STAN
BISHOP—A TRUE SOURDOUGH
INTRODUCTION
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Stan Bishop
at his home, near Ketchikan, Alaska December, 1997 Photograph by Don MacMillan |
Anyone
who had the opportunity to spend some time with Stan Bishop probably heard him
tell some of his hard-to-believe tales about life in southeast
My own life and Stan’s
intersected in 1932 when I was just an infant, living with my parents at a remote
salmon hatchery near
That probably wasn’t
Stan Bishop’s first brush with death nor was it his last!
It seems nothing short of a miracle that Stan survived so many adventures
in the harsh Alaskan wilderness and then lived to tell about them, as a very
old man.
In 1997, Louise Harrington
and Don MacMillan, two volunteer interviewers with the Friends of the Ketchikan
Public Library Oral History Project, spent some time with Stan, and his wife,
Irene, taping his recollections. Stan
passed away on
Thanks to Louise and Don, the slice of Alaskan history that might have gone to the grave with Stan is still alive.
NOTES ABOUT THE TRANSCRIPTION
“Transcribed by Louise Harrington; December, 1997. This tape is being made for the Friends of the Ketchikan Public Library Oral History Project on December 1, 1997. Louise Harrington and Don MacMillan interviewing Stanley Bishop.”
“Note: Throughout the manuscript the colloquial name ‘Ooligan River’ is used. It is spelled ‘Eulachon River’ on current maps and charts.”
[The Eulachon is a smelt, also known as a “candlefish,” which was traditionally used by Native Americans for food and for its very high oil content. When dried and fitted with a wick, a eulachon can be burned like a candle. BH]
[I have rearranged segments from the taped interview for a better chronological “fit” and given each segment a heading. In some cases I’ve inserted explanatory words and some of my own comments in brackets. BH]
Some of the places Stan mentions can be located on these maps:
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Behm Canal Area and Location of
Major Chinook Systems and Hatcheries.
Note location of Yes Bay Hatchery at upper left, off West Behm Canal Unuk River is at top of map and empties into Burroughs Bay Map courtesy of the Alaska Dept. of Fish & Game. Permission granted to reproduce. |
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Unuk River Area, Showing Major
Tributaries, Barriers to Fish Migration Map courtesy of the Alaska Dept. of Fish & Game. Permission granted to reproduce. |
3. COMING TO ALASKA AND THE YES BAY HATCHERY
4. BECOMING A "DISCIPLE" OF ALASKA
7. HOMESTEAD ON THE OOLIGAN (EULACHON) RIVER
9. COMING HOME FOR THANKSGIVING
10. PLACER GOLD MINING ON THE UNUK
11. WORKING ON A ROAD TO CANADA
14. WARTIME WORK IN KETCHIKAN-1940'S
15.PORT STEWART AND THE KETCHIKAN PULP COMPANY
* * * * * * * * *
Related Alaskan stories:
Unless otherwise noted, text and photos are the property
of Glenn and Barbara Halliday, © 2004