Knik-Fairview is nearly 18 miles from Anchorage, Alaska, and long before trappers, miners, and homesteaders showed up, it was an important village and trade center for native Alaskans. In time, the village became a trailhead for wagon trains, and then for winter dog sledders, and by the early 20th century, it had grown to a big town. Sadly, Knik’s shine started to fade when local businesses moved to Wasilla,  the town that formed when the new Alaska Railroad route was built between Lake Wasilla and Lake Lucille.

Knik is now the home of the Knik Historical Society located in the last remaining commercial building left in Knik, the Fulton and Hirshey Pool Hall. Why this might interest a dog lover is that on the second floor of the building is the Mushers’ Hall of Fame where visitors can learn about the famous dogs of the early mushers.

Not far from Knik in Wasilla is the Iditarod Museum where visitors can learn about the race’s checkpoints, sled and equipment used, and famous Burled Arch. With no specific marker to show the end of the first Iditarod race, it said that someone ran out into the street when the first musher was arrived and drizzled a package of Kool-Aid across the street to mark the finish line.  During the second Iditarod in 1974, the last two mushers carried paper plates. On one was written “The” and on the other was written, “End.”

The real Togo is also on display there (he doesn’t look a day over 105 years old), as well as signs and symbols of the famous race, autographs, historic photographs and more.  Many purebred dogs are part of the Iditarod story (including Poodles!).