> ## 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. # "The History of Tannerville, Our Homestead", by Yukon Don Tanner, chapter 12 of Talkeetna Territory Papers - URL: https://ktna.org/the-history-of-tannerville-our-homestead-by-yukon-don-tanner-chapter-12-of-talkeetna-territory-papers/ - Published: 2018-04-09T02:00:08.000Z - Updated: 2018-04-06T01:06:44.000Z - Description: In 1962 the Federal Government provided an opportunity for a man or woman and family to stake up to 160 acres of unoccupied land in Alaska. The Bureau of Land - Author: KTNA Staff - Tags: Susitna Writer's Voice, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-07-22 01:28 In 1962 the Federal Government provided an opportunity for a man or woman and family to stake up to 160 acres of unoccupied land in Alaska. The Bureau of Land Management identified acreage that was comparable with growing an agricultural product in an area where access could be had to market your product. You were required to file your paperwork, clear forty of the 160 acres, plant, and harvest a crop. A habitable dwelling was required to be constructed as well as a “live on the land” rule. When our homestead was purchased from the Freeman estate in 2000 we discovered a nametag with “Jack Warden” on an old yellow toolbox sitting on a 1942 Caterpillar ‘dozer. My friends and I were making an effort to bring the old Cat back to life. We noticed the nametag and said, “If old Jack were here, what story would he tell?” Well, I later learned that one Jack Warden had staked the property in 1962, landing on the property in his Citabria float- plane. He built a 10-by-10 log cabin with a flat roof. Working alone, he used vertical log construction. You usually can’t lift more than four rows of logs into your wall. From there, shorter logs are placed vertically. Locals had told us it was the Freeman homestead, creating some confusion. Then a local pilot told me Jack Warden used to fly out of Talkeetna, and he’d heard Jack was retired now, living in Homer. I called the operator and suddenly the toolbox had a voice. I got Jack on the phone and this was his story. Jack Warden came to Alaska in 1962 with a dream to become a missionary pilot. He learned of the homestead opportunity and got the map from the BLM. Jack then flew to the lake where he landed and staked this wilderness paradise, 160 acres with a thirty-three acre, spring-fed lake with an actual rock shoreline, not just a large bog. This lake was his own, as it was entirely inside his homestead boundaries. While camped on the lake, constructing the required habitable dwelling, he stepped into the cool, clear evening air where he said he heard the voice of the Lord say, “Jack, preach the Gospel.” Jack asked the Lord if he could finish the cabin first, and did not receive an answer, thus he quickly finished the cabin with the inconvenient flat roof. That fall Jack left for Bible school. Jack sold these minimal improvements to Gordon Freeman. The Freeman family pursued the patent, receiving it after the survey was completed in 1964. Jack went on to the Assembly of God Bible School in Minnesota, returning to Alaska in 1964\. He replaced the pastor of the Assembly of God Church in Valdez who had been killed in the tidal wave caused by the big 9.2 1964 earthquake in Alaska. Jack spent the rest of his productive years flying and preaching throughout Alaska. When Gordon Freeman’s wife Charlette passed, the two daughters did not desire to keep the homestead. It was offered for sale and we purchased it in April 2000\. Gordon Freeman told me Jack’s dream was “to have a lawn with children playing by the lake.” That dream has come to pass. The lake is known as Freeman Lake. The hill just to the southwest end of the lake is known as Jack Warden’s Hill. Yukon and Beverly Tanner have an intense love for the wilderness and the pursuit of adventures offered in this final frontier. We purchased this wilderness homestead with the idea that we could establish a wilderness sanctuary for ourselves, our children and grandchildren. Our first cabin burnt to the ground (in our absence). An immeasurable amount of labor, logs, and planning went up in smoke! But the desire to dwell in the wilderness compelled us to make new plans, acquire new logs, and provide new labor to rebuild our 30-by30 hand scribed white spruce log cabin. The first cabin’s logs were transported by snowmachine and sled. The second cabin’s logs were transported by Huey Helicopter, necessitating 39 lifts from Talkeetna Airport to our homestead. The rebuilding took three summer seasons to complete. Our goal is to remain here until we can no longer meet the strenuous requirements for bush living. Our homestead is not accessible by car or truck, only by six wheelers, or snowmachines, fifteen miles in the summer, and five miles in the winter, when the frozen Talkeetna River provides a shortcut. Our homestead is a paradise for us.