Andrew Berg

Andrew Berg (Anders Berg; October 16, 1869 — March 1, 1939) was an immigrant to the District of Alaska who was a prominent fisher, hunter, and trapper. He became the first licensed big game guide in Alaska.

Early life and emigration Andrew Berg was born Anders Berg on October 16, 1869, in Nykarleby, Finland, then part of the Russian Empire. His father Johan and mother Lovisa owned a small farm. The family also hunted and fished. Because of extreme poverty, Andrew left Finland in 1887 at the age of 16. Along with two other boys from his town, Berg sailed to Hull in England, before travelling to Liverpool by train. He was one of 500 emigrants that were to sail to New York City aboard the St. Andreas. Because of a cholera outbreak, the ship instead sailed to Quebec. The boys travelled to Chicago, then to Michigan City, Indiana, where they obtained work at a sawmill.

After working at the mill for a short time, Berg travelled to his uncle Erik's home in San Francisco. Berg travelled to the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska, likely with his uncle, and took a job at a salmon cannery.

Hunting and guiding

In addition to fishing and trapping, Berg became involved in hunting and exploring in the Kenai Peninsula. During the late 19th century, large moose antlers made their way to the Lower 48 and trophy hunting became a popular business on the Peninsula. A picture of a set of antlers measuring taken by Berg and acquired by a dealer in Tacoma, Washington, was published in Field and Stream in March 1897. After seeing the picture and desiring to discover who had collected the antlers, Dall DeWeese, a wealthy entrepreneur from Colorado with an interest in hunting and wildlife, became the first known person to travel to the Peninsula to hunt. In September 1897, DeWeese found Berg at the cannery where he worked and arranged his release to serve as a guide.

DeWeese returned in 1898, 1899, and 1901, noticing decreased populations of wildlife as a result of the new interest and lack of hunting regulations in the region. He wrote a letter to President Theodore Roosevelt in 1901, asking for regulations and conservation in Alaska.

Following surveys of the region, regulations were established in 1908 that required game wardens, bag limits, and licensed guides. He later served as a warden from 1920 to 1921, and worked for the United States Fish and Wildlife Service from 1924 until 1936.

Cabins Berg built a total of 11 log cabins on the Kenai Peninsula. He built his first, which served as his home, in 1902 on Tustumena Lake. Berg used spruce logs to construct the home cabin, which measures 17 feet wide by 17 feet long. The cabin is located within what is now the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000 as Andrew Berg Cabin. Also in the Refuge is Berg's last cabin, built in 1935, also on Tustumena Lake. In 2000 the cabin was disassembled and moved next to the Refuge's visitor center. The 1935 cabin is open to the public.