We Alaskans

Battling mud, streams and rocks, pioneer Alaska drivers persevered

Extreme Motoring: Alaska's First Automobiles and Their Dauntless Drivers

By Nancy DeWitt; Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum; 2015; 128 pages; $19.95

When Alaskans think about their state's transportation history, they usually think about dogsleds, railroads and airplanes. What they aren't likely to consider is cars and trucks, despite the fact that the rise of the automobile in America coincided with the waning days of the Gold Rush that brought so many people streaming north. In fact, cars played a central role in meeting pioneer Alaskans' transportation needs. Yet curiously, as author Nancy DeWitt discovered, not much has been written about this.

DeWitt, who recently departed Alaska after many years, formerly worked as the historian for the Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum in Fairbanks. Digging into old newspapers and other publications, she discovered that Alaska had a lively — though largely forgotten — automobile history.

DeWitt's work helped lead to a museum exhibit titled "Extreme Motoring" that gathered stories and photos from the era, and subsequently to a book of the same title. At present, it's only available in Fairbanks or by order from the museum, but for anyone drawn to early automobile history, it's well worth the effort.

Pioneer Robert Sheldon

Automobiles were novel enough in Alaska during the first two decades of the 20th century that they and their owners were frequently featured in newspaper accounts. DeWitt was able to gather not just information about what cars arrived in the territory and who owned them, but also where they went and what they were used for. The result is a lively book that's broken into brief chapters focusing on various makes and models, with stories of what happened to these cars and their drivers. Also included are dozens of photographs from the era, making this a vintage car enthusiast's dream book.

One man stands out in these stories. Robert Sheldon arrived in Skagway as a teenager in 1897 and stayed. By 1903 he was an engineer with the local power company and smitten with a young lady. Seeking to impress her, Sheldon built Alaska's first car from materials he scavenged around town. With nothing more than magazine pictures to guide him, the mechanically inclined young man was soon cruising the streets of the former boom town with the girl of his dreams.

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The girl got away, but the auto obsession remained. Sheldon drifted north to Fairbanks, and as the book progresses he reappears numerous times, opening new roads with a continuing parade of internal combustion vehicles.

DeWitt found that many of the early car owners put their vehicles to work ferrying passengers around the outlying areas of Alaska's newly founded cities and towns, and it wasn't long before these enterprising men were undertaking longer journeys. Charles Percival attempted the first drive from Skagway to Dawson City in 1911, piloting an Abbott-Detroit Model 30. He was forced to turn back at Caribou Crossing (today's Carcross), but it was an impressive feat considering that he drove the car overland and on rail lines and never blew a tire.

Sheldon resurfaces in the book when he made the first successful run from Fairbanks to Valdez in 1913 aboard a Ford Model T, carrying paying passengers to boot. This opened up automobile travel on the Valdez-Fairbanks Trail, and for a few years numerous operators shuttled people north and south along a route more commonly remembered for its dogsled and horse-and-wagon traffic. It wasn't easy going:

"Each trip made by the stage drivers was a formidable challenge, with tire-popping rocks, steep inclines, raging glacial creeks, washed-out bridges, mud and snow, not to mention mountain storms and temperature extremes. With no gas stations or repair shops along the trail, drivers had to carry fuel and be prepared to fix everything from a flat tire to a broken crankshaft. During summer repair stops, passengers fanned smudge fires to deter the hordes of mosquitoes."

Were that not enough, DeWitt adds that "when a car became stuck, male passengers were expected to help push or pull it free."

Hazards aplenty

The sometimes impassable road conditions led to another business opportunity: "Savvy entrepreneurs with horse and mule teams positioned themselves at strategic points along the trail, ready to pull an automobile through a deep creek or long stretch of mud."

On the page facing these quotes DeWitt has a photograph (also found on the cover) of Sheldon and a passenger swarmed by mosquitoes while standing alongside a Model T hopelessly sunk to its axles in mud. Elsewhere are pictures of the horse and mule teams she wrote about, dragging cars out of various predicaments. Clearly the transition from animal power to fossil fuel was neither quick nor smooth.

Back in the towns there were other hazards. People learned to drive by simply getting behind the wheel and driving, often rolling up onto sidewalks or straight into buildings in the process. The 8 mph speed limit in Fairbanks was consistently ignored. And in Nome in 1909, the only two vehicles in town managed to collide. The drivers were unharmed, but as DeWitt writes, "The damage sidelined both cars, leaving the streets temporarily safe for pedestrians, horses, and dogs."

DeWitt's breezy and witty writing keeps the book rolling as she tells about the first auto race in Fairbanks (here comes Sheldon again), the inventiveness of the men who designed and built Alaska's first snowmachines in their backyards, and the arrival of motorcycles (Harley lovers will take pride in learning that the first ride from Chitina to Fairbanks was on a Hog).

Between the stories and the photographs, "Extreme Motoring" is pure fun and a fine introduction to an overlooked bit of Alaska history that one needn't be a car lover to enjoy.

David A. James is a Fairbanks based freelance writer and critic.

At present, "Extreme Motoring" is only available at Sophie Station, Wedgewood Resort and the Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum, all in Fairbanks. It can also be ordered by calling the museum during winter hours (noon-6 p.m. Sundays) or by leaving a message at 907-450-2100. The museum website is fountainheadmuseum.com.

David James

David A. James is a Fairbanks-based freelance writer, and editor of the Alaska literary collection “Writing on the Edge.” He can be reached at nobugsinak@gmail.com.

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