Madhu Bazaz Wangu

Homesteaders in Trapper Creek, Alaska

In Trapper Creek, Alaska, we spent a morning with homesteaders. The charming mother Jeanne and her equally charming daughter Jenny. They both narrated their stories from their respective points of view. [caption id="attachment_40761" align="alignleft" width="200"] The Pioneer Mother[/caption] In 1959, this charming elderly lady was a young wife and mother of three. She and her husband got this crazy idea of selling everything they had in South Dakota and heading to the wilderness where the federal government had allotted them land. Upon arrival they found themselves in the middle of nowhere. They chopped down trees and built a one-room home; it’s roof no taller than the height of her husband. In winter the family melted water to drink and in summer hunted caribou and moose, and grew vegetables and fruit. Within the...