Rockwell Kent "Wilderness" Centennial Journal

ROCKWELL KENT WILDERNESS CENTENNIAL JOURNAL 100 YEARS LATER by Doug Capra © 2018 October 7-8, 2018 This day 100 years ago on Oct. 7 1918, Rockwell Kent wrote: “Yesterday I wrote nothing in the diary – there was nothing to write but that it rained. “Rained like Hell” Olson’s journal doubtless reads, -- and ditto for to-day.” Those who have lived in Seward long enough will tell you that periods of constant rain can really get you down. And that what we often get this time of year. That’s why we were pleasantly surprised to have a sunny September with temperatures as high as the mid-70’s. The cross squalls were terrible on Fox Island 100 years ago today – coming from all directions. The surface of Kent’s cove seethed with what Olson called the “wullys” – where a circular gust of wind creates a small cyclone of spray that travels across the water. The winds were so bad that they had to lash their boats down. As local mariner Jim Barkley notes from his experience ...

Today is Friday, Oct. 5, 2018. A hundred years ago it was a dry but overcast Saturday on Fox Island with, as Kent noted, “a clean, refreshing atmosphere.” Today, after two days of pouring rain, morning began with the sun and some blue sky but soon clouded up. On Fox Island Rockie was being punished for not doing his reading homework. His penance? – Not being allowed to help his father saw up a tree, a task he greatly enjoyed. Later Kent calked the east side of his cabin and did some baking. “Rockie took his punishment so to heart that in the afternoon he read ten pages in his book,” Kent wrote. This day the artist also rigged up a device to help him paint outside while sitting and holding his palette. And he painted. Kent mentions reading a book of George Anson’s voyage around Cape Horn and how Anson notes that fair weather rarely lasts long in those southern latitudes. Kent thinks it probably true for northern latitudes. He may have been pondering a future trip aroun...