Not 10 minutes outside of Anchorage, traveling south on the Seward Highway, there is a small building touted as the Chugach State Park Headquarters. Just next to it are a couple train cars, partially visible from the road.
Most of these train cars’ history takes place along the Turnagain Arm (so named by Captain Cook, who had to turn again to exit). This site has an absolutely incredible view of the waterway. On a clear day, the two cars have an unobstructed view of the Kenai Mountains, and even the Alaska Range across the Cook Inlet.
One car is a gigantic black and red snowplow, while the other is a white sleeper car turned kitchen car.
The Sleeper Car that is Now a Kitchen Car
The snowplow and its massive blades were used when avalanches covered tracks in cement-like snow, an occurrence not uncommon to the tracks along Turnagain Arm.
With its small building shut down due to virus precautions, this site doesn’t look like many turn off the highway to see it. There is a collection of old and new signs describing the history of the place, some of which are almost illegible.
The first two signs read:
“ROTARY SNOWPLOW: These plows with 9 foot circular rotor blades were used by the Alaska Railroad to clear the snow clogged tracks … Turnagain Arm and through the Kenai Mountains………”
“OUTFIT CAR: Railroad car 1500e started its life as a troop sleeping car during World War II. After the War the sleeper was converted for use as a kitchen car.”
The first railroad in Alaska was started in 1903 by the Alaska Central Railway. However, they only laid 50 miles of track traveling north out of Seward, its origin point.
After bankruptcy in 1908, the company reorganized as the Alaska Northern Railway Co. Their second attempt only brought the railroad 21 miles farther to Kern Creek, just short of Girdwood, Alaska.
In 1914, the U.S. Federal Government approved funding for a railroad from Seward to Fairbanks, with an estimated cost of $35 million.
It took eight years to finish construction of the 478 miles of track. After completion, the federal government ran railroad operations, but the project was unprofitable.
In 1930, Seward, Fairbanks, and Anchorage combined only had a population of 5,400 – not enough to allow for steady rail business.
However, under new leadership, the Alaska Railroad beings to profit in 1938. And during WWII, profits soared as the trains transported civilian and military supplies.
Railroad ownership switched from the federal government to the State of Alaska in 1983. Over the next 26 years, the railroad’s value increased over $830 million dollars!
Now, the Alaska Railroad’s blue and gold cars are signature Alaskan – a symbol of pride for residents of the Last Frontier.
Looking Towards the Turnagain Arm from a Platform Behind the Train
Many thanks to the Alaska Railroad website and the Chugach State Park signage!
The Alaska Railroad shows a record profit of $8.0 million, surpassing the previous record profit of $7.90 million in 1995. Passenger ridership grows to 512,000. Former Governor Bill Sheffield becomes CEO and President of the Alaska Railroad and John Binkley is named Chairman of the Board of Directors.
Without a second thought, we frequently grab baking soda or baking powder out of our cabinet to use for whatever cookie, biscuit, or cake recipe we want. But the common use of chemical leaveners – for that’s what baking soda and baking powder are – is actually a fairly recent phenomenon.
While I was reading through the American Frugal Housewife, I came across several recipes calling for a little bit of pearlash (pearl-ash). One of them was a pancake recipe that otherwise had pretty standard ingredients. I was stumped.
So I did some research and fell down a rabbit hole of chemical leavening.
First of all, I discovered that pearlash is a refined form of potash (pot-ash). The refining process removes most of a smoky flavor from the substance. Which lead me to the question: what exactly is potash?
Potash is substance that was originally created by running water over wood ashes. After evaporating the water, you are left with a mix of potassium carbonate and other chemicals. Pearlash is composed only of potassium carbonate.
Now, in the 21st century, potash is actually mined from huge, underground deposits, which you can learn more about in the video below.
Learn more about potash, an essential crop nutrient that improves crop yields worldwide. With over 20 million tonnes of potash capacity at our six mines in S…
Thanks to Jas. Townsend and Sons’ YouTube channel, I learned in their “Exploring Colonial America: Chemical Leavening” series that these types of rising agents may have been in use as early as the 14th century! But that knowledge was held in total secrecy.
In the 1300’s, the Netherlands was famous for its gingerbread, but there was one town in particular known for its delicious, fluffy gingerbread. The unique sweet contained a special ingredient that was so secret not even the bakers knew what it was. The local burgermeister would visit each bakery to add in the ingredient to the rest of the prepared dough. Coincidence? Probably not.
Chemical leavening also occurred by accident in England, where millers were supplementing their poor flour with chalk, a base. When bakers began adding alum – an acid – to bleach the bread whiter, they unwittingly provided the other ingredient for a chemical reaction. Though ignorant of the chemical process, they did notice that the bread rose more fully with the additional ingredients.
But chemical leavening was not commonly used in households, yet.
In the 1750’s, a dutch cookbook was published that is suspected to be the first great unveiling of those long-held dutch bakery secrets. Further research translating manuscripts and comparing recipes is required before the connection can be declared certain. But the likelihood of confirmation is very high.
For, in the late 1700’s, where did recipes calling for potash begin to emerge from? None other than the dutch-settled Hudson River Valley of New York.
These recipes were advertised as something that could be quickly whipped up for unexpected guests. No long wait times for rising yeast were required. One can definitely see the appeal when you think of how often we use baking soda or powder as a speedy alternative to yeast.
The use of chemical leavings spread quickly in the U.S., with many 1830’s cookbooks including potash and pearlash’s successors, baking soda and powder, as leavening. However, chemical leavening was slower to take hold in the U.K., possibly because of prior scares of poison in bakers’ bread.
Another source I found online was the blog Four Pounds Flour: Historic Gastronomy. (NOTE: I will link it below, but I recommend reading through the comments and using Jas. Townsend as a more reliable source.) The author writes that her cookies turned out bitter because of the pearlash. However, an astute commenter notes that pearlash is a leavening comparable to baking soda: if you use too much, it will be bitter.
On the Spruce Eats website (linked below), they say that for every 1 teaspoon of pearlash, you can substitute 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda.
So I decided to try making Mrs. Child’s pearlash pancakes, but just use baking soda instead. Fortunately, even if something went wrong, I reasoned, the recipe is easy and inexpensive.
The Pancakes:
The original recipe doesn’t call for the dry and wet to be mixed separately first. It went exactly how you’d expect: the cinnamon clumped together. I decided to wait to add some of the baking soda until I added the flour, since I wasn’t sure how much I would need.
1 1/2 cups of flour seemed to cause “the spoon to move… round with difficulty,” as Mrs. Child recommends.
The Batter
Instructions regarding the oil/fat in the original recipe were a bit confusing. I started out with olive oil, but it gave too strong of a flavor to the pancakes. I would recommend going with butter. Mrs. Child states the more fat in your pan, the better, which I think is why the pancakes reminded me of funnel cake. But they did need a certain… je ne sais quoi.
Pan-Fry in Cast Iron
Tasty with Fruit and Cheese
With that, here is the recipe which I have not touted so well, XP. After more experimentation I shall post a new one that’s better and tastier, but this is a good base that you could add more flavors to. To be clear they are not bad: all of them were eaten 😀
Part 1 of an in depth discussion on the history of Chemical Leavening. Our Website – http://www.townsends.us/ Cooking Blog – http://www.savoringthepast.net I…
2oz of Pearl Ash also known as Potassium Carbonate. Packaged in a modern plastic bottle with a safety lid. According to the Oxford Symposium on Food and Drink, Pearl Ash (potassium carbonate) was used as a chemical leavening agent as early as the 14th century in certain Dutch Baking.
Today’s episode is another companion piece to our Chemical Leavening Discussion. It’s a recipe found in a letter to the editor in the Monthly Magazine (Londo…
Pearlash is powdery and slightly moist. The History If you were to scoop the ashes out of your fireplace and soak them in water, the resulting liquid would be full of lye. Lye can be used to make three things: soap, gun powder, or chemical leavener.
Pottasche is a common ingredient in traditional German recipes. It may also be written as potash or pearlash, potassium carbonate, salts of tartar, and carbonate of potash. All of these terms refer to the same ingredient. It is usually present in classic German gingerbread ( Lebkuchen) recipes.
Baking powder is used to increase the volume and lighten the texture of baked goods. It’s a dry leavening agent that is made from a mixture of carbonate or bicarbonate, a weak acid, and a filler. When a liquid is added, the baking powder creates an acid-base reaction, which releases carbon dioxide gas into the batter or dough.
Potash and pearlash even affected our quarantine-banana bread ;P
If there’s an unofficial snack of the coronavirus pandemic, it’s a sweet, soft loaf of home-baked banana bread. Celebrities like Chrissy Teigen love it, and ttreat has been the most searched-for recipe across all US states for the last 30 days.
Everyone knows how to make apple pie right? Apples, cinnamon, and sugar mixed together and thrown into a piecrust. Maybe you add butter or flour, or nutmeg and lemon zest, but this classic recipe that we take for granted started out differently.
I found this pie recipe on Colonial Williamsburg’s website (which I’ll link to below). The first thing they pointed out is that apple pie is not American, despite what we may think, it’s actually British – interesting.
The pie crust recipe came from The American Frugal Housewife, by Mrs. Child, which was printed in 1833. I enjoyed the challenge of interpreting this recipe from its original form – most of the historical recipes I try have a modern version next to them that is easier to understand. In continuing with that, I have created my own modern version of the recipe that I will attach below if you would like to try it. Or just experiment with the 1830’s recipe!
The main differences between this apple pie and any modern apple pie you might be accustomed to are the spices and the method of construction. There is no cinnamon! Only sugar and whole cloves.
Then you must layer it. At no point does the recipe say to mix the fruit and seasonings together in a bowl. Instead, you lay a layer of peeled, cored, apple slices into the bottom of you pie crust. Then you dust sugar and some whole cloves over the apples. Put more apples on top, add more sugar and cloves, and repeat.
Once you have used up all the apples, lay the second pie crust over it, and press the edges together. Williamsburg’s beautiful picture of the pie included pie crust decor. So I cut a few leaves and long strips out of my crust scraps and created a small design on top.
The recipe doesn’t call for it, but I decided to beat an egg and spread it over the top. Upon further inspection of the photo, I realized that only the decorative crust pieces must have had egg wash to make them stand out. Oh well, it was too late.
The Pie Before Baking
I baked it at the recommended 450˚ for 10 minutes, then 350˚ for 40 minutes. It smelled wonderful.
I must admit I was a little suspicious of sprinkling whole cloves throughout my apple pie. But they were very easy to pick out. And having only the cloves and no cinnamon gave it a different flavor that definitely seemed historical 🙂 I loved the taste, and judging from how much of it was eaten, my family enjoyed it as well!
However, it would have been improved by salt. The recipe does not call for salt. And for the pie crust, I used unsalted butter. But it turns out that I should’ve used salted butter. Why? Because Mrs. Child talks about butter earlier in her book. She instructs her readers to “pack your butter in a clean, scalded firkin, cover it with strong brine…” and it will last indefinitely. A strong brine would certainly add salt to the butter.
I love how something as simple as apple pie has changed and developed over time. Next time you’re wishing for some homemade apple pie, try this easy recipe! (Even easier if you skip the pie crust for store-bought.)
Here’s my modern version of the crust recipe alongside the original!
Pastry (homemade or store bought) 8 Granny Smith applies ¼ – 1 cup granulated sugar or castor sugar 1 tsp. rose flower water (optional) 2 tsp. whole cloves Instructions Preheat the oven to 425°. Remove one piece of dough from refrigerator and let stand until soft.
Child, Lydia Maria. The American Frugal Housewife: Dedicated to Those Who Are Not Ashamed of Economy. 12th ed. Carlisle, MA: Applewood, 1985.
When Maus was first published in the 1980’s, readers were shocked. Not only was it a graphic novel – before graphic novels were a thing – but it dealt with the Holocaust in comic book form. There were many skeptics; such a serious topic had never been put into such an informal style before. But the author, Art Spiegelman, blew everyone away.
May 8, 2020 marks the 75th anniversary of V-E Day, or Victory in Europe Day. Allied soldiers and citizens celebrated – World War II was over, at least mostly. Germany had surrendered. The day commemorates the end of a war which left many longing for its end. So many atrocities were committed, only some of which Spiegelman writes about in Maus.
This book is definitely not for children. As you may guess, there is a lot of disturbing content related to the Holocaust. However, even after that introduction, I still highly recommend reading Maus. Not because it’s uplifting, but because the story is important, well-written, and thought-provoking. I loved it in the most miserable sort of way.
Spiegelman is so honest and real. It’s like reading two stories at once: one about Art’s relationship with his father, and one about his dad’s experience during WWII. Spiegelman’s father, Vladek, speaks with an accent, and his inaccurate grammar and quirks – both the endearing and annoying – are all included. Art doesn’t gloss over anything, writing about his rocky relationship with his dad, up to Vladek’s outright racism towards blacks. The honesty made it very real.
Looking at black and white drawings of animal-headed figures makes you think about the issues in a different way too. Someone who might not usually want to learn about the Holocaust might read Maus because it’s a graphic novel. And someone put off by the visuals in something like Schindler’s List might be willing to read this instead.
The use of animals heads makes it digestible. Seeing human faces going through those horrific situations would be more disturbing. The Jews are mice – prey, eaten and chased by cats. Germans are the sneaky, predator cats. Poles are non-Kosher pork-eaters, shown by their depiction as pigs. Americans are dogs –good-hearted, but too bull-headed. And the French are frogs, coinciding with a derogatory slur for the French, perhaps because of their ambivalence towards the Jews.
There were so many crimes depicted in this book, it would be difficult to pin down one that horrified me the most. However, there is one line that I won’t forget.
Spiegelman is talking to Pavel, a Holocaust survivor and his psychiatrist. They are talking about the Holocaust and Spiegelman’s upcoming sequel to Maus I. They address the guilt of surviving and whether there was value in another book about Auschwitz. Pavel says, “I’m not talking about your book now, but look at how many books have already been written about the Holocaust. What’s the point? People haven’t changed… Maybe they need a newer, bigger Holocaust,” (Maus, panel 4, 205).
That perhaps is the scariest part of the book. Not the brutality of humans towards other humans, but the chance that we haven’t learned our lesson. That the stories are being forgotten, ignored, and replaced. That the horrific truth of the Holocaust is fading with every survivor who dies, with every story that lies dusty on a library shelf.
Pavel’s words suggest that society is no longer shocked by the Holocaust’s atrocities; they have become used to its horrors and need something new to shock them into action.
We need to remember these stories. I strongly recommend this book, but for a mature, older crowd.
Hoofbeats pounded up the wet road lined with a small crowd in the grey dawn. Coming closer, you could hear the rider crying out, “The Regulars are coming! The Regulars are coming!” Then came the faint sounds of fifes and drums, signaling the British army was not far behind.
Last year, in Massachusetts, my sister, friend, and myself celebrated Patriots’ Day with numerous historical activities. We woke up at 3:30 am to be in Lexington for the 5:30 am reenactment of the Battle of Lexington where the “Shot Heard ‘Round the World” was fired. Later we marched with the Sudbury Minutemen along the same route the original company would have taken to join the fight. With high hopes I declared I would definitely be doing it all again next year.
But a few events put a crimp in those plans. First of all, moving across the country. Secondly, being required to quarantine for two weeks on either end of traveling. So the festivities were a bit different than I had imagined, but still enjoyable nonetheless.
Lexington Green, Patriots’ Day 2019
To commemorate the special day, my sister and I decided to walk the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail, which runs about 11 miles along the northern coastline of Anchorage, Alaska. The distance was approximately equal to the march we did with the Sudbury Minutemen last year. To note, the Sudbury Minutemen march on every April 19th early in the morning, in order to coincide with the exact date and time of the 1775 events. However, we walked on Monday the 20th, which is the official holiday of Patriots’ Day. We also left our starting line a little later than 2019’s 6:30 am.
Beginning of the Trail on the North Side of Anchorage
We arrived at the railroad depot just north of downtown Anchorage at 7:45am. Never before had we walked the entire Tony Knowles Trail from start to finish. With many access points, we had often walked short segments of the trail near significant city parks.
As we walked, we decided to wish any and all passersby a ‘Happy Patriots’ Day.’ Judging from their responses, none of them had the least idea of what we were talking about.
Patriots’ Day honors the first official battles of the American Revolution: Lexington and Concord. British soldiers marched out from Boston in the wee hours of the night, aiming to confiscate a store of ammunition located in Concord, Massachusetts. Revolutionaries spread the word of their impending arrival (the midnight ride of Paul Revere, anyone? – though Revere wasn’t the only one).
When the Redcoats reached Lexington in the early morning, a few brave souls stood on the green (common land in the center of town), defying the soldiers’ advance. A shot – to this day no one knows from which side it came– was fired. Within moments, eight colonists were dead or dying, and the British marched on.
As my sister and I marched, we paused at the planet stations placed strategically along the path. An Anchorage highschool student devised this clever “Planet Walk.” Signs representing the planets are positioned in order, radiating out from a sun sculpture in downtown Anchorage. Each intervening distance is calculated to equate to the light speed distance actually between them. Now pedestrians can stroll along at light speed. Apparently we were walking faster than light speed, because we completed the trail in just over 4 hours, instead of the predicted 5.5 hours.
The Planets I Remembered to Photograph (the Sun is Located in Downtown)
The second battle on April 19, 1775 took place in Concord. Upon their arrival, the Redcoats began burning supplies and cannons gathered by the colonists. From a hill vantage point, 400 minute men and militia saw the smoke and believed the town was being burned. They advanced on the town’s North Bridge, which was guarded by 96 British Soldiers, who fired upon them. The colonists shot back. Five fell dead and more were wounded.
But the exhausting day was nowhere near finished yet.
We stopped for a brief break at the Earthquake Park overlook point. This park is a crazy testament to the total upheaval of earth that takes place during earthquakes. Signs illustrate how the steep drop-offs and jutting hills you now see were all creating during Alaska’s 1964 Good Friday quake.
Not long afterwards, we reached Point Woronzoff, a park and beach that sits at the foot of the airport runway. We watched several planes take off directly overhead including the one videoed below. In the summer, we’ve enjoyed coming here to walk the steep path down to the muddy beach.
Plane Takes Off Over Point Woronzoff Park
The British began their march back to Boston. However, unbeknownst to them, more and more minutemen and militia from the surrounding country began to congregate around their return route. The first ambush waited one mile outside of Concord, at Meriam’s Corner. Subsequent attacks took place at Brooks Hill and the Bloody Angle in addition to other skirmishes, creating a “running 16-mile-long battle,” according to Minuteman National Park’s webpage on “Battle Site Explorations.”
Our views were a bit different from those the Redcoats and colonists traveled through 245 years ago. 🙂 In the photos you can see the infamous mudflats, with some snow still lingering on top. The day was pretty cloudy and foggy; on clear days there are mountains visible in the distance.
Views of Cook Inlet From the Trail
Later that fateful day, the British were met by reinforcements as well, but not nearly as many as the colonists. The book, Reporting the Revolution by Todd Andrlik, says that “by the end of the day, almost 3,800 militiamen had seen action against about 1,500 regulars. More than 270 British were left dead, wounded, or missing; for the Americans, only ninety-four.” Keep in mind that these Redcoat soldiers had been up all through the night!
Our destination, the 10.5 mile-marker in Kincaid Park, was met with excitement, though I’m sure not nearly as much as the British must have felt upon reaching Boston. We only took just over four hours to make our goal, but the British had already been traveling for hours when they reached Lexington at 5:30am. Then they fought all through the day.
April 19th marked the official outbreak of the American War for Independence that had been brewing for years. Many men lost their lives that day in defense of their rights. We would do well to remember what has been sacrificed by others for our benefit, and to follow their example of standing up against injustice. Here’s to next Patriots’ Day!
Our Final Mile Marker
The Tony Knowles Trail is an amazing resource, whether you’re visiting Anchorage for the first time, or have lived here for 20 years. Make sure to check out their website and take a “light speed” walk through Anchorage 🙂
The Minuteman National park has awesome online resources! Check out their website, YouTube channel, and FaceBook page for Patriots’ Day activities and more.
Annually on April 19, the Sudbury Companies of Militia and Minute march from Sudbury Center to the Old North Bridge in Concord, Massachusetts. This event reenacts and commemorates the mission of our forefathers who did the same on April 19, 1775, at the start of the American Revolution.
Todd Andrlik is the founding editor of Journal of the American Revolution , as well as author/editor of Reporting the Revolutionary War: Before It Was History, It Was News (Sourcebooks, 2012), named one of the Best Books of 2012 by Barnes & Noble and Best American Revolution Book of the Year by the New York American Revolution Round Table.
