Mile 14....A Short History

I'm often asked why our place is called Stewart's Landing and just how did we end up with what might be the most beautiful piece of property on the Kenai River. So I figured that it would make a pretty good story for my readers, its certainly been magic for MP and I.

When I first set eyes on this place in the 1970's that's what it was called. I built this sign for Loren Stewart in 1984 as part of our mutual support system. I met Loren through fishing of course, Woody and I would use the property to launch a canoe and fish silvers at Fall-In-Hole. Woody was a cop at the time and no matter how Loren protected the use of his private property Woody was a hard guy to say no to. Loren was an important man on the Kenai Peninsula. He came after the war and homesteaded using the veterans program and started the first Newspaper on the Peninsula, the Cheechako News. Soldotna was booming with the discovery of oil at Swanson River and the Cheechako was an important part of  the area's maturing process. To this day I'm always impressed by how many people I know that worked for Loren back in the day. Here's a series of picks from the Volume #1, issue #1 dated October 30 1959. You'll get a feel for the times, kinda funny that we're still kicking around the natural gas deal all these years later. And of course you'll see that we didn't even all agree on the name of the town yet and in the last pic you'll see ol Loren had a pretty good sense of humor, my friend.

With homesteader ingenuity Loren took a cat and just pushed gravel to create the road and parking lot pretty much as you see it today. He kept the place private for himself and his many friends through the 70's but by the 80's with a competing newspaper in town he saw the business opportunity and opened the boat launch for public use at 5 bucks a launch. I had my first real boat and as I was spending more time on the river than most of the seagulls, Loren and I got to know each other...and strangely became friends. I say that because we just viewed life and politics a bit differently. Loren could have been the first Tea Party member in the state and me, well I was a little liberal in the day.  Loren didn't like change to well and he really didn't like fishing guides so well. But as the years passed I liked him and he liked me, for a while I was the only fishing guide he allowed to use the place. I'd spend every Monday hauling garbage to the dump. We'd work on the property together, it wasn't long before we were fishing and hunting partners. Some of the best times of my life were hanging out at the launch and sharing 'fellowship' with Loren. Here's a picture of him on a day in the mid 80's  when we were out fishing.

Loren left the planet in 1991. He had a heart problem that he really never told me about. I was a pall bearer and MP took over the everyday business of the boat launch while his daughter Nikki who was in Anchorage made arrangements for the future. Here's a picture of Nkiki on the 3-wheeler with Sam in the 80's, notice that our boys had their life jackets on as soon as they got out of the truck.

Nikki ran the launch some through the 80's and some years MP ran it. Nikki was kind of an Anchorage girl and that with the fact that the boat launch isn't really easy to run she decided to sell the house and the launch. I'll never forget the phone call. She had a financial adviser named Shelia who asked me what I thought the place was worth...I spit out a figure that was huge and Shelia agreed that  number was the same one she was thinking of, we had a deal.....except for one thing....even though we'd worked hard and had saved the 20% down payment we couldn't get financed. Banks only lend money to people that don't need it eh? But this is where friendship came in.  We got direction from people who cared and trusted us. Thanks Chris and Geno. The entire process was gut wrenching and took over a year but in December of 1996 we signed papers and paradise was ours...and the banks. After Nikki signed the papers I confided in her that we kept it secret from everybody (and in Soldotna that's a good trick) because I was afraid somebody with deep pockets would hear about it and make her an offer. She seemed a little stunned and said " but Jeff I wouldn't have sold to anybody but you".

So I learned am awful lot about friendship and the code of the west. Just lately Nikki has sold the last of the Stewart Family river holdings, an 80 acre parcel downriver from us that is now in a Conservancy, more good news for us and the river. We've never really thought of changing the name of Stewart's Landing, after all I believe in what they say about property ownership...you really only rent it from your kids. And, I think to keep the name is a cool way to memorialise Loren and the Stewart family, keep their contributions to our area alive.

For our part we've made a conscious effort to keep the place the same as it's always been and be good stewards of it. We know its an important part of the river culture. We have friends who's family memories go back to this place. Unlike other large river parcels we've resisted the opportunity to develop , we love this place just the way it is and hope to keep it that way. It's special.

Below is this morning's pic of the conditions here at Mile 14....anybody got an icebreaker to rent?

And finally a pic courtesy of my friend Chris Fejes. You know what I say about things when they get a little tough....ya gotta want to do it !