The Story of Orville G. Herning of Alaska
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Orville George
"O.G." Herning (1868--1947)
The Unsung Alaskan Pioneer Who Saw Promise
in the Matanuska Valley Before the
Towns of Anchorage, Fairbanks, Seward,
Wasilla or Palmer Existed
Written by Coleen Mielke
2023
If you spent any of your childhood
driving through Wasilla, you will remember Teeland's store on Main Street.
The store was originally owned by Orville George "O.G." Herning from
1917 until his death in 1947.
This is his story:
Herning came to Alaska in 1898
and worked placer claims in the Willow Creek Mining District of
the Talkeetna Mountains for the next 30+ years. He also owned a trading
post at Knik from 1906 to 1917 and a general store called "Herning's
Place" in the new railroad town of Wasilla from 1917 to 1947.
Herning kept a daily diary which provides a rare first
hand account of mining life, trading post life, weather extremes, births,
deaths, marriages, law enforcement, Alaska Railroad construction, Cook
Inlet travel, ocean steamer travel, the growth and demise of Knik and
the birth of Anchorage, Wasilla and Palmer.
"Herning's
Place" in Wasilla, Alaska
Owned by Orville and Mattie Herning 1917-1947
After 1947, this
store was owned and operated by the Teeland's
In
an effort to preserve the history in Mr. Herning's diaries,
I typed all
800,000+ words into a digital format (to see CLICK HERE)
The project took
me 6+ years to finish and was very rewarding.
Orville George "O.G." Herning
At the Headquarters of
the Willow Creek Mining District 1898
Herning caught "gold fever" in the spring of 1898,
when he saw
this newspaper clipping in the Boston Globe:
That spring, he was hired by E.C. Davis & Company
to manage a 10 man Alaska
gold exploration team for the Klondike & Boston Gold Mining
Company
- Edward
C. Kirkpatrick of West Medford, Massachusetts
- Fred M.
Young of East Bridgewater, Massachusetts
- William
H. Thorne of Winchester, Massachusetts
- George
F. Butler of Winchester, Massacusetts
- Michael
Dineen of West Surrey, Massachusetts
- H. P.
Daniels of Concord Junction, Massachusetts
- George
H. Brown of Hope Valley, Rhode Island
- George
F. Burrows of Bedford Basin, Halifaz, Nova Scotia
* Orville George
Herning
Herning had 2 weeks to prepare for the trip to "Cook's Inlet".
First, he made sure that his wife Mattie and their 3 year old son
Elmer were secure in (her hometown of) Naugatuck, Connecticut, then
he purchased 5 weeks of Aetna life insurance and collected the following
items for the trip north:
2 jersey shirts
|
1 tool chest and tools
|
2 suits heavy underwear
|
1 stencil complete
|
1/2 dozen all weather sox
|
1 revolver and 150 rounds
cartridges
|
1/2 dozen medium sox
|
1/2 dozen Turkish towels
|
2 pair wool pants
|
2 common towels
|
2 wool blankets
|
1 muffler
|
1 rubber blanket
|
1 hyd. outside coat
|
1 pair rubber mittens
|
1 compass
|
2 pair rubber boots
|
2 dozen bachelor buttons
|
1 pair rubber ankle boots
|
1 suit hyd.
wool
|
1 pair hyd. oil tanned
shoes
|
1 water proof hat
|
1 pair felt knit boots
|
2 suits overalls and coats
|
1 hunters knife
|
1 sail bag
|
hooks and lines
|
2 snow glasses
|
1 magnifying glass
|
1 water proof sleeping bag
|
1 barber sheers
|
1 money belt
|
1 barber brush
|
1 sweater
|
3 saw files
|
2 money bags
|
230 sheets writing paper
|
6 pair creepers
|
1 account book
and receipt book
|
1 suit mackinaw
|
1 oil stone and razor strap
|
10 asbestos shirts
|
1 hair clippers and comb
|
1 4' man saw
|
needles and thread
|
1 box CR rivets
|
3/4 dozen handkerchiefs
|
1 auger
|
1 flannel shirt
|
transparent window
glass
|
medicine outfit
|
2 lb. citric acid
|
2 spools wire
|
Dutch oven
|
16 yards sail cloth
|
mosquito netting
|
100 lb. 12 cut nails
|
magnet
|
24 lb. fig bars
|
5 cakes tar soap
|
Herning and his team left Boston, by train, on
3/23/1898 and arrived in Seattle five days later. Their adventurous
journey to Alaska had a rough start when the team learned that the ship
they were scheduled to sail on (SS Whitelaw) had been destroyed
by fire in Skagway the previous week. With transportation to the
"Alaska Gold Rush" booked at full capacity, it took the team 10 more
days to secure passage aboard the
SS Dirigo, which left Yesler's Wharf on 4/12/1898.
SS DIRIGO
(165' Steam Powered Schooner)
Two days north of Seattle, the SS Dirigo
entered the protected waters of Alaska's Inside Passage.
She bypassed the village of Wrangell and made a short stop at
the small mining town of Juneau before sailing north on the
(2,000' deep) Lynn Canal. At the northern extremes of the canal,
the ship swung wide around a small uncharted island known as Eldred Rock,
where the 150' SS Clara Nevada had exploded 9 weeks earlier, killing
all 65 people aboard. The SS Dirigo steamed to the northern
reaches of Chilkoot Inlet, then veered east into Taiya Inlet and
docked at Skagway, the largest town in Alaska in
1898 (population 10,000). Here, the men inspected the remains
of the burned out SS Whitelaw as well as the partially
submerged "Mercury", a 193' wooden bark that had fallen victim
to a Skagway storm 4 days earlier. They also took a short side trip
to Dyea (population 5,000) to watch thousands of men (and a few hardy
women) climb the tortuous Chilkoot Pass in search of Yukon Territory treasure.
From Skagway, the SS Dirigo
backtracked south on Lynn Canal and into the Icy Straits
where she experienced mechanical problems and anchored for
repairs near the Tlingit village of Hoonah Mission on the north
shore of Chichagof Island. The chief engineer diagnosed the problem
as a faulty condenser, so the Dirigo limped 40 miles back
to Juneau and ordered the new part. While the team waited 8 days for the
new condenser to arrive from Seattle, they enjoyed a working tour of
the Treadwell Quartz Mine on Douglas Island.
Finally repaired and on her way out of
Juneau, the Dirigo accidentally rammed a coal transport
vessel called the "Czarina". The hole in Czarina's side
was so large that she had to be beached at Douglas Island to avoid
sinking.
When the Dirigo finally left Juneau, she sailed past Glacier
Bay and Brady Glacier before entering open ocean for the
first time in her journey north. The next scheduled stop was
the Port of Valdez, on Prince William Sound.
Six miles from Valdez, the Dirigo ran aground at low tide,
leaving her bow high and dry and her stern in 16' of water; there
she lay stranded until the next high tide released her and she sailed
into Valdez for the night. The following morning the ship left Valdez in
a blinding snowstorm and sailed through Prince William Sound where
a foot of dense white snow floated on the waters surface.
The SS Dirigo's size (165' x 35' x 13½') came into
play when she entered the Gulf of Alaska. A heavy storm repeatedly rolled
her, from gunnel to gunnel, for 2 days. The waves were so relentless that a young Massachusetts
man named Burrows (from the Revere Expedition Party) died, reportedly
of seasickness, and was buried at sea at the mouth of Cook Inlet.
~~~~~
Herning's first Alaska destination
was the Athabascan village of Tyonek, 70 miles from Knik.
In 1898, Tyonek was home to about 100 Athabascan Indians and a dozen
or so white men; it also had an Alaska Commercial Company (ACC) store
and a Post Office. From Tyonek, "would-be prospectors" headed north (in
small homemade boats) to Knik, where they re-supplied and then hit
the trails on foot for the Big Susitna River and/or the Iditarod District.
The trip from
Seattle to Tyonek had taken 25 days; 15 days longer than expected.
Freight was lightered ashore from the SS Dirigo and left
on the muddy beach. Herning's team went to work moving their supplies
to a location above the high tide line and then built a series
of tents for cooking, sleeping, and storage. The teams first objective
was to find Gold Creek, a branch of the Susitna River.
Herning signed a contract with J.N.Johnston (the ACC agent at Tyonek)
for the use of his sail boat and an Indian guide to get his team
to Gold Creek as soon as the ice was out of the rivers; such help cost
the team $400 (a whopping $11,000 by today's dollar value).
More prospectors arrived at Tyonek every
day and before long, there were 300+ "hopefuls" camped on the
beach. Expectations were high and tall tales of secret gold
strikes were the talk of the day. Flimflammers, selling imaginary
claims and "guaranteed treasure maps" were abundant. The Tyonek
beach looked like a makeshift shipyard with hundreds of novice boat
builders scratching their heads in confusion.
Herning decided that his team was going to need
a dependable boat to move their supplies from Tyonek to the mouth
of the Susitna River where they hoped to build a camp. The most economical
way to obtain such a boat was to build one, but there was no lumber
available and stories about newly constructed boats disintegrating
in the rough Cook Inlet waters were a concern.
Herning decided to purchase a boat from the Tyonek ACC
agent who assured him that it was originally built for seal hunting
and was strong, safe and reliable; the cost was $75. On their first trial
run, Herning and his men rowed the boat out into the deep waters of Cook
Inlet. Without warning, the bright sunny weather quickly turned into a late
afternoon gale force wind. The waves brutally battered the small
boat while the men rowed, as hard as they could, back to shore. Once safely
on land, they all agreed that the little sea otter boat proved to be a very
wise purchase and that a lesser boat would have cost them their lives. The
experience also gave the team a lifelong respect for the weather and waters
of Cook Inlet.
Two prospectors died the first week
that Herning's team was at Tyonek. One (unnamed) man died from
natural causes. The second one, a young man from the Patterson
Expedition Party of Kansas, became gravely ill after eating desiccated
cabbage. With no medical help available, the men on the beach
did what they could to comfort the dying man. One of Herning's men
played his violin while the rest of the team sang "In the Sweet
By and By". The young mans death was a sobering experience for everyone,
even the most hard-bitten old hands.
In late May, after word arrived that
the rivers were free of ice, the team decided to look for Gold Creek.
The most practical route began with a boat trip from Tyonek
to Fire Island at the head of Cook Inlet, 30 miles away. On the next
high tide, the men boated from Fire Island to Knik Station, another 40
miles away.
Knik Station was barely a spot on the map in 1898; it had a small ACC trading post, 36 Athabascan
residents and
3 non-Native residents. Here, Herning's team learned about
a system of ancient walking trails that laced through south central
Alaska. The trails were traditionally used by seasonal Athabascan hunting
parties and were narrow and hard to find. Herning hired two Athabascan
guides, at the going rate of $6, to lead his men on foot, over the
trail from Knik Station to their new destination of Willow Creek.
It took them 3 days to reach the foothills of Bald Mountain but their
4th day's progress was not as good. After 10 hours of climbing their
way over and around the snowy remnants of last winter's avalanches,
the Native guides seemed to be hopelessly lost. In an effort
to summon help, they set a dry spruce tree on fire and shot their rifles
into the air. Receiving no reply, the team set up camp for the night.
The next morning, the guides had regained
their sense of direction and led Herning's team to Grubstake
Gulch, a branch of Willow Creek. There, they found 5 men, already
working claims: Lester H. Herndon, Billy Morris, Eddie Brainard, a
man known only as "E'Van" and Capt. E. Andrews, his wife, his mother-in-law
and six month old daughter. Also in the area were 2 Mexican men who
had been working on Grubstake Gulch for the previous three years.
Herning and his men spent the next week under
the guidance of Capt. Andrews. They staked 15 full placer claims
(300 acres) and built a sluice box that produced a good sample
of placer gold, a piece of silver, and reportedly, one ruby. On
June 11, 1898, Herning, and his men joined the other Grubstake
Gulch miners and officially establish the Willow Creek Mining District,
appointing Lester Herndon as recorder. The end of this historic meeting
was punctuated with a strong earthquake that shook the gold dust off
of the recorder's table.
After two weeks at Willow Creek, Herning
and two of his men left on a supply run to the mouth of the Susitna
River. Travel on foot was slow and the men were plagued with clouds
of voracious mosquitoes that emerged from the wetlands along the
creek's edge. Without the aid of netting, the insects were unbearable.
With every breath,
they inhaled mosquitoes and their only relief was a nightly
smudge fire or the hope of a strong wind.
At the end of the 3rd day on the trail,
the men could smell heavy smoke. Thinking it might be a
nearby forest fire; they found refuge on a sandbar in the middle
of a side stream and waited. Within 30 minutes, they could hear
the roar of the approaching fire. The men buried their blankets and
supplies in the wet sand and crouched in the shallow water as the
flames raced down the banks of the stream. They were surrounded by fire
and slapped frantically at the sparks that ignited their clothing. Once
the fire had consumed all of the dry vegetation in the immediate area,
the danger seemed to be over. Luckily, their damages were limited to wet
blankets, holes in their clothing and singed hair. To celebrate their
survival, as well as the subsequent demise of the mosquitoes, the men
said a prayer of thanks and shared a drink of Jamaica Ginger before retiring
for the night.
The next morning, as soon as they had
traveled outside of the burned area, the mosquitoes returned
with a vengeance. So intolerable were the biters that Herning
decided to build a raft and float the Susitna River for relief.
It didn't take long to fall the trees then build and launch the raft.
However, on the second bend in the river, the raft struck the bank
and fell apart, dumping the trio into the swift cold water. The men
struggled their way to shore and decided it would be safer to continue
their journey on dry land, in spite of the mosquitoes.
Travel along the river was slow and
food was short. The 3 men had hopes of buying food at the ACC
store at Susitna Station, but they weren't sure exactly where
the Station was; they only knew that it was on an island roughly 30
miles from the mouth of the Susitna River. Tired and hungry, but
fearing another broken raft disaster, the men continued down river
on foot for 2 more days. They passed dozens of small islands and at
each one, they let out signal whoops but received no reply. On the 6th
day, they ate the last of their food ...one piece of bacon for each man.
In hungry desperation, the men decided
to try their luck building another raft. It took 2 hours
to fasten three 24' spruce trees together. Herning wrote their
names on the tree stumps as well as the log ends of the raft.
If their attempt failed, and no one lived to tell their story,
the names written on the trees would record their fate. The plan
was for 1 man to stand on the bow of the raft with a long pole and keep
it from hitting the banks; a 2nd man would stand on the stern with a
16' oar, and propel the raft; the 3rd man would stand on the side midsection
to help steer. The trio pushed the raft out into the swift current
of the Susitna River and before long, they were traveling at (what
Herning guessed to be) 10 miles per hour. Floating hour after hour,
the men came to a section of the river where the current overpowered
their control of the raft. The raft was now steering itself and picking
up speed; they were totally at the mercy of the river. A group of
Athabascan Indians, from a village down river, heard the men screaming
and came to their rescue. Paddling birch bark canoes at a high rate
of speed, the valiant Native men caught up with the raft ...threw the
men a towline and began the heroic struggle of pulling the raft to shore
against the fast current. Overjoyed with their escape from certain death,
Herning eagerly paid the rescuers to take his men to the Station, a distance
of 2 more miles.
The 3 men were a sorry sight when they
arrived at Susitna Station: 1 man had no shoes and his pants
and shirt were nearly gone; the other 2 men only had the soles
of their shoes left and their pants were worn off to the knees.
The ACC agent, James Cleghorn, fed the men a welcome banquet of
pork and beans, corned beef, bread, butter, cheese, canned peaches, canned
apricots, crackers and tea with cream and sugar. After dinner, Herning
hired Native men to take the team to the mouth of the Susitna River, a
30 mile, 3 hour canoe trip, he paid them $6.
~~~~~
In mid-July, Herning decided to try
a solo (unguided) trip to Willow Creek. He packed 65 pounds
of provisions and left Knik by boat at 8:30 PM (to take advantage
of the tides). He arrived at Cottonwood 2 hours later and camped
for the night. The next morning, he left Cottonwood (at 10:30
AM) on a horse he borrowed from a man named Lee and arrived at
Big Lake at 5:45 PM, where he made camp, cared for the horse and
slept in the rain under a tarp. He left Big Lake at 8:30 AM, and
traveled due north to the Little Susitna River, arriving there at
1:00 PM. After a brief rest and a dinner of fried ptarmigan, he continued
on to the base of Bald Mountain, where he spotted some caribou,
but he wasn't close enough to shoot one. The next day, he reached
the summit of Bald Mountain at 1:00 PM, where he arranged to have Lee's
horse taken back to Knik by a prospector that was going that way. From
the summit of Bald Mountain, it took Herning 3 more hours to snowshoe
over to his mine.
Herning's team spent a total of 80
days working the ground at Grubstake Gulch that first summer.
It produced 39 ounces of gold ...not bad considering most of their
time was spent staking claims, hauling tons of supplies up to Willow
Creek, building dams, and whip sawing enough lumber to build a
cabin and 12 sluice boxes which measured 12' long x 16' wide x 6"
deep.
In late August, with the mining season winding
down, Herning's team wanted to build 2 food caches south
of Knik Station for future use. The 1st cache was built at Goose
Bay. The 2nd food cache was built at (what Herning called) Crescent
Bay, directly across the Knik Arm from Goose Bay. He predicted major
growth for Crescent Bay because of its plentiful fresh water, wood,
game, and a deep bay; he predicted it would someday be the "Skagway of
Cook Inlet".
With the food caches completed, the
men headed for their main supply camp at the mouth of the
Susitna River. In route, they stopped on the beach, just west
of the Little Susitna River, to inspect an abandoned ACC store building
precariously perched in shallow water at high tide. The 1898 Lake
George flood had washed the building from its original Knik River
foundation and floated it, intact (including merchandise) down the
Knik Arm to the Cook Inlet mud flats. The building and its contents
would soon be devoured by scavengers and the Cook Inlet tides.
~~~
Herning's wife Mattie had always
been a very social person who loved the bustle of city life.
In 1901, she reluctantly came to Alaska, only to discover that
she would be the only non-Athabascan woman in Knik. She spent weeks
at a time, alone with their 6 year old son, while her husband worked
on his gold claim some 35+ horse miles away. Their home was a tiny
log cabin with few amenities and no plumbing (water was hauled from
a nearby lake).
Martha Amelia "Mattie" Herning
The Hernin's son, Elmer, loved Knik where there were many Athabascan
children to play with. He also enjoyed going up to the the gold claims with
his father, where miners built him miniature sluice boxes and took him
hunting for ptarmigan.
In 1904, the Herning's went to Seattle where a doctor told them that
9 year old Elmer had a weak heart and diabetes, so that winter, they
decided to live in the new railroad town of Seward where they would be
close to a doctor. They bought a 30' x 100' building lot (on 3rd Avenue)
for $250 cash and had a 20' x 26' (6 room) cottage built on it.
The Herning's (who were expecting another baby) hatched a plan
to open a trading post at Knik. Over the next couple of months
they ordered $1,500 worth of groceries and hardware (almost $50,000
by today's dollar values) and stored it in the attic of their new
cottage.
The new baby, George Stanley Herning,
was born in Seward two months prematurely, delivered by Dr.
Sleem on 12/6/1904.
George
Stanley Herning
In the spring of 1905, Herning went
back to Knik by himself and turned their cabin into a trading
post, then added 3 rooms to the side of it (where the family would
live). They called the store, the Knik Trading Company.
Knik Trading Company
1905-1917
In the fall of 1906, 10 year
old Elmer Herning was seriously ill and the nearest doctor
was 200 miles from Knik by boat. Herning tried valiantly to save
his son but nothing worked. He wrote in his journal:
8/11/1906 Elmer's condition
normal up to evening, heart beginning to weaken, gave whiskey
and strychnine for heart. Gave him sponge bath. At times he's
not right in mind.
8/12/1906 Elmer very weak,
refused to take food, in a coma, pulse 120, no fever.
8/13/1906 Up all night with
Elmer, temperature was normal up to 7:30 AM, when his heart
action began to grow weak and heart stimulants would not revive
him. Gave him 4 hypodermics of whiskey and strychnine. He gradually
grew weak and the poor little fellow breathed his last at 8:30
AM. The poor little man was unconscious the last 36 hours, he died
very peacefully, age 10 years 9 months, 26 days. Cause of death,
heart trouble and diabetes. Never forgotten.
8/14/1906 Very sad day for
Herning family. Had Forty Mile Miller make Elmer's casket,
stained walnut and varnished. Bobby Kreidler acted as undertaker
and knew his business. Lined casket with white satin and ribbon.
Had Elmer's grave dug at NE corner of lot in back of store, lot covered
in oats. Had grave lined with canvas and flowers.
8/15/1906 Got ready for Elmer's
funeral. Lined store with white cloth and Elmer's friends
viewed him in the store AM. Had casket sealed in galvanized iron
case which was set inside another case finished in walnut. Buried
Elmer at 3:30 PM. Judge Goodell read the service and Mrs. Rowe, Mrs.
Howard and Mrs. Goodell, Glen Names, Bobby Kreidler, Whitney, Will
Row and the Judge sang. This event will never be forgotten.
Elmer Herning 1895-1906
NOTE: The egg, whiskey and strychnine
treatments mentioned above sounded strange to me, so I consulted
Dr. Gregory J. Higby, Executive Director of the American Institute of
the History of Pharmacy in Wisconsin. He told me: "Those were pretty
typical treatments for the time, especially considering Herning's
location. Strychnine, which today we consider a poison, was a common
stimulant given in very small doses. Whiskey, as well, was considered
an invigorating medicine and was official at the time. Back then,
a doctor did not wait around,
hoping something would work, instead, he gave all the medications
he could think of to a dying patient."
~~~~~
Shortly
after his son's death, Herning resigned his position with the
Klondike and Boston Gold Mining Company. He spent the next two years improving
his trading post and trading with local Athabascans for bear, wolf,
fox, lynx and beaver hides. In the fall, he bought barrels of cranberries
and hundreds of snowshoes made by villagers which he sold on the Seattle
market.
Herning employed local Athabascan's for a wide variety
of jobs; whip sawing lumber, guiding, delivering mail and freight,
building cabins at his gold claim, making sleds and sewing skins.
He bought moose meat from them for 5¢ a pound and whole salmon
for 25¢. He also paid them to make rabbit and "parky" squirrel robes
and blankets as well as sleds and moose hide mittens.
In 1915, Knik was the fastest growing
town in south central Alaska. Residents were banking on early
newspaper reports that suggested the railroad tracks would eventually
come through (or near) Knik. The town had 3 general stores, 2 hotels,
2 saloons, an assay office, laundry, dog kennel, 2 blacksmith shops
(1 owned by Herning), a boat shop, jail, church, candy store, pool
hall, barbershop and more.
Knik, Alaska in 1916
When the Alaska Engineering
Commission built a railroad construction camp (which they named
Wasilla) at mile 15 of the Carle Wagon Road, it became obvious that
Knik was not going to be on the main railroad route and the town of Knik
quickly became a ghost town. Everyone dismantled their buildings
and moved them to Wasilla or the new town of Anchorage by boat or
horse and wagon. By the end of 1917, only 2 or 3 buildings remained at
Knik.
Herning's diaries
recorded many "firsts" in Wasilla from 1917 to 1920. The
railroad tracks first reached Wasilla on 5/2/1917; on 5/23/1917,
the first automobile arrived by train (it was a "Western
Auto Truck" ordered by Fred Nelson). A month after that, on 6/20/1917,
the first passenger train came through Wasilla and the Alaska Engineering
Commission sold the first building lots in downtown Wasilla:
First auction for Wasilla building lots
6/20/1917
BLOCK
|
LOT
|
PURCHASER
|
ADDRESS
|
PRICE
|
1
|
1
|
Orville G.
Herning
|
Wasilla
|
$50
|
1
|
2
|
Orville G.
Herning
|
Wasilla
|
$25
|
1
|
3
|
Thomas M. Cavney
|
Wasilla
|
$25
|
1
|
4
|
Oliver Cromwell Miller
|
Wasilla
|
$25
|
1
|
5
|
Harry C. Shough
|
Wasilla
|
$25
|
1
|
6
|
Judson Allen Clark
|
Wasilla
|
$25
|
1
|
7
|
Clark E. Davis
|
Wasilla
|
$25
|
1
|
8
|
Harry R. Brown
|
Knik
|
$25
|
1
|
9
|
Alfred W. Lueders
|
Anchorage
|
$240
|
1
|
10
|
William A. Smith
|
Anchorage
|
$130
|
1
|
11
|
Clark E. Davis
|
Wasilla
|
$130
|
1
|
12
|
Henry Rohde
|
Anchorage
|
$155
|
1
|
13
|
Albert Lee
|
Anchorage
|
$160
|
1
|
14
|
Harry C. Shough
|
Anchorage
|
$190
|
1
|
15
|
John H. Finley and B. Killie
|
Anchorage
|
$190
|
1
|
16
|
Ernest J. Warner and Alfred Renson
|
Anchorage
|
$210
|
1
|
17
|
Ernest E. Hartman
|
Wasilla
|
$215
|
1
|
18
|
Orville G.
Herning
|
Wasilla
|
$280
|
2
|
1
|
Howard W. Wilmoth
|
Wasilla
|
$260
|
2
|
2
|
Charles Carlson
|
Anchorage
|
$150
|
2
|
3
|
John A. Carmody
|
Anchorage
|
$160
|
2
|
4
|
Thomas D. Corlew
|
Anchorage
|
$175
|
2
|
5
|
Harry R. Brown
|
Knik
|
$175
|
2
|
6
|
J. Harry Lander
|
Wasilla
|
$100
|
2
|
7
|
Charles H. Kidd
|
Wasilla
|
$125
|
2
|
8
|
Evan W. Edwards
|
Anchorage
|
$135
|
2
|
9
|
William A. Smith
|
Anchorage
|
$155
|
2
|
10
|
Otto H. Frisk and Iber Nearhouse
|
Anchorage
|
$280
|
2
|
11
|
Egbert McDonald
|
Wasilla
|
$75
|
2
|
12
|
George Zink
|
Wasilla
|
$50
|
2
|
13
|
Fred Nelson
|
Wasilla
|
$55
|
2
|
14
|
Louis Lawsen
|
Anchorage
|
$50
|
2
|
15
|
James E. Stone
|
Miller House on Valdez Trail
|
$55
|
2
|
16
|
Joseph C. Brassel
|
Wasilla
|
$50
|
2
|
17
|
Lawrence F. Linden
|
Wasilla
|
$50
|
2
|
18
|
Oliver W. Evans
|
Anchorage
|
$140
|
3
|
1
|
Oscar Tryck
|
Wasilla
|
$130
|
3
|
2
|
Gus Swanson
|
Knik
|
$70
|
7
|
1
|
John Lunstedt
|
Anchorage
|
$250
|
7
|
2
|
Eser Wikholm
|
Anchorage
|
$140
|
7
|
3
|
Mathew W. Diedrick and Alfred Shyman
|
Anchorage
|
$110
|
7
|
4
|
John Hylin
|
Wasilla
|
$80
|
7
|
5
|
John McIlroy
|
Wasilla
|
$110
|
7
|
6
|
Don S. Rae
|
Wasilla
|
$25
|
7
|
7
|
Don S. Rae
|
Wasilla
|
$25
|
7
|
8
|
Matt Rooney
|
Wasilla
|
$55
|
7
|
9
|
Abe Reising
|
Wasilla
|
$60
|
7
|
10
|
Nell Beattie
|
Matanuska
|
$105
|
8
|
1
|
Christian Beck
|
Wasilla
|
$25
|
8
|
2
|
Harry R. Brown
|
Knik
|
$25
|
8
|
5
|
John H. McCallie
|
Wasilla
|
$25
|
8
|
6
|
Edward M. Spaulding
|
Wasilla
|
$75
|
8
|
7
|
Eser Wikholm
|
Anchorage
|
$90
|
|
|
|
|
|
In the summer of 1917, Herning
hired Fred Nelson to build a 24' x 80' general store for him
on Main Street. That fall, there were 10 school aged children
living in the area and talk turned to building a school. An unofficial
school board election was held on 8/2/1917 and 36 votes were cast;
Mr. Herning was elected treasurer. He immediately started gathering
bids and estimates for labor and supplies to build a school, the lowest
bid totaled $3,100. Herning wrote the funding request and wired it
to the Alaska Territorial Governor on 10/1/1917; four days later he
received a return wire saying that the project had been approved.
Two weeks after the funding was approval,
the lumber for the school arrived by train from Anchorage and
construction started immediately. The first day of school was
on 11/26/1917, with Miss Ora Dee Clark as teacher. From "pipe dream"
to first day of school took, just shy of 4 months.
~~~~~
In
1936, after living in the back of the families Wasilla store(with
no electricity or plumbing)for 20 years, Mr. Herning drew up plans
for a "modern house" for his wife Mattie. In 1937, Fred Nelson and
Jakob Metz were hired to build the house and put in the plumbing.
Bill Stolt (later owned Stolt Electric in Anchorage)
wired the new house, even though electricity would not reach Wasilla
until 1942. As promised, the home had many modern conveniences like
appliances, a 500 watt Onan generator, a modern coal furnace, hard
wood floors, a lawn and above all, it had a well (the first building
in Wasilla to have running water).
There was just one problem with Herning's
new "high tech" house. Mrs. Herning refused to live in it.
Instead, she chose to remain in the family store apartment, wash
clothes by hand and use an outhouse. She often told friends that she
would only move out of the store if she could live in Seattle or Anchorage.
When Mr. Herning died in 1947, the store
and house were sold to Walter and Vivian Teeland. When the
Teeland's retired in 1972, the buildings were sold to the Julian
Mead family. Today, the buildings are on the U.S. National Register
of Historic Places and have been moved to the Wasilla Historic
Town Site behind the Museum.
~~~~~
Right from the beginning,
Herning was always generous with his time and talents. He had a
well stocked supply of pharmaceutical ingredients, and knew how
to use them since he worked as a pharmacists assistant as a youth.
He was often called on to care for sick or injured people
(and animals) and occasionally carried out the job of coroner in early
Knik.
In 1898, Herning and J.N.Johnston published the
first (ever) detailed map of the area between Hope and Mt. McKinley,
showing rivers, trails, boat routes and gold claims. Before law
formally arrived at Knik, Herning was part of an informal court
that dealt with local scofflaws. He was also instrumental in building
the first school at Knik in 1912 and the first school in Wasilla in 1917.
Herning acted as the "unofficial bank"
of Wasilla for 30 years. He cashed checks, collected debts for
people, carried lines of credit and held money and valuables
for people in his store safe. He was well respected, hard working,
and scrupulously honest. He had a long memory and never forgot
someone that did him a favor (or cheated him). He is the unsung patriarch
of the Wasilla we see today and the quintessential Alaskan pioneer.
HERNING FAMILY TREE
(Originally spelled
Hurning)
Orville George Herning Born: 7/30/1868 Eyota, Olmsted County,
Minnesota
Died 4/18/1947 Anchorage, Alaska
Father: Elmer S. Hurning 1844-1923
Mother: Abigail "Abbie" Kendall 1849-1880
Sister: Clara born: 12/17/1865 (married
Richard Smith)
Stepmother: Mary R. Strafford (Herning)
1 half-brother: Roe Strafford Herning 1888-1956
His Wife: Martha Amelia "Mattie" Rogers (Herning)
Born: 10/30/1869 Naugatuck, Connecticut
Died: 1/6/1958 Seattle, Washington(buried
in Anchorage)
Orville G. and Mattie's Children:
1. Elmer Herning born: 10/18/1895 Naugatuck,
Connecticut
died: 8/13/1906 Knik, Alaska
2. George Stanley Herning Born: 12/6/1904 Seward,
Alaska
Died: 1987 Missouri
Wife: Eva Marie
Fleckenstein Born: 1904 California
Died: 1958 California
George
Stanley Herning's Children:
1. Marie
Martha Herning born 4/2/1932
2. George
Stanley "Buddy" Herning born 12/23/1936
