Ansgar Clausen and his wife, Ida, were longtime residents of Ester, known for their gardens, generosity, and entertaining. Ida Laine was the stage name for Eleanor Loback Garwood, a talented jazz musician, piano player, and singer in the Malemute Saloon variety show—indeed, she helped to write the show. She was a superb cook and wrote and published a cookbook. Several of her recipes are still distributed by the Cooperative Extension Service. Her old Monarch four-burner cast iron cook stove and oven is still in the cabin, where it has served in the past as backup heat when the power has gone out.
Additionally, she wrote a news column about Ester for many years in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner; became a member of the Pioneers of Alaska; ran a dog grooming shop (Ida’s Clip Joint); and was a painter and folk artist, teaching and winning prizes for her tole painting. The Ida Laine Clausen Gazebo is named in her honor.
Ansgar first arrived in Fairbanks in May 1940, coming up from Seward on the train. * He became an engineer and miner and employee of the Fairbanks Exploration Company, was a dragline crewmember and Cat operator, and helped move Dragline No. 6 to Sheep Creek in the winter of 1957-1958. (An audio interview with Ansgar Clausen is available at the Rasmuson Library about working for the F.E. Company.) He later worked for the Alaska Department of Transportation. He was known for his gardening, fondness for storytelling and tall tales, and cabinet of whiskey for himself and his many visitors and friends. He and Ida dated for many years in a great and still-talked about romance, but did not marry until 1974, the year this cabin was built.
* For more on Ansgar’s early time in Alaska, see Letters to Arthur, reprinted from The Ester Republic.
