In This Issue
Text of this issue
The Tripod Iditarod Historic Trail Alliance January 2016 Reminders * If you have not renewed your membership for 2016, please do so now. *Alaska members, remember when you file for your 2016 Permanent Fund Dividend on line, you can donate all or part of your dividend to the Alliance through the Pick, Click, Give Program. New Iditarod Historic Trail Items for sale The Iditarod Historic Trail Alliance has published a video and a booklet on the History of the Iditarod Trail. Both items can be ordered at our website: Iditarod100 “Iditarod National Historic Trail A History” This 24 minute video tells the story of the Iditarod Trail, the people from all walks of life who built, lived along and used it through the 20th century and highlights today’s trail use by many including the famous Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race every March. $15.00 postpaid.
“The Reports of Walter Goodwin Trail Blazer” This 52 page booklet contains: ●Walter Goodwin’s report to the Alaska Road Commission on the 1908 reconnaissance to locate a feasible route for a winter mail trail from Seward to Nome. ●“An account of W. L. Goodwin’s Trip from Nome to Seward Surveying and Marking the Proposed Overland United States Mail Route Across Northern Territory,” as published in the “Alaska-Yukon Magazine” in July 1911.
This account describes the work of the 1910-11 expedition to mark and build where 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 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, January 2016 necessary the trail from Nome to Iditarod to Seward. ● Background material by Thomas J.
Eley PhD. and Cherie Northon, Ph.D. about Walter L. Goodwin, previous expeditions in Alaska, trail marking and winter travel in Alaska. ●Maps and photographs. $13.00 postpaid. From the past… What did “The New York Times” have to say about the Iditarod gold rush? Read this article from page 1 of the June 27, 1910 issue. GREAT RUSH TO IDITAROD. Special to The New York Times. TACOMA, Wash, June 26.- In the last week 10,000 goldseekers have been landed by steamers at the mouth of Otter Creek, on the Iditarod River, the scene of the latest Alaska gold stampede. Between 3,000 and 5,000 more are on the way. The landing of the thousands of newcomers with their baggage and thousands of tons of freight in the Iditarod wilderness has created confusion surpassing anything Alaska had previously experienced.
Several thousand “sourdoughs” who have mined in Klondike and Alaska camps know exactly what to do. They are spreading out on Otter, Flat, Willow and other gold-bearing creeks. Merchants from Nome and Fairbanks are erecting temporary buildings and staring business. The best of order is being preserved by Deputy United States Marshals Wiseman of Koyukuk and Sheppard of Ophir. These were sent to Iditarod by Marshal Crossly of Fairbanks on his own initiative. Otter City, at the mouth of Otter Creek, the metropolis of Iditarod, is being surveyed. Hike the Hill 2016 The 2016 Hike the Hill will be held on February 6-11 in Washington D. C. Trail advocates from all over the nation participate in this event, jointly organized by the American Hiking Society and the Partnership for the National Trails System.
It is a time when trail advocates meet with agency officials from the National Park Service, US Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and their members of Congress and their staffs to discuss issues and concerns affecting trails. The event also provides an opportunity for people representing all types of trails to meet with each other and exchange ideas and discuss both problems and successes. The Alliance will be represented at the event by our president, Judy Bittner. Donlin Gold Mine Project The draft Donlin Gold Project Environmental Impact Statement has been released. It was prepared by the U. S. Corps of Engineers and other agencies, in collaboration with tribes, to document anticipated impacts of the Project as required by the National Environmental Policy Act. The Statement is thousands of pages long, a package of studies and analysis, diagrams and acronyms.
The table of contents tops 100 pages. It can be viewed at www.donlingoldeis.com Public meetings have not been scheduled yet, but a number will take place around the region early in 2016. Written comments on the study may be made through April 30, 2016. They may be emailed to POA.donlingoldeis@usace.army,mil or mailed to Keith Gordon, Project Manager, Army Corps of Engineers, Alaska District: CEPOA-RD-Gordon, PO Box 6898, JBER, AK 99506-0898. The final Statement which will guide agencies and the developers won’t be completed until 2017. As stated in previous newsletters, the project will affect the Historic Iditarod Trail, because the mine work will be powered by a gas-fired power plant supplied by a gas pipe line of which 58 miles would be co-located on, intersect or parallel the Iditarod Trail from Old Skwetna to Three Mile Creek.
Chugach Forest Plan The Chugach National Forest is now in the second phase of its Chugach National Forest Land Management Plan revision process. New plan content included in the proposed forest plan is available for public comment at the Chugach National Forest website: go.usa.gov/cBWvQ. Most of the southern trek of the Iditarod National Historic Trail from Seward to Girdwood runs through the Chugach National Forest. Sorry ran out of room for more information about the annual meeting which was promised in last month’s newsletter. It will be in the February newsletter.