Aunt Phil's Trunk Volume Three - Softcover

Phyllis Downing Carlson; Laurel Downing Bill

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1940479002 ISBN 13: 9781940479002

Publisher: Aunt Phil's Trunk LLC, 2015

Synopsis

This third book in the Aunt Phil's Trunk Alaska history series is filled with entertaining short stories and hundreds of historical photographs covering the Last Frontier's past from 1912 to 1935. Did you know: · The Alaska Railroad spurred the birth of Alaska's largest town in 1915? · Mushers and dogs risked death to deliver life-saving diphtheria serum to Nome 1925? · Aviator Wiley Post and Will Rogers crashed their plane and died near Barrow 1935? From the early days of the Alaska Railroad to one of the the largest volcanic eruptions of the 20th Century, the pages of Aunt Phil's Trunk Volume Three is sure to keep readers from ages 9 to 99 spellbound.

About this title

About the Author:

Laurel Downing Bill, a third-generation Alaskan, earned a degree in journalism (minor in history) from the University of Alaska Anchorage in 2003. She has been researching and writing about Alaska's history ever since she inherited her Aunt Phyllis Downing Carlson's notes, stories and research into the 49th state's incredible past. The Aunt Phil's Trunk series, of which there are five volumes now, earned the 2016 Literary Classics International award for Best Nonfiction Series and Best Historical Nonfiction. Downing Bill lives in Anchorage and continues to research and write articles about Alaska for various magazines and newspapers.

Review:

David James, Reviewer Fairbanks Daily News Miner 'Aunt Phil's' latest volume filled with history treasures By David A. James ... Countless volumes have been published about the Gold Rush, and anyone who has read much about our state knows how Skagway, Nome and Fairbanks came into being. But what about Anchorage? Alaska's largest city appears from nowhere in most accounts, because once many authors get past the Gold Rush, they go skipping off to World War II, statehood, and the pipeline, ignoring what came in between. For this reason alone we can welcome Volume Three in the ongoing and exceptionally well-crafted Aunt Phil's Trunk series. It covers the years 1912 to 1935 a generally forgotten period when Alaska changed dramatically in such an entertaining and informative fashion that readers will wonder why more hasn't been written about this era. For good reasons, I've been touting these books since the first volume appeared two years ago. They combine clear writing and plenty of details without getting bogged down in minutia. They include both the big stories and many lesser-known incidents. And they are densely illustrated with photographs showing what life was like in Alaska's earlier days. It's a great package, and it hasn't failed yet.... The first section of this book tells how Anchorage came into being. While gold or other resource exploitation had driven the emergence of most other Alaska settlements up until 1915, Anchorage originated as a company town. The federal government had decided to build a railroad from Seward to Fairbanks in order to ease the transport of goods to and from the Interior. Ship Creek, which flowed into Cook Inlet, emerged as the logical midpoint for the stationing of supplies and work crews.... Transportation is the unifying theme of much of this volume. Moving people and goods around Alaska has always been a challenge, and here we read of the many ways this was done early in the 20th century. In addition to the new train, dogsleds, horse carriages, bicycles and cars careen through these pages. (Not only do we get an account of the serum run to Nome that inspired the Iditarod, we also learn of an earlier life-saving dogsled scramble that influenced the later decision to use this means of getting diphtheria medicine to the beleaguered town on Alaska s western edge.) Ultimately, however, it was the arrival of airplanes that solved Alaska s transportation woes. The authors devote separate chapters to such aviation pioneers as Carl Ben Eielson, Russell Hyde Merrill, and the Wien brothers, Noel and Ralph, who opened up the territory and changed Alaska forever. Another big event covered nicely in this volume is the Depression-era creation of the Matanuska Colony by the federal government. Hundreds of displaced Midwestern farmers were moved north and settled in the fertile Matanuska Valley in a mostly successful effort at developing Alaska s agricultural potential. Other stories found here include profiles of influential Alaskans Z.J. Louscac, Capt. Austin Lathrop, and William Mulcahy; the arrival of a Norwegian dirigible in Teller; the death of Will Rogers in a plane crash; the 1918 flu epidemic, which decimated the Native population; and the emergence of a Native rights movement. Historic photos range from the futile efforts to rescue victims of the Princess Sophia sinking to the first flight over Juneau to a backwoods moonshine distillery near Anchorage. Each chapter stands as an individual essay, but the interlinking themes pull them together into a cohesive whole. The tales are brought keenly to life by a pair of authors whose love for Alaskan history permeates every page. They show just how fascinating this often-overlooked time was. If you haven t done so yet, take some time and open Aunt Phil s Trunk; you ll find plenty of treasures inside. --Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

About this edition

• Publisher: Aunt Phil's Trunk LLC
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1940479002
• ISBN 13: 9781940479002
• Binding: Perfect Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 352