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Whats New
Gakona Lodge Photos
See the multiple photo galleries available for viewing at the link above.
Check out our Fishing Packages on the "Fishing" link!
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Current News
Quote of the Day!
"You should always go to other peoples funerals, otherwise, they won't come to
yours." - Yogi Berra
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Schedule
Upcoming Events
2010 Fishing Season- June 3- July 15: King and Sockeye
Salmon on Gulkana River
July 1-August 15: Kings and Sockeye on the Klutina River
August and September have great Rainbow and Grayling Fishing.
Don't forget our "Halfway to Christmas" and "Halfway to New Years" parties
that happen the weekend of the summer solstice and the weekend after in June.
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History of Gakona Lodge, Est. 1904 - National Register of Historic Places
The Historic Gakona Lodge is located at the confluence
of the Copper and Gakona rivers, at Mile 2 on the Tok Cutoff to the Glenn
Highway, 15 miles northeast of Glennallen and 200 miles north of Anchorage.
Gakona Lodge is one of the only original remaining roadhouses.
 The Ahtna Indians have lived in the Copper River basin for 5,000 to 7,000
years. Gakona served as a wood and fish camp and later became a
permanent village. In 1904, Doyle's Roadhouse was constructed at the
lodge's present location. The original lodge is no longer in use
but is still standing. In 1910, the roadhouse became the main
stop for the Orr Stage Company. The location was chosen because it is
the junction of the Valdez-Eagle and Valdez-Fairbanks trails and became an
essential stopping point for travelers. Gakona Lodge, which is still
in use, was completed in 1929 and is listed on the National Register of
Historic Places. Gakona Lodge and Trading Post contains original
buildings and old relics that were found in the area or donated by various
people.
Today, travelers on the Tok Cutoff can stay at the Lodge (Mile 2) and see
relics and equipment from the era. You can no longer get your
horse re-shod but can load up on supplies much the same way that pioneers
did it one hundred years ago.
11 buildings on the site are listed on the National Register of Historic
Places. The buildings - all but two of them made of logs - went up
in spurts, timed to improvements in the roads. The original
roadhouse (located in the back corner) was known as Doyle Ranch, after Jim
Doyle, who homesteaded in 1902 at Mile 132 of the Trans-Alaska Military Road
(now Mile 2 of the Tok Cutoff), the name of the new Valdez-to-Eagle Trail.
Doyle grew spuds, vegetables and feed for the horses. In 1904,
he built the lodge, ice house and storage shed - all added to the national
register 30 years ago. The original 1904 roadhouse held living
quarters, a kitchen/dining room, a few private rooms, an upstairs dormitory
and a store. A telegraph station stood nearby. With no bridge to Gakona, summer travelers crossed by boat. Traditionally, there were
road houses located approximately every 20 miles. 20 miles was the
distance that an individual could reasonably travel in a day. Sadly, only a couple of the original roadhouses exist (Gakona Lodge being one of
them.) The remaining have most commonly been destroyed by fire.
By
1905, gold fever had spread to the Tanan River Valley, and a new trail was
blazed from Gakona north to Fairbanks. A stage company made the
roadhouse a stop in 1910, and Doyle added a barn that could hold up to a
dozen horses.
Between 1912, when Doyle sold out, and the late 1920's,
the property had several owners, including a mining company. The last
of them was Arne Sundt. His granddaughter resides in the red cabin on
the corner of the property. In 1929, when the Alaska Road Commission
widened the Eagle Trail for easier access to gold mines in Chistochina and
Nabesna to the east, Sundt built the larger Gakona Lodge - the present
roadhouse - with 9 private rooms, a bunkhouse (attic), two
bathrooms, a general store and a post office. A wagon repair shop, two
cabins and other buildings were also added.
World War II road building fed
the last growth. In 1942, the Army Corps of Engineers put a garage at Gakona, adjacent the present lodge, to house gear used to build the Glenn
Highway. After the war, the garage became a store. A
shower house was constructed by the Army Corp adjacent the present lodge in
1942 and in 1962 it was converted to the "Trappers Den Bar" and
later the "Trapper's Den Tavern." In 1976, Jerry and Barbara Strang
purchased the Lodge from Henra Sundt. In 2004, the Lodge was
purchased from the Strang's by Valori and Greg Marshall.
All
structures on the premises have been subsequently added to the National
Register of Historic Places. The lodge and cabins have known
famous guests. Judge James Wickersham, the first federal judge for
Interior Alaska, waded through overflow water to reach the roadhouse in
1905. Artists Ted Lambert, Eustace
Ziegler and Josephine Crumrine spent time here. Bill Egan, the first
governor, stayed often during his years in office. Arctic Explorer
Hubert Wilkins was a guest.
Gakona Lodge has an
"infamous" ghost that favors room 5 of the lodge. He smokes a pipe and
seems to enjoy playing tricks. There hasn't been the pipe smoke
since a non-smoking policy was instituted in the lodge. Many
people speculate that the ghost's name is John Paulsen, a customer and
business partner many years ago. He has been a pleasant guardian of
this lodge for many years and we continue to enjoy his company.
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