Dog team with three men at Walker Bay, Northwest Territories
Photo: Storker T. Storkerson
© Canadian Museum of Civilization 50665
“I was able to start south with my wife and children for Walker Bay in the afternoon of May 12th, carrying musk ox meat for food and coal for fuel. Proceeding south across McClure’s and through the Prince of Wales Strait, I picked trail while my wife handled the sled on which my two children were riding. We travelled over young ice for very little old ice was seen.”
Storker T. Storkersen
An Arctic Epic of Family and Fortune. 2008. Jette Ashley
Storker Storkersen played a large role in the Canadian Arctic Expedition. He travelled with Stefansson across the Beaufort Sea ice from Alaska to Banks Island in 1914, accompanied Stefansson’s Northern Party to the high Arctic islands, and surveyed the uncharted north coast of Victoria Island in 1916 and 1917. He took some of the few photographs of the Northern Party activities after the departure of Expedition photographer, George Wilkins.
The tragic story of Storker Storkersen’s life after the Expedition has been told in a fascinating book, An Arctic Epic of Family and Fortune, written and published by Jette Ashley in 2008. Unfortunately, Jette passed away not long after completing this wonderful work of research. Stuart Jenness and I spent many enjoyable hours with Jette at her home, sharing new information we had discovered about the CAE. Each of us concentrated on a different aspect of the Expedition, Jette studying Storkersen’s life, Stuart writing the first book about the whole expedition, and me preparing a documentary film on Dr. Anderson’s Arctic career. We shared the passion of discovering personal histories of these great Arctic explorers, hidden in archives and family records around the world.
David
