NENANA - Made my home in Nenana, AK on Friday; I made it 59
miles of the 367 miles from Fairbanks to Anchorage.
Nenana is a quaint community of 360 bordered by the Parks
Highway and the Tanana River. Senator Jack Coghill has strong family ties to
the town - Coghill's General Store is the hub for baking and cooking supplies,
movie rentals, and what-not.
Coghill's General Store, Nenana, AK
A mural painted on the side of Coghill's General Store that depicts
Warren G. Harding was the 1st U.S. president to visit Alaska.
He pounded the golden spike signaling the completion of the Alaska railroad
from Tidewater to the interior on July 15, 1923.
Coghill's General Store store aisles (above and below)
Established in 1916 by William A. Coghill, the store is
owned and managed today by granddaughter Marilyn Duggar nee Coghill.
Marilyn Duggar (Coghill)
Unique aspects of Nenana: It's home to the oldest train
depot in Alaska, and the popular fish wheel is native to this area as is the
annual Nenana Ice Classic - a 98-year-old contest of guessing the exact minute
the Tanana River will break up each spring.
"All this shows you is Alaska is a boring place,"
said Jack, a man in a Green Bay Packer shirt nursing another can of Pabst Blue
Ribbon at Jester's Place on the main drag in Nenana.
Jack, originally from Wisconsin, Packer backer
Jack hailed from Wisconsin. "Up near the Tomahawk
area," slurred Jack. "And don't speed or my niece, the state trooper,
will give you a ticket."
Jack buys me a PBR as the locals explain the premise of the aforementioned
Nenana Ice Classic contest. "Prost," I said, with a tip of the can in
Jack's direction. "Give it a good home," said Jack.
There are colorful framed posters lining the wall of
Jesters, all highlighting the Ice Classic which is a wood-frame tripod planted
two feet into the Tanana River ice between the highway bridge and the railroad
bridge at Nenana, just upriver from the Nenana River tributary.
A wire is attached to the tripod, which is 300 feet from
shore, and connected to a clock and horn that sounds as the ice goes out.
"This was started by railroad engineers in 1917,"
said bartender Jim. "They bet $800 guessing when the river would break up
and last year, during the 97th year of the classic, the winners shared prize
money over $318,000."
"I tell you what," said Jack. "We live here
and we never win."
Jim said a woman from Japan recently won and he hands over a
tri-fold flier that explains the Nenana Ice Classic for 2014 - an Alaskan
tradition.
The black-and-white flier reads like a race card at the
track. A graph shows the popular hours of the ice break; a calendar grid shows
the history of the winning dates and times dating to 1917.
"There was an anomaly on May 1, 1991," said bar
patron John, lighting up a Marlboro as he talked. "On that day there was
an earthquake at Mt. McKinley at 11:20 a.m. and by 12:04 a.m. the horn sounded
in Nenana and the clock stopped because the ice broke."
Tickets are $2.50; sold throughout Alaska from February 1
through April 5. "We can't sell the tickets out of state, so you might as
well get your guesses in now while you're here," said Jim, trading a pair
of tickets for a 5-spot.
Bartender Jim with my Ice Classic tickets...
Depositing my tickets for the contest
This year the ice broke late on May 20 at 2:41 p.m. In the past
97 years over $11 million has been paid out.
Side notes:
- There's one thing noticeably missing from the Alaskan
landscape - billboards. A law was passed that asserted billboards would take
away from the majestic scenery in AK.
- Tourism is a HUGE industry in Alaska but it struck me how
folks statewide go the extra mile on the little thing such as…. at every train
stop from Anchorage to Fairbanks , whenever we pulled into the depot people
were waiving - everybody! It was very Twilight Zone in nature - but
such a simple effort that made a big impact.
- Saw a woman in a store in Nenana who had the stars in the
Alaskan flag tattooed on her face.
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