Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes Road Cultural Landscape

A Brief History

Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes Road cultural landscape

NPS / Alaska Regional Office

To the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes

The 22.3 mile-long Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes Road provides access for visitors from Brooks Camp to the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes. The Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes was formed in 1912 by the Novarupta Eruption, the largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century. The unique valley, filled with smoking fumaroles in the years after its creation, was a central natural feature that prompted the designation of Katmai National Monument in 1918.

While the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes was featured in the September 1921 issue of National Geographic Magazine, tourist activity did not expand in Katmai National Monument until the 1950s, when Northern Consolidated Airlines developed fishing camps within the monument. The concessionaire pressured the National Park Service to build a road to provide access to the geological wonder.

Despite some opposition from conservation groups, the road was planned and surveyed from Brooks Camp fishing lodge to the edge of the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes in 1961. It was constructed in the following year as part of Mission 66, a ten-year, one billion dollar development program to improve tourist infrastructure within the National Park System. The Mission 66 development of the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes Road and a small Pan Abode visitor center at the road’s end expanded the possibilities for interpretive programs and the opportunities for park visitors.

Scenic Design Road

The Valley of Ten Thousand Smoke Road is unique as a scenic design road, one of only two scenic design national park roads in Alaska. The setting of the road is integral to its historic character. The views and vistas that the road was constructed to highlight continue to be fundamental to the experience of driving the road. Much of the landscape adjacent to the road was designated wilderness by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act in 1980, legally protecting it from future development.

Key design characteristics of the road include a minimized footprint and a curvilinear layout conforming to the natural topography. The minimized width of the road limits traffc and speed while enhancing the scenic experience. The visual character of the road has not been altered and few signs exist along the road. Today, the road is maintained to a primitive road standard.

Map of a proposed jeep trail from Brooks River to Windy Creek, created by the NPS Western Office of Design and Construction (September 1961).

NPS

Significance and Condition

• Period of Significance: 1962 to 1964

• Significance Level: State

• National Register Significance Criteria:

  • Criterion A - The Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes Road Historic District demonstrates the standards that both the National Park Service and the State of Alaska placed upon the development of visitor infrastructure during the Mission 66 period.

  • Criterion C - Although the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes Road was constructed in 1962, it is an example of both a scenic designed road typical of the National Park Service and Bureau of Public Roads (BPR) collaboration, and an Alaska model for a Mission 66 designed road. The NPS and BPR began collaborating in the 1920s. The design exemplifies principles carried out in both the NPS-BPR period and the Mission 66 era.

• Landscape Type: Historic Designed Landscape

• Condition: Good—The road maintains its rustic character as a one-lane scenic design road.

Elevation and landscape change from the start of the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes Road to its terminus at Three Forks Overlook.

NPS / Alaska Regional Office

Section of the road, facing west (2018).

NPS

Character Defining Features

Structure

• The Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes Road is a unique road segment, unconnected to larger road network. There is minimal traffic on the remote, 22.3-mile single lane gravel road because of this limited access.

• Average road width is 10 feet (narrowest point is 9.25 feet and the widest is 11.25 feet).

• The road grade is less than 1% as it rises in elevation from 34 feet to 1,200 feet.

• Physical components of the road include its width, surface material, drainage ditches, shoulders, and tree line (the cleared vegetation).

• There are no bridges on the road and three river ford crossings.

Circulation

• The road extends from the Lake Brooks Road at a “Y” and ends at the Three Forks Overlook.

• Side roads and turn around points are located at the Administrative Area and Five Mile Borrow Pit.

• The spur roads to historic borrow pits and open areas at river crossings also provide turn around locations.

• Trails include: Margot Falls Trail, the Ukak Trail, and the Windy Creek Trail.

Buses take visitors to the overlook at Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes Road, June 18, 1968.

Katmailand Photo

Views

• The primary objective of the road design was to provide visitors views of the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes.

• View of the spectacular mountainous landscape surrounding the road.

Land Use

• Provides park visitors access to the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes.

• Provides visitor access to the valley as a starting point for backpacking trips.

• Provides access for park staff to complete maintenance work.

• Primary use has been for day tours to the Three Forks Overlook during the summer season. The concessionaire runs both van and bus tours on the road, which is typically one, 30-passenger vehicle a day.

View from the Robert F. Griggs Visitor Center at Three Forks Overlook on the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes Road.

NPS / M. Fitz

Landscape Poster

Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes Road Historic District: A Brief History

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