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On The Edge of Nowhere, James Huntington
Book Review by Tom Ryan
Huntington was a trapper and trader in Alaska whose mother was
Athabaskan. Every year his grandfather, a trader for the tribe, went
west to trade with the Eskimos. Neither the Eskimos nor the Indians
would dare to trespass onto the others territory so they would meet on
the edge near a small mountain pass. Once they arrived in the fall near
the October full moon, they would set camp below the pass on their
respective side and hike up to the top and plant a large pole. When
both poles were planted they would begin to trade. Each man would haul
his goods up the hill each morning and lay everything out. Offers were
made and many indignant rejections. Each day they would haul everything
back down and start over again the next morning. After several days of
this snow started to fall and the young girl who was Jim Huntington's
mother asked her father why didn't they just exchange the goods and be
done with it. The young girl noticed how the whole situation was
essentially zero sum as each man only had one dog sled, had arrived
fully loaded, and could only carry so much. Yes her father said but the
Eskimo friend would soon tire of hauling his goods up and down and just
think how we may save a mink pelt or two for ourselves.
The market lesson. With all of these ups and downs this year it would
seem that all that we are competing for is a few small pelts. Eventually
however, the snow flies and the big trade will be made. The person who
makes out on that big trade best will be the one who has best withstood
the hauling up and down over and over again.
When running his trap lines one fine early winter day Jim came upon what
looked like a bear den. Nothing better for a long cold winter as bear
meat and easy pickings with the bear hibernating. Crawling into the den
with his 30-30 Huntington bumps suddenly into a bear not a few feet in
the door. Disturbed the bear rolls over and grabs the rifle and
Huntington jumps backwards out of the door. After no sign of the bear
Huntington decides to retrieve his rifle (a very valuable piece of
personal property for a trapper 500 miles from the nearest trading post
in the middle of winter) and kill the bear 'Indian fashion' as his uncle
once described to him by chopping a small hole with his axe above the
bear den and plunging his axe into the bear from above. While chopping away
at the bark that forms the roof of the den the bear suddenly explodes
upward and outward at him on the attack. Huntington runs back to the
sled, realizes he has no choice but to fight as the bear is climbing out
of the den so fast and the snow is too deep so he loosens his dogs and
runs out to meet the bear with his axe before it can get totally free of
the wood and bark and snow. Unfortunately his first attempt just swipes
the bears face. Free now and very angry the bear comes at him and
Huntington looks for help from his dogs. Unfortunately a second bear
has emerged out of the den and has attacked the dogs. After dodging an
attack he plunges his axe squarely into the backbone of the bear and it
flops face down paralyzed. But in the process the bear has raked his arm
and opened it up badly. He turns to fight the second bear. And catches
it while it is busy throwing dogs this way and that. Knowing he has
only a little strength left he plows his axe straight and true into the
second bear's gut and it retreats and falls down. Falling to a sitting
position to catch his breath he marvels at being alive. That's when the
third bear came bounding out of the den. He swings but the bear knocks
the axe away. Fortunately the third bear is distracted by the dogs
leaving Jim a chance to go for his gun. Just as the bear comes running
into the den after him he grabs his gun and shoots the bear in the head
at point blank range killing it with its head flopping down right onto
his lap.
Market lessons. Don't attack the sleeping bear unless you are very
prepared for an onslaught. 2. You rarely get a second chance when
attacking bears so make the first shot count. 3. Where there is one
bear, there is probably more so be prepared for round 2, round 3 etc.
Another time while tracking a moose in the snow Huntington found himself
surrounded by timber wolves. The pack leader came straight at him from
behind. He knew that if he showed fear the leader would signal the pack
and they would all be on him. So he turned around quickly stopping the
attack in its tracks stared down the wolf and walked right by the wolf
leader and began walking back to his sled and dogs. This worked at
first but the wolves were quite hungry and continued to follow him and
the leader kept making false charges at his heel. Finally there was a
nip at his pants and he knew the next time the wolf would be on him so
he turned and shot the lead wolf at close range on the next charge. The
other wolves charged, but to Huntington's surprise they attacked the
wounded lead wolf rather than him. Once all the wolves were engaged in
a melee tearing the old pack leader apart Huntington took off at a brisk
run to safety.
Lessons. When the wolf pack has you surrounded indecision or panic are
both fatal. Sometimes all one has to do is a bit of bluff in order to
gain time and load your gun. But once the gun is loaded you should act
decisively striking at the vital point. A dictatorial leader goes from
hunter to hunted quite quickly as the pack will mercilessly attack and
tear it apart upon any sign of weakness
When he was young Jim and his father and his brother and a friend went
out trapping for the winter. They built a cabin and a large cache up
high on stilts to protect their pelts. After a very successful winter,
they had several thousand dollars (1920s dollars) in pelts, enough for
Jim's dad to pay off his debts and start a trading post store which was
his goal. One morning a series of loud cracks like cannons going off
was heard. Everyone spilled out of the cabin. Haul up the boat and get
everything out of the cabin and onto the roof his father yelled. The ice
was going out and it was going out fast. Suddenly 50 foot chunks of
river ice were floating by the cabin. Unfortunately there was a small
bend in the river just downstream from camp and the ice bunched up there
and formed a dam over 60 feet high. The water surged in behind the ice
dam and began to rise. Soon the entire cabin was engulfed and the men
made a break for it paddling like mad and looking for high ground. When
the water subsided the cabin was gone and so was the 30 foot high cache.
Their entire labor for the winter was gone. Damn, never seen anything
quite like that in my 50 years of back country Charlie said. I guess
we're bust.
A lesson in high water, event risk management, and VAR.