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Preserving Reminders of the Yakutat and Southern Railroad

What? You’ve never heard of the Yakutat and Southern Railroad?

Well, it’s time to change that. The Yakutat and Southern Railroad is the only known railroad in the US built to carry raw fish.

The Tongass heritage program is working with a nonprofit organization in Yakutat to help preserve reminders of this unique railroad and an important piece of this small community’s history.

Built in 1903, the Yakutat and Southern carried fish from the banks of the Situk River on Johnson Slough to the cannery wharf in Yakutat for over 60 years! It was a journey of only 11 miles, but for many decades it was the only means of transporting commercially harvested sockeye and silver salmon from the river to the canning facility and deep-water port. The railroad ran only during the fishing season and its schedule was geared to high tide on the river rather than to a timetable.

At the Situk River end of the route, at Johnson Slough, there was a landing and a fish loading dock on the banks of the river. This allowed fishing boats to off-load fish near the rich fishing grounds at the mouth of the Situk River. An Armstrong turntable turned the engine around and once the cars were full of fish, the train made the journey back to town and the cannery at Monti Bay.

This little (and little known) railroad was a critical piece of Yakutat’s economy for six decades, and though it was been out of use for almost 40 years now, reminders of it are still evident on the Yakutat Forelands. A local nonprofit group is working to preserve this piece of Yakutat's history.

The Yakutat and Southern Inc. worked with the City of Yakutat and the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities to establish an interpretive park on the old railroad bed near the center of town. You can see the old Lima Engine and other train parts at this prominent corner location.

In 2002, Larry Powell, President of Yakutat and Southern Inc., approached Myra Gilliam, USFS archeologist, with a plan. His hope was to salvage two engines and a water pump form the skeletal remnants of the loading dock at the Situk River and move them into the interpretive park in town. The bank was eroding and the dock was collapsing and, with time, the equipment would fall into the river.

It was an unusual request. Because the railroad qualifies for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places, the removal of the artifacts from the Forest needed to be evaluated, and the Alaska Office of History and Archaeology was consulted. Eventually, all agreed it was a good plan, and in 2005, with heritage personnel recording the event on video and with the support of the Yakutat Ranger District, Larry Powell and his nonprofit organization accomplished their goal.

On a sunny and warm day in June, all three pieces of equipment were freed from the dock timbers and then lifted and flown by helicopter to the Yakutat Airport. They are now safely stored and the historical organization will undertake their restoration. The machinery, once stabilized and restored will join the Heisler Diesel car and the Lima 2-6-2 engine on the railroad bed at the park commemorating the history of the Yakutat and Southern Railroad.

By Rachel Myron, Archeologist

USDA Forest Service - Tongass National Forest
Last Modified: April 03, 2006