August 25-27 Part 2
ROCKWELL KENT WILDERNESS CENTENNIAL JOURNAL 100 YEARS LATER by Doug Capra © 2018 August 25-27 -- Part 2 Olson towed Rockwell and Rockie from Humpy Cove to Fox Island and beached the boats. Once Kent and Rocky climbed the steep, flat-pebbled beach, they were surprised by the “green grass lawn” and what Kent called an “orchard of neatly pruned alders to the mountains base.” Alaskans might laugh when they read this description of a green grass lawn and an orchard of neatly pruned alders. In the wild, alders and devil’s club have caused much profanity from those bushwacking through their precarious world. It does make sense, though, that Olson would clear the spaces between the alders for trails while keeping some intact. But to call it an orchard? It also shows the romantic wilderness ethic of the time that Kent so enthusiastically goes about -- pioneering, cutting down the trees, and clearing the land –essentially, taming the wilderness. Then they saw Olson’s home. It wasn’t a