erner Ohls was born in Turku, Finland in 1893 and arrived in the United States in 1909. After spending three years in the state of Washington he went to Nome in 1912. He worked in the mines there and in Juneau before proceeding to Ruby. While there, he was known as the “Ruby Kid” for his dog-mushing prowess, and he participated in the Nome forty mile race.

In 1915 he was hired by a wealthy Nome woman to take her to Seward. She had over twenty thousand dollars’ worth of gold to transport, which amounted to about one hundred pounds, and Ohls agreed to take her via dogsled. This was about a two-thousand-mile trip due to the twists and turns of the trail, however he succeeded in delivering his charge to Seward. He protected his load by hiding it in the bottom of the sled and surrounded the sled with his dogs each night.

After the dogsled trip, Ohls spent a short period of time in Anchorage in 1915 working on the Alaska Railroad and then moved to Hoquiam, Washington. There, he met Ida Elizabeth Fisker, and the two were married in 1920. Ida was born in Vaasa, Finland in 1883 and moved to the Washington area with her family a few years prior to meeting Werner. In 1921 the couple departed for Anchorage, where Werner again worked for the Alaska Railroad. He also began acquiring cows to form a dairy herd.

In 1924 the Ohls family homesteaded on the 21 Mile Loop Road and started a dairy farm. It was located just off the end of the east-west runway, now the location of Elmendorf Air Force Base. The whole family was involved in developing the dairy, and Werner delivered milk before and after his work at the railroad. In the winter, he delivered by dogsled.

Werner and Ida Ohls had four children; Andrew, born in 1921; Victor, born in 1925; Karl L., born in 1927 and Ellen, born in 1934. A well-known marathon runner in Anchorage, Werner Ohls won the Fourth of July races for many years. He also ran the annual July 4 Mt. Marathon race in Seward, twice coming in second place. He trained his oldest son Andrew as a marathoner during his high school years, but the advent of World War II put an end to this endeavor. With the military establishment coming to Anchorage, the government needed land and acquired almost all of the homestead property on Loop Road, including the Ohls Dairy. In 1942 after the sale of the dairy, Werner and Ida moved back to Hoquiam, Washington where they lived out their lives. Werner died in 1973, and Ida in 1975.