A Time to Celebrate

Congratulations on your 75th anniversary! Each December, an old hiking buddy gives me a much-appreciated gift subscription to Alaska. The statement in your first issue that the magazine is “by Alaskans, but for everybody” certainly applies to me. Over the years, I’ve driven the Alaska Highway, rafted the Kongakut, backpacked in Denali and Wrangell-St. Elias parks, stuck a boot tip in the Arctic Ocean, eaten wild blueberries, swatted a million mosquitoes, and come to love your vast, wild, beautiful land. I am deeply grateful to all of you up there, including those with whom I, as a Blue State liberal, probably have political disagreements, for making Alaska such a unique and wonderful place.

—Jack Mynatt
Leavenworth, Wash

Digital Edition is Great
I just signed up for the online digital version of Alaska magazine and I am sure glad that I did! Not only can I view the current issue but I can also view previous ones, so when I pass my magazine copy along to friends I still have access to current and past stories. I lived in Alaska for 14 years so I use the magazine to relive the wonderful years I spent there.

—George Day
Cupertino, Calif.

Old Stuff Has Value
I came to Alaska when I was 13. I worked around a lot of “old timers,” from whom I picked up the Alaska conservation habit (“Your Junk, My Stuff,” June 2010, Page 4). I wouldn’t think of discarding an old piece of steel, wood or rubber that I might need next week, but I can’t convince my wife of the absolute necessity of saving it.

—Doug Millard
Wasilla

Great Story, Illustrations
I truly enjoyed reading the article “Racing the Volcano,” (June 2010, Page 36). It conveyed the feelings and thoughts of those who have experienced being so close to home, but also so far away. Well done. Most enjoyable were the illustrations by Priscilla Messner-Patterson. I have enjoyed her paintings depicting aviation in Alaska, and have been blessed by knowing her. Thank you for this great contribution to your magazine.

 —James Stephens
Anchorage

Stewardship is the Answer
As a mine worker, I found the photo titled “Subsistence Spring” in the March 2010 issue (Page 20) ironic. A Native hunter is portrayed with a “traditional” skin boat out prepping for a whale hunt, but that boat is held together using steel nails made using mined iron, coal and lime, that are galvanized—perhaps using zinc mined in Alaska. The boat’s skin is stitched to the frame using nylon or rayon cord, and the rope in the photo looks like a polypropylene blend, both made from petroleum. The hunter’s rifle is made from more high-tech steel. Modern steel requires a host of mined materials and petroleum products to provide accuracy, long-lived dependability and safety. The gun is likely lubricated with a petroleum product, and the ammo he is about to fire is made from, again, zinc, copper, tin and other mined materials. There is no longer true subsistence hunting or living in the Arctic without the use of products made from materials that these same users wish to prevent being extracted from the land. Stewardship is the answer, or you may find that your boat won’t float!

—Ray Congdon
Wasilla