Sourdough Lodge

The Sourdough Lodge in 1974.

NPS Photo / William S. Hanable, National Historic Landmarks Program

Sourdough Lodge

Gakona, AK

Designated an NHL: June 2, 1978

Designation withdrawn: June 3, 1994

The Sourdough Lodge, constructed between 1903 and 1905, was one of the oldest continuously-operating roadhouses in Alaska. Built along the route of the Valdez Trail, now the Richardson Highway, the Sourdough Lodge figured prominently in the history of the construction of transportation corridors in interior Alaska. Alaskan roadhouses, spaced about 15 to 20 miles apart on roads and trails throughout the territory, provided food and shelter for the thousands who came to the North beginning in the late 1880s.

Shortly after the Klondike gold discoveries of 1897-98, Congress enacted legislation which provided for the construction of roads in Alaska. By 1899, a survey crew under Lt. William P. Abercrombie cleared a trail (the Trans-Alaska Military Road) from Valdez to Eagle City. Following the gold rushes to the Tanana Valley, a crude trail was surveyed from a point on the Trans-Alaska Military Road near Valdez to Fairbanks. It was known as the Valdez Trail. Several telegraph stations and many roadhouses, including Hart's Road House (later called Sourdough Lodge) were located along this trail. By 1907 the Sourdough was one of several roadhouses built along the trail to serve thousands of prospectors and adventurers who traveled on the 370-mile long trail in summer and winter. The four-room building was constructed primarily of logs.

The Sourdough Lodge was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on October 1, 1974 and was designated a National Historic Landmark on June 2, 1978. On December 27, 1992, a fire completely destroyed the Sourdough Lodge; the Landmark designation was withdrawn on June 3, 1994.