llJ~~t D~pintment IO'r the l:n:tcdoJT BL]\1I~A1:u.ska Oipen File Report 64 'Bu,rea1w,of Land Management BLMJAKIST-97/022 +8111 +040 April 1997 S:tate :o:f Ala:ska Department of Nall!l.ral Resources HISTORIC B'UILDIN 1G SURVEY REPORT FLAT, ALASKA by Ro.Ifie G, .lf:Jri1izelll aind n imre:~L. JLewis Authors Rolfe G. Buzzell and Darrell L. Lewis are historians with the State of Alaska's Office of History and Archaeology in Anchorage, Alaska. This sludy is a result of a cooperative agreement between the Bureau of Land Management an<l the State of Alaska. Department of Natural Resources. This rt!port.alf.o listed as Office of History and Archaeology Report Number .51. Cover ·Photo City of Flat, Alaska. l 9 l 2-1914. Auringer col1ection. Anchorage Museum of History & Art. Open File Reports Open File Repons identify the results of inventories or other investigations that are made available 1to the public outside the formal BLM-Alaska technical publication series. These reports can include preliminary or incomplete data and ar~ not puhlished and distributed in quantity. The reports are available at BLM offices in Alaska. the USDI Resources Library in Anchorage. various libraries of the Univt!rsity of Alaska, and other selected locations. Copies are also available for inspection at the lJSDI Natural Resources Library in Washington. D.C. alilJ BLM Service Center Library in Denver. Historri 1c Buil 1ding Survey Repo)rt: Flat, Alaska by Rolfe, G. Bozzell and Oarreft L. Lewis U.S, Departmelilt of the l'nterior State of Alas~.a Bur,eau of Lalild Managerrnelilt Department of Natural Resources Anchorage. Alaska Anchorage. Alaska 99 1503 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A number of people and agencies provided assistance or contributed information and photographs for this report. The project would not have been possible without their assistance and support. The United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management provided funding for the project. Anchorage District Office archaeologists Julia Steele and Donna Redding-Gubitosa and ldirarod National Historic Trail Coordinator Mjke Zaidlicz provided project oversight. Robert King, Alaska Archaeologist for the Bureau of L1nd Management, helped secure funding and agency support. The Special Collections Division of the University of Washington Libraries and the Anchorage Museum of History and Art provided. historic photographs of Flat. Jill Snyder of the U.S. Geological Survey in Anchorage assisted. in locating the field notes of that agency's geologists. Lael Morgan of the University of Alaska Fairbanks shared research data on prostitutes in Flat. Lawrence E. Hibpshman of the Alaska State Archives provided historical documents on Flat's history. Bruce Parham and Dana Kodiak helped locate postal and transportation records relating to Flat in th~ files of the Alaska Region of the National Archives and Records Center in Anchorage. Volunteer Dean Littlepage spent two weeks clearing brush and documenting buildings during the field work. Tile support of people who live in Flat or mine in the surrounding camps during the summer played a crucial role in the success of this project. Plat residents Mark, Sherry, Justine, Colin and Cami Kepler pro,vided accommodations for the survey crew during the field work and were helpful in ways to numerous to count. John and Jane Fullerton of Seattle, Wash.ington, John and Mary Miscovich of Orange, California, and Alvin and Cathy Agoff of Palmer, Alaska, generously shared their knowledge and hospitality during the field crew's stay in Flat. Fonner residents of Flat also shared their knowledge of the history of the community and the surrounding mining camps. They include Peter Bagoy, Tony GuJarte, Wilbur and Ann Williams, Jim Dahl, Rob Dahl, Clair Marks, Johanna Kerr, Dolly Turner, Nioa Mercer, Glen Barnett, and Catherine Wiemer. John Miscovich, Mark Kepler, Rob Dahl, Clair Marks, Peter Bagoy, Glen Ba:meu, Ray Winter, Candy Waugaman, Rob Acheson and Paul E. Keller generously allowed us to copy historic photographs from their personal collections. Joyce Barge and Kay Barnes permitted us to copy historic photographs rJ1at had belonged to their father, Eddie 'Barge, who died in 1995. ABSTRACT In July and August of 1993, staff from the Alaska Archaeological Survey unit of the Office of History and Archaeology (OHA), Alaska Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation, conducted a historic structures survey in the town of Flat, Alaska. Tbe survey was carried out under a Cooperative Agreement between the United States 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 lditarod National Historic Trail. Located in southwest Alaska between the Kuskokwim and Yukon rivers, Flat was the largest mining camp in the lditarod mining district. Gold was discovered in Otter Creek in the winter of 1908 and the town of lditarod developed as the supply center for lhe district. Flat began as a small mining camp at the confluence of Flat and Otter creeks. By the 1920s, it supplanted lditarod as the supply center and largest town in the lditarod district. The residents built the town on mining claims. Flat also became an important destination on the lditarod Trail, which linked the remote mining camps and towns between Seward and Nome. Tbe claim holders and large scale mining operators blocked efforts to incorporate the town and Flat was never platted. Gold mining activity focused on the creeks surrounding PJat until the 1920s, when rich gold bearing gravels were discovered under the town. Between the l 920s and the 1960s, natural disasters artd several mining operators conducted large scale mining within the town, forcing merchants and residents to move their buildings. Over the years, mining activity transformed the appearance of the town. The buildings, structures and sites that survive iUustrate the historic themes of ruining, commerce and community development. During the 1993 survey, OBA staff inventoried 110 buildings, structures and sites in the town of Flat. They include 26 properties associated with mining activities, 24 properties associated with commerce, 61 properties used as residences, and nine properties associated with public buildings or facilities, such as the school, hospital, community hall, and post office. Ninety-nine of the properties date from 1910 to 1945, including 20 properties from the 1910s, 36 properties from the 1920s, 39 properties from the 1930s, and four properties from 1940 to 1945. More than half of Flat's buildings and structures were moved ac least once due to natural disasters and mining activities, a:nd many were moved two or three times. The historic fabric that remains in Flat is a second or third generation mining camp dating from the l 930s and early 1940s. The frontier street-scapes of the 1910s have disappeared. Thirty-seven properties were inventoried at four mining camps in the immediate area around Flat. Buildings, stmctures and sites documented near Flat date from the t 910s to the 1970s. They include 19 properties associated with the Riley/Otter Creek Camp, six properties associated with the Discovery/Peter Miscovi.ch Camp, one structure associated with the Riley Dredge, five propcnies associated with the Golden Hom Mine, and six properties associated with the Fullerton Camp on lower Flat Creek. These four camps and the Riley Dredge include two properties dating from the 19'10s, six properties dating from the 1920s, 14 properties dating from the t 930s, and one property dating from 1940-1945. Most of these buildings, structures and sites have heen moved, providing additional evidence of a tradition in the Flat area of moving buildings and structures. ii TABLE OF CON'rENIS ACKNOWILEDGEME.NTS . • . • . 1 .ABS'fAACT . ii TABLE Of CONTENTS ....................................... iii TABLE OF FIGURES ......................................... viii l:AB,LE t)F l 'A.B,LES .......................................... xvi lN1'lll0 1DlJCTION . 1 I-IlISTORIC CONl''I'EX.'r . • . • • . • . • • . 4 lrz·troductioM, . , . 4 Nature of the' gold deposits and early mi.111i.1tg dev'elopment . • . 4 Settlemenl of Flat and ldiw.rotf, 1908-1920 . ............................ 5 Flat durin·g fhe 192'0s an:d 1'93'()~, .................................. 11 Flat during and after World War l1 . 21 PREVIOUS CULTl!JRAL RES()URCES INVES'flGATfONS . • . 25 PROPIEJR"fY 'fY'PIES ....•.•...••••..••••...•.......•......•.•• 26 METHODOLOGY . 28 PROPERTY DJESCR]P'nONS lN fLA1C (IDI'-005) . 29 Mld-lotvn . 30 Conununity Halli {IDT-07'0); . • . 30 Andy Misc;o,vicllt Bair (UYF-071) . • . • . 31 Duraad Restauran~'/Pairker Bar (IDT.-072) 1 • • ., • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 32 Adams Cab inf Pmrke:r Gemerai.t.or Shed (IIDl-073 . 33 Savage/Fullerttm1 Garage, (IDT-0174) ......•....................•• 33 Gustarfson!Savage/FuUert(Olil House: (IDT-075) . 34 AJ!d.erson Hou1se a:nd Post Office (ID'F'-076) .. .•...•.............•... 35 HillUDmyf Agoff HotFse (,IDT-122) .............................. 36 Uug.ge:.nfaeim Offi.celUotiEa Ho.use (IID'f-092} ..............••....... 37 Misco,vidt H'ouse.fUotUa SJ10:p (IID'f-243,) .............•.•... •..... 38 Gwggenheiim, Hospital/Schooilllllouse (EDT-093,} ....................... 39 Mutdlller/Miscovich Hous.e {IDT-094) . 40 Mi1diael'sEMisco:vicll. House {IJDI-095) .............•..•.......... 41 AwelFul.l.erton Sh.op ODT-096) ...................•..•........ 42 Mutc:fuJlertUotifatFunterton Dam (FIDT-097) .. • • • . • • • .