Alaskans representing the Walter Harper Project have launched a drive that will culminate in a life-size bronze statue of Walter Harper, the first person to summit Denali. The statue will be placed in Fairbanks, where the 1913 expedition began. Episcopal Archdeacon Hudson Stuck and the rugged outdoorsman Harry Karstens co-led the expedition. The Koyukon-Athabascan Harper, along with Tennessean Robert Tatum, completed the four-member ascent team. Athabascan youths John Fredson and Esaias George provided vital support, including transporting supplies and equipment to the base camp. Fredson manned the basecamp while the ascent team members scaled the mountain. The Walter Harper Project will recognize Harper’s critical role in the pioneer ascent team’s success, which was long unrecognized. Harper’s expert subsistence skills, superb athlete condition, courage, and cheerfulness moved the team forward under the most trying conditions. On summit day, Harper, the team member in the best condition, took the lead position and thus reached the peak first. For several years, Harper served as Archdeacon Stuck’s trail guide, riverboat pilot, interpreter, and right hand man, as they traveled among the Episcopal missions, Native communities, and mining camps of Alaska’s northern Interior. Wherever they stopped, Harper’s subsistence skillset, integrity, magnetic personality, and ability to navigate in both his Athabascan culture and in mainstream American society won him admirers. He planned to become a medical missionary to Interior Alaska Natives. Tragically, when he was just 25 years old, he and his wife of seven weeks, Frances Wells Harper, drowned in the 1918 sinking of the Princess Sophia.
On Sunday, June 7, 2020, Alaska celebrated the first annual Walter Harper Day, in recognition of the Koyukon Athabascan man who on June 7, 1913 was the first person to stand atop Denali, North America’s tallest mountain and the dominant landmark of Alaska’s Interior, Harper’s homeland. Fairbanks Senator Click Bishop introduced Senate Bill 144 “An Act establishing June 7 of each year as Walter Harper Day.” Alaska’s Senate and House of Representatives both passed the bill unanimously, and Governor Dunleavey signed the bill on April 29. The act recognizes not only Harper’s critical role in the success of the pioneer summit of Denali, but his “superb subsistence skills, his integrity, his strong sense of identity and purpose, and his ability to navigate comfortably in both the Athabascan culture and other cultures of the United States.”
Funding Information
"Together we will reach our summit."
$250,000 Goal
Funds Received: $216,000
$46,000
Individuals
$170,000
Corporate
Thank You Sponsors
▴ ▴ ▲▲ DENALI SUMMIT ▲ ▲▴ ▴
DOYON, LIMITED
RASMUSON FOUNDATION
BILL STROECKER FOUNDATION
ALASKA AIRLINES
ALYESKA PIPELINE SERVICE COMPANY
▲ ▲ HARPER GLACIER ▲ ▲
Kinross Fort Knox
▲ KARSTENS RIDGE ▲
Tozitna, Ltd.
ConocoPhillips Alaska
Marathon Petroleum Corp.
▴ MULDROW GLACIER ▴
Mt. McKinley Bank
Golden Heart Community Foundation
Mary Harper Denton & Family
Jeanne Ostnes & Timothy Benintendi
Tsigonis Family
▴ BASE CAMP ▴
Baan O Yeel Kon Corporation
Ghemm Company
Lynden Transport
Teamsters Local 959
CSG, Inc.
John & Judy Binkley
Darlene & Click Bishop
Steve Frank & Linda Anderson
Dan Gavora
Betty Ruth George
The Geraghty Family
Michael & Jane Harper
Gail & Richard Hattan
George H. Lounsbury
Lance Parrish
Cathryn Rasmuson
Margaret Rich
Maxine Harper Richert
Rick & Cheryl Schikora
Natasha & Rudi Von Imhof
Andy & Judy Warwick
Gary & Susan Wilken
▴ TIMBER-LINE CAMP ▴
Great Northwest, Inc.
Plumbers & Pipefitters Union, Local 1375
Koniag, Inc.
Doug & Dianne Blummer
John & Peggy Bryant
Winston & Glenda Burbank
Jennifer Fate
Randy & Georgianne Frank
Bill & Bonnie Gordon
Diane Kaplan
Anna Huntington-Kriska
Tanya Kaquatosh
Gen. Jake Lestenkof
Jamie Marunde
Rick & Cherie Solie
Doug Pope
▴ The Kantishna ▴
IBEW Local 1547
Rohn & Chris Abbott
Linda S. Belarde
Gary & Laura Elliott Bender
Sherry Bestard
Dan Bishop
John Bitney
Brandon Boylan
Julius Brecht
Catherine Call
Michael & Margaret Carey
Tim & Kathy Cline
Jeff & Sue Cook
Sue Harper Courtillet
Diann Darnell
Kent & Jenny Dawson
Sam & Mary Demientieff
Mary and Lars Ehrlander
Steven Haagenson
Jan Harper (Petri) Haines
Daryl & Karen Haggstrom
Karl & Nancy Hanneman
Nancy Hanson
Ella Harper
Jane Harper
Johanna Harper
Diane Holmstrom
Garry & Diane Hutchison
Ronald Inouye
Kris Knauss
Angela Linn
Jim & Deanna Linzer
Karen Lopez
Antoinette Mallot
Jerry & Jenifer McBeath
Pat & Patty Miller
Emil Notti
Susan Paskvan
Hild & Guy Peters
Steve & Shannon Planchon
Jim Plaquet
Al & Ann Renfroe
Jim Sampson
Katie & Phil Sanders
Angela Schmidt
Rick & Cherie Solie
Julie Fate Sullivan
Gene Therriault & Jo Kuchle
Linda Van Houten & Bill Joiner
Jimmy Vining
Tom Walker
Ronald & Nancy Whitten
Richard & Sally Wien
Daphne & Frank Wright
▴ Other▴
Joan Antonson
Margaret Asbury
Kate Bull
John Curran
Nicole Eiseman
Andrea Gelvin
Hillary Gularte
Carol Kasza
Inez Larsen
Katie McCaffrey
Marie Nash
Karen Perdue
Marilyn Richards
Stephanie Rivet
Thomas & Jo Roberts
Amy Russell-Jamgochian
Elizabeth Schaffhauser & Gerald Walker
David Tillman
Ronald & Nancy Whitten
▲▲ In Kind ▲▲
Fairbanks Native Association
Doyon, Ltd.
Design Alaska
Give now to join the efforts of these supporters.
Artist
Gary Lee Price
Gary Lee Price
"Lifting the Human Spirit Through Sculpture"
The Walter Harper Project Team is pleased to announce our selection of renowned sculptor Gary Lee Price as the artist for the Walter Harper sculpture.
Artist Selected to Draft Statue of First Man to Summit Denali
Gary Lee Price: Honoring Walter Harper
Read announcement here at the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.
Photos:
• Gary Lee Price with Joan (courtesy of Gary Lee Price)
•Artist visiting Fairbanks with WHP member Darlene Bishop.
Walter Harper Project Team Members
Anchorage, AK
Relative of Walter Harper
Fairbanks, AK
Life Long Alaskan; Former Staff Assistant to Governor Jay Hammond
Olympia, WA/Fairbanks, AK
Author of Walter Harper, Alaska Native Son; UAF Professor of History
Fairbanks, AK
Retired teacher, Breast Cancer Detection Center board of director
Fairbanks, AK
Sr. VP of Administration- Doyon, Limited
Fairbanks, AK
Senior Collections Manager, UA Museum of the North
In the News ...
Learn more about the project or Walter Harper.
Walter Harper Day
Alaska State Senator Click Bishop
October 2, 2019
Senator Click Bishop and staff are working with the Walter Harper Project to have a state day of recognition on June 7th for Walter Harper and the expedition.
Author talk with Mary Ehrlander
Introduction by Harper relatives Toni Mallott and Tom Paddock. Watch here on KTOO 360TV.
State of Alaska Legislative Session 2020
Walter Harper Day
January 21, 2020
A special thanks to Senator Click Bishop and Darwin Peterson for putting together the legislation to create a Walter Harper Day. Sponsor statement here.
The Walter Harper Day Bill Passes Senate & House!
Walter Harper Day Approved!
The State of Alaska Senate and House of Representatives passed SB144 creating Walter Harper Day. The bill now awaits the Governor Dunleavy's signature.
Walter Harper Day is Official
Governor signs SB144
April 29, 2020
Governor Dunleavy signed SB144 into law, officially designating June 7 as Walter Harper Day.
Sculpture Site Chosen
Harper Statue to be placed at Doyon, Ltd headquarters
July 24, 2020
Doyon, Limited announced that when completed, the Walter Harper statue will be housed outside of the Doyon Plaza in downtown Fairbanks. Thank you to the Doyon board of directors who approved this request.
First Alaskans Institute Supports Project
Elders & Youth Conference Passes Resolution
October 14, 2020
The 2020 Elders and Youth Conference of the First Alaskans Institute passed a resolution of support for the Walter Harper Project. See the full resolution here.
AFN Supports Project
AFN Board Passes Resolution
December 8, 2020
The AFN Board of Directors passed a resolution in support of the Walter Harper Project . Stay tuned for the link to the resolution!
Walter Harper Day
By Robyne: Interview with Mary Ehrlander and Sarah Obed.
Listen here on KUAC FM 89.9 or here on KTOO.
June 7, 2021
Radio Host David Pruhs: 1913 Denali Expedition
Hear from expedition descendants and WHP team members.
Interview with Walter Harper's great grand nephew, Mike Harper, and Johnny Fredson's granddaughter, Diana Campbell. Listen here.
Sept. 2, 2020
PBS "Molly of Denali" The Great One, Bonus Episode
For the kids ... young and old!
Learn about climbing Denali, then and now.
Harper's Last Living Niece
Mary Harper Denton, 93.
Mary Harper Denton, of Bickley, Georgia recently donated $2,500 to the Walter Harper Project. This is significant as she is Walter Harper’s niece and the last living descendant of that generation. WHP Committee Member, Michael Harper, spoke to his Aunt Mary recently to share the progress of the Walter Harper Project. At age 93, Mary was pleasantly surprised and delighted to hear of the statue’s progress and how her donation will help.
From the Desk of Mary F. Ehrlander:
Reflections on the Appeal and Value of Biography
Blog from Ms. Ehrlander in celebration of Native American Heritage Month, Ms. Ehrlander.
Athabascan in the Spotlight:
Walter Harper
Koyukon Athabascan blogger, Angela Gonzalez, speaks with Mike Harper and writes about Walter Harper Day here.
Alaskan Singer & Songwriter Ben Balivet created this song to commemorate Walter Harper and support the Walter Harper Project.
© 2021 Walter Harper Project
Last updated 2021-09-23 - dab