Description

pp.262.paperback edition .”Before the Alaska Highway and Alaska pilots – a breed unto themselves – made downtown Fairbanks and Alaska in general more approachable, the long trip from Seattle was by steamship, then river steamer, then small river steamer and finally rowboat. In the fall of 1908, 16-year-old Clara Hickman became one of those who braved the Alaska of that time to reach her family in Fairbanks. In 1910, she married Jesse Rust and became a witness to what became the history of Alaska, from the time of the last Gold Rush through statehood. This story is told from the viewpoint of the average, courageous, gutsy, spirited, bold women who learned to pan gold, dress out a moose, and make applesauce – enough for a small army; raise her children, and start and maintain a garden. She is bold enough to decide retiring to Seattle was for sissies, and at age 73 drove herself home. This story is the story of the settlement of Alaska and the people who live there, their courage and how they became a part of the United States.”