Smiles and Miles on Our Trips : September 2023

Today started out cloudy and 63 degrees, but soon warmed up to 76 degrees with lots of sunshine. We decided to head out to the historic town of Ester.

We were soon at the town of Ester, which has a population of 2,422. In 1987, the Ester Gold Camp was named to the National Register of Historic Places. The presence of eleven historically significant structures prompted that designation. The assay and blacksmith shop date from the early 1900s when Ester City was a small town serving mining claims. The rest of the buildings date from 1920 to 1960 when the camp provided living quarters and logistical support for a large dredge operation run by the Fairbanks Exploration Company.

Ester was founded in the early 1900s as a gold mining camp on Ester Creek, and the economy was centered on mining and services to miners. A Czechoslovakian immigrant named John "Jack" Mihalcik was the first to discover gold in Ester Creek in November 1903. The news spread quickly, and by 1907, Ester City had grown to around 200 residents, bustling with a thriving mining industry. The discovery of gold on Ester, Cripple, and Eva Creeks drew hundreds of prospectors to seek their fortunes.

Many found them, as these streams were some of the richest in the world. With the prospectors came the need for supplies and services. The town of Ester sprang up to meet those needs, boasting numerous hotels, saloons and shops. Eventually the pack and pan gave way to partnerships with steam hoists, and those gave way to the hydraulic cannon and gold dredge.

The Fairbanks Exploration Company opened Ester Gold Camp to support a large scale dredge operation in 1936. A bunkhouse, dining hall, smaller bunkhouses, homes, offices, and shops were built. That operation continued until the 1950s, when gold prices fixed at $35 an ounce spelled the end of an era. Though gold is still mined in the Ester area, the days of the dredge are gone.

The old truck above welcomed us to Ester, Alaska.

The Golden Eagle Saloon (see above and below) is a historic brew pub. It was originally built in 1906 as the general store and post office and was later converted into a saloon in the 1940s. The building has been well-preserved and still retains much of its original character and charm.

While the picture below shows Hartung Hall, which is used as a community or dance hall.

When Fairbank Exploration's mining operations wound down in the late 1950s, they sold the camp. New owners converted it into Cripple Creek Resort, which featured buffet-style meals and lively entertainment.

They opened the Malemute Saloon, and at that time the entertainment included a lively popular musical variety show featuring the poetry of Robert W. Service, including his famous work, "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" as shown below:

* * * * * * * * * *

"THE SHOOTING OF DAN MCGREW"

A bunch of the boys were whooping it up in the Malamute Saloon;

The kid that handles the music-box was hitting a jag-time tune;

Back of the bar, in a solo game, sat Dangerous Dan McGrew,

And watching his luck was his light-o'-love, the lady that's known as Lou.

When out of the night, which was fifty below, and into the din and the glare,

There stumbled a miner fresh from the creeks, dog-dirty, and loaded for bear.

He looked like a man with a foot in the grave and scarcely the strength of a louse,

Yet he tilted a poke of dust on the bar, and he called for drinks for the house.

There was none could place the stranger's face, though we searched ourselves for a clue;

But we drank to his health, and the last to drink was Dangerous Dan McGrew.

There's men that somehow just grip your eyes, and hold them hard like a spell;

And such was he, and he looked to me like a man who had lived in hell;

With a face most hair, and the dreary stare of a dog whose day is done,

As he watered the green stuff in his glass, and the drops fell one by one.

Then I got to figuring who he was, and wondering what he'd do,

And I turned my head -- and there watching him was the lady that's known as Lou.

His eyes went rubbering around the room, and he seemed in a kind of daze,

Till at last that old piano fell in the way of his wandering gaze.

The rag-time kid was having a drink; there was no one else on the stool,

So the stranger stumbles across the room, and flops down there like a fool.

In a buckskin shirt that was glazed with dirt he sat, and I say him sway;

Then he clutched the keys with his talon hands -- my God! but that man could play.

Were you ever out in the Great Alone, when the moon was awful clear,

And the icy mountains hemmed you in with a silence you most could hear;

With only the howl of a timber wolf, and you camped there in the cold,

A half-dead thing in a stark, dead world, clean mad for the muck called gold;

While high overhead, green, yellow and red, the North Lights swept in bars? --

Then you've a haunch what the music meant . . . hunger and night and the stars.

And hunger not of the belly kind, that's banished with bacon and beans,

But the gnawing hunger of lonely men for a home and all that it means;

For a fireside far from the cares that are, four walls and a roof above;

But oh! so crammed full of cozy joy, and crowned with a woman's love --

A woman dearer than all the world, and true as Heaven is true --

(God! how ghastly she looks through her rouge, -- the lady that's known as Lou.)

Then on a sudden the music changed, so soft that you scarce could hear;

But you felt that your life had been looted clean of all that it once held dear;

That someone had stolen the woman you loved; that her love was a devil's lie;

That your guts were gone, and the best for you was to crawl away and die.

'Twas the crowning cry of a heart's despair, and it thrilled you through and through --

"I guess I'll make it a spread misery," said Dangerous Dan McGrew.

The music almost died away . . then it burst like a pent-up flood;

And it seemed to say, "Repay, repay," and my eyes were blind with blood.

The thought came back of an ancient wrong, and it stung like a frozen lash,

And the lust awoke to kill, to kill . . . then the music stopped with a crash,

And the stranger turned, and his eyes they burned in a most peculiar way;

In a buckskin shirt that was glazed with dirt he sat, and I saw him sway;

Then his lips went in in a kind of grin, and he spoke, and his voice was calm,

And "Boys," says he, "you don't know me, and none of you care a damn;

But I want to state, and my words are straight, and I'll bet my poke they're true,

That one of you is a hound of hell . . . and that one is Dan McGrew."

Then I ducked my head, and the lights went out, and two guns blazed in the dark,

And a woman screamed, and the lights went up, and two men lay stiff and stark.

Pitched on his head, and pumped full of lead, was Dangerous Dan McGrew,

While the man from the creeks lay clutched to the breast of the lady that's known as Lou.

These are the simple facts of the case, and I guess I ought to know.

They say that the stranger was crazed with "hooch," and I'm not denying it's so.

I'm not so wise as the lawyer guys, but strictly between us two --

The woman that kissed him and -- pinched his poke -- was the lady that's known as Lou.

* * * * * * * * * *

The first building that we looked at was the Assay Office (with some signs on the building shown above and below).

The Assay Office was sided with horizontal planks.

The Malamute Saloon in the above building dated to 1906 and was a garage before being converted into the saloon. A wooden false front was added to the metal-sided building. The owners acquired the bar counter from the Royal Alexandria Hotel in Dawson city. Half of it was installed in the original saloon, and half was stored next door in the old blacksmith shop. When the saloon was lost to a fire in 1969, it was rebuilt using the other half of the bar counter.

Even though it wasn't open today, we snuck inside for a peak at the Malemute Saloon (see above and below).

Below is an old "wanted poster" for the murder of President Abraham Lincoln that was posted in the Malemute Saloon.

In the 1980s, the resort and hotel was renamed the "Ester Gold camp" and continued to operate until 2008. In 2020, the renovated Malemute Saloon reopened from May through September, featuring live music, cold beverages, peanuts, and local food trucks.

The Ester Gold Camp hotel, constructed in the 1930s, was originally a mess hall-bunkhouse for the Fairbanks Exploration Company. The structure is at the center of the Ester Camp Historic District. There are 11 buildings in the historic district including the hotel, blacksmith shop, assay office, storage buildings, and several smaller bunkhouses and wanigans (a small portable building on skids).

The Ester Gold Camp Hotel is shown above and below in the next few pictures.

Above and below is one of the bunkhouses in the historic district of Ester, built before the late 1930s and used to house men working for the Fairbanks Exploration Company.

After leaving the Ester Gold Camp, as we were on our way to the Pump House, we drove by a beautiful chapel -- Birch Leaf Chapel.

Above is the Birch Leaf Chapel, a beautiful spiritual place to celebrate special moments in life that is placed on top of the tailing piles left behind by the gold miners many years ago. The chapel was the dream of Denise and Chris Akert and it came to life when Lily Fitch, a childhood friend, designed the chapel.

It took 16 local craftsmen to complete this chapel. Everything is exquisitely designed and executed from the roof line to the door shaped like a birch leaf, to the rock walls and rod iron light fixtures. The stained glass windows showcase the four seasons in the upper panes and a floor to ceiling birch tree. When the sun rises over the hills and shines through the upper windows, the colors reflect on the ceiling as though it was northern lights.

Next, we arrived at the Chena Pump House, also just known as the Pump House Restaurant. The restaurant is located in the shell of a 1933 pumping station established by the Fairbanks Exploration Company, Alaska's largest gold mining operator at the time. The pump house was used to provide water to dredges operating on Cripple Creek in the Ester area. The building was abandoned by the company in 1958, and was enlarged and converted into a restaurant in 1978.

When the Fairbanks Exploration Company decided to dredge near Ester, it needed another water source. To provide the volume of high pressure water necessary to hydraulically strip away thick overburden above the gold-bearing gravels and to thaw frozen gravels, it decided to pump water from the Chena River over Chena Ridge. From 1931 to 19363, the Fairbanks Exploration Company constructed a pump house, three 26-inch pipelines from the river to the top of Chena Ridge, and three miles of open ditches beyond the ridge to carry water to the diggings.

The original pump house building was 20-feet wide by 108-feet long with a gable roof and five skylights to provide interior illumination. Both the roof and exterior walls were covered with corrugated metal sheathing. The pumphouse was set back about 100 feet from the river, with a raceway on the north side of the building carrying water from the river. After operations shut down in the 1960s, the company closed the pump house.

In 1976, Bill and Vivian Bubbel bought the property planning to convert the building into a restaurant. In 1978 they completed initial renovations for the Pump House Restaurant. The Bubbels wanted the building to retain its historical significance so renovations incorporated as much of the original structure as possible.

We walked all around the Pump House and saw a lot of pretty flowers and sculptures.

We also saw remains of the old dredge operation and mining equipment.

Below is the Chena River that flowed beside The Pump House.

After we walked over a little bridge, we could see the Cripple Creek (shown below) that was diverted from its natural channel to the Cripple Creek Ditch in the 1930s.

Mel stopped on our walk to pick and sample a little raspberry (see above).

Next, we are off to see if we can find the musk oxen at the Large Animal Research Station, located on Yankovich Road in Fairbanks. We turn onto Sheep Creek Road and continue on until our Garmin gets us there.

An Ice Age relic, musk oxen have been wandering the Earth for over 600,000 years. They roamed the tundra with saber-tooth tigers, woolly mammoths and other long extinct animals.

Musk Oxen are large barrel shaped creatures that are highly adapted to living in the Arctic environment. Their coat consists of two types of hair -- guard hair and qiviut. The guard hair is the long, coarse outer hair that helps protect the qiviut. They are brown to black in color except for their saddle and legs which are white. Some musk oxen also have white facial markings. The qiviut is a very soft under wool that insulates by trapping air near their body. Qiviut is shed annually and can be harvested and spun into a fine yarn. Males and females both grow horns.

We decided to go back to the RV and have lunch, then after lunch we headed out to Pioneer Park.

Pioneer Park is a 44-acre historical theme park with historic original buildings moved from downtown Fairbanks, small shops, food, entertainment, as well as museums and a Gold Rush town street. It is also a theme park with a carousel and train that runs the perimeter. And the best news -- there is no entry fee.

Pioneer Park opened in 1967 as part of the Alaska '67 Centennial Exposition, celebrating the 100th anniversary of Alaska's purchase from Russia. The park featured a zoo and rides in those early days, when it was known as Alaska 67 and then Alaskaland.

In 2001, the name of the park was changed to Pioneer Park to more accurately reflect the historical importance of the park and reduce the expectation of a theme park.

The surrounding area also has a fascinating past. Along the park's northern border lies the Chena River, a name of Athabascan origin derived from "che" (meaning 'stick') and "na" (meaning 'river') -- the Stick River. It was this river that Fairbanks' founding father, E.T. Barnette, traveled up in 1901. He was searching for the town of Tananma Crossing (now Tanacross), where he hoped to establish a trading post. But his boat, the Lavelle Young, hit a sandbar, and he was forced to spend the winter along the banks of the Chena River.

The following spring, miner Felix Pedro found gold in the surrounding hills, and Barnette decided to stay and establish his trading post there. That early community was known as Barnette's Cache. Within a year, however, it became known as Fairbanks.

The map of Pioneer Park is above. Below is the plaque honoring Senator Bartlett, for whom Bartlett's Plaza was named.

Pioneer Park has so much history that they even have a special board displaying the historical events (see above).

Above is the storyboard about "The Harding Car" that was built in 1905 in Chicago. It was donated to the city of Fairbanks in 1959, and moved to the park in 1965. The Harding Car, also known as the Denali Observation Car, is the train car that President Warren G. Harding rode in when he came to Alaska in 1923 to drive the Golden Spike for the Alaska Railroad to formally complete the Alaska Railroad.

Inside the railroad car, there was detailed information about the "Presidential Special Train" (see below).

There was information about Harding's Alaska Trip, or Voyage of Understanding (see below).

There was also information about the gold spike that was driven by President Harding at Nenana -- and how after it was driven, it was pulled back out and returned to Lieutenant Fredrick Mears after the ceremony, as it was his personal property (see below).

And finally, there was a storyboard about why the Denali Car was important -- simply because it was at the gold spike ceremony (see below).

The next few pictures are from inside "The Harding Car."

Above, the renovated SS Nenana was the largest sternwheeler (230 feet) ever built west of the Mississippi and the second largest wooden-hulled vessel still in existence.

The SS Nenana was a sternwheeler that carried passengers and cargo on the Tanana an Yukon Rivers from 1933 to 1954.

The next few pictures gave us some interesting facts about the SS Nenana.

Above is information about the 3-inch field gun, model of 1902 (see field gun below).

The Park Office below is the start of Gold Rush Town -- which is 35 restored buildings from early Fairbanks, including the first church in Fairbanks and a house owned by Judge James Wickersham. We walked along Main Street, Sourdough Way, and Gold Rush Street learning about all the different buildings.

Cabin #19 now houses the Pioneer Park Office, but it was once known as the Georgia Lee House. In the 1920s, during the construction of the Alaska Railroad, it was a "house of ill repute" in the town of Nenana, 60 miles south of Fairbanks. In 1928, the building was cut into sections, barged to Fairbanks, and placed on Fourth Avenue.

Cabin #13 is a replica of a cabin which is believed to have been part of the original homestead owned by Dr. Young, one of the first dairy farmers in Fairbanks. At that time, it was a five-room cabin, but it burned down sometime before 1942.Today cabin #13 is sponsored by the Fairbanks Arts Association, and is a cooperative for 10 local artists.

Cabin #12 was built in the early 1900s.

Above, Mel poses as a Fairbanks Eskimo.

Cabin #11 is the Kitty Hensley House. In Clara Rust's book, "This Old House," written by Jo Anne Wold, recalls that Katherine "Kitty" Hensley and her daughter Hazel lived as recluses in a tarpaper shack off 8th Avenue in the early days of Fairbanks Avenue. In 1914, Kitty's friend Captain Smythe, a retired riverboat captain with excellent carpentry skills, remodeled the cabin using lumber from his sternwheeler that had been damaged during spring break-up. He built the attractive two-story home with a fine-turned stairwell and decorative fireplace. He worked slowly with much attention to detail. Some folks believe his slow pace was to prolong his affectionate contact with Kitty.

We went inside this museum and it was very interesting (see the next few pictures).

Mel checked out the upstairs bedroom in this cabin (see below).

Cabins #9 and #10 were built in 1948 by Jess Moriner, and were used as motel cabins near a tiny service station south of Fairbanks in the Big Bend area.

Mel goes inside the Frontier Reflections cabin.

Cabin #8 was built in 1908. It is believed that in the early 1930s, it was purchased by a pioneer miner name Nick Nagengast, who had traveled to Alaska with Elam Arnish, the hero of Jack London's book, "Burning Daylight."

Cabin #16 was owned by Skagway Jim in the early 1900.

The Original First Presbyterian Church -- Presbyterians were the first to bring church life to Fairbanks and the white church was the first built in the Interior of Alaska. It was constructed in 1904. The chapel is snugged so serenely next to the Wickersham House.

Not long after the waves of the Chena River washed up the likes of E.T. Barnette and Felix Pedro, the Tanana Valley was swarming with gold seekers, prostitutes, and entrepreneurs. In their midst were a handful of missionaries determined to preach the Gospel to this dubious group.

At least three Presbyterian ministers had come into the area by the time Dr. S. Hall Young arrived in 1904. A mere 500 people resided in Fairbanks at the time and when Hall couldn't afford a downtown lot, he purchased one on the outskirts of town and gathered materials for the first church. Cost for the church as well as a small cabin for a manse was $5,500. The stained glass windows were originally placed in the mission cabin and then reset in the new church when it was built.

By 1905, the church has 23 members, only eight of them Presbyterians. In the 1930s, the church moved further east on its site at Seventh Avenue and Cushman and turned to face Seventh Avenue. Sometime in those early years, a front vestibule and large steeple were added.

Memberships rolls were growing by 1931 and the Board of Home Missions granted $10,000 for a new building. Another $5,000 was raised locally and the church was dedicated on Oct. 4, 1931 at a total cost of $15,950. The old white church was moved to the back of the lot and used for Sunday school rooms.

Cabin #99, The Wickersham House, was the home of one of Alaska's first and best known political figures Judge James Wickersham, who was the first Federal Judge in the Interior of Alaska. It was James Wickersham who promised political help to the town's founder E.T. Barnette if he would name the new community on the Chena River "Fairbanks" after his friend Senator Charles W. Fairbanks of Indiana.

Originally situated on the corner of 1st Avenue and Noble Street, the Wickersham House was the first house in Fairbanks built with milled lumber, and that had a white picket fence. Judge Wickersham purchased the lot in April 1904 for $175. He built the house himself that same spring, hauling the newly cut lumber down the street from the sawmill on his back to his lot a few blocks away.

Judge James Wickersham is in the photo above.

When James Wickersham built the house it had just two rooms. The 14-foot by 16-foot living room was the one-story, gable-roofed section that serves today as the dining room. A 12-foot by 14-foot shed-roofed kitchen was attached to what is now the right end of the house, but was removed when the house was moved to Alaskaland and the present kitchen was reconstructed.

To the east of the kitchen was a covered porch and wood shed which extended back to the northeast corner of the lot, leading to the closet. The first part of the house was completed by the middle of June. the walls were then papered and the floor covered with Japanese matting. Until they left Fairbanks at the end of August, the Judge and his wife Debbie, slept in a tent pitched at the front door of the house, an arrangement thought necessary for Debbie's health.

Judge Wickersham returned to Fairbanks in the middle of March, 1905 and it was at this time that the house was more substantially finished. Wickersham brought a new cylinder phonograph (carefully packed in a large crate) back to Fairbanks, over the trail by dogsled from Valdez. He put in a nice, new carpet, bought a sideboard, and had electric lights installed. Debbie arrived in the beginning of June and that summer the Wickershams settled into their house, and the Judge planted flower and vegetable gardens.

At the beginning of September, Wickersham again rented the house and left for Seattle and Tacoma. At the end of the year, he went to Washington for the long battle for reconfirmation in front of the Senate committees, and he was not to return to Fairbanks until July 23, 1906.

Shortly after Debbie and the Judge returned, work began on the addition of two new rooms to the house. These added rooms are the present parlor and small northwest bedroom; the original sitting room became the dining room. The wood shed was probably closed in and a bedroom completed in a shed-roofed addition on the north side of the house. Through the end of August, 1906, the Judge and Debbie worked to arrange the new part of the house and get it settled and comfortable for they planned to spend the winter in their house for the first time. They had also installed a heating plant. It was all completed by October and Judge Wickersham said the hot air furnace makes the house a delightful, warm and cozy home.

Wickersham sold the house for $1,500 in 1922. At the time the house was moved to Alaskaland in 1968, the original kitchen, woodshed, closet, porch and a north addition were deemed too deteriorated to be moved. The kitchen was recreated in 1986. The original sitting room of 1904, now the dining room and the parlor and northwest bedroom or study of 1906 have been restored. The house has been furnished to suggest what it might have looked like when occupied by the Wickershams between 1906 and 1910.

The house is set in a grassy yard with a picket fence. The picket fence was original to the house; Wickersham built it even before the house and was quite proud of it.

Above is "How to Cook A Husband" in an old Alaska cookbook. While below is a map showing where Judge Wickersham held court.

Cabin #7 was owned by Fairbank's first veterinarian Doc Stearns. Doc was a bearded, aristocratic-looking gentleman whose constant companion was a small cocker spaniel. Doc had a pass to all the movies in town and never missed one -- with his cocker spaniel by his side. He later operated a small farm on Timberline Drive.

Cabin #6 was originally a Prostitutes Crib that was located on 4th Avenue. Prostitution was tolerated in Fairbanks as long as two conditions were met: a tax was paid and the activity was "kept from the view of decent townspeople." A high-board fence was constructed to keep the houses of ill-repute from view. The fence was referred to as "the Line" or "the Row." The girls did their shopping at night or had their goods delivered to them, also to keep them from view. Urban renewal in the 1950s destroyed "the Line."

Cabin #5 has never been identified.

Cabin #4 was built in 1903 by the founder of Loomis Security, L.B. Loomis. It was originally located on Kellum Street between 1st and 2nd Avenues. Other owners included Louis Golden and Paul Palfy.

Cabin #3 was used to introduce Robert Service's literary works to the Fairbanks community. It was originally located at the 1400 block of 2nd Avenue and Badger Road, and owned by Lawrence Olson who willed it to Carl Erikson.

Cabin #17 was moved from 7th Avenue. Martin Nunner, a miner from Coal Creek bought it from a Russian family in the mid-1950s.

Cabin #2 is a rare survivor of Fairbanks' early business district. This two-story log structure was constructed in 1906 as the Palace Hotel and Bath House. On the first floor, tub baths were available for fifty cents. Upstairs were the sleeping quarters. Hotels in the early days were often dormitory-style, with the entire upper story devoted to bunks separated by cloth curtains for privacy.

The building is an excellent example of the logs structures built for the first businesses in Fairbanks. The front of the building is about 30 feet wide, and the sides are about 40 feet in length. The sides are composed of two sections, with both sections similar in construction. The structure has numerous windows -- all tall, narrow, double-hung windows. The original roof was galvanized metal, which has been replaced with modern metal roofing. In 1957, it was renamed the Chena Hotel, and was moved to its location at Pioneer Park in 1967.

Cabin #18, what is now known as the Palace Theatre, was at the turn of the century, Golden's Grocery Store. In later years, it was home to Palfy's Sheet Metal Shop. After the building was moved to Pioneer Park, it became known as the Palace Saloon. As the years progressed, its name evolved into the Palace Theatre and Saloon. In 2005, the establishment discontinued serving liquor, and the name finally became the Palace Theatre. The Palace Theatre produces vaudeville-style shows (poking fun at early Fairbanks' history and pioneering lifestyle) that are performed at 6:45 p.m. and 8:15 p.m. every evening.

Above is a neat totem pole in Pioneer Park.

Cabin #22 belonged to E.H. Mack who was involved in real estate and was a homesteader along College Road.

Mel stops to chat with the lady in front of this cabin.

Cabin #23 was the bunkhouse for drivers of Ed Orr's Stageline which operated between Fairbanks and Valdez. Later it was the hospitality center of Eva McGowan, the "Hostess of Fairbanks." Now the cabin is Beautifully Blended Creations.

I walked inside this cabin and was in awe of all the beautifully carved wood designs. The moose below really caught my eye -- as I think it actually is calling my name "Shirley" in its antlers below (on the right side).

Cabin #24 was Billy Sherwin's home. Bill's Saw Shop (cabin #20) was located behind the house.

Cabin #25 was owned by Harold R. Allen and was originally located at Six Mile on Richardson Highway.

Cabin #26 has been thought to have been a blacksmith shop.

The history of cabin #27 is not known.

Cabin #28 has been identified as "The Torgerson Shed."

With a 1900s storefront facade, the Pioneer Museum (shown above) now houses the "Big Stampede Show" of Rusty Huerlin paintings that is narrated by Reuben Gaines.

The greater portion of the Museum's collection has been donated by Pioneers of Alaska. These items tell the stories of Alaska's unique local, territorial and state history and illustrate the triumphs and struggle our early pioneers faced as they sought to tame Alaska's wild, unforgiving landscape in pursuit of their dreams for riches and a better life. Most of he early pioneers followed the gold rush stampedes throughout "The Great Land."

"The Big Stampede" presentation tells the story of two such stampedes. This unique show is the last known of its kind. It is comprised of fifteen oil on canvas paintings by C.M. "Rusty" Heurlin. In a darkened theater, the audience, seated on a turntable, moves to focus one at a time on each of he large mural-style paintings. As each painting is spotlighted, the narrator, Rueben Gaines, describes the suffering and hardships endured by the stampeders to the Klondike and Fairbanks gold fields of 1898 and 1902. The narrator marvels at what "gold fever" will lead people to do.

We didn't go to "The Big Stampede" show, but did look around the museum.

Above is a 1901 Ford replica that is used in the Golden Days Parade.

Above is information about the 1942 - 1992 (50th Anniversary of the Alaska Highway Construction) commemorative quilt, while below is the beautiful quilt.

Woodsaw Bill Sherwin and his wood cutting truck.

A 48-inch piece of Trans-Alaska Pipeline (above) honors the valiant efforts of the Pioneering Pipeliners, who worked on the construction and maintenance of this historical feat of arctic engineering.

Above and below are storyboards about the sternwheeler Lavelle Young, which was the first commercial steamboat to navigate the Chena River in 1901.

Above is the Wheelhouse of the Lavelle Young steamboat, while below is information about the wheelhouse. The Lavelle Wheelhouse is the original on the boat that brought E.T. Barnette, the founder of Fairbanks up the Chena River.

After we had finished looking at the wheelhouse of Lavelle Young, we then continued on our walking tour of the historic cabins in Pioneer Park.

Cabin #30 was built in 1926 and was the home of Alex McRae.

Cabin #31 was originally the home of Harry Karstens (shown below), park ranger and superintendent of Denali National Park.

Karstens came to Klondike in 1897 at the age of 17. He earned his trip by backpacking supplies for miners over the Chilkoot Pass. He also made the first successful, documented climb of Denali (Mt. McKinley). Today, the cabin is occupied by Just Originals.

The Crooked Creek & Whiskey Island Railroad Engine #67 takes passengers for a loop train ride around Pioneer Park for a fee.

Cabin #31A was the Wold family home from 1946 to 1969. One of the daughters, Jo Anne Wold, is the author of "This Old House" and "Gold City Girl."

Below is the Pioneer Air Museum, a museum of the interior of Alaska's aviation heritage that features dozens of vintage planes and helicopters.

Above is the Tanana Railroad Museum, while below is a totem pole located in the Native Village that is along the railroad tracks in Pioneer Park.

Above, Mel is beside the Beechcraft Model 18 aircraft on display in front of the Pioneer Air Museum. This particular plane was manufactured in 1943, and saw use as a military navigation trainer before being sold after World War II to Air North for use as a passenger and cargo plane.

Above is "The Folk School," which happens to have a free little library in front. Below is the memorial to the SS Nenana, that was designated a National Historic Landmark.

After we had seen everything we wanted to see in Pioneer Park, we decided to go over the the Tanana Valley Fisheries Center.

The Tanana Valley Fisheries Center at the Ruth Burnett Sport Fish Hatchery has a massive 5,000 gallon freshwater aquarium, exhibits, and a state-of-the-art fish hatchery that can be viewed through expansive windows.

And when we were done sightseeing for the day, we made a couple of stops at local craft breweries. The first stop was at HooDoo Brewing Company. See Mel in front below.