Alaska Railroad, Seward Terminus - Seward, AK - American Guide Series on Waymarking.com

The Alaska Railroad is famous for its scenic rides through the rugged mountains and is an important freight hauler between mining operations and ports. Anchorage emerged from a tent city along Ship Creek that was set up during construction. Seward was a main port city at that time, and that is where the southern terminus of the railroad was and still is located, though the industrial importance at Seward has diminished.

Alaska wasn't even a state when the American Guide Series was written, yet there was a book written, in 1939 by its Governor, John W. Troy. The Alaska Railroad is so important to Alaska, that most of one chapter is devoted to the railroad and the communities it serves. Thus, this waymark will provide general information about the railroad with more emphasis on the railroad layout around Seward.

The Alaska Railroad as Written in the Guide

The guide for Alaska has the following excerpts about the Alaska Railroad as it was being built in Seward:

...At the north end of Resurrection Bay, completely surrounded by mountains from 3,000 to 7,000 feet high, is the incorporated town of Seward (p.o., 835 pop.), named after William H. Seward, who as secretary of state negotiated for the purchase of Alaska. It is the terminus of the Alaska Railroad and a gateway to the Interior, besides serving as a distributing center for western Alaska and as the outfitting point for big-game hunters on Kenai Peninsula and Kodiak Island..."

In June, 1902, a surveying party landed at the site of what is now Seward and began to lay out a route for the projected Alaska Central Railroad, to furnish a means of entering the Interior and to tap the Matanuska coal fields. In July of the following year the townsite was surveyed and named, a wharf constructed, and streets laid out geometrically, the avenues numbered from one to seven, the streets named Monroe, Madison, Jefferson, Adams, and Washington. After 71 miles of the railroad line had been built, all coal lands in Alaska were withdrawn from entry in 1908, The Alaska Northern Railroad, successor to the Alaska Central, suspended construction in 1909. The reaction of the townspeople was later immortalized by Pat O'Cotter, a local poet:

You squandered untold millions
On the lousy Philippines,
But you always made Alaskans
Go and rustle for their beans . . .
You've never treated us quite right,
You grabbed away our coal,
And reserved all our firewood.
And what we've used we stole.
You soaked us on our cable tolls.
But we don't give a damn —
Even at twenty-eight cents per word
We're with you, Uncle Sam.

Late on a Saturday afternoon in August, 191 5, a cable message arrived with the news that Seward had been chosen as the terminus of the Alaska Railroad. The Seward Gateway was on the streets with an extra in half an hour, and real-estate prices mounted by the minute.

Lots changed hands overnight, property quadrupled in price, new stores opened, established merchants enlarged their quarters. Incoming steamers were crowded with passengers seeking work, as a new kind of stampede for Alaska began. The Alaska Railroad was completed in 1923. Since then Seward has been, in the phrase of Rockwell Kent, "a tradesmen's town where tradesmen's views prevail. . . . The worst of Seward is itself; the best is the strong men that by chance are there or that pass through from the great Alaska."

American Guide Series: Alaska - A Guide to the Last American Frontier - page 259-260

The following is about the entire railroad:

Trains leave Seward on steamer days early in the morning and arrive at Fairbanks late in the afternoon on the following day. Ail through trains make a luncheon stop at Anchorage, allowing sufficient opportunity to see the town, an overnight stop at Curry, and a luncheon stop the following day at Healy, except the special train (motor car) from Anchorage to Fairbanks. To figure railroad fare, multiply the mileage by $0.06 and bring to nearest o or 5. To figure parlorcar fare, multiply the mileage by $0.007 and bring to nearest or 5. Special round-trip fares of one fare and a third are in effect during summer months.

Under certain conditions passengers may make a railroad side trip to Palmer in Matanuska Valley at Anchorage, and a stopover in Mt. McKinley National Park at McKinley Park (see "Tours for Round-Trippers"). At Nenana connections are made with steamers to points up- and down- stream on the Yukon River (see "Tours for Round-Trippers").

The railroad is operated the year round.

Connecting Pacific tidewater at Seward with Interior Alaska at Fairbanks, 470.5 miles distant, the Alaska Railroad, owned and operated by the United States under the Department of the Interior, is a main artery of travel and heavy traffic, serving gold mines, coal fields, the Matanuska Valley farming area, and the prosperous towns of Anchorage and Fairbanks, It is the only route to Mt. McKinley National Park. During the peak of the summer season over a thousand persons are employed in the various activities of the Une, and over three hundred are on the winter payroll. The annual payroll amounts to more than a million and a half dollars.

In 1912 Congress authorized an investigation of transportation problems in Alaska, and a report was submitted the following year. A second commission was appointed in 1914, which made an examina- tion and survey of several routes. The route finally chosen extended from Seward north to Nenana, with a branch line to the Matanuska coal fields. Subsequently it was decided to extend the main line to Fairbanks. Supply bases were established at Seward, Anchorage, and Nenana, and construction was immediately started, continuing until a golden spike was driven by President Harding at North Nenana on July 15, 1923. In that year the Alaska Engineering Commission, which had had the services of such men as Alfred H. Brooks, geo- logist, Colin M. Ingersoll, consulting railroad engineer, William C. Edes of the Southern Pacific Railroad, Col. Frederick Mears of the U.S. Army, and Thomas Riggs, Jr., formerly of the Alaska Boundary Survey Commission and later governor of Alaska, was dissolved, and Lee H. Landis became the first general manager of the railroad. In 1928 Col. Otto F. Ohlson was appointed manager. Up to June 30, 1937, the government had expended on the railroad about $73,500,000; the sum included the construction of telegraph and telephone lines, wharves, hospitals, townsites and dwellings for employees, and the operating expenses in excess of revenue. Deficits during the early years of operation have been so reduced that in 1937 the net operating profit was $9,971 (eliminating operating costs of ocean-going vessels), of which the railroad expended $7,449 for an investigation of mineral resources affecting railroad tonnage.

The total length of the line is 550.9 miles, of which 470.55 miles are main line, 31.35 branch lines, 2.17 industrial tracks, and 46.83 yard-tracks and sidings.

- Alaska, p. 261-262.

The Alaska Railroad in Seward Today

The Alaska Railroad Corporation is the entity that now owns and operates the Alaska Railroad. According to its web site, it is state owned, but it is self-sustaining and is run as a private business. The route map on the web site shows that it stills runs between Seward and Fairbanks, with an extension to Eilson AFB to the east of Fairbanks, and the Whittier-Portage spur, which includes a long combined railroad-highway tunnel, built during World War II. During the war, the railroad did well when they transported supplies.

The railroad's web site has an entry in its history chronology for March 27, 1964, when a great earthquake caused approximately $30 million in damage to the railroad. Freight operations were restored on April 6 (Whittier on April 20), while passenger service was restored on April 11. At many places the track was twisted and had to be replaced.

Here in Seward, the railroad ends on the north side of the town, near Port Ave. that goes to the cruise port. There is a small depot at this location is where the passengers enter and exit the train. The train arrives around noon from Anchorage and leaves for Anchorage about 6:00 pm.

The railroad originally did not end at Port Avenue. At the clear other end of Seward, at the south end of 4th Avenue, is the old Seward Depot (coordinates, N60 06.026 W149 26.360), now part of the Alaska Sea Life Center. Nearby is a plaque of the history of the railroad and another one that shows pictures before and after the earthquake. Essentially, all the waterfront port and railroad yard was inundated from the tsunami that was generated by the earthquake in 1964. At this location in a flower garden by the Alaska Sea Life Center, is a bronze image of the Alaska Railroad Logo.

However, the railroad still serves the community, and provides a ride for tourists that is simply breathtaking.

Book: Alaska Page Number(s) of Excerpt: 259-260, 261-262 Year Originally Published: 1939

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