Alaskan History
Martin Slisco's Roadhouse, Wiseman [ASL-P42-035, Fred B. Dodge Collection]
Roadhouses in Alaska A Good Meal and a Warm Place to Sleep “The Alaskan roadhouse is a trail or roadside hotel. It deserves and has earned the high regard that all Alaskan and northern travelers have for the ‘roadhouse.’” ~William E. Gordon, in Icy Hell (Wm. Brendan & Son, 1937) The roadhouses of Alaska and the Yukon Territory in Canada were a creation of the times in which they flourished, a time when men and women traveled slowly and laboriously over thin trails through an almost unimaginable wilderness, coping day after day with hostile weather, treacherous river crossings, and mountains which loomed and only grudgingly presented high passes through which to cross. At the end of a long day’s journey the lights of a roadhouse in the distance could only be a welcome sight. No matter how rough the accommodations, the roadhouse signaled warmth and food and a place to rest for a few hours. There would be a shelter for one’s team, be they dogs or horses, hopefully a barn with good feed and fresh hay. The roadhouse proprietor would
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