Offbeat Anchorage Tour

On a day when the weather looked particularly questionable, we skipped the hiking and took Olivia’s mom up on her offer of an Anchorage tour! She said that she has a list of places where she likes to take people who are visiting, and I was ready to go wherever she wanted to take us.

Later that day, we were hanging out with some of Olivia’s friends, and they asked where we had gone on our Anchorage tour. They were fascinated by the itinerary, and apparently, they hadn’t even been to many of the places. They definitely didn’t say, “Oh yes! I would take people there,” to most of the stops. Having experienced the tour, all I can say is, those people are all missing out. We decided that this would be considered the “Offbeat Anchorage” tour which is absolutely the tour I would have booked anyway, given the choice (or, paying homage to my favorite travel resource, Atlas Obscura, the “Anchorage Obscura” tour).

So, come along with me on Annie’s Offbeat Anchorage tour! I don’t know what most people see in Anchorage, but it’s probably not this. (Also, a note – the order doesn’t quite match how we visited them. A few are tied to specific historic events, so I shifted those into chronological order, and the more general stops are just mixed in.)

The tour started with a more personal stop at Providence Hospital where Olivia’s mom volunteers. She maintains a flowerbed and also goes in weekly to cuddle premie babies in the NICU. The hospital was opened in 1939 by the Sisters of Providence, hence the name. Anchorage was a late bloomer of Alaskan cities, so by then, they had already started other hospitals in Nome in 1902 and later in Fairbanks (those were big gold rush towns).

University of Alaska Anchorage’s Foucault Pendulum

From there, we headed to the UAA university library to see one of Annie’s favorite things – a Foucault pendulum! I actually was familiar with the concept because there’s one at a museum in Philadelphia as well, but I was still happy to check it out.

The pendulum demonstrates the Earth’s rotation. By the time it was designed, people knew that the Earth rotated because of astronomical observations, but this showed it in a lab setting. The basic concept is that if the pendulum was located at one of Earth’s poles, it would keep swinging back and forth in the same plane, and the Earth would rotate 360 degrees underneath it each day (or about 15 degrees per hour). If you were tracking which way the pendulum was moving, it would seem like the swing was shifting, but the change would actually be because of the Earth rotating.

I feel like the pole situation is pretty easy to digest, but my brain starts hurting a little once you move away from the poles. When it’s not located at a pole, the Earth is still rotating underneath the pendulum but not a full 360 degrees in a day. (In Paris, where Foucault did his demonstration, it takes nearly 32 hours for a full rotation. In Anchorage, since it’s farther north, it takes about 27.5 hours.) Then, if you were at the equator, it wouldn’t rotate at all. If you crossed the equator, it would appear to be rotating in the other direction!

Apparently, for the best effect, you want a long cable and a heavy, symmetrical bob (the weight at the bottom of the cable). The university’s is 52 feet with a 240 pound, hollow brass bob. It also uses an electromagnet to keep the pendulum swinging since it’s not an ideal pendulum and things like friction, etc. exist.

Train Station/Eisenhower Memorial

There’s an Eisenhower Memorial in town, and from there, you can see the train station. I didn’t take any pictures of the memorial because it was in depressing shape, but let’s talk about trains!

Anchorage was first settled thanks to the construction of a government railroad, meant to increase access to the resource-rich interior of Alaska. The associated job prospects caused thousands of people to pour into the area, and a tent city of makeshift shelters was erected on the banks of Ship Creek. This “city” only existed for a few months in 1915. Conditions were horrible, and the area taken up by the settlement was needed for the railroad/shipping infrastructure.

A new site was selected for the settlement on higher ground, and over 600 lots were auctioned off. Random fun fact: People wanted to call the city “Alaska City” (they even held a vote to come up with that incredibly creative name). But alas, the postal service decided it should be called Anchorage, and so it is.

Elderberry Park & Oscar Anderson House

Our next stop was Elderberry Park which wasn’t particularly interesting in itself, but next to the park is the Oscar Anderson House. Oscar Anderson was Swedish and came to Anchorage back in the Tent City days (he said he was the 18^th person to arrive). He bought land in the 1915 land auction and built a house, supposedly the first wood-framed home in the city. It was given to the city in 1976 and was moved about 60 feet from its original site. (I always think that kind of thing is wild. The logistics of relocating a building! I’m sure there was a reason, but all that for 60 feet? Geez.)

The house was closed for renovations when we visited, but I still felt like I got my money’s worth with the stop (zero dollars, but who’s counting). There was an informational panel outside that was written by someone who deserves a raise. Usually, trying to read those things turns my brain to goo. This one, though. From the first two sentences, I knew it was different.

“Oscar lived in this house for nearly 60 years. They say his ghost still lingers on.” TELL ME MORE. It said that after Oscar died, the people who moved in reported strange occurrences and noises that sounded like footsteps. “When they reported these stories to his widow, Elizabeth… she was delighted. She said she always knew Oscar loved the house too much to ever leave it.” That cracked me up. She was DELIGHTED to hear that her husband was haunting their old house. So good.

There was also a fabulous write-up about “Demon Rum”. Before I get into that, some context. Back when they were auctioning off land, “to encourage sobriety and good behavior among construction workers, the rules of the townsite sale stated that all lots would be forfeited if used for gambling, prostitution, or the manufacture and sale of liquor.” (Quoted from an info panel at the Eisenhower Memorial.) In case you’re curious about how that went… enter Demon Rum info panel.

Uncle Sam laid down the law in 1915. There was to be none of that mischief within the new townsite of Anchorage.
Who was he kidding? Some thought the Wild West had had its final fling. But this was a new frontier.
“The only thing more prevalent than the fine dust which clogs the air is the raw whiskey with which they wash it down,” observed one disgusted federal bureaucrat, thoroughly unimpressed by the new railroad town and the moral fiber of its inhabitants.
The laws prohibiting such behavior may have been there on the books. But enforcement was a different matter. Sometimes The Law was in cahoots with The Lawless.

The next paragraph gives a little more detail and a quote from a historian talking about “Characters nicknamed Dago Jim, Creampuff Bill, and The Pale Faced Kid,” and I couldn’t stop laughing about Creampuff Bill. What a nickname!

Anyway, all that to say that I wish I could submit positive feedback about the articles. 10/10

Captain Cook Monument

I don’t have much to say about the actual monument… It’s a statue in a little park with a nice view of the water. While we were there, though, we saw a barge cruising past, and that ended up being far more interesting to me.

Annie explained that these big barges come in with supplies a couple of times per week. About 95% of Alaska’s purchased food supply is imported, plus clothing, home goods, vehicles, etc. (On the export side, 75% are fishing and mining related.) It’s probably not surprising that one of Costco’s most successful locations is in Anchorage. It makes sense… people come to town for supply runs, and what better place to bulk shop for supplies than the bulk grocery store?

Annie also said that there are a bunch of food caches hidden around the city in case something happens to the barge supply lines. I couldn’t find anything about this online, but maybe that just means it really is a secret… I guess we’ll never know.

Eleventh Air Force/Americans Home from Siberia – WWII Memorial

Our next obscure stop was at a WWII memorial which looked practically abandoned. Apparently, Annie stumbled upon it while playing one of those location-based app games during the pandemic. She thought it was interesting, so now it’s a tour stop! It’s in a very weird spot… next to an airport (I guess because of the “Air Force” part), not on a well-traveled road. It’s not surprising that no one seems to know about it.

Since Alaska was virtually undefended prior to WWII, the U.S. started building military infrastructure there in 1939. The war had a huge impact on Alaska. The population of Anchorage grew from 3,500 in 1940 to 12,000 in 1945!

Did you know that the only WWII campaign fought on North American soil and the only occupied American land was in Alaska? The Japanese occupied two of the Aleutian Islands (the islands that make up Alaska’s long tail) from June 1942 until they were finally driven out in August 1943. The U.S. and Canada lost over 500 men retaking the islands, and over 1,000 were wounded. After that, there weren’t many troops kept in Alaska, but part of the U.S. strategy was convincing the Japanese otherwise. The goal was to make them think that an attack might come from the north, forcing them to keep resources positioned to defend against that possibility.

There was a lot of people-moving happening during the war…

• The U.S. forced hundreds of native Aleuts to relocate from the islands during the war. About 10% died in camps in southeast Alaska, and 4 out of 6 of their villages ceased to exist.
• The Japanese captured 43 people from the islands and took them back to Japan. Only 25 returned.
• The US imprisoned 245 Americans of Japanese descent from Alaska in internment camps in the western U.S.

And this one is what the memorial is specifically about:

• The Russians interned hundreds of U.S./Canadian airmen who had to divert to Russian bases after flying missions against Japan. Usually this was because they didn’t have enough fuel to get all the way back to Alaska after running into unforeseen circumstances. Russia was in a complicated spot with these “captured” airmen because the U.S. and Russia were allies against Germany, but Russia and Japan were not at war. The interned airmen were treated fairly well, and some were helped to “escape”. (There’s an interesting article about this linked in the “Sources” section below.)

Delaney Park Strip and Star the Reindeer

We drove past a park which Annie explained was originally put into the city plan as a fire buffer between the city and the forest. It’s one block wide and ~13 blocks long! In the 1920s, it started being used as a golf course and also an airstrip. (Honestly, it seems like if it was a good airstrip, it would be a terrible golf course, or vice versa. I’m going to go with “terrible golf course” because it is very flat.) Now, it’s a park with fields, memorials, and recreation areas.

Next to the park strip is the home of Star, the unofficial reindeer mascot of Anchorage, so named because Star #1 had a star-shaped mark on her head. Also, fun fact – “reindeer” are just domesticated caribou.

When I was researching for this post, I learned the unfortunate news that the latest Star (#7) just died earlier this month! They think he might have been poisoned. If that’s the case, he won’t be the only Star iteration to have had a suspicious/sad end. #1 lived a long life. #2 was killed and butchered, and the meat was sold (the perpetrator was caught and spent a year in prison). #3 died after eating plastic bags that someone had shoved into her pen. #4 had arthritis but lived a long life, though it wasn’t without its traumas – someone once climbed into her pen and broke off an antler (seriously, what is wrong with people?). #5 died from a bacterial infection as a calf. #6 lived a long life and died of natural causes, but there was an attempted kidnapping at one point.

If you’re wondering if anyone can own a reindeer and keep it in their house in the middle of Anchorage, the answer is no. The keepers of Stars 1-5 got special permission, and it turns out that the permission is linked to the property which is how Stars 6-7 were able to keep the tradition going after the original keepers passed away. ALSO, you’re not allowed to own an Alaska reindeer unless you’re an Alaska Native. Stars 1-5 were leased, but after that, the law was changed so that non-Natives can’t lease Alaska reindeer either. So, where did Stars 6-7 come from? They were, in fact, Canadian reindeer, so the Alaska reindeer law didn’t apply. Technicalities! Another fun fact – Stars 1-6 were female, and Star 7 was male.

Also… the reindeer pen is attached to the house. The current owner would leave the door open in the summer, and Star could wander in and out of the house as he pleased. I think it’s safe to say that it takes a special kind of person to choose a reindeer as a pet…

Earthquake Park

The Great Alaska Earthquake of 1964 is still the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in North America. It had a magnitude of 9.2, lasted for over 4 minutes, and was caused by tension along the fault between the Continental Plate (Asia) and the Pacific Plate. The plates are moving towards each other with the Pacific Plate going underneath the Continental. In this case, the Pacific caught in place, rather than sliding nicely under, and the buildup of stress eventually led to an explosive earthquake.

There were 11 aftershocks over 6.2 magnitude in the first day after the main earthquake, and then there were 9 more over the next 3 weeks. Noticeable aftershocks continued for over a year!

Most Anchorage buildings weren’t designed to withstand earthquakes, so the damage from the quake alone was extensive. Beyond that, though, there were landslides that destroyed even more of the city and caused significant, permanent changes to its geography. Earthquake Park is situated in one of those areas. One of the soil layers was a type of clay that destabilized in the quake. This led to a landslide as the upper layers slid out towards the ocean, destroying 75 homes and killing 4 people.

Anchorage was lucky to escape damage from tsunamis, but other towns, like Seward and Valdez, were completely destroyed by 40-foot waves. Valdez, rather than rebuilding in the same area, decided to move 4 miles away to a less seismically risky area.

The Alaska Railroad was hard-hit with 200 miles of warped track, over 100 destroyed bridges, and other extensive damage to the infrastructure.

It was also catastrophic for the flora and fauna in the area. Thousands of deep water fish in Prince William Sound were killed by underwater shock waves. Mollusks suffocated under the mud and debris carried by tsunamis. Freshwater areas were inundated with saltwater, waterfowl nesting areas were destroyed, and forested areas were stripped bare by waves and landslides.

Coastal Trail

Later in the week, we strolled along the coastal trail, an 11-mile trail that, you guessed it, runs along the coast. It’s a beautiful trail, and people see all sorts of wildlife on it. Like I said in my Welcome to Anchorage post, Olivia saw a family of black bears (eek!) a few days before I got to town… We just saw some beluga whales on our walk. That’s kind of exciting I suppose, but they are maybe the least interesting animal to glimpse from the shore because they don’t have much on their backs to make them particularly visible. Like when you see a dolphin, you KNOW you’ve seen a dolphin. It’s cool even if you only see a fin. The belugas just have a ridge along their backs, so spotting a beluga is basically seeing a flash of white in the water and wondering if it’s a little whitecap or a whale. But anyway. The trail was pretty!

Besides all of those, we also went to:

• Fish hatchery – I’m going to talk about this in a separate post.
• Westchester Lagoon – a good spot for birdwatching, I’m told.
• Olivia’s high school (West Anchorage High) – to see the eagle mural gifted by the class of 1971. They wanted to include “Class of 1971” on it, but that was rejected, so they hid a 71′ in the design. I, of course, didn’t take a picture, but if you’re really interested, you can google it. Apparently it was years before anyone noticed. (Also, they put the apostrophe on the wrong side which would drive me crazy if I was bothered by silly little things like that…)
• Lake Hood Seaplane Base – I talked about this in my Welcome to Alaska post.
• Downtown Balto statue – this is also the location of the ceremonial start of the Iditarod.
• Anchorage Museum – this wasn’t part of our “official” Anchorage tour, but Olivia and I went later in the week and it’s awesome. They have some incredible Alaska Native art… my favorite part was the amazing beading and embroidery. And I loved their landscape painting exhibit!

Sources

Foucault Pendulum – there’s also a link to a PDF with some images to help illustrate how a Foucault Pendulum would behave at different locations on the globe.

 “Foucault Pendulum.” UAA/APU Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage, consortiumlibrary.org/about/building/pendulum.php.

Oscar Anderson House

“The Oscar Anderson House.” Distinctive Destinations, National Trust for Historic Preservation, muni.org/departments/ocpd/planning/documents/oahmbooklet_final_07_02_13.pdf.

Article about Russia returning interned US airmen during WWII

Goldman, Stuart D. “The Soviet Union’s Top Secret Operation to Repatriate Downed U.S. Airmen.” HistoryNet, 6 May 2021, historynet.com/the-soviet-unions-top-secret-operation-to-repatriate-downed-u-s-airmen/.

Star the Reindeer

Berg, Bailey. “Meet Star the Reindeer, Anchorage’s unofficial mascot for 60 years.” Roadtrippers, 18 December 2020, roadtrippers.com/magazine/star-reindeer-alaska/.