Ralph Anderson Pioneer of Chugiak, Alaska
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RALPH MILTON ANDERSON
1931-1978


by Coleen (Walker) Mielke 2023
 
Ralph M. Anderson of Chugiak, Alaska

For those of us who grew up in Chugiak-Eagle River in the 50’s and 60’s, there are some legendary businesses
that remain only in our childhood memories; places like Swanny Slopes, Spring Creek Lodge, the Dairy Delight, Moose Horn, Fire Lake Lodge, and Anderson’s Gas Station. These historic cornerstones have been gone for decades, yet old-timers often refer to them nostalgically, as if they were still in business today.

This story is about Ralph Anderson, the man who built one of those landmarks: Anderson’s Gas Station, at mile 18 of the Old Glenn Highway.

Ralph Milton Anderson and his identical twin brother Russell, were born in Wisconsin on 5/8/1931;they were the youngest sons of John Henry Anderson (a policeman) and Blanche Brown of Racine.


Twenty three year old Ralph and his first wife, 18 year old Carol Ann Fogarette, came to Alaska in 1954 with big dreams, very little money, and a two ton truck. They got a lot done in those first years in Chugiak. They bought 2½ acres of land, renovated an old house trailer to live in, built a small gas station and garage and turned the truck into a wrecker; "Anderson's Gas Station" was an instant success.

In 1958, Ralph and Carol wanted to visit relatives, so they leased the gas station to one of their neighbors (Wade “Tiny” Gardner) and spent that winter in Wisconsin. The next summer, they drove back to Alaska with a five ton truck and big plans, but the stress of it all got to the young couple and their marriage ended later that year; Carol stayed in Alaska and Ralph went back to Wisconsin for a while.

In 1960, Ralph married Bernelda “Bernie” Mae Thorson, a nurses aide in Racine; she had a young son named Daniel. Ralph and his new family came back to Alaska later that spring, driving a semi-tractor and low-boy loaded with Ralph’s International Carryall and a cement mixer destined for their Chugiak neighbor Till Wallace.

I wonder what went through Bernie's mind when she first saw Ralph's primitive homestead, but there was no time to worry about it since the Highway Department immediately surprised the Anderson's with an order to move the gas station 150' back from the highway to accomodate future road improvements. The newlyweds spent most of that summer complying with the order, even though the road improvements never happened.

In 1963, Ralph built a small restaurant next to the gas station and hired people to run it for him; he named it the Wheel-R-In. It was never quite the success that he hoped for, but it was a popular eatery for the locals.

There was a hillside of clean gravel on Anderson's 2½ acres which he sold piecemeal, over the years, to a local excavator named James Polyefko. Once the majority of the gravel hill was gone, he hired Ralph Doyle to level the site. Next, he built a daylight basement, moved a small house onto it and added several more rooms. Ralph and Bernie raised 8 children in that house: Daniel, Ralph Jr.(nicknamed "Andy"), Polly, Patty,  Paul, Peggy, Wendy and David.

Ralph wanted to build a trailer court on his land and found out that one of the requirements for a 6 place trailer court was a well that produced 7 gallons of water per minute. He took a gamble and proceeded with the trailer court BEFORE he got the permit. The well drillers hit water at 90’ but it produced less than required for the permit, so they drilled to 100’. This time they hit sand and all of the water (that they got at 90’) disappeared. They continued to drill and at 118’ they hit water again AND lots more sand. The well driller pumped sand out of the well for a full week and in the end, the well produced 70 gallons of water per minute. Ralph’s gamble paid off; his first tenant moved in one week after the permit was issued. A year later, the Anderson's bought some adjacent property and put in 20 additional trailer court spaces.

Another example of Ralph’s “can do” attitude was his Arctic Cat Panther snowmachine with a heated cab. His son, Dan, described it this way: “It was running a 20 HP Wankel engine and it produced an immense amount of heat; the exhaust pipe glowed cherry red; it had excellent torque but terrible fuel economy.  Arctic Cat gave us the machine for a year and told us to ‘wear it out’. Dad raced it in the Midnight Sun 600, which is why he put the cab on it. The windshield was super sized so he could easily sit upright and not be near the top. It had a light weight metal frame with a light weight canvas cover. He would be riding around when it was -20° with his snowsuit open, his gloves on his lap and the back of the cab unzipped and waving in the breeze.  We weren’t allowed to modify the air system and it was severely restricted, still it had excellent torque but no top end. At the end of the season, Arctic Cat took the machine back; later they told us that we had put NO wear on the engine.”

Ralph’s ingenuity produced other successful business ventures as well. He built a cesspool pumping truck that didn’t use a pump; it used the vacuum from the truck manifold; Ralph called it the “IT” Wagon. When he learned that there was a demand for winter cesspool pumping, he used the trucks engine exhaust to blow heat onto the valve to keep it from freezing, something none of his competitors were doing. Ralph was a great trouble shooter and possessed the “can do” attitude of many Chugiak pioneers; he certainly never let his 8th grade education slow him down.

Ralph, a charter member of the John Birch Society of Alaska, was very politically conservative. He ran for public office twice. The first time (1966) he ran as an Independent, from House District 8, but he lost to incumbent Ted Stevens. In 1970, Ralph ran for Governor against Bill Egan and lost.

 



Although Ralph knew he could not win the 1970 election, he campaigned actively, trying to get enough votes to legally establish the American Independent Party. His favorite quote was, “Government big enough to give you all you need, is big enough to take all you have.”

His campaign promoted:
1. Work-oriented welfare programs
2. Expediting the construction of the pipeline
3. Relocating the State capital to a place accessible by road
4. Extending territorial waters to protect the fishing industry
5. Unrestricted right to bear arms
6. Re-opening of Alaska to homesteading


Not everyone was happy that Ralph was trying to legally establish a third party. As it got closer to election day, he received death threats and a few bullet holes in the cab of the truck that displayed his campaign signs, but neither dissuaded him from finishing the race. On election day, he wasn't able to garner the necessary 10% of the votes to establish the American Independent Party in Alaska.

About a year later (1971), Ralph and Bernie sold their gas station to William and Jeanette Knowlton and moved back to Wisconsin for a while before settling permanently in Oklahoma. In the spring of 1978, Ralph was killed in a head-on car collision on Oklahoma Highway 63; he was only 47.

Ralph's first wife Carol, married Ray Monroe in 1960 and passed away in 1995 in Chugiak. His 2nd wife, Bernie died in 2003 in Muse, Oklahoma; they had 14 grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren. Ralph's twin brother, Russell Ruud Anderson, practiced law in California for a while and was a veteran of the Korean War. He died in North Little Rock, Arkansas in 2001; Ralph and Russell are buried next to each other in Graceland Cemetery, Racine, Wisconsin, close to where they grew up.

Written by
Coleen Walker Mielke in 2023
[email protected]



 
Information sources:

Daniel Anderson
Ralph M. Anderson II ("Andy")
David Anderson
City Directory for Racine, Wisconsin 1954-1960
Graceland Cemetery  Racine, Wisconsin
The Racine Journal-Times
Oklahoma Historical Society
Poteau News
Times Newspaper North Little Fork, Arkansas
Alaska DNR Recorders Office
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
Anchorage Daily News
1920 U.S. Census
1930 U.S. Census
1940 U.S. Census


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