Smith auction ends today

WASILLA — Born in Naknek June 4, 1933, to Ellen and commercial fisherman Floyd Smith, “Dave” embodied the Alaska Spirit. He was the fourth of five siblings who all grew up on the original Smith homestead in Wasilla.

The homestead was acquired in the late 1930s, early 1940s. The original homestead encompassed both sides of Knik-Goose Bay Road. Dave’s father, Floyd, donated the land for the Floyd Smith Senior Center, part of the Wasilla Senior Center campus. And Dave’s mother’s original Colony House from the homestead is now on display at the Alaska State Fairgrounds in Palmer.

Dave was a U.S. Army Veteran stationed at Fort Richardson from 1953 to 1955. Dave started Wasilla Aggregate in 1969. It was the only block and cement plant in Wasilla at the time and has always been family owed and operated. The business changed its named to Wasilla Concrete in the early 1980s.

Dave was an outdoorsman who loved hunting, fishing, gold mining and trapping. He even tried his luck racing sled dogs in the 1970s. Growing up he worked many jobs, including at the Jonesville Coal Mine, building the original Whittier tunnel and the Eklutna Tunnel. He fished with his father in Bristol Bay and his brother, Joe, on a commercial Crabber. Dave was also involved in seine, pot-shrimp, halibut long line and most recently, set-net for salmon. Commercial Fishing was one of his passions.

Dave passed away April 14, 2013, at home on part of the original homestead on Cottonwood Creek. He leaves a legacy of hard work, independence and his love of Alaska.

An auction — conducted by Webb Auction and Appraisal — to liquidate the personal property on the original homestead continues today at Mile 1.1, Knik-Goose Bay Road.

The sale includes hundreds of traps, commercial fishing equipment, gold mining equipment, concrete trucks, fork lifts, Dodge Power wagons, M37 Military Wagons, an entire meat processing shop, the contents of a five-bay shop, and an air strip lined with items.

For more information, visit webbauctionak.com, or call 232-0602.