MARCH 18, 1919 -- FAREWELL TO FOX ISLAND

ROCKWELL KENT WILDERNESS CENTENNIAL JOURNAL

100 YEARS LATER

by Doug Capra © 2018-19

March 18, 1919

FAREWELL TO FOX ISLAND

ABOVE – Kent and Rockie leave Fox Island 100 years ago today – March 18, 1919. We must keep in mind that, although technically spring arrives on March 21^st, that is not the situation in Alaska. If we’re lucky along the South Central coast, we can see real spring arrive at the end of April. More likely, it’s closer to mid to late May. You may recall seeing some of the beautiful photographs on this page by my friend and fellow Kenai Fjords National Park ranger, Jim Phfeiffenberger. Yesterday he posted the above image on his Facebook page and wrote: “Ughhh. After what had been a pretty good winter for getting out and about, we’ve been stuck in warm, low pressure blechhh for the past week with no relief in the forecast. This, too, shall pass, but it’s amazing what a trial the seemingless endless skies and rain can be for the spirit.” As the French say, “Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose.” This time of year a 100 years ago, Kent has freezing weather and a north wind. These days it’s been rainy and mild around Resurrection Bay. Both kinds of weather, especially this time of year, can do a job on our spirits.

ABOVE – The Fox Island cabin, photo from a Kent family album.

“The day dawned cold and windy,” Kent writes on Tuesday, March 18, 1919. “We proceeded however to the completion of our packing and the loading of the boat.” Then they waited. As usual the north wind held sway over their expedition across Resurrection Bay. Shortly after noon the wind moderates a bit. Olson has planned to say his goodbye on the island, but Kent persuades him to accompany them to Seward. The old Swede's engine works but poorly. They take both dories with both engines running, but Kent tows his friend’s. “In the bay the wind was fresh and the chop high. Half way across the wind had risen and the water flew,” Kent recalls. He feels the strain of the tow without the full power of Olson’s engine. “I feared the old man’s courage would give out as the sea increased, and I grinned at him reassuringly from time to time. Finally, however, as the white-crested waves seemed to rush ever more fiercely upon us, his his face grew solemn. He waved to us to turn and run back to the island. But the tow line was fast in my boat and I neither chose to turn nor loosen it. Showing our backs to him we ran for the shelter of Caines Head – and made it.” Hugging the shoreline from Caines Head on proves a smooth trip to Seward.

ABOVE – Rockie standing beside the southwest corner of the cabin on Fox Island. Photo from a Kent family album.

That’s Kent’s version of his final departure from Fox Island. Perhaps that’s exactly how it happened. Perhaps not. Olson knows these waters much better than Kent. It’s just as likely Olson urges the two to wait another day before leaving – not only because he wants them to stay but also because of sea conditions. He reluctantly agrees to accompany them more for their safety than for his because they’d be dangerously overloaded otherwise. Once out of their Fox Island cove – as the wind and chop increase  – Olson takes measure of the situation. Both dories are probably full to the gunwales. Kent’s engine is unreliable and Olson’s is ready to die. In his judgment it will be best to turn back and wait for better conditions. But Kent is overly anxious to leave. Return, unload, perhaps wait another day or two and then load up again? Not worth the trouble. He makes a run for the shelter of Caines Head so, as he writes, he ignores Olson – “showing our backs to him” – and makes a dash to safety.

I recall one of many trips canoeing the Allagash region of Maine 50 years ago with my life-long friend, Bill Porter, Jr. It had been rough, fighting a strong head wind all the way. That wind developed a personality and became a true adversary. As we ended this particular journey – hauling the canoe a bit up the beach where we began many days earlier – we shuffled toward our car. Within minutes, the wind had carried our canoe with all our gear out so far that we had to swim for it. That wind fought us to the end – yet we admired and respected it as a worthy competitor. Kent viewed the north wind as both the foe that often stranded him on Fox Island or in Seward, and with the esteem and awe as a symbol of the wild’s true freedom and liberty. Though he may have feared it, Kent was so competitive that throughout his life he felt compelled to confront and challenged forces like this.

ABOVE – Approaching the entrance to Kent’s cove on Fox Island. Capra photo.

Kent and Rockie arrive in Seward by late afternoon and are probably guests of Don Carlos Brownell, or Postmaster William E. Root. By this time the artist is well-known in Seward and friendly with many of the old timers. He is respected because he made it. He survived. He spent seven months on Fox Island during winter with Olson managing to endure his trips back and forth. That took guts and certainly some skill. The evening before he arrives in Seward the Arctic Brotherhood, Camp Seward No. 21, holds a “festival” featuring 26 local performers, an orchestra and a chorus. Nearly all of Seward left the building after the show, the Seward Gateway reported, “with the rollicking refrain of ‘There Are Smiles That Make You Happy" ringing in their ears and also the military air of ‘A Rainbow from the U.S.A.” That last march ended the evening lead by Kent’s friend Brownell as a huge American flag fluttered down and waved over the stage. The event that day is probably the talk of the town the day Kent arrives – some incidents no doubt only whispered among close friends. That night six inches of snow falls in Seward.  The next day, March 19^th, Kent informs Kathleen that they will leave Seward on March 29^th. See the telegram below:

Kent is so busy that his last letter to Kathleen (as far as I can determine) is dated March 7, 1919. He hadn warned her earlier that his letters will soon cease. He has much work to do between packing and painting. But Kathleen and his friends continue writing to him through mid-March, though he most likely doesn’t get them before he leaves.  (Zigrosse writes to him on March 24^th)  In fact, on March 17^th Kathleen writes: “I have shipped 50 maps by Well’s Fargo (or American Railway) express. If they travel as fast as your package did you should get them by the 10^th of April if not before. It took your package three weeks to get here.” These are Kent’s Chart of Resurrection Bay, the pen and ink you’ll find on the endpapers of Wilderness. He sent the original to Zigrosser for printing. His friend did so and delivered them to Kathleen. She distributed many. Kent has been hounding her to send some to him. He’s anxious to see them, and probably wants to distribute some to his friends in Seward as thanks for their kindness and help. But it’s almost certain he won’t get the 50 Kathleen has sent before he leaves on March 19^th. What happened to them? Don’t forget, Kent is good friends with Seward’s Postmaster, William E. Root. I’m sure he arranged with Root to have any of his mail received after he left returned.

As Kent ends his Wilderness journal he writes: “Fox Island is behind us.” True enough. Neither he nor Rockie ever return to Fox Island. Kent adds: “Fox Island will soon become in our memories like a dream or vision, a remote experience too wonderful, for the full liberty we knew there and the deep peace, to be remembered or believed in as a real experience in life” Well – that’s half the story, but only half. And it is as authentic and important as the “Not-So-Quiet” adventure we see in Kent’s letters to Kathleen and hers to him. That troubling correspondence, though, does represent a part of the story essential to understanding the  man. Kent continues summing up his Fox Island experience as he ends the book: “It was for us life as it should be, serene and wholesome; love – but no hate, faith without disillusionment, the absolute for the toiling hands of man and for his soaring spirit. Olson of the deep experience, strong, brave, generous and gentle like a child; and his island – like Paradise. Ah God, -- and now the world again.”

Fox Island may now be behind Kent and his son – but the Alaska experience continues in Seward until he departs via steamship at the end of March. He and Rockie will take a train ride north. A few days before departing, Kent will write a letter to the editor of the Seward Gateway. A newcomer to Seward, teacher Mary Baen Wright, will respond with a letter about one of Rockie’s visits to her classroom while they were in town. The Great War only ended four months earlier. The names of the dead and wounded are still being published. The influenza epidemic still lingers. Patriotic fervor is high. War protestors and slackers (those who didn’t register for the draft) are anathema. Post-war news dominates the headlines. The world has changed forever, and though many can’t put their finger on precisely how, they sense things will never be the same. They are correct. People are afraid and tempers are raw. The teacher challenges Kent’s patriotism. Kent respond to her letter with one of  his own – but he will never see it printed. For he and Rockie sail away before that edition of the Seward Gateway hits the streets. I’ll tell that story in detail soon. But before I do that, I’d like to summarize some of the March letters I haven’t yet discussed – especially Kathleen’s to Kent. She writes her last letter on March 19^th. Most of hers are very difficult to read, but my wife and I have been able to extract some interesting material. When Kent returns home, he and his wife have much to discuss – and Kathleen isn’t hesitant to be up front about it.

ABOVE – Fox Island on August. 28, 2018 – 100 years to the day Kent met Olson in Humpy, discovered Fox Island, and decided to settle there. Capra photo.