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Kantishna: Mushers, Miners, Mountaineers: The Pioneer Story Behind Mount McKinley National Park |  | Author: Tom Walker
Publisher: Pictorial Histories Publishing
Category: Book
List Price: $17.95
Buy New: $16.99
as of 11/21/2009 19:36 MST details
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Seller: pugs-n-books
Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 514280
Media: Paperback
Pages: 242
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6 x 0.7
ISBN: 1575101246
EAN: 9781575101248
ASIN: 1575101246
Publication Date: February 1, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
In the aftermath of the 1898 Klondike gold rush, hardy pioneers forged through trackless wilderness on foot or by dog team to prospect every remote drainage in Interior Alaska. A chance discovery of gold in the Kantishna hills in 1905 sparked a wild stampede for riches. The rush to the Mt. McKinley region lured hundreds of people. The Kantishna is rife with stories of courage, loyalty and challenges met head-on. Bouts with wild beasts, isolation, disease, accidents and cosmic cold. Here to are darker tales¬
of armed robbery, attempted murder, suicide and insanity. Market hunters slaughtered the wildlife. Unscrupulous trappers poisoned animals for their fur. Mt. McKinley drew adventurers of another sort. For a decade a few eastern sportsmen and sourdoughs challenged the icy slopes. The stories of defeat and deception set the stage in 1913 for the ultimate triumph. Out of the detritus of the great Alaska/Yukon gold rushes emerged two men of a different stripe. Men of adventure and vision, rising above the lust for gold, proposed a national park where wildlife would be free of the epic slaughter that accompanied Americas northern expansion. Carving a national park out of this wilderness would not be easy. Alaskans would fight to protect their way of life. Here are the stories of these tough pioneers, tales similar to those that inspired Robert Service and Jack London
only these stories are true.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 6
Bill from Bend September 25, 2009
Bill from Bend (Oregon)
I worked as a tour guide in Alaska and the Yukon from 1977 to 2000. My personal interest then and now is the region's rich but often vague cultural history. After years of research and reading I figured I'd pretty well exhausted the resources, and then I found Tom Walker's book "Kantishna". The research that went into the book is at once broader and deeper than anything I've found in the last thirty odd years. Thanks to the professional footnoting it's clear where he got the details. As a bonus, his clear writing style and a personal insight flowing from years of living in the North has resulted in a truly readable historical work.
A labor of love August 15, 2006
Nick Jans (Juneau, AK USA)
Whether it's writing, photography, or building a log cabin, Tom Walker does things only one way--with total integrity and an eye toward perfection. Kantishna is a detailed, compelling, and comprehensive history of the Denali Park region's early days (before there was, in fact, a Park). The research is immaculate and original, and Walker's unadorned, crystal-clear writing style renders these long-gone historic characters and their compelling stories in sharp relief. Sure, it's history, but it reads like Jack London and Robert Service (frontier/gold rush tales of desperation, hardship, macabre humor, and triumph)--all the better because it's all true. The many historic photographs, many of them published for the first time and interspersed artfully through the text, add a fascinating, personal touch. This book deserves recognition as an outstanding contribution to Alaskan literature and history.
A Treasure for both Alaskans and Visitors to Alaska June 22, 2006
Lisa Frederic (Alaska)
Kantishna is a joy to read - I stayed up late for several nights to finish it the first time(pretty good for a history book!)- and then immeditately reread several chapters again!
Tom Walker has written about the early pioneers in such a way, that we not only see and feel their strengths - but we get a sense of how life really was back when the country was so remote. We hear about how tough people were, but equally we hear about their weaknesses - which make their lives/stories less foreign.
Fannie Quiggley, one of the most famous women of that time period may have been unusually tough and skilled with a gun - yet hearing about her loneliness at the lack of women makes her more real.
One of my most favorite characters was Alexander Mitchell - a local gold miner who loved literature. When guests overnighted, not only were they treated to a good meal and a drink (he had a still), but once the hooch started flowing Alex recited poetry - sometimes for hours! Eventually his doctor told him he shouldn't read past 9pm because his eyes were growing weak. This would have driven him mad since he craved reading and literature - so he thought up a clever solution. He set his clock back 3 hours! He would read only until 9 every evening - just like the doctor ordered - though actually it was midnight!
This is a great book for understanding the people and country that surrounds Denali National Park - I highly recommend it for both Alaskans and people coming up for vacation.
Rush to Riches June 6, 2006
Jules (Upper Great Plains, USA)
Denali National Park: from the rush to riches that brought in tens of thousands of Outsiders to central Alaska around the turn of the century, we follow people and events that got us there. Some of the characters were wealthy, connected and political. Most were the exact opposite, painfully poor and without too much power. The author gives us just enough factual detail about each character that the events make great sense. For all, the quest for the land, the gold, the animals or the mountain ruled. We learn about the mass slaughter and market sale of Dall sheep, caribou, moose, mountain goats and most anything with fur, fins or feathers that could be eaten. We get an idea of the lure of Denali, the tall one, Mt. McKinley, the highest peak in North America. Before it's all over, we know who said they went but didn't, those who made it to the top and lived to tell about it and those who lied through their teeth. "Kantishna" is skillfully written, a neat historical piece for those who have visited or plan to visit Denali. I highly recommend it.
A Gift to Denali National Park, and to us all April 15, 2006
Kim Heacox (Gustavus, AK United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I love this book, just as I love Denali National Park. Author Tom Walker tells the story of the early history of Denali (1897-1918) with language that is lively, fun, factual, and at times even suspenseful. Every ranger in the park should be required to read this book, for its message, delivery, and most important, its lessons. How appropriate that it be published in 2006, the 100th anniversary of Sheldon's arrival in the Denali region. If Belmore Brown and Charles Sheldon could see Denali NP today, I think they would be deeply touched by what their vision and hard work saved: the Yellowstone of Alaska, the most accessible subarctic national park in the world, visited every summer by hundreds of thousands of people from around the world. Yet I also suspect that Harry Karstens, that tough old lynx, would be broken-hearted by all the poorly planned development at the east entrance of the park, in the Nenana River Canyon, now called Glitter Gulch. Every whale has its louse. Denali too. Still, the park is a great gift, as is this book. I look forward to the planned second volume (of this two-volume history) with more tall tales about Kid Karstens.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 6
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