Refuge Notebook
Peninsula Clarion Article
Dated
01 September 2000
A Historic Cabin Raising Party
by Gary Titus
While hiking on the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, you
may have come across the remains of an old log cabin and wondered about its origins.
Perhaps you examined the craftsmanship of the log corners or were curious about
the men who built them and how they lived. Many of these cabins are reminders
of the men who helped create the Refuge we enjoy today.
The Kenai National
Moose Range, which is now the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, was established
by President Roosevelt on December 16, 1941 to protect the natural range of the
giant Kenai moose on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska. The concept of a moose range
probably originated about 1897 with the arrival of big game hunters. One of the
first (and most articulate) hunters was Dall De Weese from Canyon City, Colorado.
He wrote magazine articles about his hunting adventures, gaining the attention
of sportsmen from all over the world and putting the Kenai moose on the map.
With
the increasing numbers of hunters traveling to the Kenai Peninsula for big game,
the need for guides became essential. In 1908, the Department of Interior, District
of Alaska, passed a law requiring the employment of guides for all nonresident
hunters on the Kenai. These big game guides guided sportsmen from all over the
world, who returned home to write books and articles about their experiences.
These sportsmen were the first to see the need for protection of the Kenai’s
vast game lands, and they raised a call that was heard around the world.
The
first big game guide on the Kenai was Andrew Berg, who arrived on the Kenai around
1889 from Finland. Andrew Berg settled in the Tustumena Lake region, where he
prospected for gold, trapped, guided, and for a short time was employed as a Territorial
Game Warden. During the summers from 1924 to 1936 he worked for the US Fish and
Wildlife Service protecting salmon and seals around the Cook Inlet area. In 1902,
he built his first known cabin, which still stands today and is listed on the
National Historical Register. In 1935, he built the Homestead Cabin, which was
his last cabin, before his death in 1939. This spring the Kenai Refuge decided
to move the Homestead Cabin from the shores of Tustumena Lake to the Refuge Visitor
Center so that it can be used for interpretive purposes.
In July of 2000,
Refuge staff with the help of volunteers and Youth Conservation Corps high school
students dismantled the cabin and moved the pieces to the Refuge Visitor Center,
where it will be restored to its original condition along the Keen-Eye Trail near
the parking lot.
To put the cabin back together, we are holding a cabin
raising party and everyone is invited. This event will take place on Saturday,
September 9, 2000 at 11am at the Refuge Visitor Center. The cabin’s foundation
is finished and the logs are ready to be laid. Come and watch, or join in fitting
the old logs together the way they originally were, chinking between the logs
with moss, or taking photographs to document the reconstruction. There will be
plenty to do as the old cabin slowly comes back to shape. I will give an interpretive
talk about Andrew Berg and the history of log cabins on the Refuge. In keeping
with the tradition of a cabin raising, please bring a favorite potluck dish for
lunch. Wes Roberts will provide music for the event. If you would like more details
on this project, call me at 262-7021, or Michelle Brown, vice-president Friends
of the KNWR, at 262-6377.
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Gary Titus
is the Wilderness Ranger and Historian at the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge.
Previous Refuge Notebook columns can be viewed on the Web at http://kenai.fws.gov.
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