The Diary of Arne Erickson

Photograph in the Story Map: The Ruby Roadhouse in 1977. Most buildings on the old Iditarod were built with wood and sod roofs, and have collapsed due to the elements.

Photograph in the Story Map: The Iditarod Trail travels travels through stunted black spruce and larch forests, occasionally burnt over by wild fires.

A century ago most Iditarod Trail users stayed at cabins, rather than camping. Camping was called ‘siwashing’.

Photograph in the Story Map: Historic shelter cabin on the modern-day Iditarod Trail. Due to the lack of timber and the challenge of heating a structure at -50F, most roadhouses and shelter cabins are rather small.

Photograph in the Story Map: On the Iditarod Trail, small slow-growing trees offer little shelter for the trail traveler, hence the importance of roadhouses and cabins.

Photograph in the Story Map: During the gold rush days Takotna was a busy town on the edge of the Ophir goldfields.

Photograph in the Story Map: The remains of the pilot house of the paddle-wheeler ‘LaVelle Young’ at the old McGrath town site. McGrath was the upper most point of navigation by steamers (and today barges) on the Kuskokwim River. The contemporary town site is across the Kuskokwim River and is a present day checkpoint during the Iditarod Sled Dog Race.

Photograph in the Story Map: Berry’s Roadhouse was better known as the Big River Roadhouse. Nothing remains as the site today due to erosion.

Photograph in the Story Map: A private subsistence fishing camp at the Salmon River crossing of the Iditarod Trail.

Photograph in the Story Map: Iditarod Trail user at the Peluk River Roadhouse. Long, thin snowshoes were favored for travel across the dry, sugar-like snow of interior Alaska.

Photograph in the Story Map: French Joe, the Pioneer Roadhouse proprietor, was reputed to keep a thermometer that showed temperatures significantly lower than the actual air temperatures, thereby encouraging travelers to spend an extra night, and spend more money at his roadhouse. Additionally, Antelope and ibex have never inhabited Alaska. Roadhouse owners were known for stretching the truth.

Photograph in the Story Map: In 2010, the remains of the Pioneer Roadhouse were destroyed by the Turquoise Lake wildfire, which also burnt over 28 miles of the historic Iditarod Trail. The tan rectangles are piles of ash from the burnt log walls of the roadhouse.

Photograph in the Story Map: A historic cabin at Rohn in 1977, likely built by Einar Carlson after his previous cabin was knocked down by a large earthquake in the early 1930’s. The tower was for a wind generator, and the pile of logs in the lower foreground was a dog barn. This cabin was washed away by the Tatina River (background right) in 1988. Today the BLM Public Shelter Cabin at Rohn is an important checkpoint for the Iditarod Sled Dog Race, the Iron Dog snowmobile race, and the Iditarod Invitational Ultramarathon.

Photograph in the Story Map: One of the most notorious sections of the trail both historically and today, the route runs at the base of cliffs on shelves of ice built up along the creek. More than a few mushers have ended up in the creek. (Erickson misspelled the name of the canyon, commonly called a gorge today.)

Photograph in the Story Map: Impressively, Erickson walked from Rohn to Anderson's Roadhouse, over one of the most arduous sections of the trail, in twelve hours. The remains of Anderson’s Roadhouse were not discovered until 2012.

Photograph in the Story Map: A typical view down the historic trail. Beyond Happy River, the trail enters the broad, forested plateaus of the upper Skwenta River.

Photograph in the Story Map: Today the roadhouse at Old Skwentna is gone and all that remains is this historic relief cabin that did not exist at the time of Erickson’s trip.

Photograph in the Story Map: A full moon on the modern day Iditarod Trail, with a shelter cabin in the distance.

Photograph in the Story Map: Susitna Station from a riverboat: Susitna Station was the first large community on the historic Iditarod Trail south of McGrath, with steamboat connections to the Lower 48. Nothing remains of the town today.

Photograph in the Story Map: Mushers often relied on wild game for sustenance along the trail.

Photograph in the Story Map: For the first few decades of its existence, Anchorage streets were not plowed in the winter, leaving a good travel surface for sled dog teams, which were a regular sight on the streets.