Hatcher Pass plan comment period extended to June 15

HATCHER PASS — The comment period has been extended to June 15 on the “Hatcher Pass — Government Peak Unit Development and Asset Management Plan.”

The plan is designed to provide a general direction for the phased development of numerous trails, skiing areas and other recreational facilities in the unit, according to the Mat-Su Borough.

Among the resources listed is the site of the old Carle Wagon Road, but the route is not included in the plan’s assets, according to brothers Lynn and Jim Turner.

“I’d like to see it preserved as a real asset,” Jim Turner said.

Archeologists have confirmed the brothers’ claim that they relocated a portion of the trail that includes a wagon drop that was abandoned about 100 years ago after the Alaska Road Commission upgraded Carle Road from Knik to Independence Mine in Hatcher Pass.

The Turner brothers led a hike a long that section of the trail on Saturday in an effort to share the area’s rich history with their neighbors.

The two said old-timers told them about the trail when they were boys, but they didn’t manage to find its remains until about four years ago when they were men in their 50s.

“We were looking for horses walking down the road,” Lin Turner said of their boyhood search for the old section of wagon road.

A hard copy of the Hatcher Pass — Government Peak Unit Development and Asset Management Plan is available online attached to this story at Frontiersman.com, at the borough and city libraries, or people may contact the MSB Planning and Land Use Division office, 350 E. Dahlia, Palmer, at 745-9851.

Comments may be mailed to the address listed above, emailed to planning@matsugov.us or faxed to 745-9876.

For more information, contact Eileen Probasco at 745-9851.