Katmai
Tourism in Katmai Country
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CHAPTER 2:
ESTABLISHING THE NORTHERN
CONSOLIDATION CONCESSION
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Fig 2. Ray Petersen, who helped found the Katmai camps, began his Alaskan
career as a bush pilot. In 1935-36, he and a partner comprised Bethel
Airways. Petersen, then in his early twenties, posed in front of his
ex-Northwest Airways Travel Air A-6000-A. (Wien Collection, AMHA)
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Fig 3. In the early 1950s, the various
Northern Consolidated Airlines camps were publicized in a wide variety
of fishing and other outdoor magazines. (Katmailand Collection)
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Fig 4. The Katmai camps accounted for a
small percentage of NCA's annual revenues, but the served as a
continuing centerpiece for company publicity. (Katmailand Collection)
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Fig 5. In the late 1950s, NCA teamed up
with Northwest Airlines to offer three-day "Fishermen's Special" tours
from the Midwest to the camps. (Katmailand Collection)
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Fig 6. Chief Needahbeh, a Penobscot
Indian and expert fisherman, travelled to Brooks River in the early
1950s and touted the area's fishing potential to the angling community
in the eastern U.S. (Katmailand Collection)
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Fig 7. Bill Hammersly, who had
homesteaded in the Katmai country since the 1930s, claimed the homestead
adjacent to NCA's Nonvianuk Camp. During the camps' first years of
operation, Hammersly helped the company promote visitation to the camps.
He is shown in front of a map which was drawn for NCA by Muriel Hannah;
that map is now located in Katmailand's Anchorage office. (Wien Collection, AMHA)
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Fig 8. Before long, the fame of Katmai's
fishing spread throughout the country and beyond. By the mid-1950s,
Brooks River was being advertised as one of the top fishing spots on
earth. Featured in this ad was a photo of Enos Bradner, the well-known
outdoor writer for the Seattle Times. (Katmailand Collection)
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Fig 9. In the early 1940s, John Walatka
owned and operated Walatka Air Service, one of the five which became
Northern Consolidated Airlines shortly after World War II. When the
Katmai camps opened in 1950, he became the superintendent of camp
operations. He and Petersen cooperatively managed the camps until
Walatka's death in 1970. He is shown here emerging from a Cessna
T-50. (Wien Collection, AMHA)
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katm/tourism/chap2a.htm
Last Updated: 13-Oct-2004
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