Sullivan Winter Roadhouse Marker - Delta Junction, Alaska
Posted by: 
BruceS
N 64° 02.153 W 145° 43.910
6W E 561946 N 7101629
Marker for historic roadhouse in Delta Junction, Alaska.
Waymark Code: WMB987
Location: Alaska, United States
Date Posted: 04/21/2011
Views: 1
The Sullivan's Winter Roadhouse
John Sullivan and Florence Hamberg met during the Gold Rush and later settled near here. For sixteen years, they operated a roadhouse in this log building. The Sullivans provided food and shelter to travelers on a winter cutoff of the Valdez-Fairbanks Trail.
Gold Rush Romance
Florence Hamberg, a 30 year-old dressmaker, arrived in Dawson with the first Klondike gold rushers in 1897. During the winter of 1899-1900, she rushed from Dawson to the new strike at Nome. Florence walked 1,500 miles on snowshoes breaking trail for the two men and dog teams she hired to carry her belongings. On the trail, she met John E. "Jack" Sullivan, 33, a merchant who had also rushed to Dawson. They married in 1900 and mined for gold near Nome.
Opening a Roadhouse
John and Florence went to Fairbanks in 1904. Two years later, they opened a roadhouse nineteen miles west of here on the Delta Cutoff Sled Road, the winter route of the Valdez-Fairbanks Trail. Due to a rerouting of this trail, John constructed a larger roadhouse along the new portion using logs from the original building. A visitor described Sullivan's as "the acme of roadhouse comfort, spacious rooms, big wood stoves, and everything that pleases the traveler after traveling in the cold."
Just Like Home
The Sullivans were known as Ma and Pa. Florence was a splendid cook and John was well known as a dog musher. When traffic along the winter trail declined in 1922, the Sullivans closed their roadhouse and purchased another on the main route. They died within four months of another in 1924. Their winter roadhouse, moved here in 1996, is one of the few buildings still standing from the early trail network that became the Richardson Highway.