{"id":75,"date":"2026-05-18T20:35:42","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T20:35:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=75"},"modified":"2026-05-18T20:35:42","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T20:35:42","slug":"wasilla-museum-welcomes-40-ton-whale-carcass-to-bring-in-visitors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=75","title":{"rendered":"Wasilla museum welcomes 40-ton whale carcass to bring in visitors"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Renewed excitement surrounding the newly rebranded Museum of Alaska in Wasilla is not a fluke. It\u2019s the whole whale.<\/p>\n

Read more Alaska House votes to immediately eliminate sick leave for many workers in the state<\/a><\/p>\n

The small-town museum on the outskirts of Wasilla was previously known as the Alaska Museum of Transportation and Industry. It recently earned international attention when it took possession of a 40-ton female fin whale carcass that washed ashore near downtown Anchorage in late 2024 as part of its expansion and refocus.<\/p>\n

Today, the bones live on the museum grounds, buried under 20 tons of horse manure. It\u2019s part of a process called \u201cmaceration\u201d that promotes the growth of bacteria, which cleans the bones and prepares them for bleaching.<\/p>\n

According to museum director James Grogan, obtaining the manure may have been the easiest part of the entire operation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started calling all the different horse farms to see if they had extra manure, and boy, a lot of people came forward,\u201d Grogan said.<\/p>\n

Last year, Grogan led a team of volunteers who retrieved the whale bones from the tidal mudflats and transported them to the museum near Mile 47 of the Parks Highway.<\/p>\n

It was a painstaking process that required multiple layers of permission from state and federal agencies, as well as numerous trips between Anchorage and the Mat-Su, often to the bemusement of fellow highway commuters.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer cranium weighs about 2,000 pounds. The mandibles still had flesh all over them, and they weigh about 1,000 pounds each,\u201d Grogan said. \u201cThey were strapped down in my trailer with flesh dangling over the side.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you drove up behind me, you didn\u2019t stay there very long.\u201d<\/p>\n

The whale bone retrieval operation attracted the attention of The Guardian, which ran a lengthy article detailing Grogan\u2019s enthusiastic embrace of the project.<\/p>\n

Grogan said he\u2019s proud of the effort to bring the whale to the Mat-Su and believes it will become a key component of the facility\u2019s educational programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be a great educational tool. I thought it would be amazing to have a whale here in the valley that people could look at and see,\u201d said Grogan, a retired Air Force veteran who has volunteered at the museum for about a decade and took over as director four years ago.<\/p>\n

The whale retrieval is the most visible way Grogan is trying to revive interest in the facility.<\/p>\n

Read more Lawmakers land on $1,200 payout, as they negotiate AKLNG bill<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cMuseums just aren\u2019t making it today by just being a sleepy little museum. We have to have something else to get people in.\u201d<\/p>\n

The museum has several community events planned, including a Father\u2019s Day 4×4 mud course, a forging and blacksmithing event planned for July, and a haunted hayride set for Halloween. The facility is also open for birthday parties and special events.<\/p>\n

Then there are the exhibits, both indoors and outdoors, including vintage military equipment, bush planes, mining and oil equipment, railroad cars, steam tractors and Colony-era farm implements.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you like tractors, trains, museums, airplanes, snowmachines, chainsaws \u2014 all that kind of stuff \u2014 we\u2019ve definitely got all that out here,\u201d Grogan said.<\/p>\n

While the exhibits have traditionally been industry-heavy, Grogan said the museum has worked to expand its collection in recent years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve really diversified out from just transportation and industry. We\u2019re doing a lot more cultural things, a lot more things for the community, a lot of events,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The museum opens for the summer on Monday, which Grogan said coincides with International Museum Day. The facility is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and also offers guided tours by appointment. General admission is $10, seniors are $8, and children younger than 5 are free. There\u2019s also a picnic area on the museum grounds, which are billed as the largest in Alaska.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just have the smallest budget,\u201d Grogan quipped.<\/p>\n

The facility survives thanks to donations from local businesses and individuals, as well as the support of a core group of volunteers, Grogan said. The interior recently got a much-needed coat of paint thanks to a donation from a pair of local Vietnam veterans who wanted to remain anonymous.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt hadn\u2019t had a facelift in 20 years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But by far the biggest new attraction is the whale, which Grogan said will eventually be removed from the museum\u2019s manure pit, cleaned and reassembled as a permanent exhibit, a process that won\u2019t be complete until [time frame missing].<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll do all the cleaning and degreasing, seal the bones with a natural sealant, and rearticulate her,\u201d he said. \u201cThen she\u2019ll be displayed in the museum.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grogan encouraged anyone who hasn\u2019t visited the museum in a while to visit the facility \u2014 and its new resident \u2014 this summer.<\/p>\n

Read more Montana tribes combine traditional knowledge and Western science in climate plan<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cEverything you can imagine Alaska is out here.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The newly rebranded Museum of Alaska opens its summer season this week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":74,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nWasilla museum welcomes 40-ton whale carcass to bring in visitors - Alaska Moving Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=75\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Wasilla museum welcomes 40-ton whale carcass to bring in visitors - Alaska Moving Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The newly rebranded Museum of Alaska opens its summer season this week.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=75\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Alaska Moving Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-18T20:35:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/62c7434da44bc528fb4e4c7c55b4fbd2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"799\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?p=75#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?p=75\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4e09896005b88414084eb4bd3215ab0a\"},\"headline\":\"Wasilla museum welcomes 40-ton whale carcass to bring in visitors\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-18T20:35:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?p=75\"},\"wordCount\":833,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?p=75#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/62c7434da44bc528fb4e4c7c55b4fbd2.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?p=75#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?p=75\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?p=75\",\"name\":\"Wasilla museum welcomes 40-ton whale carcass to bring in visitors - 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