Nenana Ice Classic is underway

Welcome to Spring. Or as we put it here, welcome to Breakup.

Though that sounds like a marital problem it is known to Alaskans as the season when warm weather causes the ice to melt in many places, including our rivers.

That is, the ice ‘breaks up’ and much of it flows downstream into lakes and — in many cases — into the mouths of rivers. From there it often floats out to sea. Of course, a lot of the ice simply melts in place and doesn’t go anywhere. That is generally the case in our lakes.

Breakup is an annual phenomenon that can be counted on in almost all of our state, even on the Arctic coast. Years ago Alaska’s pioneers looked forward to it as a sign of approaching summer and began betting on when the ice would go out at a selected spot. That spot was the Tanana River at Nenana in Alaska’s Interior region.

The rivers are highways for many Alaskans during much of the year. They travel by boat in summer and snow-machine in winter. In the years before we had snow-machines the pioneers traveled on snowshoes and dogsled during the cold months--and those worked well on river ice. Nowadays they can travel much longer distances with motorized transportation.

Breakup became a much-anticipated event over the years and focus on it led to betting on when the ice would go out. The pioneers selected the Tanana River and Nenana as the place to mark the ice movement. The betting was formalized into a lottery in 1917 when workers were building the Alaska Railroad.

That first lottery offered a prize of $800 and a marker was frozen into the river ice. The marker was attached by a shore-fast line. When the tripod on which the marker was attached moved far enough it tripped a clock that noted the time. The winner was the participant whose guess came closest to the moment when the tripod moved and the clock stopped.

The Nenana Ice Classic continues today. It’s run by a non-profit organization and has become a major fundraiser for a number of charities. This year the Ice Classic folks — the people of the village of Nenana — started measuring on January 11 when the ice was 27 inches thick. By last Sunday it had grown to a thickness of 32.2 inches.

This year the recipients of the proceeds will be the American Cancer Society, the Boy Scouts of America, the Nenana Public Library, the Nenana Senior Center, the Fairbanks Food Bank, four scholarship programs and a number of other charitable groups.

Though gambling is considered something of a naughty thing, this gambling project has developed as an important supporter to groups that do good things for members of the Alaska community. It is, therefore, a net positive for individuals and communities throughout Alaska and far beyond its borders.

You can, therefore, buy a ticket and make your guess without having your guardian angel break into a frown. If that angel has $2.50 in its pocket, it might even buy a ticket and start rooting for the ice to move on the selected time and day. It knows plenty of good places to donate winnings.

Let’s hope you and your angel make good guesses. Last year the ice went out at 12:50 p.m. on Friday, April 30 and the 12 people who guessed that day and time split a pot of almost $234,000. Each of them got $19,465.92.

It’s a nice prize, the entry fee is modest and a ticket gives holders a special reason to look forward to the changing of the season.

It’s an Alaska tradition that most people have positive feelings about.

Tom Brennan is an Anchorage columnist and author of six books. He was a reporter/columnist for The Anchorage Times and an editor and columnist at The Voice of The Times.