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In June 1912 the Novarupta eruption — the largest of the 20th century — buried a valley on the Alaska Peninsula under volcanic ash, and for years afterwards thousands of fumaroles steamed from its floor. The Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes was the reason Katmai National Monument was created in 1918. Fifty years later, a narrow gravel road was built so visitors could see it. That road is now a historic landscape in its own right.
The Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes Road cultural landscape. NPS / Alaska Regional Office
How the road came to be
| Year | |
|---|---|
| 1912 | Novarupta erupts; the valley forms |
| 1918 | Katmai National Monument is designated |
| 1921 | the valley appears in National Geographic — but few tourists follow |
| 1950s | Northern Consolidated Airlines builds fishing camps in the monument and presses the Park Service for a road to the valley |
| 1961 | despite some opposition from conservation groups, the road is planned and surveyed from the Brooks Camp fishing lodge to the valley's edge |
| 1962 | built as part of Mission 66, the ten-year, billion-dollar program to modernise park visitor facilities; a small Pan Abode visitor center goes up at the road's end |
| 1980 | much of the land beside the road becomes designated wilderness under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act |
The proposed jeep trail from Brooks River to Windy Creek, drawn by the NPS Western Office of Design and Construction, September 1961. NPS
A road designed for the view
It is one of only two scenic design park roads in Alaska. The views it was built to show are still the point of driving it:
- a small footprint, and a curving line that follows the ground rather than cutting through it;
- a narrow width that keeps traffic slow and light;
- few signs, and a visual character that has not been altered;
- today, maintained to a primitive road standard.
It carries two design traditions at once: the scenic roads the Park Service built with the Bureau of Public Roads from the 1920s, and Alaska's model of a Mission 66 road.
The road, by the numbers
| Length | 22.3 miles, single lane, gravel — not connected to any other road |
| Width | about 10 feet (9.25 to 11.25) |
| Climb | from 34 to 1,200 feet, at a grade under 1% |
| Crossings | no bridges; three river fords |
| Runs | from a "Y" off the Lake Brooks Road to the Three Forks Overlook |
| Turnarounds | the Administrative Area, Five Mile Borrow Pit, old borrow-pit spurs and the ford clearings |
| Trails from it | Margot Falls, Ukak and Windy Creek |
Elevation and landscape from the start of the road to Three Forks Overlook. NPS / Alaska Regional Office
A section of the road, looking west, 2018. NPS
How it is used
- Day tours in summer to the Three Forks Overlook, run by the park's concessionaire — typically one 30-passenger vehicle a day.
- A starting point for backpackers heading into the valley.
- Access for park staff doing maintenance.
The view from the Robert F. Griggs Visitor Center at Three Forks Overlook. NPS / M. Fitz
Why it matters
| Period of significance | 1962–1964 |
| Level | state |
| National Register criteria | A — the standards the Park Service and Alaska set for visitor infrastructure in the Mission 66 era; C — a scenic designed road of the NPS–BPR tradition and an Alaska model of a Mission 66 road |
| Landscape type | historic designed landscape |
| Condition | good — still a rustic, one-lane scenic road |
The Park Service's poster, Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes Road Historic District: A Brief History, is free to download.
Sources
Written from "Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes Road Cultural Landscape," Katmai National Park and Preserve, National Park Service; a work of the United States government in the public domain.
In diesen SammlungenKatmai National Park & PreserveCultural Landscapes of Katmai National Park and Preserve
Lizenz: CC0 1.0 (gemeinfrei) · Bearbeitet nach www.nps.gov
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