By the mid-20th century, women were seen in a variety of occupations some traditional while others made the most of opportunities at hand, as well as entrepreneurial endeavors – from running a successful reindeer enterprise on the Seward Peninsula, to operating hotels and shops in mining related boom towns, to roadhouses and early tourism camps and lodges. Perhaps this legacy is seen in today’s Alaska being among the top in the nation of women-owned businesses.
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- Mary Antisarlook, her full name Changunak Antisarlook Andrewuk, aka Sinrock Mary), became owner of the largest reindeer herd in Alaska, running a successful reindeer-meat business, following her legal win that allowed women and Natives to inherit property, at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinrock_Mary
https://www.alaskamagazine.com/articles/featured/the-queen-of-reindeer/ and http://www.alaskool.org/projects/reindeer/history/iser1969/RDEER_2.html
About reindeer herding in Alaska, From Hunters to Herders: the Transformation of Earth, Society, and Heaven among the Inupiat of Beringia, at: https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/bela/hunters_herders.pdf
And about the Ublasaun Reindeer Herder Camp at: https://www.nps.gov/bela/learn/historyculture/ublasaun-reindeer-herder-camp.htm
- Women from Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve’s past, in At Work in the Wrangells: a Photographic History, 1895-1966, includes early subsistence lifeways, those who prospected, and those who worked as teachers, nurses, typists and more at the Kennecott Mines and nearby town of McCarthy, at: https://www.nps.gov/wrst/learn/historyculture/upload/WRST-History-book.pdf
- Ethel LeCount, a former nurse at the Kennecott Mill Town (1937-38) at: https://www.nps.gov/media/photo/gallery.htm?pg=841023&id=3CD7A309-1DD8-B71C-0718429D9FBE52EB
- Kate Kennedy, a well-known entrepreneur with multiple businesses, becoming the largest property owner in the Chitina Valley and McCarthy’s (associated with Kennecott mining town) at: https://alaskamininghalloffame.org/inductees/kennedy.php
- Rika Wallen operated a log roadhouse for early 20th century travelers in interior Alaska. This historic district is listed on the National Register of Historic Places at: https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/AssetDetail?assetID=5fd8da12-219b-4867-a693-29674feea1a6
- Alaska Nellie’s Homestead on Kenai Lake, a woman operated roadhouse and a popular tourist stop on the Alaska Railroad. Well-known for living life “large”, Nellie Neal Lawing was honored with “Alaska Nellie Day” on January 21, 1956. Her homestead is listed on the National Register of Historic Places at: https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/b39eb4ac-10f4-4a48-a0f9-f51c8a9e501d
- Alaskan roadhouses sometimes tell sad stories – like this tale of owners Jack and Kate Welch, she ran the business and the post office, who purchased the Woodchopper Roadhouse in the 1930s, at: https://alaskanroadhouses.wordpress.com/
- Something of a mystery as to Anna Ruhl’s Roadhouse, in Deering, Alaska in 1903, at: https://alaskanroadhouses.wordpress.com/2015/05/08/anna-ruhls-deering-roadhouse/
- The Legacy of Ginny Wood and Celia Hunter, with establishing Camp Denali, Alaska’s initial eco-tourism operation within today’s Denali National Park and Preserve at: https://campdenali.com/blog/ginny-wood-celia-hunter
- Alaska’s #1 in nation for women-owned businesses, August 19, 2019, KTVA, at: https://www.ktva.com/story/40936256/alaskas-1-in-nation-for-womenowned-businesses
Last updated: August 6, 2020