Tents to Skyscrapers
When favorable engineering reports for a railroad sparked interest in the present-day Anchorage area, thousands flocked here in 1915 hoping to find work.
Tent City
Even before President Wilson approved this route for the railroad in April 1915, a city of tents blossomed in the creek bottom just north of this spot. The residence of Tent City wanted land. U.S. General Land Office Surveyors chose to put the new town here on the bluff to make room for railroad yards below. They worked quickly beginning with survey points set three years earlier when an initial survey was completed from Seward to Matanuska Valley. The new town site had 121 blocks with about 1400 lots. You are now standing on part of the original Block 18.
Town Lots Auctioned
On July 10, 1915, the town lots were sold at a U.S. General Land Office auction held just over the hill at the foot of C Street. The first lot sold for $825. Anchorage grew rapidly. Additional surveys helped establish orderly settlement in the surrounding area, including homesteads which provided farm produce for the new community. Today the original homesteads, now within Anchorage, have been subdivided, becoming businesses and residential areas. Most of Anchorage’s streets follow the north-south and east-west rectangular grid laid out by the original surveyors. The Bureau of Land Management, which inherited the survey legacy of the General Land Office in 1946, is extending the rectangular grid to the entire State of Alaska, defining Native, State, and Federal land boundaries (U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management).
Thanks to ma&pa wilson for the adoption!
This cache was originally located at the sign "Tents and Skyscrapers", which is approximately 200 feet south of it's current location at the Alaska Statehood Monument. It was move because containers were regularly disappearing. The location of the sign “Tents to Skyscrapers” is provided as a waypoint, and I encourage you to visit it and read about the history of Anchorage. The current location offers additional historic information, and a nice view of the railroad yard and station.
This location will be quite crowded at times, stealth will be required. Please be aware and be careful to put the container back in its proper place. The container should be easily accessible and available during the winter.