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STAN BISHOP—A TRUE SOURDOUGH 

EPILOGUE



Don: Stan, you’ve got an interesting life and a lot of history there.
Stan: It’s according to whoever reads it. Some people don’t get any thrill out of something like that, but a lot of people find it absorbing to read about things they dreamed about and never did.

Louise: And I don’t think too many people have done what you’ve done.
Stan: Well, I’ve been pretty lucky. I’ve had a lot of narrow escapes. I’ve had a pretty rugged life and I’ve had a lot of narrow squeaks, but I never had anything really serious ever happen to me. Seemed like it was somebody watching over me. But I’ve been very grateful for having a good family and people who would stick by you when you were drowning and you likewise would stick by them. I was lucky, I had a wonderful mother.

Don: How old was she when she passed away, Stan?
Stan: 75, I think.

Don: And your father?
Stan: I don’t remember how old he was. He was a lot younger than I am. ‘Course he went through a lot, too. He was in the Spanish-American War and he had a small pension, he had some disability.

And we were one for all and all for one.

* * * * * * * * *

In September, 1977, I made a trip up the Inside Passage of Alaska with my parents, Alphonse and Pauline Kemmerich.

One of our stops was Ketchikan, where we had a visit with Stan and his wife, Evelyn. The couple was living at Ward Cove and Stan was still busy with his multitude of jobs, including the Ketchikan Pulp Company. He regaled us with some tales not mentioned in this taped interview, such as having a whale come up under his float house and use it for a back scratcher!

Evelyn and Stan Bishop

 

 

Stan & Evelyn Bishop, Pauline & Al Kemmerich
At Harriet Hunt Lake, Sept. 1977

 

 

In 1999 another Inside Passage cruise gave me the opportunity for a long phone conversation with Stan while my ship was docked in Ketchikan. That was when I learned of his close brush with death when he fell through the ice on Lake McDonald in 1932. That story appears elsewhere on this website as Stan and the Milk Run.

It’s been a delight to learn more of this gentleman’s amazing life.

Barbara Kemmerich Halliday November, 2004

* * * * * * * * *

My thanks and appreciation to Louise Harrington and Don MacMillan for sharing Stan’s stories with me, and giving me permission to reprint them here. Special thanks for Don’s portrait of Stan.

Thanks also to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game for allowing me to reprint maps and a photograph from their website: http://www.sf.adfg.state.ak.us/Region1/salmon/unuk.cfm

1.Introduction 2 Early Years in California 3.Coming to Alaska-
Yes Bay		 4.Becoming a
Disciple of Alaska		 5.The Unuk River 6. Keeping the Light On 7.Homestead on the
Eulachon River		 8. Fur Trapping
9.Home for Thanksgiving 10.Placer Mine
on the Unuk		 11.Building a Road
to Canada		 12.Freighting on the Unuk 13.Ketchikan 14.Wartime Work-Ketchikan 15. Port Stewart & Ketchikan Pulp Company 16.Epilogue

GB Halliday Home Page

Related Alaskan stories:

"Stan and the Milk Run"

"Tales of Yes Bay, Alaska"

 

Unless otherwise noted, text and photos are the property of Glenn and Barbara Halliday, © 2004