HomeMy WebLinkAboutAPA1854THE
FINAL REPORT
OF THE
1981 AND 1982
CULTURAL RESOURCES SURVEY OF THE
ANCHORAGE -FAIRBANKS TRANSMISSION INTER TIE
PREPARED BY:
ALASKA HERITAGE RESEARCH GROUP, INC.
FAIRBANKS, ALASKA
GLENN BACON
CHARLES M. MOBLEY
TERRENCE COLE
CHARLES E. HOLMES
ASSISTED BY:
RICHARD TAYLOR
COMMONWEALTH ASSOCIATES INC.
JACKSON, MICillGAN
FOR:
ALASKA POWER AUTHORITY
334 WEST FIFTH A VENUE
ANCHORAGE, ALASKA
R-2516
MAY 1983
ARLIS
A Iaska Resources
Library & tntonnat1on Services
Anchorage. Alaska
ABSTRACT
This document presents the results of a literature search, records check
and two seasons of cultural resources field survey of: (1) the proposed route
alignment for the Alaska Power Authority's Transmission Intertie between the
communities of Willow and Healy, Alaska; (2) the proposed access routes needed to
support construction of the proposed Intertie and, (3) the proposed camp and staging
areas needed to support construction. Approximately 106 miles of the proposed
alignment, including alternate segments, were examined for cultural resources
between June 21 and July 24, 1981. An additional 180 miles of alignment, including
access routes and staging/camp areas, were investigated between June 15 and
October 10, 1982. Eleven prehistoric sites and two historic cabins were discovered
during 75 person-days of field investigations in 1981; two prehistoric sites and two
historic sites were discovered during 180 person-days of field investigations in 1982.
The final route alignment had not been selected prior to the close of the
1981 field season, which precluded completion of the archeological survey of the
entire alignment during that year. Only one previously recorded historic site, Curry,
is known to lie close enough to the project area to be threatened by proposed
construction. One find spot of apparently prehistoric lithic materials lies on the
centerline of the proposed Transmission Intertie. This location, HEA -225, does not
appear to meet eligibility criteria for inclusion in the National Register of Historic
Places.
-i-
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
OBJECTIVES OF THE PRESENT STUDY
STAFF
PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT OF THE STUDY AREA
BIOLOGICAL LANDSCAPE OF THE STUDY AREA
MAN-HABITAT INTERRELATIONSHIPS
RESEARCH ORIENTATION
METHODS
FIELD METHODS
SURVEY METHODS
FORTUITOUS FINDS
SITE DEFINITION
SUMMARY OF STUDY AREA PREHISTORY AND HISTORY
REGIONAL CONTEXT
STUDY AREA CONTEXT
OVERVIEW OF THE ETHNOHISTORIC PERIOD
IN SOUTH-CENTRAL ALASKA
Tanaina (Dena'ina) Settlement Patterns
Western Ahtna Settlement Patterns
THE POTENTIAL FOR TANAINA AND AHTNA
ARCHEOLOGY
HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF SOUTH-CENTRAL
ALASKA
The Early History of the Study Area
The Naming of Mount McKinley
The Search for an All-American Route to the
Yukon Gold Fields
The Discovery of Gold on Valdez Creek
Talkeetna -Cache Creek Road
The Alaska Railroad
-iii-
1
1
2
3
4
36
43
45
45
45
51
51
53
53
57
60
60
63
63
64
64
66
66
67
68
71
TABLE OP' CONTENTS
(Continued)
Title
PREDICTION OF SITE OCCURRENCE IN THE STUDY AREA
ENVIRONMENT AND SITE OCCURRENCE.
PREDICTION OF SITE TYPE OCCURRENCE
SURVEY RESULTS
TRANSMISSION CORRIDOR
1981 Field Season
1982 Field Season
ACCESS ROUTES AND CAMP/STAGING AREAS
Proposed Access Routes ·
Camp/Staging Areas
CONCLUSIONS
LIMITATIONS OF METHODS
OBSERVATIONS REGARDING COLLECTED DATA
POTENTIAL IMPACT OF CONSTRUCTION ON SITES
ELIGIBLE FOR INCLUSION IN THE NATIONAL
REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES
REFERENCES CITED
APPENDIX A: PREVIOUSLY RECORDED SITES IN THE
STUDY AREA
APPENDIX B: DENA'INA PLACE NAMES IN THE STUDY
AREA
APPENDIX C: RESULTS OF FIELD INVESTIGATIONS:
SITE DATA*
APPENDIX D: LAND OWNERSHIP SCHEDULE*
*Separate Volume
-iv-
73
73
74
77
77
77
84
89
89
90
95
95
96
97
101
LIST OF FIGURES
No. Title Page
1 REGIONAL LOCATION 5
2a-d GENERALIZED GEOLOGY 7
3 EXTENT OF PLEISTOCENE GLACIATIONS 15
4 SOILS 17
Sa-d VEGETATION COVER TYPES 23
6a-b REPRESENTATIVE VEGETATION AND TOPOGRAPHY 31
7 AREAS AND SPECIES OF CONCERN 39
8 SURVEY METHODS 49
9 CULTURAL CHRONOLOGY 55
10 DENA'INA (TANAINA) AND AHTNA TERRITORIES 61
11 LITHIC ARTIFACTS-1981 SURVEY 79
12 LITHIC ARTIFACTS-1981 SURVEY 81
13 LITHIC ARTIFACTS, HEA-226 AND HEA-225 87
-v-
LIST OF TABLES
No. Title Page
1 STUDY AREA SOILS 19
2 ANIMALS COMMONLY FOUND IN THE
STUDY AREA 35
3 FRESHWATER FISH FOUND IN THE SUSITNA
RIVER AND NENANA RIVER BASINS IN
THE VICINITY OF THE INTERTIE 37
3a KNOWN FISH HABITAT (SPAWNING AND OTHER)
FOR THE GENUS ONCORHYNCHUS IN THE
INTERTIE PROJECT AREA 38
4 TRAFFIC COUNT: TALKEETNA -CACHE CREEK
ROAD, 1921 to 1931 70
5 RESULTS OF CULTURAL RESOURCE
INVESTIGATIONS ALONG PROPOS·ED
ACCESS ROUTES 90
6 RESULTS OF CAMP/STAGING AREA
INVESTIGATIONS 93
-vii-
INTRODUCTION
In July of 1980, the Alaska Power Authority (APA) engaged Common-
wealth Associates Inc., of Jackson, Michigan, to study the technical and economic
feasibility of providing an electrical intertie between the Anchorage and Fairbanks
utility systems. Commonwealth included as part of that study an assessment of the
proposed project's impact on cultural resources. This reflected the interest of the
Federal Government and the State of Alaska in cultural resources.
A literature search was conducted to provide background information on
known cultural resources and the physical environment within the area of the
proposed route alignment for the Transmission Intertie. Results of the literature
search were the subject of a separate report submitted by Alaskarctic to Common-
wealth Associates Inc. in February 1981. This literature research was since
augmented in 1982 through an Alaskarctic study for the U.S.D.A. Soil Conservation
Service (Bacon, Kari and Cole 1982). The latter study included aboriginal place
name research over an area that includes most of the proposed Intertie study region.
Pertinent data from both the 1981 and the 1982 literature research efforts are
incorporated into this final report.
Archeological survey along proposed alignments was conducted during
June and July 1981 by Alaskarctic and from June to October 1982 by the Alaska
Heritage Research Group, Inc. (formerly Alaskarctic). The work was conducted
under contract to Commonwealth Associates Inc. of Jackson, Michigan. Field
aspects of the research were in conformance with Federal Antiquities Act Permit
Nos. 79-AK-088 and 82-AK-309 and with Antiquities Permits issued by the State of
Alaska. All required temporary and special land use permits were arranged through
Land Field Services, Inc., Anchorage, Alaska.
The program summarized in the following pages was designed to meet
guidelines expressed in Federal Regulations 36 CFR 800, "Procedures for the
Protection of Historic and Cultural Properties." That set of regulations addresses
concerns for cultural resource preservation expressed in the National Historic
Preservation Act, the Archeological Resources Protection Act, Presidential Execu-
tive Order 11593 (Protection and Enhancement of the Cultural Environment), and
the President's Memorandum on Environmental Quality and Water Resources
Management (July 12, 1978). In addition, objectives of the Alaska Historic
Preservation Act were recognized.
OBJECTIVES OF THE PRESENT STUDY
This study includes a two-part field effort. The first part of that effort
(referred to as Phase I) consists of an archeological survey of (1) the proposed
Transmission Intertie corridor, (2) proposed access routes, and (3) proposed
camp/staging areas. The second part of the study (Phase II) focuses on two of the
sites identified during the Phase I program: HEA-225, discovered during the Phase I
survey, and Curry, a previously identified historic site. Examination of Curry could
not be completed in 1982 because snow had obscured portions of the site by the time
it was selected as a potential camp/staging area.
-1-
Phase ·I activities consisted of both aerial and pedestrian survey.
Objectives of the Phase I survey included site identification, location and inventory.
Minimal field collections were made; neither extensive testing of sites by exca-
vation nor extensive analytical studies were undertaken.
Phase .II investigations focused on obtaining data which would assist in
determining the eligibility of Curry and HEA-225 for nomination to the National
Register of Historic Places.
The Phase I and Phase II aspects of the survey program are part of an
archeological evaluation program. In simplest terms, the objective is to locate all
significant archeological and historical sites which might be adversely impacted by
proposed transmission line construction and to prepare plans to protect those sites
from unnecessary damage. These specific objectives are framed in a more general
problem orientation which allows the primary data to be viewed in the context of
the accumulative body of knowledge on Alaskan cultural resources, thereby aiding
the identification of priority needs for subsequent access routes and staging areas
cultural resources research in anticipation of future regional land planning.
Unanticipated changes in the archeological program were made midway
through the first field season to accommodate uncertainties over the final route
selection, precluding completion of a cultural resources survey ·in 1981. However,
approximately 106 miles of preliminary route segments were investigated for the
presence of cultural resources. As the overall project progressed from route
selection to route design and survey, there were revisions in the routing. Conse-
quently, an additional 180 miles of route segments, access routes, and staging areas
were examined for cultural resources in 1982. Approximately 11,850 acres were
examined for cultural resources; roughly 9,500 acres were examined by terrestrial
survey techniques. ·
Surveyed corridor alignments were examined to include the area within
200 feet of the proposed centerline. Since the surveyed areas were comprised of a
series of proposed superlinks, each superlink is in effect a survey transect. In a
larger sense, the total project corridor can be considered an extended south-north
transect connecting Willow to Healy, Alaska. Thus, the survey corridor samples a
variety of ecological settings, ranging from the flats of the lower Susitna River
drainage to the divide of the Alaska Range. Access routes were examined within
10 feet of proposed centerlines.
STAPP
Seven archeologists participated in the field archeology. In 1981,
Principal Investigator Glenn Bacon worked with Charles E. Holmes, who was Project
Supervisor and who took responsibility for directing day-to-day field operations. Mr.
Holmes was assisted in the field by archeologists Charles M. Mobley and Alexander
Dolitsky. Coordination between Alaskarctic and Commonwealth Associates Inc.
(CAl) was through CAl archeologist Wesley Stinson. In 1982, Mr. Bacon continued as
Principal Investigator, while Dr. Mobley served as Project Supervisor. Dr. Mobley
was assisted in the field by archeologist Risa J. Carlson •.
-2-
Coordination between Alaska Heritage Research Group, Inc. and CAl in
1982 was through CAl archeologist Richard Taylor. Mr. Taylor participated in all
phases of the 1982 field season. He accompanied the field crew and participated in
survey activities, including excavation of test pits and survey of the access roads
and camp/staging areas. Mr. Taylor also prepared the site description for Curry
(TAL-004) in the Survey Results section of the report.
The project historian, Terrence Cole, visited the field briefly in late
June 1982 to collect data pertinent to the history of the Talkeetna vicinity. He also
conducted a limited helicopter aerial reconnaissance of the middle portion of the
study area in an attempt to locate potentially significant historical structures.
PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT OP THE STUDY AREA
The project area for the Anchorage-Fairbanks Transmission Intertie lies
within a north-south corridor connecting Willow to Healy, Alaska (see Figure 1).
Elevations of the proposed transmission route range from approximately 150 feet,
near Willow, to nearly 3,200 feet in the Talkeetna Mountains west of Curry. This
region is drained toward the south by the Susitna and Chulitna Rivers and to the
north by the Nenana River.
Regional physiography crossed by the Anchorage-Fairbanks Transmission
lntertie is aptly summarized in the Environ.mental Assessment Report:
Anchorage-Fairbanks Transmission Intertie (CAl 1982):
The proposed Intertie crosses four major physiographic provinces in
south-central Alaska. From the Cook Inlet -Susitna lowland near
Willow the alignment runs through the Broad Pass Depression, through
the Alaska Range and on into the Northern Alaska Range Foothills
province which includes the town of Healy.
The broad Susitna lowland is the landward extension of Cook Inlet. It is
a structural basin with several major tributary rivers whose sediment is
gradually filling Cook Inlet. The lowland is bounded on the west and
north by the Alaska Range and by the Talkeetna Mountains on the east;
Cook Inlet is to the south.
During glacial times, much of the Susitna lowland was a proglaciallake
(Pewe, 1975); today, due to low slopes and the nature of the substrate, it
remains a poorly drained area with abundant small lakes and muskegs. In
the northern portion of the lowland coarser-grained glacial deposits form
low ridges with better drainage.
Further north the project area is dominated by the Broad Pass
Depression, an eroded block which has been downdropped between
parallel faults (graben) (Capps 1940). From this natural feature the
project area is narrowly constricted through Windy Pass and the Nenana
Gorge in the Alaska Range.
-3-
The Northern Foothill Belt of. the Alaska Range is composed of
east-trending ridges and valleys. Streams occupying old glacial valleys
. have cut narrow gorges into the glacial drift and the underlying bedrock.
The Nenana River gorge is an example of this kind of feature.
Surface sediments over the entire Intertie route are the results of glacial
and postglacial episodes (Coulter et al. 1965) {Figure 2). The entire region was
ice-covered during the early Pleistocene, and remnant glaciers still exist in portions
of the Alaska Range (see Figure 3). The southernmost portion of the study area,
south of Kashwitna, may have been inundated by a proglacial lake during early
Pleistocene times. Near the study area, middle and late Pleistocene glaciations
were apparently limited to local events in the Alaska Range and the Talkeetna
Mountains. However, the effects of postglacial sedimentation, erosion, and
downcutting can be seen throughout. Numerous exposures provided along the Parks
Highway and the Alaska Railroad document a pattern of glacial till and outwash
deposits overlain with loess. Lacustrine sediments have also been noted (Coulter et
al. 1965).
A recent review of project area soils (see Figure 4) indicates that most
of the area is characterized by either poorly drained sediments on relatively level
terrain or better drained soils on steeper terrain {CAl 1982:72-80). In· addition,
much of the middle and northern portions of the study corridor is underlain by
permafrost (see Table 1).
Geologist Tom Hamilton has recently discussed {oral communication,
1982) the effects of deglaciation of the coastal mountain range. He has
hypothesized that as ice caps melted several environmental effects may have
occurred. Mass wasting of mountain glaciers would have exacerbated seasonal
runoff and caused an increased rate in erosion of surface sediments. At the Carlo
Creek site, in Windy Pass, it is estimated that as much as 75 percent of the total
postglacial downcutting had already occurred by 8500 years ago (Bowers 1980:50)~
Another effect of glacier melting was the release of ice-dammed lakes. Still
another effect, more difficult to assess, is the effective lowering of mountain peaks
as ice capping on those peaks became thinner, perhaps by as much as hundreds of
feet. Hamilton hypoth,esizes that such an effective lowering of mountain heights
might have allowed moisture laden gulf air masses to more effectively penetrate
inland regions. An extension of this line of thinking is the possibility of increased
snow depths at certain seasons, which could have had dramatic consequences in the
, biological landscape. ·
BIOLOGICAL LANDSCAPE OF THE STUDY AREA
Discussion of the biological landscape here will be limited to those
aspects considered significant in determining settlement density and locations.
Species are considered significant to human populations based on previous observa-
tions in the archeological and ethnographic record. While a detailed analysis of
game patterns and botanical inventories is preferable for a detailed archeological
analysis of the region, such a study of microhabitats is considered beyond the scope
of the cultural resources investigation documented here. Rather, the broad pattern
of the biological landscape will be identified. This regional rather than
-4-
FIGUR E 1
.__ ________ _..:;A=Ia=•k:::.•.:....:Po::..::w:..:::er:...:..A:::.ut::..::ho~ri:.:.utv I ANCHORAGE FAIRBANKS TRANSMISSION INTERTIE
Regional Location
(/ Gilbert/Commonwealth
QUATERNARY
Os
On
Oau
Oal
Ool.
01
Ols
Op
Ot
Otrg
TERTIARY
Tgd
Tsu
Tk
Tn
Tcb
Tsmg
Tv
MESOZOIC
um
mgn
Ki
KJs
gr
ba
TRgn
TRvs
Kc
Mt
Undifferentiated surficial deposits of Quaternary Age
Drift of the Naptowne glaciation
Quaternary alluvium undifferentiated
Deposits in modern stream beds and alluvial fans
Older alluvium-terrace gravels, outwash of Quaternary Age
Quaternary lake clay and silts
Landslide debris of Quaternary Age
Peat
Till and morainal deposits undifferentiated
Talus and rock glaciers
Tertiary granodiorite
Tertiary sedimentary rocks undifferen.tiated
Sedimentary and volcanic rocks of Kenai Group
Nenana Gravel
Coal-bearing formation
Tertiary schist migmatite and granite
Tertiary felsic igneous rocks
Undifferentiated Mesozoic rocks
' Pre-Cretaceous greenstones
Diabase, andesite and rhyolite intrusive rocks
Undivided Cretaceous-Jurassic marine sedimentary rocks
Granitic intrusive rocks
Basalt dikes
Intrusive greenstone
Meta-basalt, slate, marble
Cantwell Formation
Totatlanika schist
Mesozoic igneous rocks
PALEOZOIC
smv Devonian to Cretaceous undifferentiated sedimentary rocks
Dl Devonian-Silurian limestone
Dsb Upper Devonian serpentinite, basalt, chert and Gabbro
Pzv Paleozoic metavolcanic rocks
PRECAMBRIAN
pcbc Precambrian Birch Creek Schist
Modified from the following sources:
A. Geologic Map of the Talkeetna Quadrangle,
Alaska. Miscellaneous Investigations Sertes
Mapl-1174.
8. Reconnaissance Geologic Map and
Geochronology, T al1teetna Mountains
Quadrangle. Nor1hern Part of Anchorage
Quadrangle. and Southeast Corner of
Healy Quadrangle, Alaska.
Open File Report 78-SSBA
C. Alaska Regional Profiles
Yukon Region I 9 7 4
State of Alaska Division of Phmntng
and Research. Juneau. Alaska.
Base Map Source: U.S.G.S. Topographic
1:250,000 Maps.
Willow
Substttion
Legend:
Ouatemary
Tertiary
Mesozoic
Paleozoic;
Precambrian
Preferred Route
Alternative Segment
15 Superlink
. FIGURE2a
...__ _______ ~Aia="'=•"'"'Po=w=er....:....;A=uthO=rttv.!..JIANCHORAGE FAIRBANKS TRANSMISSION INTERTIE
Source: CAl 1982
0
0 5
~ Gilben/Commonweelth
Generalized Geology lOMilnJ.
10KIIometera
Nor1h
QUATERNARY
Os
On
Oau
Oal
Ool
01
Ols
Op
Ot
Otrg
TERTIARY
Tgd
Tsu
Tk
.Tn
Tcb
Tsmg
Tv
. MESOZOIC
urn
mgn
Ki
KJs
gr
ba
TRgn
TRvs
Kc
Mt
Undifferentiated surficial deposits of Quaternary Age
Drift of the Naptowne glaciation
Quaternary alluvium undifferentiated
Deposits in modern stream beds and ·alluvial fans
Older alluvium-terrace gravels, outwash of Quaternary Age
Quaternary lake clay and silts
Lan.dslide debris of Quaternary Age
Peat
Till and morainal deposits undifferentiated
Talus and rock glaciers
Tertiary granodiorite
Tertiary sedimentary rocks undifferentiated
Sedimentary and volcanic rocks of Kenai Group
Nenana Gravel
Coal-bearing formation
Tertiary schist migmatite and granite
Tertiary felsic igneous rocks
Undifferentiated Mesozoic rocks
Pre-Cretaceous greenstones .
Diabase, andesite and rhyolite intrusive rocks
Undivided Cretaceous-Jurassic marine sedimentary rocks
Granitic intrusive rocks
Basalt dikes
Intrusive greenstone
Meta-basalt, slate, marble
Cantwell Formation
Totatlanika schist
Mesozoic igneous rocks
PALEOZOIC
smv Devonian to Cretaceous undifferentiated sedimentary rocks
Dl Devonian-Silurian limestone
Dsb Upper Devonian serpentinite, basalt, chert and Gabbro
Pzv · Paleozoic metavolcanic rocks
PRECAMBRIAN
. RCbC Precambrian Birch Creek Schist
Modified from the following sources:
A. Geologic Map of the Talkeetna Ouadrengle,
Alaska. Miscellaneous Investigations Series
'Mapl·l 174
B. Reconnaissance Geologic Map and
Geochronology, Talkeetna Mountains
Quadrangle, Northern Part of Anchorage .
Quadrangle. and Southwest Corner of
Healy Quadrangle, Alaska ·
Open File Report 78-SSBA
Base Map Source: U.S.G.S. Topographic
1:250,000Maps.
W illow
Sub s tation
Legend:
Quaternary
Tertiary
Meaozolc
Paleozoic
Precambrian
Preferred Route
Alternative Segment
1 S Superlink
FIGURE 2b
~--------=AI=a •=ka:..:..P=ow=•:.:....:r A=u~th:=.:.orit~v I ANCHORAGE FAIRBANKS TRANSMISSION INTERTIE
Sourc e : CAI 1 982
o· 6 Generalized Geology
0 6
10MileoJ.
1 0 Kllomete,.
North . ~ Gilben /Commonwealt h
QUATERNARY
Qs Undifferentiated surficial deposits of Quaternary Age
Qn
Qau.
Gal
Qol
Ql
Qls
Cip -
'at
Qtrg
TERTIARY
Tgd
Tsu
Tk
Tn
Tcb
Tsmg
Tv
MESOZOIC
um
mgn
Ki
KJs
gr
ba
TRgn
TRvs
Kc
Mt
Drift of the Naptowne glaciation
Quaternary alluvium undifferentiated
Deposits in modern stream beds and alluvial fans
Older alluvium:terrace gravels, outwash of Quaternary Age
Quaternary lake clay and silts .
Landslide debris of Quaternary Age
Peat
T!ll and morainal deposits undifferentiated
Talus and rock glaciers
Tertiary granodiorite
Tertiary sedimentary rocks undifferentiated ·
Sedimentary and volcanic rocks of Kenai Group
. Nenana Gravel
Coal-bearing formation
Tertiary schist migmatite and granite
Tertiary felsic igneous rocks
Undifferentiated Mesozoic rocks
Pre-Cretaceous greenstones
Diabase, andesite and rhyolite intrusive rocks
Undivided Cretaceous-Jurassic marine sedimentary rocks
Granitic intrusive rocks
Basalt dikes
Intrusive greenstone
Meta-basalt, slate, marble
Cantwell Formation
Totatlanika schist
Mesoz_oic igneous rocks
PALEOZOIC
smv Devonian to Cretaceous undifferentiated sedimentary rocks
Dl Devonian-Silurian limestone
Dsb Upper Devonian serpentinite, basalt, chert and Gabbro
Pzv
PRECAMBRIAN
pcbc
Paleozoic metavolcanic rocks
Precambrian Birch Creek Schist
Modified from the fallowing aourcoa:
A. Geologic Mop of the Alaska Railroad·
Region Matanuako Coal Field to Yanart Fork
Bulletin 90iPiato 2.
B. Reconnaiuanco Geologic Map and
Go.ochronology, Talkeetna Mountaino
Ouedrangla, Northern Part of Anchorage
Ouedrengle. and Southeast Corner of
Healy Ouadrongle, Alaska.
Open File Report 78·f>58A
Bose Map Source: U.S.G.S. Topographic
1 :250.000 Mapa.
' I
I.
i _,
--,
I
'
1
i
J
Legend:
Quatemary
Tertiary
Mesozoic
Paleozoic
Precambrian
Preferred Route
. FIGURE 2c
\..._ ________ .....:.A==Ia=•k=a ..:...;Po::..:;w:..::.er:....:..A=ut.::..:ho=-:.ri:.;.L..Jty I ANCHORAGE FAIRBANKS TRANSMISSION INTERTIE
Source: CAl 1982
0
I 6
.6
~ Gilben /Com monweallh
I l OMiles J. Generalized Geology
QUATERNARY
Os Undifferentiated surficial deposits of Quaternary Age
On Drift of the Naptowne glaciation
Oau Quaternary alluvium undifferentiated
Qal Deposits in modern stream beds and alluvial fans
Qol Older alluvium-terrace gravels, outwash of Quaternary Age
Ql Quaternary lake clay and silts
Qls Landslide debris of Quaternary Age
Qp Peat
Qt ....:. Till and morainal deposits undifferentiated
Qtrg ·Talus and rock glaciers
TERTIARY
Tgd
Tsu
Tk
Tn
Tcb
Tsmg
Tv
MESOZOIC
um
mgn
Ki
KJs
gr
ba
TRgn
TRvs
Kc
Mt
Tertiary granodiorite
Tertiary sedimentary rocks undifferentiated
Sedimentary and volcanic rocks of Kenai Group
Nenana Gravel
Coal-bearing formation
Tertiary schist migmatite and granite
Tertiary felsic igneous rocks
Undifferentiated Mesozoic rocks
Pre-Cretaceous greenstones
Diabase, andesite and rhyolite intrusive rocks
Undivided Cretaceous-Jurassic marine sedimentary rocks
Granitic intrusive rocks
Basalt dikes
Intrusive greenstone
Meta-basalt, slate, marble
Cantwell Formation
Totatlanika schist
Mesozoic igneous rocks
PALEOZOIC
smv Devonian to Cretaceous undifferentiated sedimentary rocks
Dl Devonian-Silurian limestone
Dsb Upper Devonian serpentiQite, basalt, chert and Gabbro
Pzv Paleozoic metavolcanic rocks
PRECAMBRIAN
pcbc Precambrian Birch Creek Schist
Modified from the following sources:
A. Map of the Alaaka Range Between Longitude
14 7 °30 'and 160 • 00 'West, Showing
Bedrock Geology.
Proleaaional Paper 293 Plata 1.
B. Geologic Map olthe Alaska Railroad
RegiOn Matanuako Coal Field to Yenert Fork.
Bulletin 907 Plate 2.
Base Map Source: U.S.G.S. Topographic
1 :250.000 Maps. ·
a
Wilktw
Subttation
Legend:
Quaternary
Tertiary
Mesozoic
Paleozoic
Precambrian
Preferred Route
Alternative
15 Superlink
. FIGURE2d
l~=~~=-----=AJe=ak=•'-'-Po=w=•r'-'-'A=ut=hori=tv.,.l ANCHORAGE FAIRBANKS TRANSMISSION INTERTIE
Source: CAl 1982
0 6 ·
~eneralized Geology 0 II
10MilesJ.
10KIIometers
North ~ Gilbert/Com,;.,wealth
\
-Ice Covered during the Early Pleistocene
Glacial Advances
-Ice Covered during the Middle and late
Pleistocene Glacial Advances
-Ice Covered the last 6,000 Years of
Glacial Advances
-Ice Covered during the Middle Pleistocene
Glacial Advances
; , ~ll:'~'(z;,l! Covered by Progiaciallakes during parts
t of Pleistocene
\__ ________ __!A:::::Ia~•k=a:..!..Po=..::w=.=e~r A.:.::u:.::..:th::::.:orl.:..:.wtv I ANCHORAGE FAIRBANKS TRANSMISSION INTERTIE
Source: CAI1982
0 ~ OOM~ '===~===~~===::!
0 30 80 Kilometers
~ Gilbert /Commonwealth
Extent of
Pleistocene Glaciations
In The Study Area
DOMINANT
SOIL SOIL SOIL
SUBORDER SYMBOL FAMILY
Aquent~ Typic Cryaquenta, uncly,
fi newly levele1aoclatlon
Fluvent--u Typic Cryofluventa -Typlc Cryaquenta, loamy.
nearly level euoclatlon Aq~IQ2al Pergallc Crye-tl ·l'w9l'k= Cryochrepta, vary gt11VIIIy,
1.-y to liMP eaaoclatlon Ochrwp~ Typic Cryochrepta, vary gnvlly. nearly level to rollng ·
Aerie Cryaquepta,loemy, nearly level to rollln!l ... oclatlon Umbr~pt--{-Pargallc Cryumbraptl, very gravelly, hiUy to ltlep ·Rough
mountalnouo lend .. ooclatlon
Typic Cryorthodl, loamy, hiHy to ltMP · Humic Cryorthodl,
vary gnavelly, hilly to lltMP aoaoclatlon
TyplcCryorthocla. very gr11vely, nearly level to rollng -
Sphegnlc Boroflbrtau, nearly level .. locletlon
-Typic Cryorthodo -Lithic Cryumbreptl, very IIJIYelly.
hilly to ltMP e11oclat1on
Ortho Humic Cryorthode, vary gravaHy.
1.-y to liMP euoclatlon
-Humic Cryorthodl, vary grevlly, hilly to liMP -
Rough moun~• lend aa~tlon
-Pergellc Cryorthoda -Hilde Pergellc Cry-b. very
gnvlly, nearly level to rollng u~tlon
-Pergellc Cryorthodo, very gNvelly, hlly to liMP ·
Rough mountelnouoltond •••oclatlon
Miocellaneou-----f"-Rough mountalnouo lend
. ~''' Permelrolt lnotflelclcheckedl
--Preferred Route
--Ahematlve Segment
15 Superllnlt
Source:
-United Statea Department of Agriculture, Soil
Conoervation Service · Exploretory Soil Survey
of Alaska • February 1 9 7 9
-DOWL Engineers, December. 1980
FIGURE4
(~----=~=-----........:...:;A•=•Ik=•:...:..P=ow=•;.:..:r A=u=tho=rl~ty I ANCHORAGE FAIRBANKS TRANSMISSION INTERTIE
Source : CAI1982
0 10
0 10
(/ Gilbert/Commonwealth
2 0Mileo l
,,,, __ , ~-
SKi '..K"
ll.S. DEPT. OF IHTB.I:UOR
Soils
TABLE 1
SOIL CHARACTERISTICS
Hazards To
Soli From
Map Topographic General Average Ott Road
Symbol Soil Position Texture Sl!:!.!!e Draln!![e Permafrost Traffic Remarks
EA2 Typic Cryaquents Streams channels and Sandy and gravelly Nearly level Poor Not present Severe due to Subject to flooding
outwash plans along wetness and stream channel
Chulitna River changes.
EPl Typic Cryofluvents-Stream channels and Loamy and gravelly Nearly level Well to poor Generally not Slight, severe Low or depressional
Typic Cryaquents terraces west of present In wet areas areas subject to
Willow flooding.
IQ25 Pergelic Cryaquepts-Foothills of Alaska Gravelly with rock Sloping to Poor to well On broad ridges Severe due to Above timberline. Well
Pergelic Cryoohrepts Range above 1500 feet outcrops steep valleys and steepness and drained In gravelly
footslopes wet areas material at t'ootslopes.
IRlO Typic Cryochrepts-Terraces and foot-Silt losm over very Nearly level to WeD to In depressions, Slight, to Forested floodplains
Aerie Cryaquents slopes around Healy gravelly sand rolling moderately drainage ways, madera te due with irregular areas
well and seepages to dust and of wet tundra and
'I softness when muskeg.
',._ wet
,\.()I
I,' IU3 Pergelic Cryumbrepts-Alpine plateaus, rocky Stony and gravelly Sloping to WeD except In small swales Severe to very Soil material is too
Rough Mountainous slopes and ridges loam with rock very steep poor In swales or seepage areas severe due to coarse to form perms-
Land northeast of Talkeetna outcrops and seepage at shallow depths steepness and frost throughout.
areas rockiness
RMI Rough Mountainous Upper portion of hills, Stony rock outcrops Sloping to Well Generally not Very severe due Barren upper slopes.
Land mountains, ridges and very steep present to steepness lceflelds, and
peaks and rockiness glaciers. Predomi-
nantly tundra
vegetation.
SOl Typic Cryorthods-Moraine hills, depres-Silt over gravelly Rolling hills Well on hills to Not present Slight to very Forested hills alter-
Sphagnic Borofibrlsts sions, and broad river loam on moraines and nearly very poor In severe In wet natlng with depressions
terraces with moss and peat in level depressions peaty areas filled by muskeg and
depressions lakes.
S04 Typic Cryothods-Broad glaciated low-Silt over very gravelly Rolling hills Well on hills to Not present Slight to very Forested hills alter-
Sphagnic Borofibrlsts lands adjoining Cook sand or sandy loam with and nearly very poor In severe In wet nate with depressions
Inlet moss and peat in depres-level depressions peaty areas filled by muskeg and
sions lakes. Limited to
small area near Willow.
TABLE 1
(Continued)
SOIL CHARACTERISTICS
Hazards To
Soli From
Map Topographic General Average Otf Road
Symbol Soil Position Texture Sl2J:!e Draln!!,ge Permafrost Traffic Remarks
S06 Typic Cryorthods-Alpine benches, foot-Gravelly sandy loam to Sloping to Well Not present Severe due to Alpine shrubs and
Lithic Cryumbrepts slopes and deeply gravelly silt loam very steep steepness and tundra In small area
entrenched valleys In rockiness east of Talkeetna.
the western Talkeetna
Mountains
SOlO· Humic Cryorthods Foothills and terraces Silt loam over stony Hilly to ste~p Well Generally not Severe due to Valley fioor north of
of Susitna River sandy loam till present except steeponess Talkeetna supporting
Valley In small areas and rockinesS forest and subalpine
at higher eleva.: shrubs.
tlons
S013 Humic Cryorthods-Alpine ridges, bencheq Silt loam over gravelly Hilly to very Well except Generally not Severe to very Subalpine and alpine
Rough Mountainous and footslopes of and stony glacial till steep for a few present but may severe due to vegetation.
Land Curry Ridge with rock outcrops depressions occur on some steepness and
north facing ·rockiness .~\ slopes and swales
o,' on high ridges I .
S015 Pergelic Cryorthods-Low moraine hills and Thin loam over very Nearly level Well on hills On footslopes and Slight to 'severe Generally tundra and
Hlstic Pergelic broad valley floor gravelly glacial drift to rolling and poor on in valleys were in wet areas forest vegetation.
Cryaquepts along the Susltna River with peat In some depressions poorly drained
areas peaty soils are
present
S017 Pergelic Cryorthods-Alpine areas, ridges Gravelly and stony Hilly to steep Well On many north Slight to very Generally alpine
Rough Mountainous and peaks of the silt loam with rock facing slopes severe due to tundra.
land. Alaska Range outcrops and peat and under peat steepness and
In some areas deposits rockiness
Source: USDA Soil Conservation Service, 1979.
site-specific analysis is useful in large area cultural resource studies since regional
biological syntheses tend to correct for subtle changes over time in the distribution
of biological resources.
Historically, few biological resources in arctic/subarctic regions have
proved to be significant in the lives of aboriginal populations, due to the fact that
arctic/subarctic regions sustain relatively few total species. Limited seasonal
availability of botanical resources forced prehistoric and ethnohistoric human
populations to concentrate on animals for subsistence. The ethnology of northern
hunting/fishing groups has revealed a clear focus on prey species which can be
harvested with the greatest yield. Thus, special attention is placed on large
mammals and on fish.
It has long been recognized that most game species tend to be associated
with specific habitats. These habitats can usefully be identified in terms of
dominant vegetation communities. A mixture of forest, muskeg, shrub and tundra
communities cover the project area and have been identified (see Figure 5) from the
Anchorage-Fairbanks Environmental Assessment Report (CAl 1982). While
recognizing that each of the major vegetation communities is actually a mosaic of
smaller communities, it is useful to survey the study area in terms of major
botanical units.
Major botanical units reflect various environmental parameters such as
topography, drainage, soils and permafrost. These same factors affect the
individual mosaic units which make up each of the major botanical zones. As local
conditions change over time, the individual mosaic units are expected to change in
configuration; but, subject to major disruptions, the larger zones tend to be
relatively stable.
This is evidenced in paleopollen records elsewhere in interior Alaska,
where the data suggest a relatively stable botanical environment since middle
Holocene times (e.g., Ager 1975; J. Anderson 1975; P. Anderson n.d.). However,
little is known of the effects of precipitation change, such as might have occurred in
postglacial times, on such plant communities as those dominated by willows and
alder, especially the latter. Based on personal observations of the current botanical
landscape, an increase or decrease in alder could have had dramatic consequences in
man's ability to travel overland throughout much of the study area.
Latitude, precipitation and elevation all have a pronounced effect on the
boundary between forested and nonforested areas. Tree line is generally between
2500 (762.5 m) and 3200 feet (975 m) above sea level. Mixed birch-poplar-spruce
forests generally occur below 2000 feet (609 m) in elevation, and most often on
slopes with a southern exposure. Slopes with a southern exposure are less likely to
be affected by permafrost, although this is less true farther north.
Five major botanical zones or ecosystems, including three types of
forest, characterize the study area: (1) bottomland spruce-poplar, (2) lowland
spruce-hardwood, {3) upland spruce-hardwood, (4) shrub, and (5) tundra (Figure 6).
BOTTOMLAND SPRUCE-POPLAR is common to floodplain areas and is also occa-
sionally found in small clumps near the tree line. Both white and black spruce are
associated with this ecosystem; however, black spruce tends to be associated with
more poorly drained soils, while white spruce is often restricted to the understory
vegetation. Poplar and/or cottonwood are commonly associated.
-21-
LOWLAND SPRUCE-HARDWOOD areas combine both types of spruce trees with
tamarack and white birch. Black spruce is dominant in this ecosystem. This
vegetation combination is common to poorly drained areas, often with standing
water. Swampy areas characterized by tussocks of cotton grass, mosses and shrubs
are common.
UPLAND SPRUCE-HARDWOOD forest ecosystems are characterized by spruce,
balsam poplar and birch. Poplar is much more rare than birch. Of the two major
types of spruce, white spruce dominates on south-facing and well drained slopes,
while black spruce dominates on north-facing and poorly drained areas. Birch is
commonly associated with the white spruce stands.
SHRUB areas tend to mark forest margins. Thus, floodplain areas and areas near
the tree line are often dominated by shrubs. Shrub forms of birch and various
species of willow are common. Stunted black spruce and willows are common to the
most poorly drained areas.
TUNDRA is a term that includes wet, moist and alpine tundra regimes. Elevation,
topography, drainage, and local soils all converge to dictate which type predomi-
nates. M<;>ist tundra is common to foothills and lower elevations; wet tundra is often
found in areas with no topographic relief and standing water. .For both moist and
wet tundra, sedges, tussocks, willows, and dwarf birch predominate. Alpine tundra,
found at the higher elevations, is less vegetat~d than moist or wet tundra, and it
consists of local populations of white mountain-avens, low heath shrubs, prostrate
willows and dwarf herbs.
It is well documented (e.g., State of Alaska 1974·~ 1978a, 1978b, 1978c;.
JFSLUPC 1973) that certain major game species tend to be associated with one of
the above discussed ecosystems. For example, moose are browsers and they tend to
be associated with lowland areas which support willows and other shrubby growth.
In contrast, caribou prefer mosses and lichens which are more common to upland
areas.
The following discussion is a brief review of habitat preferences for
major game food sources known to have been utilized in ethnographic times. As
habitats are assumed to have been fairly stable throughout much of the Holocene, it
is assumed that the major food resources of the ethnographic period would also have
been the major food resources of much of the Holocene. Because an
ethnographically derived exploitative model is USed for at least the last half of the
Holocene, this period ·is referred to as the ethnographic Holocene. There ·are two
important aspects to this model: (1) it is assumed that the biological landscape has
remained reasonably stable over the past few thousand years, and (2) it is assumed
that potential food resource species have been limited for that period of time, and
people throughout this period would have focused on essentially the same game
species.
Those animals commonly found in the study area and known to have been
exploited heavily during ethnographic times are presented in Table 2. Behavioral
aspects of some of these species are summarized in the following discussion.
-22:-
Sources:
Legend :
Low Brush, Muskeg-Bog
Wet Tundra
Moist Tundra
Alpine Tundra
Bottomland Spruce-
Poplar Forest
Lowland Spruce-
Hardwood Forest
Upland Spruce-
Hardwood Forest
UneRoute
Alternative Segment
-Joint Federal-State land Use Planning
Commission For Alaake , July 1973.
Major Ecosystems of Aleeke
-1 • = 3000 'Color Infrared NASA
U-2 Photography, 1 977
-CAl Field Investigations, 1 981
Base Map Source:
-U.S.G.S. 1 :260,000Topographic Mapa
FIGURE 5a
~-----------'A=Ia=•k=a.:...Po=w:...::.e.:...;_rA=u=th=or,;,:,£..Jity I ANCHORAGE FAIRBANKS TRANSMISSION INTERTIE
Source: CAl 1982
0
I
6
5
~ Gilbert/Commonweelt h
I 10MilasJ. Vegetation Cover Types
&.LASKA RESOURCES LJBRAR~
U.S. DEPT. OF INTERIOR
.. --c=J --..
Legend:
Wet Tundra
Moist Tundra
Alpine Tundra
Bottomland SpNce·
Poplar Forest
Lowland Spruce·
Hardwood Forest
Upland Spruce·
Hardwood Forest
Alternative Segment
-Joint Federal-State Ulnd Use Planning
Commission For Alaska, July 1973.
Major Ec.,.yatama of Alaaka
- 1 • • 3000 ' Color Infrared NASA
U-2 Photography, 1977
-CAl Field Investigations, 1981
FIGURE 5b
~-------____;_:;Aia=sk=a;.;....Po=w=er'--'--'A=ut=horitv=· ;!...II ANCHORAGE FAIRBANKS TRANSMISSION INTERTIE
Source: CAl 1 982
0
0
6
5
(/ Gilbert/Commonwealth
10Milea !
,.,_, ~-
Vegetation Cover Types
Moist Tundra
Alpine Tundra
Bottomland Spruce-
Poplar Forest
Lowland Spruce-
Hardwood Forest
Upland Spruce-
Hardwood Forest
Shrubland
Line Route
Alternative Segment
Sources :
-Joint Federal-State Land Use Planning
Commission For Alaska, July 1973.
Major Ecosystems of A laska
-1 • = 3000 'Color Infrared NASA
u-2 Photography. 1 9 77
-CAl Field Investigations, 1 981
Sese Map Source:
-U.S.G.S. 1 :250 ,000 Topog ra phic Maps
FIGURE Sc
~...._ ________ ...:;A::::Ia::.:sk:::.a.:..:Po::.::w:.:::•r:..:.A:::.ut::.:.ho::.::ri:.:.!..Jtv I ANCHORAGE FAIRBANKS TRANSMISSION INTERTIE
Source: CAl 1982
0
0
6
(/ Gilben/Commonwealth
Vegetation Cover Types 10Milas J.
1 0 Kilometars
North
WetTundre
Moist Tundra
Alpine Tundra
Bottomland Spruce-
Poplerforeat
Lowland Spruce-
Hardwood Forut
Upland Spruce-
Hardwood Forest
Une Route
Alternative Segment
-Joint Federal-State Lend UM Planning
Commiooion For Aleoka, July 1973.
Major Ecooyatems of Alaoka
-1 • • 3000 • Color Infrared NASA
U-2 Photography, 1 977
-CAl Field lnveotigationo, 1 981
FIGURE 5d
'-------------'A..;.;.;I•=•k=•-'-Po=w;;....:ce.:....;.r A=u=th=or.;..;;..:...Jitv I ANCHORAGE FAIRBANKS TRANSMISSION INTERTIE
Source : CAl 1982
0
0
5
~ Gilbert/Commonwealth
Vegetation Cover Types 10Miles4
1 0 Kilometers
North
Lowland Spruce-Hardwood Near Talkeetna
Moist Tundra Near Lane Creek
FIGURE 6a
..__ ________ :....:.:AI=as=ka:....:...P=ow-=-=e"'-'-r A=u=th=ori:..:..!.....ltv I ANCHORAGE FAIRBANKS TRANSMISSION INTERTIE
(/ Gilbert/Commonwealth
Representative Vegetation
and Topography
Upland Spruce-Hardwood with Moist Tundra Near Canyon
Upland Spruce-Hardwood and Shrubland, Alaska Range
FIGURE 6b
.__ _______ --=....::oAia=s=ka..:....:Po::..:..:w=er..:....:A=uth=o=rit.!....Jv I ANCHORAGE FAIRBANKS TRANSMISSION INTERTIE
~ Gilbert/Commonwealth
Representative Vegetation
and Topography
TABLE 2
ANIMALS COMMONLY FOUND IN THE STUDY AREA
LARGE MAMMALS
Black Bear
Brown-Grizzly Bear
Caribou
Dall Sheep
Moose
Wolf
SMALL MAMMALS
Beaver
Coyote
Flying Squirrel
Land Otter
Lynx
Marten
Mink
Muskrat
Porcupine
Red Squirrel
Weasels
Wolverine
Bur bot
Dolly Varden
Grayling
Rainbow Trout
Whitefish
Salmon
Chum
Coho
King
Pink
Sockeye
BIRDS
Spruce Grouse
Rock Ptarmigan
Willow Ptarmigan
White-Tailed Ptarmigan
(and various migratory waterfowl
and seabirds)
-35-
Ursos americanus
Ursos arctus
~fertarandus
Ovis dalli
Alces alces
Canis lupus
Castor canadensis
Canis latrans
Giaueomys sabrinus
Lutro canadensis
1Y!!! canadensis
Martes americana
Mustela vison
Ondrata "Z"i'i:iethicus
Erethizon dorsatum
Tamiasciurus hudsonicus
Mustela sp.
Gulo K!!!2
Lota Iota
SsiVeifriUs malma
Thymallus arcticus
Salmo gairdneri
Prosopium cylindraceum
Coregonus nasus
Oncorhynchus keta
o. kisutch
o. tshawytscha
o. gorbuscha
0. nerka
Canachites canadensis
Lagopus mutus
1· lagopus
L. leucurus
MOOSE (Alces alces) are known to range throughout the project area. The general
pattern is for wintering along the shrub-dominated floodplain areas near the major
watercourses. During the warmer months, moose tend to move to higher elevations
and into the upland spruce-hardwood forests where spring calving can occur in a
more protected setting. Moose tend to move individually, although they sometimes
gather in the fall in herds of up to more than 30 individuals.
CAlimou (Rangifer tarandus) are more common to the northern portion of the
project area, especially in the higher elevations. Caribou in the project area tend to
move in small to moderately-sized groups, and they prefer the mosses and low plant
growth of the tundra areas. They can also be found in the more forested regions.
For much of the year they tend to travel near the tree line, especially in the spring
calving season when trees offer protection to the newborn.
DALL SHEEP (Ovis dalli) today are restricted to the mountainous regions of the.
Alaska Range. A major lambing area is adjacent to the Parks Highway, on the west
side of Sugarloaf Mountain.
MIGRATORY GAME SPECIES move through the study area during the warmer
summer months. Various species of ducks, swans, and cranes are known to nest in
the project area, where they are attracted to the freshwater marshes and swamps.
SMALL FUR BEARING MAMMALS abound over nearly all of the project area.
However, they are especially concentrated near riparian habitats.
AQUATIC RESOURCES most exploited by man include a variety of anadroinous
Pacific salmon as well as several common riverine fish species. Tables 3 and 3a
(CAl 1982:121, 123) include a list of freshwater species common to the project area.
Figure 7 (CAl 1982:85) shows the relationship between selected food·
resource availability areas and the project area. For a fuller summary of project
area habitat, both biological and physical, the reader is directed to an excellent
review produced in the Environmental Assessment Report: Anchorage-Fairbanks
Transmission lntertie (CAl 1982).
MAN-HABITAT INTERRELATIONSIDPS
·It is reasonable to assume thaf the natural distribution of food resources
which were a major part of the diet of aboriginal human populations must have had a
major effect on where those human groups lived. Available biological literature
establishes the fact that species representing major food resources are intimately
linked with specific habitats, and these habitats can be usefully generalized in terms
of ecosystems (e.g., JFSLUPC 1973). Available paleopollen data for interior Alaska
suggest that modern ecosystems have been in place for approximately the last half
of the Holocene period; thus food resource distribution has remained relatively
stable for that same period.
Because of limited food resources in the arctic/subarctic, subsistence
hunters/fishers must necessarily have focused on certain game species. Key game
species include moose, caribou and several varieties of freshwater fish. The range,
-36-
TABLE 3
FRESHWATER FISH FOUND IN THE SUSITNA RIVER AND NENANA RIVER BASINS
IN THE VICINITY OF THE INTERTIE 1
Arctic lamprey
Pacific lamprey
Alaska whitefish
Least cisco
Pink salmon
Chum salmon
Coho salmon
Sockeye salmon
Chinook salmon
Round whitefish
Inconnu
Rainbow trout
Dolly Varden
Lake trout
Arctic grayling
Pond smelt
Surf smelt
Ealachon
Northern pike
Lake chub
Longnose sucker
Burbot
Threespine stickleback
Coastrange sculpin
Prickly sculpin
Lampetra japonica
L. tidentata
Coregonus nelsoni
C. sardinella
Oncorhynchus gorbuscha
0. keta ---
0. kisutch
0. nerka ---
0. tshawytscha
Prosopium cylindraceum
Stenodus leucichthys
Salmo gairdneri
Salvelinus malma
§.. namaycush
Thymall us arcticus
Hypomesus olidus
H. pretiosus
Thaleichthys pacificus
Esox lucius
Couesius plumbeus
Catostomus catostomus
Lata Iota
Gasterosteus aculeatus
Cottus aleuticus
C. asper
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
N
N
N
N
N
N
N
N
N
N
N
N
N
1source: Morrow, J. E. 1980. The freshwater fishes of Alaska. Alaska North-
west Publishing Company, Anchorage, Alaska.
McPhail, J. D. and C. C. Lindsey. 1970. Freshwater fishes of
northwestern Canada and Alaska. Fisheries Research Board of Canada,
2 Bulletin 173.
3s -denotes occurrence in the Susitna River Basin
N-denotes occurrence in the Nenana River Basin
TABLE 3A
KNOWN FISH HABIT AT (SPAWNING AND OTHER) FOR THE GENUS ONCORHYNCHUS
IN THE INTER TIE PROJECT AREA 1
~hinook Sockeye Coho Pink Chum
Susitna River * * * * *S
Willow Creek *S * * *S *
Little Willow Creek *S * *S
Kashwitna River * * *S
North Fork
Kashwitna River *S *S
Caswell Creek *
Sheep Creek *S * *
Goose Creek *S *
Montana Greek ·* *S *S
Sunshine Creek *S
Question Creek *S
Birch Creek * *S *S *S *S
Trapper Creek * *S
Rabideux Creek *S
Talkeetna River * * * * *S
Chulitna River * * *
Chunilna Creek * * * *S
Wiskers Creek *S *S
Troublesome Creek *S *S *S
Tokositna River * *
McKenzie Creek *S
Spinks Creek * *
Byers Creek *S * ·*S *S
Byers Lake *S
Gold Creek *
Indian River *S ·*S * *•
Salmon Creek * * * *
1 Source: Alaska Department of Fish and Game. 1978. Alaska's fisheries atlas,
volume I. State of Alaska. Juneau, Alaska, USA.
*-denotes an occurrence of fish species in a watercourse
S-denotes use as spawning habitat
_-.'::io-.-
--~~-?E..~
-
81
1S
Eagle Nesting Area
Swan Nesting Aree
Dell Sheep Range
Anedromous Stream
Cantwell Formation *
Middle Devonian limestone
of The Alaska Range*
Proposed Ecological Reserve
Ecological Study Sites
Preferred Route
Alternative Segment
Superlink
* Potential Rare Plant Habitat
Sources:
-John Tr-. U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, Anchorage
-Bruce Conant, Waterfowl Investigations,
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Juneau
-Alaaka Department of Fish and Game,
1978 Alaaka'a Wlklftfe end HebiteS. llolume I
-S.R. Capps. 194 0, Geologic Map of the
Alaaka Railroad Region
-Fedorai ·State land Uae Planning
Commi11ion 1979, An Ecological
Reserves Report, Volume I
-CAl Field Investigation•, 1981
Basa Map Source:
-U.S.G.S. 1:250,000 Topographic Maps
FIGURE 7
t'"=--==-:-=-:::==-----A=ia=sk=a ..:....:Po=w=e'..:..:Au=tho=rttv!.jl ANCHORAGE FAIRBANKS TRANSMISSION INTERTIE
Source: CAI1982
0 10
0 10
~ Gilbert/Commonw ealt h
20 Miloa J.
20 Kilometers
North
Areas and
Species of Concern
movement, and associated habitat of each of these food resources are predictable
from season to season. This allowed people of the ethnographic period, and
presumably earlier, to schedule and sequence harvesting activities in a manner
designed to insure at least minimum necessary food procurement in every season.
This exploitative pattern is supported by an associated settlement pattern in which
basic limitations imposed by the lack of sophisticated transportation and food
storage systems forced aboriginal human groups to locate settlements near the
resource harvest. A way of life emphasizing geographic mobility and light
settlement density developed.
As moose and caribou are most easily hunted when in their largest
groupings, which occur in the fall, hunting of these game animals tended to be
scheduled at that time. Fish runs, which occur during the summer months, were
harvested at that time. South-central Alaska, with its heavy snow depth and frozen
rivers, provides little opportunity for effective hunting of large animals during the
winter months. Thus, it was necessary to store food, such as dried fish and meat,
for the winter. These stored foods were augmented by hunting small animals such as
rabbits and ptarmigan. Occasional moose and caribou were also isolated and killed.
The seasonality of game distribution, combined with low absolute
numbers of game animals, necessitated a low human population density. Settlement
patterns were linked to harvest and food storage locations; these were often close
together. The result was a pattern which focused on fishing and fish camps during
summer months and on hunting and hunting camps in the fall and early winter. In
late winter, when stored food resources were exhausted and only small animals could
be depended upon for food, groups dispersed to even smaller units, often single
families. Fish camps and caribou fences, the latter used in caribou hunting, required
the cooperation of extended family units or combinations of family units. These
larger groups seldom would have exceeded 100 persons and were more likely in the
range of 30 to 40 persons. So important was each aspect of the seasonal harvest
schedule that failure of the summer fishing or of the fall hunting could mean
starvation for an entire group.
-41-
RESEARCH ORIENTATION
Following White {1949), and more recently Steward (195 5 ), the research
reported in this document is based on the broad concept of cultural ecology, which
focuses on the interaction between human social behavior, material culture and the
physical environment. A basic assumption is that material culture applied to the
physical environment reflects social behavior, and that, if patterns are observed in
the technological record, then corresponding patterns may be inferred in the social
behavior of the societies which used the technology.
Ethnology of northern hunting/fishing groups has revealed a clear
correlation between the spatial distribution of human predators and their prey (e.g.,
Boas 1964; Campbell 1969; McKennan 1969; Spencer 1959 and Watanabe 1968).
These previous studies suggest that resource exploitation is both social and
patterned behavior. Furthermore, it is assumed that exploitative patterns change to
reflect shifting availability of food resources.
Those aspects of material culture most closely associated with securing
food will be most sensitive to changes in available food resources (Steward 1955).
Granting these assumptions, two basic levels of analysis can be pursued through the
study of the material leavings of human groups. First, extinct behavior patterns can
be revealed through the study of technology as it is preserved as discarded material
culture. Secondly, changing patterns reveal behavioral response to changing
physical environment conditions.
Cultural ecology studies must necessarily include discussion of cultures
present and of the milieu in which they are found. But because baseline
archeological and environmental data for south-central Alaska are not yet available
in detail, initial discussion must be at a general level. An example of such analysis
is Holmes' (1975) discussion of the socioeconomic-territorial aspects of the
"Athapaskan Environment System." That approach attempts to define man-habitat
interrelationships in terms of general systems theory by defining culture, geological
environment and biological environment as three subsystems of a total
environmental system.
Cultural behavior has resulted in the creation of archeological sites,
each of which is located in a specific environmental setting. It is in the interest of
land planners to discover correlations between kinds of environmental settings and
archeological sites (if such correlations exist), because then study of environmental
settings could result in the prediction of archeological site occurrence. This
problem has been approached from a regional perspective in the past (Bacon and
Holmes 1980) because environmental data are most uniform at a regional level of
synthesis. It is with this regional orientation that the Phase I survey was initiated.
-43-
METHODS
FIELD METHODS
Two methods of survey were used in the study: foot traverse and aerial
helicopter reconnaissance. Foot traverse, or pedestrian survey, was used for flat or
gently rolling terrain (generally less than 20 degree slope) where dense vegetation
was not an impediment and where land was relatively well drained. In regions of
rugged topographic relief and in poorly drained areas, such as swampy flats, survey
was conducted from the air. All areas similar to those known ethnographically to
have been utilized were examined on the ground. Such areas included hilltops and
overlooks (Fall 1981; Osgood 1937). Survey methods recognized that subsurface
investigation should concentrate on areas of (1) highest archeological potential and
(2) highest matrix stability, where sites could be preserved.
For purposes of this study, areas of poor or low archeological potential
were defined as areas in which one or more of the following conditions prevailed:
1. Areas under standing or running water were considered low in
archeological potential for two reasons. First, more modern populations would no
doubt have considered such locations unfit for camps. Second, such areas are
extremely difficult to sample archeologically using the standard survey techniques
employed. In such situations, sites will remain undetected.
2. Areas of steep slope were considered low in archeological
potential. In the subartic environment of south-central Alaska, cryoturbation works
near surface sediments and displaces them downslope. Significant movement of
sediments can occur with as little as a 3 degree slope. Such displacement causes
severe damage to archeological sites by obscuring spatial interrelationships of site
artifacts and features. Thus, much of the scientific value of a site damaged through
cryoturbation is lost. Slopes in the range of approximately 20 degrees or steeper
were considered steep enough to cause significant damage to any sites caught in
downslope movement caused by frost action.
3. Areas covered by thick vegetation were classed as low in archeo-
logical potential, not because such areas are likely devoid of archeological sites, but
because currently standard survey techniques fail to detect sites in such settings
with any degree of dependability. Currently acceptable survey methodology
requires constant evaluation of surface expression of such variables as topography,
plant color and type, and erosion features. All these important details are obscured
in thick vegetative cover. In such situations, archeological survey becomes limited
to chance prospecting using data obtained in test pits. Test pits reveal such a
limited amount of potential culture bearing sediment (far less than 0.01 percent) as
to be statistically meaningless. As a result, such areas were excluded from
concentrated terrestrial survey.
In contrast to the limitations imposed by heavy vegetation on
archeological survey for prehistoric sites, such vegetation often does not hinder the
search for more recent archeological sites. Historic period cabin remains and even
aboriginal village sites have successfully been located using aerial (helicopter)
survey techniques (Bacon et al. 1982).
-45-
4. Areas disturbed by recent historic period activity were considered
as low in potential for yielding significant cultural resources.
Surface inspection for artifacts or other cultural features was inhibited
in most places by a heavy vegetation cover which .obscured underlying sediments.
Particular attention was thus devoted to observing natural exposures such as stream
cut banks, animal burrows, frost boils, uprooted tree roots, and a variety of
erosional surfaces. In cases where no natural exposure of underlying sediments was
present at locations judged to be likely site locations (on the basis of ethnology
and/or archeology),. subsurface tests were made with a small shovel and trowel.
These exploratory tests were excavated usually to a depth where bedrock, frozen
ground, or gravel occurred. In areas where surface sediments were too thick to
penetrate with a shovel and trowel, tests were arbitrarily terminated before they
reached a depth of approximately one meter below the surface.
Site locations were determined using U.S.G.S. topographic maps (scale
1:63,360). Other observations made at sites included a gross estimate of possible
site size and a basic characterization of the artifact array revealed in surface
exposures and tests.
Small collections of surface and subsurface artifacts were made at
selected sites. Photographs were taken to document field conditions, survey
methods, and site environmental settings. Curation of photographs, field notes, and
artifacts followed accepted professional standards. All collections were cleaned and
cataloged, and will be accessioned to the University of Alaska Museum in Fairbanks,
Alaska. Site survey cards for each discovered site will be filed in the Alaska
Heritage Resources Survey file maintained by the Alaska Division of Parks in
Anchorage, Alaska.
SURVEY METHODS
The survey methods employed for the Transmission Intertie archeology
project were selected on the basis of their efficiency for locating sites as
demonstrated by other archeological projects charged with the responsibility of
surveying large areas in Alaska. One of the first decisions to be made was whether
to make use of a probabilistic sampling approach. Because of the linear orientation
pf the corridor, the statistical approach would correspond to some sort of interval
transect scheme (Judge, Ebert, and Hitchcock 1975:100-103). Such statistical
approaches eliminate investigator bias in the selection of areas to be more
intensively investigated (i.e., subjected to test excavation or pedestrian survey in
the case of the powerline project), by forcing the field archeologist to examine
areas thought to be relatively poor in archeological potential.
The statistical approach was rejected because: (1) the detailed environ-
mental information necessary to stratify the transect into sampling units having
some microhabitat integrity was lacking and, (2) the scheduling ·of the overall
powerline evaluation project (and recognized funding constraints) imposed a sampl-
ing level of just a few percent of the total project area which could be intensively
scrutinized on foot --a portion which would be· insufficient to yield statistically
significant coverage of the study area within a probabilistic sampling scheme.
-46-
-
'
' J
Therefore, it was desired that the survey focus upon different broad types of
environmental features using a sliding scale of investigative scrutiny, the scale and
ranking of environmental features being based on a combination of ethnographic
information, known regional archeological site distribution, immediate logistics, and
common sense. The suitability of such an approach, rather than a statistically
oriented probabilistic method, is supported by the results of the fixed interval
testing exercise implemented in the archeological survey of the proposed Northwest
Alaska Gas Pipeline route (Aigner and Shinkwin 1979). That survey collected
considerable negative data, but in fact failed to reveal several known sites along the
northern portion of the proposed alignment (Gannon, oral communication, 1982).
Areas considered to be of relatively high archeological potential tended
to have certain topographic and vegetation qualities. Hilltops, for example, are
known both archeologically and ethnographically to have been used for hunter
lookout stations. Suitable rock outcrops are also known to have been mined or
quarried for material used in the manufacture of stone artifacts. Areas of
relatively high archeological potential were further delimited by excluding from
consideration those areas which (1) could not be reasonably tested given accepted
survey techniques or (2) had been sufficiently disturbed so as to preclude the
likelihood of sites surviving intact. An example of areas that can not be reasonably
tested includes areas currently under standing or running water. Disturbed areas
include those disturbed by modern human activity and those which have suffered
natural damage such as through erosion or cryoturbation.
Aerial reconnaissance was used to survey portions of the survey area
characterized by steep sidehill slopes. These areas suffer from massive downslope
movements of surface and near surface sediments, often due to the effects of frost
action. In these areas, opportunities for finding preserved archeological sites are
greatly reduced. In addition, such areas are not known archeologically and/or
ethnographically to be likely site locations. However, despite the low archeological
potential, portions of such areas were surveyed on foot. Above ground features,
such as cabin ruins and mining equipment, were visible from the air.
At all times the field survey strategy recognized limitations of precise
cross country compass navigation and a lack, in certain locations, of adequate
helicopter landing places. Figure 8 summarizes the final Intertie alignment in terms
of type of survey conducted. Alternate routes surveyed are depicted on maps in
Appendix C. The entire final route was subjected to aerial inspection via helicopter
several times. All terrestrial survey was augmented by examination of underlying
sediments as exposed in natural erosion features and test pits.
-47-
Legend:
--Aerial Survey
-Pedestrian Survey
Preferred Route
FIGURE 8
':---=--------=A'=••=ka:...:.P=ow=e;:.,;r A=u=th::::ori~ty I ANCHORAGE FAIRBANKS TRANSMISSION INTERTIE
Source : CAl 1982
0 10
0 10
20MilesJ.
20 Kllomet"'o
North
Survey Methods
~ Gilbert/Commonwealth
FORTUITOUS FINDS
Nearly all of the archeological finds of 1981 and 1982 (both historic and
prehistoric) are located outside the project corridor and away from proposed access
routes and camp/staging areas. These sites were discovered under a variety of
circumstances. Most were located at or near helicopter landing places. Some were
located by archeologists who climbed to vantage points in order to gain terrain
perspective during survey. All of these sites are recorded here, not because they
represent potential project impact problems, but because, in a sense, initiation of
the Transmission lntertie archeological survey effort was responsible for or led to
their discovery. All finds were assigned AHRS site alpha-numeric designators even
though some, such as HEA-225, may prove not to be sites.
SITE DEFINITION
Following Doelle (1977:202), artifact clusters are regarded to constitute
a site when the following conditions are met:
1. A site must have definable limits.
2. A site must have an artifact density greater than five artifacts per
square meter.
Artifact clusters which fail to meet these criteria are considered as
"non-sites," or more properly "find spots."
-Sl-
SUMMARY OF STUDY AREA PREIDSTORY AND IDSTORY
REGIONAL CONTEXT
One interpretive scheme characterizes the archeology of central Alaska
in terms of five major periods: (1) an early Tundra period, ending circa 8,000 years
before present (B.P.); (2) an Early Taiga period, circa 8,000 to 4,500 B.P.; (3) a Late
Taiga period, circa 4,500 years ago to approximately A.D. 500; (4) an Athapaskan
period, from approximately A.D. 500 to about A.D. 1900 and, (5) a Recent period
from about A.D. 1900 to the present time (e.g., Bacon 1977) (Figure 9). Dumond
(1982:885-895) has recently reviewed the various environmental constructs em-
ployed by archeologists in their discussion of post-Pleistocene adaptation in the
North American arctic/subarctic. It is clear from his discussion that little is known
about conditions and events associated with the early Holocene period.
The Tundra period in Alaska is still poorly understood, but it likely
represents a time of early postglacial adaptation. A changeover from steppe
(grassland) to shrub tundra must have had dramatic consequences for early man's
faunal food resources (see Stanley 1980:663-666). Few archeological sites are
known from this early period in Alaska; none are known from south-central Alaska.
Direct evidence of the people of the Tundra period comes from four locales in
interior Alaska.
Frederick Hadleigh-West has defined an early stone tool complex on the
basis of evidence from several small archeological sites in the Tangle Lakes region
(1967, 1974, 1975). Hallmarks of the "Denali complex" are stone cores and
microblades, characteristic scraper-gravers known as "Donnelly burins", bifacial
stone knives and stone endscrapers. West has argued that the locations of many of
these archeological sites suggest a primary dependence upon caribou for the people
who occupied them. His reasoning takes into account that many of the sites are
located on the shores of lakes which are in turn located in the vicinity of one of
interior Alaska's major caribou herds (the Nelchina herd), and that interior Alaska
ethnographies are filled with accounts of caribou hunted by chasing them into water
where they were more easily killed. Recently, West (1981) has considered the
possible association between Denali peoples and interior Alaskan bison herds.
The Healy Lake Village site (Cook 1968; Cook and McKennan 1970)
contained tools which possibly date to 11,000 years ago. These tools exhibit
similarities to tools from the recently discovered Dry Creek archeological site near
Healy, Alaska. The Dry Creek archeological site also dates in excess of 10,000
years ago (Holmes 197 4). The fourth area from which it is possible to document
human occupation of central Alaska during the Tundra period is in the vicinity of
Donnelly Dome near Delta Junction, Alaska. Donnelly Ridge, adjacent to Donnelly
Dome, has produced stone tools of the Denali Complex (West 1967) and two deep and
stratified archeological sites containing Denali Complex material have recently
been discovered at nearby Fort Greely (Bacon and Holmes 1980).
It is not yet clear what relationships, if any, existed between the early
peoples of interior Alaska and those peoples who are now known to have inhabited
the Pacific Gulf Coast of Alaska since at least 10,000 years ago (Fladmark 1979).
So far, evidence for early coastal populations is restricted to the Aleutian Island
-53-
group and to the Alexander Archipelago of southeastern Alaska. However, early
man sitesalong the shores of Cook Inlet cannot be ruled out without further study.
Forests began postglacial invasion of eastern 'interior Alaska perhaps as
early as 10,000 years ago, and by 6,000 years ago spruce forest was present near the
Onion Portage archeological site in western interior Alaska (Anderson 1971 }. During
this period a series of boreal adaptations was evident across North America. Many
of these adaptations were expressed in technologies which were characterized, in
part, by side-notched projectile points.
Presently available evidence indicates that, with the postglacial warming
trend, forests replaced the earlie·r shrub-tundra in central Alaska about 9,000 years
ago (Ager 1974; Matthews 1974; Schweger n.d.). However, homogeneity of forest
cover cannot be expected. The Tangle Lakes area, which lies in the southern flanks
of the Alaska Range, apparently experienced a drastic reduction in the amount of
spruce trees present during a period ending about 3,500 years B.P. and beginning
sometime after 9,000 years B.P ., but before 4, 700 years B.P. (Ager and Sims 1981).
Scanty archeological data from the early Holocene period (that period
following the last major glaciation, approximately the last 10,000 years) suggest
that a series of forest adapted archaic cultures inhabited central Alaska (Anderson
1968; MacNeish 1964}. Characteristic of the Northern Archaic Tradition's stone
tools were: side-notched projectile points, stone endscrapers, elongated and
semilunar bifacially chipped forms, boulder chip artifacts, large unifacially chipped
forms, notched pebbles, stone axes, hammerstones, and choppers. These people
probably lived primarily on caribou, moose, bison, and fish since these food
resources would have been the most abundant.
As the effects of the thermal maximum began to diminish, interior
Alaska likely felt the slight retreat of forest margins. More importantly, conditions
for the slight expansion of shrub-tundra might have improved. This is a particularly
interesting point when considering the margins of the Susitna River basin since much
of that area is presently near tree line.
The Late Taiga period saw the development of Arctic Small Tool
Tradition, with its emphasis on a microlithic technology, on the western coast of
Alaska. During middle Arctic Small Tool times, Boreal Choris, with its large
lanceolate projectile point forms and large bifacially chipped forms, continued to be
widespread as indicated by the existence of the later(?) Kayuk and Nimiuktuk sites
as well as assemblages similar to that found at the Gallagher Flint Station, located
north of the Brooks Range. Data are limited for central Alaska, but the Healy Lake
and Lake Minchumina (Holmes 1974) and other sites such as Girls Hill (Gall, personal
communication) indicate that the late Denali Tradition technology was also
widespread (see Bacon 1977}. ·
The Late Taiga period terminated coincident with a surge of influence to
Alaska from the region of the Bering Sea. Western Thule, with its emphasis on
whaling and sealing, appears as suddenly on the Alaska mainland as did Arctic Small
Tool earlier. The appearance of Western Thule, at roughly A.D. 500, is remarkably
near in time to the Itkillik "intrusion" in the Onion Portage sequence (Anderson
1970) and also to the finale of the Denali Tradition, which after a brief
-54-
,, ..
CULTURALCHRONOLOGY II PERIOD ASSOCIATED TECHNOLOGY
Recent Recent
AD 1850 f---------------Copper implements, stemmed
Athapaskan Athapaskan
stone projectile points,
flaked end scrapers, boulder
AD 1000 chip tools
ADO
I Large bifacially chipped
Late Taiga forms, microliths, large
IJl lanceolates -IJl
Ql .....
Northern Archaic 0
L.l..
Ctl Side-notched projectile 4000 BC .~ ----------------Ctl points, stone end scrapers, 1--elongated stone bifaces, Early Taiga 0
c boulder chip scrapers, (shrub tundra 0
dominates) IJl unifacially chipped forms, c notched pebbles, stone Ctl
6000 BC a.
X axes, hammerstones, choppers -----L.U
American Paleoarctic
Early Tundra
Stone cores and microblades, (grassland
tundra burins, bifacial stone knives,
dominates) stone end scrapers
12000 BC
Early Sites?
FIGURE 9
~__ ________ ___..::A::::Ia:.:::sk::.::a-=-Po::..:w.:..:e::....:rA::::.:u::..:th:::.or:.:.:it.!...Jv !ANCHORAGE FAIRBANKS TRANSMISSION INTERTIE
Cultural Chronology
~ G•lbert/Commonwealth
hiatus was replaced by a technology similar to that of the early Alaskan
Athapaskans; that technology was characterized by various artifacts including:
various copper implements, contracting stemmed projectile points in stone, bone and
copper, various stone scrapers including flaked endscrapers, boulder spall scrapers
and tabular bifaces, hammerstones, whetstones, and a bone technology
characterized by a predominance of unilaterally barbed points. Occurring as these
events did, near in time to both the Viking expansion in the North Atlantic and the
Polynesian expansion throughout the Pacific, they suggest the possibility of global
climatic change at that time.
The earliest evidence of Athapaskan occupation of interior Alaska dates
several centuries ago to just prior to A.D. 500. The relationship between these early
Athapaskans and the people known to have occupied central Alaska at an even
earlier time is still poorly understood (Cook 1975). The data are inconclusive as to
whether Athapaskan culture originated in central Alaska (Cook 1968) or elsewhere
--perhaps to the east and south (Bacon 1977). Whatever the case, by A.D. 500
Athapaskan people occupied interior Alaska and utilized a subsistence strategy
similar to that hypothesized for the earlier Taiga periods.
STUDY AREA CONTEXT
Few archeological sites are presently known from the study area, and
fewer· still are dated or contain culturally diagnostic artifacts. Of the major
periods outlined in the regional archeology, only aspects of each can be identified in
the study area. For example, both side-notched projectile points and core and blade
tools have been recovered from the study area; however, these remain undated. No
archeological sites have been discovered which contain complete or nearly complete
tool assemblages. While several Athapaskan sites are known in the study area, none
have been systematically excavated.
An inventory of archeological sites known and in the vicinity of the
survey area yields a total of 28 sites. Twelve of these are little more than small
lithic flake scatters. Only four of the sites located near the survey area have been
excavated: the Teklanika West site (HEA-001), the Dry Creek Archeological site
(HEA-005), the Carlo Creek site (HEA-031), and the Nenana Gorge site (HEA-062).
These sites vary in age, and represent prehistoric occupation at circa 11,000 B.P.
(HEA-005), 8,000 B.P. (HEA-001 and HEA-031), and 350 B.P. (HEA-062).
The American Paleoarctic Tradition is represented at Level 2 at Dry
Creek and at the Teklanika West site (West 1981). The assemblage at Carlo Creek is
characterized by crudely prepared bifaces, which might represent tool blanks
(Bowers 1981). In any event, the proper cultural historical assignment of the Carlo
Creek site is problematical. The Nenana Gorge site contained crude pottery similar
in type to that found elsewhere in interior Alaska in a late prehistoric context
(Plaskett 1977). Several of the surface sites and Level 4 at Dry Creek have yielded
side-notched projectile point forms, associated elsewhere with the Northern Archaic
Tradition. Also, several of the surface lithic scatters have included core and blade
material. Obviously, this is scanty evidence upon which to build a cultural historical
framework. Perhaps the most significant finding to date is that none of the finds
appear to contradict the cultural historical frameworks which archeologists have
formulated for adjacent areas.
It appears that major changes occurred in the study area geomorphology
at the close of the last Pleistocene ice age (Dumond 1982; Stanley 1980). Landforms
·changed and, as they did, so must have area vegetation. With vegetation change,
related changes would have occurred in both the survival and distribution of
mammals and fishes, which were likely the most important food sources for early
man.
During the last great ice advances of the late Wisconsin, the study area
may have resembled the contemporaneous Yukon River drainage. Ice-choked
mountain passes looked down over steppe (grassland) and shrub tundra dominated by
large mammals such as bison, mammoth, mastodon, elk and caribou. High runoff
from melting glaciers fed braided and silt-laden rivers and streams. Dust clouded
the air above floodplains and settled to nourish lush grasses.
Rivers in the study area were probably as important to late Pleistocene
man as they are to people today. Lush grasslands near rivers would have provided
excellent hunting grounds for earlier big-game hunters. These same grasslands
would no doubt have attracted many animals in winter when winds would have kept
the floodplain areas relatively clear of snow. Frozen river transportation probably
always has been a major factor in winter settlement patterns, but perhaps more so
in earlier times when winter precipitation may have been higher than today
{Hamilton, oral communication, 1982). Increased snow depths away from flood-
plain areas would have greatly reduced winter travel in those areas. Frozen river
surfaces could have provided a natural ro.ute for early. hunters as they moved
between hunting grounds and base camps. Summer settlement patterns in the study
area were equally likely to have been influenced· by these river systems. Alder,
enriched by precipitation, would likely have flourished and made overland travel
extremely difficult.
As heavy river siltation diminished along with the glaciers, Pacific
salmon species probably spawned farther up the major rivers draining southward
from the study area. At the same time, Pleistocene megafauna probably persisted
longest in the periglacial environment of the higher elevations of the more northerly
portion of the study area. Both food sources, fish to the south and large mammals
to the north, would have been concentrated near the rivers. In the mountains, the
river valleys also represent natural funnels through which terrestrial game passes in
greatest numbers. As Pleistocene megafauna diminished in number, early man
probably focused more attention on alternative food resources such as fish and
smaller mammals, the latter of which now abound throughout the study area.
Little more is known about the prehistoric inhabitants of the study area.
It is assumed that the people who lived there must have inherited the hunting
tradition from ice-age big game hunters. No doubt the focus· of life was on the
hunting of the larger mammals, but considerable effort must also have gone toward
the harvesting of smaller furry mammals, fishes, and various seasonally available
avifauna. Although there are still large gaps in our understanding, the best
understood part of the prehistory of the study area is 'the Protohistoric period. This
period has been studied through ethnohistorical research, linguistics, and a limited
amount of archeology.
'' .
-sa-
In a recent synthetic work concerning the prehistory of the Upper Cook
Inlet region, Reger (1977:16-22) concludes that a prehistoric ethnic territorial use
boundary between Athapaskan and Eskimoid peoples existed in the Upper Cook Inlet
area. Reger views the existing data as indicating a sequence of interior-oriented
(Indian?) occupations of the Upper Cook Inlet region spanning the periods from
approximately 4000 B.C. to 1 B.C. and from approximately A.D. 1500 to the present.
The period from the beginning of the Christian era to about A.D. 1500 is a period
marked by the appearance of maritime Eskimo occupations in the Upper Cook Inlet
area.
Linguistic evidence (Bacon, Kari and Cole 1982; Kari n.d.; Krauss 1980)
indicates that the study area was most recently occupied by Athapaskan speaking
groups. In general, the lower portion of the study area was occupied by Tanaina
(Dena'ina), and the upper portion of the study area was occupied by the Ahtna
Indians. The origins for both groups are unclear, but it appears that the Ahtna may
have been in their area for a considerable time (Workman 1977), while the Tanaina
may be fairly recent arrivals to the Upper Cook Inlet area (Osgood 1966; Reger
1981).
Both the Tanaina and the Ahtna appear, on the basis of ethnohistorical
data, to have been organized in groups or bands. These bands, each composed of
various task groups, represented portions of several larger regional bands. Regional
bands were recognized on the basis of similar language dialect, common territory
and marriage bonds. While regional bands occupied quite large areas, their
populations were apparently small (see Osgood 1966:19-20)~ Settlements for both
the Tanaina and the Ahtna tended to be small, seldom more than a few houses.
The first record of European contact is from the voyage of Captain
James Cook, who sailed into the inlet bearing his name. Captain Cook noted in 1778
that the Chugach and the Cook Inlet natives were already in possession of blue glass
beads and iron (DeLaguna 1972:Part 1:108-207). By 1783, a Russian trader with the
Potap Zaikov expedition had established trade links with the Ahtna Indians by
trading through the coastal Chugach Eskimos (DeLaguna 1972).
Trading stations established along the coast later became bases from
which military and geological survey exploration parties penetrated interior Alaska
during the late nineteenth century (e.g., Eldridge 1900; Learnard 1900). These
exploration parties, who had been preceded by Malakoff in 1834, continued to map
the Susitna River drainage (State of Alaska 1975). By the end of the nineteenth
century, gold prospectors were searching over much of the upper Susitna region.
In 1914, Congress authorized construction of the Alaska Railroad. A
route was selected which paralleled the Susitna River, and the railroad was
completed in 1923 (Fitch 1967). Nearly 50 years later a roadway was also completed
and named the George Parks Highway. Both the railroad and the highway link
Alaska's two largest communities, Anchorage and Fairbanks. Residents of these
communities are now beginning to settle the areas along the two transportation
links. Recreational opportunities as well as the potential for hydroelectric power
along the upper reaches of the Susitna River will no doubt continue to draw people
to the area.
Previously recorded prehistoric, ethnohistoric and historic sites in the
study area vicinity are listed in Appendix A.
-59-
OVERVIHW OF THE ETHNOIDSTORIC PERIOD IN SOUTH-CENTRAL ALASKA
Because interest here is in the survey area defined by the direct impact
area of the proposed Anchorage-Fairbanks Transmission lntertie, discussion of the
ethnohistoric period will concentrate on ·what is known of noncoastal area
settlement by the Tanaina and Ahtna. These two ethnic groups are identified
linguistically and through oral histories as ancestral to the modern Athapaskan
groups who inhabit the region today. The summary presented below is abstracted
from several sources (e.g., Bacon, Kari and Cole 1982; DeLaguna and McClellan
1981; Fall 1981; Reger 1977, 1982; Townsend 1981, and Workman 1977). Discussion
of Ahtna is restricted to the Western Ahtna, who inhabited the Lake Louise -
Susitna River drainage, and the Upper Inlet Dena'ina (Tanaina), who inhabited a
large area which included most of the Susitna River drainage (Figure 10). The
purpose of the following discussion is to reveal aspects of ethnohistoric period
settlement patterns which have the potential of being retrieved archeologically.
Tanaina (Dena'ina) Settlement Patterns
Recent research (e.g., Bacon, Kari and Cole 1982; Bacon et al. 1982;
Reger 1982) has ~dded to a growing body of data which suggest that Tanaina
settlement patterns are much more complex than previously thought (Osgood 1936).
It is becoming increasingly clear that the Tanaina were composed of several regional
bands, or in· the· terminology of Townsend (1981) "societies." These bands were
largely defined on the basis of traditional subsistence territories.
Much important information on past aboriginal land use for much of
south-central Alaska has been gained through analysis of aboriginal place names.
Unfortunately, most of this information has been lost for the area of study due to
the early demise of the natives of the Talkeetna River, the Mountain People, and
the depopulation of the Susitna Basin (Kari 1977; Pete 1975, 1980). Much of what
can be said is summarized from what is known about inland Tanaina adaptations
elsewhere (e.g., Yentna River drainage) and on the basis of the few known Tanaina
sites along the Susitna River drainage.
The socio-territorial relationships of historic and prehistoric Tanaina can
be broken down into three segments. The local band was a community body resident
in one locale, and structured around family ties. The regional band was oriented
toward an extensive exploitative territory with regard to its biotic resources. The
sites of these resources and routes of access to the sites determine the stations and
movements of various groupings. The task groups were short-term groupings of
people specifically created for exploitative activities. Task groups often formed
were a male trapping pair or trio, a trapping party of a few families, a moose
hunting party or camp, a fish camp, a berry gathering party, or a trading party. It is
apparent that the settlement patterns were determined by and changed according to
the ecological potential of the locale, combined with the exploitative ability of the
Tanaina people~
-607"
" \
Ahtna
'--------------'-'A='•=•k=a"-'Po=w;.::,;er'-'-A=ut=h=o"~·tv I ANCHORAGE FAIRBANKS TRANSMISSION INTERTIE
Source: CAl 1982
0 30
. 0 30
~ Gilbert/C ommonw eal t h
60Kilometers
Dena'ina (Tanaina) and
Ahtna Territories
Western Ahtna Settment Patterns
The study area falls adjacent to the extreme western limit of Ahtna
territory (DeLaguna and McClellan 1981:642), near the area utilized extensively by
the Tanaina. It is estimated that the total population of Western Ahtna did not
exceed 150 persons at the turn of the century (DeLaguna and McClellan 1981: Table
1).
Ahtna settlements were either winter villages, each under the "chief," or
hunting and fishing camps. Chiefs were recognized on the basis of individual ability,
and were often the head of extended family units. Chiefs tended to head local
bands, and these bands, like Tanaina bands, tended to be geographically focused.
Generally, four regional bands have been identified for the Ahtna: Lower, Middle,
Western, and Upper Ahtna. Every major Ahtna community or group of settlements
had its own area for hunting, fishing, and berry picking.
THE POTENTIAL FOR TANAINA AND AHTNA ARCHEOLOGY
In a geographic sense, both the Tanaina and the Ahtna were highly
mobile peoples. Thus, little elaborate architecture can be expected to be found in
the territory of either group. The most substantial architecture would occur in
winter settlements. For both groups, winter settlements consisted of from one to a
few big winter houses. For the Ahtna, and many of the Tanaina, these housed as
many as six nuclear families. However, the Mountain People, the Tanaina who
inhabited the Talkeetna River region, are said to have not used this type of house.
Rather, more portable winter dwellings are said to have been used.
These were probably similar to the so-called "moss houses" used by other
Tanaina and also the Ahtna. These houses, in contrast to the long-house style log
structures (nichit), were constructed of horizontally laid split logs chinked with
moss; and they were covered with shed-type roofs of turf and moss.
A variety of smaller shelters were constructed for more temporary
needs. These include brush-walled lean-tos, skin covered brush huts, and small birch
bark houses. Every living site could be expected to have a sweathouse, pit caches, a
variety of platform caches, as well as small enclosures for menstruants and
parturients set at a distance.
It is obvious that even the most substantial of the various shelter forms
used by the Tanaina and the Ahtna would weather quickly in the moist region of
south-central Alaska. Nearly all of the organics could be expected to disappear in a
matter of a few centuries. Archeologically, this has been verified. Feature
remnants often identified as the remains of former Tanaina and Ahtna settlements
include: anomalous areas of vegetation such as grassy areas, pit depressions, and
areas where trees have been cut or stripped for bark. These clues to former
habitation are nearly impossible to find in areas which have overgrown in alder
subsequent to abandonment.
The other major problem in Tanaina and Ahtna archeology reflects the
low absolute numbers of aboriginal people. With as few as several dozen people
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exploiting several hundred square miles, sites are few and far between. Arche-
ological survey strategies must concentrate on areas of likely settlement density for
best results. Unfortunately, these areas seem to coincide with areas of geological
instability.
Areas commonly selected for settlement, at least based on the obser-
.vable ethnographic present, were often river and stream deltas, sand bars, stream
valley bottoms and other areas which were close to water resources yet devoid of
the common alder thickets. Site selection in these areas has not enhanced
opportunities for site survival.
IDSTORICAL OVERVIEW OF SOUTH-CENTRAL ALASKA
The most important economic activities in south-central Alaska, from
the turn of the century to the present, have included mining, trapping, hunting, and
trading. The region was never densely populated until recent times, and the major
communities have always been· located along the railbelt, especially east. of the
Susitna River. Away from the railroad the most heavily populated areas were the
Cache Creek Mining District, about 30 miles west of Talkeetna, and the Fairview
Mining District 20 miles farther west.
The Alaska Road Commission built a road to the Cache Creek District in
the 1920s to supply the mining camps. This road is still used today. There were
other important trails in the region, but many of them have long been forgotten.
The trail from Nancy on the Alaska Railroad to Tyonek on Cook Inlet, via Susitna
Station, was a major trail in south-central Alaska, but the most famous route
through the region was the Iditarod Trail, which ran from Cook Inlet across the
Alaska Range through Rainy Pass to the Iditarod gold fields and on to Nome. These
trails were regularly used until Alaskans began to abandon their dog teams in favor
of airplanes in the 1930s, but the rivers have remained important as highways. As in
most parts of Alaska, prospectors and trappers lived throughout the region at
isolated spots along the river banks, and the local distribution centers, such as
Susitna Station, Talkeetna, and McDougall, were all located on the rivers and
supplied by boat during the summer.
These are some of the major activities which will be examined here.
From the material gathered here, the major themes in the history of the region can
be identified, and the investigations establish a basis for evaluating historical sites
in the field.
The Early History of the Study Area
The Russian presence in the study area was limited. By the early 1800s
the Russians had long been active in the Cook Inlet region, particularly on the Kenai
Peninsula. But it was not until 1834 that a Russian explorer named Malakoff first
ascended the Susitna River. This explorer may have made another trip up the
Susitna nine years later in 1843, but little is known of his journeys. According to
Alfred H. Brooks, one of Alaska's leading geologists in the early years of this
century, and the man for whom the Brooks Range is named, the Russians never had . -~ ;
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l
I
I I
I :
! I
! .t
a great interest in the Susitna River drainage. "The fur trade of the Susitna River,"
Brooks wrote, "was never exploited by the Russians except insofar as it reached
their posts on Cook Inlet" (Brooks 1973:235). Despite that fact, the Russians did
have some experience in the area. Brooks explained that "By 1845, the Russians had
a better knowledge of the headwater region of the Susitna than could have been
obtained from the crude maps drawn by natives. A Russian map of that year
indicated a rough survey was made of the entire Susitna together with the Talkeetna
River" (Brooks 1973:235).
Even after the purchase of Alaska, the region was still not widely
explored. The first census of Alaska compiled by Ivan Petroff in 1881 noted, "What
the country north of Cook's Inlet is like no civilized man can tell, as in all the years
of occupation of the coast by the Caucasian race it has remained a sealed book"
(Petroff 1884:86). Isolated fur trappers and prospectors were the first to try to open
the "sealed book." As a history of fur trading in Cook Inlet by Robert DeArmond,
one of Alaska's senior historians, explains, "The Susitna River and its tributaries,
draining a vast stretch of country, formed (a) natural highway and carried
•••• trappers and hunters toward Tyonek where a station was built at an early date,
and later to Susitna Station on the Susitna River" (DeArmond 1969:44). As early as
1875, it was reported that the Alaska Commercial Company had a trading post at
"Shushitna (sic), on river of same name" (Cambell 1875:135). Tyonek Station was
founded about the same time, but the trading post known as Susitna Station, where
the native village of Susitna is located, was founded in the mid-1890s by the Alaska
Commercial Company.
Susitna Station was the northernmost· Alaska Commercial Company
trading post in the Cook Inlet region, and was supplied by small boats from Tyonek.
"Although the Susitna Station was established about 1895, and was built strictly for
the fur business," DeArmond writes, "there being no other activity of consequence in
the area at that time, it reached its greatest importance some years later as an
outfitting point and transportation center for gold miners" (DeArmond 196 9:44).
One of the first recorded instances of a gold miner in the area was
probably in the 1870s. A long-time Alaska prospector named George Holt wrote in
September, 1876, "I will go up the Suchitna (sic) River in the spring, and should I not
succeed, then I am done prospecting for gold in Alaska." (DeArmond 1969a:16). It is
not known how successful his trip was, but like many another prospector, George
Holt could never give up the chase. In the late 1880s he was the Alaska Commercial
Company's trader at the village of Knik, one of the major distribution points for the
Upper Cook Inlet, when he was shot and killed by a native after an argument over
some tobacco (Reeder 1964:10).
Other prospectors followed in the wake of Holt. According to the 1890
census, a prospecting party had tried to head up the Susitna Valley, but returned
very discouraged after three weeks in the wilderness, saying that the area "might
contain the most beautiful scenery in the world or the richest mines, but that clouds
of mosquitoes obscured their vision and occupied their attention to the exclusion of
everything else" (Porter 1893:70).
The first major gold strike in south-central Alaska was made in 1895 on
the Kenai Peninsula near Turnagain Arm. It has been estimated that as many as
3,000 prospectors landed at Tyonek a year later in 1896, either headed for the
-6s-
Turnagain gold fields, or searching for new strikes up the Susitna River. One of the
men who joined in the 1896 gold rush to Cook Inlet was William Dickey of Seattle.
A former star baseball player with the Seattle Reds, he made one of the first well-
documented trips, up the Susitna River, and at the same time named the mountain
which was later discovered to be the highest in North America, Mount McKinley.
The Naming of Motmt McKinley
Dickey and his partner, Allen Monks, arrived at Tyonek in the first week
of May, 1896. "Our object in prospecting the Susitna," he wrote, "was the hope of
finding placer mines on its upper waters" (Dickey 1897). He estimated that more
than 100 parties attempted to prospect the Susitna Valley, but that only five
"attained any great distance up the river." Many did not even make it to the Susitna
Station. Rowing ·upriver was not an easy task, and the mosquitoes were a constant
bother. The same problems of weather, climate, and distance plagued prospectors
always. One would-be sourdough from Boston gave up after he and his partner had
been on the river one week and had not yet reached Susitna Station. He said he
would not prospect a country "where he was obliged to tie· up his head in a gunny
sack every night in order to escape the mosquitoes" (Dickey 1897). Dickey and
Monks were among the lucky ones who made it to the Susitna Station, where they
built small boats to take them up the river.
"A short distance above the Station a great branch comes in from the
west," Dickey wrote, referring to the Yentna River. "The Indians say that this
branch runs around the head of Cook's Inlet and rises in a high range of mountains
which we had seen from Tyonik" (Dickey 1897). In January 1897, Dickey published a
long article in the New York Sun describing his expedition up the Susitna Valley and
the mountain that· he said the Cook Inlet Indians called "Bulshoe," meaning very
large. "We named our great peak Mount McKinley," Di~key explained, "after
William McKinley of Ohio, who had been nominated for the Presidency, as that fact
was the first news we received on our way out of that wonderful wilderness" (Dickey
1897).
Dickey returned to the Susitna Valley one year later in 1897 and made
another exploration of the upper Susitna region. Some 40 years later, an employee
of the Alaska Railroad discovered that Dickey and his three companions in 1897 had
carved their names in a rock on Portage Creek.
The Search for an AU-American Route to the Yukon Gold Fields
One of the most important goals of the U. S. government in Alaska at
the turn of the century was to find an "All-American" route to the gold fields in the
Yukon Valley, which did not have to pass through Canadian territory like the routes
over Chilkoot and White Passes, or was not as long as the Yukon River route. The
search for the All-American route across the Alaska Range was a major reason for
expeditions like Spurr's reconnaissance in 1898, and several others. A geological
survey party led by George Eldridge ascended the Susitna River in 1898 and crossed
into the drainage of the Nenana River. In 1898 and 1899, under the general
command of Captain E. F. Glenn, 'numerous military exploring parties examined the
Susitna -Talkeetna region, including expeditions led by Lieutenant Joseph s.
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--.
' '
I :
Herron, Sergeant William Yanert, Lieutenant H. C. Learnard, and Private George
Vanschoonoven. As was soon recognized by railroad builders and highway engineers,
the Susitna -Upper Chulitna -Nenana route through Broad Pass was an ideal route
from tidewater to the interior of Alaska. These early explorations around the turn
of the century provided much information about the Susitna Basin, which would
become one of the most important transportation corridors in Alaskan history.
The Discovery of Gold on Valdez Creek
The year after Brooks mapped Rainy Pass for the first time, another
explorer with a more tarnished reputation landed in Alaska to explore the area
around Mount McKinley. Dr. Frederick Cook is recognized today by most historians
as one of the great liars in the history of exploration. He claimed in 1906 that he
was the first man to climb Mount McKinley, and two years later he told the world
that he was the first man to reach the North Pole. Despite a few Cook believers,
most authorities today are certain that Cook fabricated both his "first ascent" of
Mount McKinley and his "conquest" of the North Pole. However, despite the
exaggerations in parts of his travel narratives, the writings of Cook and other
members of his Mount McKinley expeditions provide valuable information about the
Susitna-Yentna area, which was a staging ground for some of the first attempts at
the mountain.
Cook made his first effort to climb Mount McKinley in 1903, and even he
had to admit that this expedition was a failure. He landed at Tyonek in June 1903
with a party of five men and fourteen horses. They followed the trail taken by
Brooks' party in 1902 from the coast, but were unsuccessful in two attempts at the
mountain. One of the men with Cook in 1903 was an experienced woodsman of the
Northwest named Robert Dunn, who left an interesting description of Susitna
Station in a famous book he wrote after the trip. The book was entitled The
Shameless Diary of an Explorer. At the station, Dunn wrote:
Nearly all the cabins were occupied. Prospectors are coming into this
valley for the first time. No strike has been made, no, but it's the last
valley in Alaska still untouched. They have spent the lat~ summer
boating up their year's supplies from the head of the Inlet. Some have
dogs, some hope to get them from somewhere before winter. They are
the bedrock Alaskan article, the men to be first on the claims if an
Eldorado is struck. They start their stampede the winter before, not in
the spring, which is the tenderfoot way. Each had just waked from
failure --in a rush camp, or looking for daily wages in Valdez. Again
they take up the old, relentless, dream-trail to riches through the
desolate and uncertain North. Human beings, at least, men after my
heart! In Arizona, Oregon, South Africa, the Phillippines, each has more
than once risked his poor all, and lost, always lost. But now the Eldorado
is at hand, in this Sushitna valley, here is the place (Dunn 1907:295).
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Dunn's premonition was right. In that same year the first strikes were made on
Valdez Creek, a left bank tributary of the upper Susitna River, not far from the
source of the river. According to a tabulation made in 1932, the Valdez Creek
district was the 30th all-time leading gold placer district in Alaska, with a total
production of $475,700 (Smith 1933:96). Because of the difficulty in ascending the
Susitna past Devil Canyon, the area was usually supplied directly from Valdez by
routes through the Copper River Basin rather than from posts in the Susitna
drainage. For that reason the Valdez. Creek strike had little effect on the history of
the study area, though freight was occasionally carried up the Susitna to Valdez
Creek after a trading post was established briefly at Talkeetna in about 1909 (Cole
1979:11).
. According to a newspaper report from Cordova in 1909, the Susitna
Station trading post of the Alaska Commercial Company would t\ave in stocl( that
year "all the supplies necessary to supply the demands of the prospectors and
operators during the winter." But, in addition to their headquarters at Susitna
Station, the company also started a post near the mouth of the Talkeetna River and
the present-day community of Talkeetna, to supply the upper Susitna miners and
those on Valdez Creek. "Another supply station hasbeen established 75 miles up the
river," the Cordova Daily Alaskan reported, "where several hundred tons will be
stored for the winter, thus assuring ample provisions to supply all demands during
the closed season" (Cordova Daily Alaskan, 8/24/09:4).
The trading post near the mouth of the Talkeetna River was probably
abandoned in 1911 because it was not found practical to carry on winter freighting
on the Susitna River. Talkeetna would have to wait· until the construction of the
Alaska Railroad before it would become an established trading and commercial
center (Moffit 1912:21; Capps 1913:20, 1919:191).
Talkeetna -:-Cache Creek Road
A 42 mile· long sled road and summer trail from Talkeetna to the Cache
Creek district was first built by the Alaska Road Commission (ARC) in 1918. The
Talkeetna-Cache Creek Road was improved from year to year. By 1922, the route
included 9 miles of wagon road and about 31 miles ofsled road. The wagon road was
graded that year for nine miles, and one mile of corduroy was laid. In addition, a· 45
foot long bridge was built over Date Creek. Several other bridges were also
constructed over smaller streams. "This road was practically completed to Moose
Creek, Mile 10," the Road Commission reported. "It is one of the most important
new roads under construction by this Commission and it is the intention to continue
work this season" (Report of the ARC 1922:42).
One reason why this road was seen as so important was that the
construction of the road from Talkeetna enabled the Road· Commission to abandon
several of the older trails in the region and provide cheaper transportation to a
promising mining region. Because of the "change in the general transportation
situation following the construction of the Government railroad,11 the Commission
officially abandoned three trails in the region in 1922, including the 35 mile long
trail from Susitna to McDougall along the Yentna River, the 30 mile long trail from
McDougall to Cache Creek (including the Kahiltna River Bridge), and the 15 mile
long trail from Lakeview Roaqhouse on the Igi~arod Trail to McDougall (Report of
-68-
the ARC 1922:38). All of these routes were abandoned in favor of the better route
from Talkeetna.
The miners of the Cache Creek region had long pushed for better roads,
and as early as March 1917, they petitioned the Road Commission to build a road
from the mouth of Sunshine Creek near the Government Railroad to the Cache
Creek district. The widely publicized death of a man named Dick Feltham, who was
lost in the wilderness between McDougall and Cache Creek in the summer of 1917,
illustrated how poor the existing trails were.
Richard Feltham was a merchant in the town of McDougall, and he began
to run a pack train from McDougall to Cache Creek that summer to supply the
mining camp. On June 19, 1917, he left McDougall on the "soft, difficult trail" that
hardly deserved being called a wagon road, heading north to the Kahiltna River
Bridge (Mertie 1919:241). The Kahiltna River Bridge was the site of a camp which
consisted of at least several buildings owned by the Cache Creek Mining Company.
It was known as "Camp Two" and was located at the Kahiltna River Bridge crossing,
a few miles above the mouth of Bear Creek. "Camp One" was located halfway
between Camp Two and McDougall, and was on the left bank of Lake Creek, near
the mouth of Yenlo Creek. Feltham left Camp Two at the Kahiltna River Bridge on
June 21. Six days later he had not yet arrived at Cache Creek, so two parties went
out in search of him. At an old camp on Hungryman Creek, apparently on the ridge
south of Peters Hills, they found his trail. As Charles R. Harris, of the Cache Creek
Dredging Company, later wrote to the Anchorage Daily Times:
In the neighborhood of the old Hungryman camp evidences of the
struggles of the man to find the way were pitiful to see. Blazes on the
trees running through the swamps in different directions showed plainly
the vain efforts made to find a most obscure trail that would lead to
Cache Creek. Finally by the faithfulness of his pack horse, that was
found standing on the trail with the saddle turned under him, attention
was attracted to the man rolled in his blankets about fifty feet off the
trail and near Deep Creek. Stimulants aroused in him a recognition of
his rescuers, J. B. McAllister and Scotty McLain, but the effect was
temporary and he died within a few hours (Harris 1917).
Harris and many other miners in the area, like M. A. Ellis on Falls Creek,
the Harpers Brothers on Nugget Creek, N. Bahrenburg and Company on Dollar
Creek, Henry Peters on Bird Creek, and Hershel Parker on the Kahiltna River, to
name just a few, were all anxious to have a better road to the Yentna district. As
Harris put it, "We don't ask for boulevards and parks, but we do want help in the
construction of a plain everyday, dirt road that will guarantee to get us home in
safety when we want to go home, and won't leave us somewhere to perish as it did
Dick Feltham" (Harris 1917).
The miners in the Yentna district got their wish a year later in 1918,
when the Road Commission began building the Talkeetna -Cache Creek Road.
Though the new road was no boulevard, it was far better than the abandoned trail
from McDougall. The Road Commission regularly compiled a traffic census, which
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counted the number of people who used ARC routes throughout Alaska. According
to the traffic census, as early as 1921 two automobiles traveled over a portion of
the Talkeetna -Cache Creek Road. A year later in 1922 the station at Moo"se
Creek, 10 miles east of Talkeetna, counted 12 motor vehicles on the road (Report of
the ARC 1923:118). The traffic count along the Talkeetna -Cache Creek Road
from 1921 to 1931, as shown through available statistics, was as follows: ·
TABLE 4
TRAFFIC COUNT: TALKEETNA-CACHE CREEK ROAD, 1921 TO 1931
No. of Pack
Year Persons Autos Wagons Sleds Horses Tonnage
1921 1866 2 7 1021 171 778
1922 1221 12 69 425 141 356
1923 1459 3 137 596 302 476
1924 801 6 75 222 152 221
(Jan-Oct)
1925 409 193 201
(Jan-May)
1926 526 186 82
(May-Sept)
1929 369 11 224 58 46
1930 646 23 285 251 99
1931 1053 121 62 440 328 320
SOURCE: Annual Reports of ARC 1922-1932
. By the end of the 1920s, the Alaska Road Commission had extended the
portion of the road which was suitable for wagon traffic almost 24 miles to Peters
Creek. A number of other trails, including one from the end of the wagon road
surface to Cache Creek and a 35 mile long trail from Cache Creek 'to Mills Creek,
were also blazed. The Cache Creek-Mills Creek Trail was examined in 1928 by Mr.
C. Edmunds, a District Superintendent of the Road Commission. The trail was
suitable for foot and pack trail travel" (Edmunds 1928). In the summer of 1926, the
traffic census taker at Mills Creek had reported that 26 people walked over the
trail between May and August (Report of the ARC 1927:27}. On this trail there
were four tram cable crossings for foot passengers. The cable tramways were
loc~ted at Gr~nite Creek "two hundred yards above the end of the glacier, where the
stream is in one channel", on the Kahiltna River just below the glacier, on Lake
Creek not far from the Chel~tna Lake, and on Sunflower Creek. The trams were
boatswain's chairs hung on three-quarter inch cables to enable hikers to cross
dangerous streams in the summer. The cable tramways were strung up from large
trees if possible, or from large "A" frames built on each bank. The tram at the
Kahiltna River was 250 feet long, but the biggest of the four cable tramways was
300 feet long (Anderson 1925). The Cache Creek Mills Creek Trail connected the
Fairview mining district around Fairview Mountain with the Cache Creek Mines and
the road to Talkeetna.
The Alaska Railroad
In 1914, Congress authorized construction of the Alaska Railroad. A
route was selected which paralleled the Susitna River, and the railroad was
completed in 1923 (Fitch 1967). Historically, the Alaska Railroad has followed the
boom and bust cycles characteristic of the rest of Alaska. The free spirit days of
the late 1920s were soon followed by the depression of the 1930s. Consequently,
the number of passengers carried by the railroad also dropped off dramatically in
the 1930s. Another factor, which resulted in fewer rail passengers, was the advent
of air travel in Alaska. It was not until the war years of the 1940s, when McKinley
National Park (now Denali National Park and Preserve) was designated as a rest and
recreation area for soldiers, that passenger traffic along the Alaska Railroad showed
improvement.
Aside from the accommodations at McKinley National Park, the most
famous place along the railroad was a place called Curry, located at Mile 248. In
the 1920s, Curry was considered to have offered the most luxurious surroundings of
any place in Alaska. Curry was established as a halfway point stopover on the trip
to McKinley Park. This stopover allowed travelers to travel in daylight for the
entire trip from the Pacific Gulf Coast to McKinley Park.
This interesting place is situated at Mile 248 on The Alaska Railroad; it
is the "half-way point" between the Coast and Interior Alaska where
visitors for a time are part of a great glorious wilderness. Those
travelers who arrange a stopover at Curry during their Alaskan trip, are
fortunate indeed, for it is situated in a delightfully attractive region, and
many forms of outdoor recreation are provided.
The Curry Hotel was described as "a genuine Palace in the Wilderness"
(Alaska Railroad Travelogue, n.d.). The Hotel boasted "modern, inviting and
comfortable" accommodations and a "cuisine of high order." Nearby recreational
opportunities included: hiking, tennis, mountain climbing, kodaking, and fishing.
Also available was a S-mile hike or horseback trip over the "Meadow-Lake Trail" to
a place called "Camp Regalvista." Located atop what is now known as Curry Ridge,
Camp Regalvista provided a spectacular view of Mt. McKinley, some 25 miles
distant. At one time Camp Regalvista also supported a 4-hole golf course. "Here, a
mile in the air and within the very shadow of America's matchless mountain, the
golfer may drive over a course the 'hazards' of which .... plague his mind and test his
skill."
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By World War II much of the former glory of Curry and Camp Regalvista
had vanished. . Gone were the tennis courts and trails to fishing spots. Totally
abandoned was Camp Regalvista, the only remnant of which was the rope bridge
across the Susitna River just behind the Curry Hotel. Yet, even in reduced splendor,
the Curry Hotel continued to live up to its reputation as a "Palace in the
Wilderness." Several hundred. soldiers would stay overnight each day at the Curry
Hotel, which still provided luxurious rooms and fine meals.
Today almost nothing remains of Curry. The hotel was deactivated in
the late 1940s and burned in the early 1950s. Several other structures, including
residences and a powerhouse, were sold as surplus in the 1950s. It is reported that
much of this ·material was later reassembled as part of various structures in
Talkeetna. The riverbank at Curry is littered with the remains of large piston
generators and rusted steam boiler parts. Local evidence suggests that much of the
old community site has been leveled and dozed. However, substantial concrete
foundations still remain, although it is not clear just how much in physical remains
have survived.
Although Curry was the most spectacular camp built along the Alaska
Railroad route, several other types of structures were also constructed. These
included station houses, construction camps, and many bridges; some of which still
survive. ·
PREDICTION OF SITE OCCURRENCE IN THE STUDY AREA
ENVIRONMENT AND SITE OCCURRENCE
Historically, in interior Alaska, archeological site distribution projec-
tions have concentrated on the associations between known sites and the micro-
environments in which they are found (Aigner and Shinkwin 1979; Bacon and Holmes
1980). These environmentally-oriented analyses, while instructive, are limited in
several ways: (1) many of the recorded sites studied early on did not have
associated environmental data recorded; (2) paleoenvironmental data are lacking for
many areas; (3) data that have been recorded are uneven and consequently difficult
to discuss in detail over large areas, and (4) most recorded archeological sites
remain undated, so their proper place in time and their associated paleoenvironment
cannot be ascertained.
Because the data are limited and uneven, the question of archeological
site occurrence in the study area is best studied at a regional level. This allows
extrapolation between known points. At a regional perspective the effects of
microhabitat become diminished. As focus shifts from the weave of the contem-
porary micro-landscape to the broad pattern of the region, some compensation is
gained. Minor shifts in the biological landscape are averaged out in the regional
perspective. At a regional level of significance it is possible to utilize the current
biological landscape as a model for the greater part of the Holocene. Man has
inhabited portions of the study area for at least the past seven or eight thousand
years.
By overlaying ethnographically observed exploitative and settlement
patterns on the current landscape, it is possible to project those patterns throughout
much of the Holocene. The resultant picture of Holocene exploitative and
settlement patterns is termed the "ethnographic Holocene." It is important to
remember that the ethnographic Holocene is only an analytical construct and it is
primarily a reflection of a poor data base. Projections based on the concept of
ethnographic Holocene can be expected to be less than precise. The degree of
inaccuracy will largely be a function of the lack of detailed understanding of
changes in the biological landscape during the. period in which man has occupied the
study area.
The modern biological landscape exhibits a remarkable variety and
uniformity of potential food resources. Several salmon species inhabit the major
rivers and streams which flow to the Pacific. The greatest number of these fishes
must pass through those riverine areas closest to the coast. Thus, relatively fewer
fish are available in the headwater areas. This factor is offset by a greater
availability in the headwater areas of large mammals such as caribou, sheep and
moose. Where topographic differences are least pronounced, fish are most abundant
and vice versa. The net effect is that all parts of the study area have features
which would likely have tended to concentrate the exploitative patterns of
hunters/fishers and gatherers. The entire study area is rich enough in resources to
have attracted settlement during prehistoric times.
-73-
Based on these observations and assumptions it is possible to begin
delimiting areas most likely to contain the highest density of archeological sites.
Some of these would be:
1. Fishing sites along those rivers flowing to the Pacific. These sites
occur ethnographically most commonly nearer the confluences of
rivers --particularly at confluences which join clear and muddy
watered rivers.
2. Spawning sites in clear water tributaries to the Susitna River.
3. Areas through which large mammals would be naturally funneled as
they moved from wintering to summering grounds. Such areas will
include numerous lookout and ambush sites such as small points of
topographic prominence.
4. Areas near the shores of lakes and ponds. These areas commonly
provided fuel and water for camps. Fishes such as trout and
grayling are also common as are small furbearers.
5. Areas near the margins of swampy lowlands. These areas support
large numbers of small furbearers as well as seasonally large
numbers of migratory waterfowl.
6. ·Areas near tree line at higher elevations provide necessary wood
for fuel and construction of winter houses. They also provide
access to nearby alpine tundra areas which sometimes supported
caribou.
PREDICTION OF SITE TYPE OCCURRENCE
Currently available data suggest that the study area has been occupied
by man for at least 11,000 years. The Historic period represents slightly over one
percent of this time. Except for the construction of the Alaska Railroad and the
Parks Highway, Historic period interest in the study area has generally been
transitory in nature and has not led to elaborate settlements. Thus, it can be said
that both historic and prehistoric settlements have tended to be small and short
lived. Thesettlements have tended to exist for the exploitation of some particular
resource; when the resource was exhausted at that location, people moved on.
Populations in the study area seem always to have been small and
mobile. Yet, even small populations will produce an extensive archeological record
given enough time. In this instance there has been ample time, over 11,000 years.
The archeological record for the study area can be expected to reflect the full range
of human activity. We .can expect to find archeological sites associated w·ith food
procurement, social interaction and religion. We can expect to find semipermanent
village sites and one-night camps.
-74-
1 :
Much useful information about past land use practices is revealed in a
study of Dena'ina (Tanaina) place names. Ethnogeographic analysis, currently being
conducted by the Alaska Native Language Center, University of Alaska, has
produced an extensive list of names, some of which are reproduced in Appendix B.
The locations listed were selected because of their proximity to the survey area. No
Ahtna place names are listed because those published lie outside the survey area.
Many of the oldest sites must have already have been destroyed by
natural forces such as erosion. Some sites have been destroyed by subsequent human
activities such as mining and road construction. Of those sites that remain, some
may lie beyond the range of detection provided through current archeological
methodology. Faced with a similar problem involving prediction of archeological
site distribution within a heavily vegetated study area in south-central Alaska,
archeologists Frederick Hadleigh-West and William Workman came to the general
conclusion that "the majority of sites which may lie on the right-of-way in the area
.••• will be discovered only when clearing operations have removed the brush and
muskeg cover, creating an exposure of the underlying soil" (Hadleigh-West and
Workman 1970:1 0). There is no doubt that these conditions will have some effect on
our ability to test some of the hypotheses presented in the foregoing paragraphs.
-75-
SURVEY RESULTS
TRANSMISSION CORRIDOR
1981 Field Season
A total of 13 sites were discovered near the proposed right-of-way
during the 1981 field season. Eleven of these sites are prehistoric; two are historic
in age. Each of the sites appears to be small in spatial extent, but site areas are not
known for certain. Phase II testing was not conducted due to the fact that none of
these sites is located on the proposed right-of-way, staging areas, or access routes,
and hence is not threatened by construction of the proposed Transmission Intertie.
A brief summary for each site follows. More detailed information is provided in
Appendix C.
Site No. 1
AHRS No.
Map:
Setting:
Testing:
Artifacts:
HEA-195
Healy (B-5)
slightly elevated, irregular moraine feature
none
one small white chert flake fragment and the basal segment of a beige
chert lanceolate biface form were collected (Figure 11)
Recommendations: further site testing
Sit~ No. 2
AHRS No.
Map:
Setting:
Testing:
Artifacts:
HEA-196
Healy (B-5)
low river terrace
none
one basalt biface fragment was collected (Figure 11); several concentra-
tions of basalt flakes were left on the surface where discovered
Recommendations: further site testing
Site No.3
AHRS No.
Map:
Setting:
HEA-197
Healy (D-4)
edge of bedrock
valleys
terrace overlooking the confluence of two stream
Testing: none
Artifacts: four chert/rhyolite flake fragments (three fit); none were collected
Recommendations: further site testing
Site No.4
AHRS No.
Map:
Setting:
Testing:
Artifacts:
HEA-198
Healy (C-4)
morainal knoll at a drainage divide between two stream valleys
none
numerous lithic surface artifacts noted; 19 rhyolite flakes, one basalt
biface (knife?), and one side-notched projectile point (Figures 11 and 12)
Recommendations: further site testing
-77-
a Mlcroblade core rejuvenation flake
b-e Mlcroblade segments from eltee HEA-201 and 203
a
d
a -f Blfacee from sites HEA-205. 202, 198. 199, 198, and
196
g Flake with burin facet (arrow)
b c
c
f
8
' g
1 -2
FIGURE 11
~--------....:.A=II=•k=a..:....:Po=w=•r:..:..A=uth=ori=.:.L..Jtv I ANCHORAGE FAIRBANKS TRANSMISSION INTERTIE
Scale: A ctual Size
(I Gilbert/Commonwealth
Lithic Artifacts
1981 Survey
Donal view of btfacea.
a HEA-202
bHEA-205
cHEA-198
b
b
12-1
1 -2
FIGURE 12
,___ ________ .....:A=ta=•k=•..:...;Po=•=•':....:.A=ut=ho=rtty:..:L.JI ANCHORAGE FAIRBANKS TRANSMISSION INTERTIE
Scale: Actual Size
~ Gilbert/Commonwealth
Lithic Artifacts
1981 Survey
Site No. 5
AHRS No. HEA-199
Map: Healy (C-4)
Setting: small hilltop in a broad glacial valley
Testing: none
Artifacts: one rhyolite biface fragment (Figure 11) was collected from the surface
Recommendations: further site testing
Site No. 6
AHRS No.
Map:
Setting:
Testing:
Artifacts:
HEA-200
Healy (C-4)
top of small knoll near stream valley confluence
one test pit produced cultural material just below the sod
chert and basalt flakes were noted on the surface; one basalt and two
chert flakes were found in the test pit and collected
Recommendations: further site testing
Site No.7
AHRS No.
Map:
Setting:
Testing:
HEA-201
Healy (C-4)
lateral moraine feature in broad glacial valley
one test pit produced cultural material just below the sod in a fire
altered (possibly cultural) context
Artifacts: numerous surface and subsurface lithic flakes were noted. Ninety-three
lithic artifacts, including a medial segment of a chalcedony microblade
and 92 flakes of diverse lithology, were found in the test pit and
collected.
Recommendations: further site testing
Site No.8
AHRS No.
Map:
Setting:
Testing:
Artifacts:
HEA-202
Healy (C-4)
lateral moraine feature in a broad glacial valley
none
numerous lithic artifacts were noted in the context of a surface erosion
feature. Two side-notched projectile points (one chert and one rhyolite)
were collected (Figures 11 and 12).
Recommendations: further site testing
Site No.9
AHRS No.
Map:
Setting:
Testing:
Artifacts:
HEA-203
Healy (D-4)
edge of bedrock terrace overlooking confluence of stream valleys
one test pit revealed subsurface cultural material
lithic scatters were discovered in two loci, approximately 25 meters
apart. Locus #1 contained chert and chalcedony flakes, a rhyolite
microblade medial-distal segment, and a rhyolite platform rejuvination
flake from a microblade core {Figure 12). Locus #2 consisted of a dense
scatter of chalcedony flakes. The test pit revealed cultural material (in
situ) just beneath the sod. The microblade fragment, core rejuvination
flake, and six flakes (from the test pit) were collected.
Recommendations: futher site testing
-s3-
Site No. 10
AHRS No. HEA-204
Map: Healy (B-4)
Setting: top of small prominence overlooking river
Testing: none
Artifacts: several chert and rhyolite flakes were observed on the surface. Three fit
together to form a rhyolite side-scraper. No material was collected.
Recommendations: further site testing
Site No. 11
AHRS No. HEA-205
Map: Healy (B-4)
Setting: top of small hill overlooking river
Testing: test probes revealed in situ subsurface material
Artifacts: a small scatter of surface flakes was observed. A beige chert biface
fragment, in two pieces, and a fine-grained black chert projectile point
fragment (Figures 11 and 12) were collected.
Recommendations: further site testing
Site No. 12
AHRS No. HEA-206
Map: Healy (B-5)
Setting: edge of recent river terrace
Testing: none
Artifacts:. deteriorated log cabin structure
Recommendations: further site testing
Site No. 13
AHRS No. HEA-207
. Map: Healy (C-4)
Setting: stream bank
Testing: none
Artifacts: standing log cabin and associated litter, including remnants of plastic
windows, a few cans of food
Recommendations: further site investigation
1982 Field Season
The 1982 archeological survey recorded a total of five sites which
includes Curry, a previously identified site. Two of the four sites discovered in 1982
are prehistoric, while the other two date to the historic period. Curry (TAL-004)
and· HEA -225 are now identified as being within the project impact area. Brief
descriptions of each site follow. More detailed information is provided in
Appendix C.
-84-
Site No. 14
AHRS No. HEA-226
Map: Healy (B-4)
Setting: linear glacial outwash feature {esker)
Testing: testing produced one subsurface artifact
Artifacts: a biface, revealed in a test pit, suggests the likelihood of a buried
cultural deposit. A total of three biface fragments, one unifacially
retouched lithic specimen {Figure 13), and over 100 lithic flakes were
observed. A surface feature consisting of small boulders arranged to
form a roughly circular shape approximately two meters in diameter was
found approximately 120 meters away from the largest exposed lithic
concentration.
Recommendations: further site testing
Site No. 15
AHRS No. HEA-225
Map: Healy {D-4)
Setting: bluff-like terrace overlooking confluence of a stream and a river
Testing: numerous test pits produced no evidence of subsurface cultural material
Artifacts: two creamy-tan chert debitage flakes and two regularly retouched dull
grey chert flakes {Figure 13) were discovered during three visits to this
location. Three of the four artifacts were relocated and collected. The
fourth artifact could not be relocated.
Recommendations: no further investigation is recommended for this location. This
limited collection of four artifacts does not meet the minimum defini-
tion of an archeological site.
Site No. 16
AHRS No. TLM-011
Map: Talkeetna Mountains (C-6)
Setting: high glacial scoured ridge
Testing: several shallow tests revealed no subsurface cultural material
Artifacts: three relatively regular circular arrangements of rocks were noted. Two
are about 3.6 meters in diameter, and a third is approximately
2.2 meters in diameter. A fourth, less regular, rock feature is located in
association with several wooden poles. The four features are uniformly
spaced about 65 meters from each other. U.S. military issue items,
including aerosol cans, food containers, and a flare cannister, were
associated with the stone features.
Recommendations: no further site investigation is recommended
Site No. 17
AHRS No. HEA-188
Map: Healy {A-5 and B-5)
Setting: small stream valley near coal outcrop
Testing: none
Artifacts: structures including a quonset hut and a small frame building were
observed at Locus #2. These were associated with historic period litter.
Locus #1 consists of three log cabin ruins and a cache associated with a
historic period dump.
Recommendations: futher site investigation, especially at Locus #1
-85-
A. Projectile Point Base
D. Biface (chalcedony) Fragment
SITE HEA-226 ARTIFACTS
E. Retouched Flake
SITE HEA-225 ARTIFACTS
8. Retouched
Flake
C. Knife
F. Retouched Flake
FIGURE 13
'--------------.::A::::Ia=sk~a-=-P=..::ow~e::..:r A:...:.:u::..::th=.o:..:.:rit~v I ANCHORAGE FAIRBANKS TRANSMISSION I NT ERTlE
Scale: Actual Size Lithic Artifacts
(/ Gilbert/Commonwealth
Site No. 18
AHRS No. TAL-004
Map: Talkeetna (C-1)
Setting: river bank near the confluence of the river and a small stream
Testing: none
Artifacts: foundations and remains of the town of Curry
Recommendations: this site should be investigated for possible eligibility for
inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. Also, field
investigations should review the potential impact of a proposed Trans-
mission lntertie project camp/staging area here.
ACCESS ROUTES AND CAMP/STAGING AREAS
Construction of a project such as the Transmission lntertie requires the
assembly of men and materials at the project location. Generally men and materials
are brought to the job site after being organized at preselected camps and staging
areas. A total of ten such staging centers were identified to project archeologists.
Once assembled, men and materials move to the project via predeter-
mined access routes. In the case of the Transmission Intertie project, a combination
of overland and aerial routes are contemplated. Thirty-two overland routes were
identified to project archeologists.
A cultural resources survey of proposed access routes and of proposed
camp/staging areas indicates that only one significant historical property may be
impacted by proposed construction related activities. Significant cultural resources
were not found to lie along any of the proposed access routes. The abandoned
community of Curry (TAL-004) is the only potentially historically significant
property which may be impacted by proposed camp/staging area development. The
Alaska State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) has recommended that additional
data collection is necessary before that office can approve the Curry location as a
camp/staging area. Curry may be eligible for inclusion in the National Register of
Historic Places.
Proposed Access Routes
The following is a summary of results of the cultural resource investiga-
tions along the proposed access routes (Table 5). Milepost numbers refer to
locations along the recommended Intertie route; Milepost 0 is the Douglas Substa-
tion at Willow. Potential refers to the potential for locating preserved archeo-
logical sites. All access routes were surveyed by helicopter, some were also
surveyed on the ground. Areas of low potential were not ground surveyed.
Areas of low potential, discussed in the Methods section of this report,
include areas thought not likely for settlement or for site preservation. In general,
areas considered low in archeological potential include: 1) areas under standing or
running water, 2) areas steep of slope, and 3) areas where archeological visibility is
poor due to extremely heavy vegetation.
-89-
.,
TABLE 5
RESULTS OF CULTURAL RESOURCE INVESTIGATIONS
ALONG PROPOSED ACCESS ROUTES
Ground Surveyed
Access Route Name Mile Post Condition Comment Yes No
Hatcher Pass Road 0.0 unimproved, flat, wet low potential* X
Kashwitna Winter Trail 7.1 existing winter trail, low potential X
flat, wet
Caswell Road 15.5 existing road heavily disturbed X
Gibson Road 24.2 existing road heavily disturbed X
Yoder Road 29.3. existing road heavily disturbed X
~(~arge Drive/Question 35.0 existing road heavily disturbed X
Lake Road
Talkeetna Access Road 45.0 unimproved, wet, steep, low potential X
heavy vegetation
Lane Creek Shu-Fly PI-18 unimproved, steep slopes, low potential X
heavy vegetation
I . South Dead Horse Creek 61.0 . unimproved existing cat heavily disturbed X
'-0 -.Trail trail, steep slopes 0
I Gold Creek Access.Trail 74.2 existing road heavily disturbed X
Susitna Valley Access 79.2 existing road heavily disturbed X
Trail
Canyon Access 80.3 unimproved, steep slopes, low potential X
heavy vegetation
Chulitna Access Road 84.5 existing road heavily disturbed X
Granite Creek Access 92.0 existing winter trail low to moderate
potential X
Hurricane Gulch Shu-Fly 94.0 unimproved moderate potential X
Little Honolulu Creek 96.0 unimproved, steep slopes, low potential X
Shu-Fly heavy vegetation
Honolulu Creek 97.5 unimproved, steep slopes, low potential X
heavy vegetation
Antimony Creek Access I 01.1 existing road heavily disturbed X
Igloo Road 108.8 unimproved, flat, wet low potential X
I
\D .....
I
Access Route Name
Broad Pass Access Road
Middle Fork Chulitna
River South Access
Middle Fork Chulitna
River North Access
Summit Road
Jack River Road
Reindeer Hills Trail
Nenana River South Access
Panorama Mountains Trail
Slime Creek Trail
PI 105 Access
Carlo Creek Road
Deneki Lakes South Access
Deneki Lakes North Access
TABLE 5
RESULTS OF CULTURAL RESOURCE INVESTIGATIONS
ALONG PROPOSED ACCESS ROUTES
(Continued)
Mile Post Condition Comment
112.3 existing trail plus flat, existing trail portion
wet extension area is heavily disturbed,
extension area is low
potential
114.5 existing road historic structures
observed from the
aerial survey
116.0 unimproved low to moderate po-
tential
125.5 existing trail low to moderate po-
tential
128.0 existing road heavily disturbed
129.0 existing trail low to moderate po-
tential
133.9 unimproved, flooded low potential
135.0 existing trail over low potential
flooded boulder field
138.0 existing road heavily disturbed
141.2 unimproved, flat, wet low potential
142.2 unimproved low to moderate po-
tential
144.3 unimproved low to moderate po-
tential
146.1 existing road over heavily disturbed
flat, wet terrain
*See definition and discussion of low potential areas beginning on page 45.
Ground Surveyed
Yes No
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Areas of recent disturbance, such as existing roads, were not subjected
to terrestrial archeological survey.
Camp/Staging Areas
Ten proposed camp/staging areas were inspected in 1982. All but three
were found to be heavily disturbed during prior development as either railroad
sidings or gravel pits;. consequently, they were considered -clear of significant
cultural resources. Three exceptions noted were Douglas Substation, Curry, and
Gold Creek. A terrestrial survey was conducted over the Douglas Substation site, ·
but no cultural resources were identified. The Gold Creek staging area is located in
a flat, moist, featureless floodplain area. Little potential exists for detecting
subsurface archeological sites there; and no above-ground structures were· noted,
although they were visible on adjacent parcels of land. No survey is recommended
for Gold Creek. Snow on the ground at Curry prevented adequate evaluation of that
proposed camp/staging area. That site visit is now scheduled for June 1983. A
summary of camp/staging areas investigated and the results of those investigations
is found in Table 6. A camp/staging area at Kashwitna was identified subsequent to
the 1982 field season and will be investigated in 1983.
-92-
TABLE 6
RESULTS OF CAMP/STAGING AREA INVESTIGATIONS
Proposed Camp/Staging Area
Douglas Substation
Talkeetna Staging Area
and Camp
Curry Staging Area
and Camp
Gold Creek Staging Area
Chulitna Staging Area
and Camp
Granite Creek Staging Area
and Camp
Broad Pass Staging Area
Jack River Staging Area
and Camp
Deneki Lakes Staging Area
and Camp
Healy Power Plant Staging
Area and Camp
Comment
Surveyed, no sites found
Existing gravel pit; no survey
necessary due to prior disturbance
Location of historically significant
community; additional survey and
testing recommended
Flat, moist, featureless, floodplain
area, no ground survey recommended;
decision reached in consultation
with SHPO
Disturbed railroad developed area
Disturbed railroad developed area
Disturbed railroad developed area
Existing gravel pit
Existing gravel pit
Disturbed railroad developed area
Procedures and results of both the proposed access routes and
camp/staging area surveys were reviewed by the Alaska Historic Preservation
Office prior to and following field investigations. The recommendation not to use
the proposed Curry site, until after further cultural resource investigations, is made
at the suggestion of the SHPO.
-93-
CONCLUSIONS
LIMITATIONS OF METHODS
All cultural resource investigations in the project area were conducted in
an approved professional manner. However, buried cultural resources often remain
undetected by cultural resource surveys. If such remains exist, some may be eligible
for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. A careful cultural
resource survey is no guarantee that all significant archeological and/or historical
properties have been identified in the project area. For large area surveys, such as
the case with this project, time does not permit sampling more than a tiny fraction
(far less than 0.01 percent) of subsurface sediments. All sediments are potentially
culture bearing; therefore, it is conceivable that cultural resources may be
discovered as a result of construction activities. In the event that construction
activities reveal the presence of cultural resources, the State Historic Preservation
Office and coordinating federal agency representative should be notified
immediately.
Because not all portions of designated Intertie corridors were subjected
to terrestrial archeological survey, it is obvious that the survey provided less than
100 percent coverage. Yet, the survey is considered reasonable in view of time and
fiscal limitations, and also when compared to recent archeological survey efforts for
similar projects. Available archeological and ethnological data, gained over more
than 100 years of arctic/subarctic research, allow some insight as to the nature of
man-habitat interrelationships in south-central Alaska. These insights lead to
certain conclusions as to which portions of proposed alignments and related
construction areas should be considered as low, moderate, or high in potential for
yielding significant cultural resources.
Approximately 78 percent of all corridor segments examined were con-
sidered to be other than low in archeological potential. Criteria for areas of low
potential are discussed in this report beginning on page 45. Using the same criteria,
approximately 70 percent of the selected Intertie corridor is judged as moderate or
high in archeological potential. All areas thought to be either moderate or high in
archeological potential were subjected to terrestrial archeological survey. Much of
the areas thought to be low in archeological potential were examined from the air,
using helicopters, but were not ground surveyed. As a check against our bias,
significant portions of areas deemed low potential were also ground surveyed. A
sample of between 15 percent and 20 percent of designated low potential areas were
also ground surveyed.
A measure of the intensity of the archeological survey discussed in this
report is provided by comparing this project to the archeological survey along
portions of the proposed Northwest Alaska Gas Pipeline corridor, a corridor which
also crosses interior Alaska. Aigner and Shinkwin (1979:99) report that their survey
coverage was 87 percent, very close to our estimated 84 percent for the Intertie
corridor. Aigner and Shinkwin cite Schiffer and Gummerman (1977:186) as defining
intensive survey as survey which requires in excess of ten person-days per square
mile. This compares with approximately 13 person-days per square mile on the
Intertie project.
-95-
While on-the-ground coverage was less than 100 percent for the In~ertie
archeological survey, the survey was intensive over the project area and a
reasonable and professional effort was made. This effort was also consistent with
similar recent efforts over generally similar interior Alaskan terrain.
OBSERVATIONS REGARDING COLLECTED DATA
A pre-survey analysis of overall archeological potential of the study area
indicated that a low number of sites could be expected to lie within the study area
defined as a narrow corridor traversing hillside areas between Willow and Healy.
This estimate was based on the results of archeological surveys conducted for the
Trans-Alaska oil pipeline and for the Solomon Gulch to Glennallen transmission line,
both of which yielded archeological sites in low numbers south of the Alaska Range.
In addition, the northern portion of the study area, nearer. the Alaska Range, was
tfiought to be the most likely place to detect archeological sites, due to the smaller
amount of vegetative cover in many places there. Archeological survey data
collected over two field seasons along the proposed Intertie corridor appear to be
consistent with these earlier observations. Of seventeen discovered sites, all but
one were located in the southern foothills of the Alaska Range.·
The 1981 and 1982 field surveys constitute a geographical transect
reaching from the Alaska Range nearly to tidewater. A variety of biotic habitats
were encountered. Conclusions based on the results of two field seasons of research
differ from those reached in a preceding analysis of archeological potential of the
study area .. The potential of the study area, in terms of locatable in situ sites, was
lower than originally thought.
It is not yet clear why this may be so, but it may be possible that geo-
morphological processes such as water and wind erosion have reduced archeological
site survival during the period since ~eglaciation. This would have the effect of
reducing detection rates. Other factors which tend to reduce our effectiveness in
site detection are obscuration of sites due to heavy surface vegetation and sites
being too deepfy buried to be detected using the testing procedures which we used.
The geographic distribution of sites revealed in place name analysis and
in ethnology does not appear to correlate well with the geographic distribution of
sites revealed during the archeological survey~ Nearly half (9 of 19) of the Dena'ina
(Tanaina) place names in Appendix Blink subsistence activities with bodies of water,
either creeks, rivers or lakes. However, a strong majority (11 of 19) of the Dena'ina
place names are associated with subsistence activities in upland areas. The bias in
favor of site recovery in upland areas is likely due to two circumstances: (1) site
visibility is generally greater in upland areas, and (2) opportunities for site
preservation are reduced near the banks of rivers and streams where many
ethnohistoric sites were located.
None of the sites discovered in 1981 and 1982 have been securely dated;
however, all of the lithic scatters appear to date to prehistoric times, earlier than
the ethnographic period. This is an unexpected survey result, as more recent sites
usually have an advantage in geological preservation. Ordinarily, one would expect , i
to discover a greater percentage of sites from the more recent periods. We I
conclude that four factors are primarily responsible for the noted discrepancy: (1)
site visibility over much of th'e survey area-is extremely limited due to heavy
.,
~~~-... ..-,(.; t
-96-
!
{
surface vegetation; (2) many sites were originally created in areas of geologic
instability, such as on actively eroding stream banks and on river floodplains; (3)
archeological survey methods are not designed to inspect more than an insignificant
amount of subsurface sediments and, (4) the survey did not often encounter
settlement locations favored in the ethnographic period, such as the mouths of
major streams or rivers and their confluences with other major streams.
POTENTIAL IMPACT OF CONSTRUCTION ON SITES ELIGmLE FOR
INCLUSION IN THE NATIONAL REGISTER OF mSTORIC PLACES
In order to assess potential project impact on cultural resources, it is
necessary to formulate a definition of impact area and impact. Fortunately, some
help is provided in existing federal regulation. The area of an undertaking's
potential environmental impact is defined (36 CFR 800.2(o)) as a "geographic area
within which direct and indirect effects created by the undertaking could reasonably
be expected to occur and thus cause change in the historical, archeological, or
cultural qualities possessed by a National Register or eligible property."
Some guidance as to the delineation of the study area can be found in the
"Criteria of Effect" definition in 36 CFR 800.3(a), which states that an undertaking
shall be considered to have an effect "whenever any conditions of the undertaking
causes or may cause any change, beneficial or adverse, in the quality of the
historical, architectural, archeological, or cultural characteristics that qualify the
property to meet the criteria of the National Register."
It is reasonable to state that about the only impact which can harm an
archeological site is impact which causes damage to surface or near surface
sediments. Thus, secondary impact of construction activities, such as increased
noise level, cannot be expected to harm qualities of archeological sites which might
make them eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. With
like reasoning, it is concluded that project direct and indirect impact areas are
those areas for which surface disturbing activities can be reasonably expected to
take place. Direct impact areas are those which are scheduled for actual
construction activities, examples of which are right-of-way clearing, tower erection
and powerline rigging. Anticipated clearing and movement of equipment between
proposed tower locations can be expected to occur within a narrow corridor. We
estimate this corridor to be less than 115 feet wide, 58 feet either side of the
centerline. A somewhat larger activity corridor can be defined as the area within
200 feet either side of centerline, 400 feet total, which constitutes the extent of
right-of-way required for the Intertie project. This can be considered an estimate
of the indirect impact area. Occasional violations of the narrow corridor could
occur in the form of increased erosion rates or some other event that is difficult to
forecast. Details as to anticipated project impacts are discussed in the project
Environmental Assessment Report (Commonwealth 1982).
For overland access routes, a more restrictive corridor can be defined.
As the range of construction activities along an access route. is much less complex
than that along the transmission line corridor, it is reasonable to assume less
opportunity for surface disturbing activities beyond construction of the access road
itself. Access roads which must be constructed are planned as one lane temporary
-97-
roadways sufficiently wide to allow passage of heavy equipment. Normally, one
could anticipate the need for a road base approximately 10 feet wide. For purposes
of this project, we used a more conservative definition of a 20-feet-wide access
route corridor. ·
The total area encompassed in proposed camp/staging areas should be
considered as a direct impact area, as the total area is subject to surface disturbing
activities. However, indirect impact areas associated with camp/staging areas will
be minimal. Boundaries of staging areas set strict limits for construction related
activities. Because nearly all of the proposed camp/staging areas fall well within
already disturbed areas, a buffer zone of disturbed area will surround most of them.
Thus, for mo~t proposed camp/staging areas, likely indirect impact areas will
already have been sufficiently disturbed so as to preclude the likelihood of impact to
significant cultural resources.
Three of the proposed camp/staging areas may be in exception to the
conditions discussed above. The Douglas Substation, Curry, and the Gold Creek
staging areas are not located in existing gravel pits or along already improved
railroad siding areas where no significant cultural resources have been identified. A
terrestrial survey was conducted over the proposed expansion area of the Douglas
Substation; this survey included a buffer strip approximately 50 feet wide outside
the perimeter of this area. No cultural resources were found during the survey,
although it was noted that a large portion of the proposed substation area has
already been disturbed as a result of previous substation construction •. The proposed
Gold Creek staging area lies along the Alaska Railroad in a flat, moist, featureless,
floodplain setting. Although historic period development could be readily seen
nearby, none could be seen in the proposed Gold Creek staging area when it was
examined from the air by helicopter. The setting of this proposed staging area is
not consistent with areas identified through archeology and ethnology as having
archeological potential. Thus, anticipated direct and indirect project impacts at
this location are considered as no threat to significant cultural resources.
Curry is recognized as potentially historically significant. However, a
full discussion. of potential project direct and indirect impacts is not possible until
an on-site inspection, scheduled for June, 1983, is completed. It is suspected, on the
basis of available documentation and on the basis of interviews with former
residents of Curry, that proposed camp/staging use will not directly impact remains
of this former settlement. With the possible exception of Curry, only one
archeological site has been identified as within either the direct or indirect project
impact zones; that site is HEA-225.
In our opinion HEA-225 is not eligible for inclusion in the National
Register of Historic Places, since it fails to meet criteria established for this
purpose. Three of the four artifacts at the site were relocated and collected. None
. of the four artifacts is culturally diagnostic, and neither the artifacts nor their
spatial relationships can be demonstrated to be significant. In fact, HEA -225 may
not be an archeological site at all, in the technical sense. Rather, it may be chance
association of four artifacts deposited at separate times; no one will ever know for
certain. The most important scientific data to be Qbtained from HEA -225 is its
-98-
. '
location. The site has no further known archeological significance reqmrmg
protection. Thus, even if HEA-225, as originally found, were considered for
eligibility in the National Register of Historic Places, project impact (tower
construction at this location) could not be interpreted as having an adverse effect on
the qualities which make HEA-225 important. So, either 1) HEA-225 is not
significant or 2) the site is significant, but the qualities which make it so will not be
affected by project construction.
On the basis of extended literature and archival research supported by
two seasons of archeological field survey, it is concluded that with one exception,
Curry, the proposed Transmission Intertie project will not pose a threat to any
property now listed in or presumed eligible for inclusion in the National Register of
Historic Places.
-gg-
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1974 Late Paleolithic cultures in Alaska. Unpublished manuscript.
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Holmes, Charles E.
1974a New evidence for a late Pleistocene culture in central Alaska.
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1974b Preliminary testing of a microblade site at Lake Minchumina, Alaska.
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1977
n.d.
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1980
Linguistic diffusion between Ahtna and Tanaina.
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MacNeish, Richard S.
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1974
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1937
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1975 Susitna Htsukdu'a: the Susitna story, edited by James Kari. Alaska
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1964
Dry Creek: a late Pleistocene human occupation in central Alaska.
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h.d. Notes on the paleoecology of the northern Archaic tradition. Un-
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' '
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-107-
APPENDIX A
PREVIOUSLY RECORDED SITES IN THE STUDY AREA
APPENDIX A
PREVIOUSLY RECORDED SITES IN THE STUDY AREA
Site Number Site Name Site Type
HEA-001 Teklanika West Prehistoric
HEA-004 Denali National Park
HEA-005* Dry Creek Site Prehistoric
HEA-006 Otto Lake Site Prehistoric
HEA-010 Unnamed Prehistoric
HEA-012 Unnamed Prehistoric
HEA-013 U.S. Bureau of AK Railroad
Mines, Safety Car No. 5
HEA-014 Coyote Creek Site Prehistoric
HEA-015 Unnamed Prehistoric
HEA-018 Unnamed Prehistoric
HEA-019 Otto Lake Southeast Prehistoric
HEA-020 Otto Lake Lodge Site Prehistoric
HEA-025 Unnamed Prehistoric
HEA-026 Unnamed Prehistoric
HEA-027 Garner Hill Site Prehistoric
HEA-028 Dragonfly Creek Site Prehistoric
HEA-029 Unnamed Prehistoric
HEA-030 Unnamed Prehistoric
HEA-031 Carlo Creek Site Prehistoric
HEA-032 Unnamed Prehistoric
HEA-052 Moody ARR Station,
1921
HEA-053 Yanert ARR Station,
1921
HEA-054 Sullivan's Roadhouse 1930s
HEA-055 Summit Roadhouse 1910s
HEA-056 Cantwell Roadhouse 1940s
HEA-057 Panorama Roadhouse 1920s
HEA-058 Park Gate Roadhouse 1920s
PREVIOUSLY RECORDED SITES IN THE STUDY AREA
Site Number Site Name Site Type
HEA-059 Morino Roadhouse 1920s
HEA-061 Broad Pa.Ss Roadhouse 1930s
HEA-062 Nenana River Gorge Site Prehistoric
HEA-063 Hurricane Gulch Bridge ARR Bridge, 1921
HEA'-064 Honolulu ARR Station, 1921
HEA-065 Colorado ARR Station, 1921
HEA-066 Broad Pass ARR Station, 1921
HEA-067 Summit ARR Station, 1921
HEA-068 Cantwell Station ARR Station, 1921
HEA-069 Cantwell ARR Station, 1922
HEA-070 Windy Creek Bridge ARR Bridge
HEA-071 Windy ARR Station, 1920
HEA-072 Clear Creek Bridge ARR Bridge, 1929
HEA-073 Carlo ARR Station, 1920
HEA-074 Riley Creek Bridge ARR Bridge, 1922
HEA-075 Mt. McKinley Park Station ARR Station, 1921
HEA-076 Moody Tunnel ARR Tunnel, 1920
HEA-077 Tunnel No. 9 ARR Tunnel, 1921
HEA-078 Garner Rai'lroad Camp ARR Camp, 1920
HEA-079 Garrier Tunnel ARR Tunnel, 1921
HEA-080 Healy Station ARR Station, 1920
HEA-082 Suntrana ARR Station, 1922
HEA-083 Nenana River Bridge ARR Bridge, 1926
HEA-084 Sheep Creek Bridge ARR Bridge, 1944
HEA-096 Jack River Bluff Site Prehistoric
HEA-109 Bison Gulch Bluff Site Prehistoric
HEA-110 Wick Rockshelter Prehistoric
. HEA-121 Bison Gulch No. 2 Prehistoric
HEA-147 Mt. McKinley Park Bldgs. 1926 to 1939
TAL-001 Curry Lookout Ethnohistoric,
Historic
~ 1 -il
PREVIOUSLY RECORDED SITES IN THE STUDY AREA
Site Number Site Name Site T:YEe
TAL-003 Chase Station ARR Station, 1919
TAL-004 Curry ARR Station, 1919
TAL-005 Montana ARR Station
TAL-006* Fairview Inn 1930s
TAL-008 Talkeetna Roadhouse 1917
TAL-009 Deadhorse Hill Roadhouse 1920s
TAL-011 Montana Creek Bridge ARR Bridge, 1926
TAL-012 Sunshine ARR Station, 1918
TAL-013 Fish Lake ARR Station, 1918
TAL-014 Talkeetna Station ARR Station, 1916
TAL-015 Talkeetna River Bridge ARR Bridge, 1926
TAL-017 Unnamed Talk. Hist. Dist.
TAL-018 Bucket-of-Blood Saloon Talk. Hist. Dist.
TAL-019 Harry Robb Cabin Talk. Hist. Dist.
TAL-020 Dahl Cabin Talk. Hist. Dist.
TAL-023 Jenkin's House Talk. Hist. Dist.
TAL-024 Leatherworks Talk. Hist. Dist.
TAL-025 Little Red Schoolhouse Talk. Hist. Dist.
TAL-026 First High School Talk. Hist. Dist.
TAL-027 Dahl Cabin No. 2 Talk. Hist. Dist.
TAL-028 Nagley Home Talk. Hist. Dist.
TAL-029 Denali Store Talk. Hist. Dist.
TLM-001 Canyon Station ARR Station, 1920
TLM-002 Chulitna Station ARR Station, 1920
TLM-003 Mile 281 Roadhouse 1910s
TLM-004 Sherman Station ARR Station, 1920
TLM-005 Gold Creek ARR Station, 1920
TLM-006 Susitna River Bridge ARR Bridge, 1920
TLM-008 Hurricane Station ARR Station, 1920
ANLC-001 Suk' Qayeh Village Site
alt. Tsu Qayeh
PREVIOUSLY RECORDED SITES IN THE STUDY AREA
Site Number
TY0-014
TY0-024
TY0-025
TY0-026
TY0-028
TY0-029
TY0-031
PC-001
PC-002
CI-165
CI-166
CI-167
CI-168
CI-169
U.S.G.S Trail
Site Name
Unnamed
Kashwitna Village
Willow
Little Willow Creek Bridge
Kashwitna
Caswell
Sheep Creek Bridge
Unnamed
Unnamed
Montana Creek Cemetery No. 1
Montana Creek Cemetery No. 2
Sunshine Cemetery
Talkeetna Cemetery
Talkeetna Cemetery
Route of Eldridge in 1898
Site Type
Protohistoric
Protohistoric
ARR Station, 1917
ARR Bridge, 1927
TY0-027Willow
Creek BridgeARR
Bridge, 1927
ARR Station, 1917
ARR Station, 1917
ARR Bridge, 1927
Protohistoric
Prehistoric
Protohistoric
Protohistoric
Protohistoric
Protohistoric
Historic
NOTE: Sites followed by an "*" are listed in the National Register of Historic
Places.
References:
Those sites designated by three letters followed by three digits (e.g.,
HEA-005) are sites listed in the Alaska Heritage Resource Survey File maintained
by the Alaska Division of Parks, 619 Warehouse Drive, Anchorage, Alaska, 99501.
Those sites designated by the letters "PC" represent sites reported
through oral communication to Glenn Bacon, Alaska Heritage Research Group, Inc.,
P.O. Box 397, Fairbanks, Alaska, 99707. ·
Those sites designated by the letters "CI" represent sites reported in the
Cook Inlet Region Inventory of Native Historic Sites and Cemeteries, Cook Inlet
Native Association, 1975. This report was prepared in response to section 14(h) of
the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.
I
Information concerning the U.S.G.S. trail was derived from the 20th
Annual Report of the U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Government Printing Office,
1900. See Part VII, Map No. 3, for locations of camps along the route.
The sites designated by the letters "ANLC" were reported in a place
names discussion in Bacon, Kari and Cole (1982). Although Tanaina (Dena'ina)
knowledge of portions of the study area is quite detailed, indicating extensive
ethnohistoric period use of the area, many of the place names are not instructive
concerning specific activities at specific locations; thus, they are not reproduced
here.
APPENDIX B
DENA'INA PLACE NAMES IN THE STUDY AREA
APPENDIX B
DENA'INA PLACE NAMES IN THE STUDY AREA
The Alaska Native Language Center, University of Alaska, has produced
an extensive list of place names, some of which are reproduced below. The
locations listed below were selected because they are all near the survey area. No
Ahtna place names are listed because those published lie outside the survey area.
The following areas have been identified as important Tanaina land use
sites or areas in the past:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Kilbitnu Tl'u
"-?-river -"
upper Kashwitna River area
The Kroto Creek village people used the mountain country on the upper
Kashwitna to hunt ground squirrels, caribou, and beaver in the autumn.
Baqay Nilyashtnu
"canoes are left creek"
Sheep Creek
The name refers to the practice of leaving canoes here while on caribou
hunting excursions in the Talkeetna Mountains· to the east of here.
Bak'nin'uy
"caribou fence"
place in the mountains
up above Sheep Creek
This name may refer to the mountain pass between peak "Sunshine" and peak
"Wolverine." This is the site of an ancient caribou fence. People hunted
here annually for caribou until late in the nineteenth century.
Qiduk'ggat
"overflows and freezes"
Montana Creek and village
site
This is the site of the modern Montana Creek village, where descendents of
the last of the Mountain People live. Oral history indicates that this has
been a village site for at least a hundred years.
Nultani
"animal that is lying down"
series of mountains east
of Montana Creek
This is reportedly a major traditional hunting territory of the Montana
Creek people.
K't'usq'a Kaq'
"fish cutting hole -mouth"
site at the mouth of
Sunshine Creek
7.
8.
9.
DENA'INA PLACE NAMES IN THE STUDY AREA
K't'usq'atnu Sunshine Creek
"fish cutting hole -creek"
Tanaina used to camp and put up fish here. This is also the location of a
fishing site used by the Mountain People.
Ch'atem Bena.
"freezes out -lake"
Fish Lake
This was a fishing site used by one of the last of the Mountain People into
the late 1930s.
Ts'estalki peak "Lane", east of Chase
"flat rock point"
This was a caribou hunting area for the Mountain People.
1 o. Quht'anagga Betnu K'ilani Gold Creek
"creek that belongs to the
11.
12.
13.
little people" (i.e., rock concretions)
Shem Pete recalls caribou hunting in this area in 1914 with Talkeetna Alec
and Wasillie Tukda. This was the hunting country of the Mountain People.
Dghelisha
"little mountain"
This was a caribou hunting area.
Chuqitnu Tustes
"beaver lodge creek -pass"
mountain at the head of
Gold Creek, peak "Clear"
Chulitna Pass
This was a caribou and bear hunting area.
K'dalkitnu Talkeetna River
"food is stored -river"
The name refers to food being cached here. The Talkeetna River is said to
have been the home area of the Mountain People. These people are said to
have had no nichii, large winter houses common on the coast. Instead these
people are said to have lived nomadically throughout their area. Many of
these people died in the influenza epidemic of 1918.
..,
!
.J•
.J
l
.1
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
DENA'INA PLACE NAMES IN THE STUDY AREA
Ch'anilkaq'
"flows out -mouth"
site at Chunilna Creek
outlet
This was a fishing site of the Mountain People.
Ba tnaghalnigi Larsen Lake
"that which has a body in it"
This location is reportedly a stopping place for tea when on the trip up into
the mountains to hunt.
Ts'ilutnu
"-?-river"
Chulitna River
This was an important caribou hunting area, especially for the Mountain
People of the Talkeetna area.
K'esugi Curry Ridge
"the ancient one"
It is told that every summer people would stay here waiting for caribou.
Then they would make a skin boat and go back to Kroto (village).
K'esugiken
"base of the ancient one"
regional name for the
general area around
K'esugi
This was a bear and caribou hunting area for all of the Susitna people.
People are said to have lighted signal fires when they spotted game.
N elnikda Ey'unt
"where a shabby steambath
is located"
Troublesome Creek
The name indicates that an old camp was located here.
Denyiht'u
"enclosed canyon"
Broad Pass area
The Tanaina Indians are said to have used a trail to Cook Inlet which went
through Broad Pass and along the Chulitna River.