Two in the Far North, Revised Edition

Margaret E. Murie

Description

Winner of the National Outdoor Book Award

A Northern classic and beloved favorite, Two in the Far North chronicles the incredible story of Margaret “Mardy” Murie, called the Grandmother of the Conservation Movement, and how she became one of the first women to embrace and champion wilderness conservation in America.

At the age of nine, Margaret Murie moved from Seattle to Fairbanks, not realizing the trajectory life would take her from there. This moving testimonial to the preservation of the Arctic wilderness comes straight from her heart as she writes about growing up in Fairbanks, becoming the first woman graduate of the University of Alaska, and meeting—and then marrying—noted biologist Olaus J. Murie. So begins her lifelong journey in Alaska and on to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where along with her husband and others they founded The Wilderness Society to protect nature and wildlife and speak out for ecological consciousness. From adventures of traversing over thin ice with dog sleds, camping in woods surrounded by bears, caribou, and other wildlife, to canoeing in streams with geese nearby, and more, Murie embraced nature as a close neighbor and dedicated her life to advocating for wilderness protection and conservation.

First published in 1962, this edition features a new foreword by Frances Beinecke and an afterword from Donald Murie. Margaret Murie inspires readers to join her in finding life, love, and adventure in the beautiful remote Alaskan wilderness and the natural world beyond.

As we neared the end of the plateau, the sun was sinking and the coming of night gave us a golden world for a few minutes. Sky, clouds, mountain peaks, spruce forests, all swimming in molten gold—the hawk that winged out into the valley was a golden bird too. This faded to liquid rose and lavender, and we came whirling down the long hill into a river valley bathed in pink. Smooth ice was on the river here, but open water swirled above and below the crossing, reflecting the rose and lavender of the sky.

• preface
• foreword
• part one: fairbanks
• 1 to the north
• 2 freeze-up
• 3 the town
• 4 winter
• 5 mail day
• 6 spring
• 7 summer
• 8 the trail
• 9 and over the mountains
• part two: the upper koyukuk
• 10 home to romance
• 11 anvik
• 12 nulato
• 13 willow river
• 14 alatna
• 15 “and beyond”
• 16 bettles
• 17 one day of it
• 18 on the river ice
• 19 wiseman
• 20 the mountains
• part three: the old crow river
• 22 tanana and yukon
• 23 the porcupine
• 24 the old crow
• 25 by main strength
• 26 geese
• 27 downstream
• part four: sheenjek
• 28 north again
• 29 at lobo lake
• 30 both sides of the river
• 31 up the valley
• 32 tundra and mountain
• 33 caribou
• 34 to the head of the river
• 35 autumn in august
• part five: return to the mountains
• 36 again north
• 37 sheenjek again
• part six: afterward
• 38 1967 alaska
• 39 another new alaska—1975
• 40 outside—1975 to 1989

Sujets

• Environmental Protection
• Environmental Conservation
• Memoir
• David Attenborough
• Nature
• Alaska

Informations

• Publié par: Turner Publishing Company
• Date de parution: 10 mars 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781513262772
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

PRAISE FOR
Two in the Far North
Simply put, Mardy Murie is a national treasure. Her life has made a certain kind of life possible for the rest of us. Generations to come will feel her imprint, though they may not know it was how she lived her life that allowed them to witness some of the last wild places on Earth. They may not know that it is because of her life that their souls and spirits can be fed by what is natural and wild. I hope that those who come long after us will have two in the far north in their satchels as they gaze upon these natural wonders and that they, too, will come away with the same resolve she had to protect these incredible gifts. -Robert Redford
Having been the basis of all our sophisticated society, doesn t wilderness itself have a right to live on? This question, which Mardy Murie formed in her youth in Alaska and put formally to the United States Congress in her seventies, will ring on for as long as there is wilderness to ask about. -John McPhee
Mardy Murie, senior woman of the wilderness movement, has helped generations of men and women understand and then articulate their devotion to the work of preserving wild landscapes. She has a grandmother s poise, a lover s fire, a spouse s allegiance, a curandera s wariness about Congressional platitudes. When she is gone, the land will break down in tears. -Barry Lopez
Teton Science Schools students young and old have learned from Two in the Far North for decades. In conservation, in education, and in life, Mardy s words are as true in the 21st century as they were over 60 years ago. -Chris Agnew, Teton Science Schools (TSS) Executive Director
TWO IN THE FAR NORTH
A CONSERVATION CHAMPION S STORY OF LIFE, LOVE, AND ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS
MARGARET E. MURIE
ILLUSTRATIONS BY OLAUS J. MURIE
To Mother, who took me there, and to Olaus, who came.
Text 1957, 1962, 1978, 1990, and 1997 by Margaret E. Murie.
Illustrations 1957, 1962, and 1997 by Olaus J. Murie; 1978 and 1997 by Margaret E. Murie.
Foreword 1994 and 1997 by Terry Tempest Williams.
Foreword 2020 by Frances Beinecke.
Afterword 2020 by Donald O. Murie.
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 Alaska Northwest Books .
Two in the Far North was first published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York, and in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto, 1962. Fourth printing, 1970. Ballantine Books, Inc., Comstock Edition, 1972. Published with additional text and illustrations by Alaska Northwest Books Publishing Company, 1978. Published with a new conclusion, Alaska Northwest Books, 1990. Published with a new foreword by Terry Tempest Williams, 1997. Published with a new foreword by Frances Beinecke, and with a new afterword by Donald O. Murie, 2020.
Portions of Chapters 1 and 2 of Part IV appeared originally under the title A Week at Lobo Lake in Animal Kingdom. Portions of Chapters 1, 2, 3, and 5 of Part IV appeared originally under the title A Live River in the Arctic, in The Living Wilderness . Some of the illustrations first appeared with A Live River in the Arctic and in Audubon Magazine .
Publisher gratefully acknowledges Pantheon Books and Terry Tempest Williams for their permission to reprint Mardy Murie: An Intimate Profile, in a slightly expanded form from its publication in An Unspoken Hunger (Pantheon, 1994).
Cover photograph: Olaus and Mardy in their trail furs, from the Murie Family Collection.
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LS
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Murie, Margaret E., author. | Murie, Olaus J. (Olaus Johan), 1889-1963, illustrator. | Beinecke, Frances, author of foreword. | Williams, Terry Tempest, author of foreword. | Murie, Donald O., author of afterword.
Title: Two in the Far North : a conservation champion s story of life, love, and adventure in the wilderness / Margaret E. Murie ; illustrations by Olaus J. Murie.
Description: Revised edition. | [Berkeley, California] : Alaska Northwest Books, 2020. | First edition 1962. | Summary: A memoir of Margaret E. Murie, the Grandmother of the Conservation Movement, and her journey from finding love and life in the Alaskan wilderness. -Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019044497 (print) | LCCN 2019044498 (ebook) | ISBN 9781513262758 (paperback) | ISBN 9781513262765 (hardback) | ISBN 9781513262772 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Alaska-Description and travel. | Murie, Margaret E. | Pioneers-Alaska-Biography. | Alaska-Biography. | Frontier and pioneer life-Alaska. | Natural history-Alaska.
Classification: LCC F910.7.M87 A3 2020 (print) | LCC F910.7.M87 (ebook) | DDC 979.8-dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019044497
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019044498
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When I think about that return to the part of Alaska which has meant so much in my life, the overpowering and magnificent fact is that Lobo Lake is still there, untouched. Last Lake is still there, untouched. Although the instant you fly west of the Canning River man is evident in all the most blatant debris of his machine power, east of the Canning the tundra, the mountains, the unmarked space, the quiet, the land itself, are all still there.
Do I dare to believe that one of my great-grandchildren may someday journey to the Sheenjek and still find the gray wolf trotting across the ice of Lobo Lake?
-Margaret Murie, 1978
from Afterward
Two in the Far North
CONTENTS
PREFACE
FOREWORD To the 50th Anniversary Edition
BY FRANCES BEINECKE
FOREWORD Mardy Murie: An Intimate Profile
BY TERRY TEMPEST WILLIAMS
PART ONE Fairbanks
1 TO THE NORTH
2 FREEZE-UP
3 THE TOWN
4 WINTER
5 MAIL DAY
6 SPRING
7 SUMMER
8 THE TRAIL
9 AND OVER THE MOUNTAINS
PART TWO The Upper Koyukuk
10 HOME TO ROMANCE
11 ANVIK
12 NULATO
13 WILLOW RIVER
14 ALATNA
15 AND BEYOND
16 BETTLES
17 ONE DAY OF IT
18 ON THE RIVER ICE
19 WISEMAN
20 THE MOUNTAINS
21 SOUTHWARD
PART THREE The Old Crow River
22 TANANA AND YUKON
23 THE PORCUPINE
24 THE OLD CROW
25 BY MAIN STRENGTH
26 GEESE
27 DOWNSTREAM
PART FOUR Sheenjek
28 NORTH AGAIN
29 AT LOBO LAKE
30 BOTH SIDES OF THE RIVER
31 UP THE VALLEY
32 TUNDRA AND MOUNTAIN
33 CARIBOU
34 TO THE HEAD OF THE RIVER
35 AUTUMN IN AUGUST
PART FIVE Return to the Mountains
36 AGAIN NORTH
37 SHEENJEK AGAIN
PART SIX Afterward
38 1967 ALASKA
39 ANOTHER NEW ALASKA-1975
40 OUTSIDE-1975 TO 1989
AFTERWORD by Donald O. Murie
PREFACE
W HAT, AFTER ALL, ARE THE MOST PRECIOUS THINGS IN A LIFE ?
We had a honeymoon in an age when the world was sweet and untrammeled and safe. Up there in the Koyukuk there were very few machines of any kind; but there was joy in companionship and in the simple things-like the crackle of a fire, having tea and bread while the rain pattered on the roof, a chance meeting with a friend on the dog-team trail.
What made us happy to go back to Fairbanks? Was it the new buildings, strangely tall, the blocks of beautiful modern landscaped homes, the busy traffic, the neon signs? All this we saw with our eyes, but it did not touch us. What did touch us deeply was the thought that Ted and Audrey, Otto and Ivar, and Jim and Katherine might be there at the gate as we walked, wondering, from the plane; that the next day when we walked the old familiar streets in the middle of town we might meet Bobbie Sheldon or Freddie Johnston by the post office steps; that down the street we might meet Eddy Davis, that we would see Al Polet in the bank, Les Almquist in the N.C. store, Dave and Benjie Adler in their bookshop; and that when we walked into the lobby of the Nordale, Eva McGown would meet us with outstretched arms.
Here in Alaska people still count, as much today as in the twenties. I would love to think the world will survive its obsession with machines to see a day when people respect one another all over the world. It seems as clear as a shaft of the Aurora that this is our only hope. My prayer is that Alaska will not lose the heart-nourishing friendliness of her youth-that her people will always care for one another, her towns remain friendly and not completely ruled by the dollar-and that her great wild places will remain great, and wild, and free, where wolf and caribou, wolverine and grizzly bear, and all the arctic blossoms may live on in the delicate balance which supported them long before impetuous man appeared in the North.
This is the great gift Alaska can give to the harassed world.

To my husband, Olaus J. Murie, and to our three children, Martin, Joanne, and Donald, who all joined Angus Cameron, my editor at Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., in urging and encouraging the writing of this book, my earnest thanks.
But also to Mother, again to Joanne, and to my friend Mildred Capron, who helped give me time for it, and to Margaret Demorest, who in a few words quickened a desire to try to write our story. To Harriett Willard who typed the manuscript with interest and ze