Campbell visited the Korths on their traplines and in town, traveling to Alaska each season to more fully comprehend the course of their year. Volunteering to live in a double-walled tent, heated by a small wood stove north of the Arctic Circle in January requires far more fortitude than I possess. The discomfort and difficulties that Campbell endured to capture an authentic depiction of the trapping lifestyle pales in comparison to the daily challenges – emotional and physical - that the Korth family faces in order to maintain their lifestyle. Eight months of winter, frigid temperatures, scrapes with hypothermia, frostbite, and the loss of their first child – the Korth’s have not chosen an easy life.
Yet Heimo remains fiercely dedicated to life in America’s last wilderness. His wife Edna, loyal in her support, has come to appreciate their way of life as well – though Heimo’s teenaged daughters, Rhonda and Krin are less certain, despite having been raised on the trapline. The call of an easier life in the outside world echoes in their ears, proving irresistible and changing the Korth family’s lifestyle, perhaps irrevocably.
The historical segments of the story provide depth and relevance to the Korth’s life – placing them in space and time as the whirlwind of oil development and land allocations swirls across the state. Not being one to appreciate straight history, my eyes glazed over from time to time during these stretches of text.
Holding me captive and urging me through the side trips into politics and the past were the authentic interactions and shared experiences of the Korth family and James Campbell. The story of their opening up to him and the reweaving the thin bonds of family between them is captured within this books pages. Eating moose tail and beaver tongue together, the shared tasks of fishing, hunting, trapping, packing water, sledding at 55 below and making drymeat – these are the ties that bind, and the backbone of this multi-faceted biography.
Whether you’re a would-be adventurer, Alaskan history buff, or a voyeur intent on capturing a glimpse of a nearly forgotten lifestyle, The Last Frontiersman will satisfy your longings.
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