Young Men Go North

"I went up on the Star of Alaska in 1918." It was 1965 and an old timer was spinning a tale for 18-year-old Joe Upton. Of sailing up from San Francisco to Alaska's remote and austere Bristol Bay aboard a square-rigged ship loaded with Chinese cannery workers, Norwegian and Italian fishermen, and American carpenters. They'd drop anchor in some remote Bristol Bay river, the last snow still on the shores. Lower the pile driver and drive a forest of pilings, build a cannery on top. Install the ...