Retirement

In January of this year I retired.  After 11 months I find myself with a lot of time on my hands and a lot of ideas about what I want to do.  Before retiring I worked for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game as an anthropologist.  Anthropology and art are my two main interests.  I retired to focus more on art, but have not lost my interest in anthropology.  This blog combines these two interests as well as my life long fascination with military uniforms from Napoleonic era.  At different times I will focus on anthropology, then art and sometimes military uniforms.

The idea for a blog started with the idea of writing popular books about the history and culture of east central Alaska.  Professionally I have focused on the history and culture of the upper Tanana and Copper rivers.  This area of Alaska has a rich cultural history.  Athabaskan people have inhabited the area for thousands of years.  My interest is in the more recent history of the area beginning with the advent of the fur trade in late 18th century.  Russian explorers, looking for fur and copper, were the first non-Natives to penetrate the region.  Almost every expedition sent by the Russian American Company met with a bad end.  As a result the region was largely unexplored until the American Army Lt. Henry Allen made his epic journey in the summer of 1885 walking up the Copper River, crossing over the Alaska Range through Suslota Pass, floating down the Tanana River to its confluence withe Yukon, taking a detour to the Koyukuk River, and floating down the Yukon to reach St. Michael, all in one summer.  Coincidently I have been to many of the places Allen visited.

Allen published a detailed journal which has since been republished and widely read.  This blog will begin with a re-telling of Allen's epic laced with all sorts of additional information which I and others have learned.  Before going on I want to acknowledge many of the people who have contributed to the historical and cultural record of the area.  First and foremost are the Native people some of whom I will list here: Andrew Isaac, Oscar Isaac, Martha Isaac, Silas Solomon, Annie Denny, Maggie Isaac, Kenneth Thomas Sr.  Gaither Paul, Gene Henry, Walter Northway, Titus David, Katie John, Fred Ewan, Robert and May Marshall, Lena and Jerry Charlie, Steven John, Jim McKinley, and Emma Jonathan.  Others who made important contributions are the linguist Dr. James Kari, and the anthropologists Frederica de Laguna and Catherine McClellan, and Holly Reckord.