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JOURNEYS TO
THE FAR NORTH
OLAUS J. MURIE
Text © 1973 by Olaus J. Murie
All drawings and photographs in this book are by the author unless otherwise indicated
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission of the publisher.
Journeys to the Far North was originally published in 1973 by American West Publishing Company, Palo Alto, California, Library of Congress Card Number 72-87741, ISBN 0-910118-30-2
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Murie, Olaus Johan, 1889-1963.
Journeys to the far North / Olaus J. Murie.
pages cm
“Originally published in 1973 by American West Publishing Company, Palo
Alto, California”—Title page verso.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-941821-73-2 (paperback)
ISBN 978-1-941821-85-5 (e-book)
ISBN 978-1-941821-86-2 (hardbound)
1. Murie, Olaus Johan, 1889-1963—Travel. 2. Canada, Northern—Description and travel. 3. Alaska—Description and travel. 4. Natural history—Canada, Northern. 5. Natural history—Alaska. 6. Wilderness areas—Canada, Northern. 7. Wilderness areas—Alaska. 8. Indians of North America—Canada, Northern. 9. Indians of North America—Alaska. I. Title.
F1090.5.M87 2015
917.1904—dc23
2015006569
Design by Vicki Knapton
Published by Alaska Northwest Books®
An imprint of
CONTENTS
FOREWORD by Victor B. Scheffer
Nastapoka and Northward
The Labrador Peninsula
In Search of the Caribou
With Dogs Around Denali
Pooto and His Family
Nest Life on the Tundra
Exploring the Brooks Range
Flowers on Ice
II. OBSERVATIONS ON THE ARCTIC
Where Is the Arctic?
South for the Winter
The Protection of Color
From Nansen’s Diary
Music of the Spheres
Biographical Note
Pronunciation Guide to Native Words
Olaus asking the fox for the correct camera setting.
FOREWORD
by Victor B. Scheffer
This is the true story of a man who believed that humankind would be saved by learning to love and preserve the wild places of earth, large and small. He was a missionary, though he would have screwed up his face at hearing the word. His religion was wilderness.
In his title for the chapter “Flowers on Ice,” Olaus Murie used his own idiom to describe the dualism he sensed in the living world. The flowers above the Arctic permafrost are the beauty and wonder of life, filled with color, fragrance and purity. Simple and undemanding, secret in their parts, they are ephemeral but everlasting. Beneath them, the cold, unresponsive ice represents
