wn Jewel of thP North An AcJrwrnstrat>ve Hostory of Denali Nlt>Ondl Pdrl< dnd Preserve 

map of Alaska and biologist joseph Dixon's book, 

Bmls and Alammals of Alowll \fcKmley Natwnal 

Park, wh1ch had been published in 1938. Adolph 

J\lunc's The Wolves of Mount M cKmlcy was 

added the following year: the book, in its third 

edition, sold for 75 cents. 

Begmnmg tn the summer of 1947, the McKinley 

Park Hotel was open all year round, and PS 

ranger~ did their besr to provtde mterpretation 

to all park vi~itors. lllu!>trated talks at the hotel 

remained the: primary interprcttvc: vehtclc during 

th ~ penod: they were given on a regular ba~is in 
Having arrived as a park ranger in 

1948, William Nancarrow, center, 

became the first full· time, year-round 

park naturalist in 1951. He later 

served at the park as a carpenter and 

Buildings & Utilities foreman, retiring 

in 1981. Bruce Thompson Collection, 

Denali National Park and Preserve 

Museum Collection 

the summertime (as often a'> every other night in 

july rg..j8), but during the off-season, talk~ were 

provided only "when the hotel manager advised 

them that the hou~e count was sufficient." Thr~ 

usually happened 3 to 8 times per month.>' Rangers did not ride along on bm trip~ during the 

late 1940s, but they occasronally showed Muric's 

wildlife film or assembled slide programs. ln 

july 1949, park management stationed one ranger 

at "Wonder Lake during the month co furnbh 

information to the visitors to that area," and in 

addition, occasional illustrated talks were given 

in the Anchorage or Farrbanks areas.n The park 

museum remained open, on request, throughout this period, new rtems added during the 

late 1940~ rncluded the pelt of a beaver killed b~ 

a railroad '\pecder," a red fox caught in a wolf 

trap, a collection of mosse~ and lichens, and a 

three-dimen~ional model of the Mounr McKinley massif, the latter created by wildlife ranger 

Harold Booth.H 

ln the summer of 1<~50 the Korean War began, 

and for the next three years the hotel remained 

open each summer for civilian to uri st~. but 

during the intervening winters, either Army 

or Arr Force personnel filled the hotel seeking 

relaxation and re!>t. To assist wrth the interpretive program, the park 111 June 1950 hired Elton 

S. Thayer a~ a !>easonal ranger-naturalist; his 

wa~ the first such hrre in nine year~. Thayer 

remained for the summer. The following june, 

the park hired its fir~r full-rime, year-round 

park naturaii~t: William ancarrow, a former ranger who had tran~ferred to the park 

two years earlier from Lake Texoma Natrona! 

Recreation Area along the lexas-Oklahoma 

border.11 Nancarrow wa~ the sole interpretive 

employee for th e time berng, but rn june 1952 

Jam e-. Ca~tren signed on a~ a new ~easonal 

interpreter. The followrng year, Castren's po 

sition was replaced by Theodore Lachelt; Nan· 

carrow, meanwhile, stayed on. Ever '>ince that 

time, the park has had a permanent positwn 

(either as narurali~t or interpreter) to manage 

the park's interpretive activities.'" 

Perhaps because of these additional staff, the park 

was able to broaden its summertime rnterpretrve 

program. In 1950 Elton Thayer, assisted at rimes 

by park ranger Jame5 Orr, offered dar!\ illu~trated 

ralh at the park hotel on ~uch ~ubjcct!> a., "the 

Wildlife of Denali," "the Famou!> 1932Ascent of 

Mt. McKinley," and "the 1942 Army Expedition 

to the urn mit of i\lr. McKinley." They also led 

nature walks, primarily ro llon .. cshue Lake. And 

on occasion, park ~tatf conducted bus tour~ out 

the McKinley park road. '7 The following ~urnmer, ancarrow crafted an interpretive program 

that consisted of "a 15-minute talk on the policy, 

history, site and interesting features of the park" 

followed by two short movres: "Climb of Mr. 

'vlcKinley" (about the Army\ 1942 ,\lcKtnley 

expedition) and "The Wildlrfe of the Park" (with 

1940 footage from Adolph 1\ \urie).'" But by 1952, 

he had discarded the rc~cue-cxpcdition film and 

replaced it with a second wildlrfe movre. He and 

Castren also offered two ~lrdc programs, lhev 

led hikes to Horseshoe Lake, and they began 

Chapter Eleven Interpretive Issues. The> 0ark trolfltile Vr5rtor's Pornt col V•ew 141 
In 1952, Building •22 (the original 

superintendent's office turned 

museum) was moved again to a 

location above the park road across 

from park headquarters. The building 

served as an eKhlbit room for visitors 

until 1959. DENA 13·5, Denali 

National Park and Preserve Museum 

CollectiOn 

to hold "informannnal 'l':-.'-IOil'-.. 111 the.' hotel 

lobb) to an-.wcr vi-.uor-.' que,tion-.. (kca-.iunal 

acti\ine~ in the headquarter'> ure.1 ~rculically, 

orientation ralb at the naturati ... t \office and the 

dog kennel.., roum.lt:J out thl program • The 

1953 program com1~ted of hotel talk~ and dog 

dcmonstratiom; gUidt•d wal b to lor\c~hoe 

Lake were also ollen:d, although many addtuonal 

vtsitors took advantage of the new '>elf guided 

rrail pamphlet that park -.ran hau developeu rhe 

previou~ ~ummer.•· Onl point of mten. -.r that 

wa~ not a\ailahlc to' 1'-ltor-. dunng thi-. period 

was the park mu-.eum: Ill ful\" IIJ)O 11 wa-. clo-,eJ 

down and moved to another hend4uartcr-. Incanon, primarih hecau-.e the mu~eurn hutldtng \\a ... 

judged to be '>trucrurnlh un'>.tk.

41 

In wincer, acll\ ttll''> .. urroundmg the hotel 

during the earl~ I<JSO' tool-: on :m ennrel) ne\\ 

cast becau\e of th role"" ;"Jn .1rrm md a1r force 

recreation 'amp. \-,111 \\uriJ \\,tr II, militarv 

authontle'> cnated a Ul\cn.tfieJ rencatiunal 

program, acttvtllC'> oflereJ 10 the '>oltlters and 

::u rmen included -,kitng, \Ka llng, aml tobog 

ganmg. To complement that prl)gram, Orr 

and 'Jancarrow met with till: lm .• tl milltarv 

bra~s to"\\ uri.. out a program of mtcrprctarion and oncntatwn." Ba-.cd or thl rt-.ult' uf 

that "-.ovember 1950 meeting. 'fl"'.,t,tfl m·er 

the next '>everal winter' oftcred ,t f\\ ll pronged 

inrerpreu,·c program: the prc,ent.ttllln ul 

frequent illu-,rrated tnlb ut the hotel. pJu., a bu" 

trip to the park hcad4uarter,, where .1 ranger 

would "honk up the do~ team .md dcmon-

~trate tht-. method of tra\'el." Ltch of these 

programs would be offered ever~ two Ill three 

days throughout thl wirltl'r' Supamtcndcnt 

Pearson, durtng tht'> pt·rllld, al'11 played a (.On -

tinuing interpret lvt' role. ( liVen I he prc~ence 

of the Arm\ Arlftc lndmtrtn.ttton ~chool at the 

142 Crown Jewel of the North Aft Adrn•mstrat•ve H•storv of Denalo rldiiOnul Par~ and Pr~erw 

Btg Delta ,\ir rorce b~l' (later known a~ rort 

Creel)), Pearson made lrelJuent trip~ there to 

gt\c talk' .md 'how tno\ 1c,, pnmanh dunng 

the wintertime, between fehruar) 1910 and 

jut~ 1<})2 

The mtlifarv left 1n rhe early -.pn ng of 1953. 

That ~ummc , rccogntttng that the mill[ary 

would not retu rn , the Ala<;kn Railrond decided 

to keep the hote l o pe n to ctvilian u ... e for the 

upcomtng w.mtcr. De.,pite relatively low visitor 

total,, 'PS .,taft that wtnter cobbled together 

a ... eric-. ot ttlw,tratcd talk-,, film .. , dog demonstration'>, and \'i\11'> to the park', information 

center,\\ hich \\ n., loc.ued in the narurah.,t's 

office at headquaner,.•• The hotel remained 

clo,ed dunn~ tlw \\.'111ter' rhat lollowed, bur the 

~ummernme program tor the next .,e,·eral vear' 

remained '1m liar to tlHJ'l' of prc,·iou<; year<.. 

During thl' rnu.l JQSO'· owmg to the lack of alternative,, rhc conll'''wncr \\,t'o l,trgely responsible 

for rakmg lt or~ to rhc park\ mam point'> of 

intere't Thmc mterc~te d in head ing out to the 

we'>tL·rn end llf the pa rk road couiJ take either 

a "\'<'httc" hrand )'...a\'y 'urplus hu' or a <omaller 

hmuU' .. tne But thl "rar'oc vi,ttatJon dunng 

the'>\! vcar-,, comhmcJ \\ nh the conce~'>toner's 

margmal finame., hce Chapter 6). meant that 

mam \'l.,ltor'> ne\ ergot he\ ond the horel-head-

((Uarter-, are,l. In lui~ JQSS· lor example. \\'onder 

Lakl· Ran~J,er R.llph lurman noted rhat "the hotel hu., ha' hcen lhl'Te] two or three time., during the munth while the limou'>llll ha., reached 

thl~ pomt lour or live ume',' and Ill August "the 

Hotellimuu-,i•w wa~ ob-,cr\'o.>d onl} a couple of 

ttml'' and thL bu-, wa., not wen."• These rnps 

were prohahly all U<l\ afiatr-., masmuch as th e 

tram -,chedule brought wur ~t' to the park at 

eithu 12:10 a.m. or 4:30a.m.'" 
Richard Prasil, above in 1956, prepares 

interpretive displays inside the 

exhibit room at park headquarters. 

On the log wall to the right is a bear 

hide and the three-dimensional model 

of the Mount McKinley massif created 

by wildlife ranger Harold Booth. 

DENA 13-2, Denali National Park and 

Preserve Museum Collection 

The 1\JP<; offered a diversity of interpretive activitie~ during the mid-1950s. Beginning in 1954, 

the park museum wa~ open again, -.o \·isitors 

during rhis period had the choice of both talk~ 

and fihm at the park hotel, and at park headquarter~, there were both dog-~lcd demomtrations and talks at the mu~eum. A few visitor~ 

rook gurded walks to Hor!:>eshoe Lake; many 

more, however, ricked up an NPS pamphlet 

and wok the bdf-guided hike to Hor!:>e::.hoe 

Lake and followed numbered post!> along the 

rrail. 4 

A more dct::ulcd \·iew of the park's interpretive 

program can be seen in the park'o., Report on 

ll~formatiou a/Ill Interpretive Serz•ices for '955· It 

noted that 

Four programs were ~cheduled: two 

narrated wildlife films, an illustrated 

talk on the effect of seasons on plant& 

and animals, and a program on history and mountain climbing. Mu-

<,eum talk<- were generally concerned 

with the history of the park and the 

early a~cents of McKin e~. Thc~e 

programs, a<. well as the dog team 

demonstrations, were conducted six 

days per week throughout the travel 

season LJune 15 through September 

14]. Dog team demonstrations involved the harnessing and runnrng of 

five dogs, and an explanation of the 

use~ of dogs within the area, and a resume of their history in the park and 

Ala!>ka. Guided nature walks were 

scheduled three rimes each week, and 

hikes were conducted if more than 

four people registered for the walk. 

The number of visitori> who took 

advantage of the nature walks was 

~mall, but understandably so, in view 

of the fact that the average age of the 

~1cKin e} Park visitor is so years, 

then too, inclement ~ummcr \'.Cather 

results in the vrsitor taking advantage 

of demand bus trips out in the park 

when clear days are experienced.•' 

These acti\ it e~ were coordinated b~ park natura i~t Richard Prasil and conducted pnmarily 

by ~easonal ranger-naturalists Richard Riegelhuth (1954-55), Robert Badaracco (1956), and 

Thoma'> Choate (1957). 

Crapter Eleven lnterpret.vo? Issues, The ar~ l rorn the V1s1tor's Pomt of V•ew 143 
Construction of the Eielson Visotor 

Center was well under way on t hos 

September 1959 photograph. This 

Mission 66 visitor center opened to 

the public In July 1960. DENA 5-8, 

Denali National Park and Preserve 

Museum Collectoon 

Mission 66 and Its Impacts 

Throughout the early to mid-1950", the park staff 

was well aware that a road was inching tt~ way 

from rhc Rtchardson llighway (at Paxson) to 

McKmlcy Park Station and, a:. !>hown an Chapter 6, the \\'ldcc;prcad recogmtion that the park 

would -.oon he accessible to automobile traffic 

resulted an plam for v:mou~ infrastructure and 

mterprem·c projects. By early Augul>t 1957· when 

the Denali lllghway finally reached the park, the 

agency had unproved ~evcral campgrounds along 

the park road, mo..,t notably Savage Campground 

and Wonder Lake Campground during the summer., of 19.:;4 and 19'55· 

Little thought wa'> given toward interpretation 

along the park road, however, until park staff 

began working on the park ~ Missron 66 Prospectus during the wmtcr of 1955-56. (~cc Chapter 7.) 

Plans, at that time, stated that a proposed road 

between Fa1rbank<. and the park would emcr 

the park via the north end of the Savage R1vcr 

Canyon and that rr \\ould intersc.:ct with the park 

road ncar the <;a\'age R1ver bndgc. Ba.,ed on 

that propo-.al, \1h.,ion 66's ininal plum bold 

mdced Lallcd for the con&trucnon of a large, 

new publ1c u'>e buildmg in that area. r hc park's 

Main Vi~1tor Center, to be located there, would 

144 Crown Jev.-el of the Nootto An Ar m1n ~tratove- H~tory ol Den .. lo Ndtoonal Park dl'ld Pr<>St•o ve 

include an exhibit room, a 300- to 400-person 

aud1rorium, a library, and information office. The 

pro~pectuo, alo,o called for a ~econd visitor center, 

at Wonder Lake, which would include a IOO-per-

'>On audHorium along with an exhibit room and 

an information office. Self-guiding nature trails, 

Slmtlar to what had alread~ heen implemented 

for Hor:.eshoe Lake, were planned for Savage 

River and Polychrome Pass.~" 

That '>Ummcr, a ream from the agency's regional 

office (m 5an Francisco) spent a day along the 

park road looking over what the park staff had 

propo~ed . Out of that visit came an initial suggestion w emphasiLe two new' i'>itor centers: one 

at Polychrome Pasl:., the other at the '>ltc of former Camp Eiclc;on. Polychrome Pass, for awhile, 

was '>latcd to be the park's pnmnry vi~ tor-center 

site, with Eielson of secondary interest. It was 

soon di'>covered, however, that obtaining water 

at Polvchromc Pass was problematic, so these 

priorrtJc~ were reversed. By December 1956. the 

Eicl.,on site had become "fir&t in priority because 

of its urgent need." Development plans were 

focused there because "the superlanvc view of 

Mount t-1cKinley and other features of the area 

merrt oricntational and interpretational exhibitl:., and a., the location is the midpomt of the 
Eielson Visitor Center was dedicated 

on July 15, 1961. DENA 5-26, Denali 

National Park and Preserve Museum 

Collection 

concessioner bu~ tours, the area and building 

will be utiliLed heavily:'''' Agency interest m a 

Wonder Lake visitor center soon died away'', and 

Interpretation at Polychrome was soon down-

~it:ed to a self-guiding trail, but for the Eielson 

~ite, development rlanl:t !>OOn turned into action. 

In early 1957, NPS personnel quickly cobbled 

together architectural and interpretive plans for 

the new \'isitor center. By July, the agency was 

getting ready to i~~ue a bid for the building\ 

construction." The following March a construction contract was awarded to J. B. Warrack, an 

Anchorage constructiOn firm. Eielson Vi~itor 

Center opened to the public in July 1960; a year 

later, on July rs, 1961, Associate NPS Director 

Eivind Scoyen VISited the park from wa~hington 

and dedicated the center in front of an appreciative crowd numbering about 6o." 

During the early day.., of Mi..,sion 66 planning, the 

NPS (a~ noted above) retained n strong imere~t in a vbitor center at the ea&t (•nd of the park, 

either in the Savage River area or in the vicinit:> of d1e ,'vic Kinley Park Hotel. The agency, 

however, felt that it could not move forward until 

Bureau of Public oad~ officiab made a decision 

on where the road from Fairbnnh and Nenana 

would enter the park. rn 1956, BPR officiab 

had tentacively decided to build a road through 

the Savage River Canyon, but during the cntical winter of 1956-57- when the decision wal:t 

maJc to co ~truct Eidson Visitor Centcr-BPR 

withdrew it!> earlier recommendation and was 

in a wait-and -~ce mode. Several month~ later, 

BPR official.~ finally dcc1ded that the nurth-~outh 

mute through Nenana Canyon was more practical and co~t effective than a Savage River route. 

Bur by this time, the park'~ l\ lission 66 plan~ had 

already gone forward, and the t1scal window of 

opportumt) had pa~!>ed. 4 

Park staff had identified a need for roadside interpretive signs ~e\'eral year!> prior to the Mis:,ion 

66 program,l

1 but Mis!>ion 66 breathed new life 

mto these efforts. Program officials felt that various .. orienration exhibits and marker!> at scemc 

turnouts and other appropriate areas [along 

the park road] is deemed mandatory." At first 

they planned for markers at ten locations, soon 

upped to twelve; several of these were scenic o r 

panoramic view sites, but virnrally all offered 

interpretive markers pertaining to various natural 

history topics. The intended idea, conceptually, was that "roadside turnoub with exhibits or 

orientation devices [would] give meaning to the 

important park features,'' by which "not only will 

enjoyment of the park be increased. but enlistment of the visitor's intelligent cooperation in the 

protection and preservation of the area will be 

assured.'''" 

Soon after d1e Mission 66 planning effort was 

commenced, Neil]. Uim) Reid became the park 

naturalist. Reid, who was fully aware that the 

Denali Highway would ::-.oon be completed, 

knew that the park faced a daunting chall enge; 

not on ly did it need to reach out to rraditional 

visitor populations who arrh·ed by train and 

stayed In the hotel, but it also had to find a way 

to appeal to auto-borne tourist~. who~c accommudariom were uivided among the park hotel, 

campgrounds along the park road, and accommodatiom out& ide the park. Reid, ba~ed on lll'•t 

a few month~ on the job, recogmzed that "some 

of the ~ervices that have proven m be highly 

successful interpretive media" in temperate Lone 

parks (such as campfire and amphitheater programs) "cannot be applied to our mmt northern 

National Park." Tnstead, "the park road appcan 

to be the logical place and roadside interpretive 

markers seem to be the best medium to contact 

the [newly-mobile] park visitor."l7 

Given that conclusion, Re1d in m1d-1957 began 

preparing a roadside interpretive plan that would mclude ''zo road~idc orientation and interpretive ~igru, 

along the 93 miles of park road:' By December 1958, 

tl1 e park plan was calling for a total of 33 interpretive signs at 17 rurnou~ along the park road, but the 

plan that was finaliLed two months later li!.>ted just 19 

Signs in 14locations.'" 1l1e park'5 interpretive plan 

was then presented to regional officials, and after 

!lome lively debates on "what roadside interpretive 

signs for Mount McKinley should be'' (and some 

strident protests from conservarionisb who argued 

that signs ruined the "charm of tl1e road''), final 

designs in 1959 were sent on to the Yosemite National Park, where the agency's sign shop produced 

them."' The followingjuly. the park in~ rallcd its fir:-.t 

eight roadside marker!>. 1l1at fall, the 5ign-installation effort received a severe if unexpected setback; 

as a government report noted, "many of our 

wooden signs were de~troyed by grialies ... prior 

to the hibernation period, and had to be replaced.'' 

Improved sign~ arrived in tl1eir ~read, however, 

and in july rq6z the last four roadside sigm were 

Chapter Eleven Interpretive ls,ues The Pdrk lrorn thE' V>s>lor\ Po1nt ol V1ew t 45 
This Mission 66 roadside interpretive 

sign was located west of the Toklat 

River bridge, overlooking the West 

Branch of the Toklat River and Divide 

Mountain. DENA 39-11. Denali 

National Park and Preserve Museum 

Collection 

In June 1960, the Horseshoe Lake 

Nature Trail featured this sign that 

provided visitors with an interpretive 

trail guide. DENA 13-6, Denali 

National Park and Preserve Museum 

Collection 

in!>talled.'"' All proved informative to park visiwrs, and the only sign that smacked of controversy was one (at Mile 4) discussing permafrost 

impacts; in June 1963, for reasons of proprietv, 

the park decided to cover over a sign e~c ribing 

a "drunken forest" with the more appropriatelyworded "leaning forest." That overlay, however, 

proved temporary, and by the 1970!> the origmal 

text was visible once again.•• 

Othe r s1gn::. were added, too. Mileage markers were in place by the summer of 1960, and 

146 Crown Jewel of the North An Adm.ntstrauve Htstory of Denalt Ndttonal Park and Preserve 

perhaps as early as 1956. In 1961, new 4'' x 4" redwood mark r~ were installed with numbers on 

both sides, but by the summer of 1963, only those 

deemed "very important" were being replaced. 

Several new mileposts were installed in 1972, but 

most if not all of the park's mileposts had been 

removed by the end of that deca e.~' New sigm 

al<;o appeared at the two park entrances, the 

railroad l:>tation, the entrance station, the various 

park campgrou nds, and even along Windy Creek, 

ncar Cantwell." And regarding the Hor<;eshoe 

Lake Tra1l near the park hotel. park staff in early 
Additional interpretive staff were 

hired to operate the new Eielson 

Visitor Center. Pictured here is the 

inside of the main viewing room 

at the visitor center, with exhibits 

and large windows for observation. 

DENA 11613, Denali National Park and 

Preserve Museum Collection 

1963 made an about-face from their decade-old 

practice of distributing !>elf-guided interpretive 

booklets and instead opted to place 25 or more 

plastic signposts identifymg key features along 

the n·ail. These sigm were imralled over the 

course ol the 1964 and 1965 seasons."4 

Meanwhile, park ~taff facing a dramatic increase in visiror numbers-did their best to carve 

out an interpretive program that would appeal to 

a newly-diverse visitor population. During the 

early summer of '957· the program wa~ much as it 

had been earlier: lectures at the park hotel, talks 

at the park\ museum (or "exhibit room"), dog 

<>led demomcrations, and occasiOnal hotel-based 

guided nature walks, primarily ro Horseshoe 

Lake."' Later that summer the number of visitors 

abruptly increased, but g1ven no changes in staff, 

the rrogram continued much as before. Both 

then and in 1958, the only new program e lement 

was an occasional campground program at Savage Campground, and because the park museum 

had been chosen as the new information center 

for auto-borne Lounsl!>, the former mus..:um talks 

became onentation talk!.."' 

This period abo w1tnessed the birth of the 

park'<; and Alaska'-. first park cooperating 

association. As noted above, rark ~taff in 1947 

had begun selling a few educational materials, 

primarily books and maps. Through most of the 

1950 ~. what wa~ a\'ailablc to toUt·i~ts was limtted 

to the park brochure, plus two internally-generated, mimeographed publication..,: the Horse~ hoe 

Lake nature trail booklet and a ~eve -page road 

guide entitled McKi11ley's Mammals a11d Where to 

Watch for Them.'7 Park stafr also spenr considerable time during the mid- to late 1950s preparing 

a natural history handbook, but it was never 

completed."' To provide a vehicle for providing sale~ items to park tourists, park naruralist 

William Nancarrow, in late 1951, moved to form 

a natural history association for the rark."" Two 

years later, he formed the McKinley Park atural 

History Association and submitted paperwork 

to higher-up11 for their approval.7" That effort 

pruved till burn, but five years lateL park sli:llf 

tried again, and on february 16, 1959 they successfully formed the Mount Mcf..:mley atural 

History Association. the agency's 49m cooperating association. Jim Reid, the park naruralist, was 

the group's firM executive secrctary.7' Of enormous help to the group's prospects was a S7,500 

pledge, received in the summer of 1959, which 

had been included in the will of James William 

WaJsh, .Jr. Given that financial boost, park officials confidently predicted that the association 

would ''be able to stand on its own feet.''7• Park 

employees were plea1>antly flabbergasted by the 

promised gift- plus a second pledge of an even 

larger amount because they had virtually no 

idea who Wabh wa~ or why he would bequeath 

such a substantial sum.71 

Slowly, over the next few year~, new seasonal 

ranger-naturalists were added (there were two 

Chdpter Eleven lnterpretrve Issues, The Park from the Vrsttor's Pornt of Vrew 147 
Eielson Visitor Center w as the 

destination for concessioner tour 

buses until June 1981 . DENA 5-35, 

Denali National Park and Preserve 

Museum Collection 

in 1959 and 1960, three in 1961, and a surprbing 

five in 1963), and a~ a result, the park was able to 

expand its interpretive program. The add in on of 

a park entrance station, in 19'>9· provided a bas1s 

for providing park information14; another new 

service that year was the implementation of roving interpretive patro ~ along the park road. The 

interpretive-patrol idea was discarded in 1960. 

ln mid-July of that year the new Eielson Visiwr 

Center opened; it was staffed bv a single seasonal 

ranger- Val Furlong for the remainder of that 

~eason. The new center wac; devo1d of exhibits 

that !>Ummcr; perhaps to compensate, Furlung 

apparendy conducted a number of area hikes in 

addition to his visitor center dmies. Beginning m 

1961, the agency offered a full-fledged mterpretive program which included walks, talks. anJ 

information-desk services/' 

As noted in Chapter 7, the park concessions program in 1958 emerged from an extended period 

in the doldrums when the Mount McKmley 

National Park Company-represented b} Don 

Hummel and his nephew, AJ Donau became the 

park cunccssioner. By thb time, Alaska Railroad 

schedules had been modified so as to bring vi!.itors to Mcl(inley Par k Station during d1c midday 

hours. So as a result, those interested m heading out mto the park were obliged to arise early, 

because the concessioner's bus tour left the park 

hotel at 4 a.m. The daily bus went just 65 mile~ 

out the park road (to the former Site of Camp 

Eielson, where comtruction WIJrk wa~ beginning 

for the new Eielson Vbitor Center) and lasted 

just eight hours in order to have visitor-; back 

to the hotel in time for the southbound train. 

The sleepy bus passengers were assured that 

the early-morning departure was advantageous 

148 Crown Jewel of the North. An Adm1n1strauve H•story of Denali Nat1onal Par~ and reser~~e 

becau~e "the best v1ews of Mounr McKinley ... 

arc obtained in the early morning hours some 

distance from the horcl. Later in the day the peak 

is often hidden by clouds.''7'' 

Interpretation During the 1960s 

At the east end of the park, the increal>ing 

number of annual park visitor!> during d1e 1960s 

cau~cd growing pains in the interpretive program. At the hotel, evemng programs (either 

slide shows or movies) had long been held in the 

facility\ recreation room. But by June 1961, an 

average of 50 people-and sometimes crowds of 

"well over 100"-caused Verde Watson, the new 

park naturalist, to sarcastically complain that ''extreme effort would be required to design a room 

less appropriate for !audio-visual programs] than 

the Hotel Recreation Room .... Protection from 

mclemenr weather and insects are about the 

only good things that can be said" for it. Watson 

doubtless knew that the park's current master 

plan, which was a product of the M1ss1on 66 

planning process, call ed for the construction of a 

visitor center in the hotel area, and that Jim Reid, 

hh predecessor, had been pressing d1c agency 

d1roughour 1960 to build such a center. Given 

that recommendation, Watson averred that "the 

need for a visitor center, probably at a location 

quite near the hotel ... indeed seems urgent."n 

The hotel managemenr was sympathetiC to the 

overcrowding and the need for additional Lnterprerive ~pace, so during the winter of JC)61-62 the 

conccssioner approved an '\IPS plan to establish 

a visitor "information orientation station" in the 

hotellobbv. The information desk began operanom m late May 1962- 1t was the third such facilIty opened since 1958- and by the end of June the 
This room, added to one stde of the 

hotel porch, served as the NPS visitor 

tnformation and orientatton center 

beginntng in the spring of 1966. 

DENA 5-40, Denali National Park and 

Preserve Museum Collection 

agenc) wa!'. glad lo report that "re-,pon~c'> thu~ 

fa r to the [new "erv1ce dc.,kjmdlcatL'~ thi'> facility 

will render valuable puhill '-l'rnce ·• In addinon, 

concession-. offic1al<. agr~.ed to \X at.,<>n \ plan to 

pronde an afternoon mwrprctln: talk. (\\lth an 

accompanying mone) in the hotel'' recreation 

room as well a'> an evening 'llde·,hm\ prugram. 

This new '>V'>tem wa-. implemented bcgmning 

111 July 1962 and ... non became a '>taplc.: of the 

park'l> mterprenvc program. • ·\nd 111 the fall of 

1962. park per.,onnd remporaril~" moved two 

'>mall building-. w a \lte adJacent to the c:xJ\Hng 

entrance l>tat1on {whllh wa" locilted JU'>t ca'>t of 

where the road cro~sed the ra1lv.:av 1 racb) "to 

better 'ierve tho'>e YI'>Hor'> enlL'nng the park by 

private vehiclc."H" 

Thel>e impron:ment,, though helptul m the ~hort 

term, did nor dl'>l>Uade \X!ahon from pres,ing 

for a new Vl'>ltor center lh the .,ummer of 1q62, 

offic1al-. had completed a ... ue-'>Clecuon proce'>~ 

and had cho ... cn ro locate the vi'itor center approximarelv 100 \'a rd., -.outhwe-,r of the hotel, 

and in 1963 rcgmnal official-. vi-,ited the park and 

re\iewed de ... ign plan .... rur the next two year-., 

\\'arson conunued to advocate for the center.8 

The agency, howcwr, took a more economi 

cal alternatn·e; m the '>pnng of 1966, \\ ith the 

concessioner\ ble.,~ing, the agenC\ buill a new 

information and oncntatlon center (a 10' x 15' 

room) on the hotel\ front porch. ft opened on 

May 29, and in Julv the agenc1 noted that the 

center had "im rca~cd puhlit contact there more 

than fourfold '>ince the f<ltlilty wa'> relocated."R• 

1 he enlarged facih~ wa~ admmedly a -;topgap 

mea~ure; although tt adequateh fullillcd It' narrow purpme. Jt dtd no1hmg to 4uicr the increa<.-

ing numher of complamh rclated to the vanous 

audio-\ i'ual prc~cnrauon ... . A., noted in the park 

naturali!>t\ 1966 annual report, 

There'' no adc4uate ... paCl' 10 which 

Vtl>Jtor'> can a ... ,cmhlc for rropcr onentauon to the p.nk t\ \'''lor center 

\\ tth exhihu ... pace and an auditorium 

i'> needed. ~uch a fauhty i'> programmed for lfi-,cal yenrlt970. In the 

mtenm, the hotel recreation hall mu~t 

double a., audllonum Dunng tht 

tq66 ... ea,on 140 per-.on' 'rood and '>at 

be'>ldc pm~-:pong table., and he neath 

'team and \\ater pipe'> w h.,tcn to 

mterpn:tJ\e talk-. de,tgnl·d ro recreate 

indoor'> the mood' ot th1' WJidernes'> 

park. Qu1te a trick! E'peciall} when 

the JUkt: hnx 111 the next room blared 

the erotic lllli'-IC ot the pennd.

8t 

For the remmnder ol the decade, park ~taff 

continued to r:ul agaul' .. t the "cntK.tl .,hortage 

of ... vbttor u'c facllltlC'>" and plead for a new 

visJtor center No ~u h action wa ... forthcoming, 

however.'• 

(hapiPr [lelefl tnterprP)7VP ISStiPS n l? r.ul fran thP VtSIIOr\ Potrl of VII"IN 149 
The park's sled dog demonstration 

continued to draw visitors to the 

kennels, seen in this July 1966 photo. 

DENA 11·116, Denali National Park 

and Preserve Museum Collection 

Ranger naturalist louis Ansorge leads 

visitors on a Horseshoe Lake Nature 

Trail walk in August 1965. DENA 13· 

17, Denali National Park and Preserve 

Museum Collection 

Throughout th1s period, visitors who arrived at 

the park by train-and more than half of all park 

visitors did so u~ed the concessioner's buses to 

head west from the hotel and headquarters areas. 

As noted above, beginning in 195R ::m R-hnur bu~ 

tour left the park hotel ar 4 a.m.; it rerurned m 

time for the 12:30 p.m. southbound train. Just 

one year later, the conces-,ioncr added a second 

150 Crown Jewel of thl.' North. An Adm1mstrauve H1~tory of Denal1 Nat1onat Park .md Pre~erve 

activity: a 12-hour tour (by van) to Wonder Lake, 

wh1ch returned in time for the 4:30p.m. northbound train.'; The longer tour, however, was less 

well known, and in both 1968 and 1971 advertisement~ routed only th<.' R-hour rour. (Ry 1971, this 

was being adverti~ed as a "wildlife tour.") Those 

who wanted more personalized services-photographers, for example, or those headed off on a 
Ranger naturalist John Trent, seen 

here, gave the first interpretive 

campground program at the Savage 

River Campground on July 6, 1968. 

DENA 13-23, Denali National Park and 

Preserve Museum Collection 

backcountr} hike coulu rent a car, With dnver. 

at the park hotel. "• 

The m1d-196o., feururcu much rhc ~a me interpretive program that had been e~tabli'>hcd in 

1962. At the ea~t em! of the park, the program 

contmued to be compri,cd of dog -.led demonstrations, e\·enmg ~hde program-;, nature hikes 

(either to Horse<;hoe Lake or over the q-mile 

1\rlorino Loop trail), rmd afternoon program<;. 1\s 

late as 1966 the typ1cal afternoon interpretive fare 

wa~ a wild life movie;'· that fall, however, a new 

N PS-sponson:d Ala~kn film entitled Magmficence i11 Trust wa<. reccivt•d -.o pn-.itivrly that it 

became the afternoon 'tuple 1 he following year. 

Complementing the'>c rru.grnm'> were ranger 

ralks at E1eh;on \'biHH' Center, and on a more 

~poradic bas ~. [iebon-ha~cd ranger., led "tundra 

wildflower walk-." m the area \ l'>iWr'>, at time<,, 

were also able to warch a ,hde -.how at the park\ 

entrance station. ' 

During thi~ penotl, rhc Oed~hng \ 1ount 

McKinley '\larural lll.,ron· \,.,ociJtlon gained a 

solid footing, though not without 'ome thfficult growing pam .... During rhe early 1960.,, the 

park narurali~r who -.en·ed '"the a~~oLiation\ 

executive secretary as a collateral dut) wa~ 

preoccupied in appointing a board of din:ctor" 

and assemhling a hsr of ~•lie~ item .... In It\ article~ 

of incorporation, the a~~ociatH>n wa~ mtcnded 

w serve park unit., throughout •\l,hka; g1vcn that 

direction, a sale~ unit opened at ">1tkJ 'mm after 

the group wa!> formed (though It' -.ale' were 

limited to slides). Simll.tr ~ale-. unih at Glacier 

Bay and Katmm d1d not open until1968 and 1971, 

re5pectively; even !>O, ... taff from all three monuments '>Crwd a~ board member~ throughout 

the 1960!>. The dlfiicult1e' of holding an annual 

meeting with such far-nung member~, however, 

soon became apparent, and m 1962 the board 

agreed that ~1cKmll'\-ba-.ed <;tatT could con'>titute a quorum. ' 

Of obv10u~ conct•rn to the ncv. natural history 

association wa~ where rhc park's ... ales venue 

would be located and what Items would be sold. 

At fir<>t, annual ~ale~ were -.mall because the 

major <i:llr-. ou~IPt W:l'> in thP -.m:~ll pa rk entr::~ ce 

~tanon. E1el~:.on Vi,ltor Center, wh1ch opened 

in 1960, sold only a ... mall number of Items during 

the 1960s.'') Then, in 1962, prospech for the association\ finance., bnghtened considerabl\ with 

the installation of a new puhhcatiom dl'>pla) case 

at the ncwlv--.taffed information de"k m the park 

hotel. (Thl" natural h1storv ~I''>OCiatlon .. ale' area 

would remam until the summer of 1972, when 

It moved to the ne'" RJ!ey Creek Information 

Cenrer.) The in<,tallation of rwo 'mall exhibit 

buildings near the park entrance '>latiun, dunng 

the winter of 1962-63, provided an 1m proved sales 

outlet to vi:,l(or-. arrivmg by automobile.'" 

As far as its sales items were concerned, the 

assoc1auon first reratled ex1sring hooks, maps, 

and film. But a'> Reg1onal Naturalist Dorr Yeager 

noted, "the publication of infmmatton material 

... frequently con~rirute~ the greatest -.ource of 

income for [parkJ a<.<,ociationls]:'•' Longnme 

park b1ologi'>l Adolph Muric graciously agreed 

Chapter Eleven· lnterpreuve lssLJt'S, The Park lrorn I hE' V•s•tor's Po1n1 ot V1ew 151 
ro publish hi' 1\lammals oj.\lmmt \kl\.mlc \' 

\aruma/ Park. Alaska through the as~oci:Hlon. 

and not long afterward h~:: agreed to Jo like'' j,e 

for lm Btrds of Aluum McKmley ,\'atwual Park, 

Alaska. (Ill~ td~.:a for a park "Oower boo~·· wa" 

considered hul never published.)'' Thc..,e two 

publicariom wen.• offered for sale at the park begmrung m \ la' .md jul\ 1963, re,pedtvcly. Durmg the earh ty6o,, r~.:vcnub from hook 'all·" ar 

the park were rt:lam·el, mode-.t, never ext.:cedtng 

S2.700 pcn·car. :\\~oCJaoon profit!>, m11retwer, 

were mmtmrtl because "a large numbet ol thl' 

as!.ociation·, two publications were given .wo,·ay'' 

ro college' and !>econdary schooh.'" 

Later that decade, thL a'soc1atwn branched nut 

wtth a<;si..,rancc w other park Unit' in 1964 it published a ,.l.,ltnr,· gutdc to Sitka "\att<lnal \ lonument plm n Glaoa Bav Natrona/,\ lmllll/11'111 

Boatmg Gwdc. Then, in December 1966, 11 purchased the nine acre ... ire whe re the old Dundas 

Bav cannen wa ... located (in Glacier Bay '\Jutiunal 

~ lonumentl, nfrer whtch 1t dona red the parLcl 

to the '\!P~ . In \lay 1967 it helped undl:rwrue 

the construwon of a ~calc model of \ttka (circa 

1867) to help commemorate the Ala,ka PurLhase 

centennial Then, tn 1968, it puhli<.hec..l a ~taffprepart:d A Colormg Book of Mount i\lcl\mley."' 

Tn recogn1t10n of the a~socia 1on\ '>tatl.'wtde 

reach and to .Uso recogniLe the newlv-imlepcndent managemcnr ... ratm of Gla<. er Ra) and Katrnai nat1onal monuments the \ lount \ ic~tnlc' 

'-.arurallfi,tory s~octation changed ll~ name, tn 

1970. to tht: (;t~l..:l National Park' and \ lcmuments As~oc1at on :•" 

Durmg the last four years before the Park~ I I rghway was completed t<l the park. a nC\'v actiVIt\ 

was added to the park\ mrerprem·e pwgram 

Ln 1969, ~rustle campfire ctrcles'' were placed 

at Sm age Rtwr, \X 'ondcr Lake, and lckl:mika 

campground,, and ~::v<.:nmg campfirl ralb cnmmem:ed in tcqo. The long-l.'xisting activltll.'!> 

remained, hut hecau~c of the bu rgeontng crowds 

coming to the park, thl'ir fre4uency multtplied 

beginnmg tn tq6q, for example, then~ were rwo 

dog-sled dcmon,tranom daih. and the 'ummers 

of 1970 and tQ]I often wttnes'>ed two 'hm' tngs 

Of the afternoon tnO\'IC (.\-!ag/1/{la'//Cl' /II fl'll~f) . 

two nature hike,, and even rv. o cvenn'lg pm).,rrams 

each day:" 

The Impact of Traffic Restrictions 

on Park Interpretation 

_\!.noted m C hJptcr 8, the complcrum of the 

Parks Hrghway re..,ulted tn KPS Dtrector George 

Hartzog\ dec...,•on tn rauon traffic along the park 

road west of the Savage River campgrnunJ. A~ a 

result of that dcct~1o . private au10mohile traffic 

along mmt of the park road wa.; re,rricted, and 

1 S:? Crown le~~oo'!!l of I he North An AdrnuliSirat•l e H151ory of Dt'nali l~.lllon~l Park and Pll5ervr 

tu pronde accesfo IntO the pJrk the :-\PS implemented a <;hurtle bull system bcgtnntng in earl~ 

June 1972. The e~tablishmcnt of lhts w-,tem 

generated a huge demand for information about 

travel opt on~. And because mo'>t of this demand 

was generated hy automobile traveler'>, the NPS 

reacted hv opemng the Riley Creek Information 

C.cnrer.later that :.ummer, near rhe entrance to 

Rile\ Creek Campground !hat same \·ear, the) 

rcm<l\ ed th~' mformation center at 1 he hmel.•' 

The otlll'r maJor tmplicatlon of the new ~ystem 

wa'> thrll the many roadside inrerpretive stg ~ that 

had informed rhe motonng public were no longer needed. As a result. NPS '>lafi 4utctly began 

ro takt· down thc.,e signs. Some were gone ju'>t a 

few m\lnths after Director Hart1og announced 

the new traffic regtme: a few 'ign,, however, 

rcmamed unnl the late 1970'-. " 

G1ven the road restricriom, people mterested tn 

visiting the western end of the park road had two 

upuons: the long-esrablbhed tour buses or the 

new ... tmrrle buses. The concc~sio er 1111tiaUy reacted to the new sy:.tem bv monng the former 4 

a.m. hu<>e' tu an even earlter 1 a.m .... rarnng nmc. 

But hv m1u-[ul), it had made an ahout-face and 

mo\'ed the departure time back w 6 a.m. and. 

m addltton, 1t aJ ded an evenmg Wildlife tou r. 

(Both LOlll''> went 66 mile~ out the road before 

ren1rntng; the new tour wa' mtemiblv added "a:. 

a mean., ro alleviate conge~uon cau~ed b} large 

vio,Hor grour~ at [iebon \ io.,ttor Center.") The 

en·nmg tour, however. pro\·ed un'>ucce~sful, so 

tn rhe ~pring nf 1973 the conc.:c'<oioncr offered two 

morntng tmlr<;, at 4 a.m. and b a.m.''" Twtce-aday tour~ rcmamed the norm for the remainder 

of the decade; in 1977 the early tour ~ti ll departed 

at 4 a.m .. but by 1980, tour nme~ were 6 a.m. and 

mid-afternoon. '' As for the 'hurtle bu.,, it proved 

almost three ttme~ a!> popular a' the tour buo, during the '>Ummer of 1972. ·• Dc,ptte overcrowding 

problem' rhat forced the PO.., ro acqUire adJitionnl buo.,es 1n midsea~on th::ll year, the agency in 

the sprtng of 1973 adve ~cd thnt there wouJd be 

juo,t five daily round trip~ to d1e weo,tern reache!> 

of the park road: rv.•o to Wonder I ake and three 

nther' to Fie bon. As the decadl' wore on, the 

numhcr of the-.e daily round trip., mc:reaseJ. " 

fhe mtd- w late 1970s wttne., ... ed dramattcall} 

increao,ing v1o,iror volume!> ro Mount McKinley 

National Park: there were fewer than 45,000 rl.'crcat 10nal vi ... iror.., in 1971, the year before the Park., 

H1ghway reached the park, hut b~ 1979. that 

number had o,kyro<.keted to more than 251.000 

recreatmnal \ Jsltors." 4 During thl .. renod, rhe 

number of \'l'>ttor!. who arriwd by train mcreased 

<;lightly. The \'<1St maJonty of new VIsitors, however, were thoo.,c who drove ro the park; rather than 

taking th<.' long, difficult Denali I I ighway route, 
Road traffic restrictions meant 

that all visitors- not just tour bus 

passengers-would travel the park 

road in larger groups, resulting in the 

need for expanded services. These 

two photographs were taken at 

Polychrome Rest Stop in July 1974, 

only two years after road travel 

restrictions were instituted. DENA 

5745, Denali National Park and 

Preserve Museum Collection 

Polychrome Rest stop facilities are 

shown here in 2007. NPS Photo 

most morori!>ts acces&ed the park via the Parh 

Highway, from either Fairbanks or Anchorage. 

In order ro prov1de quality information ro the 

new hordes of park vi~itor~. park !>taff sought 

new interpretive opportunities. As noted above, 

the 1971 program had featured the follovving daily 

activitie;,: two afternoon movie;,, two evening 

programs, rwo dog .,Jed demon~trations, two 

hotel-ba~ed nature hikes, and various campground talks. By 1975, the afternoon movie had 

been el!mtnated emirely, and both the hotel slide 

show (wh1ch wa-. now held in the afternoon) and 

the hotel-based nature walk had been tnmmed 

back to once per day.'"' Campfire programs were 

being offered at the Wonder Lake and Teklanika 

campgrounds (as in 1971), but the Savage Campground program had been cut m favor of one at 

the much larger Riley Creek Campground. Dog 

sled demonstration ~ increa'>ed from tw1cc- to 

thrice-daily (at 10 a.m., 2 p.m .. and ~p.m.) begmning in August 1975. (Park staff noted that "this 

demonstration of the traditional usc of sled dog~ 

in Alaska and Mount McKinley continue5 ro 

be the favonte and most highly attended visitor 

activity.") In addition, interpreter-. now offered a 

"tundra walk'' each afternoon at Eiebon Visitor 

Center along with a longer daily d1scoverv hike 

which had been instituted in 1973· '·"· Interpreters also were on hand tw1cc each dav at the 

McKinley Park railroad depot to oller information and gUJdance ro arriving visitors. In 1976, the 

program wal. !>imilar to what had been offered in 

1975, except that it ree~tablished it\ hotel-ba~ed 

evening program four days each week, and on the 

other three day~ ir inaugurated an evenmg walk 

Chapter Eleven lnterprettve ~~~uf'~. ThE• Parf. from lhe Vt~ilor'~ Potnt ol Vtew 153 
A ranger naturalist provides visitors 

with an interpretive talk in the 

Eielson Visitor Center observation 

room, July 1966. DENA 13·20, Denali 

National Park and Preserve Museum 

Collection 

~tarring at the hotel In addu ion, f1dsun ba~ed 

tundra walh were offered m the morn1ng a~ well 

a!> afternoon, and "biccntcnninliJ,·•ng hi~tory 

demon~tratiom' were oflercd nr rlw "I llstonc 

Toklat Cabin·· throughout the ~ummer. · 

Bv 1978, the park\ mtcrprellve program had 

Wltncs~ed even more changes. lhe Ja1h afternoon -.hde talb and the four pt.>r week enning 

hde -; how~ remained, a.., d1d the da1ly hotel 

based nature walk!> and tht three-per-day dog 

sled demomtrauon~. But Etcbon-ba~cd tundra 

walks were now oiTcred three times per da\, 

and dbcovery hike-. wt·rc now ollercd ro both 

hotel-area and Ficl-.on-bn<.ed \'J~J£or<>. Campfire 

program~ were offerL•d at four campground<.: 

Riley Creek, )avage, Teklamka, and Wonder 

Lake. In addition, chiklrcn\ acmiries were nm\ 

offered daily at the Rile\ Creek lnformanon 

Center, and 111terprctin: program.., were occa 

sionallv offered ,\t Me Kinle} VIl lage, seven mile'> 

!>outh of the hotel. (Ranger:-. nil unger greeted 

arnving tram pa..,sengcr!->.) In 197<1. the agency 

was able to expand it'> <.hdl'·'>how programs ro 

t\VICe each da~ . se,·en day~ per w<:ck, and off~ite 

program!> were ..,h1fred from \.1cJ....mlt. \"\ill age to 

Camp Denalt and orth Fale L udge Otherwbe, 

park interpretatwn continued much a'> it had the 

previous year. 

The dramatiC mcrca-.e~ m p.1rl.. 'J..,Jtat1on, and the 

limited, inadequate facJIJtic'> at the park hotel, 

soon brought forth renewed call~ for improved 

interpretive \'enue.., at both end., of the park road. 

154 Crown Jewt•l of the North An Adm1n1\traiM.' H1story ol Oe1Mh N!IIIDrldi P<1rl; t11HJ Pr""c1ve 

Ju ... r two year~ after Eiel'>on Visitor Center wa!> 

opened to the publlc, la rge group!> ofvbitors 

were overwhclmmg the faciliry; in particu lar, 

lunch-totmg rour bu~ patrons de ... cended on the 

center at mtd-mornmg each day, and g1ven the 

cool, blu~rery condltlom that all roo often prevrul 

there. patron., commonly ore thc1r box lunches in 

the center\ ma111 e'hibn room. a practice that the 

N P~ felt wa~ "h1ghh mappropriate."'"" Bv 1966 

rhe :.Ituanon wa~ unchanged, a~ noted in this annual report: 

Etel-.on \ 1'-Jtor Center. m reahty only 

a wa\ ~ide museum, .. wa'> frequently 

overcrowded. f:Jel ... on contains an exhibit-observation room with informanon desk, rc!'otroom.,, and a multipurpose room u"ed only a~ a lunchroom 

~ince its comtruction in 1961 .... The 

tiny room, into wb1ch about 20 per-

~om, would cram, l!> madequare since 

hU!>'>C" dJ'>gorg~.: upwards of 100 pas-

~enger-. at a ume \ic;Jtor.., overflowed 

mto the oh~crYat on room .... As long 

a<o Eicbon rcmam ... lhc terminus of the 

hu-. toms, m·ercrowdmg and overtaxmg of fac1htJe., \\ill he fact of life and 

the object of complamts 

Thc.,e condmons rema111cd unnl 1972, when the 

c~rahh!>hmcnt of the park shuttle bu., system, 

plu5 ever· mcrca~ g VJ!.Jtor number!., resulted 

in enormou~ new demand!> on the decade-old 

vis1tor center. By 1973. the agency finally de-
Groups of tour bus passengers 

routinely ate their sack lunches 

in the observation room of the 

Eielson Visitor Center, as this 1961 

photograph shows. DENA 42·25, 

Denali National Park and Preserve 

Museum Collection 

cided that the huikling m:l'dcd w he rcdel.igned 

and enlarged (~ec Chapter 8); plam, called for 

additional re~rrnom f:1ctlitk~. a new emrvwav. 

covered walkway~. and a largt., open oh ... crvarion rower thatolfLrcd 'wccpm~ view' (on clear 

daY'>) of ,\\t. 1\\c Kmlc) and other Ala!>ka Range 

peak .... Btd~ were kt 111 April 1974 and protect 

constructmn began later that \car. The '"'ork 

was largely completed b\ ~cptemh~.:r IQ75 A 

year later, new exhihu' were 1n...talled there. 

The expanded fac1litic..,, ptu-. thL· com:c~~ioner-.. 

1q72 deciston ro offer mor~.: than nne'' lid 

life tour, ea~cd rh~.: m·ercrowdmg problem at 

Etebon, although ~race conLcrn-. n:matncd for 

years afterward. 

At the ca~t end ot the park roau, new cnlb 

were made for a park\ ~iror center. f"he park\ 

dcc1~ion ro -.chcdulc afternoon a<. well a'> 

evening program~ c~?. un in julv lg(u had 

helped, a~ had rhc con'>tntcttnn of an ~ PS 

information center m thL hotel (a -.mJII area 

in 1962, then m\lved and c:xpandcd in IQ66 ) 

The 1972 opening of thL Riley Cre~:k In formanon Center- wh1ch wa' a douhlc-widc trailer 

near the campgwund entrance prO\ 1ded an 

even larger area wher~: agenq pcr!'>onnel could 

d1:.pen'e information and interpretive materials. Bur b} the !arc IIJ?O~, crowd-. arrcnding 

programs at the park hotel (a "temporary" 

structure built to replac~: the horel rh:H had 

burned 1n September 1972) we re agat n exceeding the capac1t) of exi ... tmg laciliti~: .... 

ln 1979. the NPS moved ro improvl' Its interpretive faci litic<;. That Apnl, 1t propo~cd that the 

exi:.ting mformanon center whith wa:. a :.ingle 

open mom be replaced "' tth a larger, ru~ttcappcaring log informanon 'ration "capable 

of hou:.mg .,cpararch the major functions of 

campground rcgt.,tration, fcc collection, -\s:.o· 

ciat1on ~ale.,, hackcountrv permtt<o, and \'isitor 

information, pJu., h'l\ 111g -.pace for admmistranve 

U'-C where accountahtllt) can be at:complished in 

pnvare.'' t\ltemanvch, It urged th~: con,rruction 

of a "major n~nor center which would contain 

all of the mformarion ~tat on operation' plus 

maJor cxh1bir room:,, an auditorium, ltbrary, 

mu ... eum, and interpretive oflice and admini:,trative ~race."' 

lna;.much a' the agcncv, at tht., time, was 111 the 

m1d~t of the Congrc.,.,innal fight over Ala:.ka·s 

parklandc;, otfictals were not m a pmit1on to expend .,uhstanual new fund" until after the lands 

questton had been 'culed. The plan~ for a new 

mformation center, therefore, wen. held in abeyance for the time bem~. In 1982, the comtruction 

of a new office addttion to rhc "inadequate double w1de tTatler" provided Improved condttions 

and offered 'taff a mod1cum of privacy."' But 

mor~: ambmou' propo~als remained m the planning ;.tagc until thl' park's Visitor Acces~ Center 

(now called the Wilclc nc~' Acce-.~ Center) was 

comrruLted in the late 19Ro~. But regarding a n 

expanded venue for parh. interpretive programs. 

agency offic~als a~ a 'topgap mcal>ure purchased 

Ch<~pter Elev~'l ll"'lerprelive ~\IFeS. Tht Pt~rk lrnrrllhe V'~rll, s Pu11•t of Vrf'w 155 
By July 1974, consttuctoon of 

addotoonal restroom facilities, a new 

entryway, covered walkways, and 

an open observation tower were 

underway at Eielson Visitor Center. 

DENA 5749, Denali Natoonal Park and 

Preserve Museum Collection 

a 40' x 6o' rcd-and-whm;-..,triped "cJrcu-, rent" 

and crec ~.:d Jt ju'>t north ol the park hotel m tim~.; 

for the 1979 \'io,itor <;ea-,on. Thi'> rent. whiCh w;" 

O'>tensiblv "rented for the '>ummer,'' wa.., of mar 

gmal benefit; a ... park nattJr<lh'>t \X'illiam True~dcll 

noted, If "allowed too much hght to enter <lnd the 

light that '>hown [~1c] through the red smpe'> was 

very distracting. The tent wa., al~o uncomfort 

ably cold most of the summer.""4 The year ty8o 

brought even greater dJ-.com fon; on june 18 the 

tent collap~cd under a 12-inch .,now load. Operanom there could not begm again until jul~ 4· and 

as ~taff noted, the tent was again "uncomfortabl) 

cold," primanl\ because "of another cold , ramy 

'>ummcr."'• 

G1ven the tent\ obYJOU\ di-,ad\'antagc'>, tho.. !\, PS 

mcluded a dame m Its 1981 conce'>SJOil'> agree 

ment that called for the conccs'>ioner to build a 

new "audio nsual room" adJacent to the hotel. 

(~ee Chapter l).) Th1s '>trucwre, later called an 

auditonum, wa'> completed h\ the late !>lltnmcr 

of 1982 and it opened to the puhllc mJunc 198~. 

Bur between 1979 and 19R2, the tent hostl'd a 

\\ 1de vane tv of lecture'> and mov1es, the laner 

.,pon..,orcd h' hoth the "J PS and the co ee~ 

~toner. 

Dunng the 1970' the Ahhka National Park'> and 

1\lonumcnt'> A ... -.oo..iation took on sevcralm·\\ 

156 Crown Jew£'! of the North An Adm•ntStldtove Hostory of ~n<th illat.onal Par~. <Jnd Preserve 

publican on~ proJeCt'>, and perhap)\ a~ a rcc;ulr. it'> 

fortunes mcrea.,ed. A'> noted above, when the 

newly named sttltewJdc nrgani/atJon began (m 

April1970) it had publi.,hcd three hook" ahout 

the park. Adolph \tunc\ \'olumcs on mammals 

and hird<. (in 1962 and 1963, respectivdv ), and the 

~ratl-crcated Colormg Book of,\loum McKmley, publi!.hcd in 1968. In 1971 the association 

publbhed The Malamutes of Mou11t McKinley, by 

ogene\ employees Roy Sanborn and f<>m Ritter, 

and -.oun afterwan.llt published a hear \\arning 

folder (entitled Gri::;::;/y Hear - Fnend or Foe?) 

and a ne\.\ Horseshoe Lake Trail GH1de. In 1974 

It republished Murie\ popular mammal book. 

Throughout th1~ period, the colonng book 

remained available to park VISitOr'>."" In 1971 the 

a<>~ocJatJon ralhcd about 8,250 in gro.,~ receipt'> 

at the pari-, a figure that had roughly doubled by 

1975; JUst a year later, however, revcnut•s shot up 

to ~45,ooo "due to the use of new mulu-book 

tli'>pla\ techmque<>, to maintammg .,uniCJent 

'>tock. and the acqUJring of slide '>Ct!> and Kodak 

lilm products for '>ale.''"• The 1974-76 expansion 

uf hcl.,on Visitor CenrL·r portended the potential 

for an Increased sale.., prc~encc, but throughout 

the late 1970s the a .. ~ucJatJOn 's '>Jics o;ckcnon was 

hmJlt·d to map!>, film, and ..,!Jdc set .... "" 

Revenue~ for Lhc couperatmg organi;ation 

continued to mcrca~c during the late 1q7o~ . 
This circus te nt, located just north 

of the hotel, served as a temporary 

auditorium for interpretive talks. 

Seasonal interpreters who gave 

programs there recalled that it was 

cold and the projection screen would 

undulate when it was windy. NPS 

lnterp. Collection, #2408, Denali 

National Park and Preserve 

A new auditorium, located adjacent 

to the McKinley Park Hotel. was 

opened in 1983 and used for the 

presentation of interpretive audio 

visual programs. NPS Photo, Brad 

Richie Collection 

Dunng the 1977 fi~cal year they totaled approximately S62,ooo, and between 1978 and 1980 they 

ranged between S8o,ooo and S10o,ooo. Given 

the group\ increa~ing revenues, it was able to 

hire its first employee (Wilma ,\1\ercer) in 1977. 

The followmg year it placed its fir~t sale~person 

at Eiel3on Visitor Center, and in 1979 it sponsored 

the publicanon of Wyatt G. Gilbert's geology 

handbook, entitled A Geologic G11irle to Mo11111 

McKmley NatiOnal Park. By the summer of 1980, 

the J\'loum McKinley outlet of the cooperating 

organitation had three sale~ per~unnel on its payroll: two worked for the summer ~ea~on, while 

the third "worked part-time during the winter to 

take care of mail orde ~ and depo.,its."'"' A major 

new element in the park's interpretation program 

emerged in 1979 with the first edition of a summer park newsletter, called the Alpenglow. This 

eight-page publication, which followed much the 

same guideline~> as similar publications at "Lower 

48" parh, proved so successful that it became a 

regular summer feature. At tirst, the agency paid 

all of rhe newsletter's printing costs; a few years 

later, however, the park's cooperative association 

began to assist in this regard.'"' 

During the late 1970s, the park\ cooperating 

association dramatically changed it~ swpe due 

to legblative activiry taking place in Washmgton, 

D.C. As noted in Chapter 8, Congre~~ spent 

much of the 1970s debating the Alaska lands issue, and it~ self-imposed deadline called for the 

issue to be resolved by December 1978. In anticipation of that deadline, the Alaska National Park!"> 

and Monuments AssociaLion moved in the late 

summer of 197R to change its name to the Alaska 

atural History Association (A. HA). Despite 

a delay in settling the Alaska lands is~ue, A HA 

came into being in late November 1978. Recogniting that Congress. in due course. would pass a 

lands bill with managers from a varietv of federal, 

state, and orhcr entities, ANHA's directors stared 

that the new organization's purpose would be to 

support "the educational and scientific programs 

of federal and other governmental agencie~ and 

non-profit organi~arions concerned with the 

comervation, preservation and interpretation of 

natural, hisrorical, and cultural resources of the 

state of Alaska.""' 

Park Interpretation During the 1980s 

In December 1980, Cong e~s passed- and Pre::.ldent Carter signed-the Alaska ational lnterest 

Lands Conservation Act, and among its other 

provisions was creation of Denali arional Park 

and Preserve in lieu of Mount 1\.lcKinley Nanonal Park and a near-tripling of the park unit's 

acreage. Despite the million~ of acres of new 

parkland, the vast majority of visitors remained 

along the road corridor in th(; ~o-called "old 

park." As a result, inrerpretation Jid not undergo 

significant changes because of Congress'., action. 

Chapter Eleven· lnterpretrve ls~ues. T11e Pdrk from thP VMor"s Po1111 of Vrew 157 
Park Interpreters provided visitors 

with an opportunity for short walks 

originating from the park hotel. 

Edible plants of the area was the 

theme of the interpretive walk shown 

he re. Robyn Burch Collection 

Instead, the ll}llo-. v.rirne-. .. ed mcremental change'> 

oased on a continuing explo-.1on m rhe number 

of park Vl~it-. from approximate!) 216,uoo in 

1980 to 436,ooo m 1985 and 546.ooo m H)90. 

Interpreter., con1mucd to offer d1e public 1 he 

same opportunilie~ that had been oilcrcd 10 

vear~ pao.,r: dog sleJ dcmonstratitm-., hutcl-ba..,ed 

nature walb, ranger-led talk:, and film-., <.h,-

covery h1kc..,, campground talks. EJCbon ba.,ed 

tundra walk'>, .tnd children\ actinues opcrating out of the R1lt:) Creek lnfonnarion ( cnter. 

\ 1s1t0rs enthu.,Ja'>tlcally ancnded thl·~e a~tiVItH.''>, 

particularly rhc dog ... led demomtrat10n.,; rota) 

mterpretivc parllcipation (for all park program.,) 

rose from about 6o,ooo m 1980 w more than 

212,000 in 1991 '· lo cope with the crowd .... 

... everal of these actinnes were otferl'd more often 

during the tQ8m than rhey had prevJOu<>l~ . Rut 

for the moc;t part, incrca-.mg Yi~itation re.,ulted 

m larger crowds attending the same number of 

interpretive presentations. (The thm;e-dailv 

dog-sled demomtranons, for example, n:mamed 

constant throughout the decade.) A few new activirie~ were attempted; d1e agency. fur cxampk, 

experimented with '\velwme walb" during 

Lhe 1987 sca ... on, and abour 1990, park rangernaturah'>t' ··randomly boarded ~hurrlc bw.es ro 

provide 'on board ' commentan and contact 

with our Vt~'>Hor~ ." fhe welcome walks proved 

short-lived, and after 1989 staff no longer offered 

daily children's programs. So-called "bu-. rove~·· 

remamed, ho\ve\·er, Lhrough d1e mid-1qqm. • 

The maJor mterprctlve f::~ ihry developed durmg 

the 1980s was the Vi~1tor Access Center A'> noted 

, _ Crown lE'Wel ot thl' Nont . r Adm.niSlratr.l' HIStory ct 0Pn!lh NatiOil-'1 Pnr~ .md I'Je!.E'rv~ 

in Chapter lJ, the r.topgap nature of the 1972 Riley 

Creek Information Center was wtdel) recognued, and despite a 1982 addition, tt wru. widely 

hoped rhnt this facility could -.oon be replaced 

wtth a larger, more permanent structure. In 1982, 

the agency had announced plans- as part of its 

road corridor development concept plan to 

build a new "mrerpretivc/transportatlon center.'' 

Thi'> plan wa.~ approved in 1983. and the park's 

final (November 1986) general management plan 

reiterated the need for a .. vi~iLO r acccs:. center~ 

and further ~uggested d1e addition of an adjacent '>huttlc bu'> staging area.'-4 Funding d1e new 

center, however, proved problematic, and it was 

not unt1l early 1987 that the PS awarded a construction contract. That September d1e winning 

bidder. the Ahtna Native Reg10nal Corporation, 

began ~1te preparation. The new Visitor Access 

Center <VAC) opened over Memorial Day weekend 1990; n' Superintendent u~!>e ll Berry noted, 

the facility wa~ "a vast improvement" over t.he 

18-ycar-old double-wide that it was rcplacmg."' 

Nrer that date, d1e facilit) served a!. d1e primary 

\\'a) m whtch motortzed Vl~itor<> were mtroduced to the park and its v:Jnou .. tran<,portation, 

campmg, and backcoumry opllon<>. Ln addition, 

ilie VAC''- auditorium showed a half-hour-long 

automateJ orientation slide show."h 

As noted above, the conce!>sioncr\ bus tours 

underwent maJor changes durmg the 1970s, and 

between 1q77 and 1980, Lhe tw1ce-a-day tours 

moved from morning-only departures to ilime 

that left at both 6 a.m. and the mid-afrernoon. 

This schedule continued on into 1981, but a 

deadly bus accident m mid-June of that year 

(dunng d1c return run of an afternoon bus) ju!>t 

cast of Fiebon Visitor Center forced ilie conces-

!>ioncr to red1ink its turnaround point. RecogntLtng that two previous, recent accidentc;-m 

July 1974 and Augu!>t 1978 had ::~J<.o taken place 

roward the west end of the park road, ilie concesstoner 1111med1ately dectded to truncate the tour 

by establil>hing a new bus rurnaround point at 

Stony ! I ill. (See Chapter 9.) Since that time, tour 

bu~es a., a rule have not ventured bevond Stony 

Hill; mdced, bul! passengers Vll>iting d1e park on 

cloudv day-. have typically gone only a~ far west 

as the Ioklat Rlver.UJ 

The twice-daily bus schedule one 111 the mommg. another 10 d1c afternoon- hal> continued 

ever -.mce. In recenr years the increased popularIty of th1s tour'· ha... exploded, requiring numerous mornmg departures (between 6:oo and 

7:30 a m.) and additional afternoon departures 

(between J:OO and 4:oop.m.), but ilic c,ame basic 

schedule still holds. The shortcr Denali Natural 

Ht!>tory four, which began in 1990 (!>ec Chapter 9) keeps to a similar schedule; it also holds 
Beginning in 1994, NPS interpretive 

rangers (in uniform or in costume 

as historical cha racters) provided 

presentations at the historic Savage 

River Ranger Patrol cabin. This was 

an opportunity for rangers to interact 

with passengers on the Denali 

Natural History Tour, operate d by 

the park concessione r. In 1996 this 

function was pe rformed by the tour 

bus drive rs. and the following year 

the park concessioner began training 

its own staff to provide living history 

presentations at this ve nue. Ingrid 

Nixon Collection 

mornmg and afternoon departure times, plus an 

additional midday departure."" 

A-::. noted above, participation in the old Alaska 

ational Park~ and Mo ument~ Associ anon had 

been limited to PS units, and Mount McKinley 

ational Park had dominated that entity, both 

financially and organitationally. The new Alaska 

Natural History A!>sociation, however, brought 

forth a new era of cooperation among both 

federal and non-federal agencie!>. Given that 

cooperative spirit, Al'\1 HA mvited U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service represenrativcs to participate 

within months of the new organization\ formation; ANHA and the agency signed an agreement 

in March 1979, and that summer association 

outlets were in operation both in Adak (Aleutians 

National Wild life Refuge) and Fairbanks (Arctic 

National Wildlife Range). A year later-in fact, 

less than rwo weeks before Presidem Caner 

signed AN!LCA into law- U.S. Forest Service 

and A HA representatives signed a memorandum of understanding, and in the ~ummer of 

1981 Chugach a tiona! Forest opened it~ first two 

ANI-lA outlets: at the Beg1ch-Boggs Visitor Center in Portage, and on hoard the M/V Bm·t/ett."" 

In 1985 a fourth member signed on- Alaska 

State Pa k~, where an outlet opened ar the Eagle 

River Visitor Center that july- and in 1991 the 

U.S. Bureau of Land Management joined as well, 

with outlets both at the Coldfoot interagency 

center and the Public Services Room in the new 

Anchorage federal building.'l' 

During the early- to mid-1q8os, the surge in 

park visitation resulted in a dramatic increa~e in 

ANHA revenue~: from approximately $97,000 

in 1980 to $126,ooo m 1984 and S211,ooo in 

1987.'.., (Part of this increase was brought about 

by the addition of books to the stock at Eielson, 

although in the late 198os the outlet's offerings 

were ~till fairly limited.'H) But giYen the more 

diverse function of the Ala~ka Nan1ral Hi.;rory 

Association during this period, the economic 

dominance of the park in A HA soon waned; 

in 1980, sales at the park outlet had compri~ed 

more than 6o percent of ANHA's total sales 

(and ANHA'~ executive director noted that "Mt. 

McKmley'c; sales have always been the backbone of the association's mcome"), but in 1984 

and 1987, however, the) had fallen ro 43 percent 

and 27 percent, respective y.'>~ The park, during 

this period, initially had two sales outlets: Riley 

Creek Information Center and Eielson Visitor 

Center. But ANHA personnel, sensing a busineS& 

opportunity, sponsored the publication (in June 

1981) of dog handler Sandy Kogl's Sled Dogs of Dellali and then ~old the book after the park's dail) 

dog sled demonstration~.'" During the 1980s rhe 

local A HA branch sponsored the production of 

several other new items, mcluding Kim Heacox's 

t986 Denali Road Guide, Michael Collier's Geology of Denair National Park (t989), and a poster 

by Washington-based artist Jim Hays. ANH A 

revenues were also used to produce the annual 

r1/pellglow and to as~isr the financially beleaguered park interpretive program.llh 

Park Interpretation, 1991-present 

Beginning in t990, Denali National Park and 

Preserve offered three pnmary mterpretive 

venues. The Visitor Access Center was a focal 

Chapter Ele>verr Interpretive ~~ue~. The Pitrf from the Vrsrto( \ Porn t o l Vrf'W 159 
The Alaska Natural History 

Association (ANHA) sales outlet at 

the park dog kennels Is shown on the 

right of this photo. At the end of the 

scheduled sled dog demonstration, 

as visttors make their way back to 

watttng buses, ANHA staff provtded 

an opportunity for visttors to 

purchase park literature. NPS Kennels 

Photo 

pomt for tho~e who drove to the park or were 

potential -;huulc-hu.., pa~s~:ngcrs; 'i-.nor-. lO the 

center could obtmn bu~ re~erva t1om. and ti cket~. 

board the ~e~. and get both backcountry camping e~ervat on' and park campground permit!>. 

ln add in on, th ~: center\ audttonum howed 

an automated, introductor) I ide show, later 

complemented b\ variou~' dt::o~ that the local 

Alru:.ka Naruralll1story t\ssoc1at1on offered a~ 

sa e~ ueml>. The <.,epo.rate audironum building, 

located ju~t north of the park hotel, offcr~:d narrated o;;lide '>how-., and it al\o continued to !>hO\o\ 

rhe park'~ award-wmnmg film. Denali V:'ilderness, which had been completed m 1982 and fir:.t 

5hown in 198l (Thl ~ film wal> ..,huwn to \'tsttor~ 

unnlt997.) And the Eiebon \'t.,tror Center, 66 

miles out the park mad, otlcred cxhtbtt'>. The 

hotel and Eicl..,on '>en ed n~ the ba'e for nature 

walks, and all three venue!> had staff ro an~wer 

vbitor inquiries and sell park-related books."" 

Thb trichotomy remained for the next 12 vearl.. 

A'> noted earlier, thl.' number of park visitor-. 

gre\\ harp!~ throughout the 1970., and 1980:.. 

{Specifically, appn>Xtmate annual recrcanonal 

vi itation wa:. 45,000 m 1971. tl rn'c to 216,ooo m 

1980, and begmnmg m HJ86, tt toppcd soo,ooo 

and remained at that level through the earlv 

1990s.) But a!> noted in Chapter to. the political 

implicauom of the park\ vi~itatwn level brought 

about change.., w the tabulanon methodology, 

and a!> a comequcnce the agency recorded fewer 

annual recreational vtsitoro.,, More ~rectfically, 

U.S. Senator Frank Murkow-.ki (R Aia~ka) in 1995 

compared the soo,ooo plu~ annua l vi-.ttation 

figure with the annual number of bus pa-.senger'> 

toO Crowp JnwPI of the North An AdmtntWdl ve HIS!OJII of Den~li N.lt,Ot\dl Pork rind Pr<"•''"' 

(wh1ch totaled approximately 250,ooo) and concluded that more than 250,000 people "were not 

able to enter the park" becau:.e the bu!>e~ were 

full. Murkowski, moreover, used that figure to 

justify the need for a northern acces!. roure to the 

Kanushna-Wondcr Lake area.''" Faced with that 

political reality, the P')\ .,tat1sttcs umt (based at 

the agency·~ Denve r e rvice Center) changed tts 

Vt!>itor counting method from one that counted 

total vehtcle traffic headtng up the park road (i.e., 

number nf vmt~. mcludmg casual local traffic) 

to one that more accuratcl} reflected the actual 

number of park VIsitors. C.. I\ en that change in 

counttng method-.. recreational park visitation 

.,lipped from 543·'3091111995 to ·w·395 in 1990 (a 

17 per cent drop), e\'cn though there wru:. only a 

slight dtp m the actual number of recreational 

vi sitors.'4'' 

In 2001, change~ to the park's inrerpreuve program once agam took place when the McKinley 

Park I Jotcl clo~cd down. That clo~ure, followed 

l>Oon afterward bv the hotel':. demolition, engendered a four-\ car rransmonal pennd 111 which the 

Visttor Accco.,~ Center \\a~ the park's only significant ca~t-end mrcrprcttve venue. (See Chapter 

to.) As noted el,cwhcre. park c;rafl had been 

calling for a lull-fledged \1st tor cemer tn dus area 

e\'er ~ince the 1\.lt'>\H>n 66 davs ol rhc mtd-1950'>, 

and the 1990 completwn of the \'is1tor Acce:.s 

Center while a pmtttve ... tep d1d nor mitigate 

rhe need for a new inrcrprettve \'enue that could 

offer exhtbit ~race and a qutet, ... tate-of-rhe-art 

auditonum for talks and film:.. The need for thi!> 

faciltt) had been M<Hed 111 the ~o-cnlled Front 

Country Development Concept Plan, which the 
Park interpretive rangers continue 

to present regularly-scheduled 

campground evening talks. The 

theme of the Wonder Lake 

Campground presentation pictured 

above is mountaineering histo ry. 

NPS Photo 

'\Pl., had approved in Fehruan 1<)<)7: dc~p11c 

the completion of that plan, however, hnrcl 

operation~ contrnued unr1l Congrt''' wa~ able to 

underwrrte the cmr of new '\ P!:l faCJiitie'> anJ, on 

a more pmcncallc\·cl, unr1l the rcrmrnation of rhe 

concc~s1oncr\ twcntv-year contract. 

Became the \'i'>itor Ace c-.-. Center, Jurrng thb 

period. was rhe park\ pnmar) \'bl{or node, there 

wa~ a wide~pread ao.;~umption (hascd on the 

1997 DCP) rhar any new VIsitor -.en· ice'> facilities 

would be located adJacent ro the \'AC. Thi~ a~­

sumptlun, however, wa .. dl'>pcllcd 10 Novemher 

2001 when the NPS relea.,cd an environmental 

as::.c:s::.mcnt (Et\) for it'> planned Vl'•ltor f,1Cilincs. This EA propn~cd the consrruction of a 

multi-use .. ,·isiror '>en 1cc., bu1ldrng,'' along with 

an adjacent ~c1ence and learn1ng center, which 

would be located on or near rhc footprint of the 

old hotel. '- P~ official.,, 1n thi-. plan, decrdcd to 

locate new n'1tnr -.erncc-. here. rarher than the 

\ '\( s1te, because It wa-. .ldJaccntto the railroad 

"tarion and bctau'c the new sire protected park 

re~ource., and anrmal hah1tat h\ u"mg ··pre-dt~­

turbed land." This propo,JI wa-. -.omewhar 

modified dunng the emumg puhlrc proce ~. but 

the final EA. approved at the end of januan 2002, 

called for a q,soo ;.4uan.: foot Vl'>itor center 

along w1th -.everal ad a~enr .,upport burldmg~ and 

a new Denali Science and Learnrng Ccnter.'4 

By the end of 2003. the agencv had chtl'>cn 

a burlder for hoth the\ 1-.rror center and the 

learnrng center, and work wa., "'underwa\ and 

on schedule" on both complcxc-.. I he educarional center, b\ nm\ calk·d thl: \Iurie Sc1t.>nce 

and Learning Center, openl."d in \ugu-.r 2004.' 

Durmg rhc wrnrer of 200.:j-O), con,rrucnon 

crew~ and inrerprell\e ~peuah"t' complered 

rhetr work on the threc hu1ldmg complex that 

included the Denair \ 1-.11or C l"nter. rhe Denair 

Boobtore, and the \\on no Grill. The vi~rtor 

cenrer complex opcned w the puhht 111 \Ia\ 

2005, and three month'> later ..... rs officra]-. held 

ded1canon cert·momc-. therl."." \-. .,mm a' the 

vbirur Cl'ntcr opened, the role of the 15·\car-old 

\'AC changed '>igmfie;mLiy. I he park conce~­

sioner took over It'> management from the ..... PS, 

the center\ name ch,mged to the\\ ilderness 

Acce'is Center, and backpatkmg permrnmg 

ftmctiom (whtch the N PS '>till managed) mon:d 

out to an at.ljacent muler. The main park film, 

the newt~ -minted (and award-wrnnmg) Heartbecw of Denali wa-. now hcing .,JHl\\ n 111 rhc new 

\"lsi tor center, '>II m It\ -.Lead \\a-. tcaturcd the 

recentlv-rch.:ascd hr.,toricallilm, !cross 1111/C and 

Tundra. wh1ch had be~·n produced 111 .2002 1:>~ 

park employee'> Jane Rr~ant and Jane Tranel. 

Another nc\\ fauh£) erected dunng thr., p..:nod 

wa-.lucated m Talkeetna, ... uuth and ca'r of the 

newly-expanded park. In order to manage 

the t:\'er-mcrca.,rng number of Ala'>ka Range 

cl1mbcr.,, theN P~ -.ince 1977 had ~tat1oned ~taff 

ar Talkeetna dunng the three-month clunbing 

~ca!>on. (Sec Chapter 1'~.) Stall fiN operatet.l out 

of make ... hrlt tacrllfle.,, and vi.,itor'> werc hardly 

aware of the PS\ prc-.cnce 111 town. But in 

1984 the agt:nC\ began renting a '>Ill all. roughhewn built.lmg ]U<,( <,llUth of the ratn·iew Hotel; 

it was dubbed the ··Genet Bu1ldmg" bccau!>c the 

late mounramcc1 Ra~ Genet had helped erect 

IL Though rhe building \\':1' pntn<lrily tntco<.led 

Chdpter Eleven lnterprehve I~Sul'>, fhl' Pn ~ lrorr11li<• V1\1101 ~ Po1n1 ol V1ew '61 
Talkeetna-based inte rpretive rangers 

present Informationa l talks to visitors 

and school groups, shown here in the 

main room of the Ta lkeetna Ranger 

Station. NPS Photo 

a' a climber-,' nricntallon station, non dim bing 

\'i'>ltor., ~oon began to filtl'r in. :\gene · pcr~onnel 

di-.playcd mmimal mterpretl\'e matenah: large-

!>Calc phorograph'>. mountaineenn~ gear, a small 

out!.ide k10-.k, and ,jmilar item'>. lo help .uw .. ,·er 

vbitor.,· quc.,rion-., the agenc\' hegan ,t,Hionmg 

Studenr Con!>ervanon As-.oCI<ltmn per.,onncl 

in rhe faciliry. fhe Genet Bulldmg, rmttc m 

appearance and pourh construued, retained 

Its funcnon unnl wcll1nto the 199m.'" But themcrca!.ing interest mlalkl·etna as a vb1tor de-.unauon, a~ well a!> a contmumg nse m the number of 

annual climbers, portended the need for a larger, 

mulnpurpme facilitv, .md m rqRq agcnc\ officials began dec,1gnrng exhihtt'> for a new facilit) 

that would he located in "downtown falkeerna 

ro <;ervc thL· <.epararc and -.pecific function uf 

prondmga.,,tstancc 10 \lr \k~mlc'i dunner:.." • That fac1litvwas begun in 1995, completed 

m December 1996. and dcdicatcd m June 1997 

('>ee Chapter q). The Talkectn.1 '\ lountaineenng 

Center, known more mform;lll\' as the T.1lkectnn 

Ranger Statton, W<l!> "highlighted with .,e,-cral 

large panoramic photograph.., h~ !\It \lc~tnlcy 's 

revered ma~ter, Bradford \XIashburn," and beginning m 1997 '>Ca~onal intcrpren:r'> hcgan working there to cater to the neeJ~ of non-climhmg 

visitor~.··R 

Although the number of park cmplovec~ horh 

permanent nnd seasonal has ~rown suh~tantlall~ since A'\JILCA\ pa.,,agc, the number uf 

mterprctive pcr ... onnd ha., not kept pact· With 

that growth. All roo oftt•n, time., of ll~cal 'itrc~s 

have tended to impact the mterpn:tl\'1: workforce to a d1~prnporuonate Je~rcc.4• \,a n.•.,ult, 

mterpretatinn tn horh the East Oisrnct nnd We!>t 

Di..,rnct of the park has been handled by seasonal 

'-. PS c.:.mplo\'ec!l smcc 1980, 1f not earlier.''' But 

c' en .,~.;a..,onal hrre., (.,orne of whom ha\'e been local rc~1denb) have hecn rcduted in recent vears, 

and m 2004 the park had It'> smalle'>t number of 

intcrprcttn 'easonab in twcnt) years. In order 

to ful ti II the park\ goab, park !>tafr increasingly 

rclted on 'wuth Conservation Corp~ workers, 

\ l'>itor U-.c Assi<;tants, member., of the Student 

Con~crvntton Association, and on volunteers, 

'>orne of whom were '>Ca~o l workers who 

stayed on for the winter.''' Indeed, volunteers 

hnve made major contrrhurions in recent years; 

h\ tht late 19C)os, volunwcr interpreter!> were 

contributing mnrc than 2.ooo hour!-. of ~ervice 

each year. and tiK latest (2006) figure~ <;tate that 

interprerh·c 'oluntcer"> contributed more than 

S,ooo hour': almm.t four full time yclll3 of volunteer dlort.'~ Interpretive leaders during the po'>tA.....,ILCA penod have mcludcd Wilham Truesdell 

(1975-19R1), Doug Cuillard (1q82-1987), George 

Wagner (1987-1991), lhea mdling (1992-1996), 

L1~a Eck<:rt (1996-rq98). Blanca Stransky (1999-

2006), and Ingrid ixon (2006 to pre5ent)."' 

During thb penod, NPS ollicinb continued to 

1mprove the interpretive program nnd to expand 

it where appropnate In 1992, for example, the 

audttonum at the hotel olfcrcd both an afternoon and eventng program (erther a slide show 

or mmit· 1n each tao,c). There wa., also a dailv 

··nmuralist\ choice program~ (which might 

mclude an) rhing from a nnntre h1ke to ademomtranon or children\ prngram) held c1ther in 

the\ \C or hotel .1rea DI!>CO\'Cn h1kes were of-
Discovery hikes led by interpretive 

rangers typically last from three to 

five hours. Visitors ride shuttle buses 

to the beginning of the scheduled 

hikes. NPS Photo 

fered; campground programs were given at Riley 

Creek, Savage River, Icklanika, and Wonder Lake 

campground~; dog ~led demonstratiom. were ~till 

provided three ttmes each day; and at Eiclson 

Visitor Center, hoth tundra walh and "naturalist's choice" acrivitie~ were o!Tered each day.'"-~ In 

1994. NP~ sratl initiated hisrorical program~ at 

the old ARC-built Savage Cabin. and a year later, 

park <;tali began olfcnng addiuonal program~ 

including "~treambed ~troll.,;' ''l (JkJat Trek!.;' and 

morning kennels-area walk!>.'" In 1998, staff inaugmared a "naturali'>t\ choice evenmg waJk" rhree 

times each week, and four years late r it tmtlated 

the "Denalt di~covery pack program;· intended 

for families, in which a hackpack contained "an 

activity gmde, toob and matenab to explore park 

resources and bnng visiwr~ cln!.Cr ro the small 

wonder!> of the natural world."''" Throughout 

U1is period the agency, a~ noted ahove, ~bowed 

an orientation t.lide show many tnncs each day at 

the Visitor Access Center. It also offered Junior 

Ranger Program activitie~, inttiall) through offerings in the annual Dc1wlz :1/peng/ow newsletter 

and later U1rough an acnvity gutde availabl e free 

from park staff.';' 

Since 2000, the program ha~ continued to evolve 

Dunng the ~ummer of 2003, daily program~ 

included dog sled demonstration!> (!>till offered 

1.hree times each day), an evening program in the 

VAC's theatre. evening program~ at four of the 

park\ campground!>, a Hor~cshoe Lake hike. 

a Savage Rtver walk. an "Etelson Stroll," and a 

discover~ hike. By 2006 the~e bad been modified 

<.omewhat becausl the VAC (now the Wilderness 

Acces~ Center) wa~ no longer the only NPS visitor node a nd because Eielson Visitor Center was 

hemg replaced (see below). The VAC's evenmg 

program and the "Eiebon Stroll" were thus eliminated, and as well, the Savage hikes were replaced 

by the more generic "entrance area hikes and 

strolls" and a variety of either "short loops in the 

spruce forest" or "longer explorations that inrerpret various park-related themet. ."''~ All indication~ ~ugget.t that the park\ interpretive staff will 

continue to e-x periment with new interpretive 

programs, and they will either add new programs 

or replace existing programs in response to 

changing budgets a nd emerging public mterests. 

The park's cooperating association has shown 

strong growth in recent years. Dunng the 198os, 

as noted above, rhe Alaska Natural History A&-

soctatton had two ~ale!. outlet~: the double-wide 

Riley Creek Information Center and Eiebon Visitor Center. In the spring of 1990, the complenon 

of the new Visitor Acces~ Center (with a large, 

modern sales outlet) replaced the old mformarion center, and in 1995, the joe Hankins Room 

at the Eielson Visitor Center was reconfigured 

mto a larger, up-to-date ANHA .,ales area.''" As a 

result of those tnitiatives, AN HA sale<. at the park 

dramatically increased from 1989 {with Szz6,ooo 

m sales) to 1995 (with S679,ooo m salet.). More 

recent fi!,'l.trcs have shown even higher return~; 

between 1998 and 2004 the park\ outlcb consistently gro~sed between S82s,ooo and S975,ooo 

in ~ales.''"' In the spring of 2005, the opening of 

the new park visitor center included the adjacent 

Denali Bookstore. Given that new facility, the 

park's ANHA outlet had its first million-dollar '>ales year in 2005, w1th S1.o8z,ooo in gro..,~ 

(hapte' Elt>w·n lnterprrltve lssuPs, The Park lrom the v,s,tor·s Porm ol Vrew 163 
To enhance the visitor experience and 

to provide for the safety of increasing 

numbers of visitors, viewing stands 

(seen above) were installed at the 

kennels in 1998. In 2003, a total 

of 38,651 visitors attended dog 

demonstrations at the park kennels. 

NPS Photo 

sales. In 2006 sales shot up even further, to some 

SIA6s,ooo (see f7igure 2). 

A key aspect of public-agency cooperating a~­

sociations b that a significant percentage of gro~s 

revenue~ an.: returned to the agencies, with the 

mone~ received being used to further vanou-. 

agency interpretive and educational goals. As 

noted above, so-called "branch support" or 

''dtrecr aid" revenue~ gathered during the earlie~t 

year~ of the park\ cooperating as~ociarion were 

devoted toward the publication of various park 

book~. followed in later year-, bv posters, newsletters, and similar mterpretive fare. Pnor to 1975, 

these revenuco., were fairly meager But 111 1977, a'> 

noted above, thev were sufficient to spon..,or rhe 

park\ first stafl per.,on, and during the 19 80~ the 

fund.., patd back to the park multipliec..l tenfold. 

Throughout the 1990..,, the'>c funds consbtcntl) 

topped w.ooo per year, anc..l ... ince 2000 they 

have often exceeded <;6o,ooo annually."" 

G tven '>Uch a substantial, continuing revenue 

stream, A '\IHA oiJiciab in recent years have been 

able to engage in diverse project~ w "facilitate the 

conservation, education, and interprenvc programs" at Denali National Park and Prec;crve."" 

During the 1990s the a~soctation\ primary efforts 

were aimed at discrete physical products: the 

publication of variou~ books and the annual 

rllpcnglow ncw~lctter. along with an an print, a 

video highltghting wmter patrol acti\ itics, and a 

CD-ROM about the park."' But funds abo were 

directed w ~uch diverse goal~ a~ \ 'AC exhibits, 

library books, mterpretivc materials, and the con164 Crown Jewel of lhf> Nor1h An AdminiStratiVE' H1~tory ol DPnall Nat1onal Pa1k and PreseiVe 

'it ruction of a climbers' memorial, and as early 

a~ 1996 dtrect-atd revenues were able to pay for 

Student Consermnon Association interpretive 

mtern~.' "' After 2000, the ~cope of these activities 

wa~ able ro increase. By 2002, the association was 

able to '>hore up the park's underfunded interpretive divi'>ton bv hiring an interpretive planner 

along with four interns; it funded both summer 

anc..l winter issues of the t llpenglow; it distributed 

17o,ooo "companton booklets" (t.c., mrerprcLive 

guide'>) to patron-, on horh the Tundra Wilderness Tours and Natural History Tours; it spon-

'>ored a subsi'itence brochure and new<oletter; it 

publbhed a book on the park\ bird life; and it 

played a major role financtallv and logisncally 

in ~ponsori g the park\ annual Winterfest. The 

internships. the tour booklet!>, the rwice-yenrly 

llpcnglow issue~ and Wimerfest-related activi 

tics became ~tap lcs of the association\ assistance 

program and have continued to the present day. 

lo these efforts, tn 2004, were added assi~tance 

111 preparing exhtbits for the new 5Cicnce and 

learning center and assbrancc m preparing the 

new Heartbeats of Denali film for the new vbitor 

center."'' In addttion, A HA ha" funded sundry 

other guidebooks, brochures, exh1bits, and -;imilar matenals over the year~. 

Another way in which the Ala~ka Natural History 

A~~octation was able to further park purpose~ was 

through it~ sponsorship of the Denali ln!>titute. 

Wallace and Jerryne Cole, from Camp Denali, had 

spearheaded the establishment of this nonprofit 

educanonal orgflnilation, which was established 

111 December 1998; its purpose was to provide 
Figure 2. Park Cooperatmg Association Revenues. 1960 to Present 

Mount McKinley Natural History Association: 

Year 

1960 

1961 

1962 

1963 

1964 

Total 

Sales 

S994 

1,824 

2.689 

2,681 

2,513 

Program 

Support 

-

-

S3 

5 

2 

2 

2 

45 

63 

-

45 

-

75 

20 

Alaska National Parks and Monuments Associatton: 

Year 

1970 

1971 

1972 

1973 

Total 

Sales 

n .a . 

518.758 

21,474 

29,796 

I 

Program 

Support 

s 956 

-

7, 255 

3, 988 

- 3, 840 

Alaska Natural History Association: 

Year 

1978 

1979 

1980 

1981 

1982 

1983 

1984 

1985 

1986 

1987 

1988 

1989 

1990 

1991 

1992 

Total 

Sales 

S119,807 

155,633 

159,629 

190,783 

196,558 

- 258,229 

- 290,759 

364,717 

536,311 

782,708 

947,685 

Program 

Support 

-

-

-

s 6,, 

21 .o 

5,0 

5.4 

3,1 

9,6 

0,0 

3,6 

2,2 

2 

3 

3 

3 

9 

10 

14 

211 ,6 

27 2.9 

20 

53 

12 1 

80 

92 

OS 

-

82 

29 

-

85 

45 

80 

-- 911,807 261 .4 85 

1,181,839 28 

1,228, ';:t 31 

1,S59, 796 441 

5,S 

9,7 

,2 

70 

96 

06 

Year 

1965 

1966 

1967 

1968 

1969 

Year 

1974 

1975 

1976 

1977 

Year 

1993 

1994 

1995 

1996 

1997 

1998 

1999 

2000 

2001 

2002 

2003 

2004 

zoos 

2006 

2007 

To tal Program 

Sales Support --:--- ----, 

S2,881 S866 

5,494 

4,858 

584 

Total Program 

Sales Suppo rt -,---

S39,02S S5,037 

-f- -

46,818 3,534 

81 ,815 5.485 

1 09,236 7,078 

-· 

Total Program 

Sales Support 

s 1, 

1. 

2, 

-----, 

733,3;r 4 S487,987 

869,087 480,065 

---1 

11 7, 393 I 514,967 

2. 286,380 574,092 

2, 

2, 

2, 

2, 

2, 

3, 

3. 

r--

3, 

4, 

4. 

5, 

Note "Total Sales" 1nc'udes s.1le~ of .111 brunch Silles. tour booklets, etc "Proq1an• SupJ.>Oit" 1rocludes all 

revenues g1ven bad to th" NP<, (C'Itller the par~ or the regronal offrct>) rl'sultrng of roopPrriiUlq d~soCrdtron 

wvenues Source Charles Morrt"'Y frle\ 
While the original Eielson Visitor 

Center was being torn down and a 

new one constructed, 2005 to 2008, 

a temporary contact station was 

provided in a large fabric-membrane 

structure at Toklat. That structure, 

shown above, contained a visitor 

information area, exhibits, and an 

ANHA sales area. NPS Photo 

park visitors with m-depth field program~ on rhe 

natural, cultural, and political history of rhe area. 

Beginning m 1999 It offered a program that monitored songbird population~ in the Kantbhna area; 

two years later, it broadened its scope by colluding with the NPS and hosted college-level (UAF 

accredited) field courses to entrance-area park 

visitors.'"b The mstitute remained an independenr 

entity until 2003, when it merged with d1e Alaska 

Natural Historv As:-.ociation; that same year, it 

al!.O began ro offer teacher training programs and 

a weeklong 11eld camp (based at Igloo Campground) focused on wolf behavior.'"7 

Beginning in 2004, Denali Institute activit1e~ 

were subsumed within the aegis of the new 

Muric Science and Learning Center. Then, after the 2005 t1eld season, ANHA lead ers-recognitmg that a variety of public agencies were 

inte rested in sponsoring their own learning 

opportunities-merged the Denali Institute 

and its functions into the more comprehensive 

Alaska Natural History Institutes. The new 

organitation offers a variety of field seminars 

and reacher train ings, all of which are based 

at the Murie Science and Learmng Center; 

although it often coordinates its educational 

offerings through the NPS, it al~o works 

through the U.S. Forest Service and other entiue-..'''' The Murie Center, in its short history, 

has mon!d to the forefront of both reaching and research, not only for Denali but for 

se\'en other Alaskan park units; not only tl> it a 

focus of education for a wide variety of public 

intere~ts, but it IS abo a cente r of inventory 

and monitoring activities for parks throughout 

in tenor and northern Alaska.'"• 

166 Crown Jewel of lhe North An Adm1n1Sirauve H1storv ol Denair NaiiOndl Parf and P1eserve 

Future v1sitors to Denali can look forward 

to a new. improved Eielson Visitor Center. 

A<:> noted abo\'e, this visitor center was bwlr 

between 1958 and 1960 and expanded between 1974 and 1976. Despite that expansion, 

however, the huge increases in park VIsitation 

between the mid-197os and the m1d-1990S 

brought increasing overcrowding problems to 

rhe site-particularly on cool or windy days, 

which are all roo common in the vicinity-and 

there was also a widespread recognition that 

the facility was too visually intrusive in that 

isolated, treeless area. Based on that reality, 

the agency recommended, as part of its 1996-

97 Front Country Developmew Co11cept Plan, 

that Eielson Visitor Center be demolished and 

replaced with a more modern, ecologically 

sensitive structure.'

7" Specific steps needed 

to fulfill that goal took place in 2003, when 

agency officials completed most of the design 

work for a new structure, and in the spring of 

2004 the agency approved an environmental 

assessment that allowed construction work to 

begin.'7' That September the 44-ycar-old visitor center cloc;ed for the last time, and demolition began in mid-summer 2005. Present plan 

call for a new Eielson Visitor Center, which 

will have more than twice the intenor space as 

the former facility, to open in the spring of 2008.'1> 

Interpreting Beyond the Park's Boundaries 

For more than a half-centur) after the park's 

establishment, PS staff had few opportunities to broadcast the park and irs attractions to 

nun-visitors. To some extent this was because me 

park\ small staff and limited budget constrained 

opportunities for these type<:> of activities. ln a 
The new Eielson Visitor Center, seen 

here under construction in 2006, 

opened in t he early summer of 2008. 

NPS Photo 

large r sense, however, the problem was technological: the only realistic media for speaking to 

a non-park audience was public speaking along 

with slides or movies, and the time and expense 

of riding the Alaska Railroad to outside communities severely limited the opportunity for these 

public presentations. 

Given those constraints, park staff-almost 

always the superintendent- did speak to 

outside groups from time to time. During the 

mid-1920s, Supt. Karstens spoke to both the 

Anchorage Chamber of Commerce and the 

city's Women's Club.'n Beginning in 1934, the 

agency reached our to territorial residents when 

federal-building offices opened in Fairbanks 

and Anchorage. Both offices turned out to be 

temporary, however.'74 No sooner had World 

War II ended than Acting Superintendent 

Grant Pearson spoke to several Anchorage civic 

organizations about park development, he gave 

several illustrated talks in both Anchorage and 

Fairbanks, and from 1946 to 1948 NPS rangers 

attended both the Fairbanks Icc Carnival and 

the Anchorage Fur Rendezvous, where they 

served as event judges.'71 From 1950 to 1952, as 

noted above, Superintendent Pearson made 

frequ ent wintertime trips to the military base at 

Big Delta, where he gave talks and showed movies.'?" Pearson retired in 1956, but he continued 

his outreach efforts in later years; in 1960 park 

staff lent him the film The Wilderness of Denali 

"for showing to native children along rhe Yukon 

River," and three years later he borrowed two 

films to show at various Fairbanh-area military 

facilities and to Nenana school childrcn.'n 

Throughout this period, access problems made 

it difficult to provide interpretative messages to 

the various communities on the park's margins. 

But soon after the Anchorage-Fairbanks Highway 

wa.~ completed in 1971, park personnel began 

to increasingly interact with these and other 

local populations. The first year that the new 

road was open, park staff presented "environmentally oriented talks" to ·•schools and special 

groups" in Healy, Clear, enana, and Fairbanks, 

and elsewhere. ln 1973 Daniel Kuehn, the new 

park superintendent, noted that "efforts have 

been made to bridge the communications gap 

between the neighboring communities of Healy 

and Cantwell,'' but he candidly admitted that 

the park's efforts were enjoying more success at 

Healy than at Cantwcll.' ~ The park's interpretive specialist, Bill Garry, then began discussions 

with local school taff about bow the pa1·k could 

assbt them. The result of those discussions was 

an environmental education workshop, which 

was held in Healy in February 1975. During this 

period, park superintendent Daniel Kuehn-who 

was himself the father of a Tri-Valley School 

student- served as a volunteer chaperone for 

the school's basketball team on its road trips, and 

he often used those opportunities to show park 

films and discuss park-related issues.'

7" 

Intermittent programs to local schools continued 

for the remainder of the 1970s and on into the 

1980s, but it was not until1991 that the park was 

able to expand its outreach opportunities. The 

first "Denali Week" was held that year, which 

reached over 300 students from communities 

from Talkeetna north to Nenana.''" This outreach 

Chapter Eleven lnterpret1ve Issues, The Park from the V1s1tor's Point of V1ew 167 
In 2007 a new interpretive program, 

the Kant1shna Experience, was 

initiated, providing visitors with a 

thematk bus trip to the Kantishna 

Mining D1strict where interpretive 

rangers presented programs on park 

history, induding a visit to the Fannie 

Quigley House, pictured above. NPS 

Photo 

A partnership between the NPS and 

the Denali Education Center, Denali 

Discovery Camp has provided Denali 

Borough School District students with 

learning opportunities by working on 

projects with park researchers. These 

students are learning about sound 

monitoring from an NPS researcher 

(center). NPS Photo 

effort expanded during the 1990s, and during 

the year~ smcc 2000 program~ devored lo local 

schools have mcludcd "Denali Day~," an updated 

version of Dena it Week that mclud<.:~ v1s1ts to 

Willow and such off-road commu nin c~ as McGrath. ikolai, and lanana; the Denali Discm-cry 

Camp program, a partnership program (with 

the Denali roundanon, now called the Denali 

Education Center) in which local ~tudenr~ work 

m rhe field wtth park rc~<.:ar hcr'>; the Denali 

Science and Sron-rclling C..amp. \\ Hh a curnculum de\·eloped by the Denali Borough )chool 

168 Cr!.lwn Jc"'d ol lht North An AdmtniStrattve H•story of Drnalt NdiiOnal Park .md Preserve 

Dl.,trtcr: rhc "Denali Pro1ect ll,'' a simulated climb 

up Mount vlcKmlcy de~1gncd for middle school 

student~; and staff-lt·d development of curricula 

ba~ed on the park\ bears, wildlife populations, 

and mountaineering.' ' Mo'>t of these programs 

have involved e;ther stafhisits to school facilities 

or school-group vtsir-. to the park, but since the 

m•J Iqgo~ the park website ha~ been m·atlable 

a~ a learntng tool, and -.incc 2003 the agency has 

been able to oflcr srudenh "elccrromc field tr1ps" 

to the park.'

3

: 
Notes - Chapter 11 

• Falfbanks Tn-Weekly News-Mmer, December 1. 1921, 5. 

J Frank Norns. Gawkmg ac che Midmght Sun The Tounst in Early Ala5ka, Alaska Hrstoncill Commr~sron Studres 

rn Hrstory No 170 {Anchorage, the Commr~sron, June 1985). 40 

' Fa1rbanks Da1ly News-Mmer, December 11. 1929, 8 

'Norns. Gawkmg ac che Mtdmghc Sun, 42-43. 46-47, 58 

Norns, Gawkmg ac the M1dmglrc Sun, 49-52 A5 Supt. Frank T Been noted 111 a letter to hrs super~ors, "There 

are places on the Alaska Rarlroad from where the 'mountarn' rs startlrng [srcl beautrful and rrnpressrve--

occasronally, more so than from vantage pomts rn the park .• These rarlroad vantage pornts are tar ~outh 

and outsrde the park Because of Congressronalrmportance placed on travel figure~. should we rnclude 

through trarn travel on our travel reports?" Been to Regronal D~rector, May 7, 1941, rn "Interpreter's 

Reports'' (Frle 207 1 1), CCF, RG 79, NARA SB Travel reports from the late 1930s ilnd e>arlv 1940s show that 

whrle a smattering of park vr~rtors anrved vra arrplane, automobrle (hauled on a rarlroad flat car), or even by 

motorcycle, about 99 percent arrrved by trarn and relred on the park concessroner for rn-park transportatron 

~ Vanous superrntendent's report<; note that concessrons personnel, for a short trme, con~rdered the rdea of 

movrng the1r marn camp westward as the road was extended, rn September 1925. for exdrnple, Karstens wrote 

that 'Igloo Creek. they believe. would be the logrcal place for the next mov~>" But giVen the Savage Camp 

omprovemems rn 1926, they <'vrdently decrded agarnsttt SMR, September 1925, 4, May 1926, 3, June 1926, 

4 Also see George Lrngo, " Mt McKmley Natrona! Park, H Cordova Daily Trm05 All-Alaska Rev,ew for 1928, 31 

' New York Times, January 4, 1933, 18 

1 Lena Howard rntervrew, Augu~t 4, 1972, Tape 11506, DENA Arclltves, SMR, Mdy 1926, 2 

@ SMR, January 1926, 2, 3, February 1 926, 3 

•n The agency's lrbrary rn Harpers Ferry, West Virgrnia shows that park folders have been published, revrsed, or 

repnnted everv few year~ srnce the late 1920s. The only trme rn whiCh more th3n three years lapsed between 

new rssues was durrng the 1 940s, due to World War II and rts aftermath, no new folde-rs were produced 

between 1942 and 1948 Tlw lack of folders, rn 1946, forced park staff to dr~trrbute a rllustrated Alaska 

Rarlroad folder from 1941, rn 1947, due to a repnnttng, rangers were drstnbutrng the 1941 park gurde SMR, 

March 1946, 2, Septembe-r 1947, 5, Apnl 1948,2 

· See. for example, FalflJanks DarlyN~ws-Mmer, Apnl5, 1924,4. July 7, 1924,8, Augu~t25, 1925,4. May 5, 

1926, 2. Seward Dally Gateway, May 26. 1927.4, July 11, 1927, 3, May 4. 1929,6, Apnl27, 1935, 2 1 SMR. June 1932, 3, July 1932, 3 

' SMR. June 1933, 3, July 1933, 2; August 1933, 3 

' SMR, June 1934, 3, July 1934, 3, August 1934, 3 

•s sMR, June 1935.2, July 1935, 5, August 1935.5. 

1

" SMR, June 1936, 5, July 1936, 5, August 1936, 5, September 1936, 5 No motron prctures were shown at 

Savage Rtver Camp dunng 1935 or 1936 due to a lack of power faolrtres at the camp 

1 SMR, June 1937,3, 5,July 1937,4, September 1937,5 

1 SMR, May 1938, 4; July 1938, 4, August 1938, 5. September 1938, 3 As noted rn the park's 'Monthly 

Report of Educattonal ActtVrlles" (whrch was rnaugurated rn 1938). an August rarlroad washout forcerl 46 

vrsrtors to lay over for two extrn days. Rangers responded to the challl'nge hy provrdtnq rmpromptu lectures on 

the park's hrstory, anthropology, geology, and botany 

George R Wilson. " McKtnley Now and Then," Alaska Magazme 42 (January 1976), A2 

" SMR, June 1939, 3. July 1939,4. August 1939, 3 

1 Grant Pearson, rn My Lde of llrgh Adventure (New York, Ballanttne Books, 1962), p. 188, noted that "Once 

I saw Frank Been outsrde headquarters, examrnrng a spruce twrg . He had a magnrfyrny glass He looked 

absorbed, and happy He was back wrth hts f11st love, and I began to see how strange and drffrcult must have 

been the transrtron from naturalt~t to park supenntendent " 

Been to Cammerer, July 13, 1939, rn Folder 501 ("Publroty- General"), SOl<. 1408, General rrles (Entry 7), 

RG 79 NARA CP As noted rn Chapter 5. Bean's attnude toward the park dogs soon changed, by the summer 

ol 1941 Been deoded to keep only sutfrcrent dogs for longer patrols and for rnterpr(•ttve dernonstratron 

purposes. and dunng World War II the park d1vested ttself of all of rts dog team; 

1 SMR June 1940, 2, 4, 5, July 1940, 2, 3, August 1940,3 The NPS, as noted above, had been exhrb1trng 

the park dogs at the headquarters-area kennels stnce the mrd- 1 920s In 1936, rangers Ciltered even more to 

vrsrtors' rnterests when they brought four young pups to Savage River Camp The photogentc ammals spent 

the summer rn kennels not far from the camp's tounst tents. SMR, February 1936, 3, July 1936, 6 

r• SMR, Aprrl1941, 1. 4, Mily 1941,3. June 1941 ,3 July 1941,4, 5, August 1941,2 

SMR, March 1943,2, Aprrl1943, 1, 2, May 1943,1, June 1943,2, July 1943,2 

' ' SMR, May 1943, 2. June 1943, 2. July 1943, 3, October 1943,2. May 1944,2 

1 SMR, August 1943, 2, Januilry 1944, 1, May 1944, 2, February 1945, 1 
'' SMR. May 1945, 2. June 1945, 2 

·'As noted 1n Chapter 5, the Alaska Railroad had operated the park hotel smce 1ts Initial openmg m June 

1939. and it had held the park concess1on s1nce the end of January 1942. But because of wart1me restnctlons. 

there had been no CIVilian tounst travel to Alaska dunng the summers of 1942 through 1945, mclus1vely 

'' SMR. July 1946, 2, 4, August 1946, 3, September 1946, 3 

' SMR. January 1947. 3; September 1947. 5. November 1948, 2 The formal title of D1xon's book was Fauna 

of the Nattonal Parks of the Untted States; Btrds and Mammals of Mount McKinley National Park, Alaska (Fauna 

Series No 3); 1ts contents were based on the data he had gathered dunng the summers of 1926 and 1932 

'

1 SMR, September 1947, 3, November 1947, 2, January 1948. 3, September 1948, 5 

3 SMR, July 1948. 3, 4; April 1949, 2, July 1949, 2 

'

4 SMR. May 1946, 4, September 1947. 3; January 1948. 4, June 1948, 4. Supenntendent Pearson noted that 

VISitors were "surpnsingly complimentary about the modest museum exhib1ts." He frankly admitted, however. 

that hotel staff d1rected many guests there "out of desperation to suggest methods for d1vers1on " SMR. 

November 1947, 2; February 19t18, t1 

"SMR. June 1948, 5, June 1951 , 1, Alan K Hogenauer. "Gone, But Not Forgotten. The Dehsted Un1ts of the 

U 5 National Park System," George Wnght Society Forum 7 4 (1991), 10-11 

" SMR, June 1952, 2, NPS. MOMC Park Naturalist Report, March and June 1953, 1n DENA Arch1ves; DENA 

AdminiStratiVe H1story. Volume 1, Appendix D 

SMR. June 1950. 2, July 1950, 3, August 1950, 2, September 1950, 3 

<a SMR. July 1951, 2, 3; August 1951 , 2, September 1951, 2. 

• SMR, May 1952, 2, June 1952, 2, July 1952, 2, August 1952, 4 

''' SMR, July 1952, 2; June 1953, 2, July 1953, 2, August 1953, 3, September 1953, 2 

'' SMR, July 1950, 3, September 1950, 3 Jane Bryant (March 2007 rev1ew comments} notes that the bulid1ng 

was moved f1rst in 1950. and 1n 1952 1t was moved a gam to 1ts present headquarters locat1on, north of the 

park road 

'· SMR, November 1950, 2, December 1950, 2. January 1952, 1, February 1953, 2 

·~ SMR, February 1950, 1, March 1951 , 1, July 1952, 1, Lyman L Woodman, Duty StatJon Northwest The U 5 

Army m Alaska and Western Canada. 1867-1987, Volume Three. 7 945-7987 (Anchorage. Alaska H1stoncal 

Soc1ety, 1999}. 55, 60, 84, 93-99 The school was later known as the Northern Warfare Tra1mng Center 

SMR, October 1953, 2, November 1953, 2. December 1953, 2, February 1954, 2 

" Ralph Turman (Seasonal Ranger) to Ch1ef Ranger Robert Branges, "Monthly Narrat1ve Report" for July 

and August 1955, 1n "A2615 Monthly Narrat1ve Report, Ch1ef Ranger" file, Box 2, Collect1on 00495, DENA 

Arch1ves 

•t· NPS, ·• Annual Report on InformatiOn and Interpretive ServiCes" for 1955, January 15, 1956, 1n 

"Interpretation" file. Box 1, Collect1on 00495, DENA Arclwes 

4 SMR, vanous dates, June 1954 to June 1957 

NPS. Mount McKmley, Annual Report on Information and Interpretive ServJCes. January 15. 1956, 1n 

"Interpretation" file, Box 1, Collect1on 00495. DENA Arch1ves 

JQ NPS, MISSIOn 66 Prospectus for Mount McK1nley NP. Apnl 1956, pp 9-12; In NPS-TIC Microfiche Collection 

lt184/MPNAR. Vis1tor centers were largely a product of the M1sS1on 66 era, the NPS had only three such 

centers pnor to 1956, but by 1960, 45 VISitor centers had been opened or authonzed Barry Mackmtosh, 

Interpretation m the Nattonal Park SerVIce A H1stoncal PerspectiVe (1986}, Chapter 3. "Museums, V1s1tor 

Centers. and the New Look" sect1on. accessed v1a NPS website 

. ' SMR, July 1956, 2; December 1956, 2. 4. NPS. MISSIOn 66 Prospectus MOM(. p 12 (reVISed Apnl 12. 1957). 

Plann1ng documents show that the Wonder Lake VISitor center proposal remamed v1able throughout the 

M1Ss1on 66 plannmg process and was an element of the park's master plan, wh1ch was approved 1n February 

1959 As noted 1n Chapter 7. agE"nry pPrsonne>l mrlde mJme>rou~ attempt~ during the MISSIOn 66 renod to 

bUild a lodge near Wonder Lake, and as late as June 1960 a proposal arose that would Include a VISitor center 

1n conjunction w1th vanous "concess1on facilities." The construction of E1elson, however. largely m1t1gated 

the need for other west-end 1nterpret1ve f aciilt1es "Proposed Interpretive Facilit1es" (chart MOMC -31 16-A, 

December 1958} and "Interpretive Faol1t1es" (chart MOMC-31 16-B, February 1959). both in NPS Aperture 

Card Collection, TIC; SMR, June 1960. 8. 

7 SMR, June 1957, 3, July 1957, 3, 5, NPS, MISSIOn 66 for Mount McKinley NP. May 13, 1957, 8. 

3 SMR, February 1958, 5, March 1958, 5. Apnl 1958, 4, July 1960, 5, July 1961. 2, Anchorage Dally News, 

Apnl 1 1, 1958, 12, Anchorage Daily T1mes, Apnl 12, 1958, 16 

s.o See E. T Scoyen to Tony Sm1th, August 12. 1958, 1n File 030. " M1ss1on 66 Road Issues" folder, DENA 

Arch1ves. SMR. May 1957,6, and Morch 1961 , 5 

' Two large s1gns. to be 1nstalled at the Stony Hill road turnout, were crafted dunng the w1nter of 1 953-54. 

and 1n 1955 personnel at both the park and reg1onal office were hard at work on "roadside 1nte1pretat1onal 

deviCes·· at the park SMR, February 1954, photo, July 1955, 2. 

170 Crown Jewel of the North An AdmJnl~trallvt> History of Denali National Park and Preserve 
;(> SMR, March 1956, 2; NPS, M1ssion 66 Prospectus, p. 12 (rev1sed April 1 2, 1957), NPS, M1ssion 66 for Mount 

McKinleyNP, May 13, 1957,3 

'' [Ne1l J. Re1d,] "Roads1de Interpretive S1gn Program, MOMC," m F1le D62-1 5, Visitor Center Planning, Box D. 

Catalog 9169, DENA Archives 

•

8 SMR, August 1957, 3, "Proposed Interpretive Faolit1es " (chart MOMC-3116-A, December 1958) and 

"InterpretiVe Faolit1es" (chart MOMC-3116-B, February 1959), both 1n NPS Aperture Card Collection, TIC 

'

9 SMR, February 1959, 3, Apnl 1959, 3, May 1959, 6, June 1959, 4; July 1959, 4. Some of the purported 

downs1des of a roadstde s1gn program are discussed 1n "Roadstde lnterprettve Stgn Program. MOMC," noted 

above. Adolph Mune, who was the park's btologtst at the ttme, was a vocal stgn opponent. 

60 SMR, May 1960, 4; July 1960. 7, May 1961, 6; July 1962. 5 G1ven the gnzzlies' depredattons, park 

personnel 1n later years boarded over the roadstde markers each fall and removed the covers the follow1ng 

spnng SMR, June 1964, 3; September 1964, 2, May 1966, 3. Based on the recollections of longt1me 

observers. park staff may have Installed all 19 s1gns, or perhaps as few as 17 

"' SMR, June 1963, 2; Steve Carw1le mtervtew, December 14, 2006. 

" 1 SMR, August 1956,4, February 1961,3, June 1961, 8; August 1963,4, SAR, 1972,7, Steve Carwile 

tntervtew, January 16, 2007 

63 SMR, November 1957, 2. March 1959, 2, June 1959, 6; June 1961. 5; March 1962, 4, August 1962. 5; 

August 1966, 3; May 1967. 2 

""SMR, February 1963, 2, August 1964, 3; August 1965, 2 

~ SMR, June 1957, 4. 

"'' SMR, Apnl 1958, 2; July 1958, 4; August 1958, 3, September 1958, 3. 

'" SMR, January 1950, 2; May 1953, 2, June 1953, 3; January 1956, 2; March 1956. 2; May 1956, 2; July 

1956, 4; August 1956, 3, May 1957, 4, October 1957, 4 

68 SMR, November 1955, 2, December 1957, 2, September 1958, 3, January 1959, 2; June 1959, 4; October 

1959, 2, Apnl 1960, 4. The momentum for a natural history handbook appears to have faded away for two 

reasons. park naturaltst Verde Watson showed less tnterest for 1t than hts predecessor, Jtm Re1d, and by the 

spnng of 1960 Adolph Murie (who had been asked to revtew a draft of the handbook) had made tt known 

that he had completed a manuscript on the park mammals and that he was "worktng on a revtston of the 

btrd manuscrtpt " (These manuscnpts, as noted below and tn Chapter 12, were published tn 1962 and 1963. 

respectively.) The tnformat1on tn these books largely eltmtnated the need for a natural htstory handbook. 

•" Nancarrow, 1n a note to the reg1onal naturalist, pragmattcally noted that "from the looks of our budget 

tt w1ll be some ttme before the Naturalist Dtvtston here has much money to work w1th and a Natural Hsttory 

Assooat1on appears to be the one solutton wh1ch can atd our work." Nancarrow to Dorr G Yeager. November 

19, 1951, tn Ftle 871 (Assooat1ons. Club, Commtttees, 1951-53), Box 84, CCF, RG 79, NARA SB 

'

0 SMR. January 1952. 4, November 1953. 2; February 1954, 2; Jane Bryant email, December 15, 2006 By 

thts penod, nat1onal park cooperattng assoctattons had been 1n ex1stence for 30 years (the ftrst had been the 

Yosemtte Museum Assooat1on, founded tn 1923), and by 1952 there were 33 such assoetattons tn operat1on 

Yosem1te Assooatton website (www yosemtte org/newsroom/pressreleases/2002/032203.htm) and Rose 

Fennell (WASO) email, January 10, 2007 

'' SMR, December 1958, 3, January 1959, 2, February 1959, 1 

'

7 SMR, August 1959, 4, September 1959, 4 More than a year elapsed between the assoCiatiOn's found1ng 

and the rece1pt of Walsh's funds because h1s will bequeathed money to the Mount McKtnley Nattonal Park 

Assooatton, a group that dtd not extst. Neil Re1d to Acttng Supt. MOMC, January 18, 1960, 1n "Annual 

Reports, 1960-70" folder, ANHA fmanoal files, Anchorage 

-,As park naturalist (and assoctatton organ1zer) J1m Retd noted tn early 1961, "After a slight penod of 

uncertainty, the James W Walsh Jr estate was settled The Mount McKtnley Natural H1story Assooatton 

rece1ved a total of $16,404 59 We still have little knowledge of Mr Walsh's past connectton wtth Mount 

McK1nley Nattonal Park. but we w1ll make every effort to conduct the affa1rs of the Assooa\lon, wh1ch he so 

generously supported, as a cred1t to hts name " Retd to Supt. MOMC. January 20, 1961, 1n "Annual Reports, 

1960-70" folder, ANHA Walsh, 1t appears, had been a res1dent of Nassau County (on Long Island), New York, 

and e1ther he or hts famtly had been act1ve 1n the Amencan Alp1ne Club, whtch suggests that he knew Brad 

Washburn Amencan Alp1ne Club Photo Collectton, access1on P 2005 076 001 and- 002 

14 The ong1nal (May 1959) entrance stat1on, due to constructton work near the Denali Highway's Alaska 

Railroad crosstng, was placed along the road between the McKinley Park a1rstnp and the Alaska Ra1lroad 

tracks, and northeast of the new gas stat1on complex A year later, with construct1on complete. the 

entrance statton was moved north to a spot JUSt east of the ratlroad tracks and perhaps 100 feet south of 

the htghway nght-of-way, where tt rematned for twelve years NPS. "Annual Report on Information and 

lnterprettve Acttv1t1es. MOMC" for 1 959 (January 1 5, 1960) and for 1960 (January 6, 1961 ). both located tn 

"Interpretation" ftle, Box 1, Collection 00495, DENA Arch1ves, Steve Carwtle email. December 20, 2006, Jane 

Bryant ema1l, December 27, 2006 

Chapter Eleven lnterpret<ve Issues, The Park from th.; VJS<tor's Po1111 of V<ew 171 
SMR, June 1959, t1 July 1960, 4 5, June 1961 6 NPS Annual Report on lntormauon and lnterpretNe 

Actrvrtre$, Mount Me Kmley" for 1960, January 6, 1961, m "lntNpretatron f1le, Collect ron 00495, DENA 

Arch•ves 

W H Berqen to Sl.'n Theodore F Green, July 29, 1958 and August 25. 1958, and Roger Ernst (As>rstant 

Secretary of the lnterror) to Senator Green, August 1 1. 1958, 1n Frle A38 15 (''Public Re a\rorr~. 1958·60"), Box 

6, Accessron 9NNS 79 90 002, NARA SB 

SMR, June 1960,3, August 1960,8, October 1960,3, June 1961,6. NPS. Annual Report, "lnformatron and 

lnterpretrve Serv1ces. N MOMC. for 1961, Januilry 26, 1962, 1n InterpretatiOn" frle, Box 1 Collecuon 00495 

DENA Archtves In 1960, agency personnel mapped out four possrble vrsrtor center snes. all located adjacent 

to he pan hotel Drawrng MOMC·3140 (July 1960), rn NPS Aperture Card Cotlectron, AKRO 

SMR. March 1962 3. May 1962, 2, June 1962, 5, 6 The otiler two rnformatron desk.> wl•r~> the park 

onentat1on center (which 1ncluded the rnu~C>um) at headquarters (whiCh operated durrnq 19S8 and 1959) and 

Erelson V1sr tor Center (whiCh opened 11 1 1960) 

SMR, July 1962,4, May 1965,3, May 1967, 2 

SMR, October 1962. 2, February 1963, 2. NPS. MOMC lntetptetwe Report, October 1962, 1, rn DENA 

Library 

SMR. October 19b2, 2, June 1963,3, 7, August 1965, DraWing MOMC-3102-B (June 1962). 1n NPS 

Aperture Card Collectron, AKRO 

SMR, Aprrl 1966,2, May 1966, 2-3, June 1966, 2. July 1966, 3 

NPS, "lnformiltron c1nd lnterpretrve SE"IVICes 1966 Annual Report." MOMC. February 14, 1967. rn 

"Interpretation" frle, Box 1, Collectron 004Q5, DENA Archrve:. 

'SMR, March 1967, 1, May 1967, 7 

Wallace Col~?, rn c1 conversa~ron Wrth lime Bry .. nt, noted thdt t1 e concessroner contmut'!i to haul vrs1tors m 

Navy-surplus WluteN brc~nd buses (sec abovP) urtt· 1960 whPn tt obtarned two 40-passenger Blue Brrd buses 

A th•rd Blue B rd bus was added rn 1967 Jane Bryant emad, December 28, 2006 

Alaska Revrew (l'etchrkan), December 15. 1958, 4. "Watch for Canbou and Gnzzly Bears," Sunset 128 (June 

1962). 68, "Ttle Great Wrldlife Park rs Alaska's McKmley," Sunset 140 (June 1 968), 65, Anchorage Darly Trmes, 

May 20, 1971, 70-71 . Wallace Cole obscrvcltlons. noted rn Jane Bry<m t emi!rl, December 28. 2006. 

SMR. vanous diltes. May 1963 through Mily 1967 In 1966, for example. darly actrv1tres rncluded a twohour "naturaltSt l11ke" at 8 30 am, the 40-mrnute dog sled demonstratron at 2 25 p m, the 40-mrnute 'color 

movre' (a f lm by Dr Adolph Mune wrth commentary by a pil!k naturalrs1" at 3 30 p rn. and the 45-mrnute 

evenmg program t11 8 15 p m NPS "tnterpreuve Actrvrtres for Summer Season 1966, • tn "lnterpretatron· frle, 

Box 1 (OII"Ct•on 00495, DENA Arcllrves 

Entnes related to Magntftcence m Trust are noted rn the followrnq SMRs October 1966, 1, December 1966, 

1, February 1967. 2. May 1967, 2 As noted rn the 1966 rnterpret1ve ~chedule (see endnote above), a 13Y2· 

rnrnute color£'d slide program at the Pnlrclnte \ liHron and a tundrc1 wildflower walk at Erelson Vrs1tor Center 

were avari.Jble upon request 

SMR, February 1961,4, May 1961, 5, March 1962, 3, Apnl 1962,3, May 1962, 3 

Jane Bryant emarl. De<:ember 28 200G 

SMR February 1962, 2, May 1962, 2 July 1963, 6, June 1966, 2, NPS, "Information and lnt~rpreuve 

Servrces. 1962, Annual Report" for MOMC, January 23, 1963, rn lnterpretatron" frle, Collectron 00495, 

DENA Archrve~. Steve Carwrle rnterviPW, January 16, 2007, ANHA, Annual Report, 1972. 2 

Yeager to Supt MOMC, November 28, 195 1.111 Frle 871 (As~ouCJtiOII S, Club, Committees, 1951·53), Box 

84, CCF, RG 79, NARA SB 

In 1954, an NPS ofhcral noted that "the f11st draft on a popular botany manual1s far along," and a decade 

later assoceatton personnel werghed pubhcauon costs for the book See Frank R Oberhanstey to Regtonal 

Drrector, Reg ron Two. March 11, 1954, rn Frle K 3823 ("Sale'i Puhhcauons. 1953-1960~). Box 91, Accessron 

No 9NNS 79 89 005, NARA SB, SMR, Apn 1964, 5 

SMR. November 1962, 3, Jan11ary 1963,2, February 1963,2, July 1963,6, January 1964, 5, ~PS. "Narratrve 

Report of lnforrna1ron and lnterpretrve ServrcP.S, 1964" for MOMC January 18, 1965, rn 'lnterpretatron" ftle, 

Collectron 001195, DENA Archtves 

SMR. Apllll 96·1 5. December 1966. I, Jiinuary 1967,2, McHCh 1967,3, May 1967,3, SAR, 1975 2, 

ANHA, Annual Report, 1964, 3 

NPS, • Artrdes of lncorporat•on of tt1e Al,,sl a Nauonal Par sand Monuments Assoctatron," November 27, 

1970. m • Artrcles of Amendment folder, Artrcles. Bylaws, and Contracts" Sect ron. ANHA ftles, Anchorage 

NPS, "tnforrnatron and lnterpretrve Services, Annual Repofl lor 1969, MOMC, tn "Interpretation" frle, Box 

1, Collection 00495, DENA Archrves, NPS, ·Annual Public Cont,JCI Report" (MOMCl for 1970 and 1971, rn 

Annual Reports, 1953-72" frle, Box 5. ARCC-00183 (DENA 00378), AKRO 

SAR. 1972, 2, 6 

Steve Carwrle emilrl, December 14, 200G 

172 Crown Je.vel ct theN rth An Ad n wat ve H t f'l f 0 • a Nat I Part and P rv 
(} Anchorage Daily Times. July 17. 1972. 20; Anchorage Dally News. July 30, 1972, 17. "Mount McK1nley 

Aga1n W1ll Get Record VISitors." Sunset (Central Ed1t1on) 150 (May 1973), 59, SAR, 1972, 2 In 1973, the 

concess1oner br1efly expenmented w1th servmg hot lunches at E1elson The logtst1cs. however. proved dtfftcult, 

and 1t soon reverted to servmg box lunches. SAR. 1973, 2 . 

• ,,, Anchorage Daily T1mes, May 27. 1976, VISitors Gutde.32, New York Times, June 4, 1978, X.1, Anchorage 

Daily T1mes, August 24, 1980, E-7 

·n Anchorage Dally Times. January 4, 1973 (p. 2) noted that "9,000 tounsts pa1d $15 a head to nde the 

Outdoor World Ltd. wildlife tour buses for e1ght hours, but 24,279 other VISitors rode free on park serviceprovided shuttle buses " 

•oc "Mount McK1nley Aga1n W1ll Get Record VISitors," 59 . 

... In early 197 3, newspapers and magazines reported that park VISitation from 1971 to 1972 had shot 

up more than 500 percent, from 58,342 to 306,027. It was soon revealed, however, that these f1gures 

represented total park VISitatiOn, wh1ch Included all traff1c on the Parks H1ghway. Soon afterward, the NPS 

agreed that a more realisttc vtsttat1on ftgure pertatned to recreat•onal VISitors. that total had roughly doubled 

from 1971 to 1972 (more speCifiCally, from 44,528 to 88,615) Anchorage Daily T1mes. January 4, 1973, 2, 

"Mount McKinley Agam Wtll Get Record VISitors," 58. 

Ch1ef Naturalist to Supt MOM C. "Interpretive Act1vtt1es. 1975," January 15, 1976, 1n "M1sc " file, Box 

1, CollectiOn 00495. DENA Arch1ves. The NPS's slide show was apparently moved from the evenmg to the 

afternoon because the concess1oner tnstttuted "movte ntghts" offenng both current and clas~tc feature f1lms 

These films, wh1ch proved popular both for VISitors and park-area employees, continued for vears afterward. 

Steve Carw1le lntervtew. January 16, 2007. 

Chtef Naturalist to Supt MOMC, January 15, 1976 bee above). As noted 1n the 1973 Supermtendent's 

Annual Report (p 4), the dtscovery walk was "an lnterprettve 1nnovat1on ustng the shuttle bus system to get to 

vanous parts of the park to 'd1scover' what •s there " 

1 The htstonc Toklat Patrol Cab1n, built by rangers Grant Pearson and Lee Swtsher 1n 1927, IS now called the 

Pearson Cab1n Supt MOMC to Area Director, Alaska, ''Interpretive ActiVIties. 1976," January 11, 1977, 1n 

"Mtsc." file. Box 1. Collection 00495, DENA Archtves, Anchorage Dally T1mes. April 22, 1976, 17: SAR, 1975, 6 

08 SAR, 1977. S-6. SAR, 1978, 2, Ch1ef Naturalist to Supt MOMC, Annual Report Narrattve. Interpretive 

DIVISIOn" for 1978 (February 9, 1979) and 1979 (June 14. 1980). both tn Catalog 9169, DENA Archtves 

'

0

'' SAR, May 1962, 3, SAR, June 1962, 5. 

110 NPS, "Information and lnterprettve Serv1ces 1966 Annual Report," 10 "Interpretation " f1le. Box 1, Colled1on 

00495, DENA Archtves. 

" SAR, 1972, 2, 1973, 2. 1974, 8, 1975, 6, Supt MOMC to Area D1recror. Alaska. "lnterprettve Actlvtties, 

1976," January 11, 1977. 1n ' M1sc " file. Box 1. Collectton 00495. DENA Archtves 

NPS, "Riley Creek Information Statton" bnef1ng statement, Apnl4, 1979, 111 ''General Vlsttatton, 1971-80" 

folder, DENA Adm1ntstrat1ve H1story Collection . 

'l SAR, 1982, 1 

' NPS, "Annual Report Narrattve, Interpretive DtVISIOil" lor 1979, Anchorage Dally nmes, August 17, 1980, E-8 

'' SAR, 1980, 4 Dunng the 16 days that the tent was down, NPS staff offered speoal programs 1n the marn 

hotel lobby and West W1ng lobby. 

"" "Interpretive Act1V1t1es, 1975" for MOMC, p 2, NPS, "Mount McK1nley National Park, Alaska" (park folder), 

197 3, 1n DENA Box I. HFC The trail gut de had been 1n the works stnce the late 1960s, see SMR, March 

1967,2, and NPS. ''Information and Interpretive Servrces, Annual Report" for 1969, February 17, 1970, 1n 

"Interpretation" file, Box 1, CollectiOn 00495. DENA Arch1ves. 

"Interpretive Acttvtttes, 1976" for MOMC. pp. 2-3 It was still hoped, dunng thts penod, that a park natural 

history handbook mtght be published. as well as a geology handbook As noted elsewhere. the geology 

hilndbook w,1s completed tn 1979, the nCJtural htstory handbook. however, was never ftntshed. 

Steve Carwile mterv1ew, December 22, 2006. 

SAR, 1977, 6·7: SAR, 1978,3, SAR. 1980, 5: "Annual Report Narrattve, lnterprettve Dtvtston," February 9, 

1979 and June 14, 1980, Charles Money to author. telephone call, January 4, 2007 

'

20 SAR. 1980, 6; SAR. 1985, 2 NPS Dtredor William Whelan des1gnated 1979 as ''the year of the VISitor," 

and the emergence of the Alpenglow may have been one mantfestat1on of that commemoration Denali 

Alpenglow 1 (Summer 1979). 1, Mansa James email, January 18, 2007 

" " Articles of Amendment to the Art1cles of IncorporatiOn of Alaska Natural H1story Assooat1on, February 

26, 1979. "By-Laws of the Alaska Natural Hrstory AssoCiatton," March 7, 1979, both 1n "ANHA, etc . 1951-

96" file. DENA Administrative Htstory Collectron, ANHA, 1979 Annual Report, 2, tn ANHA ftles, Anchorage. 

11 SAR, 1980, 4-5; 1985, 2. 1986, 3, 1987, 5, 1991. 8, Mansa James email. January 18, 2007 

111 SAR. 1987, 5, 1991,8, Mansa James email, January 18, 2007, lngnd N1xon email, March 23, 2007. 

'

1J NPS, Draft GMP DENA. 16; NPS, Fmal GMP. DENA. 18 

tiS SAR, 1987,3, 1988, 1, 1989.2. 1990,2 

l1~p1er Eleven lnlerprPttVP I55UPs. The Pat> from rtw Vrsttor's Potnt of Vtf'V'v 173 
1 6 NPS, Denal1 Alpenglow, 1992, 12 

Wallace Cole ob~ervnlions, noted 1n Jane Bryant ema1l, December 28. 2006 

e The longer park tour was called the Tundra W1ldhfe Tour tor many years. Since 2003, 11 has been known as 

the Tundra W1ldernt?ss Tour 

Denalt Alpenglow, ts~ues of 1992 (p 91 and 2003 (p 4) 

ANHA, Annudl Report, et11t10ns ot 1980 lp 1) and 1981 (pp 1-2) 

Charles Money, relephone Cdll to the author. January 4, 2007, NPS, Annual Report on NPS Cooperacmg 

Assooattons, 1987 ,md 1988 ed1110ns. ANHA. Annual Report, ed1t1ons of 1986 (p 1! and 1991 (p 16) 

2 SAR, 1980, 5, SAR, 1984, 2, SAR, 1987, 8, Kathy loux ema1l, January 9, 2007 

1 Jane Anderson ema1l, Janudry 5, 2007, Kdthy loux ema1l, January 9, 2007 

"' NPS, Annual Report on NPS CoopNatmg Assooattons, 1986 and 1987 Pd1t1ons, sales chart ( 1959-2006) 

attached to Charles Money rmall, January 9, 2007, ANHA, Annual Report, 1980, I 

"' Kathy Loux ema1l, Januc1ry 9, 2007 

'" SAR. 1985,2, SAR, 1986, 2 3, SAR, 1987, 8 

' SAR, 1982, 1, 1983,2, Mansa James rev1ew comments. March 22,2007 

u.a Regard1ng boo~ sales. E1elson has offered a natural h1story assooat1on sales outlet s1nce the 1970s, but the 

concess1oner replaced the hotel's NHA So'lles outlet w1th Its own operat1on beg1nmng 1n the early 197~1ther 

because of George Fleharty s on·SIIe management. or fmanoal ar r angernents made m the wake of the 

September 1972 hotel f~re Steve Carw11e mterv1ew January 16, 2007 

Anchorage Datly News, August 11, 1995, B-1 

SAR. 1996, 3-4 Butch Street (DSC) to author, ema11. Apnl 12, 2006, Street to author, telephone call, Apnl 

13,2006 

SAR, 2002, 7. 15 

111 NPS. "F1nd1ng of No S1qntf1Cdnt trnp,Kt, Construction of New V1s1tor Fac1llt1es 1n the Entrance Area, DENA." 

January 31, 2002, courtesy of Steve Carwile 

••~ SAR. 2002, 15. SAR, 2003, 7, 19, NPS, "Nat1onal Park Serv1ce to Ded1cate New Mune Sc1ence and Learn1ng 

Center." AK2Drly (electronic AKRO nrw\letter), August 12, 2004 

'' NPS, "New Facli1t1es nnd V1s1tor ~erv1ces 1n Denal1 Openmg m May," AK2Day, May 5, 2005, "Focus on the 

Parks," Arrowhead 12 (Spnng 2005), 2. NPS. "Park to Celebrate Completion of New V1s1tor Faolit1es w1th 

Spec1al Act1v1t1es" <DENA Press Release), August 9, 2005 

~ SAR. 2002, 12 

•

6 SAR, 1977, 3, SAR, 1978, 1·2. SAR, 1983, 2, SAR, 1984, 2. Royer Rob1nson 1nterv1ew, January 23, 2007 

The Student Conservation AssOt1at1on. accord1ng to Its webs1te, IS a na11onw1de nonprofit founded m 1957, 1! 

Introduces h1gn school- <Jnd college-age students to careers m the conservatiOn held 

• SAR, 1989, 2, SAR, 1990, 2. NPS, "Talkeetna Mounta1n Exh1h1t • toraw1ng DENA-13003. sheet 2 of 12). 

August 1989, m TIC Aperture Card Collection, AKRO 

48 SAR. 1995. 9, SAR, 1996. 5. SAR, 1997, 5, SAR, 1998, 5 

09 Robert Cunn1ngham, who served as par~ supenntendent from 1980 to 1989, noted 1n an Odober 13, 2004 

mterv1ew that ~as budqets went down thP only place you can really cut, and st1ll m<untam the m1ss1on of 

the park. IS In InterpretatiOn That's the only place you can cut n 

"SAR, 1995, 12, MiliiSd James rev1cw comments, March 2007 

''SAR, 199~ 13, 199& 8,2004,8 

SAR. 1997, 7, 1998, 11. NPS. "Volunteers 1n Parks. Annual Act1v1ty and Expense Report" (DI- 1 50), DENA, 

1999 through 7006 Mansc~ Jamrs notes that the hours expended by SCA workers are Included 1n the 

park's volunteer total, and 111 fact SCA wor~ers smce the mld-1990s have contnbuted most of the park's 

volunteer hours. 

~ Kns F1ster ema1l, Januc1ry 18, 2007 

!t4 Denalt Alpenglow 14 (Surnrner 1992). 12 

1 SAR, 1993, 3, SAR, 1995, 5, Jane Bryant rev1ew comments. March 26, 2008 

SAR, 1998, 5, SAR, 2002, 13 

Denalt Afpenglow, t"d1!1ons of 1997 (p 11) and 2003 (p 10), SAR, 1995.9, 2003. 11, Manso James ema1l, 

January 18, 2007 

Denalt Alpenglow. ed11tons of 2003 (pp, 10-11) and 2006 {pp 10-11) 

9 Kns F1ster email, January 19, 2007 

SAR, 1995, 11. NPS. Annual Rt•port on NPS Cooperatmg Assooattons. 1995 

~ NPS. Annual Report on NPS Cooperating AssoCiatiOns, 1987 and 1988 

•u The quote 1s from NPS. Munagemrmt Poltctes (December 1988 ed1t1on, p 7 5), 1ts 1ntent IS based on 

authonzatiOn languag~ contillned 1n the U 5 Code, T1tle 16. section I 7J-2(e) 

" New ANHA-sponso1Pd books tlunnCJ th1s penod 1ncluded Shen Forbes's The Nature of Denalt Dena/1 

NatiOnal Park Entrance Att>a Trr11l Gwde ( 1992). William E Brown's park l11story, Denali, Symbol of the Alaskan 

174 Crown JPWel of 1he Nonh An AdrrHnoslrdtM.• Hos1orv of DPn!llo Ndltonaii'.Jrk .md Prl'\l'rve 
Wild (7993), Jon Nierenberg's A Backcountry Compamon for Denali National Park (1995), and NPS, Denali 

Adventures: Activities for People Young at Heart ( 1997). 

'

64 Alaska Natural History Assooat1on, Annual Report, ed1t10ns of 1993 (p_ 9) and 1996 (p. 1 0) 

'

65 NPS, Cooperatmg Assooatton Annual Report of A1d and Revenue, edit1ons of 2002 (p 8), 2003 (p 6), and 

2004 (p 6); Mansa James email, January 18, 2007. The book on the park's bird life IS 81rds of Dena/1, by Carol 

Mcintyre, Nan Eagleson, and Alan Seegert (2002) 

'

1 

.. Jerryne Cole, "A History of the Denali Institute," unpublished manuscnpt, February 2007, courtesy of Ms. 

Cole. 

'

6' "Alumni from the 1980s," Un1v of Tennessee webs1te (wvvwbio.utk.edu/dJVISJon/alumnJ/1980 htm), NPS, 

Cooperating AssoCiation Annual Report of A1d and Revenue, 2003 ed1t10n, p. 6; Philip Hooge email, January 

17, 2007 . In the tall of 2006, th1s camp (now part of the Mune Soence and Learn1ng Center) was moved to a 

s1te nearTeklan1ka Campground. lngnd Nixon ema1l, March 23, 2007. On January 1, 2008, the Alaska Natural 

H1story Association changed its name to the Alaska Geographical Assooat1on to better reflect 1ts new role as 

an educational organization focused on Alaska's natural and cultural hentage 

'1>8 "Alaska Natural H1story Institutes," from ANHA webs1te (www akaskanha.org/alaska-1nsututes htm) 

'

69 lngnd N1xon email, March 23, 2007 

1 '

0 NPS, Final Development Concept Plan, Entrance Area and Road Comdor, December 1996, 23-56. 

'" NPS, "E1elson EA Out for Comment," AK2Day, Apnl 11, 2004; NPS, "Comment Penod Extended for 

Environmental Assessment for the Construction of a New E1elson V1s1tor Center and a Permanent Toklat Rest 

Stop," AK2Day, Apnl 26, 2004 

72 Anchorage Daily News. September 22, 2004, 8-1; NPS, "New Faolit1es and Vis1tor Serv1ces 1n Denali 

Open1ng 1n May," AK2Day, May 5, 2005, Mary T1dlow ema1l, July 26, 2006 

'" SMR, May 1924, 3; W11i1am E Brown, Denair Symbol of the Alaskan Wild (Denali National Park, Alaska 

Natural H1story Assooatlon, 1993), 135-36. 

114 SMR, November 1933, 2; April 1934, 5, June 1940, 3, January 1942, 1 

m SMR, September 1945, 2; March 1946, 1; February 1947, 2, February 1948, 3, Apnl 1949, 2 

" 6 SMR, February 1950, 1; March 1951, 1, July 1952. 1, Lyman L. Woodman, Duty Station Northwest Volume 

Three, 1945-1987. 55, 60, 84, 93-99 

1

-

7 SMR, October 1960, 3; October 1963, 2 

"~SAR, 1972,2,1973,9 

119 SAR, 1974, 3, 1975, 5, Dan1el Kuehn 1nterv1ew, October 11, 2004. Kuehn notes that one mov1e he showed 

on those road tnps dealt w1th the "d-2" 1ssue. a move wh1ch ra1sed some 1re among the Alaska congressional 

delegat1on 

HO SAR. 1991' 8 

'

81 SAR, 1993, 6, 1995, 12, 1998, 5, 2002, 11-13. 16; 2003, 9-10, 2004, 7-8, 2005, 5-9, AK2Day, May 2, 

2002. 

"· "News Update," Travel Agent 303 (Apnl 23, 2001 ), 84, SAR, 2002, 9; 2003. 10 

Chapter Eleven Interpretive Issues. The Pa1k from Jhe V1S1tOt 's POtnt of V11>w 175 
176 Crown Jewel of I he North· An Admrnrstratrve Hrstory of Denali Nauonal Park and Preserve 
NPS lnterp. Collection, #2710, Denali 

National Park and Preserve 

Chapter Twelve: Natural and 

Cultural Resource Management 

>\~Chapter~ 1 and 2 h;we suggc,ted. 1hc h1gh valIcy~ 1mmediateh norl.h of the \la!>ka Range have 

been known, fur more than a hunJreJ ~cars, hecause of the1r .,uperb hah1tat for moun tam sheep, 

caribou, and mher large mammal~. C.harlc" ~heldon, who conducted cxped1t1om Into the area in 

1906 and agam in 1907-o8, wn" a nalUrali~r who, 

m Theodore Roosevclr\ word~, wa ... primnrily 

interested in ~tudymg "the northern moumain 

-.heep:· Sheldon, however, w::l', ''pa'-slonately 

devoted to all that 1~ heauuful m nature .. Thus 

he nor onh learned about "the hft: lu'iton of 

the <>heep from the '>tandpoint of ih rl'larions 

with Its foe-. the wolf, l~ ·nx. \\Oh erinc, and war 

eagle"-but he <JI~o '' nHe rnplllll'> nNes about 

the area\ other megafauna along w1rh It~ h1rd.,, 

~mall mammal~. and plant '>pecie'>. 

Sheldon'::. enchantment With 1he areJ\ large 

man1mal<. IS also reflected in the man) letter'> 

that he wrote in f:wm of n national park for the 

area, and h1~ concormtunt rntcre~t In prescrvrng 

rhe~c animals from e'tirpattorl hv market hunter~. A~ he noreJ rn a letter w ~tcphen l\ lather in 

December 1915. " rhc: rcg1on 1~ a vn~t rc~crvotr of 

game: sheep. moose nnJ canhou, bear~ and rhe 

~mall amm<Jio,. The hutlurng of the r.1ilroad wrll 

dc~trov the gamt' tor it will hL killetl w ~uppl) the 

construcuon camp~. I ht• 1dca ot game re~crva

rion ~hould ulso be indudcJ." I homa-. Rlgg~ of 

the Alaska Engmcenng Cummt!'>~lon (wh1ch wa<. 

con,rructrng the ~C\.\ard to F:urbank~ railroad \ 

gaw a ··most heart\ l'ndurwrnl·nt" to the park 

idea. He dtd not, hm\L'V~r. "thmk thi.lt there 

wa'> much danger ul game bcmg ktllcd off 111 

the neighborhood ~>l \lt. \ll "rnk\ ro "ttppl; 

railroad con~rructJon ~.amp<' and for that rea~on 

he ~rated that "we could take up the rdea of game 

prcservmton when I he Ilk a of tlw park is thoroughly C'>tahli..,IK•u." 

Congre~s. lwwe,·cr, wa' more 1nclmcd to aJopt 

Sheldon\, more pnnellionr"t '1cw-. lhe fir<>r 

park btll..,, whrch were rntroduLL'tilll Aprrl1916, 

~tared rhar it \\.a., Lhc Interior ~cretan \Jury to 

"make and pubh"h ... rule" and rq,'1.llatron~ " that 

were "pnmarih <limed at thL lrl'C'-f u..,e ol the ... ard 

park for reLrearion purpo-.t.:~ h\. rhe public and 

for the pn·..,ervanun of anim.,l,, h1rtl~. and thh 

and fnr the prc,cr\'atrun of the natural cunosrtie' and -.cenll beattltt:'> thereof." The hrll abo 

stated that the park wa~ "e..,tabh-.hed a' a game 

refuge, and no per~nn ~hall krll any game in said 

park except under an order lrom the Secretary 

of the I nteriot for the protcttior1 of pcr~on~ ot 

w protect or pre,·cnt the cxrermmat 100 of other 

anim<Jb or btrd~ · But the hrll abo '>latcd that 

·'pro~pcctor~ and miner'> engaged 1n prw .. pecring 

or mining in ~md park 111<\V take and kill therein 

so much game.! or bird'> a~ rna; be needed for therr 

acrual nece~~Jtic::. when -.hort of filOd; butm no 

case ~hall animah or hirJ., he killed in satd park 

for !>ale or removal therefrom, or wantonly." The 

bill also '>tatcd rhar the '>ecretary could "arrange 

for thl' removal of ~uch mature or dead or down 

nmber a' he tn<ty deem neLc..,.,ar: and adv1sable 

for the protection :mJ 1mprnvemcm of the park:' 

A~ noted in Chapter 2, borh the I lou .. e and 

Senate made minor change-. ro rhe bill o\'er the 

ne'r ..,ewral month~. buttht.:\ d1d nor rmker with 

am· of the resourn; prm r~Hm~ .1:-. <;tared abo\'e. 

Therefore, rhc billth.u Prc'>rdcnt \\'tlson signed 

into I<Jw prtl\ rued a tnl\Cd mcs~age as it renamed 

to re<;ource prcser\'atmn; it cxphc1tly called for 

the "prc~e rvanon of amrn.tl'>, htrd'>, and lhh ... 

and n::mrrnl curimrtre..,," hut It ~o !>tated that 

recreation need..,, plu~ the .. uh.,btence needs of 

miner., and pro~pector~. nl"o neL'ded to be considered in the park\ overall g~>al'>.' 

Natural Resource Management : The Early Years 

"io active park man.1gement took place until 

june 1921. when newly-appointed supcrintcndenr 

Harr~ 1-.ar~ren" arrrvcd rn the arl'a and commenced hi,., fir~t patrol .... \u:onlrng to agcnc} 

policy whrch wa-. <.till bcrng developed in the 

five ~ car-old orgam;auon- -,upennrendems 

were rn ... rrucred to complete a momhl~ report 

of condition., rn each park and 'uhm1t them to 

the director; rhat r<:port, moreover. needed to 

include up-tu-datc rnfnrmntrnn on the variou!. 

park~' anlmJIIife. After hi~ firM patrols into the 

park, Karqcn'> made the followrng observatrons 

about the park\ "wild <Jnrmak" 

At the fork ... of..,ome of the -.trcam'> 

through whtch the [propo..,ed] road 

would run, -.heep and C<mhou mmgle 

m large number" makmg <J mo:.t heautiful ;rghr. The '>hl·ep wander down 

from the h1~her region 111 the morning 

and feed on the bar~ ttll \1 cllmru the 

after noon then work up agarn into the 

rockv clifh for the ntght. The caribou 

wander rn m1ht anv Jrrecuun where 

ever the feed,., bc..,l. Prmpccror-. who 

came through the upper ra~~e ... rhrs 

spring report having ~cen large number~ of caribou anJ '>hl•Cp mingling 

Clldpler Twt•lve Natur.tl ,!flcl Culturill R<.">OtHC'! M.tniloemem 177 
Olaus Murie set up his caribou 

capture camp m the upper Savage 

River. Clara Rust Collection, 67-110· 

500, University of Alaska Fairbanks 

Archove 

together, pnnc1pally at the head of the 

Toklat R1ver and bct.wcen Savage and 

Sanctuarv nvers. Their c~tlmate wa~ 

far greater than I have ever ~een, but I 

could vouch for at lra~t 6oo 'heep and 

350 to 400 caribou mmglmg together 

on the river bar. Thb of course 1~ m 

summer when canbou arc )C<lttered 

all over the park 111 -.mall and large 

band~. In the winter the herd 1s much 

larger; they band up for protection 

and keep to the lm.ver ~lope-. on the 

northern boundar) of the park. 

In his mitial report~. Kar-.tem mcluded wildlife information under a bewildering '.ariel) of 

~ubJect categories. But by the end of 1922, hi~ 

note~ on "game" (and, occa~JOnalh. "poaching") 

gave Washington officials cono,istent information 

about park wildlife and the level of its protection. 

Given the fact that the !>Uperintendent had almost 

the entire burden of park management during his 

first months on the job, his early wildlife reports 

were pragmatic rather than ~c ent1fic. They show 

178 Crown Jewel of the North An Adrnonostratove Hostory of Dendi! Naloan.JI Pdok and PreservP 

that he wa!> pnmary concerned vmh the park's 

sheep and caribou populations: how many there 

were, the1r 1mgranon patterns. how !'.afe they 

were from hunter~. and the1r health status. Only 

occasional!) d1d he make notes about other animab: bear~. momc, lynx, or ptarmigan.h 

The t1rst instance of specific management of 

the park's wildlife populatiom took place in 

1921 under the au~pices of the U.S. Bureau of 

B1olog1cal Surve) (BB ). Agency head Edward 

\Y/. Nel!.on, m a letter to Stephen lather of the 

. PS. stated that the BB wa~ "collecting specimens of Alaskan big game for the purpose not 

onl} of learnmg defimtely the dl5tribution of the 

variou~ game animals of orth America but to 

serve a!> material for the monographic of these 

animab." He therefore wanted permif>sion to 

"collect skulls of moun tam sheep, caribou, big 

bear!->, and other game animals which [Karstens] 

may find scattered about in the park where these 

animals have been k11led." In addition, however. 

he wanted permission "for Karstens to kill one 

specimen of large bull caribou each month in the 
park for a period of l\wlve t:orbccullve month-, 

... for the purpo'>e of 'bowing. the change~ m the 

pelage which take place and which cau~e thel>e 

ammals to appear difi.crenth colored at dtfferent time~." \\ather read1lv acceded w Ncbon\ 

requc:,t, and m \ \ay 1922 "-:1r~ten' mformed 

Nelson, '"with ~orne relit!f and plea~urc," thatm 

April he ohrained hiS first speltmcn, from the 

Sable :\lountam area. ~cwral more -.kulb and 

hide:, were prt!Curt•d and ~h1ppecllater that year, 

and perhap-. durmg 1923 a-. well; and 111 july 1923, 

biologJ~ts Adolph and Olau-. Mune acting on 

Karstens's llll.tructinn~ '>hnt a -.heep inside the 

park's boundarie-. and hauled it to rhc:: i\ \cKmlcy 

Park railroad depot in order to feed Prc~Idcnr 

Harding\ tounng party. 

A 'imilar, though les' leth,ll, man;~~ement acnon 

took place dunng thl'- "a me penod, again at the 

BBS's behe-.r. fllilJ20, '\d,on had h1reJ Olau' 

Muric a~ an .. A.,~I\tanl Biologist and federal Fur 

\X'arden·· tn ordcr to map the •\(a,ka canhou\ 

migrator~ route,, e ... nmatc 1he1r number" and 

study their habit~. • Given the m.11or Importanct 

of Ala.,ka\ rt•mdeer lnt.Ju,tr) ill the nmc, Ncbon 

in early 19.2.2 a~kl.'d 1\\une to linJ a place where 

some of the wild carihoucouiJ he trapped alive 

to be tran~porteJ to tht• coa'>L nf the Bering Sea, 

where d1cy could be bred With Lhc rcmt.Jeer of the 

Eskimo herds in order to 1m prove the remdeer 

~rock. (Dres~ed remdeer cnrca,~c., tvpicall) 

weighed ·'about l'jO pounc.h each, .. while woodland caribou reportedlY we1ghed ''between three 

and four hundred pounJ.,." and because ''there 

1s no que .. non hut rhar the\ woulu breed readII} and the off~pnng would he tert!lc," '\lcl!>on 

hoped d1at tht: capntnng program would help 

"in buildmg up nne ot the great rc-.nurcc-. of thl' 

Tt>rrirorv ... ) !\tune felt that the newly-c~tab1Ished 

national park would be a '>llltable place for the 

caribou trapping; thi, w;1-. hecau~c rhc Ala~ka 

Range (according to Nelson) offered large-sited 

caribou and becau'e portiom of the park were 

clo~e to the railroad.'" By June, Munc had \\'Titten to Karstens, hoping that the two could travel 

into the park "to look over lthcj po\!>Jbiliry of 

capntring young hulll·aribou '' II. Iurie arrived at 

the park headquarter' nn July 3, am.lm August 

he and hi~ <.re\\ "pracuc;lllv huilt" the corral at 

the Savage RJ,·er\ headwater... Adolph V1une. a 

recent college graduate, joined his brother a-. an 

assiStant '>OOn :~ften'l.ard, and the~\ 0 tleld biOlOgists spenr thc next fivt.: \web collecting "some 

bird and floralspcclmcn,·· as well a~ gathering 

general inform:Jtion on the park\ h1rd., and 

ammab. The followmg 'ummer, they rcrurnt:d 

to the park and ~ucce~~fully continued d1eir sCIentific work. Their carihou-captunng program. 

however, failed; one !>Ource ~tate~ that the one 

young bull they caught managed to escape from 

them on Lhc wav from the Sav:~gc- R1ver corral 

to d1e \1cKmlc\ P;trk ratlroad ~rannn, whtle another ~ource "ugge~t~ that 11\'t canbou made it as 

far 3l> Fairbanb. although none.: maul' n to their 

intended target Jlong the Rcnng ~ca coa'>t." 

AI'><' in 1922. park o!llciaf, were called on to manage a new Jetton mvoh mg rcmdt•cr and caribou. 

Biological Survcv ofliciab, nn the one hand, had 

assbted the \X'e.,tern Ala<.ka n:mdt:er mdu~trv 

during the early 19.ws; Lht:\ were, huwe\'cr, reluctant to bring remdecr cast Into caribou country, fearing that cro.,.,brecdmg would produce 

infennr canbou -.roc~. Terriwrial Bureau of 

Educanon William L opp, however, felt Lhat major 

new rcmdeer market'> could be real11cd If a herd 

could be cstabh,hcJ along the Ala.,ka Railroad's 

nght-of-wa\, '>O 111 October 1921, ~IX herder~ 

began c\cortmg 1,16.2 remdcer I rom Goodnews 

Bay (tn .. outhwe.,tu-n \Ja.,k.J) up the Kuskokwim 

River drainage.: to the Tcmtona RJVer, where the\ 

remamt:d rhrough,>ut the 'pnng and early '>Urnmt:r. \\udt w the dugrm of both Bwlogical 

Survey :md "PS otlilial~. canbou cntercd the 

park 111 the 'umml'f nf 1922, and bv m1d Augu~t 

a herd nurnhenng 1,6oo wa., .. re<.tmg JU'>t within 

the [ea!.ternl park houndam·~ " A momh later, 

the herd rcacheJ 1r~ dt:.,tination in the Broad 

Pa~~ area "outhwt:~t of Cantwell.'; Park offictals 

dunng thi'> pl'riod were:: douhrlc~., alarmed at the 

herd\ nearby prc<.cncc, but given rhe lack of staff 

they had no ahilil~ to either monitor or control its 

movement\. 

Knowledge of, and puhhcm <lbout, the park':. 

b10logtcal dJwr<.Il1' Impro,·ed '>Uhsrannall~ over 

the next few year~. primanl) due to cooperation 

between f... ar~ten' and Olau' \lune. In thl' fall 

of 1924, for e'amplc, 1<-ar<.tcm began preparing a 

statt:menr on park game for "dune\ agency that 

went well bcvond lw. regular mnnrhh updates. 

Based on that statcmenl, plu<. Mune'<. work dating back to 1922, !\Iurie 111 late H)2') ..,ent a package 

of tnformation to Woshington on the •·flora, 

fauna, and naruml phenomena" of d1e park. An 

article extolling thl' park\ wildlife, based on an 

Augu~t 1925 Vl,lt, Jppearcd m the nationallypopular Salltrday E1't?lllllg l'ost.'' Abo, beginning 111 Decem her ty2:;, KaNcn' broadened his 

/OOIOgtca( CtlVeragc w(m;h had j:'rCYHll!\1)' bt:en 

ba..,ed \lll ~heep, caribou. poac.hmg inc1dcnb 

and ~uch ammal'> ''' had been wmmonl) !>ecn 

near camps- to include <,Ciennlic note.., on ~uch 

diver~e "pecics a.' moo<.c, bt:ar, birds, porcupines, 

fox, and rabbitS.'' 

Park staff also mon1wred the hl'alth of the varinm animals thev oh,erwd. In October 1924, a 

ranger on a patrol ncar Cantwell observed a large 

bull caribou '>laggcr anti fall dead. a!1ll when he 

Chapier Twt'ivf N.;Iur,ll rtnd Cultur,.l ResCJurc" fl..l~ agernent 179 
In 1926 Joseph Dixon and George 

Wright conducted natural history 

investigations in Mt. McKmley 

National Park, identifying 86 species 

of birds and 25 spec1es of mammals. 

This photo of a young wandering 

tattler was one of 350 photographs 

taken during their 72 days of 

fieldwork. Joseph Dixon, #5296, 

Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, 

University of Cal1fornla Berkeley 

tliscovered thai his h ind leg, hoof, and "whole 

left ~i e wac; bloated and ~woll cn," the ~1tuanon 

was considered ~ul1icicntl) '>enous that a Washington-ba~ed agency official pennctl a word of 

warnmg to ~ counterpart .lt thl· Bureau of BIOlogical Sun•e\ The following <>ummcr, a gUide 

reported that "large numher-.oi park caribou 

are dying of ~ome di~ease." Geolng1~t Stephen 

Capp..,, howcH!r, qu<'"hed thl' rumor h;. ~tanng 

that during h1s extended wandcnng~ he had 

obser\'( d onh "'x dead am mal-.. '\lo sub~cquem 

dtsease-rclatcd death~. mnreO\'Cr, came to ltght.' 

During the ~ummer of 1920, 1 he park rece1ved it!> 

mo~t ex en~ive wild ltfc survev w date. Joseph 

Dixon, who had he en one of Joseph Grinnell's 

students at the Untverstt) of Californta Museum 

of Vertebrate Zooloh'Y· arri\'ed at thl' park tn mtday "collectmg '>pectmem of tht-. pa:k \mammal 

hfe:· Accompamtng the recent graduate wa~ ht'> 

assistant, George l\ l Wnght, who \\a\ '>011 a Lntverst~ of Cal1fomta \tudent. l'hc ~tud\, \\ hic.h 

wa~ financed by John [. Thaver and the \ luseum 

of Vertebrat ... Zoology, wa.., done under the "'PS\ 

au!>pices becau'e Grtnncll, accordtng to hi!>torian 

Richard Sellar,, "may haw been the mo!lt comistently vocal advocate for mana~?,tn~ I he park5 on 

a more scientific hast~," and bl'tatt<,c the agenc\, 

just a year earlil'r, had c~tah hhed it' ''Education 

Di\rbion" (which served a natural h i,tory JunLtton) on the Berkeley campu,, IJixon and Wright 

remained tnthc park until the end of j uly and, 

180 Crown Jewel o f the Non h An Admomst o~e ~tory of Dellrllo N.lliOnnl Park and Pre~ervt' 

accordmg to Karstens, "returned to the State'> 

ven favorablY unpre.,-.cd wtth the large \'ariety 

of wtld anunal anti bml life extstcnt here," and 

\'\'right dJslingut,hcd him'>elf by locating the e~t 

and egg., of the clu-.ivc surlbtrd.'" \\right, who 

wa<, tndependently wealthy. wa<, so tmpressed by 

the\ cnture that h~ joined the Park Service, at 

Yo~t:mtte. and 1111928 he propo'>cd that the 1\.PS 

undertake a nation.ll -.urvc\ ol park fauna u~ing 

much the <;arne methodoloro that he and Dtxon 

had cmphn cd ,\1 \lount \1cl\.inle\. 

By 1926. the area\ reindeer herd whteh had 

been brought to the Broacl Pa,., area four years 

earlier was dwindltng. Poor ht:rdtng practtce., 

and wolf prcdatton were partly lo blame, but of 

greater concern to Park SCI'vicc officiab was a 

tendency for the'e an ima!.. to Interbreed with 

mtgraung caribou hntb. Kar,tem, by th1s time, 

finall\ had ~uffiocnt \taiT rn monitor the variou<, 

park canhou herd'>. Betau..,e he wanted ro "keep 

the canbou !>tock free from contamination with 

retndecr," he a'>k~.;d ~ ranger-. ro keep "~trier 

watch ... for 'tra\ re nde~:r .. especially the whue 

reindeer" and ro eradtcat\.' any reindeer found 

wtthtn the park\ boundanc~. Thctr l.crunn) 

conttnued through the fall ol 1927- o far as b 

known, park staff neither tdcntified nor ~hot any 

reindeer among the.: park·., canhou herd!>. 

There wa:. abo an ongomg threat ro rhe park\ 

canhou :md ecp from mtncr\ and prospecto ~. 
The male willow ptarmigan in 

breeding plumage can be seen in 

spring. Joseph Dixon took several 

pages to describe this park resident 

in his 1938 publication, Fauna of the 

National Parks of the United States: 

Birds & Mammals of Mount McKinley 

National Park , Fauna Series No. 3. 

Adolph Murie Photo, Harpers Ferry 

Center. NPS 

Dr. Aven Nelson and his wife Ruth 

arrived at McKinley Park on June 23, 

1939 and by the end of the summer 

had collected and pressed over 500 

floral specimens. DENA 28-91, Denali 

National Park and Preserve Museum 

Collection 

primarily those based in the Kantishna area. As 

noted in Chapters 2 and 4· the original park hill 

had explicitly condoned the harvesting of such 

"game or bird!> a~ may be needed for their actual 

necessrries when ~hort of food," but Karstem and 

hi~ ranger~ fount! it nearly impossible to enforce 

this prm is10n in the field. The annual number of 

park ammab harvc.~ted during the 1920s will never be known, and a-. late as 1927, Karstens noted 

that due to exten ~ive patrob, the "illegal ~laughter 

of caribou and mountain sheep wru, helu down to 

a mmimum" Park officials, however, continued 

to press for a prohih1tion of hunting. President 

Hoover finally s1gned a hunting provision into 

law in May 1928, and later that year, NPS officiab 

expressed their gratin1dc for irs pa~ ... agc inasmuch 

as ··much killing was done illegally which could 

not be controlled."'· 

During the remainder of the 1920s, park ~taff did 

their best to monitor the park\ animal populations. Beyond the usual concerns about caribou and sheep, they took note abour the park\ 

fluctuating "r;now-~hoe rabbit" and ptarmigan 

numbers; a latc-1927 cra!>h In the park\ rabbit 

population, which wa~ widely perceived ro take 

place every ~even years, brought attempts at an 

explanation and dctalled observation~ of the 

crash\ tmpact on other park animab. A !>imilar 

concern-u nfounded, it turned om-wa~ abo 

expressed about the park\ ptarmigan population. 1 No attempt~ wcre made to ~cientificallv 

tabulate an; of the park\ animal ~pccic~, and 

csrimates from tim pcnod arc wildlv maccuratc 

in all probability. '4 • ' 

During the 1930s and early 1940~ (~ec next ~cction), mo<,t wildlife-related interest at the park 

wa~ devoted to wolve~, ~heep, and caribou. Some 

attention, however, was also given to rabbits 

and ptarm1gan1

' along with occasional notes on 

unusual observation~ (initial discoveries or large 

number~) of specific mammals (mice, weasel&, 

and black bear~) and b1rd specie~ (seagulls, 

Canadian gec~c. etc.)!" Given the agenc! \ 

contlllumg need~ to collect and provide wildlife-related information, Superintendent l.iek in 

1932 appointed Da\id Kaye to be the park\ first 

rangcr-naturaliM. Thi" pmition rcmaincd, on 

either a seasonal or permanent basi~, until cru·lv 

19)8, when Lick appomted Aubrey F. Hou~ton. 

as the park\ 11r~t Wildlife ranger. Thi~ poc;ition 

remained until the outbreak of World \Xfar I f. 

with it<> consc4uent staff reduction~; in 1944, 

the agency\ directorate abolished the ·'wildlife 

ranger'' designation . 1 

In june 1928, the park received a major boo~t 

when two women YncL \1exia accompanied 

by her a~~btant, France'> Payne-arrived at the 

park to collect ·•wiiJ flowers and plants for the 

University of Caltfnrnia and other insntutiom." 

The 58-vear-old 1\rls. Mexia had been horn in 

wa~hington, D.C. hut had later mm·cd to lhe BaY 

Chapter Twdve Natural and Cullural RPsourrP Milnagement 181 
This grizzly bear was photographed 

near the Alaska Road Commission 

cabin and camp a t Toklat during the 

late 1930s when the ARC performed 

a ll road ma intenance for the park. 

Beatrice Heming Collection 

Area; at age 51, she began taking natural science 

courses at the universiry. Jn 1926 and 1927 she 

took a botanical expedition to Mexico, where 

she had identified 50 new plant species, and at 

the suggestion of joseph Dixon she took a similar trip to Mount McKinley. Mexia and Payne 

spent several weeks in the park, collected 6,ooo 

plant specimens, and brought them back to the 

university's herbarium. Karstens noted that 

their venture was "the first careful study'' of the 

park's botany.'8 Their efforts were supplemented 

in 1932, when ranger David Kaye amassed a large 

wildflower collection, and the following summer, when Ella Scott arrived at the park from 

New York and spent the summer "gathering a 

collection of wild flowers and plant life." Other 

early collectors included W. A. Serchell (1932), 

Fritz Went (1934), and Edith Scammon (1936). 21' 

In 1939, Dr. Aven Nelson (a longtime botany 

professor at the Unive rsiry of Wyommg) and his 

wife Ruth Nelson spent the summer "actively 

engaged in their botanical mission of collecting and cataloguing the plants of the park," and 

beginning in 1939, Louise Murie assembled a 

"thorough collection of the park':> fl ora."'" 

Throughout the prewar period, staff made 

numerous notes on the effect of human activities on the park's animal populations. As early 

as 1925, Karstens noted that sheep "seem to be 

getting more accustomed to the human activities in the park. The great amount of blasting 

and noise along the park road has not affected 

them in the least. lf anything, they are more tame 

than ever." Similar comments were echoed the 

following spnng, when he noted that sheep "do 

not seem to be afraid of visitors and their camera 

'guns."' A driver of a concessioner's vehicle, in 

fact, noted that "If they get any tamer, they will 

182 Crown l~w~l ot the North An AdrT11rustrat1ve History of Denal1 Na t1onal Park and Pre5erve 

be butting our cars off the road." During the 

winter of 1928-29, ranger Bill Myers noted that 

he and Fritl. Nyberg kept several sheep as pets 

while staying at the Igloo and Toklat cabins. And 

in 1933, truck drivers west of Igloo reported that 

the sheep were "getting so tame that they will 

hardly move out of the road to let the trucks 

pass, and often the truck will have to be brought 

to a complete stop to keep from hitting some of 

them.">• In 1928, park staff observed that various moose "don't seem to pay much attention ro 

cars passi ng along the highway!' In 1940, several 

wolves were seen feeding from the kitchen waste 

at the dump adjacent to the ARC camp at Mile 

49· Caribou occasionally brushed close to traffic 

along the park road; in general, however, park 

staff noted that they "have a wild roving disposition and it is ve ry seldom that you can get within 

one hundred yards of them."" 

Bears could also be a problem. As nored above, 

park hunting was sanctioned under certain 

condinons between 1917 and 1928. During this 

period, agency staff observed relatively few bears; 

Karstens seldom noted them in his reports, and 

George Wright and joseph Dixon had noted 

just three bears (a sow and two cubs) during 

their 72-day visit to the park in 1926." But just 

a few months after the Congress passed the bill 

proh.ibiting hunting in the park, "two or three 

large grizzlies" showed "no fear of road crews:' 

and "on one occasion, while the crew were eating 

lunch in the lunch rent, ... a large grizzly coming up the trail beaded directly for the tent." The 

crew, in response, "beat on dish pans and pails. 

The bear seemed astonished at the no be but not 

at all frightened.'' Dixon, during his 1932 sojourn 

in the park, noted "eighteen grivly bears and 

one brown bear in the same area that we covered 
Much like today's visitors, park guests 

at Savage Tourist Camp in the 1920s 

and 1930s w ere tempted to feed 

the friendly Arctic ground squirrels. 

Beatrice Herning Collection 

in 1926." That same ummer, "five park cabins 

were ravaged by bruin before he decided to hibernate for the winter." Rangers, as a result, put 

new shutters and doors on all twelve of the park's 

northern and eastern boundary-line cabins.14 

But the problems continued. A bear broke into a 

Toklat cabin in 1934, and in mid-September 1937 

a griu.ly bear became so habituated to food at the 

Mile 29 ARC camp that Supt. Liek was forced to 

shoot it.1

' In 1938, two ear~ spent "considerable 

time around the cache" at the East Fork ARC 

camp, and two years later grizzlies were seen at 

both Camp Eielson and at the dump adjacent 

to the Mile 49 ARC camp. Additional cabin 

break-ins, caused by bears, took place in 1942 

and 1944·•" 

People along the road- park staff, concessions 

personnel, road crews, and visitors-sometimes 

played a fairly direct role in managing the park's 

animals. Foxes, in particular, were "very tame." 

In 1928, a staffer noted that "one red fox has 

been tea ing the dogs at the kennels," another 

frequented the Igloo road camp's garbage dump, 

and a year later "some of the construction camps 

had fox so tame that they would eat from your 

hand." And for the remainder of the prewar 

years, such behavior was noticed from time to 

time at the shelter cabins, road construction 

camps, and at headquarters.l7 The park's bird life 

was likewise affected; during the summer of 1929, 

staff noted that "birds of aU kinds are apparently 

becoming more numerous each year as more 

camps are established and as a consequence 

more feed is thrown our for them." In 1932, 

ptarmigan were reported as being ·'quite tame" 

near the railroad depo t. A 1925 visitor reportedly 

had "a ground squirrel eating out of hill hand and 

a family of ptarmigan feeding around his feet." 

Karstens, commenting on the incident, noted " It 

is interesting how wild life will respond to those 

who love them."•" 

Under cert:lln circumstances, rangers tried to assist the park's large mammals. ln February 1924. 

for example, rangers on a patrol just east of the 

park boundary "observed a caribou which had 

fallen through the ice about eight feet deep and 

[was]unable to get out." In response, the rangers- with Kar s's permission-"pulled him 

out, tied his feet together, hauled him to camp on 

a dog sled and turned him loo~e in the rear end 

of the barn." Kar tens offered the animal to the 

agricultural coll ege in Fairbanks, the offer was 

accepted, and in early March the caribou was 

crated up and placed on a northbound train.J• ln 

1927, ranger Pritt yberg rescued a ewe "caught 

in the deep now~ of Sable Pa~s." He hauled the 

animal all the way to headquarters and fed it 

"milk and <>oft mash," but it died six ay~ later. In 

May 1928, Nyberg "picked up a lamb away from 

its mother that had only been born a few hours 

before." Feeding it with a "bottle and powdered 

milk;' the lamb lived at Savage Camp for a month 

Chapter Twelve Natural and Cultural Resource Management 183 
In May 1928, Ranger Lee Swisher and 

Chief Ranger Fritz Nyberg rescued 

a recently-born lamb, which they 

named Minn. They are pictured here 

bottle feeding the lamb along the 

trail. Frances Erickson Collection, 

Denali National Park and Preserve 

Museum Collection 

before it "got wet in a glacier ~tream while 

overheated and d1ed of pneumonia."'" And 111 

April1929, the experience of 1924 wa<, repeated, 

but on a larger "ale: at the end of a particularlv 

hard winter, "ranger-; picked up rhre<. ram' and 

three ewe~ w1th lamb" near Igloo. A ~hort nme 

later, a " \1 cKmle\ Parl.Jets" ew~ Item reported 

that the ),hcep "seem to be gettmg along alright 

on Chechoker [sic] grub. The'v seem to prefer 

mo<;t of all potatoe peeling [sic], flapjacks and 

tobacco." li> accommodate them. ranger~ built 

a "temporan shelter pen" near the '>anctuar} 

cabm. but soon afterward the sheep wen.: mm·ed 

to head4uarters, where they remained unril earlv 

August. They were ~hipped north to College. 

where officinls attempted "to eros~ breed them 

with domestic sheep and endeavor to produce 

a sturdy wo(ll bearing sheep that\\ ill be able to 

\\ mter m Alaska···· Effort~ to comciouslv a<,slst 

the park\ megatauna largely disappeared after 

the 1920s. although on at lea!>t one later occa'>lon, 

park staff established a ~alt lick to <l'>SI'>t mountam sheep." 

During the 19W!>, NP~ ranger~ pmd cons1derable 

attention to the park'~ wolf population (set: next 

section). ln 1931, ranger.., captured three wolves 

and hauled them to park headquarter~. where 

thev were plnced 111 one of the dog ken neb. 

They soon attracted "considerable attention 

from the touri~ts." Supt. Liek hoped ''to rai">e 

them for breeding purposes'' by "crm..,tng them 

184 CroWll Jewel o f 1he Nonh AI" Adrn•noslral ve H1storv of Dendi I NdhOI"al Park and rc!Se~£' 

with malamute dogs.'' J le doubted, however, 

"1f a '>atlsfnctory re!>ult can be attained. owing 

to the ,.,. ildne's and ferocirv of the breed." ~me 

years later, another wolf arnvcd at headquartl.rs; the week-old femak pup was brought there 

bv b10log1st Adolph \1unc. where It became a 

"rambunctious play panner'' for 111'> '>ix-yearold daughter Gail. The pup, named Wags. 

remained at headquarters untill941· when the 

park staff hav111g no other cho1ccs 111 the matter rejuctantl\ shot her:' Other ammab all>o 

were brought to headquarters. Rangers, 111 1940, 

abo bnetl~ cared for a young golden eagle that 

had been trapped nearby. It was fed raw meat 

for several days unnl it regained its strength and 

'~>Va'> liberated. Three year'> later, the presence of 

thousands of Army troops convinced park staff 

to bring thre~: voung caribou w hcadquaners. 

Acung Supennrendent Gram Pearson noted that 

"the calve<. arc well cared for and a!Tord a unique 

opporrun1tv to man~ of the boy.., who are unable 

to go into the park." The~, too, were freed a short 

time afterwanl.-H 

vlore radical ideas were considered but evenruall~ rejected. ln 1928, park offic1ab gave "some 

thought" to "rr..msfernng a fe\\ beaver and marten from the wc'>t end of the park to the eastern 

end. where they can be more clos~-:1\ protected 

and m.1v be seen b) the tourist.,," but the plan was 

never Implemented. Also rejected was the idea, 

suggc~tcd hy agricultural college officiab. of w .. ing 
In order to study wolf behavior more 

closely, Adolph Murie removed a wolf 

pup from its den in May 1940. The 

wolf pup, Wags, was raised in the 

park by the Murie family, pictured 

above. Harpers Ferry Center, NPS 

In July 1924, a wildland fire 

threatened the McKinley Station 

community and the first park 

headquarters on Riley Creek. During 

that tense time, all area residents 

turned out to help save structures in 

the area. This photograph shows the 

fire on the hillside beyond the south 

end of the Riley Creek railroad bridge 

and approaching the former railroad 

construction camp. DENA 8-0.5, 

Denali National Park and Preserve 

Museum Collection 

the park as a grat.ing area for either the yak or 

the galoyak, the latter being a newly-developed 

hybrid of Galloway cattle and the Tibetan yak. 

The college, on two occasions during the 1930s, 

~howed an interest in capturing live :c.heep to take 

to Fairbanks, but nothing came of these plans.4\ 

The management of the park's forests followed 

general agenc) guidelines, which prohibited 

the "cutting of trees except where timber is 

needed in the construction of buildings or other 

improvements within the park" or for other specific purposes.4" At Mount McKinley, Karstens 

told hi~ superiors in Washington that "as there 

is not much timber within the park boundaries 

. .. the tree~ will especially have to be protected." 

Given that ~carciry, he and his rangers did 

their best through both notices and word of 

mouth- to tell prospectors, mining claimants, 

and other~ to avoid "cutting timber promiscuously. Rangers also tried to keep an eye out for 

possible insect infestation.4' 

But the greatest threat to the park's timber was 

fire. In july 1923 a "very large forest fire" raged 

just east of the Nenana River near the McKinley 

Chapter Twelve Natural and Cultural Resource Management 185 
Effects of the 1924 wildland fire can 

been seen in this 1929 photo taken 

from the park road, looking toward 

McKinley Station and the Alaska 

Railroad bridge on the right. Many 

of the fire·killed trees adjacent to the 

park road were tut In the early 1930s. 

He rbe rt He ller Collection, 79-44-

1316, Umversity of Alaska Fairbanks 

Archives 

Park railroad depot, and m June 1924 additional 

fires broke out .. m the A:m to the north" of the 

park as well al. along the Alaska Railroad right-ofway lesl. than three mile:. ~outh of the park'" lliJey 

Creek headquarter~. In early July 1924, a "large 

forest fire immediately ~outh of headquarters" 

forced the park's three-man staff to !>pend all day 

and "long mto the night'' fighllng it. The trio's 

efforts, plus the following day\ ram, apparently 

elimmated the worst of the fire danger. Bur on 

July 14, Karstens noted thnl "the fire ~ourh of 

headquarter!. has broken out worse than ever:· 

and for the next '>ix days there wa:. "a connnual 

grind mght and day fighting fire." Onjuh 15, "a 

ragmg furnace of flame and smoke" came ·•within 

a hundred feet or so of Ranger i\lcFarland's 

quarters," and the followmg day "the 11rc came 

around from the west and jumped R1lcy and 

Hines creeks and wa!> raging on all sides of us." 

The fire forced the men w move "Horses, Household goods and office out on the bar<, of Riley 

creek" for two days. No buildings were lost. But 

when park staff on july 2o drove west from the 

railroad depot, they d1scovered that "the first 

half mile of countrv ... is a black scar, completely 

burned over. The next half mile 1s burned m 

patches and is still burning, working in the direction of the Park hnc and over a large scope of 

countrY!' And the Fairbanks pres~. describing the 

area surroundmg "the entrance to the ational 

Park ... estimated that around 30 quare miles 

have been burned over and but little good timber 

remains alive."~" (See \llap 6.) 

Immediately after rhe fire, park staff redoubled 

their efforts to remove brush piles and other potential threats. Little was accomplished immediately afterward because of the lack of park staff. 

186 Crown Jewel of the North An Admrnrstratrve Hrstory of Denair Nauonill P.tr~ dnd Pr!'~erv!' 

BUL beginning in the Winter ()f 1929-30, Supt. Liek 

gave rangers (and Inter a hired man) the task of 

"cutting down and cleanng up the old dead trees 

that were along the road lcadmg from the depot 

to park headquarters." Clearing out the "unsightly" timber had two purposes: it "presentled] 

a much better appearance" to vbitors heading 

up the park road, and it provided park offices 

and residence' with a ready supply of firewood. 

After the 1924 fire, park staff reported no further 

wildfires for year~ afterward •~ 

Predator Control and the 

Emergence of the Wolf-Sheep Controversy50 

ThroughoU[ the mneteenth cenrury and well into 

the twentieth, Americans in general-and Alaskans m particular were firm believers in predator 

control. Pnor to 1900, as the ttdes of !.ettlement 

surged wel.tward, there was a <,OcietaJ emphasis 

on the elimmation of any spcc1es that impeded 

crop cultivation or ranching pursuits, and during 

the early twenlleth cenrury, public attention was 

increasingly d irected toward the preservation of 

the major species that captured the mterests of 

sport hunrerl.. American.. thus targeted a number 

of species over the year!>, and perhaps the most 

public campaign'> were directed against wolves, 

covotes, bear!., "chicken hawk..," and other raptors, plul> beavers, rabbit<,, and prau1e dogs.s' For 

wolves, and perhap!. tor other <,pecies as weU, state 

and territorial government~ al.!>lsred the e efforts 

by offering bountic:- to successful hunters.\> In the 

lower 48 states, the vehemence in public attirudes 

agamst predator!> had waned somewhat by the 

1920s, due in part to a ri:.e m conservationist sentiment, and in add1t10n because wolves and other 

predators were declining in numbers and thus 

causing less of on impact to more t!ConomicaHy-
Map 6. Area Burned by the July 1924 Forest Fire 

~ 1924 Burned Area 

D Forested Area 

nsu 

0 0.5 1 2 3 

.. 

I Miles 

4 

Chapter Twelve Natural and Cultural Rt-SOlHCe Management 187 
henclkml plant<. and ammab. rcJeral gon:rnment 

agencre~, however, were '>till ardent defender" of 

rrcdator uHHrol in all ih loa Ill'>, and the Bureau 

nfBiologJGil ~urvev rhe pnmarv agenC) whrch 

canied our tho ... c puhue'> championed predator 

control becau~e of it~ populantY among we ... rem 

re.,idenh and legJ,Jator .... ' 

In Ala.,ka, traJJrional attitw.lc ... roward predator., 

were m full flower well inw the twenuerh cenntr). 

pnmanh hccau"L mo't rc..,Jdcnr~. Naow and non-

"lativc alike. depended hcanly on local game and 

f1sh spectc' fllr their everyday dier. In order to en-

<;ure a plcuuful, ongoing .,uprl\ of rhe..,c produu ... 

the Ala~k•l Lcgr-.larure wh1ch wa' estahh,hcd a~ a 

re~ulr of a 1912. Congre,sronal au pronded bounties for wolve' hegmning m 191). But de ... prtc the 

bounty, whiCh was raised 1n I()I7 from S10 to ~l'j, 

Ala~ka Governor Thoma-. Riggs m 1919 noted that 

wolve'> wen: ··bccommg a great mcnacl to game:· 

and dunng tht mid-1920s, Governor George Par~ 

'tared thJt v. olf number., were "increJ'>Inf, m 'P'te 

of the bnu111v land] dmng much damage 1o lur and 

game:· Wolve~, more specifically, were pem:iveJ 

by A.la"kan' J~ ha\ing a mai<H. ncgauve tmpa~o.t on 

\\c:.tern Al;hk<l rc::indeer herd.,, although ~cicnrilk 

e\·idence for thl' relatic>n~hlp ha!> not been e'>tabli~hcd . Coyote ... , which h<J d long ht'en pcrcct\·cd 

as a threat w game populat Jon,, became :1 hnunt)' 

target hegmnmg m 1929. Other "Pt:.'Cie~. 'uch a-. 

the bald taglc. hair .,cal, and \anou~ trout .,peclv· 

were thought to threaten Ala ... ka\ commerCJalh -

valuable .,aJmon indu,tn. ~o the rcrntoriallcgi.,lature slapped hounric~ on the..,c '>pccics tn 1917, 1<)2.7, 

and 1931, re.,pecnvdy. 4 

The fact that \\ount \lcKmlc\ '\;anonal Park. 

cstabh.,hed 111 early 1917, wa~ under l\:auonal Park 

Scrvtce JUnsdiction provtdcd lmJc pmrcctron fi>r 

wolve,, coyote.,, and other non gam~; animal'>. 

\lthough the ... o-caJled "I .ane letter" of 1\l.t\ JqJR 

stared that .. the national park., mu~r be mnmtamcd 

m ab..,olutdY unimpaired form for the ll'>c of future 

generation<' it gave no .,pecifk direction on :mimal 

management .,a,·e hunting and ~hecp grating (bnth 

of which would not he pcrmtrrcd) and cattle graJmg (whiCh wa, prohibtteJ on!\ at \cllowstone). I 

But hecauw '\IPS manager'> .,uch a., Stephen 

Mather and lloracc Alhnght rccognited "rhe public appeal of Vl'>thlc wildlife" (according to lmtonan Ttmothy Raw ... on), rhe\ like:\\ ,.,e dec1ded that 

··predator... d1d nor rccewe protecuon m nJIIonal 

parb." Despite D1rector ath r\ admoniuon that 

"it i~ contrary to d1e policy of the Servin• w exttrmtnate am ~reues na[lvc tn a pari,. area:· wolve-. 

during the 19.2.0'> were ehmmateJ lrom mam: ol 

tht:.' mator we'>h.:m park-. mcludtng Crater Lake, 

Lrand Canyon, \\ounr Ra1t1ter, Rock·y \lou main. 

quo a, and Yo5emite, and they were clkctlvely 

eliminated ar Clacier and 'rt:llow~tun eJ· 

188 Crown J~vet ot lht' Nonh Art Atlrv; nrsua: ve H•story of Dt>nalr Na!IOn.JI P"rt. anu Prt·>~l\•' 

·r h~.: Bureau of Btological Survey playeJ a 

key role m th e~e eradtcaunn effort~, ... cveral 

of wh1ch were instigawd to protect ltvc .. tock 

and huntmg ranges in adjacent area'>. But at 

Yellow~wne and Grand Canyon, and pcrhap., 

cl-.ewhere. predator control backlircd. Ar Yellowstone, manager-. had to conrcnd wtth an 

overabundance of elk, antelope and bison; huge 

elk dteolfs resulted, and the agency eventually 

dHl\1.: to ship exce~s anlmab w ncarb\ areas 

and to tn .. mure a feedmg program. At Grand 

Can yon and in the surrounding nauonal forest, 

the overabundance of Kaibab deer forced officwl" to learn "the greatest les.son of their lives" 

in antmal mi!>managcmcnt; a mass!\ c dteotf wa~ 

followed b) extended public hand wnngmg 

on how to proceed and a controver .. ial government ~ancuoned deer hunrY 

A'> noted above, \lount \lcKmley "'Jational 

Park wa~ e5rabli~hed a-; a game refuge, but as 

in othL·r \\ es.tern parks, that status provided no 

protccuon for predators. And proposals toreduce the number of predator~ were not long m 

coming. Dunng the ~ummer and fall of I92.2., 

Superintendent Kar~rcn!> made the fir.,t <.uch 

)>uggc ... tion; noting rhat .. porcupmc arc very 

thick throughout the park and ... arc chewing 

the bark off large mtmher~ of trees and thereby 

ktlllng thL m," he recommended exterminating them. In 1926 and again in 1927, 1-..arstens 

cnmplatncd that porcupmes. had "rutned acres 

of .. pruce trees." anti <~Iter a parrkularly ugly 

encounter with the park dog!>, he vowed that 

"pnrcuptnc have now bc.:cn declared outlaw::. 

and 'upcn '>ea::.on' ext<.t'> on them." But park 

... taff, <Kling on order'> lrom Wa-.hington, killed 

11\>llc.: of thc~c an11nal'>.'k 

Begtnnmg in September 192.5. wolve!-> \VhJCh 

had been "extreme I\ ... care<.'" i.n d1e park prior to 

that lime began LO appear in greater number~. 

1\.,,r.,t<.'m, upon hcartng reports about wolves in 

the park. immediately contacted hi!-> superiors 

and broached tht> idea nf killing "~orne of them." 

\X oh c.:" were nor the unl) \\ orri.some ammals 

that war; two covote!) were also ~potted , causmg 1\.ar'>tms to comment, "It i~ hoped that the~c 

an1mnb dn not get a hold on thi~ country." He 

further noted that 

it ,., to be feared that eventuallv those 

pre,em in the hili... wtll breed and 

will become a menace to trtlvcler~ . 

'\ .,rnct watch'' Ill be kept and the 

ktlhng of both coyote., and\\ olve~ 

wtll be kept tn abeyance unul ... uch a 

nme as they be<.:()me dangcrou' then 

a dra~tic acnon will be taken by all 

concerned.;" 
Winter patrols by dog team were 

regularly conducted in the park 

by rangers to observe wildlife 

activities, resource conditions and any 

indication of illegal hunting activities. 

This patrol was traveling on the 

East Fork of the Toklat River in 1929. 

DENA 3880, Denali National Park and 

Preserve Museum Collection 

These ::mirnab contmued to spread, and in 19.28 

a concerned Kar~te ns noted that "since I927 

wolvc5 an.: becoming alarmingly plentiful and 

causi ng con~iderable havoc among our game. 

also the coyote is multiplying fast." At the head 

of the Savage River, where the concessioner had 

a !>mall camp for "Big Game Drive" patrons, he 

remarked that wolves were "actually driving the 

game out ... If ~omerhing is nor done m curb the 

wolf, our game is going to 1.uffer tremendou ly." 

Managers during the late I92.0s expre~~ed ~ome 

worries about the destructive impact~ of lynx 

and wolverine~.'" ' Most of their concern, however, was directed toward wolves. The Bureau 

of Biological Survey, in I927, helped organiLe a 

muln-agency effort ro IJJl Alaska wolves. The 

following yea r the agcnC) \head, Paul Redington, visited the park, after which he wrote a follow-up report ~taring that wolve~ had scattered 

the Dall heep populatiOn to the point that it was 

"more and more difficult for rouri~rs to observe 

them." He then a~ked the NPS to contribute 

Ss,ooo ro aid in territorial wolf control efforts. 

Acting Director Arthur Demaray, the person to 

whom Redington\ report was directed, had no 

philosophical qualms with the report, but he 

offered the BBS no funds, probably because wolf 

depredations did nut constitute a crisb. A stmilar BBS request, sent in I929, elicited the same 

negative re~ponse. Despite the NPS's reluctance, 

the BBS hired a wolf trapper and four assistants, 

who plied their craft during I929 and 1930. Bur 

perhaps because of Demaray's lack of enthu&iasm for the project. none of the trappers set foot 

within Mount McKinley ational Park during 

either of these years."' 

Redington wrote to NPS officials agam in 

March I93.2. rating that "wolves and other 

animals" \Ncre "dc-,troying rhe beneficial wild 

life of the Park," he again offered rhe BBS\ as ~ 

-;i:,tance in the matter. By thi~ urne, ten or more 

wolves had been killed in rhe park: ~orne by 

conces:.Iom employees, others by ~PS ~taff."! 

lnasmu ch a~ the park's sheep population wao; 

in the midst of its ~ccond destructi\·e winter 

in four years-winte r~ in which many :.beep 

deaths were blamed on wolve!>-local PS 

staff would nu doubt have welcomed the BBS\ 

assistance."• But new currents of thmking were 

making d1 emsclve5 heard by this rime. In 19I6, 

joseph Grinnell had published a then-daring 

paper in which he declared that "predaceous 

animals hould he left unmolested and allowed 

to retain their primitive relation to the rest of 

the fauna." By I924, several prominent members of the American Society of Marnmalogists 

were aho going on record about the :.cienrific 

value of predators, and th e organiLation passed 

a resolution condemning the indi.,crimmate 

po1soning of predators. Gradually, NPS officiab began to listen to the scienti'>t::.; the agency 

banned steel traps in I928 and poisons in I930, 

and in May I93I an agencywide policy signed 

by Director Horace Albright ~tated that 

"predatory ammals are to be considered an 

Chapter Twelve Natural and Cultural Resourct> Management 189 
Adolph Murie, in The Wolves of 

Mount McKinley, noted that wolves 

howled In a group before departing 

from the den for hunt ing. His 

brother, Olaus. produced this sket ch 

to Illustrate the behavior. Olaus 

Murie, Harpers Ferry Center/ NPS 

integral part of rhc wild life protected wtthm 

national park~ and no wtdesprcad camp:ugn~ 

of de'>truction are tc> be countenanced.""4 

Albright's policy statement, however, did not 

necessarily translate into specific park policy 

(historian Richard ellars notes that it "reflected pressure from outside rhe Service"), and a~ 

late ru. 1<}29 Alhnght had written that wolve~ 

were ''raptdly mcrea~ing in northern Ala<>ka ... 

and overrunnmg Mt. 1cKinley Park;' a ~rate 

of affair~ tha t dtmtmshed the health of "species 

of animals desirable for public observation and 

enjoyment.""l In July 1931- just two months 

after the predator policy was bsucd Albnght 

arrived at the park and learned that the woh•es 

were not threatenmg the park's ~heep population. Despite that assessment, he backed 

upt. Ltek\ dtctum of having park rangers kill 

wolves on stght; in hi'> annual report, however, 

Liek diplomatically noted that rangers were 

·•watching thb s1ruat10n carefully and control 

measurec; will he rnken as neces~ary." The NPS, 

as before. d1d not invite BBS pcrsonnclmto the 

park for wolf control purpo~ec; .'" 

On the heeb of Albnght'<> visit-and perhap~ as a 

result of the director\ concerns joseph Dixon 

returned to the park in 1932 and spent two and 

a half months on a wildltfe survc}.''7 D1xon, as 

noted above, had visited the park in 1926 wtth 

George Wrtght In 1928, Wright had convmced 

~PS leaders that a -.urvey should be undertaken of fauna 1n all of the country's national 

parks. Soon afterward, Wright hired Dixon for 

the mass1ve project, and fieldwork had begun 

in 1930. The findings of their work first appeared m publication:. dated 1933 to 9~5; Mount 

190 Crown Jewel oi the Nl)flh An Ar1m'n'straiM' H1story of Denali onal Park iind Pre\erve 

Mc.Kmlcv- pecific mformalion 10 these reports 

were pnmanly hm1ted to Dixon\ observations 

from 1926, but based on Dtxon·~ new findmgs in 1932, he wrote a new volume (published 

in 9~8) devoted solely to Mount McK ey'~ 

fauna. Much of what Dixon gathered in 1932 

wa~ a general de cription of park anjmaJs and 

habtmL~ But given the wildlife losse., that the 

park had incurred during tiH. winter of 1931-J2, 

Dixon who was often accompanied by park 

ranger David Kaye- spent "much nme studying 

cond1tions among the wild aruma!!> with the view 

of detennming the cause for our great losse in 

sheep," and more particularly whether "this loss 

wa-. caused by the predatory ammab or the deep 

snow.,." Dixon, during the late 192os, had spoken 

out againl>t rhc agency's wolf control pohcie , and 

in addition, he 5tated d1at "there are probably no 

wolves today m the National Parks of rhe United 

States outside of Alaska. The loss is lamentable 

and there is little likelihood that it can be remedied!' Even ~o, he apparent!} had little interest 

in ovcrrurnmg current rules at Mount McKinley. The pragmatJc Dixon noted that the wolf's 

Importance wa~ "thoroughly apprcctated by the 

. PS, even rho ugh the necessity of 'iome control 

... was admitted on the basis that the mountain 

sheep of the park were in need of relief." And as 

Supenntendcnt Liek noted in .June 1932 during 

Dixon's v1sit to the park, ·'Mr. Dixon has sugge~ted that the rangers make a hrtlc more effort to 

kill off '>orne of the wolves and coyotes."'"' 

The big ~hecp die-off that took place during the 

Winter of 1931-32, and the nsing tenor of predator-based debate that loomed as a result, brought 

about an increasmgly narrow foctJs d1at agency 
April1929 was a very hard month 

for sheep as a result of heavy 

snows and few places blow n clear 

of snow. Sheep ranged onto the 

flats and many starved. Near Igloo 

Creek rangers on patrol picked up 

five exhausted, starving sheep and 

took them to park headquarters for 

rehabilitation, shown here in June 

1929. Peggy Talerio Collection 

~taff paid to sheep, caribou, and wolves at the 

expense of other animal species. In March 1930, 

rangers had taken an informal census of nine 

animal species; beginning with the most common, they tabulated the number of caribou, 

sheep, ptarmigan, foxes, moose, wolves, porcupines, wolverines, and coyotes. ln late 1931, 

however, they counted only four species (sheep, 

moose, wolves, and foxes, although it was also 

noted that "ptarmigan are returning to the park 

in great numbers").l" After the winter's sheep 

disaster, agency staff continued to make an annun.! census, and in 1934 the PS teamed with 

the Ala;,kn Game Commission to conduct the 

park's first aerial wild life census. Most counts 

after 1931 were limited to sheep, wolf, and caribou 

populations, although efforts in both 1936 and 

1938 re~ulted in tallies for five of the park's most 

promment mamma.! spec1es.l' 

N PS Assistant Director Harold Bryant, who was 

in charge of the agency's wildlife policies, made it 

known in March 1932 that he wanted the agency's 

new (1931) predator policy carried out at Mount 

McKinley National Park. This meant a cessation 

of all wolf control efforts. He and Albright carried on a spirited correspondence over the issue, 

which ceased only when Albright stepped down 

as the NPS chief in August 1933 and was replaced 

by Arno Cammerer. Throughout this period, 

rangers and other government personnel continued to hunt down wolves: at least 2 in 1932, 9 

in 1933, and 3 in 1934. Altogether, 24 park wolves 

were reportedly killed between 1929 and 1934.1' 

On February 25, 1935, Cammerer- apparently 

acceding to ideas that Bryant and others in the 

<>cientific community had long been advocatIng- issued a new park-specific predator policy. 

"Effective this date," he noted, ''the killing of 

wolves within the park area is prohibited."71 

Cammerer's ruling put agency policy at the park 

squarely against the anti-predator attitudes which 

prevailed in A.la~ka, an attitude that, on an official 

level, had been expressed two year~ earlier in 

a legislative memorial that requested "that the 

Federal Government take steps to control the 

breeding and propagation of predatory animals" 

in the park. And on an unofficial level, territorial 

attitudes toward wolves were encapsulated by 

a photo caption in the first Uanuary 1935) i~sue 

of the Alaska Sportsma 11: ''A dead wolf is a good 

wolf."74 Park staff, moreover, wa~ as dead-set 

against Cammerer's policy as other Alaskans. 

Supt. Liek, in 1935, had just participated in the 

first in a series of annual anima.! censuses; these 

consistently showed that at least 15,ooo caribou 

and 3,ooo sheep inhabited the park, as opposed 

to a wolf population of less than So. Despite 

those disproportionate numbers, however, both 

Liek and his rangers made no attempt to hide 

their antipathy toward wolves; they made dra::.tic 

reports that the park was "infested" with wolves, 

which were becoming "a menace to the sheep." 

They dutifully refrained from any wolf harvesting, however.ll 

Toward the end of 1936, the pendulum of the 

Park Service's policy toward wolves at the park 

swayed back toward it~ earlier (pre-1935) position. In june of that year, Assistant Director 

Arthur Demaray arrived at the park as part of a 

month-longA.laska sojourn. That vbit, however, 

exposed h1m to the depth of local opinion on 

the wolf-control issue, so in late August, after he 

returned to Washington, he issued a new policy 

that gave rangers permission- for re earch purposes- to "kill a moderate number" of wolves.l'' 

Chapter Twelve Natural and CuiJural Resource Milnagement 191 
Wildlife B1ologist Adolph Murie 

began his investigations of predator· 

prey relationships In Mt. McKinley 

National Park in Apnl 1939, based 

at the Sanctuary River ranger c:abm. 

DENA 28· 1 1, Denali National Park and 

Preserve Museum Collection 

Given that lilctum. Lick ;1ss1gneJ 'pec1tic ranger~ 

m both 1937 and 19 ~8 to unc.lenakc "predator} 

animal control" t<l\b. Ranger.., k1lled a total of 

fourteen wolve~ aft~.:r the han W<h hftcc.l: one 1n 

1916, three in 1937. and ten in ~<n8 . 

Wolf Management: the Role of 

Science. Congress, and Advocacy Groups 

The !\IPS, during thh lime, wa~ torn mIt~ amrude toward predators. !he agency, follo\\'ing If'> 

1931 policy :-tatemcnt, proh1blled covotc cunlrol 

at Yellow~tone at ahout 1 he -;a me rime thai ir 

stopped wolf control a1 Mount McKmley. But 

in response to tho~e Jccbion~, it wo ... attacked by 

a host of advocacy group~: calllemen\ ao;~ouati om,l>port~man\ group~. 1hc Camp ftre Club, 

and other'>. Abo weighing in on the I'>~Uc wa~ 

former ducctor Hurace Albnght. who wrote 

Impassioned lcner~ 10 Cammerer que::.tioning the agency's pohc1e<, toward coyorcs and 

woh·es. The 'IP director. m rcspome, ~ought 

help from rhe '>Clennfk commu111ty. In the spring 

of 1937. Adolph 'v1un~ who wa .. once agam 

with the L.~. Bureau of Btnlogical ~un•e\ mltiated a ~tudy of Yellow~tone ·.,Co) ole~ . \ \une \ 

research concluded that bccau<.~: covore~ had a 

"negligible'' effect on the p<trk\ elk population:-, 

the park's flora and fauna ~hould be .,ubje(.[ed 

to "minimal dt~turbaocc," and more ~pcc1fica ll y 

that coyote control was "not advisable under 

pre~cnr condinom." Ctmmcrer b;tckl'd ~tune 

and resisted further conrrol effort~ becau .. c, a<, 

he nored, the covote wa.., a ·'nawral and de.,1rablc 

component nf rhe pnmltl\'e htottc p1crun:.'' • 

-\:,early a'> t<n6. llv\une had cxprc~ ... cd an tntcrcc;r 

m reruming w AJa:,k.t and conductmg a ~unilar 

.. rudy on the llvlount McJ.,.mlc'r "Janonal Park 

wolf populauon. Fundmg, however, wa" a proh· 

lem, and b) Januar) 19W C1mmcrct had wntten to d1c Camp FtrL Club and <1'kecl1f It wouiJ 

be willing to fund a year-long rc·M:arch proJect. 

The Club turned him down, 'o MH)Jl afterward, 

agency officiab recogni;ed the nc.::cd to --~olve it!> 

own wildlife problem~ and thu" :!Void pre!>~Ure 

for control mea~ure~ by other agcnclc ... " After 

fir'>t con'>tdenng joseph Otxon for the Job (who 

opted our tor med1cnl rea~um), the\ a~kcd \1uric 

w undertake "a .. rudy of prcdawr., ;md rhe1r 

relation to other !park I\\ 1lJiile" a-. .,oon as he 

completed h1~ work ar )cllow .. wne. He eager!\ 

accepted and ldtjacbnn, \\vommg, lor Ala~ka 

m 'vlarch 1939. lie '>Oiled north With a contmgent 

of Civilian Con">crvauon Corp~ worker'> that 

were hound for the park, and h} t\pnl17 he wa5 

comfortably ~eque~tcn.:c.l at the park\ Sanctuary 

River ranger C<tbtn. '" 

Mune, who wa~ officially on loan between the 

NPS's Regton II and Region IV (thc~e were Inter 

192 CI<Jwn Jewt>l of th.- NorU1 Ar, Admcncstratcve Hc~torv ot Dennh N.ttiOnal Pnr~ and f'r~rve 

known a~ the Rocky Mmmtam Region and the 

\XIe~rern Region, re'>pectivcly), had been appointed to the park on!\ for a ... even-month 

a.'>~ignml!nt, ~o he wa'>tcd nu lime begtnning hil> 

work, wh1ch -.pcoficalh In\ nh·cu locatmg and 

anah·tmg -,beep ... kull .... By the end of June, park 

official"\\ ere able ro report "ven ~ansfactory 

pmgre.,.., 10 hi'> ~tud} . he ~tate!> that md1catiom 

point to a favorable report ro ... upport the . PS 

pnltcy of prorecnng all <,peues of native am mal<,. 

However, H i'> too earlv to make commitment!>." 

Muric got a '>lgnificant boo..,t ~honly after he 

a rriYed, bccau.,c Supt. I.Jek - whose tenure went 

back to the lute 1920:. and who:.c support of 

predatorl> ranged from lukewarm to hostile- was 

replaced by Frank Bcen, a fnrc~try-::.chool graduate and former ScquUia National Park naruralbt. In late julv, an uppll)~lllg 'vlunc:: wrote that 

"Been's attJrudc toward th~ [predator] problem ts 

in accord""' llh hh own. Been a!>ked Murie toremain at the park unullare that iall, and he a!.ked 

hi~ !>uperior~ 1r1 \\ a-.h1n~wn to lund rhe biologiSt 

for "~ev~.-ral \car~ of oh.,c rvat ion'·· because of 

"the agitanon of the people wward wolve~ and 

becau5c the conclu-.ion~ here will he a gUJde for 

solvmg problem~ 10 other park~ of the territory." 

When he left the park that fall, he was uncertain 

whe[her he woulcl rel\lrn. l ie ~oun learned, 

however, that thanb to the support of both 

Cammcrcr and uffiual~ in the BBS's rcorganiLed 

Wildlife Divbmn, there were now new principles 
During his early work Adolph Murie, 

left. along with Ranger John Rumohr. 

w ere photographed here by Harold 

Herning on the Muldrow Glacier 

during their eKtensive hiking field 

surveys. Beatrice Herning Collection 

of park wildlife management. The~c -.rated that 

"ever) specres ~ha ll be I cit to carrv on t~ ~truggle 

for existence unaided;' and prctlawr~ would nor 

be krlled unlc~s a prl'V .,pcc e~ wa~ threatened 

w1rh extermination. ' 

PS official.,. after a \\ inter of .,rallrng. finalh 

.1greed m earl) t\prrl1940 w ... end \lune back to 

the park for further re.,earch; he .md hi" famrl} 

qUickly headed WC!>t to Sc:mle, and h~ Apnl28 

the) were "alread) e ... rahll.,hcd at a cabm on the 

Ea<>r Fork of the Toklat Rr\'cr.'' lie 'l>on jornt!d 

Frank Gla~cr, a BB "predator hunrer,'' and park 

ranger Harold Hernmg on a cemu'>of wolves 

and wolf dem in the park. In lvla\, Gla~cr 

located th ree dens containing wolf pup!>, and b) 

the end of the month, '"' pnrk wolve~ had heen 

killed "for specimem and for control."" Gla'>er 

fin tshed h1s inventory in luly a nd left the park, 

and in October he l!.~ued a report on h1s work. 

Ranger Heming, however, is-,ued a <;cpa rate 

report dunng the .,arne month, anti ;r-. Been candtd ly noted, ·The dl\'crgenu.: of mtcrpretanon of 

the.: rwo men b mrere~ting" i\ Iurie, meanwhile, 

-.pent mu'>t of the summer oh,cn mg (and occasionall~ lilmmg) wolve-. .tnJ wolf heha\lor. 

tnren·iewmg longnmc trapper'> and huntcr~. 

collecting ~hecp -.kull,, and anal\ ;ing wolf scar. 

\lune and his family(\<\ h<l adupred a .,,·eck-old 

wolf pupp\, whrch thev n;lmc.:d Wag ... ) retreated 

(()park hcaJquarter~ that rail, bur rc .. umed work 

at the East Fork cabm the following May. By August 1941 his work wa~ complerc, anti Lhc family 

left the park.'1 

urie·~ primary research mterest was c<.rablrshing a cause fm the park .,heep mortality and to 

a certain a cau-.allink, rf an\', between ... heep 

mortaht)- and predator<.. \.lune, a!> a result of that 

re-.carch, qurcklv dr~mrsscd mo<,t predator~ (such 

a~ coyote\. lynx, hear~. wohennc~. or golden 

eagle~) as being re!>pon..,ihh: lm !>ignificanr sheep 

lm!>e\. Far more \lgnificanr contnhurors were 

em;ronmental -,tn.:<.~or' .. uch a-, .,nowpack and 

diseac;e. \\ ol\'e!>, he free!) admitted, were "d1e 

chief factor hmmng the :-.hcep pnpulanon" in 

the park, but rhey dtd ~o b~ harvesting the old, 

the voung. and the '>ick. But wolve-., a~ a specie~. 

were no threat to the overall health of the park's 

sheep population. Mude, working out of his 

Jackson home, completed hrs manu scnpt in early 

1942, but given the country\ abrupt entrance into 

World War II. Murie\ rcscan.h remained in draft 

form until1944· when rhc Government Printing Offke publbhetl it a' The \\'lofn·s of Mount 

McKmley. Included w1th the text were a number 

of Olam l\.lurie\ !>kerchc-. ·

4 

Throughout tht.., pcnod, oppo'>ltlon ro the Park 

Service\ lmsse:.farre \\ tldhfc phrlo'>ophy remained strong, and purucularlv ~o 10 Ala~ka. 

"'iumerous artrcle~. both in sport~man\ magaLines and Alaska newc.paper,, chamcc..l that the 

park wac; a "breeding ground" for wolves and 

coyotes, whrle mcrlooking the fact that the 

park also bred carthou, '>hccp, and other game 

animals. According to Munc, "the wolf controvcrlly i!> 111 the nature t>f a religion with man~ and 

Chanter Twelve Naturill and Cullur,ll R£'sourcP Mdnagement 193 
Frank Glaser, a U. S. Biological Survey 

predator control agent, worked 

In the park with wildlife biologist 

Adolph Mune and park ranger Harold 

Hernlng to conduct a census of 

wolves and wolf dens on 1940. Glaser 

worked woth Claus Murie on the 

caribou capture project in 1922 and 

1923. and later was a trapper on the 

lower Savage River, north of the park 

boundary, for more than 10 years. 

Beatrice Herning Collection 

therefore can not be won hy logic or fact." But 

Been, l\ tunc, and others dtd what they could. 

They ~poke to husmcs.,, civic, and ~>port~man's 

groups in Fmrbanks, made a prc~cntalton at an 

t\Jaska Game Comm ~-,ion meetmg, greeted 

\ IPs during rhctr park \lt~. a~.,1gned rangers to 

accompanv bu.., tour., and give narural-~>cience 

talb, .,bowed lv\uric'., wildlife film.,, and carried 

on corre.:,pondcncc \\ 1th those who puhh ... hed 

anti-wolf anicle-.. B..,. domg .,o the~ won mam 

converts, but due to the .,hcer .,calc of those with 

oppo.,mg newpoints, both men recogniLcd the 

folly in trying to either imph:ment or retain an 

absolute ban on wolf contml. 1 Been, therefore, 

made it known that ranger<> '>till .,hot wolves from 

rime to time; and as a result, wo ve~ did not en joy 

complete protection at the park. Rangers, in 

fact, killed one wolf 10 1941 and another in 1944; 

more wolves would doubtless have been killed if 

the ranger rank!. dunng thL war had not been so 

depleted (.,ec Chapters). ' 

During \'"'orld \X'ar ll, Ala~kam became even 

more anttthetical toward wolve<. than the\ had 

pre\'iousl~. a conditHm brought on by a lo..,., of 

long-term hunrer\ w the war effon. a flood of 

new (and untutored) hunter'> from the Unired 

States, the decimation of the We-.tern Alaska 

reindeer herd-., and poor Interior game har-

,.e!>t!>. Looking for a way to vent their fru..,tration, the terntoriallegt!>lature in mid-March 

1945 pas::.ed a joint memonal blaming the Park 

Service for Ala~ka\ Wildlife woe::.. The memont94 Crown JeWE'I ot li•P North An AdmoniWdtove ory of Deni!lo Nattonal ill ~ cmd Prt>s.>rvl' 

al slated that "wolve~> and coyotes have already 

cau.,ed remdeer to decrease from about 641,000 

to 90,ooo -.mcc 1932;" the chief culprit for the 

cra!>h. furthermore, wa::. the NPS, which was 

''breeding the'>e de::,tructive creatures in great 

refuge~.-- The memonal, which was m some 

ways ::.imilar to what had been pa'>sed m t933 

and 1935, asked Co gre~'> to remove all restrictions to wolf hunting 1n parks and w fund an 

aerial hunting program. 

Grant Pearson, who had been Mount McKinle) ·~acting '>Uperinrcndent since Been's deparntrc tn early 1943, wac; called on to rebut the 

legislature's charges. !Its supenors told him to 

cease all wolf-control efforts because of the lack 

of staff; Pearson, however, had a traditional attitude toward wolves, and being a longtime local 

re~>ident, h1s be'>t defense was to suggest that 

out-of-state interest'> were respomible for the 

agency's vvolf policy. 

Other lntenor Department officials, who were 

well aware of the virulence of local opimon on 

the issue, connnued to recommend that "P 

regulation\ pcrraming to wolves should be 

interpreted le<;s strictlv at Mount McKmley than 

111 statc::.ide park<,. An Indian Service biologist 

stated that Alaskans were "in virtual mutiny 

against" N PS policies, Murie stated tha t "Alaskans would howl more tl1an the wolves" if a ban 

were laid down, and NPS Regional Director 

Owen l omlinson stated that an annual harvest 
In addition to his wolf studies. 

Adolph Murie also studied Oall sheep 

behavior. He photographed this band 

of ewes with lambs crossing a small 

stream in Mt. McKinley National Park. 

Adolph Murie, Harpers Ferry Center 

of three ro five wolves would be ufficient to 

quiet Ala::.kan concerns without diminishing the 

park's wolf population. Pearson himself, who 

had been the focus of so much criticbm, warned 

his superiors that "nothing short of extreme 

measures will regain the good will and confidence of Alaskam." Otherwise, Congressional 

action wa:, sure to follow. HH 

Washington-based NPS officiab, well aware 

of the growing fervor againM the park's wolf 

control policy, asked Murie who was then 

working for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

in Arizona- to return to Alaska and conduct 

a brief sheep mventory. T le stayed in the park 

from mid-August to mid-September 1945. During h1::. quick reconnaissance, he concluded 

that the park's sheep population had drastically declined, to the point that their continued 

existence could be in jeopardy. He therefore 

recommended- perhaps for cnttrely political 

reasons-that rangers should kill from ten to 

fifteen wolves, with continued control until the 

sheep population regained its former strength. 

NPS Direcror ewton Drury accepted Murie's 

recommendation "without que:,tion," and a 

news release explai ning the new park policy was 

released on October 31. Three months later, the 

agency issued a second relea::.e, stating that it 

had authoritcd ''an experienced trapper under 

th e direction of th e superintendent" to trap 15 

park wolves.K• 

Bur the Camp Fire Club, wbo~e roots at the park 

extended back to the pre-World War I days, was 

not mollified by the Park Service's action. Led b) 

Belmore Browne, who had made three attempts 

to climb Mount McKinley, all prior to the park's 

c!.tablishment, the club call ed the agency's philosophy a "fallacious doctrine" and Murie's book 

"An Eulogy to the Wolf." Browne, furthermore, 

had played a key role m estabh~hing the park, and 

vowed that the park's creators never intended to 

protect wolve~ a~ part of the park's ''game refuge" concept. Soon afterward, Camp Fire Club 

advocates opted for a Congressional resolution 

of the matter, and on December 14. Rep. Homer 

Angell (R-Ore.) introduced a bill calling for the 

"rigid control of wolves and other predatory 

animals" in the park "to the end that saitl[game] 

refuge be made ~afe, and so maintained, for the 

Dall sheep, caribou, and other wildlife native to 

the area." Angell submitted a slightly revised bill 

the following February, and in March 1946, Wallace White (R-Maine) introduced a ~im il ar bill in 

the Senate.'"' 

The House\ Interior Committee on Public Lands 

held two hearings on Angell's revbed bill, on 

April 3 and May 22 The first hearing, hastily 

arranged, was dominated hy Camp Fire Club representative~, and the only !.peaker with an oppo~­

ing viewpoim wa::. Devereux Butcher from the 

National Parks Association. At the ::.econd hearing, Director Drury was able 10 rehlte a number 

Chapter Twelve Natural and Cultural Resourc~ Manag~menl 195 
of points made by previous speaker~, and after 

the meeting concluded, the committee tabled the 

bill for the year becau~e its members concluded 

that, in most ca~e!>, agencie!> (which posse~~ed the 

expertise) rather than Congre~s (which didn't) 

should be free to decide agency-specific wildlife 

managemem Issues."' 

With the looming specter of Congressional 

tntcrference now removed, rangers at ~ount 

McKinley National Park were now free to follow Drury's October 1945 dictum and conduct 

~mall-scale wolf harvesting. Pearson begged off 

at first, citing budgetary woes, but in February 

1946 the Service hired john A. Coh in, an "experienced wolf hunter.'' Colvin, working out of the 

Sanctuary cabin and armed with both traps and 

a rifle, began searching for wolve~. He had scant 

success, however, and on April 2 he left the park 

after concluding that there were not ~ufficiem 

wolves in the Park to warrant the expense of 

hunting them.''"' 

During the summer of 1946, however. caribou 

migrated back into the park, and with them 

came wolves. Rangers, following Drury\ policy. 

harvested five wolves between July and October. 

Murie. hoping to lend some science to the contmuing debate. stayed at the park during August 

and September and concluded that the park still 

contamcd only about five hundred c;heep, and 

the wolf population wa!> only about fifteen. De-

!.pire those low number~, Muric· recommended 

a continuation of the agency's wolf-control 

program. But t.ealots in the Camp Fire Club, 

who wanted to pre~erve the: park's sheep at all 

cos ~. tried once again to change the agency'!. 

policy through legislatton. In March 1947, both 

~enator White and Rep. Arthur !\tiller (R-Nebr.) 

introduced bilb that largely repeated tho~c that 

had been o;een and debated between December 

1945 and ~ay 1946. But this time around, the 

Camp Pire Club found few allies, and neither bill 

received a heanng:•· 

The agency, meanwhile. continued to monnor 

the park's wolf and sheep populatJons, primanly 

through the efforts of Dr. Murie- now an 0JPS 

employee who stayed at the park for most of 

1947 and many succeeding years as well. Park 

staff, during this period, continued their wolf 

control campaign, and in 1948 thev harvested 

seven wolve~. Been, hoping to quell negative 

publicity about the agency's policy, displayed four 

of the~e wolves-all of them killed in February-to a group nf labor delegates convened 

at the park hotel."4 And in August 1948 agency 

staff, wolf-control advocates, and defenders of 

the agency\ policies gathered at the par!.. and 

engaged in a 1gorou ~. drawn-out debate. The 

196 Crown Jew~l of the North An Adm•n•~trdtrve Htstory of DPnah Notional Par~ dnd Preserve 

tdea, fostered by NPS Director Newton Drury, 

brought together Belmore Browne of the Camp 

Fire Club, who had laM visited cenrral Alaska 

in 1912; Harold Anthony, whu was a member of 

both the Boone and Crockett Club and the NPS 

Advisory Board; Ralph Friedman, a New York 

bu~inessman and big-game hunter; NPS biuloght 

Adolph Murie; and park supenncendent Frank 

Been. The men spent ten days together walking, 

hiking, riding up and down the park road, and 

conversing. just a few hours before rl1c three 

v1~1tors were to depart, Been produced a joint 

~tatement that he hoped all would be able to s1gn. 

After ~everal hours of debate, all five "reluctantly" signed a final draft stating, among other 

prov1sions, that tht· agency's wolf control program would continue. at lea~t for the short term; 

that the NPS policies were not to blame for rl1e 

reduced sheep population; d1at predator control 

leg1!.lation was a dangcrou~ precedent; that the 

continuing service~ of a biologist were needed 

to monitor park wildltfc; and rhar the public 

needed to be fu rther educated about the park's 

predator situation. All three visJtors submitted 

lengthy evaluations of their sojourn at the park, 

and hased on those reports. Drury- primarily 

as a public relatiOns gesture- decided in January 

1949 to remove any limits on the number of park 

wolves w be harvested."' 

Shortly after Drury's dec1sion, Been was transferred to a position in Oregon and wa~ replaced 

b) Grant Pcan.on, who had been working in 

the park for most of the last twenty-three years. 

Pearson, a longtime predator-control advocate, 

wanted all of his rangers im·olved in the wolf reduction effort, but a more caurious Murie (in the 

words of hi~torian Tim Rawson) wanted "to be 

selective about which wolves would he ~acrificed 

to the polincs of wildlife management." During 

the vvmter of 1949-50, one park wolf was killed. 

and another (near Igloo Creek) was seen dragging a trap. But in later years, park staff targeted 

only a small parr of the park for wolf harvesting. Wolves in the hotel and headquarter<. areas, 

specifically, could be han•esred, but no effor~ 

were made to cull wolves in the Toklat drainage 

or elsewhere in the park's interior."" To that end, 

traps were placed near the park dump (which 

wa~ located just east of the McKinley Park airstrip) during the winter months, and as a e~ ult, 

most of the eleven wolves that were caught and 

killed between 1949 and 1952 fell victim to !>nares 

at rhe park dump:•1 

Events both inside and outside of the park\ 

boundanes conspired to eliminate the need, 

and reduce the political pressure, for further 

wolf control. The park's caribou herds typically 

wmrered on ground~ north of the park, and the 
In order to comply with the mandated 

w olf control program. park rangers 

placed snares at the park dump in 

1951 and caught three young wolves. 

one of w hich is pictured above with 

ranger Bill Nancarrow. The pelts 

from these wolves were utilized for 

interpretation at the park museum. 

DENA 18-11, Denali National Park and 

Preserve Museum Collection 

wol\'es, who followed them. often fell ,·ictim ro 

poison bait that \\as scattered about b\ U.S. Fbh 

and Wildlife crvrce agcms. ln addrt10n, the 

park's sheep number~ began to rebound, from a 

1945-46 population of 500 to an estimated 1,200 

in 1951. And on a political level, Camp Fire Club 

activist Mar~ hall \llcl ean died in 1952, and Belmore Browne followed ~oon afterward."" 

The c1rcum~tances that ended the agency\ wolf 

control efforh at the park were brought about 

by a request from a hu~band-and-wife film 

crew. Herb and Lo ~ Cri~ler, who worked for 

Walt Di~nc~ Production~. wanted to make a film 

showmg the home hfe of a wolf family, <;o they 

asked the ~PS for pcrmi-,~ion to film a wulf Lieu 

in the park. Pearc;on was cool to the rdea and 

claimed that there had been no known wolf dem 

in the park ">IOCC '946. But the new rs drrcctor, 

Conrad Wirth, overruled Pearson. lle stated, in 

a February 1953 memo, that because the park's 

-;beep were no longer threatened, the couple wa~ 

free to proceed with the1r film project; and to a-.-

'>l<>t the filmmaker<,, he enacted a temporary ban 

on wolf control. Later that year, Murie rallied 

at least 1,500 -.heep and an incrca'>mg numher 

of caribou m1graung into the park. So gi\'en the 

expandrng numberc; of park game ani male;, Wirth 

in March 1954 decided that wolf control in the 

park would "he '>uspended immcd1atclv and until 

change 111 the rclanom.hip of the wolf and m prey 

specie!> make~ resumption of conrrol advisable.''"" 

Few public protc~t~ followed Wirth\ deci~ion, 

the park's game populations remained healthy 

in the vcar~ following the dcc1~ion, and <;ince 

that rime, agitation for wolf control ha:-. not been 

resurrected a~ a ~erious threat to"' PS pohcy. 

The Growing Popularity of Fishing 

Congre~~. when it established \ lounr J\lcKinley 

National Park, drew boundaries that encompa~~ed the high peaks of the Ala~ka Range and 

the rich wildlife habitat immediatel) to the north. 

De~pite lant,ruage m the park bill calling for the 

"prc~cnauon of animals. bird~. and tbh;' little 

1f any mformanon has surfaced in heanng~ or 

corre~pondence to ~uggest that fbh populatiom 

within the propo~cd park houndan• were e1ther 

well known or highly valued. Karsten~. a longtime resident of interior Alaska, wa~ doubtless 

well aware of the area's primary tbh species, but 

h1s knowledge of the fish habitat patterns within 

the park houndanes wa~ probahh r.url~ limited. 

Karsten<. began a ~taff presence m 1921, and b\ 

1923 he had gained both ranger~ and a concessioner. These individuals, plu~ the trapper-. 

and prospectors who had inhabited the area 

Ch<lpl..r ~welve Natural dnd CulturJI Resource M .. n.Hl!'rn"rl 197 
This group of Civilian Conservation 

Corps enrollees were quite successful 

at fishing in Wonder Lake. John Ehly 

Collection, Denali National Park and 

Preserve 

smce the earliest years of the twentieth century. 

collectively had considerable knowledge of the 

be1>t local fishing holes. But George Wright and 

joseph Dixon, during their 1926 biological study, 

made no mention of the park's fish populations. 

To provide additional knowledge, Karstens in 

August 1927 headed out on a month-long patrol, 

one object of which was to locatt! the park\ 

"good fisrung streams or lakes and the species 

of fish to be caught." That trip took him westward to Copper Mountain, and later down the 

Clearwater Creek drainage. He returned from 

that trip stating that the park offered grayling and 

Dolly Varden trout. Grayling, measuring from 

5 to 14 inches long, were plentiful ("as many as 

200 have been seen in a small hole") and were 

found in most of the clear water streams, wrule 

some streams carried Dolly Varden, the larger 

sizes of this species invariably being found near 

the headwaters. One of d1e richest grayling pools 

was located at the northern end of Savage River 

Canyon, and to ease access to the site a u·ail was 

consu·ucted there from the park road in 1928.""' 

One of the park's first information circulars, 

published in 1929, stated that there were no 

park-specific fishing regulationsi here, as in most 

other NPS units, only hook-and-line lhhing was 

allowed, and fish could not be harvested "for 

merchandise or profit.'' lt offered the following 

descriptive information: 

The grayling, a very hardy species of 

the trout fam1ly ... are sporty and playful, and of an average weight of r ro 2 

pound!>. Large schools of these fish 

may be seen swimming in the waters 

of Savage River, at the north entrance 

to Savage Canyon. The angler may 

also try his luck m Riley Creek, about 

a mile from the [1922] park entrance, 

where grayling abound. There are 

also rrout in the park streams which 

arc classified locally as Dolly Varden. 

Their weight is in the neighborhood 

of 1 pound. Outside the park ... at 

Wonder Lake ... there is a variety of 

trout, some weighing as much as 35 

pounds.•o• 

Wonder Lake, a~ noted in Chapter 4, had been 

eyed as a potential hotel site as early as 1930, and 

the agency's interest in constructing such a facility had rel>Ulted in me Congressional passage of a 

bill (in May 1932) that brought Wonder Lake into 

the park. Jnrerior Department official Ernest W. 

Sawyer, at the time, was fully aware that clouds in 

the area often obscured tourists' views of Mount 

McKinley. He noted that the visitors' time, 

therefore, "could be well spent fishing as well as 

198 Crow n Jt>wel of the North An Adm'n,; tratlve H1 ry ol Denali NitliOnal Park and P1e;erve 

enjoying d1e scenery nearby.""'' Grant Pearson 

and other rangers, at the time, were aware of the 

lake's fish resources, because they had doubdess 

eaten trout caught by homesteaders john and 

Paula Anderson, who lived on the lake's northern 

edge. They likewise knew about the grayling in 

nearby Moose Creek from Kantishna miners 

such a::. Johnny BusJa.'"' 

The federal government showed an increased interest in the lake begiruung in the mid-1930s. The 

PS, in 1935, decided to build a hotel just south 

of the lake, and the following year the Alaska 

Road Commission extended the park road w the 

proposed hotel !'lite. The government's decillion, in 1937, to finance and build a hotel near 

the railroad depot temporanly put any plans for 

a Wonder Lake Hotel on the back burner. But 

many Alaskans and some in Congress still supported the idea. During a park tour in August 

1939, Rep. Schuyler Bland (D-Va.), a member of 

the Subcommittee on Alaskan Fisheries, suggested that the lake be thoroughly studied "with d1e 

idea of stocking it for future use when a lodge for 

tourists is constntcted" nearby. A Bureau of Fisheries official, who accompanied the congressional 

party, quickly seconded Bland's motion, and a 

month later, a Bureau specialist spent several days 

at the Jake and reported that me lake Wal> "amply 

supplied with fish food and could support many 

more lake trout than it now contains.""'• 

The completion of the McKinley Park Hotel, in 

June 1939, made the area surrounding the train 

depot a more significant visitor node than it had 
John and Paula Anderson lived on 

the north shore of Wonder Lake and 

enjoyed fishing there, as evidenced 

by this photograph of them in their 

canoe. Jay Hathaway Collection 

previously been (when accommodations had 

been limited to the Morino roadhouse, wh1ch 

had been ~paringly used after the mid-1920s). 

In 1940, an ARC crew built a 1-5-mile trail to 

Horse~hoe Lake, and by July of that year, park 

~uperin tendent Frank Been was noting that 

the new trail was "proving very popular with 

tourists," in part ''due to the excellent fi!.hing in 

l-lorseshoc Lake.'"' 

Horseshoe Lake, as It turned our, wa~ jw.t one 

of many Alaskan lakes and ~rream~ that had 

recently become popular with recreational 

fishermen. ln order w regulate thi~ increasingly important activity in a territory that had 

traditionally been dominated by commercial 

fishing interest!., the Bureau of Fisheries had issued its first territorial sport lhhing rcgulatiom 

in !\larch 1936; these initial rules pertained to 

trout only (although not to Dolly Varden trout), 

and the; imposed a daily catch limit of 40 fish 

ami a possession limit of So fi~h. "'" Four years 

later, slightly tighter rules were implemented; in 

the new rules, "game fbh" included grayling a~ 

well as four rypes of trout: rainbow, steel head, 

eastern brook and cutthroat. The regulations offered a number of general prohibitiom 

agai nst the wanton waste or destruction of 

game fi~h, the commercial harvest of game fish, 

and the usc of nets, traps, set lines, and explo-

~ives to catch lish .'"7 

The 1940 regulations also provided the first 

limitations on the number and site of fish that 

could legally be harvested. The bag limits were 

certainly generous by modern standa rds, anJ 

they were also generous when compa red with 

general NPS regulations, which called for a 

ten-fish limit."'' The 1940 Bureau of Fisheries 

regulation~ stated that 

No one shall take in any one day ... 

more than a combined total of 25 

game fish or more than zs pounds 

and 1 game fish of a ll species, and no 

person shall have in his possession at 

any one time more than a combined 

total of so game fish of all species or 

more than so pounds and 1 game fish 

of all species.''"' 

Been and other park officials were apparently 

unaware of the b~uance of these regulation!. 

until April1941. Shortly afterward, officials announced thar they would issue agency-specific 

regulatiom, identical to rhe Alaska regulations 

a~ they pertained to fishing bag limits, in order 

to give park pcnonncl enforcement powers."" 

Chapter Twelve Natural dnd Cultural Resourle Management 199 
The 19.p '\IP\ regulattom ..,ktrtcd the 1\'>Ue of 

fish ..,tockmg. lht'> pra.cDce wa~ both common 

and unconrrnvcr'>tal durmg tJw, pennd, both tn 

Alaska and in manv other "JPS unit-.." llowever, 

new!> report~ that announced the 1941 regula· 

tions statt:d that N PS officials were "rcque.,ting 

that no fish be pl<mted tn the lake..,, pond-. and 

~trearm of \1uunt \-lcKmlej N:monal Park. The 

'\IPS i~ rc..,pon~ihk· for t11at [stm.ktngl work and 

desire., to have park otlicers do 11 111 urdt•r that 

record!> and ob~en·atJOn<; can he mad~:."" Th1.., 

announcement was a logical extemmn or a 19~6 

agency polity "to prohibit the wtdcr di~tnbutmn 

of exotic ..,pecte., of fhh within Lhe n::uional park::. 

and monument~." and to that end, that pol1cv had 

!>rated that "no mtrnducriom of exouc '>pecte"> of 

thh shall bt.: made in nanunal park or monument 

waters nm\ contaming on I} nativ~.: -.pecil·.,:·· 

The 1941 announcement, therdorc, m•n have 

been aimed at lederal or terri tonal fi.,hcne-. offictah, who may have wanted to <.tock llor'>c.,hoe 

Lake or other park\\ ater~ with '>peclC'- (-.uch as 

rainbow trout) that were narive to Alo-.ka bur not 

to park water-.. It may abo ha\'e been \\'a-.hmgwn's respon~t tn park l'.Upcrintendcnt I rank 

Been. who 111 juh 1940 had told hi., ... upcnor~ rhar 

.,port fi~hing's gmwmg populanty ·may make 

restocking of I Hor~c-,hoejlake necc.,~ar). Some 

desirable specie~ .. uch as rainbn\\ rroutm1ghr be 

introduced."••• 

1 he ~rring 144~ convcr~ion of rhe \1ddnlcy Park 

Hotel from a ctvilian hmrelr~ ro a mihrary rc~.:­

n~atlun camp meant that the park\\ a~ ~tu.Jdmlv 

hosting hundreds of voung men each week, manv 

of whom loved to fhh. N PS offic1al., sa\\ the 

influx as an opporrunity, and that v1ay. Pcar-.on 

noted that "gravling arc now be111g caught 111 all 

clear .,tream~ Iandi Dull~ Varden trout are bemg 

caught in Rile\ Creel..." 8} June. fi-.hm~ prc ... -

sure had incn:a'>ed to Lhe point that Pear-.on told 

Army uffictab that anglers should take no more 

than 10 grayling per d:ty and. at Wonder I .akc, 

take a maxtmum of 2-3 lake trout per day.'" 

Soon afterward, the U.S. ril.h and Wildlife 

Service (which wa .. the ... ucce .. ~or m the Bureau 

of Fi!.hencs) temporarily interfered with park 

fish mg. On lulv 1, 194 ), Congre!>., had pa-.-.ed 

a rcvbed 1 eN on of the Ala!>ka Game La\\; 

that law. which aprlled to sport fishmg ~h well. 

defined ''game fi..,hes" to include Dolly Varden 

trout a~ well as grayling and other trnut -.pee ie'>.'" 

Based on rhat la11, the Fish and Wildlife: Scn·ice 

1s~ued rcgul::111on., on July 16 that perhap-. 

inadvertenrh do-.ed :til Ala!>ka 'P" Ulllb to 

game fi~hmg. On the heels of that rcgularfl)n, 

'\IPS Dirccror IJrun sent a July 20 radiogram to 

Pcar<,on telling hm1 that all park waters were immediatd) do.,cd to ti~hing. PcaNm, rc-.punding 

with hi\ own rad10gram. pleaded that the acriun 

"1m pose., dra<,tit hard<,htp on Arnn recreation 

program" bccau!>e ~fi~hing 1-. mo'>t popular 

... uldier., ~rorr" and asked ro "have tht'> regulation 

rescinded." Perhaps as a consequence, this wd 

other 1rre~ularit1c~ in the july 16 regulations were 

addrL'>scd tn a rev1~ed series ol regulations, and 

h-.hlng in the park was legallY oble to resume on 

-\ugu'it 24. 

The .,ummer of 1943 al.,o \\ ttnes ... ed Lhe first di~­

cussJnm about fi!>hing licemc .... Pnor Lo 1943. no 

fishing licenses had ever been IS!>Ued in the ternton. Thi.., changed on july I, 1941· when Congrcs!-t pa-. ... cd the revtsed Ala-.ka Gnme Law, whtch 

requ1red re ... Jdents, nonrestdent!'>, and aberu. 

(non-L:.~. residents) to obtain fi.,hmg hcenses. '" 

Pear-.on, tn n:.,ponse. argued that bec;;aw .. e '·neither the Territory of Alaska nor the Alaska Game 

Commts!.ion has ever atded in the ~tockmg of 

the streams Within the park . ... It Is difficult for 

u ... to under<.tand why the~ -.hould exact a license 

fee from our vi!.iting 'iOidiCr .... " He therefore 

su.,pcnded the license reqmremtnr for the time 

bemg. Wa-.hmgton officials, perhap., m deference 

to the many '>oldiers who were -.taying at the park 

for much-needed rest and recreation, backed 

Pear'>on. "' Thereafter, Alaska Game Commission 

regulalion" cons1stentJy required all adult resid~;:nt~ who wanted to fish in territorial waters to 

ha\'e a tCrrtlOrtalfishmg lice me '\. p~ regulations, 

however, overruled tho~e regularion~. Ar no rime 

~mce H>-B have: park angler-. bccn reqUired ro 

pm~c'' an Ahhka fishtng llcen-.c.' ' 

Pearson\junc 1943 ruling regarding bag limit!> on 

gra) ling and lake trout apparently held sway only 

'o long a~ mthtary per~onncl were rhc pnmary park 

u~rs, and 111 late August a nC\\ terntorial rcgulauon wa:. put m place, ~tnctcr than the rule::. 'et forth 

10 194c>-.t 1. The new limit wa-. ''20 11-.hc~ ~ingly or 

in !:he aggregate. bur nor to exceed l'i pounds and 

1 fi,h dallY[:] rwo daily bag limit!> in po-.se~sion.''•u 

These regulations remained until 1947, when Frank 

Been who had heen in the Army \lllCe 1943 rerumcd a., Lhe park <:>uperintendcnt. Gtvcn a nsing 

number of l'l!>llor->, and the expectation of even 

more viwor-. 10 the furun:. Been recommended 

d1at park rcgulanons regarding bag ltm1ts matd1 

thlN' for mmt parks located outside of \la~ka. As 

a result, the lntcnor Deparrmcnr issued an August 

1947 regula non that eliminated the spec1al regulation'> that had been m force ~ince ~\ay 1941. For the 

ne:...t ,e,cml year.,, there were no ~rectal regulations 

re~dmg fi-..hmg 111 the park; m<.tcad, park fishmg 

would he guided bv general '\. PS regulation<., wluch 

.,tared that "rhe number of fish that may he laken m 

any one day from the various lakes and streams ::.hall 

be limned to to fish" and d1atlishcm1cn could pos-

.,e-.-. only two davs' catch at am one lime.'·' 
A~ d1e number of vi~ itor!> increased, park managers had specific concerns about the park's fish 

pupulatiom. In July 1950, for example, they 

clo~ed Horseshoe Lake for the remainder of the 

season becaw,e it had been "excessively over 

fhhed preventmg any abili~:anon and reproduction to take place." A>:> early as 1948, Been had 

~ra ed that due to an increase in private-car traffic 

and the comequent increase m fishing pressure, 

a " reduced limit" of lake trout at Wonder Lake 

"might be requtred." In 1952, Pear5.on agreed. 

He recommended the io.,suance of a new regulation that limited the Wonder Lake fish catch to 

JUSt two fish per person per day. The regulation, 

which was implemented in late May 1952-JllSt 

two years before the agency establbhed it!> Wonder Lake Campground stated that "the limit of 

catch of lake trout (mackinaw ) per person per 

day shall be two fhh. including those hooked and 

relea~cd." The regulation also made two revi-

'>lons to general park fishing rules. First, instead 

of mandating a s1mple ten-fish limit. it stated that 

a single day's catch "shall be 10 fish but not lo 

exceed 10 pound<, and one fish.'' Second, it restricted the total posse s~ion limit from a two-day 

catch to a single-day catch.'

4 This regulation has 

contmued, unchanged, to lhe pre~enr day."' 

Meanwhile. rangers during the postwar period 

were paying increased attentiOn to the park's lbh 

resourcel>. They noted newly-discovered ecies 

such as ling cod (burbot) in both or~cs oe Lake 

and Wonder Lake.'" They conducted periodic 

patrols that specificall) ~ought out fi~hcrm , 

and in August 1958 ranger~ issued what may have 

been their fir~t flsh-rclated cttation, to a Bureau 

of Pubhc Road~ construction worker for o~­

sessing "an overlimit of fish.""7 In dle mid-196os, 

Wonder Lake-hased rangers conducted surveys 

of fi.:,hing succe~s in that area. Science also 

entered the equation. In 1964. rangers were ~ufficiently worried about unknown fish parasites 

d1at they asked a University of Alaska professor 

for assbtance (these turned out to be leeches d1at 

"probably do lirtle damage to the fish''), and in 

1966 preliminary work began on a dietary tt1dy 

of Wonder Lake's lake trout (which concluded 

that the1r primary food was insect larvae, supplemented by mollu ks) ."~ 

Postwar Natural Resource Issues 

As noted above, biologi&l Adolph Murie had 

fi r~ t ~pent time at lhc park in 1922 and 1923 with 

his brother Olau~. I le had returned to Mount 

McKjnley in early 1939 as a Bureau of Biological 

Survey employee, and he remained there as either 

a seasonal or permanent employee until August 

1941. During that 2'·2-year period, he had become 

d1oroughly familiar with d1e park a!> he compiled information on its wolves. sheep. caribou 

and other large animals. Given a resur&ring and 

continuing interest in d1e role of wolves and other 

predators in the park's ecosystem, Murie returned 

ro the park in the late summer of 1945. In 1946, 

he became an NPS employee, and although his 

job assign ent~ were directed out of the regional 

office in San Francisco, he lived and worked at the 

park seasonally through 1947, then permanently 

from April1948 through October 1950. During 

this period, he complemenred his wolf-sheep 

duties by writing about other wildlife 'iUch a~ the 

tundra vole, griLLJy bear, and wolverine.," 

Given the quality of hb work, his superiors 

clamored for his participation in other projects, 

so in 1950 he headed off to Grand Teton National 

Park to study the local elk herd, and the fol -

lowing year he took part in Alaska Recreation 

Survey work in southeastern Alaska, Prince 

William Sound, and the Kenai Peninsula. He 

was also encouraged ro rake parr in a srudy about 

cougars in Olympic National Park, hut as Linda 

Franklin has noted, he ''wanted to continue his 

McKmlcy studies in&rcad, and d1at passion made 

him unenrhu ia&ti c about new opportunities.'' 

Mune, who served as d1 e park's only biolog1st 

throughout this period, declared an mterest 1n 

preparing "a new faunal seric'> publicatiOn on 

the mammals" of the park." Parr of his work 

Juring the !>Ummer of 1951 related to the still-active wolf-sheep issue, but the summers of 1953, 

1955, and 1956 involved research into park btrds 

and to other park mammals, such as the lynx. 

That research involved the compilation of an 

increasmg amount of film footage as well as written documentation, and - perhaps because of his 

brother's leadership posJtion with the Wilderness Society- he abo began to advocate for rhe 

protection o f the park's wilderness and wildlife 

Projects outside of Alaska abo commanded his 

attention, most no tably as they pertained to the 

Grand Teton elk population.''" 

Park staff during the postwar period benefited 

greatly from Murie's ntrclage, and several rangers have noted that their inte ractions w1th the 

biologist were both educational and in5pirational. 11' Pa rk leaders, moreover, lobbied for a staff 

naturalist. In re~pon.~e to Washington's demand~. 

beginning in 1947, for a monthly wild life report, 

Supt. Frank Reen complained lhat ''there a re four 

rangers who do all the jobs of protection, maintenance, construction, and public contact that i!> 

divided among ~pec iali ~:ed stalh mother national 

parb .... There should ... be a naturalist stao· for 

public relatiom as thi ~ i~ an important function 

of park purposes and serve& to indoctrinate visitor.., with dle appreciation for wild life values."•v 

Finally, mJune 1950, the superintendent dc&ignated University of Alaska botany student Elron 

Chaplet Twelve Natwal and Culturdl Resource Managemenl 20 I 
Adolph Murie •s shown here in 1940 

photographing wolf tracks on the 

East Fork of the Toklat River. Harpers 

Ferry Center #10582, NPS 

S. Thayer a~ a ~ea<;onal naturalist; he wa~ the fir~t 

since the early 1940'>. A year later, a~ noted m 

Chapter 11, William Nancarrow (who had been 

a park ranger ... mce 1948) w~ appotnted as rhe 

park\ first permanent naturalist After that dare, 

a full-time narurali.,t was a fixture on the park 

.,taff, and bcgmnmg in t954, at lea!>t one scn.,onal 

naturalist joincu the rank!. each summer.'" Much 

of the naturali'>t \workload wa., educauonal or 

interpretive m scope, but he abo helped coordinate the effort' of non-'J PS researcher.,, and he 

conducted ~uch rc.,carch a~ tlffil allowed. 

The park's role tn -.cience wa-. spotlighted h\ 

t\VO high-level conference;. held dunng the early 

1950 . In \1av 194q, an Ala~ka gcologbt an202 Crowr Jewel of thE' Nonh An Aclm•n•strdt•ve H1~torv of DE'n~h Ndllonal Par~ and PI'{'\Pr\, 

nounced that "a group of scientists based in and 

out of juneau have been d1scussmg the possibility 

of formmg an organitarion of scientists in the 

Terrtton." <...1ven that level of mterest, the first 

Alac..kn ScJCncc Conference. wh1ch was organited 

under the JU'>piccs of the National Academy of 

Science.,, was held tn Wa-.htngton, D.C. in ovembcr 19')0.' 1 The following year, officials dectded to hold the conference tn Alaska, and they 

chmc the \\cKinle\ Park I Intel as it., venue. This 

conference, wh1ch wa-. orgam/ed by the American ,h,octation for the Ad\'anccmenr of Science, 

was lh.·ld for the li\'e-day penod followmg Labor 

Dav. and m the words of Superintendent Pear-

~on, "the greatc~t group of prom1ncnL natural 

h1..,torv ~dentists to ever gather together in Alaska 
This view of Bergh Lake was taken 

from near the park road, looking 

north down Stony Creek. The lake 

was named for Knute Bergh, a 

recently-deceased U.S. Coast and 

Geodetic Survey contract pilot. 

DENA 3533. Denali National Park and 

Preserve Museum Collection 

attended thi~ conference." The meeting proved 

~o ~ucces!>ful that it was repeated at the hotel 

in late September 1952. These two meetings attracted not only scientists but also federal agency 

head:-, planners, and territorial politicians. The 

park supermtcndent played the role of host and 

local organiL.cr, and he also conducted trips our 

the park road. ~1o!>t of the papt'rs at the conference were not thematically related to ~pccifi c 

'J"PS concern~, but park employees contributed 

in var1ous way~. ln 19)1, "many of the scientists 

went on field trips which were directed by Park 

Biolog1st Adolph Murie," while in 1952, "lectures 

and papers were presented on land with regard to 

moo~e and caribou" am.l employees attended "a 

most mterestmg forum discussiOn upon predation and predator control.""; After 11)')2, the 

Alaska Science Conference typically met in c1ther 

Anchorage, Fairbanks, or Juneau, and not at the 

park; 'JPS staff, however, were able to attend a 

number of these meetings.' '" 

ls~ue~ related to the park's landforms first became prominent Juring th1s pcnod. Given the 

extraordinary efforts of U.S. Geological Survey 

personnel, who had published report~ about 

the park area beginning in 1907, park staff could 

easily acce~:. a ~ubstantial amount of information about the park\ geology, glaciology. and 

hydrology.•11 Bur given the ea&y visibility and the 

dynamism of many glacier-. that spilled out from 

the high Alaska Range, staff beginning in 1932 

sought ::.pecific glacial data by "taking p1ctures 

and mea'>uremems of Muldrow, Peters, Hanna 

and llerron Glaciers."' '' Rangers cstablbhcd 

large stone monuments near the faces of many 

park glaciers and, for the remainder of the 

decade, returned to make comparative photos 

and measuremcnts.'10 By 1939, however, anger~ 

had glumly concluded mat "es abli~hed monuments were frequently washed away," which 

underscored the need "for definitely permanent 

reference poims." A new method, instituted in 

1940, appeared more promising, but World War 

ll forced a cessation of these studies.'4" Bradford 

\'<'ashburn, the mountaineer, stared that cosmic 

ray research, nut glaciological research, helped 

ju~tify the need for the 1947 "Wh ite Tower" expedition. (Sec Chapter 13.) Once on the mountain, 

howe\'er, he also gathered data about the Muldrow Glacier's movements. Washburn was helpful 

in other ways, too; the meticulous phorographs 

he took of the area-aerial footage begmnmg in 

1936, ground photography beginning with his 

1942 expedition served as valuable baseline data 

for future rescarch.'4' 

Hc1ghtened awareness of the park's landforms 

did not take place until July 1953. when an 

earmquake, combined with heavy rainstorm~. 

caused a maJor landslide in Stony Creek Canyon, 

bet\veen Highway Pass and Stony Hill overlook. 

The slide, approximately one miJe north of the 

park road, dammed the creek bed with a 200-

foot berm, and within a month, a mile-long lake 

had formed-complete w1ili a thnvtng grayling 

population- that reached to within 150 feet of the 

park road. But erosion soon began ro wear down 

the huge earthen dam, and during the next three 

years the newly designated ''Bergh Lake" diminbhed to about half a mile in length. On July 2, 

1986, thirty-three years after the lake was formed, 

rain-swollen waters dug through me berm and 

the lake disappeared.'¥ 

Chal.lte• Twelve Nalural and Cultural Resourc~ Manaqement 203 
Adolph Murie (left) spent more o f his 

summers based at the Igloo Cabin 

than any ot her location In the park. 

He is pictured here w ith Joe Hankins 

in front of the Igloo Cabin. Wallace A. 

Cole Collection 

Mission 66: The Promise and the Reality 

In rebruary 1956, NPS Director Conrad Wirth 

announced the beginning of Mis~ion 66, a program that promi~ed a new infu~1un of ca~h to an 

agencv that had been !>utlenng from a pm.rwar 

crush of \"I!>Jtation. The prm.pecru~ that park -.tall 

developed 111 rcspon-.c to Wirth\ announccmcm 

(:-.ee Chapter 7) rccogniLcd that the park\ two 

primarv purpo5cs (based un the 1917legblanon) 

were Mount McKinle) (and the -.cener) that -.orrounded it) and the area\ b1olog1cal diver~1rv. In 

addition, "highe~t rankmg among the mtangihle 

values of the park is it~ distinct wi derne~., feel." 

Ba~ed un thow value,, !>tafT nmed that "of urmosr 

importante ... is the conrmuauon of sc1enufic 

research wilhm the area." 1 he two most prominent "sc1entifk research" needs, however, were 

pragmatic to the extreme; one proJect called for a 

stud) to climmare "glac1enng" or road 1cing along 

the park road. while another called for "biOlogical and geological research " ncar the western end 

of the park road "to obtain factual matcnal fnr 

the oppm.inon or support" o f new road building actlvltle'>. f"he prospectu-, aJ...o declared llH: 

need for "continual invc,uganons of the ecological rdarion'.hlp~ of the flora and fauna . . 111 

the maintenance of ind igenous forms.'' ~pec1fk 

b1olog1cal proJect~ included ··.,rudie~ of range 

carrying capacities in regard to large herbh orc~; 

alritudmal di'>tribution nf plant., and animal'>; and 

phy-,iological-.tudies of spec1al adapratiom for 

arctlc e:xl\tencc," while landform-related studies 

included :~dduional "rc.,carch concerning the 

formatmn of the Alaska Range and it~ complex 

lithoiO!,') " and a rene~al of studies of the "ongm, 

growth, and movement" of the park's glacier.,, 

a.<, well as ncw work on the "location and effect 

104 Cruwt Jo>-1 o the North An Admorustrattve H•storv ol Dtmah Nattonal Patk ,mrt Pre,~rvf' 

of permafrost" in tht park. • The pro'>pectus 

env1.,1oncd almo~t 7 million in new spending 

at the park, virtually all of It, however, would go 

toward lmpro,·ed roads. building-., and utilitie!>. 

Resource prorecnon, by contrast. would get short 

-,lwft; rhe plan\ onh nod in this area wa~ the 

eventual add1tion of new naturali!.ts (primarily 

seasonal) to the park '>tall· o funds would be 

d1rcctcd toward '>Cientific research. ' 4 

rhe final park \1i<,-.ion 66 plan, relea .. cd in 

Ma'r 1457. wa~ even lcs-. -.cn'llti\'c to resource 

protection that the previous year\ pro-.pecru!.. 

Whtlc the final plan acknowledged that "It 1s the 

combmanon of -.uperlauve mountain '>ccnery 

and w1ldhfe along with the palpable wilderness 

a'>pccr of 1\kKinlev Park rhat make it deserving 

of prc-.crvatlon for thi.., and future generation~ 

of Americans," it al"o <,tated that "McKinley is 

... nllm If'> ernbrvomc development !. tagc~·· and 

that "the 'v1cKmley 'v1i~~ion 66 program was 

formulated to correct prc&ent day dcfic1enc1e& 

and to prepare for the mcreasc in vi~ilation and 

it' attendant problem-. due to the opening of the 

park to automobtlc travel." It stared, somewhat 

iromcally, lhar "'the key ro the development 

theme of the park is the maintenance ol wilderne~~ integritv," but like rhe preccdmg prmpecru~. 

it recommended monev -,olclv for construction 

ami Improvement~: for roads and trmb ( 7.2 million), ~tructures and unhne' ($2.5 mtlhon), and 

campground' and '>lgm ( 0.1 million) .• , 

Adolph Murie. who had been at the park when 

the 1\.-ll'i'>ton 66 ream "t\lted the park tn July 1956 

(though absent durtng the wmte1 of 1955-56. 

when the mitial prospectu!> was prepared). was 
In the summer of 1957 graduate 

student Jack Gross was hired by 

the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

to conduct a ground-based sheep 

survey in Mt. McKinley National Park, 

accompanied by horse packer Willy 

Miller. The purpose of the survey 

was to obtain more accurate sex and 

age information to augment aerial 

surveys. DENA 18-58, Denali National 

Park and Preserve Museum Collection 

unhappy with d1e park's \tl.ission 66 plans. He 

felt mat "becau~e McKinley I~ considered by 

many to be our outstanding wildlife park, out· 

standing even by Alaska standards, it behooves us 

to give the most careful consideration to all intrusions before approving any of them." He, unlike 

others at the park, sought to preserve me park'!. 

"wilderness character.'' He made no specific 

recommendations for additional natural resource studies; he did, however, urge me agency 

to expand the park boundary northward in the 

Wonder Lake area, bom to eliminate a threat 

to hunting but abo on aesthetic grounds, "to 

preserve a proper setting at Wonder Lake from 

which to enjoy this sublime region."'4" 

Meanwhile, park wildlife research in the wake 

of the 1\1\ission 66 program continued much as it 

had before. The wolf-&heep controversy by now 

had receded a~ a public issue, but in recognition of Lhe continuing importance of the park's 

most prominent wildlife specie&, most attention 

continued to be directed toward the park' sheep 

and caribou populations. The Fish and Wildlife 

Service, in cooperation with the PS, conducted 

aerial and ground sheep surveys ar least once per 

year from 1957 to 1959; these were supplemented 

by additional aerial surveys in 1961 and 1962.'47 

Mune, who had spent the summer~ of 1955 

and 1956 at the park, returned in May 1959 and 

remained there each summer for more than a decade- well past his December 1964 retirement.'4~ 

He spent mo~t of those summers, home-based at 

me Igloo Creek cabin, studying the park's caribou, sheep, and other wildlife, although in 1961 

he helped conduct a wildlife study of me Windy 

Creek and Foggy Pas& areas. Thi latter work 

wa~ apparemly a response to vanous plans to 

excavate lim e~tone along the West Fork of Windy 

Creek and to build a cement plant nearby (sec 

Chapter 14). In addition, he completed book~ on 

the park\ mammals and birds in 1962 and 1963, 

respectively.'4'' 

The park attracted se,·eral outside researchers 

during this period. Ted Lachelt, a University of 

a~ka graduate student, spent several months 

in the field on a wolverine study, while Richard 

Chapler Twelve Ndtural and Culturdl Resource Management 205 
To keep bears from breaking into 

unattended cabins, "bear shutters" 

with nails driven through the wood 

were fashioned to fit over cabin doors 

and windows. These were removed 

when the cabin was occupied and 

replaced when the cabin was vacated. 

Charles Ott Photo, Denali National 

Park and Preserve 

Coleman, from the Bureau of Public l lcalth, 

obtatned a permit to w llcct mvcrtebratc~. • In 

June 1957, :.evcral scienusts arnved at the park to 

srudv the park'<; h1rd and tn<,ccr p(1pulatton<., and 

throughout the .,ummcr of 1957, ~cientl~ts from 

both the U.S. Geological Survey and the American Geographtcal Sociel) descended on lvtultlrow GlaCier to investigate tt'> recent ~urge I es 

Viereck, !rom the UmvcNl) of Colorado, -.pent 

the summer'> of 1956 and 1958 collect10g mus~cs, 

lichen:., and va.,cular plants ncar Mount Eiel-.on, 

and Eleanor Viereck (lc-.\ w1fe) c,tud1ed the 

park's ~mall mammal population:. . .,.. The -.ummer 

of 1959 brought two scienti'>ts ro the park ro make 

further studies of Muldrow Glacier. ap1er Shelton, from Duke University, spent the summer of 

1961 stud) mg the plant di-.tributlon m the Toklat 

206 Crown Jewel of the North An Arlmon•strotrve H•story of DPnah Nauon,11 Park anLI Preserve 

and lcklamka river bastn'>, and Ray Davts, a Univcro.,tty of Idaho professor, arrived 10 1962 to study 

the C lanoma, or '>prtng beautv. 1 In 1963, British 

ecolog1't Frank rra-.er Darling spent a week w1th 

Murie and participated 10 h1s field research, and 

in 1964 two rescarchcrc, vtslted: Wallace Grange 

from \Vbconsin, who spent much of the summer 

stud) 1ng the park\ -.now-,hoe hare populauon, 

and Eric Jlulten, the well-known Swedish botanht, who undertook a plant collecung proJect 

with Adolph and Loui-.e Murie's a'si~tance.• ;o~ 

Postwar Bear Management: 

Avoidance, Protection, and Study 

Bear,, \\ hteh had first emerged a" a management 

rroblcm during the late 19205 (sec above), continued to cau~e problems through the m1d-1940S, 
Ranger John Rumohr •s shown here 

releasing a grizzly bear from the 

park's mobile culvert bear trap. 

Denali Nattonal Park and Preserve 

Museum Collection 

primaril~ by tlamagmg the park\ patrol cabins. 

In respon~e. rangn;, spent con~rtkrablc nme and 

effort to prevent new dcprctlatitms, and during 

the spring of 1946 the park reported that these 

cabin!. all ... portctl narl~ on rhc u<mr casing. on rhe 

door itself. and on rhe wmdow -.butter;.. Dnmage 

continued, howe\'cr, parucul.1rlv ncar the western end of the park road In June 11)46. ranger' 

reported that a hear had entered the Md.:inley 

Bar patrol cabin and ulitc.:r<llh wrecked the place," 

and the followmg year one of the Camp Erclc;on 

butlding'> """"mauled h\ a gntth.'''•' The mo;.t 

vulnerable build mg. however, wa ... rhe Wonder 

Lake Ranger ~ration \ "maraudmg '>he-bear" 

damaged the fauht\ on numcrou~ occasiom 

during the summer of 1948, cau~ing ~o much fear 

among park staff that rcparr ... d rd not commence 

until November, ''to he ... urc rhatthc bear was 

hibernating."''' ·1 he vear 1949 brought more grim 

news. Park stafl noted that it wa'> "the worst in 

the hbtory of the park for bear trouhh:. The) 

have broken rnto most of our patml cabin" 

along the park road." rwo \ e<lrS later. a 6sopound grilll) bear Jamagcd the me~~ hall and 

bunkhouse at the long-abandoned avage River 

conce~~iom camp. On two occ:hions, bear-; attacked people: in July 1949· a L.S. (,eologrcal Survev emplO\ ec workrng in the Ewe Creek vicrmry 

·•got claw marb on lw. hack," anJ in June 1951 an 

ARC worker wa-. "hadly htttt:n and mauled'" by a 

Toklat gri; tly.''' 

Employees, during thi~ pcrrod, inrtially u~ed a 

three-pronged appn>ach rowarJ hear~ . FiN, 

both PS and Ala!>ka RoaJ Commrssion staff 

tried to mini mite the amount of food kept at therr 

cabins and camp'>. If hear~ lingered nearby. they 

fired variou'> warning shot..., hoping 10 fnghten 

them away: or. in the ca~e ol the Horseshoe Lake 

Trail, rangers <,tmplv clo~ed it for -.everal weeks. 

If warmng mea~ure~ fa1lcd, hO\\e\'er, personnel 

were authon;eJ to ~hoot habmrated bears. Thus 

<;cveral incrdents of :wmdance bchavror were noted m the park records, bmh at the ARC\ l<>klat 

road camp ::md the\\ onder Lake Ranger tation.';" Bur in luh I<J46 a Camp Ere bon bear "became mean, even <.ha.,ing people on three different occasions:' and n "finally had to be destroyed 

w prevent a serrous accident." And in September 

1948, a maimed hear wa., killed by rangers about 

t\vo mile~ north of the railroad depot "to avoid 

possibility of going ber-.erk from pain and rage 

and becoming a ha;aru ro people."""' 

In June 1949. gnttlies were seen prowling around 

both the part.. hcad4uarte r'> anJ the roklat road 

camp. So ro mrnrm11e future rncidcnts, park 

mechanic john r. \\ 11i1,1ms dcvr-.ed 3 )i\'C bear 

trap from a section of mad culvert and mounted 

it on a two-wheeled trarlcr Bv Augu'>t the trap 

wa., complete, and two tmubJc.,omc Toklat-area 

bears were trapped. then released el~cwhere m 

the park.'"' Addrtronal relocation'>, or artempted 

relocatiom, took place at lca'<t once per year for 

several year'> thereafter."· Rear~. attracted by 

food odor~. abo emerged a~ a prohlcm during the 

summer of 19')1 at the park\ garbage dump, ju~ r 

ea.,t of the McKmlt·y Park arr'>trip. 
Given the growing number of bear problems at 

the park- to the patrol cabin!., at the ARC camps, 

and the hotel-area garbage dump NPS Regional 

Director Lawrence Merriam in September 1951 

reque~ted "the recommendations of Dr. Muric 

on the bear management problem." Murie\ 

cabin recommendations did not include spiked 

door~ and shutter!. (he declared them "atrocious 

in appearance and inefficient"); instead, he sugge~ted ''proper bear-exclusion shutters ... and a 

bear-proof door," and the need for all stored food 

to be kept in a nearby cache, not in the cabin 

itself. At the ARC camp~, the solution to the 

garbage problem lay in in~1sting that pt:r!>onnd 

empty their garbage cans each evening and that 

"some kind of fencing" wa!> needed ro surround 

the refu!:.e piles. And at the hotel-area garbage 

dump, the be!>t long-term ~olution "would be 

a bear-proof fence that does nor depend upon 

electricity." Pending the construction of such a 

fence , however, he suggested that ''all the bear~ 

... be live-trappeJ and hauled westward ro the 

Wonder Lake or Red Top mine areas."'"' 

Muric'~ recommendatiom had mixed results. Attacks on cabm!> continued; in 1952. for example, 

a bear tnflicred "minor depredations" on the 

Sanctuary patrol cabm. A year later, a ranger on 

an extended dogsled trip reported that "many of 

the outlying cabins were in poor condition due to 

lack of maintenance and depr~dallon from bear,'' 

and in july 1955 a gritzly "ripped up'' a hou5e 

trailer located at \XIonder Lake."'" Arrack:; at the 

ARC camps. however, cca~cd. Park pen .. onncl 

contmued to trap and relocate bears for the next 

~everal year~; the practice, however, was apparently abandoned after the summer of 1954. ~ At 

the dump. l<JSI was the first year in what turned 

out to be a five-year management effort, the process of whtch i<; detailed 111 Chapter 6. 

Bear problem~ of another :;orr brought about 

changes 111 the Sable Pass area. Soon after the 

park road was completed to thb area, park officials rccogni;ed rhc area\ outstanding wildlife; 

in a lune IIJJO report, Supt. Lick noted that "the 

game in rhi-, ~ection is very tame and count c~:-. 

thousand~ of ~heep and caribou can be '>een on 

the hill sides.""''' In 1940. however, Supt. Been 

noted a new phenomenon: "A large TI)klat gri:tzly 

bear and her cub ranged through the Sable Pass 

cction all summer." And after that date, most 

Sable Pa-.!1 visitors noted the area'<; bea.rc., to the 

exclu<.wn of other large animah. By the c:Jrly 

1950'>, griulic!:. in the area "were reported almo!:.l 

daily by tounsts and p:1rk per~onnel alike."'"7 

Thi:; predictability. however, brought problems, 

bccau'>c in Jul] 1955, the park noted that "~everal 

pers"tcnt photographers" hnd been lea\"ing the 

road right-of-way and "photographing the bear-., 

208 C•ow11 Jewel of lhe Nonh An Adrmm~lril ll ve H1~ ory of Dendi! Nat•onal Park and Preserve 

in that area day after day and have caused the 

animal~ to move away from the roadside." As 

a result, "visitor!> have had difficulty in locating the bearr. on the feeding grounds." Aware 

that the impending completion of the Denali 

Highway would bring thousands of privatelyowned automobile~ to the area, park and regional 

officials initiated "a discussion on restricting the 

Sable Pass to roadside photography to permit 

the Toklat grialy to graze undisturbed.'' The following February, park officials recommended a 

~pecial regulation to that effect, which stated that 

between mileposts 37 and 42 (roughly for two 

miles on eilher side of Sable Pass) and one mile 

on either :,ide of the park road, the agency would 

prohibit entry to ''photographers and hikers.''''"' 

This prohibition was later broadened lO include 

"orhcr Park vtsitor[) except as may be specifically 

authori;ed by the Superintendent," and it became 

effective on June 20, 1956, when it was published 

in the Federal Regzster. The regulation evidently worked; m 1959, Adolph Muric noted that 

"increased traffic over the park road [since the 

Denali llighway opened in August 1957! has not 

as yet forced the griu.ly out of its habitat in the vicinity of Sable Pa%."'"" The regulation remained 

until October 1983, when tt wa!> eliminated in 

favor of a more broadly-applicable language in 

the "closures and public limits" section of the 

agency\ general regulations. The area today 

rcmams closed to general public entty.'7'' 

Soon after the Sable Pas~ protection LOne wa5 

implemented, new !>tudies began about the 

park\ gri;zlies. Dr. Frederick Dean, a University of Alaska wildlife biology professor and the 

ad hoc head of the Alaska Cooperative Wildlife 

Research Unit, receiVed an Arctic Institute of 

North America grant for a long-term study of the 

Toklat griu.ly.171 lie arrived at thc park in June 

1957. 5ettled into tl1e patrol cabin at Igloo, and 

~pent the remainder of the summer observing the 

bear~· distribution, abundance, and habits. lie 

returned the following june. and each summer 

unnl 1960 saw him making either extended visit-, 

ro the park or, on occasion, making aerial bear 

cemu cs.''' But his inability to obtain funding for 

additional field work prematurely curtailed his 

~tudy, and few tangible recommendations from 

h1s work were forwarded to park ~taff n 

The park, meanwhile, continued to manage its 

bear population much as it had during the late 

1940:. and early 1950s. Bears had not been much 

of a management problem for several years after 

195'), but during the summer of 1960 at Jea!>t five 

griuly hear~. attracted by food, caused trouble 

up and down the park road. (One bear, according to an PS report, .. took exception to [an 

N PS] house trailer ncar d1e Wonder Lake Ranger 
The 5-mile-long Sable Pass closure, 

in effect continuously since 1956, 

provides a limited area along the 

park road where visitors have 

an opportunity to view wildlife 

undisturbed, in a natural setting. 

NPS lnterp. Collection, 114103, Denali 

National Park and Preserve 

Station and demolbhed the unit.") ln each case, 

the bears were live-trapped and "removed to a 

remote area in the park." Rangers, in 1961, did 

much the same to at least six more bears.' • Bur 

between then and 1966, only two nuisance bears 

were recorded: in October 1963, a "rogue black 

bear" tried to break into several buildings and 

cars at headquarters and had to be destroyed, 

and in September 1965 an immature griuly was 

live-trapped and removed after tearing the siding 

from a staff residence.'7' And one bear-caused 

inJUr) was reported; in 1961, graduate student 

~apier Shelton, who was working on the south 

slope of lgloo Mountain, received puncture 

wounds to his thigh and a deep laceration to his 

leg. The injury put him in a Fairbanks hospital 

for several day~, but three weeks later he was 

back in the field.'7

" 

Chapter Twelve· Natural and Cultural Resource M anagement 209 
The park, by necessity, also managed other 

animals dunng the pmtwar period. Beaver~. 

along the railroad corndor, were an occasiOnal 

problem during the late 940~, anJ in both 1961 

and 1962 several were live-trapped and removed 

(to upper Hine~ Creek) because their damming 

activities were threatenmg lhe railroad crossing 

near Milcpo~t 345-'n Porcupines, as noted above, 

had heen reponed a~ nuisances since the 1920,, 

and the damage they created caused additwnal 

concern during the early 1950s. Managers did 

not intervene during these period~. But when a 

porcupmc, in the spring of 1965, anad.:ed ~everal 

birch trees in the headquarters area, ~taff reacted 

by placing "protective coverings" on the trees 

and removing the offending animal.'7x Smaller 

animals could be inrrusive, too; foxes, along with 

arctic weaseb, often lingered near residence~ and 

occasionally ransacked food source~. But after 

d1e mid-1950s, a greater empha~i~ on secure food 

storage brought a stop to thb activity.''" 

Park Wildlife Planning and Its Ramifications, 

1961-1971 

Stewart Udall, who wa-. Pres1dent Kennedy's 

Interior Secretary, wa., well aware of a growing 

national awareness of ecology and the intcrrelatedne5~ of nature. In 1962, therefore. he appomtcd a comminee headed by A. Starker Leopold, 

and he a~ked the committee to write a report 

that applied these themes to wildlife management. rhe result of that effort, relea~cd in March 

1963. had an immediate impact on NP!> resourc.: 

management. The comminee's findings. known 

mformally a<; the Leopold Report, called on NPS 

manager~ to "recognize the enormous complexity of ecologic communities and the diver<>ity of 

management procedure~> rcquLrcd to pre~erve 

them.'' The report furd1er slated that scientific 

re~earch should '·form the hasis for all manage 

ment programs" and d1at a broad range or agency 

decision making should fall under the ''full 

JUn.>diction of biologically trained pcr~onncl." 

l<l adopt these recommendations, al> the report 

noted, would be a "major polic) change" for a 

bureau that - particularly ~ince the commencement of the Mbs1on 66 program h~d pnmarily 

focused on accommoda1ing tourbm.'h" 

In reacnon to the Leopold Report and a im1 lar 

National Academy of Sc!Cnces report, is!>ued 

later that year, NPS Director George Hartzog 

established a new Division of Natural Sciences. 

Before long, staff from the various park unit!> was 

asked to compile planning documents that laid 

out their particular research requiremenrs.'"' At 

Mount McKinley, Superintendenr Oscar Dick 

spearheaded the compilation of the park's fir'>t 

natural resource planning document. The 'iOcalled Long-Range Wlildlife and Range Manage2 10 Crown Jewel of the Noe th An Adr tr t< vP H<Story of Denali N.lt<onal Park and Pceserv.-

IIU!IIt Plan was drafted tn early 1964. After re\1-

~ions from regional and Washington officials, the 

final plan was approved in March 1965. The plan, 

which covered the 1964-1969 period, stated that 

"wildlife management in lhe immediate future 

will aclcntuate the protection of Park wildlile 

from human influence'' and that "ecological 

re),earch will be encouraged." 

To carry out tho:.e objectives, the park ~taif urged 

a d1ree-pronged approach. First, the aerial Dall 

sheep censu~e~ which had been carried out since 

the 1940s needed to he continued "in order to 

provide long term information on population 

fluctuation~ of this Important species." Second, 

111 order to eliminate the "quasi-domestication 

of bear, fox, and other animals," staff needed 

"consi~Len l enforcement of existing regulattons, 

prompt action in remov1ng addicted (rogtte) ammal~, [and] adequate ~anitat 0n in campgrounds, 

res1denrial areas, dumps. etc." Finally, staff recognized that ''increased use of d1e lands near the 

Park may eventually have a marked deleterious 

effect on the natural balance'' of caribou and Dall 

sheep. so they recommended ''boundary extenSions as well as firm agreements with agencies 

admintstering adJacent lands."'s' 

During rhe five years after d1e plan was approved, 

'orne aspects of the plan were implemented to a 

greater degree than others. ln part, this mixed 

record was due to a lack of staff. Adolph Murie. 

the park\ longnme biologist, had retired in 

December 1964, and although he contmued as 

a summertime resident at the park until 1970, 

he ob~erved wildlife pnmarily as an avocation; 

he abo continued his long-running role as an 

ardent defender of the park\ natural values. 

More specifically, he played a key role in the 

long-runnmg controversy over the park road {see 

Chapter 7). and he also served as a consultant to 

rwo different ma~tcr plannmg studics.'8 ' In late 

196) officiab selected Richard Prasil. the agency's 

regional naturalist, to replace Murie a~ biologist. 

Prasd, however, did not move to Alaska until june 

1966, and he was based in the newly-established 

Anchorage office, not at the park. Prasil, given 

d1e agency\ expanding role in the !>tate, juggled a 

variety of role~.· 4 Fven ::.n, he completed several 

wildlife censuses and other brief biological reports between 1967 and 1973.'"' 

Perhaps because of tim lack of staff. me park d1d 

not continue its aerial sheep counts during d1c 

mid-to-late 1960s. This may have been because 

park staff, aided by the Murie'!> summertime 

ob.,ervatlons, concluded that the sheep population wa~ relatively healthy.'"' The park continued to have occasional problems with animal 

·'quasi-domestication:· These problems led to 
This mountainside e1Ch1bits w ell· 

w orn and numerous caribou trails 

along routes t o calving areas on the 

south side of the Alaska Range 1n Mt. 

McKinley National Park. John DaileMolle Photo, NPS, Denali National 

Park and Preserve 

the relocation-. of ~everal probh..m hear-. and, on 

a more tragic note, an August 1967 h~.:ar a\!.ault 

on a park emplovce JUSt wc<.L oflhklat Campground." 7 The"- P~, durrng thi-. penod, al..,o 

mulled over the need for a boundary exten-,ion 

in order to pre~crve the yt•;n-round habttat nf the 

park's sheep and caribou popu lauon.,. A'> noted 

rn Chapter 7• this idea wa~ rntti.lllv considered on 

a mode~t scale 1n 1965, whrle 1n 1966 and 1968, 

1nternally-c1rculated m:Ner plan., recommended 

the acqut'>ttton tll an rncrl·a~mgh large tract of 

land north of the park boundan. 

In the meannme, -.uulllfic ~rudtc~ w~.:rc ad\ anced 

hy both NP~ cmplovee<. and outsrdc re.,earcher .... 

In the !>pnng of 11}6]. graduate 1\Wdent Gordon 

Haber (who had .. crved a-. a .. ea .. onal rangcr-naturali'>t the prev1ous '>Ummer) geared up to begin 

hi!> own study of wolve., m thl! park. That .,rudy, 

which became I Iaber\ mthter\ thcsts, wa!> completed in 1968. Abo in 1967. NPS bi<)logbt Richard Prasil conducted rwo aerial wolf ccnwsc<,.'"' 

The following year, Pras1l publi'hcd add iuonal 

ohservanon.., about the park\ w<>h·c:-.. caribou. 

and grin I; hear populauon~ . .1n<..l he continued 

ro pav attcntmn ro the\\ olf and tJrihou ~ituation 

through d1c carl} 1970'>. • 

In 1969, a-. a follow-up to agcnc} pulrn that had 

been set in motron bv the Leopold Report, park 

'>taff prepared a -.econd, fivl! year long range 

wrldlife management plan 1 hat report -.rated 

that "the goal of .'v1cKrnley wiiJlifc managemcm 5hould be a continued research approach 

an<.! a hand'>-off management polrcy unle'>~ the 

resource ic; being changed hy human activiti c5." 

Cnnrrol efforts would "he drrected tnwards 

alienating or mmimiting the dTcLt of man'., 

presence" and mcluded "comi~tcm enforcement 

of regulation:., adequate '>anttattnn m areas of 

human occupancy, and puhhc educmtonal programs." The onlv reductlun program crwi'>H>ned, 

in fact, wa!. "the occa ... ronal rcmm al of r~nirnal'> 

that endanger human life." The •·foundation for 

Park wildhfe management" Wllllld l.ontmue w bl 

ha~ed on "aclUratc docum<:ntatlon of pertinent 

data b) Park per.,onncl" along with ··formal 

projects conduttcd bv '>ctt•ntlfic "pcuah.,ts ·• ln 

re5pon<,c w a prohlcm nl "wolf poachmg from 

rhe arr:· the plan rttormncndcd "more imen-

.,in! acnal patrol < ,f rhc Park," anJ It rontmued 

Its earlier '>Ugge'ition that the only wa\ ro truly 

protect the park\ large mammal rorulati(JI1'> 

\'>'a\ ''through cxtt·n.,Ive hnundary change' or ... 

coopcrati\'e agreemenh with fedcral1nd .,tate 

land management agcncie~.""" 

Establishing a Park Resource Management 

Program, 1972-1980 

During the Winter of 1<)71-197.2, park v1~1tanon 

pattern., were ch;mgcJ dramaucalh bccau~c of 

a deci~lon, h\ r~ Director Georg<. Hartw_g, 

to rationalue the number of pa-. ... l.nga nhtde., 

traveling along mo.,t of the park road ~ec 

Chapter R ) l lartlog. 111 maJ.>rng lw. dccl.,rnn, 

recogn11cd thar hccaw.e of the cnmplcrion ol the 

new -\nchorage-hurbanb h1ghwm. the \Ummer 

of 1972 would bnng a dramatic llll rca-.c in park 

visrtauon. He abo 1-.nc\\ that park '>taJf had hcen 

concerned '>tn<.e the late 1960~ .1bout thl cftect 

of cXI'>tmg auromobilc rralli<. on park wrldlile. 

and a~ early as 196H, park \Upenntcndenl George 

Hall had urged thl' implementation of ~orne 

viable alrcrn::~tiw ro tncrcawd pa'>\cngcr car 
Fred Dean, shown here in 2005, 

began his long-term grizzly bear 

research in Mt. McKinley National 

Park in 1957. He later directed the 

activities of the Cooperative Park 

Studies Unot, a cooperative effort 

between the National Park Service 

and the University of Alaska, 

promoting research to answer 

management questions and provide 

an understanding of park ecosystems. 

NPS Photo 

traffic. Became of Hart;og's deci~ion, the agenc) 

instituted a new system of shuttle buse~. which 

complemented the concessioner's long-established tour buses. The new ~ystem succcssfulh 

operated in 1972, although not with our prohlcm~. 

and by that fall, many were conlcrncd about the 

tmpact of the new transportation sv,tem on the 

park's animal populations and vegetation. The 

NPS, by this time, had already begun working with the University of Alaska on a new, ad 

hoc organization called the Alaska Cooperative 

Park Studies Unit (CPSU). Dr. Fred Dean, the 

professor who headed the unit, was familiar with 

the park, and knowing the park\ Interest tn the 

subject, he asked graduate ~tudent Diane Tran ro 

undertake the project. Tracy spent much of the 

summers of 1973 and 1974 in the field. often riding 

park buse~, and by late 1975, a progre"s report of 

her research findmgs had been published.'" 

Tracy's efforts turned out to the first of man~ 

CPSU studies about the park's natural e~o urccs 

212 Crown Jewel of the North· An Admonostratove Hoswry of Denalo Nat,onal Park ilnd Preserve 

that would be undertaken during the 1970s 

and early 19Ros. Unlike the unit's Anrhropolog~ and Historic Preservation Program, which 

wa" pnmarily concerned with the resources in 

proposed park units, the Biology and Resource 

Management Program focused most of it!-. projects on Mount McKinley ational Park and the 

other three Alaska park units. The relative clo!.e 

distance between Fairbanks and the park, and the 

relarh·ely high ~ophisticatJon of Mount McKmlcy's re..,ource problems in comparison with other 

park units, anracted many researchers to t.he park. 

The CP~U, as a result, sponsored park-based 

project~ related to grialy bear ecology, human 

disturbance impact~ on wolves, animals' use of 

the park's dump sites, Dall heep feeding ecology, 

moose winter o;urvival rates, moose-wolf habitat interactions, vegetation mapping, vegetation 

trampling impact~, and similar topics.'"' These 

proJeCb, which were partly or wholly financed 

bv the '\1 PS, were usually framed !.O as to resolve 

'>pecific re~ourcc- ated problems, and they 
At the park from 1972 to 1977. Steve 

Buskirk developed a li51 of research 

prlonties and created a plan to deal 

with increasing backcountry use. 

NPS lnterp. Collection, #2845, Denali 

National Park and Preserve 

As a Cooperative Park Studies Unit 

researcher for 2 years. Ken Whitten 

studied the habitat relationships and 

population dynamics of Oall sheep in 

M t. McKinley National Park, gathering 

dat a for his 1975 M ast er of Science 

thesis. Ken Whitten Photo 

benefited not only the agency, but -,everal abo 

became the subJect of student<,' master's thc-.c~ .··• 

CP U-affiliatcd personnel, however, were not 

rhe onh scicnll'>t~ conducnng -.tudie at the park 

durmg this pennd. PS pcNmncl, eid1er at the 

rark or area-office leveb, conducted a number of 

aerial sheep ccibU~es as well a., caribou popul:~rion and movement tudi e!-.. Other wildlife 

'>tudies were conducted by the Alaska Cooperative Wildlife e~earch Unit, the organitanon wtth 

which Frederick Dean had been affiliated durmg 

his I957-60 gri11ly bear studJCs:··~ 

The large number of non- P\ rc'>carchers that 

de~cendcd on the park demamlcJ the e~rab lbh

ment of a '>taff lia~snn, so during the summer of 

19]3-Shortly after Diane 1 racv, the first crsu rc~carchcr bcgan working on her lount Me Kinlev study the agenc} deciJcd wlme Steve 

Bu-.kirk, a maMer\-level biologist who had been 

a full-time park ranger since \1a} HJ72. Bu~ki rk, 

upon bemg selected, was known as a ranger With 

a resource -.pccialty, but by the end of the year hi'> 

mle had hift cd to resource management '>peciall';t.J Tn h1., nC\\ role, he wa~ a~kcd to develop a 

ltM of research pnoririe~ (thi'> lbt, forwarded on 

to CPSU pcr~o nn , helped mlluence the type~ 

of research d1at took place in the park), and he 

was also told to "develop a plan to deal with the 

explosive grm\ th 111 backcountrv u~e." ''" Thtc, 

ta~k. dunng the winter of 1973-I974, led to his 

compilatiOn of the park's fir<>! backcountrv management plan (!-.ee Chapter H). Hu~ki rk remained 

at the park untiii977• and t.hc following Augu~t he 

wa~ succeeded bv John Daile- vlolle Interest in 

re~ourcc~ wa!-. ~ufficiently great that Dalle-\!lolle, 

tn Arril of I979· h1red an a~~i~ta nt joe Van Horn. 

Dalle-,vlolle continued m his posinon unul he 

eppeJ down m the late I980~; Van Horn continued to work in the park\ resources diviswn for 

almo'>t 1\venty years."'" 

One rc-.uurce-relared problem area that ballooned mto Importance durmg t.he I970" wa" 

bear management. Bear-human counter~, as 

notct.l ahove, had been a nagging problem eYer 

!>ince the I920S, but m the half-century of park 

management pnor to I972, .,o-called "incident~" ' had been few (lc.,-, than one per vcar), 

and there had been JU>t four In JUnes from bear 

attac . But the year I972 brought a doubling of 

park vh.Itation from the year before, and vi'>Itation m u~So was more than ~even nmc-. that of 

197L G1ven thl'> pupulanon exploswn, incidcntf> 

and mjurie'> grew apace. Between I972 and I98o. 

inclu!>ively, rangers recorded I38 incident~; this 

averaged approximately 15 incidents, and '>everal 

hundred dollars in property damage, each vear. 

[n add ilion, there wen: mne bear-cau-.ed injurie-. 

(one per year), 5everal of them seriOU'>. Backcountry ca mp ~. though numerically '>mall when 

compared to other park vi~itors, accounted for 

well over half of the,c inCidents and m)une~."·" 

In order to manage tim mcrca5ingl) wmplex 

problem, the park in It)72. publi~hed and distributed a bear warnmg folder (entitled Grt::;:::/v Bear 

- Fnend or Foe~). and a vcar larer there.: \\a'> an 

ongomg program to educate rhe ruhhc to the 

h;uard-. of bear encounter~ and how to av01d 

them. A card for t.hli> purpo~c wa~ d 1'>1 rihuted 

to all vi~itor~. and a hackcountr) me folder rhat 

Chaple• Twl'l~e N,'ltura an;J CutlUlcJI ResourcP Mnn•tlJCIT\!'•\1 213 
During his tenure as resource 

manager, John Daile-Molle 

initiated an inventory of park 

resources, drafted the first resource 

management plan, and emphasized 

protection of the park's Wilderness 

character. DENA 9024. Denali 

Nat ional Park and Preserve Museum 

Collection 

explained bear hazards wa~ di~tributed to all 

backcountry user~. '"" In 1974, the park began 

requiring hackcountry users to obtain acce~s 

permits, and as part of the permit-distribution 

proce!>&, ranger educated campers about proper 

behavior roward bears and food storage methmb. 

In 1978, park ~taff tm.talled bear proof garbag~: 

cans at the R.Jiey Creek campground-the first in 

a process that, within five years, resulted in \UCh 

cans throughout the park and that same year, 

park staff clm,ed backcounrry units for the first 

nme due to bear activity. Also, by thts time, ~taft 

had developed a bear incrdent reporting form, 

equipped rangers with immobilizing drugs, and 

prepared their first bear-human conflict management plan . And in order to ~tandardize the 

collection of data about bear-human inctdents, 

the park in 1980 mstituted the Bear Information Management System, a management roo! 

that had been pioneered at Glacier NauonaJ 

Park during the 1970s.'"" Park stafr, during thi~ 

period, continued to manage problem bears 

much the same way they had since J\lurie, in 1951, 

had wetghed in wtth his recomm ndation~ : t) by 

attempting to separate bears from potential human-related food sources, 2) by relocating bears 

who were associating either people or stntctures 

with tho~e food sources, and 3) de:,troying bear~ 

who continued to be problems to people or 

structures. Between 1972 and 1980, inclu~iv ly, 17 

bear~ had ro be relocated. Some of these relocations were apparently &uccessful, but at least four 

park bears had to be e~troyed. "" 

Park staff, during d1is period, closed an increasing number of backcountry areas tn order to 

214 Crown Jewel of the Nonh An AdrnlntStratiVf' H1story or DPnalt Nat,onat Park and P1eservP 

protect '>pecific 'pedes. The first known closure 

decision<-, were public safety responses to bear 

acti\'lty; 111 May 1952, for example, staff closed 

the park\ garbage dump to visitors, and three 

year~ later, visitors were blocked from using the 

Horsc~ hoe Lake trail!'" In early 1957, the land 

on either '>ide of the park road at Sable Pas<; was 

permanently closed (as noted above) in order 

to ensure the continuation of high-quality bear 

viewing opportunities. Then, in 1973, the park 

bras!> accepted biologist Gordon Haber's recommendation to close, for rhe entire summer, :,cve ral "prime visitor use areas" totaling 42,456 acres 

in order to protect wolf dens and denning areas. 

Closures to protect the park's wolves continue to 

the present time!01 ln 1976, park staff opted for 

the fir ·t time to close an area surrounding an active gyrfalcon nest, and in 1978 an area wa5 closed 

in the \'icinitv of a fox den!"4 

Resource Planning for the 

Newly-Expanded Park Unit 

As no red in Chaprer 8, much of the 1970s was 

spent in a major admintstrative and legislarive battle over rhe fate of rhe so-called Alaska 

National lntere1:.t Lands. Some of the most 

coveted lands surrounded Mount McKinley 

anonal Park, so in December 1978, President 

Carter signed a proclamation which established 

3,R9o,ooo-acre Denali ational Monument. The 

proclamation language extolled primarily natural 

resource values: the protection of vanous "glaciers on the south face," rhe "geologically unique 

Cathedral Sprrel>,'' ·'significant habitat for the 

McKinley caribou herd" and ''other scientifically 

important mammals such a~ griuly bear, wolf, 
In 1974, bears regularly visited the 

park garbage dump, located south of 

the George Parks Highway railroad 

crossing. Chip Downing Photo, NPS 

Photo, Denali National Park and 

Preserve 

By 1975 this electric fence prevented 

bears from obtaining human food 

at the park garbage dump. Chip 

Downing Photo, NPS Photo, Denali 

National Park and Preserve 

and wolverine," the Toklat River warm springs 

with its "unusual run of Chum salmon," and "the 

entirety of thi-;, the highest peak on the North 

American continent." 2"' 

Given the fact that Carter, on the same day, had 

established 16 other national monument~ (most 

of which were not adjacent to existing park 

units), and given the additional fact that neither 

Congres~ nor the agency was willing to expend 

more than a token amount to protect these 

areas, agency officials were primarily concerned 

with the protection of areas fairly distant from 

the Mount McKinley and Denali park un1ts. 

But on at lea~t two occasions, NPS personnel 

were act1vely deployed to protect park resources. The first wa~ in response to d1e mid-January 

1979 "Great Denali Trespass" (see Chapter 8), 

while the other was tile stationing of four Alaska 

Task Force rangers who spent ten days at Lake 

Minchumina (just west of the national monument boundarie~) at the beginning of the 1979 

hunting season.'"" 

The lands battle of the 1970s culminated with 

President Carter's signing of the Alaska National 

Interest Lands Comervation Act in December 1980. That bill called for tile expansion of 

Chopter Twelve Natural and Cultural Re~ource Management 215 
During the late 1970s, In an effort to 

quantify backcountry use impacts. 

park staff Initiated studies on the 

effects of h1kers and horses on 

park vegetation Joe Van Horn. 

above. collected data from an 

experimental trampling plot near 

park headquarters. NPS lnterp. 

Collection. 112823, Denali National 

Park and Preserve 

Denali attonnl Pnrk nnd the e!>tahhshmcnt of a 

new Denali National Preserve, Wl[h mo!)t of the 

newly-de~ignatcd acreage mcludcd 1n the former 

Denali Nattonal V\onument. Congre~~ ~ta ed 

that the pnrk add tti on~ and pre~en e would "be 

managed largel) with naturnl re.,ource values m 

mmd." Congre!>s a~ked r he 1\.J P~, among 1t~ goal..,, 

"to protect and interpret the entrre mounram 

maso,tf, and additional ~ccnic mount:lm peak.., and 

formatiom; and w pmtect hah1rar for, and population!> of fi~h and\\ lid life tncludmg, hur not lnnrted co, brown/gnuly bear'>, moo,e, caribou. Dall 

sheep, wolves, !>Wans and other warerfm\ 1." " 

Re~ource per.,onnel were m no pm.uron to reach 

out to the nev. natrona] monument land~ dunng 

the 1978-r9flo period, hut after Pn:~rdent Carter 

~igned ANTLCA inro law, Daile-Molle recogniLed 

lhe need to expand the park\ knowledge ha!>e, 

both ol longl>tandmg "old park" !>~ Cl> and, m 

addition, a broad range of naLUral re<,ource issues 

rn the new park and pre~erVl'. 

The!)e need~ wen~ addre,~ed tn the park\ fir!>t 

rec;ource management plan, whrch wa' 1'-sucd rn 

draft form tn r\ prt l1982. rhc plan. d irected by 

Re~ource V\anagement Speuali-,t john Dallc-

'1.\olle, recommended 14 natural resource prolect!) for complctron durrng the 1983 to rq87 fi~,cal 

yearc,, mclusrve. foremost among the park\ 

need!> wa'> a bear-human conflict managt::mcnr 

l>tudy. followed bv a -.ll!d\ of the 1m pact of traffic 

on rhe park road to adJacent\\ ddlifc populanons. Addtttonal proJt'Ct statements called for 

studies of the dccltne of the Dcnalt caribou herd, 

for the monttorrng and protecuon of the park\ 

wolf popuJatH>n, .lnd for wntinued large mammal ~urvcyc,. "" 

Le~s than a vcar after the completton of there-

~ource management plan, Denver Service Center 

l>taft ''began in earnest" 10 work on a Congressionallv-del>ignated general management plan 

( G \1 P) for the park and pre.,erve. (See Chapter 

9). The draft G~1P. rclca,ed in \larch 1985, 

stated that the agenn was "contmuou-;ly expandIn~ rts re'>ourcc management program," the tntent 

ofwhrch \\Us "ro under-.,rand the narural force!> 

that ~hape Denah\ cm•1ronmenr and ro avoid 

or etiminate acu' ilie' that '>igntlicantly interfere 

wtth natural procc'>ses" Recogn11ing that there 

wa'> ··a growing concern about the tmpacrs of 

increasing 'vNlor w.c," the draft plan spotlighted 

one resource srudv which showed the impact 

of road rra!lic on the park\ wtldlife (see below)-

and used It to propose n change in overall park 

access poltcy. Othe r nat1.1ral resource studies 

that were "currentlY underway'' included annual 

wildlife survev~. a dcclintng ca nbou herd study, 

wolf pack momtorrng, two different bear studte , 

a vegetation tramrling .. rudv, and '>tud e~ of both 

muo~e and Dall ~hccp. The context of tho-.e 

!)tudte.., wa~ prl!>Cnted tn ·ldditional di~CU!)StOn!>, 

parttcularh a~ the\ related w carihou. bear!>, and 

wol\'es. ' After rhe i.,suance of rhe draft plan, the 

puhhc provided an cxtctNve number of commc.:nt'>, re'>ulting tn the j,,uance of a re,bed draft 

(in December 1985) and a linal plan (in "Jovemhcr 1986). I he :.cctton pertaining to nantral 

re .. ource management, hnwe\'cr, wa~ largely unchanged from language that had been presented 

in che draft plan."" 
This early 1980s "problem" bear was 

tranquilized and transported from 

the backcountry to the park road for 

relocation by aircraft to a remote 

area. NPS lnterp. Collection, #1815, 

Denali National Park and Preserve 

Two sh1dies that began in the early 19801. brought 

significant changes to how the park was managed. In 1981, regional personnel a~ked two biologist1., Francb (Frank) Singer and joan Beattie, 

to make a new study of the impact of road traffic 

on the park's Wildlife populanon~. A~ noted 

above, Diane Tracy had add ressed this topic 

dunng the 1973-1975 period, but a so percent 

growth m road traffic ~mce 197.2 ~ugges ed the 

need for a renewed effort. The Singer-Beattie 

~tudy, initially released in March 1984, concluded 

that traffic increases between 1974 and 1981 had 

not had a ~ignilkant impact on wildlife population1. observed between the park headquarters 

and Eidson Vi~itor Center. Increased traffic, 

howe,·er, had caused many moo~e and bears 

to avoid using the road corridor. The authors 

further noted that additional traffic mcrease~ which would perforce shorten the <ipacing 

between vehicles might eventually disrupt the 

migrations of caribou and sheep herds. They 

further rccogn11ed that wildlife typically exerted 

more avoidance behavior for private vehicle~ 

(whose occupant!> often stopped, got out, and 

approached animals) than for buses (whose occupants remamed imide). Based on the result'i of 

the1r sh1dy, agency officials who were preparing 

the general management plan recognized that 

the be1.t way to allow increased park visitation 

while abo reducing human-caused impacts on 

park wildlife wa~ to reduce private vehicle traffic 

but allow a mudc~t increase in bu!. traffic. These 

change!> proved controversial, but they were 

implemented in the park's final (November 1986) 

general management plan."' 

The other major study focused on how to more 

effectively manage the park\ bear population. As 

noted above, the boom in park visitation-and 

more particularly, \'isitation to the park's backcountry-had resulted in an upsurge in bear 

mc1dents, relocations, and deaths, plus With 

a concomitant growth in bear-caused human 

injurie!> and property damage. N PS officials 

reacted to the problem, a1. noted above, by educating park visitors, closing backcountry area!. as 

needed, relocating or destroying problem bears, 

imtalling bearproof garbage cans, and by fencing 

and later closmg the remaining garbage dump. 

But as park staff noted, "oYerall problems did not 

decline," and problem~ were particularly acute in 

the backcountry due to an '·inability of camper~ 

to secure their food."''· 

ro counter the problem, staff recognited that 

the .. total elimination of unnatural food reward1. 

and management of human use" had to be the 

first pnoritie1.. So the park, during the summer 

of 1982. began hiring biological technicians to address bear-human conflict management. These 

~easona b ~tepped up efforts to get backcountry 

user~ to apply bear avoidance technique1., and 

the) \'lsi ted with park inholders and adJacent 

landowners, both to teach bear-safe practices 

and to help design bearproof facilities. Park ~taff 

1111982 decided to stop relocating bears; they 

noted that the technique was nm only ineffective 

but that 1t altered the bear< social and genetic 

Integrity. And that same year, staff began testing a 

portable, bearproof plastic food container. Early 

models requ1red modifications, but improved 

ChuptPr Twelve Ni!tural ~nd Cultur,ll Resource Management 217 
Dall sheep are vulnerable to traffic 

disturbance and predators in areas 

where the1r seasonal migration routes 

cross the park road. This situation 

provides VISitors on buses with an 

uncommon VIewing opportunity. 

Brad Ebel Photo 

During the development of bear 

resistant food containers for 

backpackers, park staff field tested 

different container styles. John DaileMolle Photo, NPS, Denali National 

Park and Preserve 

models followed ..,t1on afrerward, and h\ 1986, 

Daile-'vlollc reported that "con tamer~ have proven \·ery effective 111 reducmg problem~ and vi~nor 

acceptance of them ha~ heen verv high." In 1987 

the news wa~ even more opumbuc; the 'upcrintendenr noted that "for the fir'>t time smce the 

early 1970s, no hackpackcf', lmt food to hears. 

and the numbers of mctdento, \\We the lowc'>t 10 

12 vear .... " And because the number of mctdents 

decreased, fewer bear-cau ... ed area clo'>ure., were 

needed. Gtven the large number'> of both hear~ 

and \lSitors m Denali, the bear-human imerac218 Crown II.'"'"' of !he North An Adm1mstra11ve Htslory o f DPnalt Nattondl Par~. and Pre~erve 

tion problem wa.., hv no mean., solved; substantial 

progre ... s, howc\·er, v. a'> bemg made. 

Biological Research, 1986 to Present 

The park's general management plan, released in 

late 1986, ... tatcd that the pnmarv document gutdmg future research at the park would continue 

to be the resource management plan, whtch was 

"reviewed at lea ... r once each vear and are updated a., necc..,sary." Park -.rafl hopmg to expand 

on thctr knowledge base tried to '>timulate as 

much re..,earch a' funds allowed!'-~ 
Field experiments with grizzly 

bears were conducted to test the 

effectiveness of different types of 

bear resistant food containers. NPS 

lnterp. Collection, #5445, Denali 

National Park and Preserve 

Park Service per~onnel, at thi~ time, were 

fortunate that biologists from other agencies 

were already well underway with long-term 

studie~ of the area's megafauna. Beginning in 

the mid-1970s, Wayne Heimer (later assi~ted b-. 

Sarah Watson) had been studying the Dall sheep 

populatiom of the Alaska interior. Both were 

biologists working for the Alaska Department of 

Fish and Game.''' In 1980, U.S. Forest Service biologist \'ic Van Ballcnbcrghe began studying the 

area's moose population, both within the park 

boundary and in areas to the north and cast."" 

The ADF&G c!Torts continued until the late 

198os; Van Ballcnbcrghe though now retiredis still an active researcher in the park." 

The Park Serv1ce, as noted above, began ItS own 

studies in 1984, when it asked biologbt Francis Singer to conduct a three-year study of the 

declinmg Denali caribou herd. The importance 

of these animab was sufficiently great, however, 

that Layne Adams- who replaced Smger m 

1986 b still actively engaged in caribou research 

at the park.-'" In 1986, just a year after maJor 

wolf p()aching mcident ar the western end of 

the park, the agency asked Dr. David Mech, an 

internationally recognited authonty on wolves 

from 'vlinnesota, to begm a comprehen~JVe wolf 

research project at the park!'" And in 1991 the 

agency began funding a new study, headed by Jeff 

Keay, about the rark's griu.ly bear population:'"'" 

Re~earch into all three of d1esc species continued 

for more than a decade. Regarding most of the 

park's megafauna spec1es, continued research 

and monironng is an ongoing endeavor. m 

ln conjunction with the various long-term 

megafauna studies, park staff since the 198os have 

continued, sometimes in conjunction with state 

fish and game officials, to take censuses and otherwise monitor the park's wildlife populations. 

Park records indicate that sheep, wolves, brown 

and black hears, moose and caribou have been 

the subject of either ground or aerial monitoring 

over the years!" 

For the first time since the r96os, when Adolph 

Murie had made pioneering studies, research 

took place on other park species as well. Beginning in 1984, Phillip Schempf of the U.S. Fish 

and Wildlife Service, concerned about pesticidc contamination, began a study of interior 

Alaska merlins (a species of Holarctic falcon), 

and in 1987-88 park staff began to inventory and 

monitor the park's raprors (golden eagles and 

gyrfalcons)."\ Both the merlin and raptor studie~ 

hm·e continued to the present day, and in 2002, 

efforts were made to locate the nesting a reao; ol 

trumpeter swans and other waterfowl.""-l Chrislmas bird counts, fir!.t made in the 196os, have 

contmued to the present day, although Denali 

Foundation staff, starting m 1992, have taken 

a leading role in this effort. '' Small mammal 

research took place in 1996 with a study on voles, 

with much broader studies being undertaken as 

part of the park's long-term ecological monitorrng program (see below)!"'' Plant studies, during 

the 198os, were primarily related wan analysis of 

vegetation-trampling impacts and of the Setchcll 

willow, both of which had been first addressed bv 

Chdp!t>r Twelve Nalurdl .:md CuiiUral Resource Management 219 
Caribou researcher Layne Adams 

is shown radiocollaring a mature 

caribou bull. enclosed in a net sling 

in preparation for weighing. The 

overall goal of the caribou study 

IS to understand the population 

dynamics of a naturally-regulated 

caribou herd. One aspect of the 

project studies caribou bulls to gam 

an understanding of their survival 

patterns and seasonal distribution. 

Troy Cam bier Photo 

Park biologists John Burch (left) and 

Tom Meier radio-collared this wolf 

near the Teklanika River in November 

2007. Burch and Meier started the 

wolf research project in 1986 under 

the direction of l. David Mech and 

Layne Adams. Monitoring of the 

Denali wolf population has been 

continuous for 21 years and the 

project is now part of the Central 

Alaska Inventory & Monitoring 

Network. Troy Cam bier Photo 

C PSU e~ea her'> during the 1970'>." But m 1991, 

park !>taff were able to undertake "ba"e I me data 

gathering of \'cgetation e~ and demit1cs," and 

later that decade, tn conJunctio n with rhc.; park'<; 

long-te rm ecological monitonng prowam, "major strides" \\ e re made tn expandmg the pa rk\ 

fl orb tic mvenrory .... ' 

Creating an Inventory and Monitoring Network 

In ord er l o broaden the agency\ biOlogical expern'>c and '>llstam the park\ ccologicalmregrity, 

manager'> rccogni~:c d ~..: nccc'''t)' w inventory 

the park\ kev e-,ou ce~ and then, a r regular 

mten al-., w momtor the cond1t10n of those 

ourcc-.. In IC)9I, the agcnc~ (at the nanonal 
Researchers document plant species 

composition and structure as part 

of Denali's long-term vegetation 

monitoring program. Monitoring 

sites are re-visited every seven years 

to a llow detection of trends in the 

vegetation cover. NPS Photo 

level) offered n special initiative, with sufficient 

funding to provide for a n inventory and monitoring program at four parks nationwide. Denali 

was chosen as one of those pnrks. Park managers 

recognrLcd the practJcallmpo~Sibllll v of obtammg a derailed inventory for an entire Six-millionacre park unit, ~o their application specitlcd three 

wmersheds for their long-term environmenwl 

monitoring (LTEi\1) work; within those watersheds, plam called for geology, Sl>ils, air, climate, 

acie ~. vegetation, wildlife, and human usc to 

be monitored on permanent plot:, that would be 

established within each water:,hed. By January 

1992. the~e three watcrshcdh were increa!>ed to 

five, with initial cmp a~ ~ placed on the South 

Fork of Moose Creek, bur b) june 1992, economy 

and acces~ibillty dictated that the Rock Creek 

watershed (which was nor one of the five initially 

!>elected) would be the primary area of interest. 

Field work in thar watershed commenced in the 

summer of 1992.-''' 

During the early-to-mid 1990!>, when the park's 

LTEM program was being established and going 

through it!> initial development !>tages, the park 

wa; gaining an increasing number of staff with a 

resource~ background. Gordon Olson, during this period, became the park\ first Chief of 

e!>ource~ {and prior to his arrival, resources 

~raff had been supervbed by the chief ranger or 

mnnagemenr a~sista nr . At various times either 

joe Van Horn or Olson incorporated monitoring 

program leade r<,hip into their other e~po ibi li

ties. Penny Knuckles, in May 1996, became the 

program\ first full-time coordinator. Other park 

resource staff that played a key role during this 

period included Phil Rrease, Carol M c intyre, and 

Pam Sousane~. 

Although the various resource management staff 

had a variety of ongoing project~, the establishment of the LTEM program had the practical 

effect of concentrating interest geographically 

in the Rock Creek watershed, and particularly 

during the program's first three vear~. most 

LTEM efforts took place in or near rhar watershed. In addition, program leaders reached out 

to a variety of research partners: these included 

universities {primarily in Fairbanks), federal and 

stare agencies, and privately-funded research 

groups. And within the PS, those who helped 

compile srudics for the program included not 

only full-time ~taff (both in Anchorage and at the 

park) hut also permanent, seasonal, and volunteer technicians. Sometimes the~e partners relied 

on funding ),Upplied by the'\! PS {and later by the 

ational Biologtcal Survey or the U.S. Geological 

Survey), bur in other cases they ~upplied funding 

from their own institutions and worked through 

cooperative agreements and other parrnering 

arrangements. 

As the LTEM program marured, the ~tafT affiliated with the program recognued that a geographical concenrration on a '>ingle area offered 

a relatively limited research horiLOn. This was 

particular!) true for those involved in the stt1die~ 

of glacier~ or aquatic im•errebrates, neither of 

ChapteJ Twelve Natural anrl C.ultprdl Re\Ou1ce MalliiYPnwnt 221 
The Permafrost weather station Is 

one of five Long-term Ecological 

Monitoring (LTEM) weather stations 

installed in 1994 to record long-term 

variations in climate at different 

elevations. The station, which Is 

powered by a deep-cycle battery and 

charged with a solar panel, measures 

and records air temperature, relative 

humtdity, wind speed and directton, 

and solar radiation. The site ts 

located In the Rock Creek drainage 

adjacent to park headquarters where 

water and air quality, vegetation, and 

small mammals are also monitored as 

part of the Central Alaska Inventory & 

Monitoring Network. NPS Photo 

whtch v.a<, well rcpre~ented in I hi! Rock ( n:ck 

water<,hcJ Dunng the mid-to-late 191.)0~, rhcn~­

fore, most re~carch ~tudie~ broadenet.l rhcir focu' 

and selected monttnrmg stte~ that were ... catrcred 

throughout the park unit .. , .. 

The program, wh1ch hnd received fair!\ mnde ... t 

funding ( 35o.ooo or les~ per )Car) during the 

early- w mtc.l-1990'-, ~Ub'>tantiall) mcreascd tt' 

budget in fi~cal year HJ98, which allowed a proliferation of ncv. sn.tdtc">. Then, 1111999. the "-:PS 

announced n new mtttnltve, cnlled the Natural 

Resource Challenge, that promised even more 

funds for the agcnc~ \ btulogical pmwams. The 

five-year program provtded a conrt.linatcd, 

.. ystem-wide approach to natural rc ... ourn: management and prondcd fir-,t-year ha'il' tundmg 

of S14,320,ooo (nauonall)) to help accelerate 

completion of natural re~ource tn\'enronc,, 

target effort~ to cradtcntc non-nattve spccte!>, and 

tmprovc current management anc.l c'perri ... c of 

hiologtcal and gcologtcal re~ource-. . 

The late 199U'> brought mcrea<.ed lunt.lmg to the 

park\ mvenron and momtormg elforr.... lr al"o, 

however, wa-. a pcnod in which park managers became incn:a'>ingl) ~cnstttvc lO the notton 

thar because the park\ ccologicalt~sues could 

not be neatlv '-epa rated from tho-.c of the world 

beyond part-. border~, the agencv \ in\'cntorv 

.md monttonng ctlorr<. should nor he conducrcu 

tn t!>olation from rho'e of other. ncarbv area .... 

In 1997, the nattnnal LTE.\1 program'-. annual 

report recngn11ed the need to '"cnh;lnt'l nattonal 

222 , w .. .e of th ~.o1th Ar Adm n~:rauve Ht~tory or Deralt NdltOnal Pilrl_ and Preserve 

and global momwring network-.." The atural 

Resource Challenge, unvetled tn 199<J, envi!>ioned 

32 such networks '>pread aero!>'> the country, and 

hv the clo'c of that year, the agency was shtfong 

''from n model of intensive and comprehensive 

momtonng at the park level ro a more extensive 

effort at the network level." In Alaska, Denali 

jOined the\\ rangeii-St. Elia.'> and 'rukon-Charley 

Rn·er' park untt!> to become the Central Alaska 

lnwntun and \tonitoring etwork (Ct\KN). 

After that pomt, funding of the park's ITEM 

program was contingent on the fulfillment of 

goab tJ1at emphasized the increased tntegration 

of the Denali program into the network concepr. 

Bv the late ~ummer of zoo-,, that integration Will> 

complete . 

New Directions in 

Natural Resource Management 

In rccl'nt year'>, park scientists have undertaken 

rC'>l'arch tnto a number of fields that had previou~lv been O\'erlooked. o measurements of 

air qualirv, lor example. had been made prior to 

rhe 198os, bur perhaps UNESCO's 'election of 

the park, m 1976 as a biosphere reserve, plus the 

park\ comidcrarion as a World Hcntage Sire, 

mac.le the agency more aware that air quality was 

a valuable park resource. In 1980, the National 

Atmo~phenc DcpositJon Program establio;hed its 

fir~r Ala ... ka monitoring tatton tn the park, and bv 

19R7 part-. staff were al o momtoring particulates, 

\'l~ibthty, :md critena pollutant<,. The park's sole 

mnnttoring ~tatlon, at that time, v. as located on 

a ridgdme JU'I above headquarters, but 10 1998, 
Fire management program goals 

include the investigation of 

vegetation plots focusing on plant 

succession after a wildland fire. The 

program is supported during the 

summer by a contract helicopter, 

w hich is also used by other park 

programs. George Hook Photo 

action related to the proposed Healy Clean Coal 

Project (sec Chapter 9) resulted in new temporarv monitoring stations both north and south 

of the park. During the past decade, the quality of a1r measurements tn the park has become 

increasingly sophisticated. ·n 

Fire-related issues abo assumed prominence. As 

noted above, fire~ had been a significant threat 

during the first few years of park administration, 

and they had remained a significant source of 

worry in later years, for two reasons: sparks from 

passing steam locomotives had a high potential 

for starting wildland fires, and park residences 

that were built of wood and heated by wood 

and coal stoves were vulnerable to destruction 

by fire. Park records show several instances of 

fires caused u nder bod1 circumstances!'"' And as 

noted in Chapter 8, the September 1972 fire that 

destroyed the Mc((jnlcy Park Hotel had impacts 

on park visitors for years afterward. Ln general, 

however, fire was a minor factor in "old park" 

management; some years witnessed no fire<; of 

any consequence, while in other years, wildland 

fires-some of them covering rens of thousands 

of acres burned for days and then died without 

an impact on visitor&, structures, or staff.'" 

Studies of rhe role of fire in park ecology began 

with Steve Buskirk's 1976 historical chronicle of 

park fires. At that time, the NPS !>till had a decentrallted approach to fire management. But just a 

year later, the agency adopted a new policy that 

more fully ~randarditcd fire policy. In central 

Ala~ka, fire policy had long been under the aegi& 

of the Bureau of Land 1\ 1anagement's Alaska Fire 

Control Service, primarily because the BLM controlled the lion's share of the stare\ rural land. 

1 hat control remained throughout rhe 1970s. But 

in recognition of the increasing complexity of 

Alaska land ownershtp, officiab recogn11ed that 

a multi-agency effort was in order. Begmning 

in the late 1970s, therefore, the park's resource 

manager worked with the Alaska Interagency Fire 

Management Council (an ad hoc group of stare, 

ativc, and other federal fire manager~) on the 

Tanana-Minchumina Fire Management Plan for 

areas north of the Alaska Range. This plan wa::. 

completed in 1982. Soon afterward, the council 

launched an effort to complete a similar plan for 

other area~ in the stare, and in rgH6 officials completed an interagency lire management plan for 

d1e Mat-Su area. Procedures outlined tn these 

plans marked a ~rgnificant departure from previous attitudes toward fire. \Xfhereas BLM managers typically had adopted a "hit 'em all, hard and 

fast'' fire philosophy, the plans produced dunng 

rhe tg8os were more nuanced; they established 

a four-tiered system requiring managers to 

gauge the intensity of fire response, pnmarily 

in response to distance from population centers. Fires in "critical" areas, therefore, would 

demand an immediate, large-scale response; but 

at the other end of the spectrum, fires in "limited 

action" areas, would be asse&sed and periodically monitored but nor actively fought. The va~r 

majority of acreage in the park and preserve wa~ 

declared a "limited action" area.''" 

~pter Twf.'l ~e Natural and Cultural Reoource Mdnag£>ment 223 
In support of fire management 

program goals, a fire technician 

reduces vegetation from around 

the Sushana Ranger Patrol Cabin to 

prepare an area that is defensible 10 

the event of wildland fire. NPS Photo 

By the timt: A '-il LCA becam~ law, PS offic ial ~ 

had made it known both to their BLM counterpart>. and other Alaska firt: management offiCial'>- that fire management wa<> much more than 

mere ~uppr~~.,1on. In-.read. ll \\as (a<:. hi.,tonan 

Hal Rothman has norcd) "a complete proce.,., 

that included prevention, pre~uppre~::.10n, ~uppres!>ion, and prc~cribed fire, all in rhe ~en· icc of 

larger re .. ourcc management goals.''" In praCtical rerm!>, that meant that the rs planned to 

develop prescribed fire management capahilit c~ 

in all of rhe newly-des1gn::Hed park umts, hm for 

the nme bemg. at lea~r. PS personnel were nor 

re~pons1hle for da) -ro-da\ lin: fighnng rc~pon­

~Jbilitie!>. But '\PS offic1ab rccogmLed that the 

"larger management goals" demanded the accumulatiOn of data regardmg cahm locations (both 

on in holder propertie~ and on federal land), 

and it also dc:manded the capability of gathc:nng 

\'egerarion and .. unilar information during a fire 

event or in It'- immediate wake. In 1981, therefore, 

the agency was able to procure helicopter sc:r-

' ice5 for the-.e purpose'>. The craft was deployed 

that summer at variou-. Interior park!>, mcluding 

Denali, Yukon-Charlev. and perhap-. ebcwhere. ~ 

Late in 1981, N P Director Ru o,~ Dicken!>on wmmitted the ~:len· ice to a ne"' operatiom analy 1~ 

and budget management prnce<,!'. called FIRrPRO, the agency's fire program managemcm 

w<;tem. Thi' ~y)tem, wh1ch tned ro addre~!'. the 

financial demand~ of the: new fire managc:mcnr 

rru cture, ~ought to protect culrural and natt1ral 

l" .1 _r • r • • .;I •I t>.I.Jflh Ar ,Vh rstrnt.ve Hrstory of Denali ~atronal Par• 1nd Preerve 

re'>ourcc:s by a!>~e~~mg thL level of n'k to each 

and dcploving resources based on that ri-.k. 

Under that '>ystem, park managers obtained a helicopter for the summer of 1982, and fm the next 

~cH ,ll vcar-. 1t connnucd robe 111\'olvcd 111 the 

cabm 111\'cntory, 111 fire-related vcgctatmn mapping, and 111 creating and maintaining "defen-

<,lbk· -.pace" perimeter~ around cabm'> through 

ha;urdou-. fuel redu~rion. Bur as Rothman has 

noted, riREPRO's core funding account "was 

dcs1gned to be med only for emergency funding, 

but the efforts of adept administrator'> created 

a snuat1on in wh1ch national parks used these 

lunds in lieu of rheir regular budgch." At Denali, 

fire management fund-. have undcrwnttcn park 

helicopter ervicc!> each summer !>ince the t98os. 

Thc'>e helicopters have performed a vanety of 

sen ICC'>, the highc!>t pnority of which have been 

d1rect responses to fire management needs. But 

from lime to nme, helicopters have been used 

for other purpose~ J'> tllnc and resources have 

allowed " " 

The park contmucs to provide an acuve lire management program. although the "rlRFPRO" desJgnatH>n disappeared '>hortl} after 2000. In 1998, 

Ala,ka\ fire manager~. who by no\>\. were called 

the Alaska Wildland Fire Coordmaung Group, 

abandoned their prevJOu<; reliance on rhe varioul> 

regiClnal plans that had been prepared durmg the 

198os; given the need to ~tandardt;e fire respon!>-

1!~ throughout the !>t3tc, they hammerc:d out the 

Alaska flll eragency Wlildland Management Plan, 

wh1ch has been the1r primary gUJdmg document 
Led by Vegetation Technician 

Wendy Mahovlic, right, this crew 

of volunteers in the Kantishna area 

eradicated dandelion plants by hand 

pulling. Exotic species such as these 

dandelions are not native to the park 

and can dominate the revegetation 

of disturbed areas. increasing the 

difficulty for native species to become 

established in an area. NPS Photo 

ever since. Within the National Park Service, 

fire management in Ala~ka b guided by three 

separate tearm; the Western Alaska Area Fire 

Management Team, which guides operations for 

six park unit~. i~ headquartered at Denali. Park-

~pecific fire management IS guided by the park'~ 

fire management plan, which was completed in 

October 2004-';" 

Another new management area concerned exotic 

plant removal. In 1922, Horace Albright had noted that "foreign plant and animal life are not to be 

brought in" to the parks, and the agency's Fau11a 

No. I, published in 1933, recommended the reduction or eradication of exotic plant and animal species in the parks. Managers, however, recognized 

that, at least m some park areas, "exotic plants ... 

have been carried to practically every corner of 

the park:· ~· Various prewar boranical compilations at Mounr .\1 cKinley (including Ynez Mexia, 

Aven and Ruth Nelson, Louise Murie, etc.) made 

no special mention of exotic species. In the late 

1940s, staff who were asked about exotics in the 

park noted that Squirreltail grass, or foxtail barley 

(Hordeum jubatum), which had been identified 

earlier, was "showing evidence of rapid spread" 

at park headquarters, near the park hotel, and 

along the park highway. In response to the park's 

complaint, the agency\ ass ~tant chief fore~ter 

cautioned that the grass, while weedy, was "a nattve species apparently indigenom to Alaska." He 

neverthele!>!> '>uggesred several control options, 

foremo~t of which wa!> ··seeding with any of the 

perennial whcatgrasses (Agropyron spp.), which 

are often sufficiently aggre5.~ive to gradually kill 

out the Squirrcltail grass."4 ' 

In the years that followed, exotic plant~ ~pread 

in many of the nation's park units. By 1967, 

thirty parks had active programs to eradicate 

or control exotic plant species, and an agency 

policy handbook published in 1970 declared 

that nonnative plants and animal~ would be 

''eliminated where it is possible to do so by 

approved methods." An NPS '>cicntist with 

extensive Alaska experience declared, in 1980, 

that most parks had exotic species.' 4' Park 

officials, however, made no move to combat 

exotic species until the winter of 1998-99, when 

vegetation technician jean Balay launched 

'·Operation Dead Dandelion,'' a voluntcer-ba~cd 

effort to eradicate dandeliom from the park 

road corridor. Balay, and those that followed 

in later years, recognized that dandelion seeds 

~pread with the movement of automobile tires. 

Bcca ~c they had the potential to crowd out 

native plant~, an orchestrated effort was needed 

to prevent "a yellow line continually from the 

park entrance to Kantishna.'''+~ Activity subsided after 1999, but since 2002 crew~ have been 

an annual phenomenon . .\\ost efforts haYe 

been focused near the east end of the park road 

(although a 2002 crew went all the way west to 

the Kantishna Airstrip), and volunteer~ have 

also concentrated on area~ recently disturbed 

bv con.,truction activities. Dandelions have 

been the primary target specie<; in recent year~. 

although in 2003 and 2004, crews removed 

sweet clover (Melilotus a/bus), tufted vetch (Vicia cracca), narrow-leaved hawk,beard (Crep1s 

tectorum), and smooth hawksbeard (Crepis 

capillaries) from the park's sewage lagoon and 

Riley Creek campground.>·~> 

Chapter Twelve: Natural and Cultural Resource Man ge e<' t 225 
Susi Tomsich, a University of Alaska 

Fa1rbanks geology undergraduate, 

found the first dinosaur track in 

Denali National Park and Preserve, a 

theropod footprint in the Cantwell 

Format1on. Tomsich, above, sits 

near two hadrosaur tracks, one on 

each side of the rock hammer. These 

represent a second type of dinosaur 

found in the park, the prey of 

theropods, providing evidence of past 

ecosystems. NPS Photo 

Recent years have al~o brought forth a new focu~ 

on the park\ paleontological resource<.. Palenn 

tological spec1men~ were fir~t collected b\' earh 

USGS investigators, such as Alfred Brooks and 

Stephen Capps, and researchers dunng the 1950s 

found additional cndence. The park mu:.eum 

received its first paleontological accc~~10m in 

1959 and by 1987, 117 items (planb, mammal~. 

corals, invertebrates, and petrified wood) had 

been accessioned mto the park museum. -1'' Few 

elicited much notice. But in the late 1990s, a 

Bucknell Lniversity geology professor, JeffTrop, 

located fos~ili1ed, prehistoric pollen grains in 

the Cantwell Formation, and an analy~is of that 

pollen (by Art Sweet of the Geological Survey 

of C:anada) reconfirmed earlier report!> that the 

formation was laid down prior ro the dmosaur 

e'Xtinction, and not from the more recent Cretaceous period as had once been hypothesved 

In June 2005, new evidence surfaced. The Umversity of Alaska Fairbanks Department of Geology and Geophys1cs was in the field as part of rt~ 

undergraduate field mapping course, and on June 

27 Sus1 Tom~ich, a student under the guidance of 

UAF professor Paul McCarthy, discovered the 

track of a theropod (a large, b1rd-hke meat eater) 

ncar Sable Pa'>s. And later that summer, a second 

theropod footprint, along wah the tracks of van 

ous prehistoric wading birds, was discovered on 

Double Mountain by a team from the NPS, the 

Dallas Mu-,eum of 1'\atural l listory, and the Univer~ity of \X'yoming/ 4 Researchers returned to 

the park m 2007, and in the Sable Mountain area 

226 Crown Jew el ot lhP North An Admmrstratrve Hr:.tory OJf Dertalr Natrona! dr~ and Pn:servp 

discovered additional theropod prints, hadrosaur 

prinh, and bird tra<..ks, plu~ preserved worm burrow!> and 1n-.ect-fi.,h trace fos~ils. l' 

Contim1ing scJentific efforts have aho been 

mu.,tered to provide answer., to the long-term 

is~ue of the road\, impacts on park wildlife. During the 1971-7'i penod (sec above), D1ane Tracy 

had first analyzed thi~ problem, and dunng the 

earl) 1980., research by Frank Smger and Joan 

Beattie rev1s1ted th1s problem and made recommendatwm that became a key component of the 

park\ general management plan. In 1988, agency 

biologi~t Dale Taylor began working \Vith the 

park\ bus drivers on a project to collect data "on 

the effccb of park road traffic on the visibility of 

park wildlife;" thi ~ data collection has continued 

each summer '>ince that orne. (Volunteer drivers 

recorded the number of the various megafauna 

speues on their westbound tnps, after which 

they summarized their data and compared them 

to those of previous years.)-'4'' Later, in 1995, 

park staff compiled a pilot studv on interactions 

between traffic and wildlife. This was also the 

first year of a three-year ~tudy showing the effect 

of vehicle traffic on Dall sheep migration~ in the 

park. Later, m 2003, the park's bus drivers were 

enlisted to gather data on this topic.';' 

In 2005, park staff began to plan a large, multidisciplinary study of the impacts of traffic levels of 

the Denali park road on wildlife, vbitor experience, road maintenance and the phys1cal and 

b1ological environment of the road corridor. The 
Buses on the Denali Park road stop 

to allow visitors a chance to observe 

wildlife. Traffic stops, like the one 

pictured, occur frequently on the 

park road, and the current park 

road capacity study is working to 

determine how congestion associated 

with these stops might affect wildlife 

behavior and a visitor's experience. 

NPS Photo 

~rudy began the following vear and will contmue 

beyond 2007. It~ goal i~ to determine the road'~ 

carrying capac! tv based on traffic flow, visitor 

experience and wildlife movements and observations. Officials, recogniting the need to address 

any anticipated Impacts if road tratlk were to be 

mcreased, plan to write an emnronmenral1mpact 

~tatement about the issue. Pending funding 

deci!>iom, howe,·cr, that document has yet to be 

wrirten. Plan-. call for experimental increases in 

traffic on alternate davs to dctcrmmc adverse 

effects If the e\'aluation m the documenl ::muciparcs acceptable impact~. >;• 

Mount McKinley's Height: 

New Studies, Greater Accuracy 

Scientific inquiry dunng the 1980s attempted ro 

provide the mo~t accurate possible answer to the 

quesuon, "I low high is North America\ tallest 

peak?" Given d1c growmg ~ophtstication of measurement technology, this ele,·ation has changed 

considerablY over the yearo;. 

As noted m Chapter 1, prospector William A. 

Dickey named Mount \1cKinley in 1896. The 

following january, a New York new~paper story 

stated that Dickey had estimated the mountain\ 

elevation to be "over 20,000 feet." In 1898, topographer Robert Muldrow of the U.S. Geological 

Survev a~ccm.led the Smitna Rh·er '' ith George 

II Eldridge. Using a stadia line and transit, he 

calculated the mountain'<; height from six different locatlom. Using a weighted mean of rho~e 

mca~urements, he ~rated that the peak\ "adopted 

he1ghf' wao, 20,464 feet 's> 

Fotlr vears later, geologist Alfred I I. Brooks and 

topographer De Witt L. Reaburn led an expcdinon ro areas south, west, and north of Mount 

1\\cKinley. Reaburn made four additiOnal vertical-angle mea~urcment~, with the mean height 

of 20,155 feet; he then averaged hi~ figure., with 

those of Muldrow's six measurements from 

tSg8 and determined a new mountain elevation 

of 20,)09 feet. Seven years later, II. W. Rhodes 

from the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey took 

two additional measurements of the mountain 

from Cook Inlet. Although both of h15 ob<>enation po!nh were more than 125 miles from Mount 

McKinley, his instrument!> were more accurate 

than tho'>e available to USGS field personnel. Jn 

a 1910 report, agency official William Bowie noted 

that the two measurements were 20, 274 feet and 

20,322 feet. He concluded that the weighted 

mean was 20,300 feet, and that thio. value waf> 

"correct within 150 feet.'' Brooks and other USGS 

Chnpter Twelve NalUral and Cullural Re5otJrce ManagernPnt 227 
Bradford Washburn conducted 

extensive surveying and mapping 

during the "Operation White Tower" 

expedition that climbed Mt. McKinley. 

He spent an unprecedented ninety 

days on the mountain in 1947. 

Operation White Tower Collection, 

Denali National Park and Preserve 

Museum Collection 

officiab, in a 1911 publication, accepted Bowte\ 

20,JOo-foot elevation as being correct.'1 ' 

For the next 45 vcar!>, the mountain\ otlkial 

height remained 20,300 feet. But a!> noted in 

Chapter 13, Bradford Washburn began ~howing 

an mtere~t 111 the mountain during the mid-1930::0, 

and he fir-.t climbed it m 1942. Fi,·e years later, he 

returned to the mountain and conducted ex ten 

s1ve survey work, including tripod measurements 

made at the summ1t, and in 1951, he and hi'> ere\\ 

~mvevcd much of the West Butrre~~ route. Ba<.cd 

on tho~e effortf>, and additional measurements 

in 1954, the 'lariunal Geog.raph1c Society (whtch 

had been <iponsoring Washburn. off and on, for 

twenty years) announced in Augu<,t 19)6 that 

"based on more than ten years of surveys of the 

mountain ... the Umted State~ Geological Survey 

had officially declared McKinley to be 20,320 

feet.''" Perhaps in response to this announcement, a number of pub Iicari one; adopted this new 

height. Bur the USGS did not, and government 

official!> for another twenrv year>, perhap~ Iunger, 

reiterated that "the official hetght nf the mountain is still 20,300 feet."'" 

ln June 1977, the National Outdoor Leader~htp 

School launched an expedition up the mounrain 

with the express purpo!.e of determming the 

mountain's height. Expedition member!> hauled 

33 pri~ml> up the mounrain. They reached the 

summit on July 11, and ~hortlv afterward, Brad 

228 Crown ~o>wel of the Noith An Admtn•strdtlve H•story of Denali Nilt•onal Park and f'tPSef\iE' 

Washburn- who worked from Etelson Visitor 

Center and several nearby site~-1.hot a series 

uf laser beam~ at the prism~ and recorded the 

n:!>ult'>. A week later, Washburn announced that 

the new mea~urcmcnt showed that the peak\ 

alttrude was "within a foot or so" of the accepted 

zo,Joo-foot figure. He ~rated that ~we may come 

up with a -.light change in altm.rde, but I think 

tt\ verv close." The USGS made no changes as a 

result of these measurements; thi!> may have been 

became (as later reported), "McKinley exerts 

enough gravitational pull to distort standard 

surveying techniques."''" hartly afterward. howe\ er, USGS personnel apparently concluded that 

Mount ,\lcKmley\ official hetght was 20,320 feet 

(a.'> \'<'ashburn had indicated in the mid L<)50~) 

rather than 20,300 feet. 

t\ renewed attempt to measure the mountain's 

hetght mok place tn early June 1989, when a 

scientific team, ~pomorcd hy tht: U.S. Geological 

Survey and the Universttv uf Al~ka Anchorage, 

headed roward the summit carrying a Global 

Pmttionmg System receiver. The researcher<. and 

support climber'> reached the top on jw1e 21 and 

used the receiver in conjunction With a Global 

Positioning Satellite. The technology could purportedlv ·'convert satellite signab into measurement., to the nearest 5 mulimcters" (or one-fifth 

of an inch). By late July, the ~cienrist~ had determined that Mount McKinley's ~umm1t elevarion 

was 20,306 feet, plu~ or minus six inches. But 
When Superintendent Frank Been 

visited the Sheldon Cabin in June 

1941, the 34-year-old original cabin 

and the 1914 addition were both 

badly deteriorated. DENA 4-5. Denali 

National Park and Preserve Museum 

Collection 

USGS officinb, nonng mcomi, enctc~ 111 their 

gravttarional mea~urcmcnts, did nor offictally 

accept the new figure becau~c it was tmuffiCicntly 

comprehemive to \\arran£ a change. Given the 

mconclu~i\'C rc~ult~ of the data colleen on effort, 

the peak\ official hetghr rcmatns .w.320 fcet.'i7 

Cultural Resource Issues at 

Mount McKinley National Park 

The Congre~~tonaJ bill that cstablt,hed Moum 

McKinley ational Park, in tl)I7, made no ~pecific 

Identification of the park\ cultural resource!> 

nor of any particula r need to protect them. This, 

combined with the facl thai the N PS, :t<> an organiLarion, wa~ slow ro heed the language in the 

Organic Act that called for the agency "to con-

... erve the ... hi~toric ob1ect.., ... therein,'' meant 

that httlc attcnnon was patd ro culrural resource 

concerns. PracticalitY prc,-ailed. 

Perhaps the llr..,t cfT(lrto; to protect htston cal value:, began tn 1932, when \upt llarn I tck headed 

down the Toklat Rtvcr ::md took photograph:, 

of the cabtn where Charles ~heldon and I larry 

Karstcm had lived during the1r v1,it to the area in 

1907-08. The following ... ummer, I 1ck returned to 

the "old Sheldon cabin," wh1ch wa.., "till standi ng, 

··for the purpose of taktng mea~urcmcnt~ and 

pictures for use in rc~roratton ." Li<!k conrinucd 

his inrcrc~t in later year~ '" 

No work was done, however, and when Supt. Been 

Yistted m 19-1'· he noted "the crumbling condttion 

of Charles heldon \ cahtn ... If re~tc lratton work i'> 

de~ rab e, Jt mu~t be done ~oon." Hut Adolph 'vlurie, 

who became famihar wtrh the cabtn dunng hts 1939-

41 field work, cxprc-.,ed a dtfferent pomt of vtew. In 

a 1942 article, he noted that 

The cahtn he u~cd 1~ no\\ 111 nun" and 

the cache I"> tottermg ... fhe cabtn 1" 

dctcnoratmg, a -.wmg of the nver rna) 

dc~tro) it '>uddcnlv, but I have a feeling tt -.hould he left alone. I thtnk that 

Sheldon, with his lo\'l' for wtld plate'>, 

would like to have ~ cahtn crumble 

to earth with age.'''' 

The cabin, in fact, d1d "crumhle to earth wtth 

age," because bv 1()59 the cabm wa., tn ... uch rumnus ~hape that in order to rehabilitate the cabin, 

tt "would have had to be complctch recon-

<>tructed." And in 11169, rhc park'~ chil•f ranger 

noted that ''the only rcmntm arc a few decayed 

logs \\'hich arc raptdh melnng into the '>oil" and 

that the wtndtng Toklat River \\.as now eating at 

the '>tte ol the cabtn.'' \\ ildlife adn>catc ... , b) thb 

time, were intcrc~tcd 111 rhc cabin\ ··preservation and tnterpretallon,'' but the cabin\ poor 

condition, combtncd wtth tt'> i~olation from the 

park road, precluded an) ... criou~ rehabilitation 

efforts.'"" 

A:. noted in Chapter"> 'i and 6, the recently abandoned buildtng'> on the Monno Tract caught the 

eye of a vi..,Jting 'lew York congreo.,sman, who 

hoped that tht butldtng'> could "be preserved a'> 

an e'\hihn of ... carl\' AJa..,knn ue\'elopmcnr and 
Constructed In 1926, the orlg1nal 

Superintendent's Office at park 

headquarters served as the 

administrative office until mld·1941, 

when the one-room building was 

considered "dilapidated. • By the 

spring of 1943 the building, still in 

1ts original location, was adapted 

for rt'use os the park's first museum. 

DENA 4·2.7, Denali Nat1onal Park and 

Preserve Museum Collection 

building cmNrUCUlm." That idea ~oon faded 

ctwa\. Of more !>U!)truncd imcrc~t, howt:ver, were 

rhe "many nrnclc~" rhat were acqUired from the 

Army':. 1942 te~t c-:pcd1t10n. Thc~c. plm ~cat

tcred item~ from other sources, comt1tuteJ the 

core of the park\ mu~eum collectwn, and ~hurtly 

after the 1mlitar} (in the !)pring of 194 3) opened 

up the park hotel a-. a re't and rccn.:anon ... rtc. 

~ PS officrab converted an "old ollicc hUJidmg" 

at headquartl'r'> mto a small mw .. cum. fhe mu-

"eum remamed open, off and on, untllll))O. •· 

Historical '>tudie~ commenced at the park dunng 

the earl) '950'>. In May 1951, regtonallmtorian 

Aubre) ea-.h.tm \·bitcd the park. Puhap'> .t~ a 

re5ult, Supt. Grant Pcar.,on-who b' now had 

heen at the park fnr more than t\\ent\ vcar'>- began \\Ttting a park lw.rorv, and b\ \1,m: h 1952 he 

had completed" draft of it. The 91 -p.1ge hook 

was completed 111 19)3· and both Director Conrad 

Wird1 and c1ther agency officials congratulated 

h1m becau~e "it'" an mteresting and 'ugge~tivc 

compilalion ol data pre~ented in something of an 

mformal rcponcr -.rvle."'h' 

The 1950!> also featured the placmg ot o,everal 

brorue pla4ue., that memorial11ed pcopk who 

had made prommcnt contribunom to the park. 

In early 1951, the Boone and Crockett Cluh .. ent 

the park a marker commemorating Chari c., 

Sheldon, who played such a critical role in the 

park's cstabltshment. Park !>taff reacted ln· 

in<;talling It rhat "Pring on a rock wall on the eao,t 

~tde of the Toklat River bridge, 3·) m1lc' up-.rrcam 

from Sheldon\ detcnoranng cabm On june 22 

a dedtcauon ceremony was held at the plaque; 

Robert Reeve, the Ala-.ka aviation ptonecr, gave a 

.. peech wan audience that includcJ N PS Dirc<.:-

ror Arthur Demaray, Regional Director l .awrence 

230 Crown kwel ol the North Arl Admonostr,l!M" Hostorv of Dcnah N.Jtoonal Pari< ar1d Preserve 

'\.lerriam. and Sheldon's w1dO\\, L oUJc;a "1 A year 

later. m jul\ 1<)52, park -.taff decided to move the 

plaque hononng Stephen T Mather which had 

heen loca1ed ncar t.he ranger dormltory since 

bemg installcJ in 1934- to "a more prominent 

po~1t1on ncar the aturahst office." "1 And in 

19)8, the Ptoneer~ of Ala~ka members, probably 

from the rarrbank!> Igloo, spon5ored the casting 

of a plaque m memory of Harry Karstens, the 

pioneering park superintendent"' ho had died in 

member 1955· On july 27, 1958. a -.mall crowd 

gathered near the Toklat Ri\·er bridge, at the same 

rock wall where the Sheldon marker had been 

erecreJ eight years earlier. Attendmg the brief 

ded1canun ceremonv were several major figures 

from the park\ early hiStory includmg conccs-

~ioner Robert Sheldon, \\ho had been mvolved tn 

park affmr-. from the mid-1920!> to the early 1940::.; 

former Supt. Grant Pearson, whose work at rhe 

park had ~panned rhe year~ from 1926 to 1956; 

and Karstem' w1dow, Loui!>e, who in the mid1920~ had worked at rhe park a~ a 1-per-monrh 

park ranger.'"~ 

lmere.,t m the park\ archeologtcal resource' 

began 1n late 1958, when regional "'PS officials 

wmte ro Umver~Jty of Alaska profes~or lvan 

Skarland and mvited him to submit htd~ for a 

parkwtdc archeological survey. Skarland, in 

re!>ponse, e~timated that such a survey would 

take two field ~casons and cost t8,4oo. The NPS 

then :.cnt it'> reg1onal archeologr~t. Paul Schumacher, to the park for further con~ultarion, but 

nothing ~pec1fic resulted from that \ ' ISIL' •· 

The 11r'>t archeologicaJ surve~ work m the park 

rook place 111 the c;ummer of 1960, after a geological field party <;tumbled upon two prehistoric 

!>ite ~ JU t north ofTeklanika Campground. These 
This photograph shows the June 

22, 1951 dedication of the plaque 

commemorating the achievements 

of Charles Sheldon. In 1958 a plaque 

was added in memory of Henry 

(Harry) Karstens. Both plaques are 

now on display at the Toklat Contact 

Station, on the west side of the Toklat 

River. National Archives & Records 

Administration 

~ites, later designated Teklanika West and Teklanika East, were soon visited by a niver~ ty of 

Alaska anthropology professor, Frederick HadleIgh Wt:st, and they were of sufficient interest that 

the NPS spomored a field camp for the followmg 

summer m which two UA archeologists, Ronald 

Boyce and Beryl Beard, excavatt:d p1ts at each of 

thme site~. Additional sites found that summer 

wert: located in the vicinity of Double Mountain, 

Sanctuary River, and Sable Mountain. West, or 

crews working under hi~ direction, continued to 

work atl eklanika for the next ::.everal years.'"? 

In 1963, UA geographer H. Morrb Morgan obtained an N PS contract ''to locate additional sites 

in order to lay the ground work for continuing 

evaluation of rhe park\ archeological resources.'' 

In re~ponse, he londucted a reconnaissance or 

prelim mary survey which focused on selected 

high ground area::. along the park road corridor 

between the park hotel and Teklanika Campground. After locating 11 new prehistoric sites, 

he reported that "ior the present, it seems that 

suffic1ent archeological surveys have been done 

in the Park."""' To follow up on Morgan'~ work, 

UA archeolog ~t Adan TreganLa, accompanied 

by two assistant!'>, arrived at the park in June. 

Under an N P contract, TreganLa revisited each 

of Morgan's 11 ~ite s and located five additional 

sites, all near the park road and primarily east of 

Sanctuary River. TreganLa, like Morgan, applied 

le~s-than rigorous methodology ro his field work; 

and he similarly concluded that "no further work 

is recommended for Mount McKinley l ational 

Park as human prehistory appears not to be one 

of its attributes." Reports such as these discouraged fu rther investigations, and for more than a 

decade, the agency sponsored no further survey 

ctrorts.""' 

Preservation values became important in the late 

196os. By 1966, park ::.taff had recognized the 

need to re~tore the old Upper Toklar patrol cabin 

(Pearson Cabin), which rangers Grant Pearson 

and Lee Swisher had built in 1927. Accordingly, 

staff hoped that the cabi n, along with the nearby 

dog houses and cache, could be "preserved as a 

permanent interpretive exhibit typical of those 

u::.ed by protection personnel during the early 

history of the park." After some delay, agency 

architects prepared a historic structures report 

for the vanous structures at the site; It called for 

a restoration of the cabin to its 1928 condition, a 

rehabilitation of the cache, and a reconstruction 

of the dog kennels. The cabin work was completed by 1973, and the remainder of the project 

~oon afterward.'?" In 1976, the cabin served as 

a "bicentennial living history demonstration" 

in which seasonal employees Frank Buono and 

Steve Carwile played the role of range r G rant 

Pcar~on. An agency report noted that "the Toklat 

Historic Cabin was lived in and manned daily this 

summer .... Visitors viewing these operations and 

rhe historic living cu dinon~ thoroughly enjoyed 

it.'''7' 

Archeological research re~umcd during the mid-

'9705 with two studies conducted just north of 

Chdpter Twelve Natural dnd Cullural Resource Managemenl l3 t 
The Teklanika West archeological 

site is located on a rocky bluff 

overlooking the wide braided gravel 

bars of the Teklanika River, a da~sic 

lookout Site for hunters to observe 

the movements of game animals. 

DENA 19·17, Denali National Park and 

Preserve Museum ColleCtion 

the park (and on land that would ~oon become 

park of the expanded park and preserve). 

\\eanwhHe, federal official!. mO\ed to protect 

archeological ~1tes in the park VlciniLJ. lmt1al 

cui rural re-.ourcc overview-. of rhe start:, wh1ch 

had been conducted m the early 1960~ .. had failed 

to identify any nationally-significant archeological or h•.,wrical '>itcs in or ncar the park. But 111 

September 1974 the Dn Creek early-man '>lte, 

located ju~t north of the park, was declared .1 '\lanonall !Jstonc Landmark, and in january 1976, 

the Tcklanika Archeological Di.,trict (an area that 

mcluded both ol the sites di.,covered m 1960) 

became the park\ fir-.. t entn mto the '\arionJl 

Register of H i.,toric Places. 

Cultural Resource Management at 

Dena li Nationa l Pa rk and Preserve 

In 1980. Alaska Area Office archeologist ( nug 

Dav1s, n:cognlllng the almo-.t total dearth ol 

extant archeological knowledge about the areas 

enclosed withm the newly-proclaimed Denali 

'\lational .\1onument, -.pcm 25 days in the park 

and conducted a bnef archeological reconnai.,-

sance. lie recorded 16 ne\\ prehi'>toric '>lte.,, 

pnmarily hth1c scatters on h1gh ground m the 

Tcklamka, Sancruary, and Savage River drainage~. 

The primary goal of his fieldwork wa~ to gather 

daca for upcoming management plan~. Perhap-. 

as a result of that surve~, the park's first re~ource 

managemcnr plan, in Apri11982, ~tared that the 

park's top cultural resource goal wa~ the compilation of a lour-year, Ssoo,ooo cultural re~ource 

232 CrO'Nn Jewel of Jhl' JIIOflt> .;n Admm S!ftltlv€ HIS!OC'J t Den•h •Jat·ona Par~ and Preserve 

Jn\'Cntnrv; more specifically, It stated that "an 

1m mediate need 1s to complete e~sentially prelnninarv ~1te ~rud1c~ and Jrch1tecrural evaluation~ 

for cntJcal area re~ourcc!>" ->uch a'> the Teklanika 

Archeological Di~tnct, the headquarters area, 

and other histone -.tructure~. The plan also 

called for the complcnon of a hbtoric resource~ 

stud\, which would he primarily ba~cd on the 

re!.ults of the first year's im·entol) work, plus an 

admim...,tranve history, wh1ch would be a vearlong pwjcct to update Pearson'!. 1953 history. n 

The agcncv showed no immediate interest in 

fundmg any of the park\ culrural resource 

priorities. The. approval of a number of ~maller 

project-. over ~cvcral years, however, was a positive rcspome to the park\ needs. Beginning in 

1982, ror example, crews working in the park's 

fire management program (see above) compiled 

a remarkable invenro~ of cabim, both hi<;toric 

and conrcmporan, and by 1984 mformanon on 

well m·er 200 cabins and ruins wa~ available, not 

onh to fire manager~ but to cultural re!>ource 

...,pcctali.,ts a~ well. Then, m the spring of 1985, the 

rcg10n\ historical architect, Dave Snow, prepared 

des1gn gUJdelincs for the ~o-called "Headquarters 

Hi~tonc District.'' Meanwhile, the agency hired 

a Univer::.ll}' of California anta Barbara graduate 

~tudcnt. Gail Evan~ .. for two histoncal re~earch 

pro)ctr~. The fir~r mvolved the park\ older patrol 

cahms, while the second called for an mvestigatlon into the variou~ headquarter~ buildings. 

The goal of both effort'> was rhe preparation of 
NPS seasonal inte rpreter Ste ve 

Ca rwile lived and worked at the 

Pea rson Cabin beginning the summe r 

of 1976 a nd for the full summers 

of 1977 through 1979, providing 

site interpretation for pa rk visitors 

arriving by tour bus. This living 

history demonstration included tw o 

sled dogs at the historic duplex dog 

houses. DENA 2254, Denali National 

Park a nd Preserve Museum Collection 

Projects to inventory Denali's 

cultural resources included the 

documentation of sites such as this 

Kantishna Mining District historic 

lode mining site, referred to as DENA 

#154, the Alpha Ridge site, consisting 

of this cabin, a shed, ad its, tailings 

and artifacts. NPS Photo 

National Regbter of Historic Places nomination 

form~. Evans's work, remarkably, brought quick 

results. Her patrol cabins nomination, which 

included five cabins along the "old park's" northern boundary, five others along the park road, 

and three ncar the park's southeastern corner, 

was accepted in November 1986, while her headquarters-area nomination was entered onto the 

National Register in Octoher 1987.'74 

Meanwhile, other projects were being pur-,ued. 

Given Evans's substantial historical information, 

Snow worked with archeologist Paul Gleeson 

and historian Robert Spude on a three-volume 

historic structure report (HSR), for both the 

headquarters area and Wonder Lake buildings, 

which was completed in January 1987. By thb 

time, historian Bill Brown was well underway 

with a historic resource study. Brown, recogniting 

Chapter Twelve Natural and Cultural Resource ManagPmenl 2 33 
William E. "Bill" Brown, NPS historian 

for more than 30 years, spent several 

years researching and writing Denali's 

historic resource study, published 

In 1991. That document was later 

published as Dena// - Symbol of 

the Alaskan Wild, a comprehensive, 

Illustrated h1story of the park. NPS 

Photo 

the broad re'>c:lrch opportunitic~ available 111 the 

\'ariou~ park collection'>, moYcd to thc park tor 

the duranon of hi'> '-tudy. which \\3'- completed 

in draft form m 191!9. fhe study\\ a ... puhli ... hcd 

by theN PS in 1991, and It proved so popular that 

m 1993. the Ala'>k<l Natural Hi!.tor) A ...... oCJatJon 

produced a reformatted version of Brown\ hook 

for popular con ... umptJOn. Brown\ rc ... carch. 

valuable a'> Jt wa' for the general mformat1on Jt 

provided, had a practical !>Ide, roo. From nmc 

to rime dunng rhe 19Ro .... the 1\.iP) ... parn:d \\ 1th 

the park conce!.\Joncr about the road\ de..,.gn, 

construction, Jnd mamtenance, and ai'>O w1th 

the State of Ala ... ka over the ownerc,hip of thl· 

park road {-.ec Chapter 9) \X hen court ca.,es 

arose in the'c two matters. the documentation 

rhat BrO\\ n pr<n 1dcd helped huttre..,, the federal 

government\ ca,e .'~~ 

During the 19Ro,, agcnq '>taff lt..arned \"i'llu 

able new informauon about the park\ cultural 

resource~ through it!. compliance Jn\C..,tiga 

nom. The'>c mvestigation .... whtch n:'>pondecl to 

propo~ed dc\'clopment actions. 1m ol\'cd both 

bibliographic re!>carch and on-the-ground field 

work. The) \\'ere legally sanctioned hv the "anonal Hbronc Pre-.cn·ation Act of 1966 and fir~r 

implemented at the park m the late 1970 ... The 

preparation of compliance document..,, by rcgJOnal office per.,onncl, rcmamed faJrl\' '>porau1c 

234 Crown Jewel ol the North An AdrnuuWal•ve ~tory 01 D<>noll N t•onal Park nr•d r~rvP 

until the. m1d-198o-.. After that pomt, however, 

the region\ Archeological Re.,ource5 \tanagcmcnt l nit applied compliance more mtcnsely at 

rhe par\... ;lnd hundreds of documents have been 

generated '>ince that time, and on the ba!.il> of 

that ama....,cd data, Krbten Gnftin m 1990 wrote 

a park archeological overview and a<,sessment. 

In the nud-1990'>, the respom1biliry for Denau's 

compliance program c;h 1fted from the regwnal 

offici.' to the park. • 

C..i\'cn the re .. ult!. of Gail E\'am\ cabm histone.,, the agency's architectural '>ta.ff dunng the 

early 199m began compiling a '>Cries. of historic 

'>tructurc reports. In 1992, Gml teamed with 

Da\ id han ... on at lea!.t two cabin HSRs, and the 

follmnng year Randall Skeink worked With Ste-

\'en Pctcr.,on on an HSR for a headquarters-area 

blllldmg. Perhaps six to eight of these reports 

have bec.n completed to date. And m re~pome to 

these rcpnrh, \cveral historic cabin!-. have been 

n:habilitutcd by the park's maintenance staff.m 

Rec.auw of the !.tructural similarity of the vanous 

early patrol cahms. and because of -.rrong working relatton-.hip!. bet\vecn the reg10nal hJstoncal architect'., ..,taff and the park\ pre crvation 

crew. the 'ariou~ initial llSR.' have -.ervcd as an 

ell'ectJvc template for hi~tonc cabin rchabiutauon 

cfforb throughout the park. Additional HSRs 

will be completed as the need scs .'7~ 
Frank Norris served as a historian in 

the NPS's Alaska Regional Office for 

17 years. NPS Photo 

An NPS employee in Alaska since 

1990, Ann Kain served as Denali's 

first Cultural Resource Manager from 

1997 to January, 2008. She facilitated 

programs in museum collections, 

archeology, ethnography and historic 

preservation. NPS Photo 

The Herning cabin, located between Thorofare 

River and Mount Eielson, received considerable 

attention from agency staff during this period. 

This cabin, easily visible from the Eielson Visitor 

Center, had been part of Harold Heming's claims 

and had been moved to the site, from Fairbanks, 

in 1954 (sec Chapter 14). But in 1983, Heming's 

claims had been declared null and void, and in 

j une 1992 park employee Sandra Kogl noted 

that the cabin wa~ "in extreme di~repair ' and 

"unauthorited usc [was] takmg place." On that 

basis, '>he recommended that the "cabin and it~ 

associated junk should be removed from the 

viewshed of Eielson Visitor Center. Suggest 

this be a project for a Sierra Club type of work 

group." The park's resource chief and the superintendent approved the proposed action, and 

in response, the january/February 1993 issue of 

Sierra A1aga::;i11e advertised a Sierra Club "service 

trip," scheduled for late August 1993, in which 

the participants would "dismantle an old miner's 

cabin." But Sandra Faulkner, who served as the 

agency's Regional Historic Preservation Officer, 

noted that "this site was associated with several 

Chapter Twelve Natural and Cultural Resource Management 235 
In the early 1920s a small lode mming 

camp was located at the base of 

Copper Mountain, later renamed Mt. 

Eielson. Harold Hernlng built this 

cabin on his claims in 1954. This cabin 

and the remains of the 1920s camp, 

to the right of the cabin, stand as 

reminders of historkal activities in the 

Mt. Eielson Mining District. William 

Weber Collection, Cultural Resources, 

Denali National Park and Preserve 

h1sronc mmmg drum~ and both histone and 

modern tool' and equipment are ~cattercd ahout 

the area." l"hlJ',, in order to comply with provi-

~IOm m rhe National H1~toric Preservation \ ct of 

11)66, ~he a<.ked that the ~itl' "he ~urvevcd hv our 

mmmg mvcntorr crew for cultural rc~ourcc~." 

Based on that recommendation, a four per~on 

NPS ere\\ ~pent two day-. at the s1te 111 june 1993. 

\fter recc1vmg the crew\ report, the agcncv\ 

reg10nal an .. heologist recommended that no .tenon be taken to the cabtnltsclf; he did. however, 

suggest the removal of hat.ardom matcnals and 

recent trash from the ~1tc. G1ven that rccom 

mendatwn, the Heming cabm sttll -.rand~ today. 

although in sc,·erei: deteriorated condition. 

Despite a mid·IIJ90S cleanup cOurt, ~lllllC ucbris 

rcmams m the cabm\ VICtnlt). ·· 

rhroughout tJm period, the park's cultural 

re~our c., had hcen managetl b\' per<,nnncl who 

had no spcc1ahted background or expertise m 

a culrural resource field. That need, wh1ch had 

been ident1ticd as early as the park's 1982 rcourcc management plan, wa.., initiallv atldrc ... sed 

\\'lth the hmng of jenmfcr \X'olk a~ the park'.., fir~t 

museum curamr. In 1997 Ann Kain, formcrlv a 

histon:tn 111 rhc agenq \regional office, wa~ added to the park ~taff. 1:\.am '>pent the next Jl'l:a<..h: 

on the Joh and played a major role in mc.orporat136 CIOW:l J~wel of the Nollh Ar AtlrnrnoStrdt!Ve Hrs:orv of DeMII Ndtoonal P.!r~ rllld Preserve 

ing culrural resource concerns mro overall park 

management. During that period, two employees 

have J<>incd her stufl: cultural anthropologist jane 

Brv.mt (who ha~ worked at the park, ofl and on, 

'>111<-C 1967) and mu<,eum curator jane Lakeman, 

who -,uccceded Wolk m 2006. Recent cultural 

resource proJect~ have included an ethnographic 

ovcrv1ew and a~Se!>'>mcnt, a headquarters-area 

cultural landscape report, and vanous culrurallytocu-,ed exhib1ts. 

Subsistence Issues 

A., notctlm Chapter R, both Interior Department offic1ab and Congress recognitcd dunng 

the 1970.., that mo'>t of the new land~ that were 

being con~idercd a'> 1\. PS unit!> man Ala.,ka 

lands blll needed to be open to ... ub'>i!ttencc use~ . 

Accordingly, the proclamation that President 

C..artcr ~igned in December 1978 to establi!>h 

Denali Nanonal ~1onument stated that "'the 

oppornmin. for the local re~idents 10 engage in 

sub..,tstcnce huntmg I'> a value to be protected and 

will continue under the administration of the 

monument." Con~i'>tcnt with that statement, the 

Ala'>ka ....,ational lntere!>t Land!> Con..,ervation Act 

likeWI!tc provided that :-.ubsistence uses would be 

sanllloncd in all '>o-called "new park" lands as 

well n' Within Denah atlonal Prc!>crvc. The bill, 

howe\cr, made no move to sanction -.ubsistencc 
In January 2007 Florence Collins, 

center, received the 2006 NPS Summit 

Award for Lifetime Achievement for 

her nearly 25 years of guidance and 

leadership on Denali's Subsistence 

Resource Commission. The award 

w as presented by Alaska Regional 

Director Marcia Blaszak, left, and 

Florence's daughter Julie. NPS Photo 

usc~ within the "old park," and sub!>istencc u~cs 

there remamcd olf limits. 

Soon after ANI LCA was signed, the Interior 

Department moved to establi!>h rcgulatiom that 

specified the structure of subsistence activities at 

Denali and orber Ala!>ka park units (sec Chapter 

9). The!>c regulations were in place by June IC)8L 

What wa;, lacking, however, was a federally-!>anctioneu commission that could represent local 

subsistence user!>. Congress mandated that the 

members for such a commission needed to be 

chosen by December 198I and that, by june 1982, 

the a!>!>cmbled commi!>sion needed to "devi!>e and 

recommend to the Secretary and the Governor a 

program for subsistence hunting within the park 

or park monument." Bur for various reasons, 

the Denali National Park Subs ~tence Resource 

Commiss1on was unable to hold its initial meetmg until t\ lay 1984. Since that time, meetings 

of this advisory body have been held every six 

months or so. Florence Collins, a Lake Minchumina (later Fairbanks) resident, guided the SRC 

from its incepuon until August 2007; since that 

time, Ray Collins of McGrath has served as the 

SRC cha1r.'H" 

When park ufficmb, during the hectic days following the pa.<.sage of the Ala:.ka Nanve Claims 

Settlement Act, recognited that millions of 

acres m1ght be added onto lvtount ,\llcKinley 

National Park, they tried to gather substantial 

baseline mformation about the nature of ongoing subsistence activities. Some of these data 

were gathered by field examiners dunng the 

1972-74 period, and a brief (four-page) ~ect10n 

on subsi!'.tence appeared in the October 1974 

Fhral E11viromnelltal Statemmt. To learn more, 

however, officials contacted Coopcrati\'C Park 

Studies Unit personnel in Fairbank~. and Richard 

Bishop agreed to investigate subsistence patterns 

in the areas proposed for inclusion north of the 

Ata~ka Range. That !.tudy included stte visit~ 

to, or communicariom with, residents of Tel ida, 

Lake Minchumina, Kamisbna, Bearpaw, Nikolai, 

and 'lenana. The study was completed in late 

1977 and published a year later!~' just a year later, 

Dianne Gudgel-Holme~. in a sta te-spon~orcd 

navigability study, provided extensive historical 

data about the hi~toric use of tht' Kantlshna, Upper Ku~kokwim, and Nenana river drainage~. On 

the basi' of that expertise, Ms. Gudgel-Ho me~ 

then teamed up with William Schneider (from 

UAF) and park employee john Daile-Molle on 

an NPS-spon~ored study, published m 1984, that 

examined historical land use pattern~ in the "new 

park" and preserve areas north of d1e Alaska 

Range.''' 

In the twenty-plus) ears ~ince the park\ -,ubsistence resource commission began meetmg, 

it ha!. dealt with a welter of 1ssues. Man) of 

its decisions, particular!) since the mid-1990S, 

have heen recommendatiOns related ro hunting 

and fishing regulations. To lend per,pectivc to 

those recommendations, J rs and other agency 

staff have analy;ed the proposal and, ac nmes, 

conducted research d1at has either buttreo,scd or 

Chapter Twelve Natural and Cultural RPsource Manarwment 237 
The Fish Lake cabin, seen 1n this 1995 

photograph, played a prominent 

role in the long history of trapping 

in the north additions of the park. 

Th1s site represents the activities and 

subsistence lifestyle of trappers who 

made their living In this area. NPS 

Photo 

The NPS monitors the condition of 

historic resources such as the Fish 

Lake cabin, pictured here In 2007. 

NPS Photo 

mitigated the SRC\ rcwmrnendat10m. Each of 

the e ecommendation~. 10 turn, has been' ored 

on bv regional advl',on council, and later by the 

federal Sub-,btence Board. 

Beyond thi'> regular round of han·e~t recommendation<-., other researchers have completed 

studies-funded partially or entirely bv the 

NPS that lend further background to the park's 

present and historical -.uhsi~tence panc rn ~. Gud238 Crown JewPI of the North An Adm1mstrat1ve History of DPnah NdliOildi p,,k .trtd Preservt> 

gel-llolme,, for example, spent man} years on 

the Kanmhna Oral! Iistory ProJect; this included 

a ~enes of transcribed inten·iews with elders that 

took place durmg hoth I982-83 and 1988, and the 

proJect abo included a historv, published in 1991, 

of '\lative place name., m the Kannshna watershed:'" In 1999, Gudgel-Holmes and two others 

completed a ~tud} examining the traditional use 

of vanous ~tructures tn tht.: park unit's north 

additions; that ~arne year, linguist james Kari 
produced a draft Native place names mapping 

study o( the park.>~s 

In 2000, the NPS sponsored several community 

histories under a cooperative agreement with the 

Alaska Department of Fish and Game's Division of Subsistence. Longtime SRC member Ray 

Collim, in September 2000, completed a history 

of Nikolai and Telida, and three months later, 

Cantwell resident Brenda Rebne completed a 

bnef history of Cantwell's Native village. That 

c;amc year, the students and teacher1. of Minchumina Community School produced a history of 

Lake Minchumina, and the Tanana Tribal Council produced A Sltort Histol)' of the Native Village 

ofTanana. The park's ethnographic overview 

and assessment, completed in 2001 by a trio of 

ethnographers, was also written in response to 

the '>tate-federal cooperative agreement.>~" 

In order to manage the park subsistence activie~, Superintendent Cunnmgham during the 

tq8os, asked Ralph Tingey, the park's management assistant, to serve as the NPS liaison to 

the Denali Subsistence Resource Commission. 

Tingey retained that role until t991, when I lolli1. 

Twitchell became the park'c; first specifically· 

designated subsistence specialist. Twitchell 

remained on the job for more than a decade. 

Amy Craver presently manages park subsistence 

matter~ !~7 

A major subsistence-related matter in recent 

year~ has concerned the extent to which subsistence ORV access would be allowed in the Windy 

Creek, Cantw·ell Creek, and Bull River drainages. 

Another major subsistence issue has been the 

proposal to develop a resort along Spruce Creek 

in the Kant1shna Hilb, a proposal that would 

have had ~cve c impact5 on the area's subsistence 

hunting opportunities. These issues arc discu:-.scd in chaptcrc; 10 and 14, respectively. 

Chapter Twelve Natural ,md Cultural Resource Management 239 
Notes - Chapter 12 

Theodore Roosc11elt, "The Arnencan Hunter-Naturalist," The Outlook 99 !DecE>mber 9, 1911 ), 856, Wtlham E 

Brown, Dena/1, Symbol of the Alaskan Wild (Anchorage, Alas~ a Natural H1story AssoCtatton, 1993), 81-86. 

Sheldon to Mather, December 15, 1915, Thomas R1ggs, Jr to Mather, December 17, 1915,both 1n "Proposed 

Nat1onal Parks Mt McKmley" folder. Box 111 , General Records, Central Ftles, RG 79, NARA CP. 

64 Congress, 1 Sesston, H R 14775 {Apnl 18, 1916) and S 5716 (Apnl22. 1916) 

• 64 Congress. PuiJhc No 353 <February 26, 1917), tn Umted States Statutes at Large 39, p 938 

Supenntendent's Monthly Repom, Mount McKtnley Nattonal Park (hereafter known as SMR, MOMC), June 

1921, 2 

SMR, MOMC. July 1921 through Dr.cernber 1922 

Nelson to Mt11her, M.iy 7, 1921, MilthE.>r to Nelson. June 6, 1921, Kdrstens to Nelson, May 13, 1922; allrn 

"Wild An1mals, PcJrt I and 2" ftle, Box 112 (MOM(). RG 79, NARA (P, SMR. Aprtl 1922. 5 

3 SMR. July 1922, 6, and October 1922, 4, Ttrnothy Rawson, Changmg Tracks, Predators and Polmcs m Me. 

McKinley National Pa1k (Fatrbanks. Untvet~tty of Alaska Press, 2001 ), 37 

L1nda S Franklin. Acto/ph Mune Denali's Wilderness ConsoencP (unpubl•shed M.A TheSt5, Un111ers1ty of 

Alaska Fatrb;mks, May 2004 ), 21, Rawson. Changmg Tracks, 34 

Nelson to Mather, Aprtl 13, 1922. tn "Wtld Antmals, Part 1 and 2" f1le. seE' above, Margar~t E Mune, 7\vo 

m the Far North (Anchorage, Alaska Northwest. 1978), 78, 80, Jtm Rearden, Alaska's Wolf Man the 1915-55 

Wilderness Adventures of Frank Glaser (Mtssoula, P1donal Htstones Publishing, 1998), 83 

11 SMR, May 1q22, 3, June 1922, 2. July 1922, 2, August 1922, 2, 4 

SMR. July 1922, 2, ,md St>ptemter 1922, 2, Frankltn, Adolph Mune, 22, 24, 26, Muue, Two m the Far North. 

80, Brown. Denali, Symbol of the Alaskdn Wild, 148-49 

Accordtng to the Falfbanks Da,lvNews-Mmer, August 17, 1922, 1, "a lar(_]e number of canbou mtxed 

wtth the herd dt dtlfercnt ttrnes" durtnQ th!~ 1921-22 retndeer dnve, "but no harm was done In the ldttarod 

regton." for exilmple. herders "resorted to la~~otng the canbou and ty1ng them up unttlthey hdd dnven the 

herd on, when they rPieased them 

" Rawson, C hangmg Tracks, 92, SMR, August 1922, 2, September 1922, 2, Fa~rbanh Dally News-Mmer, 

October 13, 1923 2 

1 SMR, October 1924,3, Au<Just 1925,3,8-9. Hal G Evarts, "GamP tn the Foreground," SaturdayEvemng 

Post 198 (May 22, 1926), 30-31, 225-30 Karstens, tn h1s December 192 5 supenntendent's report (p 4\, stated 

that a "pubhcatton~ of the park's rldtural attr,hutes was "now on record at Washtngton, DC ~ No known 

record of such a pubhcauon exiSts, however 

See, for example, SMRs for December 1925, 4-5, Apnl 1926, 4-5, and July 1926, 4-5 

A E Demaray toTS Palmer, December 5, 1924, tn "Wild Antmals. Part 1 and 2" ftle. sPe abo11e 

SMR, September 1925, 2, January 1926, 4 

Adolph MurtP dtscussed the surfbtrd tn "W1Idhfe of Mount McK1nley Nat1onal Park,· Natrona/ GeographiC 

104 (August 1953), 252,269 Supt Ltek, upon heartng of Wuuht's unt1mely death tn February 1936, noted 

tha~ soenttsls had "searthed for the !>uri btrd nests for 011er 150 years and the only one on record rs the one 

found by George Wnght " SMR, F£·bruary 1936. t 

R1chard West Sellars. Preservmq Nature m the National Parks A t11story (New Ha11en. Yale. 1997), 86-87, 

Russ Olsen. Adnmustrai!Vf! H1story Orqanrzat1onal Structures of the Nat1onal Park ServiCe, 1917 to 1985 

(Washington?, NPS?, September 198!:>), 36 37, George M. Wrrght, JosephS D1xon. and Ben H Thompson, 

Fauna of the NrJtlondl Parks of the Unllt'<i States· A Prellmmary Survey of Faunal Relations 111 Nat1onal Parks, 

Fauna Senes No 1 (Washtngton, GPO, 1933J, 111, US Department of the lntertor, Annual Report (Washtngton. 

GPO, 1933), 177, Ra~on, Changmg Tracks, 67, SMR, May 1926 4, SMR, July 1926, 6 

Rawson, Changmg Tracks, 92·93. SMR, January 1926,4, October 1926, 4. Odober 19.27, 7., 7 

USDI, Ann11al Report for 1927 (p 145) and 1928 <p 182) 

SMR, Augu~t 1927, 3, SMR, October 1927, 5, 6, February 1928, 3, lanuury 1929, 3 

:Rawson. Changmg Tracks, pp 53. 85, and 158 notes that esttm.:nes of the park's maJOr ammal populations 

dunng the 1920s w~re etther poorly-desrgned or done retrospect111ely 

~ SMR, February 1931, 2 October 1931, 3, February 1933, 3, October 1933, 3, November 1933, 3, September 

1936, 5, September 1937, 6, Febrt.ary 1938, .1, October 1938,4 

• SMR, May 1933. 1, August 1937, 5. September 1937,6, June tQ39, 4, May 1940, 6, June 1940, 5, 

No11ember 1940, 4, June 194 1, 3 

Acttng Otrector NPS to RD/R4, Mily 16, 1947, rn Ftle 700 01 (Nature Study, 1940-53), Box 82, CCF, RG 79, 

NARA SB Also sel' Appendtx C tn the ftrst 11olume of thts study 

la SMR, June 1 n2s, 4·5, Sylvta Mendoza, The Book of Latma Women, 150 V1das of Pass1on, Str~:ngth, and 

Success (Avon. Mass, Adams Medta, 2004), 85-86, A E Haley-OI1phant, "Ynez Mexta, Botantsl, 1870-1938," 

1n M L Matyas Ctrtd A E Haley·Oitphant, edttors, Women Ltfe SCtenusts Past. Present and Future Connectmg 

210 (rcwn Jewel I the North An A Jm•n•str.,tM' HrstrJry of P noll N .. toon~l Pari .. nct Pr~rve 
Role Models to the Classroom Cumculum (Bethesda. Md., Amen can Phys1olog1cal Sooety. 1997), 203- 16, J .D 

Coffman to Supt MOMC. January 16, 1939, 1n F1le 701 (Flora), Box 82, CCF, RG 79, NARA SB 

2

" SMR, July 1932, 3, June 1933, 3; September 1933, 5, Harry J Llek to Herbert L Mason, September 19, 

1933, and A E Dema1ay to Lonn T Oldroyd, June 2. 1939, both 1n File 701, see above; Carl Roland, The 

Vascular Plant Flonst1cs of Denali Nat1onal Park and Preserve A Summary, lncludmg the Results of Plant 

Inventory Fieldwork 1998-200 I, NPS Central Alaska Network Inventory and Monitonng Program, F1nal 

TechniCal Report CAKN-04-01 (Denali Park. AK, NPS, March 2004), Chapter 3 

1

' SMR. June 1939. 3, July 1939, 4, August 1939, 3, September 1939, 4, Apn 1940, 4, Rawson, Changmg 

Tracks, 160. In 1942, Dr Nelson completed a 65-page Report on the Study of the Plants on Mount McKinley 

Nattonal Park wtth a List of the Plants Collected m 7 939, see Techn1callnformat1on Center report number 184/ 

D-230 

1 SMR, November 1925, 8, May 1926, 3, October 1933, 4; Btl I Myers. "Wh1te Trails. ·• Amencan Forests 35 

(August 1929), 478, 541 

'· SMR. June 1928, 4, September 1929, 3; July 1940, 4 

'· In 1923, a prospector named Z1mmerman told Supt Karstens that "he wou'd k1ll any bear he met w1th 1n 

the Park or elsewhere and that the other prospectors would do the same, cla1m1ng that bears destroyed their 

caches.· SMR, September 1923, 5, Dixon to Dtrector NPS, October 28, 1932. tn Ftle 715-02 (Bears), MOMC. 

Entry 6, RG 79, NARA CP 

' SMR, August 1928, 3, September 1932, 2, March 1933, 1, D1xon to D1rector NPS, October 28, 1932, 

see above 

• SMR, July 1934, 6, September 1937, 6 

SMR, October 1938, 4, June 1940 5, July 1940, 4, June 1942, 3, June 1944, 2 Supt Been, 111 hts July 

1940 report, was unsurpnsed at the wolf and b~.>or act1v1ty at the ARC camp but regard1ng Camp E1elson. he 

surm1sed that the bears "must be attracted by food odors as garbage IS carefully dtsposed of " 

SMR, September 1928,4, February 1930, 2, October 1931.4, October 1933,4. November 1934, 5, 

February 1938, 5. December 1939, 4, December 1940, 4 

SMR, August 1925, 9, February 1929, 4; Novembe1 1929, 3, December 1932, 3 In Dec~.>mber 1942 

(p. 2), the supenntendent noted that "feedtng trays for the chiCk-a-dees" were located adjacent to each 

headquarters restdence. but whether they also existed 1n earl1er years tS not known 

· SMR, February 1924, 5-7, March 1924, 2-3 

·· SMR, Apnl 1927. 3, June 1928. 4 

'' SMR, Apnl 1929, 3, May 1929, 3; June 1929, 4, July 1929, 3, Seward Datly Gateway, May 8, 1929, 6 

"" Supt Ltek. asststed by Chtef Ranger Lou Corbley, placed a salt ltck tn the Sable Pass area SMR, June 

1936, 2 

- Rawson, Changmg Tracks, 161, 182-83; SMR. May 1940, 5, October 1940, 5, Adolph Mune, " Wtldltfe of 

Mount McK1nley Nat1onal Park," Nattonal Geographtc Magazme 1 04 (August 1953), 252 

'

1 SMR, October 1940, 5, May 1943, 2 

·- SMR, June 1928, 4-5; February 1932, 1, August 1932, 3; May 1932, 2, Terrence Cole, The Cornerstone on 

College Hill (Fatrbanks. Un1vers1ty of Alaska Press, 1994). 97 

J• "Secretary Lane's Letter on NatiOnal Park Management." May 13, 1918, 1n Lary M Dtlsaver, eel, Arnertca's 

Nattonal Park System. the Crittcal Documents (Lanham, Md . Rowman and Littlefield, 1994), 49 

• SMR, October 1922, 6, February 1924, 5; January 1926, 3, February 1926, 1, 5 

I ' SMR, July 1923, 10; June 1924, 5-6, July 1924, 1-4; Fatrbanks Datly News-Mmer, July 17, 1924, 8, July 31, 

1924. 1 

J" Steve Busktrk, A Htstory of Wildfires m Mount McKmley Nattonal Park and Adjacent Lands, December 1976, 

Item 1189, DENA Resource Management Library (RMU; January 1930, 2, December 1930, 2; January 1931, 3, 

November 1931, 3; March 1933, 2; February 1934. 2 

~ T1mothy Rawson 1s the acknowledged expert on th1s subject In 1994, h1s M.A thests from the Un1vers1ty 

of Alaska Fatrbanks was entttled Alaska's First Wolf Controversy Predator and Prey in Mount McKinley 

Nattonal Park, 1930-1953, and seven years later. an expanded verston of thts study was published through 

the Un1vers1ty of Alaska Press as Changmg Tracks. Predators and Poltttcs m Mt_ McKinley NatiOnal Park 

Thts sect1on, and the sectton that follows. are a synops1s of the controversy, those tnterested tn add1t1onal 

1nformat1on may wtsh to consult one or both of Rawson's stud1es 

· Rawson, Changtng Tracks, 47-51 

' lbtd. 51, 94, 99-100 

,_. lbtd' 49-52 

1' lbtd, 94-96, 100-01. Tern tory of Alaska, Sesston Laws, ResolutiOns, and Memonals, 1931, Chapter 117, p. 

232, Calvtn J_ Lens1nk, "Predator Control w1th the Bounty System." tn Alaska Ftsh and Game Commtss1on and 

Alaska Department of F1sh and Game, 1958 Annual Report, 94. 

Ch<Jpt~• Twelve N<ltUral and Cultu1~l Resource Management 241 
"An Act to Prote<tthe B1rds and An1rnals 1n Yellowstone Park," rn Drls<~ver, ed, Ameflcan's N<Htonal Park 

System. 36-39, "Secretary Lilne~ Letter,· rn Drlsaver. ed, Ameflca·s Nattonal Par/.. System. 48, 50, Rawson, 

Changmg Track::., 58 

Rawson, Changmg 7racks, 59-60 

s lbtd . 58-61 

58 SMR, July 1922. 7, October 1922, 6, March 1926. 6, Apnlt926, 4, May 1927, 3, George M Wnght and 

Ben H Thompson, FauncJ of the Nai!Onal Parks of the Umted Scares Wtldltfe Managemt>nt m the Nartonal 

Parks, Fauna Senes No 2 (Washington, NPS, 1935), 72 

§~Adolph Mune, "Wolf-Mountarn Sheep Relatronshrps rn Mount McKrnley Natrona! Park., Alaska- 1946," rn 

F1le 719 (Predatory Anrmals). Box 85, CCF. RG 79, NARA SB, SMR, Septt'mber 1925, 2. 7, November 1925. 

8, December 1925. 4, 6. 7 In December 1925, Karsten krlled a wolf at headquarters (JUSt east of the park 

boundary), and a Sanctuary based park ranger shot twrce at a wolf but rn1ssed. 

SMR, February 1928, 4, July 1928, 3, March 1929, 2, November 1929, 3 

' Rawson. Changmg Tracks. 52-56, SMR. July 1928. 3, August 1928, 4-5 

See. for example. the followrng SMR entrres June 1929, 5, July 1929, 4, June 1930, II, July 1930, 4, August 

1930, 4, November 1930, 3, Apnl 1931, 3. June 1931, 3 

Rawson. Changmg Tracks, 84-85, SMR, March 1929,3. Aprrl1929, 1, 3, July 1929,3, February 1932, 1, 

4, March 193.7, 2, Apnl 1932, 3, and Newton B Drury, The Wolf Problem m Mount McKmley Nattonal Park, 

January 4, 1946, rn F1le 719 (Predatory Anrmalsl, Box 85, C CF, RG 79, NARA SB, notes that the two destructive 

w1nters were 1928-29 and 1931·32 But other sources-such as Charles A Trundy to Alaska Game 

Comm1ssron, January 12, 1931, rn hie 719, Entry 7. RG 79, NARA CP, Rawson. Changmg Tracks, 97, SMR. 

Apnl1931, 3, and SMR, November 1932, 3-suggest that the wrnters of 1929-30 .1nd 1930-31 may have also 

been costly to park anrrnals 

""Rawson, Changmg Tracks, 61, 69 70, AlbrtQht. ''The Nattonal Park Servrce's Poltcy on Predatory Anrmals. H 

Journal of Mammalogy 12 (May 1931 I, 185-86, repnnted rn Drlsaver. Amenca·s Nattonal Park 5)'5tem. 87-88 

6 Albrrght, "Our Nattonal Parks as Wrld Lrfe Sanctuarres.'' Amerrcan Forests 35 (August 1929), 536, Sellars. 

Preservmg Nature m tile Nattonal Pa1b. 98 

'" Rawson. Changmg Tracks, 70 71 

SMR, May 1932. 2, August 1932, 3, Drxon. "Meetrng the Wtld Lrfe of Denair," Amertcan Forests 38 

(December 19321. 644-45, 672 

68 Rawson, Changmg Tracks. 67, 69, 150, Sellars. Preservmg Naturem the NatiOnal Parks, 94-99. 114-17, 

Joseph D1xon, Fauna ot the Natrona/ Parks of the Umted States Btrds and Mammdl~ of Mount McKmley 

Navonal Park Ala~ ·a. Fauna Sene~ No 3 (Wa>hmgton, GPO), 1938 

~ SMR, June 1932, 3, July 1932, 3, Wrrght and Thompson, frJuna of the NrJltonal Parks, Fauna Senes 

No 2, 71 

SMR, March 1930. 2, December 1931,3 

Rawson, Changmg Tracks, 85, 118 128, 196, March 1933, 3, September 1933,4, June 1936, 5, September 

1938,4, October 1939,4 

Rawson, Changmg Tracks, 66-67, 71-72, SMR. September 1932,4, May 1933, 2, 4, July 1933, 3, May 

1934, 4, June 1934. 5 

n SMR, March 1935, addendum, Rilwson, Changmg Tracks. 45, 72 Carnmerer, 1n h1s memo, c1lso stated 

that ''The control of coyotes rs rn force Coyotes are an exotll specre and 11 IS the desrre olthe Servrce to 

extermrnate thern rf poss1ble " 

70 House Jo1nt Mernorrill No 10. April 27, 1933, rn Terntory of Alaska. Sesston Laws. Remluuons. and 

Memonals 1 Q33, 307-08, Alaska Sportsman 1 (January 1935). 17, Rawson. Chang111C} Trad·s. 123, 126-29 

~ SMR, Aprrl 1935, 2. 5, December 1935, 4, February 1936. 2. July 1936. 5·6. Rawson. Changmg Tracks 

118, 128 

& Rawson, Changmg Tracks, 131, SMR, September 1936, 5-6 

' SMR, Aprrl1937, 3, June 1937,2, July 1937, 5, Aprrl1938, 4, June 1938,5, July 1938, 5. August 1938,5. 

September 1938, 4, October 1938, 4, Rt~wson, Changmg Tracks. 1 50 

n. Sellars. Preservmg Nacure m the Naltonal Parks, 120-23, Rawson. CfJangmg Tracks, 148·51 

Rawson. Changmg Tracks. 151-52. Sl'llars, Preservmg Nature m thP NaliOnaf Parks, 1 22. SMR. Aprtl 1939, 2 

SMR, May 1939, 2, June 1939, 4. Rawson, Changmg Tracks, 153-54 

a Rawson, Changmg TracJ..s, 152·55, SMR, September 1939, 5, October 1939,2, November 1939, 5 

Rawson, Changmg Tracks, 157, SMR, February 1940,2, Aprtl 1940, 1, 4, May 1940,2, 5 

8 Rawson. Changmg Tracks, 157·64. SMR, July 1940, 1, September 1940,4, October 1940,4, 5, May 1941, 

3, July 194 1 4 

"'Rawson, Changmg Tracks, 161 62, 164, 182-84, Sellars, Preservmg Nature tnthe N,wonal Parks. 122-23, 

Murre, The Wolves of Mount McKtnley, Fauna Senes No. 5 (Washrngton, GPO, 1 944), 84 8/, 95-128, 138-43 
Rawson, Changmg Tracks. 156, 159, 162-64, SMR, February 1940, 2, October 1940. 3. Farrbanks Datly 

News-Mmer. November 7. 1938, 1, 5 

86 Rawson. Changmg Tracks, 163, 173. 182-83, SMR. June 1941, 4; August 1942. 3; May 1944, 2. 

8 Rawson, Changmg Tracks. 180. SMR, February 1945, 1; March 1945, 1; Senate Jo111t Memonal No 5, 

March 15, 1945. rn Terntory of Alaska. Sess1on Laws, Resolutions. and Memonals, 1945, 193-94 

lli Rawson, Changmg Tracks. 180. 185-88, SMR, August 1945. 2. September 1945, 2 

69 Franldrn, Adolph Mune, 45, 48, Rawson, Changmg Tracks, 195-99. Sellars, Preservmg Nature m che Nat1onal 

Parks. 159, SMR. August 1945.2 , NPS. "Advance Release." January 21, 1946, rn DENA Box 1 HFC ; "Reduce 

Wolf Populatron, ·· Narure Maqazme 39 (Apnl1946), 220 Murre's conclus10ns may have been polrt1cally 

exped1ent. and they also may have been a reflectron of Pearson's observatrons taken several months earlier 

See Pearson to RD/R4, Ap11l 11, 1945. rn F1le 719. Box 82. CCF. RG 79, NARA SB 

HR. 5004, rn Congresstnndl Record 91 (December 14, 1945), 12101, H R 5401, rn Congressional Record 

92 (February 6. 1946), 1030, and S 1999, 1n Congressional Record 92 (March 29, 1946). 2783, Rawson, 

Changing Tracks. 202 

"' Rawson, Changmg Tracks. 20 1·06 

'· Ibid. 207, SMR, December 1945, I, February 1946, 1, 3; March 1946, 3. Aprtl 1946, 4 

' Rawson, Changmg Tracks. 207-17, S 891, m Congressional Record 93 (March 14. 1947). 2054, H R 2863, 

1n Congressional Record 93 (March 31, 1947), 2931 

Rawson, Changmg Tracks, 209; SMR, February 1948, 4; March 1948, 1, 3, 4, September 1948, 5, 

November 1948, 3 Linda Frankhn. Adolph Murie, p 50, notes that Murte wa~ in charge of the park ·s wolf 

reduction effort Park ranqer W1lliam Nancarrow. who worked wrth Mune dunng th1s penod, noted that "Ade 

knocked off a couple of wolves JUSt so they wouldn't send F1sh and W1ldlife to start krlhng them But they 

were old decrep1t wolves " LOUISe Murre agreed. rn a 1991 artrcle. she noted that Adolph " never was propredator control. and rf he recommended wolf control. rt was because of polrtrcal pressure and also so that he 

could have control of the effort" Tom Walker, "Cnmson Tundra," Alaska 57 (May 1991), 27 

' Rawson. Changmg Tracks. 223-35. SMR, August 1948, 2. 4, 5 

''"Rawson, Changmg Tracks, 236-38, SMR, February 1950, 1 

'

7 SMR, March 1950, 2, Aprrl 1950, 3, January 1952, 5, March 1952, 2, Aprrl1952, 2, Rawson, Changmg 

Tracks, 242 

'''Rawson, Changmg Tracks, 238, 242-43 

"'Ibid. 243-45 Herb Cnsler later frlmed cons1derable wolf footage for Wall D1sney Productions, and hrs wrfe 

wrote a chron1cle of therr expenence <ArctiC Wtld, New York, Harper and Brothers, 1958), but therr freld work 

took place on the north srde of the Brooks Range Brll Nancarrow. who served as the park naturahst dunng 

th1s penod. states (accordrng to an October 31, 2007 Jane Bryant mterv1ew) that "as far as he knew. they !the 

Cnslers] never drd any work rn MOMC and there was no frlm produced that he was aware of " 

'

00 SMR, August 1927, 1, 3. 4. Frank Norrrs, "Sport Frshrng rn Early Alaska." rn Fishenes m Alaska's Past: A 

Sympos1um, Alaska Hrstorrcal Commrss1on Studres rn H1story No 227 (Anchorage. 1986), 52 

' NPS, Ctrwlar of Genera/InformaCion Regardmg Mount McKmley Nat1onal Park, Aldska IWashmgton, GPO, 

1929), 11, 19 

n John Kauffmann. Mount McKmley National Park, Alaska, a History of 1t5 Estabbshment and Revtsion of Its 

Boundanes (Washrngton. NPS, July 1954), 28 

•·•· Grant Pearson, My Ltfe of H1gh Advenrure, 48-49, Morgan Sherwood, "Polly's Dc·nali, .. Alaska H1story 8 

(Fall 1993). 38 

"'' SMR, August 1939, 2. 3; September 1939, 4 The Subcommmee on Alaskan Frshenes was part of the 

House Commrttee on Merchant Mimne and Fishenes. The Bureau of F1sherres Study, by James L Wrldrng, was 

entrtled A Partial Survey of Wonder Lake. Mt McKmley Nat1onal Park, 1940, Item 1481 rn DENA RML 

"~ SMR, July 1940, 2 Regardrng the Monno roadhouse, a 1931 vrsrtor noted that "with the completron of 

the rarlroad. and the bu1ldrng of Mt McKmley Park cabrns, there was no longer patronage for the roadhouse 

But the beds were strll made - or unmade- JUSt as they were years ago " E1ther Maurice Manno or h1s 

nephew Joe ran the roadhouse (wrth an adJacent grocery store and post offrce) untrl Maunce d1ed 1n March 

1937 _ Maud Hosler then operated the grocery store and post offrce, along wrth several nearby cab1ns, for 

several years thereafter Jean (Mrs Lyman) Wear to Supt DENA, July 18, 1986, 1n DENA Museum Collectron. 

SMR. July 1939, photo capt1on 

'ut. Norns, "Sport F1sh1ng rn Early Alaska." 45-46, Federal Reg1ster 1 (March 28. 1936), 69 The Bureau of 

Frsheries, at the trme. drd not consrder Dolly Varden trout to be a game frsh. the Alaska Legrslature. 1n fact, 

appropnated funds "for the cleanrng of salmon spawnrng streams and for the destructron of trout and other 

predatory enemres of the salmon" begrnnrng rn 1931 The bounty, wh1rh was speCJfrrally targeted at Dolly 

Varden trout, was removed 1n 1941 when rt was d1scovered that many salmon tarls were berng passed off as 

trout Tern tory of Alaska, Session Laws, Resolutions, and Memorials. 1931, Chapter 1 17, p 232. Lensink, 

"Predator Control wrth the Bounty System," 91, 94-95 

Chapter Twelve Naturilt ;md Cultutal Re~ource Management 243 
Federal Regtster 5 (June 6. 1940), 2140-4 1 

Feder.3/ Re<psrer 1 (June l7, 1936). 674 

Federal Regtsrer 5 (June 6, 19401, 2140 

Federal Regtster 6 (May 15, 1941 ), 2433, SMR, Aprtl 1941 5, Been to Dueaor NPS Apnl 16 1941, m F le 

208-06 (Ftsh1nq, Hunting, Trappmg), Box 1407, Entry 7, RG 79, NARA (P 

Norns, Sport F1sh1ng 1n Early Alaska. 45. 57, Sellars. Preservmg Natvre m the Nattonal Parks, 123-24 

Fa1rbanks Dal/y News-Mme1, May 5 1 CJ41, 4, Federal Reg1StN 6 (May 15, 1941 ), 2433 

1 Th1s poky, whiCh was "c11most cett<Miy" wntten by NPS btolog1st Dav1d Madsen, was a logiCal r~pon!>e to 

language conta111ed m F,Jtma No I WhiCh was published 1n 1933 Arno Camrnerer, "Off1ce Order No 323, 

F1sh Policy," Apnl 13. 1936. 1n Lary M D1lsaver. ed . AmeriCas Nattonal Park Sy~tl'm The Crmcal Docvmenrs. 

149-50. Sellars, Preservmg NdltlffJ 111 the Naltonal Parks. 124-25 

•

1 SMR. July 1940, 2 Park b1oloq1sl Torn Me1er (November 13, 2007 erna1l) notes thclt ra1nbow trout are 

exot1c to Denali 

' SMR, May 1943, 2, Junt' 1943, 2 PecJr5on's d1rect1ve was dppcJrently r.ot 1ssued as d federal regulat1011 

1 • Public Law 78-1 06 (July 1, 1943), Sec 2, as noted 1n US Statutes at Large 57 (Chapter 183), 301-12 

SMR, July 1943, 2, Federal Regtster 8 (July 16, 1943), pp 9842 (Sec 91 5) and 9848 (Appendix A) 

1 SMR, August 1943, 1, Federal Regtster 8 (August24, 1943), 11692, Htllorv lolwn to Supt MOMC, July 20. 

1943, Pearson to Dlfector NPS, July 26. 1943. uVetter" to Cahalane and Steven!>Ort, Au(ju~t 21. 1943, all1n 

Frle 208-06, noted above 

Publrc Law 78-1 06 (st:e above). Secuons 3 and 1 0 

1 Pearson to Dtrector NPS July 13 1943, Tolson to Supt MOM(, July 20 1943 both 1n Fr e 208-06 

see above 

Code of Federal Regulaltons. Till!:' SO, Chapter I, Sec 91 2, '" Federal R('()ISter 8 (July 16, 1943). 9842, 

Code of Federal Regulattons. Tttle 36, Ct1apter I. Sec 2 4, rn 36 CFR I Q43 Cvmulattve Supplement, 9815 

Code of Federc~l Regvl,wons, Title 50, Sec 91 38 m Federal Regtster 8 (July 16 1943), 9848 

Federal Reg1scer 12 (August 28, 1947), 5779. Federal Reg1ster 13 \DecPmber .29, 19481.8652 

:Been to D11ect01 NPS. June 20, 1948, 1n Box 1404 (MOMCl. Entry 7, RG 79, NARA CP. SMR, July 1950, 6, 

Apnl1952, 3, May 1952, 3, FerMal Regt~ter 17 (May 22. 1952), 4655 

'' Th1s regulation, locnted 1n T1tlp 36 of the Code of Federal Regvla/lons, was OllfJHlcllly 1n Sect1on 20 44 In 

December 1959, lnte11or Depa1 trnent olf1C1als moved th1s and other spec1al park rl'gulalions to Sect1on 7. 

and m June 1983. three yeilrs alter ANILCA, they moved the two Denalr-speul•( regul;wons rema1nrng from 

Sed1on 7 44 to Section 13 63 Th!'se are presently located '" Part 13. Subpa1t L 

SMR, May 19·19, 2, JunP 1966,3 

z SMR, June 1952, 6, Auyust 1958 4 

SMR. June 196·1, 5, July 1964, 7, February 1965,4. June 1965, 3, Jllne 19b6. 3 An nformalstudv ot 

;ne d•etary tntake of the park's Dol.y Varden trout had tal< en plclce dunng the spnnq ol 1946, wnen Man 

exam1na;1on of stomach contents 1nu1Cated therr teed at th1s ume of the yea1 1s pr napallv Vllllat appears to be 

fresh water shnmp " SMR, Apnl 1946, 3 

• Sfv1R, vanous dales. 1945 throuqh 1950. Franklin, Adolph Murff~, 51, 122 

1 Franklin, Adolph Mune, 51·56, 122, SMR, October 1950 4, July 1951 2 1950, tIll lory Tolson to RD/R4, 

Odober 17. 1952, 111 File 8<15 ("Rese>arch"), Entry 7, RG 79, NARA SB 

' Franklin, Adolph Murte. 80·83 

Actmg Dtrt>ctor NPSio RD/R4. Mily 16. 1947. Been to RD/R4. Decemlll'r 13, 1948. bothm file 700 01 

<Nature Study, 1940·53), Box 82, CCF, RG 79. NARA SB 

n SMR. June 1950, .2, July 1951,2 

"' Ade E Jaskar to Allrt•d t uehl, May 6. 1949, m F11e 600 <Aidska DeVL'Ioprnen1 Proq1ams, Part Ill). Box 237, 

CCF, RG 79. N/\R/\ SB, HP.ruy B Colltns, ed . SCience m Alaska Selected Papers of thf! /1950/ Alaskan Soence 

Conference of tt1e Nat1onal Acaciemy of 5Ctence5-Nattonal Research Counc11 (Washmgton. Arctic Institute of 

North Amenca). 1952 

3 SMR, September 1951, 1 2 Septemher 1952, 1-2, 6. Klfk H Stare, "Geogrttplucal Record· Geograpntca/ 

Revtew 42 Uanuary 1952), 151 

SMR, June 1955. 2, Septemb r 1957, 2. September 1958. 3 The annual Ala•.l a Scrence Conterence 

cont,nued until 19B3, alter thdt t1me. 1t was called the Arct1c SCience Conlt'renc It ts Still bemg held each fall 

Srnce the 1950s tile only trrne thP conferenre has met at the par~ was 1n September 1999 

Key early USGS reports about the park area rncluded Bulleun 314 ( 1907), Proft>sstonal Paper 70 ( 1911 ), 

Bullet1n 608 119151, Bullettn 662-E ( 1916). Bulletin 687 (19 19). Bullet111 755 C t 1922). Bulletm 836-D ( 1930), 

and Bulletm 849·D ( 1931 I See U 5 Department of the In tenor. Ltst of US GeoiCXJIC.ll Survev GeologK and 

Water-Supply Reports and Maps for Alaska (Washmgton7, the author), Drcernber 1986 

1

l

8 Hanna Glaoer was JcJm€') WtckNsli<un·s nt~me for Peters Glauer 

244 Crown JeWl!l ol lh1 N•lnt An 4dr~urustratM! History of[>! nail N l•ondl Par~ and Pr <>rve 
l1'i SMR, August 1932, 2, September 1934, 2. 5-6; September 1936, 2, August 1937, 3, 6, August 1939, 3. 

NPS, Annual Report on Glacrers. MOM( lor 1935 and 1936 (TIC reports D-184/15 7 .tnd 15 7-A. respect1vely) 

1 SMR. December 1939, 4. July 1940. 4, September 1941, 3, NPS, "Annual Rr>port on Glacrers" for 1938-

1940, TIC reports 1841157B through 184!157D 

41 SMR, Apnl1947. 4, May 1947, 2. A E Harrrson, "Alaskan Glaoer Surges: Alaskrl Sportsman 43 (July 

1967). 14 

c. Anchorage Daily T1mes, August 15, 1953. 9, Grant Pearson. "An Alaskan La I e 1S Born,· Alaska Sporrsman 

26 {February 1960), 28-29. 35, J<me Bryant email. October 9, 2007. Steve Carwrle •nterv~t•w, Drcember 4, 

2007 US Coast and GeodetiC Surwy contract pilot Knute Bergh, for whom thr. l.rl e IS nan•ed. had been 

killed 1n a nearby airplane crash JUSt a month before the landslide 

' NPS, Mrss1on 66 Prospectus. Mount McKmley Nat1onal Park, Apnl 1956. pp 2·3, 3a, 49 50 

1"" USDI press release, Aprtl 21, 1956, 111 NPS/Box 1. Bartlett Collection. UAF, NPS. M~~~~on 66 Prospectus. Apnl 

1956,37-38 

·•· NPS. MISSIOn 66 for Mounr MCI<.mley Navonat Park. May 1957, 1. 5. 9, 10 

"Mune to Supt MOMC, November 8, 1956, in Folder H14 ("Histoncal Note~. 1964·70"), Box 7. ARCC00183 (DENA 00378). AKRO 

'' SMR, January 1957, 3. July 1957. 3. August 1957, 5, September 1958.3 August 1959,6, June 1961, 7, 

Apnl 1962,3 

c$8 Franklin, Adolph Mune, 90-92, SMR, September 1965, 3 

•

9 SMR. June 1959,4-5. October 1959, 3, July 1960.4. May 1961, 5, September 1961,4, Apnl1962, 3, Mav 

1963,2-3. May 1964, 2, June 1964, 4, Frcmklm. Adolph Mum~. 90 

SMR. August 1952, 7, January 1953, 2·3. July 1954,4 

\ 1 SMR, June 1957. 6, July 1957, 3·4, August 1957,4, September 1957,3, Harrr~on, Alaskan Glaoer 

Surges." 14-16. 50 

SMR. January 1958, 2. June 1958, 3, September 1960, 4, January 1961, 4 

·~ SMR. August 1959. 5; Apnl1961, 3. August 1961,4, September 1961,5, July 1962,6 Davis, rn all 

l1kelrhood, was studymg Scrtmrnan's ~rmng bec~uty CC/aytoma scamman1anal whl(h, ill North Amenca, grows 

only in Alaska and lhe Yukon 

·• SMR, May 1963. 2. June 1964, 4, July 1964,4-5 

' SMR, May 1946, photo capt1on June 1946, 3, May 194 7. 2 

1 • SMR. June 1948, 3. 5. August 1948. 4. September 1948, 5. November 1948, 3, June 1949, 3, July 1949, 

5 Adolph Mune, in the early 1950s, noted that "the httle frame build•ng had m unhdppy reputatronH 

because of the bear attc~cks, perhaps hL•cause "huge paw marks, pnnted 10 mashed chocolilte, strll formed 

patterns on the floor. and perfect no:>epnnts showed on wrndow glaso; " Mune, "Wrldhle of Mount McKrnley 

Nat•onal Par~," 249, 251 

' SMR. July 1949, 2. September 1951, 2 

'\6 SMR, July 1949, 2, June 1951, 5 

• SMR, July 1948.4, August 1948,4, SeptembPr 1948, 5, June 1955, 2, June 19~6. 3 

SMR. July 1946, 3, September 1948, 5 

SMR. June 1949, 2. August 1949, 2 Kerry Gunther, w1th Yellowstone Na11onal Park's Beetr Management 

OffiCe, noted in an October 22, 2007 email that Mount McKinley's bear·trap desrgn was not new; mobile 

culvert traps had been used nl Yellowstone since 1945, 1f not before, and log·butlt lrve trilp~ wpre 1n use pnor 

to the 1920s 

'• 'SMR, May 1950, 1, June 1951, 5 

' Mernam to Supt MOM(, September 19, 1951. Mune to Pearson, October 22, 1951. both in File 7 15 02 

(Bears, 1941 -53), Box 82, CCF, RG 79. NARA SB 

"' SMR, November 1952, 4. DeLernuer 1953, 4, July 1955, 5 

SMR, July 1952, 2, August 1952. 6, September 1953, 5. July 1954,4 

;a SMR. June 1930, 3 Also see the following SMRs June 1931, 3. July 1931,·1. vnd June 1q33, 3 

' SMR, July 1940, 4, August 1945, 2, JurJe 1950. 1-2. July 1952, 3 

' SMR. July 1955. 2·3. February 1956, 2, Pearson to RDIR4, February 24 1956, in F,le W42 1Spen.1l 

Regulauonsl. Bo)( 26, Accessron Number 9NNS 79 87 006, NARA SB 

Federal Reg1srer 21 (June 20, 1956), 4315-16, SMR, October 1959 3, Warr11n E Gi!rst to Conrao W1rrh, 

September 18, 1959, rn frle A38 1 5 <PubliC Relat•ons, 1958-60), Box 6, Acreso;ron Number 9NNS 79 90 002, 

NARA SB 

Code of Federal Regula/Ions. Title 36, 1982. p 8 (Sec. 2 6) and 1983, p. 1)5 (Sec 7 44!, Federal Reg1ster 

47 (March 17, 1 982), 1 1612-13, Federal Regrster 48 (June 30, 1983), 30291·97. 3029~ 

SMR, June 1957, 6, Fredenck C. Dean, interview by Jane Bryant and Franf.. Nor11~. April 14, 2005 

SMR, June 1958, 3. July 1958, 4, Aprrl 1959. 3, May 1959. 2. 4, June 1959 5, Aprd 1960. 4 

SMR. November 1960, 3. Janur1ry 1961,3, February 1961,4, August 1964,4 
1 

'' SMR, June 1960, 6, August 1960, 6, September 1960, 4, July 1961, 7, August 1961. 7. September 

1961, 2 

· SMR, October 1963, 3, September 1965, 3 

1 6 SMR, August 1961, 4, "From Ketchrkan to Barrow, " Alaska Sportsman 27 (October 1961 ). 28, NPS, DENA 

Bear-Human Confltct Management Plan (Denali Park. the author, June 2003). 123-24 

'SMR, September 1947, 3. July 1961. 7. June 1962, 7. 

176 SMR, June 1951, 2, Apnl 1952, 3, March 1965, 4 

1

-

9 SMR. Apnl 1946, 2, February 1949, 3; November 1949, 2, November 1951 , 2; January 1952, 3, September 

1957. 5 

181 Sellars, Preservmg Nature m the National Parks. 214-1 5 

1 lb1d, 215, 220 

18~ NPS, Long Range W1ldlde Management Plan for Mount McKinley National Park, March 1, 1965, rn File 

N 16, Resource Management Operat1ng Papers. Box 2, Cabrnet S-15. DENA Archrves 

1

R' Fran kim, Adolph Mune, 87-88, 90-92, SMR, July 1966, 6 

184 In 1967. for example. Prasilmvested consrderable t1me tn the natrona I natur allandmark program, and he 

also penned a report we1gh1ng whether Lake George should be cons1dered as an NPS unrt 

8 SMR, September 1965, 1. December 1965.2, June 1966, 2; March 1967. 1-3, Apnl1967, 1, Wtlliss, "Do 

Thmgs R1ght the First Time," 2005, 14. 17 

" 6 Franklin, Adolph Mune, 91-92, NPS. Long Range Wild/de Management Plan. Mount McKinley 

Natrona/ Park. January 14, 1970, 3, tn File N 16, Resource Management Operatmg Papers. Box 2, Cabmet 

S-15, DENA Arch1ves. 

8' NPS, DENA Bear-Human Conflict Management Plan. 124 

'

83 R1chard G Prastl. Aenal Wolf Survey March I to 11 and Apnl 20 to 23, 1967 (McKinley Park, Alaska, 

NPS, 1967), Item 578. DENA RML; Gordon C Haber, The Sooal Structure and Behavror of an Alaskan Wolf 

Population (Master's TheSIS, Northern M1ch1gan Un1vers1ty), 1968, Item 40, DENA RML 

18 •• See the followmg reports. all by RIChard G Prasd Aenal Wolf Survey. March 3-7 and Aprrl 29-May 2. 

7 968 (McK1nley Park, NPS). Item 579, RML, Summary Report on Stone's Caribou Observattons m Mount 

McKinley Natrona/ Park, 1967 1968 (NPS, Alaska Natural Resources Survey and Inventory Report), 1968; 

Mount McKmley Canbou (NPS, Alaska Natural Resources Survey and Inventory Report). 1968, Gnzzly Bear 

Observatrons. Mount McKmley National Park, 1968, Analysts of Wolf Carrbou Srtuation Along the North 

Boundary of Mount McKmley Natrona/ Park. Alaska, unpubltshed report to D1rector PNRO, 1971 

NPS, Long Range Wtldlde Management Plan, Mount McKmley Natrona/ Park, 1970, 1, 3-5 

19 D1ane Tracy, "Human-Wildlife InteractiOns Along Mt McK1nley Park Road." 1n Alaska Cooperative Park 

Studtes Untt (CPSU), Fmal Report F1scal Year 7975, pp T-1 to T-83. A more comprehens1ve report on Tracy's 

work IS found rn her 1977 UAF master's thes1s. ent1tled React1ons of Wildlife to Human ActiVIty along Mount 

McKmley Nat1onal Park Road 

91 Alaska CPSU,Fma/ Report {for] F1scal Year 1975 (pp 8, 11-20). 1976 (pp 9-10), 1978 (p 8), 1979 (pp 

7-8), 1980 (pp 7-8), and 1981 (pp 6·7) The problem of bears at the park dump (wh1ch smce 1964 had 

been located two miles southeast of the park hotel) was descnbed by Harold R "Ch1p'' Downmg rna 1975 

study (see Supt MOMC to State Dtrector, Alaska, June 2. 1975, 1n MOMC Box 18, ATF Collectton, RG 79, 

NARA ANC), and the park's response-to close the dump and replace it w1th a large hold1ng contarner-1s 

summanzed m Chapter 8 

19 See, for example, the follow1ng UAF master's theses Rtchard Charles Chapman. The Effects of Human 

Disturbance on Wolves (Cams lupus I J (1977) and Jtrn J Stelmack. Seasonal Act1vtt1es and Hab1tat Use Patterns 

of Brown Bears m Dena/1 Natrona/ Park, 7 980 ( 1981) 

1 ·• Prastl, R1chard G , Wolf-Canbou Winter Range, Investigator's Annual Report, 1973. SAR for 1974 (p. 4). 

1975 (p 4). and 1978 (p. 6), The Alaska Cooperat1ve Wildlife Research Un1t reported 1ts results tn a senes of 

quarterly reports, see, for example, Rodney Boertje, Range Ecology of the McKrnley Canbou Herd, Quarterly 

Report, July 1979, Item 480, DENA RML 

1

9'> Steve Busktrk ema1l, October 26, 2004 

'l<i Van Horn. rn 1998, became the park's wrlderness program coordtnator, part of the Ranger D1v1s1on 

The park's ftrst Bear·Human Confltct Management Plan. published 1n 1984, def1ned an modent (p B-2) as 

"when a bear causes 1n1ury. damage or behaves so that people feel threatened, such as 1f a bear approaches 

even 1f only cunous " More recently, bear management off1oals have def1ned two terms to cover thiS behavIor· "tnjuty" and "tnodent " Therefore. the current (2003) Bear-Human Conflra Management Plan defines an 

1nodent (p 39) more spectfrcally as "any mteractton dunng whrch a bear makes mtntmal phys1cal contact wtth 

a human that does not result 1n InJury " Over the years, rangers and VISitors have had d1tfenng percept1ons 

regarding what constitutes a bear modent. th1s was partrcularly true dunng the early-to-mtd 1970s, before the 

park established 1ts Bear lnforrnatton Management System 

Z46 Cwwrt J~wel ot th!' Nonh An Adm1m~trat1ve H1~tory ol D!'nali Nat1onal Pa•~ and Pre\erve 
1''

8 John L. Daile-Molle and Joseph C Van Horn, "Bear-People Conflict Management 1n Denali Nat1onal Park, 

Alaska," 1n Bear-People Conflicts; Proceedings of a Sympos1um on Management Strategies (Yellowknife. N W.T 

Department of Renewable Resources. 1987). 122. SARs for 1972 (p. 4). 1973 (p 5), 1974 (p 4), 1975 (p 4), 

1976 (p 3), 1977 (p. 3). 1978 (p. 6). and 1980 (p3) 

'"9 SAR. 1972, 2; SAR, 1973, 5. 

'

00 SAR. 1978. 4, 6; SAR, 1980, 3; Daile-Molle and Van Horn. ·• Bear-People Confl1ct Management." 122; Joe 

Van Horn 1nteN1ew, October 24, 2007 

01 Daile-Molle and Van Horn, "Bear-People Conflict Management," 122, SARs for 1972 (p 4), 1973 (p. 5), 

197 4 (p 4), 1975 (p 4). 1976 (p. 3), 1977 (p. 3), 1 978 (p 6), and 1980 (p 3) Art1cles about h1kers InJured in 

the park appeared 1n the Anchorage Dally Times, July 24. 1972. 1, and July 27, 1977, 2 and Anchorage Daily 

News, July 24, 1972,2, July 28, 1977. 2, June 12, 1980, A-3 The downs1de of bear feeding is Illustrated 

1n James Bnckey and Cathenne Bnckey, "Only Two Gumdrops," Alaska 39 (June 1973). 33, 57. and R1ck 

Mcintyre. "A Cub Named Stony," Alaska 58 (May 1992), 3 1-33. 

201 SMR. May 1 952, 6; June 1955, 2 

10 SAR for 1973 (pp. 5-6). 1974 (p. 4), 1975 (p 4), 1976 (p. 3), 1977 (p 3). 1978 (p 6). and 1980 (p. 3) 

104 SAR, 1976, 3; SAR, 1978, 6. 

~>'> Proclamat1on 4616 (December 1, 1978), m Federal Reg1ster 43 (December 5, 1978). 57035-41 

201 W1lhss. "Do Thmgs R1ght the First Time," rev1sed edit1on. 139. 

10' Publ1c Law 96-487, Sec. 202(3)(a). m U.S. Statutes at Large 94 (1980). 2382-83. No ment1on was made of 

the Toklat R1ver and 1ts chum run. because th1s area had not been included 1n the expanded park unit 

108 NPS. Draft Natural and Cultural Resource Management Plan and Environmental Assessment DENA. Apnl 

1982, pp 11-4 to II-13, Item 300, DENA RML. In 1986, an abbreviated form of the RMP was f1nalized. see Item 

301. DENA RML. 

20'• NPS. Draft General Management Plan/Enwonmental Assessmenl~ Land Protection Plan. Wilderness 

Suitability Rev1ew (Denver. the author, March 1985). 28 

210 NPS, General Management Plan, Land Protectton Plan, Wilderness Swtab1/ity Review (Denver, the author. 

November 1986), 49-5 7. 

211 NPS. Draft General Management Plan (March 1985), 1 0, 13, 15, 185, NPS, General Management Plan 

(November 1 986), 12-17, 229. Franos J. Smger and Joan B. Beatt1e, Wildlife Viewing and the Mandatory 

Publtc Transportation System m Denali National Park, Research and Resources Management Report AR-4 

(draft), pp 2-3, Item 1594, DENA RML. Dated March 1, 1984. 1t was l1sted as "1n preparat1on" 1n both the 

draft and f1nal GMPs 

11 Daile-Molle and Van Horn, "Bear-People Conflict Management," 122-23 

1" lb1d . 123-26. SAR, 1987, 2. NPS, General Management Plan (November 1986), 53, 55. Anchorage Dally 

News. March 22, 1986. B-1, B-3. 

114 NPS, General Management Plan (November 1986), 49 

115 Wayne E Helmer and Arthur C Smith, Ram Horn Growth and Population Quality: Their Sigmficance to Da/1 

Sheep Management m Alaska, ProjeCt W-17 -R, ADF&G Game DIVISIOn, 1975. Item # 1266, DENA RML, Bob 

Mauck, "When the LIVIng IS Easy," National WJidlife 24 (August-September 1986), 1 0-17 

116 SAR. 1987, 2, Sherry S1mpson, "Seemg Moose," Alaska 62 (October 1996), 24 

1" Van Ballenberghe's moose stud1es 1n southcentral Alaska began 1n 1977 See Anchorage Dally News. 

August 1, 2004, D-1. 

118 SAR for 1984 (p. 2), 1986 (p 2), 1987 (p. 2), 1989 (p. 2), and 1991 (p. 10). Susan L Boudreau, Long-Term 

Ecological Monitonng Program, Synthests and Evolution of the Prototype for Momtormg Subarctic Parks. 7997 

to 2002 Perspective (Anchorage'. NPS, 2003). 135 

11 • SAR, 1986, 1-2, L David Mech, "Stubborn Hunter 1n a Harsh Land," National Wild/de 27 (AugustSeptember 1989), 20-24, Mech, et al., The Wolves of Dena/1 (Mmneapol1s, Umvers1ty of M1nnesota 

Press). 1998 

no SAR. 1991, 1 0; Anchorage Datly News. July 21. 1995, B-1 and September 15. 1996, M-1 

'" Park records and sc1entlfrc contr1but1ons suggest that Mech, ass1sted by Layne Adams, contmued h1s 

work until 1993. when Adams became the pnnopalmvest1gator, and Keay continued until 2001 Smce that 

t1me. Adams has cont1nued h1s research on both canbou and wolf populations. Adams. an Alaska Reg1onal 

Off1ce (NPS) employee, and Keay, a park employee, were transferred to a new DOl agency, the Nat1onal 

B1ologKal Survey. and 1n late 1996 th1s agency became the Biolog1cal Resources DIVISion w1th1n the U.S 

Geolog1cal SuNey. 

n SAR for 1986 (p. 2). 1988 (p 2). 1995 (p. 5). 1996 (p. 1 0), and 2002 (p. 4). 

w SAR for 1984 (p 2), 1987 (p. 2). and 1988 (p 2); Boudreau. Long-Term Ecolog1cal Momtormg, 156 

214 SAR for 1995 (p. 6). 1996 (p. 10), and 2002 (p 5); Boudreau. Long-Term Ecolog1cal Momtoring, 172 

11' SMR. December 1966. 2, Anchorage Daily News, December 6. 1988. G-3. Carol Mcintyre emarl, October 

30. 2007 

Chapter Twelve Natural and Cultural Re5ourte Managt>ment 247 
uL SAR lor 1996 Cp 1 0), 2002 (p, 4), and 2003 (p 2 5), Boudreau, Long-Term Ecolog1cal Momtormg, 143-54 

SAR, 1978,6, Alaska CPSU, Fmal Report, 1979, 7, SAR, 1987, 3, SAR, 1988, 2 

"SAR for 1991 (p 11 ) and 1998 (p. 3); Bouctreau, Long-Term ecologiCal Momtonng, 99-108 

· SAR, 1991, 9-10, Boudreau. Long Term Ecological Momtormg Program. 9-10 

•'' Boudreau, Long Term Ecolog1cal Momtormg Program, 32-202, passrm . NPS. Long-Term Ecological 

Momtormg Program, Annual AdmullscratiVI! Repon, Frscal Year 1997, 1, 3-4, 12-13 

n• Boudreau. Long Term Ecolog1cal MonJtonng Program, 12, 20-21 

m lbrd., 20-27, Maggre MacCiu~kre and Karen Oakley, Central Alaska Network VJtal S1gns Mon!tormg Plan 

(Fort Collrns. Colo. NPS Off1ce of Inventory, Mon1torrng, anrll:valuatron, September 2005), 164-67 

m SARtor 1980 (p. 4). 1987 (p 2), 1998 Cp 3). 2002 (p 2l, and 2003 (p 29l; NPS, Long-Term EcologiCal 

Monrtonng Program,. Annual Admm1scratM? Report, Fiscal Year 1997, 3 

1

14 For structural fires. see SMR. March 1931. 3, May 1934, 5, January 1938, 4: October 1939, 1. 5, November 

1950, 2-3. For locomotrve lrres. SE'e SMR, June 1941, 5, May 1942. 2, June 191\4, 2, June 1950,4, February 

1951, 2 

~-'~ Buskrrk. A History of Wddftres m Mount McKmley National Pari< and AdJacent Land~. December 1976. The 

potentral lor fife tn the park changed dr anldtiCally rn December 1978, whereas frre was a mrnor fan or rn "old 

pari:" management, much of the acreage added to the park-partiCularly those areas north and west of the 

"old park" houndarres-had a h1qh frre potent1al 

ll•' Hal K Rothman, A Test of Adversity and Strengrh. Wildland F1re m the National Park System (n p . 

NPS. 2005). 152, 174-76. SAR for 1980 lp 4) and 1982 (p 3>. D<tn Warthrn tntervtew. October 24, 2007; 

Anchorage Dailv T1mes, July 7, 1982, A-3, Alaska lnteragenry Fm~ Managemenr Pltm, Tanana/Mmchumma 

Plannmg Area (March 1982), 55-65, Appendrx E 

Rothman. A Test of Advrors1ty and Strength. 177-79, Dan Warthrn emarl. October 25, 2007 NPS ofttcia1s, 

whrle tns1sting on the nght to prescnbe fires. have never employed the techn1que dt Denali, pnmardy because 

frres rn the park have not hrstorrcally been suhjen to maJor suppressron efforts 

• • Joe Van Horn rntervtew. October 24. 2007 

m Rothman, A Test of Adversity and Strength, 1 64·65; Joe Van Horn rntervrew, October 24, 2007, SAR for 

1983 (p 2), 1991(p. 1 1). and 2003 (p 23) 

1

·'' Dan Warthrn email, October 25, 2007, Alaska Interagency Wildland F"e Management Plan. October 

1998. NPS, F1n~ Management Plan, DENA, October 29, 2004 Both documents are located rn tht> Alaska Ftre 

Management Officer's fries. AKRO 

1' Sellars, Preservmg Nature tn rhe National Parks. 81 , 98. 110 

'" Frank T Been to RD/R4, November 8, 1948, L.F Cook to RD/R4, November 22, 1948; Grant Pearson to RD/ 

R4, June 9, 1950, all in F1le 701 (Flora), Box 82, CCF, RG 79, NARA SB. Carl Roland ema1l, October 31, 2007 

''3 Sellars. Preservmg Nature m the Nauonal Park5, 258, 353 

,u •wanted Denal1 Dandelion Hunters'" Ala5ka Magazme 64 (December 1998/January 1999), 1•1; "Update,· 

Alaska Magazme 64 (March 1999), 17, Anchorage Dally News, June 14, 2006, G-1 

SAR for 2002 (p. 1 l. 2003 {p. 22). and 2004 (p. 1 7l. Anchorage Dally News. August 11, 2002. G-1, AK2Day 

<AKRO eleclronrc newsletter), July 23-24, 2003; Anchorage Da1lv News, June 14, 2006, G-1 . 

''Jane Lakeman emarl, October 25, 2007, Phrl Brease revrew comments, November 20. 2007 regardrng the 

park's paleontologrcal resource~ . 

•" Anchorage Da1ly News, July 6, 2005, B-1, B-4, May 24, 2006, G-1, G-1 0, AK2Day, May 19. 2006 SAR, 

2002, p 3, states that therr were 276 "paleontologrcallocalitres" rn the park unrt tn ftscal year 2000 

'""' Jane Lakeman ema1l. October 25. 2007 

,,. SAR, 1989, 2; SAR. 2003. 24. Pat Owen emarl. December 7. 2007. Dale L Taylor. Kenneth D Vogt, and 

Janet Warburton, A System for Monnormg Impact of Denali National Park. Roarl Traffic on Wlicfldl!, 1997, Item 

897, DENA RML 

~° Karen Fortter. Chuck Tomkrew1cz. and Gordon Olson, Park Road Use/W1Idlife Interaction M0111tonng, A PJ/ot 

Effort. 1995 ( 1996), Item 840, DENA RML, Judy A. Putera ann Jeffrey A Keay, [(feet of Vehic/1.' Traffic on Da/1 

Sheep Migrat1on m Denal1 National ParJ.., annual reports for 1995 {Item 837), 1996 Otem 65Sl, and 1997 (Item 

1196), DENA RML 

' SAR, 2005, 14, SAR, 2006, 1. 3, 17, Laurd Phrlltps, An lntP.gmted Study of Park Road Capaoty [online brochure]. Summer 2007, at 11ttp //www.nps qov/dena/naturescrence/upload/Roadcapacrty07Su pdf 

•~1 New Y01k Sun, January 24. 1897. 6. Robert Muldrow. "Mount McKinley," N.:wonal Geographic Magazme 

12 (August 1901), 312-13 

'' Alfred H Brooks. The Mount McKmley Reg1on, Alaska. USGS Professtonal P.:~per 70 (Washrngton. GPO, 

1911), 32-33 

~' MIChael Sfraga, Bradford Washburn, A Life of b<plorat1on 1Corvall1s. Oregon State Unrv. Press. 2004), 160-

61, 181-83; New York T11nes, Auqust 14, 1956, 2, Seattle T1me5, July 30, 1989, A-8 
J',- Anchorage Daily Times. Aprd 20. 1964. 8, July 16, 1968. 13, Clyde Wahrhilftrg, ''Quaternary Geology of 

the Nenana Rrver Valley and AdJacent Parts of the Alaska Range," 1n Quaternary and Engmeermg Geology m 

the Central Part of the Alaska Range, U S Geologrcal Survey Professronal Pape· 293 (Washrngton. GPO. 1958). 

6, New York Trmes. July 16. 1977. A-16 

1;• New York Times, July 16, 1977, A·16; Anchorage Times. July 18, 1977, 43 Anchorage Daliv News. July 21, 

1977, 2, Seattle Times. July 30, 1989, A-8, Steve Carvvrle rntervrew, October 24 , 1007 

1'' "Have Slide Rule. W1ll Chmb," U.S News and World Report 106 (June 12, 1989>. 14, Seattle Times. July 

30, 1989. A-8, NPS. Mountameermg Report. DENA. 1989, 3. SAR, 1990, 3. Anchorage Datly News, July 3 

1991, B-11, Greg Durocher (USGS) rnterv1ew, November 15, 2007 

'"" SMR, October 1932. 1. July 1933. 1. July 1935. 2 

1"' SMR, June 1941, 2. Adolph Mune, "Tile Wtlds Where the Carrbou Roam," Audubon M<~gazme 44 

(January-February 1942), 3 

11 'W1il1am L Bowen to Supt MOMC. January 8, 1969, 1n "Correspondence. 1952-73" frlr:>, DENA Fries. 

WASO H1story D1v1sron. Wayne Merry to Supt MOMC. January 28. 1969 rn "D22, Constrt1Ctron th1u "File. 

Box 1. Collectron 00495, DENA Archives 

• SMR. October 1941, 3. July 1942, 2, June 1943, 2. February 1948,4, July 1950. 3 

' w SMR. May 1951.2. Milrch 1952, 1; October 1952, 1, Wrrth to Pearson. Ju'le 10. 1954, and Herbert E 

Kahler to RD/R4, August 26, 1954, both 1n ucorrespondence. 1952-73," DENA F1le~. WASO Hrstory Drv1sron 

1"- SMR, March 1951, 5, June 195 1, 3, 5, July 1951, 3 The plaque read "In rnemory of (hdrl€'~ Sheldon, 

1967-1928. Conservi:ltlonrst-Author·Explorer" 

.,. SMR, January 1934, 2, July 1952, 2 As Horace Albnght noted 111 The 8trth olt!Je Naltonal Park Servrce, 

the Foundrng Years (p 249), ~rmrlar plaques-sponsored by the ad hoc The Stephc•n T MathPr Appreclatronwere rnstalled tn the years followrng Mather's January 1930 death 1n vanou~ "parks dnd monuments 

especially dear to the ICHe Duel tOr" See U.S. In terror Department. Annual R~port tor 1932 (pp I 06·07) and 

1933fp 158) 

,,,, SMR, September 1923, 3, September 1925, 6, July 1958, 3 In the early 1990s, park ~talf removed the 

Sheldon and Karstens plaques from the rock wall, placed them on pedestals, anci lll~talled them on the west 

srde of the Toklat Rrver brrdge 

1' Ivan Skarland to John HussPy, Mcmh 23, 1959, rn "Correspondence 1952-73" DENA file, WASO Hrstory 

Drv1sron; SMR. June 1959, 2. 

l h• Krrsten Grrffrn, An Overvrew and Assessment of Archeologrcal ResoUice~. DENA, Alaska, NPS Research/ 

Resources Management Report AR-16 (Anchorage, NPS, September 1990), 62-63; SMR, SeptembP.r 1960, 

2, 3, January 1961, 3. May 1961. 5, June 1961, 7, July 1961, 6. August 1961 , 6-7, SAR, 1965, 2. Frederrck 

H. West. "Teklanrka West, " 1n West, ed . Amerrcan Begmnmgs. The Prehrstory and Palaeoecology of Berrngia 

(Chrcago. Un1versrty of Ch1cago Press. 1996), 332-43 

teo SMR. June 1963, 3, SAR. 1965, 2, Gnlfrn, Overvrew and Assessment. 63, H Morns Morgar1. An 

Archeologrcal Survey of Mount MtKmley Narronal Park, May 1965, 10, rn AKRO·RC R fries. Anchorage Datly 

Ttmes, November 27, 1963. 14 

16 ' SMR. June 1964, 3, 7, Gnffrn. Overvrew and Assessment. 63-65, Warren F Hamilton to W1ll1am R Wood, 

December 17, 1964 rn "CorrespondPnce 1952-73 · DENA hie. WASO Hr~tory Drvrston 

m SMR, October 1966,2, Roy Appleman to Chref Hrstorran, February 28, 1968, rn "Correspondence 1952-

73, .. DENA fries. WASO Hrstory Drvrsron. NPS, H1storrc Structures Report. Part I, Toklar Patrol Cabm Complex, 

Bwldmg Number 4 and Supportmg StructUies (San Franosco. Western Servrce Center. Junr. 1970), 5, 17, SAR 

for 1973 (p 6), and 1975 (p 6) 

., SAR. 1976, p 5 A hrstorrc furnish1ngs report for the cabrn was completed rn 1995 

Grrffrn, Overvtew and Assessment, 65, NPS, National Survey of Hrstorrc Sllc~ and Bwldmgs, Theme XXI, 

Polttical and MJ/ttary Affatrs, 1865-1910, Sp>'clal Study, Alaska Htstory. 1741-1910 ( 1961 ). a-b, 222, NPS, 

Natrona/ Survey of Htstorrc Sties and Bwldmgs, Theme XVI, lndtgenous People> and Culturf:!s, Spectal5tudy, 

Alaska Aborrgmal Culture ( 1962), d-e. 171, NPS, et al.. Nattonal Regrster of H1sconc Places. 1966 to 1994 

(Washrngton, Preservatron Press, 1994l, 21 

"' Gnffrn, Overvtew and Assessment, 65-66, NPS, Draft Natural and Cultural Resource Management Plan and 

Envrronmental Assessment, DENA. Aprtl 1982, projects C-1 and C-2 Ernest J Borgman, of t11e Alaska Freid 

OffiCe, frrst broached the rdea of an adm1nrstratrve hrstory rn November 1969 No fundrng for such a pro1ect 

was provrded rn erther 1969 or 1982 In the late 1990s, however, two years of tund1ng was provrded to a 

contractor. the results of whrch preceded the present effort 

m SAR, 1986, 3, SAR, 1987, 3, NPS. Nat1ona/ Reg1ster of Historrc Places. 21, NPS, DtvtStOfl of Cultural 

Resources. 7981-7986, Alaska Regtonal OHtce (Anchorage, NPS, 1987), 81, Davrd E. Snow, Destgn Gu1delmes. 

Mt McKmley Park Headquarters H1stonc Dtstnct (Anchorage?, NPS), June 1, 1985 Tile Savage Rrver patrol 

cab1n, whrch was built rn 1924, moved rn 1940, and "rmproved" durrng World War II (see Chapter 5), was 

declared rnelrgrble for thr Natrona! Regrster because 1t "no longer appears 10 oe ,1ble to reflect Its lw;rorrc 

Chapler TwPive Naturo~l.1!1t1 Cultur.tl Rt•sour<.e Murla<wment 249 
assooat1ons w1th the hJstory of ear y patrol cabms" 1n the pi!rk Th1s cab1n was restored m 1987, 1t was 1M1ally 

used as an employee res1dence. but beg1nmng 1n 1995 1t was u~ed for 1nterpret1ve programs (see Chapter 11 l 

Bill Bushong 1ev1ew comments. Novembe1 25, 1986, 1n "Correspondence 1975-on" DENA f1le, WASO H1story 

DIVISIOn, SAR, 1987,3, SAR. 1995,5, Mansa Jamesema1l, October 31,2007 

Dave Snow, et al, HIStone Structure Report, Mr McKtnley Park Headquartf::'rs HIStone D1stnct and Wonder 

Lake (Anchorage'. NPS), January 1, 1987, SAR, 1987, 6, Wilham E Brown, A H1story of the Dena/1-Mounr 

McKmley Region. Alaska (San tel Fe, NPS), 1991, Brown, Denalt. Symbol of the Alaskan Wild (Denali Nat1onal 

Park, ANHA), 1993, NPS, DIVISIOn of Cultural Resources, 81 

Gnffm, Overv1ew and Assessment, 66-67 

Steve Peterson mterv1ew, October 26,2007, SAR for 1993 (p 7), 2002 (p 2), and 2003 (pp 15. 17) 

Mary T1dlow 1nterv1ew, October 30. 2007 

~ NPS, "Backcountry Patrol Report" (Case lnc1dent Number 920008), June 25, 1992, Faulkner to Supt DENA. 

December 23, 1992. Ted B~rkedal to Supt. DENA, March 16, 1993 (Survey 016-92-DENA), and Gary Somers 

to Supt DlNA .. October 20, 1993 !Survey 005-93-DENAl. allm XXX F1le AR0-92·114, m NPS Archeological 

Comp/Jancellnventory. DENA Book. 2. 7991-1995, AKRO-RCR CollectiOn, "1993 Srerra Club Outmgs, Alaska 

and ArctiC Canada.· S1erra 78 (January-February 1993), 73 

'

80 Amy Craver, ema1l to Clarence Summers, November 14, 2007 The m1t1al !May 1984) SRC members were 

Florence Coll1ns, Ray Collins, Lynn Castle (McKinley Park), Percy Duyck (Nenana), Ruby John (Cantwell), NICk 

Denms (N1kola1), Roberta Sheldon (Talkeetna). and Ken Charlte (Minto) 

RIChard H B1shop, Subsistence Resource Use m the Proposed North Addwon to Mt. McKrnley National 

Park, Occas1onill Paper No. 17 (Fa1rbanks, Anthropology and HIStone PreservatiOn, Cooperatrve Park Stud1es 

UnJt, DP.cernber 1978), 1 06-07 The nearly-1dent1cal December 1977 vers1on IS located 1n the AKRO-RC R files 

D1anne Gudgel-Haimes, Ethnoh1story of four In tenor Alaskan Waterbod1es <Anchorage, Alaska Department 

of Natural Resources). August 1 979, W1lham Schne1der, D1anru.> Gudgel-Helmes, and John Dallt>-Molle, Land 

Use m the Nonh Addmon of Dena/, Nat1onal Park and Preserve. An H1stoncal Perspective, NPS Alaska Reg1on, 

Research/Resources Management Report AR-9 !Anchorage, NPS), 1984 The 1979 study also 1nvest1gated the 

Now1tna drainage, northwest of the park unit 

"' Noms, Alaska Subsistence, 144-45, 209·1 1 

'D1anne Gudqei-Holmes, Kantlshna Oral H1story Project Phrase 11, Part I. lnterv1ews w1th Nat1ve Elders. draft 

{Anchorage. NPS). September I 988. D1anne Gudgel-Holmes, Nat1ve Place Names of the Kanushna Dramage, 

Alaska. Kanl15hna Oral H1story Project (Anchorage, NPS). 1991 

' Darryll R Johnson, D1anne Gudgel-Holme~. and James Levy, Trad1t1onal Use of Cabms and Other Shelters 

m the North Add1t1ons to Dena/1 Nat1onal Park and Preserve fthno·Histoncal Context and Background, 

Ownership and Transfer Norms, and the ChoiC£> of Cabms or Tents as Winter Trap/me Shelters (Seattle, 

Un1vers1ty of Washington), 19()9, lames Kan. Nat1ve Place Names Mappmg 111 DPnail NatiOnal Park and 

Preserve, December 1999 

"Raymond L Collins, D1chmanek Hwr'ana A H1story of t/1e People of the Upp£>r Kuskokwrm Who 

Live m Nikolai and Tel1da {Mc.Grath, the autho1), September 2000. rev1sed January 2004, Brenda Rcbne, 

Cantwell Nat1ve Village History (Cantwell, the c1uthor), December 2000, M1nchum1na Community School, 

Lake Mmchumma Past and Present, 2000, Tanc1na Tnbal Council. A Short H1story of the Nauve V1flage of 

Tanana, 2000 Terry Haynes, Dav1d B Andersen, and W1ll1am E S1meone. Dendll National Park and Preserve. 

EthnographiC Overv1ew and Assessment (Fcllfb;mks, ADF&G DIVISIOn of SubsiStence), February 2001 

' Noms, Alaska Subsistence, 184, 233. 278. 

150 Crown !Pwel ol tht> North An AdrntnoWalove H>Siory ot O~ndll Natoondt Pttr~ rmd Prewrv<' 

252 Crown Jewel of the North An AdmtmstratJVe H•story of Denilh Nauonal Park and Preserve 
All of the early attempts to climb Mt. 

McKinley involved a long and difficult 

approach to reach the geographically remote mountain before the 

actual climbing commenced. This 

photograph shows the 1912 Belmore 

Browne expedition on their dog team 

approach from Seward to and across 

the Alaska Range to reach the north 

side of Mt. McKinley. where their 

climb began. Me rl La Voy Photo, from 

Belmore Brow ne, The Conquest of Mt. 

M cKinley 

Archdeacon Henry Stuck. left, is pictured here at their Clearwater Creek 

camp with Harry Karstens, his carefully selected colleague for the climb 

of Mt. McKinley in 1913. This party 

approached the great mountain from 

the north, tra nsporting supplies as 

close to the mountain as possible by 

navigable rivers during open water, 

and then travelling overland by dog 

team. Hudson Stuck, The Ascent of 

Denali 

Chapter Thirteen: 

A Century of Mountaineering 

Early History of Alaska Range Climbs 

As noted in Chapter 1, local resident~ were 

familiar with Mount McKinley-it~ beauty, its 

predominance, and its majesty- for thousands 

of years before non-Native visitors began to 

filter into the area. Non-Native visitors, in turn, 

spent 150 years ga~:ing at the mountain from afar 

before they ever made a closer inspection. The 

mountain ciid not acquire it<; present, geographically-accepted name until1897, and for the next 

twenry years almost everyone who visited the 

immed1atc vicinity of the massif did so in search 

of exploration or climbing, nor for its wildlife. 

In rgo2, the Alfred H. Broob expedition made 

an eastbound traverse across d1e high valleys 

north of the Alaska Range and made a bnef, onthe-spot, and ultimately unsucces!>ful attempt to 

climb Mount McKinley. But the first ~e ri ous attempt [0 climb dle mountain began me following 

May, when a four-man parry headed by james 

A. Wickersham left Fairbanks and headed down 

the Chena River on dle steamer Tmwna Chief 

(see Chapter 2). They ascended the Kantishna 

River, then hiked 'iOuth to Peters GlaCier and 

Jeffrey Glacier (bodl of wh1ch were just south 

of jeffrey Dome) before they were turned back 

at what would later be named the "Wickersham 

Wall," a 1o,ooo-foot-high, near-\'ertical mas~ 

near Peters Dome. A few weeks later, an 18-man 

part) led by Dr. Frederick Cook approached rhe 

mountain. Cook, like Wicken:,ham, attempted to 

cl imb McKinley via Peters Glacier but was unable to ascend beyond the glacier.' 

Although Charles Sheldon's two trips to the 

countryside north of rhe Alaska Range an 

initial1906 foray, with another in 1907-08-were 

key to the area's eventual inclusion in a national 

park, most of those who ventured to this area 

were climbers who hoped to summit the highest point in ordl Amenca. [n 1906, Frederick 

Cook returned to the area as part of a four-man 

party: after an initial unsuccessful attempt, be 

wed again with JUSt one companion, Roherr 

Barrill. Upon returmng home, Cook told others 

that he had surmounted the peak, though orher~ 

were dubiom of his achievement. Four years 

later, two of Cook's previous climbing companions returned to d1e mountain and debunked 

Cook'., claim. 

That same year, four Fairbank5 "wurdoughs," all 

of whom bad been Kanrisbna-area miners, made 

a new attempt on the mountain. Together, they 

hauled a 14-foot-long ~pruce pole up the ~lopes 

of Mount McKinley, and two in their partyBilly Taylor and Pete Andcr~on plantcd the 

pole ncar rhe summit of 19,.po-foot , orth Peak, 

where it could be plainly seen from fairbanks. 

In 1912, a new assault on the mountain began 

when Belmore Browne and two odlers ascended 

to widlin 200 yards of Mount ~1cKinlcy\ South 

Peak (elevation 20,320) before twice being driven 

back by a snow-driven gale. 

Hoping for better luck, a four- man party headed 

by Archdeacon Hudson Stuck (d1e group's 

organizer) and Harry Karstens (the climb leader) 

Chapter Thuteen A Cen1ury of MountamePnng 2:>3 
Figure 3. Mount McKinley (South Peak) Climbing Statistics, 1913 to Present 

--- #of %sue- #of %sue-

#of sum- cess- #of #of sum- cess- #of 

Year attempts mits ful deaths Year attempts mits ful deaths 

1913 4 4 100 0 1975 362 131 36 0 

1976 508 339 67 4 

1932 9 4 44 2 1977 360 284 79 0 

1978 459 270 59 0 

1942 8 7 88 0 1979 533 351 66 2 

1980 659 283 43 8 

1947 14 10 71 0 1981 612 321 52 6 

1948 3 3 100 0 1982 696 310 45 0 

1983 709 474 67 2 

1951 8 8 100 0 1984 695 324 47 2 

1952 29 10 34 0 1985 645 321 50 2 

1953 9 3 33 0 1986 755 406 54 4 

1954 13 13 100 1 1987 817 251 31 2 

1955 4 0 0 0 1988 916 551 60 2 

1956 18 0 0 0 1989 1,009 517 51 6 

1957 8 0 0 0 1990 998 573 57 3 

1958 12 10 83 0 1991 935 557 60 0 

1959 8 4 50 0 1992 1,070 515 48 11 

1960 24 23 96 0 1993 1,108 670 60 1 

1961 31 20 65 0 1994 1,277 702 55 3 

1962 40 25 63 0 1995 1,220 523 43 6 

1963 50 29 58 0 1996 1,148 489 43 2 

1964 37 25 68 0 1997 1,110 561 51 1 

1965 31 3 10 0 1998 1,166 420 36 3 

1966 22 7 32 0 1999 1,183 508 43 0 

1967 83 63 76 8 2000 1,209 630 52 0 

1968 40 30 75 0 2001 1,305 772 59 0 

1969 71 49 69 1 2002 1,232 645 52 1 

1970 124 72 58 2 2003 1,179 688 58 0 

1971 163 48 29 2 2004 1,275 656 51 1 

1972 181 80 44 3 2005 1,340 775 58 2 

1973 203 108 53 0 2006 1,152 581 so 1 

1974 282 139 49 2 2007 1,218 573 47 2 

Source: NPS, "Mount McKinley South Peak (20,320 teet) Attempts and Summits," and NPS, "Ciimbmg Deaths on Denali," both in Talkeetna Ranger Station files, courtesy Roger Robinson and Daryl Miller. 

lefr Fairbankl> 111 mid-March 1913. Together 

with rwo younger compatnots, Walte r llarpcr 

and Robe rt Tatum, Stuck and Karstens headed 

up the Kantishna and Bearpaw rivers. then 

stru ck our over the now on routes that two 

previou~ climbing parti e~ had a~sayed. After 

arriving at McGonagall Pass, the group a~ 

cended the Muldrow Glacier, again foll owing 

in the foot:.tcps of earlt cr <.hmbers. Dtl>pitc 

additional uifficulues brought on by the effec ~ 

of a june 1912 earthquake, the four men inched 

up Harper Glncier to Kar-.tem R1dge.' Shortly 

after noon on Tune 7, 1913, I larper- followed 

]54 Crown JewPI of the North An Admoru!.trdto~e Ho~tory of Ocndll Noitoonal Park .md Pr~serve 

~oon afterward by Kar.,tcm, Tantm, and an 

e::xhaustcd Stuc k reached the top of the South 

Peak of Mount McKinley. After almost three 

month-. of work and tedmm, victor} was theirs. 

Within rwo week~, the party had .,afcl} rerurned 

tu CIVJht.ation.l G1ven their succe-.sful expedition, no fu rther attempts were made to climb 

the moun tain for an othe r nineteen year1o (sec 

Figure 3). 

Dunng the year-long period of dchau: that 

preceded the establishment of Mount McKinley 

National Park, both the Interior Department 
Bradford Washburn traced the early 

climbing routes of the upper portion 

of Mt. McKinley on this aerial photograph of the mountain taken from 

the northeast. CBradford Washburn, 

courtesy Panopticon Gallery, Boston, 

MA 

and the U. . Congress made several references 

ro the peak. In a \lay 1916 Senate heanng, for 

instance, the Committee on Terntories noted 

that: 

Mount McKinley~~ not only the highest mountain in orth America, but 

b most unique in its conformation. ft 

reaches in altitude 20,)00 feet. While 

this mountain 1s remarkable by reason 

of its extraordmarv height, it is unique 

through the fact that It rises a lmost 

abrupt!~ from the foothills and plams 

surrounding 1ts ba~e. which only have 

an altitude of two or three thou!>and 

feet. ... This mountain is covered 

by perpetual snow for a di'>tance of 

about 18,ooo feet below the ~umm1t. 

It is studded With man\ large glaciers, 

and 1ts sides arc cur with torrcnoal 

mountain streams. 

In the parlance of a later generation, the arc::t 

immediately ~urrounding Mount McKinley 

consisted of "rocks and ice,'' and preserving 

thJS expam.e was enrircly combrent with the 

"worthless land~" thesi~ that wa~ an undercurrent of so many of the earl) national parks. For 

this reason, no one in a po'>ltion of executive or 

legislative authority expressed any particular 

opposition to including the mountain massif 

in a proposed national park. And the fact that 

the new park would be named for the great 

peak doubtless helped a<;surc the bill's .,uccess 

in the legblature. Executive and legi<.lative 

officials, therefore, concentrated their debates 

and di!.cussion~ on game conuitions, budgetary marter , and other ao;,pects of the propo!>ed 

Mount \kKinlc::-r atinnal Park. And according 

to Congres~. nothmg about the mounram itself 

was noted among an) of the pnncipal rea ons 

delineated for the park\ cc;tablishmcnt.4 

Climbing Expeditions in 1932 

As noted in Chapter 3, the fim park superintendent - indeed, the only park employee for more 

than six monlh:. - wa~ Harry Karstens, a Klondike gold ru<,h veteran who led the first party up 

Chapter Thirteen A Centwy of Mounta1neer1ng 255 
Alfred Lindley, Erling Strom, Harry 

Liek and Grant Pearson (left to right) 

made up the 1932 McKinley expedition that was the first to reach the 

summit of both the south and north 

peaks. This group utilized dog teams 

to transport their supplies up to the 

11,000 foot level of the Muldrow 

Glacier. Strom, a ski enthusiast, and 

his teammates pioneered the use of 

skis on the climb. DENA 3848, Denali 

National Park and Preserve Museum 

Collection 

Mount McKinley. The fact that he had climbed 

the pre-eminent feature in the park gave him 

considerable credibility to Alaska residents, and 

the story he gave of his 1913 exploit provided 

~uch great entertainment to Outside touri~t~ 

that he recounted the detaib of his climb numerous times to park visitors.' 

In September 1928 Karstens res1gned, to be 

replaced soon afterward by Harry j. Lick. The 

lormer assistant chief ranger for Yellowstone 

ational Park, Liek had a sinev.')', ramrodstraight profile. But during the winter of 

1929-30, NPS Director Horace Albright began to 

criticite him for, among other thmgs, spending 

too much time on construction work rather than 

on patrol. By early 1931, Albright further noted 

that 

l hear nothing particularly adverse 

[about your job performance] just as 

r find no particular interest in you or 

enthusiasm for you ... you are doing 

nothing outstanding and ... you are 

really spending a good deal of time 

at heaJquarter~ instead of moving 

about the park studying its problems .... 

A month larer. an angry Lick responded point 

by point to Albrtght\ numerous criticisms. 

He d1d, however, agree that he had made little 

headway with Alaska public opinion because 

"Alaska people do nor visit the park like the 

people m the ~tares do." And he further averred 

that "Right now it would be hard for a person ro 

do anything conspicuou~> here unle!>~ it wa& to 

climb Mt. McKinley."" 

256 Crown JewPI of the North An Admrm;tratrve Hr;t ory of Denair Natrona! Park and Presl!rve 

Just a few months later, the wheels were set in 

motion for Lick to do just that. In the spring of 

1931, Erling Strom (a Norwegian outdoorsman) 

and Alfred Lindley (a Minneapolis attorney) met 

and discu~scd the idea of a Mt. McKinley climb. 

That summer Lindley went to Ala::.ka and visited 

the park; when Liek beard of their plans, he 

told them "if the Park Service is in on the climb, 

you can use park dogs to haul supplies free of 

charge." Lick, thus accepted, then convinced 

the two organit..ers to bring park ranger Grant 

Pearson along as well. On April 4· 1932, the party 

headed we::.t from headquarters, and six weeks 

later it achieved what had never been done before. The foursome climbed both of McKinley's 

'ummits: South Peak on May 8 and orth Peak 

a day later. On May 15 they were back, safely, 

at headquarten.l Theirs was the first party tu 

climb either reak since the 1913 Stuck-Karstem. 

expedition. 

Another party attempted to climb Mt. McKinley that ~arne spnng, bur its primary goal was 

scJentJfic research, nor the thrill of mounram 

climbing. During rhts period, man) in the 

scientific community were excited about cosmic 

ray research. This field of inquiry had been 

launched in 1911 by Austrian scientist Victor F. 

es~. who ascended in a hot-air balloon up to 

the 17,500-foot level with a gold leaf spectrometer, a device that counted radiation. Hess made 

hts balloon flight because he, and other scientbts, knew that there was more radiation in the 

environment than they could account for by the 

known sources of natural background activity. Hess, hoping to learn about new sources of 

radiation, was surprised to find that the htghcr 

he climbed, the more he (and the spectrometer) 
Three months after the Lindley-Liek 

group discovered the deaths of Allen Carpe and Theodore Koven, the 

first two fatalities on Mt. McKinley. 

a recovery party dug Koven's body 

out from nearly ten feet of snow and 

brought it back to Koven's mother. 

The retrieval party consisted of Merl 

La Voy, a veteran of the ParkerBrowne expeditions of 1910 and 

1912, Andy Taylor, George Pitiff, and 

park ranger Grant Pearson. DENA 

3065, Grant Pearson Album, Denali 

National Park and Preserve Museum 

Collection 

were subJeCted ro a new, prc\·iously unknown 

form of "penetrating radi::trion" that came from 

an unknown location in outer ~pace. Ar fir~r. 

few bclie,·ed that Hess had di~covered an) thing 

~ignifi cant; they felt that thi~ radiation came from 

well-known, predtctable source~. But in a series 

of subsequent experiments, \\1crner Kohlhor~ter 

confirmed e<.~\ hypothc~cs. By •Y•9· many in 

the scientific communit) recognitcd that thcst.: 

sub-atomic. high-energy particles (what li es~ 

cnlled "'co~m1c radiation") rerrescnted a new 

phenomenon, and 1n 1936 He~s was awarded the 

'-obel PriLc in phy~ics for the rc~ca ch rela ted to 

h is balloon flight and im ilar efforts during the 

1911-13 period.' 

The excitement surroundmg Hess\ research, 

and Lhe questions posed by his conclusiom, 

~timulatcd others to discover more about the~e 

particles, that soon came to he known as cosm1c 

"rays" because Robert r-..lililkan another Nobel 

pri;ewinner in physics theori;ed in 192'i that 

these particles wen: gamma rays from space. 

Four yea ~ later, 1-:ohlhor-.ter along with fellow 

phvsicists D1mirry Skobeltyn and Walter Bothe 

did further work on co~m c rays:• Each of thc~e 

effort~. whtch were confined to vanous univer-

•1) laboratone~. timul ed others to perform 

field e~earch to gather additional data. In parllcular, Dr. Arthur I L Compton of the Universit\ 

of Chicago hored to im.titute a "wide program of 

investigations of co<;mic ravs at high elevati on~ 

tn differenr part~ of the earth." Out uf research 

, 

- - -

came a recognition that cmmic ray intensit)• 

increa-,ed in high ati tud e~ a~ well a~ high elevation!>. For that reawn. a popular publication 

\t<lted that "hkely points for finding the cosmic 

ray arc believed to exist 111 Alaska, Hawaii, . ew 

Zealand, Australia, Peru and Mexico:· By Jamlarv 1932, a bnlliant electrical engineer from Bell 

Telephone Laboratories, Allen Carpe, had won 

a grant to pursue co~m1c ray research. and he 

planned to carry out mam of his measurements 

"at high e levations on Mount J\ l cKinley.'' In 

::~dd ion to hi!> :.cientific talent, Carre was an 

accomph~hed mountaineer, with ~evera l fir,t 

a\cents to hi<; credit, and w aNst him with hb 

endeavor were Theodore Koven and three other 

colleague!>. '" 

Carpe and his party planned to ~e t up a research 

camp h1gh on the mountain\ slopes; he planned 

to fly in !>ome of his !>Up piles but hoped to have 

other supplies brought in by dog team. lie '>Don 

made hi~ pl an~ known to park superintendent 

Harry Lick, who because of the expedinon\ 

scientific narure agreed ro haul ~upplie' from 

1\ lcKinley Park Station to the re!>c.:arch camp. 

Carpe and "a mo~t impressive pile of mountain 

clunbmg eqUi pment" arnved at the '>tation on 

March 27.' ' The three-man conringent that left 

headquarters on April 4 hauled most of the cosmic ray part)'~ gea r as well as that of the LindleyLick expedition. Then. on April 25, bush pilot 

joe Cros~on made the first of r.vo flighrs hauling Carpc, Koven, and o~t of their rcmruning 

Chapter T11rrteE>rJ A Cemury of M ountarneenng 2 57 
In 1934, the first party summited Mt. 

Foraker's north and south peaks. The 

three men on the right-{:hychele 

Waterston, Charles F. Houston, 

and Dr. T. Graham Brown (left to 

right)-reached the top of the two 

peaks after braving wet and snowy 

weather, with 30 inches of snow 

from one storm at their high camp. 

Shown at the park superintendent's 

house, the trio was supported on the 

climb by Charles Storey (left) and by 

Houston's father, along with their 

horse packer, Carl Anderson (not 

pictured). DENA 3065, Grant Pearson 

Album, Denali National Park and 

Preserve Museum Collection. 

eqUipment from Nenana to the 6,100-foot level 

of the Muldrow Glacier, which wa!> opposite 

Gunsight Pass. (Tim was the fir~t-ever instance 

m which a mountameenng expedition in the 

park was wpplied by an airplane.)" Anti shortly 

afterwards, Crosson airdropped additional supplie!> to them at the 11,ooo-foot level. By Mav 3· 

Carpe and Koven were set up in camp, and they 

began their measurements. Several days later, 

however, tragedy struck. Carpe, apparently m 

the midst of a snowstorm, fell into a huge crevas~e. Koven then descended into the creva55e 

in an attempt to retrieve Carpe. Though unsuccessful in his goal, Koven was somehow able to 

drag him~elf out of rhe crevasse. But due to head 

and leg injuries sustamcd during hts attempted 

rescue, he died soon afterward. On May 11, the 

returnmg Lindley-Lick expedition members 

stumbled acros'> the party\ empty camp~ite, 

discovered Koven's froten remams, and rned 

to piece together the grim event~ tha, led to rwo 

deaths. Their search for Carpe, however, proveJ 

fruitless; his body, entombed in the icc. wa<. 

never found .' 

Early Climbing Management 

ln July and Augu~t t934, a party headed by 

Charles Houston made the mit1al ascent of 

Mount foraker. In early july, the ~ix-man parry 

drove more than 51Xty miles out the park road, 

and then headed southwest with pack horses to 

Mt. Foraker's base. Three climber\ ascended 

Foraker·~ north peak (17,400 feet) on August 6 

and its lower south peak (16,8t2 feet) on August 

258 Crown Jewel of the North An Adm1mstrat1vE> H1s1rJry of Denali N~t•onal Par> and P·escrve 

tt. The entire parry returned to Savage Camp 

on August 28.14 

Two years later, Bradford Washburn made 

his first trip to Mount McKinley. The man 

who would climb McKinley three times (once 

with hi~ wtfe Barbara), and whose name would 

become virtually c,ynonymous with high -qualtty photographs and detailed mapping of the 

mountain, came to tl1e Mount McKinley area 

in mid-July t936 at the behest of Gilbert M. 

Grosvenor, the longtime editor of National Geograplltc Maga::.i11e. Washburn had done his first 

Ala~ka mountain climbing in 1930, just out of h1s 

freshman year at Harvard, and because of a series of well-pubhciLed climbs and treks he had 

become well-known to both h1s fellow climbers 

and ro Natio11al Geograplt1c readers. (Indeed, 

in early 1935, Grosvenor had offered Washburn 

a posiuon at the National Geographic Society.) 

Recause one of the primary reasons for the 

succes!> of Washburn's 1935 Yukon expedition 

had been the daring, innovative photography he 

had taken, it should have been no surprise that 

Grosvenor hired him to take a series of photographs of Mount McKmley a~ well.'l Takmg 

off from Fairbanks, Washburn and hi!> pilot 

new on a circular route just below the peak's 

summit. Washburn, weanng an oxygen mask, 

mittens, and a cold-weather flying suit, sat on 

an old gas can and took photos from an openair compartment (the plane's door having been 

removed). After enduring these conditions for 

rwo day~. he noted that his ''intcre5t in [McKin-
Bradford Washburn's intense interest 

1n Mt. McKinley and the surrounding 

region, and his extensive work 

photographing and mapping the 

area, increased the knowledge of 

climbing possibilities in the region. 

From aerial reconnaissance and 

photographs he studied new climbing 

routes on the mountain. This 1947 

picture of Bradford Washburn shows 

him preparing for one of his many 

aerial photography flights, which 

began In July 1936. DENA 5438, 

Denali National Park and Preserve 

Museum Collect ion 

ley's) peak!> ami glacier~ wa~ \O whetted that I 

returned in 1<)37 and 1938" to make aJd1llonal 

photographic rcLonnal'>sancc~."· ~o far a'> 1s 

known, Washburn ne\'cr .,et foot in the national 

park at any time during the 930~. 

In the year., pnor to \X'orld War ll, mountain 

climb1ng wa., pra<..nced hy a relative handful of ourdoor~mcn, and on!~ a .,mattenng ol 

tho'>e in the chmbing fratermt\ phed their craft 

w1th1n the boundancs of rhc variom national 

park umb. 1\lountain climbers, then a~ now, 

could he notonou-,lv mdcpendcnt, and for the 

most part the~ bridled at the impo~1t1on of any 

restrictive regulations. '\IPS officials, to a large 

extent, were comfortable w1th thetr hand!-.-

nfl role, and prior to the l9JOS, there were no 

agcncvw1de puhltshcd rules regardmg mounwin climbmg. The'\, P~\ only admlm.,trattve 

direction, in fact, wa., the cncouragmg language 

of the ~o-calleJ Lane letter of 1918, which noted 

that "All outtloor .,port~ which mm he mamrained con-,1-.tcnrlv with the obscn·ation of the 

safeguards thrown around the natwnal parks by 

lav. will be heartily endor~cJ and aided wherever po,~ible," with "mountatn climbmg" being 

fir-.t on the lt~t of Lane's "favorite ~porh." T hi5 

broad encouragement wa5 repeatctl, almo~t 

vcrbaum, 'e\'cn year5 larer h) lntertor ~ecrctaf) 

Hubert \X'ork.' \ t \1ount R,umcr and Grand 

teton n<HJOnal park~ {estabh5hed m 1899 and 

1929, rc~pcctl\ ely), the 1'\PS had 'anc11oned 

licen~mg and guiding acti\·itie<., hut the agency 

had not attt'mpted to regulate the climher'> 

thcm~elve,. •H 

ln 1936, the vcar in which the Federal Register 

was fir.,t puhlt.,hed, lntenor SeLretan llarold 

L. lcke'> ts,ued the ~PS\ fir'>t detailed, agcncywrde Rub. and Regulations. included in 

its prm i-.ion-, were statement~ on "mount.lin 

summtt climbing" that applied ro ju.,t two of 

the agenc v\ national park.,. Section 31 read a~ 

foiJOW'>: 

Ch<Jpto·r Tflorteen A Century of Mounliltneenng 259 
From the 1940s through much of 

the 1960s, NPS regulations directed 

superintendents to appomt a ranger. 

familiar with local climbing, to meet 

climbers and discuss their proposed 

ascents with them. Here. in July 1956. 

Ct11ef Ranger Robert Branges inspects 

equipment of the Mexican Explorers 

Club climbing pany prior to their at· 

tempt on Mt. McKinley. DENA 17-24, 

Denali National Park and Preserve 

Museum Collection 

In \1mmr l'vh."-inlcv and \1ount 

Ratmcr '\,,uwnal Pi!rb, mmmt:un 

climbing ~hall he undertaken onlv 

with thl' pcrmt~\IOn of the super· 

intcndcnr ol the park. In m~ure 

rcasonahil' chance' ol ... uc.cL•s:,, he 

'hall not grant 'uch pcrmi..,.,ton unul 

he Is :.aw,ticd that .111 members of the 

parrv are proper!} dorhcd. cyuipped. 

and .,hod, arc 4ualitit·d ph\ '>tcalh and 

through pre\ tous c:-:pcncncc ro make 

tl1L cltmb, and that the ncccs~af) 

~upplic" arc earned .,..,o tndt\ idual 

will he.; pcrmincd ro -.ran .1lone for 

the .,umm1t ot \ lount \1ch.mle:\ or 

\1ount Ramkr 

While th~ Government as.,ume~ no 

rcsponsibtl1t\ 111 connectwn w1th am 

k1nd of accident w mountam-climbmg partte~. ,111 pcrsom ~tarung w 

.t<,ccnd \1oum \ k!..:tnle\ nr \1uunt 

Raimer will till out an tnft>rmanon 

blank furnt~hcd h\ the .. upt:rintcndent and .,hnll rLport to htm upon 

rcntrn. 

\X'hl'n the '-Upcrinrt:nJcnr deems such 

acnon nc c~'>an he may prohibit <11l 

mountnin climbing in the pnrk.'" 

Rut by the late 1930~ , tht.. rt'>ing number of 

clrmhers throughout tht.• c.uuntry anJ more 

spccificalh the recogmtion that (KCa~innal, wcllpuhliciLed acL idcnts dcmanJeJ some sort of rc-

'>ponse cau .. ed "P~ oflinals w mnrc ~criously 

260 Crown JC\WI of theN, rtt An Admm,wat•ve HI>IOI) I Ocr a1 NQ\JOn I P r> .Htd P • erv 

con,ider a broader agencvwtdc regulatory role. 

As o ne letter tn an PS ~;u crmtendent no ted tn 

a less than-dtplomatic. fashion, ~hould a climber 

"have the right to commit "ukide if he wants 

to"? • Or ... houiJ the PS play a stronger role in 

ensuring the pmtcltion of climbing pnrties? 

In the 'Pring of rq40, '\IP\ Oirccror Arno 

Camme rcr, after comultmg wtth the c\dn<,on 

Committee on I liking,\\ rotc a memo dbcu~~­

mg the agency\ role .1~ tt pertatnl'd to moun tam 

climbing. lie noted that: 

hom lime w time, tt ha" been 'ug 

ge~ted that regul.tliom. he t<o'>UCd to 

control huardou~ c.limbing in the 

national p.1rk.... . The umscnsu:. is 

that It would hl' tn:tth i~ahlc to impo~e 

rc~mctiom hccali~L' mo<>t climbing is 

done out of range of dfccnvc control. 

l'hercfore, no general rcgulatiom 

prohlhltmg clnnhmg or other hal.arJou~ nmturc~ will he t%ucd at thl!. 

time ... rxi~ting regulnuons and 

gutdtng pracncc., at \ 1ount Ratntt'r, 

\1oum \ lc!..:inley, and Grand Teton 

\oanonal Parb \\'til nut he ~:hanged." 

Cammercr did. hmve\·cr, ... ut;gest the implementation of -.ewral \oluntary mea.,urcs. For example, he urged park ..,taft to have chmber' fill out 

a regtstratum form. both before and after thetr 

hike. (A'> noted above, th1s anion was consistent 

with language in the ~<n6 regulations ) lie abo 

urged each supenntcndcnt to appoint a ranger, 

"who t<, acquatntcd with local cnndiuons and 
This 1957 Mt. McKinley expedition, 

approaching overland from the 

park road to the Muldrow Glader, 

IS mak1ng the classic preparations 

for their overland trek. organizing 

food and equipment amidst that 

great thallenge of the tundra, the 

mosquitoes of the Wonder Lake area. 

DENA 17·29, Denali National Park and 

Preserve Museum Collection 

cllmbmg rechnllJUC, to d1-.cu~, intelligenrly with 

clnnbers the Wl~dom Of proposed climb~." for 

tho<>e climbers who imi~ted on making an a~ccnr 

wh1ch Wa!> "unduly hatardou~ or inadvbable," 

howe\·er, the ranger should tell the chmbers that 

rhe rnp wa-. hcmg made "in ~pite of an ollicmJ 

warning." Finally, Cammercr noted that "rescue 

work conrinue<; to be the rc~pon~ihility of the 

National Park Service," primarily hecaw,e "there 

~eem!o to be no practicable procedure whereb:.-

the indi\·idual or organitauon concerned can be 

required tn pay f(,r the expen<,es of rescue." He 

did, however, hope that privately operated rescue patrob ("!>imilar to the winter !>ki patrob ") 

could be organ11ed so that thcv could plav \orne 

role in park rescue efforts." 

A-; Pearson and others have noted, Mounr 

1\lcKinlcv became mcrea.,mglv popular during 

the 1940" and early 1950s: just one party at1cmpted ro summit dunng the first half of the 1940.,, 

four more partte::. made an ,tttempt m the ,ccuntl 

half of the decade, and six attempts took place 

during the four vear~ between 1950 and 1953, 1n· 

clu!>ivcl). !:lome were ~ucce..,sful venrure~. whill.' 

other~ were not. 

Clunhing monagement during tlw, period 

continued to he fairly mmimal. A~ noted in 

Cammerer·, 1q4u climbmg guidelme.,, potennal climber-. were reqUired to reg1~tcr wtth till' 

"'- PS and were urged tu 'peak w1th a de,1gnmc:d 

~taffer about route cho1ce, fimd, cyuipment, and 

general preparcdness. 4 After the 1947 ~ea<.,on 

(which featured three cxpeditumc., two of which 

... ucce ... f>fullv ... ummned \lount \lcKinley), tho-.c 

gUJdch1w., were expanded. Park -.tali, undl.'r 

Supt. Rccn\ direction, prepared a mimeo 

graphed outline which compiled mountain 

climber.,· "mandawry reyuircment~" plw, a h~r 

of recommended <,upphe, and equipment. llm 

oulline wa-. '>ent on to the agenc\ \ rcglllllal office and, ..,llll m draft form, was "~em on to vari· 

ou~ Park !:lervice office., and to indivHJunl ... antl 

orgam;.auons with tht: reyue!.t for ... ugge.,non~." 

The~e mJrcnab wcrl' fir-.r dlc.tribured in '\Ia\ 

1948.··· Park official~ expected that the matenab 

in the mimeographed mformation packet would 

evennmllv he incorporated a., federal regulation'>. l'vlountain climbing group~. hm'-e\c:r, 

vigorou.,l\ prote!>ted the mm•e, -.o 111\tl•nd, the 

matenal<. Ji.,rributed hv park '>taff remamed 

mfnrmational.''' Park ofliCiab, over the vcar~, 

modified the materiab in the mformauon packer 

\CVcralumc!. a., Clrcum..,tance-. demanded. 

Bur bv wn\ of contr.l'>L, agencywidc chmhing 

regulauom that b. tho\e which appeared in the 

Federul Rt:~Jster underwent unl) minor changec; 

during th1~ same penod. · 

Gi\·en thc.,c regulation-. anJ the updated mformatiOn materials, the 'l P\ was m a strong po'>J· 

tion to manage would he climber'> in tht• park. 

\t\osl ofthme whu tried lo climb Mt. Mc"mley 

during thi~ period contncted the park well in advance of their trip; other..,, however, arn\'etl unannounu~d ar park headquarters and cxplamed 

the1r pl;tn-. to the "JPS at that rime. Allemptmg 

to climb McKinley during 1h1s penuJ Without 

informing N PS would have he en dillicult if not 

1mpo.,.,1ble, cons1denng the fact that all hut one 

of the \ lount \tcKinley chmhmg expl·dmnm 
had taken what Grant Pearson c~lled the "welltramped-out McGonagall-Muldrow route" thai 

began near Wonder Lake.'" 

The NPS's climbing policy seemed to work well 

during this period. Inasmuch as Grant Pearson, 

who wa~ familiar with conditions in the Alaska 

Range, served on the park 5taif (as either chief 

ranger or superintendent) during much of this 

period, he was able to provide skilled advice to 

potential climbers. ln most cases, as it rurned 

out. the climbing parties were adequately prepared for their venture. ln only one 1 nstance d1d 

Pearson intervene. He recalled that in 1952, the 

Mexican Explorers Club 

attempted the chmb Without proper 

equipment. Ill ar first refused to 

let them go, because they did not 

have enough food. Park regulations 

required a 30 days' supply; they had 

only 10 days'. Finally, ... 1 said, 'Tlll!:!t 

you go if you'll promise ro come back 

when you have only two days' food 

left." They agreed. The four reached 

8,500 feet on Muldrow. got down to 

the1r food limit, and came back.'" 

Desp1te Cammerer's dictum, m his 1940 memo, 

that "rescue work continues to be the responsibility of the National Park ervice," park 

personnel dw-mg the 1940s had no effective 

rescue capability because of a lack of mountaineering eqUipment. And given the great dbrancc 

and poor communications between the high 

peaks and park ~taff, NPS pcr~onnel were in 

no posttion to know if a mountaineering party 

was m distress. In only one instance- after the 

eptember 1944 crash of an Army 1i-ansport 

Command plane ncar Mount Deception was a 

park ranger called upon to undertake a re5cue effort (see Chapter 5). This effort took place only 

because military authorities forced the issue and 

provided all necessary equipment and supplie-;. 

ln ~cptember 1948, ranger William Clemons 

represented the park at the agency's first-ever 

mountain climbing and rescue training school, 

which was held at Mount Rainier National Park, 

bur there is no evidence that the park increased 

it~ rescue capabilities as a result or that Clemons 

himself attempted to climb any of the park'.; 

higher peaks." 

Mount McKinley as a Scientific Operat ions Base, 

1947-1 963 

A-, noted above, SCiennfic research on Mount 

McKinley in 1932 commenced when Allen Carpe 

and hts assistant, Theodore Koven, performed 

cosmic ray experiments at the tJ,ooo-foot level of 

'v1uldro"" Glacier. Fifteen years later another ex2&2 Crown Jewel of the North An Adrt11111Str<J tlve H1story of Dendi! NiltiOndl ~ and '~!>t'rve 

pedition, of wh1ch Bradford Washburn was a key 

member, had cosmic ray research as a "major 

scientific goal.">< 

The genesis of that 1947 expedition, however, 

was not science bur Hollywood. [n 1945, james 

Ramsay Ullman had written a wartime adventure 

novel (The White Tourer) about the Weissturm, 

a mythical peak m the Alps. A year later RKO 

Pictures. a leading movie production company, 

purchru.ed the rights to Ullman's novel, and 

soon afterward a studio executive named Paul 

Hollister called Washburn and pitched the 

idea of an expedition in order to obtain movie 

footage. Hollister showed an initial interest in 

Mount Everest, but Wa!>hburn convinced him 

that Mount McKinley, due toea ier accessibility, would be a more feasible option. Washburn, 

given hts role as the head of the New England 

Museum of ~arural History, wanted ro include 

science as parr of the filming project; more 

specifically, he hoped to make it "financially 

possible for the museum to carry out a number 

of purelv scientific objectives.'' Hollbtcr readily 

agreed to Washburn's propo<>al, because a short 

puhlic relations film about scientific research on 

the moun tam would polentially be an excellent 

marketmg roo! for the upcoming feature film.ll 

Hollister then contacted several Harvard scientists, after which he asked Wa hburn to work 

with them "to suggest how many ways [the] 

expedition might make a real scientific contribution." Before long, their inquine reached the 

U.S. Navy's Office of aval Research (ONR), 

which at that time was the primary federal 

agency '>Upporrjng academic research. Harvard 

sctenti'>ts, meanwhile, mentioned the upcoming expedition to several colleagues, and before 

long Dr. Marcel Schein, a University of Chicago 

physicbt ~pecializmg in cosmic ray research, 

stepped forward and expressed an interest in the 

project. >~ 

Wa~hburn, meanWhile, had been making his 

own plans regarding the mountain's research 

pos~ibilities, and it soon emerged that buth he 

and Schein hoped to e~rabli~h a high-alrirude 

scientific camp. Washburn, by mid-October 

1946, was envisioning a camp at Denali Pass (at 

elevation 18,180 feet) where ''high altitude survey 

work and other projects ... could be carried out 

from a reasonably warm and comfortable base:• 

Scientific supplies would be parachuted to the 

camp, which would be the "highest observatory 

ever established anywhere in the world." Schein, 

for hb pan, proposed in January 1947 a scienti ftc program reqUiring a large resl:!arch hut that 

would house a system of )CO-pound telescopes, 

high-voltage batteries, photographic recorders, 
Movie footage of background 

mountain scenery was filmed by RKO 

Radio Pictures on Mt. McKinley during 

Bradford Washburn's 1947 "Operation 

White Tower" expedition. The actual 

movie was filmed in the Swiss Alps. 

Operation White Tower Collection. 

Denali National Park and Preserve 

Museum Collection 

heaters, and an ionit.ation chamber. Given a 

recognition that "the major ~cie ntifi c goal of the 

expedition wa5 Co~mic Ray research in Denali 

Pass;' Washburn noted, "the Army Air Force 

agreed to furni!.h air support, in order to effect 

the establi~hmen t of thl!. spec1al camp." 11 

The expeditiOn, dubbed "Operation White Tower:' was organiL.ed in Anchorage in mrd-March 

'947· and the imtial base camp (at McGonagall 

Pass) was establi~bed on March 30. The large 

support connngent wa." assembled at base camp 

in mid-April, after which expedition member<. 

began inchmg up Muldrow Glacier. Unusually 

poor weather retarded progress, but by May 20 

Washburn and a colleague had established the 

beginnings of a new camp at the r6,4oo-foor 

level. That evening, however, a "wild bli.uard'' 

began that would lat.t for 18 hour~; that bliuard, 

it turned out, was the beginning of the so-called 

"Great Storm" that would last for another nine 

days. Given the exped ition'!> slow progress, 

Washburn on May 25 began to question the feasibility of conducting any co mic ray work. He 

soon learned that the Geiger counters necessary 

for the research program had all been destroyed, 

and on Ma) 27 he canceled the program. Upon 

hearing the news, Schein (who wa!. not on the 

mountain, and communicated to the party 

via rad1o) protested Washburn\ decision and 

demanded that replacement Geiger counters be 

flown m to Denali Pa~s. ' 

The Great Storm finally ended on May 30. A 

week larer, on j une 6, eight exped ition members 

climhed Mount McKinley'~ South Peak; among 

Chdpter l h1rtPPn A Century of Mounta1neerrng 263 
The Operation White Tower expedi· 

tion base camp was established at 

McGonagall Pass. The Muldrow 

Glacaer Is seen beyond the camp. 

Operation White Tower Collection, 

Denali National Park and Preserve 

Museum Collection 

This insulated hut was aardropped at 

Denali Pass, near the 18,000-foot el· 

evation on Mt. McKinley, where Hugo 

Victoreen, pictured here, performed 

cosmic ray research for 10 days in 

June 1947. Operation White Tower 

Collection, Denali National Park and 

Preserve Museum Collection 

them was Barbara Washburn, the first woman to 

reach North America's highest elevation. Then, 

the following day, <,eve raJ member~ continued 

on and climbed orth Peak. Meanwhile, a 

military plane airdropped the consuruent parts 

for rhe insulated, 9-fooH.quare cosm1c ray hut; 

team members finbhed erecting the ~trucrure 

264 Crown Jewel of the Nonh An Admmosrratave Hostory ol Da>nalt Natoonal Par~ and Pr~rve 

on june 10. and replacement Geiger counters 

were on hand by June I6. Hugo Victoreen, 

the on-sJte director of the cosmic ray research 

program, conducted his research from June I7 

rhrough June 27- chein, VJctorccn, and his colleague<., later reported rhar the data collected at 

Denali Pa:.~ was of great research \'alue because, 
Supplies were delivered to the 

Operation White Tower base tamp at 

McGonagall Pass by this ski-equipped 

aircraft, landing near the center of the 

Muldrow Glacier. Operation White 

Tower Collection, Denali National Park 

and Preserve Museum Collection 

among other reasons, such data had previously 

been "attainable on ly in short-duration plane 

flights."l7 Several months later, Washburn wrote 

a report to his spomor~ on the "Cosmic Ray 

Reconnaissance." ln that report, he reiterated 

that of all possible site~ on the mountain, Denali 

Pass ·'appears £O be the mo~t pracucal point for 

the erection and operation of the h1ghest cosmic 

ray station on the mountam to be occup1ed by 

personnel for any extended period of time," 

and he further po-.ited that ''the safe'>t, '>hortest, 

and most practical route of ground approach ro 

Denali Pass is from Wonder Lake v1a 1cGonagall Pass. Muldrow Glacier, Kamens R1dge and 

Parker Pass."'" 

During the planning period leading up to the 

"White Tower" expedition and probably 

unbeknownst to both military authorities and 

park leaders at the time the agency was moving 

to establish a policy that promised to restrict 

the role of aircraft in park climbing expedinons. 

The PS did nor have a prior pohcy regardrng 

aircraft landings, but rn mid-\ larch 1947 during 

the arne week that "White Tower" participants 

were meetmg in Anchorage the agency Issued 

irs Jnttial arrcraft rcgul:ltiom. It noted that 

The landmg of commercial and 

private aircraft within the national 

parks and monument~ i., generally 

mcompatiblc with the purposes for 

which the parks and monuments are 

administered. o person shall land 

arrcraft on land or water, on any federally owned area Within any nntional 

Chapter Thlrti"Pn A (PnhJIY of Mounta1neenng 265 
The Operation White Tower 

eKpedition to Mt. McKinley utllfzed 

traditional and new transportation 

technologies, dog team and aircraft. 

Earl Norris freighted supplies and 

equipment with his dog team to the 

11,000-foot level on the Muldrow 

Glacier. Operation White Tower 

Collection, Denali National Park and 

Preserve Museum Collection 

park or monumcnr. except for cmcrgenc\' rC!>CUc 111 accordance wtth the 

direction ... of the officer tn charge or 

the park or monument or \vhcn: ~uch 

landmg '" cau.,cd by unfore~ccablc 

circum ... tanccs bt:\ond the control of 

<.uch per-.on. 

The PS allowed cxcepttons to it-. general rule 

in five park umb, one of which wa~ '\ lounr 

McKinley 1\Jational Park. Landing'> in the park 

were sanctioned at the "McKmle\ Park Station 

atrport" (at the ca~t end of the park) and perhaps m deference to the locanon wht:re Brad lord 

Washburn had conducted ~ome of ht' rc'>earch 

efforts landing., were also allowed lln \'fonder 

Lake. The -.lopes of ~lounr \ lcKtnlcy were officially otl ltmtt~ ·• 

The Navy\ Chtef of a val Research, Rear 

Admiral f./\. Solbag, retained a high degree 

of interest m ~:osmtc ra) research. and two 

vears after the \X httc Tower climb, Washburn 

announced to the pre.,., that '\1ount <\1cKtnle\, 

after a stte-sclt·ction survey, had "been propo~ed 

for the world\ highc.,t permanent co~m1c ra) 

laboratory." Ba..,cd on hi~ 1947 work, he averred 

that a .,ite ar Denali ra.,~ was "fea~ible'' and 

266 Crown Jewel or the North ~n Admml~trdtiVI.' Htstory ot Den Jli N<~ttonal Par> and Preserve 

that "the bhuratory could be occupted for a 

maximum of ~ix weeks." llclicopter!>, he noted, 

"could be used to transport personnel 7,000 feet 

up the mountain, reducing the climb by at least a 

wcek.''4" 

'\lcmber~ of the 5mall but tnfluenttal \X ildernes!> 

So<.tet) read the press report~. and hefore long 

the Socu:t) \ pre~1denr, Olau., Mune, cxpre.,sed 

lm cnncerm about the proposed pro1ect to NPS 

Dire~:tor ewton Drury. He noted that 

It ma) appear to some that so long 

as ... no road ts built, or any trail, 

rhat no harm i& done .... But there 

arc other a~pects to tht-.. I thmk we 

all agree that a national p3rk 1.., not 

mt:rely sct:nery ... it embodie~ hi~ tory, 

a W3)' of life, primitive experience, 

earlv environment .... A natiOnal park 

is spc<.ifically dedicated to those int,lngiblc and imponderable qualities. 

... It comes a:. a shock that there ts a 

proposal to invade Denali itself with 

the attendam aircraft traffic. ro those 

who are ~cnsitive to mountains ... the 

knowledge that Denali b no longer 

"the most high", that it ha ~ been lit-
Pictured here in front of the Mt. 

McKinley National Park Administration Building are Barbara Washburn, 

Park Superintendent Frank Been, and 

Bradford Washburn after the couple 

spent 90 days on the Operation White 

Tower expedition to Mt. McKinley. 

Barbara Washburn participated as 

one of the members of the climbing 

team and became the first woman 

to reach the summit of Mt. McKinley. 

Operation White Tower Collection, 

Denali National Park and Preserve 

Museum Collection 

rered with the impedimcnb of man'-. 

modern mcchantcal experimentation, would lower the great mountain 

from th pcdc~tal. would remove the 

pre~ent aura of rcmutcne~" and put It 

in the commonplau:. \\ h\ !caw It a 

national park after that ?~ 

Mune that da) penned ..,tmtlar letter ... to Rear 

Admtral Solberg of the Office of '\,aval Re!>earch 

and to Dr. A. L. Wa-.hhurn. the Dtrccror of the 

Arctic Imrinttc. 

'v\eanwhile, votcc.., in the NPS ... poke out. 

Landscape Architect Alfred Kuehl, the agency\ 

"Alaska hand" in the ~an hanctsco reg10nal 

office, had no objection to a '>tructmr at Denali 

Pa~s. bccau~e it "would not be vi-.ible from any 

point on the ground" (t.e., along the park road or 

the Ala<.ka Railroad). Superintendent Pearson 

dtd not dt<;agrce \\'tth Kuehl\ -.pecific ..,tatement; 

he did, however, feel that "never the le~-.[the 

'>tatJl)n] would Jo great harm to the '>pmt of rcmotenc.,., we as..,ociate with the mountain [and] 

would abo detract from the I) pc of e..,thetic.., we 

arc fosrcnng 111 our \iarional Parks." He concluded by saying, "It I'> not the ~upcrintendent's 

inrention to ohjcct ro ~1m de\'elopment.., which 

arc absolutely necc-.<;arv. I'> thi-. Cmmic Ray ~ration cce~~ary?"v 

In late j anuary. an Office of Naval Research 

official re:.ponded to \1une·., letter. lle was 

equl\·ocal. On the onr hand, he stated that 

Chaplet TtmlePn A Ct>ntwy of Mountameenng 267 
"nowhcrL cbc on the orth American Contmenr will we be able tu make continuum 

measuremenr~ of conditions ar r8,ooo feet 

other than on Mt. McKinley" and that "These 

measurements have ccrtarn rmportance rn the 

~cheme of thing~ ." He al~o ~a 1d , however, that 

" It is not planned at thc pre~ent nme to e~wblbh a laboratory on Mt. McKinley ... and Will 

onlv plan it a .. a last rc~tlrt."4' 

Drury. upon herng appn:-,cd of the 0 R letrer, 

warned f\lurie that ··rhere i-. ... no rndication that the project b grven up. We mu~t 

not relax effort'> to preserve the mountmn. 

the signrftcance of whrch you ha,·e prc-,enrcd 

most dcarlv.'' Mune, ~oon afte rward, pa.,~cd 

h rs concern'> on to Washburn; he stated rhat 

" l assure you I fully under<.tand the problcms 

that you faCl' in nuclear rc'>carch," bur he abo 

~aid "that 11 you and others concerned w11h 

thts propo!.>a l can find tt pmsrble to dt-,cover 

another locatton, ir would case the 'ittuatwn 

greatly ... ".'~ Wabhburn, by thb time, had 

mennoned to NPS officral O.A. romlin'>on 

that the!.e ~LUdic'> might he earned out JUst a., 

~ucce!>sfully .tt the 16,ooo to tH,ooo foot lc\cl; 

if ~o. Washburn would recommend "another 

mountain 1n the general vicinity of Mount 

McKinll!y, which would he much ca~tcr w 

chmb." fhe Srcrra Club's board of dirccror~. aware rhat 16,237-foot f..tounr Sanford 

(in Ala~ka\ Wrangell \..lountarns) wa~ al'o 

hcing con~1dcrcd a" a co~mic ray invc~ugation site, asked the Nav} in early May to give 

''full considcranon ... to possible alternanvc· 

mountarn ~itc,." A month later, Wa!>hhurn 

gave the ~1erra Club pre~u.knt a rne-.~agc that 

both N PS and conservation official<. were glad 

ro receive: that as a result of a June 4 meeting 

attended hy a varicf) of cosmic ra} phr'iici,ts, 

"a location urher than Mt. tvtcKrnley ha~ been 

agreed upon as most practical for rcao;,on~ of a 

scienufic nature, as well a~ d1mbing ,afc() ,1nd 

economy nf field opcrauons.''4' The proposed 

cosmic-ray .,tation on Mount McKinl ey. for 

the nmc bemg at least, wa ... shelved.•• 

Later rn 1950, the park wa~ bnetly ut11rtcd as a 

backdrup for new form of <.cientific invel>tigatron. Tn mid-October. the park supenntendcnt 

noted that "a ... pecial group o l military mvesngators" arm·ed at the park. The~e rescarclwr'> 

told park -.taff that "the maxrmum intcn<.lty of 

the Aurora Rorealis rs located between Mcl(inley Park .md fairbank'>," nnd based on rhat 

as~umption. they brought "cameras and other 

equipmt!nt ro .. rudy the effew, ~~r the rwrthern 

ltghrs upon radw wave'> and to measure rherr 

base elevation." Their stay wa~ apparently 

bnef, and they did not rerurn.i 

De<.plte lw. ~erback on behalf of d1c 1\Ja\'\ dunng 

194C)·so, Brad Wa.,hburn persi!>ted in sugge~ting 

Mount McKmlev a~ a potential development 

site. In 1\lay 1951, ju~t before hi., propo~cd WesL 

Burtrc ~~ attempt, Washburn told a Unr\'Crl>ity 

ol Alaska audience that Mount McKmley and 

other high Ala!.>ka peak~ were bemg mapped for 

usc as radar station'>, weather observation pomts 

and (..Cnters of nuclear rc!>earch. fwo month!> 

later. after Wa~hburn returned from lu!> successful <N.cnr, a Fatrbank!. reporter noted rhat "the 

mount am might be used in the future as a s1re for 

a fixed posrtion radar station or cosmic ray laborarory. tf such an rmrallarion is desired above the 

r8,ooo toor level." Dave;, later. however, he told 

the Anchorage press that "a point at the q,ooofoot level'' of rhe mountain ··offer~ the \\'orld\ 

mo't favorable spot for a cosmic-ray station for 

the advancement of atomic research.'' fu late 

a., 1953. he sugge!'>tcd m a Na11o11al Geo~raphrc 

article thar "Mcl\.inlev'., heighr~ abo pmvrde a 

lookout tor ob~ervmg cosmic ray ... " Washburn\ 

I!J53 article reported the results of his We~t Buren:-,., clrmb. and although screntlfic goab con-

<,LirutcJ two of the three reason!> fur the a~cenr, 

co.,mrc ra't research wa'> nut mcluded J., a trip 

JU<.ttfic:uion. •' \XIa~hhurn. though un-.ucce~ fulm 

cstablr~hing a rc'>earch statwn on the mountatn, 

rna) ha\'e mflut'nccd a 1952 climber, Armv Capt 

\X1illiam llackert, to conduct some sctcnrific re-

... earch. Hackett, ,, veteran of :,ucccssful chmb~ rn 

tC)47 and 19<;1, led a four-man parry rhat agreed to 

carry "'everal nuclear platc5 coateJ ~ ith ~pecial 

emu lsmn., to record the cflect of cmmic rays 

'>tnkmg the earth." \X hcther the atomtc scteno'>t' 

whn supplied rhe plates gamed much in formatum, or even if the plate~ were hauled up the 

mountain, is undt'ar. ~-

The la.,t known pmpo.,alto utilue the upper 

-.lopes of \1\ounr McKinley emerged durmg the 

late 1<)50'>. After rhe ~ovtct Untun succesc;fullv 

launched the Sputnik 1 -,arelhte In l'arly October 

19'i7· U.~. aurhorrt1es became far more aware of 

thetr de feme vulnerabilities. c~'> than three 

month-. later, the L.S. re~ponded by ~uccessfully 

launchtng irs own '>att:lhte (Explorer r), and It 

expanJed its defensive poo;;ture through the conver~ion of many Nike Ajax missile lies into Nike 

1-ferculc~ ~ires, the latter mis~il es olfering greater 

range and flexibilitv. 

Gl\'en the Cold War chmatc and the rmpcnding 

c;pacc race. a Hughes Arrcraft engrncer named 

Vernal I vier propmcd the construction of a 

long. verttcal runnel unuer Moum l\1cKinle}. the 

prim an purpo~c of whtch would bt' to launch 

hrgh alttrude space mr~.,rles . Tyler, who unveiled 

the plan 111 july 1959. noted that the idea "would 

be of great rntere'r to geologists, mtneralo-
gists and should capture the imagination of the 

public.'' Implementing the plan, however, would 

require the construction of a 52-mile railroad 

spur from the Gold Creek flag stop (south of 

Chulitna Pass), the construction of an 18-mile 

horiTontal tunnel, and the boring of two ro,ooofoot-long vertical shafts under Mount McKinley. 

~vier anticipated that his plan would not be 

well received by conl!ervation groups. His most 

important concern, however, was selling Washington officiab on a project that would cost an 

estimated S8o million. Tyler, so far as is known, 

made little or no headway with his scheme, but 

four year!> later, two other engineers aired much 

the same propo~al -and had similar results.'" 

The Rise and Fall of Science 

as a Climbing Justification 

The various parties who climbed-or attempted 

ro climb-Mount McKinley during the 1940s 

were l>imilar to their forebears in that they approached the mountain from the north side, and 

did not depend on air support. But in june 1951, a 

climbing party tried something new. Pilot Terris 

Moore, who at the time was the University of 

Alaska'~ pre~ident, landed Brad Washburn and 

hi~ party at the 8,500-foot level of the Kahiltna 

Glacier. Before long, Wa~hburn and seven compatriots set off and climbed to the top of Mount 

McKinley, then retraced their route back the way 

they came. Moore met the party at its base camp, 

at the 1o,ooo-foor level of Kahiltna, and flew 

them back to Fairbanks,;> 

Both of Moore's landings, which were part of a 

scientific expedition, took place within Mount 

McKinley National Park. Several months later, 

in February 1952, the Harvard Mountaineering 

Club contacted the park and requcl>ted permissiOn to allow supplies to be air-dropped at 

1\ll cGonagall Pass as part of a planned climb up 

J\lount McKinley later that yearY These two actions ~tilTed the agency to review its March 1947 

regulations about airplane landings in the park. 

After receiving suggestions from both agency 

officiab and Brad Washburn, NPS Director 

Conrad Wirth tentatively recommended a modified policy. Although he rejected any notion of 

allowing airdrops, he suggested that planes could 

legally land on the glaciers surrounding Mount 

McKinley if they were connected to "a scientific 

parry.'' Washburn, after reacting Wirth's policy, 

generally agreed with itl> Intent. He was worried, however, that a "scientific" rationale could 

be defined too loosely, so he hoped that the 

agency would limit "air support permission to 

real \Cienrific expeditions. Unless such a policy 

is [adopted], a great many very fine climbers [in 

the pursuit of science], who have high standard~ 

of integrity, will be prevented from using air 

~upport" and, if expeditions were sub1ect to lax 

regulation, air support would be available to 

parties "that have been organited primarily for 

the pursuit of adventure." Washburn went so far 

as to offer a series of specific criteria to define a 

"scientific expedition" in the park." Park and regional officials reacted positively to Washburn's 

suggestions and made only slight change;, to 

them, and on june 16, 1952, Wirth's office issued 

a policy statement relating to aircraft support. 

That statement noted that "the use of aircraft in 

connection with mountain and canyon expeditions is prohibited" except by scientific parties, 

and the policy provided three specific criteria 

for those parries. The policy did, however, give 

park superintend ems broad discretion to penmt 

aircraft support.l4 

The agency's new policy helped guide its 

response to rhe Harvard Mountaineering Club 

who, as noted above, had written to Pearson requesting permission for air support. The club's 

president noted that the proposed ten-man 

expedition planned "to test new Army equipment on McKinley proper," and it also planned 

"to conduct survey operations and geological 

collecting in the [Mount] Brooks ru·ea" using "a 

high powered theodolite supplied by Harvard 

University."'~ In response, Pearson stated that 

the agency was "unable to grant permis~ion for 

air support.'' He further elaborated on why the 

action was necessary: 

\VIe feel that the u~e of air support in 

any but bona fide scientific expedirion~ will result in increasing pre:.-

~ures both here and in other areas 

of a similar nature. We feel that the 

climb of Mount McKinley is one of 

the few true mountaineering experiences remaining on this continent and 

that it should remain such, a conquest 

which yields only to those who seek 

to conquer without quarter asked or 

g1ven. 

Toward thb end, it has been necessary 

to revise and define our concept of 

a scientific expedition. Its objective 

must be clearly within the realm of 

scientific, military, Federal or educational research and the application for 

air support must originate with the 

directive head of such organitation~; 

time in the field must be spent in the 

pursuit of the authorited objective; 

and technical personnel must exist in 

the party at least in the ratio of one 

out of four. These requirement~, plu~ 

final approval of the Superintendent 

Chapter 1rt ~en A Century of Mountam!:'l'nnq 269 
Members of the 1955 Kowalik Mt. 

McKinley Expedition were granted 

permission for limited aircraft use in 

support of their planned scientific 

studies for the U. S. Weather Bureau 

and the Bureau of Land Management. 

The four-man group from Anchorage. 

Alaska is p1ctured here w ith their pi· 

lot, Don Sheldon, second from left. at 

the McKinley Park airstrip. DENA 17· 

23. Denali National Park and Preserve 

Museum Collection 

and an agreement of the parry to file a 

formal report of re~ult-. with the D1rcc 

tor of the ational Park ~ernce, must 

be mct5" 

\X'irth's pohcy regarding a u~Cientific'' need for 

glacier land mg-. remamcd m place for year.. 

afterward. In the spring of 1954, for example. 

Supenntendcnt Pear~o n noted that a five-man 

climbing parry had asked if it could land suppltcs 

on Straightaway Glacier, northwe<.,t of lount 

~cKinley; in response. Pea~un noted that the 

party "had permission for mr support as they are 

making te~t~ for the Ladd Field Aero Medical 

Laboratory and the Upj ohn Pharmical! Upjohn 

Pharmaceutical! Com pan}." And a year liHcr. 

Pcar~on reiterated that PS ~aut!- mry for lumrcd 

u~e of aircraft was granted" to a four-man partY 

hoping ro climb the mounram because one mcmher worked for the U.S. Weather Bureau. another 

worked for the Bureau of L and Managemt:nt. and 

they planned w make c;cienufic srudic~ for their 

re~pecnvc agencies.'>' 

After the 1415 season, however, park !>Upcrintendent Grant Pearson bcgan ro have .,econd 

thoughts about the park's aircraft pohC). ror the 

past several year~. climber., had been telling him 

that ma~much as they had "hm1tcd time to make 

the climb ... too much time wa~l consumed in 

the shuttlmg process'' involved in can,·inggoods 

up from the \X'onder Lake ~tarring point Because 

the 1 PS\ regulation~ mcrcased both the time and 

expense of any climbing in the park. "mountmn 

climbers [were increasmgly] rc!-.orting to subterfuge" (by "atrempting to .. a~sume the pO',ition of 

]]O Crown Jewel of the North An AdmrM,lratrve Hrstory of Denali flatronal Par~ and Pll'Serve 

bemg ,, sctentific \'cnntre ") in "an attempt to evade 

the is.,uc~ set forth tn our regulation ... " Pearson, 

trymg to respond to those demands, said that 

"one suggestion I which I may have some merit ... 

would be to allow one air drop of eqUipment and 

supphc~ per parry at the hase of the mountain." 

(Tht'> "ha~c" was practlcally defined a'> a "low 

elevauon base camp such as at McGonagall Pass:') 

Pearson's ~ugge.,tion met with general approval, 

and on March 19. 1956, Wirth issued an rurcraft 

pohC\ .. ratement that cancelled hts earher aune 

1952) '>tatcment. It imtcad noted that the .. apprO\ .11 of requests for permission to urilite aircraft 

for delivering supplic., to mountain climbing or 

canyon expeditiom will be made at the discretion 

of the ~uperintendcnt on the merit of the indi-

,·idual case."'" 

1 he new rule was widely approved and appeared 

to have the potential to fundamemally change the 

way m which climbers organi.t.ed therr e":pedition.,. The real it} of the change. however, was that 

of the lour expeditiom rhat tried ro climb Mount 

l\.lcl\:mlcy m 1956, the only one that re4uested 

an air drop lo!.t mol.t of itl> supplies in a Muldrow Glacrer creva.,~e. And during the winter of 

1950-57· a new event made the air-drop rule largely 

trrcll'\'ant. The \.1uldrow Glacier (according to 

Grant Pearson) "made a sudden rapid downhill 

movement" that "was !.till heaving and -.hi fling" in 

june '9'>7· nu~ "gallopmgglacier'' forced at least 

one mountameering parry- intent on u!>ing the 

\1uldrow to rum hack.~ 

Given thc lack of a north-side alternauve, all 

nine partte~ that climbed \ 1ount McKinley 
The 1954 Thayer Exped1t1on, George 

Argus, Elton Thayer, Morton "Woody" 

Wood, and Les Viere<k, departed by 

trai n from McKinley Stat1on. On April 

17th they began snowshoeing from 

Curry on the Alaska Railroad to Wonder Lake, completing the f1rst southnorth traverse of Mt. McKinley and 

the first ascent via the South Buttress. 

The group had successfully reached 

the summit and w as descending by 

Karstens Ridge when Thayer was 

killed In a fall. DENA 17-15, Denali 

National Park and Preserve Museum 

Collection 

between 1958 and 1qoo, mdu.,ive, u ... ed Kahiltna 

Glac1er ~ thetr accc-.-, potnr. Becau ... e mo~t of 

these parties du.l not han: 'c~enntic permit!>, Talkcema pilot Don Sheldon and hi., ""oclate-. landed 

climber~ JUC.,t \OUth of the park OClUndan, where 

the~ establbheu their baw camp'> and '>tarred 

their chmb!>.' (Brad \\ a\hhurn, hack tn 1953, 

had clearl~ marked the locatlnn where the park 

boundary cro.,,ed the "ah1ltna m a map pubhshed 

m the Amencan 4lplne journal.'') rrip log!> ... ugge~t that between 19')8 and 1963, hcldon landed 

most if not all dim her-. on rhe " ahiltna\ main 

stem (at or near the 6,7oo-fo01 level). But beginning in 1962 or 196), Sheldon and other pilot' 

began U!>ing the Kahiltna\ -.outhea'>t fork, at or 

near the 7,ooo-foot level (and IU'>t tn'>lde the park 

boundary). a practice that beu1me the norm 111 

later year~ ."- Dunng the 19)0'>, cltmhcr' J!>ccnding 

from the Kahiltna were unahk to take ad\'antage 

of rur !>Upport. but m 1960 the '-P\ approved a 

new rule that allowed "all nl'Cl'\\.lr~ flight-. I that 

were] reqUired w plat:e the de-.m:d tiHld, gac.oline. 

etc. at a sac at 8,ooo feet m hm cr:·· 1 

Throughout thi'> pcnod,thl' Park l;,erv1ce\ "scientific" requirements remamed 111 place; a~ late 

~ 'viay 1960, author jame.., Greiner noted that 

"All expeditiom thai arc mrliftcd to pomts on 

the mountain within the .L\Cogrnph1cnl borders 

of Mount McKinley Natltlnnl Park 111U'>t he conducted under \Cienutic pcrm1h 1"ued hy park 

authorities." Grcmer al ... o noted that a wouldbe climber that o,pnng, john D.n. had "-,cc.ured 

authoruanon for a 'pho10graph1c expeumon, 

a marginal category on!\ occa,lllnall\ acknO\\ )-

edged hy authontie-,."h• 

The Evolution of Rescue Operations 

Given the mcreasmg populanty of mounrruneenng ouh1de of \.a .. ka, chmher.., anu chmhmg 

group~ began to recogmte the \alue of ~afety 

andre cue operatum'>. In llJ47• fur example, the 

American Alpme Cluh ( \.\( ) puhh~hed tts fir!>t 

annual edition of \louma111n rml! '\afety. which 

reported chmhmg ac.udent~ and recommended 

safety mea.,url'' to prcvcm thc1r recurrence. 

Over the next <,evcral year .... a number of mountain rescue team ... \\ere l.!"tabiJo,hed, and 0)' 1958 

these group~ operating under the AAC's auc,-

pices- formed the ~v1 ountam Re.,cue A~~ocia ion 

and held an mitlal meeting."' 

In Ala!>ka, however. nouvilian rc..,cue groups 

had yet formed ( hmber., mcludmg rho'>e 

intent on tackling ount \lc"mlc\ knew 

that the\ were on thear own l .111guage 111 the 

agenc\ ·s 1916 chmhmg regulatllln-., a'> noted 

above, -.tared that "the (,ovcrnment a<,sume~ no 

re<,pon<,Jblht\ tn wnnec.uon w1rh am kind of accidenr to mount am c.hmhmg partie~." and prospectl,·e chmhmg p.1rt1c-. wen: appnsed thar :-.:rs per~onnel d1d not have the technical expertise ro 

perform most re'>CliC mi'>'>IOI1'>. 

The question of who \hould coordinate rescue 

operatiom (If ami when they did occur) changed 

during the 1940.,. In 1940, ll'> noted above, the 

. PS director noted that "re~t:ue work [within 

all park Ulllt'>l contmuc' to ~e rhc rc.,ponsibility 

of the '\.a tiona! Park \en 1cc" But in Ala~ka, the 

U.S. mthtary bmh rhe Arm\ \Jr Corp ... and the 

:-;a'! a\!>Umed an mc.rea-.mg \carch and-rescue 

role dunng \Xorld \\''ar I I \ \tl1tary authonnes 

ChapiN h, tP~'Ii A Cton!llly ut Mounta,neenng 271 
willingly offered their ~upport, and re~uurces, 

during civilian wartime emergencies, and when 

hosrilitie!:> ended, the military continued to offer 

~earch-and-rescue assi ranee. By the spring of 

1945, the U.S. Air Force had established a ~earch 

and rescue center at Ladd Air Force Base, near 

Fairbank:., and m December of that year, the 

military's role was formalized when d1e newlyestablished Alaskan Au· Command assumed 

control of rescue cuordination activities on d1e 

territorial mainland. (Three months later, Air 

Force official& in the "Lower 48'' established 

the eadquarter~ Air Rescue Service. It later 

evulvcu into Lhc Air Force Re~cue Coordination 

Center, which played a role in rescue acrivttie!:> 

throughout d1e country.)"'' 

After that date, the military contmued to have 

an official role in search and rescue acuvitics in 

the park (as well a~ cbcwhere in Alaska), and 

by the ~pring of 1952- when NPS authorities 

began demanding that climbers have a --~randby party who can come to their aid in case of 

emergency" - the military's 10'h Rescue Squadron 

as ... umed that role.h7 The Alaska Rescue Coordination Center's role lay untested, however, until 

May 1954, when rwo difl'erenr cvenu. demanded 

the military'., rc~cuc capabilities. Earlv that 

month, a five-man party led by Dr. Donald 

J\ \cLean tried to ascend l'v1ount McKinley via 

the previously-untried Northwest Buttress route. 

Beginning their ascent on Straightaway Glacier, 

the part} :-.uccessfully climbed North Peak, but a 

small plane supplying the expedition was not ~o 

lucky. The Piper, piloted by Lake Minchumina 

resident Richard Collins and with hts wife j eanne 

on board, was forced down by wind turbulence 

at the S,soo-foot level of Peters Basin. Hours 

later wind~ demolished the plane; the Collinscs, 

however, were unhurt. The next day, the U.S. 

Atr Force's 74'h Air Rescue Squadron arrived 

with a helicopter and hauled them to <oafety. The 

Collim's plane remamed on Peters Glacier until a 

1987 glacial surge pulverized and buried what was 

left of it."" 

During the same monrh that the Mclean parry 

wa~ on the mountain, a four-man party led by 

PS Ranger Elton Thayer was climbing the peak 

via Ruth Glacier and the South Buttress. All four 

summited successfully, and they seemed well on 

the way toward completing the first rraver~e of 

Mount McKinley. But on the way down, at the 

IJ,Soo-foot level of Kar~ten~ Ridge, Thayer- who 

was roped to the o d1er climbers rumbled 

down a t,ooo-foot slope and wa5 ktlled. The 

od1er expedition members fell as well; George 

Argus seriously injured his h1p and aho suffered 

additional injuries. Leslie Viereck and Morton 

Wood, though shaken and battered in the fall, did 

l72 Crown Jewel ot the North An Admtnrstrattve Htstory ol Dendlt Nattono~l Par~. and Prese>rve 

what they could to help. Tht:y fashioned a litter 

that brought Argus down to the n,ooo-foot level 

of Muldrow Glacier, where they made Argus as 

comfortable as possible and left him with food 

and fuel; they then headed down to Kantishna, 

where they met PS Superintendent Pearson 

and Chief Ranger Dick, who were out on the 

season's first patrol. PS authorities then called 

the Air Force, and on May 261

h- ten days after 

ilie group's accidem-a helicopter from the 74'h 

Air Rescue Squadron, based at the Army Arctic 

Indoctrination School at Big Delta, landed at 

the 5,6oo-foot level of Muldrow Glacier. ( o 

available helicopter, in those days, could land 

at a higher elevation.) Squadron members then 

hiked up to Al'gus. Six days later, d1e eight-man 

contmgent- one of whom was Dr. john McCall, 

who had climbed the peak in 1948- tlew to the 

Kantishna Airstrip. Argus was ilien taken to an 

Anchorage hospital where he underwem extensive treatment for his injuries.h• 

In 1956, the re!:>ponsibility for Alaska search and 

rescue operatiom was formaliLed in d1e first-ever 

NatJonal ~earch and Rescue Plan, which was 

signed by President Eisenhower. That document stated that the U.S. Air Force would be the 

single federal agency responsible for federallevel search and rescue for the inland region~ 

(throughout the Lower 48) and throughout 

Alaska. And regulations Issued in the wake of 

that plan stated that the Air Force'& Alaskan Air 

Command was responsible for all Alaska search 

and rescue operations outside of souilieasrern 

Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. This nariom>.ride 

plan has been revised a number of times during 

the last half-century, but in all of these revisions, 

the U.S. Air Force has remained the primary coordinating entity for all search and rescue acrivitle'> 111 Mount McKinley (later Denali) National 

Park and elsewhere on the Alaskan mainlandr 

By the late 19505, the locus of dle military's rescue 

activities had shifted to Anchorage, because 

in the :-pring of 1958. a spokesman for the Air 

Force's )74m Air Rescue Squadron, located at 

Elmendorf Air force Ba">e, announced that "in 

case of senous injury to a person in a remote 

area" of ilie park, it would ·'remove the victim ... 

by helicopter," bui only at the NPS's request and 

only in "life or death" situations?' The following year, student members of Lhe University of 

Alaska':- Alpine Club offered to "stanJ by to assist 

if necessary" m rescue efforts. Rescue groups 

were not needed in either 1958 or 1959, howeverP 

A major air rescue effort took place in May 1960 

because of distress among rwo 'vlount McKinley 

climbing partie~. Helga Bading of Anchorage, 

who headed a five-person party, began to sufier 
from a "mnaninl!, hy,teria'' hnlUt!,hl ahout by cerebral cdema. then known,,.., "altiiUJe ... icknc ... -. ... 

.-\r the <.arne time a ne;trhy t(lllr·m•m parry had 

fallen 400 fcct rc~ulung tn a hrokl·n leg (to lohn 

Day). a cnnctl'•'-inn (W Pck C.,~hocningJ. and 

le .. -.er in1urk~ to tlw rwo othu llimher-. (brother' Lou and Jim \\ htrakt•r ). Gwen thr' "double 

Jt ... a'>ter." a mcmbt•r ut B.tJin~\ part\ radtucd 

for help ro Air r:nrCl''" 'Icnth lk~Clll ~quad ron. 

in Anchorage. which''"' tht• opcranng unit tor 

the -\la-,ka Re~cuc { oon.ltn.ttion Ct•mcr. This 

call resultcJ 111 ~:hao'>: p11orl) pn:pan.:d Arm) 

helicopter'> raced to the -.ccnc onh to he forccJ 

hack and more thnn 11ft) tlunber ... from Seattk, 

Portland, and \nchoragl· gathered m falkcctna, 

where the\ awancJ further imtrultton-.. 

Bradti1rd \Vn-.hhurn. upon hc.mng (wh1lc hL• wa ... 

home m Bo~ton) about Bading·-. pn:cariou-. -,iru-

<llinn. a ... kcd \'eteran Talkcctn.tliwd-wing p1lot 

Don Sheldon t11 hdp. Sheldon. in .t dann~ mon:, 

landed lln <l "fairly lc\cl !!,Iader .. :ll the f4.2o<Jfoor h:,·el and t<•ok lbdmg tn o;aferr Rut ;morher 

'mall plane. with a civ1lian pilot and a L ,(,. \1r 

Force ob~crvcr. mer with ttagcdy: whtk· tn ing tn 

drop -.upplic~ to Day. th~: plane .. tailed an a rurn 

.md cra .. hed l!Ho" clitf. m.,tantl\ k1llmg both 

occupant~. Shonh <lftcrward, a llughc., ll diwpter !>en IlL' plll•t, Link I uckctt of 1\nchor<lgc, 

wa~ abk to land on .1 7,.2~ 0 font kdge lll'ar Day. 

Luckett then rcmnvcJ Da\', and btu ':lL hocning, 

down w the m.tke-,hift, q,;wo-t(ul( tlc\ation alr-

... rrip that '-ihdJon had ju~r pi1H1Cl'tl-'J ~hdJon 

then haulcJ them. ulon~ \\'lth m.my 111 the l ower 

4R dimhcr-. who were a.,,j,llng in tht• re.,CUL' diort. to an11ther glaoer a1r-.trip :tt dl'\':ltlon to . .2no 

feet and nn to Talkl.'cl na.l tBecause they \\'ere 

m .. idc par~ hllunJ.uie-.. u'"' l'r tht• r.J. .. WO-fl,ot 

and ro . .2oo-foot "air,tnp.," \\ l'rl' nil owed on I\ m 

emergency ... ttuatl<ln .... ) A month Iotter, a mcm· 

ber of rhc e1ght-man C,lenn Kcbc\ part> al-,o 

requircJ an a1r re,cue; \hcldon had tol'\'acuare 

h1m due to "mount am 'Klnes .... 11 

The deaths. and the lt:~phatard arpro.tch In the 

Dav-Bading partie~· pka ll•r help, demanded a 

new look at ... carch anJ n.:-..~o:ut· opcrnr10n-. in the 

park. T\\'<' 'olut1nn' l.jUickly came li1rth. Fir,t. "a 

group olmountain climber,, .. kier-.. ri\erboar enththla~r~ and ~kin Ul\ er~ .. calhn~ th~m ... d\'c~ rhe 

\la-,ka Rc-.cue Group tARG) formed tn the 'ummcr of 1960. ThL'Y wen~ pnmnrily ha,cd in Anchorage. and among the1r memlwr,hip. -ncarlv 

a doten haw climbt·J Mt \tcKinlcy. and othcr ... 

parnc1parcd in the recent Da\ Party rc.,cue elton." NPS ollie tab welcomed rhc nt:w group and 

appro\'cd Lhc·1r mterc~t in hccoming a ~tandb, 

part\ tor futur~ 1\h. r-..lct-..lllley c.hmh ... and the~ 

4L1ick.lv revised rheir mountnmcenng mtimnarion ~heet to ... uggc..,t that lhl' new group \\'OUIJ he 

the climbcrs' prtmary ~tandhy party In Decemher 1960, park oftictaJ.. md with the: group and 

recommended thnt ·•a formal rc:-;cue agreement 

between the park and the re ... cuc group -.hould 

be fommlatcd." '>oon aitcrward. howc\'cr. they 

l~arned of thL L \ \rr f;orcc\ coordmating role. 

\\'irhtn a month thL '-[l<., haJ formulated a ne,,, 

draft agrt•ement between the m1lirar). the ....,P5. 

Jnd rhe .\RG. But \la.,k.m Air ( ommand officiab, upon '-Ccmg tht; agrt·emt·nt.lcl \JPS nflic1ab 

know that gi,·cn rhc Air l·orce\ role, "it wouiJ 

be rmpms1ble ro commit the Ala.,kan Air Command to an agreement ~uch <1' you -,uggc~t:· '' To 

re~olvc thc matter, rcpresentati\'e., from the .\1r 

rorce. the'\ P~. and thl' \RG mt't at rlmendorf 

Air force Ba .... 111 late \priiiCJhl. Thcv mutualh 

agreed that .. .,mcc thc RCC lthc A1r force Rc-..cue 

CoordinatiOn Center! direct' nnd j, r~'pom1ble 

fur any us'1'rann: rcqwrcd. . no agreemcm 1~ 

needed h:tween the 'PS and the AJa.,ka Re'icue 

Grour." C ltmhing partll''-, hn\\'eYcr, \\'ere free 

to "contatt rhe Ala~ka Re~cuc Group for rhur 

'tantlbv p<~rtv. a-. the ARG will he the fiN group 

to be contacted in an e1m·rge1K) h} tht: RCC." 

The Air I orCL' promi,cd t1> keep 'l P~ olliciab 

informeJ about anv .. earl.h .tnd n~~ cuc operat10m 

thar ir coorJmated. ·1 he N P<i. for it... part, stated 

that n retatncJ the nghlto "t::tke 1111tial -,earch and 

re~cue action 1f such appt·ars advbahk-." Thb arrangement laid the groundwork for future -,eru-ch 

and rc ... cuc operation .... and 11 cnn11nucJ for most 

of the remainder ol th<lt Je~.:adc.n 

The ~ccunJ rcspon ... t: 11> the Da\ Hading partie,· 

dilliculnc~ wJ' the Par~ ~en tcc·, deci<.ion to recommend change-, to the L"\l ... ting mountainecring 

re4uirement~. The American Alpine Club \\'as 

a~ked tll wmdinatc that ctlort. and to that end 

repre-,entatl\'\.'s from the '\j P<.,. the Bo ... ron ,\ lust:um of Science. and till' \mcrican Geographical 

~ncict' mct with tht: dub prt•-.iJcnt 111 '-cw York 

111 .fanuarv HJ61. fhe group -,uggt:sted .,pccific 

change-. rclared 101hc "scienulic expedmons" 

cnrcnn, air drops, rad1o availahilllY, and other 

topic.... The-,e proposal., we1·e torwarded to NP<i 

Director Conrad Wirth. f-. ltn1lr changes were 

then made bv \X'a.,hmgton anJ rq.:10nal otliuals. 

and the~ were unpk·mcntl.?d 111 llmL tor the 1901 

mounrainecnng sea.,on.-·· 

Mountaineering Growth, 1961-1966 

-\-..the prenou~ -.ecnon' ha\'e ~ugge-,reJ. climbIng \ lount \ lc"-mle\ Junng rhe Year-. pnor 

ro 1960 wa., a smgular feat; It wa-. done \'Cn 

occa ... Hmall~ and wa'> nm.,tdercd new.,\\'urthY 

hecau-,e of it' mnry. Dunng hoth the 1q4o~ and 

the 19'iO'-. there wcre manv ye<tr'> m v. hich nn 

one ~uccc-,~fullv ~111111111ted c1th~r '\Jnrth Peak l>r 

Solllh Peak. nnJ the bu~1e~r vear on the mountain had hccn 1914· whl..'n a record rhrce parlle'> 
The town of Talkeetna became the 

hub for mountaineering access to Mt. 

McKinley by airplane. The airport 

was a small village strip adjacent 

to the town, and can be seen at the 

end of the road in this 1956 photo, 

which looks south. Alaska Railroad 

Collection, BL79·2·3857, Anchorage 

Museum of History & Art 

and fourteen mountaineer!> reached the top. At 

the close of the 1959 climbing season almo'>t 

fifty years after the Sourdoughs' fir~t ~uccessful ascent-only 17 parties had climbed one or 

both of McKinley's two highest peaks. Those 

parties constituted 81 members. But James Gale 

climbed it twice (in 1947 and 1951); Brad Washburn climbed it three times (1942, 1947, and 

19<;1 ), and Capt. William Hackett climbed it five 

times (1947, 1951, 1952, 1954, and 1958). Given 

those repeat climbs, just 74 people (73 men and 

1 woman, Barbara Washburn) had successfully 

sum mired Mount McKmley between 1910 and 

1959, inclusively."" 

Beginning in 1960, however, climbing Mount 

McKinley became a less intimidating activity, 

and attempts to ascend the peak became increasingly commonplace. As noted above, several 

parties climbed the peak in 1960; that year, 23 

men reached the top. Each year since that time, 

at least two parties have successfully climbed 

Mount McKinley, and during the 1960-66 period 

an average of more than 20 climbers summited 

each year. Gone were the days in which merely 

climbing the mountain was a triumph; instead, 

those who made news on the mountain did so 

when they by climbing new routes. Parues during this period, to an increasing degree, included 

either women or older climbers. In addition, the 

mountain- which previously had been of inter· 

est primarily to Americans became a magnet to 

274 Crown Jewel of the North. An Adm1n1strat1VE' H1story of Denali National Park ilntJ Preserve 

climbers from all over the world. One observer 

noted that "as the decade [of the 196os] began, 

climbing in the McKinley Group [of peaks] was 

attaining a decidedly international flavor .... The 

laughing, mostly non-English-speaking groups of 

Oriental climbers have become commonplace on 

the gravel main street of Talkeetna." And a few 

years later, a local resident noted that ''it became 

common place to hear the japanese, French, 

German and Swiss languages on Talkeetna's 

Main Strcet."s' 

The village ofTalkeetna, indeed, was the new 

center of activity for all those interested in climbing Mount McKinley and other Alaska Range 

peaks. A':> noted above, climber Brad Washburn 

and pilot Terris Moore had pioneered a new, 

shorter route up McKinley in 1951 that began 

at an improvised airstrip on Kahiltna Glacier. 

Moore, that year, flew his party in from Fairbanks. ~' But beginning in 1958, the great majority 

of McKinley climbs began at Talkeetna (which in 

1960 had a population of 76), because the village 

was neatly sandwiched between Anchorage and 

the Alaska Range. It had a railroad station where 

climbers could detram, and it also had an an·strip 

for small planes. Talkeetna became more accessible in 1962 when a dirt spur road was pmhed 

through from Anchorage.8J 

Talkeetna, because of its airstrip, had pilots 

willing to take climbers to Kahiltna Glacier. The 
Aviation pioneer Cliff Hudson is 

pictured here at the Kahiltna Glac1er 

base camp with his wheel- and ski· 

equipped a~rcraft . NPS Photo, Roger 

Robinson Collection 

fir~t ~uch pilot wa-. Glen I futbon, who arnved m 

1947 and fir~t flew to Kahiltna C,I:Ktcr apparently unrelated lu a mountam cltmhmg cxpedtrion- in a bki-equ ipped Acronca.'• Another wa~ 

Don Sheldon, who bad run Talkccma Air Service 

~ince 1948; he had been worktng with recreational climber~ ~mce 19')1, and "a-. the 1950~ drew to a 

clo~e·· (accordmg to lm btographcr), "~hcldon\ 

name and reputation were well kno\1. n 111 mountain-climbing urcles the world UVl'r." ' !)held on 

had rwo emplovee~. \ltke ri..,hcr and France~ 

Twigg, who abo tool- climber-. tn and from 

Kahiltna Glacier. Gtven the c~calarmg popularirv of moun tam llimhmg, new ptlot., appeared on 

the '>Cene. Thev tncluded C.htll lud<.on (who was 

already a pilot b~ the time hi-. brother dted 111 an 

August 1951 plane crash) and Ken llolland; the-.e 

men, like Sheldon, abo -.ervt>d other dtent., including minerl!, hunter:-., and htghway comtrucrion crew~.Ho The-.e piloh blat.ed the pathway 

for today\ glacier ptlnt.,.H, l'hc exact location of 

the Kahiltna landing area, a .. noted above, was 

on the Kahtlrna''> mam '>tcm (and out!>idc of the 

park) during rhe late 1950~ and early 1960'>, but 

beginning in 1962 or 196~. Sheldon located a new 

landing bpot on the glacter\ !>Ourheast furl (and 

just inside the park bound,try). An PS mounrameering ranger from the mtd- W late 1960<. 

stated that the landmg area, ~o far a~ he knew, 

was tnside the park and rhar the agenc\ accepted 

the arrangement hecau .. e It wa:-. "<,ort of an 

e~tablbhed thing." But a longtime air-taxt operator felt that the landmg area dunng tht~ period 

was outside of the park, and Art David~on, who 

landed there in January 1967 to hcgin hb winter 

ascent, nmed in M11111S 148• that "Sheldon cn.used 

low over the Kahiltna, turned ea'>t ro a tributary 

glacier, and landed JUst outstdc the McKinley 

Park boundan at an al!lrude of ~even thousand 

feet."·'~ 

Given rhe ~outhward ~hift 111 mountain climbing 

aCtiVity, p~ official~ at fiN re!>pOnded With on-

:-.ite tmpection!o); in \pnl196o, for example, park 

ranger~ tra\'cled co 'la lkt>crna and met with t:wo 

Japanc!>c climber~ ro tmpcct thctr gear and assess their preparcdncs'>. As the 1960!> unfolded. 

howe\ er, mngt>r-. <.unmled rhctr m~pecnons and 

tnstead relied on a two-pronged management 

srrategJ. Fm.t, rhc) carefully '>Cn.ttmlled all 

application'> and corre-.pondcd ~utfictently wirh 

climber-. to emurc that applicants were prepared 

for what lay ahead of them. ( Vlanv climbers also 

wrresponded wtth Brad \X'a'>hburn during thi~ 

period, bccau<,e he wa~ considered rhe mountain\ top authority during thi ... penod.) And 

second, N PS continued the rc.,cue policy that 

had been -.er in 1960. That policy '>tared that all 

climbers had to obtam the appro,·af of a qualified, Alaska-based n.:scue mgani;anon such as 

the Alaska Rcl!cue Group or, later, the j\1ountameenng Cluh of Ala'>kJ. Oht.ltning thts policy 

en-.un:d that the de'>tgnated rc.~cuc group would, 

1f nece'>~arv, come to the atd of a dt'>tressed 

par~. Bur these organiL~\tiOn'>, even more than 

theN PS, were ~o demanding 111 thetr approval 

reqUirement'> th•H none but thl.' mo~t well-prepared climbing group~ were gtvcn permi'>'>ion to 

climb m Mount McKinley National Park.'' 

Throughout the early to mid-1960'>, Ala'>ka's 

(and Mount McKinley\) search and re~cue 

Chap!E•r ThiriH·n· A Century of Mounta1nPenng 275 
Oon Sheldon, who established his 

Talkeetna Air Service In 1948. Is 

pictured here with his airplane in 

1955. Bradford Washburn Collection. 

57·6105, Denali National Park and 

Preserve Museum Collection 

center ~a" the Rescue C .oordma1ion Control 

Center. whtch operated out of L lmcndorf Atr 

Forcc Ba~e hq~inning 111 HJ(>t . T11c m.litan, a~ If 

had for year.,, umtinued to pia) a mular role in 

mountam rescut·'>. Pragmancal ). however. thetr 

role wa' fatrl) limtred. A' noted in a Januar} 

tq6ttntcragcnc) .lgrecml!nt, thc :'\ P~ (and more 

... pecifically, the park ... uperintcndcnt) played the 

pnmar~ cuordmanng role. lf nccdcd, the'\; P~ 

(a~ noted above) would calion rhc i\la~ka Rc..,ctte 

Group or other approwd group. the milttar., 

for irs part, pledged to provtd~ tran ... portanon to 

the mountain t(lr re ... cuc-group rncmbl•r.,. But 

the::-... PS al~o had the opnon to c.11l on pri\ ate 

entirie" for hclp. A ... tt turned out, there werc 

relarh·el\ fe\\ \ 1c "-mkv re..,ctte call" during the 

276 Crown Jewel of the North An Adm,n~watJve Htstory ot Denalt Nat,on P.1r¥. nnd Pre' rve 

earl\ to mid-tq6o;.. \X' hen rc.,cuer., did request 

help '-P~ otlictab in mmt ca.,e~ called on Don 

Sheldon. the Talkeetna pilot 

Prior to the c·arlv tQ6o~. all parue ... attempting tn climh \luunt '\lc"-inle\' or other nearby 

peaks made thctr 0\\ n arrangement .... But gi\'en 

the growing populanrv of climbing during this 

pcnod, the demand grew for f:,'Uidcd mountruncl!nng, and in the fall {)f 1962, Richard McGowan 

from Edmond~. \X·a,hington (who had climbed 

the \X'cst Buttrcs-. route that June) imtiatcd paperwork with '\1 P~ officiab for a gttidtng permit. 

Since 1956, McGowan had been Mount Ramier's 

chief guide, and hc had also cltmbed on Mount 

Evcre..,t. Rerre~cntmg the Mountain Climbing 
The Sheldon Mountain House has 

been used as a base camp for skiers, 

mountaineers, and sightseers from 

1966 to the present. Brian Okonek 

Photo 

Guide Service, he recerved a ~pecral use permit 

m rime for the 1963 climbmg <.ea ... on."' Soon 

afterward, however, he ran into problems. 1 he 

Alaska Rc!)cu e Group, which h::rd offered backup 

assistance to virtually all climbing partie!> for the 

pa~t several years, refused to serve as a standhv 

parry for a cnmmercral venture; the sole part) 

that ~cGowan gwded up the mountain fa iled 

to reach the ... ummit; and in lare 1963, the agency 

u~pend ed his ~recial u~e permit."' For the next 

'>eve raJ years, no guides were authoriLed to lead 

climbs up Mount ,\lcl:(inley or other park peak!>. 

During the mrd-196os, a new way of cnjoyr ng 

McKinley's high country opened up that did not 

require ad\ anced mountaineering techniques 

thanks ro Don held on, nflhlkcetna Air ervicc. 

Sheldon, who had first explored rhe wonder~ 

of the Ruth Amphitheater in Apnl1955, rccogniJed rhe <;urging interest m Mount McKinley 

3!> a tourist de~tin•ltion, so dunng the winter ol 

1965-66 he dec1ded to build a hexagonal, 16-

foot diameter structure on a rock) spire at the 

southern end of the amphitheatre, JUSt west of 

Mount Barrille. After liying in material5, he a nd 

several friends built the prefabricated "Mountam 

Hou e." On ,\Ia) u, 1966 he invrted more than 30 

fnend!> to the Site for a grand openrng '"luau." rx 

months later, he filed on a 4.9-acre headquarter~ 

site surroundrng the crag. Sheldon anticipated 

that the structure would be u~cd as a summcrrrmc base camp for !>kiing, mountain climbing, 

and ~igbrscc g.•· Don patented the parcel in 

June 1973. After hi!> death in january 1975 lm 

widow, Roberta. managed the ~ire for the next 

30-plu!. yenr!>. 11 

~noted above. the 1957 \luldrow Glacier ~urge 

had a -.trong impact on ho\',: climbers a~cended 

\llount 'VIcKinley. Although almost all clrmbcr5 

before june 1957 approached the moun tam from 

the north side and brought their supplie~ along 

With them, t.hc great majority of post-1957 climbers starred their trek!> nn the Kahiltna Glacrer after llvrng there from Talkeetna. Thr~ panern was 

not uni\·er~ally true, however, and beginnrng in 

1961, ar lea-,t one climbing party each year during 

the earl\' to mid-1960 (except 1965) headed up 

the mountain's north ~ide from the park road."l 

The 1967 Wilcox Disaster 

and Its Impact on Climbing Policy 

The year 1967, in wh1ch Ala~kam celebrated the 

centenmal of the Ala~b Purcha"e from Ru%ra, 

proved to be the mo~t popular vear ro date for 

climbmg \1ount McKmley. Early that year, an 

eight-man party set out to make the peak\ firstever \\'Inter ascenr. One died on the wav up."~ 

On .\larch I, three of thl' rcmainmg -.even Ray 

Genet, Dave ohn~ton, and Art David~on 

reached the summit. lmmedrately afterward, 

however, an unprecedented week-long .,torm 

descended on the group, and as Davrd'>on noted 

m hrs book Minus 148' , the men nearl) du~d as a 

result." An cxpemrvc rc-.cuc effort was undertaken, complete with a helicopter brou~ht up 

from ~cattle) that airlifted our three lim be s.•~ 

Later 111 \1arch, the '\!P~ !' .. sued a new \'Crsion 

of A1mcmameering in ,\!cnmt ,\1cKmte, \atu)lla/ 

Park, a mimeographed guide to would he climbers in the park. Th1~ guide, as noted obove, had 

fir~t been produced in 1947-48 and had been 
Pictured here is the twelve-ma n 

Wilcox-McKinley Expedition, made 

up of t he nine-man Wilcox party and 

the three-man Colorado McKinley 

Expedition, which attempted to 

climb Mt. McKinley in July 1967. A 

combination of severe weather a nd 

other o bstacles resulted in the deaths 

of seven climbers from this expedition. Mounta ineering Records, DENA 

13611, Denali Nationa l Pa rk a nd 

Preserve Museum Collection 

revised several times since then, most recently 

in 1961, 1962, and 1963-"4 The guide had hecome 

more detailed over time; the 1952 rev1sion, for 

example, had been just 4 pages long, but by 1967 

it had grown to 9 pages. lt incorporated the 

agency's federal regulations pertaining w park 

climbing, but in addition it contained warnings, 

food and equipment advice, reporting requirements, recommended ascent routes, and references for further information. The 1967 revision, 

which reflected a tightening of the ru e~ !:>ince the 

early 196os, stated that air support of any kind 

(air drops included) was ''not permitted within 

the ational Parks and Monuments without the 

written permission of the Superintendent." It 

reiterated a rule, that had been in place since 1959 

if not earlier, that all climbing pa rie~ "must consist of at least four members;" ideally, the group 

should be larger than four members because of 

its "greater inherent strength and self-rescue 

capability." It also continued to recommend , a~ 

it had since late 1960, that climbers make written 

arrangements with 'the Alaska Rescue Group or 

other qualified groups" in ca~e of an emergency. 

Finally, it stated that, beginning in January 1968, 

all future "extended" expeditions in the park 

needed to carry a two-way radio.'"" 

More than 6o mountaineers summ1tcd Mount 

McKinley in 1967, more than twice the number of 

any previous year. Mo~t went by way of rhe West 

Buttress route and climbed the mountain safely 

278 Crown Jewel of !he North An Arlmontstrattve Htstory of Denalt Nattonill Park and Preserve 

and without incident. But that July, a twelve-man 

group called the Wilcox-McKinley Expedition 

met with disaster on the mountain. The expedition-which was an NPS-mandated amalgamation of a nine-man group headed by Joe Wilcox 

and the three-man Colorado McKinley Expedition, headed by Howard Snyder decided to 

climb the peak up the north side, via Karstens 

Ridge. Internal conflicts between the two 

groups, a tremendous (Class 6) windstorm that 

d e!>cended on the mountain, poor radio communication~. a confu~ing, tardy rescue effort, and 

perhaps other factors played a role in the deaths 

of seven climbers. The seven, all part of Wilcox's 

original group, died high on the mountain, at the 

17,900-foor level or above.''" 

The !>cope of the disaster, plus the attendant publicity that it generated, forced both NPS officials 

and the climbing community to examine what 

went wrong. Some of that post-accident analysis 

wa~ fairly immediate; additional thoughts came 

many years later.'

01 The American Alpine Club, 

and others 111 the climbing community, had been 

pushing for some time for a relaxation of the 

NPS's climbing rules, which called for rangers 

to check climbers' gear, among other provisions. 

That effort, which continued in th e months after 

the climbers' tragedy, eventually brought about a 

change in policy. As a latter-day superintendent 

noted, the agency sought a new rule "primarily 

hecause mountaineers objected to [the existing 
Lenticular clouds engulfing Mt. 

McKinley indicate the presence of 

high w inds. The Wilcox-McKinley Expedition encountered extreme w inds 

at their highest camp, compounding 

their troubles. NPS Photo, Denali 

National Park and Preserve 

rule]."'o' The NPS provided itb own rea:.on for 

~teering a new course; aJ> chief ranger Arthur 

Haye:. noted at the time, "Wh1le every effort is 

made to increase climber safety by a fair and 

rigorous screening [of climbers' gear], it is impossible robe sure that correct judgments are made 

in all ca~e!->."' 4 

Three years later, NPS official~ enshrined the 

new climbing philo!:>ophy as agency rules. In 

March 1970, the agency proposed three park 

climbing regulation5. First, all parties interested 

in climbing e1ther Mount McKinley or Mount 

Foraker'"; needed to register, and registration 

needed to include both a statement of each 

member\ climbing experience and a doctor'!> 

statement testifying to each member's physical fitness to undertake such a climb. Second, 

all parties needed to carry "a two-way radio 

capable of reaching another manned station in 

ready contact with park headquarters." And 

third, ''a!> &oon as practicable" after the climb, 

party members needed to "report in with park 

headquarters." This proposed rule proved noncontroversial, and after minor modifications it 

was finalized in mid-August 1970.""' 

The:.e rule~. however, were not enforced, and 

several of them were apparently honored in the 

breach. As noted in a 1974 news editorial, 

Since 1967, there has been no requirement to have a permit before climbing the mountain. The old system 

granted permission only after a park 

official checked gear and evaluated 

the team. ow the philosophy is that 

Mt. McKinley is the people's mountain, and it's up to the climber to 

arm himself with gear and judgment 

before climbing it. Park officials do 

make an effort to inform climbers of 

dangers and ask them to report back, 

but no one [will] be denied a chance 

to climb the mountaln."17 

A substantially different idea that surfaced in the 

wake of the tragic 1967 climbing season was the 

con~truction of a structure at the 17,200-foot level of Mount McKinley'!> West Buttress. Dr. Peler 

Morrison of the University of Alaska's Lnstitute 

of Arctic Biology proposed the structure, with 

the full support of Bradford Washburn from the 

Bo&ton Museum of Science. He envisioned that 

it would serve three purpo~es: a rescue base for 

search parties, "a laboratory for bod1 planned 

experiments and for observations on climbers ascending and descending," and an emergency shelter. Morrison, who had applied for a 

S2oo,ooo Defense Department grant that would 

providt: funding for such a structure, pitched the 

idea to park superintendent George Hall, who 

was "extremely cordial and cooperative" with 

him. Morrison, at the time, was also proposing 

the establishment of an Alaska Mountaineering 

Center at the University of Alaska campus, of 

which the West Buttress structure would play a 

key role.'"" Later that fall, Washburn pushed for 

Chapte1 Th1rteen A Century of Mounta1neenng 2 79 
At the request of Chff Hudson, longtime climber Frances Randall became 

the first Kahiltna Glacier Base camp 

manager. serving for nine summers 

Every even1ng Frances would broadcast the mounta1n weather forecast 

over the rad1o and would often 

repeat It In fluent Japanese, Spanish, 

Russian and French. She played 

viohn m the Fa1rbanks Symphony 

Orchestra and took her violin with 

her to the glaoer. NPS Photo, Roger 

Rob1nson Collection 

Annie Duquette was the second longterm base camp manager working 

for the combined Talkeetna air taxi 

services. She stayed for the entire 

climbing season of about 80 days. 

NPS Photo, Roger Robinson Collection 

a ~upport ..,tructurc farther down the mountain. 

In a letter to 'Wa ... hmgton ha.,cd '-' PS oflktal~. 

Washburn ~rate d thar 

I don't knO\\ of an) other major peak 

in the world rhat ts dimhcd <h In: 

quenll~ a~ i'> ,\1c Kmley that hasn' t g()( 

adequate <,hdrer -.omewhcrc on tt<, 

slopes, let alone at tts ha ... e. A -.hclter 

of appropnatc de-.ign and moderate 

Stle at, ~ay, McGonagnll Pas' would 

not only '>ervc a., a valuahle '>pot in 

which to safeguard '>Upplie ... and 

provide .,he Iter at the bcgmning of 

an ascent, huttt would abo pro\' ide a 

much-needed headquancr-. for rc.,-

cue operanon m lime ol tragedy ·• 

\X'ashburn\ .,ugge,non (which he had prevtously 

made dunng the mtd-19)0'>) made little headwa~, 

but \1orrison\ ln.,titutc of \rcuc B1oloro wa 

successful m h1'-' grant reque-.t, and accordtng to a 

news report, "a team of \lienee ... pectaltsr.," gathered m Fatrbanks m late 1967 "to dcrermme what 

physiological and psychological test., could best 

measure men\ performance, horh on the mountam and in the imtitutc\ laboratories." With the 

"full cooperation" of the P , and With logbtical 

help from Don hcldon and Wien Consolidated 

Airlines, rc!.carcher., rcprc'icntmg "ProJeCt 

Themis'' moved to e'tah lt h field rc.,earch camps 

ar both the 14,2.00-foot and 17,200 foot level!. 

of ,\1ounr \l ktnl c~. Operation.. hcgan in june 

1968. Due ro htgh w tntb, the lower camp\\ as 

not succes~ful. bur on the "flank of \tcKmle\ \ 

Denali Pao;!> area," ,\lorri,on - a .. st\ted h\ -\rt 

Davidson establi'>hcd and ran a tent camp. For 

two weeks tn jul), n:-.earchcr., collected meteorological data and "cxplorlcdl for the tir1.t t1me 

the debihtatmg effect-. tmpo<.cd on climber' b) 

altitude, '>tres\, and em·ironmenral extreme-.." 

They were only partially '-UCCcs'>ful, however; 

they conducted te~t~ only on them..,clve'>, not on 

mountaineers."" 

Mountaineering, 1968-1975: 

Growth, Guides, and Garbage 

As noted above, mountatn chmhtng .. welled 

in populanl:'. dunng rht: 196o ... Prior to 1960, 

chmbing .\1ount \lc t...mlc\ wa., a rare feat 

never before had then: been more than three 

successful expcdttton.., per~ car hut dunng the 

early- to m1d-196os an annual average of mme 

than four expcdttmn' and 20 tndl\ tdual' reached 

the top. During the Ala,ka Purcha-.c Centennial 

year of 1967, a remarkable 14 expcdttton' and 63 

people reached the top of \1ount McKinle), and 

not long afterwan.b even greater numbers were 

being rallied. Between 1968 and 1975• tn fact, an 

annual avcragt· of 16 expctliltons <lnd 83 climbers 

180 C10W11 Jewrl of the Nollh An Adrmnrstra!Jve H1s1ory of OP.nah N<~IIOnnl Pdr~ 1111d Preservt' 

sum mired \lount \lcJ....mlcy, whtlc addinonal 

exped11iom. clunbcd \lount l·oraker and other 

Alaska Range peak\. " 

In order to prm tde accc" lor the ~welling rank~ 

of mountamecr,, vartou' lalkcetna-based mr 

taxt operation., (:I\ noted ,\bon) appeared on 

the '-Ccnc dunng the tq6o .... B\ IQ7'i· rakeoff<. 

and landing., at the 7.200· foot len~ I of k ahiltna 

Glacter were ... o common that C:htT Hud.,on, of 
Berle Mercer (left) operated a business that transported climbers' food 

and equipment with pack horses and 

mules from the park road at Wonder 

Lake to McGonagall Pass. He often 

aided dimbers by carrying them 

across the McKinley River on horseback. lnterp. Collection #365, Denali 

National Park and Preserve 

llud.,on Air Service m T.1lkeetna. '>Upportcd an 

informal base camp where climbers could find 

shelter at the hegmnmg and end of thc1r expeditions. \'olunreer France~ Randall \teppcd 

forward to \taff tim camp. Hack In 1964, as 

pan of a rs-per~on pan~ ... he had hcen only the 

fourth woman 10 ~ummit \1ount \1cKinlcv. 

Randalllowd the JOb at the Kahiltna ba'>e camp 

and became a fixture there through the 1981 

~cason. Her death, of cancer in 1984, was a loss 

keenly felt h~ Ala ... ka\ chmhmg community." 1 

The orhcr well-known Kahiltna per~onality 

over the years vanously described a~ an "airtraffic controller, messenger, nur.,c, surrogate 

mother, and shrink" w:l'. Annie Duquette 

("Base Camp Annie"), who workcu there from 

1991 to 2000." 1 

Between the late 1960., <llld the m1U-1970s, a 

major new clement 111 \1oum 1\\tKmle~ mountain climbing wao, the emergence ol profes.,ional 

gUJding. The fiN :>uch long-term gt1i<.le was 

Raymond E. Genet. In 1967, as noted abo\•e, he 

had taken part 111 the tir~t successful wintertime 

ascenr of McKinley, and he followed that feat 

With additronal \lcKinley summih 111 Augu..,t 

1967 and l\ lay 1968. Soon afterward he applied 

w the PS for a .,pecial U\e permit, a ncl111 june 

and July 1969, he ~ucce~~fully led a six-per< .. on 

part\ to the top of Mount McKmley. lhe following year, he led three more partie., up rhc 

mountain: a group of thrc~: m \. a~ antl june, a 

group of thirteen 111 luly, and a group of four in 

August and September. ' 

Between 1971 and 1975, Genet and hi~ companyvariouo;ly called a~ka \lou main Guide~. lnc. 

and Genet ExpeditiOn<; wa ... the priman· avenue 

by which commercial chcnh were gu1ded up 

,vlount \. lcKinley. "' Genet, a~ an Alaska-based 

provider, a~~umed or perhap., hoped-that he 

would be able to serve a., either an exclusive or 

preferred guide." PS officials, however, had no 

specific prohibitions over the issuance of special 

use permit!> to Lower 48-base<.l guiding companie&, so a~ a result, Bay Area-based JVIountain 

Travel, Inc. led trips up McKinley begmning in 

1970, and Tacoma-ba..,ed Rmnier Mountaineering led tnp ... up the mountain begmning in 1974. 

Several other compameo, durmg this period 

advcrti~ed tnp., up \lcKmley; 11 jc, not known, 

however. if the' ac.tually guided parties on the 

mounram. (A permit was abo 1ssued to a rcs1denr 

of nearby I lumcanc, but th~: permit holder may 

not have u ... ed 1t.)" 

Another per~on that wa., part of the park guiding ... ccne during this period wm. Berte Mercer, a 

rancher from Lignite."" In the summer of 1967, 

Mercer had supplied horse packing services for 

the ill-fated Wilcox-McKinley Expedition."'' His 

involvement with the park, however, extended 

back a decade or more. In 1957, NPS officials had 

been 111 touch with him became his cattle- grazing 

ChdptE'r ThtriN'n A Cenlury ol Mounta1neenng 281 
Figure 4. The increase In numbers 

of dlmbers attempting to climb 

Mt. McKinley each year, from 1970 

through 2007. is Illustrated by this 

graph. NPS, Talkeetna Ranger 

Stat ion, Denali Nat ional Park and 

Preserve 

in the Savage River drainage had madvertently 

wandered !>Ourh into the park ' f'hen, in early 

1961, Mercer had approached NPS officials wtth 

an interest m conducting a o;,ummcrtime horst.:-

back-riding conce:.l>ion. The agency provtded 

him a !>pecial use permit for that purpose, and for 

several years thereafter he brought horse~ mto 

the park for recreational ride~.· t..lercer and his 

horses supported north-stde climbing expedioons 

beginning in 1967. After th:H date, most years 

featured at least one Mount McKmley expedition 

that approached from the north ~1de of the Alaska 

Range. Mercer's mvolvement with park climbing 

expeditions continued until June 198r.'· 1 

By the early 1970!>, the large and growing number 

of climbers on Mount 'v1d .. inley (sec Figure 4) 

was beginnmg to emerge as a public is~ue. A 1970 

climbrng-magatrne arncle, for example. ~poke of 

the "excessive numher of people" on the \X'c!'.t 

Buttress, and a 1973 new~ article wac; headlined 

"\kKinlev Like Grand Central."'"' GIVen the fact 

that most clrmbcrs uc;,cd the c;amc route, garbage 

emerged a!> a prohlem. A veteran of climbs m 

both 1969 and 1970 noted that the 

Residue of camps, thctr caches and 

garbage, are everywhere. 1 he camr~ 

were fairlv neat, hut the garbage 

Figure 4. Number of Attempts on Mount McKinley by Year 

1600 

1400 

1200 

1009 

1000 

t 

! 

c 

0 800 

} 

~ :z 

600 501 

~00 

200 

0 .. ......... 

problem became ghastly at rime~. ln 

1969 the Kahiltna Glacier was such a 

me!>~ t:hat one could cast I) stght from 

the atr where camps had been located. 

Thi~ year, at q,250 feet on the West 

Buttre'>~. the u~ual high camp for the 

route, the 'oltC was a literal dump. Trash 

wa., everywhere .... It takes httle energy 

and sometime~ a short amount of time, 

if one is up high, to d1g a garbage hole 

three or four feet deep .... r appeal to 

my fellow dim hers to plea!>c make the 

effort and dig a hole."\ 

The PS, in response, could do little. For years 

it had a~kcd h1kers and others 10 the park's 

backcounrry (a<. tt had 111 other national parks) to 

follow a pack·tt-tn, pack it-out philo&ophy, but 

Without ~tall on the moumain, ann-linering rules 

were impo..,sible to enforce. One writer noted 

that ranger<. "pur much of the blame on inexperienced climber., who packed m more equipment 

than needed, then discarded it. They also pointed 

to mcrcasmg number.., of forctgn climbers who 

hadn't developed a ' h.ccp Amcnca Clean· consciousness."'"' 

-n.l help, a !>even-man expedition from the Univcrstty of Oregon Ourdoor Program, led by Gary 

1277 '* 

~ Nutnbti of Altem@ 

.... ~<::. $-'$\~\t$-... $'o $'0 ~f-. .... ~\~\-1' .... ~\<~>\# .... <~' ,# ..,.#' ,# .... <~> .... <~>"' .# ,<f>\r:f;\# .... d! .... # ,#' ,# ... -1' ,#, # ... #'""#~#' #' ~ ...,# 

Year 

282 Crown lewel ol the North An Adrmnostrattve Htstorv of Oendh NatooMI Park nnd Preserve 
Gary Grimm. Director of the University of Oregon's outdoor program, 

organized the first dean up efforts 

on Mt. McKinley and continued to 

lead that movement throughout the 

1970s. Roger Robinson Photo 

Official NPS policy in 1975 recommended that climbers burn theor 

trash. Roger Robinson Photo 

Grimm, made a ~ummit cltmb m lay 1971. When 

the group reached the 17,200-foor level, it found a 

large dump containing paper, ca ~. bottles, food, 

new and broken equipment, underwear- even 

plywood do ~ plu~ a large !>cattcr of human 

waste. According ro a news report, the group 

"burned what they could, '>mashed what they 

couldn't burn, and bnd;-packcd as much a~ 

they could" (about 380 pounds) back down the 

mounram. Grimm noted that guide~ had left 

mo:.t of the trash; " thev won't horher to bring it 

back becau~e their cltenrs don't pay to carry garbage." He ~ugges ed that much more needed to 

be done, mcludmg a greater regulation of guides. 

The group returned to the mountam, With much 

the same rel>ulb, in 197l', 

A more large-.,cale attempt to remove ra~h from 

the mountain took place in july and AugusL1974, 

when 16 soldi er~ from Fort Richarcb on's 172"J 

Arctic Light Infantry Brigade were fl own by helicopter to the 1o,ooo-foor level of Kahilma Glacier. Al.sisted by two rs ranger)), they hiked up 

the mountain and back down to the 6,soo-foot 

level; they burned more than a ton of flammable 

debris and hauled another half-ton of garbage 

back ro Anchorage. 11 The following year, in 

Augul>t and September, the ~arne mihrary unit 

returned to the mountain and hauled another 

ton of trash away.•·• 

Meanwhile, the Un1verc;1ry of Oregon continued 

in it cleanup effort<, In 1975 It ~ Outdoor Program made two chmbs, for a total of umore than 

a half dozen'' expedition ~ ~ince it began m 1971. 

Grimm coumeled future climbers that however charitable rhe1r monvat1on might be-they 

should nor leave caches of food, fuel, or equipment on the moun tam. He abo urged the PS 

to stop the practice of allowing a1r drops to 

climber~; m addinon, Grtmm ~tared that climbers should he compelled to take down the1r own 

refu5e or face !>tiff penalt1e~. Climbers m the 

program, later called the Denali Rehabilitation 

Project, climbed agam in 1976. '" 

Searching for a way to deal with the ever-Increasing probl ~ of accidents, garbage, and 

other people-related problem~, Roger Robinson, 

who was an avocattonal climber at the time, 

recommended that the agen(y I) limit both the 

:.ue and number of partie~ climbing nn the West 

Buttress, 2) have more P conracr wirh climbing parties and better enforcement of existing 

regulations, and 3) publicite rhe mountam\ 

problems to national organ11at1om and clubs, 

both in the U .. and ebewhere. Gary Brown, the 

park's chief ranger, largely agreed with Robin-

~on. He noted that "adequate enforcement i~ 

our present \'Old, as 1'\ enforcement of all our 

mountaineering reqlllrcmenb." To address the 

problem, he stated that the agency planned to 

have two park rangers workmg "between Talkeetna and the We~t Butlrc~s" during the 1976 

climbing season. "This would provide us with an 

improved check-m and check-our system. This 

should also prov1de us with Improved control 

over trash and cqwpment removal," he noted. 

Brown recogn11ed that hill plan did not solve 

the human waste problem. The "real" an~wer, 

he explained, wa<> to limit the annual number of 

ChapiPr Thut>en A Century 01 Mounta1neenng 283 
On June 3, 1976, pilot Buddy Woods, 

in a Hiller 12+3 helicopter, landed 

one time at 20,300 feet, a few yards 

southeast of Mt. McKinley's summit, 

to drop off Ray Genet. who assisted 

with the rescue of two climbers. For 

th1s rescue Woods also landed two 

times at 16,000 feet. four times at 

18,700 feet. two times at 19,600 feet, 

and once at 20,100 feet. Genet Photo, 

courtesy Talkeetna Ranger Station 

expedinom, chmber'>, or p.trl\ ~Lte. He was nor 

v..:t ready to do that; he dtJ ... av, hm"cvcr. that 

"we are clo..,ch revtcwmg the number'> cri~b and 

look to future hmitauon-.."• 

The Bicentennial Climbing Season 

and Its Aftermath 

N PS officiab. anttctpating a btg Llimbmg ... ea~on 

m 1976, moved to put ranger!> on the mountain for the fir~t rime -.mce 1961, when Rtchard 

Stcnmark had been part of a ~uccc.,s!u l four-man 

-.ummit party. In januarv H.J76, the agc:nC) hired 

Robert Gerhard, a former chmhtng ranger at 

\[ount RamH:r '\.auonal Park, a' the new Ea~t 

District ranger. • That June, Gerh.trd led a sixman S team on what proved to be a '>Ucce~sful 

35-day tra\ cr-.e fmm J<.ahiltna GlnLier to Wonder 

Lake na Denah Pa.,., and Muldrov .. · Gbcter. 

That expencncc, whtch mcluded at ka'>t one 

rescue, proved mvaluablc ro t he agenc\ 'sunder-

~tanding of climbers' prohlcms anl.l ,sue~. and 

it proved to be a harbinger of future N PS ranger 

activities m the Mount McKinley vtcmtty.' ·

4 

The ge ~' presence came none too ~non 

becau:.e in 1976, climhcr., fl ocked ro the '>lope'> 

of ,\1ount McKmle')- in unpreccdenrcd number~. 

To ~orne exccnt, the mounram\ populanty chat 

year wa!> bobtercd h\ thl.' nauon\ htcentcnntal; tt 

wa!>, therefore, remtnt'>ccnt of the .,urge tn chmbmg mtere"c 111nc vear.., earlier due to thL Ala~ka 

Purchase ccntcnmal Pcrhap' buovcd hv a 

growmg repucatton among c limber., that \tount 

i\1cKinley wa'> a "tcchmcally ea."~ mountam." 73 

parties a nd t;o8 d tmher-, (114 led b} profcs!.IOnal 

guide!>) ... rarted up the mounta ll1 , and BY made 

it to the cop. All of thc.,e figure'> were far greater 

than in any prcviou'> year. Manv tned to arrange 

their trek., )0 a'> to rench the summit on july 4; 

184 Crown Jrwel ol tin~ North A11 Admtntstrallve H•story ol D£>n.llt No~tton~IP~r; ,md Pr""t'rY!: 

and although weather prcvenred an\' ... ummit 

am.mpt<; that da~. a record 70-plu., climbers 

reacheJ the cre\t of SoU[h Peak on Juh 6. ' The 

-,eao,on wa~ remarkable lor a number of "fir!>t!>:'· 

Tayomt Ot.,ht -.ktcl.l :~II tlw wa\ from the ... ummtc 

co Kah iltna Glacier; th ree hang glide r., rook the 

.,ame general route:, although more qUickly; and 

guide Rav Genet helped .,cl a helicopter altitude 

record when he JUmped nut of a hehcopccr on 

the -,ummit plateau "' Abo lor rhe Jlr-.t time, 

a htgh lntenor Dcpartmcntuffictal A~-.tstam 

Secretarv Jack I lorton "uc<.:e~sfully climbed 

the mountam.' But thl.' "ea.,on hal.! a fair i.hare 

of traged\, too. J·our climbc:r., died on Mount 

\\ckinlc\ and another.,,, on t\lount Foraker. In 

addttton, B clunber~ Wl're tntured ~o ~enou~l~ 

chat they had tn he C\atuatcd The Park ~en·ice. 

whtch wa~ calleJ on to c:oordin.nc re~cue acm·itle'>, was rr~rared logt~ttc.all\ for the ta~b ac 

hand. rhc'c 21 rescue,, howe\'cr, proved expenstve, by ~cason·., cnJ the agcnc\ was -,tu ck with 

nn S82.142 bill fot these unantldpaced operations 

(Sec hgurl' 5) '' 

The -.ea~on\ cragcJic~, and expense~, brought 

forth an opl·n, puhltc d chntl.' on (he degree co 

whtch nwuntamecring m che park. -.hould be 

regulate!.~ . At one cnJ of the -,pecrrum were 

thme who fdt that government had no bu!>mes., 

regulanng chmha..,, while other-. felt that m the 

mtere"c~ ot puhiJc .,afct\ .ml.l cxpen-.e, gO\·ernrnem ncedcJ w ~cruuntte all future chmber<. 

and, tf nccc<.,<,an, reduce th~ number of cltmh· 

cr .... \l o~r pl'ople advocated a t.OUN? midwav 

between those t:\.Lrcme-. A'> Gerhard noced 111 

hi~ vear-cnd rep<m. 

Manv people (mol'.clv non climber'>, 

OU[ ru'>O '>Oml' ffiOUnl<linl.'er ... ) hegan 
Figure 5. South District Climbing and Rescue Data, 1976 to Present 

Year 

1976 

1977 

1978 

1979 

1980 

1981 

1982 

1983 

1984 

1985 

1986 

1987 

1988 

I--

1989 

1990 

1991 

1992 

1993 

1994 

1995 

1996 

1997 

1998 

1999 

2000 

2001 

2002 

2003 

2004 

2005 

2006 

2007 

Number 

of 

attempts 

508 

360 

459 

533 

659 

612 

696 

709 

695 

645 

755 

817 

916 

1,009 

998 

935 

1,070 

1,108 

1,277 

1,220 

1,148 

1,110 

1,166 

1, 183 

1,209 

1,305 

1,232 

1,179 

1,275 

1,340 

1,152 

1,218 

Number Number Search 

of of and 

summits deaths rescues 

339 4 26 

284 0 8 

270 0 7 

351 2 12 

283 8 16 

321 6 15 

310 0 16 

474 2 12 

324 2 12 

321 2 8 

406 4 8 

251 2 1 1 

551 2 12 

517 6 6 

573 3 8 

557 0 8 

515 11 22 

670 1 16 

702 3 21 

523 6 13 

489 2 14 

561 1 13 

420 3 12 

508 0 9 

630 0 15 

772 0 10 

645 1 21 

688 0 14 

656 1 16 

775 2 13 

581 1 19 

573 2 19 

No. of 

climbers 

assisted 

43 

16 

13 

22 

23 

30 

27 

15 

14 

10 

12 

12 

18 

16 

13 

15 

28 

24 

41 

32 

17 

22 

23 

14 

20 

12 

47 

16 

19 

17 

27 

23 

Total cost 

of search 

and rescues 

$82,142 

3,369 

13,816 

10,000 

47,335 

28,171 

74,871 

35,939 

46,432 

18,113 

42,990 

59,205 

16,790 

42,975 

n.a. 

n.a.*" 

206,000 

70,800 

87,631 

147,167 

173,500 

157,776 

211,189 

103,950 

188,496 

56,1 37 

159,562 

121,312 

138,987 

115,497 

297,140 

210,857 

~ Data on summit attempts, successful summtts, and deaths pertain to the South 

Peak of Mount McKinley, while search and rescue data pertain to all of the park untt's 

South Distnct. 

n.a.- lnformatton not available. Data in italics are approxtmate 

""·In 1991, the NPS began contracttng for the use of a Aerospatiale Lama high-altttude 

helicoptet, whiCh was based at the Talkeetna Alfport throughout the climbing season 

The cost of this helicopter was not included in the cost data noted above. 

Source: NPS, "Mount McKinley South Peak (20,320 feet) Attempts and Summits; " NPS, 

"Ciimbtng Deaths on Denali," both in Talkeetna Ranger Statton files. Rescue data 

from NPS, "South District Search and Rescue Cost Summary," courtesy of Maureen 

Mclaughlin. 

ClldJHt'l Tlun•·en A Centw·, ol Mount .. ru•pnng 285 
Rangers Nick Hartzell and Bob Butts 

created this simple outhouse design 

and constructed it in Talkeetna in 

1977. The outhouse was placed 

above a 10·foot hole in the glacier. 

The last year f or pit toilets at the 

Kahiltna Glacier Base Camp was 2005. 

Roger Robinson Photo 

demanding that the climbing par· 

ne:, who need ttl ne re-.cued should 

pay the costs of their rescue. Others 

feel that all climbing parties .,hould 

post a bond or o,how proof of m.-.urance before being allowed ro chmb 

\1cKinley. Several outdoor organitatJOns have proposed that all government agenc1es, except the military. 

stop providmg asshtanc:e to parnc<. 

that request a re~cue . Many people 

feel that the National Park Service 

should re-institute the old regulations 

which gave us the authonry to -.crcen 

applicants and the1r cqu1pmcnt and 

deny them the nght to chmb 1fwe 

did not feel they were qualified. A 

few CUmbers feel that !,'UiOc SCf\'ICCS 

should not he allowed to operate on 

Mount t\lcKinlcy since th1., actJ\'it) 

allow'> lcs.-. experienced chmbcr'> to be 

on the mountain' ' 

ln re~ponse to the~e questtom. Gerhard .. uggested only that "the ational Park Scrv1ce regulate 

mountaineering acnviry a~ little as pm:,ible, with 

necessary restriction being recommended by or 

agreed to by mountamecrs and mountaineering 

organ~ations." The agency's regional director, Rus1.ell Dickeno.,on, agreed; he :,tared that "I 

don't behcve the Park Service ought to be makmg that kind of judgment. ... If It ever get\ to the 

pomt where restnct10n~ arc required. it ought to 

be done by one', peer\." Gerhard further noted 

that no maJOr change., would be 1mplcmemcd m 

286 C town Jewel of thP North An Adm1mstrat1ve History of Denali Ndtlondl Pdr~ dnd Preserw 

'977- fo find our mme about climbers' attitudes, 

he sent an informational new~lener to the leader 

of every 1976 cltmbmg part). Fewer than half of 

those leader'> rc~pondcd, however, and mbcr~· 

apparent lack of interest prevented the survey's 

completion. •· 'v1eanwhilc, Interior Deparonent 

officials made their \'Oices known. A~sistant Intenor Secretary jack I lorton, who had summited 

rhe mountam in late june, told an Anchorage 

reporter that he dtd not encourage ''further government encroachment" in the form of regulating climbers. Several month~ later, Dickenson 

went a <,tep fun hcr and told a Spokane audJcncc that "there shou ld ben re1.ponsib1lity on 

an organitcd climbing parry to at least partially 

re1mbur~c the government or provide for its own 

re~cu e." ••• 

In 1977 the 'J P~. a' promi.,ed. stationed two 

moumameering ranger'> (Bob Buns and ick 

Haruell) at Talkeetna.'• According to an PS 

report, the) "contacted each expedition prior 

ro climbing. These ranger' discu.,sed routes, 

equtpment, medical problems, huards, and rate 

of ascent With virtually every climber approaching the mountaim from the south side of the 

park." Given the fact that the dtfficulries of 1976 

had been so well puhltci.lCd, climbers were apparently either better prepared or more prudent. 

As a result, no one died in the high Alaska Range 

in 1977· Only two helicopter evacuations were 

needed (one on Mt. McKinley, the other on Mt. 

Foraker) and JUS£ rwo fhed -wmg rescue operation<, were conducted (both on Mount ~1cKin

lev) N> a resulr, air evacuation coc;ts plum-
meted more than 95 percent, to just S3,369; the 

government's costs for the fixed-wing rescues, 

moreover, were paid for by the injured climbers. The two NPS rangers played a direct role 

in managing climbing activities that year; they 

carried out two ten-day patrols along the West 

Buttress route, and gave three injured climbers 

suffic1ent as~istance that they were able to avoid 

an air evacuation.'41 

Recogniting the growing waste-disposal 

problem, Park Service rangers in 1977 initiated 

a "climb clean" policy that required climbers to 

pack out all gear, refuse, and fixed line. Their 

emphasis was on educating mountaineers about 

the policy a~ part of their pre-climb orientation, 

in Talkeetna. Rangers that year also helped 

install the first pit toilet on the mountain, at the 

Kahiltna ba<;e camp.'44 Climbers were reminded 

that "all trash, equipment, and unused food mu:,L 

be removed from the Park. lf you carry it up, 

you can carry it back down." This advice, however, did l1ttle at first to ameliorate the problem; 

the following year, a mountaineering ranger 

noted that McKinley's "well-publicized garbage 

problem continues ... this year it appeared worse 

than in previous years."'4i 

In 1978, managing McKinley's climbers became more difficult. The nwnber of climber:, 

increased after the previous year's dip, and the 

weather- wh1ch had been generally good the 

previous two years-proved relatively stormy. 

The mountain, moreover, again attracted people 

who had no business being on the mountain. (A 

climber from Colorado was responsible for a 

"poorly organited and poorly led" 13-mcmber 

group that unsucces~fully attempted the West 

Buttress route, and soon afterward, a climber 

at the q,2oo-foot level requested an evacuation 

from both rhe NPS and local air services because 

he had a "very important bu!.iness engagement" 

m Nrica.) Two japanese climbers were killed on 

Mount Foraker; in addition, eleven climbers susrained accidents that required an air evacuation; 

expenses related to the seven rescue operations 

cost the NPS S1j,816. Talkeema-based rangers 

Dave Buchanan and Nick Hart.Gell conducted 

much the same program-complete With two 10-

day West Buttress patrols- that agency rangers 

had done in 1977.'-'6 

RccognLdng the increasing-and public- costs 

as~ociated with air rescues, various people began 

to clamor for climbers to ofl'set rescue costs by 

posting a bond. This suggestion, a!> noted above, 

had been a1red by Robert Gerhard in 1976. As 

far back as July 1972, however, the Anchorage 

Dai(v Times had called for the adoption of either 

bonding or insurance; in May 1976, in the midsr 

of the mountain's most accident-prone climbing 

season, it reiterated that call. Then, in early 1978, 

Alaska Rep. Larry Carpenter (R-Fairbanks), 

asked U.S. Senator Ted Stevens to get the NPS's 

views on the :,ubject. In response, NPS Associate Director Daniel Tobin noted that his agency 

had the legal authority to recover rescue costs, 

through either direct billing or a bonding requirement. Tobin noted, however, that 

The cost of a major search or rescue 

operation is well beyond the ability of 

most people to pay directly. Inquiries 

thus far have revealed that bonding, short of a full cost deposit, is not 

available and that conventional carriers will not underwrite insurance. 

Registration fees sufficient to offset 

rescue costs would be prohibitive to 

many climbers. Further, any system 

of recovering costs would penalize 

the responsible, self-sufficient, and 

well-conditioned parties, along with 

those who use poor judgment or suffer from an accident or illness. l Given 

that] no charges should be assessed 

in a way that would discourage one m 

distress from asking for assistance ... 

we question the feasibility of holding 

[climbers]liable for the entire financial burden .... We believe that more 

intensive management of climbing 

activities ... will tend to keep costs at 

a relatively low level. ... Another vear 

or two of experience will teJJ.L47 

Guide Regulation 

A<:> noted above, the first person sanctioned 

to conduct guiding activities in the park wa~ 

Richard McGowan, who obtained a special w;e 

permit and led a single, unsucce:,sfuJ 1963 trip. 

The second Mount JVlcKinley guide was Ray 

Genet, who led six clients to the top in june and 

July 1969. Until the mid-1970S, Genet's Alaska 

Mountain Guides wa~ the primary guide service 

on the mountain, although several others were 

active as well. Bay Area-based Mountrun Travel, 

lnc. began leading trips in 1970, the nonprofit 

National Outdoor Leadership School began in 

1971, and Tacoma-based Rainier Mountaineering 

started there in 1974. ~ 

In 1976, the mountain was far more popular 

than m previous yeru·s, and of the soS climbers 

who reached the top, 114 (22-5 percent) were led 

by professional guides. Five companies guided 

clients up the mountain that year: three veteran 

groups (AJaska Mountain Guides, Mounram 

Travel, and Rainier Mountaineering) along with 

two new organizations (Mountain Trip from 

Chapter Th•rtePn A Century of Mounta111eeqng 187 
In 1979 Ray Genet. left. and Brian 

Okonek, who took this picture. guided the first ascent of ML McKinley 

w1th a dog team. Mushers Susan 

Butcher and Joe Redington Sr .. center. 

took part of the.r dog team to the 

summit by the West Buttress route. 

The lead dog appears on the left side 

of this summit photo. Brian Okonek 

Collection 

Anchorage and fanta!>r Rtdgc \1ount \\cKmiL·y 

Expedition from E~re-. Park, ( olorado). \lmt 

groups were well-prepared and were esc;orted 

10 relative[\ ... mall group~. C":nct, huwen:r, 

amassed 44 dunhers in three closely-spaced 

group~ and -.hcpherded them all up the mountam at thl· 'a me ttme. 01 her guu..le:. compl:nned 

about Gene1\ methods, daunmg that he wa' 

"'\prcadmg lhiml~elf too thin," and one ol 

hi'> client'> died (of pulmnn:tr) edema) at 1hc 

1],200 foot lc,·cl. Dunng the wmrer of 1976-77. 

the NP"> re~ponJcd to rhc cnllci~m by rough 

mg out a pmpo.,al to is.,uc four-year concc~'>ion 

permits to a hnmed number of gu1des; tn rcram 

that pcrmll. mmeover, gutue' would need to 

demonsrrare m1mmum quahficat10n' rcgardmg 

pre\ IOU\ experience. rcchmcal chmbmg ab1hty, 

customer sali,faction, and other cntcria.'4'' Late 

10 1978 thev again comidcrcd the martel". but"" 

Gerhard noted. "mam 4ue-.non' about man.1g~.:­

ment of -\la,ka land!'. \\Ill remain cloud\ or unan-

~wcred unlll after Congrc!',~ act'> on an Ala!->ki.l 

Land~ Bill, and permtb for mounram gu1de 

~en·ice operations arc caught in that curn:n1." 

A~ a result, th~.: . PS imtcad cho~c to h\UC siX 

..,pcc~al u..,c pcrmtrc, that vcar rn mountaml.!cnng 

guide o;en 1ccc.. '' 

In 19llo. ( .ongre..,.., finallv pu..,,ed the Ala..,J.:a 

'\anonal I nrcre<.r Land.., ( .on..,en arion At r l hat 

'a me n~ar. '\. P5 authonttc'> went ahead With tb 

long-delavcd plan. On \1ay 1, the agenc} .... ..,ued 

a prospcctu' for mountam gwde ... en ICC\ and 

a'ked all 10tcrc~ted applicanh to provide relevant mformatum about rheu· qualification' and 

cxpcnence. particularlv a., it pertamcd to ~ toum 

\lcKinley and adjacent peaks. Fifteen firms 

rc~ponded to rhe prmpcctu~. Between August 

and ovember of that ycru·, a three-person panel 

wetghed a vartery of factors and offered fouryear conce,sion permits (until December 1984) 

to thl' s1x top candtdntcs: I) Acne "Jorrhwest of 

Seattle, 2) Fantasy Ridge Alpinism of Estes Park, 

3) Genet Expedtllons oflalkeetna, 4) 1\ 1ountain 

Trtp of Kasilof, 5) orth Cascade!-. Alpine School 

of Bclllnghan1, and 6) Ramier \tounta10eenng of 

Tacoma.'' 

Shonl) after the permtr-. were issued, an ~nciiOIagt· Dailv Timc:s reporter spoke to Denali "Janonal Park and Prec.er\'C Superintendent Robert 

Cunn10gham about the new permit ... ystem. 

Cunmngham noted that 

the change to a conccs:.ion system 

\\'a' made for ... e\'eral reasons ... 10-

cluding mceung Park Service regulation~ rhat require the use of btddmg 

to select firm~ conducting commercial 

operanon~ m nanonal park<, .... [T]hc 

new -.yc.tem will provide rea-.onablc 

10\Urance to diem~ that their glllde~ 

arc expencnccd and economically 

Lapable of handling the demand., of 

cxpcditiom on l\\ount .\1c"-tnlcv and 

other mounram!'.. Abo, ... the system 

will control and re'>trict chmher-. on 

the mountam. Commercial expcthnon<. will be hmired ro 15 client'>. No 

lirm can start a -;econd party up a 

mountain within I) Jays of It<, tir'r 

group's start. ' 

Not surpri'\ingly, a handful of companie ~ 

that were not ~>elected openly questioned the 

agcnc\ \ methodology. One of rhose companies 

wa-. the '\Janonal Outdoor Leadership School 

( Ol ~), wh1ch wa~ ba-.cd in \Xfvommg but with 

an Alaska office in Palmer. The company had 

hccn ocrive throughout the 1970!., and a-. noted 

m a 1976 article, the school "had a reputation for 

~alct~ and good log1sric1> on rhe mounram:' The 

problem stemmed [rom an hone!>t difference 

of opinion on how the nonprofit organi;ation 

reported it:. revenues, and by February 1981 NPS 

per-.onnel recogniL.ed rhar the agcncv ··may have 

erred dunng the e\'aluanon proce~<.." In June 

t()!i t. park per~onnel granted OLS the nght to 

continue guiding at hbrorical usage level'> (which 

'A a., a -.mglc trip up rhe mountam) that vcar. 

nut December, th<: '>Ohcttor\ mterpreration of 

the ncwl\ -enacted Ab.1,ka park regulauons allowed a conrmuanon of that pracncc in 1982, and 

m Oc.tnher 19ll2 the park supenm endcnt issued 

a regular, four-year conCC!>Siom permit (rerroac-
Mountaineering and aviation have 

been partners on Mt. McKinley since 

1932. Lowell Thomas Jr., of Talkeetna 

Air Taxi, tested his Helio Courier on 

this first landing at 14,200 feet in 

1983. This aircraft is capable of short 

takeoffs and landings, and he found 

it worked well for resupplying the 

medical camp and assisting with rescues at this location. Roger Robinson 

Photo 

rive to January 1981) thar ga\'C :--.01.~ much the 

~arne stan.1~ as the six commercial ~en• ce-. that 

had been awardeu conce~sion rermits 111 late 

t980.'" 

Despite the careful, deliberative process that 

resulted in the sclecnun of ~even carefullv-

~c reened conce~s10m permittee~. NP~ offietals 

were slow to enforce its regulation~ aga111~t non-

-;elccrcd companies. The agency\ 1981 mountaineering ummary, lor example, !J<.ted two 

unautboriLed, acttve commerctal guide~ from 

Germany and a third from Japan, and in 1983 it 

li~t ed two unauthori;ed, acm·e climb~ conducteu 

hy nonprofit educatipnal urgani;atiom.''' The 

agenc~· finally began to enforce the regulanom 111 

1984- Cita io ~ were tssued to an Amcncan anti 

a Japanese gut de; 111 1985 a German brut de wa~ 

cited; and in 1986 violation notices were t'>sued 

to two Arnencans and a )';'ew Zealander.''' 

Given the fact that commercial gutde<; escorred 

between 20 and 25 percent of l\1ount Mc.l\.mlev 

climbers up the mountain durtng thts period, and 

because there wao., a comistently h1gh tnterest m 

climbing Mcl\.inlej in the yean; that followed, 

the compan e~ that the NPS ~elected as permittees in December 1980 could count on a predictable clientele. It 1s perhap~ not surpri~mg, therefore, that four of these ~ix com panic~ rematned 

a:. commercial gutde~ on 1'v1ount McKmlev for 

ten year~ or more.'''' 

These permtts, however, pertained only to 

activities Within the so-called "old park," and according to language in the ncwly-pa ...... ed Ala~ka 

1\Jarionallntcresr Lands Comcrvation Act, there 

were no limits on the number of enterprises that 

could conduct mounraineenng guiding activities 

on htnds beyond the "old park" boundaries. At 

first, compan1e~ \howed lukewarm Interest in 

"new park" guiding activities, but by 1983 nine 

different firms were ~•gned on a<. commercial usc 

llcenst:e~. Only one of the~e ('JOLS) was also 

scrvmg a ... an "old park" gutde. "7 

The vanou~ lalkeetna flvmg -;en•iccs also began 

to be regulated at thi" time. When Congre ... s 

passed A 1\'1 LCA in 1980 and ·'old" \llount 

\1cKinlcy NatiOnal Park tnpled 111 ~i;c, Kahiltna Glacier and other popular landing area<. 

were mcludcd in D~nali National Park. Flying 

onto glaciers south of the Alaska Range wa5 a 

wcll-establi..,hed me by this time. and the onl:. 

bureaucratic impact of the park's expansion wa~ 

that the flying sen·iccs ming the park needed to 

obtain a I rs commercial U!.e liceme (CUL), ju:.t 

as "new park'' mounraineenng guides dtd. F('lr 

the hrsr few vear~ after A::-.J l LCA's pas~age, those 

who held CUL.s for air taxi and air tour service<; 

included lludson Air Service, K2 Aviation, l alkeetna Air Taxt, and Lowell Thomas, Jr. During th~: early and mtd-198os, companie<. doing 

bus111ess 111 the park engaged pnman ly in pickup 

and dropoff sen ee~ for Alaska Range mountJineers. By the late 1980~. however, flight~ceing 

had hecome so popular that It was becoming a 

o.,tgntficanr rart of air tour companies,' revenues. 

')ome tltghtscemg com panic~ offered visitors rhe 

opportuni~ to \\'alk on an Alaska Range glacter, 

but many other tourist tlights remained airhorne 

out~ide of Talkeetna.'' .. 

Chapter Th11te~n A Century nt Mnunta111eenng 289 
The National Park Service Kahiltna 

Glacier base camp is established 

each spring at the beginning of the 

climbing season. The camp provides 

support for independent and guided 

climbing expeditions during the main 

climbing season. NPS Photo, Roger 

Robinson Collection 

During this penod, changes in the pari-.. guide5 

were also being manifested on the north side of 

the Alaska Range. As noted above, horse-packer 

Berle Mercer had begun supplying mountaim:ers' 

expeditions beginning in the mid-196os, and 

given the continued interest in north-side ascents, 

Mercer continued his service unrilrq8r. Continuing in his stead was Dennis Kogl, a McKinley 

Park-based operator who had run commercial 

sled dog trips into the park since 1973 under d1c 

name Denali Dog Tours and Wilderness Freighters. Beginning in the winter of 1977-78, Kogl 

began to provide freigl1t support to mountaineers 

who started their climbs on the north side of the 

Alaska Range. (See Chapter 8.) By 1982, he was 

considered an exclusive provider of dog sled 

transportation in me park.''9 Kogl continued 

operating hi~ business untilr985; in more recent 

years, others have stepped in to provide similar 

services.'~" 

Climbing Management. 1979-1 984 

As noted above, the popularity of climbing 

dropped by more than 25 percent between 1976 

(the popular bicentennial year) and 1977- Afterward, however, the numberc; resumed their steady 

upward climb. By 1979 the number of !\1cKinley 

SUmmit attempts 533- was higher fuan it had 

been in 1976, and in 1983 more than 700 people 

registered to climb Mount McKinley."' ot 

surprisingly, the weather for climbers was better 

in some years that in others, and perhaps for that 

reason, seasons that had a high degree of rescue activity, injuries, and deaths ( 1980 had eight 

deailis and 1981 had six, for example) alternated 

with year~ that had a relative lull in these areas."" 

Years having a large number of re~cues and 

290 Crown Jewel of the North An Adm1mstrat1ve History of Dendi! National Park and Preserve 

deaths, not surprisingly, brought on a spate of 

news articles. But every year brought the need for 

at least seven rescues, and the supposedly "safe" 

year of 1982, when there were no Mount McKinley climbing deaths, demanded sixteen. (See 

Figure 5.) Each year, therefore, brought forth editorials and letters to the editor calling for climbers 

to pay their own way by either po ting a bond, 

obtaining insurance, or paying me NPS a fee.'"l 

During me late T970S, climbers Started pressuring NPS officials to once again relax the agency's 

decade-old regulations. As noted above, a parkspecific regulation applied in 1970 called for all 

climbers to register before their ascent; to provide 

information on previous chmbing experience; 

to submit physician's statements certifying the 

physical fitness of each moun taineer; to have 

each party carry a two-way radio; and to require 

a member of each party report to park headquarters after the climh.'n4 But in the fall of 1979, the 

Alaskan Alpine Club began to lobby for fewer 

regulations. The PS recognued that climbing 

was no longer an isolated activity. They also knew 

"that better and more sophisticated equipment, 

techniques, and clothing have reduced the need 

for regulated safety considerations." Furthermore, as an PS official later stated, "we could 

find no correlation between me requirements 

and who did or did not get in trouble on Mount 

McKinley?' In May 1980, therefore, it proposed 

to eliminate all park-specific regulations except 

for a pre-climb registration.•6<; Born Anchorage 

newspapers protested; the News noted that "me 

government does have responsibility to ensure 

that parties embarking on expeditions in a National Park meet some standards;· while the more 
Or. Peter Hackett's medical research 

program, based at the 14,200-foot 

camp on Mt. McKinley, also provided 

medical assistance to dimbers In 

distress. NPS Photo, Roger Robinson 

Collection 

conservative Times ~tared that "many taxpayer:-. 

see stricter regulations as the key to reduced 

government cost~." Bur as the Times abo noted, 

"climbers hope the regulatiom ... arc on the 

way out. Rules beget rules, and soon their 

freedom is gone, r.hey say.'' Tt further noted 

that some climbers balked even at the minimal 

registration requirement, because "any sort of 

regimentation goes again~t the grain of r.hose 

who are motivated to climb mountains."'"" 

During the public comment period, several protested the relaxation of climbing regulation, and 

~evera l also recommended requiring that "all 

climbers provide evidence of financ1al means 

or post a bond." N PS authorities felt r.hat the 

Talkeetna-based rangers provided a sufficient 

technical role, and that "charging mdividuals 

for public safety services" was too all-encompassing w be addressed in such a specific rule. 

The final rule was implemented, as proposed, 

on December 26, 1980.'"7 

During this period, rescue technique~ were 

continuously modified and improved. ln 1978, 

the military's High Altitude Rescue learnwhich had been founded in 1972 and was based 

at Elmendorf Air Force Base- began trainmg 

on Mount McKinley. The following year it 

rescued a Japanese climber from Mt. McKinley's 16,ooo-foot level, and the team continued 

it!> activities from either Elmendorf or Fort 

Wainwright- for years afterward.'"" 

An equally important innovation was rhe commencement of a major healr.h program. A~ a 

government report noted in late 1981, 

The High Latitude Healr.h Research 

Project of the University of Alaska 

Anchorage began what is hoped to be 

a several year medical research program on Mount McKinley rhi~ summer. ... a lengthy que~tionnaire ... 

was given to climbers as they returned 

from their climbs jwhichj dealtwir.h 

such issues as type of equipment used, 

::.peed of ascent, weather conditions, 

and medical problems encountered. 

... Although funding and logisrical problems are not yet solved, the 

ProJect ope~ to place reams of physicians on the mountain next year and 

in succeeding years. These reams will 

staff camps at the Kahiltna base camp 

and also ar the 14,200 feet on the West 

Buttress during ar least a major portion of the climbing season.'"" 

The following year, medical personnel were 

indeed stationed on the mountain. During most 

of May and June 1982, teams of doctors staffed 

the two above-named camps, and "though 

their primary mission wa~ to conduct medical 

research, the doctors also assisted numerom 

climbers with minor to major medical problems." The Anchorage Times lauded the eam~, 

noting that "in at least two instances in 1982, 

lives were saved by doctors who were ~erving in these camps .... [T] he stationing of a 

couple [of] physicians along the way seems like 

a good idea" and "should be considered for 

future ~easo s.''' " The High Latitude Research 

Project (or Group) continued its valuable work 

Chapter Th1rteen A Century ol Mounta1neenng 291 
The first NPS ranger residence in Talkeetna was this mobile home, located 

just west of the railroad tracks. Roger 

Robinson Photo 

in 1983-a government report that year stated 

that '"thi' research team wa~ ~urely Instrumental 

in sa\·ing several live~, and their presence on 

the mountain will be ~ought in commg year~:· 

A lack of funding after that sea!>on, however, 

forced the program\ discontinuance. Worncd 

that "without the H LRG camp, cl1mbcr~ [would] 

han: to again take the rcsponsibihtv to cautwn 

thcmseh·e~." the NPS in 1984 -.et up a mcdiLal 

and rescue camp at the 14,.200-foot level. Ranger' establi5hed the camp that w~ operated b\ 

volunteer medical doctor'> and volunteer mountaineer!>. The camp prcweu "succc!>sfulm reducing both the number and the co<,t<, of search and 

rescue incident<; on J\1r. McKinley." 

The problem-. of garbage, which had been our of 

the new::. !>lllCe the vanou~ University of Oregon 

climbs during the 1970s, re-emerged a-. an 1s~uc 

1n 1983. An "'PS overview outhncd the problem 

111 this way: 

Over the last ten year~. organitatum., and mdividuab in the climbing community along with the 1\:PS 

ha,·e waged an mtensive campaign to 

reduce the amount of litter on _\lount 

,\lcKmley. [W]e are ~atisfied that the 

mountaineers of today are chmhmg 

Mount 1\tcKinley with a much more 

!>ensitive ethic regarding litter and 

abandoned gear. But for the mo~t 

part the question of human wa~te 

has not been dealt with .... A~ the 

number of climbers keeps increa~ing, 

it becomes harder and harder to lind 

292 Crown Jewel ot the Nat1h An Admrmwauve Hrstory of Dennlr NotiOndl Park dnd Pre'''' ve 

clean snow for cooking and drinking. So thic; year, the climbing rangers 

... made a special pomt of urging all 

climbers to bag their human wastes 

and to dump the bags into deep crevasloe~ I rather than burying them ncar 

oftcn-med camps]. Plastic bags were 

pr<wided by the NPS for those who 

needed them. !We] are confident that 

c.hmbers in future years will be even 

more sensiti\ e to the proper handling 

of human wa::.tes.'7' 

ln 1q84, mountameering ranger~ (according 

Lo the1r annual report) personally conracted 

"nearlv all of the \X'est Buttress climbers anu 

cmph:1~i1e I d] the imporrance uf proper sanitation and tra<.h removal practice<;." Anu, for the 

fir~t time, the agency required all climbers to 

depm1t human waste into crevasses (and not 

in hastilv-dug pit latrines, as had prev1ously 

been the common practice). Tho!>e measure::.-

backed by a citation and $250 fine issued to one 

non-complymg European party "seems to have 

made a significant contribution toward cleaner 

campsites."'· 

1 heN PS established a slightly stronger presence 

m Talkeetna during this period. After two years 

of makeshift operations in the local fire hall, 

rangers courtesy of owner Jim Sharp moved 

to the Tal l--ee rna Air Taxi hangar. Then, in April 

1980, the .:-J P~ obtained a five-year lease on a 

100' x 50' parcel just west of the Alaska Railroad 

tracks and just south of the old railroad depot.17; 

Shortly afterward, NPS personnel moved a 
East District Ranger Bob Gerhard 

directed the NPS mountaineering pro· 

gram from his post at park headquarters. Here, inside the trailer facility in 

1983, he was preparing for a spring 

backcountry patrol. NPS Photo, Roger 

Robinson Collection 

In 1984 the NPS leased a cabin to 

be used as a ranger contact station 

Shown center, the log cabin was 

located in downtown Talkeetna and 

provided an opportunity to contact 

climbers going to or coming from Mt. 

McKinley. NPS Photo, Roger Robinson 

Collection 

single-wide trailer from Fmrbank~ to the pared, 

after which tt was occupied by two '>Casonal 

rangers and a Student Conservanon A-,socianon 

employee. Throughout this pertod, Fa~t Distnct 

Ranger Roberr Gerhard oversaw the park's 

mountaineering program. But in May 1984, 

C.erhard tran.,ferred to I ake Clark 'lational Park 

and Pre..,erve, and Robert Seibert, who moved 

to the area from !Iawall \ olcanoc~ '-atwnal 

Park, became the park\ fir..,t South D1stnct 

Ranger (and the park\ first year-round southside employee).' ' During mid~ummcr I984, 

Seibert opened up the agency's tlrst Talkeetna 

office m a log cabm it leased ncar \ lam treet 

and just ~outh of the Fairview Inn. The cabm 

wa-. O\\ ned by Roberta Sheldon and \\as locally 

known a'> the Genet Building, became guide Ray 

Genet anu lm clients had conMructed ll during 

the late 1970~. Beginning in the spnng of 1985, 

NP pcr~onncl u-.cJ the building for climbing 

orientation'>. 

New Regulations: 

Their Context and Consequences, 1985-1995 

In 1983, ac, noted above, the number of Mount 

McKmlc) climbers topped 700 l(1r the fir~t time. 

Chapter ThtrtePn A Century ot Mountdll1eer•ng 293 
Recognizing the importance of 

Improving foreign outreach, ranger 

Roger Robmson, in 1982, provided 

orientation to a Japanese chmbmg 

group at the 14,200· foot camp. NPS 

Photo. Roger Robinson Collection 

The mountam\ populantv dropped modestl) 

for the next t\vo year~ (in 1985, 645 pl·ople tned 

to !>ummit the peak) but they ro~c LJUILkly for 

the next three vear~. and in 1989 more than a 

thousand people headed up Mount McKmle~ 's 

~lopes. And for the next c,everal vcar'> the mountain remained popular, consistent(~ attracting 

more than qoo cllmher., per year.m 

The great ma1unry of thme chmher~ got up and 

down the mountam ~afely and Without me~dent. 

But m ever) vear -.ave one, one or more live~ 

were lo-.t on It~ ,(ope-.. And ever) year both the 

:S PS and the m1lltar} were called on w con 

duct numerou' re<.cuc operation-. fhe mihtarv 

absorbed (and thd nor detail) It'> annual re'>cue 

cost:., but the NPS, wh1ch wa., mort forthcommg, spent ten~ of thou ... and-. of dol1 :1r~ each year 

on Mount McKmley rescue operatiOn'>. These 

costs, a'> in prevwus year&, cau-.ed 'ome taxpavers to conclude that becau~e mountameenng 

(as noted m one news arocle) was pure(\ a 

self-centered recreation, with few praLtlcalsoclal 

benefit~," c.limhen; should therefore havt. to pay 

their own rc'>cuc b1lb. Others, however, argued 

that rescues for mountruneer-. 'hould be treated 

no different!) than for boaters or recreat 10nal 

pilots: the cn.,t ot mountam rescue,, m thi~ context, paled bv compan .. on. A \1a} 198!! search 

for seven Gambell \\alrus hunter'>, for e\.ample, 

cost the Coa~t Guard and the Ala-,ka Department 

of Public Safety more than 1 mill1on, and a May 

1992 search for five fi~ rmen lo~t in a Cessna 

near Yakutat cost the A1r National Guard more 

than S1.1 m1llion.''' 

Throughout thl'> penod, the ~p~ worked w1th 

other~ tu mamtain a camp at the 14,200-foor level 

of Mount McKmlev. Funding for rhc High Latitude Research Protect (also known a~ the Denali 

Medical Re~earch ProJeCt) pro\'ed spottv-it operated m 19H1 and agam m 1988-H9 before closing 

dtl\\ n .md the . P d1d what 11 could to ass1st 

Dr. Peter Hackett m h" work. Rangers occup1ed 

the ~1re a~ well, during year'> when the research 

camp wa' both acuve and macnve, hecau~e their 

prescm:c at the ~ire allowed them "more rehably 

able to determine" if re cue-, were really needed. 

lo a~'>l'>t ranger~ w1th the1r re\Cuc! work, the 

~PS in 19871mtalled a re.,cue <,torage box at the 

17,200-foot lc\'ef.ll!U 

Park ~erv1ce rangers, dunng th1., pcnod, recognitcd that foreigners accounted for a disproportionate number of search-and-re.,cue incidents, 

More <.peclficallv, fore1gn climbers m 1986 

compmcd about 25 percent of all climbers but 

90 percent nf search-and-re,cue operations. To 

1mprove It' foreign outreach wh1ch until then 

had been limned to German and japanese mountameenng brochures agenC} '>taff prepared 

German, japanese, and Fngh~h language sbde/ 

rape programs on climbmg safety and ethics. 

And the following vear, -..1m1lar programs were 

made for rrcnch- and panish-~peak.mg chmber~. fhe "'- P continued n' outreach efforts 

through penodJC updates of Its foreign-language 

mountamcenng brochure.,, both m the late 198os 

and the m1d 1990s. Rangers also carried on 

correspondence wrth foreign climber'>' organitalion'>, including group~ in Korea. But after 
Denali's first full-time South District 

Ranger, Robert Seibert. on the phone, 

coordinated the winter rescue of 

three missing Japanese climbers in 

1989. Regional Public Information Of· 

ficer, John Quinley, right. prepares for 

a media statement at the Talke etna 

traile r. NPS Photo, Roger Robinson 

Collection 

several Koreans died on the mountain in 1992 

(see below), the agency sent ranger J.D. Swed on 

a well-publici7ed nine-day trip to Korea, where 

he warned climbing groups about the mountain's 

difficttlty and urged caution.'~' 

After the dbastrous years of 1980 and 1981, which 

recorded eight and !>ix deaths respectively, the 

following decade witnessed two difficuJt years: 

1986, with four deaths, and 1989, with six. None 

of these deaths produced more than incidentspecific press coverage. In 1990 the N PS, working with Alan Ewert of the U.S. forest Service, 

surveyed climbers on how Mount McKinley 

should be managed. What provoked the survey, 

however, was not the 1989 deaths but instead 

the thousand-plus climbers on the mountain 

that year, because the survey's purpose was "to 

delermine users' perceptions of sanitation, trash 

and crowding issues." Bob Seibert, asked in 1990 

about the survey's repercussions, stated that 

rangers might try to steer climbers away from 

the May-June peak season. and "eventually" the 

agency might need to institule a permit system 

on the mountain, particularly on the West Buttres::. route.'~' The study\ results, however. were 

surprising. Seibert stated that "although there 

is obvious room for improvement, the study 

showed that trash, sanitation and crowding are 

still within acceptable limtt::. for most Mounr 

McKinley users.'''"' 

The public's attitude toward mounlaineering 

safety changed abruptly in 1992 when eleven 

people died on the slopes of Mount McKinley. 

Among d1em were two ltaliam, a Swis~. three 

Koreant., four Canadians, and one American 

guide: the well-respected mountaineer Terrance 

"Mugs" Stump. The large number of victimsthree more than in any previous year-plus 

Stump's prominence among climbers provoked 

a major press reaction, with articles in both locaJ newspapers and in major magazines such as 

Newsweek and the Economist.'R4 

Tn the inevitable postmortem that followed 

these death5, commentators traced three to 

inexperience, with one article notmg that "some 

have never even climbed before." Tna:.much 

us foreigners had accounted for more than go 

percent of recent deaths, South District ranger 

J.D. Swed stated that many felt they could "do" 

McKinley in a week and thus didn't bring the 

food and equipment needed to survive extended weather delays. But the other eight 

who died, like Stump, were well-equipped and 

experienced. One factor that did not play a role 

in the deaths was the combined rescue effort, 

which included 22 rescues. As the Newsweek 

writer noted, "The death toll could easily have 

doubled but for intrepid rescues by National 

Park rangers, who plucked two climbers from 

creva~se~ and evacuated half a do.t:en orhers."•"s 

The PS that year spent some Szo6,ooo rescuing climbers and removing bodies from Mount 

McKinley, and the military expended an additional S225,ooo. The lion's share of the NPS's 

expemes-about S18o,ooo- were fixed costs 

associated with having an Aerospatiale Lama 

high-altitude helicopter on standby at the Talkeetna airport.'8

'' The agency had first arranged 

for the helicopter- and had first borne the 

Chapter Thirteen. A Century of Mounta1neenng 295 
A lama high-altrtude helicopter was 

first contracted in 1991 to stand by 

for administratrve and rescue work 10 

Denali National Park. That year a Korean climber with altitude illness was 

evacuated from the 14,200-foot camp 

and taken to the Kahiltna Glacier 

base camp for further transport. NPS 

Photo, Roger Robmson Collection 

higher cost~ during rhe 199I chmbmg ~ea~on. 

The move wa.., ec c~:.ar~ becau ... e the l .'.S. Arm\, 

due to Persian Gulf war commirmenrs, wa ... unable to ~uppl~ a Chmook hl'IIcoptcr, a ... 11 had for 

more than a decade. After I9C)2, re~cue CO'>t remained high; in 1995, for example. th ~ PS spem 

S126,ooo and the military another S292,ooo. 

The 1993 chmhmg '>ea on proved a pleasant contra~t to the events of the prc,·ious year. Just one 

person died, and onlv q needed robe rescued.' ' 

Officials in the new Clinton admini'>tration, 

however, felt that the I9o,ooo '>pent on tho-.e 

rescues (and ~imilarly high costs ar other parks) 

was roo high. On Augu'>t JI, the '\iP<) announced 

that it wa~ workmg on a nationwide plan to have 

cltmber.., and other ad,•enrurc travelers pav their 

own wa} b~ requiring either a bond, fee, or rescue insurance. The plan\\ ould he tc'>tcd during 

the spnng of I994 at two national park...: \lount 

Ramier m \XIa.,hmgton and Denali m Ala~ka. lf 

the plan proved .,ucce.,sfulothcr ri<.k taker , such 

as kayakers and hang-gilders, might face ..,imilar 

charges in the other tift\ national park .... ·• The 

new costs were justified bv Assistant Interior 

Secretary Bonme Cohen, who '-otated that 

A basic level of public safct) should 

clearly be provided b) gO\·ernmcnt, 

296 Crown Jewel of the North An Adrntnl5tratM" H1story of Den<Jh Nat,onal Pdrk ,rnd Pre><!l'vi! 

but the mcrcastng partictpanon in 

high-mk recreation has pushed the 

co<,t of search and rescue to record 

le,·cb. \\'e want the Interior Department robe the leader in findmg frur 

method~ to provide for search and 

~cue capabihtie~ tn our park!> withour hankrupnng other mis!>ion , such 

as re-.ource protection and vi!.Itor 

~en· ice. 

Cohen\ bo-.s, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, 

justified the new fees within a larger context; just 

a~ gra1ing fees were being rai~ed and below-market timber sales were bemg phased out, the person who U'>ed the outdoor-, for sport might need 

ro pay more. And given the fact that climbers 

pmd an average S.p49 for their expedition (accordmg to an '\iPS esnmate that year), the proposed fcc wa<, relatively mode!>t. But climbers, 

not !>urpn-.mgl',-, hated the 1dea; they protested 

that levying a fcc on chmben. (bur not on hunters 

or pnvatc pilot'>) was unfair, and as one journalist noted, "mm.t climbers would prefer the 

government simply get out of the rescue business 

and get rid of the -,rant! by helicopter."'"'' 

ln October 1993, 'IPS officials announced that 

they would delay the fees for a year; they admit-
Thrs overview of the 17,200-foot 

camp shows the most extreme 

established camp on the West Buttress route of Mt. McKinley. The NPS 

attempts to marntain a ranger presence at this location to assist climbers 

suffering from the debilitating effects 

of altitude, cold and high winds. The 

trail leading out of camp climbs to Denali Pass, a section of the route with a 

high accident rate. NPS Photo, Roger 

Robinson Collection 

ted at the nme that o,peclfks of the plan had not 

yet been worked out. But by early VI arch 1994, 

Cohen had worked ou1 the remaining detaib. 

Fach climber, according to the plan, woultl be 

required to pa\ a $200 fee. A month later, the 

N PS held a "><'I'll.'., of April public meeting~; at 

tho!>e meenng ... , chmber~ told officmb that the\ 

were Just a-. d1~.,amfied With the plan a~ the\ 

had been the previOU'> ~eptember. As a practical 

maner. howcn~r. the PS needed the additional 

revenue~; a!> climbing ranger J.D. Swed later 

remarked, ''With increasing numbers of climbers and decrea.,mg budget~. the N PS des1gned 

th1~ program to share a portion of theo,e cost., 

"' ith those who benefit directly from the service 

prm 1ded." 

The NP~. oYer the next six monrhs, recon!>1dercd 

the matter and decided ro reduce the proposed 

fee (that would apply to both Mt. McKinley and 

i\lr. Foraker) from S2oo to 150. Late that fall, 

when It became t...nown that the fee woult.l be 

1mposet.l, the American Alpine Club threatened a 

lawsuit O\'er the mauer, nonng that hilling climber<. without !>lmilar charges for backpacker,, 

rafters, kavakcrs and others wa<; clearly discriminatory. Despite that threat, theN PS issued a 

regulatory notice for its "new mountaineering 

progmm" 10 mid-December 1994, 1t ~tared that 

the fee would be imposed for the 1995 climbing 

sca!>on.'"' The fees were justified a~ follows: 

The fcc ... will help off~et mountaincering administrative co~t<, a~)OCJatcd 

with prepo~ltloning and mamtaming the high-altitude ranger camp at 

q,200 feet on the West Buttrcs~ route, 

mountamee1ing patrol salanc'>. education material~ aimed at reducing the 

number of accidents, transportation 

and supplies. The co~t of admmistering the international mountaineering 

program (climbers repre-.entcd 23 

countrie~ m 1994) ha!. incrca~cd over 

the pa'>t ~eve raJ years and comumc'> a 

disproportionate amount of the park 

budget'"' 

The fee~ were Imposed as scheduled, and the 

1\JPS collected •59-925 from climber'> that year, 

followed bv approximate revenues of St=;2.ooo 

and I'j9,000 in 1996 and 1997, rc'>pectiH!lv. ~ 

As part of it~ December 1994 notice, the PS also 

included language requiring all climber'> to regi'>ter at least 6o days prior to their expeditions.'''' 

Ch<~~IP.I Tluneen A Century ol Mountillller>nng 297 
Guides work to prepare their clients 

for climbing Mt. McKinley by practicing skills such as crevasse rescue. 

Brian Okonek Photo 

In an attempt to enforce this provi!lion and make 

it effective for the 1995 climbing season, the 

agency issued an interim rule on d1e subject on 

March 31, 1995, just a few weeks before the climbing season began. The rule was to have become 

effective immediately. But because of the late 

issuance date for both the notice and the intenm 

rule, many foreign climbers were unaware of the 

early-application deadune, and in response, the 

PS waived the requirement for '995· That September, the agency issued a proposed (permanent) rule regarding both the fee and the 6o-day 

preregistration. No one responded during the 

public comment period, so in February 1996 the 

agency publi~hed a final rule, which became effective on March 25.'"" Ranger~ that year made a 

"lenient transition" toward both the fee imposition and the 6o-day requirement; beginning in 

1997 both rules were stricdy enforced.••? 

Between the mid-198os and the mid-1990s, modest changes were made in the regulation of the 

park's guides. As noted above, the number of 

guides operating in the "old park" was limited 

beginning in the 1981 climbing season, and for 

more than a decade the NPS issued just seven 

mountaineering permits per year. Outs1de of the 

old park, d1e number of annual CULs is~ued to 

guiding companies was more fluid; between 1985 

and 1995, the number of such companies was as 

high as fourteen or as low as two. During thb 

period, guides led about 30 percent of Mount 

McKinley climbers. ·•~ 

Most guiding companies, in both the old and new 

parks, played by the rules and had no problem 

298 Crown Jewel of the North· An Adm1ntstrat1ve H1story of Denali Nat1onal Park and Preserve 

obtaining their annual permits or licenses. But 

during the late 198os, Genet Expeditions began 

to come under scrutiny. This company, as noted 

above, was one of six that had been awarded an 

Old Park concessions permit during the winter 

of 1980-81. The company, formerly based in 

Talkeetna, was purchased by Harry Johnson of 

Anchorage in 1983. Johnson, with little difficulty, 

renewed the company's four-year permit during 

the winter of 1984-1985 and again during the 

winter of 1988-89.'"" In addition, the company 

received a CUL for New Park guiding beginning 

in 19R5 and continuing for the remainder of the 

decade."'" By the early 1990s the companywhich offered the services of such well-known 

climber!> as Vern Tejas, Dave Staeheli, and John 

Michaud- wa!l guiding 13 to 15 expeditions, 

with about 6o to 90 clients, each season. But 

both NPS rangers and rival guide services were 

criticiLing the firm (according to one account) 

because of "its aggressive promotions and for 

being roo gung-ho" about reaching McKinley's 

summit. In 1988, a Genet client had died soon 

after summiting d1e peak, in part because her 

guide was inadequately prepared. The NPS, in 

re&ponse, gave the company an unsatisfactory 

rating that year. But the company allowed dlis 

"pattern of unsafe practices" to continue, and it 

received poor NPS evaluations in both 1989 and 

1991. Given the company's 1991 performance, the 

NPS revoked Genet's concession permit in january 1992, effective immediately. 

johnson, Genet's leader, appealed the revocation, calling It "arbitrary, subjective and unsubstantiated:'"" But in mid-March, NPS Director 
In 1985, the pit toilet at the 14,200-

foot camp on the West Buttress o f Mt. 

McKinley provided quite a spectacular 

view. NPS Photo. Roge r Robinson 

Collection 

James Ridenour denied d1e appeal and noted 

that his decision was "the final administrative 

decisiOn in lhis matter." A monrh later, the firm 

filed ~uit against the NPS in district court over its 

1991 N PS evaluation. ln early May, Judge james 

Singleton ruled that while the NPS may have 

treated the company unfairly, the "ultrahazardous" activity m question gave the agency the authority ro rule against guides in order to protect 

climber safety. . .,, Later that year another judicial 

dccbion reinstated dle company's permit, but it 

was a Pyrrhic victory inasmuch as the permit wa~ 

set to expire in December 1992.''" 

Late in 1992, PS officials advertised for a 

sevenrh permittee and chose Alpine Ascents International (AAI), operated by Todd Burleson of 

Woodinville, Washington. AAl was awarded the 

permit in '993· But because this award was not in 

time for the year's climbing season, the practical 

effect of theN PS' award was dlat the park had 

six active mountameering permittees in 1992 and 

1993 bur seven permittees in '994· "'~ 

In mid- ovember 1993, not long after the AAI 

received its permit, Bob Jacobs-who owned a 

company that had not been chosen-filed suit 

against the NPS, because he believed dlat the 

selection process had been unfair. In mid-June 

1994, District Court Judge John Sedwick ruled 

on the matter. He stated dlat the NPS's selection 

had been "arbitrary" and "capricious." In a surprising twist, however, he voided AAI's permit 

becau e Burleson- apparently unbeknownst to 

NPS authorities-had been an illegal guide on 

Mount McKinley in June 1992, just before he had 

applied for dle concessions permit. Sedwick, 

therefore, stated that "the award to AAI must be 

sent back to the Park Service for furd1er consideration."•o> In July 1994, Sedwick gave the N PS 

three o ptions on how to proceed, one of which 

stated that the agency could "proceed for dlc 

time-being with one fewer concessioner." The 

N PS, in response, decided to not advertise for a 

replacement. Since that time, just six companies 

have guided clients up Mount McKinley and 

Mount Foraker.'"'' 

Burleson, it turned out, was not the only illegal 

guide on the mountain during dlis period. One 

guide was cited for illegal guiding in 1991, and 

in 1993 "several" miscreants were on the mountain, two of which were cited and fined a rota! 

of S9,100. A year later ilie N PS cited Rainer 

Bolesch, who wa~ leading a group of 14 clients 

up the mountain, and deported him back roGermany, and dlat same year, Wayne Mushrush-a 

former Genet guide was arrested for illegally 

guiding two Georgia men up the mountain. 

The men, moreover, were only part of a larger 

problem; as ranger J.D. Swed noted, "We've got 

a couple [of oilier people] that we're pretty convinced arc guiding, and a couple we're not sure." 

Swed and other N PS officials were well aware 

dlat "bandit guides" had been operating on the 

mountain for years-perhaps as early as the 

mid-198os-but 1994 was the fir~t time in several 

years that the agency decided to c rack down on 

dle practice!ft7 

Given the ever-increasing parade of climbers 

up McKinley each spring, the management of 

Chapter Thrrteen A Century of Mountarneenng 299 
In 1991 the suggested treatment for 

human waste was to bag it In biode· 

gradable plastic bags and deposit it 

In a deep crevasse. NPS Photo, Roger 

Robinson Photo 

garbage both tra~h and human wa~te wa.., a 

contmUJng problem area. Before the t<)8o..,, the 

only latnne on the moun tam wa~ at the Kahiltna 

base camp; It had been im.talled in 1977- Bul 

between 1982 and 1989, managers demanded the 

installation of latrine~ at the 14,.wo-loot camp, in 

the Sheldon Amphitheater, and at the 17,200 foot 

level. "' A report by chmbing ranger Bob ')ciben 

m 1989 \\Ltrncd that 1t w~ ··mort 1mportanr than 

ever for mountamcer!. to properly dispo~c of 

their human wa~te to prevenr the comammarion 

of snow .... When moving camp. uc the bags off 

and to~~ mto a deep crevasse. The U\e of hto· 

degradable pla~t1c bag!. 1~ recommended." _i\nd 

regarding rubbt~h dio;posal, he wrott that "many 

expeditions arc hauling their trash ro base camp 

where Jt i~ flown off the mountain. ')till other~ 

continue ro crcva~..,e rhe1r trash .... \1ountam 

eers of all narionalitics mmt take the e~ponsibility for, and the inttiative in, prescrvmg the 

quaJity of the world's mountam cnvmmments. 

A combmat10n of education, lcadmg h\ example, 

and peer pre'>~urc a re probably the most ctfccttve tool-. ... :· <;etbcrt, in another article, noted 

that foretgncrs appeared particular!\ negligent 

about packmg out their garbage becau~e they 

had traditionally littered and abanuoned the1r 

gear during expeditions."'" Hi~ advtcc, repeated 

in later year~. apparently worked: by July 1991, he 

was able to -.tate that the moun ram was cleaner 

than at anv ttme m m recent htstory. In order 

to effectively manage rhe problem, lw. ~ucce-.sor 

J.D. Swed expenmented in 1993 with thL removal 

of human wa'>tc m barrels hv helicopter from the 

variom mountain camps. (The NP~ abo J'>!.Ued 

citations for liucring in both of those year~.) In 

300 Crown J~wt>l ot the North A11 Adrnrmwau~e Ht~lory of Dt>rl<!il Nat•ondl Par~ and Pr~~rve 

199:;. ~wed di,patched two ranger'> to the 1-.ahJitna ba..,L c:lmp area for (l'<hh rcrnmal, human 

wa~tc cleanup, and crevas~e·marking duties. 

Rang~:rs contmued the~e dulic'> in the years that 

f(>llowcd. '" 

:\..,noted abmc. '\JPS Talkectna·bascd ranger<; 

dunng tht: mid-tq8o-, h\'cd in .1 mobile home 

ncar tht: W\\n·, railroad depot, nnd the) worked 

at the ru,tJL ( ;enet BUJidmg, Ill\! \outh of \bin 

Stn.:et near the Fau\·1ew Inn '-lhonly after the 

N PS oc<:upteJ this new oflke, toumts began 

\'J'>Jtmg tht• facili£Y. To cater to their interests the 

agencv imtalled an mterprcti\'e k10.,k JUSt outs1dc the buiiJmg. and an \la.,ka '\iatural Ht~tory 

Associat)()n outlet opened thcrt, operated by a 

-.easonal-.raff per..,on. In 1990, the 1\. PS replaced 

the trntler '' ith a new two .. wr~:v rL·sitlence, 

which was now on land owned hy th~.: \tateowned Ala.,ka Railroad . (~ec Chapter 9.) Atrer Jt 

wa.., completed, 1t 5erved ao, a dt'>trtct ranger\ office a., well a" a '>ea~onal ranger..,· re'>tdcnce. The 

agency, by Jl)84, also added a rt: ... cue ca.:he, tn a 

Concx trailer, whtch wa~ located on a ~eparate 

parceltust north of the ranger re.,ldcnce:"' 

')etbcrt contmucd servtng a~ the ~outh D1.,trict 

Ranger until the fall of 1991, when J.D. Swed 

replaced htm <\n admim.,trative <1'>.,1'>tam wa-. 

addeu 111 the agencv's workforce .,oon afterward. 

In IQQ), two ranger~ we re added w c~tablish 

a greater pre.,ence at the Kahtltna base camp 

for the variouo, cleanup durie., noted above; 

each year o,mcc then, a ranger hao, ..,pent mo~t 

or each Llunbing '>Cason at the Kahilrna base 

camp cngag~:d in a vanet\ of dutteo, The NPS, 
NPS rangers experimented w ith different methods of managing human 

waste on Mt. McKinley. Roger Robinson, in 2000, loaded a commercial 

river toilet tank onto the first fixedwing flight commissioned by the NPS 

to transport human waste from the 

Kahiltna Glacier base camp to Talkeetna. This flight carried three tanks, 

holding the accumulated human 

waste from a 3-week ranger patrol 

on Mt. McKinley, demonstrating the 

feasibility of removing human waste 

from the mountain. NPS Photo, Roger 

Robinson Collection 

during this period, considerably beefed up its 

staff; whereas the agency'~ only presence in 1984 

was the South District Ranger along with three 

seasonal mountaineering rangers and a Student 

Comervation Association (SCA) employee, and 

civilian mountain-patrol volunteers, new pennancnt personnel were added in 1990. By 1995 the 

agency had a district ranger, five mountaineering 

rangers, a fou r-person seasonal helicopter crew, 

an admini.,trative technician, thret: fcc collector<,, 

an SCA employee, and more than JO mountaineering volunteers from both the civilian and 

military rank:-.."' 

Recent Trends: 

Rescue, Access, and Waste Management 

The populanty of Alaska Range mounraincenng 

~oared during the 1970s and 198os; the number 

of people each year attempting to climb Mount 

McKinley, for example, shot up more than 400 

percenr during the 1970s (from 124 in 1970 to 

659 in 1980), and during the 1980s it mcreased 

another so percent or more (from 659 to 998 in 

1990). Between 1990 and 1995 ir climbed anod1er 

22 percent, to 1,220 c limbers. Since 1995 the 

annual number of climbers has stabiliLed; it has 

ranged from 1,110 (in 1997) up to 1,340 (in 2005), 

with an average figure of about 1,210 climbers per 

year . .z~.~ 

Beginning in 1995, mountaineers attemptmg to 

climb either Mr. McKinley or Mr. Foraker were 

required to pay a S150 fee to offset the costs of 

the park's mountaineering program. This fee, 

as specifically described m the December 1994 

regulation, did not mclude rescue costs. Histoncally, the costs of rescues-to the PS, to the 

State of Ala~ka, and to military authoritie~-hnd 

been largely dependent on the number of re~­

cue~ performed and had rypically totaled Sw,ooo 

to Sso,ooo per year. (Sec Figure).) But beginning in 1991, ~ubstan ti al new fixed costs had been 

added because the rps had a contract to ~ration 

a high-altitude Lama hehcopter at Talkeetna 

dunng the three-mond1 climbing ~cason. The 

co~ts of helicopter rental was S16o,ooo or more 

each year, to which were added incidenHpecific 

rescue costs (for d1e PS) plus additional costs 

to the Stnte of Alaska and the military. Because 

the cost of Alaska Range mountaineering rescues 

was a relatively small part of all Alaska rescue 

co:.ts, it was widely rccogniLed that the money 

spent on rescues-regardless of rhe1r cause-was 

a valid public expense. 

An incident in June 1998, however, caused officials to reconsider the sratu~ quo. A parry of ~ix 

British climbers on Mount McKinley disregarded warnings and advice from park rangers; injured and sick, the ~ix climbers had to be 

e~cued by helicopter from the 19,ooo-foot level, 

and the cmt of that rescue totaled S221,818.'" 

This widely-puhlicitcd incident, which resulted 

111 Denali's highest-ever rescue bill, caused Sen. 

Frank :vlurkowski, who chaired the Senate 

Energy and Natural Resources Committee, to 

take another look at rescue costs.2 '" A~ a Senate 

report noted, 

As d1e mountaineering program at 

Denali !about S742,ooo] accounts for 

almo~t one-third of the total cost of 

Chapter Thirteen A Century of Moun\dlneermq 301 
The Talkeetna ranger trailer was 

replaced In 1990 by a new 5-bedroom 

residence on the same site. Tom 

Habecker Collection 

By 1995 the Talkeetna Ranger Station 

staff had grown considerably. Front 

row, left to right. are Joe Reichert, 

helicopter mechanic Stan Bridges w1th 

h1s w1fe and baby, and Daryl Miller; 

m1ddle row, Miriam Valentme, 'Punky' 

Moore, Grete Perkins, Elame Sutton, 

SCA Elena Hinds; and back row, 

Kevin Moore, Dave Kreutzer. South 

District Ranger J. D. Swed, Eric Martin, 

Helicopter Pilot Doug Drury, and 

Roger Robinson. NPS Photo, Roger 

Robinson Collection 

the annu.ll.,orl.h and re'><..Ut a<..tl\'ltle-. 

for rhe enun: 1\.auonal Park ')\-.tem, 

some have que<,£1oned \',hcther '>Uch 

expenditure., for a very '>mall and 

select group of park user" j., ap 

propriat<..', and whether ... omc -,orl of 

re1mbur~cment for the co.,t ol rc.,cue-.; 

should he collectt•d. 1 

To find out mon:, \turkow ki came to Anchorage 

in late AuglN 1998 and held a commit lee hearing 

at the Anchoragc :\t u.,eum of Hi'>tnrv .tnd Art. 

At that hearing were \'ariou., PS rLpr<..''>enta· 

· o... rCNvr ........ ~ f 1.1 Norlh An Arlmm1strat ve H1story of Dena 1 N JUonal Pari and Preserv 

ti\'e' along\\ nh mountaineering guides, air taxi 

operator,, and m1htarv officer., 10 charge of 

:.earc.h .md re ... cue operation.,. At that hearing, it 

was re<..ogmted that the cmt of McKinley rescue 

operauom both civilian and military totaled 

roughly 1 m1lhon perycar. Murkowski,looking 

for \'v"a\' ro recoup -,orne ol tho-.c cost-., asked the 

\'anow. v. ltnC'>'>C., if It wa-, ume to 'tart requiring 

climbcr' to ha\'c imurancc, pt>'>t a bond, or pay a 

higher fec!'ft 

No coml'olenL rccommendanon., emerged from 

that hearing, <,o \turkow-,kl sought coum.el from 
On a typical afternoon in May 2001, 

one would see groups of climbers at 

the top of the headwall on the West 

Buttress route. The safety concerns 

about congestion in this area have 

contributed to an annual limit of 1500 

climbers on Mt. McKinley. NPS Photo, 

Roger Robinson ColleC1ion 

the Interior Department staff. On October 15, 

1998. in the closing days of the 105m Congress, he 

introduced a bill calling for the Interior Secretary to "submit a report on the feasibility and 

desirability of recovering the costs of high altitude lifesaving missions on Mount McKinley in 

Denali ational Park and Preserve, Alaska." The 

primary cost-recovery methods to be considered 

in the report would be eid1cr "proof of insurance or a bond iliat is sufficient to pay the costs 

of a rescue" or ''proof of health insurance that 

b '>ufficient to pay medical and hospital costs of 

treatment for injuries that may reasonably be 

anticipated to be :.ustamed on a climb.""" 

The following March, Senator Murkowski submitted a new bill for the to6'h Congress ro consider. Slightly modified from ilie previous bill, it 

dropped previous language specifying a discussion of insurance or a bond. instead, it had three 

provisions: to "report on the suitability and feasibility of recovering the costs of high altitude rescues on Mt. McKinley:· to comment on the need 

for proof of medical insurance, and to "review 

the amount of fees charged for a climbing permit 

and make such recommendations for changing 

the fee strucnrre as d1e Secretary deems appropriate."''" Murkowski held a May 13 hearing 

on the hill; at that hearing, lnterior Department 

official Stephen C. Saunders approved two of 

the bill's provisiOns, bur urged the removal of 

the medical-msurance provision because "this 

is an issue between the private citi;en, hb family 

and his doctors:' not the federal government. 

Despite his testimony, the Energy and Natural 

Resources Committee unanimom.ly passed ilie 

original bill, which on june 9 was reported to the 

full Senate. On November 19, 1999 d1c full Senare pa sed it- still unamended- by unanimous 

consent. Action then moved on to the House of 

Representatives, where it wa~ hurriedly passed 

on October 24, 2000, in the waning days of the 

1o6'h Congress. President Clinton signed the bill 

on ovember 9.w 

The bill :,tated that the lntenor Department 

would have a report back to Congress on the 

matter wiiliin nine monilis of the bill's passage. 

In respome, the NPS detailed Mount Rainier's 

lead mountaineering ranger, Mrke Gauthier, 

to complete a mountain climber rescue cost 

recovery study. Gauthier worked with a variety 

of NPS staff as well as the American Alpine 

Club on the report, and he also gailiered public 

comment from a wide varie ty of agencies and 

private organitations. The PS completed the 

report, as required by Congress, in August 2001, 

and the lnterior Department 1ssued the final 

C hdpter Thtrteen A Century of Mountvmeenng 303 
In 1987, summer tourists, as well as 

climbers, were greeted at the log 

cabin ranger station in Talkeetna. 

NPS Photo. Roger Robinson Collection 

report m carh 2002. ' The agenC} rc~ponded 

ro the report\ three pmvi::.iono., a:. follow-.: 1) it 

recommended "that the current rolicv of nor 

charging for ~carch and re<,cuc be continued," 2) 

it recommended "not rcqlllring proof of medical 

tm.urancc at thro., rime," anu 3) it srareu that ""an 

additional so oo fee ~hould be added to the current Stso.oo n:gto.,tr:ltlon fcc" and that all cltmbcr!> in the park and prc'>crve not just thoo,c on 

1\lount "-.1cKmlcy and Mnunr Foraker ..,Jwuld 

be required to rcgi::.ter. I he 1\, PS madc no 

immediate mo\'es to rmo.,e fee-. or im.tltute other 

regulattom; 11 Jid, however, note that addmonal 

climbing fcc;. could be expected in the not 

roo-distant future. Thu'> tt w;u, nor parrkularh 

-;urpn-;mg when, m 2005, ~.;e.., were rai.,cd from 

150 to 200 per climber. ' 

Parkwide plannmg effort~ al~n began ro 1m pact 

Ala::.ka Range mountaineers during thi~ tunc 

The park\ 9~~-86 general management plan, for 

examplt:, madt no anempt to regulate ... outh,tdc 

actlvitte" (imtead, it encouragcd greater u-.c bv 

both mountaineers and lly-in vi!>itor::.), and the 

1993-97 South Stde (South Slope) Development 

Concept Plan similarly U\<>idcd any management 

action.., related to mountamc~.:nng and glac1er acce~~- But dunng the 1997 climbing ~cason, park 

manager~ rc:cognited hcc Chapter 10) that -.orne 

regulation needed to be applted to the vanous air 

taxi and !hght"eeing tour opcrawr<; that '>hurtled 

between lalkcerna and variou::. glacil:f air~trip'>. 

They dec1dcd, therefore, to s~uc concess1om 

permit~ rather than mctdcntal busine~'> pcrmit5 

to the e1ght cxl>.tmg firms that carried on that 

304 Crown Jewel ot lhe North An Admmr~tr o~e H Slvry of Del"\d 1 NatlOrldl Pari dlld Ptf"Se(llt> 

trade. [ight of thc;.c li\'e-rear permit-. were i!>-

~ucd tn 1997 and earl~ 1998. ll1e agency':. actiOn 

did nor limit the total number of flights to and 

from the park':. glacJCrs; it did, however, limit 

tbc number of compame" that cuuh.l conrinue 

the..,e f11ghtc;, Due to merger<, and attn non, 

the number of actl\·c rur-taxt and flightseeing 

scrnce-. in :wo6 was IU ~t half that of 1998; in early 

2007, the PS t<;sued ten-year permits ro these 

four earner~. · 1 

RcwgniLing the problems ;u,::.ociated with longterm growth 111 backcountry Vlsitallon and 

more specifically in the number of climbers, 

snowmachiners, fhglw.eemg tounst~ and air taxi 

patrom park management in IQ99 began ro 

prepare a backcountrv managemenr plan. (Supcnntcndent Steve Marrin, who spearheaded the 

elfort , candidly noted rhar "It isn't that we have 

a lot or problem:. right now, bur we need t<> plan 

ahead to know where we're gomg:') Preparmg the Jraft plan, a-. noteJ in Chapter I<>, wa~ 

'>Uhlecl w several delays, hut by February 2003 

park ~taffhad completed and relca~cd the park\ 

Backccmlltry Managcmoll Plan, General MaiiOKC'IIlt'/1/ Plan, {and] l m•mmmental Statement. 

A~ Supennrendcnt Paul Anderf>on (Marrin's 

replan~mcnt) noted ~omewhat later, the plan's 

purro~c was to "describe the futu re for glacier 

landmg~. air taxi opcralOrs, the number of climber.., on \1oum rvtcKinley and managmg \nowmachmmg in the park addtttons."''" 

1 he draft plan rccogntted the increa::.cd imrortance 111 several way~. All of the four action 
Summer visitors have the option of 

flightseeing in the Alaska Range, 

and can also experience landing 

on a glacier. Tourism has grown in 

numbers and variety of opportunities. 

NPS Photo 

alternatiVes, for cxample, dclmeated the Kahiltna 

Glacier- We~t Butrreo.,~ roure up r..\ount ly1cJ<..tn -

ley a~ a 9,907-acrc "mountaineering ..,pecial u~e 

area" which allmwd for ··e.,tablishcd climbmg 

routco., and admmi~trativc camr.,:· (The mtended "o\'erall character" in that an:a "fecl..,like a 

-,en e., of e<.,tabli.,hcd \\ tldcrne~., camp., connected bv a trail - r~ mote 111 location yet Vl'n -,ocial 

with many ~Ign ... of human prc ... cnce."J \'i~itor.., 

to that area might "encounter up to 2oo climbers per day·· between April and .July.''" Aircraft 

nlll<.,c. c\·cn at the highe.o.,t elevations. wa ... ab(l a 

concern! 10 In addition. all altcrnati\e~ mcorporared a -.erie~ of "portal area-." and "climbing and 

mountaineenng o.,tud' area~" ro cncompa'>~ other 

popular glacier landmg site-. and climbing route.,. 

The plan idenntled ten small portal area'>, where 

relative!) high u~e len: I~ and interaction le\·e!., 

were anticipated; the'>e area~ were locllted \\ 1thm 

five largcr-~ited mountameering o.,tudy an.:n.,, 

where uo.,e (eyefo.,-though lower than 111 portal 

area<. would be higher than m the ... urrnunding 

countn ~Id~o: .'•' 

Altcrnatin? D, the "'- PS \ preferred alternative, 

'rated that the agency would limit tn r,;oo the 

number of annual permits it i-,..,uetl to :\lounr 

,\lc "-mk:; climber~. Thi!-.limit wao., <1 comproml'•e bet\\'t•en a r, wo· permit limit (a~ recommended m alternative ... Band C) and Alternative 

E, wh1ch ... et no annual limit:,. The pl•.m made 

no limlt:Hion ... on where a1r taxi lmdmg ... could 

take pl::!cl! in the "Jew Park. Regarding .,c.:enic 

tour (I.e., flight-•cemg) landing-., the alternative 

~rated that at three of the ten portal areas Ruth 

Amphitheater, Kahiltna Base Camp, and Pika 

Glacier (m Little SwitL.erland)- the ]\, PS "woultl 

allow h1gher levels of scenic tour me than would 

he true of the ~urrounding management area," 

and nt "-ahiltna a~e Camp, there would be no 

limitation on the number of scenic landmg~. 

~Cl'lliC tour landings would abo be allowed in 

mall)' other area~ south of the Alaska Range, 

rhough the'\ PS would work with thght serv1ce.., 

on "contract pro\'isions ro achiC.:n: desired resourct:: com!Jtion::.." 1

' 

,\..,noted in Chapter 10, N PS officials ..,poke\\ irh 

\arious maJOr u ... er groups about their oppo~ition 

to the draft plan, some of whom repre~entcd 

mountamccnng-related Interest~. Point-topomt a1r taxi operators were able to move from 

<1 ~eric'> of prescriptive actiom (as stated in the 

drafl plan) to a ~cr es of desired conditions. And 

scen1c a1r tour operators, who had grumbled that 

the 1\:PS wa ... on rhc verge of setting up a quota 

'Y'>tem, were able to work out a '>ystem in which 

their actJ\ Itics were governed by encounter rate~ 

and activity lc\'cls rather than '1m pic volume. 

\final area of contenrion dealt with climbing. 

Here, language in the draft remamed; American 

,\I pine Club leader~. despite initial prote<,t,, 

~amc to recogn11e that an annual limit of I,')OO 

climbers made 'ense.'ll 

In Apnl2oo'j, the: agency rclca,cd a revised draft 

of ih backcounrry management plan. Thi.., plan. 

consl'>tenr with the draft, had a 9,907·acre Wc;t 

Chapter Tiurteen A Century of MOtJnlillll!'P!InCJ 30') 
This 2007 photo shows the Kahiltna 

Glacier base camp as a busy airport. 

with aircraft arriving and departing 

a nd climbers waiting for flights. NPS 

Photo, Roger Robinson Collection 

Buttress Special Use area that provided a ''seasonal route to d1e summit of Mount McKinley 

lhat can accommodate large number~ of climbers during me primary climbing season." The 

revised plan retained a t,soo-climbcr annual limir 

for Mount McKinley. As to air access, it stated 

lhat the agency "would impose new rcgtstration reqUJrements only in areas where use levels 

are suffictent enough that user conflicts and/or 

re5ource damage are occurring" or were likely 

to occur. The plan, moreover, stated that "it is 

likely that overnight use and winter day usc from 

the Kahiltna Glacier cast would meet mcse criteria in the near future." Air taxi landings would 

be allowed mroughout the New Park, but scenic 

atr tour landings would be allowed in all of the 

portal area~ that had been identified in the draft 

plan. Landings would not be restricted at the 

Kalljltna Base Camp, but only if landings wok 

place before july 1. Finally, the plan beefed up 

its wi dernes~ management recommLndations by 

adding a detailed climbers' guidance on dlc use 

of fixed and removable anchors.' 14 

The final backcountry management plan, whtch 

was issued in january 2006 and became effective 

in mid-March, was virtually identical to merevised draft as it pertamed to mountameering and 

Alaska Range aircraft acccss!l' The approval of 

d1at plan had few immediate impacts. Later that 

year, the NPS announced that beginning in 2007, 

it would begin enforcing the 1,soo-climber limit 

on Mount McKinley. This was not expected 

to have any short-term implicatiom, however, 

306 Crown Jewel of the North An Adrn1mstrat1ve H1story of Denah Nat1onal Par~ and Pr~sf'rve 

; 

inasmuch as the annual number of climbers had 

~tabih;ed in recent years and had not yet exceeded I,Jso.,1" Another by-product of the plan's 

passage wa~ mat glacier tour operators' flights 

would be limited to a 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. window 

and mat landmgs would be allowed only in previously-popular areas. The PS, however, spent 

considerable time with the Talkeetna air services 

on these change~, me results being that d1e limits 

merely codified standard business practices!1

7 

The problem of trash and human waste, which 

had been a focus of NPS concern since me 1970s, 

has been attacked m new and innovative ways 

in recent years. As noted above, NPS rangers during me 198os responded to the growmg 

number of climbers (and what they left behind) 

by instituting a formal orientation ro climbers at 

me agency's Talkeetna Ranger Station; by providing booklets 10 several languages encouraging a 

"pack tr in-pack it our" phllosophy; by installing 

pit toilets on the mountain (in 1982 one had been 

mstallcd at the 14,200-foot camp, plus another 

in 1989 at the !],2oo-foor level, to supplement 

the 1977 facility at the Kahiltna base camp); and 

by levying littering citations. By the late 198os, 

mountaineering rangers were asking climbers 

to haul meir trash back ro base camp, and mey 

were asking climbers to deposit human waste 

in biodegradable plastic bags and dbcard mem 

"into a deep crevasse." Given these measures, 

climbing ranger Bob Seibert stated in 1991 that 

me mountain was cleaner man at any time in its 

recent history. 
A common s1ght on the West Buttress 

route in recent years, this hne of 

climbers is ascending the steepest, 

most difficult section of the West But· 

tress headwall between 15,500 feet 

and 16,200 feet. The fixed ropes are 

now managed by the National Park 

Service for use by all. NPS Photo. 

Roger Robinson Collection 

But the ongomg crush of climber~ more 

than a thousand per year. 1hc great maJonrv 

of them along the concentmted \X'cst Bunress 

route- demanded additional mea<;urc.., to full) 

address the problem. In 1995 thanks to the 

fee-based revenue new version'> of the park's 

mountaineering brochures (la~t produced in the 

late 198os) became avmlable in Korean, Italian. 

and Russian as well a~ German, French, Spani~h.Japanese, and English.'1

R Those booklets, 

produced by the Alaska arural History Association, asked climbers to carry all litter and garbage 

off the mountain, to leave no permanent food 

or supply caches, to carefully prorecl temporary 

food caches (primanly from damage caused by 

ravens), and to remove all privately-installed 

fixed chmbing lines!'" 

Most chmbers, m response to the new booklets, 

took the anti-littering me<>sage to heart. But 

some-parncularlv forctgners pmd scant attention to it, and rangers in 1995 reported that 

''trash, left by inconsiderate climbers, IS found 

along the West Buttre<,~ route especially on the 

lower glacier. .. . ll is mandatory to pack our all 

trash, extra food and fuel." Tht~ trash buildup 

forced rangers, in 1996, to remove some 2,ooo 

pounds of debris from the lower Kahiltna, and 

m 1997, one mountameenng patrol cleaned 

up more than 700 pounds of garbage from I he 

14,2oo-foot camp alone. Recognwng that much 

of the genermcd rrash consisted of one-gallon 

fuel can:., a Prescort College '>tudent named Enc 

RemLa looked into the problem during the summer of 1998 and discovered that almost one-third 

of all expedinom left at lea!>t one fuel can on Lhe 

mountain. PS ranger!., in respon!>e, Initiated a 

mandatory lucl-can return !>ystem in 1999, and 

more than go percent of tho~e surveyed complied with the new rule!·'" 

Encouraged by the!>c result&, and hoping to do 

much more. Denali ranger~ in 2000 initiated a 

comprehen!>ive tra.-.h and human wa!>te management program. To each climber. they distributed blue pla~tic hag~ (to be used for garbage) and 

clear plastic bag_-. (to be used for human waste). 

ln order to monitor chmber~· garbage, rangers 

weighed chmbcr'>' food at the beg,tnning of each 

ascent and then wetghcd the climbers' trash 

and remaintng food upon thetr return. Rangers 

quickly dbcovered (according to their annual 

report) that "tra~h return rate., improved &imply 

because of the increased atten tion" paid climbers 

by PS staff. "Ranger., reported a stgnificant decrease in garbage found in the popular camps," it 

Chapter Th111..en A Century of Mounta1neenng 307 
Lead Mountameering Ranger Roger 

Robmson holds a Clean Mountaon 

Can, the second model produced, in 

2002 This particular CMC had been 

dropped by accident from the West 

Bunress headwall and had fallen and 

rolled over 2000 feet, surviving without damage. proving the durability of 

thos newly-invented container NPS 

Photo, Roger Robinson Collection 

noted, "and I >eruli appeared to bl· much cleaner 

than in) car~ pasr:· The fnllnwin~ ~ l'lr, thi' procc ... -. \\a-. applied more broad h. borh to tra.,h and 

to fuel can .... ·1 ht.:· darn collected 111 .moll, 111 turn. 

gm·c rangl·rs the tnfmmatmn the) needed"' 

that furure expedition ... could pad:age their f111ld 

in order to mmtmtte wa.,re."' Ranger,, 111 later 

year,, continued to require th.n climber., h.nd all 

of their garbage hack to the Kahiltna h;hc camp, 

and alter the 2003 ... ea ... on. they noted that they 

"generally had \'cry good wmpltancc.'' • 

A~ to human wa~tc. mo't climber., m .2ooo were 

asked to u~L' dear pln~t1c bag,,\\ hid1 could 

be .. ~lotted" 11110 crc\'as-.e'>. Thnt '-<ll11l' n·ar. 

308 Crown Jew€1 of the Nortl Ar Aclrr onoSUdt ve Hostorv of Dc•1 >.J~· or dl Park a~>d Po r. 

howc\'l'f, nwunraineenng ranger Roger Robin-

'"n Implemented a new idea: tht.: u .. c of pla~tJc, 

rectangular container., that could -.en·e a<. a 

port.lblc toilet. The-.<: boxc., were already in use 

ti1r 11\'er lra\'elcr~. and to rc ... r the concept on the 

mountain, he a'ked four '>talf voluntt.:•cr.., to try It 

out dunng a 2o-dm patrol. He di~cm·crcd that 

the w ... tcm, while: not perfect, wa., fea~1ble for 

more: large-scale u .. c.<-~ During rhe followmg 

wtntcr, Robin ... on worked with a manufacrurcr on 

an nnpro\'ed concept, and together they worked 

out rhe lighter, c;rnallcr, and cylindncal Clean 

,\!ountatn Can (( \1C). \\ith a $2,400 grant from 

the 1\merican Alptnc Club, so prototype camsters 

\\'ere produced, which wa~ ~uffkicnt to '-Upply 
Joe Reichert (right) provides Clean 

Mountain Cans to climbers at the 

14,200-foot camp. NPS Photo. Roger 

Robinson Collection 

21 expeditions during the 2oor climbing ~easnn. Most of the!>e group!> headed up the West 

Buttress, and a few took CMCs all the way up to 

the ry,2oo-foot "high camp." The response from 

u!>cr~ d1at year wa~ generally pmitive; a~ Robinson noted, "There's no que~tion it's a doable 

thmg." The cam, he stated, were "the way of the 

future."~• 

Robinson recognited that the 17,200-foot "high 

camp" wa~ one of the most heavily-impacted human wa5te areas on the mountain, e\'en though 

a larrine had been located there since 1989, and 

climbers knew that the site was "exceptionally 

filthy." To prevent fu rther deterioration at the 

camp, he required a ll climbers u~ing the camp 

for a 20-day period during 2002 to use a CMC.'-'' 

ln order to implement the new requirement, the 

NPS purchased 220 of these cylinders and distributed 150 of them at the rangers' 14,200-foor 

camp during a 30-day trial period. It proved so 

popular that in 2003, almost every climber who 

vi~itcd "high camp" brought along a CMC, and 

the idea also gained wide support from ~evcral of 

the commercial guidmg lirms. By lhe end of the 

2003 season, Robinson was able to reporr that 

''at the I7,2oo-foot high camp, the human impact 

on this desolate location has significandy improved .... the trash has been eliminated and ... 

almost all human waste is carried off." Indeed, 

the high camp latrine was rrself hauled away that 

year.'•'' 

Emboldened by the success of the program thus 

far. the PS rangers decided to purcha~e hundreds of new CMC~ and distribute them during 

the 2004 climbing season ro all climbers at either 

the Kahiltna base camp (for West Buttress climbers) or Talkeetna (for those attempting other 

Alaska Range climbs). The experiment proved 

les~ than successful, however, because ~orn e West 

Ruttress climbers cached their CMC during their 

asce t~. Rangers, as a result, decided to go back 

ro their earlier pattern of distributing them at the 

14,2oo-toor camp to emure their use on Mount 

McKinley\ higher lope~ !•7 

In 2006, NPS rangers started di~rributing CMCs 

in Talkeetna as part of the check-in process; 

since d1at rime, climbers have bt!en asked to keep 

the cans throughout their trek and return them 

to Talkeetna afterward. The park's backcountry management plan, which was approved in 

Febnrary of that year, stated that climbers would 

be requrred rouse CMCs for all human waste 

above 14,200 feet elevation on the West Buttress 

route and within one-half mile of air taxi landing sites. A compendium entry ~>sued in 2007 

wa~ even more c.:omprt:hensivt!. It required that 

Wel>t Buttress route climbers deposit all waste in 

a container; below the rs,ooo-foor level, waste 

could be bagged and tos~ed into a crevasse, but 

above that elevation, CM Cs were necessary for 

all human waste."~' 

These two major effort~ to eliminate litter and 

human waste-were remarkably successful in 

cleaning up Mount McKinley. particularly the 

West Buttress route, and a number of longtime 

climbers provided te~>timo ia s to how clean the 

route was in comparison to climbs during the 

1970s and 198os. Rangers wert! only roo aware, 

Cttapter Tl11rteen A Century of Mounta111eennq 309 
The new Talkeetna Ranger Stat1on 

opened in the spring of 1 997. It 

provides oHices for the Talkeetna NPS 

staH, areas for mountaineer orienta· 

tion and visitor contacts, and a base 

for search and rescue operations. NPS 

Photo 

however, thai 'orne climber' still did nut seem w 

be envm>nmentall} aware. ( Rohmsc>n, in .2003, 

noted that "o,omc climber., '>till pollute although 

those caught are fined 100 dollar~.") Sa nita· 

non and garbage wuulJ always be a concern 

because, accordlllg to Robm'>on, "II rhc Park 

Ser.'lce wasn't there w police people. they'd go 

back to rhe1r old wavs." And, mdeed. expencnce 

10 recent years has undcr.,cnred the fact that 

many mountaineer\ perhap'> due ro rheir sheer 

exhaw.tion from c.:ltmbmg arc unlikely to keep 

high-altitude camps clean without the prodding 

of either a gutde or ranger. ''' 

Finally, recent year., have abo witnc~~cd the 

establishment of a fully functional facilit} which 

integrated the needs of Ala~ka Range climber-., 

the park'~ south \Ide VIsitors, and park ~tatf. As 

noted above, lalkeetna ba-,ed l\ PS ranger'> had 

hved in ad hoc, remporan quanc.:r ... until1983 

when It wa-. able to lca ... e Ra, Genet\ log cabm; 

rangers moved into the fac.:ilil"\ m 1984 and began 

using the :.ite for both mountaineering orientation and visitor contacts tn the .,pnng ()f 1985. 

The cahtn, however, wa' "definttelv Alaskan" 

and sub~tandard; it W;l~ heated With a wood~tove 

and had neither plumbing nor an uuthou!>c. 

Rang r~. dunng rhi~ period, lived in a singlewide trailer near the Ala'>kn Rutlroad tracks. But 

during the late 1980'>, rs offictals recognited 

the need l(>r more sub~tan lial facilities. In 1990, 

the agency built a nc.:w, two-,lorcy rc~idencc on 

its parcel near the r<lilroatl, and\\ hen completed, 

it served as the dr~tnct ranger\ otlicc a~ well a!> 

a restdence. \leanwhile, the agenc) wa.., also 

moving m 'lecurc a more .. ub-.tannul facihl"\ ro 

310 Crown Jewl!l of Jhe No1tt1 An Adrn1n1~trat1v<> H1storv of Denali N.ili011al P 1rk .md PreS€'rve 

replace the Gc.:net cabm. In fiscal ve::tr 1989, the 

'\IPS allotted fund~ for purchasmg a site for a furure Talkeetna "vi.,itor concacr center." Interest 

iniually focu-.ed on purchasmg and 1m proving 

the propem· contamJllg the Genet cabin.''" But 

mjunc 1990, Talkeetna rcsrdcnr Phillip Wallona told"'' PS offic1als of hh interc~t m selling 

a 22,500-squarc-foot (oAf!-acre) three-lor traer 

at the northea'>t corner of hr~t Avenue and B 

Street In December r<.)yo, JOint owners Phillip 

and Judy Wallona accepted the Park Service's 

S74,500 offer to purchase the property, and the 

formal property transfer lliOk place on August 

16, 1991. ,,, 

During the period that the Wallona~ and the 

, PS agreed ro term(>, planners in the agency's 

Denver ScrviCl C..enrer "'ere workmg on a document thai mrght han: brought a much larger 

vtsJtor factlrt\ to the Talkeetna area. A~ noted in 

Chapter 9· planner~ 1s~ued a preliminary version 

of the -.o-called South Slope De\·elopment Concept Plan in latt· 1990: that plan. among its other 

prm.r~ion.,, envtsioncd a Vl'>iror center etther in 

Talkeerna or w1thm Denali ~tate Park. Then, in 

,\larch 1991 , planner~ completed a draft environmenral as-.e-.~mcnt that propo~cd a 15 million, 

14,ooo-c,quare-foot vtsitor center on a bluff about 

a mile south of Talkeetna. Many local residents 

were oppo-.ed to the VJ'>itor center; more than 

soo, in fact, '-lgned a pemion a-;ktng rhc agency 

to place the facilnv ebev.·here. In February 1992, 

the !\IPS tssued an "altcrnatin:s workbook" for 

the plan. That workbook offered four altema-

·e~. one of\\ h1ch recommended a Talkeetnaarea ' l' .. itor center ' 
First hired by the NPS as a permanent 

mountaineering ranger in June 1991, 

Daryl Miller became the South District 

Lead Mountaineering Ranger in 1997, 

in charge of all mountain operations. 

Daryl, pictured here on the West 

Buttress of Mt. McKinley in 1998, 

became the South District Ranger in 

2000. Daryl Miller Collection 

Despite continued oppO!>Ition, the P in May 

1993 released its draft South Slope Development Concept Plan. The agency's proposed 

action called for the immediate construction of 

a IO,ooo-~q foot visilOr ct•n tc r elsewhere 

combined with the possible fu ture construction of a t6,ooo-!lquare-foot visitor center near 

Talkeetna, "but only tf the need for a ~outh slope 

hotel/recreational complex there was clearly established.''' ' Of those oppo'>cd to the plan, tho~e 

mosr vehemem were falkectna -a rca rcsidenrs, 

who loudly denounced any plan that included a 

visitor center or hotel in their mid'>t. o '>trong 

was their opposition rhat park superimendent 

Russ Berry agreed to proceed no further with the 

south slope planning proccs~, and serious discussion of a major Talkeetna fac11I ty evaporated soon 

afrerward.''4 The ongoing visitor center proposals made Talkeetna residents understandably 

wary of the NPS's intentions, and in response 

the agency assured residents that the proposed 

facility at the wesr end of the Talkeetna townsite 

would be a mountaineering center and nor a 

general-purpose vi!'.itor center. 

Throughout this period, the P':> rncd to secure 

construction funding for the cenrer. In 1993, 

Superintendent Berry glumly reported that "construction of the mounta10eering contact station 

... fell behind schedule [thl'> year] and must be 

now readied for 1995." Meanwhile, de ign work 

was well underway bv early 1994, and in 1995 the 

NPS awarded a contract to Wolverine ~upply, 

Inc. of Wasilla. Construction began later that 

yea r.>s> Thanks to the efforts of NPS a rchitect 

Brad R1ch1e, the "spaCIOll~ and functional new 

building" was completed 10 December 1996 (see 

Chapter 11 ). The following spring, the center 

opened it'> doors to both climhe ~ and the publi c, 

and on June 6, Bradford and Barbara Washburn 

brought a crowd ro the center to help celebrate 

the 5011' anniversary of M!!. Washburn's Mount 

McKinley conque-.t as part of "Operation White 

Tower.''''" 

The Talkeema Mountamecnng Center, known 

more informally as the Talkeetna Ranger ration, 

quickl) became popular With both mountaineers and other tourist-'>, and before long the PS 

recogniLed the need for an adjacent parking 

area. In 2002, it had the opporruniry to purchase 

property JUSt north of the Wallonas' onginal 

parcel. James and Susan Kellard offered the 

PS an 8,750 ·quare foot (o.2o-acrc) tract that 

encompassed portions of three town lots. That 

September, the NPS purchased the unimproved 

traer for S66,ooo.''' 

Since 1995, the park\ mountaineenng ~talfhas 

gradually mcreased 10 number. In 1995, as noted 

above, South District Ranger J.D. Swed led a 

crew of five mountameering rangers, a fourper on seasonal helicopter crew, an administrative techmcian, three fee collectors, a Srudenr 

Conservation fu.llOCiation employee, and more 

than 30 volunteers. In 2000, Swcd left Denali 

for a park unit m Indiana. Soon afterward he 

was replaced by Daryl Miller, who had served as 

a mountaineering ranger at the park since 1991; 

and Roger Robinson, who had first worked as a 

Chi!pter ThtriE'Pn A CPntury of Mouniatneenng 311 
mountamcenng ranger 1n rq!lo, became the Lead 

~lounramcering Ranger. ':>rnce the mtd 1990~ 

the di!>tncr\ mb~ion ha' broadened considerably, and rn 2006 the Talkeetna-bru.cd -,tatT 

included 'vllller. Rohrmon. erghr mountarncoenng 

ranger!> (about half of them permanent emplovees). a four-per,on helicopter crew, three \' I 51 tor 

use assistant<;, an interpretive ranger, a park 

planner. a Janitor. and almo-.t 40 mountameenng 

volunreer,. ·· 
Notes - Chapter 13 

Tom Walker, Kan/lshna. Mmers, Mushers. and Mountameers (Missoula. P1ctonal H1stor1es. 2005). 6-14 

These two geographical features were unnamed at the t1me but were later named for member~ of th1s party 

1 Walker. Kant1shna. 161-78 

' 64' Congress, 1" Sess1on. Senate Report No 440, May 15, 1916, Congressional Record 64 (Februilry 19, 

1917). 3630 

See, for example, NPS, "Supenntendent's Monthly Report" for Mount McKinley National Park, June 1923. 2-3 

'W1lham E Brown. A H1story of the Denai1-Mount McKmley Reg1on, Alaska {Santa Fe. NPS. 1991 l. 174-76 

1 SAR, Apnl 1932, 3. May 1932. 1, 3, Grant H Pearson w1th Phdtp Newill, My Lde of H1gh Adventure. 125-28, 

150-58 

s R A Mewaldt, "CosmiC Rays," 1n http.//W'NIN sri caltech.edu/personneVdiCk/cos-encyc html; 'What Are 

CosmK Rays?," 1n http.//W'NIN ast.leeds.ac uklhaverah/cosrays shtml. "V1ctor F Hess," 111 http//nobt>lpnze 

org/nobel pnzes/phystcs/laureates/1936/hess-bto html, Enc Wilham Grashorn, A Search for a Cosm1c Ray 

Pomt Source w1th the MINOS Far Detector (unpublished M.S thes1s), Umvers1ty of Mrnnesota, August 2005, 

Germame Be1ser and Arthur Be1ser. The Story of CosmiC Rays (New York. E P Dutton, 1962l. 21-23 

• "The HJstory of Cosm1c Ray Studres, 1900-1949," 1n http //hellos gsfc.nasa gov/hlst 1900 html, MJChilel 

Sfraga, Bradford Washburn, a Life of Exploration (Corvallis, Oregon State Un1v Press, 2004), 155. 

11 Berser and Be1ser. The Story of Cosm1c Rays. 25-27, 32-33, Brown, A History, 191, Seward Gateway, Apnl 

18, 1932 3; Pearson. MyLdeofHtghAdventure, 128, 158-59 

11 Pearson, My Lde of High Adventure. 128, SMR. March 1932 3 

'· Brown, A Htstory. 191 

"Pearson, My Ltfe of H1gh Adventure, 159-64, 226, SMR, Apnl 1932, 3, May 1932, 3 Dunng tlw \trrnmer of 

1932, rangers retneved Koven's body and had It transported to h1s wrdow rn New Jersey SMR, July 1932, 3, 

August 1932 3 

,. SMR, July 1934, 8, August 1934. I. 7-8; Brown. A H1story. 191. Roger Robtnson ema1l, January 30, 2007 

' Sfraga, Bradford Washburn, 35-38, 87-88, 173 

,, Ibid' 174 

1 Lary M D1lsaver. ed . Amenca's National Park System the Cnucal Documents (Lanham Md . Rowmctn and 

Llttlefreld, 1994), 50, 63 

' As noted rn Theodore Catlon, Wonderland An Admmistrallve H1story of Mount Ram1er Nat1onal Park 

(Seattle. NPS, May 1 996). pp 99 and 258, the Mount Rarnrer NatiOnal Park supenntendent was hcensrng 

the park's chmbrng gurdes by 191 1, s1x years later. th1s serv1ce was as~umed by the park concessronPr In the 

Grand Tetons, climber Paul Petzoldt began servmg as the area's first profess1onal gUJde 1n 1924. frve years 

before Congress established the pi!rk Reynold G Jackson, "Pilrk ot the Matterhorns." 1n John Daughtery, A 

Place Called Jackson Hole a H1stortc Resource Study of Grand Teton National Park (Moose. Wyo . Grand Teton 

Natural History Assooat1on, 1999), Chapter 16 

• Federal Regtster 1 (June 27, 1 936), 676 

10 Bestor Rob1nson to Frank Been. November 14. 1939. 1n F1le 201 15, Box 74. CCF, RG 79. NARA SB 

'Arne B Cammerer, "Memorandum for thE> Washmgton OffKe and all Freid OffJCes," March 29. 1940, rn 

Ftle 201 15, see above. Indeed. a revtsed ed11ton of the NPS's rules and regulatrons, published tn the spnng 

of 194 1 (see Federal Reg1ster 6(March 26, 194 1]. 1 629), was 1dentical to the orrgrnal ( 1 936) versron except 

that the new erltt1on added the vanous Teton Range peaks-Grand Teton. Middle Teton. and South Teton-to 

regulatrons that had prev1ously been applied only to peaks 1n Mount McKmley and Mount Ra1n1er natrona! 

parks A later act ron (Federal Reg1ster 7 [Aprrl 18. 1 942]. 2906) extended those regulations to Devtls Tower 1n 

Dev1ls Tower Nauonal Monument 

n Arno B Cammerer, "Memorandum for the Washmgton Offrce and all F1eld Otf1ces." March 29, 1940, m Frle 

201 15, see above 

• Pearson, My Life of Htgh Adventure. 226-29 

·• Federal Reg1ster 9 (September 7, 1944). 11 009 

J' SMR, September 194 7, 1, November 1948, 2. Jerrol G Coates to Dave Johnston, November 27. 1 962, m 

Folder 65, Serres 2, Denali Mounta1neenng Records Collection (DMRC), DENA Archrve~ . Charles R ''Butch" 

Farabee, Jr, rn Death Danng and Dtsaster. Search and Rescue m the Nattonal Parks (Lanham, Md • Roberts 

Rrnehart. 2001). 145, states that park staff completed and d1stnbuted the first "formal guJdeiJnes" for clrmbmg 

Mount McK1nley 1n December 1948 

' 0 A Tomlinson to Director NPS, February 9, 1949, Grant Pear'>on to RD/R4. Apnl 19, 1 949, all rn Folder 16, 

Senes 2, DMRC 

-These matenals were rev1~ed 111 1949, tn 1952, and perhaps 111 other years as well See 0 A. Tomlrnson to 

Supt MOMC, May 4, 1949, 1n Folder 16, Senes 2, DMRC, Ronald F Lee to Washburn. Apnl I, 1952. Lawrence 

Cnapti?l Thcneen A Century ot Mounr.lln\!enno 313 
C Mernam (RD/R4) to Director NPS, May 2, 1952; Pearson, "Cilmb1ng Mount McK1nley and Other H1gh 

Mountams m Mount McKinley National Park, Alaska;" alltn F1le 201.15, noted above. 

18 The mountam-climbtng section 1n the Code of Federal Regulattons, Title 36, 1949, Section 1.14 (pp 150-51 ) 

1S a reflection of the Federal Register's rules and regulat1ons ISsued 1n 1936 and 1941 For minor changes to 

the regulattons during the 1950s. none of wh1ch had a perceptible 1mpact on Mount McK1nley climbers, see 

the follow1ng Federal Regtster Citations. December 11. 1 952 (vol. 1 7. p. 1 1 1 97). February 5, 1957 (vol 22, p 

720); and December 8, 1959 (vol 24, pp 9850-51) 

'" Pearson, My Life of Htgh Adventure, 227-28 The one 1nstance pnor to 1958 1n wh1ch climbers dtd not 

begin at Wonder Lake was With Bradford Washburn on hts 1951 West Buttress climb. 

10 Pearson, My Lde of High Adventure, 229, Pearson to Amencan Alpine Club. December 29, 1952, 1n Folder 

19, Senes 2, DMRC. Pearson had been part of exped1t1ons 1nto the high Alaska Range 1n the spnng of 1932, 

the fall of 1944, and the spring of 1947 

1 0. A Tomlinson to Supt. MOMC. etc. July 13, 1948, Clemons. "Report of Attendance at NPS Mountam 

Chmbmg and Rescue Tra1n1ng School, MORA, September 13-17. 1948;" both m Folder 14, Senes 2, DMRC, 

Farabee, Death Danng and Dtsaster, 145 

31 Sfraga, Bradford Washburn, 162-63. 168-69. 172-73 

'

3 Sfraga, Bradford Washburn, 156-57, James Ramsey Ullman. The White Tower (Philadelphta, Lippincott). 

1945. Dunng the late 1940s, the New England Museum of Natural History changed its name to the Boston 

Museum of SCience, a name 1t retains today See Sfraga. Bradford Washburn, 149, 163, Anchorage Daily 

Times. August 29, 1949, 4 

l4 Sfraga, Bradford Washburn. 159-62. 

l' lbtd, 160, 162 

;e lbtd. 164-68, Pearson, My Life of High Adventure. 204-10, SMR. March 1947. 1, SMR, Apnl 1947, 1-2. 

SMR, May, 1947, 1 

"Sfraga, Bradford Washburn. 168-73, SAR, 1948, 4. The hut and other exped1t10n matenals were not 

removed from the mounta1n, and rematn1ng ev1dence IS st1ll often seen by climbers and park staff. Roger 

Rob1nson, revtew comment. July 11, 2007 

'

8 Newton Drury to Olaus J. Mune memo (attachment), January 9, 1950. 1n File 845 ("Research "), CCF. RG 

79, NARA SB Washburn. 1n this case. was assumtng a dependence on ground transport He noted that "the 

only other pract1cal route, v1a the great western buttress of McKinley, reqUires a ground approach v1a Peters 

GlaCier (or Peters Pass). McGonagall Pass can be eas1ly reached afoot from Wonder Lake 1n bad weather or 

emergency, while the western approach would present a long, complicated JOurney except by au." 

' 9 Federal Register 12 (March 13, 1947). 1723-24 Land1ngs at Wonder Lake were allowed until September 

1959; see Federal Regtster 24 (June 3, 1959), 4519 and Federal Register 24 (September 16, 1 959), 7458-59 

10 SMR. August 1949. 1; SMR, September 1949. 1; Anchorage Datly Times, September 12, 1949. 1, Newton 

Drury to Olaus J Murie, January 9, 1950, m File 845 ("Research"). see above 

•• Olaus J Mune to Newton B Drury. January 17. 1950, 1n Ftle 845 (see above). 

41 Howard Stagner to Herbert Mater. n d (January 1950?), Pearson to Reg1onal Dtrector. Reg1on Four. January 

18, 1950; both 1n File 845 (above). 

"' Urner Ltddel to Olaus J Mune, January 3 1. 1950, 1n File 845 (above) 

•• Drury to Mune. February 20, 1950. Mune to Washburn, Apnl 29, 1950; both 1n F1le 845 (above) 

'' 0 A. Tomlinson to Mune. February 16, 1950; Lew1s F Clark to Urner Liddel. June 5, 1950, Washburn to 

Clark, June 9, 1950, all1n File 845 (above) 

" More than a decade later. Mune noted the ep1sode 1n the art1cle "Mount McKinley; Wilderness Park of the 

North Country." Nattonal Parks Magaztne 37 (Apnl 1963), 5 

'' SMR, October 1950, 4 

'

8 New York Times, May 22, 1951, 2, Anchorage Datly Times, July 14. 1951, 8; Los Angeles Times. July 19, 

1951, 22. Author James Gremer. who spoke to Washburn dunng the 1970s, stated that the new 1951 route 

was "mot1vated by [Washburn's] des1re to find a short route that offered less crevasse danger for use by the 

Off1ce of Naval Research 1n subsequent cosm1c-ray expenments and other sc1ent1f1c work on the mounta1n." 

Washburn. putting a pos1twe sptn on h1s efforts, suggested that the cosm1c ray work "actually never took 

place because the levels of energy produced by man-made accelerators soon made cosm1c-ray research of th1s 

sort no longer pract1cal or necessary." Gremer, Wager With the Wind The Don Sheldon Story (Ch1cago, Rand 

McNally, 1974), 78, Washburn, " Mount McKinley Conquered by New Route," National Geographtc Magazine 

104 (August 1953), 219 

·'9 Pearson, My Ltfe of High Adventure. 227-28, New York Times. June 18, 1952, 5. 

w Anchorage Datfy Ttmes, July 15, 1959, 16, January 15, 1964, 9. 

' Sfraga, Bradford Washburn. 180-88; SMR. June 1951, 1, July 1951, 1; Pearson, My Ltfe of High Adventure, 

228, Bradford Washburn and Dav1d Roberts. Mount McKinley the Conquest of Denali (New York, Abrams. 

3 14 Crown Jewel of the North An Admomstrat1ve H1story of Denali Natoonal Park and Prese!Ve 
1991 ), 72, 1 1 1 Washburn and Roberts (p. 111) note that Washburn and others were dropped off at elevatron 

7,650 feet, not 8,500 feet 

'

1 Herbert Maier to Supt. MOMC. February 7, 1952, rn Folder 19, Senes 2, DMRC 

Washburn to Wrrth, M arch 20, 1952, rn Ftle 201.15, Box 74, CCF, RG 79, NARA SB 

"Grant Pearson to Amencan Alptne Club, December 29, 1952, rn Folder 19, Senes 2, DMRC 

,,, Thayer Scudder to Pearson, May 3, 1952, rn File 201 15, noted above 

·• Pearson to Henry S Franos, Jr, May 7. 1952, tn Ftle 201 15. noted above. 

' SMR, May 1954, 2; May 1955, 4 

' 8 Pearson to RD/R4, December 13, 1955, tn Folder 29, Ronald F. Lee to RDIR4, March 21, 1956, rn Folder 

35; Jerrol Coates to Dave Johnston. October 23, 1962, in Folder 67, allrn Senes 2, DMRC Washburn. 

notrng climbers· changrng trme requrrements, had advocated the allowance of arrdrops four years earlrer 

Ever the development advocate, Washburn also urged the construction of a "small but rugged shelter rn 

McGonagall Pass," an idea that was not shared by NPS officrals. Washburn to Drredor NPS, February 18, 

1952, in Folder 19; Washburn to Pearson. March 11, 1955, rn Folder 29; Washburn to Wrrth, May 29, 1956, In 

Folder 35, allrn Senes 2, DMRC 

59 Pearson, My Life of H1gh Adventure. 230-31; SM R, May 195 7, 5; June 1957. 5-6. July 1957, 3-4 

00 Grerner, Wager W1th the Wind, 162; Pearson, My Life of High Adventure, 231-34, SMR, vanous rssues. 

July 1958 to June 1960 In late 1960, park supenntendent Samuel King told a potentral cltmber that "the 

Muldrow Glaoer has settled a great deal, but tt tS not known if tl wtll be sufftctently settled for cltmbtng tn 

1961 " A frve-man party was. in fact, able to ascend the Muldrow rn July 1961 on rts way up North Peak. 

Ktng to Robert Gardner, September 7. 1960, rn Folder 48, Senes 2. DMRC 

"' Amencan Alpme Journal, Vol. 8, rssue 27 (1953), p. 480. To further clarify the boundary location, Bradford 

Washburn tn 1961 sent Sheldon a copy of hrs recently-rssued Mount McKinley map whtch showed "the 

southern boundary of McKtnley Park marked on rt as accurately as the USGS can do rt " He dtd so "because 

of the constant problem of expedtttons that want to be delivered 'as near the Park boundary as possible''" 

Washburn to Sheldon, September 18, 1961, tn Folder 59, Senes 2, DMRC 

" 2 Vanous correspondence rn Folders 44, 49, 55, 60, 80, 82, 86, and 91. all rn Senes 2, DMRC, courtesy of 

Roger Robtnson. DENA. Mrke Ftsher and Frances Twtgg, both of whom flew for Don Sheldon dunng the earlyto mrd-1960s, knew that the southeast fork's landing srte was tnstde the park. Twrgg, rn fact, stated that "Don 

moved the atrstnp 700 feet tnsrde the park so that cltmbers would have less distance for therr climb " Mrke 

Frsher rntervrew, June 28, 2007, and Frances Twrgg tntervrew, July 20, 2007; both rntervtews conducted by 

Roger Robrnson. 

· Jerrol Coates to Dave Johnston, October 23, 1962, rn Folder 67, Coates to Tom Goldenberg, October 23, 

1962. tn Folder 69; both rn Senes 2, DMRC. courtesy of Roger Robmson, DENA Atrdrops for Kahiltna-based 

cltmbers apparently conttnued unttl the early 1970s, as noted tn the Unrverstty of Oregon drscusston 

""Grerner, Wager With the Wmd, 160-61 

"5 Charley Shrmanskr, "Rescue Cost Recovery, DENA," c. 2001, p 3, see wwwamerrcanalptneclub.org/pdfs/ 

MRcost.pdf 

66 Lyman L Woodman. Duty Station Northwest, the US. Army m Alaska and Western Canada, 1867-7987 

Volume Three, 1945-1987 (Anchorage. Alaska Hrstoncal Socrety, 1999), 36, Grerner. Wager With the Wind, 

76; Douglas Beckstead, letter to the author. July 30, 2007, Farabee, Death Daring and D1saster, 144 Dunng 

the mtd-to-late 1940s, the US Navy contmued to coordtnate search and rescue actrvtttes for the offshore 

waters and rslands, but rn August 1950 the U .5. Arr Force assumed control over all terntonal search and rescue 

actrvittes. 

"' NPS, "Cirmbtng Mount McKinley and Other High Moun tarns rn Mount McKrnley Natrona! Park. Alaska," ca. 

1952, rn "Mountarn Climbrng PoliCy" (file 201.15), CCF, RG 79, NARA SB; Pearson to William D Hackett. June 

9, 1952, tn Folder 19, Serres 2, DMRC 

68 Pearson. My Life of H1gh Adventure, 230; SMR, May 1954, 2; Roger Robrnson. revtew comment, July 11, 

2007; Robrnson email, August 22, 2007, Rtchard and Florence Colhns tntervrew, by Jane Bryant, March 2002, 

tn DENA Archrves 

fjO New York Times, May 27, 1954, 16, May 3 1, 1954, 14, Ptarm1gan Tracks (Camp Denair newsletter), 

November 2004, 1; SMR, Aprrl 1954, 4, May 1954, 4; June 1954, 5; Pearson, My Life of H1gh Adventure. 229-

30; Morton S. Wood, 'The Frrst Traverse of Mt. McKtnley," Amencan Alpme Journal. 1955, pp 51-69; Jane 

Bryant emails. March 29-30, 2007; Robert Gerhard. "Denalt Drlemma," American Alpine Journal 21 1 ( 1977), 

96; Jane Bryant review comments. September 17, 2007. 

•o "Nattonal SAR School History" (www.acc.af.mrl/afrcc/natronalsarschool/rndex.asp); James H Isbell to Samuel 

A. Ktng, March 13, 1961, tn Folder 59, Serres 2, DMRC 

" SMR. May 1958, 3 

72 Fairbanks Dailv News-Mmer. March 14, 1959, 1 . 

Chapter Th1rteen A Century of Mounta•neenng 315 
11 Pearson, My Lde of H1gh Arlvenrure, 232-33, Gremer, Wager w1th the Wmd, 159-75; SMR, May 1960, 5, 

Charles Champlin, "lntrep1d Men vs M1ghty Mac," Life Magazme 48 (June 6, 1960), 24-31 Those k1lled 1n 

the small-plane crash were Anchorage contractor William Stevenson and TechniCal Sergeant Robert Elliott from 

Elmendorf AFB 

,. SMR. June 1960. 6, Anchorage Da1ly Times. June 24 1960, 13, June 27, 1960, 13 

'' Paul B Crews to Samuel A Kmg, September 9, 1960, K1ng to Crews, September 13, 1960, RIChard J 

Stenmark to Supt MOMC, December 12, 1960, Ne1l J Re1d to RD/R4, December 14, 1960; all1n Folder 48, 

Senes 2, DMRC 

., NPS, "Recommended Procedures lnvolv1ng the NPS, the ARG, the USAFRCC, and Volunteenng Prtvate 

lndiv1duals 1n Rescue Sttuauons on National Park Lands" (draft). January 11, 1961: James H. Isbell to Samuel A 

K1ng, March 13, 1960, both 1n Folder 59, Senes 2, DMRC 

Elroy W Bohlin to RD/R4, May 1, 1961, Lawrence Mernam to Supt MOMC, May 11, 1961, both tn 

Folder 59, Senes 2, DMRC, SMR, Apnl 1961. 3 Joe Wilcox, 1n h1s book Wh1te Winds (Los Alam1tos, Calif, 

Hwang Publ1sh1ng, 1981, pp 36-37), notes that as he prepared for h1s 1967 exped1t10n, the NPS demanded 

that cltmbers "secure the agreement of a quahf1ed rescue group to come to the1r a1d should an emergency 

occur The most promment such group was the ARG Prev1ous exped1t1ons had 1nd1cated that Park Serv1ce 

perm1ss1on was routine once ARG approval was g1ven " 

John H Johnston to Robert Bates. December 30, 1960, 111 Folder 48, Robert Bates to Conrad Wirth, Janl!ary 

6, 1961, 111 Folder 59, both 1n Senes 2. DMRC, SMR, January 1961, 3, 5 

E T Scoyen to RD/R4, March 21, 1961, Mernam to Supt MOMC, March 29, 1961, Washburn to Scoven, 

Apnl 13, 1961, all 1n Folder 59, Senes 2 DMRC 

NPS, "Chmb1ng H1story of Mount McK1nley, Successful Ascents, ' c. 1970, 1n "H 14, H1stoncal Notes, 1964-

70" folder, Box 7, ARCC-00183, AKRO ArChiVes 

Ibid., Pearson, My Life of H1gh Adventure, 224 ·34, Gre1ner. Wager With the Wind, 207-08, Roberta Sheldon. 

The Hentage of Talkeetna fTalk.eetna, Talkeetna Ed1t1ons, 19951, 161 Before 1960, the only non-Amencans 

who had attempted the climb were two Mex1can parues in 1952 (one of whiCh was successful). along with a 

Bnt1sh party that had made an unsuccessful 1956 attempt 

8 Michael Sfraga (Bradford Washburn, 180-81) notes that Moore lived In Fatrbanks (and thus began hiS flight 

there) but p1cked up two exped1t1on rnembers at Chelatna Lake (southwest of Mount McK1nley) before landtng 

the party on Kah1ltna Glac1er 

' Sheldon. Hentage of Talkeetna, 157; M1lepost, 1963 edition, 183 

' Rupert Prall, Touchmg the Anoent One; A True Story of Tragedy and Reunron (Tucson, Wheat mark, April 

2006). 45, Manlyn Hudson email, May 10. 2007, Anchorage Daily News, August20, t951. l, Anchorage Dally 

Times, Aug us I 20, 1951, 1 

•· Sheldon, Heritage of Talkeetna, 128-29, Gre1ner, Wager With the Wmd, 59, 98, 135, 143 

lllo Sheldon, HPOtage of Talkeetna, 142, 148-49; Bruce McAllister, Wmgs Over Dena/1: a Photographtc History of 

AV1at1on in Denal1 National Park <Boulder, Roundup Press, 2004). 106, 112-13 The 1964 Milepost, published 

shortly after Talkeetna was reached by road, featured (p 183) a large advert1sement for Talkeetna Atr Serv1ce 

and Ra1nbow Lodge, plus a smaller ad for Cliff Hudson Ftshmg and Boating ServiCe 

Anchorage Dally News. Apnl 27. 1992. E-8 Roger Rob1nson (telephone call, Apnl 6, 2007) notes that after 

Sheldon d1ed 1n January 1975. his w1dow Roberta cont1nued to 1un the busmess and employed Fred Richards. 

and later Buddy Woods, as pilots In 1976. J1m Sharp purchased the ftrm and changed 1ts name to Talkeetna 

A1r Tax1, Sharp later sold 1t to Leonard (Sonny) Kragness . Subsequent owners were Lowell Thomas, Jr., Doug 

Geetmg, and Dav1d Lee Holland ran h1s busmess until 1979, whPn he sold 11 to K11ty Banner and K1mball 

Forrest. who founded K2 Av1at10n, they stayed in bus1ness until 1981, when the firm was sold to J1m Okonek, 

who owned 1t unt1l the mld-1990s. Hudson Atr Serv1ce 1s sull owned by the Hudson fam1ly and IS managed by 

Jay, CltH's son In 1985 a new competitor appeared when Doug Geet1ng, formerly of Hudson and Talkeetna 

Atr Tax1, began Doug Geetmg Av1at1on The four companieS· Talkeetna Air Tax1, K2 Av1at1on, Hudson Atr 

Serv1ce. and Doug Geet1ng Av1at1on-competed from the mtd-1 980s 1nto the 1990~. Anchorage Dally News, 

June 18 1989, N-7. June 25, 1989. F-1. NPS/AKRO. Commercral Vrsttor ServiCe Dtrectory. 1984 and 1985 

ISSUeS 

68 Wayne Merry 1nterv1ew, May 7, 2007, Jay Hudson mtervtew. May 8, 2007, Art Dav1dson, Mmus 148°· First 

Winter Ascent of Mt McKmley !Seattle, the Mountaineers, 1999), 30 

'SMR, Apnl1 960, 4, Apnl 1964, 2, Wayne Merry 1nterv1ew, May 7, 2007, Art Dav1dson tnterv1ew, Apnl 24, 

2007 

9') SMR, June 1963, 3; Apnl 1964, 2 Gremer, Wager W1th the Wmd. 210, Anchorage Daily T1mes. June 4, 

1978, D-1, J1m Okonek, mterv1ew by B1ll Brown. February 26 and 27, 1992, on "ProjeCl Jukebol< ·· webs1te 

(http//uaf-db uaf eduljukebox/denailllhtmi{J10k html; Supt MOMC to RD/R4. January 11, 1961 tn Folder 59, 

Senes 2, DMRC 

3 16 Crown Jlowl'i ol the North Art Atlmtr11W3t1Vt' H•stoty or Ot'11a11 Notoof\dl P<l'~ dnl1 Preserve 
9 ' SMR, November 1962, 2; Apnl 1963, 2, Catton, Wonderland An Admmtstravve Htstory of Mount Ramter 

National Park, 472; McGowan obituary, April 27, 2007, on www.sfgate com. As noted tn NPS correspondence 

(Wtlltam E. Davts to Jerrol Coates, November 23, 1962, 1n Folder 65, Senes 2, DMRC), Hans Metz-who had 

summtted McKtnley vta the West Buttress a month earlter than McGowan-also expressed an tnterest tn 

becomtng a chmbtng gutde but did not obtatn a special use permtt. 

"

1 Vanous correspondence tn Folder 75, Series 2, DMRC 

91 Gremer, Wager Wtth the Wmd, 122-23, 247; Anchorage Daily Times, May 12, 1966, 1-2, May 13, 1966, 1 

9• BLM, "Senal Regtster Page" for AA-445, Patent No. 50-73-0203; both 1n Parcel DENA 10-102 file, AKRO 

Lands Office Ms Sheldon owned the parcel until early 2006, when she granted 1t to a company called 

Mountain House LLC. Each year the cabtn, whtch comfortably sleeps four, IS open from March to mtd-JLtly 

Jenntfer Forker, "Marooned at the Mountatn House," Alaska 65 (February 1999), 38-41 

95 NPS, "Climbing Htstory of Mount McKtnley," see above, states that ntne cltmbtng parttes successfully 

climbed Mount McKinley from the north (vta Karstens Ridge, P1oneer Rtdge. or Wtckersham Wall) between 

1961 and 1966, tnclustvely. 

""SMR, December 1966, 2, January 1967, 2-3 

9 ' Davtdson, Mmus 748°, 138, 204-06, 213 

•a Wtlcox, White Winds, 2-3 

~q SMR. January 1961. 3, 5; November 1962, 2; December 1963, 2 

100 NPS, Mountameenng m Mount McKmley Nauonal Park, March 1967, m "Mounta1neenng Documents. 

1966-67. George Hall Collection" folder, DENA AH Collectton 

101 Wtlcox, Whtte Wmds, 68, 176-79, 183-84. 191,213-15,475-77. 

" 1 The Amencan Alptne Club, after a thorough analysts of the dtsaster (in Accidents m North Amencan 

Mountameermg, 1968, pp 20-30), asstgned some blame to NPS rangers, who (tn thetr vtew) should have 

radioed a message to the til-fated "upper party" and ordered them to retreat Years later, both Wtlcox and 

Snyder wrote books about the expedttion and tned to dtscern what went wrong Snyder. who wrote The Hall 

of the Mountain King 1n 1973 (New York. Scnbner's, pp 177-82), stated that the expedttion "had tragtcally 

bad luck," but he also suggested "Circumstances and actiOns whiCh contnbuted to the dtsaster," tncludtng 

mexpenence among the Wilcox team. complacence based on the large group stze, and poor food and 

mountameenng skills. Wtlcox, who wrote Whtte Wmds etght years later. felt that rescuers relied too heavtly 

on flxed-wtng ptlot Don Sheldon tnstead of helicopter support, and he Cited other contnbutlng factors. But he 

also stated (p. 476) that "tt ts doubtful that anythtng could have been done to a1d the upper party" because of 

the extreme wtnd seventy Jonathan Waterman tned to offer a more objective, nuanced analysts 1n hts In the 

Shadow of Denalt Ltfe and Death on Alaska's Mount McKinley (New York, Lyons Press, 1998), wh1le James M 

Tabor wrote a more po1nted book about the tragedy tn Forever on the Moun lam <New York, Norton, 2007) 

'

01 Wayne Merry 1nterv1ew. May 7, 2007; Nancy Doherty, "McK1nley Sees Trag1c Season," Alaska 42 (October 

1976), 8 

'

04 Anchorage Datly News, March 2, 1994. E-5 

•os Park climbtng gutdes, since the early 1950s tf not before, had applied to all h1gh peaks 1n the park, and 

prev1ous Federal Register regulations had stmilarly been applicable to all htgh peaks 1n the park. Thus the 1970 

regulation. whiCh applied to only Mt McKtnley and Mt Foraker. was relattvely limtted 1n 1ts scope 

1

r'6 Federal Register 35 (March 14, 1970), 4554; Federal Regtster 35 (August 15, 1970}. 13017 

107 Anchorage Datly News. July 10, 1974, 4. 

108 Institute of ArctiC Btology, UAF, "Cltmbtng Problems on Mt. McKinley" (draft), November 1, 1967, 1n 

"Mountatneenng Documents" file, above 

1

'

19 Washuurn to Harthon L B1ll, November 17, 1967. 1n "Mounta1neenng Documents" file. above 

110 Anchorage Daily News, July 21, 1968, 17, Art Dav1dson mterv1ew, Apnl 24, 2007; Arthur L. Dav1dson, "Htgh 

Altttude Research on Mount McKinley," American Alpine Journal (1969), 371, vanous 1968 correspondence 

tn Folder 118, Senes 2, DMRC. Roger Robtnson (rev1ew comments, July 11 , 2007) notes that park rangers, 1n 

the 1990s, ''began to uncover large caches of suppltes that [lnstttute personnel] had buned at the 17,200 foot 

camp " New evtdence of the 1968 camp was bemg uncovered as late as 2006 

1

" Dan Kuehn to Greg Wolf, December 13, 1974, 111 "K3417 Press Releases- by MOMC, 1974-75" file, Box 

2, Collection 00495, DENA Archtves; NPS, " Mount McKmley South Peak, Attempts and Summ1ts." on DENA 

mounta1neenng webstte (http://www.nps.gov/dena/planyourv1S1t/mounta1neenng htm}, Roger Rob1nson 

telephone call, Apnl 6, 2007 

" 1 Roger Robmson, rev1ew comment, July 11, 2007. Begmntng tn the late 1980s, camp operations were 

JOintly sponsored by a vanety of local atr serviCeS 

111 Peter Robtnson, "Frances Randall," Amencan Alpme Journal. 1985, 369; NPS, "Mountatneenng Summary 

Report- 1984," on DENA mountameenng webstte (http.//www.nps gov/dena/planyourv1S1t/summaryreports 

htm) Roger Robtnson wrote the AAJ ob1tuarv. wh1ch the ed1tor madvertently applted to a fellow Alaska 

climber With the same surname 

Chapter Thtrteen A Cenrury of Mounta1neennq 317 
11'' Anchorage Datly News, June 23, 1981. D- 1. D-4. Anchorage Dally Ttmes, September 6. 1983, B-5; 

Anchorage Daily News, Apnl 27. 2000. B-1 

'

15 NPS, "Chmbmg H1story of Mount McKmley," see above; New York Ttmes August 24, 1969, X·23; Eberhard 

Hantsch. ''E1ght Days to the Top,·· Alaska 36 (October 1970), 45-47 Further mformat1on about Genet IS found 

in Judy Shuler, "A Man and H1s Moun tam." Alaskafest. June 1977. 27-31 . R1chard Loren Doege, "Ray Genet" 

(obituary), Amencan Alpme Journal 22 2 ( 1 980), 693-94; vanous Anchorage Datly Times and Anchorage Datly 

News art1cles for October 8-9. 1979, and Waterman, In the Shadow of Denalt, 96-104. Genet apparently 

did not partiCipate 1n a 1964 surrtrnltlnQ of Mt Huntmgton. e1ght m1les south of Mt McK1nley, as noted 1n 

Davidson's Mmus 148° (p. 211). 

··• Genet's company was apparently Alaska Mounta1n Gu1des 1n 1971 and 1975 but Genet Expeditions 1n 

1 973; see Genet to Ernest Borgman, Apnl 30, 1971, 1n File NR 1-2 ( 1971 ), Senes 88, RG 01, ASA, Dan1el 

Kuehn to Genet. July 6. 1973, m "Correspondence, AMG/Genet Exped1t1ons, 1977" file, Box 1, Collect1on 

00495, DENA Arch1ves; Gary Brown to Allen Steck, October 24. 1975, 1n "Correspondence, Mountam Travel, 

1977" file, Box 1. Collect1on 00495, DENA Arch1ves, NPS. "Record of Act1ve Revocable Permits," 1971. 1n 

"Speoal Use Perm1ts" file, Box 99. Senes 1. DARC. DENA Arch1ves 

" Genet, as shown by vanous letters and memos dunng th1s penod lsee f1les directly above and below), 

exh1bited a d1st1nctly mdependent streak. he ohen creatively Interpreted NPS regulations. and customers 

compla1ned because he overextended h1mself or exh1b1ted poor customer servrce In 1973, NPS off1oals 

allowed h1s speoal use perm1t to lapse, but soon aherward they renewed 11. 

1'

8 See Robert A Gerhard to Joe Honskey. October 18, 1977, m "Correspondence. Rarn1er Mounta1neenng, 

1977" file. Box 1. Collection 00495, DENA ArchtVes, Allen Steck to Gary Brown Oetober 16, 1975, m 

"Correspondence, Mounta1n Travel. 1977" f1le. noted above; Genet to Borgman. April 30, t 971, noted above, 

SAR, 1974, 5 

119 Lignite IS an Alaska Railroad stop located JUSt north of Healy, the Mercer Ranch IS lo<:ated at the end of 

Ugntte Road. wh1ch extends east from the Parks H1ghway 

w· W1lcox. Whtte Wmds. 59, 69 

' SMR, August 1957, 5, September 1957, 5 

SMR, Apnl 1961, 3, February 1964, 2, AlJgust 1964, 5; Roger Rob1nson, rev1ew comment. July 11, 2007 

' NPS, "Ciimb1ng H1story of Mount McK1nley," see above; NPS, "Annual Mountatneenng and Search and 

Rescue Report" for MOMC, January 7 1971, 1n "Annual Reports. 1953-72" f1le, Box 5, ARCC-00 183, AKSO, 

Jane Bryant ema1l, January 4, 2007, Roger Robtnson. rev1ew comment. July 11. 2007 

ll4 Anchorage Daily Ttmes. June 26. 1973, 23 

tl' Jeb Schenck, "Mt. McK1nley-L1ttered Overcrowded Route," Summtt 16 (December 1970). 24-25. 

12" Btll Sherwonlt. ''Mountain of Trash Decades of Climbers Have Fouled Denali," Alaska 68 (May-June 2002). 35. 

127 Tacoma News-Trtbune, May 26. 1971. C-2. Dons M. Ewmg. "A Mt McK1nley Attack on Trash,'' Smithsontan 

3 (May 1972), 54-57; Anchorage Dally Times. November 20. 1972, 49, July 11, 1973, 35. 

m Anchorage Daily News. August 31. 1974, 2. "News & Notes. " Off Belay 1121 (June 1975), 39 

m Garv Brown. "And a Reply.'' Amencan Alpine News # 136 (March 1976), 15 

1" New York Times, November 16, 1975, x·s. and Ga1l M1ller Menschel. "Crowd at the Top,'' Alaska 42 

(November 1976), 98 B1ll Sherwonll, 1n "Mountain of Trash," 34-35, notes that Gnmm conttnued to bnng 

cleanup crews to the mounta1n until 1977 

11 Roger Robmson, "Cns1s on Denali,·· pp 15, 17, Gary Brown, "And a Reply, ·• r>P 15. 19; both in American 

Alpme News# 136, March 1976 

' Gerhard replaced Bruce Wadlington, who managed climbers' acttv1t1es but showed little 1nterest 1n spending 

extended penods on thP mountain 

•H Robert Gerhard, mterv1ew by rrank Noms, Apnl 28. 2005, "NPS B1centenn1al Denali Exped1t1on" folder 

(#300) 1n Senes 2. DMRC. DENA Archives Gerhard's team mcluded park carpenter Tommy Adams. mterpretive 

speCialist B1ll Garry, mountamee11ng ranger N1ck Hartzell, backcountry r<tnger Jack Hebert, and seasonal 

ranger Johnny Johnson The climb was one of two park b1centenmal projects; the other was the hv1ng h1storv 

demonstration at the Upper Toklat <Pearson) c<tbin, descnbed 1n Chapter 12. 

'

34 Gerhard. "Denali D1lemrna." 100. Gerhard's remarks were largely duplicated 1n his artiCle "McKmley What 

Does the Future Hold>'· 5ummtl 23 (February-March 1977). 14-19 Deta1ls of the rescue are noted m Ralph 

Baldw1n, "The Cns1s on Denilh," Off Belay #30 (December 1976), 8 

11~ Doherty, "McK1nley See~ Trag1c Season." 8. Gerhard. "Denali D1lemma,'' 96. 

Baldw1n, "The Cns1s on Denal1," 3 

Arttcles ment10111ng Horton's tnp. and h1s pol1c1es toward McK1nley chmbmg, Include Anchorage Datly 

Times, August 3, 1976, 4. August 12, 1976, 16; and August 14, 1976.4 

·• Baldw1n, "Cns1s on Denali," 3, Doherty. "McKtnley Sees Trag1c Season." 8. Robert Gerhard, "McKmley· 

What Does the Future Hold?" Summ/123 (February-March 1977), 15, Gerhard, "Dpnali Dilemma,'' 97, SAR, 

1977,4 

318 Crown JL·w~l of the North An AdrnllliStrdttve H1story of Denah Nnt•onat P~rk and Prt>,Prve 
ll? Gerhard, "Denali Dilemma." 97; Shuler, "A Man and Hts Moun tam," 28 Baldwin, "C ns1s on Denali," pp 

8-9 explatns each policy opt1on and 1ts feastbthty and short-term apphcabtlity He concluded hts remarks by 

recommending that the NPS launch an educational campatgn mstead of vanous Dracon1an alternattves, and 

that Mount McKtnley climbers adopt a "fundamental responsibility • to prepare htmself tor the task at hand " 

·

1

' Gerhard. "Denali Dilemma," 99-100, Baldwin, "Cns1s on Denali," 9 The study IS noted 111 the Anchorage 

Datly News. August 5, 1976, 8, and the Seattle Times, September 26, 1976, A-25 

"'Anchorage Dally Times, August 12, 1976, 16, November 1. 1976. 23, Novembe1 2, 1976. 4 

''" Climbtng ranger Roger Rob1nson, m a January 2007 tntervtew, noted that dJnng the 1977 and 1978 climbIng seasons. the two seasonal rangers stayed 1n a small room at the Talkeetna Ftre Hall They typtcally met 

climbers at e1ther the ratlroad depot or the village atrstnp 

' SAR, 1977. 3-4; Robert Gerhard, "Citmbtng tn Mount McKtnley National Park," Amencan Alpme Journal 

21.2 ( 1978), 503-04. Tom Walker. "Htgh Landtng." Alaska 43 (September 1977). 8 1 

.. 5herwontt, "Mountain of Trash," 35, 68, NPS, "2000 Mountameering Summary, DENA." 2 

., Gerhard, "Ciimbtng 1n Mount McKinley NatiOnal Park ... 504, Gerhard, "Mountatneenng 1n Mount McKmley 

NatiOnal Park," Amencan Alpme Journal 22 1 ( 1979), 163 

'·" SAR, 1978. 1-2, Gerhard, "Mounta1neenng m Mount McKtnley National Pa•k," 161-63, Joe Van Horn 

tntervtew, Apnl 20, 2007 

11 Dan1el J Tobtn, Jr to Ted Stevens, February 16, 1978, 1n "Ciimbtng Policy" file, DENA AH CollectiOn, AKRO, 

Anchorage Daily Times, July 3, 1978,4. 

'" Bob Gerhard to Joe Alston and Ralph Ttngey, December 1, 1981. m "NOLS 80-86" folder, 111 " Mountain 

Gutdes 82-84" box, DENA Concess1ons off1ce, Carlene DICkey, "F1nd1ng Ald. Denali Mounta1neenng Records, 

1906- 1994" (Denver, NPS, 2002), 54-79, 1n DENA Archtves 

,,. Robert Gerhard Interview, September 23, 2003; Rtchard Meehan to Supt MOMC, June 4, 1979, m 

"Correspondence. Alaska Mountain Gutdes, Genet Expeditions. 1977" file, Box 1, Collection 00495. DENA 

Archtves, Gerhard to Joe Honskey, October 18, 1977, 1n "Correspondence, Ra1n1er Mounta1neenng. 1977" file, 

Box 1, Collection 00495, DENA Arch1ves 

•>n SAR, 1978, 1-2. Gerhard toW Gerald Lynch. April20. 1979, 1n "Correspondence, Ra1n1er Mountameenng. 

1977" ftle, see above 

' 1 NPS, "Mountameenng Summary Report- 1981 " on Denali mountatneenng webstte, Evaluatton Panel to 

Supt MOM(. November 18. 1980, m " Evaluation and Recommendation, Concession PermitS, Mounta1neenng 

Gutde Servtces" folder. "1980 and 1993 Mountameenng Prospectus·· box, DE\JA Concessions otftce In 1980, 

Genet Exped1t10ns was under new management. 1nasmuch as Ray Genet had dted on October 2. 1979, shortly 

after summttmg Mt Everest 

1

' Anchorage Dally T1mes, January S, 1981, B- 1, January 2, 1981, A-7 

' Robert Gerhard mterview. September 23, 2003; Baldwtn, "The Cnsts on Denali." 6, Bob Gerhard draft 

memo. February 4, 1981. 1n "Evaluatton and Recommendation" folder (see above). Also, William Truesdell to 

Jtm Ratz. June 9, 1981; Robert Cunnmgham to Ratz. December 30, 1981 , and NPS, "Concession Perm1t No 

CX9830-2-0001," all1n "NOLS 80-86" folder. "Mountain Gu1des 82-84" box. DENA Concesstons off1ce 

'" NPS, "Mountameenng Summary Report," 1981 and 1983 edtttons 

NPS, " Mountameenng Summary Report." 1984 through 1986 edtttons. 

' f Anchorage Daily Times, January 5, 1981. B-1, NPS, "Mount McKmley South Peak, Attempts and Summ1ts," 

DENA Mountameenng webs1te. NPS/AKSO, Commemal VISitor Servtce D~rectory, vanous tssues. 1981-2006 

' NPS/AKSO. Commeroal Vis1tor Service Directory. vanous issues, 1981-1983 

lbtd, vanous tssues. 1981-1989 See the Anchorage Daily News. June 25. 1989. F-1 for the trend from au· 

tours to fhghtseemg. Begtnn1ng 1n 1988, NPS concesstons personnel reqUired flytng servtces to obtatn separate 

CULs for atr tour and fhghtseetng operations 

" Jane Bryant email. May 5, 2006, NPS, Commeroal Park Users (DENA dtrectory), June 1982, 1n AKRO-EC 

files, NPS, "Record of Acttve Revocable Perm1ts" (chart), 1971, tn "Speoal Use Permtts" fde. Folder 99, Senes 

1. DARC, DENA Archives, Laura Larsen wtth Sandy Kogl, "Dog Teams on Mou1t McKtnley," Alaska 41 (March 

1975), 33 

1

"'' Jane Bryant ema1l, May 5, 2006, W1ll and Lmda Forsberg to Jane Bryant, September 24. 2007, NPS/AKSO. 

Commeroal V1s1tor Serv1ce D~rectory, vanous tssues, 1982-present 

" 1 NPS. " Mount McKmley South Peak. Attempts and Summits." on NPS/DENA Mountalneenng webstte (see 

above) 

'"' [Daryl Miller!. " CIImbtng Deaths on Denali," on NPS/DENA Mountatneenng webstte (see above) 

'"' Anchorage Datly Tl'mes. October 17. 1979, 13. July 1, 1980. A-6. July 3, 1980. A-9; July 28. 1981, A-6: June 

9, 1982, A-1 0, September 23, 1982, A-10, Anchorage Dally News, May 16, 1981, A-1, July 17, 1988, J-1. J-3 

""'Federal Reg1ster 35 (August 15, 1970), 13017 

"~ Doug Buchanan to Cecil Andrus, October 12, 1979, Anchorage Da1ly Times. September 6, 1983, B-5. 

Federal Register 45 (May 22, 1980). 34759 

Chapter Thtrteen A Century ot Mountdtneellng 319 
,.,. Anchorage Datly News, June 20 1980, A-8. Anchorage Daily Times. June 22. 1980, E-1, July 1, 1980, A-6 

Federal Re>gister 45 (November 25, 1980), 781 19-20; Anchorage Dally Times. June 23, 1980, A-7, 

Anchorage Dally News. July 10, 1980, A-9, Robert A Gerhard, "Rev1sed Regulations for Mounta1neenng 

W1thm Mount McKinley Nat1onal Park." Summ1t 26 (November-December 1980), 1 As late as 1993 

(Anchorage Dally News. Augu~t 3. 1993, E-3>. an antele noted that "at present climbers can reg1ster the day 

they arnve 1n Talkeetna " 

'

68 Anchorage Darly Times, June 25, 1978, E-12, Anchorage Dally News, July 30, 1979, A-3, May 16, 1981, 

A-1, A-10, May 30, 1982, A·l, A- 12, Woodman, Duty Statron Northwest. Volume Three, 172-73, 201, 214, 

224,266 

'

69 NPS. '' Mounta1neenng Summary Repon - 1981," on Denali mountaineenng web ~1te (see above> N1ne 

years earl1er, a group called L1fe Bound, Ltd had proposed the plaong of rescue equipment (mcludmg emergency oxyg()n) on an "ICy ledge" at the 17,500-foot level of Mt. McKinley So far as IS known, howPver. the 

equ1pment was never delivered. Anchoragf" Dally Trmes, May 5, 1972, 5, Anchorage Dally News, May 7, 

1972. 18. 

170 NPS, "Mountaoneenng Surnmary Report - 1982," on Denal1 rnountatneenng web Site (see above), 

Anchorage Dally Trmes, September 23, 1982, A·10 and B-5, October 5, 1982, A·1 1 

NPS, "Mountameenng Summary Report," 1983 and 1984 edlllons. on Denah mountameenng web s1te (see 

above). SAR, 1983, 2, Jon Waterman, "Mt McKtnley: Alaska's Htghest Ranger Station." Couner 30 (January 

1985), 1-2. 

NPS, "Mountameenng Summary Report - 1983," Anchorag~ Daily Trmes, May 23, 1983, B-4, Anchorage 

Daily News, May 22, 1983, A-1, A-12, May 26. 1983. A-12 . 

1 NPS, "Mounta1neenng Summary Report," 1984, 1985, and 2000 ed1t1on~. Anchorage Dally News, July 19, 

1984, C -1. Anchorage Daily Ttmes, July 18, 1984, 8-1. July 20, 1984, A-1 0. July 21, 1984, A-1 0 

'Alaska Ra1lroad, "Memorandum of Rental Agreement" (Contract 69-25-0003-5165), Apnl 14, 1980, 1n 

"Front M1sc " file, Box 1 Collection 00495, DENA Arch1ves 

B1ographilal sketches of Gerhard and Se1bert are noted on tht> Anchorage Datfy News l~l.ues of May 13, 

1984, 0-4 and July 14, 1991, 0- 10, respectiVely 

" SAR, 1984, 2. Roger Robmson mterv1ew, January 2007, 

' NPS, "Mount McKinley South Peak. Attempts and Summits" (chart), DENA Mounta1neenng website The 

1989 crowds, more than half of whom reached the summ1t, prornpted climbmg ranger Bob Se1bert to quip 

• Believe It or not, we do have people standmg 111 line wa1t111g lor the1r turn on Mount McK1nley ' Yereth 

Rosen, ed, "From Ketchokan to Barrow. " Alaska 56 (February 1990). 11 

1 [Daryl Miller). "Climbing Deaths on Denali," on Denali mountameenng web s1te Durmg the 1985-1995 

penod, at least two climbers d1ed on Mount McKmley 1n every year except 1991 (wh1ch had no deaths) and 

1993 (wh1ch had one) 

1" Anchorage DatlyNews, July 17, 1988, J·l. August 9, 1991 M 1. August 11. 1992, B-3 . 

I[ NPS, "Mounta1neenng Surnmary Report," 1985 through 1995 ed1t1ons, SAR. 1987, 6 . 

1 'SAR, 1986, 2. SAR, 1987, 6, " The Mounta1n That Eats Koreans," Economtst 323 (June 20, 1992), 28; 

Anchorage Datly News, August 3. 1993, E-3 The two fore1gn language brochures had been produced 1n 

1983, see NPS, "Mountau1eenng Summary Report," 1983, 1987. 1988, 1992, and 1995 edit tons 

•fl Anchorage Dally News, June 23. 1990, 8·3. Rosen, "From Ketch1kan to Barrow. 11, NPS. " Mountameenng 

Summary Report - 1990 " 

18 Seibert, "Denali NatiOildl Park and Preserve Mountameenng Summary, 1990, •· Amencan Alptne Journal 

33 (199 1), 154, Alan Ewert. " H1gh Alt1tude Mour1ta1neenng ~etttng· Vis1tor Charactenst1cs and Management 

Prefe1ences." unpub mss . August 1992. 1n Talkeetna Mounta1neenng Center (NPS) files 

'l" Anchorage Dally News, May 27, 1992, 8-6 and June 7. 1992, E-1. New York Times. May 19, 1992. A-17; 

May 24, 1992. 32, and June 2, 1992, A-14, MIChael Meyer, "Deathwatch on Mount McKmley," Newsweek 

119 <June 8. 1992), 31, "The Mountain That Eats Koreans," 28 

' "Deathwatch on Mount McKinley," 31, Anchorage Dally News, June 7, 1992, E-1. E-4 

"' Anchorage Darly Ne~. August 11, 1992. 8- 1, 8-3, October 7, 1993, E-1. NPS, "Mountameenng Summary 

Report," 1992 ed1t1on. 

SAR, 1991. 7, NPS, "Mountameenng Summary Report," 1995 ed1toon. on DENA webs1te The Army had 

f~rst used a Ch1nook on the mounta1n 1n Apnl 1976, when 11 rescued Hanspeter Trachsel from the 17,200-foot 

level Even earlier, 1n Apnl 1972, the Army had helicopters capable of summ1t-level rescue operat1ons, but d1d 

not employ them until later Gretner, Wager Wtth the Wmd. 24.2, !Roger Robinson]. "Chronology of Firsts m 

Av1at1on H1story on Mt. McKmley" (chart). in Talkeetna Mounta1neenng Center files 

'OJJ Anchorage Darly New,, August 3, 1993, E-1, E-3. 

New Yor~ Times, July 11, 1993. V:3, "Pre-Pa1d Deliverance," Economtst 328 (September 11 , 1993), 23, 

Anchorage Dutly News, October 7. 1993, E- 1 
''')Anchorage Datly News, September 12, 1993, D-1, February 28, 1994, D-2, New York Times. September 14, 

1993, A-18, "Chmbtng Costs," Alaska 61 (Aprtl1995), 13 

01 Anchorage Datly News, October 7, 1993, E-1, March 2, 1994, E-1. E-5, Apnl 6, 1994, C -1, C -6; NPS, 

"Mounta1neenng Summary Report - 1995," on DENA website 

9

' Anchorage Datly News. December 9, 1994, E-1. E-3; Federal Regtster 59 (December 15, 1994), 64696-97, 

"Climb Up, Pay Up, •· Alaska Bustness Monthly 11 (January 1995), 10, "Ciimb1ng Costs," Alaska 61 (April 

1995), 13 

'''3 Federal Regtster 59 (December 15, 1994). 64697 

'"' SAR, 1995, 1, 9, SAR, 1997, 10-11 In 1995, climbers on Mount Ra1nier also began pay1ng a fee; 11 was JUst 

$15, or $25 for a season pass See Anchorage Datly News, December 9. 1994, E-3, Hal Clifford. "After the 

Fall." Nattonal Parks 71 (March/Apnl 1997), 34-37 

" The NPS had been trytng to get cltmbtng groups to prereg1ster s1nce 1992 The agency stated that year that 

begtnnrng in 1994, all groups would need to preregtster by February 15. That action. however, dtd not appear 

tn the Federal Regtster unttl December 1994 (see above) NPS, "Mounta1neenng Summary Report," 1992 and 

1993 edtttons, on DENA webs1te 

"' Federal Regtster 60 (March 31, 1995). 16579-80; September 13, 1995. 47513-14; February 23, 1996, 

6943-44, NPS. "Mountameenng Summary Report- 1995." 

' NPS, "Mountameering Summary Report - 1996 " 

'''' NPS/AKSO. Commeroal Vtsttor SerVtce Directory, vanous 1ssues. 1985 to 1995, Anchorage Datly News. April 

27. 1992, E-8 

''"'See "1984/85 Fact Sheet, Mountaineenng Gu1des" and "88/89 Fact Sheet" folders. in DENA Concess1ons 

office; Federal Regtster 54 (February 3, 1989). 5555 On January 30, 1985. NPS Reg1onal Dtrector Roger 

Con tor wrote U S. Senator Ted Stevens and noted that the agency was pleased w1th the record of all seven 

mounta1neenng gu1de serv1ces 

•oc NPS/AKSO, Commeroa/ Vtsttor Servtce Dtrectory, vanous 1ssues, 1981-1989 

''"Anchorage Datly News. February 19. 1992, A-1. A-8. 

1

• Anchorage Daily News, March 19, 1992, B-1, B-3; April12, 1992, E-1, E-9, Apnl16, 1992. B-2, Apnl27. 

1992, E-8; May 10, 1992, J-1, J-3 

~' NPS, "Mountatneenng Summary Report- 1992," on DENA webs1te The Genet Exped1t1ons story IS told, 

primanly from Harry Johnson's potnt of v1ew, tn Peter Porco's "Fall from Grace," rn Alaska 64 (May-June 1994). 

pp 30-3 7 

• '' NPS/AKSO, Commercial Visttor Servtce Dtrectory, 1992 through 1994 edtt1ons. NPS. "Mountatneenng 

Summary Report- 1993," on DENA webs1te 

1

' Deb A1ango, "The Concesstonatre Questton," Alaska Bustness Monthly 10 (May 1994), 57, Anchorage 

Datly News, July 4, 1994, B-1. B-3. Jeannte Woodnng, "CoLtrt Orders Concess1ona1re Off Mountain." Alaska 

Busmess Monthly 10 (August 1994), 10, Jacobs vs. U.S A., eta/, June 16, 1994, p 22, 1n Jacobs Lawsu1t ftle, 

DENA Concess1ons offtce 

Concess1ons Analyst. ARO to Ch1ef of Concessions. ARO, September 1, 1994. •n "Mountatneenng 

Prospectus" folder [1994-95}. Current Files. DENA Concess1ons office, NPS/AKSO, Commemal Vtsttor Servtce 

Dtrectory, 1995 through 2006 edtttons. In an 1rontC footnote, AAI-desp1te havmg 1ts permtt taken awaysoon returned as an Old Park mounta1neenng gu1de because the company, 111 November 1998, purchased 

Fantasy Rtdge Alpinism. Inc., wh1ch had held a concess1ons perm1t S1nce 1989 It IS still one of the stx penntt 

holders Mary Wysong 1nterv1ew. May 15, 2007 

1 Anchorage Daily News, May 6, 1994, E-1; NPS. 'Mounta1neenng Summary Report." I 991 and 1993 

through 1995 edtttons. 

' ~ NPS, ·· Mounta1neenng Summary Report," 1985 and 1989 ed1ttons 

l NPS, · Mounta1neenng Summary Report- 1989 ... on DENA webs1te; Rosen, "From Ketchikan to Barrow," 

11 

Anchorage Datly News, July 14, 1991, 0-10, NPS. "Mounta1neenng Summary Report," 1993 and 1995 

edlttons. on DENA website 

' Marttn Hansen IAKRO Lands DIVISion). 111 an October 24, 2007 ema1l, notes that the lease for the rescuecache property was s1gned 1n 1990 

Roger Rob1nson 1nterv1ew, January 2007 and May 1, 2007. NPS, "Mountatneenng Summary Report," 1989. 

1990 and 1995 edtttons 

Roger Robinson 1nterv•ew. see above. NPS, "Mountatneenng Summary Report, .. 1995 ed1t1on 

··'[Daryl Mtller], "Mount McKtnley South Peak. Attempts and Summ1ts," on DENA mounta1neenng website 

Anchorage Datly News. June 21-24. 1998. A-1 

·~ Anchorage Datly News, August 14, 1998, A-1, August 23, 1998, A-1 The lengthy August 23 artiCle 

g1ves an excellent descnpt1on of the pros and cons of msurance. bonds. fees, and other revenue-enhanong 

poss1b1ltt1es 

ChaptPr Th1rteen A Ct>nl iJIY of unlall tn g 32\ 
·' 106" Congress. 1·' Sess1on, "Denali Nat1onal Park and Preserve Rescues" (Senate Report 106-77). June 9. 

1999, 2. 

' ld 1 0511' Congress. 2"

1 Sess1on, "Mount McKinley Rescue Act1v1t1es" (Senate Hearmg 1 05-775), August 24, 

1998, passrm., Anchorage Da1ly News. August 25. 1998. A-1, Seattle Post-lntelligencer, August 28, 1998, C-9 . 

. ,.,U.S. Senate, 1 05" Congress. 2"" Sess1on. S. 2639. mtroduced October 15. 1998 

' " U S Senate, 1 06'h Congress, 1·' Sess1on. S 698. introduced March 24, 1999 

" 1 Senate Report 706-77, June 9. 1999, 5-6, U.S Senate, 106'" Congress, 1 'Sess1on, S 698, vanous 

references m www thomas.loc.gov After the pres1dent s1gned 1t, the bill became Public Law 106-486 

n NPS, "Mountameenng Summary Report- 2001," on DENA mounta1neenng webs1te 

w NPS. Analys1s of Cost Recovery for H1gh-a/mude Rescues on Mt McKmley. Denali Natrona/ Park and 

Preserve, Alaska, August 2001, 1n Talkeetna Mounta1neenng Center files. 

1 Anchorage Darty News. Apnl 25. 2005. B-1. B-2 

'

7

" NPS. General Management Plan, November 1986, 21. 27, NPS. "Mounta1neenng Summary- 1991," on 

DENA mounta1neenng webs1te; NPS, etc . Development Concept Plan, South Side, Denalt. Alaska. February 

1997. 14-16 

m Robert K. Yearout (WASO) to Reg1onal Director. Alaska Reg1on. June 11. 1997. 1n "C382 3 IBP Converted to 

CP (Air Tax1 Operat1on DENA)" file. AKRO Concess1ons Collect1on 

' Federal Register 67 (November 8, 2002). 68157-58, Anchorage Daily News. March 15. 2006, G-1; Jill 

Morgan emails. May 1. 2007 and May 7, 2007 Between 2002 and 2007. the vanous earners were 1ssued a 

senes of one-year perm1t extens1ons 

18 Anchorage Daily News, October 15, 1999. C-1, January 18, 2002, B-3; June 15, 2005, B-3, NPS, 

"Mounta1neenng Summary Report." 2001 and 2002 ed1t1ons 

m NPS, Draft Backcountry Management Plan, DENA, February 2003, 39, 49-61, 92-95 

Roger Rob1nson. rev1ew comment. August 22. 2007. also see Vern TeJas·s comment 1n the NPS's 

Backcountry Management Plan, DENA, January 2006. 347-48 

NPS, Draft Backcountry Management Plan. DENA, February 2003, 39, 42, 96 

2 Ibid. 50-63 

1 ' Ibid .. 1 OS; NPS. Revrsed Draft Back country Management Plan. DENA (Apnl 2005). 193. 442-68. M1ke Tranel 

1nterv1ew. October 19, 2006. 

''• NPS, Revtsed Draft Backcountry Management Plan. DENA. April 2005, 43. 55-56, 71-72. 101. 193 

" NPS, Final Backcountry Management Plan, DENA, January 2006, 38, 48, 54 

' "'Anchorage Darty News. March 5, 2006. K- 1 

• ' Anchorage Darly News, March 15, 2006. G-1. G-1 0 

1 '8 NPS. "Mountameenng Summary Report" 1 995 and 2000 ed1t1ons. on DENA mounta1neenng webs1te 

• '

9 Sherwolllt, "Mountain of Trash," 35. NPS, Mountameermg, Denali National Park and Preserve, on DENA 

mountameenng website 

··o NPS. "Mounta1neenng Summary Report." 1995. 1996. and 2000 ed1t1ons. Roger Robmson 1nterv1ew. May 

1, 2007 

'· 1 NPS, "Mounta1neenng Summary Report," 2000 and 2001 ed1tJons. Tom Bol. "Denali Patrol Rangers Protect 

Climbers and the Mountain," Alasta 68 (May-June 2002), 26 

1"' NPS. "Mounta1neenng Summary Report." 2003 ed1t1on 

1" 1 NPS. "Mountameenng Summary Report," 2000 ed1t1on; Sherwollll, " Mountain of Trash," 68, 70 

' " NPS, "Mountameenng Summary Report." 2001 and 2003 ed1t10ns; Sherwon1t, "Mountain of Trash." 70; 

Anchorage Darty News, July 6, 2001. H-1 o. July 23. 2001. B- 1. March 3, 2002, B-3 

"' NPS, "Mounta1neenng Summary Report," 2001 ed1t1on, Sherwollll, "Mounta1n of Trash." 70, 

' ''" NPS, "Mountaineering Summary Report," 2002 and 2003 edit1ons. Roger Rob1nson interv1ew. May 1, 2007 

' NPS. " Mounta1neenng Summary Rer.ort," 2004 ed1t1on 

''" Rob1nson 1nterv1ew. May 1, 2007. NPS, FinaiBackcountry Management Plan. January 2006, 51-52, NPS. 

DENA, Compendium, Sec 2 14(b), 2006 ed1t1on, p 14, and 2007 ed1t1on, p 1 0 

•·•·' Sherwonll. "Mountain of Trash," 35, 68, 70, NPS, "Mounta1neenng Summary Report." 2003 and 2004 editions In 2001, one ranger noted that "we f1nd a cache about every hundred yards at the end of the season 

that needs to be cleaned up " Bol, " Denali Patrol," 26 

'"' Garey Coatney to Associate Reg1onal Director, Operations. May 5, 1989, Rebecca Hallgarth to Ch1ef Ranger, 

South D1stnct. DENA. October 30, 1989; both 1n "Talkeetna V1srtor Center/Roberta Sheldon, DENA-0" folder, 

AKRO Lands DIVISIOn files; NPS. "Mounta1neenng Summary Report," 1989 ed1t1on 

" 1 NPS, "Mounta1neenng Summary Report," 1990 ed1t1on, Joe Durrenberger to Rebecca Hallgarth, July 9. 

1990, Reg1onal D1rector to Chref. Land Resources DIVISIOn, WASO, December 24, 1990, Reg1onal D1rector 

to Regional SoliCitOr, December 11, 1991 , all1n "Ret1red Fde/Phll11p Wallona, DENA-0" folder. AKRO Lands 

DIVISIOn files. 

'·' Anchorage Daily News, March 25, 1992, B-2 

322 Crow n Jpwel or ttu' North An Adrmruwat1ve HI\ Tory nl Denair Natrona! Park and P·eserve 
· ·. NPS, Draft Development Concept Plan, Enwonmental Statement, South SlopE', DENA (Mily 1 993), 19. 

· • Desp1te that reject1on, howeve1, the 1dea of a Talkeetna-area VISitor center rcma1ned The report of the 

Denal1 Task Force, m October 1994, recommended small VISitor centers at Talkeetna and two other south slope 

s1tes. and m March 1996 (see Chapter 1 0), the revised draft DCP called for v1s1tor filcilities and serv1ces to be 

developed at Talkeetna and other points "when the need and opportulllty to do so are established ·· 

lYi SAR. 1993, 7, SAR, 1995, 9, NPS, "Mountameenng Summary Report- 1 995;" Brad R1ch1e mterv1ew, April 

30, 2007; NPS, Des1gn Analysts, Mouncameermg Contact StatiOn, Apnl1994, 111 TIC Collection (184/D-285\ 

1 · SAR. 1996. 5, SAR. 1997, 5, NPS, "Mountatneenng Summary Report- 1996." Anchorage Dady News, June 

7, 1997, B-1 

"James and Susan Kellard 00008/Talkeetna Parking (Mountaineenng Center)/DENA" folder (DENA 0-29), 

AKRO Lands DIVISIOn 

.,_ NPS, "Mounta1neenng Summary Report," 2001 and 2006 ed1t1ons 

Cha~tPr ThwN·n A CerJtilly of MrJtmta111eenng 323 
324 Crown Jewel of t.,e Nortt> Ar> Adrronoslrdt ve Hostory ol DE'n<olo tJa· ana P,,,~ and Presi'rve 

Placer mining on Moose Creek, 1982. 

DENA 5, Denali National Park and 

Preserve Museum Collection 

Chapter Fourteen: Mining and 

Kantishna-Area Management 

As noted in Chapters 1 and 2, mining was an 

established reality in the hills immediately north 

of the Ala ka Range before the first park proposals were offered to the U.S. Congress. On june 

4, 1903,]udgejames Wickersham located some 

encouraging gold prospects along Chitsia Creek 

at the north end of the Kantishna Hills, and the 

announcement of his find back in Fairbanks 

soon brought prospectors inro the area.' Joe 

Dalron's 1904 discovery along Crooked Creek, 

along with jack Horn and Joe Quigley's find s 

along Glacier Creek early the following year 

brought nearly a thousand hopeful gold ~eckcr~ 

to the area in the summer of 1905, and ~evera l 

instant towns sprang up at river confluences in 

the Kantishna Hills and along the major access routes. Prospectors soon learned that the 

area's wealth was indisputable hut limited; some 

claims along Eureka and Glacier creeks produced small fortunes, bur elsewhere the mood 

was pe!>simistic. In the wake of the 1906 season, 

the Kantishna District was all but deserted, with 

all but fifty or so of its fonner inhabitants off to 

more promising venues.' 

Charles Sheldon, who arrived in the gamelands 

north of Mount McKin ley in July 1906, was well 

aware of the area's mining activity. With him was 

mail carrier Harry Karstens, who had prospected in the Kantishna area in 1905 and returned in 

early 1906. During his visit, Sheldon talked to local miners, passed by their cabins, and witnessed 

the mining landscape.1 And during his return 

visit, between August 1907 and june 1908, he 

became fast friends with Joe Quigley and Fannie 

McKenzie, two prospectors who lived together 

on Glacier Creek.l 

Between 1908 and the outbreak of World War I, 

the Kantishna area was home to a small, scattered number of miners who were isolated not 

only from the outside world but even, ro a large 

extent, from each other. Glen Creek, during 

this period, offered the only cluster of cabins 

large enough to be ca lled a "town," while other 

miners were located on Glacier, Eureka, Moose, 

and other nearby creeks.' During th1s period 

other areas to the south and west were scoured 

out for minerals; Wesley Dunkle, for example, 

showed an interest in d1e area surrounding 

Slippery Creek in T9l5 (although no claims were 

filed), and along Stampede Creek, "an open 

cut, excavated in 19I6, disclosed a large body of 

nearby pure stibnite [antimony ore], ar least 12 

feet d1ick.''

11 

Mining and the Mount McKinley Park Bill 

In the fall of 1915, Charles Sheldon began to 

campaign for a national park that, among other 

purposes, would protect the Dall sheep and 

other megafauna from Fairbank -area market 

hunters (see Chapter 2). Since 1909, Alaska had 

been represented in Congress by Delegate (and 

former Fairbanks judge) james Wickersham. 

Sheldon, hy good fortun e, had met Wickersham 

a number of times over the years at Boone and 

Crocken Club dinners. Owing to his 1903 attempt to climb Mount McKinley, Wickersham 

was familiar with the Kantishna country, and 

perhaps because he discovered gold in that area, 

he had a particular sensitivity for the welfare of 

the area's prospccrors and miners. Pragmatic as 

he was, however, he (like Sheldon) was awestruck 

by the area's beauty, and he was convinced that 

a large, forested area between Wonder Lake and 

the McKinley River should be ''withdrawn from 

disposal and preserved for the usc of those who 

'hall come after us ... " .7 

Sheldon, wisely, decided early in the Boone and 

Crockett Club campaign to see Wickcr!>ham 

and a~k for his thoughts on the matter, because 

he knew that any bill passing Congres~ would 

need Wickersham's blessing. By December 1915 

they had met, and Sheldon told Stephen Mad1er 

(from the U.S. Intenor Department) that the area 

"should be created under provi~ions which will 

protect local interests in mining." More specifically, any park bill would need ro contain provision& protecting both exi!.tmg and future mming 

claim~.~ 

As a result. the initial Congressional bills inrroduced in Apriii9I6 (H.R. 14775 and S. S?I6) 

wntained four elements favorable to mining 

interests. First, Section 2 of these bills :.tared 

that those who had existing claims, locariom, 

or entries- whether for minerals or "any other 

purpose whatsoever" would be able to have 

"full use and enjoyment of his land.'' Second, 

Section 4 stated "that the mineral-land laws of 

the United States are hereby extended to the 

lands included within the park." Third, Section 

6 stated- even though the park was "established 

as a game refuge"- rhat "prospectors and miners engaged in prospecting or mining in said 

park may take and k1ll therein so much game or 

birds as may be needed for their acrual necessitiec; when short of food ... ''. And finally, despite 

the ameliorating language in Section 4, the park 

boundaries were drawn ~o as to eliminate rhe 

C.hapter Fourt~>en Mnw1q and Kanttstma-Area Mandgement 325 
Glacier City, shown above In 1922. 

was one of the settlements born 

during the gold rush to the Kantishna 

District m 1905. located at the 

confluence of Glacier Creek and the 

Bearpaw River, it served as a supply 

point and overwintering location 

for prospectors long after other 

towns were abandoned. LM Prindle 

Collection, 11531, U.S. Geological 

Survey 

Kantishna II db, whtch Wa!> the only known area 

where mining claims had been located up ro that 

time. Durmg the early months of 1916, the exact 

location of th c~c boundaries had been debated 

by Sheldon, rhoma~ Riggs, and other authorities (see tap 2m Volume 1), but the\ remained 

unchanged during Congress's con'>ideration of 

the park bill " 

As Chapter 2 has noted, that portton of ~ection 6 

regarding the need for prospector and mmers to 

kill game and bird~ was debated in the full House 

on February 19, 1917, and Rep. William Stafford 

of Wiscomin recommended that the hunting 

pnvilege~ "should be under such regulations 

as the Secretary of the Interior may prescnbe." 

But Rep. Stafford's amendment, wh1ch may 

have been '>pom.ored by conservationist:-., was 

defeated, and the final bill did no t mcludc it. The 

language in l)cction 4 was abo debated thm day. 

Rep. Franklin \V. Mandell of Wyommg argued 

on the House floor that "the mineral law~ of the 

United States, '>Orne of them, do not apply to any 

part of \la'>ka." A':> a result, he urged that Section 4 be replaced with the following verbiage: 

•· othing in chi" Act shall in any wa'r modifY 

326 Crown J~wel of the North An Adm~n strahve H•story of Delldll Natron"l Park and PreseNe 

or affect the mmcralland law ~ now apphcable 

to the land~ in said park." The b11l, otherwise 

unchanged except for minor wordsmithing, was 

'iCnt on to Pre!>idcnt Wih.on, who d it into 

law on Fcbruar) 26." 

"1ounr <\fcKinley 'Jational Park, the first national park to be e~ bli she d after the pa:-.~age of the 

ational Pa rk ~ervice's ~o-ca ll d "Organic Act" 

10 Augu~t 1916, d1ffered significantly from previom park b1lb. The fir t park bill (Yellowstone 

10 1872) had not prohibited huntmg. nor had the 

189q \\ount Ramier National Park bill, but later 

b1lb in May 1894 and june 1916, respcctively-

-.topped the practlce." Other early reservations, 

uch a~ Yosemite and General Grnnt (Sequoia) 

national park, never allowed huntmg because of 

U.S. Army rules." The Organic Act of 1916 omitted an) !>pec1fic mention of the subject (only that 

"the fundamental purpo<;e of the l>aid parks ... 

1s to conser\'e the ... wild life therein"), but the 

Ma) 1918 "Lane Le tter" that "provided an outline 

of the dmmJ~ trative policy to wh1ch the new 

Service will adhere" expressly -.rated that "hunting will not be permitted in any national park."'1 

As described in Chapter 4, Harry Karstens and 
On his way to the foothills of the 

Alaska Range in 1906, Charles 

Sheldon travelled through the newlyestablished gold rush settlement of 

eureka • Situated at the confluence 

of Eureka and Moose Creeks (seen in 

the foreground, looking south), this 

town would later be called Kantishna. 

the most enduring of the Kantishna 

gold rush settlements. Charles 

Sheldon, The Wilderness of Denali 

Eureka Creek, right, was the location 

of Joe Dalton and Joe Stiles' most 

important gold discovery in the 

Kantishna District_ This creek 

turned out to be the major producer 

for those early miners. who used 

hand placer mining techniques. 

L.M. Prindle Collection, #526, U.S. 

Geological Survey 

other park official:. did thctr bcM to abide by the 

provision that .<,anctioned hunting for local pro&-

pcctors a nd miner& '·a~ may be needed for their 

actua l necessities whe n !>hort o f food ." These o fficia ls soon discovered, howeve r, that thb policy 

was difficult if not unpossiblc to enforce in the 

field. By 1923 the ational Pa rk:. Committee (an 

outside group head ed by Gct1rgc Bird Grinnell) 

had pa!>sed a re!>olution asking the 1 P dtrcctor to prohibit Kanti..,hna-area mining company 

employee!> from killing game in the pa rk "for 

community service." Cungres!>, however, made 

no move to banish the practice until ja nuary 

1928. Al a~ a Delegate Dan Suthe rland admitted, at the rime, that "there is no prospecting at 

the prc!>ent time in the park area." Four months 

later, President I loovcr stgned the game-hunting 

prohibition into law (sec Chapter 4)-

Chapter Fourteen M1n1ng dlld Kant1~hna-Area Mctnagement 327 
Joe Quigley's Red Top Mine was 

a lode claim located above Friday 

Creek. The Quigley cabin is seen on 

t he far left, and Fannie Quigley's 

famous garden is visible below the 

cabm. John Brooks Collection, 68-32-

324. University of Alaska Fairbanks 

Archive 

The other -.igmficant difference hetween the 

Mount McKmlcy bill and other park bill was 

irs sanction of mining activity. In the bill!, that 

created Yellow~tone National Park, Yosemite 

National Park, and the predece::.~or to today·~ 

Sequoia ational Park, Congre~;, included a 

provision for the preservation of all ''mmeral 

deposm •. "•• Tht: bill estabhshmg Mount Raimer 

1 ational Park (in 1899) expressly ;,rulctioned the 

practice, and although a follow-up bill in 1908 

prevented the filing of new claim,, d1e presence 

of existing claims meant that at least ~orne mining-company lands remamed within the pru·k 

until1984. '~ When a bill w establbh Crater Lake 

l\:at1tmal Park was introduced in late 1901, House 

members favorable ro mining interests convinced 

the ~ponsor ro ;,anction mining, even though 

no mining had taken place withm the propmed 

park\ boundaries. The bill bt!came law in May 

1902. Similarly, the 1906 bill establishing Mesa 

Verde NatiOnal Park did not prohibit mining 

or mineral exploration.'" The 1916 Organic Act 

made ir clear that the parks' primar) purpo~e 

was "to conserve the scenery and the nantral and 

historic ohJecrs ... therein" and to "leave rhem 

unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generadon;,," and the 1918 "Lane Letter" l.tated that "the 

commercial usc of thebe rc~crvations" except 

in specified circumstances "wiU nor be permitted under any cJrcum~tancel.." In the years that 

followed, NPS officials made it clear that mining 

wa~ one of a number of developments d1at were 

considered inappropriate in parks.'7 Even so, 

rhree additional park unit!> over the yeru·s entered 

the system with a specific allowance for mining: 

Grand Canyon 1ational Park (1919), Olympic 

>Jational Park (1938), and Coronado International Memorial (1941). At three other pad, unitsGlacier Bay National Monument (1925), Death 

Valley Nat:Jonal Monument (1933), and Organ 

Pipe Cacru~ National Monumem (1937)-righrs 

to mineral entry were re1mtated after the unit& 

328 C•own Jewel of the North An Adm1r11stra1•v<> H•stor·1 ol Dendil N<ll•ondl Park and Prewrv~.> 

had been established; Glacier Bay, for example, 

sanctioned mineral entry as the result of a Congressional act that became law on June 22, 1936.'" 

Pa rk Mining, 1917-1941 

Beginning in d1e closing days of World War I, 

mining in the Kantishna area began a resurgence. 

Joe Quigley leased out hb Little Annie Claim on 

Quigley Ridge, and shordy afterward he began his own work on the Red Top Claim above 

Moo-.e Creek. Ed Brooker and Mace Farrar 

worked the Alpha Claim on Eldorado Creek, and 

two hydraulic outfib-Kantishna Hydraulic Mining Company and d1e Mount McKinley Gold 

Placer Company-worked tbe gravels of Moose 

Creek and Caribou Creek, respectively. Most of 

these operations were active by the summer of 

1920; those going to and from Kantishna. during 

this period. ryp1cally arrived from d1e north or 

norrhea~t and ~pent little time in the ncwly-esrahlished park.'" 

The Kantil.hna Hydraulic Company's operanom reached well south of its claims, which 

were located near the Moose Creek-Eureka 

Creek confluence. ln order to create a con::.istent 

source of water for the five "giants," or monitors, 

the company comtructed a 2' 2-mile-long ditch 

that spanned the distance between Wonder Lake 

and it~ claims. TI1is ditch, six feet wide and two 

feet deep, began at a dam located ar the northern 

end of Wonder Lake. The operation was active 

in 1922, but 1t was abandoned soon afterward 

becau~e of low gold returns. The dam and ditch, 

including the lake, was several miles north of d1e 

park. bur in 1912 portions of the company's nowabandoned improvements became parklands 

because of a Congre~sio al bill that expanded the 

park\ boundaries.'" 

As noted m Chapter 3, Congress decided to 

provide funding for the new park in March 1921. 
In 1921, Joe and Fannie Quigley 

were the first to stake lode daims 

on Copper Mountain, renamed Mt. 

Eielson in 1930. By 1922 a small camp 

(seen above) had been established 

here, with as many as SO daims 

staked over the next few years. 

894-22-188, Anchorage Museum of 

History & Art 

!>horrly afterward. rs ofhciab hu·cd the fir<,t 

park employee (l larn: Kar~ten..,), and b\ lune 

of that year the ~upcnnrendent wa~ at work m 

tht: park. That '>Ummcr ah .. o WHne.,sed '>orne 

of the first pro.,pccung acnv1rv m the par!.., and 

by September Kar ... ren ... wrote to hi., .,uperior'> 

that '·cxtensi\'e pro ... pectmg" hau taken place 

Between the Thorofare R1ver anu the upper 

slope., of Copper Mountam, ar~tcn~ noted 

that "there i., a wonuerfulleaLI there and twenry 

or thirty claim.., hm·e been qakeLI" l ie abo 

nmed di~CO\'erie.., "on the uppe1 n:achc., nf the 

Main Toklat R1ver" and the .. headwater ... of the 

Sushana Rnw" •\ .,late a.,lhl· '-pnnv, o f 1921. 

Copper \\ountain haLI"t!lllte a number of pro.,-

pector'> and m1ncr' ... mo .... l of them gomg m b)' 

way of the Kann..,hna Dl..,lrict."" 

The 1921 Copper \1ountall1 dl\covenes, nor 

surpnsmgly, brought other., mtn the park, many 

of whom fanned out into area ... that had not previously been prospected. In the late fall of 1921, 

pro.,pectors were '>een along the Savage and 

Sanctuary river.,"" well as nl Copper \1ountain 

and the Tt>klat, and the fnl lowing j une, Karstens 

~rated that "numerou-, prmpector-. have gone 

mto rhe park rhi.., month, dc~llnattnn unknown." 

In April 1923, "qu1te a number of prospector<;" 

were going to lglm1 Creek, and others headed to 

Slippery Creek at the !'..outhvv·e.,tcrn end of the 

park That ... ummcr, there wa., a ..,ram pede into 

the Toklat Regton. but It turned out robe a "fabe 

alarm.~ Bv the '>pring of 1924, the in111al pro.,-

pecting penod had apparently run it~ cour'>e, 

particular!~ at the park\ ea~rcrn end; Karsten~ 

::.poke with a numher of pro~pector~ .. who "all 

agree that there are no mmcral depo ... it~ cast of 

the Stony," and that fall Kar~tem noted that few 

prospector<; had been seen tn that area ''in very 

ncar a year" ' 

Some, however. were rcapmg rcwarLis from 

what rhev had dhwvercd. Perhap~ the mo'>t 

substantial operanon vva' bemg run b\ Owen M. 

"Red" Grant, a '·bona fide pro::.pector" workmg at Copper Mount:un. Other' With Copper 

Mountain interest' tncludcd Ed jern, \Xfc::.lev 

Dunkle. and John Andcr~tm; Dunkle, a~ noted 

above, haLI..,hown an ea rlier IIHcrest m Sltpper~ Creek, while Ander~on ::md lm wife (sec 

Chapter 4) ran a homelotead at the north end of 

Wonder Lake. 1 By 192~, Bill Shannon had llled a 

claim at Slipperv Creek; the fulhm mg year, '\'eil 

,\\cCall wa ... hard at -.vork on h1~ Sushana Rtvcr 

clmm.'"' 

Park offic1ab. dunng thl\ pcnod, p:ud particular 

attention to whether park rcgulatinm rcgardmg 

nmber curung and hunnng Wl'rc being followed. 

They soon discovered that \OJnc pn1' .. pccror ... 

were not cooperative. Karsten., noh.d Lhat a 

man named Armstmng, who pro..,pected along 

Savage and Sanctuary nvcrs, "'>eems to 1gnore 

any authority ovcr the park." '' jack Donnelly, 

who had prospccting camp~ along the Savage 

and Toklat river<>, wa~ ~potted twice in 1923 With 

active hunting camp., tn the par!... (J\., noted tn 

Chapter 4· Kar ... ten' warneu h1111 after the first 

incident but citcd him Jfrcr rhe scwnd: a February 1924 mal was held in Heal~ hut dc::.p1te 

the "clear case" agmnst Donnelly a local Jury 

exonerated htm.) · And rule' agam!>t timber 

cuttmg were w1deh vtolated. In the fall of 1922. 

Kar~tem complamed that "vcn ncar!~ ever~ 

parry traveltng through ]the park] cuts down 

good trees to make new camp~ \\ lth." The 

practice continued 11110 the mid-1y2m. when 

park officials final!) stopped 11 by contnctmg 

individual mmer~ anLI po;ting ruhlic notices in 

conspicuous areas near whe re vinlanom had 

taken place. 
One log structure, the Grant cabin, 

was built at the Copper Mountain 

mining camp. The tra il through 

the park passed by this cabin, and 

most trave le rs st opped to visit O.M. 

"Red" Grant, who was known for 

his hospitality. Edmunds Collection, 

891·23·25, Anchorage Museum of 

History & Art 

By the winter of 1925-26, Karstens recognited 

that a select few in the mining community 

(which included both Kantislma miner~ and 

tho~e working in the park) were ''bona fide 

prospectors" who "abide by all the park rules 

and regulations" and whose" ympathy b with 

the Park Serv1ce in the preservation of the wild 

animal life:' He ruefully added, however, that "it 

is only wished that the other prospectors in and 

around th1s park were of the same calibre."'H As 

noted above and in Chapter 4, Karstens at this 

t1me was in the midst of a long battle over huntmg by prospectors, one that would not be settled 

until park hunting was banned in 1928. 

To learn more about the park's mining activity, 

Karstens in early 1926 planned to ask "all mmers 

going into the park to record their entry and also 

advise th is office of the location of their claims." 

It b not known whether he and the other park 

staff established such a registration system; given 

the fact that many miners during this period 

accessed their claims via d1e northern river systems, gathering such data would have been difficult without a sustained information-collection 

dfort froru park rangers. Karstc.;n:. passed on tu 

his superiors the need for such a system.'" 

The idea lay fallow for the next several years, 

but shortly after the hunting ban wa~ enacted, 

Congress moved to limit mming in the park by 

prohibiting the filing of any new mining claims 

and by ensuring that existing claims were w.ed 

for mining-related purposes. On April 18, 1929 

Gerald P. ye (R-N.D.), who chaired the Senate Committee on Public Lands and Surveys, 

submitted a bill- probably at the behest of NPS 

Director Horace M. Albright- that promised to 

modify operations ar seven differem national 

330 Crown Jewel of the North. An Admrnrstratrve Hrstory of Denair Natrona! P,uk and Pres<:>rve 

parks, including Mount McKmley. Section 2 of 

S. 196, as originall} l.Ubrnitted, noted 

That hereafter the location of mining 

claims under the mineral land laws 

of the United States is prohibited [at 

rhe park);provided,lznwet'er, that 

this provision shall nor affect existing 

rights heretofore acquired in good 

faith under the mineral land laws 

of the United States to any mining 

location or locations in said Mount 

McKinley arional Park. 

Nye held a heanng on the bill in April 1930. Before he did so, however, he solicited Albright's 

views, and during the intervening period the 

rs director backed off from ~ome of the bill's 

o riginal provisions. Albright, in a March 1930 

letter to Interior Secretary Ray Lyman Wilbur, 

noted that the "desirability of taking this action with reference to the whole of this park " 

had been "carefully considered by this service 

and discussed with officials of the Geological 

Survey." But he now felt that "until more opportuniry has been had tu exploit the mineral 

possibilities on the west side of the park, the 

objects of this provision might be satisfactorily 

accomplished ... by simply prohibiting the location of mining claims on Lhe east side. The use 

of mming locations for purposes other than to 

extract the minerals, however, is undesirable 

and :-.hould not be permitted anywhere in the 

park." He recommended, therefore, that the 

above section be mod1fied to prohibit future 

mining claims only 10 areas east of Stony Creek 

and its southward extension, and he recommended that the ·'good faith" clause m the original bill be replaced by one stating that "mineral 
Individual miners pursuing their 

dreams along many of the creeks 

in the Kantishna Mining District 

included Louie Fink. shown above 

at his cabin in 1919 on Little Moose 

Creek. on the east side of the 

Kantishna Hills. These prospectors 

and miners were far from supply 

points and by necessity had to be 

able to build cabins. hunt for their 

meat, and maintain dog teams for 

transportation. Stephen Foster 

Collection, 69·92-270, University of 

Alaska Fairbanks Archives 

locations m the park shall entitle the locator 

only to the minerals in the land and no surface 

rights, except such as are reasonably necessRry 

ro extract the ::.arne, may be acquired by virtue 

of such location." 

The Senate's discussion that day led to further changes, and by the time the Committee 

reponed on its work, it decided to recommend 

that the park e~tabli!> h a registration system rather than an outright prohibition on new mining 

claims. Section 2 now read as follows: 

that hereafter the Secretary of the 

Interior shall have authority to prescribe regulations for tl1e ~urface use 

of any mineral land locariom already 

made or that may hereafter be made 

wiiliin the [park] boundaries ... and 

he may require registration of all 

prospectors and miners who enter 

the park: provided, That no resident 

of the United States who is qualified 

under the mining laws of ilie United 

States applicable to Alaska shall be 

denied entrance to the park for the 

purpose of prospecting or mining. 

Given the Senate committee's changes, no 

further action took place on Section 2 of S. 

196. It passed the Senate on May 7, 1930; it was 

reported our of the House the following january 

21, and President Hoover signed the so-called 

Surface Use Act on Janua ry 26, 1931.'" By the 

time the bill became law, however, mining activity in the park had ebbed. Perhaps because NPS 

officials were nor particularly worried about the 

effecb of mining activity, they made no immediate moves to implement the registration system 

called for in the statute. 

During the late 1920s and early 1930s, little 

mining or prospecting took place in Mount 

McKinley ational Park. The Copper Mountain, Slippery Creek, Sushana River and other 

former activity sites were generally quiet, and ilie 

Kantishna area just outside of the park boundary was far less active than it had been during the 

years immediately after World War I. As hisrorian Bill Brown has noteJ, "By early depression 

days tlle population of d1e Kantishna district and 

surrounding mining areas had dwindled to less 

than 20 souls. In 1930 only two miners wintered 

over at Eureka .... This was a far cry from the 

distant days of stampede- a cabin or two with 

smoke in the pipe, the rest falling and smothered 

with alders." A minor amount of work, outside 

the park, was also taking place during this period 

on Crooked Creek, on tlle east flank of the 

Kantishna H ills a few miles west of the Toklat 

River.'' 

One of the few minerals to be extracted in the 

park during this period was coal. By 1931, PS 

rangers had become aware of a coal :.earn located 

just east of tlle Toklat River's East Fork. Until 

this time, PS rangers had relied on wood to 

heat their cabins along both the park road and 

tl1e nord1ern boundary. Many of their cabins 

west of ilie Teklanika River drainage, however, 

did nor have an adequate nearby wood supply, 

and as a result, rangers were forced to haul wood 

for a considerable distance. To ease the problem, NPS rangers- probably working in concert 

with better-equipped ARC personnel- mined 

·'several loads of coal'' during the summer of 

1931. They then hauled the coal over the newlyconstructed road to one of ilie TokJat River 

ranger cabins, after which it was to be distributed 

to several N PS cabins along the park's northern 

boundary line. Two year~ later, the Alaska Road 

Chapter Fourteen Mmrns and Kantrshna-Area Management 331 
The East fork coal mine was located 

less than a mile up the small creek 

drainage toward Sable Pass from 

the Alaska Road Commission's East 

Fork cabin. This mine had a section 

of narrow gauge railroad track and 

a tipptng car for transporting the 

coal Ickes Collection. 875·175·306. 

Anchorage Museum of Htstory & Art 

Commission 'howcd an mtere~t in the 'earn :h 

well, and that Aubrust, several addmonalload-. 

were mined and "hauled to ~o c of tht• cahin-. 

where wood'" not available."" AcU\it\ at the 

site eventual!) inc.luded a l>hort railroJd track 

and coal CJr; production contmued at lcJ'>t unnl 

1934. Three \'ear<. later, the mine v.a" n:acU\'ated 

and 45 ton'> of co:~l was extracted thl'fc The 

park conce.,-.ioner, the 11, lount 1\,1\cl<.:inl~·" louri-.t 

and Transportal Jon ( ompany. probably did 

:.o to heat it~ Camp Denali building.,, located 

at til, I ile 66 on the park road." After the 1939 

sea.,on. park ufliCial~ learned that coal mmmg 

there (and eJ.,cwhere m the park) wa-. prohibIted. Despite that news, however,'-< PS ranger-. 

m September 1940 hauled coal (perhap-. a pre,·iously-mmed depo.,lt) from the fast Fork mmc 

to rhe newly-comtructed Wonder Lake Ranger 

Station. No known mming ha~ taken plan~ ar the 

-;ite since then. • 

Kantishna Mining and the NPS, 1937-1945 

A'> noted 10 Volume 1, the park road thatwa ... 

begun m 1923 wa., completed to \X onder l..1ke m 

1936, to the northern park boundarv m 1937, and 

to it~ terminu!> in Kantbhna in t<nR. In anti<..1pa 

tlon of the road\ completion, and m respomc to 

h1gher gold pncc;., the Kannshna dt'>tnct (tn the 

\\Ords of h1~torian \nn Kain) 

mon•d into a boom period. Several 

milh were comtructed to prncc~-. the 

orcs from Jude mines, and placer nuning moved mto a new phase with the 

introduction of new equipment A' 

331 (rOIN cwel o' the N01th An Adrn~nrstrdt~'<e Hostory of Denah NaT Or>al Pilrk and Pn·s~rvl' 

a rc ... ult, over the next few vcar .... the 

Kanri.,hna D11>tnct produced more 

gold, both lode and placer, than at any 

earlier time " 

The fir.,t to take ad,·antagc of the are.t'., Ctll>ler 

acce.,., \\a!> General A. D \lcRae of \ancouver, 

B.C. In the .,ummer of 19"\3 -.cvcr.ll \'e:lf'• betorc 

the road\ completion he took an opnon on joe 

and Fanme Qu1gley's Red lop and Ltt11e Anme 

propertie'>. 1l1at September, the conce.,sioner 

hauled so ton<. of freight to the end of the road 

(wh1ch wa., "-1tle 70 at that time), bevond wh1ch 

the '\R<.. agreed to use caterpillar-. ro complete 

the haul. \ two-man crew dnllcd a 1,ooo-foot 

tunnel at the Linlc Annie '\1me, onl~ 10 di;,co,·er 

that the ore '>am pies were roo low-grade to 

be profitable. Soon afterward, the option wa& 

dropped.'" rhc j anuary 1934 ncar doubling of 

the price of gold (from 20.67 10 35 per ounce) 

brought nC\\ investors into the "-anti'>hna area, 

and in 1935 the QUigley!. lea.,ed the BanJO gold 

clatm to rrnc'>t Fran'>en and Clifton Hawkms. 

rwo longume Fairbank~ arca "hard rock men." 

Thc'>e men, together with Fairbanks busmessman A. Hjalmar Nordale, formed the Red Top 

\llmmg Company; they purcha'.>cd ~cvcral more 

of the Qlllglc\ properne~. Thc1r operanom. 

w~erher wirh rho'.>e of the Canhou 11\ I me-. (a 

dr) -bnd dredging opera non on <..anbou Creek) 

brought forth the "Golden Years of Kanti~hna 

l\1ming,'' which la!>ted from 1937 ro 1942. " 

The mcrca-.cd value of gold encouraged mineral 

development throughout Alaska. Within the na-
The Banjo Mill, pictured here in 

1939, was located on the east end of 

Quigley Ridge on the Banjo claim, and 

was the first attempt to mill lode gold 

locally in the Kantishna District. The 

six-level mill was built in 1937-38 and 

was operated by the Red Top Mining 

Company from 1939 to 1942. Alaska 

Road Commission Collection, 61-18· 

121, Alaska State Library 

The Carrington Company's 

introduction of large-scale, 

mechanized mining technology in 

1939 brought an end to small-scale 

mining methods on Caribou Creek. 

The dryland dredge, shown above 

in 1939, was operated until 1942. 

Alaska Road Commission Collection, 

61 -18-138, Alaska State Library 

tiona! park, however, the only new development 

site was at Slippery Creek, which was some 25 

mile!> southwest of Kantishna. As noted above, 

Bill Shannon had established claims in the area 

in 1923, but major development work awaited 

the arrival of Wesley Dunkle. The man known 

as "Alaska's Flymg M iner" took an option on 

the property in 1936 and, with help from the 

Anaconda Company, ::.ent a crew out in the early 

::.pring of '937· The mine attracted considerable 

attention until roor metallurgical tests forced 

Dunkle, late in 1937, to write the p roject off as a 

bad mve::.tment.'" 

The renewed interest in gold mining during the late 1930s had a second impact on the 

park because it brought increased traffic to the 

park road. The park's leaders were doubtles~ 

aware that the road had been built ro acces!> the 

Kantishna mines as well as to areas of pre-eminent ~ccnic vistas and wildlife habitat. At fir::.t, 

park leader::. ::.aw few con tlicts regarding the 

dual purpose of the park road (on ly that "truck:. 

of the Kantishna mines ... were pull ed out o f 

ditches several times" one summer). I" 

Just two years after the road was completed, 

NPS officials broached the idea of charging fees 

for commercial veh1clc traffic on the park road. 

Previom regulation<, had made no reqUirements 

for either motor vehicle permits or motor vehicle 

fee::., but in April 1940, the agency's General 

Rules and Regulations (Section 2-40} were 

amended to read "Where required, no motor 

Chapter Fourteen. Mlnmg and Kant•shna-Area Management 333 
Park managers and Alaska Road 

Commission personnel were well 

acquainted with the Kantishna 

District's residents, as evidenced by 

this 1931 photo taken at the Quigley 

cabin on Friday Creek. Pictured from 

left to right are Joe Quigley. Betty 

Edmunds (wife of ARC foreman Chris 

Edmunds), Fannie Quigley and park 

superintendent Harry Llek. DENA 

3831, Denali National Park c.nd 

Preserve Museum Collection 

vehtcle may be operated in the parks or monuments without a permit. ... Permit\ are 1s-.ucd 

upon paymcm of the required fcc."t• After 

Washmgton officials appnscd him of the new 

rule, Superintendent Been railed agmmt it; he 

stated that "A-, pri\'atcly owned passenger vehicles are used l>O ~e ld om anti the trucking now 

done by the Kanttshna mine operators i!> not 

a problem, it appear':> de.,irable to refrain from 

requinng permJtl> .... The hus trips of the park 

operator function quite closely to a schedule 

and present no serious problem to date." Been 

asked NPS Director Arno Cammcrcr to include 

Mount McKinlev a!> an excepnon to the general 

regulation .~· 

Washmgton offictal~, in re'>ponsc, mulled over 

the idea for almost a year. In '\1arch 1941, the 

agency !!>Sued new rcgulat1om, and although 

Section 2-40 wall left largely intact, they made no 

move ro require ctther permrt~ or fees for all vehicles on d1e park road. But the .,arne regulation 

package had a newly-reworded port1on (Section 

2.37) that dealt with commercial trucks. It stared 

that the usc of any park road "bv commercial 

334 Crown Jewel of lhP Nonh An Adm•mstrat•ve HMory of Dennlt N.JIIOndl P.trk nnd PreSPrve 

trucks, whtn !>UCh trucktng I'> in no way connected w1th the operation of the park or monument, 1c; prohibited, except that in special cases 

truckmg permit~ may he t<osued at the discretion 

of d1c Director, for which a !>pecial fee wiU be 

charged."~· G1ven the fact thar commercial truck 

traffic over the Mount McKinley park road, by 

thts ttme, wall an accomplished fact, PS officiab 

had ltttle choice but to grant permits to Kanbshna minmg com panic~ and to charge a fee for the 

companies' usc of the park road. Park employees, in june 1941, reacted to Wa'>hington's ruling 

by recommendtng an annual Ss fee for r'/1-ton 

trucks and a Sro fcc for 21 -and 3-ton trucks. But 

the two Kantishna-area mining companies (Red 

Top Mmmg Co. and Carnngton Company/Caribou '\.1.ines) fought the proposed fcc and, ctting 

low profits, mred their gnevance ro Alaska Delegate Anthony Otmond. Thill actton effectively 

po!>tponed an agencv dect>:>IOn on the matter, 

but by March 1942, the 1\<PS had overcome those 

objectiom.. Been, m ht<, monthly repon, noted 

that "special permit., were 1ssued to two gold 

mining compantes to usc the park highway for 

truck freighting of mine '>llpplies and equipment. 
Johnny Busia posed for this 

photograph at his Neversweat lode 

claim on Eldorado Creek. Denali 

National Park and Preserve Museum 

Collection 

This is the first time that a fee has been charged 

for commercial use of the road."43 

The onset of World War JI- had a varied impact 

on the mining industry, both in the park vicinity 

and elsewhere in Alaska. The War Production 

Board's issuance of Limitation Order L-.208 

on October 8, 1942 forced the closure of most 

nones~ennal gold mine~ in the United State!:>, 

including those at Kantishna. Bur the war also 

brought about a relaxation on regulations (in 

place !:>ince the passage of the 1872 mining law) 

that required mmers to perform S10o worth of 

annual assessment work on their daims.44 The 

war also created a renewed demand for many 

minerals because of their strategic value, and by 

September 1942 park authorities were announcing that ''the park highway may become an 

artery for [the 1 flow of strategic metals." Ernest 

Maurer, from Fairbank!>. began production that 

fall on an antimony mine along Slate Creek (at 

the southwestern end of the Kantishna Hills) 

and hauled ore over the park road in both 1943 

and 1944.4' Earl Pilgrim, at Stampede Mine in 

the Toklat Rlver drainage (see below), ran a 

much larger antimony mine but did not use the 

park road, and Owen M. Grant optioned hts 

Copper Mountain lead-tine property-"the 

only mine in the park in which assessment i5 

kept up;' as of September 1942- to a Canadian 

company that Inspected the site's ore body but 

ultimately decided to not develop it.4' 

fn the midst of the new whirlwind of economic 

activity, several small, long-t1me prospectors 

soldiered on at claims that had been worked for 

a generation or more. joe Dalwn, who had been 

prospecting in the area since 1904, continued 

to res1de along Moose Creek; Fannie Qwgley 

lived nearby, as she had since 1906; and Croatian-born "Little johnny" Busia, who moved 

to the Kantishna in 1918, continued to trap and 

prospect from his Moose Creek cabin. Given 

the easier accessibility that the park road provided, group~ of tourists and even dignitaries 

occasionally dropped in on the aging re~identsY 

Park rangers did, too; Grant Pearson, who 

had met Quigley shortly after hi!. park tenure 

began in 1926, told a host of stories about her, 

and he used a trail built in the early 1920s and 

still used today- that wound north from the 

Kantishna Ranger Station (McKinley Bar cabin) 

towa rd the Kantishna district. Pearson was also 

fond of Busia, whom he interviewed in 1943. 

Pearson and other park staff were saddened 

indeed to hear about Dalton's death m April 

1944 and Quigley's four months later; thereafter, park personnel dubbed Busia the ··mayor" 

of Kantishna and did what they could ro assist 

hi mY 

Mining in Kantishna and the Park, 1945-1975 

After World War Jl, some commercial mining 

took place on the park's margins; the largest lode mine in the area wa:> the Stampede 

Mine (see next section ), but in addition, Frank 

Bunnell operated the 1\Jeversweat lead-silver 

prospect near the confluence of Eldorado and 

Reinhart creeks. Bunnell worked the prospect, 

which had previously been johnny Busia's, off 

and on between the late 1950s and the late 196os, 

but it produced only a marginal amount of ore.••• 

Chapter Fourteen M1n1ng and Kan!lshna·Area Management 335 
Harold Herning, a former park ranger, 

began developing his Mt. Eielson 

mining claims In 1954 by hauling 

a pre-built log cabin to the former 

Copper Mountain mining camp site. 

Part of his road can be seen above the 

Thorofare River bar and to the right 

of the prominent drainage on Mt. 

Eielson. DENA 16-17, Denali National 

Park and Preserve Museum Collect1on 

Harold Heming's cabin on Mt. Eielson, 

pictured here in the 1960s, was built 

next to the remains of the former 

Grant cabin at the Copper Mounta1n 

mining camp. Cultural Resource Files, 

Denali National Park and Preserve 

,\1ore numerou~ were gold placer operauon'>, 

which cropped up m variou~ Kann ... hna Ifill" 

locations dunng rim thirty-year pcnod. Johnny 

Busia, for example, ran a '\hovel-in" operation 

along \loose Creek during the late 1940"·' The 

largest commercial venture dunng tlw, pcnod 

\\'a!> the Caribou Mmc:.. This 14-man operanon 

was run hv rhc C.arnngron Companv of Scaulc 

and operated on Caribou Creek from 1946 to 

1949; its eyuipment was then u-,ed b\ the Glacier 

Creek Minmg Company, which operated during 

the 1949 ~em.on. Other operatiOn., were ..,mallcr, 

w1rh crew-. of ix or le!>:.. They mcluded the Hosler Mine~, on Moose and Eureka creek!., run by 

Elmer and D. G. Hosler between 1948 and 1952; 

Dewey Burnette and Martha (.\1argaret) Hunter, 

who operated on Crooked Creek between 1947 

and 1956; Paul Om lin, who had a one-man operanon on l.1ttle ,\toose Creek m 1955 and 1956; 

Arlc\ Taylor and Associates, who operated on 

Eureka Creek beginning in 1959 and perhaps as 

late a'> 1966; the Stuver Brother'>, who operated 

on Moo'-e Creek during the 1961 ~cason; George 

Blackman and A. H. Dyer, who operated on 
Johnny Busia, seen above in 1947, 

used hand placer mining methods. 

He lived in Kantishna from 1918 until 

his death there in 1957. Oscar Dick 

Collection, Denali National Park and 

Preserve Museum Collection 

Friday Creek betvveen 1961 and 1963; the Glen 

Creek Development Company, which wa~ acm·e 

on Glen Creek durmg the 1960~. Vlmt of these 

were mechanited operatio ~ in which a dragline 

or bulldotcr (perhaps both) were u~cd to gather 

and proce~s the gold ore. 

During this thtrty-year period, the only known 

commerctal mming that took place m the park 

consbred of a ~mall amount of bui ding-stone 

extraction during the earlv-to-mid 1950s and 

a small amount of antimony minmg durmg 

the mid-1970s.' A few others tried ro de\·elop 

their property, but without commercial ~uccess. Perhap~ the most vi~tble mmmg operation 

was that of Harold Heming, who, according to 

jul~ 1954 NPS report, "improved the old road 

from the htghway to the Thorofare Rtver gravel 

flats and ... hauled in logs with wh1ch to erect 

a cabin." Heming, who had filed on a '>Cne-. of 

claims in june, built the cabin and an adjacent 

wall tent later that summer; he accessed h.ts cabm 

and nearby claims wtth a "truck and halftrack." 

V\embcrs of his family returned to the site for 

more than twenty years. Portions of his acces~ 

route arc '>till \ isible today, and his cabin ha., 

long been an object of intcre~t to those who have 

enjoyed the view from Eielson Visitor Center, 

JUSt two mile~ to the north.11 

\1ost mmers during this period (those with 

claims either m the park or in the Kanrishna 

area) had a number of interaction-; with the ~; 

they often met park staff while driving our the 

park road, and paperwork was needed to gain 

road access or to obtain a prospector\ pcrmtt. 

Exi~ting record::. indicate that the PS, following 

Congre~s's lead (sec above), did not charge commercial mining companies for their usc of the 

road between 1943 and 1949, mclusivc. In 1950, 

the agency assessed two mining companies a Szo 

annual fcc.~.'4 Bur by 1952 (and perhaps by 1951) 

the fee had apparently been waived, and the !'IPS 

did not assess road-use fees to mmers in later 

years.'; The miner with the mmt extensi\'e NPS 

contacts during thts period was Johnny Busia, 

who ~cldom if ever used the park road. By the 

late 1940s, the lone sourdough was a well-known 

figure, both locally a nd throughout Alaska, and 

NPS staff stayed in contact with him bv radio 

throughout rhe year via pcnodic weather and 

wildlife reports.'" Busia died on August 20, 1957, 

JUst two weeb after the De nali Highwa) made 

Kantbhna easily accessible to the motoring 

pubhc.l 

In 1931, it may he recalled, Congress had given 

the Interior Secretary (and, by cxten\tOn, park 

oftlcials) the "authority to pre~cribe rcgulatiom 

Cl>apter Fourteen Mm>ng and Kantlshna-Ared Management 337 
for the surface use of any mineral land location~ 

already made or that may hereafter be made" 

in the park and also the authoril) to "require 

registration of all prospectors and miners who 

enter the park." Because of a lack of minmg 

activity, no moves were made during the 1930s 

to e'>tablish park-1.peclfic mineral regulations. 

This ncar-total absence of mining activity 

continued during the postwar years. As noted 

in the sections below, there were three major 

proposed or exi1.ting mining developments that 

consumed N PS offic1als' attention during the 

postwar penod. Given those developments, the 

NPS <.:unsistcnl with ovcr<11l agency goals- did 

what it could to prevent a resurgence of mining 

exploration and development. lt liN moved to 

establbh an area where the mining law~ would 

not be apphed, and then expanded the number 

and ~J/e of these areas. as needed 

The first propo,ed large-~eale mmmg development emerged shortly after World War II. In 

August 1947 (set: below), NPS officials became 

aware of the potential economic value of a 

large limestone deposit just east of Little Windy 

Creek, ncar the <,ourhea:,tern corner of the park, 

and in October 1948, development interests 

~taked fiv.:: claim~ in that area. Hoping to protect 

the surroundmg area, theN PS withdrew approximatelv 6,200 acres of surrounding land in 

December 194!l, and m order to prevenr speculative minwg development. the Interior Secretary 

implemented park mm1ng regulation~ in February 1949 that required registration, an annual 

prmpcctor\ permit, and other provi~ions. In 

February 1951 the withdrawn area was increa<;ed 

to approximately 119,000 acres; ~even years later, 

mJune 19')8, the withdrawal was revoked. The 

regulauons thar were implemented in Februarv 

1949 remained in effect until1976, when Congre~sional passage of the Mining 111 the Parks Act 

eliminated future mineral entry 111 the park.i' 

In 1952, a corporation\ attempts to extract buildmg stone from the park (see below) brought 

forth two proposals to withdraw a cumulauve 

total of approximately St,oso acre!> of land along 

lhc park road. Those proposals, which called 

for large amounts of land to be w1thdrawn in the 

hotel-headquarters and Wonder Lake areas but 

a narrower corridor between tho~e area~, were 

advanced in August and September 1912 but 

never implemented. But b} May 1957, rhe ncarcompletion of the Denali Highway had brought 

forth a revival of intere~t m the park bv prospecwrs and m mer~. Superintendenr Duane jacohs, 

ar fir~t. denied permits to several individual~. 

but to ensure greater protection, he reque1:>ted 

the i~suance of a public land order that would 

preclude mining anJ prospectmg w1thm 1.5 mile~ 

'B B Crow11 Jewel ot the North An AdrrnmstratM! History eot Denull NdtiOn<Jt Pn ~ dlld e>f'l~e 

of the park road. (At that time, he apparent!) 

wa~ unaware of the 1952 proposals.) He was 

soon assured, however, to learn that a '·request 

for withdrawal of lands adjacent to the park road 

... i~ in effect" even though his request had not 

yet been processed. Shortly afterward, on june 

4, the Interior Department inserted a proposal 

in lhe Federal Reg1ster to withdraw the same 

road-corridor parcels that had been attempted 

five year~ earlier.~" Almost a year later. in early 

May 1958, the Department announced that it 

would finalit.e the withdrawal. On june 28, 1958. 

the Interior ~ecretary\ office issued a public land 

order stanng that 81,050 acres along the park road 

corridor was being reserved for "administrative sites and the protection and preservation of 

~cenic and recreational areas," and to accomplish 

those purpose~ the acreage was "withdrawn from 

all forms of aprropriation under the public-land 

laws, including the mining laws."'"' 

Earl Plifrilll and tire Stampede Mine 

Sometime before World War I (sec above), prospectors located a promising body of 5tibnite (antimony ore) along Stampede Creek, a tributary of 

the Clearwater Fork near its confluence with the 

Toklat River. Except for excavating an open cut, 

however, no one tried to develop the property 

commercially for more than twenty years.6 ' ln 

1936, however, longtime Alaska res1dent Earl R. 

Pilgrim obtained the claim~ and transferred them 

to Morns P. K1rk and Son, lnc., a National Lead 

Company ::.ub~idiary. Pilgrim himself signed on 

a~ the company\ on-silc manager. Given the 

larger company'!> muscle, it constructed a ball 

mill in 1919. Before long the mine was the largesl 

anumony producer in Alaska and second large!.t 

in the country. By the spring of 1941, when high 

co1.t~ forced the mine\ closure, more than 2,500 

tom of ore and concentrates had made the1r 

wa) to the Alai>ka Ratlroad and to more distant 

processtng fac1litie~. At fir~t, the company had 

used a Catcrptllar tractor and double-ender 

1.led~ to haul it~ ores out dunng the late winter 

months; from the mine, good~ wcnr eastward ro 

the !.ignite railroad stop over a ~inuous route that 

was -.imilar to the "lower wute'' that Alaska RoaJ 

Commis~ion personnel had surveyed during the 

early 1920., (<;ee Chapter 3)."' By rhe summer of 

1941. however, Pilgrim had added another transportation option by blading out an airstrip 2 \ 1 

miles down.,tream from the mine, at the Stampede Creek-Clearwater Fork confluence."1 Neitht:r of these transportation methods trespassed 

on Park Service property, so perhaps as a result, 

park officials knew little during this period about 

the nature and scope of Pilgrim's activities. 

In the spring of 1942, Pilgrim bought the mine 

and mill complex and, given a spike in antimony 
Earl Pilgrim and his beloved dog, 

Kobuk, are pictured here in the late 

1930s at the Stampede Mine. Pilgrim 

was a mining engineer who played 

an active role in the Stampede 

Creek antimony claims from the 

1930s through the 1970s. Sarah lsto 

Collection 

prices, he immediately set to work reopening the 

mine. Perhaps using his years of experience as 

a mining engineer, Pilgrim was able to persuade 

both the U.S. Bureau of Mines and the U.S. 

Geological Survey to send technical crews out to 

the property that year. These crews doubtless 

helped steer Pilgrim toward promising new ore 

bodies."4 

Recogni1ing the prevailing high lransportation 

costs, the war emergency, and the need to expeditiously get this strategic ore to market, Pilgrim 

petitioned the ARC for authori.tation to build a 

"tractor-trailer wagon and tmck road" from the 

mine to where the park road bridged the Toklat 

River. Pilgrim offered two routes: a 26'/1-mile 

option that lay entirely within the Clearwater 

Fork and Toklat River beds, and a 2o1

'2-milc 

option that included a three-mile cross-country 

segment spanning the low divide bet\veen these 

two drainages. Park superintendent Frank Been, 

upon receiving the request, rejected !:he shorter 

route because it would "require construction 

overland on park lands," but he cautiously supported the 26''1-mile proposal. He recognized 

that "the wide gravel beds of Alaskan glacier 

Chapter Fourteen Mm•ng and Kant•shna-Area Management 339 
Transportation of antimony ore 

from the remote Stampede Mine to 

market was a major difficulty. This 

late 1930s or early 1940s photograph 

shows tractor trains pulling wanigans 

and largely empty sleds. The tractor 

trains are presumably headed back to 

Stampede from the Alaska Railroad at 

lignite. where ore was unloaded for 

shipment. Sarah lsto Collection 

This early 1970s photograph shows 

the Stampede Mine's lower camp. 

The buildings, left to right, are 

the garage/shop. the "covered 

warehouseN. cache. house and office, 

and the greenhouse with a weather 

station in front of it. Not shown are 

the bunkhouse and mess house at 

the upper camp, and the warehouse, 

dynamite shed and assay office 

slightly downstream. Sarah lsto 

Collection 

streams are commonly used for trucking and 

tractor hauling," and more specific to Pilgrim's 

letter, he stated that "the meandenng nature of 

the Toklat River will erase the road from the 

gravel <;tream bed Within a vear or two after hauling ceases." Inasmuch a~ Pilgrim had purportedly opened the mme "solei:. a~ war produc 

tion work," Been wa~ willing to authori/e the 

road, but "on I: for the war emergency.'' Been's 

recommendation wa~ qUickly ~ecnnded b\ "-"PS 

Director '\Iewton Drury."' Pilgrim, howe\'Cr, did 

not follo"' through on the propo~ed road. and he 

abandoned the idea in '94+ 

340 Crown Jewel oil he North An Adm1mslr~11vf' H1story of Dena\, Nar,onal Par~ anrl Prese1ve 

In 1946, Pilgrim optioned the property to other 

investors, and in ,\llay 1948 the mine's new 

managers requested permission from the '!\IPS to 

comtn1ct an "ore trucking road" connecting the 

mme with the park road. This request called for 

the shorter road option, in which several miles of 

nghr -of-way strayed away from riverbeds. NPS 

officials at the Washmgton level were imtially 

favorable to the idea. But because the operators 

were purportedly "mvolved in hady financing," 

Superintendent Been was less enthusiastic about 

it and recommended that the Bureau of Mines 

decide whether the ore bod: could be profitably 
Earl Pilgrim is pictured here in his 

Stampede Mine home and offtce 

cabin in 1976, at the age of 84. Unda 

S. Barb Collection 

developed. This road rcque~t cv~.-ntuil ll\ reached 

the Alal.ka Road Commi~<;ion; it was not acted 

upon because the ARC, g1ven it~ meager budget, 

wa~ unable to carry out rhc work.'''' 

In 1954, Pilgrim revived hi~ inrere~l in rhe mine 

after obtaini ng a Dcfen~e Mineral~ Fxploration Agency contract, and a~ part that cfTort 

he renewed the propo~al tirst ad,·anced in 

1942 and renewed m the late 1940~ to build a 

201>-mile road from rhc m1ne to the Toklat R1ver 

bridge. In m1d Jul~, ~ PS ofticwls flew over the 

propo~ed route, and 'hortlv aftcm ard the) 

di,cus!>ed the road proJect With P1lgnm. Superintendent Grant Pcar..,on. who h\ thl' time had 

worked w1th Pilgrim for year-., ~aw advantage., 

to the road; a~ hiswrian Bill Brown noted. the 

road would nor mar scenery ncar the park road, 

and it would gtvc the park vchiculnr access to the 

park's LowcrToklat P•mol Cabin, which would 

considerabl) ca~c upplving rim and other 

boundary cabms. Pear..,on\ '>Upporr proved 

crucial, and wirhm a month \Xfashmgron ulticial!> 

had also appmvcd the route. Rut the fnllowmg 

year, park officials dcc1ued to he more cauuou~. 

and the speCial use perm1t that Pilgnm !>lgned 

in earlY 1955 granted aurhcmtatlon to li'>C the 

longer (261 1-m1lc) route that remamcd \\'lthin the 

park'<, rin!rheds. The ARC. agmn, wn" unable to 

fund the necc~sarv road Improvement~. and the 

project lap~ed:· 

Pilgrim again produced ore at the mme m 1956 

and 1957. In 1956, he made two ore ~hipmcnt~ 

out to the railroad , both via trnctor trai n over 

the route that he had pioneered in the 1930.,.M 

Perhap~ becau~c llf the wil and expen!>e of those 

trips, he made a renewed attempt in late 1957 to 

obtam a connecting road along the l()klat River 

corndor. Since receiving hi~ previous approval, 

however, the park had undergone significant 

changes: ~upcrintcndcnr Pear~on had retired 

and been replaced bv Duane Jacobs, the park 

(and the entire agency) had propo~t:d and approved It~ ~\J~s!Oll b6 plam, the Denali Highway 

had been completed and brought thousands of 

ne\\ v1s1tors to the park. and consenatmnists 

had caught wind of the roau proJect and openly 

d1sapproved of IL G1ven tho~e change~. a park 

officialmformcd P1lgnm that the proposed road 

wa' no longer compauble with park values. 

P1lgnm met with jacob' the foll(lWing spring 

and '>tre-.sed the 'J P~\ hypocmy m opposmg 

a road that had been granted three prev1ou ~ 

times. jacobs. 111 rc~pon~e. openly worried that 

the approval of a temporary, ad hoc road would 

soon mushroom mto the need for an improved, 

permanent road. lie relayed h1., concerns to 

hi., superior<. in San Franc1sco ami Washington, 

who -.howed no mdination to disagree ''nth the 

supenmenuem\ dcc1~1on or rationale.' • 

I acking the Toklat opnon. Pilgnm now rned 

ro imere'>t otlic1alc; With the new Stare of Alaska 

in imprm ing the old route that connected the 

mme with rhe Ala~ka Railroad !>lop at Ligmte. 

(See Chapter 9.) Seittng on the prm·1sions of 

rhe Pioneer Acce~~ Road Act of 1959 and irs 1960 

amendm nt~. Pilgnm contacted ~tate Department of Natural e~ource~ officia ~ in May 1960. 

His request eventually reached Oivi~ion of Highwav~ officials, who ~upportl·d I he pro1cct not 
After World War II there was h1gh 

demand for cement 1n the temtory 

of Alaska To assist with mineral 

evaluation. the Bureau of Mines 

Investigated limestone daims along 

the Alaska Railroad corridor 1n an area 

just west of the Windy railroad stop. 

This July 1950 photograph shows 

one of the drilling sites. DENA 16-6, 

Denali National Park and Preserve 

Museum Collection 

only on It~ own ment:. but becam.e 11 portended 

possible future routes ro Kann~hna and even McGrath. That November, Yutan Comtructlon Co. 

of Fairbank'> '>ubmJttcd a low bid of S25o,ooo ro 

build a road between Lignite and Stampede, and 

the work wa~ tleclared to be complete in October 

1961.

10 The route was l:.ud out ~o poor!\ that the 

only round tnp by a four-whecl-dnvL vehicle 

wa~ one ccumph~h d by the proJeCt JO,pcctor 

Despite the mine\ continuing accc~'> problem~. 

however, Pilgnm contmued to produce antimony 

ore during thi~ period, in 1964-65 and again in 

1969-70.7' 

Plans to Mme Limestone Along ~t:lndy Creek 

A second area of mining-related concern during 

thic; penod pertained ro the potentml de\'elopmenr of hme~ronc cl:um'> in the ... outhca!>tern 

corner of Mount McKinley ationnl Park. Since 

the early 1930..,, geologists had known thar the 

Cantwell area had contamed limestone depo~

Jt~; what rcmamed unknm\ n, however, wa~ 

"whether or not the larger or better dcpo.,ir, 

[of tho'e all along the Ala~ka Railroad corndor] 

were in the Park.''' To find our more, member!> of the US Army did some mve..,ugatmg 111 

1946 in the oren Immediately wc~t of the Windy 

!>ection camp. fhat interest, in turn, brought a 

U.S. Geological Surve\ field parrv ro the area the 

following ..,ummcr. An NPS ranger ~potted the 

USGS crew along \Vindy Creek on August J. and 

five days later its leader, Edward Co~b, bncfed 

. upcrintendc!nt rrank Been on the matter. ' 

Been soon k·arned I hat the crew\ prc~cm.e 

portended maJor change!. for the park. In the 

3-11 Crown JPV.PI of the Nonh Art A<'lm•nrstrouve Hrstory of Ocnah Nd\ron~l Parl and P•ewrve 

wake of World War fl. the demand fi1r cement 

wa-. far highe1 than it had heen 111 previous years, 

and m respome to that demand, territorial leaders did what they could to pmh for the e:.tablishment of a cement plant along the Railbelt. 

The U.S. Geological Survey's field party was a 

rechnKal rc<,ponse to tho~e plam, the purpose 

of wh1ch was to ~earch for ecunomit.. tlepos1t:. of 

limeo,tom., cia) and coal withm fifty mile~ of the 

Alaska Rmlroad. Ar the Augmt 8 meenng, Been 

wm. surpm;cd to learn that the park's limestone 

depo,its were of special interest because no 

other limestone deposits had yet been identified 

tn the railroad belt; and because promtsing clay 

deposits had already been located in rhe Healyuntrana area, Cobb rold Reen that "a cement 

plant m1ght he feasible near llealy or Cantwell." 

Soon afterward, Cobb's superior cnnfirmed his 

agency's mterest in the park; he noted that "the 

studies apparently are now focu.,ed close to the 

railroad JUst mside the ~ou1hern Park boundary. 

The area betng tnvesngated ts o;mall, a few square 

mile<; at mo..,t, and the :.tudte!> include geologic 

appraisal of the deposits as well a~ rhe topographic mapping on a large scale of the VIcinity 

of the better deposits."H 

The USC inve~rigarion~ ~et m motion a series of 

event~ that mvolved PS, Interior Department, 

and terntonal officials as well a-, the U.S. Congre~., fur the next -.everal years. H1stonan ClausM a<,kc ha'> provided an excel I em OYerview of 

this propo!>al, which readers seckmg a detailed 

account are Invited to ead/~ A~ it pcrrained to 

NPS interc~t:., however, the primary question 

wa~ whether limestone-development advocate!> 
The purpose of the Bureau of Mines 

investigation was t o determme 

the economic viability o f limestone 

deposits near the railroad. DENA 16-

8, Denali National Park and Preserve 

Museum Collection 

would be able to gam access to the park; and if 

so, how the NPS would re,pond. 

By late August of 1948, two different companies had told the Interior Department of thetr 

mterest in butlding a cement planr in Alaska. 

One of those com panic~. the orthcrn Empire 

Development Company of Anchorage, asked the 

department for permission to obtain the park's 

limestone deposits. rhe company\ prcstdent, 

ArdlUr E. Beaudin, told Interior Secretary julius 

"Cap" Krug that he had mvc~tigatcd several 

possible limestone deposit!., but the park offered 

both lime-.tone and clay deposit!. that were "associated in a sufficiently rea~onable manner ro 

encourage the hazards of a business venture.'' 

Interior Department official!,, by thi ttmc, knew 

that project developer!. hoped to establt!.h a cement plant adjacent to the railroad in the vicinity 

of the ltmesronc deposits. The\ were also well 

aware that agencte!. within rhe department dtffercd on the wtsdom of further development; 

the NPS, given the choice, wanted ~to protect 

the area from commercial use," but the Alaska 

Railroad, the Geological Survey, the Bureau of 

Mines and the newly-establi hed Ala&ka Field 

Committee all advocated resource development. 

Assistant Interior Secretary William Warne, 

trying to steer a middle course, wa~ concerned 

about pos::.ible encroachments on the park, and 

inquired about "limestone area outside the park 

\\'hich might be comparably abundant and advantageously located." He also learned based 

on the january 1931 law noted above ··of the 

Secretary's authority to prescribe regulatiOns for 

mining even though mining 1!. permuted."?'> 

To resolve the t~sue, a meeting was held on 

September 5 between Assbtant Interior Secretary 

C. Girard David~on and rcpre~enta ives of the 

PS, Ala~ka Railroad, and Bureau of Mines. As a 

result of that meeting, David~on learned that no 

comparable lime::.tone areas existed within the 

rmlbelt; pcrhap~ ac; a result, he authoriLed the Bureau of Mines to drill "two horiLontal cores at the 

base of the limestone ndge" which was located 

"several miles inside the park." 1 PS Director 

ewton Drury also telegraphed h1~ approval of 

the dnlling plan, and hy mid-September a Bureau 

of Mines crew had begun ll!> work at the site. On 

October 9. m the midst of lhme efforts, three 

Beaudin empiO) ees flew to the area and staked 

five twenty-acre limc:.tone claims wtthin the park 

boundaries. These claims were located "ncar the 

left limit of Windy Creek about one mile north 

and near mile 324 on f'he Alaska Railroad."7H 

ChaptPr ~ourtPen M1rung <~nd Karll\hna-ArPa Management 343 
Interior Department officials, in response to the 

claims, took a hard protectionist line. Secretary Juliu~ Krug noted that "tt is mv firm policy 

to prohibit any and all commercial minmg 

operations within the Park boundaric:. unless 

overwhelming evidence can be presented to 

indicate that the proper development of Alaska 

would require mining the [park] re:.ource1.. o 

evidence has been presented to this end ... ··r 

To further protect the area, they made rwo additional moves. The first was to take step-. to 

implement the mining regulations that had been 

authoriLed back in January 193'· and the second 

wa& ro withdraw a large area surrounding the five 

drums from further mining activity. 

1 he move to establish mining regulation:. in the 

park, noted as an opnon during a mid-August 

meeting (see above), began in earne~t dunng 

dJscussions of a subcommittee of the Ala:.ka 

Field Committee, the purpose of which was ''to 

examine the law relating to mining in the park." 

The group, in its October 8. 1948 report, reiterated that the Jntenor Secretary, if desired, "could 

t~sue ~pecial regulations governing [prospecting! 

activities in the Park but a1. yet has nor done so." 

When the Committee discus:.ed the proposed 

development at its October 8 meeting, it expressed "considerable concern ... over the possibility that claims may be staken on the deposit by 

unscrupult)u~ persons, thereby permitring them 

to maintain a monopoly control over any furure 

cement industry in Alaska.""" 

Ten day1. after the committee met, Assbtant 

Tnterior ecretary William Warne recommended 

that the NPS "draft an appropriate Secretarial 

order" that would t) reaffirm the applicability of 

the mining laws within the park, bur 2) provide the authority to require registration for all 

prospectors who enter the park and to pre1.cribe 

rruning-rclared regulation~. The committee\ 

director, Kenneth Kadow, wrote \X'arnc 1.oon 

afterward; he :.ummari1.ed the com mince\ recent di.,cus:;ion on the matter and recommended 

''that the regulations should do everything in 

their power to facilitate practical development." 

A regional NPS official, however, worned thar 

"many strategically located mineral deposits 

within the park will be filed upon, proved up on, 

and go to patent for rurro~cs orher than mining." He therefore recommended that language 

contained in the 1936 CongressiOnal act (which 

had opened Glacier Bay ational Monument to 

mining) be applied to Mount McKinley National 

Park. On November 26, PS Director Drury 

forwarded language for the proposed regulation 

to Secretary Krug.'' Two weeks later. however, 

Supt. Been weighed in and strongly ~upported an 

annual registration requirement for pro!>pector5 

344 Crown Jewel of the North An Adm•mstrot• •e H•story of Dt•nah r~;;t,ortal Park ilnd Pre;erve 

and miners. Based on these and other comments, NPS personnel revised the regulatiom 

language, which Drury forwarded to Krug in 

early February '949· Krug accepted the revised 

regulations on February 19, and they became 

effecnve on March 3· The final regulation, which 

became a park-specific special regulation within 

the Code of Federal Regulations, had three parts. 

Fir1.t, tt required that all prospectors register before entering the park. Second, it demanded that 

all prospectors fill out a specific, seven-part regtstratlon form thar needed to he renewed each 

year. Third, it established regulations governmg 

how prospectors could usc, and gain access to, 

rhetr mming claims. IV 

The tdea for a withd rawal area began at an 

Alaska Field Committee meeting in early Octoher 1948. The committee considered Governor 

Ernel>t Grucning's motion to support an authonJ.ation measure for a cement plant in the park"'. 

and ~oon afterward it voted favorably on that 

measure. NPS officials, recogniLing the groundswell of both public and private support for the 

plant and the apparent lack of other economically-viable plant locations, reacted in two ways. 

First, they proposed that the acreage surroundtng the mining claims, and the proposed plant 

sire, "might he withdrawn as a Public Use Site, 

to protect lhe interests of the government in the 

venture:·~• In addition, they tentatively decided 

to excise the limesrone area from rhe park. Asststance Secretary Warne, recogniLing the necesstty of this two-pronged approach, asked the 

Bureau of Land Management ro prepare a public 

land order that would "'withdraw certain lands 

within the Mount McKinley ational Park tn aid 

of propo ed legislation to provide for the proper 

development and disposition of limestone 

deposits in the a rea:· By mtd-t ovcmber, the 

proposed order, which called for 6,200 acres to 

be Withdrawn "from all forms of appropriation, 

including the mming laws," had been forwarded 

w [ntcnor Secretary Krug and other federal official!.. (Sec Map 7.) The BLM Director approved 

the proposed order on December to, and it was 

implemented etght days later. ~\ 

In the meantime, momentum continued to build 

for a measure to authoriLe the plant's construction. Based on Gruening's measure at the October 1948 Alaska Field Committee meeting, there 

was a general recognition that Alaska Delegate E. 

L. "Bob" Bartlett would be introducing authorization legislation in Congress. And although 

some in the NPS may have had misgivings about 

the plant, agency officials made no moves to 

impede it. In mid-September, Secretary Krug 

had written that "the existing [park! boundaries 

[m Ala5kaj were established without adequate 
Map 7 W1ndy Creek L1mestone 

Activity, 1948-1960 

'\ Windy Creek Limestone Activity, 1948 - 1960 -:: 

'Q 

'~:-t 

\ 

legend 

c:J Public Land Order 538 

(/ 0 Pubhc Land Order 697 

0 

~;~~ \ ~ Primary Mining Claim Locations 

~o9 ~ -Alaska Ltmestone Corp Camp, 1960 

consideration of Park needs and l would not 

he willing m a"~ume that they arl' rea~onahle or 

proper." The PS's Hillor)' Tolson, 1n re~pon~e. 

allowed that ··m thts the Secretary 1~ undoubtedly 

nght. and ... 1f it,., at Jll po~'tble. a boundarv 

"rudv ~hould he made uf ou1 -\la,ka area~ nelo:t 

~ummer, with particular emphas" on Mount 

\icKinley and Karma~.''" Sup1. Reen, upon recet\·ingTobon\ memo. n01ed 1har ··a,'>uming that 

quarrying and ccmem manufacrunng do de\·elop 

near Windy Creek, the need for changmg the 

boundary may have to be faced" and offered specific suggestions for a realigned boundary. And 

Director Drury, upon receiving Arthur Beaudin's 

request for "certain land~ ... to permit the e~tablishmenr and operation of a cement manufacturing plant," came to the sam~: conclu~ton. In a 

memo to Warne, Drury nored !hat 

1 propu'c to proceed on the basis thar 

this ervice. after deta1led boundar) stud\ robe undertaken wirh the 

ad\ icc of the Bureau of lmes, will 

recommend that a boundar) n:vl..,ion 

be made to exclude rhc pro~pecttve 

limestone minmg and cement acti\'-

•ry from the park if the Department 

wi~hes to a~sbt the proposal after 1t is 

finally found fca~ible, as it now ~cern~ 

likely to bc.R· 

Glaciers 

ln mtu-Dcccmbcr 19-tH. "!he ')ccretanat, 

interested bureau head~ and llthers" met and 

"concluded that the limestone-cement planr 

proposal ... would go ahead." Part1upanrs 

decided that the P~ "wuuld drafr legi-,larion 

for reYision of tht:. park boundar) to exclude 

the requisite lunestone lamb, such lands ro go 

to the Ala,ka Railroatl." A month later, Supr. 

Been ~rated thar ··rhere appear~ no urgent:) for 

preclpttaong a boundan rcvt..,ion" 1n the near 

future, and 1hc agency\ rcgtonal director, 0. A. 

Tomlinson, noted ''that we lorc ~cc a real danger 

in any elimination of park land .... " The agency 

ultimately decided that a boundary revision was 

not a ncar-rcrm priont\'.'" 

In june 1949. Delcgatl' Bartl en followed up on 

Gruening\ move from October 1948 and inrroduced a billm Congre-,.., that would enable the 

U.S. president to d 1 rect the con-,rrucuon of a 

cement plant in the territory and lease it on "~uch 

terms as he rna} deem proper." A Hou"c c;ubcommittee held a heanng on the bill a month later, 

and Secretary Krug cn<.lor!>ed it; Krug. ciung the 

fact that cement pnce<, were four nme<, as high 

in Fairbank<. a-. thev were in Seattle, supported 

federal financing and construcnnn of ~;uch a plant 

in the public mtcre<.t. Subcommiucc members, 

however, were openly concerned about the lack 

of private capital for 'uch a vcmure, and a~ result, 
U 5. lntenor Department personnel 

constructed a "tote road" to reach 

the limestone assessment site. Part 

of thts road was located Inside park 

boundaries. DENA 16·5, Denali 

Nattonal Park and Preserve Museum 

Collection 

Barrlen \\a:. informed that hi'> h1ll wa-. hein~ held 

over for a H~ar. "" 

ln late 1949. ,\ ne\\ pia) cr entered thL· f rav: 

r crmancnte Cement Comp::my, n 'uhsH.liary of 

Kai~er Imlu-.tnc-., Inc. Rewgn11111g thL huge 

and conunum~ po-.twar demand l01 cement. 

the company announced It~ tnrcntion to hu1ld 

a bulk cement stora~c lacllit: in Anchorage. 

wh1ch it would .. upply from one or more west 

coast ports via\ ICton -.hip~. Despite a number 

of bureaucratlt hurd le .... Permancnte oflic1al-. 

persisted in their quest, and nn July 14, 1950, it 

opened 1ts Anchorage facllitv. Cement pnces in 

Anchorage prompt!~ declined bY .25 percent."" 

Deo;pJte that \\.ekome new .... some federal officiab contmued 10 heheve that the is-.ue of 

a pubhcly ~upportcd 1\la-.ka-ba-.ed tement 

plant memed fmthcr study. The Air l·orce, 

for example, concluded a Mav 1910 study hy 

"~tronglv" recommending that the lmenor De· 

parrment mwsttgatc "the fea~ibiht\ of produv 

ing cement ecnnomtcally in Ala-.b, ·and that 

September two m11nths after the storage facilitv opened a ~tateside comultant noted that 

territonal 'oeturtty and ..,eJf-devdopment \\ould 

take place "onh '"hen Alaska obtaim It~ own 

cement plant, b,\.,ed on local raw ma(L·nal~" 

Gi,·en thmL ne\\ pomr-.. Bartlett remtroduced 

h1s bill m latt \\av tqso. But b) rht-. time. the 

Bureau of Reclamation had completl'd a ... rudy 

whtch concludl·d that the cement plant wa ... 

not economtcalh feastble . .fame-. P. Davt .... rhc 

director of rhe Divbion of Territo ric-. and Island 

Posse:.~iun~. urged that Bartlett'' btll .,hould not 

be supported "un(e.,., and unnl present pros· 

346 Crown J!!Wt>l ot the North Arl A lmontslratove H•story of Dena t Niltoonal Pa ~ and Pr~>wrw 

peers ol cheap cement fail." Perhaps a<; a result. 

the bill dtd not pas-..9' 

Dunng the .,urn mer of 1950, U.~. Geological Survey lrew~ who were m the mid t of a 

planned five-year park geological ~rudy spent 

the ... urn mer mve<,rtgating n broad area between 

\X mdv ~canon and rogg' Pa ... -.; a' parr of their 

wor", \\htc.h mcluded the con-.rrucnon of a "tote 

road to tht• face ol the hme.,Wnl dttf .md across 

a porn on thereof," rhey dnlled hmestnne core 

.. ampll'., along \X'tndy Creek • The resulting 

core'> "revealed the presence of depo.,its of limel>lone and '>hale that may bt: u..,cful as the source 

of raw matena(., for cement mJ.nufacrure , 

Short!\ after the completion of the field season, 

Acung LSG~ Director Thoma'> B ulan met 

about the mattt.:r with P~ and Bl \1 offic1als. 

\XIorned aboul an mflux of ~retulative claims in 

an an:a that had not already been withdrawn, the 

government leaders concluded that "immediate 

withdrawal appear!. to be the only solulion." In 

late "member, the U C, and P~ directors 

j..,-.ued .1 tomr -.tarement dcclanng their interest 

in Wlthdra\\ mg a largl' area "unnl 'ouch nme as it 

i'> determmed \\.hether or not the Department 

or the Lovernmenr WI!.he., to take steps directed 

tO\\ard the e ... tabhshmcnt of a cement manufacturing plant." ( fhc proposed withdrawal area 

wa., approxtmatel)- 119,000 acre'>. :.orne 66,ooo 

of whtc.:h were located Within the park: ~ee Map 

7.) Thl: fOlllt propn'>al "uuld rcvuke the previous 

(December 1948) public land llrdcr bur \\ithdraw 

the larger area "from all form'> of appropriation 

under the publtc land laws ... and reserved ... for 

Ul>c Ill connection with the natmnal defense." It 

wm. forwarded on to lntcnor ~ccretary Chap-
By September 1963, when this photo 

was taken, the 7-year-old landing 

strip on the West Fork of Windy Creek 

(whkh was adjacent to a potential 

limestone development area) had 

suffered considerable erosion. DENA 

16-33, Denali National Park and 

Preserve Museum Collection 

man, who signed the order on February 2, 195t. 

The order wa~ implemented ~IX day~ later.'14 

Shortly after the Withdrawal took e!Tect, the lnrerior Department 1s~ucd \ ct another contract'" 

to consultant Ivan Bloch, which wa~ mtended 

to assess the ~tLe of the Interior\, pre~Lnt and 

future cement market. lie a~ ked hi~ colleague, 

K. E. Hamblen, to determme the operating 

and capiral cost~ for zso-ron-pcr-da} cement 

plant in the Canrwell-Windv area. The report~. 

!>Ubmitted in July 1951, concluded that cement 

produced at such a plant would co~t anywhere 

from x to nme times n~ much as the Permanente cement available m Anchorage. Hamblen 

concluded that a cement plant was still necessary. But government officials tho~e with both 

the Truman and Eio;cnhowcr admi ni~tratiom 

owed no further 1nten:st Ill a -.ubsidy, and the 

project appeared dead :~· 

Due to the language contamed m the February t951 pubhc land order. mter6t m the park\ 

limestone died awav until the summer of 1956, 

when Park Service nfficral' caught wmd of furtive mining-related activit} along \X'mdy Creek. 

~PS officials reCeiVed a report that a pro~pector 

had taken a "crawler tractor" into the \X e~t Fork 

of Windv Creek, so on .July 2), a three-man parrv 

flew over the area and ~covered "a ~hort, narrow landing srnp, some exploration d igging, and 

staking," along with a damaged airplane and a 

small tractor. A follow-up call to the U.S. Commissioner in Nenana revealed that Fairbanks resident \1ark Ring~tad had recently lllcd a claim in 

the area. Although the clatm wa~ legally !.taked 

according to BL.\1 mmmg regula lion-,,!\ PS 

official'> were concerned because Rtngstad had 

failed to register With park authorine-. according 

ro the regulal!On'> that had been unplcmented in 

early 1949. Thev were a!<.o concerned because 

con.,tructing an air~tnp tn the park >lOla ted , PS 

regula nons. Two vcar-. later, Supr Jacobs contacted Rmg~tad and ~uggcsted that he fill out the 

required rcgrstratton form; the claunant <;bowed 

no interest m dmng \0, however, and he made no 

Immediate move to develop the sire.'') 

Two year~ later, Interior Secretary Fred A. 

Seaton signed a public land order that revoked 

rhe 119,000-acrc Withdrawal that had been 

implememcd O\'er the '>OUtheastern end of the 

park in February ll)')l. Perhap.,, by the '>pnng of 

1958, the recent Jack of tntcrc~t m developmg 

the area\ lime<,tone depO'>Its ma~ have moved 

federal officiab to undo the -.even-year-old 

\nthdrawal. But the more immedrate rea<;on for 

revoking the withdrawal wa<; the july 1956 passage of the AJa-;ka Mental Health Enabling Act."' 

Section 201 of that act allowed the terntory ro 

select a million acre~ of "vacant, unappropriated, 

and unreserved" federal land. Inasmuch asapproximately 53,000 acre~ within the withdrawal 

were outside the park boundary and thus 

Chapter FotJt1Pen MrnrnCJ onrl Kantr~l111ii·Ar!'d Milnaqemenl 347 
In 1963, remains of the abandoned 

limestone claim on the West Fork of 

Windy Creek included this small frame 

building. bulldozer cuts, oil barrels, an 

eroding landing strip, and a "<.at trail ~ 

connecting the claim to the railroad. 

DENA 16-37, Denali National Park and 

Preserve Museum Collection 

potentially cl1gtble for selection the In tenor 

Department agr<.>ed in late May 19<;8 w revoke 

the withdrawal. A clau!.e withm the revocation, however, applied to the park a~ well; it 

stated that on "'lovember 25, 19<;8 (whtch wa~ r8o 

day!> after the public land order wa~ appmvcd), 

that the cn11re 119,00o-acre area m the former 

withdrawal would be "open ro locanon under 

the Umted State~ minmg laws." In rcspon~c 

to the order, ~evcral parties showed a new or 

renewed intere~t in the area's lime~tone po~

Sibihties; that same day, the Alaska Limc~tone 

Corporation "restakcd its limestone lode mining 

claims located in the Foggy Pass Area," and ~oon 

afterward, two partie'> announced thetr mrenuon 

to erect a cabm on their claim. But judgmg by a 

September 1959 NPS site visit, neither part~ built 

a cabin that year.'''' 

In early 1960, the Ala~ka Limesronc Curporation 

representative., ~raked .,everal addiuonal claims 

on "Upper \X'mdy Creek" and ohtaincd the rcqUJred pro-.pector\ permit. Companv ot1icia1 0. 

E. Loring, Jr. abo reque.,ted perml,'>lon roland 

mrcraft on the property; when told thai ~uch an 

activity was 1llegal, he declared hi~ intention to 

appeal that deci~ion to a "higher at1 thoritv."'" 

In mid-Junt:, a ranger on patrol was <,urpmed 

to discover that ·•an atrsrnp ome 1000 feet in 

length had been con~tructed on a grovel har ncar 

lhe head of the canyon." Soon afterward, Lormg "readil) adtn1tted that he had com.rructcd it 

on advice from hi., legal counsel.'' An lntenor 

Department otrorney, Rita Singer, stated that 

"it i!> m) opinion that the company wouk.l have 

346 Crown JE'wel ol the North An ArtmnliStral•ve H•storv uf D"'clli NaliOndl Park and Pre<.Prvf.' 

a right to put 111 it!> own air.,trtp .,mcc it is very 

llkeh that there arc no road~ makmg rhe area 

acce~~1blc otherwise.""" Soon afterward, the 

Ala~ka Umc ... rone Corporation 'old lls cla1m~ to 

a Cahlornta corporation cnlled ht~ka Portland 

Cement, Ltd., and thar October the ncl.\ compan} announced that it wa' "now ar work on 

. fca~tb llll v ... rudte~" for a cemem production 

plant. the sire of v. hich would be "~omewherc in 

the Rmlhelt section." Tho.,c plan~ did nor pan 

o ut, however, and the company'., plan!. were 

quieti} ... hclvcd at least for the ttmc being."" 

Three }l:aro, later. 111 July 1963. Ala'>kn Portland 

Cement l.Xccuoves announced a new cementplant propo!>al. Cinng a recently-completed 

marker ana]y.,is that showed contmutng h1gh 

dcm•md for cement, the company revealed plam 

to build a 500,000-barrel-per-ycar cement plant 

olt>ng the Jack RJ,·er near Cantwell. Ltmestone 

to .,upplv the plant would come from a quarrv 

located <11 rhc compan) '::. clatm., on the \\\;st 

Fork of \\'indy Creek, near Fogg\ Pa ... ~: the 

quarry and plant would he connected hy an 

mdu'>trial road Official~ announced that con-

<,truction on the plant would bcgm the fo llowmg 

~pring and would be completed in 1965.'" ' The 

State of Ala..,ka strongly supported the proposal 

and oflen:d the company u tax break: con.,ervauom.,r.., hm.\ ever. felt that the planned proJect 

wa!> "htghlv obJectionable'' became 4uarrying 

opera non' would be taking place \\'lthin the 

national park.'"·l The propo~al rcmamed a maJor 

discus~ion topic, both in Alaska new~papers and 

among N PS oftkials, for momh' afterward . But 
This rock outcrop, w hich is just 

upstream from the confluence of 

Hines Creek (seen here) and Riley 

Creek, was the location of a claim to 

mine building stone in 1952. DENA 

16-25, Denali National Park and 

Preserve Museum Collection 

plant CDn:muction, promised for the spring of 

1964, did not take place, and in late june, the 

company announced that the Cantwell area was 

no longer being considered as a cement-plant 

location.'"' 

After that time, no serious proposals arose to 

either develop the park's limestone deposits or 

construct a nearby cement plant, and by 1975, 

the West Fork claim area was marked by a series 

of bulldo.ter cuts, oil barrels, an old sledge, a 

10 • x 14' frame building, piles of nearby refuse, 

an eroding airstrip, and a "cat trail" connecting 

the claim to the railroad.''"' The area was clo~ed 

to mining in 1976 (see below), and since then 

further deterioration has set in. 

Attempts to Mille BuildiugStone i11 the Park 

On August 2, 1952, S. Robert Corey (rom the 

Grear orrhcrn Stone Corporation, based in 

Anchorage, staked a standard I,J2o-foot x 66ofoot mining claim on a bench just south of Hines 

Creek just upstream from the Riley Creek confluence, about one-half mile south of the park 

hotel. (The northern edge of this claim was part 

of the old Morino homestead, which the PS 

had acquired in October 1947; the remainder was 

PS land that had never been in private hands.) 

Approached by park superintendent Grant Pearson, Corey and a co-worker willingly filled out 

d1e paperwork to obtain a prospector'1o permit. 

Soon afterward, they started in to work, and by 

day\ end they had obtained about 150 pounds uf 

building-stone samples. As Pearson noted, "they 

said the stone was ideal for fireplace facing and 

rock veneer work and there was a market for th1s 

type of rock.'''"' 

Pear on, hoping to prevent an expansion of this 

or similar mining activities, fir~t asked regional 

o fficials, "Canthi company mine this stone? lf 

not, what steps should we take to prevent it?" 

Before he got an answer, however, the claimants 

returned and began their "mining operatiom." 

Via a telephone call, therefore, Pearson was 

advised "to stop operations on Morino property 

since thb area was purchased for the expansion 

of public use facilities for the park," although he 

was also advised ''to allow continuation of mining operations on remainder of claim pending 

further advice" from Washington. Pearson, in 

response, visited the site but was unable ro find 

any of the old Morino homestead's corner posts; 

indeed, he was unsure that there was any overlap between the old homestead and the stone 

company's claim. I le was therefore powerless, 

in the short term, to halt the company's excavations.""' 

At this point, NPS Director Conrad Wirth swung 

into action. Citing a recently-issued regulation 

that authori.tcd lnterior Department agencies 

to "withdraw or reserve lands of the public 

domain ... for public purposes," he urged agency 

officials-as a way to prevent the staking of additional claims-to visit the BLM 's Alaska office 

"for withdrawal of all land covered by [the] 

mining claim from all forms of disposal under 

public land laws, including mining and mineral 

leasing laws . ... Meanwhile, you should also 

communicate with Alaska regional admini!>trator for BLM to ascertain whether basis exists for 

declaring portion of claim located on public [i.e., 

non-Morino] land to be invalid."""' 

Officials 1n the NPS's regional office responded 

to the first part of Wirth\ telegram by sending a 

proposal, on Augmt 20, to the Fairbanks BLM 

office to withdraw approximately 10,900 acres ol 

land at the cast end of the park, noting that the 

Chapter Founeen Mtnmg and Kanushna·Area Management 349 
lands were "essential ... a~ an admmisrrative site 

and for public use." This irregularly-!>haped area 

began three miles southeast of the park hotel and 

extended to Mil e 5 of the park road, two miles 

west of park headquarter!;. Along that corridor, 

the withdrawal reached from one to three mile& 

out from the park road."" 

Meanwhile, agency staff w~ well aware that the 

proposed withdrawal had no effect on the stone 

company's existing claim, but they were reasonably sure that lands within the old Morino tract 

were not subject to entry under the mining laws. 

So they tlitltheir best to an!>wer rhe other half of 

Wirth'!> telegram; that is, to ascertain the legality 

of the portion of the company's mining claim 

that was located south of the Morino tract. To 

that end, the regional director peppered the park 

staff with questions about the corporation and its 

activities at the park, and in response, he learned 

that excavation& had taken place on a 200-foot 

x so-font portion of the claim and that only one 

flatcar of stone had been removed thus far. A' to 

the purpose for the stone excavation, park officials- admitting it was ear~ay-learncd that the 

stone company had contracted with the Alaska 

Railroad to supply matenal& for a commemorative stone monument, ncar the Anchorage depot, 

upon which would be placed "Old o. t," which 

was "presumably" the railroad's original steam 

engine. Park o fficials could lind little other information that could shed light on the propriety of 

the corporation's activities.'" 

Corporation officials, confident that no bureaucratic roadblocks -'>tood m their way, vistted 

with park ~taff on September 9. Given the fact 

that an unimproved road reached to within a 

few hundred feet of where ~tone removal wa~ ro 

take place, they informed agency representative~ 

that beginmng on September 10, they planned 

to extend that road to the proposed excavation 

site. But on September 11, NPS officials made 

a startling discovery: that all land on the stone 

company's claim located ~outh of the Morino 

tract was encompassed by either Execunvc 

Order 3617 or Executive Order ~Boo, whio..h 

President Harding signed in January 1922 and 

March 1923, rc~pectivcly (sec Chapter 3). Both 

of those executive orders had withdrawn land 

''for use in connection with the administration of 

the Mount McKinley National Park;' and both 

included a clause that withdrew the land "from 

settlement, location, sale, or entry." The order~ 

made no specific menti on of mineral entry; the 

Congressional acts that authorited the orders, 

however, stated that while me talliferous mining was sanctioned, non -me talliferou!> minmg 

(such as building stone) was not.'" Gtven that 

dbcovery, NPS officials ordered a halt to all 

350 Crown Jewel of the North An Adm1mstrat1VE> H•~tocy of Dennll Nat1onnl Pari> and PresPrvP 

mintng operations and also decided to deny the 

company's road-construction pe rmit. Company 

offictals obediently topped their exca\'ation 

work. Regarding road improvements, however, 

the damage had already been done."' 

Canvassing ahout for alternative sites for their 

building stone, company offictals visited the park 

headquarters on September 12 and obtained a 

new prospector's permit, thil> one for the Sable 

Pa!>s area. Frank Hirst, on the park staff, immediately scm word of the new development to 

regional officials in San Francisco. Park superintendent Grant Pearson, at the time, was working 

at the regional office and noted that several other 

pcr<.ons had also been investigating the park for 

building stone. N PS officiab. recogniting that 

any company obtaming a legitimate building-

!>tone claim along the park road might me it for 

purpol>cs other than the railroad's locomotivemonument contract, moved on September 16 £O 

protect the entire road corridor from po tential 

mineral incursions. More specifically, officials 

proposed a 70,150-acre withdrawal that covered 

all of the park road tl1at had not been subject to 

the August 20 withdrawal proposal. The new 

proposal, if implemented, would witl1draw all 

land V\rithin one-half mile of the park road. The 

area covered by the proposed withdrawal would 

broaden to one mile from the road in the vicinity 

of the park's various campgrounds, and at the 

west end of the park road, the proposal called for 

a 3.8-mile by 5·5-mile rectangle to be withdrawn 

that would include Wonder Lake and surrounding territorv."4 

During the winter of 195.2.-')3, the NPS and stonecorporation officials carried on a spirited correspondence about the legality of the Hine!> Creek 

claim. Dc pite the apparent finality of the 1PS's 

September 11 decision, the company's attorney in 

October 195.2. argued that the cia 1m was valid and 

that "client will continue to retain possession of 

the claim and its use.'' Again, tl1e following April, 

attorneys _.,ought clarification."' PS o ffic1als, for 

their part, hoped that the Fairbanks BLM o ffice 

cuuld ltdp; that agency, huwcvc1, luuk nu aclion 

Ill the matter because it did "no t notify claimants of the invalidtry of their mining claims until 

a field in vc~tiga ion has been made and adverse 

proceedmgs mJtJated to declare the claim~ null 

and votd.""" 

Both park and regionaJ officiab sought Washmgton'5 assistance for a legal means to invalidate the company's cla1m, and they also vented 

their fru~trat ion at the lack of action regarding 

the two road-corridor withdrawal propo<,als 

that had been advanced in August and September 1952."1 The PS, however, was stymied 
The Wonder Lake Building Stone 

Company had an active claim in this 

area at the north end of Wonder Lake 

from August 1953 to March 1957, 

when an injunction prohibited any 

further work. DENA 16-16, Denali 

National Park and Preserve Museum 

Collect ion 

on both count~. Regardmg the C'<l~tmg claim, 

PS Director \X'irth could on!; ~tate that the 

agency "r.hould \\ithhold Immediate action" on 

rhe marrer .. pendmg further development~." A 

regional official. m turn, told upt. Pearson rhat 

"you hould mlorm i\1 r Arnell! the com pan~ 

artorney) that the 'l:monal Park Service ~till considers d1e Great Northern tone Corporanon 

mining claim fikd by ~lr. Corey to be invalid 

but that pendmg further in~tructions from our 

Washington Office you Will not mtert'cre with 

work on the claim." And regarding the two 

withdrawab, the issuance of a public land order 

implementing tho~e withdrawal-. demanded the 

Interior Secretary\ approval, "omcthing that had 

not been granted by either outguing "ecretary 

Oscar Chapman or mcommg .,ccretarv Dougta ... 

McKay. The secretanc!>' lack nf action in the 

matter mav ha\·e been cau'>ed bv a sohcnor's 

opm10n a~ If perramcJ ro Denth Valle) arional 

'v1onument, another park unl[ where mmmg 

was permiucd. lhat npmton, exprc-..,cd in 1942, 

noted that ·•. o attempt to reserve I certain I land~ 

... from the operatiun of the mining law1., ~hurt 

of their dimmanon from the natmnal monumenc, could be effective ~ince it would conflict 

with the exprcs~ cong c~~lt>nal mandate in the 

~tatute.""' On that basi!>, it appeart·d that nothing 

short of congres~ional action would prohibit the 

broad application of the mming laws 111 Moum 

McKinley National Park. 

Given the~ PS\ failure to prevcnt funher 

activity on the 'tone company'' minmg cla1m. 

and the lntennr Department'., failure to i-,sue 

a Withdrawal over the road corndor, the park 

remained open to thme inrere-.tcd m ~earchmg 

for, and de\·clopmg, ... ue., where economically-

\'iable 4uanmie;., of building .,tone were located. 

During the '>Ummcr of hoth 1953 and '9'54· for 

example, Corey connnued to e'tracr buildmg 

stone from h1<. Hmt'\ Creek claim (he removed 

at least three rmlrnad car'> of -.ronc dunng this 

period ). To gam addnumal matcnal~. he created 

a new company the Wonder l.ake Blllldmg 

Stone Company and tiled on a new stte at the 

north end of Wonder Lake 1 n August '953· By 

j une 1955 the company wa~ "now hauling rock 

from the Wonder Lake claim.""~ 

The law, however, caught up with Corey that 

same month. U .. Attorney Theodore F. (Ted) 

Stevens, in Fairbank.. filed a tcmporar) restraining order agaml.t Corey and other company representative~. and ~oon afterward two deputy U.S. 

marshab and a federal treasury agent arnved 

at the park and <,erved Core\ with the order. 

Core) immtdiatel) ~topped hb operations. The 

company apparenrh filed an appeal agam~t the 

court. asserting that H was nov. seekmg annmonv (m order to '>lde'>tcp the prohibition against 

nonmetalliferous matcriab), hut in mid-\1arch 

1957 the company\ attornt•y gave up the fight, 

stating "that they would agree to have judgment 

entered against them" anJ "a permanent mjunction 1ssueJ agam~t an} further claim or work." 

A month later, :1 Fairhanh JUdge ordered stone 

company repre~cntativc' "nnt to reenter \ lounr 

i\icKmle~ _ ational Park for the purpo~e of 

making nonmetallifcrou.,locatlon~ and mmmg 

claims m order to remove ... an&,tont· or other 

nonmetalllferous sub,tancc,."· 

Chapter Fourteen Mrnrnq and Kdnl~hnn·Area Managemenl 351 
It Is beheved that Eatl Dunkle and hos 

mining pal'tners cut timber north of 

the park boundary and constructed 

thos three-room log cabin on Slippery 

Creek in 1937 It provided housong for 

the people working at the lode mine 

just south of the cabin. DENA 16·2, 

Denali National Park and Preserve 

Museum Collection 

B\ the ume the tudge m.tdc hi!> dec1~wn against 

the Great '\,orrhcrn Stone ( orporntion, Lhe longannclpared Denali 1-hghwav wa'> nearly complete. 

As noted above. the ongomg road comtruction 

had brought forth a rcv1val of mtcrest 10 the park 

hy pro~pector.., and miner.,. Ti.> en.,urc greater 

protection of the road corridor, !:>uperintendent 

Duane Jacobs requcsred I he i-...,uancc of a pubhc 

land order that would preclude mmmg and 

prospectmg withm 1.5 mile-. of the park road. 

W1th no remaming legal hurdll!., 1n the way, the 

Interior Depanmenl soon afterward ~~'ued a 

proposal to Withdraw the <:.amc two mad-corndor parccb that had fir.,t hcen propo,cd aJmost 

tiYe years carher." In laLC June l<}'j8, the propo al 

was implemented when the In tenor Sccretan \ 

office 1<,c;ued a puhhc land nrdcr rescrvmg 81,050 

acre~ along th~.; park road corndor for "admini.,-

trative sites and the protectiOn and preservation 

of scenic and recreational area .... " 'TI> accomph::.h 

those purpo~e::. the acreage wa'> "withdrawn from 

all forms of appropnation under the public-land 

laws. includmg the mining law'>."'·· 

Congress Moves to Elimindle 

Mineral Entry in the Park 

Between the 1950s and the m1d 196os, prospecting and mimng in Mount McKmley National 

Park were fairl'r msign1ficant activities. The 

number of new mmmg cla1ms during thi~ period 

fluctuated w1ldl\ ; in 1958, for example, 111 claims 

were recorded (primarily m the ~ · indy Creek 

area), but in manv other year<; no clatms were 

recorded Similarly the number of annual assessment reports filed for claim'> in the park dunng 

the early- and m1d-196os typically ranged from 

15 to 30, although during the 1950s many years 

passed in which no thsessmcnt repons were 

3S2 Crown Jewel of lne Nor1l1 An Admm•strdl<ve Hosrory of Den.111 NM•On<~l1',1r~ ilndl'rc·~•·rve 

filed. Throughout this penud, no claims were 

patented and the onh' mincrab shipped from 

the park were occns10nal extractions, by a stone 

company, along the park road corndor. (ln addinon, park-road construction and mamtenance 

crews aho conducted gravel extraction.) PS 

officials, however. became increasingly uneasy 

about the legality of park mining, and they were 

particularly concerned about the Vl!.ual impacts 

of mmmg on the VICW'>capc m the Eielson Visitor 

Center area.' 

In the late 1960<;, h1gh pnces for mercurv 

caused local miner Arlc'r Tavlor tore-stake Wes 

Dunkle\ old mme along lippery Creek. Then, 

in early September 1969, Taylor and another 

miner. Dan A'>hhrook, ··walked a pair of cats 

[Caterpillar trac rorc,] towmg sledges'' from the 

Wonder Lake area to the mme via the Muddy 

River and overland to upper Slippery Creek. 

The patr's action was illegal, inasmuch as the 

PS had asked Taylor to proceed westward 

along the park'!. northern boundary to the Slippery Creek dnunage before heading south to the 

mine. Bt:l:dU'>t: they lailcu w fulluw the agency's 

recommendat1om., the 25-mtle-long strip of 

"disn1rhed nmdra vegetation and soil" provoked 

considerable 1re, both among park staff and the 

~mall hut dedicated number of conservationi!.ts concerned about park area issues. That ire 

increased m 1970, when crews made a second 

"cat tram'' tnp to the mmc, cleared off the old 

a1rstnp, and engaged in illegal t1mber cutting. 

Activist~ recogmted that the development of the 

Mount lcKmley Mercury Mming, Inc. claimswhich were "actively being explored" in 1970 for 

their antimony potential but were not yet being 

commercially developed brought ecological 
The small log shop and abandoned 

mercury mine shaft at the Slippery 

Creek claim, photographed above 

in 1965, were on the east side of 

"Mine ral Mountain. • This area was 

active during the 1920s and 1930s. 

Later mine ral intere st was focused 

on the west side of the mountain. 

Wayne Merry Collection, Denali 

National Park and Preserve Museum 

Collection 

destruction and vi~ual -.earring to one of the 

mmt remote parts of the park The peak -.outh 

of the camp soon became known, informalh·, a~ 

,'v1meral Mountain. 4 

Recognizing that ~cveral pro~pecror-. had 

"di:,regardcd the regulations, have not regbtered, and have indcpcndcnrlv entered the 

park creating "car-. and lea\ ing refu~c behmd," 

agency staff prepared a document exammmg 

pro~pec ing anJ mining bsues both at Mount 

:\1cKmley and Glacier Bay. That document 

>tated that 310 mining claim, had been filed at 

tvlount McKinley Nanonal Park berween 1917 

and 1970; most nf these were "the same mineral 

locatiom, rop filed over and over agmn, after 

abandonment b} the prc\'iow, claim:.un.'' Only 

93 claims were con~Jdered prc~entl} valiJ: 44 

in the Slippery Creek area, 35 in the area north 

of .\1ounr Eiebon, and '4 along \Vind) Creek. 

The~e claims were held hy JU~t two companies 

and four tndi\'iduals. The agcnc) declared that 

mming m the park, and mother park umt~ as 

well, was "sot.ially uneconomic, ho\vc\·er profitable it may be for indivtdual operacors." In order 

to halr future mming-rclated ahu~es, a neccs~arY 

ftr~t ~tep would be to stop new prospecting and 

minmg, and that "to prevenr actual Jevdopment 

would requtre nmelv purchase of the rights by 

the government."'" 

Given the national growth (lf the environmental 

movement during the 1960s a movement that 

often ~potlighred Alaska 1ssucs ~ome voices 

began ro recognite that the problem at Slippcn 

Creek wa~ symptomatic of a broad prohlem that 

needed to be addre%cd at the leghlatlvc level. In 

June 1970, the Public Land Law Review Commission publbhed the landmark stud~ 011e Tlurd of 

tile Natio11's La11d. That document recommended, on a general level, that "all nonconforming 

uses in national parks .. should he prohibited bv 

stature;'' more specifically, ho\\ever, it recommended that provision.., for mining in \1.ount 

,\lcKinley 1\:ational Park should be repealed.'" 

Earl~· rht: following year. the f-airbank'> Group of 

the Sierra Club\ Ala-,ka Chapter made a similar 

dee~sum; It prepared a formal propo-,al anJ 

~oundcJ out the \·iews of Alaska'-. congrcs~ional 

delegation on the subJect. The legislators otl'cred 

little support, however, ~o the idea langlllshed 

for the umc be mg. Conservationl~ts \\ ho conracted 1'-. PS ottictals :~bout the park\ mmmg lmv-. 

were a~surcJ that the agenC\ was "oppo-,ed to 

mmmg and pro~pectmg m the natural areas of 

the '\lanonal Park Sy-.tem and tru ... t that Congressmnal acnon to eliminate this mcompatible 

usc will be forthcoming in the funm:." Prc~entlv, 

however, "mmmg and prospecting are ~~ill pracriced in some areas," and mdi\iduab ~ull had tht 

nght to file mmeral claim~. 

In December 1971, Congres~ pa~sed rhe <\Iaska 

1\!ati\'e Claim~ Settlement Act, and a~ noted 111 

C haptcr 8, the inclus1on of ~ection 17(dH2l in 

that act ser off a mad ~cramble ,\mtmg g1wernmenr land-management agenue~ o\'er the ll:tte 

of pre\ iou~ly-unde~ignared federal land'>. The 

1\JP~ and other agencies hurried!\ organitcd 

teams that fan ned our o\·cr lands that were hci ng 

considered for nC\\ con'-en·atwn unit'., and hefore long these team'> began to as~cmblc \'anou-. 

mJster plan.., and em 1ronmental ~tatemcnt~ for 

th~: propo~ed unit~. These team~, among other 
The two Caterpillar tractors that were 

driven from Wonder Lake to Slippery 

Creek mine in 1969 are pictured here 

at the Slippery Creek cabin in 2007. 

This equipment was utilized for 

production at the antimony mine at 

least through the 197S season. NPS 

Photo 

issues, needed to make decisions about mining in the~e areas. But as it pertained to Mount 

MciGnley, that option was already decided early 

in the proces~; in March 1972, Assistant Interior 

Secretary Nathaniel Reed recommended that 

the existing park, along with Glacier Bay National Monument, should be withdrawn from 

the operation of the mining laws. The Ala,ka 

Planning Group, which was ta~ked to write variOU!> environmental document~ pertaining to an 

expansion of Mount McKinley 'l'ational Park, 

reiterated Reed '~ ~taternent in Lhc park'-; December 1973 master plan. It declared that "proposed 

legislation would clo~e the entire enlarged park 

to mining" although "existing valid claims, carefully monitored and in accordance with regulations, will be permitted until each claim ha~ 

been acquired or abandoned." The APG\ Fmal 

Environmental Statement, released in October 

1974, arrived at the same conclus10n.'n< 

Congres::., during this period, had not yet moved 

toward a legislative solution to the Alaska lands 

is~ue. Although Sen. Barry Goldwater and Rep. 

Morris Udall introduced bills (in july 1973) 

calling for the cessation of new mini.1g cnrry 

throughout the a tiona! Park System, no action 

took place on either bill dunng 1he 94'11 Congre%.''q Instead, Congress focu!>ed on regulating the country's 5trip mine~. an interest that 

resulted in the December 1974 passage of the 

Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act, 

which did not become law because of Pre~idenr 

Ford 's pocket veto. Congress pa&sed a s1milar bill 

in May 1975, which Ford ~o vetoed; lcgi::.lators 

tned to overrtde the veto but were unable to do 

so.''" Throughout thi~ period, mining issues at 

Mount McKinley National Park remained active; in 1975, Interior Department officials stated 

354 Crown lewel of th~ North An Admrmwatove Hrstory nf Denalo Nalroroal Par> and PresPrve 

that at Slippery Creek, minmg operations were 

commercially viable and were producing "approximately 100 tons of antimony ore per year, at 

a gross value of S6o,ooo;· (A 1976 report by the 

park\ resource management specialist lent corroboration to that claim, noting that the company 

had l1own out bags of stibnite ore in both 1974 

and '97S·) Rep. Don Young (R-Ala!>ka), however, 

disputed mese figures at a House subcommtttee 

hearing. maintaining that "there is no mining 

now in McKmley Park.''•v 

During the summer of 1975, however, new 

concern~ arose when Congress learned about 

mining proposal!> within two different national 

park unitr.. That September, worried that "there 

will soon be widespread strip mining in me 

Death Valley National Monument'' and that 

"Glacier Bay National Monument in Alaska 

is also threatened by imminent minmg," Rep. 

John Seiberling (D-Ohio) introduced a bill to 

"prohibit any minmg in any areas of me National Park System." Two weeks later, Sen. Lee 

Metcalf (D-Mont.) Introduced a similar bill; it 

was more protective than its House counterpart, 

however, because it proposed ro ban all mining, 

for a three-year period. within the six N PS units 

thar ~till sanctioned mining. Both bills called for 

the elimination of Section 4 in the 1917 bill that 

eMablished Mount McKinley National Park; that 

~ection stated that "Nothing in this act shall in 

any way modify or affect the mineral land laws 

now applicable to the lands in the ~a1d park." 

And, as a housekeeping measure, the bills also 

called for the elimination of Section 2 of the 

Surface Use Act of January 26, 19Jl, which gave 

the Imerior Secretary the authority to regulate 

mining activity within the park. The champions 

of these bills recognized that at Mount McKinley 
Eureka (later renamed Kantishna). 

shown here In 1919, ontlnued to be 

a settlement of s~ttered cabins, a 

central mining camp for the creeks 

nearby. Stephen Foster Collection, 

69-92-594, University of Alaska 

Fairbanks Archive 

and three other park Unit!>, there wa-. "no present likelihood of mmmg, a" there arc no known 

econom1call) rewverablc mineral deposit!>." 

These four umt were mdudcd, ho\\C\'er, ro pre-

\'ent the poss1bil1ty 11f development" that were 

then looming at Death \aile\ and C.l:!cicr Bay 

national monuments.' 

Rep. Se1berlmg', h1ll was constdered m a 

'\Jational Park" and Recreation Subcommlltee heanng on October 6. A~sistant ~ccrctary 

Reed, in attendance at the hearing, noted that 

"currenrly rhe o nly production ... from the park 

consists of approximately roo tons of antimony 

ore per year" de~ptte there bemg approximately 

300 unpatented cla1ms and mill "Ires m the park. 

The park\ only working mine, located on one of 

fifteen Slipper) Creek clatm'o, was :.mallm scale, 

gros~ing only about 6o,ooo per year. 

Just one dav later, Sen. f..1etcalf held an Interior 

and Insular Atfrur~ Commu tec hearing on the 

bill. Many who attended oftcred thm full ~upport for the bill, but ~en. fed Steven<, (R-Alaska) 

had 1mxed v1ews. A-, he later noted w a comtiruent, he felt that the park .. .,hould he withdrawn 

from further minmg entry." 13ut he wa~ opposed 

to Section 3 of the hill (wh1ch proposed a threeyear park mmmg ban) bccau'oe tt "woultl constitute a taking of pnvate prop~: ty right~." He fe lt 

that ''the matter of prohtbitmg aml/or ac4u1ring 

the valid extsling daun... 111 \I c.; l-.1nle} Park be left 

for re~olution when Congre~s con~1ders the D-2 

proposal:, to expand the boundane~ of the Park." 

Both Ste-.ens and ~en. Gravel (0-Aia~ka) a~ked 

'v\ctcalf to exclude Ala~ka area' entirely so that 

Alaska-spec1fic provro;1ons would be considered during the upcoming D-2 battle. '1etcalf, 

howe\'er, -,howed little mclination to do so, and 

the bill that pa~o;cd the lntenor Committee m 

Decemher and the full. enatc the following 

February banned fun1rc mmcral enrry at both 

Mount \1cKmley and Glac1cr Bay.'~.~ But the bill 

then got hogged dm\ n in the lloU'>C over how to 

proceed With Death Valley\ talc and borax operatwns, and If did nor clear the Hou.,e Interior 

and Insular Atfa1r' Committee unt1l August1976. 

The bill pa'>'>ed the Hou ... c on September 14, the 

Senate agreed to the Hnust·\ umendmenrs on 

September 17, and Pre,ldent Ford signed the bill 

on September 28.'" 

The new lcgislatinn, called the Mimng in rhe 

Park!. Act of 1976, stopped all new mineral entry 

mto Mount McKmley Nauonal Park and in the 

other five p~ Unit~ noted ahove, and it a lso imposed a four-year mnratonum on further surface 

disn1rbance ar Mount McKinley and rwo of the 

above-named parks. And ;11 Mount McKinley 

and three other park unit.,, the act called on the 

Intenor Secretary, b} September 1978, ro ~ubmit 

a srudy of the valid ltv of the parks' mmmg 

claims. Ba ed on that decision, the rudy would 

then recommend whether rhe government 

planned to buy them back.''" 

Valid mining claims, however, were a fixture 

in a total of erghtccn PS unit..., ~o to manage 

mining claim!. withtn these units, the Mining 

in the Park~ Act ubj ec ed all activitie~ resulting from the exercise of valid existing mineral 

rights ro regulation' prescrihed hy the Secretary 

of the Interior. Claimants, moreover, had to 

record cxi,ting claim" with the Interior Secretary withm a year: that i.,, h) ~cptember 28, 1977. 

If they did not do ,o. thc1 r nght to tho~ e claJms 

would be forfeited. 1 The act al o addressed 

the concern!> of Senator ·revem and others, m 

two wav~. First, It '>tated that anyone who held 

patented or unpatented mming clmm'>, and felt 

Chapter Fourteen Mtrung dnd K.tnttshna·Area Management 355 
In the early 1920s the Kantishna 

Hydraulic Mining Company spent 

two years building a dam at the 

outlet of Wonder Lake (outside park 

boundaries until1932), and two and 

one-half miles of ditch to carry water 

to their hydraulic operation on Moose 

Creek, near the mouth of Eureka 

Creek. The remains of that water 

divers1on system are visible today 

along the hillside above Moose Creek. 

Bradford Washburn, #5998, Denali 

National Park and Preserve Museum 

Collection 

that they had suffered a loss bccau~c of the act\ 

prm i~1ons, could instirurc a lawsuit "ro recover 

JUSt compensatiOn.'' The act also n.:cogm;cd 

that people who held claims m park un1ts subject 

to the four-war moratorium (such as Mount 

\ILJ..:mlc\ J m1ght haw a tlillicult rime selling 

them; gi\'en that fact, the act tried to ease the wa\ 

to .,ell rho,e claJnh if contmued pnvate owner· 

ship resulted in undue hardship. ' 

Key to the act's implementation was the Issuance of follow-up regulation~. fo that end, tbe 

Interior Department hurriedly prepared interim 

regulatiOns thar went into effect on ~m·ember 11, 

Jll~t ~ix weeks after the act\ pas~age. Compreheno;ivc regulations were published m Januar) 

1977- •" A~ '\JPS Director Gary Everhardt noted 

when the second set of regulanom was 1ssued. 

"the new regulatlom. enforce a much stricter 

approach to enYironmental conservation and 

reclamation on the park of mining companies operating m the National Park Sy~rem." ln order to 

control miner~' acces~ and land -;urface use and 

disturbance, the n.:g.ulatiom focw,ed on the issu356 Crown Jevv~l ol the Norlt• An Adrr,mrs tratrve H1story o l Dennlr Nal onal Par~ d ll(J Preserve 

ance of permit~ that would be granted only after 

a mining plan of operation~ had been approved. 

Mmers \.vho hoped to have the1r plam of operation<, considered for approval. moreover, had to 

~ubmit them to the 1\JPS by Mav 26, 1977. 4" 

.\1canwhile, the Interior Deparrmcnt- followmg procct.lure~ laid out 111 regulanon-. that were 

i..,~ucd m the wake of the J\ lining in the Parks 

Act proceeded w in\'enrory the park'~ mmeral 

re<.ources. It did so on rwo level'>. First, the 

Bureau of \1ines tendered a contract to mining 

consultant Chuck Hawley on mining prospect~ 

throughout the park; that report was written 

during the winter of 1976-77 and identified a 

numher of promtsmg ore-hearing areas. particularlv m the park\ remote southwestern corncr.'4' 

On a more specific level. those with mining 

interests in the park re:.ponded to the September 

1977 deadline by filing for 74 claims. Congress, 

in accordance with Section 6 of the act, abo set a 

September 1978 deadline for the agency to complete validiry dcterminatiom for those claims. lf 

the NPS field im·esrigators felt that any claims 
The first large-stale hydraulic 

operation on Moose Creek was 

conducted by the Kantishna Hydraulic 

Mining Company. This photo, looking 

upstream, w as taken on July 10, 

1922. Steel p1pe brought water from 

the ditt h to the hydraulic minmg 

site (in foreground, on far s1de of 

Moose Creek) P.S Sm1th, 1404, U.S 

Geolog1cal Survey 

were economically un)U'>llfied, the~ would a<.k 

the Bl.\1 to I'>~UL a complaint contc,ting the 

claim.'"' 

PS geologist~. a'> a re~uh. cxamtned each of the 

outstanding mining claum. Junng the 1978 fie ld 

sea~on. 1 hey then compleled a MtH.Iy, is.,ued 

in early October 197R, which concluded that, tn 

their opinion, all 74 claim'> 111 the purk were Illvalid. (In the technJcal l.mguagc of mimng regulanon, the mvc~llgator-; wnduued rhat "there 

arc not prc;,entlv ch-.clo-.cd wnhm the boundarle;, of the mmmg clmm-. mincr.tb of a \'artcl' 

'>UbJect ro the m1ning Ia\\ "· <.uffictent tn 4uannn. 

qualtty, and 'alue ro con,tuurc a Ji-.co\·erv.") \~ 

a result, the :-., PS made no pbn' ro ell her hU\ 

out the exi-;tmg cl:umant' or aher houndarte'> 

to conform to acm·e mmtng art·a,, ln,tead. the 

Bureau of Land V\ anagLmenl movcJ to contest 

each claim. It filed complamt-. agam-.r rhe vanow> claim holder'> in the 'Pring of 1979.'4 ' 

The Interior Department, anltLipati ng rhar mmt 

if not all of the clatmant'> woultl dt'>pute the 

validity determmations, announced that it would 

hold heartng~ 011 the datl11'> Ill 1979· 1 n10'>e 

who chose to dl'>pure the1r cla1ms mcludel.l Arlcv 

Ta\lor and \'\'a~ nc Copley, who had 12 datm~ 

at lipperv Creek and Btrch Creek; the \ tount 

\ 1cKinlev \ lcrcun \lmmg Com pan),\\ 1th 11 

cla1m" at ltppcr~ C reck, Harold I Jerning, who-.e 

fam1l~ had 13 cl.:um' ar ( oppcr \ \ountam; and 

the Ala;.ka Llme,tone Corpuranon, wh1ch had 

14 claim~ along Wind\ <...reek.' I hc ... c d"pute'> 

were adjudicated tw the lntenur Department\ 

Office of Hearmg ... and Appeab. 

Taylor, Copley, and the Mount McK111lcy Mercury Minmg Companv argued their ca.,e before 

admmi ... rram·c law JUdgl r "cnd,tll Clarke in 

\Ia\ 1980. and ac,am 111 Ot.:ccmhcr 19Ro. In 

januan 19R1, an lntenor Department 'ohc1tor 

wrote a poM heanng hncf whtch cuncluJed rhat 

"becau'>e there i~ not ... utliucnt m1ncrali1.ation [at 

the cla1m-.j to warrant a prul.lent man to further 

invest hi~ t1mc and effort and munc) w1th the 

prmpect of a valuable mine ... the contesrces 

have failed to prove . lh::tt anv of the conte ... red 

clmm<; arc valid" C Iarke apparent!\ agreed with 

that ratl(lnalc and, on Decem her 15. 19!lt. he 

declared th,H .til 23 Ll.tllll'> were null and \'otd. 

Ta\ lor and Copley\ ,lttornc\·, appealed the decr-

'>ion, but g1n·n no follm\ up t' 1dencc tu JU'>tify 

the appeal, thl: .tppcJI '"'" Jt,l111'>,cd on April 28, 

1982 ... 

The ca'>t ag;un'r the 1 ~ llcrnmg claim~ rook a 

similar cour'>e In )cptcmber 1977, llcrning's 

attorne) !>UhmmeJ the proper papcrwnrk in 

respumc to the M mmg 111 t ht• Park' \ ct. The 

followmg venr, however, a NPS geologi<ot and an 

PS mining engineer maJt· ,cveral visrrs, and 

based on the1r tm·e-.tl""<llion'>, the BI.J\1. acting on 

the NPS\ bch,tlt, flied an Apnlt979 complaint 

that there were "not mtnt•ral... . 'ullictem m 

4uant1t\, qualtt; .li1J .... 1luc to con,tltute a di-,cmerv." Dt<.,cu.,,tnn'> nt tir.,t. h1nged upon whether 

Hernmg had filed !hi.' appropnate paperwork 111 

'ati<;faction of rcdcwl I and Policy and \1anagement Act prov~<.ton,, and ha-.cd on the r~.; ... ulr~ 

of a Fa1rbank' hcanng . .Jdmim,trati\C Ia\\ Judge 

E. Kendall Clarki.'. tn \ larch tC;)So, l.lcclared the 

claim., null anJ \'md But llcrntng\, anorne) appealed the ca,c, anJ 111 June 19R2 a nc\\ hcanng, 

abo in Fatrhanb, altemptcd to re,olvc whether 

rhc cla m~ heltl c,ullic1enl mmcral., ro constitute 

a di~covcry. On lunc 9, 19R~, udmini'>tratlve 

law jul.lgc L. "- L uom<\ concluded thar "the 
After the Herning mining claims were 

declared invalid, Harold Herning's 

cabin has remained at the site, 

serving to remind us of the historic 

mining activities that took place 

from 1921 through the 1970s on Mt. 

Eielson. The cabin exhib1ts the effects 

of weathering from the time 1t was 

built In 1954 to 2003, when this photo 

was taken. NPS Photo 

ev1dence presented by If Jcrning] fulh. far short 

of overcoming [the government's] case:' and he 

declared al113 claim~ invaliJ. ll erning d1d not 

appeal. and the case wa~ do~cd.'4' 

The Alaska Limestone Corporation (ALC), 

with its Windy Creek mtereq~, held our longer 

than the orher<o. Comp<.ln) rcprcsentat1vel> 

claimed that the limestone dcpo~its on their 

28o-acre claims wen~ worth 1oo m1lhon and 

that the1r ~ite improvements (includmg an 

airstrip, road~. a cabm, etc.) were worth about S1 

million. Convinced rhat the1r clanm were still 

marketable, they claimed that rhe BUvl report, 

which concluded orhcrWI!>c, was a "hatchet 

job.'' Dcclanng that the Minmg in the Parh 

Act (with its four-year moratonum on sub~tan

tial new mining exploration and development) 

prevented the compnny from "makmg entry 

upon its property:· ALC atwrneys filed rwo 

lawsuits tn U.S. Dismct Court in the matter, 

both of which w<.·re di~mi~:t"cd bv judge Jamc~ 

Fitzgerald. Corporation attorneys, undaunted, 

then pursued rhc1r claims before adminl'>trative 

law judge [. Kendall Clarke, who heard their 

case in ~lay 1980 In 1981, he declared the claims 

null and \'Old; company otfic1als appealed the 

decision, on I> to have the tudge rule agam m the 

govemmem\ fan>r Ill late Augu-,t 19H2. ALC 

officiab and their attorney, Fdgar Paul Boyko, 

then appealed the dec1.,ion to the U.S. District 

Court, hut in Aprilt98s,Judge rntgerald again 

ruled again~t the company. The ALC then appealed Fitzgerald\ ruling, hut in September 1986 

it~ appeal was dentetl·~ · 

358 Crown JPwel of thl' Nr)rth An Artmuustraltve H1s1ory of Dendll N,,l,onal P.1r~ "''d Pre~prve 

Deliberations Over M ining 

in the New Park Units 

As noted in Chapter 8, the nine-year period 

between 1971 and 1980 wru. dommated by the 

process advanced first by executive agencie~, 

and later by Congrcs:. that resulted in a substantial expansion of 1oun! McKinley National 

Park\ boundane~ and rhe esrabhshment of 

Denali ~attonal Park and Preserve. The fate of 

the so-called "nanonal mterest lands" was fought 

throughout the State of Aln1>ka. In the areas surroundmg \1ounr McKinlcv ational Park, however, cfforrs ro expand the boundaries had begun 

much earlier (~ec Chapter 7): a 1968 master plan 

study had propo-.ed the indu:.10n of most of 

the kantishna IIIIIs as well as the Dunkle Mine 

area, although the 1970 proposal that interior 

Secretary Walter Hrckel had approved ignored 

both areas. President Nixon\ December 1971 

sigmng of the Ala~ka ativc Claims Settlement 

Act brought on a flurry of new park proposals, 

and all of rho::.c advanced b) lhc PS or the 

Alaska Plannrng Group (APG) included both 

the Kannshna Hills and Dunkle ~tin e within its 

boundanc~. 

l'y\ajor question~ remamed. however. regardrng how mintng would be managed tn the area~ 

proposed for the park cxpan<.10n. As noted 

above. APG otlic1ab mncludcd in December 

1973. and agatn 111 October 1974, that any new 

areas included in the park wm1ld he dosed to 

nC\\' mineral en I ry and development.·~~ Other 

ntiti e~ gave different recommendations, 

however. By july 1973. thejornr Federal-State 
By 1937, when the Alaska Road 

Commission took this photograph, 

the park road had neared Kantlshna, 

providing the long-awaited road 

access from the mining district to 

the Alaska Railroad. The historic 

Kantishna Roadhouse IS the two-story 

structure centered 1n the photo. 

Alaska Road Commission Collection, 

61 -18-102, Alaska State Library 

Land Use Planning Commission had concluded 

that all of the propo-.ed addinon<> south of the 

existing park should be open to new mining; 

north of the park, mmmg -.hould be ~anctioned 

in the Kantishna Hills and adJacent areas w 

the north and east but prohibited to the west. 

l\ hning advocate~. predictably, argued that the 

\'arious APG propo~als would needle<>~ly lock 

up Alaska's mmeral wealth. One ~tate legislator, 

Rep. "Red" Swamon of cnana, wa'> so irked at 

the APG proposals that he introduced a bill calling for a Kantishna State Recrearion Area, which 

"recognit.[edl the value to the people or the state 

of the existing mincralmdu~try in the area;' and 

Alaska mining industry representatiVe'> prepared 

a statewide ''Aia:.ka Re~ource Preservation" bill 

that proposed only small additiom, to the ationa! Park System.'1' 

As noted in Chapter 8, consen·at10nists, developers, and a ho~t of other mterests wrestled with 

the Alaska land<, question tn Congre~:. between 

1977 and 1980. Rep. Morns Udall\ mmal bill, 

introduced m januarv 1977, stated that all of the 

new or expanded PS units would be "withdrawn, subject to valid ex ~ting right~. from all 

forms of appropriation under the mining laws 

and from operation of the m1neralleasing laws." 

Almost ~ix month~ later, however, Sen. Ted 

Stevens (R-Ala~ka) introduced a more development-friendl}' "consemu~ bill" that called for a 

relatively small amount of parkland (where new 

mming would be prohthtted), hut a much larger 

acreage would be allotted to "Federal Cooperative Lands" which would be administered by 

the newly-created Alaska Land Classification 

Commis~ion and would "be open to all use authorit.ed under the public land laws except disposal."'1' In Augul>t 1977, N J>S Director William 

Whalen recommended the continuation of all 

valid existing rights for miner!., but he opposed 

any new mineral exploration, location, and 

leasing. A month later, Interior Secretary Cecil 

Andrus. in a s1milar vein, noted that "national 

parks, monuments and wild river~ established 

by tills legislation will be withdrawn from all 

mineral exploration. entry. or lcasmg, subject to 

valid exi!>ting rights:'''· 

As Udall\ bill wound its wa) through the committee process and onto the Hou~e floor, new 

features were added. By the time the bill pa!>scd 

the House, in m1d-May 1978, it had several 

mining-related features. rir~t, it ~tated that 

"all public lands within the boundaries of any 

conservation system unit in Alaska are withdrawn 

Chapter Fout1f'l'n M1mnq i.lnd Kant1shna Area Management 359 
By the time this photograph was 

taken in 1956, only a handful of 

permanent residents lived in the 

Kantishna area. Abandoned cabins 

were often "recycled" for new 

construction or firewood in this area 

where timber was hard to get. The 

two-story Kantishna Roadhouse, 

center, and the Busia cabin, left. are 

still standing in 2008. Charlie Ott 

Photo, Denali National Park and 

Preserve Museum Collection 

from all forms of entry or appropriation under 

me mining laws of me United States." Second, 

it stated that the Interior Department would 

kcontinue mineral assessment programs ... in 

order to expand the data base with respect to the 

mmeral potential of all public lands m Alaska:' 

And finally, the procedures for the assessment 

program had to be transmitted ro Congress by 

October 1981.'" The Senate Energy and arural 

esource~ Committee, using the House brll as 

a template, produced an October 1978 committee report d1at, to some extent, duplicated 

me House's efforts as they pertained to mining 

regulation. The Senate's bill, however, was more 

~trier in that it prohibited core-sampling and 

other on-the-ground mineral assessment procedures. In addition, senators-particularly Senator Stevens- recognized the special qualities of 

both me Kantishna Hills and Dunkle Mme areas 

hy asking the Alaska Land Usc Council (which 

would have been created by this bill) to collaborate with the Interior Department on a study 

of the~e areas that would evaluate the area's 

re~ource s and "may include recommendations 

with respect to such resources as the Council 

may detcrmine.''''4 Both me Senate committee 

bill and the House bill died, however, because 

the 95'h Congress adJoUrned with nut passing an 

Alaska lands bill. 

360 Crown IE.'WE.'I of the Nor1h An Admrmstratrve Hrstory ol DE.'nah Nat,onal Park and Preserve 

In January 1979, the new Congress made a 

renewed attempt to pass a comprehen~ive 

land~ bill. Once again, Rep. Udall introduced a 

conservation-oriented btl!, which in its mining 

provisions was similar to the May 1978 House 

bill but omitted me d1ree-year deadline for ilie 

mining program's assessment procedures to 

be announced. This language stayed largely 

unchanged in the bill that the full House passed 

in May 1979. The Senate, however, responded 

by re-introducing me same bill that had emerged 

from the Energy Committee the previous 

October.'11 Disc ~s ons by the full Senate did 

not begin until mid-July 1980. What emerged 

from tho~e discussions was a bill that the Senate 

passed in mid-August and, for reasons discussed 

in Chapter 8, was signed inw law by President 

Carter on December 2.''" 

The ~o call ed Ala~ka Nationallnterest Lands 

Comervation Act comained several miningrelated provisio ~, most of which pertained to 

all new or expanded NPS areas. Section 206, 

for example, stated that " [s]ubject to existing 

rights .... the Federal lands within units of the 

National Park System established or expanded 

by or pursuant to this Act are hereby withdrawn 

from ... location, entry, and ratent under the 

United State~ mining laws [and] disposition 
This aerial overview of Kantlshna and 

Moose Creek, with Eldorado Creek 

on the left and Eureka Creek on the 

right, shows the large-scale placer 

mining on patented cla1ms along 

Moose Creek in 1983. NPS Photo 

under the minerallea~mg law~." ScctJon 111o(b) 

guaranteed "adequate ami feast hie accc~s·· to 

those With "privately owned land, mcluding 

sub~urface rights of ~uch owner~ underlying 

public lands, or a valitl minmg clatm ... ". Section 

toto(a) stated that for all public land~ in Alaska, 

the Interior Secretary would conduct a mineral 

a~ses5ment program "m orth.:r ro expand the 

data base with re1.pcct to the mineral potential 

of ~uch land~." Tht~ program rrovtded for 

aenal reconnab.,ance over all puhltc lands; core 

'>am pies and test dnllmg woultl al"o be conducted on mo'>t public lando,, bur nor within rhc area'> 

added to the 'ational Park Sy!>tern. [ mally, Secnon 1011 called on executive agenete-.. once each 

year, to share their newly-di~covercd mming 

assessment mformarion with Congrc''·' 

The smgle ANTLCA provt!.ion untquc w newly-expandetl porttom ol Denali Nat tonal Park 

wa!. Section 202(3)(b). Thi~ ::.ection ~tared that 

the Alaska Land U::.c Council would col laborate with the In tenor Secretary on "a ~tudv of 

the Kantbhna II ill-. anti Dunkle Mmc areas 

of the park" anti to '"'ue a reporr to Congress 

bv December 1q83. The "tully would dcc,cnbe 

and e\ aluate a broad range of art~a resource!.; 

in additton, "the Council, in comultation wtth 

the Secretar}." would "comptle informatiOn 

relating to the mineral potenttal of the areas 

encompassed wtthm the ~rudy, rhc e.,nmatcd 

co~t of acqutrtng mmmg properrtec;, and the 

environmental comequencc~ of further developmem." Congre.,..., knowmg full well that 

both the Kantbhna II ilb and Dunkle \.line 

areas had a long, complex mintng hi~tory a long 

with a n active cluster of current mining operations, wanted to ensure that the government 

would be well-informed about the broad range 

of area re~ources before 11 made further land 

u:;e decbton~.'l' 

Managing the Park's Mineral Resources, 

1978-1985 

As noted above. Congre~~ pas~cd the ~ining in 

the Parks Act m September 1976. In the wake of 

that law. the PS i~sued implementing regulations 111 late Januar} 1977· nnd the federal 

Bureau of Land \ lanagcment completed a 

report m earh October 1q7l> rhar ruled on the 

validt[) of the park\ \'Ortou'> minmg cla1ms. The 

complenon of thar report meant that the PS 

was one 'tep clo~er to ~tmplifvmg 11~ management over the park\ mtneral rc!>ources. 

In December 1978, however, President Carterdisappointed that Congre~-, had failed to pass 

comprehensive Alaskn lands legislation- is-

~ued ~eventccn proclamation~ that established 

national monument'> on approximately 56 

mtllion acres of A.la-,ka land. Thineen national 

monuments were entru ... ted to the ~ational Park 

Ser\'ice, and one of rhc ... e wa" Denali 1\larional 

Monument, a J.81)o,ooo-acre untt that c'rended 

norrh. west, and '>Ollth of \\ounr \lcKinley 

:-.Janonal Park. \X'ithm the newl~ -de-.1gnated 

area was a number of mineral extraction areas, 

including the Dunkle Mtne area (along the 

\X'e!.t Fork of the Chulnna Rl\cr). rhe Tukositna 

Area (in the loko:.itna Ri\'t:r drainage). and the 

Kanrishna Htll!.. The proclanution noted that 

all land~ within the monument were '·hercb) appropriated and withdrawn from entry, location, 

sale, or other di'>po:.ttion unucr rhe publtc land 

Chapter ourt~en Mm,~g and Kdnt,~hna·Aren Management 361 
This 1920s photo shows the Quigleys' 

Red Top Mine and their cabin on the 

hillside to the right of Friday Creek. 

Quigley Ridge is on t he right. Quigley 

Collection SD-46-247, University of 

Alaska Fairbanks Archive 

laws, other than exchange,'' although holder-. of 

mmeral patents and claim~ retamed the1r rights 

to those propert1e~. '" 

When Carter signed the Denali ational '\.lonument proclamation, most of the land m the 

new monument wa~ public land that was bemg 

admimstercd by the Bureau of Land \ lanagement. On Ocrober 21, 1976 less than a month 

after the pa<,~age of the Mmmg m the Parks 

Act-Congress had also passed the Federal 

Land Pohcy and Management Act (FLPMA), 

which redefined the BLM's mi~sion. Section 

314 of that act had mandated that the O\\ ners of mining claims on BL.\11and conform to 

requirements that were roughh· s1m1lar ro those 

that had been mandated by the Mimng in the 

Parks Act. Specifically, Section 314 '>tated rhar 

owners of unpatented lode or placer mining 

claim~ within a three-year timeframe had 

to 1) file either a "notice of intention to hold 

362 Crown Jewel of the North An Admomstratove Hostory ol Oenilh Natoonal Pdrk and P eserve 

the mmmg clmm" or an affida\it of assessment 

work at the local BLM office, 2) g1ve a copy of 

the appropnate paperwork to "the office of the 

Bureau designated by the Secretary" (thus to 

the park ~upermtendent if the claim was located 

in an '\J rs unit), and 3) provide the designated 

official with "a description of the locatiOn of 

the mmmg claim or mill or tunnel s1te sufficient 

to located the cla1med land-, on the ground."'"" 

ul\'en the language in Section 314, owners of 

mining cla1ms in the newly-des1gnated monument had until October 21, 1979 to register and 

descnbe the1r claims. The Alaska mming industry, concerned over how the new monuments 

would affcc.t the recordmg process, relayed 

their concerns to BLM and 1\. PS offic1al1.. Together, they clarified that the pnmary location 

for mmmg cla1m registration for area& in Denali 

"Jauonal Monumcnr (and millions of additional 

acre~ subJect to Carter's proclamation) would 

be at the otliccs of the BLM, nor the PS.•h• 
During 1982 and 1983, large-scale 

placer mming was conducted on the 

Discovery claim on f riday Creek, just 

upstream from the creek's park road 

crossing. In this 1983 photo, the 

Red Top Mine is at the center of the 

photo. NPS Photo, WAGS Collection 

:"JPS official~ m Ala<-ka recogmted that the \ lmmg m the Park<- Act, wh1ch pcrtamed ar the ttme 

on I\ w thL "old park," contained a clause ( ecuon 4) that pre\'t.~med the expansion of ex bring 

mming operation!. m the park for a four-year 

period. Becam.e of that clau~e. and becaw-.c of 

the ~rs·-. negattve vahdtt} detcrmmauom., mmmg m the "old park" came w a virtual'>tandstill 

after the 1976 season, and any arguments over 

vanous claimants' mming plan~ of operations became parr of a larger argument over the valid it) 

of those claims. 

But for manv of the mmmg claimc; m the newlydesignated Dcnah National Monument, there 

was a proven record of rect•nt milling activit) 

As noted above, mmmg had tukcn place 10 rhe 

Jo..:annshna I Iilb off and on '>tnCe 1903, and durmg rhe 1970s, mmc-. m tlw. area had produced 

commercial quanti lie.., of stlv~.:r. anrimon\, and 

gold. (In 1975 alone, acconhng w one report, 

"approximate!) nine placer mining operation., 

invoh·ing about w men ~ 1cldcd at lca..,t 1,ooo 

ounces of gold from Caribou, Glacier, Yellow, 

Eureka. Eldorado, Spruce. and l.ILn creek~." 

Another report, j..,.,ucd the ..,nmt· year, '>tated that 

"six operations were undl·rwav" 111 tht.: Jo..:anrishna area, "three u~ing dot.ers and gmund ~luice~. 

three using front-end loaders nnd cle\'nted 

washing-screemng plant....'')'"· In other parts of 

the newlv-de.,ignated monument, minmg was a 

le~s imporranr Issue; m rhc Dunkle \ line area, 

for example. no active mmmg had taken place 

smce 1954- and m the Ruth Glacier· 'T(lkositna 

area, devdopmenr had never proceeded beyond 

exploratun actiVIt\. •• 

Accordmg to the mmmg rcgl1latiom that were 

issued after the \.lining m the Park-.. Act, owners of mming claims within the monument\ 

boundaries were required w complete, and 

gain approval of, a mmmg plan of opcrariom 

before the} could begin work on their cla1m<o in 

1979. In area~ outstde of Alaska, the 1-.suance of 

these mmmg plam was typically preceded by a 

field examination conducted hv an PS mining 

engmeer. But given Alaska\ ort field season 

and the huge number ol mining cia 1m., that had 

just been absorhed mto the new NP~ units, NPS 

officials in early 1979 bsued a notice <,tatmg that 

mining claim owners rather than waumg for 

a formal validity examinatiOn '>hould file a 

Supplemental Claim Information ~tatement as 

part of their mming plan of opcrat1om.'~4 As a 

result, owner-. of vanous Kannshna-area minmg 

claims submitted mmm~ plan~ of operations 

prior to the 1979fielJ sea ... on: thl Alaska iners 

Assoctarion. m most instances, a~ststed miners 

with this ta~k. And except in a fe\\ im.tance~ 

where claimants could not pro\'e a legal nght 

to specific cln1ms, '\IPS official<, told claimants 

that thetr cln1ms were "considered eligible for 

continued operauon.," and thar "you are hcreb) 

authoritcd to continue your mining acti\·ities 

on a temporary ba~i~ ... in accordance with the 

deta l~ and procedure of vour propmed plan of 

operation--.'' Claunants were warned, however, 

that the agencv\ C'\pedited approval "should in 

no wa\ be construed a~ a final derermmation of 

vahdtrv.""" 

The . PS, recogn111ng that mtnerall/auon existed 

in many an.:a~ within the newlv-e~tabli~hed 

Chdpter FourtPen M1111ng clncl K,llltl~hna·Area Mdnagemen\ 363 
In 1984, this claim on upper Friday 

Creek was being mined with large 

equipment. Claire Robe rts Photo, 

NPS, WAGS Collection 

monument, d1spatched several cmployce1. from 

the Denver Service Center·~ Special Studies Unit 

co learn more about the ongoing mining operations plus the major natural and cultural resources in the surrounding area. One D~C staffer, 

Wayne Hamilton, remained in the area from July 

through September 1979. He concluded, in a 

~cason-ending report, that ''the validity of claims 

associated with many of the ongomg operations 

is probably assured based on an mformal asses~­

ment," but "some of the claims being worked on 

a very small scale may be invalid" He conceded 

that "any National Park Service efforts to independently exam me any one of these claimr. for 

validity would be an expensive and time comuming affair", a process made even more problematical "if the cooperation of the miners were not 

forthcoming." l-Ie recommended a long-term, 

expanded NPS monitoring and management 

role.'"" At this time, the agency had little interest 

in land acquisition; as Director William Whalen 

noted, the agency's goal was "to purchase private 

in holdings in the new national monuments on 

a willing seller-willing buyer basis. It is not anticipated that an active land acquisition program 

will be developed there, especially in the first few 

years."'"7 

Based on Hamilton's data, DSC :.tatf returned 

in the spring of 1980 and established an ad hoc, 

18o,ooo-acre Kantishna Hills Study Area (see 

Map 8), where most of the recent mining activity 

had taken place. A ream under the direction 

of Alex Carter began to compile information 

for a report "intended to assist the NPS ... in 

adequately assessing the effects of existing and 

364 Crown Jewel ol the Nonh An Adm1mstrat1ve H1story of Denali Nat10r1dl Park and Pr~serve 

future miningact1v1ties on [areal re1.ourccs ... 

and to expedite the processing of proposed mining plam." The agency hoped that the material 

would provide enough data for "adequately 

evaluating the majontv of proposed plans and 

preparing the necessary environmental analyses 

and rev1ew~."'"" 

The mvestigators soon learned that the area 

offered a wide variety of mineral~. Deposits ol 

lead, silver, 1inc, antimony, and gold were found 

in several areas, while mercury and tungsten 

occurred m single deposits. Based on BLM data 

supplied after the FLPMA-mandated October 

1979 deadline, the area contained 163 recorded 

placer claims (none of them patented) and 12R 

recorded lode cla1ms (34 of them parented); 

together, these 291 claims covered 6,580 acre;.. 

More than two-third~ of those claims, however, 

were not being actively worked. DSC staff, during their 1980 inve~tigations, noted that jul>t 69 

placer claims were being mined by 12 operators 

and that only 8 lode cla1ms were bemg mmed 

by 3 operators.'"" The agency's September 1980 

report prov1ded information about each potentially valid claim a~ well as additional details on 

active minmg operations; also included was a 

brief hi~tory of area mining, information about 

the environmental impacts of mining activities in 

each drainage area, and suggested mining mitigation methods.'T" 

By the time DSL had issued its I98o Kantishna 

report, both house~ of Congress had passed an 

Alaska lands bill, and in December 1980 President Caner signed ANILCA into law. ANILCA, 
Pane Boundary. 1932-1978 ., ..... '" : ...... : Kanllshna Withdrawal (BLM). May 1965 

Kant1shna Hills Study Area. Sept 1980 

c:J Kanllshna Hills Study Area (ANILCA), Dec. 1980 

:"""~Area Recommended for Mineral Leasing (Alaska 

........ Land Use Counc11). May 1984 

• 

• 

I 

Map 8. Kantishna Hills AdminiStrative 

Actions, 1965-1984 

a~ noted above, called for a "PC'tal 1\.anri ... hna 

Hills study. That !.tud\ would be d1~tinct from 

the DSC effort m four wav~: I) It would mcludc 

the Dunkle Mine area (WC'-t of Cantwell) a~ well 

a~ the Kantlshna llllb, .2.) II called for a collaboration bervveen the lntcnor Dcpanment and the 

Alaska Land u~e Council,''' 3) the srudywould 

examine a broad range of area re!>ource:;, not 

just mining, and 4) it would "compile information relating ro the mineral putenrial'" of the two 

areas as well a~ "the estimated cost of acquiring 

mining propertie::.."'7 In order to re,pond to ttli 

new mining-related task ... , Congre::.-.. provtdcd 

a S6so,ooo fundmg allotment during the 1981 

!heal year; that allowance, whtch would be .,pent 

throughout AJa~ka, was a greater amount than 

had been allotted tn any of the ncwly-elltablished 

parks. '

1 

Soon after A?'-J l LCA\ pa~sagc, N PS taif began 

to re-examine rhe work they had undertaken 

at Kantishna in rg!lo. lna1o111Uch as Co e!>~ 

had established a new Ka ntishna llili ~/ Dunkle 

Mine Study Area with ~pccificall y-dclineated 

boundarres, the Kann-.hna portion of the -,rudv 

area was expanded from approximately 18o,ooo 

acres w 194·968 acre~; aJJed to that was the 

Dunkle Mine area. which compril>ed mo't of a 

single townshtp (22,841 acre~).' ~ The NPS srudy 

team, hopmg to be al l-inclu,tve, reached out and 

mcluded all ea~ m Denali Natrona! Park and 

Preserve that contained recorded mming claims; 

this not on I) included the Wesr Fork area (which 

was in and near the Dunkle township) but also 

the Toko~itna area {wh1ch had two small claim 

groups near the terminm ofT<>kos1tna and Ruth 

glacier'>).•;~ 

The team rdca~ed th 11nding!> in a ~cptcmber 

1981 report. lt stated thJt the Kann:,hna Hilb had 

a toral of 150 recorded placer clatm!> (18 iewer 

than the year before, although ')I other placer 

clarms were under adjudrcauon); 111 addttion, this 

area now had 126 recorded l1>dc cla1ms. 2 fewer 

than in tq8o.'l'· (!:lee \ lap<:).) In the Dunkle ,'\1ine 

area, there"' ere 18 placer clo1ms and another 

187 lode claims, and 111 the 1oko~itna area, 8 

lode clarms were located west of the Toko!>itna 

Chapler FourtePn M•nlflq dnu i<;dllllshlld·Area Management 365 
This 1984 photo, looking 

downstream, shows placer mining 

on upper Friday Creek. The Kragness 

camp of 1982-83 on the Discovery 

claim, once located downstream from 

the active mining area, is now gone. 

Claire Roberts Photo. NPS, WAGS 

Collection 

Glacier terminus and 3 placer claims just south 

of the Ruth Glacier terminu-;.'n Again, however, 

there were relatively few active mining operations. In the Kanti'ihna Hills, a!> noted above, 

less rhan one-th1rd of placer clmms anJ less than 

one-tenth of lode claims were act1ve.'7' In minerali~ed areas south uf the park. these percentages 

were even lower: although quite a few claims 

showed ~orne evidence of minor exploration 

and survey work, mvestlgators also noted that 

"there are currendy no major mining operarions 

in these areas of the park, and no major mining 

activity is anticipated in rhc future .... little, if 

any, extraction ha::. occurrcd."•7• The report also 

descrihed the environmental impacts of mmmg 

in areas both north and south of the Old Park 

and dbcussed a variety of mitigating measures.'"" 

Soon afterward. d1e Alaska Land Usc Council 

and the U.S. Interior Department began preparing the reports that ANILCA had mandated. 

Section 202(3)(b) had called for a wide-ranging 

environmental report evaluating "the resources 

of the area, including ... fish and wildlife, public 

recreation opportunities, wilderness potential, 

historic resources, and minerals," all with a 

December 1983 timetable. Given that direction, the so-called Kantishna Hills/Dunkle 

Mine Study Group (which was composed of 

17 employees from four federal and three ~tare 

agencies) immediately set to work. It asked t·.vo 

NPS biologists to inventory Kantislma Hills' fi~h 

populations and the effect~ of mining on those 

populations; it abo a~ked a third NPS biologist to make a similar study on Kanttshna Hills' 

wildlife. These studies were completed in 1983 

366 Crown Jewel of the North An Adm1mstrat1ve Hrstory of Denal1 NdtiOndl Pdrr dnd Preserve 

and 1984, respectively.'K' Funds available to out-

~tde inve~tigators, however, were not available 

unriJ later. Finally, in May 1983, the Department 

contracted with 5alisbury and Dietz, Lnc. on a 

comprehensive study of the mineral potential 

in both r.he Kantishna Hills and Dunkle Mine 

areas. This study included geologic mapping, 

geochemical and geophysical ~urveys, placer 

srudie~, and the collection and analysts of 2000 

core samples retrieved from 22 Kantishna Hills 

dnll holes. The company issued a report of its 

findings in the spring of 984. ~' 

While biologists and contractor~ were at work 

on specialit.ed studies, the study group went to 

work on a draft environmental impact statement 

(ElS), the purpose of which was to galher a wide 

range of scientific data and present variou~ mini_ng-related policy alternatives. In order to meet 

Congress's deadline, the document was released 

in late May 1983. It described the environment 

of the two study areas, 01.1tlined six widely-varying policy alternative-., and analy~ed rhe tmpacr 

of each alternative on the areas' environment. 

Because much of the biolog1cal and mimng-related data was still being compiled (see above), 

the draft EIS n:framcd from suggesting a preferred alternative. The document did, however, 

provide a structure for upcoming reports.'s1 

After the report was tssued, the public was 

g1ven until late July 27, 1981 (later extended to 

August 27) to comment on the report's findings. In mid-July, public meetings were held in 

four Alaska localities, which were attended by a 

total of more than 200 people. At the Anchor-
Kantishna Mining Claim 

Acquisitions, 1979-present 

Legend 

II 

c=J Claims, as of 1979, later 

abandoned, voided. or 

declared invalid 

- Properties acquired on a 

willing buyer-willing seller 

basis, 1990-1994 

Properties acquired since 

1990 due to condemnation, 

declaration of taking, or 

Section 120 of Public Law 

105-83 

[§] Contested Claims 

.. Mining dalms owned by 

private interests 

Map 9. Kantishna Mining Claim 

Acquisitions, 1979 to Present 

age meeting, the majority of the 70 attendee~ 

expressed a preference for having the NPS purchase all of the existing mining claims, but at the 

other three meetings (at Fairbanks, Healy, and 

Kantishna), most participants took an opposite 

tack, stating a preference for having both c;rudy 

areas removed from the park. The study team 

also asked for written comments. In response, 

q6 !>Uch comments were received, most of which 

strongly favored the mining-claim-acquisition 

alternative.••4 

During the winter of I983-84, the Kantishna 

Hills/Dunkle Mine Study Group was hard at 

work on completing its various reports. The 

results of that work bore fruit in two separate 

studies: a series of policy recommendations that 

the Alaska Land Use Council issued in May I984 

(just one month after Salisbury and DietL issued 

its report), and the final EIS, which was issued 

seven month s late r. 

The Kamishna Hills/Dunkle Mine Study Group, 

which reported its recommendations to the 

Alaska Land Usc Council on May 3· I984, suggested different directions for the two mineralited areas. Regarding the Dunkle Mine area, 

the study group recognized that three of the 

seven agencies recommended Alternative I , 

which "would allow mining-related activities to 

continue on existing valid unpatented placer and 

lode claims.'' The Council also recommended 

that option, although with the caveat that available data on the area's mineral resources and its 

use by the Denali caribou herd "were only marginally sufficient to make the decisions required 

by ANILCA''.•R1 Regarding the more contentious 

Kantishna Hills area, three of the seven agencies 

again recommended Alternative I , the "maintain 

status quo" alternative. The group, however, apparently bent to the wishes of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, which had recommended that the Inte rior Department implement 

Chapter Fourteen M1n10g and Kant1shna-Area Management 357 
Located on upper Caribou Creek, 

the remains of a wooden tool 

shed and a wooden freight wagon 

(pictured above in 1984) represent 

historic mining activities Including 

transportation, habitation, 

maintenance, mining. and mineral 

processing during the Carrington 

Company's operations from 1939 

to 1948. Claire Roberts Photo, NPS, 

WAGS Collection 

a mineralleasmg program beginning during 

fiscal year 1989. The idea seemed out-of-the-ordinary bccaU';e 11 wa.., not descnbed m an) of the 

SIX alternative~ in the draft El~; m addition, the 

implementation of a leasing program would require new Congressional legislation. fbe report 

noted, however, that "many agency concerns 

were alleviated bv the conditions wnttcn into 

the propo!>ed lcac,ing program, \\hich requ1re 

that water qual it) standards and other srandards 

would be at tamed prior to Implementation of 

the program."• ·· Three weeks later, the Alaska 

Land Usc Council met to consider the !>tudv 

group's recommendations. Recogni1ing that "it 

was the obligation of the Council ... to make a 

recommendation to Congress," but abo noting 

that "the ulrimate action 1s that of Congress," the 

Council voted to concur w1th the stud~· group\ 

report and recommendations. ' 

As soon a., the study group's recommendations 

became known, vo1ces rose up in protc~t. Federal co-chmr Vernon R. Wiggms- thc lone CounCil 

member who did nor concur w1th the -.rud) 

group\ recommcndauons- wrote a length>, 

impassiOned letter denouncing the acuon, and 

soon afterward, nine Interior legislator., signed a 

jomt letter ~tanng that the propo!>ed acuon wa~ 

unworkable. NPS Regional D1recror Roger Contor, who~c agency had advocated a contmuancm 

368 Crown Jo>Wel ollh<' Ncuth An Acitrun•s ar•~e H•storv ol Oend 1 Nd!•Oildl P,Jrk and Prt>Serve 

of the c;tanl<> quo as ir pertained to Kantishna 

llill-. mmmg, carefully noted that the leac,ing plan 

wa., "an acceptable middle ground" worked out 

by d1verse interests. He did not ~ay. however, 

that he would work to implement the Council'1. 

plan. Instead, that decision would depend on 

the result:. of the park's general management 

plan (a draft of which wa<> then being prepared) 

and on an\ Congressional action that mtght be 

forrhcommg. Contor's supenors m the Interior 

Department, William Horn and G. Ray Amen, 

agreed \nth Wiggins; desp1te the1r position as 

Reagan adminl!.tration appointee!>, they objected 

to the Council\ recommendation and im.tead 

concluded that ··after weighing both mineral and 

park value~. we believe ... that mining [should] 

be phased our in th1s area."'" 

The final Ll~ wa~ completed in December 1984. 

It wa' much larger than the May 1983 draft, in 

part because 1t incorporated data that had been 

gathered after the draft report had been completed. The recommendariom in thi.., document reflected thme thar had been pubh.,hed in 

the tav t984 Ala1.ka Land Use Council report. 

Consto,tcnt wtth the stance taken by Contor and 

other 'l'P~ officials, howc,·er, the agenC) never 

1ssued a record of decision for the document; 

and the NP~, during its 1985-86 park general 

management planning process, consistently 
In the center o f this 1987 aerial view 

of upper Caribou Creek is the tool 

shed and wagon (seen in the previous 

photo) dating from the 1939-1948 

mining operations, beyond which is 

the Hayhurst and Kragness operation 

dating from 1984-1985. This latter 

operation, during its brief heyday, 

processed the largest amount of 

gravel in the Kantishna District. 

Mining & Minerals Survey, DENA 

Cultural Site Files 

noted that although "mining on valid existing 

claims" was "authonted m the park ~ubjcct to 

applicahle laws and regulations;· the agency 

"would oppose a ~ignificant in crea~e in mining 

operations," pnmanly because of traffic and 

acces ... -route concerns. Congre~s. for it-> part, 

never responded to the Council's recommendatiom h) mtempting w msutute a Kantishna llilb 

lcasmg program.'" 

The 1985 District Court Injunction 

and its Impacts 

A<;, noted abo\'c, the I976 J\linmg in the Park~ Act 

,rated that in order ro operate\\ I thin the 'ariou.., 

park umts, Ull owners of parented and unpatented mining cla1ms had to obtain minmg plam of 

operation~ each year Rcgardmg mining claims 

in the Old Park, N PS mining engineers conducted field exammanons in 1978 and <:oncludcJ 

that none of tl1e 74 claims exbring cla1ms pa~scd 

the' alid1ty examinatiOm.. Thts conclu..,wn. 111 

turn, started a process of administrative and legal 

actions that, by the end of 191i6, had re;.ulted in 

declaring all of these claims null and \'oid. 

For mming claims located outside of the Old 

Park, howen:~r. the process was different. As 

noted above, the hundred& of clatm~ that became 

part of Denali '\Ia tiona! Monument in Decemher 1978 were a ~ub~et of a much larger number 

of claim; that came under 1'\PS JUri.,diction 

throughout Ala~ka. These claim ~. in toto. were so 

numerou~ that the incremental approach that the 

agency had previously taken would take decade!--

to complete. T<l expedite matters, therefore, the 

agencv authuri;ed temporar~ approval., for mmt 

of those who had submitted complete mming 

plans of operation (although it al'io stated that 

these approvals "should in no wa) be construed 

as a final determmation of validity"). G1ven the 

co~t and complexity of undertaking these final 

determinations. and the limited budget for valid 

ttv examination!>. the agency in most instances 

annuaJh renewed these "temporarv" mi111n_g 

plam !lf operatiom. Dunng and after th1s period, 

the Kanti~hna II Jib wao, the center of mmmg-rclated acti\'il). to the exdu..,IL>n of all othl'l' area~ in 

Denali !'..ational Park and Preserve 

G1vcn the lact that the most mmers, h\ the earl) 

1980s, were renewing pre\ iomh -approved 

operatmg plans, and g1ven the additiOnal fact thar 

renewal applicatiom were lcs~ time-intensive 

operatHms than mnial applicaoom, most mmcr., 

will1ngh· (if begrudgmgly) followed the neces&ary 

bureaucratic steps.'' (NPS emplovee Bill fanner 

noted that "must uf the miner~ han· been ven 

good ahnur submittmg plam and talkmg to us.") 

But Jim Fuksa, the owner of the Palmer hased 

Red Tape \l1nmg Compam, hm,·e,·er. refused 

on principle to till out any forms; he told a 

ranger that he "didn't have w do am paper work 

became his paper work was the constJtunon." 

In early Julv 1982, morco\·cr, he and an as~ociatl' 

illegal!) bulldoLed a 2 >-mile-long, to-foot-\\ide 

road to his four Yellow Pup placL·r claJm<,, located 

along a Glac1er Creek tnbutar\'. Confronted on 

the matter by '\PS official~. Fuk~a and Jw, col 

league~ lllltJall} chose to continue thctr mmmg 

operations, but on August 2 the\ linall\ ~ubmirtcd a mining plan of nperat10m. 1o '>top funher 

damage tll area re .. ourcc!>, Di~trict Court judge 

James FitLgerald- acting on thl':.... P~'s hl'half i<.-

'>Ued an August 9 temporary re'>tralning order 
Claims on Caribou Creek were first 

staked during the summer of 1905, 

and the entire length of the creek 

was subsequently staked for either 

placer or lode claims. From 1905 

to the mining injunction of 1985, a 

succession of mining techniques w as 

used, each one obliterating some of 

the physical remains of earlier mining 

operations. Remains of various 

mining operations (including the 

tailings piles seen on left) are shown 

in this 2007 photo. NPS Photo 

against further road construction work, and four 

days later, the miners agreed to the judge's order. 

On August 21, Fuksa and his parrners agreed to 

stop any additional mining-related activit1e~ until 

the NPS approved their mining plan of operation~. The agency's acting regional director approved that plan just three days later, after which 

mining resumed.'"' 

The NPS's mining-related regulatory system 

continued, with few changes, into the mid-1980~. 

In 1983, for example, NPS official!. tentatively 

approved at least 19 mining plans of operation 

covering 37 claims, and in 1984 they similarly 

approved r6 mining plans of operation covering 

46 claims.'"' Furthermore, the agency following acces& guidelines set forth in Section 1110(b) 

of A ILCA-granted the Kantishna Mining 

Company a permit to construct a 12' :.-mile accc&s 

route between the park road and the company's 

Caribou Creek claims. (Company officials con -

370 Crown Jewel of the North An Adm1n1strat1Ve H1story of Denali Nat1onal Park and Preserve 

srructed this road, now known as Sk·yline Dnvc, 

in 1983.)'"' 

During thi~> period, from 1979 to the mid-1980&, 

the agency's pnmary area of concern dealt with 

reclamation. The miners' various plans of operation promised specified reclamation activities, but 

agency field ob&ervers noted, all too often, that 

reclamation was implemented either poorly or not 

at all.''

14 So to ensure a clo~er broader compliance, 

the ~PS m the spring of 1985 initiated a bonding 

program, etfective immediately, with a minimum 

bond of $200. Agency officials told claimants 

and operators that "reclamation progress will be 

monrtored throughout and after the mmmg season 

and w1ll be approved or rejected, thus releasing a 

portion, all or none of the bond obligation.'''"" 

Then, in july 1985, an Anchorage judge dropped 

a hombshell that effectively forced the closure 

of mining in Alaska's NPS units. On july 22, Dis-
Shown above is a part of the 2¥>-

mile-long road, illegally bulldozed 

rn 1982, which connected the Yellow 

Pup placer da1ms (in the Glacier Creek 

drainage) to the park road NPS 

Photo 

Access from the park road at 

Kantishna to Glacier and Caribou 

Creeks was over low country 

northwest of the Kantishna H1lls. 

Minrng equipment and vehicles 

were used to get through the 

boggy ground and a maze of trails 

developed. especially in the early 

1980s, as seen in this 1983 photo. 

NPS Photo 

trier Court judge Jamc~ A. von dcr Heydt is!>ued 

a prchmmar} In]Unct1on m a su1t that had been 

filed on .\1a) 8 by three Alaska-ba!>Cd environmental group .... During june 21 oral arguments, 

the plaintiff\ had alleged that the :-.... rs had a 

mandatory duty (ba\ed on agency regulations hsued m response to the 1976 .'viining in the Parks 

Act) to review the environmental impacts of 

each mining operation 1t approved, bur in seven 

years the agency had "not once prepared an environmental asses~ ent." The Judge, siding with 

the plaintiff'>, noted that minmg in Ala;.ka's park 

Chapter Fourteen M1mng dnd Kant1shna-Area Management 371 
Followlrog acce~s guidelines set forth 

in ANILCA, the NPS permitted the 

construction of a 12'h mile access 

route between the park road and 

mining daoms on Carobou Creek. 

Thas 1983 v1ew shows Skyline Drive 

construction (dark cut on right 

side of photo) In progress in the 

upper headwaters of Glacier Creek. 

John Daile-Molle Photo, Resource 

Management Slide File, NPS 

umts wa-, caw-.ing rimajor adn:r<,e ctfc·crs on fish 

habitat, \\atcr quality and <,ccnlc values" and \-\a~ 

producing "wa ... tewater di~Lhargc~ that grm.~lv 

exceed water quality \tandards." GiYen thme 

comlltions, he ordered all park mining to be shut 

down "until "uch riml' as atkquate l'O\'Jr<mmcntal studies have hcen prepared and proper acces., 

pcrm1h t<,su ed." 

An '\;PS spokcspo:Nm, upon hcanng the decl-

.,ion, defended the agcnc.:)·\ course of action. 

She 'tatetl that 10 alllanJ, th.u hat! ht·cn under 

)uri<odicrion unl~ '10ce 197f!. the agency had "nttcmpted w pha"c 111 regulauons so a ... not to place 

.m unrea .. onahlc burden on the mmcrs who had 

been worktng in thi., area." "En:r) ~car ... ince 

1q8o,'' "he noted. "the p.1rk .. en·tce ha, tightened up enforcement of tht: mining rcgulatiom, 

requiring moro: detailed plam of operations and 

increased compliance with stalL' anJ federal 

regulations," hut1f thl" 's P~ had "enforced the 

law to the letter in 1q8o It would have effectively 

cJO~t:d down I!\ t'f) minmg operatllllo.'" n• 

\on dcr Hevdr\ mjunction .tpphed ro ;~pproximarcl\· 40 mmmg npcrauon-.. 10 'cn:n Ala.,ka 

park unir... and gave operator~ 4) day ... -unril 

~cprcmbcr 4 to cca'>e all mmmg operattmh . 

..... rs offictal' told rhcm that .tftl·r that date, only 

reclamation work would he permitted. As li>r 

miners'long·tcrm pro..pech, olfictab promi~cd 

ro contact them "wnhin oo day' with informacion on the Court's order .md 1t., ctfcct on the 

1986 mimng sea,on:· ·\nd at cwo park.,, the 

judge impo.,ed an ~tddinonal hurdk; hccauw 

most mmmg acuvity (and moo,t envmmmental 

371 Crown J.•wel of llle "Jorth Ar Adrnrrstrilf•vf.' Hrstory of OPnah Na• or11l P;;rk nnd Preserve 

degradanon) had taken place at the \X'rangeli-St. 

F.ha., and '\ ukon -Charlcy River-. park units, the 

judge disallowed fttture mmmg 111 tho~e park 

umt., "unul adequate environmental impact 

.,ratemcnto, have heen prepared that study the 

cumulauw cmmmmcntal effects of mining in 

thm.c parks."'''' fot\'l' month'> later, after further 

proddmg from tnvlronmental groups, ,·onder 

Heydt added Denali ro that li-.t. Short!) after the 

Dennli ruling. a Sierra Cluh Legal Defense Fund 

attorn c) cxplamed that "the Park <:;ernce cannot 

mtelligently decide [on ind1vidual mmmg operation'>] unril they get a look at the whole picturt:. 

... for example ... there mi~ht he a need for 

fewer road' anJ accc" route' into minmg clmms 

once the park 'en ICC lonb at the entire area. 

in~tead of considering individual mine~." Bur an 

Ala~ka \ \mer-. .\ ... sonation repre.,entatlve, stung 

bv the rulmg, ~rated thattt-. practical impact 

would be to put hundred., of mmcrs owners of 

mactivt~ claim~ a~ well ao, ttctive miners our of 

work 111 1986 and pt:rhap ... longer than that. "'" 

\lost mmer., - fcchng that thev had little choice 

111 the matter - lini,hed up thetr work that sca..,on 

and rewncilcd thcm,eh-c'> to waiting thmg'> our 

unnl the bureaucratic prucess had run its course. 

:\or even one gave up ... o ca-.lly, howo:ver. In jul~ 

1985. the Gold Kmg clatmant<., (brother" Enc 

and Paul Wetler) dended to continue mining 

en~n though the ..... r~ had ... mpended thetr mining plan of operatitln.,. The agenq, perhaps to 

countermand the notion that It was lax m tts rules 

enforcement, ctted one of the hmthcrs (Eric Weiler) for mining wtthout an approved mining plan 

of nperauuns. After .1 ~eprcmbo:r 18 court trial, 
District Court Magistrate John D. Roberts ruled 

that Weiler was guilty.""' Another miner who did 

not give up was Sam Koppen berg, who applied 

for a mining plan of operations in 1986 for his 

Caribou Creek claims and came close to getting 

it approved. Technical difficulties intervened, 

however, and the agency was unable to approve 

any Kantishna-area mining plans of operations 

for the remainder of the 198os.'"' 

In response to the judge's mandate, NPS 

Director William Mott, in late 1985 approved 

the establbhment of a new Minerals Management Division in the Alaska Regional Office in 

Anchorage. Soon afterward Floyd Sharrock was 

')elected as d1e division chief, and several new 

employees were hired to staff the division. In 

order to complete the Denali study, the park 

in 1986 hired an environmental specialist and 

a geologist.'"' That spring, it began work on an 

EISon d1e cumulative impacts of mining in dle 

Kantishna area, and in pursuit of that goal, a 

large field camp was operated out of a base camp 

at the Stampede Mine airstrip. For the following two years, Moose Creek Camp was located 

near dle Friday Creek confluence, just southeast 

of the Kanti~hna Airstrip. Out of those camps 

worked a wide variety of geologists, biologists, 

archeologists, and other specialists; they, in 

turn, worked with park headquarters staff and 

with other agency ~taffba!>ed in Anchorage and 

Denver.'"' 

In the midst of gathering data for this study, and 

for similar studies for the Wrangell-St. Elias and 

Yukon-Charley park units, the planning process 

took shape. In September 1986, three scoping 

meetings were held around the state; officials at 

these meetings tnformed the public about what 

the agency was undertaking and a~ked d1e public 

which issues the EIS should address. Later, in 

March 1988. the NPS spomorcd two more scoping meetings, where the public wa~ asked to help 

define the range of alternatives."'' 

The NPS completed its draft EIS and made it 

available to the public in mid-April 1989. It offered four alternatives: a no-action alternative, 

two similar allernatives in which new mining 

plan<; of operations would be evaluated against 

a serie::. of identified "target" resources, and a 

fourth alternative which called for the agency to 

develop a mining claim acquisition plan so that 

the agency could acquire all patented and valid 

unpatented mining claims in the park and preserve. The agency, in the draft EIS for all three 

park units, stated that its proposed action called 

for d1e preparation of resource protection goals 

for riparian wildlife, fish, grialy bear, black bear, 

moose, caribou, and wolf. Given dlosc goals, 

mining plans of operation could be denied if any 

of those goals could not be met becaul>e of Lhe 

potential effects of a proposed mining operation. And in ca<;es where the agency was unable 

to approve a mining plan of operations, it stated 

dlat it would pursue acquisition of the claims b~ 

purchase, exchange. or donanon."'4 

In mid-May, the agency held public hearing:. on 

the draft EIS in Anchorage and Fairbanks. The 

deadline for public comments, onginally set for 

mid-June, was extended until Augu1.t 14 due to 

public reque:.ts in the matter.'"' TheN PS received a total of 17 oral and 54 written comments. 

Of tho~:>e, not one comment called for the adoption of the agency'!> proposed draft alternative; 

instead, a :;olid majorit) (41 of the 71) organiLational and individual comment::. urged Lhe NPS 

to adopt a new alternative that called for the 

NPS to acquire all parented and valid unpatented 

mining claim::.. Given those respome~. Regional 

Director Boyd Evison chose the acqui~ttion 

route as the agency's preferred alternative, not 

only for Denali but for me Wrangell-St. Elias and 

Yukon-Charley Rivers park units as well. These 

plans, dated April1990, were made available to 

the public in early June. On Augu~t21, Evi~on 

~igncd a record of decision that implemented the 

document's recommendarion~.''"' 

The N PS's stance, of fullv supporting the acqui-

~ition of all valid mining claim~ in the Kanti).hna 

area, was a ~tarding about-face to the position 

1t had taken JU~t six vears earlier. Dunng the 

late 1970s and early 198os, neither the agency's 

overall management policies nor the regulation-. 

thar were is~ued after ANJLCA's pa::.sage called 

for the acquisition of mining clam1s in the new 

or expanded Alaska park units, except on a willing seller-willing buyer basis. As noted above, 

the first inkling of the agency's attitude toward 

mining claim acqwsition appeared in 1983-84 

during its participation in the Alaska Land 

Use Council's preparation of the Kanrishna 

Hills/Dunkle Mine study report. The NPS':. 

draft EIS, released in .'v1.ay 1983, !>tared that the 

acquisition of the 14 patented claims and 194 

unpatented claims in the two <>rudy ar a~ would 

cost between S3 million and $6 million. It also 

stated that the acquisition of all mining claims 

would be one of six rolicy alternanve!>. Netther the NPS nor dle council, howe\'er, chose 

a preferred alternative at mat time.'"' During 

the ensuing year, a consulting firm compiled an 

acquisition cmt study for the two srudy areas; 

th1s firm determined that acquiring the:.e claim~ 

would be considerably higher d1an the NPS had 

estimated: $86.) million to acquire the patented 

claim!> and another 70-7 mill inn for the unpatented claims, for a total acquisitiOn cost of S157·2 

C hdpter Fourteen Mtflt11g and Kanttshna·Area ManagemPnt 373 
Joe Quigley was one of the first 

prospectors to stake lode claims in 

the Kantishna District. Shown above 

is his Red Top Mine in 1923 when 

about 102 tons of silver-lead ore 

(foreground) was mined and stacked, 

ready to be transported to the Alaska 

Railroad. Brooks Collection, 68-32· 

486, University of Alaska Fairbanks 

Archive 

million. Pcrhap~ ba~ed on the con~idcrable cost~ 

mvolved, the NPS (represented by It~ regional 

director, Roger Con tor) recommended that lhc 

full council choose the "maintain status quo" 

option. wh1ch called for claim acqul'>ltlon to 

"occur only on a wilhng seller w1lhng buyer or 

donation ba..,b except in cases where ir could be 

determmed that mining would &igmficantly and 

adver~ely affect park lands." For rea~ons ~tared 

above, the council voted to choose the "maintain 

&tatus quo" option for the Dunkle Mine area. bur 

for the Kantbhna Hilb, it voted to implement a 

mineral leasing plan.'"jj 

Reg1onal Director Roger Contor, 111 the wake of 

the council's vote, noted on the one hand that 

the council\ recommendation was an "acceptable middle ground," but he also sratcd that the 

agency\ long-term recommendation would be 

made in the park\ general management plan, 

which was then bcmg compiled. Con'>istcnt with 

his earlier recommendation, he opined that the 

agency's plan "prohabl) will seek to allow only 

current minmg to continue, as well as the purchase of existing cla1ms when they become available.'','"' P D1rcctor Russ Dickenson, upon 

hearing d1e council's Kamishna Hill~ recommendation, stated that he hoped w sec !he"' PS 

gradually phase our mining and possiblv bu} out 

some chums. "Where compensauon 1s required, 

fine," he srud!'" And in a surprise move, two 

high official~ m the Reagan admm ~trat10n\ 

Interior Department agreed with Dickenson; G. 

Ray Arnett nnd William Horn stated that "it is in 

:374 Crown lE>Wt> ot the North An AdmiiHWdlJV<' H1storv ol D~rMh NatiiJnal Park and Pr~~rw 

d1e public imerest as well as !>Ound park management and resource protection that mining be 

phased our in this area.""' 

Dunng the 1985-86 proces~ that rcsulred in the 

park\ general management plan, !he agency 

rook a more prorective stance than Contor had 

predicted in june 1984. The plan :.tared that 

··parented and unpatented claim' may continue 

to operate, subject to federal mineral management regulations." The agency, however. would 

"usc ex1snng authorities to mmimize the adverse 

effects of ongomg mining activities. Validity determmauon~ for unpatented cla1m., wJII be completed as quickly as possible to determine status. 

Wherever new mining activity m1ght introduce 

development into a previou.,Iy undi~turbed 

area, the Nauonal Park Service will acquire the 

mineral properties in fee title, through donation, 

exchange. or purchase." The agency's newly aggresstve stnnce was due. 111 part, w wornes !hat 

patenred, 1\.annshna-area mmmg clmms m1ght 

be m ed for new VISitor facilitie.,. o "to avo1d 

thts potential for adverse effects," rhe plan called 

for the agency to "seek to acquire, through 

purchase, donation, or exchange. the surface 

e~tates to Ialii mining propernes to preclude 

large c;cale recrcauonal dcvelnpment." The 

accompanving land protection plan called for 

the purchase of the surface estate of 41 patented 

lode claims; the outright purchase of 2 other 

patented lode claims (located along !he west 

ide of Moose Creek); and the purchase of 65 

unpatented Kantishna-area clauns, from three 
A 35·ton·pe r·day flotation mill was constructed on the Red Top mine site 

in 1973. This was used to process 120 

tons of silver ore from a nearby claim. 

The operation was discontinued a fte r 

one season. Bryan Swtft Photo, NPS, 

WAGS Collection 

different owner~. pending the re ... ult'> of validity 

examinatiom. ' 

Evidence of the agency\ U'>c of "existing authorities to minm111e the adverse eflects of ongoing mining actinties" (o;ee ahovc) wa' not long in 

coming. NPS minmg peNmnel took a renewed 

look at the lan~ruagc of the Bureau of Land 

\ 1anagement's ~lav 1965 withdrawal. They :.oon 

found that although the Interior Roard of Land 

Appeals had already adJudicated the legality of 

those claims filed before \1av 1965, no dcrerminatiom had yet hccn made of the 28 claims from 

w1Lhin the w1thdrawal boundanc.s that had been 

made after that dare. In rcspon<,c, the NPS's 

regional director asked the BLM to adJudicate 

those claims. The BLM d1d ,o, and in Apnl 

1987 it issued a dec1sion in the matter. Just one 

of those claims was fully legitimate; another six 

were partially null and void, and the remaining 

21 claims were fully null and vo1d. The BLM's 

investigation was a considerahle help to the 

PS's ongoing efforts ro a:.certam the ownership 

patterns of Kantishna-arca drum!>!'' 

During the late 198os., Lhc PS's stance became 

even more protective during the process that 

resulted in the EIS pertaining to the cumulative 

1m pacts of Kantishna-area mmmg. In the summer of 1987, agency geolog1sts began conducnng 

validity examinations on placer and lode cla1ms 

throughout the Kantishna area, and m 1988, 

''work went forward <>n amending the Land 

Protection Plan" (which was Incorporated into 

the mining EIS) "so that it would be possible to 

eventually purchase all patented and unpatented 

clmms m Kanoshna ""' The draft EIS which was 

issued in the !.prrng of 1989 (sec ahove) stopped 

short of recommending a land-acquisition 

option. Instead, it), recommended alte rnative 

stated that mining plan'> of opcr:1t1on would be 

issued only if that mining operation did not prevent the attainment of a broad ~erre~ of resource 

protection goals. And if a mming operation 

could not avoid causing "unacceptable damage," 

the agenC'v' "would pur~ue acquisition of the 

mining claim'> b)' purcha~e. exchange, or donanon.">" Bv the end of 1989, however, the PScither m re~ponse to public opm1on or because 

the sy.,tem It had proposed m Lhe draft EIS was 

deemed unwieldy had changed its pO!>Ition; it 

now intended "to acquire the patented lands and 

unpatented mining claims in Kantbhna through 

fee purchase.'' That po~irwn was reflected in the 

final EIS, which was completed and distributed 

in the spring of 1990."" 

During the period between the bsuance of 

rhc mining injunction anJ the <:umpletion of 

the mining EIS, private intere'>ts continued to 

be active in the Kanti~hna area .• ~ noted in 

previous chapters, Camp Denali had opened 

1ts doors to guests in June 1952, and m late 1975 

Wally and jern Cole acqUired 1t. Gary Crabb, 

who owned the McKinley \ 11lage complex. 

opened a ~econd area hostelry, the orrh Face 

Lodge, in 1973· But durmg the 1980s, proprietors 

Roberta Wilson and Oan Ashbrook gradually 

improved the property adJacent ro the old (1919) 

Kanrishna Roadhouse, and hy the late 198os 

the site offered a dining room, bar, lounge, and 

lib rary along with modern cedar cabins. In 1987, 

Chapter Fourteen M1n1nq und Kanll~hna·Areil Mdnilgement 375 
In 1991 the NPS purchased the Red 

Top claim and most of the mill was 

removed. An initial site clean-up, 

including hazardous materials 

assessment and barrel removal, 

was conducted in 1993. Visitor 

accessibility combined with unsafe 

high walls, habitat degradation, 

impaired water quality and visually 

offensive views combined to place 

this abandoned mine site as one 

of the park's top priorities for 

restoration activities. Kenneth F. 

Karle Collection 

Heavy equipment was used m 1999 

for the Red Top mine restoration 

project, including installation of an 

ad it drain and drainage treatment 

tank, and recontouring of the mine 

and mill area. The tall trees just 

beyond the former Red Top mine site, 

as seen in this 2007 photo, indicate 

the former cabin location of Fannie 

and Joe Quigley. NPS Photo 

Camp Denali's owners purchased the North 

Face Lodge, and two years later, Gary and Danae 

Kroll opened the Denali Mountain Lodge, a 24-

cabin complex located along Moose Creek near 

the Kantbhna Airstrip."7 

Among miners, however, operations largely 

stopped. The PS, otherwise occupied with 

compiling the mining-related ElS, allowed 

mmen, continued access to their mining claims. 

376 Crown Jewel of the North An Adm1mstrat1ve H1story of Denali Nat1onal Park and Preserve 

They 1ssued documents d1at allowed iliem to 

remove their equipment, and from at least o ne 

miner, they obtained a contract for gravel extraction. But some miners, upset at both the judge 

and the Park Service, chafed at their enforced 

idleness. During the summer of 1987, for example, PS field crews "had to endure va rious 

forms of harassmenr from the locals," and the 

owner!. of one claim carved out an unauthoriLed 

road and worked on their claim until cited by 
a ranger·'' But the O\'Crall mood was 4l1ier, as 

noted in an April 1990 Alaska AI aKa::: me arucle: 

\limng m Denali allonal Park remam~ mdefinncly ~uspcnded unnl the 

park c;ervicc comp ete~ 1b -.n1die-. and 

presents 1ts tinding~ m federal court. 

or '>Urpn~mgly, most ol 1\.anll~h~ 

na's mmcr-. cho-.c nOl w wait around. 

IV\any relocated or rcnred, hut o;omc 

les~ forrunate gold seeker~ were 

dnven to bankruptcy .... IJ\c<.:ording 

to one Kann~hna-arca rcsidcnr,J "Our 

of I3 [mining I opera lions, 11 went 

bankrupt''"" 

Developing and Implementing a Buyout Plan 

\s noted above, the agency\ prt!ferrcd alternative for the minmg EIS called for the NPS to tlc-

\'elop an acqlllsinon plan to acqUire all patented 

anJ \'alid unpatented marung claim' m the park 

umt. The agency, at that nmc:, esumared that 

the current gn>'>'> value ,,f the park\ patented 

and unpatented minmg claim~ wa~ between 

SI6.; million and $21.5 mtlhon, although it abo 

rc:cogni/ed that the total a<.:qui-.Jlion CO\h would 

exceed those figure~ due to\ <lriOlls admtm~trauve co~t'>. (!\liner-., however, cour1tcrcd (hat the 

claims were worth Srso rnillrnn nr mnrc.)w• Anticipating the nccJ for huymtt fund~. the Ala<tka 

Congres!.tonal delegauun :h~i..,tcd the proce~~. 

They reque~teJ a li-.t ot all ~\.ant rshna area 

inholding~ and an arcawu.le mJnagement plan. 

The NPS, tn re.,pon..,c,wmpleted a Ranuslma 

Resource-\ fllnagellh'lll Plun and ... uhmirted it ro 

Congres" m earlv .Jul~ IQ9U, and bv late July the 

Senate had approved 6 mtllion for land acqwl>trton purpose~. Shortly after the PS l>igncd rhe 

record of dect"'Wn, the llou!>c of Reprcsentattvcl. 

chipped 111 wrth a lrkc amount, to be wtrhdrawn 

from the Land and Wnrer Comcrvnrron Fund for 

the acqw~itwn of Kami,hnu mmmg claim~ from 

wtllmg ~eller<,. By the end of the year the agency 

wa~ on the verge of "pend1ng <,orne S3 million 

from that allotment, and oflktals c..,tirnated 

that to complete the huyout proce..,~. S6 milIron would he needed annually for the next five 

vear~.""' In 1991, park offictab completed their 

"first maJor purcha"e of pnontited real c<.,tare:· a 

32q-acre tract of patented minmg pmpertics on 

Quigley Ridge I rom Lco \htrk Anthony. ' 

f\ leanwhile, miner.., did thetr bec,t tn acltvcl~ 

operate their claum. l'hc Augu..,t t990 deciSIOn 

that approved the evenrual minmg claun buyout 

also stated that "unul..,uth Lime a<, funds arc 

available for acqursition, rhc P~ will proce~~ 

mining plan' of operations, amendment~ or 

modifications to existing minmg piUII!-. ... ''. '' A 

month later, NP~ attorneys filed a motion ro 

dJssolve the five-year-old mtntng rn1unctton, and 

although environmental group' oppo3ed that 

motiOn, the dtstnct court appro\·t!d the motton 

and on J:muar) 2, 1991 the mjun~tton wa~ lifted. 

\1eanwhtlc, cnvtronmental gmupo, appealed 

the dismcr court\ dccl'tton ro the '\!inth Ctrcuit 

Court of Appeal,. hut in \pril 1992 thc appeah. 

court affirmed the lm\ cr court\ dcct<,ton and 

allowed both the rc'>umpt ron of mmmg activity 

(according to l>tipulattom lard out rn the recentlycompleted EIS) and the 1mplemenwtion of the 

ElS's provistons."4 Soon afterward, operators 

~uhmttted "'" mming plam of operation!> to rhe 

NPS, and by the end of lqqr twn had been found 

''potenttally appn)\'ahll.'.''•· l'hn~c two operator:,, 

however . .,howt:d lrtrlc inrcre<,t tn working under 

the NPS\ proposed arrangement A~ a result, no 

Kantrshna mrncrs 'tartcJ up dunng this penod, 

no commerctal mrntng, in fart, ha ... taken place 

anywhere m Denali '<atinn.ll Park and Pre~erve 

'>ince the end of the tC)R'j '"a-.on. ·• 

As noted tn Chapter y, doarnhoiJcr Dan Ashbrook brought con-.tderahlc Clllhtcrnatton to 

NPS officials during the ~ummcr of 1990 when 

he and ~ tiancee, Valem• \\undt, opened a 

recrcanonal vehicle campground With "ptoneer 

cabins'' (wall tent~) on tH1C of h1., ~ 1oo<,e Creek 

claims. A~hbrook had begun working at Kantishna as a tenant miner rn 19';9 and had acquired h1s 

ll.rst claims in the early rq(H>~t; as noted above, he 

had first come: to the attt•nth ll1 of N P\ offic1ab 

111 late 1969, when he helped haul.1 ''cattrarn'' 

from Wonder Lake to the Slippen Creek daim~ 

over an unauthnrued rt~utc: . In nl·ed of mcome. 

and becau.,e the 198:; court mtuncnon prevented 

htm from mmtng h1~ f\ loose Creek clatrns, he and 

'V1undt operated the campground throughout 

the 1990 ~ummcr '>ea-.on a~ a ne\\ Wa) ro generate revenue,. In July of that year, he denied thar 

his campground vcntur<: wa'> intended to spur 

Congre~s and the NPS to purcha~e his claim. But 

two months later, J\shbruuk recognuing that 

both economic~ and politrc., Wa!t preventing him 

from profiting from the campground, and also 

recogniting thtH Congre'' wa" finalinng a huyout 

plan indicated a willrngnc'" w ,ell <;orne or all 

of lm claim'>. 

Begmmng 111 IC)QI, a hn<tt ol new would-he mmers appeared on the ..,cene a-. a rco,ulr olactiuns 

taken by the State of Alask;t P\.·rhap-. -.purred on 

by the 'tate.,. rtghts rhetoriC of Governor \'\ all~ 

Hickel, who had been clcued m 1990, 'tate water 

official~ in IIJQI n'sertcd thor fl. oo~c Creek (the 

pnrnary Kant"hna-arc.'a watcl·wav) was n:n tgable. And because the •\la..,ka ~t;rtehood Act 

no red that the 'tate gnvLrnrncnt had control of 

navigable rivers up to the high-water line, Divi-

<;ion of M mmg offidnl.., concluded that they were 
Eureka Creek. originally staked in 

1905, had Intermittent placer mining 

occurring at its mouth and along the 

entire length of the creek until 1985. 

This photograph shows the park road 

crossing at Eureka Creek and mining 

activities shortly before the 1985 

mining injunction, Including a recent 

bench cut on the right. NPS Photo 

authorved to i.,~ue mining permit~ for operations 

taking place in the Moo~e Creek riverbed. The 

Division therefore bsued its first minmg permit, 

to a Slana resident, in September 1991, and by the 

followmg spring, permits had abo been issued to 

rwo Fa~rbanks residents. National Park Serv1ce 

officials, however, disputed the ~tate\ authority 

ro issue these permit!>. It asserted that Moo.,e 

Creek was not navigable and was therefore under 

federal control. Park officials, recognit.ing that 

local miners lacked a Corps of Engineers permit, 

stated that they would stop anyone who planned 

to haul mming equipment down the park road; 

according to acting superintendent Linda Toms, 

"I denied that access and will continue to deny 

it." None of these permittees, a<, a result, mmed 

along Moose Creek that summer. H1ckel administration officials later withdrew the1r claJms to 

ownership of the creek, after which they Issued a 

mineral closmg order for state lands throughout 

the park unit.uH 

Throughout the first half of the 1990S, the N rs 

continued its program of buymg Kantishna-area 

mining claims on a willing-buyer, w1lling-seller 

basis. The program, however, proved lc:>s than 

~uccessful after 1991, primarily because there 

were relatively few claims owned by willing sellers that were nor clouded by bankruptcy or title 

problems. Another ~ticking point was the widely 

varying perceptions of what the variou~ claims 

were worth; a Bureau of Mmes contractor, for 

example, determined that one group of 13 unpatented claims was worth $18.6 million, but anN PS 

appraiser concluded that the same propertie~ 

were worth just S172,ooo, wh1ch was lesr. than 

378 Crown Jewel of the North An Admin1strat1ve Htstory of Oenalt Nattonal Park and Preserve 

one percent of the contractor's estimate. Given 

these problems, ~orne of the S12 million that the 

NPS had received was paid out to mining claimants. But according to one comcrvanon group, 

much of the remamder wa~ ~pent on "hackground work,'' and the purchasing process got 

bogged down. Despite those difficulties, the NPS 

hy the sprmg of 1995 had purchased approximately soo acres in the Kantishna area, whtch 

mcludcd 24 patented cla1ms and one unpatented 

claim."" At that time, the agencv estimated that 

it was still interested in purchasing about 14 patented claims (of about 280 acre~) and 4,300 acres 

of unpatented claims.l'o 

Both the PS and Congress recognized that the 

sluggish process needed to be streamlined. ln 

October 1994, the so-called Denali Task Force 

(see Chapter q) reiterated the need to acquire 

"development rights and/or property" at 

Kantishna, but it also urged the NPS to "expedite 

the purchase of mining claims and patented land, 

including implementation of new acquisition 

methods.'' 1' Pressure to 1mprove the system also 

came from Sen. Frank Murkowski (R-Aiaska), 

who introduced the Denali Mining Claims Act 

of 1994 on October 7· Mw·kowski, based on the 

results of a November 1993 public hearing, stated 

that "Government regula nons and procedures" 

were preventing further mining at Kantishna. 

Recogmzing that new mining was unlikely, 

however, his bill provided a three-step process 

to streamline claims purchase, one that "would 

provide a balanced approach to determining 

mineral and land values wid1in a reasonable time 

frame." Given the impending adjournment of 
Eighty years of mining disturbances 

to Eureka Creek were so extensive 

that the potential for ecosystem 

recovery through natural processes 

was significantly hindered. 

Consequently, restoration of Eureka 

Creek was placed at the top of park 

priorities. Included In this project 

was removal of abandoned mining 

camp equipment, as seen in this 

1999 photograph taken at the mouth 

of Eureka Creek. Kenneth F. Karle 

Collection 

During stream channel and floodplain 

restoration work on lower Eureka 

Creek, shown above in 1999, about 

500 feet of the creek received bank 

stabilization treatment, involving 

installation of rows of coconut-fiber 

biologs. These logs w ere staked and 

anchored at channel edges along the 

outside of the newly created stream 

bends. Kenneth F. Karle Collection 

the 10~rd Congre:>s, Murkowski knew dlar i~ btl! 

had scant chances for passage. He submitted it, 

however, "to give interested parties an opportunity to comment on it" and because It could he 

re-introduced at any later date should administrative avenues fail!" 

In rcspon1>e to Murkow<;ki\ bill, Assistant Interior 

Secretary George Frampton, rogedlerwith NPS 

Reg1onal Director Robert Barbee, assembled the 

Denali Mining Claim Acquisition Task Group, 

which was comprised of four agency staff, al l 

located outside of Ala~ka. The group spent a 

week in mid-March 1995 meeting with a~ka 

agency staff, properry owners, and mining-industry representatives, seeking ways to accelerate the acquisitwn of Kantishna-area mining 

claims. Goaded by the senator, who vowed that 

he would reintroduce ~ bill if nece~sary, the ta~k 

group produced a June 1995 report dlat offered 

six separate recommendations. (The report 

declared that "there likely b not a single approach 

to acquisition dlat will be successful in all ca~es. 

u~. it is recommended that several approaches 

be developed and implemented:')'li But because 

no immediate follow-up action took place, some 

mi er~ made a renewed attempt to mine thetr 

properties. ln 1996, for example, miners submitted eight mining plans of operation~. NPS officiab, in response, stated dlat all were "deficienr 

at some level,'' although one operating plan came 

clo~c to being implemented. In 1997, dle agency 

reported that it had purchased about 1,500 ac e~ 

of Kantishna claims since the buyout program 

had begun; in addition, it had received two offers 

to ~ell (39 acres total), while another 44 acres 

were being processed for purchase.'H During 

the 1995-97 period, the agency also compiled and 

completed its Front Country Developmcm Concept 

Plan; the recommendations in bodl the d raft 

and final plans called for dle JPS "to acquire 

development rights and/or property to retain dle 

existing character and approximate level of usc 

at Kantishna" and to "implement administrative 

changes to expedite acqujsition of Kantishna 

mmmg claims:'"; 

Chapter Fourteen Mmtng and Kanttshna-Area ManagemPnl 379 
Redamatlon activities were 

completed on lower Eureka Creek 

in September 1999. The mouth of 

Eureka Creek 1S seen here from the 

park road in 2007. Kenneth F. Karle 

Collection 

In mid-1997, Congrc~~ moved to get rhc acqUl!>lrions program movrng again. In early july 1997. 

Rep. Ralph Regula (R-Ohio) mtroduced the 1998 

Interior Department Appropriation-. Act. .Ju!.t 

two week!. later, this bill pa~scd the ~ loul>e, and 

during th1s nmc, the bill had no DenalH>pcctfic 

provtsions. \X'hilc 11 wa ... being con!>tdcred by the 

Senate Appropnat10n Cvmmmec, howe\·er, Sen. 

Ted te\·en'> mserted a prow;l()n pertatning ro the 

KantJshna buyour. Thi<. provi<,lon, which wa'> m 

large part consistent With the recommendations 

of the 1995 acquisition., ta'k Ioree, !>tared that 

owner' of enher patented clarm ... or \'alrd unpatented claims could voluntanh agree to '>ell their 

claims to the U.S. government via an expedited 

process. Steven~\ provrsion l>tatcu that for tho!>e 

who took part in thb process, the U.S. government would a'isume owncr<,hip of all patented 

and unpatented claims. The government agreed 

to "pay ju!.t compemauon" to all claim owner-;, 

payment of wh1ch "shall bern the amount of a 

negotiated settlement of the value of <,uch property or the valuanon ol ... uch proper~ awarded bv 

1uugment." The pr<wtsion, moreover, prondcd 

a specified, lcgally-provt:n a\·cnue b) which the 

government would dctcrmme "ju~t compcn~ation.''-11' A~ David \XIhllncy I rom thl: A11cl10raKC 

Daily News phra<>ed it, the provtsJOn 

will create a proces~ by whtch mlc 

to more than 3,000 acre'> of clarm'> in 

the Kantbhna Mimng Di~tnct could 

be transferred 111 a maller of week~ to 

the ational Pm k '">erv1cc. Claimant'> 

380 Crown Jewel of the North An Admm1strat1ve Hostory of Oenalo Nauonrll P~rl< and 111l'\<'fVe 

wrll then heat! mto federal court to 

seek compensation for the "legislative taking'' of their propertY rights. 

Although the w~ cm 1.., voluntary, the 

expectatron 1.., that mo-.t cla1m owners 

will opt for the ~reed er rc-.olution of 

the Park ~en rcc'-, cumbcr~omc admint•.trattve procc'>'i for btl\ mg them 

out of the park. 

The provi!>IOn v. .1 ... well reu.:1ved b~ all parrie ... 

interior Department and '\ PS '>taff prmsed the 

effort, a Sierra Cluh rcpre'>enranvc thanked 

Senator Stcvem for "workmg m behalf of both 

the claimants and the rublic mtercst," and an attorney for one of Lhe claimants stated that "this 1s 

about as good a re'>olutwn to thb problem as one 

coulu come up with."' 1

' 

Af'ter It~ approval hy the Appropnariom Commince, the Interior Department fundmg bill was 

brought before the Senate, which pa~scd it on 

September 18. 1\ month later the bill emerged 

from a Senate !lou -.~: cl>nferem:e, and Presidem 

Chnwn '>tgncd 1t mro Ia\\ on '\iovember q. Ste-

\·en'>'::. prm·t~Hm, dunng tht.., pcnod, underwent 

several mmor change'>, but the core of h1!> propo..,cd program, known a" ect1on 120, remamed 

in the final bill. lh IJnguagc called for Kanrishnaarca claim holder\ to indicate thetr Interest in the 

program b) l·cbruary 12, 1998. for participating 

claimholder~. uric to th(' clatm~ would transfer to 

the federal government on that date. According 

to an NPS report, 
Earl Pilgrim, age 87, was 

photographed outside his cabin at the 

Stampede Mine in the fall of 1979. 

Linda S. Barb Collection 

There would then be an opportunity 

to reach negotiated 1>ettlements for 

payment for the clmms taken, with 

either party being allowed to sue in 

the U.S. District Court in Alaska to 

determine the properry·~ value. If suit 

1s filed, the estimated compensation 

would promptly be deposited with the 

Court for the owner's availability, with 

the final amount established by negotiated settlement or court award.''s 

By the February 12 deadline, the owners of five 

of the seven large blocks of unpatented mining 

claim~ had consented to the legislative takings process. All told, these blocks comprised 

approximately 1,749 acres. Several holders of 

small-acreage claim groups joined the procc!.~ a~ 

well, for a total of approximately 1,885 acres. By 

july 1999, more than two-thirds of this acreage 

had been acquired. (The remaining acreage was 

being held up due to the need for bankruptcycourt approval or becau!>e of unclear title.) Four 

other claim holders, who together held approximately 1,220 acres of claims, did not participate 

in the lcgislati\·e takings proce~s."'l 

Since that time, the agency ha~ continued to 

work with various Kantishna-area claimholder~. those who did not take part in the legislative 

raking~ process as well as those who did. Given 

the agency's overall goal of obtaining as much 

Kantbhna-area acreage as possible, it has largelv 

succeeded in that effort. Al> of mid-2007, less 

than one-half ~quare mile of land formerly held 

by Kanrishna-area mining claimants was held 

by private parries. Non- PS mining interests 

included eleven parcels, totaling 113-73 acre~. of 

patented lands, and one unpatented placer mining claim group (all or parr of ~ix claims) wraling 

118.22 acres. 4" 

Stampede Mine: Earl Pilgrim, 

the University of Alaska, and the U.S. Army 

As noted above, Earl Pilgrim acquired a major 

antimony mine along Stampede Creek during 

the mid-19305, and for a few years before d1e U.S. 

entered World War II, Stampede Mine was the 

territory's largest antimony producer. Transportation between the mine and the railroad, 

however, was ~low and expensive, so Pilgrim 

made numerous attempts to obtain road access. 

Between 1942 and 1957, he tried at least four time~ 

to convince NPS officials to have a road built 

from the airstrip over to the Toklat River corridor 

am! up to rhe parJ... road. All of the~e attempts 

failed. In 1960, he was succe!>sful in convincing 

the new Stare of Alaska to fund the construction 

of a pioneer road between Lignite (on the Alaska 

Railroad) and his mine. Bur the route was laid 

out so poorly that commercial traffic ne\'er traveled mer the road corridor. 

Pilgrim's mine produced antimony ore in 1964 

and again in 1969-70. After that, however, the 

mine closed due to a drop in antimony values 

and rising labor costs. And as a 1977 report 

noted, Pilgrim "remained at d1e mine where he 

lived practically alone, occupying himself with 

~mall tasks .... This charming gentleman, aged 

85, used his free time to become a friend of the 

country wildlife.'' The report further stared that 

except for the "not entirely imtalled" Humphre' 

~pi al, the mill equipment was an estimated 40 

year~ old. But "nevertheless, in spire of its aspect, 

the plant ~eem~ in good enough condition to 

be reopened after some transformations and 

repairs." 4' 

Pilgrim hoped, in 1977, "to recei\·e some financial 

aid to reopen the mine." But in December 1978, 

less than a month after the mme became part of 

Denali ational Monument, the former Univer-

'>ity of Alaska mining profes.sor snld his interest~ 

in the mine and mill to Stampede Mine, Ltd., 

which was headed by Edwin K. Dole (who was 

an heir Lo d1e Dole pineapple fortune }. The new 

owner~ tried but failed to reactivate the operatiOn. As historian William Brown note~. thb may 

have been because Pilgrim 

was a gcniur, ar improvi!.ation. One 

who knew him figured that he could 

fashion a movmg pan from a chunk of 

rnck, if necessary. Machines, c1rcuits, 

piping, and tools were mtcrlocked 

with the personality of the man at the 

Chilprer For u1een M rnrng and Kant•shnd·Area Mandgemenr 381 
The Stampede Mine ball mill, pictured 

above in 1983, was constructed in 

1939. NPS Photo 

Stampede 1\line ~•re. [After he ~old 

out.] the new company sent in Its bythe-hook engineers; d1ey simply could 

not make the place run. Without Earl 

Pilgnm\ per..,onal coaxing, all of these 

ingen1ou.., hookups and fabrications 

refused to mc!>h into ilie system iliat 

he had made. 

In December 1979. therefore, the new firm 

donated its real estate Interests to the N PS and 

its buildings, facilit1e~. and mineral nghts to the 

University of Alaska. Under the term of the 

donation, the "'PS and ilie universil) promised 

to cooperative!} usc the sire as a minmg ..,ruJv 

area. where more efficient and environmentally 

sound mimng methods might be mve!->tlgatcd. 

Aliliough ilic umversity's School of Mineral Industries played a key role in acqUiring ilic site, it 

probably held only one summer field camp there, 

perhaps becau~e university officials had a poor 

understandmg of PS laws and regularicm!>. In 

1984, the five-year-old agreement lap!->ed. "'' 

In March 1987. the two parties s1gnecl a new 

Memorandum of Understandmg (MOU) 

outlining their various roles and responsibilities, and soon afterward, the NPS invited the 

U.S. Army's Explos1vc Ordnance Dbpo'>al Unit 

(from Fort Richardson) to the mine in order to 

remove a maJor explosives dump that had long 

been stored at the mill. The t PS and the Armv. 

however, poorly commumcated the <;pcc1fic 

procedures to be followed. On April 30 the 

Army offic.als, apparently miscalculanng the !>tle 

and capabilitie~ of the accumulated explosive!>, 

382 _rown J~·l of the North An Adm•mstrat,ve Hostory of Denah Nd!tonal Park and Prl'serve 

•gnited a maJor explosion thm seve rei) damaged 

the mtll. fhe blast demolished the nearby assay 

bullding and -.hed, and 1t senou.,Jy impacted 

a bunkhouse that was 250 feet away from the 

detonanon s1te."~~ 

The aftermath of the explol.ion was an uncomfortable time for both the P and the Army. 

Bla~nng officer M1ke Shield!>, who has wrinen 

the mo-.t comprehensive analyc;•s of the event, 

stated that there was ~a rapidly growing political 

fire, with lms of finger-pointing: theN PS said the 

Army screwed up; the Army said the NPS misinformed them all along the line; the press said the 

'1PS purpo!>ely destroyed the place ... because 

thcv 'hate miners and minmg'; UAf said the PS 

purpo-.el} destroyed the place to prevent mining 

classes bemg held there; [and] letters to editori> .. atd the NPS ... ~hould have known those 

Army k•d~ are too young to know anything about 

explos•vc ... " Later, a more detailed mve<,tigation 

rook place that was geared toward ensuring that 

such an acc1dent would never be repeated. rt 

ushered in a <,ucces.,ful series of procedures that 

NPS and other agency specialists have employed 

at abandoned mining sites throughout ilic 

statt!!'1 

ln early 1989, the NPS re-examined the site and 

suggested four preservation alternatives; It eventually opted lor Site cleanup, stablluarion, and 

preservation planning. Later that year, agency 

<;taff conducted a site cleanup and emergency 

!'ltabilitauon work, and three year!. later an NPS 

restoration specialist conducted a condition 

as&es-.mcnt of the mill building. The university, 
This view of the Stampede Mine mill 

and lower camp was taken on May 

19, 1987, shortly af1er the April 30 

explosion that demolished the mill 

and the nearby assay building, and 

seriously impacted other structures at 

the site. Resource Management Slide 

File, NPS 

during this period. based a geology field camp 

out of tents located at the mine\ air'>trip, hut the 

Bureau of Land Management in 1990 declared 

UAF's unpatented mming claim~ in the area (seven lode claims and two placer claim'>) abandoned 

and void becau~e it failed to file the ncces~ary 

paperwork."''' The ~econd P~ universtty J\\OU 

expired in 1992 and was nor renewed. 

ln Februarv 1994, Pete Rutlcdp,e I rom the University of Alaska contacted NPS offic al~ about 

two matters: agencv requirements for conductmg field program'> ar the Stampede 1>.\rnc area 

and, alternatively, reqUirement!> for the N PS purchasing the univer~itY\ mineral right., at the !>Ite. 

The agency responded to one of Rutledge's areas 

of interest by hiring an apprai'>Cr, who visited the 

university's 70.63-acre parcel during the summer 

of 1994·47 

University mining-dcparrmcnt tJfliet::tb, apparently an gry that the PS wa., nor ..,howmg an 

interest in allowmg cunrmued use of the mine 

area, then sought help from U .. Senator Frank 

Murkowski, who m July I994 inserted a key 

paragraph into the enatc\ 1995 lnrenor Deparrmem appropriation-. hill. That amendment 

called for the !\. PS to "enter into negotianons 

regarding a memorandum of untler..,randing for 

the cominued me of the Stampede Creek \ line 

property ... ". In addrtion, If provided S25o,ooo ro 

"undertake an a~sessmcnt of damage and provide 

[Congre~~. hy i\t a) 1. I995l co~t e~ttmatc~ for the 

reconstruction of those facililie::. and equrpment 

which were damaged tJr destroyed a~ n result of 

the [I987] incident...''. Pinally, the paragraph 

called on the '-PS to work with UAF "to winrente equipment and matenal~" that had been 

"exposed to the environment a!> a result of the 

April 30, I987 incident." Murkowski's insertion 

was ~ucCC!>!>fully mcorporatcd toto the appropn aLion b1ll that pa1-sed rhc Senate. Similar language, 

however, wa~ not tndudcd in the llou..,e ver!>ion 

of that bill. and Murkow .. kl\ prm r~ro n did not 

survive the I louse-Senate conference and wa-. 

d1us not 'ignetl inro law.'• 

Despite the failure ol \lu rkow~ki\ amendment, 

the P sent -,rafT tn the ~itc dunng the !>Urnmer of I995 ro de,·elop information nece::.sary 

to work cooperatl\'cly with the univer::.ity ro 

further its cducauonal goa b . But ,\tturkowski. 

who was the chairman of the Energy and Natural 

Resources in the newly Rcpublican-dommated 

Senate, made a renewed artempr to ins<.:rt the 

previous year\ amendment. His amendment, 

in August 1995, was succcssfullv incorporated 

into the Senate\ I996 Interior Department approprianon btl I. That amendment, however, 

suffered the same fate as before: the Hou~e bill 

had no similar language. and the amendment 

was dropped during J lou-.e-. cnare conlerence 

negotiation .... '" 

Two year::. later, \\urkow,ki tried vet agatn to 

work our a deal that would a-.<.i-.t uAI with rh 

interests tn the Slam pede 1 me -,ire, and rlw, nme 

It worked- although tn a far different way than 

he had em binned m 1994 and I995· l n midSeptember 1997, he tn~erted an amendment rnto 

the Intenor Department\ 1998 appropriation::. 

bill that paved the W<'l\ for rhc NP~ to purchase 

Chapter Fouttt'l:n Mrmng ~nd K ... nrrshnd·Area Management 383 
What remains of the Stampede 

Mine mill structure is shown here in 

2003, looking down on the ruins and 

Stampede Creek below the mill. NPS 

Photo 

the umver~ity 'l> mtere'>t'> m the Stampede Mine 

~i e. That amendment, which wa-. approved on 

an 81-14 vote, abo called on both the U.S. Army 

and the NP ro a~.,i..t the uni\ e r.,iry m e:.tablishing a new field school at the Golden Zone Mme. 

(This long-abandoned mine, whiCh ww. 5 mile!> 

southwest of the old Dunkle V\ine, wa-. Jmt 

outside of Denali NatiOnal Park.) The Senate 

passed rh1s bill on September t8, and ~'lth slight 

modtficanom I! -;un ·tved the conference committee and reached rhe de,[.. of Prc,idem Clinton, who l>igned the bill mw law on "',0\·ember 

14. Shortly chereafter, the '\PS followmg the 

law's proviston' began negottanng with UAF\ 

School of Mineral Engineenng on an eqUitable 

purchase pnce, and on September 22, 1998, the 

NPS bought the umvcr'>ll)'\ limited mineral 

interest in its 70.65-acrc parcel. Since that time, 

field crews have hauled away univer!>ity-owned 

improvement!>, rehabllitatt:d vanoU!> mme 

bwldingl>, and surveyed the area for h:vardou<; 

matenals. ''" 

Kantishna-area Reclamation Activities 

The park-specific mmmg regulanon-, that the 

NPS authonLed m the early 1930!., and Implemented 10 the late t940~. made no provlstons for 

site reclamanon. Rur rhc lmmg m the Park-. 

Act, which became law m September 1976, Mated 

in its openmg paragraph'> that "all minmg areas 

of the ational ParkS) !.tcm ~hou d he conducted so as to prevent or mmimitc damage tu the 

environment and uthcr re!>ourcc values." Based 

on that concept, the accompanying regu lations 

384 Crown Jt>wf'l ot th~:> Nollh An AdmHustrat1ve H1story ot Ot>IMII Ndi!Ondl Pnrk and Pre51·rvt 

(i~s ed m intcnm form m ovembcr 1976 and 

in final form in january 1977) demanded that 

all active mming operators conform to specific 

reclamation requirement~. The goal of mming 

reclamation wa~ to prov1Je 

for rhc ~aft movement of native 

wJldhfc, the rce~tabh~hmcnr of narive 

vcg~:;tat ve communtne,, the normal 

11m' of ~u rfacc and rca~onah e flow of 

~ubl>urface water-., the return o f the 

area tn a condtnon whiC.h doe~ not 

Jeoparditc \'l!>itur ~afet) or pubhc U!>c 

of the umt, and return of the area to 

a comlluon equivalent to ih pnl>tme 

bcaurv. 

Rcclamauon wa~ to he 111 accordance wtth 

method' ~e t out in the approved mining plan of 

operation'>, and was expected to be completed 

within Sl'< month"> afrer the operator finished ht' 

work. In adduwn to rcclmmmg land that they 

were currenrlv workmg, operator~ \'l.'ho held 

pre,·iousl) ,.,~ucd ~pcctal usc permtt!> were also 

expected to honor the term .. of those permltl> as 

the) related to reclamation reqUirement:.."' 

A~ noted above, the passage of the 'V\imng m 

the Parks Act 1mpmed a four-year moratonum 

on the d1srurbancc of ne\\ lands f<>r mmeral 

exploration and development. In the "old park," 

one mming operation (at l.lhppery Creek) had 

operated commercially in 1974 and 1975, but in 

all likelih ood It had been abandoned by Septem-
Reclamation of the Slippery Creek 

mine site focused on the Mineral 

Mountain mining road and cleanup 

of abandoned equipment and debris. 

NPS Photo 

ber 1976, when President Ford :,igned the act 

into law. Two years later, NPS mining investigators declared the various ·'old park" claims 

invalid. By this time- and certainly by the 19 80~, 

when various judges declared the claims null 

and void the former mining operator~ were 

no longer in a position to conduct reclamation 

activities. The task of reclamation, therefore, fell 

to rhe NPS. 

When the Kantishna area became part of Denali 

National Monument in 1978, most of the existing 

operators responded by filling out the requbitc 

mining plans of operation and continued mining 

much as they had before (see above). Each of 

those plans had a specific reclamation component. NPS staff who investigated these operations, however, often noted that reclamation 

activities had been undertaken either poorly or 

not at all. Given the fact that the approval of new 

mining plans of operation was dependem upon 

how well existing rules were followed, operators 

during the early- to mid-1980!, paid increasmg 

attention to reclamation.''' 

After Judge von der Heydt's decision and the 

mining shutdown that followed, NPS staff recognized that the agency had the sole responsibility 

to clean up the various mining properties under 

federal ownership. In 1987, therefore, park 

resource manager<. made thetr first steps 111 that 

direcnon when they did extensive restoration 

of the mine road and airstrip at Slippery Creek; 

they also removed a number of abandoned 

barreb at the former limestone claims along the 

West Fork of Windy Creek . That same year, 

park staff also completed Kantishna Hilb studie~ 

related to revegetation, vegetation mapping, and 

sensitive plants.'" More large-~calc reclamation work began m 1989 with the first year of the 

Glen Creek Riparian Ecosystem Reco\'ery Study, 

a multi-year effort involving the reclamation, 

regrading, re~ecding, and aquatic monitOring 

of a creek that had been subjected to vears of 

excavation activ ties.''>-~ 

During the same period in which the first reclamation activities were taking place, the agency 

was writing the so-called "mining EIS'' which 

evaluated the cumulative effect~ of mining at 

three Alaska NPS units (see above). The draft 

ElS, dated Fcbmary 1989, offered several alternatives. But "under each alternative;· ir noted, "the 

National Park Service would pursue a program 

for reclamation of unreclaimcd, abandoned, 

and acquired mined land~ owned in fee hv the 

United States and located within the unit\ 

boundaries." The final El~, released in April 

Chapter Fourteen. Mmmq and Kan!Jshna-Area Management 385 
The bulldozer that was brought to 

Slippery Creek by the mine operators 

in 1969 was used during reclamation 

of the mine road on Mineral 

Mountain in 1987. The Slippery Creek 

cabin can be seen at the base of the 

mountain. Brad Ebel Collection 

1990, also recommended the implementation of 

a reclamation prograrn;ss The record of deci-

.,ion, ~igned in Augu~t 1990, provided specifiC!'. 

ahout rhc program: 

Subject to the availability of funds, the 

NPS will pursue a reclamation program on dbrurbed mineral properues 

acqUired by the United State~. a~ well 

as on unreclaimed, abandoned, void, 

donated mining claims. Reclamation 

activities undertaken by the NPS will 

be guided by the same standard~ as 

applied to mining plans of operation~. 

Reclamation site plans and environmental clearance documentation 

will be prepared prior to iniuation 

of the~e activities. Where appropriate, the NPS will consider using any 

authority it may have to reqUire the 

responsible party to do or assist with 

the neces~ary reclamation. •s'' 

A!> noted above, the district court lifted its sllzyear-old mining injunction in january 1991, and 

in April1992 an appeals court opinion reaffirmed 

the district court's action. During this period, 

personnel in the regiOnal office's Resource Assessment Branch wrote a draft reclamation plan 

for the area. And as the first applied element in 

that plan, the branch organiLed the Kantlshna 

Debris Removal Project during the summer of 

1993, which removed debri~ from se\·cn f(Jrmer 

mining sites. That ~arne summer, the branch 

organit.ed a cleanup of drums, batteries, and 

hatardous fluids from those site~.'' 

386 Crown Jewel of the Norlh An Adm1n1strat1ve H1story of Dendi! Nat1onal Park and P1e~rvELittle reclamation work took place at Kantishna 

during the mtd-19905, but more recently the pace 

of cleanup has mcreased. In 1997, the NPS began 

a multi-}eru· reclamation project on Slate Creek, 

and a year later, preliminarvwork began on 

Eureka Creek. ~ In 2001, agency personnel completed a new cleanup plan. Jn 2002 and 2006, 

portions of Caribou Creek were restored, and 

from 2003 to 2005, park staff cleaned up portions 

of Glen Creek that had not been reclaimed pnor 

to I992. Years of work remain, however; as noted 

in a 2003 report. there were still approximately 

1,500 acres of barren gravel tailings in riparian 

1ones from placer and gold mines that had yet to 

be reclaimed.>>q 

The Spruce 4 Controversy 

Almost ten mile~ cast of the Kantishna townsite, 

Spruce Creek is a five-mile-long tributary of 

upper Moose Creek. The creek witnessed historical (pre-World War II) activity, as evidenced 

by the ruins of a historic cabin. By the time tl1e 

dramage was absorbed into Denali National 

Park, orthwest Explorations, Lnc. owned eight 

unpatented mining claims (Spruce #I-#8), some 

of which were actively mined with bulldoters 

and front-end loaders. By 1981, the patenting 

proces~ was well underway for two of those 

claims (Spruce #4 and Spruce #5), and by 1986 

both drums had been patented.'"" 

As noted above, the PS in 1990 went on record 

as backing a policy of acquiring all patented and 

valid unpatented mming claims. The agency's 

front country development concept plan, 

implemented in February 1997, reiterated that 
The Glen Creek drainage. first 

prospected during the 1905·06 gold 

rush, had mining activity on it until 

1985. The photographer, Ste phen 

Foster, described the scene in the 

above photo as "ground sluicing on 

Glen Creek" in 1919. Stephe n Foste r 

Colle ction, 69-92-596, Unive rsity of 

Alaska Fairbanks Archive 

A dramatic rise in the price of go ld 

in 1972 led to a resurgence in place r 

mining throughout the Kantishna 

District. Glen Creek was intensively 

w orked w ith mechanized equipment 

from 1973 to 1983. Shown above 

are the abandoned tailings piles 

and disturbed stream channel of 

lower Glen Cree k. Ke nneth F. Karle 

Collection 

policy, and during the early to mid·1990s the 

NPS purchased hundred!. of acres of Kantlshna 

Hills minmg claim!>. The intent of that policy 

wa~ to minimize mining-related environmental 

degradation and to limit Kantishna-area touri!.m 

development to existing facilitie~. 

In June 1997, a private land transaction took 

place that had the potcmial to undermine the 

agency's goals. Jeff Barney and Eugene DesJarlais, partners in a Fairbanks hotel-development 

company, purchased the patented, 20-acre 

Spruce 4 parcel from Northwest Explorations, 

Inc. for an estimated Ssoo,ooo. Shortly thereaf· 

ter, Barney announced hi~ intent ro construct a 

resort and cabin faci lities o n the parcel. And in 

conjunction with that development, he planned 

to improve a little-used mining route (one that 

cro!:>~ed Moose Creek numerous times) and 

lengthen a nearby airstrip.""' 

Environmentalists were outraged at the announced plans, for several reasons. First, both 

the 20-acre Spruce 4 parcel and pornons of the 

planned road were located in de facto wilderness.'"' Second, the proposed new tourism 

development would bring new tourists over a 

park road which was operatmg at the maximum 

li mit~ that had been set forth in the 1986 general 

management plan. And third, the partners' bid 

to improve the existing road, while apparently 

legal according to Section 111o(b) of ANTLCA, 

ran contrary to Congressional language which 

demanded that "the natural and other values 

of such lands" would not be threatened by nev. 

or improved access roads. Environmentalists. 

as a result, hopet.l to stop the prOJCC.t; a~ Ch1p 

Denner! em of the National Parh and Conserva~ 

tion s~oc iation noted, "This parcel should be 

acquired as parr of the park and nor be developed. As a fir~t step, we want to sec NPS make 

every attempt to buy the propertv from the new 

owner." ·"• 

The Park Service had little control over the 

owners' activities on their .w-acrc parcel. The 

owner'> did, however, need the agency\ consenr 

to con~rruct the proposed road Improvements. 

Barney submitted a road-access application in 

january 1998, and two months later, tl1c NPS 

responded that it would wnte an environmental 

impact :.tatement to evaluate that application. 

The release of a draft EIS, originally promised in 

October 1998, was repeatedly delayed, and not 

until August 1999 was the document released to 

the public!"·' 

Chapter Fot~rteen M1n1ng and Kan11~hna-Area Managem~nt 387 
This 2005 view of lower Glen 

Creek shows the stream and 

floodplain restored to a near-natural 

configuration. Patches of willow and 

alder were planted on the floodplain. 

The return to natural conditions is 

enhanced by these restoration efforts. 

Kenneth F. Karle Collection 

The draft EIS ~pccificd five altern.:ttive~. The 

no-action alternative called for the applicants to 

~ell their property to the NPS; an air-acce:;s-only 

alternative envisioned the construction of a new, 

2,)oo-foot airstrip, which would be near the 20-

acre parcel andltnked to 1t by a ~bon ~pur road; 

and three ~urface -acce!.~ alternanve!-. called for 

road~ along either Moo~e Creek, Skvline Drive, 

or the North Bench of Moo~c Creek. The NPS, 

at the same time, announced that it would hold 

five public meetings on the plan: four would be in 

Alaska in August, and a fifth in Washington, DC 

111 mid-September, not long before the October 6 

conclU'>lOn of the public comment penod!"l 

When the agency relea-:cd the draft EIS, It srateu 

that lt "has not selected a preferred alternative because it has not yet identined one."' The 

public, however, tilted strongly again1> t new road 

comtructwn; as planner Bud Rice noted, the 

'\IPS rece1ved more than 400 comment~ even 

before the draft EIS wa~ released, more than 95 

percenr of whtch were again!>£ d1e vanou!:> 5urface-acce5'i alternative5 .... , 

Toward the end of the comment period, park 

superintenuenr Steve Marrin flew to Wa~hington, 

D.C., where he wa~ ~cheduled to appear before 

the Hou~e and Senate appropriations committees, the lattt'r headed by Sen. Ted Stevens. Bur 

that move, which was intended tc> explore d1e 

tdea of providmg ~uffictent funds ro buy the 

Spruce 4 parcel, was cha~ti~ed by the other two 

memb ~ of the Ala~ka Congre5sional delegation. 

388 r rown J.-wel ol the North An Admtmw.1t1ve Htstory of Denali Nat tonal Parf and PreservE' 

Both Don Young and Frank Murkowski, respectively, headed d1e I louse and Senate Enerb'Y and 

Natural Resource~ cmnmirtees, and both were 

in favor of allowing the partnerl. to construct the 

proposed, 30-cabin McKinley View Lodge ..• , 

During [he fall of 1999. the agency proceeded 

w prepare the final EIS nn Spruce Creek acces5. 

The document was originaJiv ~cheduled to be 

completed by November, but in March 2000 

the N PS a~ked for a del a) (until late Ma: ) due to 

··extensive agency and public commenr on the 

draft E!S and the need to conduct an economic 

feasibility study of the acccs~ alternatJVe~:· Soon 

afn:rward, Superintendent \1artin returned 

to Washington for further negotiations, and 111 

meetings w1th Jeff Barney and Sen. M urkowskJ, 

they worked out a mutually-agreeable purchase 

price, which was reportedly "about twice the 

appraised vaJue."•"' Gtvcn that turn of event~. the 

applicants requested that the NPS not release the 

final EIS while they considered the NPS\ offer to 

purcha~e the property. A month later the agency 

d1d complete its final EIS (which recommended 

that the owner~ ··sell all or most of the property 

to the NPS"). But given the applicant!.' requc~r. 

the final EIS remamed a~ an imernal review draft 

and wa~ not published or di-,rributed.''"' 

Senator f\ turkowski, one of the members of the 

three-man ream that had workeu out the agreement durmg the spring of 2000, rcc.:ognit.ed that 

Congres~ retained the right to review all government purchases that were above the apprabed 
value. And because either he or the partners 

had second thoughts about that agreement, 

Murkowski opted to prevent the NPS from going 

ahead with the purchase. 2

7" The senator held up 

any further actions on the matter for more than 

18 months. But in early December 2001, Congress finally authorized the NPS to purchase the 

property. Early the following February, agency 

officials reported that "purchase of the 20-acre 

Spruce #4 patented claim will soon close," and by 

the end of the month the transaction was completc.z7• It called for the partners to sell 18 of the 

20 acres to the federal government; the remainder allowed both Barney and Desjarlais to retain 

one-acre parcels for the cabins that they had 

recently constructed, with the caveat that they 

would be only for their "private, personal use."z7z 

During the negotiations that led to the land sale, 

the partners "requested access over existing 

mining access trails and use of the existing Glen 

Creek airstrip." NPS officials recognized that 

what was being requested was largely a continuation of existing use patterns; the results of that 

request, therefore, did not constitute an action 

with potentially significant impacts. As a result, 

the agency announced that it was terminating its 

ElS; instead, it planned to issue an environmental assessment. The agency therefore issued an 

environmental assessment related to the Spruce 

Creek access question in Aprilzooz. Given the 

agreement between the partners and NPS, the 

NPS's proposed alternative called for an access 

route that was largely similar to what the partners had proposed in early 1998; it was identical, 

in fact, except that two-thirds of a mile of new 

road would be built near Spruce Creek in order 

to avoid in-stream travel. The partners would be 

allowed to usc the existing Glen Creek airstrip. 

Use of the 9-7-mile Moose Creek-Spruce Creek 

route would be allowed as well; the number of 

these trips, however, "would be limited to protect 

fish habitat and recreational uses in the area."zn 

1bc release of the document, announced May 

15, started a 30-day public comment period, after 

which the agency implemented the document's 

recommendations .... 74 

Chapter Fourteen: Min1ng and Kantishna-Area Management 389 
Notes- Chapter 14 

1 Tom Walker, Kantishna: Mushers, Miners, Mountaineers (Missoula, Pictorial Histories, 2005), 9, 11. 

2 /bid., 27-32: Jane G. Haigh, Searching for Fannie Quigley: A Wilderness Life in the Shadow of Mount 

McKinley (Athens, Ohio, Swallow Press, 2007), 53-55, 58. 

'Walker, Kantishna, 49-50, 55-58; Brown, Denali: Symbol of the Alaskan Wild, 81; Sheldon, The Wilderness of 

Denali (New York, Charles Scribner's, 1930), 6-8,87-90. 

'Brown, Denali, 86; Haigh, Searching for Fannie Quigley, 61-62, 72-75; Walker, Kantishna, 86-87. Sheldonand many others as well-spoke of "Fannie Quigley" in 1907 if not earlier, but Joe and Fannie did not marry 

until February 2, 1918. 

5 Walker, Kantishna, 83, 86, 94, 99-1 DO, 1 02-03; Brown, Denali, 68, 74. 

6 Charles Caldwell Hawley, Wesley Earl Dunkle: Alaska's Flying Miner (Boulder, University Press of Colorado, 

2003), 146; Stephen R. Capps, "Geology and Mineral Resources of the Region Traversed by the Alaska 

Railroad," in Mineral Resources of Alaska: Report on Progress of Investigations in 1922, USGS Bulletin 

755 (Washington, GPO, 1924), 144; Stephen R. Capps, The Kantishna Region, Alaska, USGS Bulletin 687 

(Washington, GPO, 1919), 113. 

1 Gail E. H. Evans, From Myth to Reality: Travel Experiences and Landscape Perceptions in the Shadow of 

MountMcKinlet Alaska, 1876-1938, unpublished M.A. Thesis, U.C. Santa Barbara, February 1987,76-77. 

8 Sheldon to Mather, December 15, 1915, in John M. Kauffmann, Mount McKinley National Park, Alaska; A 

History of its Establishment and Revision of its Boundaries (Washington, D.C., NPS, July 1954), 7-8. 

'64'" Congress, 1" Session; H.R. 14775 (April 18, 1916) and S. 5716 (April 22, 1916); Kauffmann, Mount 

McKinley National Park, 8-10. 

"Congressional Record 64 (February 19, 1917), 3628, 3630; 64'" Congress, Public Law 353 (February 26, 

1917); Brown, Denali, 91-92. 

11 Lary M. Dilsaver, ed., America's National Park System: the Critical Documents (Lanham, Md., Rowman and 

Littlefield, 1994), 9, 28-29, 36; Richard Sellars, Preserving Nature in the National Parks; a History (New Haven, 

Yale, 1997), 25; Theodore Catton, Wonderland: An Administrative History of Mount Rainier National Park 

(Seattle, NPS, May 1996), 698-99, 701. 

12 Frank Norris, Alaska Subsistence; a National Park Service Management History (Anchorage, NPS, 2002), 18; 

NPS, "The Pioneer Yosemite History Center" (pamphlet), at http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/upload/ 

pyhc.pdf 13 Dilsaver, ed., America's National Park System, 46, SO. 

14 Dilsaver, ed., America's National Park System, 28; 51'1 Congress, Chapter 1263 (California Forest Reservation 

Act, October 1, 1890, sections 2 and 3 (U.S. Statutes at Large 26 [1890], 650); Lary Dilsaver· and William C. 

Tweed, Challenge of the Big Trees: A Resource History of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks (Three 

Rivers, Calif., Sequoia Natural History Association, 1990), chapter 4; Sellars, Preserving Nature in the National 

Parks, 10. 

~ Catton, Wonderland, 143-54,207-08, 699-700; Sellars, Preserving Nature in the National Parks, 23. 

16 Harlan D. Unrau and Stephen R. Mark, Crater Lake: Administrative History (Seattle, NPS, 1991 ), Chapter 4; 

7F Congress, Public Law 574, January 26, 1931 (U.S. Statutes at Large 46 [1931 ], 1 043). 

17 Dilsaver, ed., America's National Park System, 46, 48; Sellars, Preserving Nature in the National Parks~ 60. 

18 NPS, "Parkland Protection Hailed as Park Mining Laws Repealed" (News Release), October 8, 1976, in 

"K3415 Press Releases - Department, 1976-77" folder, Box 1, Collection 00495, DENA Archives; D. E. Lee to 

[Joseph E.] Taylor, November 14, 1939, 1n File 609-01 (Mining Claims), MOMC, CCF, RG 79, NARA SB; Public 

Law No. 574, 1 043; U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Environmental Consequences of Mineral Extraction: Glacier 

Bay National Monument and Mount McKinley National Park and Discussion of Alternatives for Acquisition 

of Mining Claims and/or Boundary Modifications to Reduce Possible Acquisition Costs, Glacier Bay National 

Monument, Report to the Congress of the United States Prepared in Partial Compliance with Public Law 94-

429, January 1979, 1; Theodore Catton, Land Reborn: A History of Administration and Visitor Use in Glacier 

Bay National Park and Preserve (Anchorage, NPS, 1995), 63-64. 

19 Ann Bischoff Kain, Cultural Resource Management, Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska (unpublished 

M.A. thesis, Antioch University, March 2001), 108-11; SMR, August 1921, 2; July 1924, 5; Walker, Kant1shna, 

1 07; Brown, Denali, 109-10. 

"Thomas K. Bundtzen, "A History of Mining in the Kantishna Hills," Alaska Joumal8 (Spring 1978), 156. 

Harry Karsterls, in a January 10, 1922 letter to Arno Cammerer (located in DENA Archives) stated that the 

"Mount McKinley Mining Co." had a "proposed ditch from McKinley River 1n the Park to the Kantishna 

District." 

21 SMR, September 1921, 5; April 1923, 5; Capps, "Geology and Mineral Resources of the Region Traversed by 

the Alaska Railroad," 143-44; Walker, Kantishna, 203. 

"SMR, Apnl1923, 5; September 1923,2, 5; May 1924, 5; October 1924,8. 

"SMR, April 1923, 3; September 1923, 5; December 1924, 8; Hawley, Wesley Earl Dunkle, 88-90. 

390 Crown Jewel of the North. An Administrative History of Denali National Park and Preserve 
"SMR, April 1923, 5; September 1923, 5; December 1924, 8. 

"SMR, January 1922, 3, 4; February 1922, 3; December 1922, 3; February 1923, 6. 

"SMR, April1922, 2, 3, 7; February 1923, 6; September 1923,2. 

"SMR, October 1922, 6; January 1926, 3; February 1926, 1, 5. 

"SMR, March 1926, 1. 

"SMR, January 1926, 3. 

"71" Congress, U.S. Senate Report 545 (April21, 1930); Congressional Record 72 (May 7, 1930), 8522; 71" 

Congress, Public Law No. 574; U.S. Statutes at Large 46 (1931), p. 1043-44. The term "Surface Use Act" was 

noted years later; see Herbert Maier to Director NPS, November 22, 1948, in File 609-01 ("Mining Claims"), 

MOM(, CCF, RG 79, NARA SB. 

31 Kain, Cultural Resource Management, 109, 112; Brown, Denali, 11 0; SMR, August 1933, 5. 

'' SMR, October 1931, 2; August 1933,2, 4. 

33 Jane Bryant email, November 24, 2003; Jane Bryant interview, August 2, 2007; SMR, July 1934, 6; 

September 1937, 5. 

34 In October 1939, an official with the Red Top Mining Company (above Eureka Creek), noting that there were 

"frequent outcroppings of coal along the north side of the park," requested permission "to prospect for coal 

in the park." But a month later, the NPS's chief attorney (in Washington) stated that because of provisions 

in the Mineral Leasing Act, enacted on February 25, 1920 (661

h Congress, Public Law No. 146, noted in U.S. 

Statutes at Large 41 [1920], 437-38, Sees. 1-2), "coal mining in the park is not permissible under existing 

federal law." George A. Moskey to Supt. MOMC, November 8, 1939, in File 609-01 (Minmg Clarms), MOMC, 

CCF, RG 79, NARA SB. Also see SMR, September 1940, 2 

35 Kain, Cultural Resource Management, 113; SMR, March 1934, 3; September 1937,2. 

35 SMR, September 1933, 4; October 1933, 1; Anchorage Daily Times, October 9, 1933, 4; Haigh, Searching 

for Fannie Quigley, 141-42. 

37 Kain, Cultural Resource Management, 113-14; Brown, Denali, 110-11; Haigh, Searching for Fannie Quigley, 

143-45. 

"SMR, April1937, 4; August 1937, 3; Hawley, Wesley Earl Dunkle, 88, 125-28, 145-46. A May 24, 1971 

report by the NPS's Alaska Group, entitled Prospecting and Mining at Mount McKinley National Park and 

Glacier Bay National Monument (p. 3) noted that "In the 1930s [presumably in 1937] a tractor was driven 

up the Slippery Creek drainage leaving a trail that can still be located in part." Remnants from the period 

included a log cabin, an airstrip, a road up to the two adits, and scattered refuse. 

39 SMR, September 1939, 6. 

"Federal Register 1 (June 27, 1936), 677; Federal Register 5 (April29, 1940), 1654. 

" Been to the Director, May 17, 1940, in Folder 208 (Rules and Regulatrons), MOMC, Entry 7, RG 79, NARA CP. 

" Federal Register 6 (March 26, 1941 ), 1631-32. 

43 Hillary A. Tolson to Supt. MOMC, May 5, 1941; Glenn Carrington to Been, June 1, 1941; D.R. Gustafson to 

Anthony Dimond, June 1, 1941; Been to Director NPS, June 4, 1941, all in Folder 208 (Rules and Regulations), 

noted above; SMR, March 1942, 2. The level of fees levied to these operators is not known, but based on 

similar correspondence from 1950, it was probably $20 per year or less. 

44 Ann Kain, "Going for the Gold in Kantishna," Alaska Park Science. December 2006, 41. Congress waived 

the assessment requirements in 1943 and did not reinstate them until1950. Public Law 78-47, noted in U.S. 

Statutes at Large 57 (May 3, 1943), 74; Public Law 81-107, noted in U.S Statutes at Large 63 (June 17, 1949), 

200-01; SMR, March 1950, 4. 

45 Kain, Cultural Resource Management, 114-15; SMR, June 1942, 2; September 1942, 2; March 1943, 1; July 

1943, 1-2; October 1943, 1; May 1944, 1; July 1944, 1. 

"SMR, March 1941, 4; September 1942, 2; March 1943, 1; July 1943, 1-2; August 1944, 1; September 1945, 1. 

47 Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, September 2, 1941, 8; Haigh, Searching for Fannie Quigley, 148-52; SMR, 

August 1945, 1; Pearson, My Life of High Adventure, 49-52. Longtime park employee John Rumohr, who 

knew Busia over a number of years, pronounced his name BOO-see-a, while Bill Brown (Denali, Symbol of the 

Alaskan Wild, 113) states that boo-SHAY was correct. 

"Pearson, My Life of High Adventure, 53-61; SMR, September 1943, 2; April 1944, 2; August 1944, 3; April 

1947, 2; Brown, Denali, 113-15; Harry Karstens to Arno Cammerer, January 10, 1922, in DENA Archives. 

49 Rolfe Buzzell, Overview of Mining in the Kantishna District, 1903-1968, unpub. mss., January 9, 1989, 

Logan Hovis (NPS) files, p. 21; Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Report of the Division of Mines and 

Minerals for the Year, various annual issues, 1959 to 1969. 

5

° Kain, Cultural Resource Management, 115; SMR, 1957, 3. Busia lived in a cabin along Moose Creek and 

trapped in the area; he was one of the few year-round residents during the postwar period. 

"Kain, Cultural Resource Management, 115-16; SMR, May 1950, 3; SMR, August 1966, 4; Territory of Alaska, 

Report of the Commissioner of Mines to the Governor, various biennial issues, 1946 through 1958; Alaska 

Dept. of Natural Resources, Report of the Division of Mines and Minerals for the Year, 1959 to 1969; Buzzell, 

Chapter Fourteen: Mining and Kantishna-Area Management 391 
Overview of Mining, 18-20. Thomas Bundtzen, in his "A History of Mining in the Kantishna Hills," p. 157, 

notes that Crooked Creek mining continued until 1965. As noted in Chapter 7, the Glen Creek Development 

Company built a 1 ,300-foot airstrip near its workings and also lengthened the Kantishna airstrip to 1.750 feet. 

"SMR, May 1949, 2; November 1949, 2; May 1950, 3; August 1950, 4; Anchorage Daily Times, December 

12, 1975, 3; NPS, "New Mining Regulations Adopted by Park Service" (DOl News Release), January 26, 1977, 

in "K3415 Press Releases- Departmental, 1976-77" file, Box 1, Collectron 00495, DENA Archives. 

"SMR, July 1954, 4; NPS Alaska Group, Prospecting and Mining, 3; Bureau of Land Management, "Grant" 

Mining Claim File (FF034273), NARA Anchorage. Jane Bryant (June 22, 2007 interview) noted that Heming's 

"old road" forked south from today's park road one-quarter mile east of Eielson Visitor Center. An Alaska 

Road Commission vehicle had first used the route in September 1932 to access the Park Service's Copper 

Mountain relief cabin, which had been built in t928. See Photo 88-t 2-219, Edmunds Collection, AMHA. 

"SMR, June 1950, 3; Grant Pearson to Supt., Mount Rainier NP. July 11, 1950, in Folder 901 (Permits), 

MOMC, CCF, RG 79, NARA SB. 

;; See Supt. MOMC to RD/R4, April 8, 1952, in "Special Use Permits" frle, Folder 99, Series 1, DARC, DENA 

Archives. The cessation of road-use fees, in all probability, was a response to two agency-wide "delegations 

of authority" orders that shifted authority for fee assessment from the Interior Secretary to the NPS Director 

(in June 1951) and then to regional and park officials (in May 1952). Park superintendents, beginning in 

1940, had complained that levying fees was unnecessary because Kantishna miners, who were few in number, 

caused few resource-related problems along the park road. It is likely, therefore, that Supt. Pearson took 

advantage of the flexibility provided by these orders to eliminate the road use fees. Federal Register 16 (June 

19, 1951 ), 5847, Sec 24; Federal Register 17 (May 23, 1952), 4721, Sec 20. 

'"SMR, October 1947, 3; March 1948, 4; March 1951, 4; September 1953, 1; January 1955, 3; April1955, 4; 

February 1956, 2; September 1956, 3. 

9 SMR, August 1957, 3. 

58 Although the park's mining regulations were considered "unnecessary" after September 1976, they 

remained on the books until December 1980. See Federal RegiSter 45 (May 22, 1980), 34759; Federal Register 

45 (November 25, 1980), 78119-20. 

;, SMR, May 1957, 4; June 1957, 4; Federal Register 22 (June 4, 1957), 3896. 

6° Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, May 12, 1958, 3; Public Land Order 1667, noted in Federal Register 23 (June 

28, 1958),4811. 

61 As Donald H. White notes in Antimony Deposits of the Stampede Creek Area, Kantishna District, Alaska, 

USGS Bulletin 936-N (Washington, GPO, 1942), p. 332, "The date of the discovery of the deposit is not 

known. The first active mining was done in 1915, in response to the very high prices prevailing for antimony 

at that time. About 150 tons of ore was mined, probably in 1915, but no shipments were made." 

"Brown, Denali, 192; Pilgrim to Ike P Taylor, November 27, 1942, in Frle 610 ("Private Lands"), MOMC, 

CCF, RG 79, NARA SB; Bundtzen, "A History of Mining in the Kantishna Hills," 159. In early 1937, the ARC 

provided materials for the construction of three bridges along the Stampede-Lignite route to allow summer ore 

hauls. The bridges soon caved in, however 

63 Earl Pilgrim to Morris P. Kirk, June 10, 1937, and Kirk to Pilgrim, June 23, 1937, both in Box 6, Folder 15, 

Box 6, Accession 318 (Earl Pilgrim papers), DENA Archives; G. 0. Kempton to Earl Pilgrim, May 12, 1952, rn 

"Stampede Airport" folder, FAA Airports Division historical files, Anchorage; Brown, A History, 207; White, 

Antimony Deposits of the Stampede Creek Area, 332-34; Bundtzen, "A History of Mining in the Kantishna 

Hills," 159. 

64 Brown, Denali~ 192. 

"Supt. MOMC to Director, December 10, 1942; Newton Drury to RD/R4, January 6, 1943; both in Frle 610 

("Private Lands"), noted above; SMR, December 1942, 2; Brown, Denali, 193. 

'"Brown, Denali, 193; SMR, Aprtl1947, 3; May 1947, 3; January 1948, 2; May 1948, 2; September 1948, 2; 

William E. Warne to Mr. Sherman, June 18, 1948, in "Special Use Permits" file, Box 99, Series 1, DAR(, DENA 

Archives. 

67 Brown, Denali, 193; SMR, July 1954, 1; SMR, March 1955, 1, 3. 

68 Territory of Alaska, Report of the Commissioner of Mines to the Governor, 1956 issue, pp. 48, 92. 

69 Brown, Denali, 193-94; SMR, April 1958, 2. 

"Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, March 24, 1961, 3; May 27, 1961, 3; June 20, 1961, 1; August 19, 1963, 4; 

Eugene Therriault, "A Road to Stampede," unpub. mss., 8-13, Item 869, DENA RML. 

71 Brown, Denali, 194; Bill Brown to author, email, November 21, 2005; Natural Resource Consultants, 

"Stampede Mine-Alaska, Report of Visit," August 1977, in Logan Hovis, camp., "Stampede Mine and Mill 

Process Notes," unpub. mss., Hovis files. In 1988, Celia Hunter stated that Pilgrim "used up the entire pioneer 

access road appropriation for one year" to construct this route (see Chapter 9). 

72 William E. Wrather (Director, USGS) to O.A. Tomlinson, September 10, 1947, in File 609.01 ("Mining- Part 1"), 

MOM C. CCF, RG 79, NARA SB. Accordrng to the Anchorage Daily News, November 12, 1948, p. 4, "In 1931, 

392 Crown Jewel of the North: An Administrative History of Denali National Park and Preserve 
G. A. Waring of the Geological Survey sampled the limestone outcroppings along the bony ridge near Little 

Windy Creek, between Cantwell and Windy." 

"frank T. Been to RD/R4, in file 609.01 ("Mining- Part 1"), MOM(, CCF, RG 79, NARA SB. 

"Ibid.; William E. Wrather (Director, USGS) to OA Tomlinson, September 10, 1947, in file 609.01, see above. 

The study, by Gerald A. Waring, was published as Non metalliferous Deposits in the Alaska Railroad Belt, 

C~rcular 18 (Washington, GPO, 1947), 10 pp. 

"Claus-M. Naske, "Alaska in the Mix," Alaska History 16 (Spring-fall2001), 17-33. 

"Been to RD/R4, August 16, 1948, and Arthur E. Beaudin to JA Krug, August 25, 1948; both in file 609.01 

("Mimng- Part 1"), MOM(, CCF, RG 79, NARA SB; SMR, May 1948, 4; July 1948, 1; August 1948, 1, 3. 

"Alfred C. Kuehl to RD/R4, August 14, 1948, and Been to RD/R4, September 7, 1948; both in file 609.01, see 

above; Anchorage Daily Times, September 7, 1948, 1. As noted in Jessen's Weekly, October 29, 1948, p. 2, 

the Bureau was later authorized to drill "six holes, two inches in diameter and five hundred feet long." 

"Drury to Been, telegram, September 7, 1948, Been to RD/R4, October 14, 1948, Kuehl to RD/R4, October 

14, 1948, and Been to RD/R4, October 29, 1948, all in file 609-01, see above; Anchorage Daily Times, 

September 8, 1948, 2; Anchorage Daily Times, September 10, 1948, 2. Supt. Been, along w1th H. H. H1lscher 

of Fairbanks, felt that there were procedural errors with how the claims were filed, and Been kept other NPS 

officials apprised of these technicalities. But because the claims were never developed, these purported errors 

remained unresolved. Naske, "Alaska in the Mix," 20. 

79 Krug to Robert Day, September 15, 1948, in File 609-01, see above. 

80 John C. Reed, etc. to Chairman, Alaska Field Committee, October 8, 1948, and Kuehl to RD/R4, October 14, 

1948; both in file 609-01, see above. 

"'Warne to Director NPS, October 18, 1948, m file 208.43 ("Mining"), MOMC, Entry 7, RG 79, NARA CP; 

Kadow to Warne, November 12, 1948, Herbert Maier to Director NPS, November 22, 1948, and Drury to 

Secretary Krug, November 26, 1948; all in File 609-01, see above. The Glacier Bay act was Public Law 74-750, 

which became law on June 22, 1936; see U.S. Statutes at Large 49 (1936), p. 1817. 

82 Been to RD/R4, December tO, 1948; Maier to Director NPS, December 22, 1948; Drury to Secretary Krug, 

february 7, 1949; all in file 208.43 ("Mining"), see above; Federal Register 14 (March 3, 1949), 955-57. 

83 As noted in the Anchorage Daily News, November 12, 1948, p. 4, plans at this time called for the cement 

plant to be built in the park just- east of the railroad at mile 323. Also see Been to Director NPS, September 7, 

t948, and Kuehl to RD/R4, October 14, 1948, both in file 609-01, see above. 

84 Kuehl to RD/R4, October 14, 1948, 1n File 609-01, see above. 

85 Marion Clawson (Director, BLM) to Secretary Krug, December 10, 1948; Pubic Land Order 538, in Federal 

Register 13 (December 18, 1948), 7866. 

"Krug to Robert Day, September 15, 1948, and Tolson to RD/R4, September 22, 1948; both 1n file 609.01, 

see above. 

87 Been to RD/R4, October 29, 1948; Drury to Warne, November 26, 1948; both in File 602 ("Boundaries 

-General"), MOMC, CCf, RG 79, NARA 58. 

88 Drury to RD/R4, December 23, 1948; Been to RD/R4, January 12, 1949; Tom in son to Director NPS, January 

25, 1949; Charles Richey to Hillary Tolson, May 18, 1949; all in file 609-01, see above. 

89 Naske, "Alaska in the Mix," 21-22. 

90 Ibid.. 23. 

91 Ibid., 23-25, 28; William Warne to Secretary Oscar Chapman, January 19, 1950, in File 609-01, MOM C. 

Entry 7, RG 79, NARA CP 

"SMR, July 1950, 5, 6; August 1950,2, 3; September 1950, 5; October 1950,3. 

"John E. Doerr to Director NPS, November 9, 1948, in file 609-01, MOMC, Entry 7, RG 79, NARA CP The 

year's findings were published in an open-file report by Robert M. Moxham, WalterS. West. and Arthur E. 

Nelson entitled Cement Raw Materials Available to the Windy Creek Area, Alaska (USGS, 1951 ). Much of this 

data was later Incorporated into Robert M. Moxham, Richard A. Eckhart, and Edward H. Cobb, Geology and 

Cement Raw Materials of the Windy CreekArea, Alaska (USGS Bulletin 1 039-D), 1959. 

94 Acting Director, BLM to Files, November 9, 1950; Thomas B. Nolan and Newton B. Drury to Director, Bureau 

of Land Management, November 29, 1950; both 1n file 609-01, MOMC, Entry 7, RG 79, NARA CP; Publ1c 

Land Order 697, in Federal Register 16 (February 8, 1951), 1184, 1203. 

95 Naske notes, perhaps with tongue in cheek(" Alaska in the Mix," p. 17) that "the story of the United States 

effort to make concrete in Alaska proves once again that on the Last Frontier federal economic development 

programs never die, they just require more funding." 

'"Ibid., 28-31. 

"'SMR, July 1956, 1, 3; Duane D. Jacobs to Mark B. Ringstad, November 20, 1958, 1n file L3023 ("Land Use 

-Mining, 1953-60"), in Box 9, Accession 9NNS 79 90 005, NARA 58. NPS regulations, in place since March 

1947 (see Chapter 13), limited aircraft landings 1n the park to the McKinley Park a11strip and the surface of 

Wonder Lake. 

Chapter Fourteen: Mining and Kant1shna-Area Management 393 
"This act was Public Law 84-830, noted in US Statutes at Large 70 (1956), pp. 709-14. 

99 Jacobs to Ringstad, November 20, 1958; Charles E. Tulin to Jacobs, December 6, 1958; Jacobs to Tulin, 

December 17, 1958; all in Frle L3023, Sox 9, see above; SMR, September 1959, 5; Public Law 84-830, 

Sec. 202(a) and Sec. 202(b); PubliC Land Order 1646, in Federal Register 23 (June 4, 1958). 3853; "Alaska 

Limestone Corporation (1948-1986)" folder, in Box 35, Denali Administratrve Records Collection (DARCI. 

DENA Archives. Why the Alaska Limestone Corporation attorney, in his December 6, 1958 letter, referred to 

"restaked" claims is borne out by an Aprill, 1979 Anchorage Daily Times article (p. F-1) stating that "in 1957, 

[the firm] filed 14 clarms on the west bank of Wrndy Creek about 14 miles southwest of Cantwell." 

'""Samuel A. King to RD/R4, April21, 1960; King to RD/R4, October 20, 1960; both in File L3023, see above. 

1

"' King to RD/R4, June 23, 1960; Tulin to King, July 1, 1960; Smger to RD/R4, July 5, 1960; King to RD/R4, July 

6. 1960; John B. Wosky to Supt. MOMC. July 11, 1960; all in File L3023, see above. 

·"'Anchorage Daily Times. October 11, 1960, 1; Samuel A. King to RD/R4. October 20. 1960; King to RD/R4, 

November I 0, 1960; Rrta Srnger to RD/R4, November 23, 1960; all in File L3023, see above. 

103 Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, July 31, 1963, 1; SMR, August 1963, 2; SMR, September 1963, 5; Anchorage 

Daily Times, October 5, 1963, 2; Anchorage Daily Times, October 18, 1963, I. 

104 Henry Roloff to Anthony Wayne Smith, August 30, 1963; Smith to Alaska Department of Economic 

Development and Planning, August 19, 1963; both in File 882 (1959-66), Series 41, RG 01, Alaska State 

Archives. 

105 Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, issues of November 14, 1963, 4; December 27, 1963, 4; and June 25, 1964, 1. 

Also see SMR, January 1964, 3; SMR, June 1964, 5; SMR, July 1964, 7; SMR, August 1964,5. 

100 NPS, Alaska Group, Prospecting and Mining, 3; Steve Buskirk to Chief Ranger. MOM C. July 11, 1975, in 

Catalog 9169, DENA Archrves. 

'"'Pearson to RD/R4, August 4, 1952, in File 609.01 ("Mining Claims"), MOMC, CCF, RG 79, NARA SB. 

108 Pearson to RD/R4, August 4, 1952; lawrence C. Merriam to Director NPS. telegram, August 14, 1952; 

George L. Collins to Pearson, August 15, 1952; Pearson to RD/R4, August 15, 1952; all in File 609.01, see 

above. 

100 Federal Register 17 (May 28, 1952), 4831, 4833; Federal Register 17 (August 13, 1952), 7368-69; Wirth to 

RD/R4, telegram, August 18, 1952, in File 616 ("McKinley Land Withdrawals"), MOMC, CCF, RG 79, NARA SB. 

110 Lawrence C. Merriam to Manager, Fairbanks Land Office, BLM, August 20, 1952, in File 616 ("Land 

Withdrawals and Restorations"), MOMC. CCF, RG 79, NARA SB_ Merriam, in his letter to the BLM, made no 

mention of the mining threat; instead, he stated that it was "essential that said lands be reserved for [NPS] 

development .... [T]he area described above is the minimum required for the proper development of this 

important administrative site and public use area near the main entrance to the park." 

1'1 Frank T. Hirst to RD/R4, September 10, 1952, in File 609.01, noted above. By September 12, the "hearsay" 

had been proven true; see Hirst to RD/R4, September 12, same file. 

111 B. F. Man bey to Great Northern Stone Corporation, September 11, 1952, in File 609.01, noted above. 

mAs Acting Superintendent Frank Hirst noted, "The road now exists. While it is not a road in the literal 

sense, but is merely the removal of brush to allow passage of a truck, it is still regrettable." Hirst to RD/R4, 

September 12, 1952; B. F. Man bey to Supt. MOMC, September 11, 1952; Man bey to Supt. MOMC, telegram, 

September 11, 1952; all in File 609.01. see above. 

114 Frank T. Hirst to RD/R4, September 12, 1952; Lawrence C. Merriam to Manager, Fairbanks Land Office, 

September 16, 1952; Merriam to Director NPS, September 16, 1952; all in File 616, noted above. Again, as a 

month earlier, agency officials told the BLM that the withdrawal was needed "for administrative and public use 

development and for the protection of the scenic highway" (which, indeed, was true} in order to conform to 

language in regulations that had been rmplemented on May 28, 1952 and August 13. 1952 (see above). 

115 Hirst to RD/R4, October 6, 1952; Lawrence C. Merriam to Director NPS, October 14, 1952; E. L. Arnell to 

Grant P€arson, April3, 1953; all in File 609.01, see above. 

110 Conrad Wirth to RD/R4, Aprrl 1, 1953, in File L2423 ("Encroachments-Mrning") in Box 9. Accession 9NNS 

79 90 005, NARA SB. 

117 Grant Pearson to RD/R4, February 16, 1953; Herbert Maier to Director NPS, February 19, 1953; Pearson to 

RD/R4, Apri16, 1953; all rn File 616, noted above. 

118 Herbert Maier to Supt. MOMC, April 22, 1953, in File 609.01, see above; Maier to Director NPS, February 

19, 1953, in File 616, see above; Wirth to RD/R4, April I, 1953. in File L2423. see above. 

" 9 SMR, July 1953, 3; SMR, July 1954, 4; SMR, June 1955, 5; "Great Northern Stone Corporation (1935-

1957)" folder, Box 35, DARC, DENA Archives. 

120 SMR, June 1955, 5; SMR, April1957, 4; "Great Northern Stone Corporation" folder, Box 35, see above 

121 SMR, May 1957,· 4; June 1957, 4; Federal Register 22 (June 4, 1957), 3896. 

122 Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, May 12, 1958, 3; Public Land Order 1667, noted in Federal Register 23 (June 

28, 1958), 4811 

394 Crown Jewel of the North: An Admin1strative History of Denali National Park and Preserve 
123 NPS, Alaska Group, Prospecting and Mining, 12, NPS TIC Report 184/D-255; Samuel A King to RD/R4, 

November 29, 1961, in "Public Lands: Withdrawals and Restorations, 1949-1966" file, Box 32, DARC. 

124 Celia Hunter to Robert Weeden, n.d. (Spring 1970?); Hunter to Weeden, Stewart Brandborg, and Ed 

Wayburn, n.d. (Spring 1970?); both in Box 17, Northern Alaska Environmental Center Collection, Alaska and 

Polar Regions Archives, UAF; James H. Anderson to Sen. Ted Stevens, March 6, 1971, in File NR 1-2 (1971), 

Senes 88, RG 01, ASA; NPS, Alaska Group, Prospecting and Mining, 2, 12-13 Taylor, in March 1970, was 

cited for destruction of natural features related to his crew's tree cutting; a year later, he pled guilty to the 

charge and was given a six-month suspended sentence. That August, he was also cited for following an 

unauthorized vehicle route during his 1970 trip to the mine; that charge, however, was later dropped. See 

"McKmley Mercury Mrning, Inc. (1965-1987)" folder, Box 36, DARC, DENA Archrves. 

125 NPS, Alaska Group, Prospecting and Mining, 1-2, 9-10, 12. 

126 Public Land Law Review Commission, One Third of the Nation's Land: A Report to the President and to the 

Congress (Washington, GPO, 1970), 205. 

'"Gordon Wnght to Rep. Nick Begich, May 18, 1971; Wright to Sen. Mike Gravel, May 18, 1971; both in File 

NR 1-2 (1971), Series 88, RG 01, ASA; Stanley l Albnght to Deborah Vogt, November 22, 1972, rn Box 17, 

Northern Alaska Environmental Center, Inc. Collection, UAF. 

128 Frank Will iss, "Do Things Right the First Time:" The National Park Service and the Alaska National Interest 

Lands Conservation Act of 1980, revised edition (Anchorage, NPS, 2005), 51-52; Alaska Planning Group, 

Master Plan, Mount McKinley National Park, Alaska, with Proposed Additions (Washington?, NPS, December 

1973), 48; APG, Final Environmental Statement, Proposed Mt McKinley National Park Additions, Alaska 

(Washington?, NPS, October 1974), 5, 129-30; Director, NPS to Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and 

Parks, May 14, 1975, in "Miscellaneous" File, Box 1, Collection 00495, DENA Archives. 

'" S. 2273 in Congressional Record 119 (July 27, 1973), 26358; H.R. 9733 in Congressional Record 119 (July 

31, 1973), 27072. 

130 Donald W. Carson and James W. Johnson, Mo: the Life and Times of Morris K. Udall (Tucson, Univ. of 

Arizona Press, 2001), 184-85; S. 425, in Congressional Record 120 (December 20, 1974), 41996-97; H.R. 25, 

in Congressional Record 121 (May 20, 1975 and June 10, 1975), 15421, 18008. 

131 Anchorage Daily Times, October 6, 1975, 2; Anchorage Daily News, October 7, 1975, 1; Anchorage Daily 

Times, December 12, 1975, 3; Steve Buskirk field report in "McKinley Mercury Mining, Inc. (1965-1987)" 

folder, in Box 36, DAR(, DENA Archives. Joe Van Horn, in an October 15, 2007 email, notes that the mine 

was also active in 1976, according to work affidavits in the park's resources files. 

132 H.R. 9540, in Congressional Record 121 (September 10, 1975), 28335; S. 2371, in Congressional Record 

121 (September 18, 1975), 29200-01; Anchorage Daily Times, October 20, 1975, 15. In additron to Death 

Valley, Glacier Bay, and Mount McKinley, the bill also called for the phaseout of new mining in Crater Lake 

National Park, Organ Pipe National Monument. and Coronado National Memorial. As noted earlier in this 

chapter, Olympic and Grand Canyon national parks had once sanctioned mining as well. The Olympic park 

bill, however, called for a five-year phaseout of all new mineral locations in that portion of the park where it 

was sanctioned. By 1969, active mining had stopped at both Grand Canyon and Olympic. Public Law 75-778 

(Olympic Natrona! Park Act), in United States Statutes at Large 52 (June 29, 1938), 1241; Mrchael F. Anderson, 

Polishing the Jewel: An Administrative History of Grand Canyon National Park (Grand Canyon Association, 

Monograph #II, 2000), 40. 

m Anchorage Daily Times, October 6, 1975, 2; Anchorage Daily Times, October 7, 1975, 1; Anchorage Daily 

Times, December 12, 1975,3. As noted in an NPS press release ("New Mining Regulations Adopted by Park 

Service," January 26, 1977, in "K3415 Press Releases- Departmental, 1976-77" file, Box 1, Collection 00495, 

DENA Archives), the Mount McKinley antimony mine was one of just four that had been active within NPS 

units since 1973. 

134 Anchorage Daily News, October 8, 1975, 2; Anchorage Daily Times, October 8, 1975, 23; Stevens to Sandy 

Kogl, Denair Citizens Councrl, November 24, 1975, in "K4223 Publications- DCC Newsletter" file, Box 1, 

Collection 00495, DENA Archives; Anchorage Daily Times, December 12, 1975, 1; Congressional Record 121 

(September 18, 1975), 29200-01; Congressional Record 122 (February 4, 1976), 2264. 

"'Anchorage Daily Times, issues of February 25, 1976, 20; April 2, 1976, 19; June 2, 1976, 1; and September 

3, 1976, 8; NPS, "Parkland Protection Hailed as Park Mining Laws Repealed" (press release), October 8, 1976, 

in "K3415 Press Releases- Departmental, 1976-77" file, Box 1, Collection 00495, DENA Archrves. 

'"Sections 3, 4, and 6 of Public Law 94-429, as noted in United States Statutes at Large 90 (September 28, 

1976), 1342-45. 

137 Section 8 of Public Law 94-429. As called for in this section, the NPS issued a public notice of the one-year 

requirement in the October 20, 1976 Federal Register, page 46357. 

138 S. 2371 Summary, September 14, 1976, in http://thomas.loc.gov; NPS, "Parkland Protection Hailed," see 

above; Public Law 94-429. 

"'Federal Register 41 (November 11, 1976), 49862-66; Federal Register 42 (January 26, 1977), 4835-41. 

Chapter Fourteen: Mining and Kantishna-Area Management 395 
140 NPS, "New Mining Regulations," see above. 

141 Anchorage Daily Times, January 12, 1977, 42. 

142 USDI, Environmental Consequences of Mineral Extraction: Glacier Bay National Monument and Mount 

McKinley National Park and Discussion of Alternatives for Acquisition of Mining Claims and/or Boundary 

Modification to Reduce Possible Acquisition Costs, Glacier Bay National Monument, Report to the Congress of 

the United States Prepared in Partial Compliance with Public Law 94-429, January 1979, 113. 

143 USDI, Environmental Consequences of Mineral Extraction, 2, 113; BLM, "Complaint (Contest of Mining 

Claims)," April16, 1979, in "McKinley Mercury Mining, Inc. (1965-1987)" folder, Box 36, DARC, DENA 

Archives. 

144 USDI, Environmental Consequences of Mineral Extraction, 113. 

14s NPS, Environmental Overview and Analysis of Mining Effects, DENA (Denver, the author, September 1981 ), 

164. 

146 "McKinley Mercury Mining, Inc. (1965-1987)" folder, Box 36, DARC, DENA Archives. 

147 Barry Donnellan to Daniel Kuehn, September 25, 1977, in "Grant" mining claim file (AKFF 034273), NARA 

ANC; various documents in USA v. HaroldHerning, Norman R. Heming, and Robert Gish, in Herning Contest 

Record (AKFF 047031 ), NARA SP, courtesy of BLM Anchorage; Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, March 11, 1980, 6. 

148 Anchorage Daily Times, April 1, 1979, F-1; Anchorage Daily Times, May 9, 1980, A-1; NPS, Environmental 

Overview and Analysis, DENA. 164; "Alaska Limestone Corporation (1948-1987)" folder,. in Box 35, DARC, 

DENA Archives. 

149 Alaska Planning Group, Master Plan, Mount McKinley National Park (December 1973), 48; APG, Final 

Environmental Statement. Proposed Mt. McKinley National Park Additions (October 197 4), 5, 130. The APG, 

in its December 1973 draft EISs, recommended that all of the proposed Alaska parklands except one (YukonCharley National Rivers) not be opened to new mineral locations and development. Williss, "Do Things Right 

the First Time, " 68. 

1

so Joint Federal-State Land Use Planning Commission for Alaska, Land Planning and Policy in Alaska; Volume I, 

National interest Lands, Part I (Anchorage, the Commission, July 1973), 111-13-1 to 111-13-4; Will iss, "Do Things 

Right the First Time," 60, 87; H.B. 489, in Alaska House Bill History, 1975, 227. 

1

s

1 Williss, "Do Things Right the First Time," 88-89; Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Public Law 96-487, 

Alaska National interest Lands Conservation Act. Legislative History, Fall 1981; vol. I, pp. 22-23, and vol. Ill, 

pp. 11-12 and 36-37. Stevens's bill called for approximately 12 million acres of new national parklands and 

56 million acres in cooperative lands; at Mount McKinley, the bill called for 1,130,000 acres of parkland and 

1,960,000 acres of cooperative lands. 

1

s2 Will iss, "Do Things Right the First Time," 93, 97; Cecil D. Andrus's statement in U.S. House of 

Representatives, "Hearings Before the Subcommittee on General Oversight and Alaska Lands," Serial No. 95-

16, Part XVI, September 15, 1977 (Washington, GPO, 1977), 110-15. 

1

s

3 ADF&G, Public Law 96-487, ANILCA Legislative History; vol. II, pp. 201 and 206-08. 

1

s

4 Will iss, "Do Things Right the First Time," 97-1 00; ADF&G, Public Law 96-487, ANILCA Legislative History; 

vol. XXXIII, pp. 565-66, 608, 701, and 804-05, 937-38. Sen. Stevens, who had advocated that the Kantishna 

area be considered as a national recreation area (NRA) rather than part of the park addition, made a statement 

just after the committee report was issued. He noted that "including the Kantishna area in the expanded Park 

was a particularly significant error. This historic mining district which still supports a year round community 

and active gold mines should not be added to the Park. The inholding problems will be enormous and Park 

designation could spell the end of a way of life for the people of the area. Fortunately, there is a chance 

for correcting this problem when the special study authorized for this area is completed. However, interim 

designation as an NRA would make considerably more sense." 

1

ss ADF&G, Public Law 96-487, ANILCA Legislative History; vol. Ill, pp. 808-11; vol. VII, pp. 157-61, 466-67, 

469, 608-10. 

1

s

6 Will iss, "Do Things Right the First Time," 107-12. 

1

s

7 Public Law 96-487, as noted in U.S. Statutes at Large 94 (1980), pp. 2384, 2456-57, and 2465. 

1

s

8 Public Law 96-487, as noted in U.S. Statutes at Large 94 (1980), p. 2383. 

1

s9 Proclamation 4616, December 1, 1978, in Federal Register 43 (December 5, 1978), 57035-41. 

160 Public Law 94-579 (October 21, 1976), Sec. 314, in U.S. Statutes at Large 90 (1976), 2769-70. 

161 Federal Register 44 (April 5, 1978), 20426-27. 

162 NPS, Environmental Overview and Analysis of Mining, Kantishna Hills, Denali National Monument. Alaska 

(Denver, the author, September 1980), 8; Russell Chadwick, Gross Mineral Appraisal of MOMC. KATM. and 

Proposed LACL, September 30, 1975, 11, in BLM File FF-047031. 

163 Anchorage Daily News, July 12, 1983, A-22; NPS, Environmental Overview and Analysis of Mining Effects, 

DENA (September 1981), 73, 80, 163. 

164 Federal Register44 (February 27, 1979), 11068-69. 

396 Crown Jewel of the North: An Administrative History of Denali National Park and Preserve 
165 NPS, Environmental Overview and Analysis, Kantishna Hills, 2; Federal Register 44 (February 27, 1979), 

11068. Also see Douglas Warnock to Sam Koppen berg, May 1, 1981, in "Moose!faybo" folder, and materials 

in various mining plans of operation folders (1979-1982), Boxes 34 and 35, DAR(, DENA Archives. Notices for 

16 mining plans of operation are shown in volume 44 (1979) of the Federal Register: June 8, pp. 33162-63: 

July 2, p. 38681; September 20, p. 54558, and October 15, p. 59297. 

166 Larry A. May (Chief, Environmental Investigations Unit, DSC) to Manager, Denver Service Center, "Report 

on Mining and Mineral-Related Activity .. ", December 5, 1979, in Box 33. DAR C. DENA Archives: Alex Carter 

interview, September 5, 2007. 

'" Whalen to Sen. Ted Stevens, April 20, 1979, in "Public Lands: Lands Acquisi:~on (1950-1990)" file Box 32, 

DARC, DENA Archives. 

168 NPS, Environmental Overview and Analysis, Kantishna Hills, 1, 3-4; SAR, 1980, 4. 

169 NPS, Environmental Overview and Analysis, Kantishna Hills, 13, 16, 106-14. Ironically, NPS's September 

1981 report (Environmental Overview and Analysis of Mining Effects, DENA, p. 11) stated that during the 

1980 season there had been 12 active placer operations on 62 claims, plus 4 active lode operations on 1 0 

claims. 

170 NPS, Environmental Overview and Analysis, Kantishna Hills, 16-47. 

'"The Alaska Land Use Council, established by Section 1201 of ANILCA, was composed of federal, state, 

and Native representatives; its purpose was to conduct studies, advise the Inter or Secretary, and make 

recommendations in a variety of policy areas. The Kantishna Hills/Dunkle Mine study was the only specific 

study noted rn ANILCA 

172 NPS, Environmental Overview and Analysis of Mining Effects, DENA (Denver, the author, September 1981 ), 

9, 162-63 

173 Williss, "Do Things Right the First Time," 148. 

174 NPS, Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Kantishna Hilfs!Dunkle Mine Study Report, DENA 

(Anchorage, the author, December 1984), 12~13. 

175 NPS, Environmental Overview and Analysis, DENA, 9. The U.S. Senate, in a November 1979 committee 

report (Report 96-413, pp. 167-68) stated that the eight lode claims located on the ridge between the 

Tokositna and Kanikula glaciers were "all located on the very edge of the boundary and are part of watershed 

that flow outside of the park." Senators, apparently aware that the claim had a small airstrip that could 

serve as a base of operation for guided hunting parties, recommended in their report that the NPS examine 

the desirability of making a minor boundary adjustment to exclude those lands from the park. No evidence 

suggests that these claims were economically viable for their mineral potential. 

176 NPS, Environmental Overview and Analysis, DENA, 161. Details of the adjudication of 30 Kantishna Hills 

placer claims were laid out on pp. 138-51 of that document. 

"'ibid., 162-63, plus NP5 maps 20008 and 20009, both dated August 1981. 

178 According to the Anchorage Daily News, July 12, 1983, there were "15 to 20 active placer mines in the 

Kantishna Hills area." 

179 NPS, Environmental Overview and Analysis, DENA, 1, 73, 162-63. As noted above, no commercial mining 

had taken place in the southern portion of the New Park since 1954. 

180 Ibid., 14~87. 

181 Scott Meyer and Ross Kavanagh, "Fish Resources and the Effects of Mining Activities in the Kantishna Hills, 

Denali National Park, 1982," June 1983; Kenneth Kertel, "Wildlife and the Effects of Mining in the Kantishna 

Hills, DENA," NPS Research/Resources Management Report AR-2, 1984. 

182 Anchorage Daily Times, November 22, 1982, C~2; December 18, 1982, B-5; May 28, 1983, B-9; Anchorage 

Daily News, May 28, 1983, B-5; Salisbury and Dietz, Inc., "1983 Mineral Resource Studies in the Kantishna 

Hills and Dunkle Mine Areas, DENA" (three volumes), April 1984. 

183 Federal Register 48 (March 1, 1983), 8599-8600; NPS, Denali National Park and Preserve, Draft 

Environmental Impact Statement, Kantishna Hilfs/Dunkle Mine Study, Alaska (Anchorage, the author, May 

1983), passim. 

'"Anchorage Daily Times, July 7, 1983, C-4; July II, 1983, B-5; July 12, 1983, B-1; Anchorage Daily News, 

July 12, 1983, A-22; NPS, Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Kantishna Hills/Dunkle Mine Study 

Report (December 1984), 285-92; Alaska Land Use Councrl, Kantishna Hills/ Dunkle Mine Study Report (May 

1984), 13. 

185 Alaska Land Use Council, Kantishna Hills/ Dunkle Mine Study Report, 11, 17-18: NPS, Final E!S, Kantishna 

Hills/Dunkle Mine (December 1984), 585. 

186 Alaska Land Use Council, Kantishna Hif/s/Dunkfe Mine Study Report, 11-13, 15-17; NPS, Final EIS, Kantishna 

Hills/Dunkle Mine (December 1984), 584. 

'" NPS, Final EIS, Kantishna Hills/Dunkle Mine, December 1984, 604. 

'"ibid., 584-89, 599-604; Anchorage Daily Times, May 23, 1984, B-6; May 24, 1984, C-1; June 3, 1984, A-I; 

June 4, 1984, B-1; June 14, 1984, A-1. 

Chapter Fourteen: M1ning and Kantishna-Area Management 397 
189 NPS, Final EIS, Kantishna Hills!Dunkle Mine, December 1984, ix, xiii, 19-25, 67-70; Federal Register 50 

(March 22, 1985), 11595; NPS, Draft General Management Plan, DENA, March 1985, 33; NPS, Final General 

Management Plan, DENA, October 1986, 58. 

'

90 Federal Register 45 (December 3, 1980), 80192-93; Federal Register 47 (August19, t982), 36297-98; 

materials in various m1ning plans of operation folders (1979-1982), Boxes 34 and 35, DARC, DENA Arch1ves. 

'"' Anchorage Daily Times, August I 0, 1982, B-3; Anchorage Daily News, August I 0, t982, A-t; Anchorage 

Daily News, August 14, 1982, B-1; various correspondence. "Jim Fuksa, et al. (1982)" folder, Box 36, DARC, 

DENA Archives. 

'"Federal Register 48 (March 25, 1983), 12599-12600; Federal Register 49 (March 30, 1984), 12768-69; 

Federal Register49 (April27, 1984), 18191-92; Federal Register49 (June 25, 1984), 25907; Federal Register 

50 (May 1, 1985), 18580; Federal Register 50 (May 15, 1985), 20298. 

193 T. K. Hinderman, Plan of Operations, Kantishna Mining Company, Howtay Association Claims 11 through 

24, Caribou Creek, DENA, May 1986, 1; Joe Van Horn interview, August 3, 2007; Steve Carwile interview, 

November 8, 2007. 

'" "Claims, Plans of Operation (1983-1984)" folder, Box 35, DAR(, DENA Archrves; 

195 Michael V. Finley to "Dear Claimant and/or Operator," June 4, 1985, in Catalog 9169, DENA Archives. 

190 Anchorage Daily Times, July 24, 1985, A-1, A-7; Anchorage Daily News, July 24, 1985, A-1, A-12; 

Environmental Law Reporter 15 (1985). 21 048; Federal Reporter, 2"' Series, vol. 803 (1986), 466. 

197 Northern Alaska Environmental Center, eta/. v. Donald P Hodel, eta!. (J85-009 Civ.), "Preliminary 

InJunction," July 22, 1985; William C. Welch to TJ. Koppenberg, AugustS, 1985. in Catalog 9169, DENA 

Archives. 

198 AnchorageDailyNews, December 10,1985, C-10. 

'" SAR, 1985, 2; various entries, "Er~c Weiler (1984-1985)" folder, Box 36, DARC, DENA Arch1ves. 

200 T. K. Hinderman, Plan of Operations, Kantishna Mining Company, Howtay Association Claims 11 through 

24. Canbou Creek, DENA, May 1986, 1; Federal Register 51 (November 4, 1986), 40084; Steve Carwile 

interview, July 23, 2007. 

201 SAR, 1986, 2; Alex Carter interview, September 5, 2007. Initial park staff members included Phil Brease 

(formerly of the BLM's Glennallen office) and Tom Ford (a former Death Valley NM mining specialist). 

202 Federal Register 51 (May 7, 1986), 16903; NPS, Draft Environmental Impact Statement, Mining in Denali 

National Park and Preserve, Alaska (Anchorage, the author, February 1989), 4, 383-85; Bryan Swift to Supt 

DENA, December 21, 1987, in Catalog 9169, DENA Archives 

"'NPS, Draft EIS, Mining in DENA (February 1989), 4. 

204 /bid., vi, 15-17; NPS, Briefing Report, Draft E!Ss, Cumulative Impacts of Mining: DENA, WRST, YUCH, Alaska 

(March 1989), 15-16, Entry 784, DENA RML; Federal Register 54 (Apnl 13, 1989), 14871. 

;o; Federal Register 54 (May 4, 1989), 19249; Federal Register 54 (June 15. 1989), 25506; NPS, Final 

Environmental Impact Statement, Volume 1, Mining in Denali National Park and Preserve (Anchorage, the 

author, April 1990), vii-viii. 

206 NPS, Final EIS, Mining in DENA, Volume 1 (April 1990), v, 22, 167-71; Federal Register 55 (May 30, 1990), 

21949-50; Federal Register 55 (June 8, 1990), 23477; Federal Register 55 (July 2, 1990), 27308; NPS, Record 

of Decision, Final EIS, Cumulative Impacts of Mining, DENA, August21, 1990, in DENA Library; Alex Carter 

interview, September 5, 2007. 

"'NPS, Draft EIS, Kantishna Hills!Dunkle Mine Study, Alaska (May 1983), vii1-xi. 

208 Alaska Land Use Council, Kantishna Hills! Dunkle Mine Study Report (May 1984), 11-17, Vll-1 . 

209 Anchorage Daily Times, June 3, 1984, A-1 0; June 4, 1984, B-1. 

210 Anchorage Daily Times, July 14, 1984, B-2. 

211 Anchorage Daily Times, June 4, 1984, 8-1; NPS, Final EIS, Kantishna Hills/Dunkle Mine Study Report, DENA, 

December 1984,609-10. 

212 NPS, Draft General Management Plan, DENA (March 1985L 33-34, 41-43, 63; NPS, General Management 

Plan, DENA (October 1986), 59-60, 79-81, 98, 203-06. 

213 Phil Brease, email to author, November 20, 2007. 

214 SAR, 1988, 2; Phil Brease review comments, October 4, 2007. The validi:y-examination process lasted until 

1991, perhaps longer; see SAR, 1991, 11. 

"' NPS, Draft EIS, Mining in DENA (February 1989). 16. 

216 SAR, 1989, Addendum, 2; NPS, Final EIS, Mining in DENA (April1990), 16 

217 Bill Sherwonit, "No Going Back," Alaska Magazine 56 (April 1990), 68-71; Anchorage Daily News, August 

13, 1989, F-10. 

"'SAR, 1987, 2, 6; Sherwonit, "No Go1ng Back," 67-68; Anchorage Daily News, December 25, 1990, A-1, 

A-12; Bryan Swrft to Supt. DENA. December 21, 1987, in Catalog 9169, DE~A Archives. 

'"Bill Sherwon1t, "No Going Back," Alaska 56 (April 1990), 30-31. Tom Bundtzen, a State of Alaska 

geologist, agrees with Sherwonit that most gave up the fight. But Paul and Eric Weiler, twin brothers with 

398 Crown Jewel of the North: An Administrative History of Denali National Park and Preserve 
placer claims on Glen Creek, "decided to stay and fight" (according to one reporter) "beginning a course 

of civil disobedience they believe the founding fathers would have been proud of." Anchorage Daily News, 

December25, 1990, A-12 

220 NPS, Record of Decision, Final Environmental Impact Statement, Cumulative Effects of Mining, DENA, 

August 21, 1990, pp. 3-4; Anchorage Daily News, July 6, 1990, C-4. The NPS's acqUisition prices had been 

generated by appraiser Norman Lee in a November 1988 report; see NPS, Draft EIS, Mining in DENA (February 

1989), 263-71. 

221 NPS, Kantishna Resource Management Plan, DENA, July 5, 1990, in Carwile files; New York Times, July 30, 

1990, 9; SAR, 1990, 1. 

222 SAR, 1991, 8. As noted in the Anchorage Daily News (August 13, 1989, F-1 0), the NPS was particularly 

interested in the Quigley Ridge property. The site offered a high potential for tourism development, the 

proliferation of which the agency hoped to avoid. 

m NPS, Record of Decision, Final £15, Cumulative Effects of Mining, DENA, August 21, 1990, p. 4. 

"'Federal Reporter, 2'd Senes, val. 961 (1992), p. 886; Chns Bockman email, July 25, 2007 

m SAR, 1991, 11; Federal Register 56 (July 18, 1991 ), 33040. 

226 Steve Carvvile interview, July 23, 2007. 

m Sherwonit, "No Going Back," 31; Anchorage Daily News, July 6, 1990, C-4; New York Times. July 30, 1990, 

9; "RV Park Planned Within Denali," National Parks 64 (September/October 1990), 9. 

228 SAR, 1990, 2; SAR, 1991, 11; SAR, 1993, 2; Anchorage Daily News, June 6, 1992, A-1, A-16; June 13, 

1992, B-1, B-3; Steve Carwile interview, November 8. 2007. 

229 "NPS Team Examines Denali Mining Claims," National Parks 69 (May/June 1995), 18-19. 

no Ibid.; Anchorage Daily News, July 26, 1997, B-3. 

231 Denali Task Force, Denali Task Force Report; Findings and Recommendations for the National Park Service 

Advisory Board, October 25, 1994, 6. 

m Anchorage Daily News, November 13, 1993, E-9; Frank Murkowski, "Statements on Introduced Bills and 

Joint Resolutions" for S. 2542, October 7, 1994, in www.thomas.gov; Congressional Record 140 (October 7, 

1994), 28991 . 

m "NPS Team Examines Denali Mining Claims." 18-19; Chuck Gilbert interview, July 24, 2007; Denali- Mining 

Acquisition Task Group to Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, "Task Group Report," June 1, 

1995, in "Kantishna Legislative Takings, Sec. 12, P.L. 105-83" file, park general files, Lands Division. AKRO. 

'" SAR, 1996, II; SAR, 1997, 1, 5; Anchorage Daily News, July 26, 1997, B-3; Federal Reg1ster 60 (June 28, 

1995), 33428; Federal Register 62 (February 24, 1997), 8264; Federal Reg1ster 62 (July 14, 1997), 37592. 

235 NPS, Draft Development Concept Plan, Environmental Impact Statement. Entrance Area and Road Corridor, 

June 1996, 61, 64, 66; NPS, Final Development Concept Plan [and] Abbreviated Final Environmental Impact 

Statement, Entrance Area and Road Corridor, December 1996, 25, 31. 

235 H.R. 2107. Section 121, as reported in the Senate, July 22, 1997, in www.thomas.gov; Chuck Gilbert 

interview, July 24, 2007. Purchase pnces under this bill would be determined by a judge or jury, and buyout 

funds would come from a "permanent judgment appropriation" administered by the Department of Justice. 

237 Anchorage Daily News, July 26, 1997,8-1, B·3. 

"'Public Law I 05-83, (November 14, 1997), Sec. 120, US. Statutes at Large 111 (1997), 1564-66; SAR, 

1997, 1-2; Anchorage Daily News, November 15, 1997, D-1. 

239 NPS, Denali National Park and Preserve Briefing Presentation: Legislative Taking of Mining Claims, July 1999, 

in AKRO Lands Division files; "Alaska Delegation: Many Alaskans Take Advantage of Option to Sell Mining 

Claims in Denali National Park" (press release), February 13. 1998. in "Kantishna Legislative Takings, Sec. 12, 

P.L. 105-83" file, park general files, AKRO Lands Division. 

24 ~ NPS, Briefing Statement, Mining ctaim Acquisitions, DENA, April9, 2007, in AKRO Lands Division files; 

Chuck Gilbert Interview, July 19, 2007; Steve Carwile email, July 19,2007. 

241 Natural Resource Consultants, Stampede Mine- Alaska, Report of Visit, August 1977, 3, 12. 

242 SAR, 1980, 4; William E. Brown, Denali, Symbol of the Alaskan Wild, 194-95; University of Alaska news 

release, February 8, 1980, in "11-101, 105-110 Stampede Mine, Ltd." folder, AKRO Lands Division files. 

243 Chris Lambert, Stampede Mine- Alaska, Potential Benefits as Part of the School of Mineral Industry, 

University of Alaska, Fairbanks, October 22, 1979; Mark W. Osgood to Ross Kavanagh, June 14, 1984; both 

in "DENA/Stampede: OL Background Materials" folder, Logan Hovis Collection; Steve Carwile interview, July 

23, 2007. Dennis Fradley, w1th the "Voice of the Times" (Anchorage Daily News, November 13, 1993, E-9), 

stated that Professor Scott Huang from UAF's School of Mineral Engineering "intended to use the mine for 

research and education, but the Park Service blocked it by limiting access to foot or by air, by prohibiting the 

improvement of a trail leading to the site and by requiring an expensive, detailed plan of mining operations 

-just to use the mine for classroom use." 

244 Brown, Denali, Symbol of the Alaskan Wild, 195; Bill Tanner and Bill Brown, Investigation Report, Stampede 

Mine, DENA, ca. May 1987, in "DENA/Stampede: Current Issues. 1993-94" folder, Logan Hovis Collection; 

Chapter Fourteen: Mining and Kantishna-Area Management 399 
Shannon and Wilson, Draft Site Inspection, Stampede Mine, DENA (Fairbanks, the author, March 1995), 4; 

Mike Shields, "Stampede Mine, 1987, A Brief History of a Failed Explosives Disposal Operation," unpublished 

manuscript, ca. 1995, Steve Carwile files. 

245 Mike Shields, Stampede Mine, 1987, A Brief History of a Failed Explosives Disposal Operation, 1995, 

in Logan Hovis Collection, AKRO; Mike Shields, email to the author, August 2, 2007. Shields served as 

the agency's regional blasting officer from 1991 through 1996, but his NPS blasting experience began in 

1960. His report concluded that "the basic cause of this fiasco was ignorance, and its near cousin, assumed 

expertise. The NPS people obviously didn't know anything about explosives, and in the face of assumed 

expertise never seriously questioned it. The [Army]. trained to destroy bombs and shells, obviously knew little 

about [the on-site explosives] and nothing about blast physics.... Neither party ever thought to consult anyone 

outside their immediate realm, or considered postponing the operation once it started. Together they let 

assumptions, erroneous information, and the press of time once on the site lead them into disaster." 

246 Ted Birkedal (ARO-RCR) to ARD, Resource Services, January 5, 1994; Steve Peterson to Supt. DENA, 

December 8, 1992, both in "DENA/Stampede: Current Issues, 1993-94" folder, Logan Hovis Collection; U.S. 

Interior Department, Office of Hearings and Appeals, "Order," IBLA 90-276, June 19, 1990; Steve Carwile 

interview, July 23, 2007. 

247 Charles M. Gilbert to Pete Rutledge, February 11, 1994; Gilbert to Richard H. Follett. June 15, 1994; both in 

"DENA/Stampede: Current Issues, 1993-94" folder, Logan Hovis Collection; Chuck Gilbert interview, July 24, 

2007. The university's holdings consisted of 5 patented claims: 2 placer claims and 3 lode claims. 

248 H.R. 4602, Engrossed Amendment as Agreed to by Senate, July 26, 1994; H.R. 4602, Public Print, July 26, 

1994, both in www.thomas.gov; Congressional Record 140 (July 26, 1994), 17993-94; Anchorage Daily News, 

July 29, 1994, B-4; Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, July 31, 1994, B-3; Chuck Gilbert interview, July 24, 2007. 

The Alaska Land Use Council, in 1988, had first broached the idea of NPS restitution for the damage caused 

by the April 1987 explosion. The council's resolution was apparently approved by university officials and had 

been forwarded to the Alaska Congressional Delegation at that time. Curtis McVee to Donald D. O'Dowd, 

November 22, 1988, in "11-1 01, 105-110 Stampede Mine, Ltd." folder, AKRO Lands Division files. 

249 SAR, 1995, 7, 8; H.R. 1977, Engrossed Amendment as Agreed to by Senate, August 9, 1995; H.R. 1977, 

Public Print, August 10, 1995, both in www.thomas.gov; Congressional Record 141 (August 9, 1995), 22854-

55, 22858, 22869. 

250 H.R. 2107, Engrossed Amendment as Agreed to by Senate, September 18, 1997; H.R. 2107, Public Print, 

September 19, 1997; Public Law 105-83, Sec. 136, November 14, 1997, all in www.thomas.gov; NPS, Briefing 

Presentation: Legislative Taking of Mining Claims, DENA. July 1999, 3; Congressional Record 143 (September 

18, 1997), 19445-48; Steve Carwile interview, July 24, 2007. 

251 Federal Register 42 (January 26, 1977), 4840. 

252 Materials in various mining plans of operation folders (1979-1982), Boxes 34 and 35, DARC, DENA 

Archives. 

253 SAR, 1987, 1, 3; Joe Van Horn, interview with the author, August 2, 2007. 

254 SAR, 1989,3;SAR, 1991,10-11. 

255 NPS, Draft EIS, Cumulative Impacts of Mining, vii, 14-22; Final EIS, Cumulative Impacts of Mining, Volume 1, 

vii, 22. 

256 NPS, Record of Decision, Final EIS, Cumulative Impacts of Mining, 5. 

257 Kevin Meyer, "Kantishna Debris Removal 1993, End of the Season Report," in NPS, Kantishna Cleanup 93: 

Equipment and Debris Cleanup, Drum and Battery Removal on Abandoned and Acquired Mining Properties, 

DENA (Anchorage, the author, ca. 1993), 1-4. 

258 SAR, 1997, 4; 1998, 3. 

259 SAR, 2002, 1; 2003, 32; 2004, 15; 2005; 2006, 21; NPS, "Disturbed Lands Restoration Program," DENA 

Resource Stewardship Strategy, June 11, 1997 (draft), 106-07, 128; NPS, Briefing Presentation: Reclamation of 

Disturbed Areas in DENA, July 1999, in DENA Public Affairs files; Steve Carwile interview, November 8, 2007. 

260 NPS, Environmental Overview and Analysis of Mining Effects, DENA, September 1981, 153; NPS, Final EIS, 

Kantishna Hills/Dunkle Mine Study Report, December 1984, 143, 145; NPS, "Mining Claims in the Kantishna 

Hills Study Area" (Drawing 40141 A), in NPS, Draft EIS, Cumulative Impacts of Mining, DENA. February 1989, 

map pocket. 

261 Joy Chamberlin, "Development Threatens the Heart of Denali," National Parks 71 (September/October 

1997), 19-20; Steve Carwile interview, July 25, 2007; Anchorage Daily News, October 2, 1999, E-1. 

262 Environmental groups felt that the Spruce 4 area was suitable for wilderness, even though Congress had 

not designated it as wilderness and the NPS, in its 1988 wilderness study, had not recommended the area as a 

candidate for inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation System. 

263 Chamberlin, "Development," 19-20; Chip Dennerlein, "Regional Report- Alaska," National Parks 72 (May/ 

June 1998), 16; Katurah Mackay, "Lodge Threatens Park Wilderness," National Parks 72 (November/December 

1998), 15-16; SAR, 1998,2. 

400 Crown Jewel of the North: An Administrative History of Denali National Park and Preserve 
'"'Federal Register 63 (March 19, 1998), 13427-28; Federal Register 63 (October 6, 1998). 53694; Federal 

Register 64 (February 8, 1999), 6115; Federal Reg1ster 64 (August 2. 1999), 41944-45. 

265 NPS, Draft Environmental Impact Siatement. Spruce Creek Access, DENA, June 1999, ill; Federal Register 64 

(August 2, 1999), 41944-45; Anchorage Daily News, September 15, 1999, A-1. 

265 Anchorage Daily News, September 15, 1999, A-1. 

257 Anchorage Daily News, September 15, 1999, A-1; Anchorage Daily News, October 2, 1999, E-1; Anchorage 

Daily News, November 20, 1999, E-11, NPS, Draft EIS, Spruce Creek Access, Summary- 2 

'

68 Federal Register65 (March 7, 2000), 12028; Elizabeth G. Daerr, "Regional Report, Alaska," National Parks 

75 (March/Aprll2001), 20. 

269 NPS, Final Environmental Impact Statement, Spruce Creek Access, DENA. June 2000, Summary- 2; Federal 

Register 57 (June 6, 2002), 39037. 

270 Daerr, "Regional Report -Alaska," 20; Steve Martin to Jeff Barney, March 1, 2001, in Carwile files. 

271 "Progress in Kantishna Mining Claim Acquisitions," AK2Day, February 4, 2002; Ryan Dougherty, "Regional 

Report," National Parks 76 (April-May 2002), 19. 

"'Federal Register 67 (June 6, 2002), 39037; Anchorage Daily News, June 16, 2002, B-1 

m NPS, Environmental Assessment, Spruce Creek Access, DENA. April 2002), ii1. 2-1, 2-5. 

274 "Environmental Assessment for Access to Inholding on Spruce Creek in DENA" (DENA News Release). May 

15, 2002, in DENA Public Affairs files; Federal Register 67 (June 6, 2002), 39037-38. 

Chapter Fourteen: Mining and Kantishna-Area Management 401 
Appendix A. Park Visitation, Budget, and Staff, 1981 to Present 

Note: Visitation is for calendar years, but budgets are for fiscal years. 

Year Visitation . Budget FTE Year Visitation Budget FTE 

1981 256,593 $3,058,200 n.a. 1994 490,311 $6,643,000 69 

1982 321,868 3,896,900 58 1995 543,309 6,944,000 55 

1983 346,082 4,635,600 43 

1984 395,099 4,369,800 42 1996 341,385 7,163,000 66 

1985 436,545 4,563,500 48 1997 354,278 7,385,000 72 

1998 372,519 7,720,000 68 

1986 529,749 4,398,000 42 1999 386,867 8,036,000 71 

1987 575,013 4,910,100 46 2000 363,983 9,189,000 80 

1988 592,431 4,914,900 56 

1989 543,640 5,088,000 53 2001 360,191 9,792,000 89 

1990 546,693 5,418,000 58 2002 311,335 10,144,000 84 

2003 360,189 10,949,000 96 

1991 558,870 5,803,000 66 2004 404,236 10,687,000 101 

1992 503,674 6,056,000 63 2005 403,520 10,842,000 102 

1993 505,565 6,696,000 63 2006 415,935 10,549,000 169 

NOTES: 

Regarding staffing, "FTE" indicates full-time equivalent personnel. Using this system, 4 seasonal employees who each work three 

months per year would count as one FTE, and n.a. means not available. 

Visitation data are for recreational visits only. Until 1995, recreational visitation also included some incidental traffic near the east 

end of the park road. As noted in Chapter 10, NPS personnel adjusted the figures beginning in 1996 to more narrowly define 

recreational visitors. 

Budgets are for operations (ONPS) accounts only. In various years, additional budgetary allotments have been made to the park 

in other accounting classifications. 

Sources: For visitation, see various editions of the NPS, Public Use of the National Parks: A Statistical Report and the agency's 

Public Use Statistics Office website, http://www2.nature.nps.gov/stats. For budget and staffing data, see various annual edit_ions 

of the U.S. Department of the Interior publication Budget Justifications: National Park Service. 

402 Crown Jewel of the North: An Administrative History of Denali National Park and Preserve 
Appendix B. Selected List of Park Employees, 1980 to present 

Management: 

Superintendents: 

Frank J. Betts, August 1978-February 1980 

Charles A. (Chuck) Budge (acting), March 1980-August 1980 

Robert C. (Clay) Cunningham, August 1980-March 1989 

Thomas W. Griffiths (acting), March 1989-June 1989 

Russell W. Berry, June 1989-0ctober 1994 

Stephen P. Martin, October 1994-January 2002 (acting, October 1994-March 1995) 

Diane Chung (acting), January 2002-February 2002 

Paul R. Anderson, February 2002-November 2007 

Elwood Lynn (acting), November 2007-present 

Management Assistant: 

Ralph Tingey, 1981-1990 

Deputy Superintendent: 

Linda (Toms) Buswell, 1989-1999 

Diane Chung, 2000-2004 

Assistant Superintendents: 

Philip Hooge {Resources, Science and Learning), 2003-present 

Elwood Lynn (Operations), 2004-2007 

Rangers: 

Chief Park Rangers: 

Gary N. Brown, 1973-1981 

Thomas W. Griffiths, 1981-1989 

Ken Kehrer, Jr., 1989-2000 

Tom Habecker (acting), 2000-2001 

Nick Herring, 2001-2003 

Tom Habecker (acting), 2003 

Peter Armington, 2003-present 

North District Rangers: 

Tom Habecker, 1990-2005 

East District Rangers (Savage Subdistrict, 1990-present): 

Robert A. (Bob) Gerhard, 1976-1984 

Ken Kehrer, Jr., 1984-1989 

Gerry Reynolds, 1991-1994 

Brenda Bussard, 1995 (acting) 

Chuck Passek, 1995-2000 

Ann Marie Chytra, 2000-2004 

West District Rangers (Wonder Lake Subdistrict, 1990-present): 

Craig Stowers, 1980-1981 

Brian Swift, 1981-1986 

Bernadette Kane, 1991 

Tom Chisdock, 1991-1995 

Sandra Kogl, 1995 

Mark Motsko, 1995-2002 

South District Rangers (based in Talkeetna): 

Robert R. (Sob) Seibert, 1984-1991 

J.D. Swed, 1992-2000 

Daryl Miller, 2000-present 

Interpreters and Resource Managers: 

Chief of lnteroretation: 

Bill Truesdell, 1975-1981 

Doug Cuillard, 1982-1987 

George Wagner, 1987-1991 

Thea Nordling, 1992-1996 

Lisa Eckert, 1996-1998 

Appendix B. Selected List of Park Employees, 1980 to present 403 
Blanca Stransky, 1999-2006 

Ingrid Nixon, 2006-present 

Kennels Managers: 

Sandra Kogl, 1975-1989 

Gary Koy, 1989-2002 

Karen Fortier, 2002-present 

Resource Management Specialists: 

John Daile-Molle, 1978-1991 

Jim Benedict, 1991-1992 

Gordon Olson, 1992-2003 (Chief of Resources) 

Maintenance and Operations: 

Chiefs of Maintenance (Maintenance General Foremen prior to 1985): 

Dickie Stansberry, 1977-1982 

Jack O'Neale, 1982-1985 

Bob Butcher, 1985-1991 

Mike Shields, 1991-1996 

Elwood Lynn, 1996-2005 

Dutch Scholten, 2005-present 

Roads and Trails Maintenance Foremen: 

James Rogers, 1973-1992 

Dick McKenzie (acting), 1992-1993 

Bill Friesen, 1993-2000 

Brad Ebel (West District), 2000-present 

Tim Taylor (East District), 2000-present 

Buildings and Utilities Foremen: 

Larry Keith, 1981-1994 

Hershel Lester, 1994-2002 

George Keers, 2002-2007 

Greg Timeche (acting), 2007 

Juan Gomez, 2007-present 

Fleet Managers: 

Bill Friesen, 2000-present 

Trails Foremen: 

Chuck Tomkiewicz, 2005-present 

Administration: 

Administration Chiefs: 

Beth Scheen, 1970s-1982 

Raymond Kremer, 1982-1991 

Joanne Timmins, 1992-1996 

Marcus Hathaway, 1996-1999 

Julie Wilkerson, 2000-present 

Concessions Chiefs: 

Jane Anderson, 1985-1988 

JoAnn Unruh, 1988-1989 

Dorothy (Dottie) Anderson, 1989-1992 

Dave Nemeth, 1992-1996 

Chris Jones, 1996-1998 

Mary Wysong (acting), 1998-1999 

Nick Hardigg, 1999-2002 

Mary Wysong (acting), 2002-2003 

Donna Sisson, 2003-present 

Planning Chiefs: 

Nancy Swanton, 1996-2001 

Mike Tranel, 2002-2008 

404 Crown Jewel of the North: An Admmistrative History of Denali National Park and PreseNe 

A Note About Sources 

During the preparation of this second administrative history volume, the author attempted 

(within necessary time and budgetary constraints) to locate and use a broad range of source 

materials that would provide a serviceable park 

management history. Soon after he began his 

research, he recognized that the volume of parkrelated materials was too great to allow full access 

to them all. Many materials, therefore, were 

skipped. Inasmuch as many of these records are 

located in the Headquarters-"C Camp" area of 

Denali National Park and Preserve-in its library, 

its museum (which contains the park archives), 

in the superintendent's office building and in 

numerous division offices-it was quickly recognized that gaining access to many of these materials would be a complex undertaking. Because 

the author lived in Anchorage, 240 miles south 

of park headquarters, any future researcher into 

the park's history should be able to find a wealth 

of data at the park that was left untapped for this 

study by visiting the park and seeking out various 

catalogued and uncatalogued archival materials. 

It was the author's good fortune that historian 

Kristen Griffin, as part of an earlier effort, was 

able to assemble a wide range of park-related 

historical materials and make them accessible for 

this study. Ms. Griffin plumbed records at the 

park, at the National Archives, and elsewhere, 

and she methodically and carefully provided 

exact documentation for the overwhelming majority of source materials. A few agency records, 

however, could not be attributed to a specific 

bibliographic source. The author, in this case, 

decided to categorize each of these records by 

folder (when known) and then to give its bibliographic repository as the "Denali Administrative 

History Collection?' These materials-and in fact 

all of the materials gathered for this study-are 

in the Denali Administrative History Collection, 

which is now located in the museum archives at 

Denali National Park and Preserve. 

When the author began investigating park 

records, he recognized that some historical 

records at the park (as alluded to above) were 

uncatalogued and poorly organized. Many boxes 

of records dating from the 1950s through the 

1990s, for example, were found among heating 

equipment in the basement of the building where 

the superintendent's office is located, and some 

scattered, uncatalogued historical records were 

found in the park museum archives. So far as is 

known, these records still remain at these loca406 Crown Jewel of the North: An Administrative History of Denali National Park and Preserve 

tions, although plans call for them to be eventually moved and curated. Records that were used 

from these locations, specifically those pertaining 

to park planning and infrastructure projects, arc 

not referred to by collection name; instead, they 

are referenced to the Denali Administrative History Collection. 

One major collection encountered in the park 

museum was Catalog Number 9169. This massive 

data set, C<?ntaining more than 30 boxes of park 

administrative records, includes materials as early 

as I9I7 and as late as 2001; more than three-quarters of this material) however, dates from the 

r96os and I970S. When research began for this 

study, the records comprising this collection were 

uncatalogued. In order to properly classify and 

curate these records, these and similar materials were brought to the Alaska Regional Office's 

curatorial unit in Anchorage during the summer 

of 2004, after which curator Nicolejackclcn 

began processing them. The much-needed curation of this newly-expanded collection is now 

complete, and thus only scattered materials used 

in this study are referenced as part of the "old" 

Catalog 9r69. The collection's reorganization, 

moreover, means that most if not all references in 

the present study to box numbers in Catalog 9r69 

are no longer valid. The fruit of Ms. Jackclen's 

labor will be beneficial for years to come; any future researchers interested in the history of park 

administration and management will have a large 

trove of well-organized, relatively untouched 

records to peruse. 

In addition to the records from Catalog 9169, 

tomorrow's historians will have access to many 

other avenues of not-yet-analyzed archival material. For example, the park has several substantial archives-such as the Grant Pearson, Earl 

Pilgrim, and Harry Lick collections, plus a large 

assemblage of ranger and interpretive reports, 

research files, and an impressive array of historical photographs-which were largely bypassed 

for this study. Researchers for this study combed 

a broad range of records in three National Archives branches, but many NARA records-from 

both the National Park Service (RG 79) and from 

other record groups-have not been perused. 

The excellent Bill Brown Collection (Catalog 

6857) has been pcrused,but by no means exhaustively. Future researchers will quickly recognize 

that many Denali articles, both in general-interest 

magazines and technical journals, were not consulted during the preparation of this report. And 
the oral history field has barely been scratched; 

while researchers for this study interviewed various park superintendents and a few additional 

agency personnel, future historians will greatly 

benefit by interviewing a broad range of other 

park and regional-office employees, concession 

employees, state and borough officials, incidental 

business permit holders, leaders of park advo~ 

cacy groups, and others who have played a role 

over the years in either carrying out or challenging the agency's mission. 

It is recommended that all those interested in 

investigating the park's records first contact 

either Denali's museum specialist, Jane Lakeman, 

or its cultural resource specialist, Jane Bryant. 

Ms. Lakeman is in an excellent position to steer 

researchers toward the wealth of park historical 

materials within her purview, while Ms. Bryant 

is herself a storehouse of park history, both from 

the projects she has undertaken and from her 

personal experiences during her 40-odd years 

working in the park and its vicinity. 

A Note About Sources 407 
Selected Bibliography 

I. Archival Collections 

Alaska Natural History Association Office, Anchorage: 

Annual Reports. 

Article, Bylaws, and Contracts Files. 

Early Correspondence Files. 

Financial Files. 

Alaska State Archives, Juneau: 

Governor's Files (RG or), Series 41 and 88. 

American Alpine Club: 

Photo Collection. 

Bureau of Land Management, Alaska State Office, Anchorage: 

Parcel and Mining Claim Files. 

Federal Aviation Administration, Anchorage: 

Airports Division Historical Files. 

Interior Department Solicitor's Office, Anchorage: 

Office Files. 

National Archives and Records Administration, Anchorage (NARA AN C): 

Alaska Task Force (ATF) Collection. 

BLM Mining Claim Files. 

National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Md. (NARA CP): 

NPS (RG 79), Central Files, 1907-1939 (Entry 6), Boxes ro9-II2. 

NPS (RG 79), General Files, 1907-1949 (Entry 7), Boxes 1403-1421. 

National Archives and Records Administration, San Bruno, Calif. (NARA SB): 

NPS (RG 79), Central Classified Files 1937-1953, Boxes 74-92. 

NPS (RG 79), Supplementary Files, 1953-1960. 

National Archives and Records Administration, Sand Point, Wash. (NARA SP): 

BLM Administrative Court Files. 

NPS, Alaska Regional Office (NPS/AKRO), Anchorage: 

AK2Day (Ala~ka Region Electronic Newsletter), 2002-2007. 

Alaska Region Curatorial Collection (ARCC). 

Bill Brown Files. 

Compliance (XXX) Files. 

Concessions Division Files. 

DENA Administrative History Collection. 

Judy Alderson Files. 

John Quinley Files. 

Lands Division Files. 

Logan Hovis Files. 

Ranger Division Files. 

NPS, Denali National Park and Preserve: 

Concessions Division Files, historical and contemporary. 

Jane Bryant Files. 

Joe Van Horn Files. 

408 Crown Jewel of the North: An Administrative History of Denali National Park and Preserve 
Park Archives: 

Catalog 9169. 

Collection 00495. 

Denali Administrative Records Collection, prepared by Nicole Jackel en, 

September 29, 2006. 

Denali Mountaineering Records Collection, 1906-1994, prepared by Carlene 

Dickey, 2002. 

Earl Pilgrim Papers. 

Park Library. 

Public Affairs Files (press releases and briefing statements). 

Resource Management Library. 

Roads Files, Maintenance Division. 

Steve Carwile Files. 

Talkeetna Mountaineering Center Files. 

NPS Library, Harpers Ferry Center (NPS/HFC), Harpers Ferry, WV: 

National Parks and Monuments Collection, Denali National Park Files. 

NPS, History Division Oflicc, Washington, D.C. (WASO): 

Denali Administrative Files. 

NPS, Technical Information Center (NPS-TIC), Denver: 

Aperture Card Collection (microfiche) 

Park Documents Collection (microfiche) 

University of Alaska Fairbanks, Alaska and Polar Regions Archives: 

Edward L. "Bob" Bartlett Collection. 

Northern Alaska Environmental Center Collection. 

Ila. Government Reports (Federal) 

Alaska Planning Group, Final Environmental Statement, Proposed Mount McKinley National Park 

Additions, Alaska (Washington?, U.S. Interior Department), October 1974-

Alaska Planning Group, Master Plan, Mount McKinley National Park, Alaska, with Proposed Additions 

(Washington?, NPS), December I973· 

Brooks, Alfred H., The Mount McKinley Region, Alaska, USGS Professional Paper 70 (Washington, 

GPO), 19n. 

Brown, William E., A History of the Denali-Mount McKinley Region, Alaska (Santa Fe, NPS), 1991. 

Later published as Denali, Symbol of the Alaskan Wild (Denali National Park, Alaska Natural History 

Association), 1993. 

Bolton, Donald F., Status Report for Savage River Bridge, MOMC, National Park Route NP 1-A Ouneau, 

Federal Highway Administration), November 1970, TIC 184/D-129. 

Boudreau, Susan L., Long-Term Ecological Monitoring Program, Synthesis and Evolution of the 

Prototype for Monitoring Subarctic Parks: 1991 to 2002 Perspective (Anchorage?, NPS), 2003. 

Buskirk, Steve, A History of Wildfires in Mount McKinley National Park and Adjacent Lands, December 

1976. 

Capps, Stephen R., "Geology and Mineral Resources of the Region Traversed by the Alaska Railroad;' 

in Mineral Resources of Alaska: Report on Progress of Investigations in 1922, USGS Bulletin 755 

(Washington, GPO, 1924), 73-150. 

Capps, Stephen R., The Kantishna Region, Alaska, USGS Bulletin 687 (Washington, GPO), 1919. 

Bibliography 409 
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Park and Preserve (Anchorage, NPS), 1995. 

Catton, Theodore, Wonderland: An Administrative History of Mount Rainier National Park (Seattle, 

NPS), May 1996. 

Denali Task Force, Denali Task Force Report,· Findings and Recommendations for the National Park 

Service Advisory Board, Octo be 25, 1994, TIC Report 184/D-221. 

Dixon, Joseph, Fauna of the National Parks of the United States; Birds and Mammals of Mount McKinley 

National Park, Alaska, Fauna Series No.3 (Washington, GPO), 1938. 

Farabee, Charles R. "Butch," Jr., Death Daring and Disaster; Search and Rescue in the National Parks 

(Lanham, Md., Roberts Rinehart), 2001. 

Federal Highway Administration, Bridge Inspection Report, various bridges and dates, in TIC 

Collection. 

Federal Highway Administration, DNP Route 10, Denali National Park, Road Improvement Study from 

State Route 3 to Kantishna (final), February 198+ 

Federal Highway Administration, Feasibility Study for Upgrading the Denali Park Road at Sable Pass, 

Polychrome Pass and Eielson Bluffs (preliminary draft), 1985. 

Federal Highway Administration, McKinley Park Highway, 1978 Study Report, McKinley Park Station to 

Wonder Lake, in NPS, Road Surface Treatment Planning Analysis, cited below. 

Federal Highway Administration, Road inventory and Needs Study, Mount McKinley National Park, 

1980, Study 184/D-47, TIC Collection. 

Federal Highway Administration, Study Report No.2, Savage River Bridge, NPS Route 1-A, MOMC, 

Alaska, 1980, TIC 184/D44. 

Fortier, Karen, Chuck Tomkiewicz, and Gordon Olson, Park Road Use/Wildlife Interaction Monitoring, 

A Pilot Effort, 1995, 1996. 

Griffin, Kristen, An Overview and Assessment of Archeological Resources, DENA, Alaska, NPS 

Research/Resources Management Report AR-16 (Anchorage, NPS), September 1990. 

Jackson, Reynold G., "Park of the Matter horns;' in John Daughtery, A Place Called jackson Hole: a 

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Association, 1999), Chapter 16. 

Kain, Ann, "Going for the Gold in Kantishna," Alaska Park Science, December 2006, 39-42. 

Kauffmann, John M., Mount McKinley National Park, Alaska; a History of its Establishment and 

Revision of Its Boundaries (Washington, NPS), July 1954. 

Kertel, Kenneth, "Wildlife and the Effects of Mining in the Kantishna Hills, DENA;' NPS Research/ 

Resources Management ReportAR-2, 1984-

MacCluskic, Maggie, and Karen Oakley, Central Alaska Network Vital Signs Monitoring Plan (Fort 

Collins, Colo., NPS Office of Inventory, Monitoring, and Evaluation), September 2005. 

Mackintosh, Barry, Interpretation in the National Park Service: A Historical Perspective, 1986. 

Meyer, Scott, and Ross Kavanagh, "Fish Resources and the Effects of Mining Activities in the 

Kantishna Hills, Denali National Park, 1982;' June 1983. 

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410 Crown Jewel of the North: An Administrative History of Denali National Park and Preserve 
Moxham, Robert M., Richard A. Eckhart, and Edward H. Cobb, Geology and Cement Raw Materials 

of the Windy Creek Area, Alaska, USGS Bulletin 1039-D (Washington, GPO), 1959· 

Moxham, Robert M., WalterS. West, and Arthur E. Nelson, Report on Cement Raw Materials Available 

to the Windy Creek Area, Alaska, USGS Open File Report, 1951. 

Murie, Adolph, The Wolves of Mount McKinley, Fauna Series No.5 (Washington, GPO), 1944. 

Nelson, Aven, Report on the Study of the Plants on Mount McKinley National Park with a List of the 

Plants Collected in 1939, unpublished mss., 1942; see TIC Report 184/D-230. 

NPS, Addendum to the 1983 Development Concept Plan I Environmental Assessment for the Park Road 

Corridor, DENA (Denver, the author),June 1987. 

NPS, Alternative Transportation Modes, Feasibility Study, Vol. II: Executive Summary (Denver, Denver 

Service Center), May 1994· 

NPS, Alternatives Workbook for the South Slope Development Concept Plan, DENA, Winter '992 (the 

author, Denver Service Center), February 1992. 

NPS, Amendment to the 1983 Development Concept Plan/Environmental Assessment for the Park Road 

Corridor and r987 Addendum, Riley Creek, DENA (Denver?, the author), March 1992. 

NPS, Analysis of Cost Recovery for High-altitude Rescues on Mt. McKinley, Denali National Park and 

Preserve, Alaska, August 2oor. 

NPS, Annual Report on Glaciers, MOMC, various years, 1935 to 1940. 

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Report of Aid and Revenue), various years. 

NPS, Bear-Human Conflict Management Plan, DENA (Denali Park, the author), 1984-

NPS, Bear-Human Conflict Management Plan, DENA (Denali Park, the author), June 2003. 

NPS, Bus Maintenance Facility/Employee Dining Facility, DENA, Environmental Assessment (Denver, 

the author), February 1981. 

NPS, Cantwell Subsistence ORV Management Preliminary Alternatives Newsletter, DENA, March 2006. 

NPS, Cantwell Subsistence Traditionally Employed ORV Determination, Final Determination, DENA, 

July 22, 2005. 

NPS, Circular of General Information Regarding Mount McKinley National Park, Alaska (Washington, 

GPO), 1929. 

NPS, Commercial Visitor Service Directory, Alaska Region, annual issues,t981 to '995· 

NPS, A Compilation and Review of Information Pertaining to Use of ORVs as Access for Subsistence 

Purposes in the Cantwell area by l"ederally Qualified Subsistence Users; A Report to the Superintendent, 

DENA, July 9, 2005. 

NPS, Design Analysis, Mountaineering Contact Station, April1994, Report 184/D-285, TIC Collection. 

NPS, Development Concept Plan, Park Road Corridor, DENA (Denver, the author), February 1983. 

NPS, Development Concept Plan, Park Road Corridor, DENA, Environmental Assessment (Denver, the 

author), March 1982. 

NPS, Development Concept Plan, South Side, Denali, Alaska (Denver, the author), February 1997. 

Bibliography 411 
NPS, Division of Cultural Resources, 198r-1986, Alaska Regional Office (Anchorage, NPS), 1987. 

NPS, Draft Backcountry Management Plan, General Management Plan Amendment, Environmental 

Impact Statement, DENA (Denali Park, Alaska, the author), February 2003. 

NPS, Draft Development Concept Plan, Environmental Impact Statement, Entrance Area and Road 

Corridor, DENA (Denver, the author), June 1996. 

NPS, Draft Development Concept Plan, Environmental Impact Statement, South Slope, DENA (Denver, 

the author), May 1993. 

NPS, Draft Environmental Impact Statement, Kantishna Hills/Dunkle Mine Study, DENA, Alaska 

(Anchorage, the author), May 1983. 

NPS, Draft Environmental Impact Statement, Mining in Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska 

(Anchorage, the author), February 1989. 

NPS, Draft Environmental Impact Statement, Spruce Creek Access, DENA, June '999· 

NPS, Draft General Management Plan/Environmental Assessment, Land Protection Plan, Wilderness 

Suitability Review, DENA (Denver?, the author), March 1985. 

NPS, Draft Natural and Cultural Resource Management Plan and Environmental Assessment, DENA, 

April 1982. 

NPS, Draft South Denali Implementation Plan and Environmental Impact Statement (Denali Park, the 

author), September 2005. 

NPS, Entrance Area and Road Corridor Development Concept Plan, DENA (Denver, the author), May 

1997· 

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Review Draft (Anchorage?, the author), August 2oo6. 

NPS, Environmental Assessment for Permanent Closure of the Former Mount McKinley National Park to 

Snowmobile Use, November 9, 1999. 

NPS, Environmental Assessment on the Proposed Construction of Visitor Transportation System 

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NPS, Environmental Assessment, Spruce Creek Access, DENA, April2002. 

NPS, Environmental Overview and Analysis of Mining, Kantishna Hills, Denali National Monument, 

Alaska (Denver, the author), September 1980. 

NPS, Environmental Overview and Analysis of Mining Effects, DENA (Denver, the author), September 

1981. 

NPS, Final Backcountry Management Plan, General Management Plan Amendment, Environmental 

Impact Statement, DENA (Denali Park, Alaska, the author), January 2006. 

NPS, Final Development Concept Plan [and] Abbreviated Final Environmental Impact Statement, 

Entrance Area and Road Corridor, DENA (Denver, the author), December 1996. 

NPS, Final Development Concept Plan, Environmental Impact Statement, South Side, Denali, Alaska 

(Denver, the author), December 1996. 

NPS, Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Kantishna Hills/Dunkle Mine Study Report, DENA 

(Anchorage, the author), December 1984. 

412 Crown Jewel of the North: An Administrative History of Denali National Park and Preserve 
NPS, Final Environmental Impact Statement, Spruce Creek Access, DENA, June 2000. 

NPS, Final Environmental Impact Statement, Volume 1, Mining in Denali National Park and Preserve 

(Anchorage, the author), April 1990. 

NPS, Final Environmental Impact Statement, Wilderness Recommendation, Denali National Park and 

Preserve, Alaska (Denver, the author), September 1988. 

NPS, Final Environmental Impact Statement, Wilderness Recommendation, Denali National Park and 

Preserve, Alaska (Denver, the author), September 1988. 

NPS, Final South Denali Implementation Plan and Environmental Impact Statement (Denali Park, the 

author), Aprilzoo6. 

NPS, Fire Management Plan, DENA, October 29,2004-

NPS, General Management Plan, Land Protection Plan, Wilderness Suitability Review, DENA (Denver, 

the author), November 1986. 

NPS, General Management Plan, Land Protection Plan, Wilderness Suitability Review, DENA, revised 

draft (Anchorage, the author), December 1985. 

NPS, Historic Listing of National Park Service Officials, May I, 1986. 

NPS, Historic Structures Report, Part I, Tok/at Patrol Cabin Complex, Building Number 4 and Supporting 

Structures (San Francisco, Western Service Center), June 1970. 

NPS, Index, National Park System and Related Areas (Washington, GPO), various years, 1975 to 

present. 

NPS, Kantishna Cleanup 93: Equipment and Debris Cleanup, Drum and Battery Removal on Abandoned 

and Acquired Mining Properties, DENA (Anchorage, the author), ca. 1993. 

NPS, Long-Term Ecological Monitoring Program, Annual Administrative Report, Fiscal Year 1997. 

NPS, Management Policies, December 1988. 

NPS, Mission 66 for Mount McKinley NP, unpublished mss., May 13, 1957. 

NPS, Mission 66 Prospectus, Mount McKinley National Park, unpublished rnss., April1956, revised 

Apri!Iz, 1957. 

NPS, Mountaineering Report, DENA, annual issues, 1979 to 2007. 

NPS, National Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings, Theme XVI, Indigenous Peoples and Cultures, 

Special Study, Alaska Aboriginal Culture, 1962. 

NPS, National Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings, Theme XXI, Political and Military Ajj'airs, r86sI9ID, Special Study, Alaska History, !741-1910, 1961. 

NPS, North Access Route Feasibility Study, DENA (Denver, Denver Service Center), April1997· 

NPS, Pacific Northwest Region, Road Surface Treatment Planning Analysis, Mount McKinley National 

Park, Alaska, February I, 1979. 

NPS, Park Road Rehabilitation Program, Environmental Assessment, DENA (Denver, the author), 

February 1982. 

NPS, Park Road Standards, July 1984-

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NPS, Alaska Group, Prospecting and Mining at Mount McKinley National Park and Glacier Bay 

National Monument, May 24, I97I, TIC Report 184/D-255· 

NPS, Replace Toklat River and Moose Creek Bridges, Environmental Assessment (Denver, the author), 

June I985. 

NPS, Revised Draft Backcountry Management Plan General Management Plan Amendment, 

Environmental Impact Statement, DENA (Denali Park, Alaska, the author), April2005. 

NPS, Revised Draft, Development Concept Plan, Environmental Impact Statement, South Side Denali 

Alaska (Denver, the author), March 1996. 

NPS, Riley Creek Proposal and Finding of No Significant Impact (pamphlet), March 1988. 

NPS, Savage River Bridge Replacement, Environmental Assessment (Denver, the author), March 1981. 

NPS, Statement of Finding: Permanent Closure of the Former Mt. McKinley National Park Area of 

Denali National Park and Preserve to the Use of Snowmachines, June, zooo. 

NPS, Subsistence Management Plan, DENA, revised August 18,2000. 

NPS, Supplement to Interim Development Concept Plan, Headquarters/Hotel Area (Denver, the author), 

February 1981. 

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Norris, Frank, Legacy of the Gold Rush: An Administrative History of Klondike Gold Rush National 

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Norris, Frank, Tourism in Katmai Country (Anchorage, NPS), 1992. 

Olsen, Russ, Administrative History: Organizational Structures of the National Park Service, 1917 to 1985 

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the Congress (Washington, GPO), 1970. 

Putera,Judy A., and Jeffrey A. Keay, Effect of Vehicle Traffic on Da/1 Sheep Migration in Denali National 

Park, annual reports for I995 through 1997. 

Roland, Carl, The Vascular Plant Floristics of Denali Natinal Park and Preserve: A Summary, Including 

the Results of Plant Inventory Fieldwork I998-2oor, NPS Central Alaska Network Inventory and 

Monitoring Program, Final Technical Report CAKN -04-01 (Denali Park, NPS), March 2004-

Schneider, William, Dianne Cudgel-Holmes, and John Dalle-Molle, Land Use in the North Addition of 

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Fisheries, 1940. 

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!lb. Federal Contract Reports and Other Unpublished Studies 

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johnson, Darryll R., Dianne Gudgel-Holmes, and james Levy, Traditional Use of Cabins and Other 

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Alaska Department of Commerce and Economic Development, Alaska Economic Performance Report, 

issues of 2002 and 2005. 

Alaska Department of Labor, Alaska Population Overview, 1990 Census and Estimates Quneau?), July 

199!. 

Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Denali State Park Master Plan, 1989. 

Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Report of the Division of Mines and Minerals for the Year, 

various annual issues, 1959 to 1969. 

416 Crown Jewel of the North: An Administrative History of Denali National Park and Preserve 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------· --

Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, Final North Denali Access Route 

Reconnaissance Study, Findings and Recommendations Report, August 2006. 

Alaska Division of Parks, Alaska State Park System: Southcentral Region Plan, February 1982. 

Denali Borough, North Denali Access Route Planning/Reconnaissance Study, Phase I Report, April I, 

2003. 

Gudgel-Holmes, Dianne, Ethnohistory of Four Interior Alaskan Waterbodies (Anchorage, Alaska 

Department of Natural Resources), August 1979. 

Heimer, Wayne E. and Arthur C. Smith, Ram Horn Growth and Population Quality: Their Significance 

to Dall Sheep Management in Alaska, Project W -q-R, ADF&G Game Division, 1975. 

Lensink, Calvin]., "Predator Control with the Bounty System;' in Alaska Fish and Game Commission 

and Alaska Department ofFish and Game, 1958 Annual Report, 94-104-

Simeone, William E., Wild Resource Harvests and Uses by Residents of Cantwell, Alaska 2000, Technical 

Paper Number 272 Quneau, ADF&G Division of Subsistence), September 2002. 

Territory of Alaska, Report of the Commissioner of Mines to the Governor, various biennial issues, 1946 

through 1958. 

Therriault, Eugene, A Road to Stampede (Fairbanks, State of Alaska, Northern Region, Department of 

Transportation), 1989, Item 869, DENA RML. 

Ill. Public Documents (Federal, listed chronologically) 

U.S. Statutes at Large 14 Uuly 26, 1866), 251-53. 

Revised Statutes of the United States, 2nd edition (Washington, GPO, r8y8), 453· 

5I 5t Congress, Chapter r263 (California Forest Reservation Act of 189o);Octobcr 1,1890. 

641

" Congress, IS( Session, Senate Report No. 440, May rs, 1916. 

Congressional Record 64 (February 19, 1917), 3628-30. 

64'" Congress, Public Law 353 (Mount McKinley National Park Act), February 26, 1917-

661" Congress, Public Law 146 (Mineral Leasing Act), February 25, 1920. 

7151 Congress, U.S. Senate Report No. 545, April21, r930. 

Congressional Record 72 (May 7, 1930 ), 8522 

7151 Congress, Public Law 574,january 26, 1931. 

Federal Register 1 (March 28, 1936), 69. 

Public Law 74-750 (Glacier Bay National Monument Mining), june 22,1936. 

Federal Register 1 Uune 27, 1936), 674, 676. 

Public Law 75-778 (Olympic National Park Act), June 29, 1938. 

Federal Register 5 (April 29, 1940 ), 1654-

Federal Register 5 Uune 6, 1940), 2140-41. 

Federal Register 6 (March 26, 1941), 1629-32. 

Federal Register 6 (May 15, 1941), 2433. 

Federal Register 7 (April18, 1942), 2906. 

Public Law 78-47 (Suspension of Annual Assessment Work on Mining Claims), May 3, 1943. 

Public Law 78-106 (Revised Alaska Game Law), July 1,1943. 

Federal Register 8 Uuly 16, 1943), 9841-48. 

Federal Register 8 (August 24, 1943), 11692. 

Federal Register 9 (September 7, 1944), 11009. 

Congressional Record 91 (December 14, 1945), 12101. 

Congressional Record 92 (February 6, 1946), 1030. 

Congressional Record 92 (March 29, 1946), 2783. 

Federal Register 12 (March 13, 1947), 1723-24. 

Congressional Record 93 (March 14, 1947), 2054-

Congressional Record 93 (March 31, 1947), 2931. 

Federal Register 12 (August 28, 1947), 5779· 

Federal Register 13 (December 18, 1948), 7866 (Public Land Order 538). 

Bibliography 417 
Federal Register I3 (December 29, I948), 8652. 

Federal Register I4 (March 3, I949), 955-57-

Public Law 81-107 (Suspension of Annual Assessment Work on Mining Claims),June I7, I949· 

Federal Register I6 (February 8, I95I), n84, I203 (Public Land Order 697). 

Federal Register I6 Uune I9, I95I), 5847· 

Federal Register I7 (May 22, I952), 4655. 

Federal Register I7 (May 23, I952), 4721. 

Federal Register I7 (May 28, I952), 483I-33. 

Federal Register I7 (August I}, 1952), 7368-69. 

Federal Register 21 Oune zo, 1956), 4315-16. 

Public Law 84-830 (Alaska Mental Health Enabling Act),July z8, 1956. 

Federal Register 22 Uune 4, I957), 3896. 

Federal Register 23 Uune 4, I958), 3853 (Public Land Order I646). 

Federal Register 23 Uune 28, 1958), 48n (Public Land Order I667). 

Federal Register 24 Uune 3, 1959), 4519. 

Federal Register 24 (September I6, I959), 7458-59. 

Public Law 89-249 (Concessions Policy Act of I965), October 9, I965. 

Public Law 89-246 (McNamara-O'Hara Service Contract Act), October 22, I965. 

Federal Register 35 (March 14, 1970 ), 4554· 

Federal Register 35 (August 15, 1970 ), 13017. 

Federal Register 37 (February 9, I972), 2877 (Executive Order n644). 

Congressional Record "9 Uuly 27, I973), 26358. 

Congressional Record ng Uuly 31, 1973), 27072. 

Federal Register 39 (April 1, I974), n882-83. 

Congressional Record I20 (December 20, I974), 4I996-97. 

Congressional Record 121 (May 20, 1975), 15421. 

Congressional Record 121 Oune ro, 1975), 18oo8. 

Congressional Record 121 (September 10, 1975), 28335· 

Congressional Record I2I (September IS, I975), 29200-oi. 

Congressional Record 122 (February 4, 1976), 2264. 

Public Law 94-429 (Mining in the Parks Act), September 28, 1976. 

Public Law 94-579 (Federal Lane Policy and Management Act), October 2I, I976. 

Federal Register 4I (October 20, I976), 46357. 

Federal Register 4I (November u, I976), 49862-66. 

Federal Register 42 Uanuary 26, I977), 4835-41. 

95th Congress, 1

51 Session, House Hearing on the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act 

(Serial No. 95-16), September I5, 1977-

Federal Register 44 (Aprils, 1978), 20426-zy. 

Public Law 95-625 (National Parks and Recreation Act), November 10, 1978. 

Federal Register 43 (December 5, I978), 57035-41 (Proclamation 46I6). 

Federal Register 43 (December 26, I978), 60251-58. 

Federal Register 44 (february 27, I979), uo68-69. 

Federal Register 44 Uune 28, I979), 37731-51. 

g6th Congress, r'1 Session, House Report 96-97 (Alaska Nationallntcrcst Lands Conservation Act of 

I979), April I8, I979· 

g6th Congress, 1st Session, Senate Report 96-413 (Alaska National Interest Lands), November 14, 1979. 

Federal Register 44 (August I}, I979), 474I2-I3. 

Federal Register 45 (May 22, 1980), 34759· 

Federal Register 45 (November 25, rg8o ), y8Hg-zo. 

Public Law 96-487 (Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act), December z, I98o. Federal 

Register 45 (December 3, I98o), 80192-93. 

Federal Register 46 Uanuary I9, I98I), 564I-65. 

Federal Register 46 (March I3, 198I), 16737. 

Federal Register 46 (April I, I98I), I9859-6o. 

Federal Register 46 Uune 17, I98I), 31835-64. 

Federal Register 47 (March I], rg8z), u6r2-13. 

9th Congress, znd Session, Senate Report 97-479, June 22, 1982. 

Federal Register 47 (August I9, I982), 36297-98. 

Congressional Record I28 (I982), pp. 33I5I-54, 33274-8I, 33594-95. 

Public Law 97-424 (Surface Transportation Act of I982), january 6, I983. 

418 Crown Jewel of the North: An Administrative History of Denali National Park and Preserve 
Public Law 97-468, Title VI (Alaska Railroad Transfer Act), january 14, 1983. 

Federal Register 48 (March r, rg83), 8599-86oo. 

Federal Register 48 (April6, 1983), 14978-79· 

Federal Register 48 Uunc 7, rg83), 26319. 

Federal Re!5'ster 48 Uune 30, 1983), 30291-92,30295. 

Federal Register so (March 22, 1985), II595· 

Federal Register 51 (May 7, 1986), r6goJ. 

I"ederal Register 51 (November 4, 1986), 40084. 

Federal Re!5'ster 54 (February 3, 1989), 5555· 

Federal Register 54 (April 13, 1989), 1487r. 

Federal Register 54 (May 4, 1989), 19249. 

Federal Register 54 Uune 15, 1989), 25506. 

Federal Register 54 (October 11, 1989), 41691-92-

Federal Register 55 (May 30, 1990 ), 21949-50. 

Federal Register 55 Uune 8, rggo), 23477-

Federal Register 55 Uuly 2, 1990), 27308. 

Federal Register 56 (April r8, 1991), '593!. 

Federal Register 56 Uuly r8, rggr), 33040-

Public Law 102-240 (Intcrmodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act), December 18, 1991. 

Federal Register 58 (February II, '993), 8058-59· 

Federal Register 58 Uuly 8, '993), 36699·700. 

Federal Register 58 (October r8, 1993), 53746. 

Federal Register 59 (March 21, 1994), 133!0-!7. 

Congressional Record 140 Ouly 26, 1994), 17993-94-

I"ederal Register 59 (August r, 1994), 38986-87. 

Congressional Record 140 (October 7, 1994), 28991. 

Federal Register 59 (December r, 1994), 61636. 

Federal Register 59 (December 15, 1994), 64696-97. 

Federal Register 6o (March 31, 1995), 16579-80. 

Federal Register 6o Uune 28, 1995), 33428; 

Congressional Record 141 (August 9, 1995), zz8s3-55, zz8s8, 22869. 

Federal Register 6o (September 13, 1995), 47513-14· 

Federal Register 6o (October 25, 1995), 54705. 

Federal Register 6r (February 23, 1996), 6943-44. 

Federal Register 6r (March 25, 1996), 12095-96. 

Public Law 104-134 (1996 Interior Department Appropriations Bill), April26, 1996. 

Federal Register 6r (May 13, 1996), 22072. 

Federal Register 62 Uanuary 23, 1997), 3521. 

Federal Register 62 (February 24, 1997), 8264-

Federal Register 6z Uuly 14, 1997), 37592. 

Congressional Record 143 (September r8, 1997), 19445-48. 

Public Law ws-83 (1998 Interior DepartmentAppropiiations Bill), November 14, 1997· 

Federal Register 63 (March rg, 1998), 13427-28. 

Public Law ros-qB (Transportation Equity Act for the zrst Century), June g, Igg8. 

wsth Congress, znd Session, "Mount M_cKinley Rescue Activities" (Senate Hearing ros-775), August 24, 

1998. 

Federal Register 63 (October 6, 1998), 53694-

Public Law zos-391 (National Parks Omnibus Management Act of 1998), November 13, rgg8. Federal 

Register 64 (February 8, 1999), 6II5. 

I061

h Congress, rst Session, "Denali National Park and Preserve Rescues" (Senate Report w6-?I),June g, 

'999· 

Federal Register 64 (August 2, 1999), 41944-45· 

Federal Register 64 (September 13, 1999), 49503. 

Federal Register 64 (November 12, 1999), 61563-72 

Public Law w6-113 (Fiscal Year 2000 Appropriations Bill), November 29, 1999-

Federal Register 65 Oanuary rg, zooo), 2920. 

Federal Register 65 (March 7, zooo),Izoz8. 

Federal Register 65 Uune 19, 2000), 37863-79. 

ro6th Congress, znd Session, Senate Report ro6-]T2,]une 22, zooo. 

Public Law 106-486 (Climbing permit fees), November 9, zooo. 

Bibliography 419 
wth Congress, I 5

1 Session, House Hearing on "Federal Government Competition with Small Business" 

(Serial No. 107-19),July I8, 2oor. 

Federal Register 66 (October I, 2oor), 49975· 

Federal Register 67 (June 6, 2002), 39037-38. 

Federal Register 67 (November 8, 2002), 68I57·58. 

Federal Register 68 (February 2S, 2003), 8782-83. 

Federal Register 68 (May 2, 2003), 2348s. 

Federal Register 69 (February I}, zoo4), 7Z53-54-

Federal Register 69 (July 27, zoo4), 44678. 

Public Law 108-447 (Consolidated Appropriations Act), December 8, 2004-

Federal Register 70 (April z6, zoos), 21440-4r. 

Federal Register 70 (May 31, zoos), 30969-70. 

Federal Register 70 (June z8, zoos), 37108. 

Public Law 109-58 (Energy Policy Act of zoos), August 8, zoos. 

Federal Register 70 (September zi, zoos), SS4I4-IS. 

Federal Register 71 (January I9, zoo6), 3I18-19. 

Federal Register 71 (March 14, 2006), I3I6o-6I. 

Federal Register 71 (Mays, 2006), 26498. 

Federal Register 71 (June I}, zoo6), 341S9· 

Federal Register 7I (September IS, zoo6), 54687-88. 

Code of Federal Regulations, Title 36, various years. 

Code of Federal Regulations, Title so, various years. 

Ill. Public Documents (Territorial, State and Local, listed chronologically) 

Territory of Alaska, Session Laws, Resolutions, and Memorials, 1931, 232. 

Territory of Alaska, Session Laws, Resolutions, and Memorials, 1933, 307-08. 

Territory of Alaska, Session Laws, Resolutions, and Memorials, 1945, 193-94. 

Alaska House Bill History, 1975, zq 

Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Public Law 96-487, Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation 

Act, Legislative History (41-volume compilation), Falli98r. 

Alaska Senate Bill History, 198!-1982, passim. 

State of Alaska, 12th Legislature, Legislative Resolve No. r6,]une 2, 1982. 

Alaska Senate Bill History, 1985-1986, 207. 

State of Alaska, 14th Legislature, Legislative Resolve No. 4, February 25, 1985. 

Alaska House Bill History, 1987-1988, 318. 

Alaska Senate Bill History, 1987-1988, 289. 

Alaska Senate Bill History, 1989-I990, 107. 

Alaska Senate Bill History, 1991-1992, ZS3· 

Alaska House Bill History, 1993-1994, 316. 

State of Alaska, 18th Legislature, Legislative Resolve No. 19, February 8, 1994. 

Alaska House Bill History, I997-I998, r9I·9z, z6z, z8r. 

Alaska Senate Bill History, 1997-I998, 212. 

State of Alaska, zoth Legislature, Legislative Resolve No. 26, May 21, 1998. 

State of Alaska, zoth Legislature, Legislative Resolve No. Bs,]une 9,1998. 

Alaska House Bill History, 1999-2ooo, 298. 

Alaska Senate Bill History, 1999-2000, zr4-IS. 

State of Alaska, 21st Legislature, Legislative Resolve No.], March 26, 1999. 

Denali Borough Assembly, Minutes of Regular Meeting, june u, 2000. 

Alaska House ]ournal22:1 (2oor), 959, 1908-10, 1988-89. 

Alaska House Bill History, 200I-20D2, 181-83. 

Alaska Senate Bill HistOry, 200I-2002, 2, 18-zo. 

IV. Newspapers 

Alaska Review (Ketchikan), 1958. 

Anchorage Daily News, 1960 to 2007. 

Anchorage Daily Times, 1947 to 1992. 

Chicago Tribune, 2001. 

Christian Science Monitor, 1997. 

420 Crown Jewel of the North: An Administrative History of Denali National Park and Preserve 
Denali Alpenglow, 1979 to 200J. 

Fairbanks Tri-Weekly News-Miner, 1921. 

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, 1922 to 2004. 

Hawaii Tribune-Herald, 1986. 

]essen's Weekly, 1948. 

juneau Empire, zoo6. 

Los Angeles Times, 1951. 

New York Sun, 1897· 

New York Times, 1932 to zoos. 

Ptarmigan Tracks (Camp Denali newsletter), 2004-

Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 1998. 

Seattle Times, 1976, 1989. 

Seward Daily Gateway, 1927 to 1935. 

South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 2001. 

Tacoma News-Tribune, 1971. 

Wall Street journal, 1999. 

Washington Post, 2003. 

V. Books 

Alaska Northwest, The Milepost (Anchorage, the author), various issues, 1981 to present. 

Albright, Horace, as told to Robert Cahn, The Birth of the National Park Service: The Founding Years, 

1913-33 (Salt Lake City, Howe Brothers), 1985. 

American Alpine Club, Accidents in North American Mountaineering, rg68. 

Anderson, Michael F., Polishing the jewel: An Administrative History of Grand Canyon National Park 

(Grand Canyon Association, Monograph #u), zooo. 

Beiser, Germaine, and Arthur Beiser, The Story of Cosmic Rays (New York, E. P. Dutton), 1962. 

Carson, Donald W, and James W. Johnson, Mo: the Life and Times of Morris K. Udall (Tucson, Univ. of 

Arizona Press, 2001. 

Cole, Terrence, The Cornerstone on College Hill (Fairbanks, University of Alaska Press), 1994. 

Collins, Henry B., ed., Science in Alaska: Selected Papers of the [I9SO} Alaskan Science Conference of 

the National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council (Washington, Arctic Institute of North 

America), 1952. 

Crisler, Lois, Arctic Wild, (New York, Harper and Brothers), 1958. 

Cunningham, Clay, Yellowstone to Denali; Bears, Bison, Poachers, Thieves and Other Characters 

(Denver, Outskirts Press), 2005. 

Davidson, Art, Minus 148°: First Winter Ascent of Mt. McKinley (Seattle, the Mountaineers, '999· 

Dilsaver, Lary M., ed., America's National Park System: the Critical Documents (Lanham, Md., 

Rowman and Littlefield), 1994-

Dilsaver, Lary, and William C. Tweed, Challenge of the Big Trees: A Resource History of Sequoia and 

Kings Canyon National Parks (Three Rivers, Calif., Sequoia Natural History Association), 1990. 

Haigh,Jane G., Searching for Fannie Quigley: A Wilderness Life in the Shadow of Mount McKinley 

(Athens, Ohio, Swallow Press), 2007. 

Hawley, Charles Caldwell, Wesley Earl Dunkle: Alaska's Flying Miner (Boulder, University Press of 

Colorado),2003. 

Bibl1ogrophy 421 
McAllister, Bruce, Wings Over Denali; a Photographic History of Aviation in Denali National Park 

(Boulder, Roundup Press), 2004. 

Mcintyre, Carol, Nan Eagleson, and Alan Seegert, Birds of Denali (Anchorage, Alaska Natural History 

Association), 2002. 

Mech David, et al., The Wolves of Denali (Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press), 1998. 

Mendoza, Sylvia, The Book of Latina Women; 150 Vidas of Passion, Strength, and Success (Avon, Mass., 

Adams Media), 2004. 

Murie, Margaret E., Two in the Far North (Anchorage, Alaska Northwest), 1978. 

National Parks and Conservation Association, Park Boundaries: Where We Draw the Line 

(Washington, D.C., the author), February 1988. 

Norris, Frank, Gawking at the Midnight Sun: The Tourist in Early Alaska, Alaska Historical Commission 

Studies in History No. 170 (Anchorage, the Commission), June 1985. 

Pearson, Grant, with Philip Newill, My Life of High Adventure (New York, Ballantine Books), 1962. 

Pratt, Rupert, Touching the Ancient One: A True Story of Tragedy and Reunion (Tucson, Wheatmark), 

April2oo6. · 

Rawson, Timothy, Changing Tracks; Predators and Politics in Mt. McKinley National Park (Fairbanks, 

University of Alaska Press), 2001. 

Rearden,Jim, Alaska's Wolf Man: the I9IS-S5 Wilderness Adventures of Frank Glaser (Missoula, Pictorial 

Histories Publishing), 1998. 

Rothman, Hal, Preserving Different Pasts (Champaign, Univ. oflllinois Press), March 1989. 

Sellars, Richard West, Preserving Nature in the National Parks: A History (New Haven, Yale), '997· 

Sfraga, Michael, Bradford Washburn, A Life of Exploration (Corvallis, Oregon State Univ. Press), 2004-

Sheldon, Charles, The Wilderness of Denali (New York, Charles Scribner's), 1930. 

Sheldon, Roberta, The Heritage ofTalkeetna (Talkeetna, Talkeetna Editions), 1995. 

Snyder, Howard, The Hall of the Mountain King (New York, Scribner's), 1973-

Tabor, James M., Forever on the Mountain (New York, Norton), 2007. 

Ullman, James Ramsey, The White Tower (Philadelphia, Lippincott), 1945. 

Walker, Torn, Kantishna: Miners1 Mushers, and Mountaineers (Missoula, Pictorial Histories), 2005. 

Washburn, Bradford, and David Roberts, Mount McKinley: the Conquest of Denali (New York, 

Abrams), 1991. 

Waterman, Jonathan, In the Shadow of Denali: Life and Death on Alaska's Mount McKinley (New York, 

Lyons Press), 1998. 

· Wilcox, Joe, White Winds (Los Alamitos, Calif., Hwong Publishing), 1981. 

Woodman, Lyman L., Duty Station Northwest: The U.S. Army in Alaska and Western Canada, I867-

1987; Volume Three, I945-r987 (Anchorage, Alaska Historical Society), 1999. 

422 Crown Jewel of the North: An Administrative History of Denali National Park and Preserve 
VI. Theses and Dissertations 

Chapman, Richard Charles, The Effects of Human Disturbance on Wolves (Canis lupus L) (M.A. Thesis, 

University of Alaska Fairbanks), 1977. 

Evans, Gail E. H., From Myth to Reality: Travel Experiences and Landscape Perceptions in the Shadow of 

Mount McKinley, Alaska, r876-I9]8, (M.A. Thesis, U.C. Santa Barbara), February 1987, 76-77-

Franklin, Linda S., Adolph Murie: Denali's Wilderness Conscience (M.A. Thesis, University of Alaska 

Fairbanks), May 2004-

Grashorn, Eric William, A Search for a Cosmic Ray Point Source with the MINOS Far Detector (M.S. 

Thesis, University of Minnesota), August 2005. 

Haber, Gordon C., The Social Structure and Behavior of an Alaskan Wolf Population (M.A. Thesis, 

Northern Michigan University), 1968. 

Kain, Ann Bischoff, Cultural Resource Management, Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska (M.A. 

thesis, Antioch University), March 2001. 

Rawson, Timothy, Alaska$ First Wolf Controversy: Predator and Prey in Mount McKinley National 

Park, I9]D-I953 (M.A. Thesis, University of Alaska Fairbanks), 1994. 

Stelmack, Jim J., Seasonal Activities and Habitat Use Patterns of Brown Bears in Denali National Park, 

1980 (M.A. Thesis, University of Alaska Fairbanks), 1981. 

Tracy, Diane, Reactions of Wildlife to Human Activity along Mount McKinley National Park Road. (M.S. 

Thesis, University of Alaska Fairbanks), 1977-

VII. Legal References 

Alaska State Snowmobile Association, Inc. v. Babbitt, in Federal Supplement, 2ttd Series, Vol. 79 

(November 8, 1999), m9-46. See Case A99-59 CV OWS), in 1999 U.S. Dist. Lexis, 21148. 

ARA Services, Inc., et al. v. U.S., Case F83-011 (Civil). 

Dexter Clark and Kenneth Leakev. U.S., Case No. F93-072 and F93-073 OKS), November 8, 1993), in 

Interior Department Solicitor's Office files, Anchorage. 

Environmental Law Reporter 15 (1985), 21048. 

Federal Reporter, 2"' Series, vol. 803 (1986), 466. 

Federal Reporter, 2"' Series, vol. 961 (1992), p. 886. 

Northern Alaska Environmental Center, et al. v. Donald P. Hodel, et al. 085-009 Civ.), "Preliminary 

Injunction;' July 22, 1985. 

U.S. Interior Department, Office of Hearings and Appeals, "Order;' IBLA 90-276, June 19, 1990. 

Wilson, et al. v. Ashbrook et al., Case 4FA-88-67, February 23, 1988. 

VIII. Articles 

Adams, Rebecca, "Coal Takes Stronger Position in Nation's Energy Strategy;' CQ Weekly 6o Qune 1, 

2002), 1440-47· 

"Agreement Will Shield Denali from Pollution;' National Parks 68 Oanuary-February 1994), 13-16. 

Ajango, Deb, "The Concessionaire Question;' Alaska Business Monthly ro (May 1994), 57· 

Bibliography 423 
Albright, Horace, "The National Park Service's Policy on Predatory Animals;' journal of Mammalogy 

12 (May 1931), 185-86. 

Albright, Horace, "Our National Parks as Wild Life Sanctuaries;' American Forests 35 (August 1929), 

so s-oy, 536. 

"America's 15 Most Endangered Wildlands;' Wilderness Society's Quarterly Newsletter 2 (Summer 

2000), 3· 

Baldwin, Ralph, "The Crisis on Denali;' Off Belay #30 (December 1976), 2-10. 

Bol, Tom, "Denali Patrol: Rangers Protect Climbers and the Mountain," Alaska 68 (May-June 2002), 

25-26. 

Brickey, James, and Catherine Brickey, "Only Two Gumdrops;' Alaska 39 Uune 1973), 33,57-

Brown, Jerry, "Hotel is History;' 1}-avelAge West 36 (April 16, 2oor), 5+ 

Brown, Tricia, "Hostel Takeover;' Alaska Magazine 63 (February 1997), 45-49-

Bundtzen, Thomas K., "A History of Mining in the Kantishna Hills;' Alaska journalS (Spring 1978), 

151-61. 

"Caribou, Tundra, Whitewater, Mount McKinley ... Alaska Adventures;' Sunset 178 Uune 1987), 74· 

Chamberlin, Joy, "Development Threatens the Heart of Denali;' National Parks 71 (September/ 

October 1997), 19-20. 

Champlin, Charles, "Intrepid Men vs. Mighty Mac;' Life Magazine 48 Uune 6, 196o), 24-31. 

Clifford, Hal, "After the Fall," National Parks 71 (March/April1997), 34-37-

"Climb Up, Pay Up;' Alaska Business Monthly rr Oanuary 1995}, 10. 

"Climbing Costs;' Alaska 61 (April 1995), 13. 

Daerr, Elizabeth G., "Park Service to Issue Rules on Off-Road Vehicles;' National Parks 74 (May-June 

2000), 12. 

Daerr, Elizabeth G., "Regional Report;' National Parks 75 Uanuary-February zoor), 26. 

Daerr, Elizabeth G., "Regional Report, Alaska," National Parks 75 (March/April2o01), 20. 

Daerr, Elizabeth G., "Regional Report on NPCA's Work in the Parks;' National Parks 74 Ouly-August 

2000}, 20. 

Daerr, Elizabeth G., "Regional Report on NPCA's Work in the Parks," National Parks 75 (May-June 

2001), p. 20. 

Dougherty, Ryan, "Regional Report;' National Parks 76 (April-May 2002), 19. 

Davidson, Arthur L., "High Altitude Research on Mount McKinley;' American Alpine journal (1969), 

37!. 

'(Denali Hotel Shut;' Travel Agent 302 Oanuary 22, 2001), 2. 

'(Denali Park to Close," Travel Agent 303 (March 12, 2oor), 86. 

Dennerlein, Chip, "Regional Report," National Parks 70 Guly-August 1996}, 22-23. 

424 Crown Jewel of the North: An Administrative History of Denali National Park and PreseNe 
Dennerlein, Chip, "Regional Report, Alaska;' National Parks 72 (May/June 1998), 16. 

Dennerlein, Chip, "Regional Report, Alaska;' National Parks 72 (November/December 1998), 18. 

Dcnnerlcin, Chip, "Alaska Regional Report," National Parks 73 Ouly-August 1999), 18. 

Dixon, JosephS., "Meeting the \X'ild Life of Denali,'' American Forests 38 (December 1932), 644-45, 

672. 

Doege, Richard Loren, "Ray Genet" (obituary),AmericanAipinejournalzz:2 (1980), 693-94-

Doherty, Nancy, "McKinley Sees Tragic Season," Alaska 42 (October 1976), 8. 

Dolle-Malle,John L. and Joseph C. Van Horn, "Bear-People Conflict Management in Denali 

National Park, Alaska," in Bear-People Conflicts; Proceedings of a Symposium on Management Strategies 

(Yellowknife, N.W.T. Department of Renewable Resources, 1987), 121-27. 

Ess, Charlie, "Vacationing at Denali;' Alaska Business Monthly 15 (August 1999), 29. 

Evarts, Hal G., "Game in the Foreground;' Saturday Evening Post 198 (May 22, 1926), 30-31, 225-30. 

Ewing, Doris M., "A Mt. McKinley Attack on Trash;' Smithsonian 3 (May 1972), 54-57· 

"Focus on the Parks;' Arrowhead (NPS newsletter) 12 (Spring 2005), 2. 

Forker, Jennifer, "Marooned at the Mountain House;' Alaska 65 (February 1999), 38-41. 

'~From Ketchikan to Barrow;' Alaska Sportsman 27 (October r96r), 28. 

Gauna, joe, "Denali Wilderness Zone Should Stay Open to Motorized Recreation Says Alaska 

Senator," Alaska Snow Rider 9 (October 1998), 1. 

Gerhard, Robert, "Climbing in Mount McKinley National Park;' American Alpine journal21:2 (r978), 

503-04-

Gerhard, Robert, "Denali Dilemma;' American Alpine]ournal21:1 (1977), 96. 

Gerhard, Robert, "McKinley: What Does the Future Hold?" Summit 23 (February-March 1977), 14-19. 

Gerhard, Robert, "Mountaineering in Mount McKinley National Park," American Alpine journal22:1 

(1979), 163. 

Gerhard, Robert A., "Revised Regulations for Mountaineering Within Mount McKinley National 

Park;' Summit 26 (November-December 198o),t. 

Getches, David H., "Managing the Public Lands: The Authority of the Executive to Withdraw Lands;' 

Natural Resources]ournalzz (Aprilr98z), 305. 

"The Great Wildlife Park is Alaska's McKinley;' Sunset qo Oune 1968), 62-71. 

Haley-Oliphant, A.E., "Yncz Mexia, Botanist, t87o-t938;' in M.L. Matyas and A. E. Haley-Oliphant, 

editors, Women Life Scientists: Past, Present, and Future: Connecting Role Models to the Classroom 

Curriculum (Bethesda, Md., American Physiological Society, 1997), 203-16. 

Hantsch, Eberhard, "Eight Days to the Top;' Alaska 36 (October 1970), 45-47-

Harrison, A. E., "Alaskan Glacier Surges," Alaska Sportsman 43 Ouly 1967), 14-16,50. 

"Have Slide Rule, Will Climb," U.S. News and World Report 106 Oune 12, 1989), 14. 

Bibliography 425 
Heinrich, Katherine M., "NPS Finalizes Denali Plans;• National Parks 71 (May/june 1997), 21-22. 

Himot, Kate, "Ten Most Endangered;' National Parks 75 (May-June 2001), 24. 

Hogenauer, Alan K., "Gone, But Not Forgotten: The Delis ted Units of the U.S. National Park System;' 

George Wright Society Forum 7:4 (1991), 10-11. 

Huffines, Eleanor, "Alaska;' America's Wilderness (Wilderness Society newsletter) 7 (Summer 2005), 4· 

Hulen, David, "Denali Hits Roadblock;' Alaska Magazine 58 Ouly 1992), 7· 

Larsen, Laura, with Sandy Kogl, "Dog Teams on Mount McKinley;' Alaska 41 (March 1975), 33-36. 

Lingo, George, "Mt. McKinley National Park," Cordova Daily Times All-Alaska Review for 1928,31. 

Littlepage, Dean, "Good Fight: A Snow Job in Denali Wilderness, Advocates and Snowmobilers Battle 

Over Trackless Alaska Lands;' Backpacker 28 (February 2000 ), p. 15. 

Mackay, Katurah, "Lodge Threatens Park Wilderness;• National Parks 72 (November/December 

1998), 15-16. 

Mauck, Bob, "When the Living is Easy;' National Wildlife 24 (August-September 1986), 10-17. 

Mcintyre, Rick, "A Cub Named Stony;' Alaska 58 (May 1992), 31-33. 

Mech, L. David, "Stubborn Hunter in a Harsh Land;' National Wildlife 27 (August-September 1989), 

20-24. 

Menschel, Gail Miller, "Crowd at the Top," Alaska 42 (November 1976), 98. 

Meyer, Michael, "Deathwatch on Mount McKinley," Newsweek ll9 Gune 8, 1992), 31. 

Milstein, Michael, "Roads to Ruin," National Parks 67 (September/October 1993)", 29-33. 

Monteiro, Stephen, "Back on the Bus;' Backpacker 23 (April1995), 18. 

"Mount McKinley Again Will Get Record Visitors;' Sunset (Central Edition) 150 (May 1973), 58-59. 

"The Mountain That Eats Koreans;' Economist 323 Gune 20, 1992), 28. 

Muldrow, Robert, "Mount McKinley," National Geographic Magazine 12 (August 1901), 312-13. 

Muric, Adolph, "Mount McKinley; Wilderness Park of the North Country;' National Parks Magazine 

37 (April 1963), 5· 

Murie, Adolph, "Wildlife of Mount McKinley National Park;' National Geographic 104 (August 1953), 

249-70. 

Murie, Adolph, "The Wilds Where the Caribou Roam;' Audubon Magazine 44 Oanuary-February 

1942), 2-11. 

Myers, Bill, "White Trails;' American Forests 35 (August 1929), 477-79,541. 

Myre, Margaret, "Limits on Snowmachines Favored;' Travel Weekly 59 (March 30, 2000), 22. 

Naske, Claus-M., "Alaska in the Mix;' Alaska History 16 (Spring-Fall2oor), 17-33. 

"New Hotel Slated for Denali Park Entrance;' Alaska Business Monthly 16 (September 2000 ), 7-

"News & Notes;' Off Belay #21 Oune 1975), 39· 

426 Crown Jewel of the North: An Administrative History of Denali National Park and Preserve 
"News Update;' Travel Agent303 (April23, 2om), 84-

"1993 Sierra Club Outings, Alaska and Arctic Canada;' Sierra 78 Uanuary-February 1993), 68-73-

Norris, Frank, "Sport Fishing in Early Alaska;• in Fisheries in Alaska's Past: A Symposium, Alaska . 

Historical Commission Studies in History No. 227 (Anchorage, 1986), 52. 

"NPCA and Others Fault Denali Bus Contract;' National Parks 68 (September/October 1994), 19-20. 

"NPS Report Supports Present Access at Denali," National Parks 66 (May/June 1992), 20. 

"J:JPS Team Examines Denali Mining Claims;' National Parks 69 (May/June I995), I8-I9. 

"Qpening Up Alaska's Interior;' Alaska 59 (August 1993), T2. 

Pearson, Grant, "An Alaskan Lake is Born;' Alaska Sportsman 26 (February 1960 ), 28-29, 35· 

"Plans Scuttled for New Denali Hotel;' Alaska 59 (February 1993), 12. 

Porco, Peter, "Fall from Grace;' Alaska 64 (May-June 1994), pp. 30-37-

"Pre-Paid Deliverance;' Economist328 (September n, 1993), 23. 

Randle, Dan, "Crisis of Confidence," Alaska 66 (August 2000 ), 26-29. 

"Reduce Wolf Population;' Nature Magazine 39 (April 1946), 220. 

"Regional Report;' National Parks 76 (September-October 2002), II. 

"Road Warriors;' Alaska 6o (August 1994), 13. 

Robinson, Peter, "Frances Randall," American Alpine journal, I985, 369. 

Robinson, Roger, and Gary Brown, "Crisis on Denali ... and a Reply;' American Alpine News #136 

(March 1976), 15-19. 

Roosevelt, Theodore, "The American Hunter-Naturalist," The Outlook 99 (December 9, 19n), 854-56. 

Rosen, Yereth, ed., "From Ketchikan to Barrow;' Alaska 56 (February 1990), II. 

"Running the Rails in Alaska;' National Parks 56 (September/October 1982), 33· 

"RV Park Planned Within Denali;' National Parks 64 (September/October 1990 ), 8. 

Schenck, Jeb, "Mt. McKinley-Littered Overcrowded Route;' Summit 16 (December 1970 ), 24-25. 

Seibert, Robert, "Denali National Park and Preserve Mountaineering Summary, 1990," American 

Alpinejournal33 (1991), 149-56. 

Sherwonit, Bill, "Mountain of Trash: Decades of Climbers Have Fouled Denali;' Alaska 68 (May-June 

2002), 33-35,68-70. 

Sherwonit, Bill, "No Going Back;' Alaska Magazine 56 (April 1990 ), 31, 68-71. 

Sherwood, Morgan, "Polly's Denali;' Alaska History 8 (Fall 1993), 36-41. 

Shuler, Judy, "A Man and His Mountain;' Alaskafest,June I9771 27-31. 

Simpson, Sherry, "Seeing Moose;' Alaska 62 (October 1996), 24-25. 

Bibliography 427 
Singer, Francis]. and joan B. Beattie, "The Controlled Traffic System and Associated Wildlife 

Responses in Denali National Park," Arctic 39 (September 1986), 195-203. 

"Snowmachines Banned in Denali Park Areas;' Alaska Magazine 65 (May-June 1999), 17-

Stone, Kirk H., "Geographical Record;' Geographical Review 42 Uanuary 1952), 151. 

"Struggle Continues Over Denali Roads," National Parks 68 (May/June 1994), 10-11. 

"Tourism;' Alaska Business Monthly 12 (November 1996), 14. 

"U.S.-Alaska Study on Cost of Denali Road: A Million a Mile," Travel Weekly 57 Uanuary 15, 1998), So. 

"Update;' Alaska Magazine 64 (March 1999), 17. 

Updike, William A., "Letters Call for Snowmachinc Ban in Denali;' National Parks 74 (May-june 

2000),52. 

Vinson, Ted S. and David Lofgren, "Denali Park Access Road king Problems and Mitigation Options;' 

in Marcia Phillips, Sarah M. Springman, and Lukas U. Arenson, ed., Permafrost: Proceedings of the 81

" 

International Conference on Permafrost, Zurich, Switzerland, 2I-25]uly 2003 (Lisse, Netherlands, A.A. 

Balkema, 2003), 1189-94-

\'(fahrhaftig, Clyde, "Quaternary Geology of- the Nenana River Valley and Adjacent Parts of the Alaska 

Range;' in Quaternary and Engineering Geology in the Central Part of the Alaska Range, U.S. Geological 

Survey Professional Paper 293 (Washington, GPO, 1958), r-68. 

Walker, Tom, "Crimson Tundra;' Alaska 57 (May 1991), 26-27. 

Walker, Tom, "High Landing," Alaska 43 (September 1977), Sr. 

Walker, Tom, "Season's End in McKinley Park;' Alaska Magazine 43 (October 1977), 93· 

"Wanted: Denali Dandelion Hunters!" Alaska Magazine 64 (December 1998/january 1999), 14-

Washburn, Bradford, "Mount McKinley Conquered by New Route;' National Geographic Magazine 

104 (August 1953), 219-48. 

"Watch for Caribou and Grizzly Bears;' Sunset 128 Uune 1962), 65, 68. 

Waterman, jon, "Mt. McKinley: Alaska's Highest Ranger Station;' Courier 30 Qanuary 1985), 1-2. 

Waterman, Jonathan, "Stealing Denali's Crown Jewels;' Backpacker r8 (April 1990 ), 14. 

West, Frederick H., "Teklanika West;' in West, ed., American Beginnings: The Prehistory and 

Palaeoecology of Beringia (Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1996), 332-43. 

Wilson, George R., "McKinley Now and Then;' Alaska Magazine 42 Uanuary 1976), Az. 

"Winter Fire Destroys Buildings;' Alaska Magazine 62 (August 1996), 12. 

Wood, MortonS., 'The First Traverse of M t. McKinley;' American Alpine journal, 1955, pp. 51-69. 

Woodring, Jeannie, "Bussing Denali;' Alaska Business Monthly 10 (November 1994), 10. 

Woodring, Jeannie, "Court Orders Concessionaire Off Mountain," Alaska Business Monthly 10 (August 

1994), 10. 

Woods, Bruce, "Undeniably Denali;' Alaska 66 (December/January 2001), 6, 8. 

428 Crown Jewel of the North: An Administrative History of Denali NatiOnal Park and Preserve 
IX. Websites 

Alaska Denali Tours (http://www.alaskadenalitours.com). 

Alaska Legislature, "Bills and Resolutions" for Itn. and I81

h legislatures (old-www.legis.state.ak.us). 

Alaska Natural History Institutes (www.alaskanha.org/alaska-institutes.htm.). 

Alaska Railroad history (www.akrr.com/arrcn9.html). 

Alaska running calendar (www.runwalkjog.com). 

Alaska state budgets (http://www.gov.state.ak.uslomb/Archive/lndex.htm). 

Alaska state boards and commissions (http://www.gov.state.ak.us/adrnin-orders/). 

American Alpine Club (www.americanalpineclub.org/pdfs/MRcost.pdf.) on climbers' rescue costs. 

Aramark history (www.aramark.com, "about us/history" link). 

California Institute of Technology http:/ /www.srl.caltech.edu/personnel/d ick/cos-encyc.html on 

cosmic rays. 

Denali Borough (www.denaliborough.com), including North Denali Access Route link. 

Denali Foundation (www.denali.org). 

Denali National Park and Preserve (www.nps.gov/dcna), various pages. 

Denali mountaineering (http:/ /www.nps.gov /dena/planyourvisit/mountaincering.htm), various pages. 

Denali National Park Professional Drivers Association (www.dnppro.com). 

Historical inflation calculator (http:/ /eh.net/hmit/ppowerusd or www.rneasuringoworth.corn) 

Leeds University, U.K. (http://www.ask.leeds.ac.uk/haverah.cosrays.shtml) on cosmic rays. 

Library of Congress- "Thomas" (http://thomas.loc.gov). 

Matanuska-Susitna Borough (www.co.rnat-su.ak.us/denalildocuments/) for Petersville Road Corridor 

Management Plan, August 1998 

NASA (httpJ/helios.gsfc.nasa.gov/hist_!goo.html) on cosmic rays. 

NPS Public Usc Statistics Office (www2.nature.nps.gov). 

National SAR School (www.acc.af.mil/afrcc/nationalsarschoollindcx.asp) on SAR history. 

No bel prize page (http://nobelprize.org/no bel_prizeslphysics/laureates/J 936/hess-bio.htm I) 

on Victor Hess. 

Pioneer Yosemite History Center (http://www.nps.gov/yosc/planyourvisitlupload/pyhc.pdf) on early 

Yosemite hunting. 

San francisco newspapers (wwvv.sfgatc.com) for Richard McGowan obituary. 

University of Tennessee Alumni Office (www.bio.utk.edu/division/alumniii98o.htm). Usibelli Coal 

Mine history (www.usibelli.com/chron.html). 

Yosemite Association history (v.rww.yosemite.org/newsroom/pressreleases/2oo2/o32203.htm). 

X. Interviews (in-person with the author except as noted) 

Alderson, judy, May 2, 2006. 

Anderson, Paul, April r2, 2007. 

Apgar, Kevin, March 26, 2007. 

Berry, Russell, june 18,2004. 

Bryant, jane, various times (in-person and via telephone), 2006 and 2007. 

Callaway, Don, November 8, 2006. 

Carter, Alex, Septembers, 2007. 

Carwile, Steve, various times, 2006 and 2007. 

Collins, Richard and florence, by Jane Bryant, March 2002, in DENA Archives. 

Cunningham, Robert C. (Clay), October 13,2004-

Davidson, Art, April 24, 2007. 

Dean, Frederick C., by Jane Bryant and Frank Norris, April 14,2005. 

Durocher, Greg (via telephone), November 15, 2'007. 

Gerhard, Bob, September 23, 2003 and April 28, 2005. 

Gilbert, Chuck, July 19 and 24, 2007. 

Howard, Lena, August 4, 1972, Tape #so6, DENA Archives. 

Hudson, Jay (via telephone), May 8, 2007. 

Kuehn, Daniel, October n, 2004-

Merry, Wayne (via telephone), May 7, 2007. 

Money, Charles (via telephone),January 4, 2007. 

Okonek, Jim, February 26-27, 1992, on "Project Jukebox" website at UAF. 

Peterson, Steve, October 26, 2007. 

Rabinowitch, Sandy, April r7, 2006. 

Bibliography 429 
Richie, Brad, June 8, 2006, and AprilJo, 2007. 

Robinson, Roger (via telephone),January 2007, various dates, and May 1, 2007. 

Schuster, Clare, by Kristen Griffin, September 25, 2000. 

Street, Butch (via telephone),ApriliJ, zoo6. 

Tidlow, Mary, October 30, 2007. 

Tingey, Ralph, Aprilz6, 2oo6; May 16-18,2006. 

Tranel, Mike, October 13, 19, and 25, 2006. 

Twitchell, Hollis (via telephone),January 12, 2007. 

Van Horn,Joe (via telephone), April2o, 2007, August 2-3, 2007, and October 24,2007. 

Warthin, Dan, October 24, 2007. 

Wysong, Mary, November 22,2006. 

430 Crown Jewel of the North: An Administrative History of Denali National Park and Preserve 
Index 

-AAccidents, bus- 3-5~ 59em4, 77, Bz-83, 158 

Across Time and Tundra (film) -76, 161 

Adak- 159 

Adams, Layne- 21g-zo, 247en221 

Adams, Tommy- )I8em33 

Aerie Northwest- 288 

Ahtna Native Regional Corporation- so, 158 

Air access, park- 16gens, 304, 393en97 

Air Force Rescue Coordination Center- 272-73 

Air quality- 221-23 

Air taxis- IOO-OJ, 114, 275, 289, 302, 304-06, 309, 319ems8 

Aircraft, role in climbing expeditions- 265-67, 269-71, 278, 283, 31sens8, 3I5en63 

Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association- 103, rz6enr48 

Airline Deregulation Act of 1978- 29 

Alaska Congressional delegation- 27, 29, 52, 79, 84, 88, 93, g8, roB, uo, rrz, r7semyg, 353, 377, 388, 

40oen248 

Alaska Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit- zo8, 213, 246em94 

Alaska Department of Community and Regional Affairs- 30-31 

Alaska Department of Fish and Game- 25,95-96,219,239 

Alaska Department of Natural Resources- 23, 88, 341, 367 

Alaska Department of Public Works- 46 

Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities- 45, 84-85,87-88, 115 

Alaska Division of Highways- 341 

Aiaska Division of Mining- 377-78 

Alaska Division of Parks (and Outdoor Recreation)- 18-19 

Alaska Engineering Commission -131, 177 

Alaska Field Committee- 343-44 

Alaska Fire Control Service - 223 

Alaska Game Commission- 191, 194, 200 

Alaska Game Law - 200 

Aiaska Heritage Tours- 108 

Alaska Independence Party- 45, 48 

Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority- 31, 8s-86, m-13 

Alaska Interagency Fire Management Council- 223 

Alaska Land Use Council- 61en72, 360-61, 365-68, 373, 397enr7r, 40oen248 

Alaska Legislature- 23, 29, 47, 49, s6, 68en248, 83-87,90-91, I2ICn2s, r88, 191, 194, 243Cni06 

Alaska Limestone Corporation- 348, 357-58, 394en99 

Alaska Mental Health Enabling Act- 347 

Alaska Miners Association- 372 

Alaska Mountain Guides, Inc.- 281, 287, 318enn6 

Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act- r, 4, 9, n, 20,22-26,38-39,43,47, 6oen41, 68en253, 

79-80, 89, 91,94-95,97,102-03, 124en78, 124en88, 157, 159,162, I75Cni]9, 215-16,236-37,288-89, 

360-61,364-65,387 

Alaska National Parks and Monurri·cnts Association- 152, 156-5]! 159, r6s 

Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act- 23, 237, 353, 358 

Alaska Natural History Association -76, 115, 157, 159-60, 163-66, 174em62, 174enr63, 234, 300, 307 

Alaska Natural History Institutes- 166 

Alaska Omnibus Act- 43 

Alaska Pacific University -75 

Alaska Pipeline- 29 

Alaska Planning Group- 46, 354, 358-59 

Alaska Portland Cement Company- 348 

Alaska Public Utilities Commission- 31 

Index 431 
Alaska Railroad- 28-30! 45) so! ss, 78, 84, I23enso, 131-33, 140! 142, 148, r67, I69ens, I69emo, I69em8, 

170en29, 17Iell74, 1]9, 292,300,310, J2Iell2II, 338,342-43,345,350,359,374 

Alaska Railroad Transfer Act of 1982- 29, 63em19-20 

Alaska Reclamation Committee- 45, 66emg8 

Alaska Recreation Survey- 201 

Alaska Regional Office (NPS) - 6-7, 20, 373 

Alaska Rescue Coordination Center- 272-73, 276 

Alaska Rescue Group- 273,275-78, 316en77 

Alaska Road Commission- 43,45-46, IJI, 133, 138, r82-83, 198-99,207-08, 241en 36,331-32,334,338-39, 

341, 359, 392en53, 392en62 

Alaska Science Conference- 202-03, 244em36 

Alaska Sportsman- 191 

Alaska State Parks- 159 

Alaska State Snowmobile Association- 91, I25emo3 

Alaska Statehood Act- 43 

Alaska Supreme Court- 32 

Alaska Task Force- 215 

Alaska Wildland Fire Coordinating Group- 224 

Alaskan AlDS Assistance Association- 116 

Alaskan Air Command- 272-73 

Alaskan Alpine Club- 290 

Alaskan Snow Rider (newsletter)- 89-90 

Albright, Horace- r88-go, 192,225, 249en264, 256,330 

Alder Point- 49 

Aleutians National Wildlife Refuge- 159 

All-Rail Tour -133 

All-terrain vehicles- 95-99, r2sem26, 125ent32, r26em33 

Alpenglow (park newsletter) -157, 159, 163-64, 173em2o 

Alpha claim- 328 

Alpine Ascents [nternational - 299, 321en2o6 

Alternative Transportation Modes Feasibility Study (1992-94)- 49 

American Alpine Club- 103, I7Ien73, 271,273,278,297,303,305,308, 317emo2 

American Association for the Advancement of Science- 202 

American Geographical Society- 206, 273 

American Society of Mammalogists- 189 

Amtrak-z9 

Anaconda Company- 333 

Anchorage- ro, 21,27-28,44,141,167,210,221,263,265, 268,272,286,298,346,366-67 

Anchorage Chamber of Commerce- 167 

Anchorage Daily News- 290, 380 

Anchorage (Daily) Times- 52, 287-88, 291 

Anchorage Fur Rendezvous- 167 

Anchorage Public Lands [nformation Center- 159 

Anderson- 30-31 

Anderson 1 Carl- 258 

Anderson, John and Paula- 198-99, 329 

Anderson, Paul-75-76, 97, 105, II], 304 

Anderson, Pete- 253 

Anderson Pass- 89 

Andrus, Cecil- 59en2, 359 

Angell, Rep. Homer- 195 

Ansorge, Louis -150 

Anthony, Harold- 196 

Anthony, Leo Mark- 377 

Antimony- 46,325,335,337-40,342,351-52,354-55,363-64,381, 395en133 

Antiquities Act- 59en2 

ARA Holding Co.- So 

ARA (Leisure) Services, Inc.- g-n, 32, 34, 37, 65em66, 79-So, II3 

Aramark Sports and Leisure ( concessioner)- 37, 6sem66, 721 79-80, 83, 122en32 

Aramark Sports and Entertainment Services, lnc.- see Aramark Sports and Leisure 

432 Crown Jewel of the North: An Administrative History of Denali National Park and Preserve 
Archeological work- 230-34 

Arctic Institute of North America- zo8, z6y 

Arctic National Wildlife Range- 159 

Arctic Science Conference- 244em36 

Argus, George- 271-72 

Arlington, Va.- 21 

Armington, Peter- 117 

Armstrong, Eileen- 87 

Army Arctic Indoctrination School- 142, Tyoen43, 272 

Army Corps of Engineers- Sy, 378 

Army Transport Command- z6z 

Arnett, G. Ray- 368, 374 

Ashbrook, Dan- 44, 48, 64en150, 352,375,377 

Assistance of wild animals, NPS- 182-84, 191 

Aufeis- 41-42, nS-19, 204 

Auditorium (behind park hotel)- 16, so, 53, 55, 73, 12ren9, 156-sy, 160, 162 

Aurora Borealis- 268 

Ayers, Rayc Ann- 139 

- BBabbitt, Bruce- 37, 49, 58, 6yenzzo, Sz, 84, w6, 296 

Babson, Robert C.- 43 

Backcountry Information Center -y6, 16r 

Backcountry management- 11, zz, 94-95,99-105, 125enm, rz6emsz, 213, zt6, z8z, 304-05,309 

Badaracco, Robert--:- 143 

Bading, Helga- 272-73 

Balay, jean- 225 

Banjo claim- 332-33 

Banner, Kitty- 316cn87 

Barbee, Robert- 37, 48, 51, 72, 106, 379 

Barney,] elf- 387-89 

Barril!, Robert- 253 

Barry, Donald J.- 92 

Bartlett, E.L. "Bob"- 344-46 

Basner, Lee- 96 

Bauer, Don- 43 

Bear Information Management System - 214, 246em97 

Beard, Beryl - 231 

Bearpaw River- 254, 326 

Bearproof containers- 217-18 

Bears and bear management -15, 145,168, I7ren6o, 177-79, r81-84, r86, 193,201,206-19, 241e11J3, 24ren36, 

245enr;6, 245eTII6I, 246Cn192, 246en197, 247en201 

Beattie, Joan- 17, 35, 217, 226 

Beaudin, Arthur E.- 343,345 

Beavers- 184, r86, 210 

Been, Frank -136-38, 169emr, 192-94, 196, 199-201, 208,229, 261,334,339-40,342,344-45, 393en78 

Begich-Boggs Visitor Center -159 

Belous, Robert- 25 

Bell Telephone Laboratories- 257 

Bergh, Knute- 203, 245Cnr42 

Bergh Lake - 203 

Bering Sea -179 

Berry, Russell- J5, 38, 40, 44-45· 48, so-;I, s?-58, 65eni69, 6]enzzo, 96, 106, Iq, rs8, 3II 

Betts, Frank- I 

Bicentennial park projects- 154,231, 233, 318em33 

Big Delta Air Force Base- 142, 167, 272 

"Big Game Drive"- 133, 189 

Biosphere reserve- 222 

Birch Creek- 357 

Index 433 
Birds- 166, 177-81, 183, 197, 201, 2os-o6, 214, 219, 226, 241en38 

Bishop, Richard- 237 

Blackman, George- 336 

Bland, Schuyler- 198 

Blaszak, Marcia- 76, 99, 237 

Bloch, Ivan- 347 

Blue Bird buses- 37, 172en85 

Bolesch, Rainer- 299 

Bombardier (snowmachine manufacturer)- 26 

Boone and Crockett Club- 196, 230, 325 

Booth, Harold- 141, 143 

Borgman, Ernest- 249en273 

Boston Museum of Science- 27J, 279, 314en33 

Botany, park- 172en9J, 177, 181-82, 206, 219-23,225, 245en153 

Bothe, Walter- 257 

Boundary changes, proposed park- 210-n, 344-45,357,367, 396em54, 397em75 

Bounties- 186, 188, 243emo6 

Bowie, William- 227-28 

Boyce, Ronald- 231 

Boyko, Edgar Paul - 358 

Brandon, Dennis- 108 

Branges, Robert- z6o 

Brazil, Herbert - 138 

Brease, Phil- 221, 398cn201 

Brice, Tom- 49 

Bridges, park road - 8-9, 6oen4o 

Broad Pass- 102, ws-o6, 179-80 

Brooker, Ed - 328 

Brooks, Alfred H. - 226-27, 253 

Brown, Gary- 283-84 

Brown, T. Graham- 258 

Brown, William E.- 174em63, 233-34,331,341,381-82, 391en47 

Browne, Belmore- 195-97, 252-53 

BRW consulting company- 123enso 

Bryant, Harold- 191 

Bryant, Jane- 161, 236 

Buchanan, Dave- 287 

Bucknell University- 226 

Budge, Charles (Chuck)- 1 

Budget, park- 2, 36, 50, uS, 129en2t8, 402 

Building stone extraction activities- 338, 349-52 

Bull River valley- 91-92,95-99, 239 

Bundtzen, Thomas- 392enst, 398en219 

Bunnell, Frank- 335 

Buono, Frank- 231 

Burbot- 201 

Burch, John- 220 

Bureau of Biological Survey, U.S.- 178-So, t88-9o, 192-94, 201 

Bureau of Education, Territorial- 179 

Bureau of Fisheries, U.S.- 198-200, 243emo6 

Bureau of Land Management, U.S.- 159,223, 270,344,346-47,349-50,357-58,361-62,364,375,383, 

394enno, 394en114 

Bureau of Mines, U.S.- 339-40, 343, 345, 356, 378, 393en77 

Bureau of Public Health, U.S.- 206 

Bureau of Public Roads, U.S.- 43, 145, 201 

Bureau of Reclamation, U.S.- 346 

Burleson, Todd- 299 

Burnette, Dewey- 336 

Bus accidents- see Accidents, bus 

Bus capacity issues- 15,17-19,33-38, 6ren64, 6ten73, 64eni47, 6sem67, 71, So-81, uS, 16o, 226-27 

434 Crown Jewel of the North: An Administrative History of Denali National Park and Preserve 
Bus maintenance facilities -13, 16, 6oen47 

Buses in the park- see Tour buses, park or Shuttle buses, park 

Bush, George W.- 92-93, 122en40 

Busia,Johnny (Busia Cabin)- 198,335-37, 3(io, 391en47, 391enso 

Buskirk, Steve- 213, 223 

Buswell, Linda- 52, II? 

Butcher, Devereux -195 

Butcher, Susan- 288 

Butts, Bob- 286-87 

Byers Lake- 58, 106-09 

-c-

"C camp" (CCC camp)- 15, 51, 71, 136-37 

Cabin inventory, historic- 232 

Callaway, Donald- 98 

Cammerer, Arno- 137, 191-92, z6o-6z, 334 

Camp Denali (1930s)- 136,332 

Camp Denali (1950s to present)- 61en51, 64em51, 154, 164, 375-76 

Camp Eielson- 136-37, 144, 148, 183, 207, 241en36 

Camp Fire Club- 192, 195-97 

Campbell, Bruce- 45 

Camper Convenience Center, park -74 

Cantwell- 22-23, z8, JO-JI, 58, 89, 91, 93, 95-99, 102, 113, 146, 167, 179, 239, 342, 347-49 

Cantwell Airstrip- 96, 99 

Cantwell Creek- 89,91-92, 95-99, 239 

Cantwell Formation- 226 

Cantwell Traditional Use Area- 99 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore- 51, II? 

Capps, Stephen- 180, 226 

Cari Creek- 109 

Caribou- I, 27, 47,177-84,191, 193-97,201,203,205, zo8, 210-II, 213-14,216-17,219-20, 24oem3, 247en221, 

367,373 

Caribou Camp (on Savage River) - 133 

Caribou Creek- 134, 328, 332-33, 336, 363, 368-73, 386 

Caribou Mines- 332, 334, 336 

Carlson, Vernon- g6 

Carlson, Victor -56 

Carpe, Allen- 257-58, 262 

Carpenter, Larry- 287 

Carrington Company- 333-34, 336, 368 

Carter, Alex- 364 

Carter, jimmy- 1-2, II, 24, 26, 157, 159,214-15,236,360-62,364 

Castren, James- 141 

Cathedral Spires- 1, 214 

Cement- 205, 342-49, 393en83 

Censuses, wildlife- 191, 193-94, 208,210-11,213,219, 24ocn24 

Central Alaska Inventory and Monitoring Network- 220, 222 

CH2MHill - 87 

Chapman, Oscar- 346-47,351 

Chappell, Margaret- 59em4 

Chelatna Lake- 316en82 

Chena River- 253 

Children's interpretive activities- 154, 158, 163 

Chitina- 132 

Chitsia Creek- 325 

Choate, Thomas- 143 

Chugach Electric Association- 31 

Chugach National Forest- 159 

Chulitna Bluffs- 108-09 

Index 435 
Chulitna Pass- 55, 269 

Chulitna River valley- 18, 49, 55-58, 106, 108-09,361, 365 

Chung, Diane- 117 

"Circus tent" interpretive venue -Jo, so, rss-.sb I?JCniiS 

Civilian Conservation Corps- 192, 198 

Clark, Dexter- 45 

Clarke, E. Kendall- 357-58 

Clean Mountain Can- J08-09 

Clear- 31, 167 

Clearwater Creek- 198 

Clearwater Fork- 45,338-39 

Clemons, William- 138, 262 

Clinton, William J.- Ss, 1zzen48, 296, 303, 38o, 384 

Closures, park- zo8, 214, ziy-IS 

Coal- 31-32,331-32,342, 391cn34 

Coalition for Responsible South Denali Development- 108 

Cobb, Edward H. -342, 393en93 

Cobbold, Mike- 65em57, 117 

Coghill, john B. "Jack"- 45,47-48 

Cohen, Bonnie- 296-97 

Coldfoot -159 

Cole, Wallace andjerryne- 64en151, 164,375 

Coleman, Richard- zos-o6 

Collier, Michael- 159 

Collins, Florence - 25, 237 

Collins, Julie- 237 

Collins, Ray- 6zemo4, 237, 239 

Collins, Richard and Jeanne- 272 

Colorado McKinley Expedition- 278 

Colvin, John A.- 196 

Commercial usc licenses (CULs) -11-14, 6IensJ, Iz6cmJ7, 289,298, 3I9cms8 

Community Use Profile (Cantwell)- 96 

Compton, Arthur H.- 257 

Concessions contract, park- 9-11,37,52, 6sem63, 71, 76,79-83, 122en32, 156, 161 

Concessions issues- 131, 142, 17oen29 

Concessions Management Improvement Act (1998) -79, 122en27 

Concessions permits- 100, 304, 322en227 

Concessions Policy Act (1965) -w, 36, 6sem6z 

Congress- s. 24-25,29,31,39,48-49,56,72-73, 84-85, 88, 93, 109,-112, 157, r6r, 177, r8z, r88, 194-97, 215-16, 

254-55,325-z8,350,354-55,377 

Contor, Roger- 38, 321en199, 368,374 

Cook, Frederick- 253 

Cook, John- 1, 51, 59ens 

Cook Inlet Region, Inc.- 57, 105, 108, n4, 122en33, r28en202 

Cooperating association, park- 147, 151-521 174em38 

Cooperative Park Studies Unit- 212-13,220,237 

Copley, Wayne- 357 

Copper Mountain mining area- 134, 198, 236, 329-31, 335-36, 353, 357-38 

Copper Mountain relief cabin (NPS)- 392en53 

Copper Mountain (tourist) tent camp -134 

Copper River and Northwestern Railroad- 132-33 

Corbley, Louis -136-37, 241en24 

Cordova- 132 

Corey, S. Robert- 349, 351 

Coronado (Inter)national Memorial- 328, 395em32 

Cosmic ray research- 203, zs6-57, 262-68, 314cn48 

Cowper, Steve- 56 

Coyotes- r86, 188-94• 242en73 

Crabb, Gary and Linda- 32, 64cni51, 375 

Craft, Shirley- 49 

436 Crown Jewel of the North: An Administrative History of Denali National Park and Preserve 
Crater Lake National Park- 188, 328, 395en132 

Craver, Amy- 239 

Crisler, Herb and Lois- 197, 243en99 

Criterion and Davis (contractor) -ys 

Crooked Creek- 325, 331, 336, 392en51 

Crosson, Joe- 257-58 

Croxton, Loren- 58 

Cuillard, Doug- 162 

Culverts, replacement of- 9, 6oen38, 

Cummings, William F. - 43 

Cunningham, Robert C. "Clay"- 1-2, 6-7, 10, 32, 39, SI-52, 6semsy, 239, 288 

Curry (railroad stop) - 271 

Curry Ridge- I8-Ig, 55, 61en69, 105, 109-10 

- DDallas Museum of Natural History- 226 

Dalle-Molle,John- 213-14,216,218,237 

Dalle-Molle, Dr. Lois- 3 

Dalton, Joe- 325.327,335 

Dandelion eradication- 225 

Darling, Frank Fraser- 206 

Davidson, Art- 275, 277, z8o 

Davidson, C. Girard- 343 

Davis, Craig- 232 

Davis, james P.- 346 

Davis, Ray- zo6, 245Cn153 

Dawson City, Yukon Territory- r32 

Day, john- 271,273 

De Silva, Maria Elena Garfros- 59en14 

Dean, Dr. Frederick- 35, zoS, 212-13 

Death Valley National Monument- 328,351,354-55, 395en132 

Defense Minerals Exploration Agency- 341 

Delaware North Parks Services- So 

Demaray, Arthur- 189, 191, 230 

Denali Access Study (1991-92)- 48-49 

Denali Airstrip- 35 

Denali Bluffs Hotel- 114 

Denali Bookstore -76, Sr, 161, 163 

Denali Borough- 28, JO-JI, Ss-87, 115, 123cns7, I2Jen6I, 168 

Denali Canyon Lodge- II4 

Denali Citizens Council- 32, 54, 88 

Denali Craw's Nest Log Cabins- 113 

"Denali Days" - 168 

Denali Discovery Camp program- r68 

Denali Dog Tours and Wilderness Freighters- 12, 290 

Denali Education Center-JJ, r68 

Denali Foundation- 28, 32-33, 168, 219 

Denali Fruit Express- 36 

Denali Highway- 29, 43, so, 144-45, 152, 208,337,341,352 

Denali Institute- 164, 166, 175em67 

Denali Medical Research Project- see High Latitude Research Project 

Denali Mining Claim Acquisition Task Group- 379-80 

Denali Mining Claims Act (proposed) - 378 

Denali Mountain Lodge- 35, 376 

Denali National Monument- 1, 23-24,26,95, 97, 214,236, J6r-6J, 369,381,385 

Denali National Park Hotel (1939-2001)- see McKinley Park Hotel 

Denali National Park Professional Drivers Asso~iation- 83 

Denali National Preserve- 1-2,21,236 

Denali Natural History Tour- see Natural History Tour 

Index 437 
Denali North Star Inn- 128en2oo 

Denali Park (community)- 44 

Denali Park Hotel (proposed) -17, 19-20,52-55, 68en240 

Denali Park Resorts- 6sem66, 79, n6 

Denali Pass- 262-67,280,284,297 

Denali Princess (Wilderness) Lodge- ro6, II3-15, 128en201 

"Denali Project II"- 168 

Denali Rehabilitation Project- 283 

Denali River View Inn -r28em97 

Denali Science and Learning Center-see Murie Science and Learning Center 

Denali Science and Storytelling Camp- 168 

Denali State Park -~8-19, ss-s8, 89, ws-o6, 109,310 

Denali Subsistence Resource Commission- 25, 96-97, 237-39, 25oen286 

Denali Task Force (1994)- 37,49-50,58, 67en224, 71, 84, 106,378 

Denali Viewpoint South (wayside) -no 

"Denali Week"- 167 

Denali Wilderness (film) -76, 160 

Denali Winter Festival- see Winterfest 

Deneki Lakes- 51 

Dennerlein, Chip- 387 

Denver Service Center (NPS)-s-6, 9-10, 13, 20, s6, s8, 6]en2I4, ?I, Ss, r6o, 216, JIO, J6J, J65 

Desjarlais, Eugene- 38], 389 

Devils Tower National Monument- 313en2r 

Diamond (camp) -45 

Dick, Oscar- 139, 210, 272 

Dickenson, Russell- 53, 224, 286, 374 

Dickey, William A.- 227 

Dimond, Anthony- 334 

Dinosaurs- 226 

Divide Mountain- 146 

Division of Territories and Island Possessions, U.S.- 346 

Dixon, Joseph M.- 135, r4o, I?OCnJI, r8o, 182, 190, 192, 198 

Dog sled demonstrations- IJB-39, 142-43, 147, rso-53, 158-6o, r63, 172en8y 

Dogs and kennels- 134, 137, 142, 159, 169en22, 169en23, 183-84 

Dole, Edwin K.- 381 

Dole, Elizabeth- 29 

Dolly Varden -r98-2oo, 243emo6, 244em28 

Donau, AI- 148 

Donnelly, Jack- 329 

Dormitory, hotel (1939) -73 

Double Mountain- 133-34, 226, 231 

Dow, Tom- tz8enzm 

Dow! Engineers- 87 

Downing, Harold R. "Chip"- 246em92 

Doyon, Ltd.- So, 83, I22CnJ2, r28en2o2 

Drury, Newton -195-96, 200, 266, 268, 340, 343-45 

Dry Creek - 232 

Duke University- 206 

Dumps- see Garbage 

Dundas Bay- 152 

Dunkle, Wesley Earl- 325, 329, 333, 352 

Dunkle Hills- 22-23, 96-97, 105 

Dunkle Mine- 23, 89, 358, 360-61, 363, 365-67, 373-74, 384, 397em71 

Duquette, Annie- z8o-81 

Dyer, A. H.- 336 

-EEagle River Visitor Center- 159 

Eagles- 177, 184, r88, 193,219 

438 Crown Jewel of the North: An Administrative H1story of Denali National Park and Preserve 
Easy Pass- 89 

Eckert, Lisa- 162 

Economic Development Administration- 55 

Edmunds, Chris and Betty- 334 

Education Division, NPS- 180 

Eielson Bluffs -7 

Eielson Visitor Center- 3, 6-7,15,37-38,42,49,71-72, 76-79,82-83, 144-45,147-48,151-60,163, 166-67, 

qzen88, I73emoo, 174emJ8, 217, 228, 235, 337, 352, 392ens3 

Eightmile Lake- 87 

Eisenhower, Dwight D.- 272 

Elderhostel program- 32-33 

Eldorado Creek- 44, 328, 335, 361, 363 

Eldridge, George H.- 227 

Eldridge Glacier- 55, 68en249 

Elliott, Robert- 316en73 

Elmendorf Air Force Base- 272-73, 276, 291 

Endicott Field (North Slope)- 128en2oo 

Energy Policy Act of 2005- 112 

Entrance station, park-so, 72, 77-78, 148, 151, 17Ien74 

Eskimo-179 

Eureka (camp)- 327,331,355 

Eureka Creek- 325, 327-28, 336, 356, 36r, 363, 378-So, 386, 391en34 

Evans, Dave- 234 

Evans, Gail- 232-34 

Everhardt, Gary- 356 

Evison, Boyd- 19, 51, 373 

Ewart, Alan- 295 

Ewe Creek - 207 

Executive Order 3617 (1922)- 350 

Executive Order 38oo (1923)- 350 

Executive Order 11644 (1972)- 27, 6zemos 

Exotic plants- 225 

Explorer I- 268 

Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit, Army- 382 

- FFahrenkamp, Bettye- 6zen91 

Fairbanks- 21, 25,27-28, JO-JI, 44-47, m, IZiemo, IJI, IJJ, 141,144-45, 159,167,179, 18s-86, 194,209,235, 

zsJ,zs8,z68,zy4,29J,JI6en8z,Jzs,J32,J45,J49,JSI,JS7,J67,378,387 

Fairbanks Ice Carnival- 167 

Fairbanks Memorial Hospital- 3 

Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra- 280 

Fairview Hotel/Inn- 161, 293, 300 

Fanning, Ken - 4 7 

Fantasy Ridge Alpinism- 288, 321enzo6 

Farrar, Mace - 328 

Faulkner, Sandra- 235-36 

Federal Highway Administration- 4-9 

Federal Land Policy and Management Act- 47,357,362,364 

Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act- 82, 122en4o, 129en218 

Federal Register- 10, 27, 91, 103, no, 124en79, 208, 259, 261, 317emos, 321emgs, 338 

Federal Subsistence Board- 99, 238 

"Fee demo" funds- see Recreational Fee Demonstration Program 

Fees, climbing- 296-98, 301, 304, 307, 32Ien216, 322en221 

Fees, concessioner's- 36-38, 53 

Fees, park entrance- 37-39, 6sem6o, 6sem63, 6sem71, 8o-82, 119-20, 122en41 

Fees, park road commercial usage (1942, 1950)- 333-35, 337, 391en43, 391en44, 392en55 

Ferguson, Frank- 47 

Ferry- 31, 87 

Index 439 
Fields, joe- 48,83-84 

Fink, Louie- 331 

Fire management- 223-25, 232, 248en235, 248en237 

Fires in park- 185-87, 223 

FIREPRO - 224 

Fish and fishing- 177, 197-201 

Fish Creek -76, 82 

Fish Lake cabin- 238 

Fish stocking- 198, 200 

Fisher, Mike- 275, 3rsen62 

Fister, Kris- 117 

Fitzgerald, james- 358, 369 

Fleharty, George- w, 32, 174em38 

Flightseeing- 82, roo-01, 114, 289,304-05, 3'9ems8 

Foggy Pass- 89, 91, 205, 346, 348 

Forbes, Sheri- 174em63 

Ford, Gerald- 354-55,385 

Ford, Tom- 398enz01 

Foreign climbers- 274-75, z8o, 282, z8y, 289,291-92,294-301,307, JI6cn8t, 32oem8I 

Forks Roadhouse- roB 

Forrest, Kimball- 316en87 

Forsberg, Will and Linda- 12 

Fort Greely -qz 

Fort Knox gold mine- 111 

Fort Richardson- 283, 382 

Fort Wainwright- 291 

Foster, Stephen- 387 

Fox- 179, r83, 191, 210, 214 

Frampton, George- 379 

Franklin, Linda- 201 

Fransen, Ernest- 332 

Friday Creek- 328, 334, 337, 362-64, 366, 373 

Friedman, Ralph- 196 

Fuksa, Jim- 369-70 

Furlong, Val- 148 

-GGale, James- 274 

Galen, james L. - 131 

Galoyak- 185 

Gambell- 294 

Garbage dumps, park- I8J, Ig6-gy, zoy-o8, 212, zrs, 246enrgz 

Garbage on Mount McKinley- 282-83, 287,292,299-300,307-08,310, 322en249 

Garry, Bill- 167, 318em33 

Gas station/general store~ 10, 15, 75, 121enrs 

Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve- 51, 117 

Gateway communities issues- ns-16 

Gateway National Recreation Area- 2, 7, 51 

Gauthier, Mike- 303 

Gauna, Joe- 89, 93, 123en78 

GDM Incorporated- 53, 68en240 

Geeting, Doug- 316en87 

General Management Plan (1983-86)- 9, 13, 17-19,22, 25,27-28,34-35,38,41,47,50, 53, 55, 61en61, 71, 81, 

89, 95-IOO, ISS, 216-18,304,368,374,387 

General Services Administration- 36 

Genet, Raymond E.- 161,277,281, 284,287-88,293,310, 318enns, 3r8enn6, 318enrr7 

Genet Building- 161-62,2931 300, 310 

Genet Expeditions- 288,298-99, 319cnrsr, 32ten203 

Gentlemen's Agreement (1924)- 133 

440 Crown Jewel of the North: An Administrative History of Denali National Park and Preserve 
Geological Survey of Canada- 226 

Gerhard, Robert- 284, 286-88, 293, 318em32, 320en175 

Gilbert, Wyatt G.- 157 

Glacier Bay (NPS unit)- 27, 88, 117, 122cn33• 151-52,328,344,353-55, 393en81, 395CniJ2 

Glacier City- 45, 326 

Glacier Creek- 325-26,363,369,371-72 

Glacier Creek Mining Company- 336 

Glacier National Park- r88, 214 

Glaciers, park- ZOJ-04, 221, 244CniJ8, 2SJ, zs8-s9 

Glaser, Frank- 193-94 

Gleeson, Paul- 233 

Glen Creek- 325,337,363,385-89, 399en219 

qlen Creek Development Company- 337, 392en51 

~'Glitter Gulch" -114-15, rz8enzos Also see Nenana Canyon 

Gold- 325-28,332-37,363-64,372,377.386-87, 396em54 

Gold Creek railroad stop- 269 

Gold King claim- 372 

Goldbelt, Inc.- 122en33 

Golden Belt Tour- 133 

Golden Valley Electric Association- JI-J2, 111-12 

Golden Zone Mine- 89, 384 

Goldwater, Barry- 354 

Goodnews Bay- 179 

Government Printing Office- 193 

Grand Canyon National Park- roo, II), r88, 328, 395en132 

Grand Teton National Park-s•, II?, 201,259-60, JIJemS, JIJenzi 

Grande Denali Lodge- 114 

Grange, Wallace- zo6 

Grant, Owen M. "Red" (Grant Cabin)- 329-30,335-36 

Gravel, Mike- 355 

Gravel extraction- 4-7,352,376 

Gray, Rep. William H.- 39 

Grayling- 198-zoo, 203 

Great Circle "lour- 132-33 

"Great Denali Trespass"- 215 

Great Northern Stone Corporation- 349-52 

Great Smoky Mountains National Park- "5 

Greater Healy/Denali Chamber of Commerce- 115 

Greiner, James- 271, 314en48 

Griffin, Kristen- 234 

Griffiths, Thomas W- 51 

Grimm, Gary- 283, 318cmJo 

Grinnell, George Bird- 327 

Grinnell, Joseph- 18o, 189 

Gross, jack- 205 

Grosvenor, Gilbert- 258 

Gruening, Ernest- 344-45 

Gudgel-Holmes, Diane- 237-38 

Guevara, Judith- 59e014 

Guide services, mountaineering- 61cn5I, 259-60, 276-77, 281, 283-84, 286-90, 293, 295, 298-99, 302, 

309-10, 3IJenr8,317en9I, 317enro5, 318enn6,J2Ienr99, 321en2o6 

Gunsight Pass- 258 

- HHaber, Gordon- 211, 214 

Hackett, Peter- 291, 294 

Hackett, William- 268, 274 

Haertel, Paul - 48 

Hale, John- 30 

Index 441 
Hall, George- 211, 279 

Hamblen, K.E.- 347 

Hamilton, Wayne- 364 

Hammond,Jay-47 

Hankins, Joe- 204 

Hankins Room (Eielson V.C.)- 163 

Harding, Warren G.- IJI, 179, 350 

Hare, snowshoe- zo6 

Harper, Walter- 254 

Harper Glacier- 254, JIJC02 

Harper L~dge- 34, 113, 128enrg6 

Hartzell, Nick- 286-87, 318em33 

Hartzog, George- 152,210-12 

Harvard Mountaineering Club- 269 

Harvard University- 262, 269 

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park- 293 

Hawkins, Clifton - 332 

Hawley, Chuck- 356 

Hayes, Arthur- 279 

Hayes,Joe-47 

Hayhurst, John- 369 

Hays, Jim- 159 

Heacox, Kim- 159 

Healy area- 4, 27-28, JO-JI, 33,48-49,51,54, 73,84-87, 113, n6-r7, 167,329,342,367 

Healy Canyon- see Nenana Canyon 

Healy "clean coal" project- 28, JI·Jz, m-13, 128emgj, rz8em94, 128enzoo, 223 

Healy Creek- 31 

Heartbeats of Denali (film) -161, 164 

Hebert, Jack- 318em33 

Heimer, Wayne- 219 

Heming, Harold (Heming Cabin)- 193-94, 235-36, 336-37, 357-58, 392en53 

Hess, Victor F.- zs6-57 

Hickel, Walter- 45, 48-49, 56, 67en220, 358, 377-78 

High Altitude Rescue Team- 291 

High Lake- 55-57, 105 

High Latitude (Health) Research Project/Group- 291-92,294 

Hill1007 - 109 

Hilscher, H.H.- 393en78 

Hines Creek....: 186, 210, 349-51 

Hirst, Frank- 350 

Historical studies- 230-34 

Hodel, Donald- 47 

Hogan Creek- 8, 6oen38 

Holland, Ken- 275, 316en87 

Holland America Line- 114, 128cn2oz 

Hollister, Paul- 262 

Homer Electric Association- uz-13 

Hooge, Philip- 117 

Hoover, Herbert- t8I, 327, 331 

Horn, Jack - 325 

Horn, William- 19-21, 93, T25emo4, 368, 374 

Horseshoe Creek Pizza -73 

Horseshoe Lake- 138, 141-44,146-47, 151,156,163, I73enu6, 199-201, 207 

Horton, Jack- 284,286, 318em37 

Hosler, Elmer and D.G. -336 

Hosler, Maud- 243en205 

Hosler Mines- 336 

Hostel, park- 10, 15, 19-20, 55, 72-73, 121emo 

Hotel, park- see McKinley Park Hotel (existing) or Denali Park Hotel (proposed) 

Houston, Aubrey F. -135-36, 181 

442 Crown Jewel of the North: An Administrative History of Denali National Park and Preserve 
Houston, Charles F.- 258 

Huang, Scott- 399en243 

Hudson, Cliff- 275, 280, 316en86 

Hudson, Glen- 275 

Hudson, Jay- 316en87 

Hudson Air Service- 281, 289, 316en86, 316en87 

Hughes Aircraft Co.- 268, 273 

Hulten, Eric- zo6 

Human waste management on Mount McKinley- 286-Sy, 292, 299-301, 306-09 

Hummel, Don- 148 

Hunter, Celia- 392en71 

Hunter, Martha (Margaret) -336 

Hunting, prohibition against- r81-8z, 205,326-27,329-30 

Hurricane, Alaska- z8r 

- I -

Ickes, Harold L.- 259 

Igloo Cabin (former ARC camp) - 182-84, 205, 208 

Igloo Campground- 15, '7 

Igloo Canyon -7 

Igloo Creek (bridge)- 9, 191, 196,329 

Igloo Creek (concessions camp)- 134, 169en6 

Igloo Mountain- 209 

In His Shadow Ministries- 12ren9 

Incidental business permits -wo, 126em37 

Injunction, mining (1985)- 370-72, 377> 385-86 

Inspector General, Office of- 55 

Instirute of Arctic Biology- 279-80, 317enno 

Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA)- 48-49 

International Snowmobile Manufacturers Association- 1zsemo3 

Interior Board of Land Appeals- 375 

Interior Department appropriations bills- 38o, 383-84, 399en236 

Interpretive booklets, park- 134, 140,147, 164, 169emo, 198 

Interpretive kiosk, McKinley Park Station- 136-37 

Interpretive roadside markers- 145-46,152, 17oenss. 171ens9, 171en6o 

Interstate Commerce Commission- 29 

Into the Wild (film)- 46 

Inventory and monitoring activities- 166, 168, 181, 220-22 

-JJack River- 348 

Jackson, Wyoming- 192-93 

Jackson Hole National Monument- 59en2 

Jacobs, Bob- 299 

Jacobs, Duane- 338,341,347,352 

James, Jeannette- 86 

Janes, Gerald- 136 

Jenny Creek- 6 

Jern, Ed- 329 

Johannsen, Neil- 55-56 

Johnson, Harry- 298-99, 321en203 

Johnson, Johnny- 318em33 

Johnston, Dave- 277 

Joint Federal-State Land Use Planning Commission- 358-59 

Jones, Randy-76, 94 

Jones, Wally-7 

Juneau- 202 

Junior Ranger Program- 163 

Index 443 
-KKz Aviation- 289, 3I6en87 

Kadow, Kenneth- 344 

Kahiltna Glacier- 89,100, ros, 269,271, 274-?5, 277,280-84, z86-8y, 289-92, 296, JbO-OI, 305-09, 

Jisen6J,Jr6en8z, 317ennz 

Kain, Ann- 235-36, 332 

Kaiser Industries, Inc.- 346 

Kantishna (camp) - 327, 355, 359-60, 367 Also see Eureka 

Kantishna, commercial development- 17,34-35,41,43-44,48,78, 100,374,387-89, 399enzzz 

Kantishna, potential gravel sources- 4, 6 

Kantishna, proposed access routes to- 45-so, 66enzo4, 67enzzo, 83-89, m8, 160 

Kantishna, proposed campground -72 

Kantishna Airstrip- 35, 225, 272, 373, 376, 392Cllji 

"Kantishna Experience" - 168 

Kantishna Hills- 22-23,47, 99, ro5, 239,325-26,331,335-36, 358-6r, 363-69,373-74,385,387, 397enr7r, 

397enr76, 397enr78 

Kantishna Hills/Dunkle Mine Study Group- 365-68, 397enr7r 

Kantishna Hills Study Area- 361,364-65 

Kantishna Holdings, Inc.- 48-49,84-86, IZJenso 

Kantishna Hydraulic Mining Company- 328, 356~s7, 39oenzo 

Kantishna Mining Company- 370 

Kantishna Mining District activities (pre-ANILCA)- 9, 46, r68, 253,325-27,332-35,358-65 

Kantishna Mining District activities (post -ANILCA) - 20, 22-23, 34, 365-89 

Kantishna Oral History Project- 238 

Kantishna River- 238, 253-54 

Kantishna Roadhouse- 35, 64enrso, 359-60, 375 

Kantishna State Recreation Area (proposed)- 359 

Kari, James- 238-39 

Karle, Marsha- 2 

Karstens, Harry- 131, 134~ r6y, 16gen6, 177-82, 1SS, Igy-g8, 229-31, 24oems, 242cnsg, 253-56,325-26,329-

30,39oenzo 

Karstens, Louise- 230 

Karstens Ridge- 254,265, 271-72,278, 313en2, 317en95 

Kasich, Rep. John- 39 

Katmai (NPS unit)- 27, rsr-sz, 345 

Kaye, David- 135, ISI-82, 190 

Keay,]eff- 219, 247en221 

Kellard,James and Susan- 311 

Kelly, Pete- r28enr94 

Kelsey, Glenn- 273 

Kenai Fjords National Park- 25 

Kennecott copper mine- 132 

Kennedy, Dan- 131 

Kennedy, Roger- 37, 58 

King, Samuel- 315en6o 

Kingfisher Creek- II4, 116 

Kirk, Morris P., and Son, Inc. - 338 

Knowles, Gov. Tony- 85-86, gr, roB 

Knox, Victor- 105, IIO 

Knuckles, Penny- 221 

Kogl, Dennis- 290 

Kogl, Sandy-r59, 235 

KohlhOrster, Werner- 257 

Koppenberg, Sam- 373 

Korean War- 141 

Kott, Pete- 103 

Koven, Theodore- 25?-s8, 262, JIJeTII3 

Kragncss, Leonard "Sonny" - 106, 316en8y, 369 

Krakauer, jon- 46 

444 Crown Jewel of the North: An Administrative History of Denali National Park and Preserve 
Kroll, Gary and Danae- 376 

Kroto Creek- 109 

Krug, Julius "Cap"- 343-45 

Kuehl, Alfred- 267 

Kuehn, Daniel- z6, 167 

Kuskokwim River- 48-49, 179 

- LLachelt, Theodore- 141, 205 

Ladd Field (Ladd A.F.B.)- 270,272 

Lagoon (railroad siding) -79 

Lake Clark National Park and Preserve- 293 

Lake Clark Subsistence Resource Commission- 25 

Lake George- 246em84 

Lake Minchumina- 22-25, 48, 89, zrs, 239, 272 

L'ake Texoma National Recreation Area- r4r 

Lakeman, Jane- 236 

Lama helicopter, Aerospatiale- z8s, 295-96, 301 

L,and and Water Conservation Fund- 377 

Land exchanges, proposed- 22-23 

"Lane letter" (1918)- 185, 188,259,326,328 

Lead- 335, 364, 374 

Leake, Kenneth- 45 

Leasing program (proposed), Kantishna- 367-69,374 

Lee, David- JI6en8? 

Lee, Norman- 399enzzo 

Legal jurisdiction, park- 43, 66em88 

Legislative takings process (1998)- 380-81 

Leman, Loren- 86 

Leopold (report), A. Starker- 210-11 

Lewis, Carol-76 

Liek, Harry- IJS-J6, J8I, rSJ-84, r86, 190-92, zo8, 229, 240Clll9, 24ICTI42, 256-sS, 334 

Life Bound, Ltd. - 32oem69 

Lignite- 31,45-47, 281, 318em19, 338,340-42,381, 392en62 

Limestone- 205,338,342-49,357-58,385, 393en72, 394en99 

Limitation Order L-208 (1942)- 335 

Limits on climbers, annual- 283-84,303,305-06 

Lindley, Alfred- 135, 256-58 

Ling cod- 201 

Lingo Airstrip- see Denali Airstrip 

Little Annie claim- 328, 332 

Little Moose Creek- 331,336 

Little Stony Creek- 76 

Long Point- ro6, ro8-o9 

Long term environmental monitoring- 221-22 

Lopp, William- 179 

Loring, O.E., Jr.- 348 

Lottery, park road- 40-41, n9-20, 129en225 

Lowell, Don- 8; 

Lower Toklat Patrol Cabin- 341 

Luckett, Link- 273 

Luoma, L.K. - 357 

Lynn, Elwood- 117 

Lynx -~n-y8, 189,193, 201 

-MMackie, Ralph- 134 

MacLeod, Louise Murie- see Murie, Louise 

Index 445 
Madsen, David- 244enH3 

Magnificence in Trust (film)- 151-52, 172en88 

Mahovlic, Wendy- 225 

Mainella, Fran -76, So 

Markers, historical- 230-JI, 249en264, 249en265 

Marquam, Thomas- 131 

Marten -184 

Martin, Stephen P. -51, 53, 90-92, 96, wo, 117, 124en88, 124en95, 304, 388 

Mary's McKinley View Lodge- no 

Mason, Rachel- 98 

Matanuska-Susitna Borough-JO-JI, 57, I0?-09 

Mather, Stephen- 43, •77-79, 188, 230, 249en264, 325 

Maupin, Louis- 139 

Maurer, Ernest- 335 

Maynard and Partch - 53 

McCall, John- 272 

McCall, Neil- 329 

McCandless, Chris- 46 

McCarthy (town)- 23 

McCarthy, Paul- 226 

McDowell court decision- 96 

McFarland, Ernest- r86 

McGonagall Pass- 12, 254, 262-65, 269-70, 28o-8r, 314enJ8, 3rsens8 

McGowan, Richard- 276-n, 287, 317en91 

McGrath- 48-49, 84, 168, 237, 342 

Mcintyre, Carol- 221 

McKay, Douglas- 351 

McKenzie, Fannie- see Fannie Quigley 

McKinley Bar patrol cabin- 207, 335 

McKinley Chalets (Resort)- 10,33-34,52, H3-14 

McKinley Park Airstrip -72, 78, 270, 393en97 

McKinley Park Hotel (1939-2001)- IO,Jg, so, sz-ss, 71-]4, 77, 79, IJ6, 140, ljj, r6o, 198,200, 202 

"McKinley Park News"- 135 

McKinley Park Station- 43, 131, 257, 266 

"McKinley Parklets"- 134, 184 

McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge- 106 

McKinley River- 281, 325, 39oen2o 

McKinley Station Trail -n 

McKinley View Lodge (proposed)- 388 

McKinley Village- 31-33,35,51, 7J, 113-14, 117, 154,375 

McKinley Village Community Center- 35 

McLean, 'Donald - 272 

McLean, Marshall- 197 

McRae, A.D.- 332 

Mech, David- 219-20, 247en221 

Medical presence- 28, 33, 64em42, 64em44, 289 

Meier, Tom- 220 

Mercer, Berle- 281-82,290, 318enrrg 

Mercer, Wilma - I 57 

Merriam, Lawrence- 208, 230 

Mesa Verde National Park- 328 

Metcalf, Lee- 354-55 

Metz, Hans- JI?Cll9I 

Metzenbaum, Sen. Howard- 29 

Mexia, Ynez- I81-82, 225 

Mexican Explorers Club- z6o, 262 

Michaud, John- 298 

Mileage markers- 146 

Miller, Arthur- 196 

Miller, Daryl-JII-12 

446 Crown Jewel of the North: An Administrative History of Denali National Park and Pre;erve 
Miller, Willy- 205 

Millikan, Robert - 257 

Minchumina Community School- 239 

Mineral Leasing Act (1920)- 391en34 

Mineral Mountain- 353, 386, 391en38 

Minerals Management Division (NPS)- 373 

Miners, subsistence needs of- 177, 18o-8r 

Mining and prospecting, park- 325, 328-33, 335, 337-38, 342-54 

Mining claim acquisition, Kantishna-area- 364-65, 367, 373-75, 377-81,383-84, 399en220 

Mining in the park, sanctioning of- 325-26, 328, 330-31, 338, 349, 352-58 

Mining in the Parks Act (1976)- 354-58,361-63,369,371,384 

Mining Law of 1872- 335 

Mining plans of operations- 356, 363, 369-70, 372-73, 375, 377. 379, 384-85, 397em65, 399en243 

Mission 66-so, 144-45, 204-05,210,341 

Models, Mt. McKinley massif- 141, 143 

Moderow, Mark -76 

Mondell, Franklin W.- 326 

Moody-79 

Moore, Terris- 269, 274, 316en8z 

Moose- 177-79, 182,191, 203,212, 216-q, 219, 247CTI2I7 

Moose Creek (bridge)- 9, 44-45, 105, 198,221,324-25,327-28,335-36,356-57,361,373-74,376-78,386-89, 

391enso 

"Moose Scat Scoot"- u6, Iz8enz13 

Morehead, john M. Oack)- 37, 48,54 

Morgan, H. Morris- 231 

Morino, joe- 243enms 

Morino, Maurice- IJI, 243emos 

Morino Campground- 10, 15, 72 

Morino Grill-76, So-81, 161 

Morino Loop Trail- 151 

Morino Roadhouse- IJI, 199, 243emos 

Morino Tract- 229-30, 349-50 

Morrison, Peter- 279 

Motor Carrier Act of 1980- 29 

Matt, William- 19, 21, 373 

Mount Barrille- 277 

Mount Brooks- 269 

Mount Deception- z6z 

Mount Eielson- zo6 

Mount Eielson Mining District- see Copper Mountain mining area 

Mount Everest- 262, 276 

Mount Foraker- 258, 279, 284, 287, 297, 299, 301, 317emos 

Mount Healy- 114 

Mount Huntington- 318enns 

Mount McKinley, height of- 227-29 

Mount McKinley Gold Camp- 44 

Mount McKinley Gold Placer Company- 328 

Mount McKinley Mercury Mining, Inc.- 352, 357, 395em31 

Mount McKinley Motor Lodge- 128em97 

Mount McKinley National Park Company- g, 148 

Mount McKinley Natural History Association- 147, I 51-52, 165, 171en6g, 17Ien7o, 171en72 

Mount McKinley Park Hotel (Morino's)- 131 

Mount McKinley Princess Lodge -w6, 127em63 

"Mount McKinley Route" (ARR slogan)- 133 

Mount McKinley Tourist and Transportation Co. - IJI, 136-37, 332 

Mount McKinley U.S. Army Recreation Camp- 138 

Mount Rainier National Park- 188, 259-60, 262, 276, 284, 296, JOJ, JIJem8, JIJen2I, 321em94, 326, 328 

Mount Sanford- 268 

Mountain climbing- 82, IOI-OJ, n8, 134-36,139, 161-62, 168, 253-312 

Mountain Climbing Guide Service- 276-77 

Index 447 
Mountain House, Sheldon-zn, 317en94 

Mountain Rescue Association- 271 

Mountain Travel, lnc.- z8r, 287 

Mountain Trip- 287-88 

Mountaineering booklets, park- z6r-62, 277-]8, 294, J06-o], JIJenzs, JIJCTIZ], J20em8r 

Mountaineering Club of Alaska- 275 

Moxham, Robert M.- 393en93 

Muddy River- 352 

Muldrow, Robert- 227 

Muldrow Glacier- 134, zo3, zo6, 254,258, z6z-66, 270,272,277,284, Jrsen6o 

Mundt, Valerie- 44-45,377 

Murie, Adolph -75, I39-40, rsr-sz, 156, ryrensg, I]Ien68, I72en87, 179, 184,192-97, 201-o6, zo8, 210,214, 

2191 229,240Clll9,242Cfl89,24JCll941 24SCTIIj6 

Murie, Gail- r84 

Murie,Jan -75-76 

Murie, Louise -75, r8z, zo6, 225, 243eng4 

Murie, Olaus- 178-79• 193-94, zor, z66-68, 314en46 

Murie Science and Learning Center -72, 74-76, So, 114, r6r, r64, r66 

Murkowski, Frank- 27, 45, 48,84-85,87-88, 93,112, 123en57, 124cn78, 160,301-03,378-79,383,388-89 

Museum, park- Ij6, 139. 141-43· 147· 149· rsr, I70enJ4, I70en4I, 172en78, I97· 226, 2JO, 2J6 

Museum of Vertebrate Zoology- r8o 

Mushrush, Wayne- 299 

MIV Bartlett (ferry) -159 

Myers, Bill- 182 

- NNancarrow, William- 141-42, 147, I71en69, 197,202, 243en94, 243en99 

Naske, Claus-M.- 342 

National Academy of Sciences- 202, 210 

National Atmospheric Deposition Program- 222 

National Biological Survey- 221, 247cnzz1 

National Environmental Policy Act- 54, 124en88 

National Geographic Society- 228, 258, z68 

National Historic Preservation Act- 234, 236 

National Lead Company- 338 

National Outdoor Leadership School- 228, 287-89 

National Park System Advisory Board- 37, 58, 84, 196 

National Parks Association- 195 

National Parks (and) Conservation Association- 23, 88, 92, rz6em48, 387 

National Parks and Recreation Act (1978}- 6oen41 

National Parks Committee. (1923)- 327 

National Register of Historic Places- 2J2-JJ, 249en274 

National Search and Rescue Plan (1956)- 272 

National Transportation Safety Board- 3-4 

Natural history handbook (proposed)- 147, 171en68, 172en93, 173enn7 

Natural History Tour- j6-j8, 6senr57, Sr, 83, 158, r64 

Natural Resource Challenge (1999)- 222 

Neasham, Aubrey- 230 

Nebel, Linda- 20 

Nelson, Aven and Ruth- I81-82, 225, 24oen3o 

Nelson, Edward W - 178-79 

Nenana- JO-JI, 47-49, r2renro, IJI-JZ, 145, r67, 258,347,359 

Nenana Canyon- 145 

Nenana Canyon commercial development- z8, 33-34, 64en145, IIJ-r6 

Nenana Canyon trail (proposed) -72,78 

Nenana River- 23, z8, 53, 114, 116, r85 

Neversweat claim- 335 

New England Museum of Natural History- 262, 314en33 

Newsweek- 295 

448 Crown Jewel of lhe North: An Administrative History of Denali National Park and Preserve 
Nierenberg, Jon- 175em63 

Nike missile sites- 268 

Nikolai- 48, 89, 168, 237, 239 

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals- 59em7, 377 

Nixon, Ingrid- 159, 162 

Nixon, Richard- 27, 358 

"No Hotel Committee"- 54 

Nobel Prize- 257 

Nolan, Thomas B.- 346 

Nordale, A. Hjalmar- 332 

Nordling, Thea- 162 

Norris, Earl- z66 

North Cascades Alpine School- 288 

North Denali Access Route Planning and Reconnaissance Study (2001-06)- 85-87 

North Face Lodge- 35, 64em51, 154, 375-76 

North Star Borough- 30 

Northeast Corridor (rail)- 29 

Northern Access Feasibility Study (1996-97)- 84 

Northern access route issues- see Kantishna, proposed access 

Northern Empire Development Company- 343 

Northern Warfare Training Center- 17oen43 

Northwest Alaska Areas (NPS) -52 

Northwest Explorations, Inc.- 386-87 

Norton, Gale W.- 92-94 

Nyberg, Fritz- 182, 184 

Nye, Gerald - 330 

-0-

Office of Hearings and Appeals - 357 

Office of Management and Budget- 91 

Office of Naval Research- 262, 266-67, 314en48 

Off-road vehicles- see either Snowmachines or All-terrain vehicles 

Ogston, Edward (Ted) - 136-37 

Ohio Creek valley- 23 

Oishi, Tayomi - 284 

Okonek, Brian- 288 

Okonek, Jim- 316en87 

Olson, Gordon- 221 

Olympic National Park- 201, 328, 395en132 

Om lin, Paul - 336 

Operation White Tower- see White Tower Expedition 

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument- 328, 395en132 

Organic Act, NPS (1916)- 229,326,328 

Orr, James- 141-42 

Otto Lake- 51, 121emo 

Outdoor World, Ltd.- 3, 9-10,33-34, 79, 173emoz 

Ownership of park road- 42-45, 234 

- pPackwood, Sen. Robert- 29 

Paleontology- 226 

Palin, Sarah - 87 

Palmer- 36, 57, 288, 369 

Panguingue Creek Co-op - 36 

Panguingue Creek Homeowners Association - 88 

Park Road Standards Task Force (1982-83)- 6 

Park Restoration and Improvement Program (PRIP)- 16 

Parker Pass - 265 

Index 449 
Parks, George- 188 

Parks Highway-J, 9' I8, 29, 33-34, 45-46, ss, S9eniJ, 97, IOj-06, 109-10, IIJ-16, 152-SJ, 167, 17Jeni04, 211 

Parks Highway Corridor Study- 116 

Parnell, Sean- 124en99 

Paxson -144 

Payne, Frances- 181-82 

Pearson, Grant- 135, IJ9, 142, I67, I70en34, 184,194-98,200,202, 230-JI, 24JC089, 244enus, 256,261-62, 

267, 269-70,272, 3'4en3o, 335,341,349-51, 392enss 

Pearson Cabin- see Toklat Cabin 

Penn, Sean - 46 

Permancnte Cement Company- 346-47 

Peters Basin - 272 

Peters Glacier- 203, 244em38, 253, 272, 314en38 

Peters Hills- 107, 109-10 

Peters Hills nature center (proposed)- 108 

Petersburg- 58 

Peterson, Steven- 234 

Petersville- 107 

Petersville Road- 106-10 

Petersville Road Corridor Management Plan- 108 

Pets, wild animals as- 182-84, 191, 210-11, 241en38, 241en42 

Petzoldt, Paul- 313em8 

Phoenix- 51 

Photographers, professional- 34, 150-51 

Pika Glacier- 305 

Pilgrim, Earl- 46,335,338-42, 38r-82, 392en71 

Pioneer Access Road Act (1959)- 341,381 

Pioneer Ridge- 317en95 

Pioneers of Alaska- 230 

Planning efforts, park -13,15-19,71-79 

Polychrome Pass -7, 144-45, 153 

Porcupine- 179, 188, 191, 210 

Post office -71-72,75,78, rzrem6 

Powerhouse, hotel (1939) -73 

Prasil, Richard- 143, 210-11 

Predator control-186-97, 203 

Prescott College - 307 

Primacord - 41 

Primrose Ridge (along park road) - 15, 36-38, 81 

Princess Cruises- 113 

Princess Tours- 34, 106, 108, 113, 128em96, 128enzoo, 128enzo1 

Project Themis (1968)- 280 

Prospecting- see Mining and prospecting 

Ptarmigan- 178, 181, 183, 191 

Public Land Law Review Commission- 353 

Purpose of park- 1 

Pygmy Tundra Buffalo Run- 36, 64ems6, 128en213 

- QQuigley, Joe and Fannie- 139, 325, 328-29, 332, 334-35, 362, 374, 376, 390en4 

Quigley Cabin (old)- 328,334 

Quigley House (new)- 168 

Quigley Ridge- 328, 333; 362, 377> 399en222 

Quinley, John- 48,93 

-RR.S. (Revised Statute) 2477-45,47-48 

Rabbits- 179, 181, 186 

450 Crown Jewel of the North: An Administrative History of Denali National Park and Preserve 
Radios, role in climbing expeditions- 278-79, 317enro2 

Rafting, Nenana River- 114, n6, 128en2o2 

Rail belt Energy Fund- 112 

Railroad depot, Denali Park- 74, IJI, 137, 153, 179 

Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976- 29 

Railroad wyes -78-79 

Rainier Mountaineering- 281, 287-88 

Ramsdyke Creek- 106 

Randall, Frances- zSo-81, JI?CTIIIJ 

Rawson, Tim -75, 188, 196, 241enso 

Reaburn, De Witt L.- 227 

Reagan, Ronald- 29, 39, 93, 368, 374 

Rebne, Brenda- 239 

Reclamation, mining claim- 356, 370, 372, 376, 379-80, 384-86 

Recreational Fee Demonstration Act- I29enzi8 

Red Tape Mining Company- 369 

Red Top claim- zo8, 328, 332-34. 362-63, 374-76 

Red Top Mining Company- 332-34, 391en34 

Redington, Joe, Sr.- 288 

Redington, Paul- 189 

Reed, Nathaniel- 354-55 

Reeve, Robert- 230 

Regula, Ralph- 380 

Regulations, park- 2-3,25-27, 91-92, 124CTI79, T24emoo, 198-201,208,237, 244enns, 244CTII2j, 259-62, 

270-]1 1 278-]9, 288-911 297-98, JIJCTI2I, JlJCTI2j, Jl4CTI28, JI]CniOj, J2ICni9j 1 333-341 343-44, 

349-53, 356, 371, 373, 384, 392ens8 

Reichert, Joe- 309 

Reid, Neil}. Uim)- 145,147, 171en68, 171en73 

Reindeer- '79-80, 188, 194, 240C013 

Reiss, Jack- 76 

Remza, Eric - 307 

Rescue activities, mountain- 261-62,266,271-73, 275-80, 284-87,289-92,294-96,298, J00-04, 310, 

315en66, 316en77, 317emo2, 318em34, 32oem69, 32oem87 

Resource Management Plan (1982)- 214, 216, 232 

Restoration, mining claim - see Reclamation 

Rex - 46, 48, 87 

Rhodes, H. W- 227 

Rice, Bud- 388 

Richards, Fred- 316en87 

Richardson Highway -132-33, 144 

Richardson Highway Transportation Co. -131-32 

Richie, Brad- 311 

Ridenour, James- 48, 55, 299 

Riegelhuth, Richard- 143 

Riggs, Thomas- '77> 188, 326 

Riley Creek (bridge) -IJI, 186, 198, zoo, 349 

Riley Creek Campground- 17, 55, 72, 74, So, 152-54, 163, 214, 225 

Riley Creek Information Center- 13, 39, so, 151-52,154-55, 158-59,163 

Ringstad, Mark- 347 

Ritter, Tom- 156 

RKO Pictures- 262-63 

Road, park- 4-9,42-45, 59en23, 204,210 

Road Inspection and Inventory Program (FHWA)- 4-7 

Roberts, John D.- 373 

Robinson, Roger- 283, 294, 301, 308-12, 317eniiJ 

Rock Creek - 221-22 

Rocky Mountain National Park- 188 

Roller, Michelle- 88 

Roosevelt- 45 

Roosevelt, Franklin- 59en2 

Index 451 
Roosevelt, Theodore -177 

Rothman, Hal - 224 

Rumohr,John -137-39, 193,207, 391en47 

Ruth Amphitheater- 104, 277> 305 

Ruth Glacier- 1S-2o, 23, 89, wo, I04-05, I27cms8, 272,363,365-66 

Rutledge, Pete- 383 

-SSable Mountain -179,226, 231 

Sable Pass -7, 27, 208-09,226,350 

Salisbury and Dietz, Inc.- 366-67 

Salmon-215 

San Francisco- zor, 350 

Sanborn, Roy -156 

Sanctuary Cabin- 184, 192, 196,208 

Sanctuary Campground- 17,35 

Sanctuary River -133, 178, 231, 329 

Saturday Evening Post- 179 

Saunders, Stephen C.- 303 

Savage Alpine Trail-77 

Savage Camp (concessioner)- 131-36, 16gen6, r69em6, r6gen23, 207 

Savage Camp airfield- 133 

Savage River (bridge)- 9, 15,35-36,40,72, 83, 87, 133, 144-45, 163, 178-79, 189, 194, 198,281-82,329 

Savage River Campground -17, 19, 40, 45, 72, 78, So, 144, 147, 152-54,163 

Savage River check station- 36,39-40, 45, II9, 12gen229 

Savage River patrol cabin- 159,163, 249en274 

Sawyer, Ernest W.- 198 

Scammon, Edith- 182 

Schein, Marcel- 262-64 

Schempf, Phillip- 219 

Schneider, William- 237 

Schoening, Pete- 273 

Scholten, Dutch- 117 

Schumacher, Paul- 230 

Scientific research on Mount McKinley- 256-sS, 262, 268-71, 273, 280,JI4cn48 

Scott, Ella- 182 

Scoyen, Eivind- 145 

Search and rescue- see Rescue Activities 

Seaton, Fred- 347 

Seattle- 193 

Sedwick, John- 91-92,299 

Seiberling, John- 354-55 

Seibert, Robert- 293,295, JOO,Jo6, J20CTII75• J20CTII77 

Sellars, Richard- 18o, 190 

Sequoia National Park- So, rS8, 192,326,328 

Service Contract Act- S3, 122en44 

Setchell, W.A. - 182 

74th Air Rescue Squadron- 272 

Sewage lagoon- 55, 225 

Seward- 131, 133 

Sfraga, Mike -76 

Shannon, Bill- 329, 333 

Sharp, Jim- 292, 316en87 

Sharrock, Floyd - 373 

Sheep, Dall-135. 177-82, 184-86,188-93· 195-97,201,205,208, 210-IJ, 2r6-1g, 226, 242en63 

Sheffield, William- 23, 29, 62en91, 78 

Sheldon, Charles- 177,229-31, 253,325,327, 390en4 

Sheldon, Don- 270-71,273, 275-77, z8o, 3I5en6I,315Cn6z, 316cnS7, 317emo2 

Sheldon, Louisa- 230 

452 Crown Jewel of the North: An Administrative History of Denali National Park and Preserve 
Sheldon, Robert- 131, 134, 230 

Sheldon, Roberta- 277> 293, 317en94 

Sheldon Amphitheater- 300 

Sheldon cabin- 229-30 

Shelton, Napier- 206, 209 

Shenandoah National Park- 65cnr66 

SHerwonit, Bill- 398en219 

Shields, Mike- 382, 40oen245 

Shoulder season (spring/fall) traffic- 39-42, 66enr8r, n8-2o 

S~uttle buses, park- 3, II, 18,34-39,49-50,55, 6oen5o, 66em79, 76, So-83, 122en41, 152,154, 158, 

I]Jeni02, I]Jemo6, 212 

Sierra Club- 235, 268, 353, 380 

Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund- 372 

Silver- 335,363-64,374-75 

Sir'eone, William- 96-98 

Singer, Francis (Frank)- 17, 35, 217, 219, 226 

Singer, Rita- 348 

Singleton, James- 45, 299 

Sisson, Donna- 117 

Sitka National Monument- 151-52 

Skarland, Ivan- 230 

Skcirik, Randall- 234 

Skobelzyn, Dimitry- 257 

Skyline Drive- 370,372,388 

Slana -378 

Slate Creek- 335, 386 

Slippery Creek- 325,329,331,333,352-55,357, 377> 384-86, 391en38 

Small mammals- 177-78, 219 

Smith, Ted- 30 

Snow, Dave- 232 

Snowmachines- 26-28, 62emo5, 63emo6, 63emo8, 63enii7, 89-95, 102-0J, I24en78, 124en94. 124engs, 

124en99, TzsemoJ, 125Cn107, r2senm 

Snyder, Howard- 278, JI7Cni02 

"Soap berry patch"- 59enr5, 77 

Solberg, T.A.- 266-67 

Sourdough Cabins- 128cn197 

Sourdough expedition (1910)- 253,274 

Sousanes, Pam- 221 

South Denali Citizens Consultation Committee- 108 

South side facilities, proposed -17-18, ss-s8, 68enz48, ros-w 

Southern Arizona Group (NPS) -51 

Spring road opening- 41, nS-19, 204 

Spruce Creek- 239, 363, 386-89, 4ooenz62 

Spude, Robert- 233 

Sputnik I- 268 

Staeheli, Dave- 298 

staff issues, NPS- 50-51, 6]Cll229, 118, 162, I74Clll49' 201-02, 293· 300-01 

Stafford, William- 326 

Staggers Rail Act of 1980- 29 

Stampede Airstrip- 46, 338, 373, 381 

Stampede Creek- 325,338-39,381,384 

Stampede Mine- 46-47,335,338-42,381-84, 392en6r, 400en245, 40oenz48 

Stampede Mine, Ltd. -381 

Stampede Trail corridor- 23, 45-50, 66enzo4, 83-89, 338-42, 381, 392en62 

Steese, James- 43 

Stcnrnark, Richard- 284 

Stevens, Theodore F. (Ted)- 29, 38, 55, 65enr7o, 93, 287, 321enr99, 351,355,359-60,380,388, 396em5r, 

396em54 

Stevenson, William- 316en73 

Stibnite- see antimony 

Index 453 
Stiles, Joe- 327 

Stony Creek (Terrace)- 5-7, 203>329-30 

Stony Hill- 4, 7, 59en15, n, 82, 158 

Storey, Charles- 258 

Stowell, Scott- 123en57 

Straightaway Glacier- 270, 272 

Stransky, Blanca- 117, 162 

Strom, Erling- 135, 256 

Stuck, Hudson- 253-54, 256 

Student Conservation Association- 162, 164, 174em46, 174emsz, 293, JOI, 311 

Srump, Terrance "Mugs"- 295 

Stuver Brothers- 336 

Subsistence- 1, 23-25, 6zenroo, 6zemoz, 63enn6, 89-99, 124en88, 124emoo, 125emJz, 164, 236-39 

Sugar Loaf Mountain- 34 

Suntrana- 31, 342 

Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act- 354 

Surface Transportation Act of 1982- 6, 59enz6 

Surface Use Act (1931)- 331,354, 391en3o 

Surtbird- 18o, 24oemg 

Sushana ranger cabin- 224 

Sushana River- 23, 46, 86, 329, 331 

Susitna River Valley- 109, 227 

Sutherland, Dan- 327 

Swanson, "Red"- 359 

Swanton, Nancy- 106 

Swed, J.D.- 295, 297, 299-300, JII 

Sweet, Art- 226 

Swift Fork - 23 

Swisher, Lee- 184, 231 

- TTabor, James M. - 3qemoz 

Talkeetna- 21, JO, s6-s8, 105-06,108-10, I6T-62, 167,273-75,286,289, 292-93,295,298,300-01,304-06, 

309-n, 316en86, 323en254 

Talkeetna Air Service- 275-n, 316en86 

Talkeetna Air Taxi- 289, 292, 316en87 

Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge- 108 

Talkeetna Fire Hall- 319em42 

Talkeetna Mountaineering Center- 162,310-11 

Talkeetna Ranger Station- 161-62,293,300,302,304,306,310 

Tanana- 168, 239 

Tanana River- 131 

Tanana Tribal Council- 239 

Tanana Valley Railroad- 131 

Tanner, Bill- 369 

Tate, James -76 

Tatum, Robert- 254 

Taxpayers for Common Sense- 88 

Taylor, Arley- 336, 352, 357, 395em24 

Taylor, Billy- 253 

Taylor, Dale- 35, 226 

Taylor, Denise- 64ems6 

Teamsters- 83 

Tejas, Vern - 298, 322en230 

Teklanika Campground -15, 17, 35, 152-54, 163, 175em6y, 230-31 

Teklanika Flats - 4 

Teklanika gravel pit-y, 71 

Teklanika Rest Area- 40-41 

Teklanika River- 4-7,119 

454 Crown Jewel of the North: An Administrative History of Denali National Park and Preserve 
Telida- 24-25,47,89,237,239 

wrh Rescue Squadron- 272-73 

Thayer, Elton S.- 141,201-02,271-72 

Thayer, John E.- 180 

Therriault, Eugene- 85, 102-03 

Thies, Howard- 87 

Thomas, Bob- 47-48 

Thomas, Lowell, Jr.- 289, JI6en87 

Thorofare Pass- 3, 7 

Thorofare River- 329, 336-37 

374'h Air Rescue Squadron- 272 

Ticketron- 34 

Timber management- 185-86, 329 

Tingey, Ralph- 25, 36,51-52, 6zemoo, 239 

Tobin, Daniel- 287 

Toklat Cabin (Pearson Cabin)- 154, I]JeniO], r8z-8J, ZJI, JI8enr33 

Toklat Campground -134, zn 

Toklat grizzly- ZO]-o8 Also see Bears and bear management 

Toklat Rest Area- 40, 72, 76-77• 79, Sz, IZienzJ, 158, r66 

Toklat River (bridge)- 1, y, 9, 23, 39, 45-46,48, 59enrs, 71, 158, I]8, 196, 229-JO, 249enz65, 329, 33'·339-4' 

Toklat River, East Fork- I8J, 189, 193, zoz, JJI-JZ 

Toklat Road Camp- 51, 71, 207 

Toklat Warm Springs- 1, 215 

Tokositna area- 2J, ss, s8, 6ren69, 68en249' 8g, ms-og, J6I, 36J, J6s, 397elll75 

Tolson, Hillory- 345 

Tomlinson, Owen A.- 194, 268, 345 

Toms, Linda- 52, rry, 378 

Tomsich, Susi- 226 

Tonzona River- 179 

Tour buses, park- 3-4, rr, 38-39,79, 8I-8J, '371 I40-42, 148, 150, 152, 158, I?3Cnioo, 173enro2, 212,334 

TRAAK board 115, 128cn2o9 

Trachsel, Hanspeter- 32oem8y 

Tracy, Diane- 35, 212-13, 217,226 

Tramway, proposed- 18 

Tranci,Jane -161 

Tranel, Mike- 89, mr, 117 

Transportation Equity Act for the 21·'1 Century- Ss-86 

Trapper Creek- 107,109-10 

Treganza, Adan- 231 

Triple Lakes Trail - 77 

Tri-Valley Community Center- 33, n6 

Tri-Valley Fire Department- 33 

Tri-Valley School (Healy)- 28, 167 

Trop,Jeff- 226 

Trout species- 198-201, 244en114 

Truesdell, William- 156, 162 

Truman, Harry S- 347 

Trustees for Alaska- 32 

Tundra vole- 201 

Tundra Wildlife Tour- 36, 39, n, 8r, 164, 174em28 

Tundra Wilderness Tour- see Tundra Wildlife Tour 

Turman, Ralph- 142 

Twigg, Frances- 275, 315en62 

Twitchell, Hollis- 25, 96-97, 117, 239 

Tyler, Vernal- 268-69 

-uUdall, Morris- 354, 359-60 

Udall, Stewart- 210 

Index 455 
Ullman, James Ramsay- 262 

UNESC0-222 

Union activities- 83 

U.S. Air Force- 141-42,263, 271-73, 315en66, 346 

U.S. Army- 138-J9, 141-42, r84, 200, 230, 263, 268-69, 271, 273, 296, J20eni8], 326, 342, 382, 384, 

400en245 

U.S. Census - 31 

U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey- 203, 227, 24sem42 

U.S. Commissioner- 347 

U.S. Department of Energy- 31, rrr 

U.S. Department of Justice- 399em36 

U.S. Department of Labor- 83 

U.S. District Court- 91, 358, 370-71, 373, 377> 381, 386 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service- 159,195, 197, 200,205, 219 

U.S. Forest Service- IS9, 166,219,295 

U.S. Geological Survey- 117,140,203,206-07,221,226-29, 247en221, JJO, 339, 342-43~ 346, 393en72 

U.S. House of Representatives- 303, 345, 3SS, 3S9-60, 377> 383, 388 

U.S. Indian Service- r94 

U.S. Natural Resources- 9 

U.S. Navy- 6, 142, 172en8s, 262, 268, 271, 31sen66 

U.S. Senate- 29, 84, JOI-OJ, 330-31,355,360, 37J, 380,383-84,388, 397en175 

U.S. Weather Bureau- 270 

University of Alaska Anchorage- 228, 291 

University of Alaska (Fairbanks)- 138,166, r83-85, 201, 205,208, 212, 22r, 226, 230-3I, 241enso, z68-6g, 

2]2, 279-80, }81-84, 399Cll2431 400en2471 400en248 

University of California- 180-82 

University of California Santa Barbara- 232 

University of Chicago- 257, 262 

University of Colorado- 206 

University of Idaho- 206 

University of Oregon- 282-83,292, 315en63 

University of Wyoming- r82, 226 

Upjohn Pharmaceutical Co.- 270 

Usibelli coal mine- 31 

-vValdez-Fairbanks wagon road- 132 

Validity determinations, mining claim- JS6-s?, 363-64,369, 374-7s, 385, 398en2r4 

Van Ballenberghe, Vic- 219, 247en2IJ 

Van Horn, Joe- 213, 216, 221, 246emg6 

Veterans' War Memorial- 12Ien23 

Victoreen, Hugo- 264 

Viereck, Eleanor- 206 

Viereck, Lcs- 206,271-72 

Visitation growth- 3, 9, 33-35,39-40, so, Sr, 84, JJ?-T8, rz2en}6, IJI, 152, 158, 160, 16gen5, I73Clli04, 204, 

2ll, 21}, 402 

Visitor Access Center (1990) -r3, r8, 50-S2, 71-72, 7S-76, 104, ISS, IS8-64 

Visitor Center, Denali (zoos)- 68en239, 71, 74-77, 8o-8r, 121Cm9, 161, 164 

Visitor center proposals (i9505-1970S) -144-45, 148-49, 155, 160, 17oen49, 17oen5I 

Visitor Facility Fund- 53 

Visitor information desk (at hotel, 1962-1972)- 148-49, ISI, ISS, I72CTI?8 

Volunteers in Parks- n8, 162, JOT, JII-12 

Von der Heydt, James A.- 371-72,385 

Voyageurs National Park- 51 

-wWadlington, Bruce- JI8em32 

Wagner, George- 162 

456 Crown Jewel of the North: An Administrative History of Denali National Park and Preserve 
Wags (wolf pup) -184-85, 193 

Waller, Louis- 25 

Wallona, Phillip and Judy- 310 

Walsh, James William, Jr.- 147, 171en7z, q1en73 

Walt Disney Productions- 197, 243en99 

War Production Board -335 

Waring, Gerald A.- 393en72, 393en74 

Warne, William- 343-44 

\Xlarrack,J.B. (construction company)- 145 

Washburn, A.L.- 267 

Washburn, Barbara- zs8, 264, z6y, 274· }II 

Washburn, Bradford- 162, 171CnJ3, 203, 228,255, 258-59· 262-63, 265-69, 271, 273-75. 279-80,311, '-. 

314enz9, 3'4en38, 314en48, 3'5ens1, 3'sens8, 3'5cn61 

Waterman, Jonathan- 317enio2 

Waterston, Chychclc- 258 

Wasilla- 108, 311 

Watson, Susan- 219 

Watson, Verde- 148-49, '7'cn68 

Watt, James- 25, zy, 38 

Website, park- 168 

\Vciler, Eric and Paul- 372-73, 398en219 

Welch, Pat- 88 

Went, Fritz- 182 

West, frederick Hadleigh- 231 

West Buttress route- 268-69,276,278-79, 282-83,287-88,291-92,295, 297,299,303,305-09, 314en29, 

Jl4COJ8, }I4C048, JI7C091 

Whalen, William- 59en5, 359,364 

Whitaker, Lou and Jim- 273 

White, Wallace- 195-96 

White Pass and Yukon Route- 132 

"White Tower" Expedition, Operation (1947)- 203, 228, 262-67,311, 314en37 

Whitney, David- 380 

Whitten, Ken- 213 

Wickersham, James A.- 253, 325 

"Wickersham Wall"- 253, 317en95 

Wien Consolidated Airlines- 280 

Wiggins, Vernon R.- 368 

Wilbur, Ray Lyman- 330 

Wilcox, Joe- 278, 316enyy, 317emo2 

Wilcox-McKinley Expedition- 278-79,281 

Wilderness Access Center- see Visitor Access Center 

Wilderness issues- 20-21, 28, 47, 62eny9, 90, 100, 107, 204-05,387, 40oen262 

Wilderness of Denali (film)- 167 

Wilderness Society- 88, 126em48, 201,266 

Wilkerson, julie- 117 

Williams, John E.- 207 

Will iss, Frank- 65en171 

Willow- 168 

Willys Jeep- 98 

\Vi! son, Roberta- 35, 64em5o, 375 

Wilson, Woodrow- 177,326 

Windy Creek- 91-92,95-99, 146,205,239,338,342-49,352-53,357-58,385, 393en72, 394cn99 

Windy Station- 342,346 

Winkleman, John- 33 

Wintcrfcst- u6-17, 164 

\Virth, Conrad- 197, 204, 230, 269-70, 273, 349-51 

"Wolf townships"- 23, 85-86 

Wolf-sheep controversy- 186-97, 205, 242en63 

Wolk, Jennifer- 236 

Wolverine Supply, Inc.- 311 

Index 457 
Wolverines -177, 189, 191, 193,201,205,215 

Wolves- 27, 47, t66, 177, 18o-82, 184-86, 188-97,201-03,211-12,214,216, 219-20, 241Cn34, 242en59, 

243cn94, 243en99, 247en22I 

Women's Club, Anchorage- I67 

Wonder Lake- 37-38,42,47-49, 82-85,92, 141-42, 144, 150, 152, 198-zm, zos, 208, 262, 265-66, 270-71, 

281,284, 313en29, 314en38, 325,328-29,332,338,350-52,354,377, 393en97 

Wonder Lake Building Stone Company- 35I 

Wonder Lake Campground -15,17, 19, 35, 144,152-54,161, 163, 201 

Wonder Lake hotel and visitor center proposals- I44-45, I7oen5I, I98 

Wonder Lake Ranger Station- 51, 139, 207-09, 233, 245em56, 332 

Wood, Morton "Woody"- 271-72 

Woods, Buddy- 284, 3I6en87 

Work, Hubert- 259 

World Heritage Site- 222 

World War I-328, 33I, 338 

World War Tl- g6, 138, 167, 16gemo, 169en22, 17oen29, 181, 193-94,203, 249Cn274, 259,271,335,342,381 

Wrangell Mountains- 268 

Wrangell-St. Elias (NPS unit)- I, 23,222,372-73 

Wright, George- r8o, 182, 190, rg8, 24oemg 

-Y-

"Y" Community Council- 109 

Yak-ISS 

Yakutat- 294 

Yanert Fork- 23 

Yeager, Dorr -151 

Yellow Creek (Yellow Pup)- 363, 369, J7I 

Yellowstone National Park- 48-49, 93, 115, r88, 192, 245enr6r, 256,326,328 

Yentna Glacier- 89 

Yosemite National Park- So, 145, qren7o, 180, 188, 326, 328 

Young, Rep. Don- 29, 39, go, 93, I25Cni07, 354, 388 

Youth Conservation Corps- 162 

Yukon Belt Tour- 133 

Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve- 222, 224, 372-73, 396em49 

Yukon River- 48, 133, 167 

Yutan Construction Co.- 46, 342 

-Z458 Crown Jewel of the North: An Administrative History of Denali National Park and Preserve 
I