The Old Town McGrath
site, across the river from present-day McGrath,
was a meeting and trading place for Big River, Nikolai,
Telida and Lake Minchumina villagers. In 1904,
Abraham Appel established a trading post in Old
Town. In 1906, gold was discovered in the Innoko
District, and in 1907, at Ganes Creek. Since McGrath
was the northernmost point on the Kuskokwim River
accessible by large riverboats, it became a regional
supply center. A town was established at the site
of Old McGrath in 1907, and was named for Peter
McGrath, a local United States Marshal. The Iditarod
Trail also contributed to McGrath's role as a supply
center. From 1911 to 1920, hundreds of people walked
and mushed over the trail on their way to the Ophir
gold districts. After a major flood in 1933, some
residents moved across the river. In 1940, an airstrip
was cleared, the United States Federal Aviation
Administration built a communications complex, and
a school was opened. McGrath became an important
refueling stop for Lend-Lease equipment during World
War II. |
McGrath, Alaska
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"Alaska
has the opportunity to take some areas that are significant
in size, and to keep them the way the Creator fashioned
them. And when you fly over this land, or stand
on it or look at it from the top of a mountain, the
streaks are those of a great artist. The abstract
designs are absolutely beyond the wildest imaginings
of Picasso. It's important to people to know
that there is some place in North America where they
can go, or where even if they never go, they know
it exists, where there are large stretches of land,
at least large enough so that you can stand at some
point and there is nowhere in any direction where
you will be able to see any of the marks of man."
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