Busia Cabin: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Denali National Park and Preserve
NPS Alaska Regional Office. 2008. Busia Cabin: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Denali National Park and Preserve. Cultural Landscapes Inventory Report. 975346. U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. Alaska Regional Office/CLI Database
The Busia Cabin is a contributing feature of the Old Eureka/Kantishna Historic District, located within Denali National Park and Preserve in central Alaska. The cabin site is positioned on the left bank of Moose Creek on a small bench across from the historic townsite of Old Eureka, also known as Kantishna. The historic townsite is off of Park Road, about three miles beyond Wonder Lake and the Wonder Lake Ranger Station. The Busia Cabin landscape derives its significance from its association with the Kantishna Historic District. The site is associated with an era of settlement, mining, and development in the district, reflected in the period of significance (1920 to 1942). The site is locally significant for its association with the historic mining district and the Kantishna Hydraulic Company, as well as for the information potential of its archeological features. These promise to expose a clearer image of the domestic and industrial culture of the mining district and its occupants. The cabin takes its name from Marco and Johnny Busia, immigrants from Croatia who traveled to Kantishna to work in the mine. Many of the cabins that supported these industrial operations were built in 1920, the same year that the Hydraulic plant was planned by the mine’s new owners Dr. James Sutherland and Jack Howell. Contributing landscape characteristics include buildings, structures, and archeological features. The cultural landscape is a historic site that consists of one contributing cabin, two non-contributing structures (an outhouse & generator shed), and numerous contributing archeological deposits. Despite having lost many of its original features, the primary resource of the Busia Cabin persists in good condition. The cabin maintains integrity of location, design, workmanship, materials, feeling, association, and setting. The overall site maintains integrity of location, feeling, association, and setting, although these are threatened by the growth of vegetation on site.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- NPS Alaska Regional Office
- Date of Issue
- 2008-09-25
- Publisher
- U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
- Units
- AKR , DENA
- Keywords
- Alaska, Archeology, camp, Dr. James Sutherland, Ethnic Heritage-Croatian, Exploration-Settlement, Extraction or Mining Industries, Generator Shed, historic site, Industry, Jack Howell, Kantishna Historic Mining District, Kantishna Hydraulic Company, Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Moose Creek, Old Eureka, outhouse, Restoration, Wonder Lake