Homesteads on Fort Richardson, Alaska - The USARAK Home Page ...

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Maurice Pihl moved to Washington in 1942, not long after their first daughter wasborn. They are still living there today. 90Figure 13. Florence Prizer on cabinsteps with the family pets. From collectionof Ruth Pihl.Figure 14. Robert M. Prizer. From collectionof Ruth Pihl.Figure 15. Front view of the Prizer log cabin. From collection of Ruth Pihl.William ChambersChambers filed for homestead entry in 1939. There was some initial confusionover the legality of his entry, as a Thaddeus McGrath had filed on the same parcel.Chambers’ entry should never have been allowed. Fortunately, McGrath filed arelinquishment in 1939 when he learned someone else was interested in the land.McGrath had filed in 1934 and made no efforts to improve his entry.90Ruth Pihl, personal interview, phone, 6 July 2000.36<strong>Homesteads</strong> on Fort RichardsonAlaska
Chambers built a 12' x 18' log house with a 6' x 12' front porch and an 8' x 16' woodshed (see p. 60). Ten acres of the claim had been cleared; two of which were used togrow strawberries. Chambers signed a quitclaim in 1942 and was paid $1,050 forhis improvements. He was a single man, and it is not known if he stayed in Alaskaafter relinquishing the claim.Edvart KjosenEdvart Kjosen was a Norwegian born in 1894. He arrived in Alaska sometimearound 1930 and became a citizen in 1936. Mr. Kjosen filed his homesteadapplication in 1938. A year before he could prove up on the land, thearea was withdrawn by Executive Order 8102, and Kjosen sold his improvementsto the government for $500 in 1942. Little is known regarding Mr.Kjosen’s specific activities on the homestead. He was a bachelor and providedmuch of his living through fishing. In the summers he worked for therailroad as did many other Anchorage homesteaders at the time. 91Figure 16. Edvart Kjosen,1934 – 35. Courtesy of the AnchorageMusuem of Historyand Art.Edvart Kjosen was a skilled skier and taught many Anchorage residents thesport. He was involved in the state’s earliest organized skiing endeavorsand, along with several others, was instrumental in setting up the first skijump in Alaska. 92 Before his death in 1944, Kjosen was also operating ariding stable on East Second Avenue. 93Alvin “Lovey” and Doris MeierAlvin and Doris Meier had a homestead claim directly above Edwin and BerthaMeier’s claim. Alvin and Edwin were brothers. Alvin was born in 1907 in Montana.His father was born in Saxony Germany and married Odile Arcotte, of NewHampshire, in 1900. The family, with six boys, moved to Alaska in 1923 and toAnchorage in 1925. 94Doris Meier was born in 1915 in Lancaster, California. She moved to Alaska withher Mother, Ethel Reynolds, at the age of fourteen. Ethel worked as a cook in theEklutna industrial school for Natives. They stayed at the Eklutna School for abouttwo years and then moved to Eklutna Lake. There, Ethel worked as a cook for meninstalling a dam for the electrical company. Doris went to boarding school in Seattlefor her first year of high school. Mother and daughter then moved to Anchorage,where Ethel found employment in the Anchorage Hotel owned by Frank Reed.Doris also worked waiting tables at dinnertime to earn her room and board. Shefinished high school at the Anchorage High School.Doris and Bertha Meier were good friends, and Bertha introduced Alvin and Dorisat a dance. The couple married in June of 1933, on the same night that Doris graduatedfrom high school. They had four children, two boys and two girls. The boys,Alvin and Arthur, were born in 1934 and 1935 respectively. Their first daughter,Judy, was a baby while living on the homestead. Their other daughter was bornafter they moved back into town.91John Bagoy, personal interview, 23 June 2000.92Ibid.93Obituary, Anchorage Daily Times, 4 Feb. 1944. p. 7.94Pioneer Families Exhibit, Anchorage Museum of History and Art.<strong>Homesteads</strong> on Fort RichardsonAlaska37
Page 3 and 4: Homesteads onFort
Page 5: table of contentsCHAPTERS1.0 INTROD
Page 8: may have homesteaded in the area an
Page 11: Chapter 3.0 The EnvironmentFort Ric
Page 15 and 16: Chapter 4.0Early PeopleIt is though
Page 17 and 18: Chapter 5.0AnchorageThe history of
Page 19 and 20: profitable. 32 Ohlson tried, as had
Page 21 and 22: Chapter 6.0World War II and FortEst
Page 23 and 24: Fort Richardson was originally what
Page 25 and 26: Chapter 7.0HomesteadingHomesteading
Page 27 and 28: unsurveyed, a physical description
Page 29 and 30: son. Anchorage was just established
Page 31 and 32: 0 1 2 Miles0 1 2 3 KilometersMap 2.
Page 33 and 34: x 32', which had fallen into disrep
Page 35 and 36: 0 1 2 Miles0 1 2 3 KilometersMap 3.
Page 37 and 38: Map 4: Homesteads
Page 39 and 40: eauty shop in downtown Anchorage. P
Page 41: The children attended high school.
Page 45 and 46: accomplished musician. He played th
Page 47 and 48: William and Lily StoltBill was born
Page 49 and 50: George JohnstonGeorge Johnston file
Page 51 and 52: Folberg. Mannick sold the land to t
Page 53 and 54: Chapter 8.0National Registerof Hist
Page 55 and 56: Hoserud, Robert Prizer, John Thomps
Page 57 and 58: The south room has four bunk bed fr
Page 59 and 60: ReferencesAir Force History. United
Page 61 and 62: Other Sources1920 US CensusBureau o
Page 63 and 64: APPENDIX A: Abbreviations and Acron
Page 65 and 66: Appendix b:APPENDIX A: Abbreviation
Page 67 and 68: Fort RichardsonHOMESTEAD RECORDProp
Page 83 and 84: Appendix c:Records of Unperfected F
Page 93 and 94:
Fort RichardsonHOMESTEAD RECORDProp
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Appendix d:Land Acquisition and Dis
Page 109 and 110:
Map 5. Land Acquisition/Disposal Hi
Page 111:
Index of HomesteadersCampbell, 26,
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