Rika's Landing Roadhouse facts for kids
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Rika's Landing Roadhouse
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U.S. Historic district
Contributing property |
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 Location in Alaska
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| Location | Mile 274.5, Richardson Highway, Big Delta, Alaska |
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| Area | 2.3 acres (0.93 ha) |
| Built | 1909 |
| Architectural style | Multistory Log and clapboard, tarpaper roof with dormers |
| Part of | Big Delta Historic District (ID91000252) |
| NRHP reference No. | 76000364 |
Quick facts for kids Significant dates |
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| Added to NRHP | September 1, 1976 |
| Designated CP | March 20, 1991 |
Rika's Landing Roadhouse is a historic building in Big Delta, Alaska. It was once a busy stop for travelers in the Alaskan wilderness. People also called it Rika's Landing Site or the McCarty Roadhouse.
This roadhouse is located right by the Tanana River, which was an important crossing point. You can find it off mile 274.5 of the Richardson Highway. The roadhouse is named after Rika Wallen. She bought it and ran it for many years. It became a very important place in the area.
Later, when the ALCAN Highway was built and a new bridge replaced the ferry, fewer people passed by. The roadhouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. Today, it is a main part of the Big Delta State Historical Park.
Contents
The Richardson Highway's History
The Richardson Highway is a very important road in Interior Alaska. It helped develop and settle the region. This road started as a simple trail in 1898. The U.S. Army built it to connect the port of Valdez to Eagle. This was during the Klondike Gold Rush. The goal was to create an "all-American" route to the gold fields.
After the gold rush, the Army kept the trail open. It connected their posts at Fort Liscum in Valdez and Fort Egbert in Eagle. This trail became a key route to the Alaska Interior during the Fairbanks Gold Rush in 1902. In 1903, a WAMCATS telegraph line was built along the trail. Army Signal Corps soldiers, including Lieutenant Billy Mitchell, helped with this project.
Many roadhouses were built along this trail. There were about 37 of them! These roadhouses offered food, beds, and supplies to travelers. They were usually about 15 to 20 miles apart.
Early Days at Bates Landing
The Tanana River was a major obstacle for travelers on the Valdez-Eagle trail. A ferry was set up near where the Tanana River meets the Delta River. This spot was called Bates Landing. It was about 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) north of today's Delta Junction. The government collected a fee from travelers crossing the river.
In 1907, McCarty Station was built. It was a place to maintain the WAMCATS telegraph line. Several log cabins housed the telegraph office and its workers.
A trading post was built at Bates Landing in April 1904 by a prospector named Ben Bennett. He later sold it to Daniel G. McCarty in April 1905. The trading post started being used as a roadhouse and became known as McCarty's. Another prospector, Alonzo Maxey, built Bradley's Roadhouse to compete. By 1907, McCarty's had been transferred to Maxey.
John Hajdukovich's Time
Around 1906, a businessman named Jovo 'John' Hajdukovich bought the trading post and roadhouse from Maxey. John had come to Alaska from Montenegro in 1903. He saw a great business chance here.
In 1909, Hajdukovich built a new, larger roadhouse. He used logs that were floated down the river. He kept the old trading post for storage. John had many other businesses. He prospected for gold, hauled goods, and worked as a hunting guide. He also traded with and helped the Athabaskan native people.
Later, John became a US Game Commissioner for the area. This meant he couldn't run the roadhouse full-time anymore. He often told travelers to "make themselves at home and leave some money on the table." Even with this informal way of doing things, the roadhouse did well.
The trail was improved and upgraded starting in 1904. By 1910, the Alaska Road Commission finished the upgrades. The trail became a wagon road. Major Wilds P. Richardson led this project. The highway was later named after him. By 1913, the roadhouse was a busy place for gold prospectors, hunters, traders, and freighters.
Meanwhile, Erika 'Rika' Wallen was born in Sweden in 1874. She moved to the United States in 1891 with her sister. They changed their last name to Wallen. Rika worked as a cook in San Francisco until the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. In 1916, Rika Wallen traveled to Valdez. She thought Alaska would remind her of Sweden.
Rika Wallen Takes Over
After working as a cook at a copper mine and a boarding house, Rika Wallen came to Big Delta. In 1917 or 1918, John Hajdukovich hired her to manage his roadhouse. It was still known as McCarty's then.
John Hajdukovich sometimes had money problems. In 1918 or 1923, he gave ownership of the roadhouse to Rika Wallen. This was for "$10.00 and other considerations," likely for unpaid wages. They remained friends and partners for many years. Soon, people started calling the roadhouse Rika's. At that time, the roadhouse had eleven bedrooms, a living room, and a big kitchen and dining area.
By 1925, Rika applied to become a US citizen. She also claimed 160 acres of land under the Homestead Acts. She started growing food and raising animals. She had sheep, chickens, goats, silver fox, ducks, geese, rabbits, and honeybees. She even grew grain using a pair of oxen for plowing. Rika was a very skilled farmer. She could grow crops even when others failed. She also created a special heating and ventilation system for her stable. This kept her animals safe during the cold winters.
When Rika bought the roadhouse, it had dirt floors and rough wooden walls. She worked hard to make it better. She found old wallpaper and used it to decorate the rooms. She even made a beautiful parquet floor from wooden kerosene crates. Her farming skills and ability to make the place cozy changed the roadhouse. She offered fresh milk, eggs, berries, fish, game, and produce from her garden and orchard. Travelers could then sleep in clean, comfortable beds. A travel guide from 1929 described Rika's as a "commodious roadhouse boasting of such luxuries as fresh milk and domestic fowls."
Around 1926, Rika added a new section to the roadhouse. She used it for more living space, a liquor store, fur storage, and the Big Delta Post Office. She became the US postmaster and served until 1946. Rika eventually homesteaded another piece of land, bringing her total property to 320 acres.
The End of an Era
The Alaska Railroad was finished in 1922. But by the 1930s, during the Great Depression, less freight was carried on the railroad. In 1935, the Alaska Road Commission tried to make shippers use the railroad. They raised the toll at the Tanana ferry crossing to almost $10 a ton. Truckers were very unhappy about this, and there were some fights. People even started illegal ferry operations. This lasted until World War II began.
With the war and the building of the ALCAN Highway, road traffic decreased even more. The ALCAN Highway connected to the Richardson Highway south of Big Delta. The ferry crossing was replaced by a wooden bridge, and later, a larger steel bridge was built downstream. This caused the highway to be rerouted away from the roadhouse. Fewer travelers passed by Rika's.
Rika Wallen continued to run the roadhouse through the 1940s and early 1950s. However, in later years, she only welcomed guests by invitation. John Hajdukovich passed away in 1965. Rika Wallen died four years later in 1969.
Big Delta State Historical Park
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Big Delta Historic District
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Location in Alaska
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| Location | Mile 274.5, Richardson Highway, Big Delta, Alaska |
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| Area | 10.26 acres (4.15 ha) |
| NRHP reference No. | 91000252 |
| Added to NRHP | March 20, 1991 |
A writer named Judy Ferguson wrote about John Hajdukovich and Rika Wallen. She said: "For fifty years, Rika was a stake in the ground for the roaming John. While John traded and prospected, Rika ran the hub of the Upper Tanana's cross-roads. Her establishment was "town" to the three hundred people who walked the trails to the Alaskan-Canadian border. John and Rika were the history of the Upper Tanana Valley."
Today, Rika's Roadhouse, its nearby buildings, and the land are preserved as the Big Delta State Historical Park. In 1976, the roadhouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The whole area became the Big Delta Historic District in 1991.
The roadhouse was repaired in 1984. It was placed on a new foundation using its original wood. Some parts of the unique packing crate floor were also restored. Now, it is a "house museum." Some rooms have furniture and items from the 1920s and 1930s. These were given by local people. The park also has a place to eat called the "Packhouse Pavilion."
Buildings and Sites to Explore
The historical park has 18 important buildings and sites. They were built between 1906 and 1935. Here are a few of them:
- Rika's Roadhouse, built around 1909.
- Valdez-Fairbanks Trail, also known as the Richardson Road.
- Prospector's Trail.
- Rika's Garden, where she grew her famous crops.
- Outhouse.
- Barn, built in the 1920s.
- Springhouse.
- Windmill, built in 1932 (a replica stands there today).
- Ferryman's Cabin, built around 1929.
- Alaska Road Commission Vehicle Scales, built in 1935.
- McCarty Station Storehouse, built 1906-1907.
- McCarty Telegraph Station, built 1906-1907.
