In The Iron Trail, released in 1913, Rex Beach weaves a tale of romance and courage in the early 1900s as men struggled to build the Copper River and Northwestern Railway through the rugged wilderness from Cordova to the Kennecott Copper Mines.

Beach closely followed actual events in this page-turning tale, including fierce gun battles, rights-of-way battles and battles against Mother Nature to lay 196 miles of track to the largest copper deposit known in the world at the time.

BONUS: Laurel Downing Bill shares the real story in “Cordova to Kennecott” and captures the determination of railroad engineer, William J. Heney, upon whom Beach based his lead character, in “Alaska’s Irish Prince.” The rich, full life of Beach unfolds in “The Man Behind the Words.”

Rex Beach’s classic, first released in 1905, is a fictional tale based on actual events that occurred during the rush for gold in Nome, Alaska, during 1899-1900. A bestseller by 1906, the story revolves around a crooked politician and judge who manipulated the legal system to rob miners of their gold. They eventually were thwarted by the judge’s niece and a few kindhearted, yet determined, miners. The Spoilers was made into a Hollywood movie five times!

Look for Aunt Phil’s Trunk Proudly Presents The Spoilers, with a biography of Beach written by Laurel Downing Bill, this summer!

Published in 1922, Where The Sun Swings North is the first novel written by Florence Barrett Willoughby, who many call Alaska’s first official author.

This tale of adventure is a fictionalized account of her family’s real-life experience when stranded on Middleton Island in the Gulf of Alaska for 10 months in 1896-1897 when Willoughby was 10 years old. They may have had few provisions, but they had an intense will to live.

The cast of characters in this story includes a heroine and her Irish husband, a younger lady pure of heart, a drunkard and a diabolical trader who wants the Irishman’s wife for his own. Add to this group the elements of Alaska’s wildland and unpredictable weather and you’ve got a tale of adventure you won’t soon forget.

Reviews

“It is so true to the country about which it is written that even an Alaskan can read it and enjoy it.” – The Pathfinder, May 1922

“It breathes the real Alaskan spirit. It is interesting and clean, like the great out-of-doors in the Northland.” – Sitka Tribune, December 1922