This is the third installment of a photographic series called dead delta, which examines the shuttered, decaying, and derelict structures in Delta Junction, Alaska where I live.
the auto shop
As you pass the old Clearwater Auto Center on Jack Warren Road it might not be obvious at first glance that the shop has been shuttered for decades. Except for a little rust, the metal exterior seems to be in good shape. However, the faded sign and the vegetation growing in front of the garage betray the property’s disuse. Out back is a junkyard full of dead vehicles, trailers, metal scrap, and tires. The cars and trucks seem almost artfully arranged, and the trees that have grown around them (or, in some cases, through them) help distinguish them as individual curiosities. Some of the vehicle models are long since extinct, and most of them appear to be from the 1960s or 1970s. A couple old Alaska license plates ironically display the state motto “North to the Future”. While most of the shop entrances are still chained or locked, one of the back doors has fallen off. Inside, it appears as if the shop was abandoned overnight. Shelves are still stocked with parts, notes are still pinned to a bulletin board, the office desk is full of records, a calendar still hangs on the wall…
As far as I can tell the shop closed in the early 1990s. The property is one big environmental hazard and liability so I doubt anyone would want to buy it, and it will probably continue to deteriorate for decades to come. Take a stroll through the junkyard and shop via the images below.
The faded sign on the front of the shop appears to be hand-drawn and includes the old phone number. The office window is boarded up and the front doors are locked. Power has been disconnected.
An eight-foot spruce tree grows through an old Chevy Impala.
Many of the vehicles in the junkyard still contain bumper stickers, decals, and other additions like the shag carpet seat cover in this Datsun 1200 that recall the personal lives of their past owners.
A rock on the hood of this truck was probably used for smashing windows. There are only a few intact windows among the dozens and dozens of vehicles in the junkyard.
This Chevrolet Vega still features a Fort Greely decal. The Vega was last produced in 1977.
Some of the vehicles were hit by a graffiti artist. I found a homemade bong made out of a Smartwater bottle on one vehicle but other signs of partying and drug use were unexpectedly light.
A modern art reference in an abandoned rural Alaska junkyard?
The graffiti inside the garage isn’t quite as refined.
The 1991 calendar still hanging on the wall of the office was my best indication of when the shop last operated. I picked up one of the work orders scattered on the floor and the date entered was 1983. A soiled mattress with blankets in an adjacent room suggests one or more vagrants inhabited the building in the past, but not recently. Another room with a ragged couch and chair may have been a waiting area, but it’s now missing a wall and opens directly into the junkyard.
The garage is still stocked with parts and tools, some of them still neatly arranged on shelves. Insulation hangs from the ceiling and is scattered across the floor. The structure seems relatively stable but the sound of the breeze rattling the metal roofing was a bit concerning.
A custom sign with the business name still hangs next to a boarded window in the office area.