I don’t usually write about politics but I believe that part of the benefit of travel is to learn about and understand other people. I am certain that my world view was shaped by all the traveling I was fortunate to experience as a child and young adult. Alaska is very different from the lower 48 and even more different from Washington, DC where I lived for more than 30 years. Alaska is comprised of very tiny towns and villages separated by huge distances. Many, many people (even those who live in towns) still provide a great portion of their family’s food by hunting and fishing. Big Oil companies provide the revenue to run the state. All Oil is good because it provides the annual subsidies to the citizens of Alaska.
Early in the day we were glued to the TV — John McCain has announced that Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska, is to be his running mate. Palin has been governor for almost 2 years and before that she was mayor of Wasilla - a town of 5,000 people. I think it is difficult for people to imagine just how small the towns in Alaska are – and even how small the state of Alaska is. Alaska has more moose than people and the state population is about the same as the town of Austin, Texas. Watching the primary campaigns on Alaska TV for the past month or so, we noticed that every politician in Alaska, regardless of party, calls themself as “conservative”. Sarah Palin is radically conservative – a Pat Buchanon Republican, supporting teaching creationism in public schools, hunting wildlife from airplanes, drilling for oil in the Alaska national wildlife refuge, and against listing polar bears as endangered species, a proposal forbidding large mining companies from polluting natural streams and killing salmon, and in favor of outlawing all abortions, with no exceptions (including rape and incest). When asked if she had ever traveled outside the US one Alaska reporter said, “she went to college in Idaho and she visited the troops in Iraq.” I guess that McCain selected her to try to bring in the far right of the Republican party. – really scary if 72 year old McCain happens to win.
Off soap box.....
In the afternoon we checked out the Visitor’s Information Center in downtown Fairbanks. That lead us to Pioneer’s Village, a city owned park.
There are old cabins in Pioneer’s Village that were moved there from downtown. Most of the cabins were built around 1905-1915 and interestingly were still occupied as residences until the late 1960s. Today most of the cabins are small shops.
One cabin is a museum. It shows the home of a single woman in 1910. She purchased the home and lot in downtown Fairbanks for $11.23 as evidenced by the deed posted on the wall. The wooden cabin had 2 rooms on the first floor and a bedroom upstairs. (No indoor plumbing) The funny thing I noticed was a manual carpet sweeper. I told the docent that I remembered a similar carpet sweeper; I didn’t think that was so old. – That’s another thing about Alaska, it was mostly settled fairly recently, at least as far as American history relates. (When I lived in New Jersey the historical focus was the Revolutionary War; in Virginia the historical focus was the War of Northern Aggression (aka the Civil War); in Colorado the historical focus is the 1850 gold rush, and in Alaska it is the 1905 gold rush).
And perfect to locate near the jewelry shops....
Notice this picture of a cache. A cache is an elevated place to store meat. Because your cabin is heated (with a stove), when you shoot a moose in winter you need to be able to store the meat in a cold place safe from other predictors. Many rural homes in Alaska have a cache out in front.
I couldn’t resist making Robert pose as a musher.
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