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"Alone in the Wilderness" the story of Dick Proenn

narov

narov

Registered User
Wichita, KS
Saw this advertised the other night. It is not on in all areas, couldn't find it on the Alaska stations. Has anyone read the companion book "One man's Wilderness"?

For more Info visit http://www.dickproenneke.com/

Tuesday, December 7, 2004
7:00 PM CST
Channel: PBS

"To live in a pristine land unchanged by man, to roam a wilderness through which few other humans have passed, to choose an idyllic site, cut trees and build a log cabin, to be a self-sufficient craftsman, making what is needed from materials available, to be not at odds with the world, but content with one?s own thoughts and company.
Thousands have had such a dream, but Richard Proenneke lived them. He found a place, built a cabin, and stayed to become part of the country. This is a simple account of the day-to-day explorations and activities he carried out alone, and the constant chain of nature?s events that kept him company."
 
I read "One Man's Wilderness" back in the early 70s and have re read it a couple of times since. Every time I do, I am astounded at the pure ...capability (for want of a better word) that Dick had. Here was a guy who could do just about anything with a few hand tools and an idea. About the only thing he couldn't do was live in the rat race of modern society. The book is (I believe) authored by by Sam Keith who edited and organized Dick's journal.

Alaska Magazine used to publish a calendar which had a lot of stock Alaska postcard type images. Dick's cabin was a frequent subject in the 70s and 80s. The video is a good companion to the book, many of the photos are the same but the journal is a little more complete and thorough than the video. Dick died earlier (this year?) and I understand that his cabin is being maintained by the NPS. I'd like to see it someday.
 
Dick Proenneke's Book is pretty interesting, I would recommend it--especially if you plan to ever go and see the cabin. Last summer I flew tourists up there making it a stop sometimes many times in a day, and the ones that had read the book or seen the movie got the most out of the experience. I myself did it in reverse order, saw the cabin then the movie...Amazing fella this Dick was. Covered a TON of country on foot, and made a bunch of "personal inventions" that still exist there today.
The cabin is located at Hope Creek on Upper Twin of Twin Lakes--probably one of THE most beautiful places in Alaska I've ever seen to begin with. There are two NPS volunteers that stay up there throughout the summer and actually this year have said they will stay until New Year's. It is only accessible on floats or skis, unless you're into a 60 mile hike through the Alaska Range.

RB
 
They've shown it several times on our local PBS and I enjoy watching it. Talk about ingenuity. It is a fascinating story.

I liked watching the Cub on skiis arrive.
 
One Man's Wilderness is airing as I type. Just looked up the T-Craft N96012, still registered to Allsworth's.
Great story, but I still don't believe he didn't have someone as a photographer for some of that footage.
Chris
 
I met Dick, but did not know him well..

Was flown there before I owned a cub.

He was a really interesting man. His conversational style was to ask questions. Whe he wintered in Port Alsworth little children and dogs would follow him. I would too.

The place on Twin Lakes is a park place now. They might as well put the velvet rope up. It doesn't look or feel like Dick's anymore. It is what the Park would have wanted it to be.

Monroe and Kay do a great job up there. Monroe is a fantastic restorer and Kay an "enthustatic interruptor" . But the place is not like Dick's.

The park is using it as a destination. New back country campsite, with wood and a privy. I flew many trips to the place this year with friends. It's only abot half an hour away to the north from our place.

Still a wonderful place to be and a good place to ponder what Dick did.

If you want to make friends with Kay - fly in some some fresh baked bread.

GR.
 
My Dad used to take me out to see Dick in the late 60's and early 70's. My Dad had respect for Dick but also had many reservations about him. Dick homesteaded his property, then did everything in his power to prevent others from doing what he did and destroying 'his' wilderness. If Dick had his way, NOBODY whould be living like he did, except himself, out in the wilderness. He didn't even want visitors to the LCNP after it became a park. He wanted to be hired as a photographer and film the beauty of the area and then broadcast it on color TV, which was quite new back then. There were many guides/outtfitters using the Twin Lakes area for hosting hunters. Dick hated that, hated it like crazy. He was a very skilled man, but he thought he was king of the wilderness.
 
I read the book. I too was impressed by his ability to live off the land and build a cabin with hand tools. I didn't like his comments about hunters - although he hunted himself.

Another similar book is North of the Sun by Fred Hatfield. That is perhaps the best of those type books that I've ever read. Fred was a cool, level headed fellow that knew how to live in the wilderness and had a different attitude about hunting and nature than Proenn.
 
Alaskajim said:
My Dad used to take me out to see Dick in the late 60's and early 70's. My Dad had respect for Dick but also had many reservations about him. Dick homesteaded his property, then did everything in his power to prevent others from doing what he did and destroying 'his' wilderness. If Dick had his way, NOBODY whould be living like he did, except himself, out in the wilderness. He didn't even want visitors to the LCNP after it became a park. He wanted to be hired as a photographer and film the beauty of the area and then broadcast it on color TV, which was quite new back then. There were many guides/outtfitters using the Twin Lakes area for hosting hunters. Dick hated that, hated it like crazy. He was a very skilled man, but he thought he was king of the wilderness.
Click to expand...


Just like alot of the ones that have done it.
 
can't blame a guy for wanting to live in the middle of no where, and not want others there....

I'd absolutely love it..

if I could afford it/figure out how to make a living doing it........

(One of my dream jobs was to be a remote cannery watchman... a shop, tools, food, and a paycheck.... only got to fill in at Pederson Point for a couple days when I was a teenager... )
 
I thought Dick squatted on that cabin site. I don't think he went through the homesteading process. The park service let him stay there,(after it became park land) when he got too old and moved to town, they took it over....
 
I happened to run across this this on my local PBS station about a year ago when I was channel surfing. I missed the first 15 minutes of it. I really enjoyed it. This whole program was narrated by him. I thought it was amazing how he built his house by himself from hand tools and resources from the forrest. I wish it would come on again but they haven't shown it since. It looked like it was filmed in the 60's.
 
Nanook,

I BELIEVE that he did actually homestead that land under one of the early Alaska programs. There is one other piece of private land on the lake, owned by a fellow I know who lives in Kenai now. They both acquired title to their parcels before the area became a park/preserve. I believe Proenneke made an arrangement with NPS to preserve his cabin after his death. Don't know the particulars, but...

MTV
 
Nanook, I would think that you are correct, but I don't know the homesteading laws, even though my grandparents were homesteaders in AK. Maybe Dick was allowed to stay because of his exploring/filming of the area that would eventually become LCNM and then LCNP. I know the NPS employed him as an filmmaker for awhile and Dick hosted others to explore the area. I know he also 'maintained' the twin lakes area, keeping an eye on things and cleaning up after others. There's lots of true stories about that. I bet he never actually 'proved up' on his land though. He was fortunate in the end in that the NPS aquired his cabin, but I don't believe he had anything to sell, that he had title to anyway.
He did produce a film, 'One Mans Wilderness' I think it was called. He traveled and showed it around, sent it to clubs for viewing etc. Maybe thats why he was allowed to stay.
 
kevin said:
I happened to run across this this on my local PBS station about a year ago when I was channel surfing. I missed the first 15 minutes of it. I really enjoyed it. This whole program was narrated by him. I thought it was amazing how he built his house by himself from hand tools and resources from the forrest. I wish it would come on again but they haven't shown it since. It looked like it was filmed in the 60's.
Click to expand...

all available on DVD

http://www.dickproenneke.com/frozen_north.html
 
mvivion said:
Nanook,

I BELIEVE that he did actually homestead that land under one of the early Alaska programs. .......They both acquired title to their parcels before the area became a park/preserve. I believe Proenneke made an arrangement with NPS to preserve his cabin after his death. Don't know the particulars, but...

MTV
Click to expand...

yes this is what i remember...
like so many others, his place got swallowed up into a park....

my stepfather had same type of problem with his cabin he built, all of a sudden you are stuck in a park... ok if you are retired there, bad if you tring to earn a living there...
 
Isn't it ironic that a guy supposedly so intent on living alone in the wilderness was media savvy enough to participate in a book and television show about himself?

SB
 
I don't believe that the voice of the narrator in the film was Dick's. When the book "One Man's Wilderness" was published, Dick was not completely satisfied with the way Sam Keith had edited his journals and had, in effect, put words in his mouth. He stipulated that any subsequent publication of his Journals would not change his content. In 2000 he and his brother donated a number of his journals (90 lbs and 1,600,000 words) to the NPS. The park service edited and condensed the journals for the period 1974 - 1980 and published them around 2004 as "More Readings From One Man's Wilderness, the journals of Richard L Proenneke 1974-1980". There was some discussion (in this volume) about subsequent publication of his other journals, but I haven't seen anything else.

Anyhow, this volume is an interesting read, pretty much published as his journal entries, with some background and photos added by the editor. I found my copy at the USGS map source on the APU campus. The NPS probably also has them for sale at their facilities in Alaska. BTW, Dick flew a J-3 cub in 1975 and 1976 until he crashed it at Sheep Mountain in 1976.
 
I found the movie at my local library. I know what’s a library??? :roll:

Anyways, Frank Bell was my wife's Grandfather. Frank had a couple of cabins out there for a while, and was mentioned in the book. Family stories run a little different than what is portrayed in the book. I never met Mr. Bell but sounds like he was quite the typical AK character.

I would like to get out there and see Proenneke’s place sometime no matter how it came about.
 
There are private parcels of land ALL over Alaska, acquired legally, and many within park/refuge boundaries. There were several forms of homesteading in the old days, there were provisions for commercial sites, and more recently, there were several forms of "open to entry". I believe the two parcels at Twin Lakes were acquired via the first open to entry program, back in the early 70's. At least that's how my friend's parcel was acquired.

MTV
 
J Pyle said:
I found the movie at my local library. I know what’s a library??? :roll:

Anyways, Frank Bell was my wife's Grandfather. Frank had a couple of cabins out there for a while, and was mentioned in the book. Family stories run a little different than what is portrayed in the book. I never met Mr. Bell but sounds like he was quite the typical AK character.

I would like to get out there and see Proenneke’s place sometime no matter how it came about.
Click to expand...

Frank Bell was fine man. He did a lot of cool stuff, like Bells Nursery and the Sand Lake potato farm. He out lived several wives as well. Watch out Pyle your wife comes from good stock
 
Mike,

Yep, and there were several programs through there which allowed patenting lands. I don't know what the dates on those programs were.

Ever hear of Trade and Manufacturing sites? How about Soldiers and Sailors Act script?

MTV
 
I'm pretty sure that Dick's cabin site was never patented. From what I heard, he did not apply for any of the various programs like T&M while the land was under BLM's jurisdiction. He essentially "squatted" on the land until the area became part of the NPS holdings. At that time, he developed an agreement with the park service which allowed him to live on the site until he either died or gave it up. At that time the site would revert back to NPS. Don't know for sure, but I'd guess the park service allowed the "trespass" because of Dick's fame from "One Man's Wilderness" and the potential for adverse publicity if they evicted him.
 
Mike
I have a trade and manufacturing site in the Caribou Hills. It kind a gets the DNR folks a little rattled from time to time because they do not know how to deal with it. Been in my family 60 years. We use it as a hunting camp.
 
Dick may have filmed himself and kept the journal, but the book and the movies were not written or produced by him.

The movies were produced and compiled by Bob Swerer. Bob was the narrator of the movies not Dick himself. Unless you actually see the cabin, it is pretty tough to know the craftsmanship that went into it.

If I was Dick, I would have wanted to preserve the view also.
 

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Too bad the logs are being allowed to deteriorate like that. A cabin that size could be cleaned up and log oiled in a day or two.
 
I think Mike (Ursa Major) is correct. Our site member Siwash lives very close to there, he does the weather reporting for Merrill Pass West. Good fellow too.
 
Makes me tired just to watch that movie. The guy must have been part beaver. Beautiful wood work.

Jim
 
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