The Ascent of Denali

The Ascent of Denali (1918) by Hudson Stuck recounts the 1913 expedition that first conquered Mt. McKinley. Stuck recruited Harry Karstens, a respected guide, to join his expedition. Other members were Walter Harper and Robert G. Tatum, both 21, and two student volunteers from the mission school, John Fredson, and Esaias George. Fredson, then 14, acted as their base camp manager, hunting caribou and Dall sheep to keep them supplied with food. “The tent-pole was used for a moment as a flagstaff while Tatum hoisted a little United States flag he had patiently and skillfully constructed in our camps below out of two silk handkerchiefs and the cover of a sewing-bag. The pole was put to its permanent use. It had already been carved with a suitable inscription, and now a transverse piece, already prepared and fitted, was lashed securely to it and it was planted on one of the little snow turrets of the summit—the sign of our redemption, high above North America.”