Jim Nolan's Blog

Richard Proenneke, the Polar Opposite of Chris McCandless?

 

For Christmas I got a copy of "Alone in the Wilderness," a film about Dick Proenneke by Bob Swerer Productions. In 1968, when Dick turned 51, he decided he'd like to live in the Alaska wilderness year round (he was an in-demand diesel mechanic in King Salmon). He single-handledly built a log cabin with hand tools, and stayed there for the next 30 or so years. Proenneke is The Man. An expert carpenter, hunter, outdoorsman and filmmaker (he records his story with a Bolex camera), he was also a terrific writer. The film uses his observations for the narration (someone else reads it) and marries them to the film he shot. I can't help wishing Chris McCandless (the subject of of Jon Krakauer's bestseller Into the Wild) had met the guy and learned how to survive from him (McCandless died in 1992; Proenneke moved back to the Lower 48 in 1999). As different as they were in skills, it seems like they were alike in many ways, each having a desire to test himself and a deep love of the natural world.

Survivor Account of Alaska's 1964 Good Friday Earthquake

We got through Good Friday this year just fine. But listen to my friend Shirley Blankenship describe what it was like to experience the second largest earthquake ever recorded.

The Big One 

Interview with Richard Proenneke editor, John Branson

Branson and Proenneke making ice cream, Lake Clark, Alaska circa 1979. Photo by Raymond Proenneke.

 Listen to Richard Proenneke: Not So "Alone in the Wilderness"

łi Ta'a: Glacier Water By Antone Evan

Qizjeh Vena (Lake Clark), flying through Lake Clark Pass. Photo by Karen Evanoff.

Antone Evan traces the path of a glacier in an interview with Priscilla Russell, transcribed by Albert Wassille. It's from Dela'ina Ełnena, A Celebration: Voices of the Dena'ina, which is edited by Lake Clark National Park Service cultural anthropologist Karen Evanoff. I love the next-to-last line, "That glacial water travels farther than human beings, that water goes farther than people can travel." Richard "Dick" Proenneke was a wonderful writer on Twin Lakes (Niłqidlen Vena). Dela'ina Ełnena demonstrates he lived in a land of many incredible stories.

"Night of the Grizzly," Read Live at Talking Leaves Books in Buffalo

 

From a reading at one of the best bookstores in the world. You can spend hours there discovering great books you never heard of. The story is in Smokey the Talking Dog, which you can order by clicking on the cover to the left. You can hear other stories from it, including "Your Wind Song Stays On (What's Left Of) My Mind," here. 

Video Tour of Richard Proenneke's Cabin

 

Video from DC Morga's YouTube channel. Thanks for sharing your tour.

Dena'ina: The People Before Proenneke

A terrific book sent to me by historian John Branson's colleague Karen Evanoff, a cultural anthropologist with the Lake Clark National Park Service. It contains fantastic recollections and stories by Dena'ina Athabascans, who've lived in the Lake Clark area for thousands of years. You can hear an interview with Evanoff on Alaska Public Radio here. Below I post a map from the book. At the top you'll find Twin Lakes, where Richard "Dick" Proenneke lived and wrote from 1968 to 1999. According to Branson, "The Dena'ina word for Twin Lakes is Niłqidlen Vena or 'lakes that flow into one another'." Click to enlarge.

Survivor Account of Good Friday Earthquake, 1964

My interview with Shirley Blankenship, a survivor of the biggest earthquake ever recorded in North America. It lasted over five minutes and was 25 times more powerful than the Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake. You can buy this essay for 99 cents by going to the Smokey the Talking Facebook page and clicking on the "Music Store" module on the top right. There's also a CD for sale here at CD Baby.

Listen to The Big One

 

Unlikely Google AdChoices Choice

A screenshot of an ad that appeared on my blog's right column the other day. I suppose the algorithm picked up on the Richard Proenneke Alaska posts. But Nome? Barge cargo? Hurry, you only have until May 15.

Dena'ina Athabascan Words for Twin Lakes, Alaska

Upper Twin Lake, Alaska. Photo: National Park Service. 

Some Athabascan I've learned from John Branson, editor of two volumes of Richard Proenneke journals:

"The Lake Clark Native people are Dena'ina Athabascans and the Dena'ina name for Lake Clark is Qizhjeh Vena, pronounced as Kijik Vena, meaning "many people gather at this lake."

"The Dena'ina word for Twin Lakes is Niłqidlen Vena or "lakes that flow into one another." Vena means lake in Dena'ina."

Note that the word "Niłqidlen" used a "barred L," which I never heard of before.

Here's a link to the Dena'ina Language Collection in the Alaska Native Language Archive at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.