Alpenglow Ski Mountaineering History Project

Home

Sandy Nelson Bryant - Mountain Air: The Life of Gordon Stuart

p. 3: Gordon Stuart was born March 7, 1904.

p. 7: Stuart arrived at Domke Lake on October 15, 1924, and lived there 60 years, trapping in winter on snowshoes.

p. 27: During his first winter at Domke Lake, Stuart helped Adelbert Lorenzo Cool work his trapline. Stuart bought his first trapping license for the 1925-26 season.

p. 30: In 1926, Stuart began seasonal work for the U.S. Forest Service as a fire guard at Lucerne. He did this every summer for 12 years. During the years 1938-42 he worked intermittently for the Forest Service.

p. 42: In the late 1930s or early 1940s, Stuart began doing annual snow surveys for the Washington Water Power Company. A WWP official and another man--usually Guy Imus of Stehekin--accompanied Stuart on these surveys on snowshoes. Each survey began in mid-March and the men were out two weeks covering "130 miles" of country. The survey sampled snow depths at "eighteen prescribed courses" in the Lake Chelan watershed. On p. 100, an account by Bill Rines says that that the survey route started at Holden and continued to Lyman Lake, Cloudy Pass, Agnes Creek, Bridge Creek to Rainy Pass, McAlester Creek to McAlester Pass, and finally down Rainbow Creek to Stehekin. (My measurement shows this to be a little over 50 miles. Perhaps the "prescribed courses" increased the total distance.) There were four cabins along the route. Stuart did these surveys into the 1950s.

p. 61: Chapter 4 describes Stuart's prime trapping years, following World War II.

p. 116: Inserted after this page is a map showing the area where Stuart ran his traps in the north and main forks of the Entiat River. He snowshoed up Emerald Park Creek and over Milham Pass to reach his trapping cabins. Many photographs are included.

Return to the Alpenglow Ski Mountaineering History Project home page