1 00:00:01,320 --> 00:00:04,240 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:10,960 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. 3 00:00:11,960 --> 00:00:14,360 Speaker 2: Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. 4 00:00:14,480 --> 00:00:16,680 Speaker 1: Wilson and I'm Holly Frye. 5 00:00:16,720 --> 00:00:20,480 Speaker 2: This episode was inspired by a clip from the PBS 6 00:00:20,520 --> 00:00:25,440 Speaker 2: animated TV show Molly of Denali, which an algorithm fed 7 00:00:25,440 --> 00:00:29,360 Speaker 2: to me over Halloween. In this clip, Molly's classmate Jake 8 00:00:29,520 --> 00:00:33,240 Speaker 2: wants to dress up as Walter Harper for Halloween. Walter 9 00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:37,800 Speaker 2: Harper had Athabascan and Irish ancestry, and so Jake's costume 10 00:00:37,960 --> 00:00:40,680 Speaker 2: is this homemade outfit that he has made to look 11 00:00:40,800 --> 00:00:41,600 Speaker 2: like Regalia. 12 00:00:42,640 --> 00:00:43,880 Speaker 3: But Jake is not Native. 13 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:46,839 Speaker 2: So this clip is about how regalia is not a 14 00:00:46,880 --> 00:00:50,519 Speaker 2: costume and it's not appropriate for non indigenous people to 15 00:00:50,560 --> 00:00:54,200 Speaker 2: be dressing up in this way. Walter Harper was the 16 00:00:54,240 --> 00:00:57,760 Speaker 2: first person to reach the summit of Denali, so Molly 17 00:00:57,840 --> 00:01:01,800 Speaker 2: and her friends put together a more suitable Halloween costume 18 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:05,679 Speaker 2: for him using mountaineering gear. This is a really sweet clip. 19 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:09,399 Speaker 2: It's about friendship and about being respectful of people's cultures 20 00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:12,520 Speaker 2: and traditions. But my first thought was, hey, do we 21 00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:16,120 Speaker 2: have an episode about Walter Harper? Now we are about 22 00:01:16,120 --> 00:01:20,400 Speaker 2: to have two since This is a two parter. Walter 23 00:01:20,520 --> 00:01:23,520 Speaker 2: Harper's parents were Arthur Harper, who was born in Ireland, 24 00:01:23,800 --> 00:01:28,759 Speaker 2: and Sintana, who was Koyakon Athabaskan. In some accounts, Sintana 25 00:01:28,959 --> 00:01:33,280 Speaker 2: is also referred to as Jenny. Arthur Harper had immigrated 26 00:01:33,280 --> 00:01:35,440 Speaker 2: to the United States in the wake of the Great 27 00:01:35,440 --> 00:01:38,480 Speaker 2: Famine in Ireland, and he and Santana had met in 28 00:01:38,520 --> 00:01:42,399 Speaker 2: eighteen seventy four. Arthur was kind of a larger than 29 00:01:42,440 --> 00:01:45,880 Speaker 2: life figure. He was a prospector and trader who Hudson 30 00:01:45,959 --> 00:01:48,880 Speaker 2: Stuck later described as quote the first man ever to 31 00:01:48,920 --> 00:01:52,240 Speaker 2: come to the Yukon country seeking gold. And we're going 32 00:01:52,280 --> 00:01:55,200 Speaker 2: to talk about Hudson Stuck a lot more in just 33 00:01:55,240 --> 00:01:59,440 Speaker 2: a bit. Arthur and Sintana had eight children together, and 34 00:01:59,560 --> 00:02:03,200 Speaker 2: Walter was their youngest. His exact birth date is not known, 35 00:02:03,240 --> 00:02:06,120 Speaker 2: but it was probably sometime in the winter of eighteen 36 00:02:06,200 --> 00:02:10,120 Speaker 2: ninety two to eighteen ninety three, and his upbringing was 37 00:02:10,280 --> 00:02:13,919 Speaker 2: a lot different from that of his older siblings. Arthur 38 00:02:14,240 --> 00:02:17,000 Speaker 2: had wanted all of his children to be sent outside, 39 00:02:17,040 --> 00:02:21,520 Speaker 2: meaning out of Alaska to be educated. For Walter's siblings, 40 00:02:21,600 --> 00:02:24,520 Speaker 2: that meant that they were sent as far away as California, 41 00:02:24,639 --> 00:02:29,119 Speaker 2: once they reached school age, but Arthur and Santana separated 42 00:02:29,120 --> 00:02:32,200 Speaker 2: when Walter was just a toddler. Sintana moved to the 43 00:02:32,240 --> 00:02:36,359 Speaker 2: village of Tanana and she raised Walter according to Athabaskan 44 00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:41,359 Speaker 2: traditions that included him speaking Koyacon Athabaskan as his first language. 45 00:02:42,280 --> 00:02:44,480 Speaker 2: He was the only one of his siblings to be 46 00:02:44,639 --> 00:02:47,320 Speaker 2: raised in this way, rather than being sent away to 47 00:02:47,520 --> 00:02:52,200 Speaker 2: an English language school. Arthur Harper died in eighteen ninety 48 00:02:52,240 --> 00:02:55,680 Speaker 2: seven when Walter was about five, so Walter never really 49 00:02:55,760 --> 00:02:59,120 Speaker 2: knew his father, and that happened just as the Klondike 50 00:02:59,240 --> 00:03:02,840 Speaker 2: gold rush was sweeping through Alaska and neighboring parts of Canada. 51 00:03:03,639 --> 00:03:06,880 Speaker 2: About one hundred thousand people rushed to the area, and 52 00:03:06,960 --> 00:03:09,840 Speaker 2: at first many of them were passing through Alaska to 53 00:03:09,919 --> 00:03:14,440 Speaker 2: get to the Klondike in northwestern Canada. Soon people were 54 00:03:14,440 --> 00:03:18,280 Speaker 2: looking for gold in Alaska as well. This, of course, 55 00:03:18,400 --> 00:03:23,000 Speaker 2: brought just enormous changes to Alaska, and those changes also 56 00:03:23,120 --> 00:03:26,720 Speaker 2: built on things that had been happening over the previous decades. 57 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:31,040 Speaker 2: The United States had purchased Alaska from the Russian Empire 58 00:03:31,120 --> 00:03:34,800 Speaker 2: in eighteen sixty seven, but didn't start trying to organize 59 00:03:34,840 --> 00:03:39,200 Speaker 2: it or implement a civil government until almost two decades later. 60 00:03:40,080 --> 00:03:43,520 Speaker 2: The establishment of the District of Alaska and its civil 61 00:03:43,600 --> 00:03:48,160 Speaker 2: government was in part motivated by federal efforts to establish 62 00:03:48,320 --> 00:03:50,360 Speaker 2: mining laws in the territory. 63 00:03:51,240 --> 00:03:54,720 Speaker 1: More than fifty gold mining camps were established in Alaska 64 00:03:54,760 --> 00:03:58,920 Speaker 1: between eighteen ninety seven and nineteen oh seven. This was 65 00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:02,400 Speaker 1: very similar to other oil and precious metal booms that 66 00:04:02,440 --> 00:04:06,000 Speaker 1: we've talked about on the show before. If someone struck gold, 67 00:04:06,160 --> 00:04:09,080 Speaker 1: a huge influx of people came to the area, and 68 00:04:09,120 --> 00:04:14,240 Speaker 1: there was a corresponding spike in crime, lawlessness, and alcohol misuse. 69 00:04:15,080 --> 00:04:17,880 Speaker 1: Some of these camps were temporary and they were abandoned 70 00:04:17,920 --> 00:04:20,800 Speaker 1: when the gold ran out, but others grew into permanent 71 00:04:20,839 --> 00:04:25,600 Speaker 1: towns and cities. This gold rush also brought more missionaries 72 00:04:25,640 --> 00:04:30,000 Speaker 1: to Alaska. There had been religious missions in Alaska going 73 00:04:30,040 --> 00:04:33,320 Speaker 1: back to before the United States purchased it from Russia, 74 00:04:33,839 --> 00:04:38,080 Speaker 1: but starting in the eighteen eighties, multiple Christian denominations in 75 00:04:38,120 --> 00:04:43,479 Speaker 1: the United States basically divided Alaska up among themselves. They 76 00:04:43,640 --> 00:04:48,279 Speaker 1: entered into comedy agreements that gave each denomination the exclusive 77 00:04:48,400 --> 00:04:52,880 Speaker 1: right to operate in a particular region. In theory, this 78 00:04:53,080 --> 00:04:57,520 Speaker 1: was supposed to reduce conflicts and prevent misunderstandings among the 79 00:04:57,560 --> 00:05:02,440 Speaker 1: various denominations and missionary societ But it also meant that 80 00:05:02,480 --> 00:05:06,840 Speaker 1: the local people had absolutely no say in which denomination 81 00:05:07,080 --> 00:05:10,920 Speaker 1: was available to them if they wanted missionaries to be 82 00:05:11,080 --> 00:05:13,960 Speaker 1: involved in their lives and the place that they lived 83 00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:18,600 Speaker 1: at all. The Episcopal Church took responsibility for the part 84 00:05:18,680 --> 00:05:23,599 Speaker 1: of interior Alaska where Walter Harper grew up, possibly because 85 00:05:23,640 --> 00:05:27,279 Speaker 1: the Anglican Church had missions in neighboring parts of Canada. 86 00:05:27,320 --> 00:05:30,039 Speaker 1: If you're not aware, the Episcopal Church is the name 87 00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:33,839 Speaker 1: for the Anglican Church in the United States. One of 88 00:05:33,839 --> 00:05:36,880 Speaker 1: the Episcopal missionaries who came to Alaska during all of 89 00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:40,240 Speaker 1: this was Hudson Stuck, who had become a huge part 90 00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:44,000 Speaker 1: of Walter Harper's life. Stuck had been born in London 91 00:05:44,120 --> 00:05:46,920 Speaker 1: and immigrated to the US state of Texas in eighteen 92 00:05:46,920 --> 00:05:50,480 Speaker 1: eighty five. He seems to have been at least partially 93 00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:54,320 Speaker 1: seeking adventure. He and some friends flipped a coin when 94 00:05:54,320 --> 00:05:58,279 Speaker 1: they decided whether to go to Texas or Australia. Stuck 95 00:05:58,360 --> 00:06:01,040 Speaker 1: worked as a cowboy and as a teacher and school 96 00:06:01,080 --> 00:06:04,760 Speaker 1: principle before getting a scholarship to study at the University 97 00:06:04,839 --> 00:06:08,880 Speaker 1: of the South in Swanee, Tennessee. He studied theology and 98 00:06:09,040 --> 00:06:10,680 Speaker 1: was ordained in eighteen ninety two. 99 00:06:11,960 --> 00:06:15,360 Speaker 2: Stuck initially went back to Texas, where he became the 100 00:06:15,440 --> 00:06:19,400 Speaker 2: dean of Saint Matthew's Cathedral in Dallas. He was also 101 00:06:19,520 --> 00:06:22,960 Speaker 2: a social reformer. He campaigned for one of Texas's first 102 00:06:23,120 --> 00:06:26,680 Speaker 2: child labor laws and established a night school for mill 103 00:06:26,760 --> 00:06:31,039 Speaker 2: workers and a home for impoverished women, but eventually he 104 00:06:31,160 --> 00:06:34,839 Speaker 2: did not think his work in Texas was challenging enough. 105 00:06:35,520 --> 00:06:38,560 Speaker 2: In a letter, he wrote that quote, I design, quite 106 00:06:38,560 --> 00:06:41,679 Speaker 2: frankly and honestly, to give some years of my life 107 00:06:41,720 --> 00:06:44,000 Speaker 2: to the work of the missionary field, and I want 108 00:06:44,040 --> 00:06:48,119 Speaker 2: it to be hard and remote work. In nineteen oh four, 109 00:06:48,520 --> 00:06:51,240 Speaker 2: he was named arch deacon of the Yukon and of 110 00:06:51,279 --> 00:06:54,880 Speaker 2: the Arctic regions to the north, and he moved to Alaska. 111 00:06:55,720 --> 00:06:59,279 Speaker 2: At this point, the US government's policy toward the indigenous 112 00:06:59,320 --> 00:07:01,560 Speaker 2: peoples of the Last Asca was that they should be 113 00:07:01,600 --> 00:07:05,800 Speaker 2: brought under the influence of Christian missionaries. Most of the 114 00:07:05,839 --> 00:07:08,919 Speaker 2: schools in Alaska were being run by missionaries, and even 115 00:07:08,920 --> 00:07:12,960 Speaker 2: as the government started establishing other schools, the teachers there 116 00:07:13,000 --> 00:07:16,320 Speaker 2: were often missionaries, or they were people the nearest mission 117 00:07:16,360 --> 00:07:20,320 Speaker 2: had vetted. This included the creation of schools for Indigenous 118 00:07:20,440 --> 00:07:23,840 Speaker 2: children under the Federal Boarding School Program, which we've talked 119 00:07:23,880 --> 00:07:27,880 Speaker 2: about in a number of previous episodes. Many of Alaska's 120 00:07:27,880 --> 00:07:32,120 Speaker 2: hospitals and medical clinics were also established and run by missionaries. 121 00:07:33,040 --> 00:07:36,600 Speaker 2: We have multiple previous episodes in which we've talked about 122 00:07:36,640 --> 00:07:40,480 Speaker 2: ways in which these kinds of missionary efforts could harm 123 00:07:40,640 --> 00:07:44,520 Speaker 2: Indigenous peoples, even when the missionaries involved had the best 124 00:07:44,560 --> 00:07:48,640 Speaker 2: intentions and were trying to help. This dividing up of 125 00:07:48,680 --> 00:07:53,280 Speaker 2: Alaska among the various religious denominations was rooted in colonialism 126 00:07:53,400 --> 00:07:57,640 Speaker 2: and imperialism. The Federal boarding school program was an attempt 127 00:07:57,680 --> 00:08:00,720 Speaker 2: to separate Indigenous children from their faith families and their 128 00:08:00,720 --> 00:08:04,200 Speaker 2: cultures and to force them to assimilate with white society, 129 00:08:04,720 --> 00:08:07,000 Speaker 2: making it an act of cultural genocide. 130 00:08:07,920 --> 00:08:11,200 Speaker 1: At the same time. Exactly how much the different missions 131 00:08:11,200 --> 00:08:16,000 Speaker 1: in Alaska were focused on assimilation and proselytizing really varied 132 00:08:16,040 --> 00:08:19,360 Speaker 1: from one denomination to another, and even from mission to 133 00:08:19,440 --> 00:08:24,160 Speaker 1: mission within a denomination. Hudson Stuck in particular. 134 00:08:23,720 --> 00:08:26,600 Speaker 2: Did not see any value in the idea of forcing 135 00:08:26,640 --> 00:08:31,160 Speaker 2: Alaska's Native peoples to assimilate. In his book Voyages on 136 00:08:31,200 --> 00:08:34,560 Speaker 2: the Yukon, he wrote quote, I find myself perhaps too 137 00:08:34,600 --> 00:08:38,040 Speaker 2: easily vexed by the calm assumption of the infinite distance 138 00:08:38,080 --> 00:08:41,600 Speaker 2: that separates the Indian from the white man merely because 139 00:08:41,640 --> 00:08:44,600 Speaker 2: he is a white man. I am no foe to 140 00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:48,280 Speaker 2: racial distinctions anymore than I am to social distinctions, and 141 00:08:48,360 --> 00:08:51,640 Speaker 2: certainly no friend to the admixture of bloods. I do 142 00:08:51,720 --> 00:08:54,880 Speaker 2: not view with complacency the solution of racial problems by 143 00:08:54,880 --> 00:08:58,840 Speaker 2: the absorption of the lesser breeds into the overwhelming white race. 144 00:08:59,640 --> 00:09:01,880 Speaker 2: I hate the thing, even though I cannot shut my 145 00:09:01,960 --> 00:09:05,280 Speaker 2: eyes to it. I do not see why different races 146 00:09:05,280 --> 00:09:08,839 Speaker 2: should not perpetuate themselves with their special cultures and their 147 00:09:08,880 --> 00:09:11,199 Speaker 2: special tongues. And I think the world will be a 148 00:09:11,280 --> 00:09:14,400 Speaker 2: much less interesting world, and not on that score, one 149 00:09:14,520 --> 00:09:17,360 Speaker 2: with the better world, when all the little people shall 150 00:09:17,400 --> 00:09:21,439 Speaker 2: have been absorbed, all picturesque distinction of custom and costume 151 00:09:21,480 --> 00:09:27,000 Speaker 2: broken down, and a thousand vigorous, elastic indigenous languages superseded 152 00:09:27,040 --> 00:09:30,440 Speaker 2: by pigeon English. From some points of view, the vaunted 153 00:09:30,559 --> 00:09:34,079 Speaker 2: march of civilization is to me a mere apes march 154 00:09:34,240 --> 00:09:38,360 Speaker 2: to nowhere, just for the sake of clarity. He had 155 00:09:38,480 --> 00:09:43,360 Speaker 2: the terms lesser breeds, pigeon English, and March of Civilization, 156 00:09:43,760 --> 00:09:46,760 Speaker 2: all in scare quotes, as though he was saying so 157 00:09:46,960 --> 00:09:50,920 Speaker 2: called before each of those terms. Later on in the 158 00:09:50,960 --> 00:09:55,400 Speaker 2: same book, he denounced the idea of forcing Indigenous students 159 00:09:55,440 --> 00:09:59,120 Speaker 2: to speak only English, saying that such efforts involved quote 160 00:09:59,120 --> 00:10:02,360 Speaker 2: a great deal of s stamping without much stamping out. 161 00:10:03,120 --> 00:10:05,640 Speaker 2: He went on to say, quote, it is probable that 162 00:10:05,679 --> 00:10:08,839 Speaker 2: the English speech will prevail over the native speech of 163 00:10:08,880 --> 00:10:12,080 Speaker 2: these peoples by natural process, though in many places it 164 00:10:12,160 --> 00:10:15,400 Speaker 2: will be a long time yet, And I cannot see, 165 00:10:15,440 --> 00:10:19,080 Speaker 2: to save my life, why it is so devoutly to 166 00:10:19,160 --> 00:10:22,760 Speaker 2: be wished. But there is no sort of advantage in 167 00:10:22,840 --> 00:10:27,000 Speaker 2: seeking to expedite the process beyond its natural rate, nor 168 00:10:27,160 --> 00:10:31,400 Speaker 2: in repressing the Indian's tongue by speaking contemptuously of it, 169 00:10:31,880 --> 00:10:36,600 Speaker 2: and as far as may be, proscribing its use. Stuck 170 00:10:36,679 --> 00:10:39,960 Speaker 2: also saw the influx of miners and mining camps to 171 00:10:40,040 --> 00:10:44,240 Speaker 2: Alaska as sources of harm to the indigenous population, bringing 172 00:10:44,280 --> 00:10:49,920 Speaker 2: alcohol and its associated problems, and debasing Indigenous women. At 173 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:52,760 Speaker 2: various points during his time in Alaska, he went on 174 00:10:52,800 --> 00:10:56,000 Speaker 2: speaking tours in the lower forty eight both to raise 175 00:10:56,080 --> 00:10:59,520 Speaker 2: money and to try to advocate for Alaska's Native peoples, 176 00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:03,960 Speaker 2: including raising awareness about how new industries in Alaska, like 177 00:11:04,120 --> 00:11:09,520 Speaker 2: commercial salmon canning, could harm indigenous communities. So he was 178 00:11:09,559 --> 00:11:12,240 Speaker 2: not a flawless man by any means, and the language 179 00:11:12,240 --> 00:11:15,520 Speaker 2: he used could definitely be underpinned by the prejudices of 180 00:11:15,559 --> 00:11:18,240 Speaker 2: the time he was living in. But he does seem 181 00:11:18,280 --> 00:11:21,559 Speaker 2: to have been more supportive of Alaska Native people's cultures 182 00:11:21,600 --> 00:11:24,840 Speaker 2: and sovereignty than a lot of other religious and missionary 183 00:11:24,880 --> 00:11:29,160 Speaker 2: figures in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. We'll of 184 00:11:29,200 --> 00:11:32,000 Speaker 2: course be talking more about Hudson Stuck, but for now. 185 00:11:32,280 --> 00:11:35,680 Speaker 2: About five years after he arrived in Alaska, he met 186 00:11:35,679 --> 00:11:39,439 Speaker 2: Walter Harper at a fish camp. Harper was about sixteen. 187 00:11:39,840 --> 00:11:51,720 Speaker 2: We'll talk more about that after a sponsor break. When 188 00:11:51,800 --> 00:11:55,200 Speaker 2: Hudson Stuck met Walter Harper at a fish camp in 189 00:11:55,280 --> 00:12:01,440 Speaker 2: nineteen oh nine, Stuck was immediately impressed. Was deeply knowledgeable 190 00:12:01,559 --> 00:12:05,280 Speaker 2: in Athabascan traditions and ways of living, including how to 191 00:12:05,320 --> 00:12:11,000 Speaker 2: survive and live off the land. He was also relentlessly optimistic, charismatic, 192 00:12:11,080 --> 00:12:14,840 Speaker 2: and personable. People also thought of him as very handsome. 193 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:19,440 Speaker 2: Stuck convinced Walter's mother, Sentana, to send him to Saint 194 00:12:19,480 --> 00:12:23,319 Speaker 2: Mark's Mission School in Nanana. While Stuck doesn't seem to 195 00:12:23,360 --> 00:12:26,319 Speaker 2: have been focused on the idea of forcing Alaska Native 196 00:12:26,400 --> 00:12:30,320 Speaker 2: children to assimilate with white culture, that wasn't necessarily the 197 00:12:30,400 --> 00:12:34,200 Speaker 2: case for the teachers at this mission school. For example, 198 00:12:34,320 --> 00:12:37,520 Speaker 2: Athabaskan chief Peter John, who died in two thousand and three, 199 00:12:37,800 --> 00:12:40,920 Speaker 2: spent about five years at this school, and in his 200 00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:44,000 Speaker 2: adult life he talked about being hit with a switch 201 00:12:44,440 --> 00:12:47,320 Speaker 2: if he spoke Athabaskan and of not being allowed to 202 00:12:47,360 --> 00:12:51,040 Speaker 2: do things the Athabaskan way. He said the school taught 203 00:12:51,120 --> 00:12:53,840 Speaker 2: him the basics of subjects like reading and writing, but 204 00:12:53,920 --> 00:12:56,839 Speaker 2: that he mostly did manual labor there and he taught 205 00:12:56,920 --> 00:13:01,679 Speaker 2: himself English later on. Walter didn't attend Saint Mark's Mission 206 00:13:01,720 --> 00:13:04,040 Speaker 2: School for very long, but while he was there he 207 00:13:04,160 --> 00:13:07,000 Speaker 2: was well liked by the other students. A lot of 208 00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:09,920 Speaker 2: them were also impressed by his knowledge of the outdoors 209 00:13:10,040 --> 00:13:11,959 Speaker 2: and of Athabaskan traditions. 210 00:13:12,360 --> 00:13:15,880 Speaker 1: When Harper was seventeen, Stuck hired him for help with 211 00:13:15,920 --> 00:13:19,760 Speaker 1: his missionary work. For about the next three years, Harper 212 00:13:19,800 --> 00:13:22,800 Speaker 1: acted as a guide a riverboat pilot in the summer 213 00:13:22,880 --> 00:13:25,840 Speaker 1: and a sled dog handler in the winter. He was 214 00:13:25,880 --> 00:13:29,760 Speaker 1: also an interpreter and a liaison with Alaska's indigenous communities, 215 00:13:30,320 --> 00:13:33,600 Speaker 1: acting as a bridge between Stuck and his missionary work 216 00:13:33,679 --> 00:13:36,240 Speaker 1: and the indigenous communities that he was trying to help. 217 00:13:37,120 --> 00:13:40,080 Speaker 1: Harper also came to trust Stuck, and he let other 218 00:13:40,120 --> 00:13:43,800 Speaker 1: indigenous people know that he thought Stuck was worthy of trust. 219 00:13:44,840 --> 00:13:48,320 Speaker 2: Stuck was also Harper's tutor and became a father figure 220 00:13:48,400 --> 00:13:52,840 Speaker 2: to him. This paternalism is totally understandable, since Harper was 221 00:13:52,920 --> 00:13:56,000 Speaker 2: sixteen when they met and only seventeen when they started 222 00:13:56,040 --> 00:14:00,800 Speaker 2: working and traveling together. But Stuck would also repeatedly acknowledged 223 00:14:00,840 --> 00:14:03,920 Speaker 2: that he had trouble thinking of Harper as a grown 224 00:14:04,160 --> 00:14:08,520 Speaker 2: man once Harper reached adulthood. This was probably complicated by 225 00:14:08,559 --> 00:14:12,120 Speaker 2: the fact that Stuck was still teaching and tutoring Harper 226 00:14:12,200 --> 00:14:15,079 Speaker 2: in multiple subjects when Harper was in his twenties and 227 00:14:15,280 --> 00:14:19,600 Speaker 2: was preparing to go to college. Stuck's writings describe Harper 228 00:14:19,680 --> 00:14:23,240 Speaker 2: as smart and resourceful like once they were traveling on 229 00:14:23,280 --> 00:14:26,600 Speaker 2: the mission's riverboat called the Pelican, and the Pelican had 230 00:14:26,640 --> 00:14:29,440 Speaker 2: a four cylinder engine and a cast iron bracket that 231 00:14:29,560 --> 00:14:33,360 Speaker 2: was holding one of the cylinders in place broke. Stuck 232 00:14:33,400 --> 00:14:35,840 Speaker 2: and the crew talked about hobbling back to the last 233 00:14:35,880 --> 00:14:38,680 Speaker 2: town that they had been to on three cylinders to 234 00:14:38,800 --> 00:14:41,720 Speaker 2: try to find a repair. But Harper thought that if 235 00:14:41,760 --> 00:14:44,320 Speaker 2: he had a piece of very hard wood, he could 236 00:14:44,360 --> 00:14:46,840 Speaker 2: fashion a new bracket and mount it onto the boat 237 00:14:46,920 --> 00:14:50,680 Speaker 2: with wire. Stuck was so confident in Harper's abilities that 238 00:14:50,720 --> 00:14:53,200 Speaker 2: he allowed him to use the one piece of hardwood 239 00:14:53,240 --> 00:14:56,200 Speaker 2: that they had that was the stock of their shotgun, 240 00:14:56,720 --> 00:15:00,760 Speaker 2: and this solution worked. In Stuck's words, quote, there are 241 00:15:00,800 --> 00:15:04,960 Speaker 2: no limits to Walter's ingenuity. I don't remember if he 242 00:15:05,040 --> 00:15:09,920 Speaker 2: specifically said, but I am assuming that later, when they 243 00:15:09,960 --> 00:15:13,200 Speaker 2: got to the next town or village, they were able 244 00:15:13,240 --> 00:15:18,480 Speaker 2: to replace that stock somehow. In nineteen thirteen, when Harper 245 00:15:18,680 --> 00:15:20,960 Speaker 2: was twenty or twenty one, he became part of an 246 00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:25,040 Speaker 2: expedition Stuck was funding to try to summit Denali. That 247 00:15:25,160 --> 00:15:30,240 Speaker 2: name comes from Athamascan for great. One probably also heard 248 00:15:30,240 --> 00:15:33,720 Speaker 2: it called Mount McKinley. In eighteen ninety six, a gold 249 00:15:33,760 --> 00:15:38,120 Speaker 2: prospector named William Dickey had proposed to call Denali Mount McKinley, 250 00:15:38,200 --> 00:15:43,440 Speaker 2: after then US presidential candidate William McKinley. William McKinley had 251 00:15:43,480 --> 00:15:46,520 Speaker 2: no connection to the mountain or to Alaska, but the 252 00:15:46,640 --> 00:15:50,560 Speaker 2: name Mount McKinley started to gain popularity after he had 253 00:15:50,600 --> 00:15:54,120 Speaker 2: been elected president and then assassinated, which was in nineteen 254 00:15:54,160 --> 00:15:59,520 Speaker 2: oh one. Although that name was not yet formally recognized 255 00:15:59,560 --> 00:16:02,440 Speaker 2: by the federal government, it was one that a lot 256 00:16:02,480 --> 00:16:06,360 Speaker 2: of people, especially outside of Alaska, were using. By the 257 00:16:06,400 --> 00:16:11,320 Speaker 2: time this expedition was being planned. Hudson Stuck objected to 258 00:16:11,360 --> 00:16:13,840 Speaker 2: the name Mount McKinley, as well as to the naming 259 00:16:13,880 --> 00:16:17,680 Speaker 2: of a neighboring peak as Mount Foricker, after Ohio Senator 260 00:16:17,800 --> 00:16:18,280 Speaker 2: Joseph B. 261 00:16:18,480 --> 00:16:19,000 Speaker 3: Forcker. 262 00:16:19,920 --> 00:16:23,320 Speaker 1: Stuck wrote that Mount Forker's name in Athabaskan translated to 263 00:16:23,600 --> 00:16:27,240 Speaker 1: the woman or Denali's wife. He said, of the names 264 00:16:27,320 --> 00:16:30,920 Speaker 1: McKinley and Foricker, quote, they should stand no longer, since 265 00:16:30,960 --> 00:16:33,600 Speaker 1: if there be right and reason in these matters, they 266 00:16:33,600 --> 00:16:35,480 Speaker 1: should not have been placed there at all. 267 00:16:36,440 --> 00:16:39,280 Speaker 2: He went on to say, quote, it is probably true 268 00:16:39,320 --> 00:16:42,720 Speaker 2: of every great mountain that it bears diverse native names, 269 00:16:42,760 --> 00:16:45,760 Speaker 2: as one tribe or another on this side or on 270 00:16:45,840 --> 00:16:48,800 Speaker 2: that of its mighty bulk speaks of it. But the 271 00:16:48,920 --> 00:16:52,160 Speaker 2: area in which and the people by whom this mountain 272 00:16:52,240 --> 00:16:56,280 Speaker 2: is now known as Denali, preponderate so greatly as to 273 00:16:56,400 --> 00:17:00,880 Speaker 2: leave no question which native name it should bear. Later, 274 00:17:00,960 --> 00:17:03,800 Speaker 2: he wrote quote, there is to the author's mind a 275 00:17:03,840 --> 00:17:07,199 Speaker 2: certain ruthless arrogance that grows more offensive to him as 276 00:17:07,280 --> 00:17:10,240 Speaker 2: the years pass by. In the temper, that comes to 277 00:17:10,280 --> 00:17:14,359 Speaker 2: a new land and contemptuously ignores the native names of 278 00:17:14,480 --> 00:17:20,520 Speaker 2: conspicuous natural objects, almost always appropriate and significant, and overlays 279 00:17:20,520 --> 00:17:23,720 Speaker 2: them with names that are commonly neither the one nor 280 00:17:23,760 --> 00:17:28,919 Speaker 2: the other. The learned societies of the world, the geographical societies, 281 00:17:28,960 --> 00:17:33,200 Speaker 2: the ethnological societies, have set their faces against this practice 282 00:17:33,240 --> 00:17:37,520 Speaker 2: these many years passed, and to them the writer confidently appeals. 283 00:17:38,480 --> 00:17:42,080 Speaker 2: Denali is the highest mountain peak in North America, with 284 00:17:42,160 --> 00:17:46,119 Speaker 2: an elevation of twenty thousand, three hundred ten feet above 285 00:17:46,119 --> 00:17:49,720 Speaker 2: sea level. It's also thousands of feet taller than most 286 00:17:49,720 --> 00:17:52,840 Speaker 2: of the other mountains in the Alaska Range. Because of 287 00:17:52,880 --> 00:17:56,520 Speaker 2: its massive size and the relative isolation of the Alaska 288 00:17:56,600 --> 00:17:59,440 Speaker 2: Range from other mountain ranges, and the way that Danali 289 00:17:59,560 --> 00:18:03,040 Speaker 2: interacts with prevailing winds and air currents, it is sometimes 290 00:18:03,080 --> 00:18:05,639 Speaker 2: described as creating its own weather. 291 00:18:06,560 --> 00:18:09,760 Speaker 1: There have been several known attempts to summit Denali in 292 00:18:09,800 --> 00:18:13,560 Speaker 1: the early twentieth century. Doctor Frederick Cook had launched an 293 00:18:13,600 --> 00:18:16,800 Speaker 1: expedition in nineteen oh six, and he claimed to have 294 00:18:16,840 --> 00:18:19,280 Speaker 1: reached the summit alone while the rest of his team 295 00:18:19,359 --> 00:18:23,800 Speaker 1: had stayed at a lower elevation. His claims were quickly discredited, 296 00:18:23,880 --> 00:18:26,920 Speaker 1: and he later made other claims that ranged from dubious 297 00:18:27,280 --> 00:18:31,359 Speaker 1: to straightforwardly fraudulent. He wound up being convicted of an 298 00:18:31,520 --> 00:18:34,240 Speaker 1: unrelated mail fraud in nineteen twenty three. 299 00:18:35,240 --> 00:18:38,320 Speaker 2: A team known as the Sourdough Party, made up of 300 00:18:38,440 --> 00:18:42,680 Speaker 2: Tom Lloyd, Peter Anderson, Billy Taylor, and Charles McGonagall tried 301 00:18:42,680 --> 00:18:47,000 Speaker 2: to summit Denali in nineteen ten. They probably did reach 302 00:18:47,119 --> 00:18:49,800 Speaker 2: a summit, but it was the North Peak, which is 303 00:18:49,840 --> 00:18:52,719 Speaker 2: about eight hundred and fifty feet lower in elevation than 304 00:18:52,760 --> 00:18:55,439 Speaker 2: the South peak. That is something they did not know 305 00:18:55,600 --> 00:19:00,399 Speaker 2: at the time. Hudson's Stuck's Expedition spotted a pull that 306 00:19:00,440 --> 00:19:05,480 Speaker 2: the Sourdough Party left on the lower summit through binoculars. Then, 307 00:19:05,680 --> 00:19:08,919 Speaker 2: in nineteen twelve, a team led by Belmore Brown and 308 00:19:08,960 --> 00:19:12,040 Speaker 2: Herschel Parker tried to reach the South summit of Denali. 309 00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:16,640 Speaker 2: They had previously made other expeditions on the mountain, including 310 00:19:16,680 --> 00:19:21,280 Speaker 2: one to conclusively disprove Cook's claims of having summited, and 311 00:19:21,359 --> 00:19:24,920 Speaker 2: on their final attempt they almost made it. They were 312 00:19:24,960 --> 00:19:27,520 Speaker 2: probably within about one hundred and twenty five feet of 313 00:19:27,560 --> 00:19:29,680 Speaker 2: the summit when they were forced to turn back due 314 00:19:29,680 --> 00:19:33,600 Speaker 2: to a storm with total whiteout conditions and extreme cold. 315 00:19:34,359 --> 00:19:37,719 Speaker 2: The snow was falling so fast that it filled their footprints, 316 00:19:37,720 --> 00:19:39,919 Speaker 2: so they could barely make out a return route to 317 00:19:39,960 --> 00:19:43,760 Speaker 2: their camp. They tried again, but they were again forced 318 00:19:43,800 --> 00:19:45,879 Speaker 2: to turn around because of a blizzard, and by that 319 00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:48,840 Speaker 2: point they were running out of food that they could eat. 320 00:19:49,280 --> 00:19:52,280 Speaker 2: Their most calorie dense food was pemmican, which is a 321 00:19:52,280 --> 00:19:55,119 Speaker 2: food developed by the indigenous peoples of the Far North 322 00:19:55,119 --> 00:19:59,240 Speaker 2: that's typically made from dried meat, animal fat, and sometimes berries. 323 00:19:59,640 --> 00:20:02,560 Speaker 2: Pemmic as a frequent flyer on the podcast Lately. Yeah, 324 00:20:02,600 --> 00:20:05,720 Speaker 2: it became a staple food for a lot of nineteenth 325 00:20:05,760 --> 00:20:06,880 Speaker 2: century expeditions. 326 00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:09,640 Speaker 1: Oh, I meant we just mentioned it on the Cranberry episode. 327 00:20:09,720 --> 00:20:10,479 Speaker 3: We did do that. 328 00:20:11,880 --> 00:20:14,320 Speaker 2: We've mentioned it in other episodes also, which is what 329 00:20:14,400 --> 00:20:18,040 Speaker 2: I was thinking of. Yeah, their canned pemmican had started 330 00:20:18,040 --> 00:20:21,440 Speaker 2: to disagree with their digestive systems at very high altitudes, 331 00:20:21,720 --> 00:20:23,600 Speaker 2: and they had given up on trying to eat it 332 00:20:23,640 --> 00:20:26,320 Speaker 2: near the summit. They pretty much were like, we're not 333 00:20:26,359 --> 00:20:29,480 Speaker 2: getting any value from the food anymore because it makes us. 334 00:20:29,560 --> 00:20:31,080 Speaker 1: It's doing more harm than good. 335 00:20:31,640 --> 00:20:32,600 Speaker 3: Yeah. 336 00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:36,280 Speaker 2: Accounts from the Parker Brown expedition made it sound like 337 00:20:36,520 --> 00:20:39,480 Speaker 2: reaching the summit of Denali could be possible if the 338 00:20:39,520 --> 00:20:42,359 Speaker 2: weather cooperated, and Hudson Stuck was one of the people 339 00:20:42,359 --> 00:20:47,160 Speaker 2: who wanted to try. Another was Henry P. Carstons, known 340 00:20:47,200 --> 00:20:51,280 Speaker 2: as Harry. Carstons, had been born in Chicago in eighteen 341 00:20:51,359 --> 00:20:53,960 Speaker 2: seventy eight and had come to Alaska at the age 342 00:20:53,960 --> 00:20:58,359 Speaker 2: of nineteen during the Klondike Gold Rush. His prospecting along 343 00:20:58,400 --> 00:21:01,240 Speaker 2: the seventy Mile River had earned him the nickname the 344 00:21:01,320 --> 00:21:05,119 Speaker 2: seventy Mile Kid. In addition to being a prospector and 345 00:21:05,160 --> 00:21:09,240 Speaker 2: a trader, Carston's had become an expert dog sled handler. 346 00:21:09,920 --> 00:21:13,520 Speaker 2: He had helped establish a trail between Fairbanks and Valdez, 347 00:21:13,560 --> 00:21:16,840 Speaker 2: and then had operated a private mail service along that 348 00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:20,879 Speaker 2: route while the government was still getting an official mail 349 00:21:20,960 --> 00:21:24,720 Speaker 2: service established. Carston's had done a lot of work with 350 00:21:24,880 --> 00:21:29,000 Speaker 2: naturalist and big game hunter Charles Sheldon, and initially had 351 00:21:29,040 --> 00:21:33,520 Speaker 2: hoped to plan a Dinali expedition with Sheldon. That didn't 352 00:21:33,560 --> 00:21:36,199 Speaker 2: work out, though, and he started working with Hudson Stuck. 353 00:21:37,080 --> 00:21:39,680 Speaker 1: Carston's was the one who did most of the tactical 354 00:21:39,680 --> 00:21:43,600 Speaker 1: planning and scouting of their route. He really led the expedition, 355 00:21:43,760 --> 00:21:46,439 Speaker 1: with Walter Harper being a big help in those efforts. 356 00:21:46,520 --> 00:21:47,080 Speaker 3: Day to day. 357 00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:51,040 Speaker 1: Stuck provided most of the money for food, equipment, and 358 00:21:51,080 --> 00:21:55,359 Speaker 1: miscellaneous expenses, which was an amount he characterized as quote 359 00:21:55,680 --> 00:21:58,760 Speaker 1: not far short of one thousand dollars, a mere fraction 360 00:21:58,880 --> 00:22:01,760 Speaker 1: of the cost of previous expeditions. It is true, but 361 00:22:01,840 --> 00:22:04,560 Speaker 1: a matter of long scraping together for a missionary. 362 00:22:05,560 --> 00:22:08,719 Speaker 2: Other people who were part of the Carston Stuck expedition 363 00:22:08,920 --> 00:22:13,080 Speaker 2: included Robert G. Tatum, a postulant to the Episcopal Priesthood 364 00:22:13,080 --> 00:22:16,239 Speaker 2: who was originally from Tennessee and was working at the 365 00:22:16,440 --> 00:22:20,520 Speaker 2: mission in Nanana. He had arrived in Alaska in nineteen eleven. 366 00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:25,280 Speaker 2: There were also two Alaska native teenagers named John Fredson 367 00:22:25,440 --> 00:22:29,200 Speaker 2: and Issias George, who were selected from the oldest boys 368 00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:33,200 Speaker 2: at the Nanana School. With the exception of Robert Tatum, 369 00:22:33,359 --> 00:22:36,520 Speaker 2: these men were all either native to Alaska or had 370 00:22:36,560 --> 00:22:40,440 Speaker 2: spent a significant number of years there. While Tatum was 371 00:22:40,480 --> 00:22:43,359 Speaker 2: a relative newcomer, he had lived through two winters in 372 00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:47,480 Speaker 2: Nanana and had various experience surveying and doing other work 373 00:22:47,480 --> 00:22:50,159 Speaker 2: in the back country. He also did a lot of 374 00:22:50,200 --> 00:22:55,640 Speaker 2: wintertime hiking. In preparation for the expedition, everyone involved had 375 00:22:55,640 --> 00:22:59,440 Speaker 2: experienced traveling by boat, by dog sled, and on foot 376 00:22:59,480 --> 00:23:03,639 Speaker 2: and survey in remote parts of the Alaskan interior. The 377 00:23:03,720 --> 00:23:08,800 Speaker 2: one thing they hadn't experienced was the high altitudes of Denali. Yeah, 378 00:23:08,840 --> 00:23:11,720 Speaker 2: I would say that as a group they were more 379 00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:15,800 Speaker 2: experienced and prepared than some of the other expeditions we've. 380 00:23:15,600 --> 00:23:17,320 Speaker 3: Talked about on the show. 381 00:23:17,760 --> 00:23:20,399 Speaker 2: We will get some more detail about their preparations for 382 00:23:20,440 --> 00:23:33,760 Speaker 2: this expedition after a sponsor break. Getting shipments from other 383 00:23:33,880 --> 00:23:37,680 Speaker 2: parts of the world can be challenging in Alaska today, 384 00:23:38,640 --> 00:23:41,840 Speaker 2: and that was an even bigger issue when Hudson Stuck 385 00:23:41,840 --> 00:23:45,639 Speaker 2: and Harry Carston started trying to provision an expedition to 386 00:23:45,720 --> 00:23:50,720 Speaker 2: Denali in the early nineteen teens. Stuck described the ice 387 00:23:50,840 --> 00:23:55,040 Speaker 2: axes that they ordered as quote, gold painted toys with 388 00:23:55,200 --> 00:23:59,800 Speaker 2: detachable heads and broomstick handles. When they arrived, they wound 389 00:23:59,840 --> 00:24:03,960 Speaker 2: up having ice axes custom made in Fairbanks, Alaska, from 390 00:24:04,320 --> 00:24:08,679 Speaker 2: steel and hickory. They also needed crampons and wound up 391 00:24:08,680 --> 00:24:11,840 Speaker 2: having to have those made for them as well. The 392 00:24:11,920 --> 00:24:17,760 Speaker 2: resulting contraptions were again, in Stuck's words, quote, terribly heavy, clumsy, 393 00:24:18,040 --> 00:24:20,359 Speaker 2: rat trap affairs, and they. 394 00:24:20,359 --> 00:24:24,840 Speaker 1: Had real trouble getting suitable boots. They ordered alpine boots 395 00:24:24,840 --> 00:24:27,640 Speaker 1: that turned out to be much too small for their purposes. 396 00:24:28,320 --> 00:24:30,600 Speaker 1: They were going to be climbing through deep snow and 397 00:24:30,720 --> 00:24:33,560 Speaker 1: expected temperatures near the summit of Denali to be so 398 00:24:33,800 --> 00:24:37,600 Speaker 1: cold that they would need multiple layers of socks. Their 399 00:24:37,640 --> 00:24:41,480 Speaker 1: alpine boots just were not gonna accommodate many extra layers. 400 00:24:42,160 --> 00:24:44,959 Speaker 1: They bought rubber boots that were big enough for extra socks, 401 00:24:45,040 --> 00:24:47,879 Speaker 1: and they had leather soles nailed to them, but that 402 00:24:47,880 --> 00:24:51,600 Speaker 1: didn't work either. They were passing through the Cantishna region 403 00:24:51,720 --> 00:24:53,879 Speaker 1: on the way to Denali when they found their most 404 00:24:53,920 --> 00:24:58,560 Speaker 1: workable option. That was moccasins with five layers of socks underneath. 405 00:24:59,440 --> 00:25:04,679 Speaker 1: YEA say, cold like many tens of degrees below zero 406 00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:06,320 Speaker 1: and also very. 407 00:25:06,200 --> 00:25:07,720 Speaker 3: Windy, no thank you. 408 00:25:09,600 --> 00:25:13,119 Speaker 2: In addition to those challenges, some of the equipment that 409 00:25:13,160 --> 00:25:16,280 Speaker 2: they ordered from outside of Alaska did not arrive in 410 00:25:16,400 --> 00:25:20,240 Speaker 2: time for their largest advanced shipment to their staging point 411 00:25:20,359 --> 00:25:24,240 Speaker 2: in Nanana. That advanced shipment was sent to Nanana the 412 00:25:24,280 --> 00:25:28,520 Speaker 2: autumn before the expedition, before the rivers froze over. Some 413 00:25:28,600 --> 00:25:30,639 Speaker 2: of what they ordered also just never showed up in 414 00:25:30,720 --> 00:25:33,960 Speaker 2: Alaska at all. Stuck said of all this, quote, such 415 00:25:34,040 --> 00:25:37,720 Speaker 2: are the difficulties of any undertaking in Alaska, despite all 416 00:25:37,800 --> 00:25:41,760 Speaker 2: the precautions that foresight may dictate. But some of their 417 00:25:41,840 --> 00:25:45,879 Speaker 2: gear actually worked better than expected. Members of the expedition 418 00:25:45,960 --> 00:25:49,960 Speaker 2: had previously used glasses with blue or smoked glass lenses 419 00:25:50,040 --> 00:25:54,000 Speaker 2: to try to prevent snowblindness that hadn't been entirely effective. 420 00:25:54,840 --> 00:25:57,880 Speaker 2: Some of the treatments for snowblindness at the time included 421 00:25:57,960 --> 00:26:02,160 Speaker 2: eye washes made with boric acid zinc sulfate. They were 422 00:26:02,200 --> 00:26:05,360 Speaker 2: prepared with these eye washes, but they also acquired new 423 00:26:05,400 --> 00:26:08,840 Speaker 2: glasses with amber lenses, which seemed to work much better 424 00:26:08,880 --> 00:26:12,760 Speaker 2: than anything they had worn before. In Stuck's words, quote, 425 00:26:12,760 --> 00:26:15,800 Speaker 2: the invention of the amber snowglass is an even greater 426 00:26:15,920 --> 00:26:18,840 Speaker 2: blessing to the traveler in the North than the invention 427 00:26:18,960 --> 00:26:24,360 Speaker 2: of the thermos bottle. Other supplies included a huge amount 428 00:26:24,440 --> 00:26:29,840 Speaker 2: of food. They had seventy to four ounce packages of herbsworst, 429 00:26:30,280 --> 00:26:33,919 Speaker 2: which is a ready to eat sausage like preparation of 430 00:26:34,040 --> 00:26:38,200 Speaker 2: pea flour, pork belly fat, onions, and spices from Germany 431 00:26:38,800 --> 00:26:42,119 Speaker 2: that can also be dissolved in water to make a soup. 432 00:26:42,400 --> 00:26:46,120 Speaker 2: They also had twenty pounds of milk chocolate, five pounds 433 00:26:46,119 --> 00:26:50,240 Speaker 2: of Chinese tea and tablets, ten pounds of figs, and 434 00:26:50,400 --> 00:26:52,399 Speaker 2: ten pounds of sugared almonds. 435 00:26:53,000 --> 00:26:54,240 Speaker 3: All of this was meant. 436 00:26:54,080 --> 00:26:57,439 Speaker 2: To be saved for the highest altitude parts of the expedition. 437 00:26:58,359 --> 00:27:01,160 Speaker 1: They had a large silk tent for use at low 438 00:27:01,160 --> 00:27:04,959 Speaker 1: elevations and smaller ones for later in the journey. There 439 00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:09,560 Speaker 1: were also stoves, dishes, down quilts, camel's hair blankets, and 440 00:27:09,640 --> 00:27:13,840 Speaker 1: a sleeping bag lined with down and camel's hair. Carstons 441 00:27:13,880 --> 00:27:17,320 Speaker 1: contributed a wolf robe that weighed about twenty five pounds. 442 00:27:17,960 --> 00:27:20,879 Speaker 1: They also had various weather instruments to take readings on 443 00:27:20,920 --> 00:27:25,399 Speaker 1: the mountain, and cameras to record their journey. In March 444 00:27:25,400 --> 00:27:29,719 Speaker 1: of nineteen thirteen, Hudson Stuck, Harry Carston's, and Walter Harper 445 00:27:29,800 --> 00:27:32,880 Speaker 1: made their way to Nanana, Alaska, where they met up 446 00:27:32,920 --> 00:27:37,200 Speaker 1: with Robert Tatum, John Fredson, and Assias George. The six 447 00:27:37,280 --> 00:27:38,320 Speaker 1: of them needed to. 448 00:27:38,480 --> 00:27:41,520 Speaker 2: Arrive at Denali late enough in the spring to have 449 00:27:41,560 --> 00:27:44,800 Speaker 2: a chance of milder weather at the summit, but they 450 00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:48,320 Speaker 2: also needed everything to be frozen enough to travel by 451 00:27:48,440 --> 00:27:51,800 Speaker 2: dog sled on the way there and during their initial ascent. 452 00:27:52,600 --> 00:27:55,600 Speaker 2: They wound up setting out from Nanana on Saint Patrick's Day, 453 00:27:55,640 --> 00:27:58,760 Speaker 2: which was actually a couple of weeks later than they planned. 454 00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:03,760 Speaker 2: Arrived at Eureka in the Cantieshna region on March twenty first, 455 00:28:03,760 --> 00:28:06,800 Speaker 2: which was Good Friday, and a few days later arrived 456 00:28:06,800 --> 00:28:08,879 Speaker 2: at Diamond City on the Bearpaw River. 457 00:28:09,760 --> 00:28:12,040 Speaker 1: Along the way, they picked up caches of food and 458 00:28:12,080 --> 00:28:15,600 Speaker 1: supplies that had been shipped ahead of them. In total, 459 00:28:15,720 --> 00:28:17,919 Speaker 1: they wound up with about one and a half tons 460 00:28:17,920 --> 00:28:20,240 Speaker 1: of food and supplies that had to be carried to 461 00:28:20,240 --> 00:28:22,920 Speaker 1: the foot of the mountain in a relay. They would 462 00:28:22,920 --> 00:28:25,320 Speaker 1: take a load ahead and cash it at the midway 463 00:28:25,359 --> 00:28:28,320 Speaker 1: point of the day's journey, then double back and take 464 00:28:28,359 --> 00:28:30,480 Speaker 1: a second load all the way to where they were 465 00:28:30,520 --> 00:28:33,280 Speaker 1: stopping for the night, then go back and get what 466 00:28:33,320 --> 00:28:36,840 Speaker 1: they had cashed. To do this, they used two dog 467 00:28:36,880 --> 00:28:40,160 Speaker 1: sleds and two teams of seven dogs, each following a 468 00:28:40,200 --> 00:28:42,800 Speaker 1: path that had been laid out by the Sourdough Expedition. 469 00:28:44,120 --> 00:28:47,440 Speaker 2: The Carston Stuck Expedition made a series of camps on 470 00:28:47,480 --> 00:28:49,840 Speaker 2: their way to the mountain, either to support them as 471 00:28:49,880 --> 00:28:53,760 Speaker 2: they tried to cross various geographic features, or to provide 472 00:28:53,800 --> 00:28:56,880 Speaker 2: for their return journey after they came down from the summit. 473 00:28:57,720 --> 00:29:00,160 Speaker 2: One of their earlier camps was at about four four 474 00:29:00,160 --> 00:29:03,360 Speaker 2: one thousand feet in elevation, and it had an additional 475 00:29:03,400 --> 00:29:07,760 Speaker 2: purpose and Stuck's words quote, Our prime concern at this 476 00:29:07,880 --> 00:29:11,040 Speaker 2: camp was the gathering and preserving of a sufficient meat 477 00:29:11,080 --> 00:29:14,440 Speaker 2: supply for our subsistence on the mountain. It was an 478 00:29:14,480 --> 00:29:18,560 Speaker 2: easy task. First Carston's killed a cariboo, and then Walter 479 00:29:18,760 --> 00:29:22,080 Speaker 2: a mountain sheep. Then Asiahs happened into the midst of 480 00:29:22,120 --> 00:29:25,160 Speaker 2: a herd of cariboo as he climbed over a ridge 481 00:29:25,200 --> 00:29:28,640 Speaker 2: and killed three. That was all we needed. Then we 482 00:29:28,680 --> 00:29:32,520 Speaker 2: went to work preparing the meat. Why should anyone haul 483 00:29:32,680 --> 00:29:36,760 Speaker 2: canned pemmican hundreds of miles into the greatest game country 484 00:29:36,800 --> 00:29:40,040 Speaker 2: in the world. We made our own pemmican of the 485 00:29:40,120 --> 00:29:43,520 Speaker 2: choice parts of this tender, juicy meat and we never 486 00:29:43,640 --> 00:29:47,719 Speaker 2: lost appetite for it or failed to enjoy and assimilate it. 487 00:29:48,080 --> 00:29:51,160 Speaker 2: I feel like he is throwing some shade here at 488 00:29:51,160 --> 00:29:53,000 Speaker 2: the earlier expedition. 489 00:29:53,360 --> 00:29:56,560 Speaker 1: Like, oh, you wusses. You know it's the homemade versus 490 00:29:56,560 --> 00:29:58,440 Speaker 1: canned cranberry debate of mountaineers. 491 00:29:58,920 --> 00:30:04,240 Speaker 2: Yeah, well, there have been other expeditions where their plan 492 00:30:04,360 --> 00:30:06,840 Speaker 2: was like, oh, we will just hunt for food when 493 00:30:06,880 --> 00:30:07,440 Speaker 2: we get there. 494 00:30:07,520 --> 00:30:09,960 Speaker 3: That really did not work out for them. Yeah. 495 00:30:10,040 --> 00:30:14,200 Speaker 2: So the fact that they did, which you know, was expected. 496 00:30:14,240 --> 00:30:16,560 Speaker 2: They knew what they were doing and they knew the landscape. 497 00:30:16,560 --> 00:30:19,480 Speaker 2: But still there have been other expeditions where that plan 498 00:30:19,560 --> 00:30:22,120 Speaker 2: would not have worked. Right, I mean, it fails to 499 00:30:22,720 --> 00:30:24,880 Speaker 2: acknowledge that there is a degree of luck to how 500 00:30:24,920 --> 00:30:25,520 Speaker 2: well they did. 501 00:30:26,200 --> 00:30:26,440 Speaker 3: Right. 502 00:30:26,800 --> 00:30:28,640 Speaker 1: So here is how they made their Pemmican. 503 00:30:28,880 --> 00:30:29,280 Speaker 3: Quote. 504 00:30:29,520 --> 00:30:32,640 Speaker 1: A fifty pound lard can three parts filled with water, 505 00:30:32,840 --> 00:30:35,280 Speaker 1: was set on the stove and kept supplied with joints 506 00:30:35,280 --> 00:30:37,960 Speaker 1: of meat. As a batch was cooked, we took it 507 00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:40,680 Speaker 1: out and put more into the same water, removed the 508 00:30:40,720 --> 00:30:44,080 Speaker 1: flesh from the bones and minced it. Then we melted 509 00:30:44,080 --> 00:30:46,600 Speaker 1: a can of butter, added pepper and salt to it, 510 00:30:46,680 --> 00:30:48,800 Speaker 1: and rolled a handful of the minced meat in the 511 00:30:48,800 --> 00:30:51,800 Speaker 1: butter and molded it with the hands into a ball 512 00:30:51,840 --> 00:30:54,880 Speaker 1: about as large as a baseball. We made a couple 513 00:30:54,920 --> 00:30:57,320 Speaker 1: of one hundred of such balls and froze them, and 514 00:30:57,360 --> 00:31:00,840 Speaker 1: they kept perfectly. When all the boiling done, we put 515 00:31:00,840 --> 00:31:03,080 Speaker 1: in the hawks of the animals and boiled down the 516 00:31:03,080 --> 00:31:07,479 Speaker 1: liquor into five pounds of the thickest, richest meat extract jelly, 517 00:31:07,840 --> 00:31:11,480 Speaker 1: adding the marrow from the bones. With this pemmican and 518 00:31:11,560 --> 00:31:14,920 Speaker 1: this extract of cariboo, a package of herbsworst and a 519 00:31:14,960 --> 00:31:18,400 Speaker 1: cupful of rice, we concocted every night the stew, which 520 00:31:18,480 --> 00:31:21,080 Speaker 1: was our main food in the higher regions. 521 00:31:21,560 --> 00:31:25,000 Speaker 2: Here we've talked about pemmican as using dried meat, and 522 00:31:25,040 --> 00:31:27,120 Speaker 2: they were able to use it with fresh meat because 523 00:31:27,160 --> 00:31:29,680 Speaker 2: everything was staying frozen all the time, which allowed it 524 00:31:29,720 --> 00:31:34,440 Speaker 2: to keep on. April fifteenth, the expedition finished their supply 525 00:31:34,560 --> 00:31:37,920 Speaker 2: relay Asia as George returned to Nanana with one of 526 00:31:37,920 --> 00:31:40,600 Speaker 2: the dog sled teams since they no longer. 527 00:31:40,400 --> 00:31:41,640 Speaker 3: Needed that many dogs. 528 00:31:42,440 --> 00:31:45,920 Speaker 2: The weather at lower elevations had gotten a lot warmer 529 00:31:46,000 --> 00:31:47,880 Speaker 2: than it had been when they had set out from 530 00:31:47,960 --> 00:31:50,640 Speaker 2: Nanana in March, and so a lot of the time, 531 00:31:50,760 --> 00:31:54,040 Speaker 2: George had to travel at night when everything froze back over. 532 00:31:55,080 --> 00:31:58,200 Speaker 2: The base camp they had established at this point was remote, 533 00:31:58,640 --> 00:32:01,560 Speaker 2: but not so remote that no one else was around. 534 00:32:02,360 --> 00:32:05,280 Speaker 2: One day in April, an indigenous family arrived at one 535 00:32:05,320 --> 00:32:09,320 Speaker 2: of their camps, hoping Stuck would baptize their child. The 536 00:32:09,360 --> 00:32:11,760 Speaker 2: family had tried to catch up with the party before 537 00:32:11,800 --> 00:32:14,800 Speaker 2: they left the Cantishna region, but they hadn't been able to, 538 00:32:15,160 --> 00:32:18,360 Speaker 2: and the expedition speculated about how far they would have 539 00:32:18,400 --> 00:32:21,240 Speaker 2: continued to travel looking for Stuck if they hadn't been 540 00:32:21,280 --> 00:32:25,160 Speaker 2: at the base camp. From there, the party established a 541 00:32:25,280 --> 00:32:27,680 Speaker 2: cash at the pass that they would use to access 542 00:32:27,720 --> 00:32:31,800 Speaker 2: the Muldro Glacier. That glacier was one that earlier expedition 543 00:32:31,880 --> 00:32:35,400 Speaker 2: had used to work their way toward the summit. Stuck 544 00:32:35,440 --> 00:32:38,120 Speaker 2: wrote of their first view of this glacier, quote, that 545 00:32:38,280 --> 00:32:41,760 Speaker 2: day stands out in recollection as one of the notable 546 00:32:41,840 --> 00:32:45,560 Speaker 2: days of the whole ascent. Where the glacier stretched away, 547 00:32:45,760 --> 00:32:48,800 Speaker 2: broad and level the road to the heart of the mountain, 548 00:32:49,040 --> 00:32:52,560 Speaker 2: and as our eyes traced its course, our spirits leapt 549 00:32:52,840 --> 00:32:56,680 Speaker 2: up that at last we were entered upon our real task. 550 00:32:57,280 --> 00:32:59,800 Speaker 2: One of us at least knew something of the dangers 551 00:32:59,840 --> 00:33:04,400 Speaker 2: and difficulties. It's apparently smooth surface concealed, yet to both 552 00:33:04,440 --> 00:33:07,480 Speaker 2: of us it had an infinite attractiveness. For it was 553 00:33:07,520 --> 00:33:11,000 Speaker 2: the highway of desire. We are going to get to 554 00:33:11,040 --> 00:33:14,200 Speaker 2: their crossing of the glacier, and they're continuing to the 555 00:33:14,240 --> 00:33:18,040 Speaker 2: summit next time. In the meantime, do you have listener, 556 00:33:18,080 --> 00:33:21,200 Speaker 2: mayil I do. It is about outdoorsy things, but in 557 00:33:21,240 --> 00:33:25,320 Speaker 2: a very different climate from Denali. This is from Kristin. 558 00:33:26,200 --> 00:33:29,920 Speaker 2: Kristin wrote back in October and said, Hi, Holly and Tracy. 559 00:33:30,200 --> 00:33:33,320 Speaker 2: I discovered your podcast during the pandemic and shared them 560 00:33:33,360 --> 00:33:36,360 Speaker 2: frequently with my kids as I homeschooled them, and now 561 00:33:36,400 --> 00:33:39,320 Speaker 2: listen mostly when I am driving or weaving at home 562 00:33:39,440 --> 00:33:42,560 Speaker 2: or work. Thanks for everything you do to provide a 563 00:33:42,600 --> 00:33:46,080 Speaker 2: deeper dive into so many interesting topics. My ears perked 564 00:33:46,120 --> 00:33:49,040 Speaker 2: up when I heard mention of the lime vaccine trial 565 00:33:49,120 --> 00:33:52,480 Speaker 2: currently in progress, because I am a participant in this study. 566 00:33:53,160 --> 00:33:56,080 Speaker 2: Kristin gets into like where the study was taking place 567 00:33:56,200 --> 00:33:58,360 Speaker 2: and how long it took to get there. Actually, the 568 00:33:58,440 --> 00:34:01,840 Speaker 2: place that Kristin went would have been perfectly convenient for me. 569 00:34:01,880 --> 00:34:02,640 Speaker 3: It would have been fine. 570 00:34:02,680 --> 00:34:05,440 Speaker 2: It was not a location that I was offered to 571 00:34:05,480 --> 00:34:07,960 Speaker 2: get back to the email. This was my first experience 572 00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:10,239 Speaker 2: participating in a clinical trial, and I was glad to 573 00:34:10,239 --> 00:34:13,520 Speaker 2: be able to contribute. I spend a lot of time 574 00:34:13,680 --> 00:34:17,200 Speaker 2: out in the woods as a geocasher. I'm particularly high 575 00:34:17,280 --> 00:34:20,600 Speaker 2: risk because I bushwhack off trail more than the average hiker. 576 00:34:21,120 --> 00:34:24,479 Speaker 2: When a family member of mine finally realized he had lime, 577 00:34:24,600 --> 00:34:27,680 Speaker 2: he was told that every month that goes undiagnosed equals 578 00:34:27,680 --> 00:34:30,080 Speaker 2: about a year of recovery. So as important as it 579 00:34:30,160 --> 00:34:33,000 Speaker 2: is to have an effective vaccine, it's also crucial to 580 00:34:33,040 --> 00:34:36,200 Speaker 2: get tested promptly if you suspect you have a tickborn illness. 581 00:34:37,000 --> 00:34:39,799 Speaker 2: I wanted to share a tip that I used to 582 00:34:39,880 --> 00:34:43,239 Speaker 2: help prevent tick bites. I keep a lint roller in 583 00:34:43,320 --> 00:34:45,719 Speaker 2: my car, and when I'm done with a hike, I 584 00:34:45,840 --> 00:34:49,160 Speaker 2: roll it over my clothes to pick up any unwanted travelers. 585 00:34:49,480 --> 00:34:50,959 Speaker 3: It works on dogs too. 586 00:34:51,520 --> 00:34:54,239 Speaker 2: I also keep the lint roller within easy reach in 587 00:34:54,320 --> 00:34:57,359 Speaker 2: the car. Ticks like to crawl upwards, so sometimes when 588 00:34:57,360 --> 00:34:59,920 Speaker 2: I'm driving, I'll notice a tick crawling up my pain 589 00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:02,759 Speaker 2: ance leg. With the roller, I can get it off 590 00:35:02,800 --> 00:35:06,239 Speaker 2: me quickly and safely. Our household is currently pet free. 591 00:35:06,239 --> 00:35:08,719 Speaker 2: But I'm sharing a photo of my beautiful cat, Phoenix, 592 00:35:08,760 --> 00:35:10,920 Speaker 2: who was with me for thirteen years and with such 593 00:35:10,920 --> 00:35:13,920 Speaker 2: a princess. I'm also attaching a photo of a stunning 594 00:35:13,960 --> 00:35:16,279 Speaker 2: red tailed hawk who swooped in on a critter in 595 00:35:16,360 --> 00:35:18,520 Speaker 2: my garden and let me get a few feet away 596 00:35:18,560 --> 00:35:21,120 Speaker 2: for a close up before flying off with a snack. 597 00:35:22,120 --> 00:35:24,279 Speaker 2: Best to you both, and keep up the good work. 598 00:35:24,400 --> 00:35:24,760 Speaker 3: Kristin. 599 00:35:24,880 --> 00:35:29,759 Speaker 2: We have an adorable orange cat perched on a chessboard, baby, 600 00:35:29,800 --> 00:35:32,200 Speaker 2: and man, that is a very beautiful view of that hawk. 601 00:35:32,600 --> 00:35:37,000 Speaker 2: This is a great tip with the lin roller. Yeah, 602 00:35:37,000 --> 00:35:39,600 Speaker 2: that's a great idea. I don't think I had ever 603 00:35:39,640 --> 00:35:41,960 Speaker 2: thought of that or heard anybody suggest that as a 604 00:35:41,960 --> 00:35:45,040 Speaker 2: thing to do, but it makes a lot of sense. 605 00:35:45,760 --> 00:35:48,320 Speaker 2: I also think I have mentioned on the show before 606 00:35:49,160 --> 00:35:53,960 Speaker 2: that my doctor's office has a thing on their portal 607 00:35:54,120 --> 00:35:56,600 Speaker 2: in my chart where as soon as you log in, 608 00:35:56,680 --> 00:35:59,000 Speaker 2: it's like, have you been bitten by a tick? 609 00:35:59,360 --> 00:36:00,560 Speaker 3: Get medical advice. 610 00:36:01,560 --> 00:36:04,759 Speaker 2: So I continue to encourage that if you live in 611 00:36:04,840 --> 00:36:08,359 Speaker 2: a place where there are tickboard diseases, if you have 612 00:36:08,440 --> 00:36:10,680 Speaker 2: a tick bite, even if you think you're fine, it's 613 00:36:10,719 --> 00:36:13,280 Speaker 2: a good idea to speak to a doctor real quick. 614 00:36:13,320 --> 00:36:16,520 Speaker 2: See what they think. Thank you so much, Kristen for 615 00:36:16,560 --> 00:36:19,480 Speaker 2: this email. If you would like to send us a 616 00:36:19,520 --> 00:36:23,160 Speaker 2: note or about this or any other podcast for history 617 00:36:23,200 --> 00:36:26,600 Speaker 2: podcasts at iHeartRadio dot com, and if you can subscribe 618 00:36:26,640 --> 00:36:30,279 Speaker 2: to our show on iHeartRadio app and anywhere else you'd 619 00:36:30,320 --> 00:36:38,000 Speaker 2: like to get your podcasts. Stuff you Missed in History 620 00:36:38,000 --> 00:36:42,400 Speaker 2: Class is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, 621 00:36:42,560 --> 00:36:46,120 Speaker 2: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 622 00:36:46,200 --> 00:36:47,160 Speaker 2: to your favorite shows.