Sgt. Dwainua
Jim McDowel suggested that the Reid’s look at some
nice wooded property at mile 18. He
showed them the land, and encouraged them to file a Contest on the land which
had been unattended for several months. The land had previously been filed on by a Sgt. Dwainua. The
Sgt. had built a small building; which would be called a vary small shack to
day; on the property. The land was
located at mile 18 on the Palmer Highway, just a 3/4
a mile from Mouse Horn Trading Post to the north, and a 1 and 1/2 miles
from Fire Lake Lodge to the South.
During the early summer of
1947 Sgt. Dwainua would came out on weekends from Elmendorf Air Force Base,
where he was stationed. He worked
on his building, hand clearing and burning brush on the property. The Sgt. had been burning brush one dry hot weekend when his
building caught fire and was burned to the ground, there was less than a trace
of it left, and the clearing was badly blackened.