A true adventure, first recorded for family, now in reply to requests, in book form.
A Knucklehead in 1920s Alaska — At age eighty-eight, William (Bill) Collins recorded his adventures as a young man of nineteen who traveled to Alaska to earn money for college. In the 1920s he found adventure, but not much money, working in the railroad yards, in mines, as a pearl diver (dishwasher), and anything else between.
During three summers and one winter, Bill survived hunger, earthquake, stomping caribou, and icicle frost. He learned about stopes, sluice boxes, powder smoke, and the Festival of the Midnight Sun. He found friends who would face a bear for him and enemies eager to knife him. Bill had one lucky day and more than a few really bad days.
This is the story of Norma’s dad before she ever knew him. In his own words, he was a true knucklehead.
Comments: “An interesting account of a young man trying to overcome the many obstacles he encountered while traveling in the young state of Alaska in the 1920s. He survived because he got a few lucky breaks, which he used to his advantage.