Trail History
Between 1908 and 1911, when the Alaska Road Commission was building a winter overland trail between Seward and Nome for the delivery of mail, it became clear that a branch trail to the growing support town of Iditarod and other supply towns was needed. Much of the original trail followed established, traditional travel routes used by Native Alaskans for thousands of years. This trail system became known as the Iditarod Trail, now a designated National Historic Trail. The gold boom was short lived. Supply towns and roadhouses such as Simels, Dikeman, Rennies Landing, and Schermeirs were abandoned and now only serve as historical and cultural resources on the refuge.

In 1978, Congress amended the National Trails System Act to include the Iditarod National Historic Trail. This designated historic trail includes the main trail, which stretches for 938 miles, hundreds of miles of subsidiary and branch trails (and water routes); and the routes currently used in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. A major portion of the trail system, connecting Kaltag on the Yukon River with the mining towns of Flat and Iditarod by way of Dishkakat and Dikeman, passes through the Innoko Refuge. There are also other mining camps and trail segments in the area that are associated with the Iditarod Trail.

Trail Management
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service entered into an interagency agreement with the U.S.D.A. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management concerning the Iditarod National Historic Trail. In the agreement, “the agencies agree to encourage and protect continued public use of trail segments in a manner which recognizes the historic values of the [trail], utilizing right-of-way, easements, management corridors, cooperative agreements with adjacent land owners, and access improvements and side trails as appropriate.” The Iditarod National Historic Trail Comprehensive Management Plan recommends the segment of primary trail on the Innoko Refuge for active management (physical trail management). Since the majority of these lands are located in a designated Wilderness Area, the Service proposes to establish an administrative corridor a minimum of 100 feet wide along the primary route to facilitate management of the trail. Other proposed management actions include surveying the trail, re-marking the historic route with tripods, and considering the construction of trail shelters.

The Iditarod National Historic Trail Comprehensive Management Plan also identifies three major sites within the refuge for priority management Dishkakat, Dikeman and Shermeier’s Halfway Road House. Two are identified for secondary management Dishna and Simels (map .gif); and fourteen other sites categorized as minimum management. For more information, please call the refuge office at (907) 524-3251.

Accomplishments
There have been several surveys of historic sites on the refuge including a 1994 general location survey of Simels, Rennies, Innoko City, Dishkaket, Dikeman, Shermeier’s and Iditarod; a 1996 survey of Dishkakat by Mary Ann Sweeney of the University of Alaska Fairbanks; and a survey of Rennies Landing in 2001. Information has been gathered to submit buildings for listing in the National Register of Historical Structures. There has also been continued coordination with the Iditarod National Historic Trail Committee.

Iditarod Sled Dog Race
Today’s Iditarod Sled Dog Race follows trails located just outside the refuge’s southern boundary (Southern Route) in odd years and outside the eastern boundary to the north (Northern Route) in even years. Staff members routinely volunteer to provide community support during this event.