True to the Trail
A Great-Granddaughter’s Alaskan Quest a Century On
The newest book from Northern Light Media is True to the Trail: A Great-Granddaughter’s Alaskan Quest a Century On, by Anne Verdonk. The book is a compilation of the journals and photographs of Englishman Arthur Dallimore, who joined the Klondike Gold Rush in 1898, tried his hand at a claim near Dawson City, then traveled down the Yukon River to Alaska when he heard of a new strike. Dallimore prospected in the Birch Creek District northeast of Fairbanks, spent several winters cutting firewood for the steamships which plied the Tanana River in the summer months, and eventually built a popular roadhouse on a new trail northwest of Fairbanks.
Dallimore was an astute observer and a diligent writer, detailing his travels and his work in handwritten notes, postcards and letters which he sent to his father in England, who meticulously transcribed them into journals.
These journals, carefully preserved in an old leather suitcase, were given to Dallimore’s great-granddaughter, Anne Verdonk of New Zealand, in 2005. Anne would later donate the journals to the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Anne inherited her great-grandfather’s taste for adventure, and she journeyed to the far North three times, beginning in 2008, to retrace his steps with his writings in hand. In his Foreword to the book, Professor Emeritus William Schneider of the University of Alaska Fairbanks writes, “Pursuing Arthur's story became her passion. She studied the entries and planned trips to the Klondike and Alaska to retrace his travel, documented the location of places where he lived, and recorded the memories of those who could help reconstruct the story. She reviewed old mining records, maps and ledgers, and traveled part of the old trail by dog team to relive and re-locate the roadhouse he built.”
The result is a hefty 468-page testament to one man’s grit and determination as a pioneer in Alaska, and his great-granddaughter’s steely resolve to document and share his story with the world. True to the Trail: A Great-Granddaughter’s Alaskan Quest a Century On, by Anne Verdonk, with the journals of Arthur Dallimore, foreword by Professor Emeritus William (Bill) Schneider, University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Available now (ships July 1), 468 pages, 6″x 9″ b/w format, with dozens of photographs, images, maps and charts. $29.95 plus $5.00 postage from Northern Light Media. Click the button below for more information: