Flat and Iditarod 1993-1995 Oral History Interviews
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U.S. Department of the Interior BLM-Alaska Open File Report 66 Bureau of Land Management BLM/AK/ST-97/022+8111+40 April 1997 State of Alaska Department of Natural Resources FLAT AND IDITAROD 1993-1995 ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEWS edited by Rolfe G. Buzzell Editor Rolfe G. Buzzell is a historian with the State of Alaska’s Office of History and Archaeology in Anchorage, Alaska. The oral histories were made possible through a cooperative agreement between the Bureau of Land Management and the State of Alaska, Department of Natural Resources. This report also listed as Office of History and Archaeology Report Number 52. Cover Photo City of Flat, Alaska, 1912. Office of History and Archaeology Photo Collection. Open File Reports Open File Reports identify the results of inventories or other investigations that are made available to the public outside the formal BLM-Alaska technical publication series. These reports can include preliminary or incomplete data and are not published and distributed in quantity. The reports are available at BLM offices in Alaska, the USDI Resources Library in Anchorage, various libraries of the University of Alaska, and other selected locations. Copies are also available for inspection at the USDI Natural Resources Library in Washington, D.C. and BLM Service Center Library in Denver. FLAT AND IDITAROD 1993-1995 ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEWS edited by Rolfe G. Buzzell U. S. Department of the Interior State of Alaska Bureau of Land Management Department of Natural Resources Anchorage, Alaska Anchorage, Alaska 99503-5921 INTRODUCTION During July and August 1993, staff from the Office of History and Archaeology of the Alaska Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation spent four weeks conducting a historic buildings survey in Flat, Iditarod and nearby mining camps (Figure 1). This work was carried out under a Cooperative Agreement between the U. S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management and the State of Alaska, Department of Natural Resources to document and evaluate historic properties associated with the Iditarod National Historic Trail. One of the tasks included in the historic building survey of Flat and Iditarod was to interview individuals knowledgeable about the history of Flat and Iditarod and the buildings in those two communities. Under the project work plan, information from the oral history interviews will be used to write the historic contexts for Flat and Iditarod and to evaluate buildings and sites in those communities. Historian Rolfe Buzzell, the principal investigator for the project, conducted the interviews. Other Office of History and Archaeology staff assisted in the interviews on a rotating basis, including historian Steve Posgate and student interns Darrell Lewis and Ursula Schwaiger. Bureau of Land Management archaeologist Julie Steele also sat in on several interviews. Most of the interview sessions were tape recorded. In two instances, the interviews were not recorded and the interviewer took hand written notes. The transcripts that follow are interview summaries. The information provided by each individual is summarized, rather than transcribed word for word. Quotation marks are used to indicate direct quotes. Most of the comments made by the interviewers have not been included, but are noted by the use elipses (three or four dots) signaling a break or interruption in the information provided by the informants. Care has been taken to accurately summarize the information provided by the interviewees while conveying a sense of their styles of speaking. During the field work, the project crew used a series of site maps drawn from aerial photographs to accurately locate buildings, structures and sites inventoried during the survey of historic buildings in Flat and Iditarod. These site maps were also used during the oral history interviews to help identify the buildings and structures discussed by the interviewees. The site maps are included at the end of this publication, and map references to the specific buildings, structures and sites are indicated in brackets. The first reference in brackets in many of the interviews refers to temporary site designations. Letters of the alphabet were initially used by the survey crew in the field [i.e. Building S] to identify buildings or sites. The temporary designation was replaced in the fall of 1993 by permanent site numbers. The second reference in brackets refers to the permanent building or site designation [i.e. IDT-070] given during write up of the survey results. Permanent site numbers are listings in the Alaska Heritage Resource Survey (AHRS), the statewide inventory of prehistoric and historic sites in Alaska. The first three letters of the AHRS number refer to the United States Geological Survey quad map [i.e. IDT = Iditarod Quad]. The last three numbers of the AHRS designation refer to the number given that site within the geographic quad. For example, Building S, IDT-070 refers to the Community or Moose Hall Building in Flat. In most of the interviews, both the temporary designation and the AHRS number appears in the brackets. In a few cases, only the temporary number or the AHRS number appears in brackets. The use of temporary and permanent site designations in the interview summaries is designed to assist the reader in locating the buildings and sites discussed in the interviews. The purpose of the 1993 field project was to identify and evaluate historic buildings in Flat and Iditarod associated with the Iditarod National Historic Trail. As a result, significant parts of these interviews dwell on specific buildings and structures. The interviewers also sought information about the history of these two communities and everyday life in Flat and i 0 1 Miles N Golden Hom Mine& Camp Standberg Camp I--. Figure 1. Map of the Flat and Iditarod area, showing selected mining camps. ii Iditarod. The interviews provide a wealth of information on all aspects of the history of Flat, Iditarod and the surrounding mining camps, and the people who lived and worked in those communities. Because of the breadth and richness of the information contained in these interviews, the interview summaries were combined into this publication to make them accessible to those seeking information about the history of Flat and Iditarod. Each person interviewed provided unique insights and perspectives about the history of the project area. John Miscovich, John Fullerton and Alvin Agoff were raised in the Flat area by parents who were part of the early development of the Iditarod mining district. All three have lived and worked in the Flat area most of their lives. Their long tenure in the project area and their familarity with buildings, sites, and individuals associated with the community give their interviews exceptional importance. Mark and Sherry Kepler have been living in Flat with their three children since 1986-1987. The Keplers have taken an active interest in the history of Flat. They have retrieved documents and photographs from abandoned buildings and they have helped stabilize buildings important to the history of the community. As the only remaining year-round residents of the project area, their interview provides a unique perspective on Flat's past and future. Peter Bagoy's parents moved to Iditarod in 1910 when Peter was only two. The Bagoy family lived in the communities of Iditarod, Discovery and Flat until 1923, when they moved to Anchorage. Peter Bagoy's recollections of the area during the 1910s and early 1920s provides a unique contribution to this collection. Clair (Jensen) Marks and Johanna (Jensen) Kerr were born in Iditarod and moved with their family to Flat in 1929 or 1930. They went to school in Flat in the 1930s and early 1940s, and moved to Anchorage after World War II. Dolly (Miller) Turner and Nina (Miller) Mercer were both born in Flat in the early 1930s and went to school there in the 1930s and 1940s. They moved to Anchorage in the late 1940s. Like John Miscovich, John Fullerton and Alvin Agoff, the Jensen and Miller sisters spent their formative years in Iditarod and Flat. The final two interviewees, Catherine Weimer and Glen Barnett, are long-time Anchorage residents who each experienced Flat on a temporary, seasonal basis in the mid-1930s as part of the seasonal work force attracted to that remote mining camp. Catherine Weimer accompanied her husband to Flat during the summers of 1935 and 1936, where he worked for wages for several mining operators. Glen Barnett, a young bachelor fresh out of high school, went to Flat in 1935 looking for work and adventure. He spent three summers in the Flat area, working for various miners. I would like to thank all of the people interviewed for their willingness to share their time, knowledge, and memories of their experiences in the Flat and Iditarod area. This collection provides a unique window on the history of Flat and Iditarod, and life in the mining camps of the Iditarod mining district. Rolfe Buzzell Office of History and Archaeology iii TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ......................................................... i TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................... iv TABLE OF FIGURES ......................................................v JOHN MISCOVICH INTERVIEW #1, JULY 22, 1993 ............................1 JOHN MISCOVICH INTERVIEW #2, JULY 23, 1993 ...........................16 JOHN MISCOVICH INTERVIEW #3, JULY 24, 1993 ...........................31 JOHN MISCOVICH INTERVIEW #4, JULY 26, 1993 ...........................49 JOHN MISCOVICH INTERVIEW