The Alaska Railroad that runs from Anchorage to Fairbanks as it still appears today;Mt. McKinley in the background. The railroad spans over 500 miles through some of the most remote areas of North America and hold claim to some of North America's most spectacular scenery. Claude worked out a two-year contract on the construction of the railroad around 1918 & 1919.
Alaska RailroadWhen Claude went to Alaska, most of the way he traveled by ship. He was asked how he wanted to travel, first, second, or third class. Claude considered himself to be a successful man in his own right so he said, "I'll go first class." He was taken to the first class section of the ship where millionaires were traveling in their wraps of finery. Some of the men dressed in long tails with White Carnations in their lapels. And some carried diamond headed canes and wore black top hats.
The passengers in that suite all ate at the Captain's table where women wore long gowns and fancy accessories. The dining tables were exquisitely set with sleek, stemmed glasses and fine china, and white lace tablecloths. Food was served fine enough for a king. Claude ate one meal at the Captain's table and drank his water from the finger bowl. He said,"I thought I was rich until I saw what rich really was...I stayed in my cabin the entire trip and had my meals brought to me."
The lifestyle of the rich was quite a contrast to his lifestyle where muscular men ate hardy meals around a makeshift table in the road camps. When he returned home after finishing up the job on the Alaska Railroad he returned again by ship but this time he traveled third class. When the work was idle, Claude used part of his spare time panning for gold in the Susitna River. He came home with fourteen hundred dollars in gold and some gold dust. He used the money to start another road job and gave the gold dust to his friends.
Icy A Markle, Claude's third wife that remained with Icy was a determined and strong willed person. Most people liked her because she was honest and got along with most. Both Claude and Icy were well respected citizens of the community and at one time or another, I saw most of the neighbors visiting at the house with few exceptions.
Height=200 Width=75> him for forty eight years. They met while he was building a road in North Charleston, in Kanawha County. Icy already had a boyfriend when Claude met her and it took him two years to convince her he was the better choice. After they married he moved her to Clay County, where she lived until she died in l971. She stayed behind when Claude left for Alaska because she was afraid to sail. She almost drown when she was a child and was always afraid of water. She returned to Charleston and stayed with her family for the two years he was gone. Icy was a hard working woman and did her share as Claude entered into his business adventures. She managed the Commissary, and boarding house at Maysel which was no easy task. She usually had one helper they referred to as a "hard girl" to help do the cooking, make up sixty cots each day and do the washing. The linens were washed on a washboard and hung out on lines. She made her own soap. Claude never had to worry about her not doing her part. She liked staying at home and never traveled around like Claude. She always stayed behind to keep an eye on things. Like Claude, she was generous and I never once saw her turn anyone away that needed help. She lived a very simple life and was somewhat a loner. When I came home from school, she was always there.
President Warren G. Harding traveled from Washington D. C. 
landing in Seward July l923. He rode the train to Nenana to drive the Golden Spike that signified the completion of construction of the Alaska Railroad. It was probably the last important feat of his presidency because he fell ill shortly after his visit to Alaska and died two weeks later. He was the first president to discuss civil rights in a public form. In Alabama he drew cheers when he called for "an end of predjudice." Harding was from Marion, Ohio and he took a lot of his friends to Washington with him. He was quoted as saying,"I can handle my enemies, but it's my friends that keep me walking the floor at night." Read more about Harding at wharding.html
Colorado River Picture~~~~Claude was contacted by a group of companies that Hoover Dam is located on the boundary line of Arizona and Nevada. It was first named Boulder Dam and later changed to Hoover Dam after President Herbert Hoover. "I went to see the Hoover Dam on one of my western trips just because Claude had worked on it and told me about his experiences, said Murray Smith, Clay Banker. "Claude was a man that plunged right into a work project...he didn't know what fear was when he decided to take on a job and he was a man that went almost everywhere and seemed to be doing a lot of thing all over the country when I knew him."Hoover Dam
were experts on building dams. They were called, Six Companies, Inc. Claude was contacted to work on the dam because of his experience in building tunnels and grade work. He worked a little over two years before he came home, approximately 1931-1933.He related that it was the most challenging work project of his career. 
Hoover Dam today still towers 726 feet high. Elevators take sight seers down 44 stories into the dam but still doesn't reach the base. The concrete in the base of the dam is 660 feet deep. Lake Mead, the reservoir, the dam uses is one of the largest man-made bodies of water in the world today. It's 115 miles long and over 580 feet deep. The Hoover Dam supplies electric power to the city of Los Angeles. It controls the floods of the Colorada River and supplies domestic and irrigation water and electric power for a large area of the Pacific Southwest.
Pictures of Hoover Dam courtesy of United States Dept. of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation-Lower Colorado Region.
Top Railroad picture courtesy of Bob Jackson. History Text in part; Glenn Laubaugh.
3 railroad pictures courtesy of Jay Johnson Cruise Dept. Mgr. of Coastline Travel Advisors. Thank you.
