| 1 Helen March |
"Having been raised in the brush, I was amazed
at the sophisticated Cordova High School kids." |
| 2 Rocky Cummins |
"I drifted up to Alaska, which I'd been told
was a place where a feller could get a start." |
| 3 Helena Andree |
"Mom trapped hundreds of squirrels every summer
... and taught us all the Native ways of doing things." |
| 4 Lyle West |
" ... if you set (your shoes) on the floor, they'd
freeze there and in the morning you'd have to kick 'em loose." |
| 5 Emely DuBeau |
"The nearest neighbors were 35 miles away ..." |
| 6 Chuck Porter |
"The kids I met at Juneau High are still some
of the closest friends I've ever had." |
| 7 Frances Ray |
" ... we women used to get teased all the time,
that we'd come to Alaska to find husbands." |
| 8 Minnie Swanda |
"We had exactly ten days to sort through all
our belongings and say goodbye to our families and friends." |
| 9 John Ireland |
"I got pretty disgusted with the antics of humanity
and tried to find a more congenial lifestyle alone in the woods." |
| 10 Betty Arnett |
"It still makes me laugh, to think
of myself climbing into that little plane, wearing my veiled hat and high
heels." |
| 11 Daisy Lee Bitter |
" ... in 1954 we headed up the highway in a one-ton
Diamond T pickup pulling a 30-foot house trailer." |
| 12 Louise Wood |
"Our mother, because she had five American children,
was sent to an internment camp in Hunt, Idaho." |
| 13 Bob Moss |
" ... we wouldn't go halibut fishing in the spring
until the price got up to ten cents a pound." |
| 14 Mary More |
"We lived in a little ... apartment (in Nome)
... directly above the Nevada Bar." |
| 15 Chris Anderson |
"I'm probably the only guy who has milked cows
at 16,000 feet." |
| 16 Capt. Jack Johnson |
"(I was a) deck boy... cutting bait and pulling
codfish tongues, and I loved every minute of it." |
| 17 Helena Ashby |
"My mom and dad had 13 children, and we all lived
in a one-room log cabin." |
| 18 David Kepler |
"When I was eight my dad grubstaked me to two
dozen #1 traps and a .22 rifle, which I paid for by trapping." |
| 19 Ella Woodhead |
"One of my first jobs was working in the Libby's
cannery in Kenai ... although I wasn't old enough." |
| 20 Jim Arness |
"Before it was all over, I'd seen every island
in the Aleutians and been to all ten military bases." |
| 21 Ella Wallace |
"Word spread quickly along the Alcan that three
Swiss girls were traveling on bicycles (to Alaska)." |
| 22 Ebba Hamm |
"I never learned to drive a car. But I drove
dog teams, and I married a guitar-playing man." |
| 23 Stan Brown |
"I was dreaming that I was going to fill that
place (the Paxson Lodge) and I did." |
| 24 Gus Weber |
"I did just about every damn thing you can think
of at Kilcher's." |
| 25 Elizabeth Dennis |
"We moved into an old abandoned house (in Craig)
where we 'camped out' for the first five years." |
| 26 Ashley Dickerson |
"My feeling when I got here was that Alaska was
the real America ..." |
| 27 Audrey Tuck |
"(My father) used to tell me over and over, 'Just
be who you are. Just be yourself.'" |
| 28 Al Clayton |
"I bought a 1935 Ford; it was in pretty bad shape.
It used a quart of oil every 18 miles." |
| 29 Rica Swanson |
"In those days teachers were not allowed to be
married, so we didn't tell anyone ..." |
| 30 Mabel Spencer |
"Altogether I spent ten years teaching in various
villages, Bethel, Akiak, Eek, Kwethluk." |
| 31 Dr. Joshua Wright |
" ... the Director of Public Health in Juneau
wired me, asking, 'When can you leave?' I said, 'In 24 hours.'" |
| 32 Charlotte Rogers |
" ... I had a hard time sleeping
that first night, closed in a cabin, rather than under the stars." |
| 33 Marie Radtke |
" ... we considered ourselves lucky. Thirty-two
people lost their lives on the docks in Valdez." |
| 34 Glenn McLain |
"Ruth and I counted 42 bears one afternoon." |
| 35 Yvonne Krotke |
" ... I was so seasick, I was wishing I could
die and get it over with." |
| 36 Chuck Parsons |
"This was Spenard ... and he was one guy you
didn't want to mess with." |
| 37 Lone Janson |
"I had just turned 20 and living in a ghost town
appealed to me." |
| 38 Lorene Harrison |
" ... seeing that there was a piano
aboard the Yukon, the two of us entertained the other passengers." |
| 39 Vince Doran |
"Working on the White Alice project allowed me
to travel all over Alaska." |
| 40 Margret Pate |
"We ... went blundering around Anchorage,
trying to adjust to the continual daylight." |
| 41 Charles Sappah |
"There were so many chuck holes on the roads,
our little girl would bounce almost to the ceiling on the bus." |
| 42 Jack Lentfer |
"When I was about 40 feet from the bear she got
up and started chasing me." |
| 43 Harriet Hansen |
" ... I came down that hill so fast, I was totally
out of control." |
| 44 Dick Inglima |
"Seldovia was like no other place I've ever known.
It was a way of life." |
| 45 Mary Oldham |
"I still can't believe I did this, but somehow
I managed to tear the door of that Super Cub right off." |
| 46 Olga Hilleary |
" (Fishing) was hard, intense work but we loved
it." |
| 47 Irv Evenson |
"The potato business was good to us. We had three
boys, so it was a family operation." |
| 48 Bill Bacus |
"If the girls liked sailors, we were in the Navy.
If they liked Marines, we were Marines." |
| 49 Mildred Mantle |
"I was scared to death, but when you're forced
to do things, you do them." |