Rockwell Kent "Wilderness" Centennial Journal

ROCKWELL KENT WILDERNESS CENTENNIAL JOURNAL 100 YEARS LATER by Doug Capra © 2018 End of September 2018 The night of Sept. 24, 1918, Rockwell Kent wrote in his journal, “The wind that night continued rising till it blew a gale. And that night in their bed Rockwell and his father put their arms tight about each other without telling why they did it.” That day their near-death experience rowing from Seward to Fox Island had been a lesson for Kent, one they were both fortunate enough to have survived. The storm continued the next day. After they dried out their damp bedding by the stove Kent, with Rockie’s help on the cross-cut saw, chopped down a tree blocking sunlight from entering his new south-facing window. He noted others that needed removal to give him the brightness needed for his indoor work. While Kent added to his firewood supply, Rockie attended to his reading homework. For every page he read his father read him a page before bed of Robinson Crusoe .

ROCKWELL KENT WILDERNESS CENTENNIAL JOURNAL 100 YEARS LATER by Doug Capra © 2018 September 24, 2018 MAY THE WATERS OF RESURRECTION BAY CARESS THEIR BONES Rockwell Kent II: 1882-1918 and his son, Rockwell Kent III: 1909-1918 by Doug Capra Part II NOTE – This is an expanded version of the article that first appeared in the Spring 2005 (Vol .XXXI, No. 1) issue of The Kent Collector Kent would take other risks in Resurrection Bay with Rocky as he would later in life. That was his nature. During these early years, he couldn’t afford the safest equipment. It was often a question of either taking what seems to us a needless risk or not embarking on adventure at all. In fairness to Kent, we often look back with “presentism” or “generational chauvinism.”   Today we take for granted dependable engines and kickers (a smaller engine available as a backup), GPS, survival suits, and other nautical technology. Back in 1918 in Alaska as elsewhere, peopl