Since 1935, Alaska magazine has charted the development of our biggest, most mysterious state. With compelling stories on such events as earthquakes, tidal waves, grizzly and polar bear attacks, the Russian influence, the Gold Rush, the Japanese invasion of the Aleutians during World War II, hunting and fishing, the lives of sourdoughs, and village life, The Last Frontier truly captures the essence of our largest state.
Other chapters include the tale of the Eskimo commercial pilot, flying villagers across the Arctic; the story about the young woman who conducted the 1940 census in the Interior by dog team; or the story about the family who placed their automobile on a raft, hooked paddles to the axles, and steered their home-built paddle-wheeler down the Yukon River to the first road - whereupon they removed the car from the barge, and drove home to Nebraska. Other stories in this book you won't want to miss include: Don Sheldon's floatplane rescue of eight men from white water; the mystery of Klutuk, the beast of the tundra; how Julie Collins's sled dog saved her life; the trials and tribulations of a nurse running a hospital on the arctic coast in 1921; an Athabascan writer's account of her interviews with her grandmother, a medicine woman; newsworthy events across the state, and much, much more.
Jill Shepherd spent twenty-seven years in Alaska's Interior, raising sled dog puppies, baby moose, and three children while co-owning a dog team, operating a wilderness fishing camp, writing for The Tundra Times, and working in public relations for the trans-Alaska oil pipeline. She graduated from Anchorage High School and the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, after spending earlier years in Central America and California. After moving to Anchorage, Shepherd worked for The Anchorage Times before starting her twenty-year career with Alaska magazine, where she is now senior editor. An Alaskan for more than fifty years, Shepherd travels extensively, photographing and writing about the people and places she visits, and claims Kodiak Island as her favorite vacation spot.
| Preface | viii | |
| Introduction | xi | |
| 1. | The Wolf Pack January 1935 | 1 |
| 2. | Tundra Terror December 1935 | 8 |
| 3. | Polar Fury April 1936 | 14 |
| 4. | Nome Cafe June 1936 | 19 |
| 5. | Every Inch A King October 1936 | 24 |
| 6. | Arctic Trapper November 1939 | 29 |
| 7. | Bush Madness November 1939 | 39 |
| 8. | The People of Nome Were Scandalized December 1939 | 49 |
| 9. | Main Trails and Bypaths December 1942 | 57 |
| 10. | Main Trails and Bypaths February 1943 | 59 |
| 11. | I Was Queen of the Klondike August 1944 | 61 |
| 12. | On the Ice-Pack's Rim November 1944 | 73 |
| 13. | Woman on the Dalton Trail January 1945 | 81 |
| 14. | Main Trails and Bypaths December 1952 | 103 |
| 15. | None So Big August 1958 | 105 |
| 16. | The Mystery of the Billiken September 1960 | 111 |
| 17. | Alaska Terror August 1965 | 117 |
| 18. | Huslia's Hole Hunters June 1966 | 121 |
| 19. | There Were Wolves ... All Around Me October 1967 | 126 |
| 20. | Encased In Ice, I Nearly Drowned February 1974 | 129 |
| 21. | Rescue From Devil's Canyon October 1974 | 133 |
| 22. | My Sunset Moose October 1975 | 139 |
| 23. | How I Killed the World's Largest Brown Bear January 1978 | 146 |
| 24. | A Trapper Leaves the Country June 1981 | 151 |
| 25. | Avalanche March 1982 | 156 |
| 26. | Acceptance April 1982 | 160 |
| 27. | Of Traps and Treasures-Klutuk September 1984 | 163 |
| 28. | Reluctant Hero December 1984 | 171 |
| 29. | Chernofski Sheep Ranch April 1985 | 176 |
| 30. | Abercrombie's Barrow Ballet December 1985 | 183 |
| 31. | A Melody For Christmas December 1987 | 186 |
| 32. | Mt. McKinley Joe November 1989 | 191 |
| 33. | Dog Team Census January 1990 | 196 |
| 34. | My Last Grizzly May 1990 | 202 |
| 35. | Medicine Woman June 1990 | 208 |
| 36. | Adventures in Night Fishing April 1991 | 214 |
| 37. | Zapped on Rainbow Mountain October 1991 | 218 |
| 38. | Forgotten Pioneers February 1992 | 221 |
| 39. | Big Trouble on the "Wideload" September 1994 | 223 |
| 40. | Polar Bare Swim December 1994/ January 1995 | 231 |
| 41. | The Last Spear Hunt September 1995 | 234 |
| 42. | With Trusting Eyes Behind Me February 1996 | 240 |
| 43. | Clutter October 1996 | 245 |
| 44. | Kingdom of Clean-Enough May/June 1997 | 248 |
| 45. | Jess's Ark September 1997 | 251 |
| 46. | Raven September 1997 | 259 |
| 47. | Fishing the Combat Zone April 1998 | 262 |
| 48. | A Few Mosquito Bites October 1998 | 268 |
| 49. | Social Climber August 1999 | 271 |
| 50. | The Bear and the Bride September 1999 | 276 |
| 51. | The Eels Are Here December 1999/January 2000 | 280 |
| 52. | An Orca Reunion February 2000 | 283 |
| 53. | Tracked by a Bear February 2000 | 286 |
| 54. | Crisis of Confidence August 2000 | 290 |
| 55. | The First Ever Nome Moose Nugget Drop November 2000 | 295 |
| 56. | Green Seas, White Ice March 2001 | 298 |
| 57. | The Cruel Chronometer July 2001 | 301 |
| 58. | Mary Joyce's Extraordinary Adventure March 2002 | 303 |
Overview
Since 1935, Alaska magazine has charted the development of our biggest, most mysterious state. With compelling stories on such events as earthquakes, tidal waves, grizzly and polar bear attacks, the Russian influence, the Gold Rush, the Japanese invasion of the Aleutians during World War II, hunting and fishing, the lives of sourdoughs, and village life, The Last Frontier truly captures the essence of our largest state.
Other chapters include the tale of the Eskimo commercial ...