Yakutat FSS Building

Yakutat FSS (YAK), Alaska
Many years ago this aircraft hanger was used to house the FSS upstairs . The facility was later relocated to another building but has since been closed and remoted to Juneau AFSS.  The hanger is used for parking for local private aircraft but is no longer maintained.

Yakataga Housing, 1957

Yakataga Housing (CYT), Alaska, 1957
FAA employee housing compound. John Keith and family were stationed at Yakataga, and his young son at the time, also named John Keith, submitted the following comment:

What we liked best about the mail was getting two new movies, I think every two weeks….long before Netflix.  There was a 16mm projector to show the films and even though I was just a kid, I was the de facto movie guy.  I’d show them at night when they first came, then any other time they were requested.  We had a small community center we used for that” (located on the far left of the above photo).

Yakataga, FAA C-123 Aircraft, 1957

Yakataga FSS (CYT), Alaska 1957
The well known FAA owned C-123 cargo plane parked on the ramp at Yakataga. At the time of this photo the aircraft was brand new and yet to be painted with FAA colors.  This aircraft served FAA bush facilities throughout Alaska for many years, delivering food and household goods to hundreds of FAA employees. The FSS building can be seen to the far right off the nose of the aircraft.

Yakataga Mail Day, 1957

Yakataga FSS (CYT), Alaska, 1957
A major event for the Yakataga FAA families as they head to the airport to pickup their mail (FSS building in background).  Mail was delivered by Cordova Airlines flying a DC-3.  Persons identified in this photo are:  Man holding baby – Jim Hayes. To his right, his wife, Florence Hayes.  Barbara Gray in yellow sweater behind Jim Hayes.  Tim Gray, far right in red sweatshirt.  They young girls belong to the Hayes family.  The remainder are unknown.

The following comment was submitted from John R. Keith. possibly one of the children in the above photo. His father was stationed in Yakataga (see Haines, Alaska).

“I can’t remember if we left Yakataga in 1956 or 1957, but I recognized the people in the Mail Day photo. Little Timmy Grey was a year younger than I. We got into a fight over one of the Hays girls, but decided that we didn’t need a girlfriend but needed a buddy to pal around with. When we were there, two non-CAA people lived there. Edna was a Native American who, if I remember correctly, was born there at the turn of the century, when Yakataga was a small gold rush town. She lived out on the Cape in a beautiful two-story Cape Cod house. It had electricity (courtesy of the CAA) but no indoor plumbing, except for a hand pump in the kitchen. She was the Postmaster and handled all the mail. What we liked best about the mail was getting two new movies, I think every two weeks….long before Netflix. There was a 16mm projector to show the films and even though I was just a kid, I was the de facto movie guy. I’d show them at night when they first came, then any other time they were requested. We had a small community center we used for that. It is on the far left of the Yakataga Housing 1957 photo. Our house was the first one shown on the Yakataga Housing2 page.

Yakataga Housing, 1957

Yakataga Housing (CYT), Alaska, 1957
Yakataga employee housing. Building in far rear, right side, contained the generator. Employee, John Keith lived in the first house on the left