> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://ktna.org/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Susitna Writer's Voice--Yukon Don Tanner's Talkeetna Territory Papers, chapter 7 - URL: https://ktna.org/susitna-writers-voice-yukon-don-tanners-talkeetna-territory-papers-chapter-7/ - Published: 2018-03-27T22:06:48.000Z - Updated: 2018-03-28T21:59:02.000Z - Description: Yukon Don Tanner reads Chapter 7 , “The History of Land Acquisition in the Talkeetna Territory” from his new book Talkeetna Territory Papers: As many Americans moved west in pursuit - Author: KTNA Staff - Tags: News, Susitna Writer's Voice, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-07-22 01:28 Yukon Don Tanner reads Chapter 7 , “The History of Land Acquisition in the Talkeetna Territory” from his new book *Talkeetna Territory Papers*: As many Americans moved west in pursuit of what once was called Manifest Destiny and discovered the west was filling up with settlers, pioneers had to push on. In the early 1900s, homestead land was opened on the frontier of Alaska by the Bureau of Land Management. Up to 320 acres could be staked. Federal lands for homesteading were closed out entirely by 1972. The state of Alaska, recognizing the problem, a need for public land for sale to individuals, pressed hard to get patent (land title) to suitable land for agriculture classified so it could be sold. These efforts led to the first farmland sale on August 5, 1961 in the Anchor Point area. The state followed up by creating eight classifications of property use that could be purchased from the state. By 1968 a land disposal program was in full swing. This program was known as OTE (Open to Entry) and as many Americans moved west in pursuit of what once was called Manifest Destiny and discovered the west was filling up with settlers, pioneers had to push on. In the early 1900s, homestead land was opened on the frontier of Alaska by the Bureau of Land Management. Up to 320 acres could be staked. Federal lands for homesteading were closed out entirely by 1972. The state of Alaska, recognizing the problem, a need for public land for sale to individuals, pressed hard to get patent (land title) to suitable land for agriculture classified so it could be sold. These efforts led to the first farmland sale on August 5, 1961 in the Anchor Point area. The state followed up by creating eight classifications of property use that could be purchased from the state. By 1968 a land disposal program was in full swing. This program was known as OTE (Open to Entry) and brought the first state land disposal to the Talkeetna Territory. This allowed up to five acres to be staked by individuals, with few restrictions. This opportunity ceased to exist in 1973. In 1980 a new program was opened in the Talkeetna Territory known as Chase I Remote Parcel. It expanded an area from Clear Creek /Chase north to Chulitna. There was no requirement to build. A claimant was authorized to stake up to forty acres. In 1985 the state modified the program into the State Homestead and Remote Parcel Program. This disposal program allowed up to forty acres per person to be staked in remote areas of the state. We were successful in acquiring a 40 acre tract in 1980 and again in 1984 northeast of Talkeetna. The Division of Natural Resources also subdivided and disposed of, by lottery, several hundred lots along the north side of the Talkeetna River in the ‘80s. These were five-acre lots, which were later combined to make ten and fifteen acres, as a lawsuit by local residents challenged the population density that would overtake available resources. Today in the Talkeetna Territory there are 930 private parcels owned by 720 owners. There may be 120 cabins, but only 50 residents in this area. Each year more individuals build and move in, bringing an ever-changing bush culture. Note: “In 1972 Bob Durr headed a conference in Juneau with Walter Hickel and others to present his recommendations on land disposals – what he stressed was larger parcels – 40 acres, not the proposed five acres as they were too small to sustain long term lumber and firewood harvest.” Jonathon Durr Bob Durr and his family were some of the first to move into the Talkeetna Territory in 1973\. They built on Back Lake several miles north of Talkeetna. Bob is gone now; his sons Steve and Jonathon still reside at Back Lake. The resident population has declined since the ‘70s and ‘80s. Only thirty remain full time in the area. The weekenders now create some conflict over trail use. Tannerville, our homestead residence, was originally staked in 1962 by Jack Warden. At that time The United States Bureau of Land Management still allowed staking up to 160 acres. Jack responded to, as he put it, the call of God to preach. He sold his improvements to Gordon Freeman who received the Homestead Patent in 1964\. Having built a small, 10-by10 cabin (the required habitable dwelling), an outhouse, and cleared 40 acres for a potato crop to meet federal requirements for ownership. We purchased this piece of God’s paradise in April 2000 from the Freeman estate. A 1942-D Caterpillar bulldozer was part of the package. We rebuilt the original cabin and added on a 16-by-16 two-sided log addition. This cabin burned to the ground in 2004\. The historic structure still standing is the original log outhouse, fifty plus years old and still in working condition. The photo of our new log home is included here. It is 30by- 30, built of white spruce from Upper Montana Creek. Built by Dan Nelson of Talkeetna, hand-scribed with superior skill, it is a bush masterpiece. Hand-scribing is the method of carefully cutting what are called relief cuts in each log, and shaping each log to fit together, one atop the other, so that as the logs dry and settle, there is no air gap between the logs, nor will they break or twist out of plumb in the wall. To bring all the logs and other building materials to this remote location, it took thirty-nine lifts with a Huey Helicopter to get everything needed on-site, at a cost of $12,000 just for the helicopter, about $15,554.00 in 2017 dollars. The ridgepole was fifty-three feet long and weighed 2,350 pounds.