Skip to content
Saturday, January 17, 2026
31°F
Sign Out Sign In Subscribe Newsletter Contact Us
  • Sign Out
  • Sign In
    • Subscriber Center
      • Subscriber Center
      • Subscribe
      • FAQs
    • e-Editions
    • Email Newsletters
    • News
      • News
      • Local
      • State
      • Crime
      • Business
      • Fishing
      • Schools
      • Elections
      • Submit a Story Idea
      • Submit a Photo
      • Submit a Press Release
    • Contests
    • Sports
      • Sports
      • Local
      • State
      • Outdoors
      • Recreation
      • Submit Sports Results
    • Features
      • Arts
      • Entertainment
      • Food
      • Gardening
    • Opinion
      • Opinion
      • Homer News Editorial
      • Letters to the Editor
      • Point of View
      • Submit a Letter to the Editor
    • Community
      • Community
      • Announcements
      • Births
      • Obituaries
      • Pet of the Week
      • Weddings
      • Cops and Courts
      • Submit an Announcement
      • Submit a Wedding Announcement
      • Submit an Engagement Announcement
      • Submit a Birth Announcement
      • Local Weather
    • Obituaries
      • Obituaries
      • Place an Obituary
    • Weather
    • Classifieds
      • Classifieds
      • Place a Classified Ad
      • Legal Notices
    • Contact Us
    • Policies & Terms
      • Comments
      • Privacy
      • Terms of Use
    Homer News
    31°F
    • News
    • Sports
    • Features
    • Contests
    • Opinion
    • Community
    • Obituaries
    • Weather
    • Classifieds
    • Marketplace
    • All Sections
          • News
            • News
            • Local
            • State
            • Crime
            • Business
            • Fishing
            • Schools
            • Elections
            • Submit a Story Idea
            • Submit a Press Release
            • Submit a Photo
          • Sports
            • Sports
            • Local
            • State
            • Outdoors
            • Recreation
            • Submit Sports Results
          • Opinion
            • Opinion
            • Homer News Editorial
            • Letters to the Editor
            • Point of View
            • Submit a Letter to the Editor
          • Features
            • Features
            • Arts
            • Entertainment
            • Food
            • Gardening
          • Obituaries
            • Obituaries
            • Place an Obituary
          • Classifieds
            • Classifieds
            • Place a Classified Ad
            • Legal Notices
          • Community
            • Community
            • Announcements
            • Births
            • Obituaries
            • Pet of the Week
            • Weddings
            • Cops and Courts
            • Calendar
            • Submit an Announcement
            • Submit an Engagement Announcement
            • Submit a Wedding Announcement
            • Submit a Birth Announcement
          • e-Editions
          • Marketplace
    Local History
    This excerpt from a U.S. Geological Survey map shows the approximate location of Snug Harbor on lower Kenai Lake. It was in this area that William Weaver nearly drowned in 1910.
    Ben Swesey: More to the story — Part...
    By Clark Fair • January 15, 2026 1:30 am

    AUTHOR’S NOTE: Michigan’s hard-luck Swesey clan sprang into existence because of the misfortunes of the Basom clan. All those trials…

    Read Story

    This is the gravesite of Ben Swesey’s mother, Eliza, in Vermillion, South Dakota. (Photo from findagrave.com)
    Ben Swesey: More to the story — Part...
    By Clark Fair • January 8, 2026 1:30 am

    More than a hundred years after Ben Swesey and Bill Weaver steered an outboard-powered dory out of Resurrection Bay and…

    Read Story

    tease
    The experiment: Kenai becomes an agricultural test site...
    By Clark Fair • January 1, 2026 1:30 am

    Over the past 50 years or more, the City of Kenai has attempted on several occasions to capitalize on its…

    Read Story

    tease
    The experiment: Kenai becomes an agricultural test site...
    By Clark Fair • December 25, 2025 1:30 am

    AUTHOR’S NOTE: After the agricultural experiment station in Kenai closed May 1, 1908, Alaska station supervisor C.C. Georgeson had to…

    Read Story

    Pictured here with trophies of his trade is P.F. “Frenchy” Vian, a bit of a hustler who lived in Kenai for about 20 years and took advantage of opportunities, fairly or not, when they were presented to him. One of those opportunities involved the defunct agricultural experiment station at Kenai. (Photo courtesy of the Viani Family Collection)
    The experiment: Kenai becomes an agricultural test site...
    By Clark Fair • December 18, 2025 1:30 am

    AUTHOR’S NOTE: By 1907, the end of the line had nearly arrived for Kenai’s agricultural experiment station, which had begun…

    Read Story

    Prof. C.C. Georgeson, circa 1910s, inspects an apple tree on one of his Alaska agricultural experiment stations. (Image from the Rasmuson Library historical archives at the University of Alaska Fairbanks)
    The experiment: Kenai becomes an agricultural test site...
    By Clark Fair • December 11, 2025 1:30 am

    AUTHOR’S NOTE: A presidential executive order in January 1899 had set aside 320 acres of land near Russian Orthodox Church…

    Read Story

    Artifacts from the Pratt Museum's permanent collection are on display alongside the Homer High School Alaska History class's temporary exhibit at the museum on Friday, Dec. 5, 2025, in Homer, Alaska. (Delcenia Cosman/Homer News)
    Homer High students showcase Alaska history exhibit at...
    By Delcenia Cosman • December 10, 2025 8:30 am

    The exhibit was put on by the Pratt Museum and members of the HHS Alaska history class, using Alaskan artifacts from the museum’s permanent collection.

    Read Story

    Photo from a circa 1906-07 U.S. Department of Agriculture report on Alaska’s agricultural experiment stations
Hardy Galloway cattle, from Scotland, were transplanted to the agricultural experiment station at Kenai in 1906. The Kenai Station’s main quarters can be seen in the background.
    The experiment: Kenai becomes an agricultural test site...
    By Clark Fair • December 4, 2025 1:30 am

    AUTHOR’S NOTE: A presidential executive order in January 1899 had set aside 320 acres of land near Russian Orthodox Church…

    Read Story

    This U.S. Department of Agriculture photograph, from the 1903 report on Alaskan agricultural experiment stations, shows some of the buildings at the Kenai Station, including the superintendent’s main quarters, at far left.
    The experiment: Kenai becomes an agricultural test site...
    By Clark Fair • November 27, 2025 1:30 am

    AUTHOR’S NOTE: Presidential Executive Order #148, in January 1899, had set aside 320 acres of land near Russian Orthodox Church…

    Read Story

    This 1903 photograph of mostly Kenai residents shows (back, far left) Hans Peter Nielsen, first superintendent of Kenai’s agricultural experiment station. Nielsen began work at the station in 1899 and resigned at the end of the 1903 season. (Photo from the Alaska State Library historical collection)
    The experiment: Kenai becomes an agricultural test site...
    By Clark Fair • November 20, 2025 1:30 am

    AUTHOR’S NOTE: Presidential Executive Order #148, in January 1899, had set aside 320 acres of land near Russian Orthodox Church…

    Read Story

    The historic marker in front of this building at 502A Overland Avenue in Kenai identifies the structure as the former headquarters of the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge and the site of the former Agricultural Experiment Station, 1899-1908. Photo by Clark Fair
    The Experiment: Kenai becomes an agricultural test site...
    By Clark Fair • November 13, 2025 1:30 am

    Individuals deciding to explore Kenai’s historic district might start their journey by turning off the Kenai Spur Highway onto Main…

    Read Story

    John W. Eddy was already a renowned outdoor adventurer and writer when he penned this book in 1930, 15 years after the mystery of King David Thurman’s disappearance had been solved. Eddy’s version of the story, which often featured wild speculation and deviated widely from the facts, became, for many years, the accepted recounting of events.
    King Thurman: An abbreviated life — Part 6
    By Clark Fair • November 6, 2025 1:30 am

    AUTHOR’S NOTE: The fate of King David Thurman, a Cooper Landing-area resident, had finally been learned in February and March…

    Read Story

    James Forrest Kalles (shown here with his daughters, Margaret and Emma) became the guardian of King David Thurman’s estate in early 1915 after Thurman went missing in 1914 and was presumed dead. (Public photo from ancestry.com)
    King Thurman: An abbreviated life — Part 5
    By Clark Fair • October 30, 2025 1:30 am

    AUTHOR’S NOTE: King David Thurman left his Cooper Landing-area home in late July 1914 for another season of mining. He…

    Read Story

    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • …
    • Last

    Sign Up For Our Newsletters

    Subscribe to our e-mail newsletter to receive updates.

    Sign Up

    Have a story idea? Contact us here!

    Featured Local Savings

    • News
    • Sports
    • Opinion
    • Obituaries
    • Business
    Quicklinks
    • Subscribe
    • Subscriber Center
    • e-Editions
    • Newsletters
    • Media Solutions
    About Us
    • About Us
    • Terms of Use
    • Your Privacy
    • Accessibility
    • Contact Us
    Homer News
    • Sound Publishing Inc. Logo
    • A subsidiary of Black Press Media
    • Work With Us
    © 2026 Homer News + Sound Publishing + Black Press Media. All Rights Reserved.
    Powered By NewzBoost