Refuge History

Andrew Berg Homestead Cabin

Andrew Berg, a Finnish immigrant, arrived on the Kenai Peninsula in the late 1880's to search for gold and furs.

In 1897, Berg started his career as a hunting guide by guiding Dall De Weese, a big game hunter from Colorado.  In 1902, he built a cabin on the shores of Tustumena Lake near Indian Creek.  This cabin is now on the National Historical Register. 

In 1910, Andrew Berg obtained the number "1" guide badge and license.  He was appointed as a Game Warden for the Territory of Alaska in 1920.  Berg held the post in Kenai, Alaska until October 1927.

From 1924 to 1936, Andrew Berg worked summers for the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries as a Stream Guard and Special Warden.

In 1935, he started building a cabin on Tustumena Lake near an old cabin built by William Freeman. In his diary he called this new cabin his "Homestead" cabin. 

The following information is taken from his diary, in his words and spelling:

April 1935

Sunday 21, working at building new cabin got the foundation squared.

Monday 22.  Kept me busy all day to get down four logs and at that I did not get the fouth finis.

Saturday 27.  put in a good day have the wals up halfways.

April 1937

Thursday 15.  Started early for Camp Friman have been down there clearing land & finishing cabin.

The Homestead cabin is built of spruce logs.  The dimensions of the single room cabin are 14 feet long, by 12 feet wide.  The logs are interlocked with a full dovetail notch and cupped lengthwise on the bottoms to provide a tight fit over the logs below.  The cabin is chinked with native moss.

In February 1939, a friend found Berg ill at his cabin on Tustumena Lake.  A radio call summoned a plane that took him to the hospital in Anchorage, and there Andrew Berg died in bed on March 1, 1939. 

In the spring of 2000, the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge staff decided to move the Homestead cabin from the shores of Tustumena Lake to the refuge visitor center so that it can be preserved and used for interpretive purposes.

Before disassembling the cabin, measurements were taken and all the logs cataloged and labeled.

In July, refuge staff, with the help of volunteers and Youth conservation Corps high school students, dismantled the cabin and moved the pieces to the visitor center.

An old-fashioned cabin raising was held in the fall of 2000.  Volunteers from the community spent a whole day restoring the Homestead cabin.

The ridgepole is being taken to the cabin.  This is the last log to put on before the roof is assembled.

Last updated: September 11, 2008