Cutout in the shape of Alaska with a cutout showing the amount of homesteaded land
NPS Photo
When the 1862 Homestead Act was extended to Alaska in 1898, veterans had special rights to obtain homesteads faster than the normal homesteading requirements. As early as 1901, some veterans were selling their rights to homesteads to fish companies who then received homestead patents in coastal areas of Alaska.
Farming was possible in some parts of Alaska, like portions of the Matanuska and Tanana river valleys, and around Delta, but was hard or impossible in many other areas. This was one reason why few homesteads were awarded. Other factors facing Alaska homesteaders included remoteness, cold weather, short growing seasons, and high expense for supplies. After railroads were built in Alaska in the early 1900s and the Alaska Highway opened in 1947, increased accessibility in some areas spurred more homesteading
Homesteading officially ended on October 21, 1976 with the passage of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, however, a 10-year extension was allowed in Alaska since it was a new state with fewer settlers. In total 3,277 homesteaders were proved up in Alaska. The total acreaged was 363,775 which is less than 1% of the land in the state.
This 1945 Allis-Chalmers Model C tractor was used by the last homesteader, Ken Deardorff, on his homestead in rural Alaska. Deardorff purchase this tractor near Palmer, Alaska in 1976 two years after he filed for his land. He used this tractor to pull hundreds of tree stumps from the ground to be able to clear an area for his farming plot. In June 2017, the tractor was retrieved from Deardorff’s homestead by Homestead National Monument of America.
Mahala Ashley Dickerson was an American lawyer and civil rights advocate for women and minorities. In 1948 she became the first African American female attorney admitted to the Alabama State Bar. Upon filing a claim for a 160-acre homestead in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley, Dickerson became Alaska's first black Homesteader.
We are pleased to share with you 'Black History in the Last Frontier'. Prepared by historian Dr. Ian Hartman, through a partnership with the University of Alaska Anchorage and the National Park Service, Alaska Region, the book relates how African Americans have worked and lived in Alaska for over 150 years – hunting for whales, patrolling the seas, building roads, serving in the military, opening businesses, winning political office, and forging communities.
Kenneth "Ken" Deardorff was the last person to acquire a patent, or title, to land under the Homestead Act. He received the title to his 50 acre Alaska homestead on the Stony River in 1988.
Paula followed the allure of gold to Alaska, arriving in the Kantishna district to mine in 1918. She and her husband found some success through mining, and chose to settle at the north end of Wonder Lake, in what today is part of Denali National Park.
2020 marks the 150th year since Fannie Quigley's birth. Fannie is one of Denali's most celebrated historic figures, having arrived in the early 1900's gold rush to Kantishna, and making it her home til her death in 1944.
