From the earliest tent-style roadhouses to today's picturesque roadside lodges, Alaskan roadhouses are a colorful reminder of the state's past, and many are still an important part of Alaska's transportation network. From the Valdez-to-Fairbanks Trail to the Iditarod Trail, from snowy routes over the frozen rivers and across the farthest reaches of the northland, the roadhouses were there offering a warm meal and a place to rest for weary travelers. This book shares the history, photographs, maps, artwork, and articles about these iconic Alaskan structures through the adventurous stories of...

In the spring of 1935 the U.S. government took a direct hand in the future of Alaska when it offered 203 Depression-distraught farm families in Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin an opportunity to begin again in a far-off land, with government financing and support. The Matanuska Colony Project was part of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal for America, an unprecedented series of economic programs designed to provide "Relief, Recovery, and Reform" to people reeling from the Great Depression. Nearly one hundred new communities were designed and developed by Roosevelt's planners,...