Two Nome area attractions nominated for National Register

NOME (AP) -- Solomon's Last Train to Nowhere and the Swanberg Dredge soon may be joining the National Register of Historic Places.

The Alaska Historical Commission approved forwarding the sites to Washington, D.C., at a meeting last month.

The Solomon trains operated between Solomon and Council on the Seward Peninsula, from 1903 to 1913. The Solomon River Railroad Co. ran the steam engines until it filed for bankruptcy protection in 1906. Several other companies ran the railroad until weather damaged a portion of the track.

Three of the four remaining engines of their kind still are there.

The Swanberg Dredge worked Nome beaches from 1946 until 1974. It has become a tourist attraction since then.

The Alaska Historical Commission believes it qualifies for the register because of a special kind of construction that made it the only dredge fitted to mine gold off the beaches. The 43 other dredges were used to mine from pre-thawed sections of permafrost.

Listing on the national register makes the sites eligible for federal grants for preservation and restoration.