uring
the first
two decades of the twentieth century, Harry Karstens was known as the
man who could get you 
and your goods to any part of
interior Alaska... at any time of the year. After breakup,
his launches probed every navigable bywater and tributary. Then pack
trains of horse, mule, or dog would
finish the trip. In the winter, his mail and
freight dog sledding was legendary. Using an extensive system of
trails, many of which he blazed, Harry was in business for most of the
period. In the last few years operating as a partner in the firm
Burgess & Karstens Stageline, he ran autos with special cut-down
axles over the
Richardson Highway between Fairbanks and Chitina.
But with the turn of the decade every thing was about
to change. Harry had witnessed the arrival of airplanes in Fairbanks in
1919 and was acutely aware of the railroad building through Broad Pass.
It did not take much imagination to realize that the age of the bush pilot was about to dawn and the trails he helped to keep open would within a few years be overgrown as the outlying mines and villages were supplied from the air.
In his files was a newspaper article estimating that freight rates would drop from $350 to $25 a ton when the railroad was completed. Harry had made a living on that margin since he gave up mining on the Seventy-Mile at the turn of the century. And he was in no position to benefit from changes in transportation technology by increasing volume or adapting some of those new technologies.
As he wrote to his friend Charles Sheldon in March of 1920, “I think this will be my last summer on the trail between here and Chitna, for everyone will travel via the railroad after the coming summer.” By the following year the closing gap between the North and South ends of steel would be covered by “army caterpillar tractors which have packed down a boulevard in the snow” (According to the above mentioned news paper article) Clearly the freighting business between the coast and interior was about to see a sharp decline for small operators.
As Louise Karstens wrote in her sketch autobiography “...we sold out and went to San Diego. for the winter.” And Harry wrote his friend Sheldon (11 Jan 21) that they had come out “... to see if I couldn’t locate somewhere else and start new.”
Their reasons were not entirely economic. Harry had a young son that he wished to see grow up near family if possible. Sister Gertrude and mother Emma lived in Lemon Grove, CA. It seemed as good a place as any to start their search for a new home.
Ever since
he and Sheldon had conceived of the idea of a game preserve for the Mt.
McKinley region, Harry had dreamed of becoming the area’s warden. But
by 1920, thirteen years had passed and he was a different man with
different prospects and responsibilities. In March of 1920 he wrote
Sheldon, “I am not so anxious for that position...” “...it is too
much of a waiting game and I am a poor politician.”In January of 1920, Sheldon had written Harry that “congress has not yet made an appropriation for Mt. McKinley Park so that there is no money to put a game warden in there.” “...Now the letters that were written by Fairbanks people for you are in Mather’s file, but files grow stale and are forgotten.” The effort they had made to get Harry the job after the Park was created in 1917 had come to nothing with the lack of an appropriation. Now other men were maneuvering for the position and Sheldon wanted Harry to redouble his efforts with more letters.
Instead they made a tactical error that probably ended up getting Harry the job, but made him a few key enemies in the process that would haunt him for years.
In the 29 March 1920 letter, Harry mentioned “...a lot of the engineers and assistants of the Alaska Railroad have been in there and just about cleaned up the game...” In addition he mentioned that “...the Kantishna is booming and a lot of people going in there.” He had quoted a mutual acquaintance from their Toklat days, but Sheldon forwarded the information to the interior department making Harry look like the complainant. In no time the information was being used by game wardens and in a formal complaint to the AEC. On 11 January 1920 Harry wrote Sheldon that from the Kantishna to the railroad management he was in trouble. “You know how Alaskans feel regarding where or when they shall kill game and they resent anyone interfering with their pleasure.” “That is the principal reason why I came out this winter...” “...So you can see with all there little things working against me I have had quite a time this summer trying to make a living...”
In the event, by the time he wrote Sheldon from Lemon Grove in February of 1921, he had already met with Cammerer of the Park Service and had had a letter from Mather asking him to take over the Park on April first.
The use that the March 1920 letter had been put to would make railroad officials less than helpful throughout Harry’s tenure as superintendent, but with a new official position, his stand against free hunting in the new Park would at least, finally, begin to protect the game.
He told Sheldon he planned to “...leave here for the North on the eighth or ninth of March.” He arrived in Seattle on 20 April 1921, finding the boat of the 26th sold out. He was aboard the steamer Northwestern on 17 May with Woodbury Abby who would survey the new Park.
They arrived in Seward 27 May and Anchorage that night. In his 1921 diary he notes:
28 May: “...Next train north
Wednesday, June 1st, the only way to get my things across the gap is to
wait for Abby.”
1 June: “Left Anchorage”
3 June: “Getting stock ready to go over pass tomorrow. No other chance to get over except with Abby.”
4 June: “Left Hurricane Gulch”
5-7 June: (No entry)
8 June: “Arrived Healy 12am. Caught train for Nenana 1pm. Arrived Nenana 5pm. Abbey left stock and crew at Healy while he and I went to Nenana for equipment and supplies. Will probably have to go to Fairbanks for additional supplies and equipment.”
1 June: “Left Anchorage”
3 June: “Getting stock ready to go over pass tomorrow. No other chance to get over except with Abby.”
4 June: “Left Hurricane Gulch”
5-7 June: (No entry)
8 June: “Arrived Healy 12am. Caught train for Nenana 1pm. Arrived Nenana 5pm. Abbey left stock and crew at Healy while he and I went to Nenana for equipment and supplies. Will probably have to go to Fairbanks for additional supplies and equipment.”
Harry
then spent the next two weeks with Abbey’s crew as they began the
survey, which allowed him to make an initial patrol out of Healy along
the north boundary.20 June: “Think I will have to
go back and buy my own horse to be able to do what I wish to.”
22 June: “Arrived Healy decided to come out to get horse. Could do nothing without one. Abbey hasn’t enough horses for his own use.”
23 June: “Arrived Riley Creek 6pm. Looked horse over, think I’ll take him.”
24 June: “Bought horse from Pat Lynch for $100. Started for Healy 9am stopped end of steel to have horse shod…”
28 June: “...wife will be in on Thursday. Going to Nenana to meet her…”
29 June: “…Arrived Nenana.” “…Misses arrived 2am 30th on steamer Alaska.”
2 July: “Nenana. Family located Cooney Hotel until I build cabin at Riley Creek.”
6 July: “Returned Healy. Received quite a little mail from Service and Dr. Nelson. Will take me some time to answer them and get out full report and estimate. No privacy, no typewriter, no stationary.”
7 July: “Working on reports and estimates and looking up owners of cabins along edge of Park.”
9-21 July: “working on correspondence, trying to get a typewriter, 2 trips up east boundary.”
22 July: “arrived Morino’s. He has built log building on high bar in best scenic spot.” “…Must write Parks about Morino’s building.”
23 July: “Took 4 photos on No. 1 roll; 3,4,5 and 6 from grade opposite where Morino is building…” “Looks as though high benches will make easy grade for road…”
22 June: “Arrived Healy decided to come out to get horse. Could do nothing without one. Abbey hasn’t enough horses for his own use.”
23 June: “Arrived Riley Creek 6pm. Looked horse over, think I’ll take him.”
24 June: “Bought horse from Pat Lynch for $100. Started for Healy 9am stopped end of steel to have horse shod…”
28 June: “...wife will be in on Thursday. Going to Nenana to meet her…”
29 June: “…Arrived Nenana.” “…Misses arrived 2am 30th on steamer Alaska.”
2 July: “Nenana. Family located Cooney Hotel until I build cabin at Riley Creek.”
6 July: “Returned Healy. Received quite a little mail from Service and Dr. Nelson. Will take me some time to answer them and get out full report and estimate. No privacy, no typewriter, no stationary.”
7 July: “Working on reports and estimates and looking up owners of cabins along edge of Park.”
9-21 July: “working on correspondence, trying to get a typewriter, 2 trips up east boundary.”
22 July: “arrived Morino’s. He has built log building on high bar in best scenic spot.” “…Must write Parks about Morino’s building.”
23 July: “Took 4 photos on No. 1 roll; 3,4,5 and 6 from grade opposite where Morino is building…” “Looks as though high benches will make easy grade for road…”
Harry then made a patrol out to the Kantishna and returned to Healy by August 8th. After a
trip to Fairbanks
he spent the balance of August in Nenana working on reports.9 Sept: “leaving Healy for
Riley to build cabin…”
10 Sept: “started clearing on Riley Creek across from Pat Lynch’s, burned all brush and refuse…”
31 Oct: “Fixing up tent all day (Riley Creek) put up pole bunk and table…”
7 Dec: “Mrs. Karstens arrived late this evening.”
8 Dec: “...Wife and Eugene stopping at Pat Lynches R.H..”
11 Dec: “Finished floor of cabin. Put in temporary door and window and moved in. Tomorrow I start in and get my office in shape before I finish the cabin.”
10 Sept: “started clearing on Riley Creek across from Pat Lynch’s, burned all brush and refuse…”
31 Oct: “Fixing up tent all day (Riley Creek) put up pole bunk and table…”
7 Dec: “Mrs. Karstens arrived late this evening.”
8 Dec: “...Wife and Eugene stopping at Pat Lynches R.H..”
11 Dec: “Finished floor of cabin. Put in temporary door and window and moved in. Tomorrow I start in and get my office in shape before I finish the cabin.”
In her sketch autobiography, Louise Karstens remembered:
“In
the spring of 1921 Mr. Karstens returned to Alaska to take charge of
Mt. McKinley National Park. I followed him in July and lived at the
Cooney Hotel in Nenana until Mr. K could get established at McKinley
Park. A bridge was being built at McKinley Park to connect the southern
end of the Alaska Railroad with the Northern end. It was November
before I finally moved into McKinley Park. Our cabin was not finished
so we lived in a tent. It was 15 below the day I arrived there. It took
almost a day on the train from Nenana to McKinley Park. Another family
with 3 small children was also on the train bound for Anchorage. When
we arrived at the park we were all loaded on a double-ender and taken
to a roadhouse. We had to go down a steep hill, the old horse must have
stumbled over a stump for we rolled off the sled and 1/2 way down the
hill before we stopped...” 
“...I with Eugene moved into a
tent. Mr. K was busy working on the cabin. Finally it was finished and
we were glad to move out of the tent. It was warmer in the cabin…”With the occupation of that cabin, a real headquarters had been created. Thanks to Morino’s special relationship with one of those railroad officials inconvenienced by the use of Harry’s March 1920 letter, it would not soon be anywhere near Park boundaries. But it was convenient to the railroad depot and athwart the winter access route into the Park. And Harry Karstens, with a now territory-wide reputation as a game conservationist, was in position.
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3 of the 4 photos taken on
July 23, 1921 from what is today the south end of the Riley Creek
Bridge.
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