Aunt Phil’s Trunk : Volume Two

The “Aunt Phil’s Trunk” Alaska history series is taking Alaska by storm. This critically acclaimed four-book series written by Laurel Downing Bill is a must-have for anyone interested in the history of the Last Frontier. The books, which are appropriate for ages 9 to 99, are a delightful journey through Alaska’s rich past. “Aunt Phil’s Trunk Volume Two,” which shares Alaska’s past from 1900 to 1912, continues to bring Alaska’s history alive. This second book in the series is packed with easy-to-read short stories and close to 350 historical photographs to entertain the history buff within. Through vivid accounts of Alaska’s gold-rush days of the 1890s, readers learn how early settlers in the northern territory built towns like Fairbanks, Cordova and Seward in the vast wilderness. The stories follow vaudeville actors who entertained gold-laden miners, show how railroad workers settled right of way disputes with shotguns and how those living in Southwest Alaska survived terror filled days following a massive volcanic eruption in 1912. Volume Two also features stories about Alaska’s early lawmen, as well as the criminals they pursued. Sometimes the lawmen were the criminals! Even the infamous U.S. Marshal Wyatt Earp made his way to the Last Frontier and built a bar in Nome around 1901. Other entertaining nonfiction stories in this volume include those of the pioneering postmen who hacked out mail routes in the wilderness, rugged adventurers who challenged the Great Land’s highest peaks and the brave men who blazed the Iditarod Trail. It ends with the largest volcanic eruption in North American history in 1912, which resulted in the formation of the Valley of 10,000 Smokes. Anyone interested in Alaska history will love this easy-to-read treasure trove of short nonfiction stories.