Park History

While most who visit and live in Alaska know of Fannie as the legendary pioneer who arrived in the Kantishna Hills during the 1905-06 gold rush, there is another side to Fannie’s extraordinary life that is not as well known—notably, her contributions to science and the local community.

Science Summary (2011) - What can archaeologists discover from patches of perennial snow and ice high in the Alaska Range?

On the morning of October 23rd, 1939, the Superintendent’s Residence caught on fire and was destroyed. Not long after the flames expired, criminal accusations of arson, insurance fraud, and narcotics possession were leveled against Lorraine Been by the park clerk’s wife. The Department of the Interior opened an investigation.

The 1972 fire at the McKinley Park Hotel occurred at the end of a busy summer that saw a substantial jump in visitation due to the new highway (Highway 3) linking Anchorage to Fairbanks, with Denali being one of the key attractions on the route.

Fifty years ago, during one of busiest weekends of the year, a fire blazed through the old McKinley Park Hotel burning most of the structure to the ground. While all guests and personnel were safe, unfortunately the hotel itself could not be saved.

The Kantishna Roadhouse is the oldest standing building in Denali National Park and Preserve. The Kantishna Roadhouse represents the social history of Kantishna’s 1920s revival as a mining community and is one of the few intact buildings remaining from the historic mining era.

Mile 231 of the Parks Highway, often referred to as Crabbie’s Crossing, has two major resorts and is a popular starting point for rafters and hikers, and is getting a major face lift with the addition of turning lanes and other enhancements. This has always been a popular area with people; including long before the park existed.

Science Summary (2011) - Artifacts suggest prehistoric humans hunted throughout upland areas of Denali over 12,000 years ago. Finds like these help researchers test hypotheses about how humans colonized the Americas.

In the summer of 1928, an unlikely person emerged as Denali's first botanist. At the time, Ynes Mexia had only recently started her journey as one of the great plant collectors in the world.

In Alaska, women's suffrage passed in 1913—seven years prior to the 19th Amendment—and antidiscrimination legislation passed nearly 20 years prior to the major national civil rights bills of the 1960s. In the 1940s, Elizabeth Peratrovich—a Tlingit woman who was Grand President of the Alaska Native Sisterhood—led the charge to end discrimination against Alaska Natives.