Talk:Salty Dawg Saloon

See if I can fill in some holes
The 1965 edition of Lou Jacobin's Guide to Alaska and the Yukon contains a Homer section, but no mention of or advertisement by the saloon. The historical narrative mentions that the townsite established in 1896 was located at the end of the spit, and that the railroad began in 1900, connecting the town with a coal seam at Bluff Point. Specifics of the railroad's fate weren't provided, only that the original townsite burned down during a violent storm and that folks relocated to the "mainland" (I presume the "old town" over by Beluga Lake).

There was another tidbit. The 1962 legislature passed Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 284 (aka Chapter 54 of that year's Session Laws), relevant excerpts follow: The director of the division of lands of the Department of Natural Resources is empowered and directed to convey fee title to certain state land described as a portion of Lot 20, Section 1, Township 7 South, Range 13 West, Seward Meridian, Alaska, to Charles B. Abbott, according to the following legal description: (legal description omitted)...The land thus described aggregates 0.79 acres, more or less. The conveyance provided for in this Act is in consideration of the voluntary relinquishment by Charles B. Abbott of a claim to this and several other contiguous lots in order to permit state selection and prompt development thereof. The conveyance is made at no cost to the patentee. I can't say with certainty, but the lots in question appear to correspond to either the former or current location of the Salty Dawg. From what little I dug up, this legislation was conceived to fend off an eminent domain battle over what became the small boat harbor or the ferry terminal (again, not enough background to be sure). It does cause me to second-guess when exactly Earl Hillstrand entered the picture.

Generally speaking, this was during Leo Rhode's first term in the House. He must have been a pretty effective legislator: looking at this particular legislature's work, Homer shows up a surprising number of times given its small size at the time (Jacobin estimated a total of about 3,500 people on the southern Peninsula). RadioKAOS / Talk to me, Billy / Transmissions 19:35, 13 December 2015 (UTC)


 * There was an article in the paper not that long ago about the history of the Dawg. One thing I recall form it was that it had to be moved after the Good Friday Earthquake in 1964 because it was suddenly below the high tide line. That may be part of the issue here. From the pictures I've seen, the Spit changed very dramatically in the follwing years as it was reorganized and rebuilt by the Corps of Engineers. The lots refernced there may not even exist anymore. Beeblebrox (talk) 21:09, 13 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Here it is . Sounds like it was originally out at the very end, where Land's End and the ferry dock are now. Beeblebrox (talk) 21:13, 13 December 2015 (UTC)
 * by the way, old town is actually on Beluga Slough, Beluga Lake didn't exist until about 1980 whaen it was constructed as a floatplane base. (See GNIS entry 1412605) Which kind of sucks, I live nearly across the street form a lake that boats aren't allowed in... Beeblebrox (talk) 21:41, 13 December 2015 (UTC)