History
The Historic Tolovana Roadhouse is located between Nenana and Manley Hot Springs, at the confluence of the Tanana and Tolovana rivers in interior Alaska. The Roadhouse has served as a safe haven for interior travelers for over one hundred years. Most famous as the first exchange station for diphtheria antitoxin as sled dog teams relayed the serum from Nenana to Nome during the The Serum Run of 1925.
The area around the rivers’ confluence has served as hunting and fishing grounds for the Dena people for millennia. During the early gold rush years, the Tolovana Trading Company was established along the bank of the Tanana river to provide staples for miners and wood for steamships. A telegraph line was run from Nenana to Fort Gibbon in 1904, and a telegraph office remained at the site until 1924. Insulators and wire from the telegraph line can still be seen in places along the trail.
The original Tolovana Trading Company structure was built by John & Annie Riley in 1904. The building burned and was rebuilt in 1910 and again in 1921. The iconic yellow-and-red log building that stands on the shore today was completed in 1924. Henry and Ida Martin owned and operated the roadhouse from then until 1945, the year of the last mail delivery by dog team. As airplane and vehicle travel became the preferred modes of transportation into the region over next few decades, the roadhouse changed hands several times and fell into disrepair, weathering floods, ice jams and storms.
In 1980, the property was purchased and buildings restored by Doug Bowers. With the help of his brother Pete, the Roadhouse was successfully listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. The Roadhouse has been used as a rustic mushing and wilderness lodge since that time. It remains a landmark on the river and trail, and its open-door policy has served many a traveler caught up in inclement weather. When the Iditarod was re-routed to start in Fairbanks due to lack fo snow in 2015, 2017 and 2025, the Roadhouse served as a hospitality stop for race teams on their way to Nome.
Changes in the main channel of the Tanana River over the past decade began slowly eroding the once-stable shoreline in front of the Roadhouse. Although efforts were already underway to fund and plan building relocation, a sudden acceleration of this erosion in the fall of 2025 has necessitated fast-tracking these efforts so the Roadhouse will not be lost to history.
Where can I learn more about the history of the Tolovana Roadhouse?
There are very few first-hand accounts of the Tolovana Roadhouse.
Some additional resources about the region include:
True to the Trail by Anne Verdonk
This book pairs the letters of a young man following adventure from Yukon into Alaska during the early part of the 20th century, paired with his great-granddaughter’s journey to trace his steps. He details several years spent living and working just a few miles from the Tolovana Roadhouse, with great details of life on the river during that era.
Roadhouses of Alaska by Helen Hegener
The Cruelest Miles
by Gay and Laney Salisbury
Detailing the story of the 1925 Serum Run to Nome during the diphtheria epidemic, this book offers a comprehensive look at that historic event and the individuals who made it happen.