Thank you for joining us for the beginning of THE HEART OF ALASKA series.
Our heroine—Cassidy Faith Ivanoff—is very dear to our hearts, and yes, she has a lot of Cassidy Faith Hale’s real personality traits. In fact, the saying, “I guess the floor needed a hug” was a direct quote from this special girl. We hope you enjoyed the light from her legacy.
Curry and the Curry Hotel are fascinating pieces of Alaska’s—and our country’s—history. For many years, Curry was the heart and hub of not only the railroad but of all who visited the great Territory. There are conflicting reports about the actual layout of the Curry Hotel in 1923. Alaska Rails cites that the kitchen was originally in the basement and then moved, where the original floorplans for the hotel show the main kitchen on the main level and the section gang kitchen in the basement. Alaska Rails also states that the Annex was built in 1923 while other sources claim that it was built later. We’ve chosen to follow the original floorplans for our story and added the Annex in.
The book Lavish Silence: A Pictorial Chronicle of Vanished Curry, Alaska by Kenneth L. Marsh is a fascinating read and provided us with wonderful research for In the Shadow of Denali, but there are discrepancies with other sources in some matters of the history, buildings, and layout. Over the years, the Curry Hotel changed. The town changed as many other buildings were constructed. While we tried to be as accurate as possible, we did take a few liberties to fit our story when all the sources didn’t line up. We’d like to thank Ken Marsh for all his work and his incredible help sharing his research about Curry.
Today, the only remaining structure is the historic Curry Lookout, sitting high above the Susitna River on Curry Ridge (which, by the way, the lookout was not the President’s idea, but we had fun putting that conversation into the story). It’s not easily accessible. (We even tried to get in by helicopter, but the weather didn’t cooperate.) You can find a couple of pictures at www.alaskarails.org/historical/curry/lookoutview.jpg and www.alaskarails.org/historical/curry/lookout.jpg.
The location where Curry existed can be visited by riding the amazing Alaska Railroad, but since the suspension bridge has been gone for several decades, there’s no way across the river to the lookout. Coming in from the west, you can drive the Parks Highway to where the future South Denali Visitor’s Center will be (and the preliminary plans show a hiking trail to Curry Lookout), but this is still several miles west of Curry Ridge, and there are no trails to Curry Lookout at this time. At one time there was a snowmobile and ski trail, but it seems to be gone as well. Remember, Alaska is still wild and untamed—and Curry and the Curry Lookout are in the “bush” of Alaska and off the road system. But to know that these pieces of history are still there thrilled us as authors.
For simplicity’s sake, we have named the railroad throughout the book as the Alaska Railroad. In actuality, the history of the Alaska Railroad includes the Alaska Central Railroad, the Alaska Northern Railroad, the Tanana Valley Railroad, and the Alaska Engineering Commission.
The President and First Lady really did visit Curry on their journey to Fairbanks. There are some fascinating pictures and stories of this time. Be sure to check out Kim’s blog at http://kimandkaylawoodhouse.com for pictures of the “Presidential Special” railroad car that now resides in Fairbanks at Pioneer Park. To be historically accurate, we spent hours and hours researching President and Mrs. Harding and their cross-country trip. Facts about the formal dedication of Mount McKinley National Park and the presidential visit in 1923 were taken from reports made to the Department of the Interior.
The First Lady’s line to Thomas about “If I had a son . . .” would have been accurate for the private lady. Most people are unaware that she had a son before marrying Mr. Harding, and the son died in 1915, long before this story took place. What is fascinating though, is that very few during Harding’s presidency ever knew that she even had a son. She never mentioned him either, which gave us an interesting twist to use.
The views from Talkeetna, Curry Ridge, and the South Denali Viewpoint on the Parks Highway are my favorite views of The High One. Even though the entrance to Denali National Park is one hundred miles north of these locations on the highway, Curry had the most ideal location to become a climbing expedition starting point since it was barely forty miles away as the crow flies. Even though Curry didn’t survive, the quaint little town of Talkeetna did, and today that is where you find the Park Ranger Headquarters to climb Denali. If you go there, say hi to Missy for me (Kim). She was, once again, an invaluable source of information.
On June 7, 1913, the first ascent of the main summit (the southern peak) of Denali was achieved. The expedition was put together by Howard Stuck, but the first man to reach the summit was a native Alaskan, Walter Harper. The first superintendent of Mount McKinley National Park, Harry Karstens, was also part of this historic group and the real leader. (Harry Karstens is a fascinating man, and you will get to read more about him and his incredible work there in the rest of THE HEART OF ALASKA series.)
After the successful summit of 1913, nineteen years would pass before another known party attempted the climb. So for our story, we obviously took some artistic liberty and thought how fun it would be to have a party attempt the climb after Mount McKinley was officially named a national park. When the Brooklyn Daily Eagle delegation went to dedicate the park, it really was a party of seventy, but from what we found in doing research, there’s no mention of the staff of the Curry helping in any way. But we had fun adding that into our story since it is a significant part of history.
We also used The Ascent of Denali by Hudson Stuck several times in In the Shadow of Denali. In chapter twenty, we used the actual description in the book for how they prepared their meat for the expedition. It’s hard to imagine the time and preparation it took for their group to tackle the monumental task of climbing North America’s tallest mountain. A free e-book of The Ascent of Denali by Hudson Stuck is provided by www.gutenberg.org/files/26059/26059-h/26059-h.htm.
In 2016, the national parks across the country celebrated the one hundredth anniversary of the creation of the National Parks Service. And in 2017, Denali National Park will celebrate its one hundredth year. We pray this book honors that in some small way.
A big thank you goes out to Dr. John Smelcer for his invaluable work on the Ahtna Dictionary and Pronunciation Guide. His love for his native people and the desire to preserve a dying language is evident in the care and immense amount of time he’s taken over the years to provide this free resource. For this book, we’ve used the western dialect of Ahtna, the tribe whose native land was the setting of our story.
We’ve so enjoyed weaving in the people and historical facts that were part of this amazing time, but please remember this is a work of fiction.
Randy and Jackie Hale, thank you for giving us the honor of sharing Cassidy with the world.
As with all our other books, we would be lost without the team at Bethany House Publishers. It is a joy and a privilege to work with the whole team there. From editing to marketing to cover design and everything in between, they are top-notch. Thank you, BHP, for all you do.
Thank you—our readers—for your notes of encouragement and anticipation for each new book. We couldn’t do this without you.
Last and ultimately most important, Thank You, Lord for giving us the opportunity to write for You.
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.
Kim and Tracie