pt. 1. Prehistory to 1914 -- v. 2. The Alaska railroad construction years, 1914-1923 -- v. 3. Growth, tragedy, recovery, adaptation, 1924-1993.

V.1 -- Setting -- Natives -- Russians come to America -- Russian shipbuilding on Resurrecting Bay -- Early mining on the Kenai Peninsula -- Lowell family of Seward -- Government exploration on the Eastern Kenai Peninsula -- Founding of Seward -- Seward pioneers of August 28, 1903 -- Alaska Central Railway Company -- Alaska Northern Railway Company -- Seward's first year -- Town takes form -- Time of building -- Search for alternatives -- Seward population at the time of the 1910 census -- Town activities: 1911-1914 -- Kenai connection - roads and trails -- Seward-Iditarod-Nome trail -- First decade - Foundation for the future.

V.2 -- Look to the past -- Seward's railroad boom -- Building the Alaska railroad -- First presidential visit to Alaska -- Town activities -- Some citizens of the Seward area: 1914-1923 -- Writers and artists -- Rockwell Kent's Fox Island winter -- Business developments -- Seward's newspapers -- Homesteads, farms and gardens -- Overland transportation -- School days -- Seward's churches -- Lighter side of life in Seward -- Sports -- Outdoor activities -- World War I: Effect on Seward -- Industries: 1914-1923 -- Technical trends: 1914-1941 -- Early automobile -- Up and away over Resurrection Bay -- Radio comes to the north -- Silver screen -- Social experiment that failed -- Seward, Alaska and the noble experiment.