In Search of the Kuskokwim & Other Great Endeavors: The Life and Times of J. Edward Spurr

In Search of the Kuskokwim & Other Great Endeavors: The Life and Times of J. Edward Spurr

The United States knew relatively little about Alaska prior to the turn of the century when the Klondike Gold Rush was about to attract thousands of stampeders north, many of them spilling over into Alaska as more gold was discovered on the Yukon River and her tributaries. The government had few reliable maps of the vast territory it had purchased from Russia thirty years before. The U.S. government commissioned J. Edward Spurr, a geologist, author, and explorer from New England, to mount two expeditions to explore and inventory Alaska, traveling thousand miles by canoe and on foot without benefit of telephones, radios or airplanes. The effort almost killed him, but his efforts helped provide detail to regions that had been largely blank on the Alaska map. 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. Stephen J. Spurr, grandson of J.E. Spurr, is a professor of economics at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. He has a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago. He has published many articles in economics journals, and a textbook on economic analysis of law. He and his wife Laura live in Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan. He plans to climb Mount Spurr, a volcano named after his grandfather, which is 78 miles west of Anchorage, with his two sons Nathaniel and Josiah (who is also named after Stephen's grandfather). Used Book in Good Condition