"Peninsula Road Name Origins"

Dick Gerhardt in Soldotna in 1949. One of the first to settle in Soldotna, he named Marydale Avenue after his wife, Mary.

PENINSULA ROAD NAME ORIGINS

JULY 2009

Residents of the central Kenai Peninsula pass by familiar roads every day, and often they have no idea why a certain road has a particular name. For some, the name becomes so common to their experience that they don’t think about it at all. They take it for granted.

Of course, some road names don’t require much contemplation: Main Street, Forest Drive and Willow Street in Kenai, for instance, or Fireweed Street, Redoubt Avenue and Birch Street in Soldotna. But others, such as Feuding Lane in Sterling or Cardwell Road in Kasilof, imply a tale or two behind the slim green signs.

Still, even those individuals who have lived here for 50 or 60 years don’t know all the stories behind the names. Even they have been known to shrug and admit they have no idea.

In an attempt to clarify (as much as possible) some of those roadway descriptors, here are some of the histories behind some common central peninsula routes, starting in Sterling and traveling the Sterling Highway into the Cohoe-Kasilof area, then following the Kenai Spur Highway out into Nikiski. The milepost designations given are approximate.

THREE JOHNS STREET (Milepost 76, Sterling Highway)—Not all the parties involved agree on this one. Some people believe that this street was named for three men who established homesites there: John Smith, who was married at the time to Connie and didn’t stay long in the area; John Cook, husband to Carol and the founder of Cook’s Tesoro, known more commonly as Cook’s Corner; and John Landess, who was married to Jan and worked in construction. Landess’s son, however, says that isn’t so. John Jr. says that he built the present road with his own grader, and that he received no help from the other land owners. When it came time to name the road, he dubbed it “Three Johns” after his father, himself, and his son, John III.

CARD ROAD (Milepost 77)—This road was named for Don and Alice Card. Don, who died in 1994, trapped in the winters and sold peat off their property in the summers. Alice still lives on the property.

ADKINS ROAD (Milepost 77)—Bob and Ruby Adkins established their homestead and hayfields far down the road that came to bear their surname. Bob became a bus driver in the local school district and worked as a school custodian when he wasn’t behind the wheel. Ruby often helped Bob with his custodial duties so he could get home sooner.

FEUDING LANE (Milepost 78)—In 1960, four civil service employees working together at Elmendorf Air Force Base decided to homestead on the Kenai Peninsula, and they managed to file on adjoining pieces of land along a yet-unnamed road on which only Jack and Bonnie Rumley lived at the time. The four men were Carroll Barrett, Burl Getman, Walter Gangloff and Hank Hermann, and in order to more effectively work the land, three of the men decided to go in together to buy a D-8 Cat. Barrett did not join in on the deal, and, according to his son, Bob, he went to his grave years later knowing he’d made the right decision. Getman, Gangloff and Hermann fought constantly over who would get to use the dozer and what it would be used for. Tempers became so heated at one point that a lawsuit was actually filed by one of them against another. After three or four years of intense squabbling, they finally agreed to sell the Cat and get rid of the problem. Barrett’s wife, Marion, named the road Feuding Lane, and, according to Bill and Maxine Bullington, who lived nearby, the name became one of the only things upon which they all agreed.

Nina and Jess Robinson in 1998.

SCOUT LAKE LOOP (Milepost 83.5)—In “the early days,” according to longtime Soldotna resident Marge Mullen, there was a Boy Scout camp on the east end of the lake. The lake took its name from the camp, and the road, which skirted the lake’s east end, took its name from the lake.

ROBINSON LOOP (Milepost 84.5)—Jess and Nina Robinson came to Alaska in 1946 and soon found a place to homestead. Jess became a central peninsula fixture in construction with heavy equipment, and Nina worked as a postal clerk and a Sterling precinct official in numerous local, state and national elections.

JIM DAHLER ROAD (Milepost 89.5)—According to longtime Soldotna resident Al Hershberger, this road’s name should probably be hyphenated, as in Jim-Dahler Road. The reason for the hyphen: There was no “Jim Dahler,” but there were two men called “Big Jim” Bergsrud and Virgil Dahler, who both came from Minnesota and had adjoining homesteads. Hershberger said that few people even knew Bergsrud’s last name; most just called him Jim or Big Jim. Dahler, on the other hand, was well known throughout the area. He worked with his own heavy equipment on construction projects around the peninsula.

Bob Mackey (right, with Chell Bear) on the lake in front of his home.

MACKEY LAKE ROAD (Milepost 92.5)—World War II veteran Bob Mackey was so determined to have a home on the lakes that came to bear his name that he hand-cleared a roadway all the way to his cabin on the western lake—a distance of nearly three miles. A laborer originally from Seattle, Mackey lived on his homestead until shortly before his death in early 2000.

BINKLEY STREET (Milepost 95)—Often jokingly referred to as “Soldotna’s first realtor,” homesteader Howard Binkley was one of the first individuals to settle in Soldotna, and he seemed only too willing to sell off acreage from what was arguably the most prime piece of real estate in the area. Binkley, who was born and laid to rest in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, was a divorcee, age 40, when he filed on the land on the inside of the river bend where Sourdough Sal’s now sits. An avid drinker and a former lineman, Binkley lived mainly by selling off his homestead, frequently to Alaska Road Commission families hoping to live permanently in the area. Within the boundaries of his old homestead today are Safeway, McDonalds, ACS, the Riverside House, Soldotna United Methodist Church, Wells Fargo, and Hillcrest Subdivision, among many other businesses and residences.



Howard Binkley--"Soldotna's first realtor"--in front of his homestead cabin.

KALIFORNSKY BEACH ROAD (Milepost 96)—Few families on the Kenai Peninsula can match the long heritage of the Kalifornskys, although most people connect the name only to Peter Kalifornsky, the renowned Dena’ina storyteller who worked for many years to preserve the histories and language of his people. The surname itself was given to Peter’s great-great-grandfather, Qadanlchen, by the Russians after he returned from a trip to the Russian colonial post in Fort Ross, California. Shortly after his return, he established Kalifornsky village about four miles north of the mouth of the Kasilof River, and that was the home of Kalifornskys—great-grandfather Feodore, grandfather Alexsay, father Nikolai, and son Peter, born in 1911—until 1929, when the remaining residents, whose families had been decimated by influenza and other diseases, moved to Kenai. For many years, the name of this road was incorrectly spelled and pronounced as “Kalifonsky.”



SKI HILL ROAD (Milepost 96)—Although most people know this road today as the route to the headquarters of the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, this original section of the Sterling Highway got its name because it served as an entrance to Soldotna’s alpine skiing hill in the 1960s and early 1970s. The outline of the once-groomed ski hill, now mostly covered in deciduous saplings, can still be seen from the Sterling Highway as drivers leave Soldotna and head south. The ski hill, with its adjoining nordic trails and with its rope tow powered by an old truck engine, was a popular recreation site for local families.



Peter Kalifornsky, with Kenai Peninsula College anthropology
professor in 1990, working on Kalifornsky's book.

ARC LOOP ROAD (Milepost 99)—Another section of the original Sterling Highway, this road takes its name from the Alaska Road Commission (ARC), which was responsible for its construction. Highway realignment in the 1960s left this “loop” mostly abandoned by motorists. Nearby Arc Lake was also named for the road commission.

ECHO LAKE ROAD (Milepost 100)—Among the early settlers in this area were the Creary and Andrews families. Barbara Andrews, wife of James, said that she and Leonard and Nancy Creary named the lake because of the marvelous echo it produced.

GASWELL ROAD (connects Echo Lake and Kalifornsky Beach roads)—Shortly after oil was struck near Swanson River, a large natural gas field was discovered west of Soldotna. Gaswell Road, an extension of which dead-ends at a now-abandoned well, became an early route into the gas field.

Drivers who leave the Sterling Highway and venture behind the stands of conifers and deciduous trees that parallel the blacktop, may find all sorts of odd appellations: Loud Court, Tobacco Lane, Granny Ann Avenue, Magic Dragon Lane, Mule Shoe Street, Missing Link Road, and too many others to list. But those who stick to the main drag and head south or north out of Soldotna will pass green signs indicating these byways:

Soldotna's alpine ski area--busy in 1966. (Photo by Bill Allen)

TOTE ROAD (Milepost 101)—The name of this road has an uncertain origin, but some believe—since temporary roads were often called “tote roads” because individuals using them had to hand-tote everything up and down their often rugged routes—that this road may have been so dubbed until it was eventually improved for regular traffic. If so, the name obviously stuck.

CARDWELL ROAD (Milepost 103.5)—This road was named for Bill and Vivian Cardwell, who homesteaded there. Bill, who used to work at Penn’s Hardware in Soldotna, moved to Oregon after he retired.

IRISH HILLS AVENUE (Milepost 103.5)—Thomas and Barbara O’Rourke, originally from Massachusetts, settled in the area, and Thomas celebrated his Irish roots by naming the road before eventually moving back to the East Coast.

Dr. Clayton Pollard, probably in the 1920s.

POLLARD LOOP (Milepost 107)—Clayton “Doc” Pollard, a semi-retired Anchorage dentist, and his wife, Lucy, began spending summers in the Kasilof area in 1935. They brought with them their two sons, George and Clayton Jr., and in the 1940s the Pollards settled there permanently. Walter Pollard, brother to the elder Clayton, also settled in the area. Although Doc Pollard had not planned to continue dental work once he moved to Kasilof, local need sometime pressed him into service, often in his own home. George, who operated for many years as a hunting guide in the mountains around Tustumena Lake, still lives in the home built originally in 1928 by Louis Nissen along the shore of what became known as Pollard Lake.

COHOE LOOP (Milepost 111)—The name Cohoe was arrived at by homesteaders in the area. When they petitioned for and got a post office, the name they chose for its location was Cohoe. Residents Charlie and Freda Lewis were among those pushing for the establishment of a post office, and, once it was granted, Freda became the postmaster. When the ARC was building the route, it was initially called the Crooked Creek Road.

WEBB-RAMSELL ROAD (a spur off Cohoe Loop)—The Webbs and the Ramsells were early homesteaders in the area. Wayne and Trudy Webb, who fished commercially, came to Alaska in 1939, and moved to the peninsula in 1946. Archie and Ann Ramsell came to Alaska from South Dakota in 1935 and homesteaded in Cohoe in 1946. Ann was a nurse, and, prior to moving to the peninsula, Archie worked as a fireman on the Alaska Railroad.

CORRAL AVENUE (Milepost 1.0, Kenai Spur Highway)—Joe and Eleanor “Mickey” Faa came to the central peninsula in 1950, and Mickey became postmaster a year later when the first postmaster, Maxine Lee, packed up and left her husband, Howard, and the state. In 1954, after essentially running the post office out of their home and business, the Faas bought the Lee home and a portion of the Lee homestead, mostly north of where Soldotna Elementary School now stands. Mickey moved the post office back to its original location, and Joe, an avid horse lover, opened up large swaths of land to create hayfields, and then built a barn and corral in which to keep his stock.  The street was named for Joe Faa’s corral.



Joe Faa with one of his horses, near his corral in Soldotna.

MARYDALE AVENUE (Milepost 1.0)—Dick Gerhardt was one of Soldotna’s earliest homesteaders, and the current Marydale Avenue functioned as one boundary of his property. He named the street after his wife, Mary, while the suffix “-dale” refers to a place of passage (usually a valley).

KNIGHT DRIVE (Milepost 1.0)—Ed and Lorraine Knight came to Alaska from Chicago in the early 1950s and settled in Soldotna a few years later. Ed was a meat-cutter and worked in construction, while Lorraine, who had formerly delivered mail, served as mayor of Soldotna from 1975 to 1978.

IRONS STREET (Milepost 1.5)—Jack and Margaret Irons came early to Soldotna and settled in what came to be known as Ridgeway. For a while, they operated a restaurant, which they later sold and which became Four Royle Parkers. In the early days, the Ironses’ home was the site of a regular communal laundry day that they shared with a handful of other homesteading families.

McCOLLUM DRIVE (Milepost 9.5)—Across the highway from Kenai Middle School is a road named for Flo and Glenn “Red” McCollum. Red, who moved to Kenai in 1959, was a well driller and a commercial fisherman, and served on the Kenai Harbor Commission, died in 2002.



"Pappy" Walker (center) with friends and his trusty TD-6 International bulldozer.

TINKER LANE (Milepost 9.5)—Directly across the highway from McCollum Drive is a short road named for a married couple who lived in Alaska only a short time. According to David Thornton, whose family was the second to settle along the road, Frank and Lottie Tinker came to Kenai from Oklahoma in the early 1960s. Frank, a World War I veteran, was in his 70s at the time, while Lottie was in her late 50s. Before they left the state in the mid-1960s, Lottie worked as a housekeeper for a time for Kenai mayor Bud Dye.



WALKER LANE (Milepost 10)—Delta Calvin “Pappy” Walker is described as a “real character” by nearly everyone who knew him. He and his wife, Mandy, came from Oklahoma to homestead, and Pappy, a plumber by trade, used his TD-6 International bulldozer to clear land for people all over the local area.

LAWTON DRIVE (connects and runs perpendicular to Tinker and Walker lanes)—Luella and Jonathan “Larry” Lawton came to Alaska from Seattle in 1939 and moved to the peninsula in 1941. In Kenai, the Lawtons bought land from Pappy Walker and built their home on the place. Larry worked as a supervisor for the Civil Aeronautics Administration in Kenai.

MILLER LOOP (Milepost 19)—This road was named for George and Lovina Miller, who homesteaded in the Nikiski area. George came to Alaska in 1950 and married Lovina in Kenai in 1962. He was a private contractor and a leader of the local Native community.

Lovina and George Miller, 1962.

WIK ROAD (Milepost 25.5)—Many Wiks live and have lived in Nikiski, but according to longtime area resident Peggy Arness, it was Alfred Wik who had property on the road and for whom Wik Lake is named. Many of the Wiks were commercial fishermen, and in the mid-1920s John Wik and his family operated a small cannery at Boulder Point, on the beach north of the East Foreland.

LAMPLIGHT ROAD (Milepost 28.5)—In the early 1960s, Paul Costa purchased a few acres from homesteaders, Ken and Margaret McGahan, and constructed the Lamplight Bar along a stretch of the Spur Highway known locally as the North Road. The road leading past the bar and away from the highway took on the name of the popular drinking and entertainment establishment.

HOLT ROAD (connects to Lamplight Road and Miller Loop)—This road was named for Les Holt, who had a home there. Holt, who came to Alaska from Arkansas and homesteaded in 1957, fished commercially, did construction work, and was also a trucker and heavy-equipment operator.

HALBOUTY ROAD (Milepost 29.5)—According to an account written in 1992 by Donnis Thompson, many homesteaders before statehood received with their land patents the rights to any oil, gas or minerals on their land. Because of this fact, small privately owned drilling companies were often in a better position to negotiate for drilling rights. One of these wildcatter drilling companies was Halbouty Oil Company, run by Michael Halbouty from Texas.  As access to a drilling site, he built a three-mile road off the highway near Daniels Lake and tried his luck. The dry well sent Halbouty elsewhere in search of black gold, but the road he made was so good that it became a permanent passageway for local residents, including Thompson and her husband Stan, who built their own homestead road off the end of Halbouty’s.