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 earlieryears 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.