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Kantishna: Mushers, Miners, Mountaineers: The Pioneer Story Behind Mount McKinley National Park

Kantishna: Mushers, Miners, Mountaineers: The Pioneer Story Behind Mount McKinley National Park - Tom Walker Since I had just read Hudson Stuck’s book The Ascent of Denali, I was very interested to find that this book tells more about Harry Karstens, who accompanied him in climbing Denali. At the end of the book, it turns out that Harry Karstens became the first superintendent of Mount McKinley National Park. It was quite sad to find out that he did not get along with Stuck after their ascent. This was never mentioned in Stuck’s book. It was even sadder to find in the appendix that Walter Harper, who was the first person on the summit of Denali, died when the Princess Sophia went down. Walter Harper was half Athabascan, and he had wanted to become a doctor. He had just married and he and his wife were traveling to the college he was going to attend. This book also described some other interesting characters in the Denali-Kantishna area, but it could have used more editing. At times there were too many people to keep up with and extensive use of quotes instead of summarizing bogged the book down. I did learn who the major players were and what the major issues were when the park was formed. Also, I learned a bit about the background of the game laws, which really interested me. I keep finding myself wondering why we have the game laws we do, so I appreciate the early perspective from this book. Kantishna obviously required a lot of research. It has some good photographs and a good notes and bibliography section.