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The Story of Orville G. Herning of Alaska .
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Orville George "O.G." Herning (1868--1947)
The Unsung Alaskan Pioneer Who Saw Promise
in the Matanuska Valley Before the
Towns of Anchorage, Fairbanks, Seward,
Wasilla or Palmer Existed



Written by Coleen Mielke

2023


Protected by Copyscape


If you spent any of your childhood driving through Wasilla, you will remember Teeland's store on Main Street.
The store was originally owned by Orville George "O.G." Herning from 1917 until his death in 1947.
This is his story:

Herning came to Alaska in 1898 and worked placer claims in the Willow Creek Mining District of the Talkeetna Mountains for the next 30+ years. He also owned a trading post at Knik from 1906 to 1917 and a general store called "Herning's Place" in the new railroad town of Wasilla from 1917 to 1947.

Herning kept a daily diary which provides a rare first hand account of mining life, trading post life, weather extremes, births, deaths, marriages, law enforcement, Alaska Railroad construction, Cook Inlet travel, ocean steamer travel, the growth and demise of Knik and the birth of Anchorage, Wasilla and Palmer.
 
"Herning's Place"  in Wasilla, Alaska
Owned by  Orville and Mattie Herning  1917-1947
After 1947, this store was owned and operated by the Teeland's
In an effort to preserve the history in Mr. Herning's diaries,
I typed all 800,000+ words into a digital format (to see CLICK HERE) 
The project took me 6+ years to finish and was very rewarding.


Orville George "O.G." Herning
At the Headquarters of
the Willow Creek Mining District 1898
 
Herning caught "gold fever" in the spring of 1898, when he saw
this newspaper clipping in the Boston Globe:



That spring, he was hired by E.C. Davis & Company to manage a 10 man Alaska
 gold exploration team for the Klondike & Boston Gold Mining Company  




Herning had 2 weeks to prepare for the trip to "Cook's Inlet". First, he made sure that his wife Mattie and their 3 year old son Elmer were secure in (her hometown of) Naugatuck, Connecticut, then he purchased 5 weeks of Aetna life insurance and collected the following items for the trip north:
2  jersey shirts
 1   tool chest and tools
2  suits heavy underwear
 1   stencil  complete
1/2 dozen all weather sox
 1   revolver and 150 rounds cartridges
1/2 dozen medium  sox
 1/2 dozen Turkish  towels
2   pair wool pants
 2   common towels
2   wool blankets
 1   muffler
1   rubber blanket
 1   hyd.  outside coat
1   pair rubber mittens
 1   compass
2   pair rubber boots
 2   dozen bachelor buttons
1   pair rubber ankle boots
 1   suit   hyd.   wool
1   pair  hyd. oil tanned shoes
 1   water proof hat
1   pair  felt knit boots
 2   suits overalls and coats
1   hunters knife
 1   sail bag
hooks and lines
 2   snow glasses
1   magnifying glass
 1   water proof sleeping bag
1   barber sheers
 1   money  belt
1   barber brush
 1   sweater
3   saw files
 2   money bags
230 sheets writing paper
 6   pair creepers
1   account  book   and   receipt book
 1   suit mackinaw
1   oil stone and razor strap
 10  asbestos shirts
1   hair clippers and  comb
 1   4'  man  saw
needles and thread
 1   box CR  rivets
3/4 dozen handkerchiefs
 1   auger
1   flannel  shirt
 transparent    window   glass
medicine   outfit
 2 lb. citric  acid
2  spools    wire
 Dutch   oven
16 yards   sail cloth
 mosquito netting
100 lb.   12 cut  nails
 magnet
24  lb.   fig    bars
 5 cakes   tar   soap


Herning and his team left Boston, by train, on 3/23/1898 and arrived in Seattle five days later. Their adventurous journey to Alaska had a rough start when the team learned that the ship they were scheduled to sail on (SS Whitelaw) had been destroyed by fire in Skagway the previous week. With transportation to the
"Alaska Gold Rush" booked at full capacity, it took the team 10 more days to secure passage aboard the
SS Dirigo, which left Yesler's Wharf on 4/12/1898.



SS  DIRIGO
(165' Steam Powered Schooner)

Two days north of Seattle, the SS Dirigo entered the protected waters of Alaska's Inside Passage. She bypassed the village of Wrangell and made a short stop at the small mining town of Juneau before sailing north on the
(2,000' deep) Lynn Canal. At the northern extremes of the canal, the ship swung wide around a small uncharted island known as Eldred Rock, where the 150' SS Clara Nevada had exploded 9 weeks earlier, killing all 65 people aboard. The SS Dirigo steamed to the northern reaches of Chilkoot Inlet, then veered east into Taiya Inlet and docked at Skagway, the largest town in Alaska in 1898 (population 10,000). Here, the men inspected the remains
of the burned out SS Whitelaw as well as the partially submerged "Mercury", a 193' wooden bark that had fallen victim to a Skagway storm 4 days earlier. They also took a short side trip to Dyea (population 5,000) to watch thousands of men (and a few hardy women) climb the tortuous Chilkoot Pass in search of Yukon Territory treasure. 

From Skagway, the SS Dirigo backtracked south on Lynn Canal and into the Icy Straits where she experienced mechanical problems and anchored for repairs near the Tlingit village of Hoonah Mission on the north shore of Chichagof Island. The chief engineer diagnosed the problem as a faulty condenser, so the Dirigo limped 40 miles back to Juneau and ordered the new part. While the team waited 8 days for the new condenser to arrive from Seattle, they enjoyed a working tour of the Treadwell Quartz Mine on Douglas Island.

Finally repaired and on her way out of Juneau, the Dirigo accidentally rammed a coal transport vessel called the "Czarina". The hole in Czarina's side was so large that she had to be beached at Douglas Island to avoid sinking.

When the Dirigo finally left Juneau, she sailed past Glacier Bay and Brady Glacier before entering open ocean for the first time in her journey north. The next scheduled stop was the Port of Valdez, on Prince William Sound.

Six miles from Valdez, the Dirigo ran aground at low tide, leaving her bow high and dry and her stern in 16' of water; there she lay stranded until the next high tide released her and she sailed into Valdez for the night. The following morning the ship left Valdez in a blinding snowstorm and sailed through Prince William Sound where a foot of dense white snow floated on the waters surface.

The SS Dirigo's size (165' x 35' x 13½') came into play when she entered the Gulf of Alaska. A heavy storm repeatedly rolled her, from gunnel to gunnel, for 2 days. The waves were so relentless that a young Massachusetts man named Burrows (from the Revere Expedition Party) died, reportedly of seasickness, and was buried at sea at the mouth of Cook Inlet.

~~~~~

Herning's first Alaska destination was the Athabascan village of Tyonek, 70 miles from  Knik. In 1898, Tyonek was home to about 100 Athabascan Indians and a dozen or so white men; it also had an Alaska Commercial Company (ACC) store and a Post Office. From Tyonek, "would-be prospectors" headed north (in small homemade boats) to Knik, where they re-supplied and then hit the trails on foot for the Big Susitna River and/or the Iditarod District.

The trip from Seattle to Tyonek had taken 25 days; 15 days longer than expected. Freight was lightered ashore from the SS Dirigo and left on the muddy beach. Herning's team went to work moving their supplies to a location above the high tide line and then built a series of tents for cooking, sleeping, and storage. The teams first objective was to find Gold Creek, a branch of the Susitna River.

Herning signed a contract with J.N.Johnston (the ACC agent at Tyonek) for the use of his sail boat and an Indian guide to get his team to Gold Creek as soon as the ice was out of the rivers; such help cost the team $400 (a whopping $11,000 by today's dollar value).

More prospectors arrived at Tyonek every day and before long, there were 300+ "hopefuls" camped on the beach. Expectations were high and tall tales of secret gold strikes were the talk of the day. Flimflammers, selling imaginary claims and "guaranteed treasure maps" were abundant. The Tyonek beach looked like a makeshift shipyard with hundreds of novice boat builders scratching their heads in confusion.

Herning decided that his team was going to need a dependable boat to move their supplies from Tyonek to the mouth of the Susitna River where they hoped to build a camp. The most economical way to obtain such a boat was to build one, but there was no lumber available and stories about newly constructed boats disintegrating in the rough Cook Inlet waters were a concern.

Herning decided to purchase a boat from the Tyonek ACC agent who assured him that it was originally built for seal hunting and was strong, safe and reliable; the cost was $75. On their first trial run, Herning and his men rowed the boat out into the deep waters of Cook Inlet. Without warning, the bright sunny weather quickly turned into a late afternoon gale force wind. The waves brutally battered the small boat while the men rowed, as hard as they could, back to shore. Once safely on land, they all agreed that the little sea otter boat proved to be a very wise purchase and that a lesser boat would have cost them their lives. The experience also gave the team a lifelong respect for the weather and waters of Cook Inlet.

Two prospectors died the first week that Herning's team was at Tyonek. One (unnamed) man died from natural causes. The second one, a young man from the Patterson Expedition Party of Kansas, became gravely ill after eating desiccated cabbage. With no medical help available, the men on the beach did what they could to comfort the dying man. One of Herning's men played his violin while the rest of the team sang "In the Sweet By and By". The young mans death was a sobering experience for everyone, even the most hard-bitten old hands.

In late May, after word arrived that the rivers were free of ice, the team decided to look for Gold Creek. The most practical route began with a boat trip from Tyonek to Fire Island at the head of Cook Inlet, 30 miles away. On the next high tide, the men boated from Fire Island to Knik Station, another 40 miles away.

Knik Station was barely a spot on the map in 1898; it had a small ACC trading post, 36 Athabascan residents and
3 non-Native residents. Here, Herning's team learned about a system of ancient walking trails that laced through south central Alaska. The trails were traditionally used by seasonal Athabascan hunting parties and were narrow and hard to find. Herning hired two Athabascan guides, at the going rate of $6, to lead his men on foot, over the trail from Knik Station to their new destination of Willow Creek. It took them 3 days to reach the foothills of Bald Mountain but their 4th day's progress was not as good. After 10 hours of climbing their way over and around the snowy remnants of last winter's avalanches, the Native guides seemed to be hopelessly lost. In an effort to summon help, they set a dry spruce tree on fire and shot their rifles into the air. Receiving no reply, the team set up camp for the night.

The next morning, the guides had regained their sense of direction and led Herning's team to Grubstake Gulch, a branch of Willow Creek. There, they found 5 men, already working claims: Lester H. Herndon, Billy Morris, Eddie Brainard, a man known only as "E'Van" and Capt. E. Andrews, his wife, his mother-in-law and six month old daughter. Also in the area were 2 Mexican men who had been working on Grubstake Gulch for the previous three years.  

Herning and his men spent the next week under the guidance of Capt. Andrews. They staked 15 full placer claims (300 acres) and built a sluice box that produced a good sample of placer gold, a piece of silver, and reportedly, one ruby. On June 11, 1898, Herning, and his men joined the other Grubstake Gulch miners and officially establish the Willow Creek Mining District, appointing Lester Herndon as recorder. The end of this historic meeting was punctuated with a strong earthquake that shook the gold dust off of the recorder's table.
 
After two weeks at Willow Creek, Herning and two of his men left on a supply run to the mouth of the Susitna River. Travel on foot was slow and the men were plagued with clouds of voracious mosquitoes that emerged from the wetlands along the creek's edge. Without the aid of netting, the insects were unbearable. With every breath,
they inhaled mosquitoes and their only relief was a nightly smudge fire or the hope of a strong wind.

At the end of the 3rd day on the trail, the men could smell heavy smoke. Thinking it might be a nearby forest fire; they found refuge on a sandbar in the middle of a side stream and waited. Within 30 minutes, they could hear the roar of the approaching fire. The men buried their blankets and supplies in the wet sand and crouched in the shallow water as the flames raced down the banks of the stream. They were surrounded by fire and slapped frantically at the sparks that ignited their clothing. Once the fire had consumed all of the dry vegetation in the immediate area, the danger seemed to be over. Luckily, their damages were limited to wet blankets, holes in their clothing and singed hair. To celebrate their survival, as well as the subsequent demise of the mosquitoes, the men said a prayer of thanks and shared a drink of Jamaica Ginger before retiring for the night.

The next morning, as soon as they had traveled outside of the burned area, the mosquitoes returned with a vengeance. So intolerable were the biters that Herning decided to build a raft and float the Susitna River for relief. It didn't take long to fall the trees then build and launch the raft. However, on the second bend in the river, the raft struck the bank and fell apart, dumping the trio into the swift cold water. The men struggled their way to shore and decided it would be safer to continue their journey on dry land, in spite of the mosquitoes.

Travel along the river was slow and food was short. The 3 men had hopes of buying food at the ACC store at Susitna Station, but they weren't sure exactly where the Station was; they only knew that it was on an island roughly 30 miles from the mouth of the Susitna River. Tired and hungry, but fearing another broken raft disaster, the men continued down river on foot for 2 more days. They passed dozens of small islands and at each one, they let out signal whoops but received no reply. On the 6th day, they ate the last of their food ...one piece of bacon for each man.

In hungry desperation, the men decided to try their luck building another raft. It took 2 hours to fasten three 24' spruce trees together. Herning wrote their names on the tree stumps as well as the log ends of the raft. If their attempt failed, and no one lived to tell their story, the names written on the trees would record their fate. The plan was for 1 man to stand on the bow of the raft with a long pole and keep it from hitting the banks; a 2nd man would stand on the stern with a 16' oar, and propel the raft; the 3rd man would stand on the side midsection to help steer. The trio pushed the raft out into the swift current of the Susitna River and before long, they were traveling at (what Herning guessed to be) 10 miles per hour. Floating hour after hour, the men came to a section of the river where the current overpowered their control of the raft. The raft was now steering itself and picking up speed; they were totally at the mercy of the river. A group of Athabascan Indians, from a village down river, heard the men screaming and came to their rescue. Paddling birch bark canoes at a high rate of speed, the valiant Native men caught up with the raft ...threw the men a towline and began the heroic struggle of pulling the raft to shore against the fast current. Overjoyed with their escape from certain death, Herning eagerly paid the rescuers to take his men to the Station, a distance of 2 more miles.

The 3 men were a sorry sight when they arrived at Susitna Station: 1 man had no shoes and his pants and shirt were nearly gone; the other 2 men only had the soles of their shoes left and their pants were worn off to the knees. The ACC agent, James Cleghorn, fed the men a welcome banquet of pork and beans, corned beef, bread, butter, cheese, canned peaches, canned apricots, crackers and tea with cream and sugar. After dinner, Herning hired Native men to take the team to the mouth of the Susitna River, a 30 mile, 3 hour canoe trip, he paid them $6.

~~~~~

In mid-July, Herning decided to try a solo (unguided) trip to Willow Creek. He packed 65 pounds of provisions and left Knik by boat at 8:30 PM (to take advantage of the tides). He arrived at Cottonwood 2 hours later and camped for the night. The next morning, he left Cottonwood (at 10:30 AM) on a horse he borrowed from a man named Lee and arrived at Big Lake at 5:45 PM, where he made camp, cared for the horse and slept in the rain under a tarp. He left Big Lake at 8:30 AM, and traveled due north to the Little Susitna River, arriving there at 1:00 PM. After a brief rest and a dinner of fried ptarmigan, he continued on to the base of Bald Mountain, where he spotted some caribou, but he wasn't close enough to shoot one. The next day, he reached the summit of Bald Mountain at 1:00 PM, where he arranged to have Lee's horse taken back to Knik by a prospector that was going that way. From the summit of Bald Mountain, it took Herning 3 more hours to snowshoe over to his mine.

Herning's team spent a total of 80 days working the ground at Grubstake Gulch that first summer. It produced 39 ounces of gold ...not bad considering most of their time was spent staking claims, hauling tons of supplies up to Willow Creek, building dams, and whip sawing enough lumber to build a cabin and 12 sluice boxes which measured 12' long x 16' wide x 6" deep.

In late August, with the mining season winding down, Herning's team wanted to build 2 food caches south of Knik Station for future use. The 1st cache was built at Goose Bay. The 2nd food cache was built at (what Herning called) Crescent Bay, directly across the Knik Arm from Goose Bay. He predicted major growth for Crescent Bay because of its plentiful fresh water, wood, game, and a deep bay; he predicted it would someday be the "Skagway of Cook Inlet".

With the food caches completed, the men headed for their main supply camp at the mouth of the Susitna River. In route, they stopped on the beach, just west of the Little Susitna River, to inspect an abandoned ACC store building precariously perched in shallow water at high tide. The 1898 Lake George flood had washed the building from its original Knik River foundation and floated it, intact (including merchandise) down the Knik Arm to the Cook Inlet mud flats. The building and its contents would soon be devoured by scavengers and the Cook Inlet tides.

~~~

Herning's wife Mattie had always been a very social person who loved the bustle of city life. In 1901, she reluctantly came to Alaska, only to discover that she would be the only non-Athabascan woman in Knik. She spent weeks at a time, alone with their 6 year old son, while her husband worked on his gold claim some 35+ horse miles away. Their home was a tiny log cabin with few amenities and no plumbing (water was hauled from a nearby lake).

Martha Amelia "Mattie" Herning

The Hernin's son, Elmer, loved Knik where there were many Athabascan children to play with. He also enjoyed going up to the the gold claims with his father, where miners built him miniature sluice boxes and took him hunting for ptarmigan.

In 1904, the Herning's went to Seattle where a doctor told them that 9 year old Elmer had a weak heart and diabetes, so that winter, they decided to live in the new railroad town of Seward where they would be close to a doctor. They bought a 30' x 100' building lot (on 3rd Avenue) for $250 cash and had a 20' x 26' (6 room) cottage built on it.

The Herning's (who were expecting another baby) hatched a plan to open a trading post at Knik. Over the next couple of months they ordered $1,500 worth of groceries and hardware (almost $50,000 by today's dollar values) and stored it in the attic of their new cottage.

The new baby, George Stanley Herning, was born in Seward two months prematurely, delivered by Dr. Sleem on 12/6/1904.


George Stanley Herning


In the spring of 1905, Herning went back to Knik by himself and turned their cabin into a trading post, then added 3 rooms to the side of it (where the family would live). They called the store, the Knik Trading Company.


Knik Trading Company  1905-1917


In the fall of 1906, 10 year old Elmer Herning was seriously ill and the nearest doctor was 200 miles from Knik by boat. Herning tried valiantly to save his son but nothing worked. He wrote in his journal:
8/11/1906  Elmer's condition normal up to evening, heart beginning to weaken, gave whiskey and strychnine for heart. Gave him sponge bath. At times he's not right in mind.

8/12/1906  Elmer very weak, refused to take food, in a coma, pulse 120, no fever.

8/13/1906  Up all night with Elmer, temperature was normal up to 7:30 AM, when his heart action began to grow weak and heart stimulants would not revive him. Gave him 4 hypodermics of whiskey and strychnine. He gradually grew weak and the poor little fellow breathed his last at 8:30 AM. The poor little man was unconscious the last 36 hours, he died very peacefully, age 10 years 9 months, 26 days. Cause of death, heart trouble and diabetes. Never forgotten.

8/14/1906  Very sad day for Herning family. Had Forty Mile Miller make Elmer's casket, stained walnut and varnished. Bobby Kreidler acted as undertaker and knew his business. Lined casket with white satin and ribbon. Had Elmer's grave dug at NE corner of lot in back of store, lot covered in oats. Had grave lined with canvas and flowers.

8/15/1906  Got ready for Elmer's funeral. Lined store with white cloth and Elmer's friends viewed him in the store AM. Had casket sealed in galvanized iron case which was set inside another case finished in walnut. Buried Elmer at 3:30 PM. Judge Goodell read the service and Mrs. Rowe, Mrs. Howard and Mrs. Goodell, Glen Names, Bobby Kreidler, Whitney, Will Row and the Judge sang. This event will never be forgotten.

Elmer Herning  1895-1906

NOTE: The egg, whiskey and strychnine treatments mentioned above sounded strange to me, so I consulted Dr. Gregory J. Higby, Executive Director of the American Institute of the History of Pharmacy in Wisconsin. He told me: "Those were pretty typical treatments for the time, especially considering Herning's location. Strychnine, which today we consider a poison, was a common stimulant given in very small doses. Whiskey, as well, was considered an invigorating medicine and was official at the time. Back then, a doctor did not wait around,
hoping something would work, instead, he gave all the medications he could think of to a dying patient."

~~~~~

Shortly after his son's death, Herning resigned his position with the Klondike and Boston Gold Mining Company. He spent the next two years improving his trading post and trading with local Athabascans for bear, wolf, fox, lynx and beaver hides. In the fall, he bought barrels of cranberries and hundreds of snowshoes made by villagers which he sold on the Seattle market.

Herning employed local Athabascan's for a wide variety of jobs; whip sawing lumber, guiding, delivering mail and freight, building cabins at his gold claim, making sleds and sewing skins. He bought moose meat from them for 5¢ a pound and whole salmon for 25¢. He also paid them to make rabbit and "parky" squirrel robes and blankets as well as sleds and moose hide mittens.

In 1915, Knik was the fastest growing town in south central Alaska. Residents were banking on early newspaper reports that suggested the railroad tracks would eventually come through (or near) Knik. The town had 3 general stores, 2 hotels, 2 saloons, an assay office, laundry, dog kennel, 2 blacksmith shops (1 owned by Herning), a boat shop, jail, church, candy store, pool hall, barbershop and more.

Knik, Alaska in 1916


When the Alaska Engineering Commission built a railroad construction camp (which they named Wasilla) at mile 15 of the Carle Wagon Road, it became obvious that Knik was not going to be on the main railroad route and the town of Knik quickly became a ghost town. Everyone dismantled their buildings and moved them to Wasilla or the new town of Anchorage by boat or horse and wagon. By the end of 1917, only 2 or 3 buildings remained at Knik.

Herning's diaries recorded many "firsts" in Wasilla from 1917 to 1920. The railroad tracks first reached Wasilla on 5/2/1917; on 5/23/1917, the first automobile arrived by train (it was a "Western Auto Truck" ordered by Fred Nelson). A month after that, on 6/20/1917, the first passenger train came through Wasilla and the Alaska Engineering Commission sold the first building lots in downtown Wasilla:
 
First auction for Wasilla building lots
6/20/1917
BLOCK
 LOT
 PURCHASER
 ADDRESS
 PRICE
1
 1
 Orville G. Herning
 Wasilla
 $50
1
 2
 Orville G. Herning
 Wasilla
 $25
1
 3
 Thomas M. Cavney
 Wasilla
 $25
1
 4
 Oliver Cromwell Miller
 Wasilla
 $25
1
 5
 Harry C. Shough
 Wasilla
 $25
1
 6
 Judson Allen Clark
 Wasilla
 $25
1
 7
 Clark E. Davis
 Wasilla
 $25
1
 8
 Harry R. Brown
 Knik
 $25
1
 9
 Alfred W. Lueders
Anchorage
 $240
1
 10
 William A. Smith
 Anchorage
 $130
1
 11
 Clark E. Davis
 Wasilla
 $130
1
 12
 Henry Rohde
 Anchorage
 $155
1
 13
 Albert  Lee
 Anchorage
 $160
1
 14
 Harry C. Shough
 Anchorage
 $190
1
 15
 John H. Finley and B. Killie
 Anchorage
 $190
1
 16
 Ernest J. Warner and Alfred Renson
 Anchorage
 $210
1
 17
 Ernest E. Hartman
 Wasilla
 $215
1
 18
 Orville G. Herning
 Wasilla
 $280
2
 1
 Howard W. Wilmoth
 Wasilla
 $260
2
 2
 Charles Carlson
 Anchorage
 $150
2
 3
 John A. Carmody
 Anchorage
 $160
2
 4
 Thomas D. Corlew
 Anchorage
 $175
2
 5
 Harry R. Brown
 Knik
 $175
2
 6
 J. Harry Lander
 Wasilla
 $100
2
 7
 Charles H. Kidd
 Wasilla
 $125
2
 8
 Evan W. Edwards
 Anchorage
 $135
2
 9
 William A. Smith
 Anchorage
 $155
2
 10
 Otto H. Frisk and Iber Nearhouse
 Anchorage
 $280
2
 11
 Egbert McDonald
 Wasilla
 $75
2
 12
 George Zink
 Wasilla
 $50
2
 13
 Fred Nelson
 Wasilla
 $55
2
 14
 Louis Lawsen
 Anchorage
 $50
2
 15
 James  E. Stone
 Miller House on Valdez Trail
 $55
2
 16
 Joseph  C. Brassel
 Wasilla
 $50
2
 17
 Lawrence  F. Linden
 Wasilla
 $50
2
 18
 Oliver  W. Evans
 Anchorage
 $140
3
 1
 Oscar Tryck
 Wasilla
 $130
3
 2
 Gus Swanson
 Knik
 $70
7
 1
 John Lunstedt
 Anchorage
 $250
7
 2
 Eser Wikholm
 Anchorage
 $140
7
 3
 Mathew W. Diedrick and Alfred Shyman
 Anchorage
 $110
7
 4
 John   Hylin
 Wasilla
 $80
7
 5
 John McIlroy
 Wasilla
 $110
7
 6
 Don  S.  Rae
 Wasilla
 $25
7
 7
 Don  S.  Rae
 Wasilla
 $25
7
 8
 Matt Rooney
 Wasilla
 $55
7
 9
 Abe Reising
 Wasilla
 $60
7
 10
 Nell  Beattie
 Matanuska
 $105
8
 1
 Christian Beck
 Wasilla
 $25
8
 2
 Harry R. Brown
 Knik
 $25
8
 5
 John   H.  McCallie
 Wasilla
 $25
8
 6
 Edward    M.  Spaulding
 Wasilla
 $75
8
 7
 Eser  Wikholm
 Anchorage
 $90







In the summer of 1917, Herning hired Fred Nelson to build a 24' x 80' general store for him on Main Street. That fall, there were 10 school aged children living in the area and talk turned to building a school. An unofficial school board election was held on 8/2/1917 and 36 votes were cast; Mr. Herning was elected treasurer. He immediately started gathering bids and estimates for labor and supplies to build a school, the lowest bid totaled $3,100. Herning wrote the funding request and wired it to the Alaska Territorial Governor on 10/1/1917; four days later he received a return wire saying that the project had been approved.

Two weeks after the funding was approval, the lumber for the school arrived by train from Anchorage and construction started  immediately. The first day of school was on 11/26/1917, with Miss Ora Dee Clark as teacher. From "pipe dream" to first day of school took, just shy of 4 months.
~~~~~

In 1936, after living in the back of the families Wasilla store(with no electricity or plumbing)for 20 years, Mr. Herning drew up plans for a "modern house" for his wife Mattie. In 1937, Fred Nelson and Jakob Metz were hired to build the house and put in the plumbing. Bill Stolt (later owned Stolt Electric in Anchorage) wired the new house, even though electricity would not reach Wasilla until 1942. As promised, the home had many modern conveniences like appliances, a 500 watt Onan generator, a modern coal furnace, hard wood floors, a lawn and above all, it had a well (the first building in Wasilla to have running water).

There was just one problem with Herning's new "high tech" house. Mrs. Herning refused to live in it. Instead, she chose to remain in the family store apartment, wash clothes by hand and use an outhouse. She often told friends that she would only move out of the store if she could live in Seattle or Anchorage.

When Mr. Herning died in 1947, the store and house were sold to Walter and Vivian Teeland. When the Teeland's retired in 1972, the buildings were sold to the Julian Mead family. Today, the buildings are on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places and  have been moved to the Wasilla Historic Town Site behind the Museum.
~~~~~

Right from the beginning, Herning was always generous with his time and talents. He had a well stocked supply of pharmaceutical ingredients, and knew how to use them since he worked as a pharmacists assistant as a youth. He was often called on to care for  sick or injured  people (and animals) and occasionally carried out the job of coroner in early Knik.
 
In 1898, Herning and J.N.Johnston published the first (ever) detailed map of the area between Hope and Mt. McKinley, showing rivers, trails, boat routes and gold claims. Before law formally arrived at Knik, Herning was part of an informal court that dealt with local scofflaws. He was also instrumental in building the first school at Knik in 1912 and the first school in Wasilla in 1917.

Herning acted as the "unofficial bank" of Wasilla for 30 years. He cashed checks, collected debts for people, carried lines of credit and held money and valuables for people in his store safe. He was well respected, hard working, and scrupulously honest. He had a long memory and never forgot someone that did him a favor (or cheated him). He is the unsung patriarch of the Wasilla we see today and the quintessential Alaskan pioneer.



CLICK HERE TO READ HERNING LETTER
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HERNING  FAMILY TREE
(Originally spelled Hurning)



                      Orville George Herning  Born: 7/30/1868 Eyota, Olmsted County, Minnesota  
                                              Died 4/18/1947 Anchorage, Alaska

                                              Father: Elmer S. Hurning 1844-1923  
                                              Mother: Abigail "Abbie" Kendall 1849-1880

                                              Sister: Clara born: 12/17/1865 (married Richard Smith)
                                 
                                              Stepmother: Mary R. Strafford (Herning)
                                              1 half-brother: Roe Strafford Herning  1888-1956

                       

                     His Wife: Martha Amelia "Mattie" Rogers (Herning)
                                              Born: 10/30/1869 Naugatuck, Connecticut
                                              Died: 1/6/1958   Seattle, Washington(buried in Anchorage)

                     Orville G. and Mattie's Children:
                                          1.  Elmer Herning  born: 10/18/1895 Naugatuck, Connecticut  
                                                             died:  8/13/1906  Knik, Alaska

                                          2.  George Stanley Herning  Born: 12/6/1904  Seward, Alaska
                                                                      Died: 1987  Missouri
                                                      Wife: Eva Marie Fleckenstein Born: 1904 California
                                                                                   Died: 1958 California
                                                                   
                                                        George Stanley Herning's Children:
                                                        1. Marie Martha Herning born 4/2/1932
                                                        2. George Stanley "Buddy" Herning born 12/23/1936
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