THE ALASKA ROUTE (Illustrated Edition)


Book Description

Well known naturalist and environmentalist, John Muir made four trips to Alaska as far as Unalaska, Alaska and Barrow, Alaska. He first traveled to Alaska in 1879 and was the first Euro-American to explore Glacier Bay. Muir Glacier was later named after him. He returned for further explorations in Southeast Alaska in 1880, and in 1881 was with the party that landed on Wrangel Island on the USS Corwin and claimed that island for the United States. He documented this experience in journal entries and newspaper articles—later compiled and edited into his book The Cruise of the Corwin. Travels in Alaska and Stickeen are also Muir's books about his doings and adventures in Alaska. Table of Contents: Travels in Alaska The Cruise of the Corwin Stickeen: The Story of a Dog Alaska Days with John Muir by Samuel Hall Young John Muir (1838-1914) was a Scottish-American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher and early advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States. His letters, essays, and books telling of his adventures in nature, especially in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, have been read by millions. His activism helped to preserve the Yosemite Valley, Sequoia National Park and other wilderness areas. The Sierra Club, which he founded, is a prominent American conservation organization.




The Trail of '42


Book Description

Chiefly photographs of the highway's construction.




The Black Soldiers Who Built the Alaska Highway


Book Description

This is the first detailed account of the 5,000 black troops who were reluctantly sent north by the United States Army during World War II to help build the Alaska Highway and install the companion Canol pipeline. Theirs were the first black regiments deployed outside the lower 48 states during the war. The enlisted men, most of them from the South, faced racial discrimination from white officers, were barred from entering any towns for fear they would procreate a "mongrel" race with local women, and endured winter conditions they had never experienced before. Despite this, they won praise for their dedication and their work. Congress in 2005 said that the wartime service of the four regiments covered here contributed to the eventual desegregation of the Armed Forces.




A Boy on the Alcan


Book Description

A boy on the Alcan is an intriguing story of seven year old Eddie Byskal. He was born in a small Missions Hospital on the shore of Wakaw Lake, Saskatchewan, Canada. When Eddie’s mother passed away his father signed up as a carpenter on the construction of the Alaska Highway. Eddie, his sister Annie and stepmother, travelled by train to the village of Dawson Creek, British Columbia. It was the termination of the railroad and Mile O of what was to become a highway 1400 miles long, carved through a vast, unmapped wilderness. Eddie's parents were employed at camps along the highway. From 1943 to 1950 Eddie was moved multiple times to be cared for by others and often far from his parents. Attending school just happened when convenient. As you turn the pages of the book follow the footsteps of a young boy who faced the unknown every day asking, “Where is my home? Where do I sleep tonight? To whom do I belong? Am I just a waif?" At fourteen years of age and alone, Eddie considered his future and started on a path that could settle and establish him as a man with a purpose!




The Sun Is a Compass


Book Description

For fans of Cheryl Strayed, the gripping story of a biologist's human-powered journey from the Pacific Northwest to the Arctic to rediscover her love of birds, nature, and adventure. During graduate school, as she conducted experiments on the peculiarly misshapen beaks of chickadees, ornithologist Caroline Van Hemert began to feel stifled in the isolated, sterile environment of the lab. Worried that she was losing her passion for the scientific research she once loved, she was compelled to experience wildness again, to be guided by the sounds of birds and to follow the trails of animals. In March of 2012, she and her husband set off on a 4,000-mile wilderness journey from the Pacific rainforest to the Alaskan Arctic, traveling by rowboat, ski, foot, raft, and canoe. Together, they survived harrowing dangers while also experiencing incredible moments of joy and grace -- migrating birds silhouetted against the moon, the steamy breath of caribou, and the bond that comes from sharing such experiences. A unique blend of science, adventure, and personal narrative, The Sun is a Compass explores the bounds of the physical body and the tenuousness of life in the company of the creatures who make their homes in the wildest places left in North America. Inspiring and beautifully written, this love letter to nature is a lyrical testament to the resilience of the human spirit. Winner of the 2019 Banff Mountain Book Competition: Adventure Travel




The Only Kayak


Book Description

Winner of the 2020 National Outdoor Book Award for Outdoor Classic! In this coming-of-middle-age memoir, Kim Heacox, writing in the tradition of Abbey, McPhee, and Thoreau, discovers an Alaska reborn from beneath a massive glacier, where flowers emerge from boulders, moose swim fjords, and bears cross crevasses with Homeric resolve. In such a place Heacox finds that people are reborn too, and their lives begin anew with incredible journeys, epiphanies, and successes. All in an America free of crass commercialism and overdevelopment. Braided through the larger story are tales of gold prospectors and the cabin they built sixty years ago; John Muir and his intrepid terrier, Stickeen; and a dynamic geology professor who teaches earth science "as if every day were a geological epoch." Nearly two million people come to Alaska every summer, some on large cruise ships, some in single kayaks--all in search of the last great wilderness, the Africa of America. It is exactly the America Heacox finds in this story of paradox, love, and loss.




The Alaska Cruise Handbook


Book Description

Updated for 2012, A Rich and Unique Cruise Guide. Award winning author and mapmaker Joe Upton spent 20 years exploring the NW coast as a commercial fisherman and journalist, collecting stories, taking photos, making maps, and catching fish. In this book with over 300 color photos and included large illustrated map, he has assembled all the information you need for your Alaska cruise. Includes detailed information on excursions, wildlife, walks, ports of call, cruise planning tips, where to look for whales, and much more. But the enduring popularity of this book is because in addition to being a fully informational guide, it is filled with Joe's wonderful Alaska stories. Upton's maps are displayed on many ships.




The Great Serum Race


Book Description

Relates the story of the heroic role played by sled dogs, including the Siberian husky Togo, in the delivery of antitoxin serum to those stricken with diphtheria in 1925 Nome, and includes historical notes about the event as well as about the Iditarod Sled Dog Race which commemorates it. Reprint.




Deep in Alaska


Book Description

Illustrated with photographs and written in the form of a series of haikus, this story reveals a boy's enjoyment of Alaska in winter.




Highway to Alaska


Book Description