Northern Light Media

25/10/2024

This new book by Lew Freedman includes the hunting adventures of several Iditarod mushers, including Jeff King, Dallas Seavey, Dick Mackey, Burt Bomhoff, Mark Nordman, Raymie Redington and even Jon Van Zyle!

Multiple award-winning writer Lew Freedman collects the big game hunting stories of dozens of Alaskans in his newest book: The World’s Most Interesting Man, Alaska Big Game, and the World’s Largest Eskimo: Alaska Hunting Tales. 274 pages, 6” x 9” b/w format, map, index, many photos. ISBN 9798341042407. $24.95 plus $5.00 shipping from Northern Light Media.

Multiple award-winning writer Lew Freedman collects the big game hunting stories of dozens of Alaskans in this new book, and he brings to life hair-raising tales of close encounters with bears, moo…

08/10/2024

After 17 years as a publisher it feels strange to be making these transitions to a new layout program and a new printing and distribution company, but at the same time it feels like leaving high school and going off to college, taking the skills I’ve learned and applying them to further learning....

After 17 years as a publisher it feels strange to be making these transitions to a new layout program and a new printing and distribution company, but at the same time it feels like leaving high sc…

01/10/2024

https://helenhegener.com

The History of Sled Dogs in North America, Alaskan Roadhouses, The 1935 Matanuska Colony Project, Alaska and The Klondike, The First Newspapers of Knik and Anchorage, The Alaska Railroad 1902-1923,…

28/09/2024

The sled dog paintings of Veryl Goodnight are the subject of this new book from Northern Light Media: Sled Dogs in America: The Art of Veryl Goodnight, by Veryl Goodnight and Helen Hegener. Available until Oct. 15, 2024 for the pre-publication special price of $29.95 postpaid (US addresses only), exclusively from Northern Light Media. Retail price after October 15 will be $34.95 plus postage. Format 11″ x 8.5″ (landscape). 72 pages, printed in Ultra Premium Full Color on 70 # paper. Bibliography, Resources, Indexed. ISBN 979-8-3304-2842-7.

The sled dog paintings of Veryl Goodnight are the subject of this new book from Northern Light Media: Sled Dogs in America: The Art of Veryl Goodnight, by Veryl Goodnight and Helen Hegener.

23/09/2024

The fourth issue of Mushing History Quarterly begins with the colorful history of Wells Fargo & Co. in Alaska, then an article by Shea Stanfield shares the story of Colorado painter, sculptor, and musher Veryl Goodnight, whose magnificent paintings of sled dogs have captured a place in the venerable Western Spirit Museum in Scottsdale, Arizona. An exhibit of Veryl’s paintings has been running at the museum since July 16, and will continue through April, 2025. Eli A. Smith, U.S. Mail carrier, set out from Nome, Alaska, in November of 1905, bound for Washington, D.C., to win a $10,000 bet. He not only won the bet, but took the President’s son for a ride with his dogteam! And in Alaska-Yukon Mail, from the December, 1908 issue of The Pacific Monthly, an article about the difficulties of delivering mail to the farthest reaches of the North, written in the flowery style popular at the time. 2025 marks the 100th anniversary of one of the most famous races in history—the race against a diphtheria epidemic in Nome, Alaska, when 20 brave men and more than 150 stalwart dogs laid their lives on the line. The book excerpt in this issue is from Olaf Swenson’s classic memoir Northwest of the World: Forty Years Hunting and Trading in Northern Siberia, focusing on his beloved husky Billkoff and his 2,500-mile trip across Siberia in the winter of 1928. Single issues are $12.00 postpaid, a one year subscription (4 issues) is $40 postpaid (save $8.00). https://mushinghistoryquarterly.com/issues/

02/08/2024

This email newsletter focuses on the history of sled dogs, and much of the history I've researched and written books about is archived at the SubStack site. This edition focuses on the historical sled dog paintings by Veryl Goodnight which are currently showing at the Western Spirit Museum in Scottsdale, Arizona (a Smithsonian subsidiary).

Veryl Goodnight & the Western Spirit Museum Exhibit

02/08/2024

Taking a quick break to catch up with social media stuff and my email newsletters, this is the main newsletter for keeping up with my work and Northern Light Media:

Some great new titles this year!

16/07/2024

2025 will be the Centennial year of the Great Race of Mercy, known as the Serum Run to Nome, when 20 mushers and around 150 dogs raced across Alaska with a transport of diphtheria antitoxin to rescue the small town of Nome and the surrounding communities from a potential epidemic.

Centennial of the Great Race of Mercy

24/06/2024

The third issue of Mushing History Quarterly will be published July 1!

The articles in this issue include the beautiful pastel sled dog portraits of Alaskan artist Josephine Crumrine, painted for the menus of the Alaska Steamship Company in the 1940s. The dogs depicted were well-known in their day, sled dogs being a major form of transportation even that late in the Territory’s history.​ Other articles include a unique primer on acquiring and driving a sled dog team from a 1922 Rand McNalley guidebook; a profile of the “Dean of American Dog Racers,” Dr. Roland A. “Doc” Lombard by Dr. Robert Forto; the intrepid long-distance musher Clyde “Slim” Williams; and a look at the Dogs of the North, excerpted from "The Book of Dogs," by Ernest Harold Baynes, published by the National Geographic Society and reprinted in National Geographic Magazine, in March 1919.​ The book excerpt in this issue is from Elizabeth M. Ricker’s book "Seppala, Alaskan Dog Driver," published in 1930 by Little, Brown & Co. The story of Leonhard Seppala’s incomparable leader, Togo, is told in the last three chapters of the book, and a sidebar at the end answers the question, ‘who was Elizabeth Ricker?’

The First Two Issues of this publication are available at the website below, at Amazon, or from your favorite bookstore. Articles in Vol. 1, No.1, Jan-Feb-March, 2024 included The 1917 Winnipeg to St. Paul Race, A.A. ‘Scotty’ Allan and Baldy of Nome, Split-the-Wind, The Stained Glass Dog Team, The 2009 Mushing History Conference, and an excerpt from Hudson Stuck’s classic "Ten Thousand Miles with a Dog Sled."

Articles in Vol. 1, No.2, April-May-June, 2024 included On the Trail with the U.S. Mail, The American Dog Derby, Alaska Nellie and the Dog Angel of the Trail, Estell Mason: Around the World by Dog Team 1908-1915, Samuel King Hutton’s travels in Labrador, and book excerpts from "Harness & Pack" and "A Dog-Puncher on the Yukon," by Arthur Treadwell Walden.

Volume 1, Number 3 will be available July 1st:

https://mushinghistoryquarterly.com/issues/

16/06/2024

When I completed 'The History of Sled Dogs in North America' last year I was left with a multitude of files on the history of mushing, and links to hundreds of resources, books, articles, photographs, and more. After thinking about it for several months, I began this project last winter, and the first two issues are already in print. Anyone familiar with my books, my website, and my writing for other magazines and newspapers will recognize many of the articles in these first issues, as I’ve pulled from those sources to preserve that history in this new format. But there will be plenty of new material, and I am very happy to finally announce this new journal!

“For years, with great dogs, I toiled and often with them was in great perils. Much of my work was accomplished by their aid. So I believe in dogs, and here in this book I have written of some of t…

14/05/2024

In 1924 Harold Noice published an account of his adventures with the Canadian Arctic Expedition, titled 'With Stefansson in the Arctic.' In his book, Noice told of an Eskimo guide for Vilhjalmer Stefannsson’s expeditions named Emiu, who was also known as “Split-the-wind” due to his fondness for fast dogteams.

Originally from Nome, and formerly a cabin boy on the schooner 'Polar Bear,' Emiu took part in all of the ‘New Land’ sled trips in the Arctic islands between 1916 and 1918. Emiu had, according to Noice, spent two years in Seattle and most of the rest of his life in Nome, Alaska.

Continue reading:

An Eskimo guide for Vilhjalmer Stefannsson’s expeditions

14/05/2024

A post about my book on the barns of the 1935 Matanuska Colony, highlighting the curved-arch Arndt barn and the magnificent double barn at the Alaska Museum of Alaska Transportation and Industry, whose interior is shown in this photo.

Monarchs of the Matanuska Valley

05/05/2024

The newest book from Northern Light Media is a history of the first newspapers in the Cook Inlet region, 'The Knik News' and the 'Cook Inlet Pioneer and Knik News,' which is the name given when the newspaper moved from Knik to the new Knik Anchorage townsite at Ship Creek in 1915. The book will be available June 1st, and can be ordered now:

The Knik News and Cook Inlet Pioneer and Knik News 1914-1916

25/04/2024

For several months Veryl Goodnight has been working on an exhibit of her sled dog paintings for the Western Spirit Museum in Scottsdale, Arizona, an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institute which is consistently listed as one of the best museums in the nation....

Veryl Goodnight: Sled Dogs in America: Alaska & Beyond

25/04/2024

In 1935 the U.S. Government transported 200 families from the Great Depression-stricken midwest to a valley of unparalleled beauty in Alaska, where they were given the chance to begin new lives in a federally-funded social experiment, part of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal for America. “A Mighty Nice Place,” The History of the 1935 Matanuska Colony Project, by Helen Hegener, was published by Northern Light Media in July, 2016. This history of the Matanuska Valley is excerpted from the second chapter of the book.

Book Excerpt from "The 1935 Matanuska Colony Project"

16/04/2024

Another new book from Northern Light Media: "From fishing along the shores Ship Creek, which winds through the city of Anchorage, to some of the greatest remote fishing lakes and rivers to be found anywhere, with world-class lodges sporting stellar accommodations, Lew takes his readers on an inspiring journey across the North with these tales of fishing in Alaska."

The greatest fish ever caught in Alaska was a king salmon hauled ashore by Les Anderson of Soldatna in 1985. The cover photo below is a larger-than-life carving of Les with his fish which stands in…

09/04/2024

It's been an honor to help bring this iconic trophy from the very first All Alaska Sweepstakes back home to Alaska! Still a work in progress, but things are progressing smoothly!

"A couple of weeks ago this writer was contacted by a gentleman whose family trust owns the 1908 trophy, won by Albert Fink’s team, John Hegness driving."

First Place in the First Great Race

17/02/2024

Anchorage's Mushing District, Great Trail Dogs, Legendary Mushers, Jack London, and more:

Legendary Trail Dogs, and more