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, an event which later inspired the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, the Tolovana Roadhouse is one of only two remaining roadhouses on the Nenana-Nome mail trail. When the Iditarod was re-routed to start in Fairbanks due to lack fo snow in 2015 and 2017, the Roadhouse served as a hospitality stop for race teams on their way to Nome. 

 

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 Tolovana Roadhouse 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. In partnership with Kathy Lenninger, they operated a dogsled tour company for many years between Nenana and the roadhouse.

Later, Doug and his wife Becky Bowers made their home there, and welcomed passing travelers until a flood in 2008 caused significant damage to the property. Leslie Goodwin-Williams and Dave Williams took over the site in 2010, and continued the work of preserving and restoring the lodge while providing wilderness experiences for visitors. Wild Root Kennel is honored to take on the care and preserving this historic landmark, and keeping the doors open for wilderness travelers and adventurers in the years to come.