Preserving a Historical Landmark
Donation protected
The owners of this Historical boat must move it to preserve it for the community . The boat is being moved onto a piece of property adjacent to the one its on now. The cost is over $20,000. The Family is donating this property to the Chugiak Volunteer Fire Department and they have assured that the Historical landmark/Icon will be forever protected and preserved.
The reason it must be moved from its current location is that it sits on two pieces of property. The parcel that is being donated and a parcel that is being sold at market value with all proceeds being donated to our Wounded Vets. This organization works here in Alaska and has been chosen by the family and has excepted the donation.
Throughout all the years this Historical Boat has become part of Chugiak and to see it forgotten and turn into a rotten shipwreck or even worse, be completely destroyed because the land may be more valuable than an old boat to someone who knows nothing about her would be disrespectful to the valiant savior Thillman Wallace, who sadly passed March 24, 2015.
The Story Behind the Cause,
20 miles North of Anchorage in Chugiak Alaska "Place Of Many Places" in the woods off the Old Glenn Highway a Historical sleeping beauty made of wood 103 years ago, stretches out for all her admirers. She awaits the dreamers.
The world changes but she remains allegiant to her time.
The Chacon,
She is majestic, worn and weathered from years of rigorous work on stormy seas then layed to rest like a beached whale on the ocean floor, only to be seen on a changing tide. For many years she layed waiting for her valient savior. Filling with sand and seacreatures crawling through holes from the iceberg she cracked with her haul near Yakutat years past, and with the bashing of each tide her predicament was deteriorating. As fate would have it, many passed her by only to overlook her. Due to her age and condition she was found not worthy of the effort or expence of salvation.
On a rainy day, through the mist she was barely visible, her beauty captivated a sailors eyes and like a siren she beckoned for resurrection. The daunting task of recovery began, months of gritt and determination of her new Captain and his ship mates along with the perfect hightide, she bobbed up like a cork and gleamed equal to a priceless treasure, a true diamond in the ruff. Her paint washed with the many tides was faded, only a tindge of green remains and many crustaceans made a home out of her, encrusting her rudder and underbelly.
The Captain, Thillman Wallace and his eldest brother Art pronounced themselves" Pirates" and together with only a English bulldog "Abigale" as a deck hand set sail for the Port of Anchorage. Hearts pounding with both fear and excitment the experience was well worth the strife.
The high sea adventure would take them 24 hours from Homer. The water was quite and they kept on schedule. Suddenly Abigale the English Bulldog fell overboard! Bulldogs are by no means buoyant, Til, from the corner of his eye sighted the splash and grabbed a fishing net and scooped the poor water-logged canine from the ocean. Nighttime approched and the darkness closed in, they could hear the engines of the tugboat off the bow in the distance and it was a soothing sound, a sound of relief for they knew that they were still afloat. The humming of thier pumps below deck left a profound awareness of the precarious position they were in. Sometime during sleep a couple of pumps stopped and by morning they realized they had been listing to the portside. They rejoiced as they pulled into the Port of Anchorage later that day!
The Chacon looked like she came through a time warp, she was listing, her paint faded, her look was different but she was embelished with the grandest of colors, on her mast waved the flag of Red, White and Blue. In her time, the year she was built,1912, the flag was only made with 48 Stars and Alaska as of August 24,1912 was just a Organized incorporated territory of the United States. New Mexico and Arizona are admitted as states # 47 and #48 and Thomas Woodrow Wilson became President of the United States.
The most recognized maritime catastrophe occured on April 5,1912. The" Unsinkable" Oceanliner Titanic sunk on its maiden voyage after colliding with an iceberge off the coast of Newfoundland.
The Nobel Prize in Physics of science was Gustaf Daleo
( Sweden) for discovery of automatic regulators used in lighting lighthouses and light buoys.
The first attempt to drydock the Chacon, a sling holding her bow broke and she crashed back into the water sending cables from the crane whipping above the heads of men as they ducked for cover and lashed the conex containers stacked for shipping, leaving welts inches deep in their steel sides.
The next attempt, she rose from the water like a magnificent 100 ton Jewel, water poured on the earth like a tsunami and she was cradled in her position for transport. Clearing her deck of anything that was above it was pertinent. Her wheel house and mast along with her beautiful deck rails and machanics all had been stripped leaving her bare. The reasoning for all this was so that she would fit under the bridges on her course. Awaiting her homecoming in Chugiak was a perfectly manicured pad on the side of the main road. She strolled thru Anchorage headed North and onto the weigh station of the Glenn Highway where she broke the record book significantly. On lookers could not believe their eyes as she rolled by in all her glory and mass of 82 feet long and 18 feet wide. Hogging most of two lanes she was quite impressive. The "pit crew" mostly men that worked for Klondike Concrete / Thillman Wallace changed tires like they had been going out of style. The Biggest challenge was getting the heavyweight down Eagle River hill, now recognized as "breaklight hill" and across the bridge that crosses Eagle River. Premeditated for any calamity, two dumptrucks awaited and before the descent connected to the taill end of the tractor trailer in the event of break failure.
The Chacon made it to her destination without peril thanks to good engineering, thinking ahead and sheer luck. 1982 was a year of enormous dreams, restoring the beautiful Chacon and sailing the world. Only the over middle-aged visionary eventually realized he had an elephant by its tail. The Chacon, a monumental undertaking both physically and finacially became overwhelming for a one man show who had his hands full keeping other ventures afloat that produced income.
After the ressurection, hired hands, materials, tugboat fees, engineering, hired cranes, building a pad at the Anchorage port and the pad in Chugiak and many more financial sinkholes, the dream faded into the mist it came from.
Sadly, the few thugs that exist have pillaged her from bow to stern, inside and out only leaving what they could not saw off. She once adorned a solid brass propeller that was cut off at the shaft some years ago.
Throughout the many years she has never been forgotten but become a lighthouse to dreamers from all walks of life. The painter, photographer,restorationists, woodworker, mariners, writers, no matter who or how old, she enlightens the visionary in all.
Protecting history is important for future generations.
Just google " Chacon of Chugiak Alaska"
The reason it must be moved from its current location is that it sits on two pieces of property. The parcel that is being donated and a parcel that is being sold at market value with all proceeds being donated to our Wounded Vets. This organization works here in Alaska and has been chosen by the family and has excepted the donation.
Throughout all the years this Historical Boat has become part of Chugiak and to see it forgotten and turn into a rotten shipwreck or even worse, be completely destroyed because the land may be more valuable than an old boat to someone who knows nothing about her would be disrespectful to the valiant savior Thillman Wallace, who sadly passed March 24, 2015.
The Story Behind the Cause,
20 miles North of Anchorage in Chugiak Alaska "Place Of Many Places" in the woods off the Old Glenn Highway a Historical sleeping beauty made of wood 103 years ago, stretches out for all her admirers. She awaits the dreamers.
The world changes but she remains allegiant to her time.
The Chacon,
She is majestic, worn and weathered from years of rigorous work on stormy seas then layed to rest like a beached whale on the ocean floor, only to be seen on a changing tide. For many years she layed waiting for her valient savior. Filling with sand and seacreatures crawling through holes from the iceberg she cracked with her haul near Yakutat years past, and with the bashing of each tide her predicament was deteriorating. As fate would have it, many passed her by only to overlook her. Due to her age and condition she was found not worthy of the effort or expence of salvation.
On a rainy day, through the mist she was barely visible, her beauty captivated a sailors eyes and like a siren she beckoned for resurrection. The daunting task of recovery began, months of gritt and determination of her new Captain and his ship mates along with the perfect hightide, she bobbed up like a cork and gleamed equal to a priceless treasure, a true diamond in the ruff. Her paint washed with the many tides was faded, only a tindge of green remains and many crustaceans made a home out of her, encrusting her rudder and underbelly.
The Captain, Thillman Wallace and his eldest brother Art pronounced themselves" Pirates" and together with only a English bulldog "Abigale" as a deck hand set sail for the Port of Anchorage. Hearts pounding with both fear and excitment the experience was well worth the strife.
The high sea adventure would take them 24 hours from Homer. The water was quite and they kept on schedule. Suddenly Abigale the English Bulldog fell overboard! Bulldogs are by no means buoyant, Til, from the corner of his eye sighted the splash and grabbed a fishing net and scooped the poor water-logged canine from the ocean. Nighttime approched and the darkness closed in, they could hear the engines of the tugboat off the bow in the distance and it was a soothing sound, a sound of relief for they knew that they were still afloat. The humming of thier pumps below deck left a profound awareness of the precarious position they were in. Sometime during sleep a couple of pumps stopped and by morning they realized they had been listing to the portside. They rejoiced as they pulled into the Port of Anchorage later that day!
The Chacon looked like she came through a time warp, she was listing, her paint faded, her look was different but she was embelished with the grandest of colors, on her mast waved the flag of Red, White and Blue. In her time, the year she was built,1912, the flag was only made with 48 Stars and Alaska as of August 24,1912 was just a Organized incorporated territory of the United States. New Mexico and Arizona are admitted as states # 47 and #48 and Thomas Woodrow Wilson became President of the United States.
The most recognized maritime catastrophe occured on April 5,1912. The" Unsinkable" Oceanliner Titanic sunk on its maiden voyage after colliding with an iceberge off the coast of Newfoundland.
The Nobel Prize in Physics of science was Gustaf Daleo
( Sweden) for discovery of automatic regulators used in lighting lighthouses and light buoys.
The first attempt to drydock the Chacon, a sling holding her bow broke and she crashed back into the water sending cables from the crane whipping above the heads of men as they ducked for cover and lashed the conex containers stacked for shipping, leaving welts inches deep in their steel sides.
The next attempt, she rose from the water like a magnificent 100 ton Jewel, water poured on the earth like a tsunami and she was cradled in her position for transport. Clearing her deck of anything that was above it was pertinent. Her wheel house and mast along with her beautiful deck rails and machanics all had been stripped leaving her bare. The reasoning for all this was so that she would fit under the bridges on her course. Awaiting her homecoming in Chugiak was a perfectly manicured pad on the side of the main road. She strolled thru Anchorage headed North and onto the weigh station of the Glenn Highway where she broke the record book significantly. On lookers could not believe their eyes as she rolled by in all her glory and mass of 82 feet long and 18 feet wide. Hogging most of two lanes she was quite impressive. The "pit crew" mostly men that worked for Klondike Concrete / Thillman Wallace changed tires like they had been going out of style. The Biggest challenge was getting the heavyweight down Eagle River hill, now recognized as "breaklight hill" and across the bridge that crosses Eagle River. Premeditated for any calamity, two dumptrucks awaited and before the descent connected to the taill end of the tractor trailer in the event of break failure.
The Chacon made it to her destination without peril thanks to good engineering, thinking ahead and sheer luck. 1982 was a year of enormous dreams, restoring the beautiful Chacon and sailing the world. Only the over middle-aged visionary eventually realized he had an elephant by its tail. The Chacon, a monumental undertaking both physically and finacially became overwhelming for a one man show who had his hands full keeping other ventures afloat that produced income.
After the ressurection, hired hands, materials, tugboat fees, engineering, hired cranes, building a pad at the Anchorage port and the pad in Chugiak and many more financial sinkholes, the dream faded into the mist it came from.
Sadly, the few thugs that exist have pillaged her from bow to stern, inside and out only leaving what they could not saw off. She once adorned a solid brass propeller that was cut off at the shaft some years ago.
Throughout the many years she has never been forgotten but become a lighthouse to dreamers from all walks of life. The painter, photographer,restorationists, woodworker, mariners, writers, no matter who or how old, she enlightens the visionary in all.
Protecting history is important for future generations.
Just google " Chacon of Chugiak Alaska"
Organizer
Stephanie LeProwse
Organizer
Anchorage, AK
