NPS historian John Branson joins to discuss volume three of a planned four volume collection of Dick Proenneke's journals. From the early 1980s, after publication of One Man's Wilderness, Proenneke responds to letters and visitors to his home on Twin Lakes on what was by then Lake Clark National Park and Preserve.
This conversation originally aired on the Dec. 23 Bristol Bay and Beyond. Listen below.
To purchase a copy of the A Life in Full Stride, check out the Friends of Donnellson Public Library page, or learn more about the book at the National Park Service page.
Audio transcript:
John Branson, historian at Lake Clark National Park and Preserve: "January 18, 1981. Overcast, blowing down the lake at 34 degrees. A boy, 17 years old writes a very neat letter, insensible too. He writes: 'I am writing this letter from a deep need to find within myself that need has surfaced in my life as my ultimate goal. That goal is to live a life like you are. At this point in my life 17 years of age I’m not sure what I will be doing later on meaning five or six years from now. But I have always wanted to live in the Alaska Mountains.'
Since reading my book he wonders if I will take him on as an apprentice. But that I might feel that he is intruding. And he wouldn’t want to do that. He writes: 'I just want someone who knows how to live life to its fullest to show me how to stay alive.' Poor kid. How do you answer such a letter and not do more damage than good. I’ll lose some sleep thinking about that one. I ended with a mount of letters on my table some answering to be done there.”
Dave Bendinger, KDLG: “That’s a passage from A Life in Full Stride, the newest volume of the journals of Richard Proenneke, read by Lake Clark National Park Service historian John Branson who joins us now. John thanks for that and again thanks for coming on our program.”
John: “Glad to be here, thank you very much for the opportunity."
Dave: “So this is a newly published volume of Dick Proenneke’s journals and it covers the years 1981 to 1985. Maybe you can put into context what this is about, based on why that’s an emblematic passage from the book.”
John: “Well, Dick Proenneke became well known to the reading public in Alaskans first and foremost in 1973 with the publication of his book called One Man’s Wilderness, and that was the years around activities which included him building a small log cabin at twin lakes, upper Twin Lakes in the Lake Clark area. It was built in 1968 and the book was published in 1971 and it became an immediate best seller in Alaska and actually in outdoor circles throughout the country and eventually it was even published in Japan. So he has attracted a worldwide following as a twentieth century practitioner of Henry David Thoreau's philosophy of living in harmony with nature.”
Dave: “So by the time we come to these journal entries in the 80’s he is a known figure, and he has a pile of letters coming in and as I understand many visitors coming to meet the man himself.”
John: “Right. Exactly and as the years went by after 1971 his presence became known and then after 1980 after ANILCA was passed, creating a whole slew of parks and preserves in Alaska including Lake Clark National Park and Preserve. That again added even more people to come visit Richard Proenneke and read about his life here.
Proenneke had an enormous correspondence and he tried to answer most every one of them and wrote voluminously both in letters and in his journal.
And he had some people like this young man who sought his advice and even asked to apprentice under him. So Proenneke told him he should stay in school and he'd be better off in school. Recently I was editing these papers and he’s [the 17-year-old writer of the letter] now a professor of Environmental Studies in a university in Florida. And he told me he never got to meet Dick Proenneke."
Dave: “What did you learn as you read his journals about his attitude towards that sort of celebrity side of his life style?"
John: “He definitely had mixed feelings about it. On the one hand he appreciated the people who appreciated the type of life that he had carved out for himself. On the other hand he valued his privacy. So when he would have company for instance, when they left he was so relieved and 'now it’s back to one man’s wilderness' he said. Frequently he would confess that to his journal. He valued his privacy so he had mixed feelings about the celebrity aspect. I think he liked it, but then it was a mixed blessing and he was glad when people left too.”
Dave: “You knew Dick, and you pored through his writings, and you’ve seen the reaction there at the Park Service you’ve seen people come just to visit the site. What would you say in your opinion is it about Dick Proenneke that continues to inspire so many?”
John: “It varies from person to person. It’s not uncommon for some grown elderly men to weep when they come to his cabin, so it goes the gamut from that to quiet respect when they go into his cabin. It’s like going to Mecca almost, it’s a pilgrimage. He inspires people with his self-reliance and his great skill level with wood working, with anything. He was meticulous with his labors. He would repair shoes and boots and every article of clothing, he would find a way to sow it. He embodied a lot of virtues that are very important in American history like "waste not want not," and even just having the simple life and lack of ostentation. I think that inspires people, the level of craftsmanship and self-reliance.“
Dave: “John Branson, the national park historian at lake Clark national park, good to have you on this program and thanks for sharing about Life on full stride volume three of Dick P massive amount of writings from his time there at twin lakes, thanks so much.”
John: “Thank you very much Dave."
Reach Dave Bendinger at dave@kdlg.org or 907.842.5281.