Product Description

In his dramatic autobiography, Alaskan elder Sidney Huntington, half-white, half-Athabascan, recounts his adventures, tragedies, and ultimate success.

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AN INCREDIBLE, UNFORGETABLE STORY OF COURAGE        Rating:

What a story, what a life! Stanley's tiny mother makes an incredible journey to reach her children left alone with relatives. Across frozen rivers and through "No Man's Land," occupied by hostile Eskimos, this Athapaskan native traveled. At last, weak and exhausted, she was rescued by the one friendly Eskimo trader, Schilikuk who traded with her father. No Athapaskan Indian nor Eskimo dared enter "No Man's Land," because it was suicide to do so.

Stanley's own incredible survival with his siblings, after the sudden death of his mother in an isolated cabin when his father was gone, seems just as amazing as his mother's long trek. Made of the same strong spirit and constituion as his parents his long life takes many twists and turns.

You will not want to miss this native Alaskan's own story, nor the education you will receive about the Alaskan frontier.

a native's life        Rating:

I think this book captures the spirit of Alaska very well. We met the authors son on a trip this year and I am very glad we purchased the book as it gave us an insight into the spirit of the area.

Great book!        Rating:

This is such an amazing story. I have read this book twice and plan to read it again. His brother also wrote a book, "On the Edge of Nowhere" and it is also worth reading.

Alaska the rough and true way        Rating:

"I owe Alaska. It gave me everything I have" says Sidney Huntington. No wonder, he lived there and his ancestors did also. H e is the son of an Athabaskan mother and a white trapper.
He grew up along the Koyukuk River in Alaska`s harsh Interior and he stayed there most of his life of tragedies and adventures. It started with the night-mare of the death of his mother that left him, at the age of 5, alone with his younger brother and sister in the wilderness. They survived two weeks of isolation.
Later he began a carrier as a trapper which also brought him near to the end of his life several times. One day even his family`s cabin was flooded away. He became a boat builder and fisherman, a true man of the wilderness, a trapper of the year two times and a conservationist of the year two times. In 1989 the University of Alaska conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Public Service. More important he and his wife raised 15 children.
This is the story of his life, related by himself, the life of a true Alaskan original, the life with the winter frost, with the search for gold, sled dogs, beaver hunt, spearing Grizzly bears, Moose, wolves. And of timely reflections: "Many Americans think of Alaskans as an undeveloped, untouched wilderness. Indian, Eskimo, and Aleut people lived in these "wilderness" lands for centuries before the first whites arrived...these first inhabitants of the region established intelligent relationships with Alaska`s wildlands before the dawn of written history."
He describes the natives as successful participants and members of an ecosystem, capable of adaptation and healthy coexistence, an example for the utilizing of the wild lands. His bok serves also as a testimony to this.

His homeland, the Koyukuk valley has not changed so much. "The summer sun circles endlessly, and clean white snow blankets the land every winter. Spire-topped spruces still dominate the forests, and the white birch trees still shine in the moonlight. And through it all, the Koyukuk River still flows clear above Hughes, and slightly murky below."

Alaskan life story        Rating:

An entertaining look at the life of a part Athabascan Indian trapper and woodsman, sharing the hard times and rewarding aspects of living in the remote backwoods of Alaska. An entertaining read.

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