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| Dick Proenneke at his cabin in 1985 (photo: NPS) |
Richard
“Dick” Proenneke was a true wilderness man. A member of the Navy, a carpenter, a
diesel
mechanic and a salmon
fisherman are just some of the occupations Proenneke had over the course of his
life. He built a cabin by hand with his own tools in Twin Lakes, Alaska where
he would live separate from society for thirty years.
John
Branson, a historian at Lake Clark National Park and Preserve in Alaska and the
son of the noted country doctor of Windham – Dr. Sidney Branson, presented a
program titled, “Dick Proenneke – One Man’s Wilderness, Twin Lakes, Alaska” on
Monday, December 3 at the Little Meeting House in Windham. Branson examined
Proenneke’s life before and during his 30-year residence in the Alaskan
wilderness.
Proenneke enlisted in the United States Navy
the day after the attack on
Pearl Harbor and served as a ships carpenter. He spent close to two years at
Pearl Harbor. He caught rheumatic fever while hiking after being stationed in
San Francisco and was hospitalized for six months. By the time he was
discharged in 1945 the war was over.
After his discharge from the Navy,
Proenneke went to school in Portland, Oregon to become a diesel mechanic in
1949. He had a strong love of nature and while he was a very good mechanic, he later
moved to Oregon to work at a sheep and cattle ranch.
In the early 1950s, Proenneke worked
on the Naval Air Station as a heavy equipment operator and repairman in Kodiak,
Alaska. He spent the next several years working throughout Alaska as a salmon
fisherman and diesel mechanic. When friends of his took him to a cabin of
theirs in Twin Lakes, Alaska in 1962, Proenneke enjoyed the connection the
cabin brought to the wilderness. He continued making trips to this cabin until 1967.
In May of 1968, he began building
his own cabin, and then retired to Twin Lakes, at the age of 51. He would live
in solitude for the next 30 years.
In talking with Branson, who was his
friend and a historian, he described Proenneke as an independent soul and
operator, who eventually got tired of working with machines and wanted to live
in the ‘back of beyond.’ This phrase coined by George Washington Sears, an
early conservationist in the 19th century, meaning pure wilderness
(mountains, glaciers, tundra); away from civilization.
Proenneke loved nature and didn’t
want to disturb it. He was influenced by people (authors like Thoreau and
individuals like Sears) but didn’t need to be around them. He kept his own
council adds Branson, though he could be very sociable and personable. It was
very important for Proenneke to live in harmony with nature.
The white spruce tree provided him
with many of his needs; a dominant tree in Twin Lakes, he was able to use this
tree for cabin logs, wood for his stove, handles for his tools as well as
woodenware, which are utensils, such as spoons, made of wood
Proenneke was very competent with
his tools, a skill he likely learned from his father who was a skilled
carpenter and mechanic. He knew just how sharp to keep the tools so that they
were most effective.
Throughout Proenneke’s thirty years living
in the wilderness, he kept very detailed journals as well as took photographs. According
to Branson, after he had filled a journal, he would send that journal to friends
in Anchorage and they would then send it to Proenneke’s brother, Raymond. After
Proenneke’s death in 2003 at the age of 86, his journals, all 119 pounds of
them, were donated to the National Parks Service. These journals have been
turned into books that Branson has annotated covering the years 1967-1996. The books
were donated to the Donellson, Iowa Public Library in Proenneke’s hometown;
where there is a Richard Proenneke Museum. These books are sold through
non-profit cooperating associations and proceeds go to support the museum.
Branson noted that he never knew
anyone to document his life in his cabin as thoroughly as Pronneke did. Branson
said he had to be thinking of posterity and his life for future generations. The
cabin itself is quite valuable in that it touches people’s souls. Visitors have
been known to weep while and after seeing it. Pronnenke had a message of
personal freedom and to live the life you want, living simply and in harmony,
within your means.
If you would like to read more about
Proenneke’s life, Sam Keith, a friend of his who worked for the Fish and
Wildlife Services and knew Proenneke from Kodiak, Alaska, wrote a book entitled,
“One Man’s Wilderness” which was published in 1973 and is the start of
Proenneke’s journey. There is also a two-part documentary currently airing on
PBS called, “Alone in the Wilderness.”
