"Going down to see the models and displays I built"

I re-built this stairway at the Dorothy G. Page museum, Wasilla, Alaska, last fall. The idea was to simulate going down into a gold mine, since many of the exhibits are about gold mining in the Hatcher Pass area of the Talkeetna mountains.

The stairs stop about halfway down and the rest is painted on the wall ahead of you. The old rough-cut beams are from the Herning-Teeland store building which was constructed in 1919 at Wasilla, Alaska. I donated one of the lanterns. The simulated rock is made of hydrocal, cast in latex molds I made from coal. The kids really love this stairway. It's not really like an actual mine shaft, but gives the feeling.

The displays I've built here are a model of Independence Valley, which is on my Museum Displays page, Wasilla in the early 20's, which I still need to photograph, Wildlife of Alaska, which I still need to photograph, and a gold ore display, which I still need to photograph. Sigh.

This one shows that from a certain angle, you can't tell where the stairs end and the painting begins. Cool.