National Register Listing

Potter Section House

a.k.a. AHRS SITE NO. ANC-075

Off AK 1, Anchorage, AK

Anchorage's history is interwoven with Alaska Railroad history. In the Municipality there are over seventy miles of rail Along that line, and in the terminal yards, are a few vestiges of the Alaska Railroad's past. One of them is the Potter section house.

<h6>An Overview of Alaska Railroad History</h6>The construction of the railroad was overseen by the Alaska Engineering Commission (hereafter A.E.C.). That three-member commission was designated by President Woodrow Wilson in 1914; its mission was to connect the Pacific with the interior Wilson's sentiments on the potential of the railroad became evident in his first year of office: "Alaska, as a storehouse, should be unlocked. One key to it is a system of railways," he said. "These the Government should itself build and administer, and the ports and terminals it should itself control in the interest of all who wish to use them for the service and development of the country and its people."

Wilson himself chose the so-called Susitna Route, a line that would join Seward at Resurrection Bay with Fairbanks. The last spike was driven in 1923 by President Warren G. Harding. That year officially became known as the Alaska Railroad. The railroad was constructed and has always been operated by the federal government. It is scheduled to be purchased by the State of Alaska.

<h6>Potter as a Construction Camp in the Anchorage Division</h6>
Potter was originally a construction camp. Like so many construction camps, it later became a section house location.

Anchorage was started on the banks of Ship Creek by the A.E.C. The site had been selected as a major construction camp for the construction of the Alaska Railroad. The centrality of Ship Creek permitted construction north to form the link to the Matanuska coal fields and south to join the rehabilitated line which had formerly been the Alaska Northern Railway. (The Alaska Northern was started in 1903 by John E. Ballaine as Alaska Central Railway. That railroad outlined the right-of-way of the line to Potter and beyond. However, because of financial chaos, rail construction ceased at Kern, only 71 miles out of Seward.)

Rumors of a Ship Creek construction camp blossomed into reality in the late spring of 1915. Soon the town of Anchorage was born. The A.E.C. designated the rail mileage between Kern and Broad Pass as the Anchorage Division. Captain Frederick Mears, one of the A.E.C. commissioners, was placed in charge of construction.

Within the Anchorage Division, the A.E.C. created the Turnagain District to coordinate construction along the Arm. The work was the most difficult of any in the entire Division. Turnagain Arm presented sheer rocky slopes, and tremendous snowslide hazards, not to mention the widely ranging tides and vagaries of the northern climate. The construction along Turnagain Arm took about years to complete.

A base camp was set up at Potter Creek in 1916 as the headquarters of the district engineer and his clerical construction assistants. Barges were able to supply the camp with needed construction materials. The "Johnson Trail" (the railroad construction trail) linked Potter with the camps down the line. Warehouses, residences, a mess hall, and a handful of log buildings formed the camp. The camp was used during 1916 and 1917. By late December 1917 rail had been laid to Falls Creek, nine miles away. The Potter camp was then abandoned and re-established at Falls Creek.

The work south of Potter was extremely rugged. Between Kern and Potter over 4,000,000 cubic yards of the rocky cliff were removed. The cost of putting in the rail line along Turnagain Arm averaged $110,000 per mile. The last spike in the Turnagain Arm District was driven by A.E.C. Chairman William Edes on September 10, 1918.

<h6>The Role_the_Section House Played</h6>With the completion of the railroad line, sections were established to ensure that the track would be maintained. Potter, as were many of the former railroad construction camps, became the location for a section house. A string of section houses, "as thick as fleas on a dog's back in the early days," were built along the length of the railway. A section foreman, wife (or cook) and his crew members resided in the house. Various outbuildings such as additional bunkspace, car sheds, tool sheds, and water tanks might be located nearby. The houses were built according to a variety of standard plans. styles can usually be attributed to a certain date.

The section foreman and his crew (gandy dancers as they were sometimes called) were responsible for a designated length of track -- the so-called section. The length between sections varied depending on snowslide hazards, terrain, grades, and similar factors. The section foreman typically had a crew of six to eight members working for him. During the summer the crew might be larger. At that time the grading, alignment, and similar maintenance functions were carried out. In winter the crew was generally smaller. A "track walker" was necessary to make sure that the railway was clear of boulders, snowslides, and related obstructions.

Besides their role as maintenance quarters, the section houses usually served as flag stops along the line. Thus limited passenger and mail service was available through the section houses.

Local significance of the building:
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1985.