(Click on photo for a larger image)
Aerial view of Anchorage
In this photo, only one structure in the ARR yard complex is still standing today. That is the power house with the tall smoking stack just to the left of the round house at upper right. This building was built of poured concrete in 1922 after the original wood frame building burned to the ground November 16, 1921. Up on Government Hill are two cottages at the extreme left. They may exist today in much modified form as part of the modern neighborhood. For sure the Alaska Railroad RADIO station building still stands at the top of the photo. Blow up the image and you can just take out the antenna masts. The ARR turned the radio station over to the the Alaska Communications System in 1922. Just to the left of the letter A at the bottom of the image is a Street with a bridge across Ship Creek. Some time later another bridge was built downstream from the Railroad Bridge at the bottom left corner. The main line was relocated South of Ship Creak later and the abandoned bridge became the foundation for todays BRIDGE Restaurant. I mention this only for clarification. If we knew when the downstream bridge was built and the one in the photo abandoned, it would help date the photo. For orientation, note that the long complex of buildings with the white lettering just off the creek is now Whitney Road passing by Right Way Auto Carriers and the newly repurposed CEA Power Plant building now known as the Ship Creek Industrial Complex. That new bridge connected with C street which ran up the hill out of the frame, to connect with 4th Avenue. 4th and C was the "cultural center" of Anchorage with the Canteen Bar and restaurant on the NE corner and the Hunter Bar on the SW corner. If you travel back in time into the image, at the Wye on the left is the ARR administration building and on the right is the Anchorage Fire Department with its Hose Drying tower. As the City grew they moved the fire department to 4th and F streets because in the winter they had difficulty getting a loaded tanker up C street Hill. Notice there is a Panama 200 class mogul parked just right of the fire department, identified by it's slope back tender. Possibly the designated yard switcher on standby. Continuing on C street through the yard, on the left is a mess hall and RR hotel (bunk house). On the right you eventually come to the Foundry and the sawmill/lumber yard. If you stay on C street going out bound up government hill past the rectangular water tower, you will be on the road that became the Davis Highway toward Palmer by 1935. The future Fort Richardson and Army Air Field grew up to eventually become Elmendorf AFB and morf into Joint base Elmendorf Richardson of today. The photo just proves the adage "Nothing is constant but change". Considering the near total absence of road vehicles in the photo, my best guess is this photo was shot on a Sunday prior to 1930 from a private aircraft. Considering the short shadows and orientation, about 2:00 p.m. in June or July would be a good guess. I mention private aircraft above because the Army did several survey passes from a higher altitude on an East West flight line in 1939 and they are clearly labeled and oriented. By that time some of these buildings were gone. The build up for "WW Eleven" as the kids say, was already underway by then. -- Commentary by Patrick Durand |