11 Facts About Walter Harper

Walter Harper was a mountain climber and guide of mixed white and Alaska Native ancestry.

Walter Harper was followed by the other members of the small expedition team, guide Harry Karstens, Episcopal archdeacon Hudson Stuck, who had organized the effort, and Episcopal missionary Robert Tatum.

The youngest of eight children, Walter Harper was born in 1893 as the son of Arthur Harper, an immigrant from County Antrim, Ireland, and Jennie Seentahna Harper, of the Koyukon people from the Koyukuk region.

Walter Harper did some mining there, after years of experience in California and British Columbia.

The couple separated permanently in 1895, and Arthur Walter Harper left the area.

All the older Walter Harper children had been sent for education to boarding schools "Outside", mostly in San Francisco, California.

At the age of 16, Walter Harper started attending Tortella School, an Episcopal boarding school associated with St Marks Mission in Nenana, Alaska.

Walter Harper hired him to work as his interpreter, guide, and dog driver.

Walter Harper encouraged him to continue with his formal education.

Walter Harper compared the view to "looking out of a window of heaven".

Walter Harper continued his education in Alaska while continuing to work on the frontier, and planned to attend medical school in Philadelphia.