In Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve there are several cabins available to the wandering backpacker where he or she can stay for the night free of charge, some of which were built by the brave souls that dared to make their living in rugged Alaska. One of these structures was built by a unique individual. It is uncertain whether all of his buildings are gone or if the NPS had rebuilt some of these. As of the date of this posting, I was unable to reach the park to ask for this information. Continue reading to learn more about James Taylor and no, it’s not the singer.
James Taylor, an outspoken individual, was representative of the miners and prospectors during the heyday of mining in the Yukon-Charley area. Born in 1875 in Wisconsin, Taylor staked his first claim on the Seventymile River in 1905 and began a twenty year stint prospecting and mining the area. In 1906 he staked a claim on a tributary of Washington Creek, and after several less fortunate miners (on their way to Fairbanks) sold their claims to him Taylor developed the Fourth of July Creek area as well. He imported a donkey engine that walked itself from Nation City to the mines. By 1910 this operation entailed about a dozen men working the creek with one automatic dam in place. In 1919 he sold his claims to a group of miners from Sedro-Woolley, Washington, and worked for the group for about two years. By 1932 the company was among the largest producing mines in the district. Taylor also worked at Washington Creek Coal Mine until they went bankrupt (owing him $2,400 in back wages.) Dispirited, he never mined again.
James Taylor served as interim postmaster for Nation City after the death of postmaster Frank M. Young. In March of 1924 the US Postal Service notified Taylor to close the post office. Shortly thereafter he moved to the right bank of the Yukon across from Nation City where he built his main house cabin, a shed, and a shop and an ingenious dog barn complete with interior stalls made of poles. After the move Taylor turned to trapping and was quite successful. He built several cabins on Twelvemile, Hardluck and Thirty-fivemile creeks.
Taylor owned four dogs and was considered by several of the local residents to have 'goofy ideas' about them. Unable to stand seeing his dogs chained up, Taylor built extensive corrals for them that led down to a nearby stream for a continuous water supply. In addition, he built stout dog houses that resembled small log cabins. One of the most unique structures however was the dog barn he constructed to house the dogs in the winter, complete with interior stalls fashioned from poles.
He is remembered as a craftsman, an ingenious individual, and for his neatness. Al Stout recalled, "when you visited him, you slept between sheets." His ingenuity is evidenced by artifacts found at the site. He made his own camp stoves in his blacksmith shop out of iron he had hauled from all over for that purpose. His house cabin included a dumb-waiter contraption next to the table that Taylor used to lower butter and other perishables into the cold cellar below the floor for cold storage. James Taylor traveled to Seattle due to illness and died of cancer in 1933, leaving all his possessions to Ed Biederman whose homestead was located approximately 20 miles downstream from Taylor's place.
On June13, 1999, lighting sparked a wildfire on a low ridge along the Yukon River, approximately seven miles northwest of the Taylor cabins. Two additional fires were spotted in separate locations within the preserve. Three days later, preserve staff accompanied NPS fire crews to the Taylor site to construct safety buffer zones around the site. In addition, small back fires were started in an attempt to protect these valuable resources. During this time, to preserve cultural resource staff and fire crews worked diligently to document the site with photographs, maps, and GIS datum points in the event something catastrophic happened. For the next two weeks, June 18 - July 1, fire activity died down thanks in part to the arrival of some much needed precipitation.
On July 2nd, the preserve chief of operations reported the fire actively burning at least five miles from the Taylor cabins. The next day, July 3rd, crews traveling the Yukon by boat reported seeing large walls of flames along the river west of the cabins. The fire had moved five miles in less than 24 hours. Further reports estimated that the fire was consuming one mile of forest per hour! By this time there was neither safe aerial nor river access to the site. Unfortunately as well, Alaska Fire Service (AFS) crews were stretched thin with fires threatening the inhabited towns of Chicken and Delta Junction, Alaska and no crews could be spared at the time.
It was not until the next day, July 4th that aircraft were able to fly over the area to assess the damage caused by the fire. They found that the entire Taylor cabin complex had been burned over and a total loss. The fire burned with such intensity that even the sill logs were consumed.
In 1998, the National Park Service undertook an extensive rehabilitation program to restore the dog barn. Years of inactivity had taken its toll on the aging structure. The log walls had started to sink into the ground. The sod roof had caved in on one corner and sported several small birch trees growing out of it. Unfortunately, the dog barn too was lost to the 1999 fire.
The Taylor cabins were located directly opposite abandoned Nation City on the right bank of the Yukon River, 1.5 miles below the Nation Bluff Cabin. The main house burned to the ground in 1968, but two cabins remain with roof and walls intact. One has been turned into a recreation hall (25 x 13 feet) with a barrel stove, bar, and dresser drawers. The shop is smaller (13 x 13 feet) with a sod roof and a stove that once served as a forge. A summer dog-run for his four dogs, built with evenly spaced spruce logs, goes down to the running brook. The dog houses are carefully made of peeled and squared-off logs. The winter dog barn (10 x 10 feet) is divided into 6 dog stalls while a picket-like fence provides a 30 foot run.
You can learn more about Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve at our main website: Adventure-Crew.com
Resources:NPS