Denali National Park and Preserve in Denali Borough, Alaska — Northwest (North America)
Park and Railroad: A Shared Story
Denali National Park and Preserve
| | National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior | |
Photographed by Thomas Smith, August 7, 2025
1. Park and Railroad: A shared Story Marker
1915 Construction begins on the Government Railroad, later renamed the Alaska Railroad.
1917 Mount McKinley National Park is established. Enterprising pioneers have already built homesteads outside park boundaries, near where the railroad depot will eventually sit. The park will wait four years for its first superintendent and five years for its first visitors.
1923 President Harding drives a golden spike at Nenana to mark the completion of the railroad. Enroute, he pays a visit to the park. The park welcomes 34 visitors that year, most of whom arrive by rail. They have the option of staying at the newly opened Savage River Tourist Camp.
1932 An extension of park boundaries brings the depot into the park, which receives a record 357 visitors.
1939 The railroad opens the McKinley Park Hotel, with beds for a full trainload of passengers, and will open a new depot two years later. Park visitation rises to more than 2,200.
1957 The completion of the Denali Highway connects the park to Alaska's limited road system. Park visitation climbs from 5,200 in 1956 to 25,000- in 1958. Train ridership continues to grow.
1972When fire destroys most of the park hotel, the railroad provides temporary accommodations: railroad sleeper cars that originally transported World War II troops, installed on tracks outside the hotel entrance.
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1972 The completion of the George Parks Highway provides a direct automobile route between Anchorage, the park, and Fairbanks. Highway travel becomes by far the most popular way to reach the park. Visitation jumps to more than 88,000. To preserve wildlife viewing opportunities, the park closes the Park Road to private vehicles and introduces a bus system.
1980 The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANLCA) adds more than four million acres to the park and renames it Denali National Park and Preserve.
1984 The railroad begins transporting the private railcars of major tour operators, boosting rail travel to the park.
1985 The State of Alaska purchases the railroad from the federal government.
1988 A new station complex replaces the 1940s-era depot. Annual park visitation approaches 400,000 and ridership continues to climb.
2005 Almost half of park visitors arrive by rail, with as many as 2,600 passengersdisembarking in a single day. The depot receives a faceliftone of many recent upgrades to the railroad stationand construction ends on a new park visitor center complex.Photographed by Thomas Smith, August 7, 20252. Park and Railroad: A Shared Story Marker
Then and Now
These are the recollections of Lena Howard, who worked at Savage River Tourist Camp during the 1920s and 1930s. How does your park experience compare to her description?
At that time there were retired people and schoolteachers and doctors and very few young people because the young people couldn't afford it."
An Alaska tour "was practically an all-summer trip Because [they] came down the river from Dawson, some of them, and then went out over the railroad. That would take at least six weeks or two months to make that trip."
Of park visitors, there were "24-hour people and some 48-hour people."
,br> "And the main thing was to see Mount McKinley and sometimes they would blame us for the mountain not being out!"
"The horseback trips were into the park up toward the mountain, usually up to the foot of the mountain, Mount McKinley. It was, I think, about a ten-day trip on horseback. And then there were other trips if they wanted to take shorter trips. But people lost interest in that after the road was completed into the park so they could get even to Sable Pass. Sable Pass has a good view of Mount McKinley and when they got that far, they were satisfied."
Erected by National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Parks & Recreational Areas • Railroads & Streetcars • Roads & Vehicles. A significant historical year for this entry is 1915.
Location. 63° 43.978′ N, 148° 55.157′ W. Marker is in Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska, in Denali Borough. It is at the intersection of Murie Road and Bus Concessionaire Road, on the left when traveling north on Murie Road. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 237 Parks Hwy, Healy AK 99743, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in the Alaska Railroad Corridor, in the Athabascan Region, and in Interior Alaska. It is also on the American Pacific Coast. Globally, it is in North America, the Pacific Rim, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the Russian Empire.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: The Road More Traveled (a few steps from this marker); The Challenge of Wilderness (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line); Nature's Wonderland (about 400 feet away); The Park Hotel (about 700 feet away); The Time-Honored Trail (approx. 0.2 miles away); The Station Through Time (approx. Ό mile away); Meet the Neighbors (approx. Ό mile away); At Ease (approx. Ό mile away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Denali National Park and Preserve.
Credits. This page was last revised on October 13, 2025. It was originally submitted on September 6, 2025, by Thomas Smith of Waterloo, Ill. This page has been viewed 59 times since then and 29 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on September 6, 2025, by Thomas Smith of Waterloo, Ill. • Devry Becker Jones was the editor who published this page.
