Walter Harper, Alaska native son / Mary F. Ehrlander.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ehrlander, Mary F., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Athapascan Indians--Biography.

Athapascan Indians.

Mountaineers--Alaska--Biography.

Mountaineers.

Mountaineering--Alaska--McKinley, Mount.

Mountaineering.

Irish Americans--Alaska--Biography.

Irish Americans.

Multiracial people--Alaska--Biography.

Multiracial people.

Missionaries--Alaska--Biography.

Missionaries.

Frontier and pioneer life--Alaska.

Frontier and pioneer life.

McKinley, Mount (Alaska)--Description and travel.

McKinley, Mount (Alaska).

Harper, Walter, 1892-1918.

Harper, Walter.

Stuck, Hudson, 1863-1920--Friends and associates.

Stuck, Hudson.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (217 pages) : illustrations, maps, photographs

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Lincoln, [Nebraska] ; London, [England] : University of Nebraska Press, 2017.

Summary:

2018 Alaskana Award from the Alaska Library Association 2018 Alaska Historical Society James H. Drucker Alaska Historian of the Year Award Walter Harper, Alaska Native Son illuminates the life of the remarkable Irish-Athabascan man who was the first person to summit Mount Denali, North America's tallest mountain. Born in 1893, Walter Harper was the youngest child of Jenny Albert and the legendary 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. During the following years, as the two traveled among Interior Alaska's Episcopal missions, they developed a father-son-like bond and summited Denali together in 1913. Walter's strong Athabascan identity allowed him to remain grounded in his birth culture as his Western education expanded, and he became a leader and a bridge between Alaska Native peoples and Westerners in the Alaska territory.He planned to become a medical missionary in Interior Alaska, but his life was cut short at the age of twenty-five, in the Princess Sophia disaster of 1918 near Skagway, Alaska. Harper exemplified resilience during an era when rapid socioeconomic and cultural change was wreaking havoc in Alaska Native villages. Today he stands equally as an exemplar of Athabascan manhood and healthy acculturation to Western lifeways whose life will resonate with today's readers.

Contents:

Childhood and adolescence

On the river and on the trail with Archdeacon Stuck

Ascent of Denali

Mount Hermon Boys School

Return to Alaska

The winter circuit

Summer and fall 1918

Epilogue: Harper's legacy.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781496204042

1496204042

9781496204066

1496204069

OCLC:

985447627