In Search of the Kuskokwim and Other Great Endeavors

The US government knew little about Alaska before the Klondike gold discovery of 1896 attracted tens of thousands of prospectors north into Canada, many of them spilling over into Alaska as more gold was discovered along the yukon River and its tributaries. Americans had no reliable maps of the vast territory purchased from Czarist Russia less than thirty years before.

The US Geological Survey commissioned J. Edward Spurr, a young geologist and explorer from New England, to explore the Yukon region in 1896 and two years later the Kuskokwim River region, which was blank on maps of the day. Spurr and his men traveled thousands of miles by canoe and on foot with meager supplies. Conditions were risky and stressful. At various times Spurr was called upon to act as field geologist, handyman, hunter, mediator, psychologist, and even physician. Along the way they encountered indigenous natives, traders, missionaries, prospectors, whiskey smugglers, and various con artists.

The author draws from the journals of J. Edward Spurr, his grandfather, who wrote about his adventures with great insight and wit.