Anchorage, Alaska
In the Great Year
of 1946

by Ron Maley
(Ocean Shores, Wa.)

Anchorage Photo Circa 1944

We lived in Mountain View on Bliss street, Dad called it “mud ally”.

We lived in a tent house, that was shiplap sides three feet high and the rest was a tent.

It also had shiplap floors. Dad cut the ends out of cans and nailed them over the knotholes. There were a lot of them.

We didn't have electric anything. A Colman lantern that burned Blazo gas for light and a small round wood stove.

In the winter time Dad would push the snow off the roof of the tent and my brother and I would shovel it away from the tent after school.

Two years we lived in the tent before we built our house.

Our life was wonderful and hard, but I wouldn't trade those years for anything.

A Note From Anchorage Memories

Ron:

Great story.

Your memories from your childhood in Anchorage tell a story of hardy pioneers who played an important part in building Anchorage, Alaska.

And your story gives us a picture of what it was like back then.

Thank you for sharing.