Walter Harper, Alaska Native Son

2018 Alaskana Award from the Alaska Library Association Born in 1893, Walter Harper was the youngest child of Jenny Albert and the legendary Irish gold prospector Arthur Harper. His parents separated shortly after his birth, and his mother raised Walter in the Athabascan tradition, speaking her Koyukon Athabascan language. When Walter was seventeen years old, Episcopal archdeacon Hudson Stuck hired the skilled and charismatic youth as his riverboat pilot and winter trail guide. As the two t...