In This Issue
Text of this issue
The Tripod Iditarod Historic Trail Alliance October 2015 Thank you for renewing your membership in the Allince. Your support will enable the Alliance to continue its work to preserve and promote the Iditarod Trail. Also thanks to those members who recuited a new member. Annual meeting The annual membership meeting of the Alliance will be held in Anchorage on December 2-3. December 2nd will be a workshop day for the Board and will be held at the Campbell Creek Science Center. The annual membership meeting will be held on December 3rd at the Millennium Lakefront Hotel, 4800 Spenard Road.
Board election Four Alliance Board of Director seats are up for election this year: Seat A Kenai Region, current incumbent, Lee Poleske Seat B Yukon Region, current incumbent, Richard Burnham Seat C At Large # 1, current incumbent, Erin McLarnon Seat D Iditarod Trail Committee, current incumbent, Mark Nordman. There is a nominating committee at work, but any member may nominate a qualified member of the Alliance as a candidate for any of the seats, email nominations to IditarodHTA@gmail.com The Iditarod Historic Trail Alliance promotes public awareness of the Iditarod Trail and its gold rush and Alaska Native heritage by encouraging education programs and historical research, assisting in the protection, improvement, maintenance and marking of the trail, developing partnerships that foster stewardship commitments and support from land owners, local communities, organizations and others.
The trail for all seasons iTREC! fall workshop The fall workshop for this year’s Iditarod Trail to Every Classroom participants will be held in Seward on November 6-8. Wada statue A major project taken on by the Seward Iditarod Trail Blazers is to erect a statue of Jujiro Wada in Seward. The Trail Blazers have hired Pat Garley of Palmer to do the statue. Jujiro Wada immigrated to the United States from Japan as a young man. He came to Alaska in 1890 as a crew member on a whaling ship. At the turn of the century he was at Barrow, carrying mail and trapping furs. He became legendary for his mushing skills and long trips into the wilderness, both in Alaska and Canada prospecting for gold.
In 1909 the Seward Commercial Club hired Wada to “demonstrate to an absolute certainty that the Seward route Iditarod Historic Trail Alliance PO Box 2323, Seward AK 99664 IditarodHTA@gmail.com http://www.Iditarod100.org Alaska members who apply for their 2016 Permanent Fund dividend online can donate part or all of it to the Alliance through the 2016 Pick. Click. Give Program. Tripod, October 2015 to the Iditarod was an absolutely feasible one.” The Club also hired a local man, Alfred Lowell to accompany him. that runs through the Hinodemachi (Sunrise City) neighborhood where he was born in 1875. It has organized exhibitions about him and engaged in many activities to promote his achievements. Mr. Ueoka of the Jujiro Wada Memorial Association has said he appreciates very much the erection of a statue of Wada in Seward and the Association wants to help in any it can to make this possible.
From the past… “Iditarod Pioneer” October 13, 1915 REGISTRY AT ROADHOUSES PROVIDED FOR BY LAW Jujiro Wada on 4th Avenue in Seward. They followed the Nome mail trail to reach the Iditarod country, but they did locate and mark better routes along portions of the trail. On the way back to Seward they flagged their route so others could use it. Wada should be remembered for the significant contribution he made to the development of the Iditarod Trail. He pioneered the route from Seward to the Iditarod country and that trail was subsequently used by thousands of people and for the shipment of tons of mail, supplies and gold from 1910 until around 1924 when mining declined and the completion of the Alaska Railroad moved the trailhead for Iditarod to Nenana. Wada never gave up his search for a big gold strike, but was never successful. He died in San Diego on March 5, 1937.
Wada is better known in Japan than in Alaska and Canada. In 2007 the Jujiro Wada Memorial Association was established in Japan and it has erected memorial monuments to honor Jujiro Wada alongside the river The last territorial legislature passed an act providing for the keeping of a register at roadhouses and hotels outside the limits of incorporated towns and in view of the fact that travel over the trails will soon be in full swing, it is here reproduced for the benefit of travelers and roadhouse keepers. The law was passed with the purpose in view of keeping track of travelers in case of their disappearance. Men have been lost on the trail of whom no trace ever has been found, and their disappearance went unnoticed for months.
With a register at every roadhouse it will be an easy matter for the authorities to keep informed of the movement of travelers and to render assistance speedily in case of emergency. “The proprietors of all roadhouses, hotels or boarding houses established outside of incorporated cities of the Territory of Alaska shall keep a register containing the name and address of all travellers, with the date of their arrival and departure from such roadhouse, hotel or boarding house. Any person who refuses to register shall not be accepted as a guest, and shall be refused accommodations.
Any keeper of a roadhouse, hotel or boarding house referred to in section 1 of this act who shall fail to comply with the provisions of this act shall be punished by a fine of not less than $10 or not more than $25, or by imprisonment in the federal jail for not longer that ten days, or by both such fine and imprisonment.” Oregon-best trails state American Trails has given its 2015 Best Trails State Award to Oregon. The award recognizes a state which is facilitating an outstanding statewide system of trails. Oregon was the first state to have a statewide water trails plan and the first to have state designed scenic bikeways. Bicycling Magazine named three Oregon cities in the top 25 best bike cites in America. The International Mountain Bike Association has four Epic trails selected in Oregon.
The state boasts 78 National Recreation Trails, three National Scenic Trails and 16 historic trials. It has a 384 mile trail along its scenic coastline, which provides millions with access to Oregon’s beaches.