Domesticating the Wilderness

Rika's homestead, including a barn and outbuilding, was fundamental to the operation of her roadhouse. The barn housed cattle, sheep, goats, and horses; she raised cattle for milk and meat, timed calving to keep milk available year-round, sheared sheep for wool, provided mutton for the roadhouse, and made cheese and butter from goat's milk that she kept cool in the spring house. She also occasionally wintered horses for miners and prospectors in the area. Rika tended a large vegetable garden between the current museum and the roadhouse, and its success led the Cooperative Extension Service at the University of Alaska to study her farming techniques. The outbuilding, which served several uses, held horse tack, harnesses, sleds, tools, and feed grain. To support her livestock and roadhouse, she cultivated hay, potatoes, and turnips, and raised chickens and ducks to provide fresh eggs for patrons. A 1928 Guide to Travel on the Richardson Highway called Rika's a commodious roadhouse boasting such luxuries as fresh milk and domestic fowl. The work was demanding for one woman, and at times she employed a cook and hired miners to help with crops, building construction and repairs, and other odd jobs, giving her needed help while providing the miners with a grubstake to return to prospecting.

Big Delta, Alaska · United States