Moving the Hotel

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Back in 1986. the ARR sold its Healy Hotel, bar & grill and wanted it moved off railroad property. Alaskans will always find a way. So they hired two Usibelli Coal Mine loaders and some dollies and moved it about seven miles to its new home up on the highway. You can see the trouble getting her around corners, and when they got to the main highway they had a choice of Fairbanks to the right or Anchorage to the left. There is an old tale about the night the bikers showed up in Healy and shot up the bar, but that is another story.

Men walked the whole way on either side, checking dollies and watching for problems. One picture I have, a fella actually looks like he is holding the whole load by himself!