The interstate highway system is in my view one factor why the US has been the world’s power house economy and a justifiable use of tax dollars under the “commerce” and “general welfare” clauses of the constitution. Not entitlement spending, regulating health care and creating a one payer system, ect.
The construction of the Alcan Highway and the modernization of the various highways between Tok, Anchorage, Fairbanks, Prudhoe, Central, Eagle make large portions of the state accessible to resource development.
The problem is most resources are locked up through federal ownership or constant lawsuits brought on by nationally funded “environmental” groups.
Resources must be economical to exploit and a transportation infrastructure is a critical factor.
The land withdrawals set aside by executive order by Jimmy Carter (when he had become a lame duck president, 12/02/1980, we’ll see what this congress does between November and January) created expansions and new units of the National Park System. Aside from hard parks and monuments, many large National “Preserves” were created. Resource development is prohibited, but hunting is “supposed” to continue. In hard parks there is no hunting. Wildlife “Refuges” and BLM “Wilderness” areas were also set up which allow hunting, but again no resource development.
The interesting aspect is the only logical reason for where many of these units were created is not the scenery (scrub brush, tussock flats and hills, swamps, ect, hellish environments where you NEVER see greenie backpackers) but the immense known reserves of minerals.
There goes 60% of Alaska. The state and Native corporations own the rest, and tend to be friendly toward development but most projects become stillborn or delayed for years with a cabal (should be prosecuted under the RICO act) of groups who continue to sue.
When the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) was created, the very small portion along the Arctic Ocean wherein the controversy over oil drilling continues was exempted in favor of future drilling. Now there is the real threat of “wilderness” designation for this area.
The Gwi’chin steering committee is often quoted in arguments against drilling. Gwi’chin refers to specific groups of Athabascan Indians who speak a dialect of the same name. They are divided on this issue, the group that makes the news is from Venetie and Arctic Village, whose villages chose not to create corporations but retain reservation status.
The Steering Committee claims to speak for them, but I have been in Venetie and can verify that outside white environmentalists use the name and Native American theme to bolster opposition arguments. It is a front “shell” organization, with a few real Natives to keep up public appearances.
The argument is that they depend on caribou and drilling in the calving grounds will destroy that resource. The problem is that caribou calve on the North Slope during the summer, but industry operations are limited to winter months. Drill pads and pipelines are in place year around, but it is proven beyond doubt that caribou thrive around Prudhoe Bay and other regions despite the development.
Alaska needs a road to Nome from Fairbanks, but more importantly we need to develop our resources. Every time a politician from some run down, polluted urban ghetto in the states wants to be “green”, he votes to lock up more acres in Alaska where no one cares, instead of his own backyard.

While Achance is familiar with the inner workings of the state government, I made my living for years off the land in the area north of Tok.
Eagle was the site of a gold rush preceding the great Klondike rush or the later stampedes from where we have Nome and Fairbanks. It used to be the hub of the interior with regular mail by dog team (through Tanacross and Valdez) and sternwheelers running the Yukon River.
Placer gold mining continued through the years but it has become a backwater. It is beyond doubt the most scenic country of the interior, with mountain ranges, caribou, moose, Dall and Fannin (Stone) sheep, King and Dog salmon runs, and the mighty Yukon River.
I maintained a trapline for marten (sable) that at the time were valuable, averaging (the marten from the eastern Interior are the best quality in North America) approx. $150 apiece in 1980s $$. I kept 3 to 5 mongrel “sled” dogs and would pack them and walk out to the country from Eagle in late August/September and trap until late March/early April.
The dogs you see used for the Yukon Quest or Iditarod are a different breed, bred for speed. Trapline dogs are barrel chested, long legged, averaging 80 to 100 lbs., are tougher than nails and can be aggressive. Dogs that fought too much were just culled because with a small team you cannot deal with injuries from fighting.
The race teams have at least 12 plus dozens of alternates because they are supplied from urban centers. When you are out in the country 7 months of the year, the issue of feed, and is the dog worth the feed he is eating become real issues. Therefore I would start with maybe 7 to 9 and cull the slouches down to 4 to 5 by midwinter.
To feed the dogs I would gillnet Dog (Chum) salmon in the eddies of the Yukon. After I had been in Eagle a few years, I built a fish wheel and was told that it would not work on the bank across from town. A fish wheel is Chinese invention which is a pair of wire mesh backed “scoops, paired to a pair of “paddles” built on a log raft floated by 55 gallon barrels. The current of the river turns the paddles and the scoops pick up the fish and they slide into boxes built on the sides of the raft.
The first year I caught so many fish I half sunk the raft, flipped the stern back Grumman canoe and ended up swimming fully dressed with a .44 on my side halfway across the Yukon. Of course the biggest naysayers built a wheel and set it below my location the next and subsequent falls.
You cut half the fish you catch in half and dry them and the rest you hang whole and let them freeze. The whole fish are blanched in boiling water and are the basis for dog feed; the dried fish are light and good for traveling. For human use, I preferred smoke drying King salmon, which is an excellent traveling food.
I had a large trapline. about a 100 miles of hand cut trails, with a “main” cabin, about 12′ by 14′ with several “line” cabins and wall tents so I could cover about 10 to 15 miles a day. The week was divided into 6 days of trapping and the 7th in the main cabin, resting the dogs, skinning and drying the furs and listening to the radio.
The eastern Interior is very cold; days below -55 would require staying “home”. WWII bolt action rifles were in my budget and dependable. In late fall I would clean out all oil and grease (even around the firing pin) and rub down with kerosene. Once outside your rifle stays outside because bringing it in cause?s condensation.
We would walk out from Eagle in the fall, about 60 miles, all the dogs and myself packing. I would schedule a plane to fly out and airdrop bundles of fish and tallow for the dogs, rice, 10 gallons of kerosene for light, a 5 lb block of cheese, coffee and a few other items.
My first year I was “grubstaked” by the local AC company for $350 in supplies. Add to that about $500 in air charter costs and I was in business. There are no landing strips or gravel bars large enough for aircraft so everything was airdropped on a large patch of tundra.
I wouldn’t see anyone until Christmas when a friend flew in on the frozen river with a cub on skis to pick up the fur (the main fur auctions were just after Christmas) bring mail and goodies.
The best marten trapping is from mid October to Christmas. After this the marten do not travel very much and you need to care for the resource for sustainability. The real cold hits around Christmas until mid February, I have seen three weeks where the temperature never rose above -60.
After Christmas I would set new lines (the overflow on the creeks and snow cover make new country accessible without cutting trails) and catch wolves. The average year I would catch 150 marten, 6 to 8 wolves and a couple of wolverine. That was a profit around $20,000.
Wolf trapping (I never have been good with snares) is an art form. In the fall I would hand cut trails and cut dry wood “drags”. These are black spruce poles about 12′ long and a foot thick. You boil the #9 Manning and #114s traps in a barrel with spruce tips and willow and a layer of wax on the surface. You always use the same gloves and never touch the dogs with these gloves.
You then attach a 12′ to 14′ chain to the trap and drag (you want a long chain so the wolf cannot get leverage on the trap) and set it near the trail, and let the snow build up undisturbed. The snow would build up and my trails were 14″ wide, so I could set the traps in the trail off the toboggan, right behind the wheel dog. We would then run over the trap and smooth the snow without any trace of a disturbance. Wolves begin to use the trail as the snow deepens and the scent of the dogs is an attractant. When I shot caribou, I would also drag the carcass behind the dogs for an attractant.
The problem with wolves is they hunt in family groups. When you catch a young animal and are not soon on the scene, it is too bad for him, the other wolves tear it apart and you have scraps of fur and odds and ends left. The large breeding male and female are not killed, and as soon as you remove it, you set all around the place and 6 in 10 times will have more wolves caught.
When you approach a live wolf, some are growling and tugging on the chain, while others will not look at you and are hard to get a good, clean killing shot through the ear.
Not long after I started trapping Carter created, among a lot of other messes, a Wild and Scenic River designation where my main cabin was located. The BLM flew out in a helicopter and posted the cabin and tried to run me off. I was grandfathered in and told them (among many people in the same position throughout Alaska) to go screw themselves.
I never did care for them or the National Park Service, and have and will continue to resist in all manners possible their mismanagement of lands in this state. At the time they were running out trappers they went after the small placer miners and were successful in shutting down many viable operations.
During the spring I would move back out to the Yukon valley and go “ratting”, harvesting musk rats, and during the summer go with the local Village fire crew on wild fires throughout the state.
I thought it might be interesting to some of those to know a little more about the “fly over or drive through” part of Alaska that Achance wrote about. I lived what could be called a subsistence life for about 20 years before getting into big game guiding, which is a whole other look at Alaska, spanning from the eastern Interior, north west Interior and north west Arctic.
I would like to see the opportunity to experience life at its most basic for my children and grandchildren, whether or not they do so.