“Courage, endurance fill Alaskan journal” – The Courier-Journal, July 13, 2013 (Download PDF)
“Modern researchers are writing a good deal these days about “grit” as a crucial element in achievement. Cocooned as we are in the comforts of civilization, most of us have all but forgotten the grit required of our ancestors as they settled the wilderness, mined gold and copper, corduroyed roads one log at a time, and carved railroads through mountain ranges. Hazelet’s Journal is a chronicle of challenges and setbacks met with willful optimism and old-fashioned resilience. These pages remind us that unbroken trails teach us comfort with uncertainty and tolerance for adversity. We need not haul a sled up a glacier or pack provisions for a winter in the wilderness to overcome the inertia of life, but reading Hazelet’s Journal will cause thoughtful people to reconsider life as we know it”
—Tori Murden McClure, explorer, adventurer, educator and risk taker, the first women to row alone across an ocean, among other things, President of Spalding University, Louisville, Kentucky
author
A Pearl in the Storm, HarperCollins Publisher
“George Hazelet was a Nebraska school teacher who had the guts to take on the untamed wilds of Alaska in search of a new life for his family. The story takes you from forest fires, earthquakes, months spent on the trail to the ruthless world of claim jumpers and last-chance gold rushers. It was impossible to put it down.”
—L. Douglas Keeney, Author
15 Minutes: General Curtis LeMay and the Countdown to Nuclear Annihilation, St. Martin’s Press
“Hazelet’s Journal is an inspiring example of the triumph of the human spirit in the face of adversity.”
—John M. Mulder,
historian and prize-winning biographer of Woodrow Wilson
“By publishing his ancestor’s journal, John Clark has made significant contributions to preserving the history of the American Northwest and Alaska.”
—Mark Davis, author
Solicitor General Bullitt: The Life of William Marshall Bullitt
Crescent Hill Books
“Hazelet’s Journal weaves a provocative account of a man seeking his fortune in Alaska, capturing his strength and courage in a world far away from everything he knew and loved.”
—Patricia Relay, Executive Director, Valdez Museum & Historical Archives
“It’s an irresistible read and a reminder of how much we owe those who blazed the trails before us.”
—Nancy Lethcoe, teacher, activist, Olympic medalist, author
Valdez Gold Rush Trails of 1898-99
Prince William Sound Books
“Hazelet’s career traces an epic trajectory from aspiring dreamer to battered adventurer, and his own vivid writing mirrors the way stations
of his quest for riches in the Alaska wilderness.”
—Dr. John R. Hale, archaeologist, distinguished scholar,
winner of Panhellenic Teacher of the Year Award and the Delphi Center Award, author
Lords of the Sea: The Epic Story of the Athenian Navy and the Birth of Democracy,
Viking Press
“A perfect example of courage and grace under pressure, it’s not the winning that counts, or the success one has in life, but how fairly and honourably one plays the game. Kudos to John’s great-grandfather. He’s a fine example of pioneering Gold Rush courage and fortitude.”
—From Facebook
“My Mom made me read “Call of the Wild” by Jack London when I was about 12—and going on a trip to Skagway, Alaska—and how it all came back to me and what it must have been like to be at ground zero during the Gold Rush. Amazing story…thanks for sharing!”
—From Facebook
