The Tripod, May 2014

Spring Board meeting The Alliance Board of Directors will be holding its spring meeting in Anchorage on May 28-29 at the BLM conference room at 4700 BLM road. “Icebound” director dies Daniel Anker, who directed and produced the documentary film “Icebound,” which tells the story of the 1925 Nome Serum Run, died April 21 at the age of 50. His wife Donna said her husband died of pneumonia, a complication of his lymphoma. “Icebound” opened the Anchorage Film Festival in December last year. The New York filmmaker is survived by his wife of 12 years and their two children. Daniel Anker was born in Washington on March 14, 1964, the son of Jerry Anker, a labor lawyer who represented airline pilots, and the former Charlotte Lubin, an author and theater writer whose musical, “Onward Victoria,” starring Jill Eikenberry, appeared briefly on Broadway in 1980.

He grew up in Potomac, Maryland; attended Winston Churchill High School there and later graduated from Harvard, where he studied musicology and psychology. An accomplished clarinetist and pianist, he also produced several music-related films, including “Music From the Inside Out,” featuring players from the Philadelphia Orchestra, and a television series for children, “Marsalis on Music,” featuring the trumpeter Wynton Marsalis. At Mr. Anker’s death, he was working on a film about the movie director Sidney Lumet. Iditarod National Historic Trail created 36 years ago From the minutes establishing the National Iditarod Trail, Senate Report 95-1034 p 12. May 17, 1978: “The Iditarod Trail, otherwise known as the Seward-Nome route, is composed of a number of trails and side trails; developed at different times during the Alaska Gold Rush era.

The Iditarod strike began in 1908; it was the last of the major Alaskan strikes and prompted the Alaska Road Commission to improve the Rainy Pass-Kaltag section of the Seward to Nome trail. Because the Iditarod mining district was the most common destination of travelers in this last phase of the Gold Rush era, the name Iditarod Trail has become a term of convenience to describe the many geographic and historic segments of the Seward to Nome trail.

These trails aggregating 2,037 miles, offer a rich diversity of The Iditarod Historic Trail Alliance mission is to bring people together to preserve, protect, maintain, enhance and enjoy the historic, educational, cultural and recreational values of the Iditarod National Historic Trail and to assist, support and coordinate the cooperative development, maintenance and operation of the Trail across multiple land ownerships and among multiple parties to provide a quality recreational experience and visitor enjoyment. The trail for all seasons. Iditarod Historic Trail Alliance PO Box 2323, Seward AK 99664 IditarodHTA@gmail.com http://www.Iditarod100.org climate, terrain, scenery, wildlife, recreation and resources in an environment largely unchanged since the days of the stampeders.

It is the isolated, primitive quality of this historic environment that makes the National Historic Iditarod Trail proposal unique. Nowhere in the National Trail System is there such an extensive landscape, so demanding of durability and skill during its winter season of travel. On the Iditarod, today’s adventurer can duplicate the experience and challenge of yesteryear.” "Walking gets the feet moving, the blood moving, the mind moving. And movement is life." - Carrie Latet From the past… National Trails Day “Alaska Evening Post” December 30, 1916 American Hiking Society’s National Trails Day® is a celebration of America’s magnificent Trail System, occurring annually on the first Saturday in June, June 7th this year. National Trails Day® features a series of outdoor activities, designed to promote and celebrate the importance of trails in the United States.

Individuals, clubs and organizations from around the country host National Trails Day® events to share their love of trails with friends, family, and their communities. The Day introduces thousands of Americans to a wide array of trail activities: hiking, biking, paddling, horseback riding, trail running, bird watching and more. For public and private land managers alike, National Trails Day® is a great time to showcase beautiful landscapes and special or threatened locales as thousands of people will be outside looking to participate in National Trails Day® events. You can go to www. americanhikingsociety.org /national-trails-day to find a list of National Trails Day® events taking place around the nation, including Alaska.

ON TO IDITAROD WITH UNCLE SAM’S RAILROAD Iditarod operators, who represent heavy investments in the interior section of Alaska along the rivers flowing into the lower Yukon, are taking an active interest in the proposed line of the government’s system of railroads in Alaska which will extend from the Seward-Fairbanks line into western Alaska. New discoveries in the Iditarod and Innoko districts assure the importance of this immense area lying north of the mountains and west of Mt. McKinley. Freight rates to the Iditarod at present are $100 per ton. Operators like J. E. Riley and others who have dredges for large hydraulic plants pay immense sums each year to the transportation companies. Ordinary ground cannot be worked because it will not pay the expenses of operating.

Tolstoi lay undiscovered for seven years because the prospectors found only 10 cent pans on bedrock and it did not look like “pay” in the face of the high costs of supplies. From a practical mining standpoint thousands of miles of creeks along the rivers of this section have never been scratched and the real mineral worth of the country northwest of Seward is still unknown. A railroad is needed to supply cheaper fuel and cheaper supplies. In a short time the line to Fairbanks will be completed and that camp will be enjoying the advantages of railroad transportation. It is the contention of Iditaroders that work could be started at an early date on the line to the lower Yukon and better results obtained and more progress made than to wait until the Fairbanks line is completed.

The Alaskan Engineering Commission* is complete and will be brought to a high state of efficiency during the coming year. Seward has a place in this campaign and should take the lead in urging the matter before congress, to the end that by the time the work is completed along Turnagain arm, that section of the government construction force might be put on the main line to Iditarod and the lower Yukon. [* The Alaskan Engineering Commission was the agency set up to build the Alaska Railroad from Seward to Fairbanks.] _ ,,,, Volunteer time The Partnership for the National Trails System has published its “Gold Sheet” listing the contributions made in 2013 to the National Trails System by national scenic and historic trail organizations. The figures for the Iditarod Historic Trail Alliance: volunteer hours 18,000 valued at $398,520 and private contributions of $8,145.

The value of volunteer hours is calculated using national value of volunteer time by the nonprofit organization Independent Sector. The total for all twenty-seven trail organizations was: volunteer time 1,244,407 hours, valued at $425,337,171 and private contributions of $11,151,247.