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Joe Vogler
A miner, land developer and founder of the Alaska Independence Party, was
80 years old when he disappeared in 1993. After 16 months of investigation, his body was
unearthed from a shallow grave near Fairbanks on Oct. 12, 1994. A Fairbanks man was
indicted in December for his murder.
Born in a sod dugout on the plains of Kansas, Vogler
was 28 when he arrived in Alaska in 1942. Although armed with a law degree from the
University of Kansas, he worked construction on the military bases, first at Kodiak, later
in interior Alaska. He worked hard, and his estate includes extensive real estate holdings
around Fairbanks and mining claims in other parts of the Interior.
Vogler was an outspoken
critic of government and advocated Alaska's secession from the Union. He made war on his
neighbors, local government and the state, sometimes appearing in court as his own lawyer.
He saved his most spectacular verbal volleys for federal officials, especially those of
the Park Service who imposed control on his mining and land development activities.
When
his admirers looked at him, they saw John Wayne on a D-8 Cat-a no-nonsense, stand-up guy
with the guts to take on the feds 24 hours a day. He was not a Bircher or even a
conservative. Sometimes-when he called for local hire, job training and better house-he even sounded like a socialist. He also was unusually tolerant of the difficulties
young people face.
Vogler made three unsuccessful bids for governor under the Alaskan
Independence banner. His last appearance on Alaska's political stage was in 1990, when
he lent the Alaska Independence Party to former Gov. Wally Hickel so Hickel would have a
spot on the general election ballot.
At his request, Vogler will be buried in Canada,
beyond reach of Washington bureaucrats.
Source: Anchorage Daily News
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