With dreams of visiting Alaska, teenager David Maranville graduated from high school in 1964, rebuilt a car, and headed north with some friends. That first trip to America's last frontier convinced him he would one day call the state home.
With heartfelt honesty and inspirational enthusiasm, Maranville here tells the story of his transition from living within the contiguous forty-eight states to settling north of the Arctic Circle.
After serving in the US Army in Vietnam as an aircraft mechanic, he decided to file for the grant of a homestead in the Alaskan wilds. Once he'd staked the land, he faced the challenge of fulfilling the five-year land-improvement requirements prescribed by the Homestead Act.
While earning his homestead, he encountered new opportunities, amazing adventures-and frightening hazards. Working as a helicopter mechanic, he soon began his own helicopter business. He built his family a log cabin in the wilderness along the picturesque banks of the Ambler River, where they confronted bears, extreme cold, dangerous working conditions, and rugged landscape-and survived a devastating flood.
Yet the difficulties were worth it. At last, Maranville received one of the final patents granted under the Homestead Act before the act was discontinued.
About the Author: David Maranville was born and raised in Oregon. After graduating from high school, he served in the US Army in Vietnam as a helicopter mechanic.
Upon receiving an honorable discharge from the army, he went to college in Portland, Oregon, receiving an associate's degree in aviation, and went on to earn his airframe and powerplant licenses.
After a fifty-year career in aviation, which included ten years of service with the Federal Aviation Administration, he is now retired. He has lived in Alaska for more than forty-five years and currently resides in Fairbanks with his wife of twenty-nine years, Dawn Maranville, where they are close to his two sons and three grandchildren.
