DEAR JAKE VOLUME I Letters from Richard to brother Jake 1965-1974 (ePub)

This collection of the "Dear Jake" letters is the first of three volumes that cover the years from 1965 through 1974. Richard had moved to Alaska in 1950 where he lived and worked for the next seventeen years in and around Kodiak Island. In 1965 "Spike" and Hope Carrithers invited Richard to Twin Lakes. While there he filmed and photographed all around the region and after everyone else had gone, he stayed another four weeks and began keeping a journal. This is believed to be the very first Journal Richard wrote at Twin Lakes. Using an old 1957 Caterpillar Day Book, he recorded his daily adventures and titled it "Alone At Twin Lakes".

During this time, except for the winter of 1968/1969, Richard spent his winters in Primrose, IA. He was home when his mother passed in February, 1966, and his father in December, 1972.

The year 1966 had a profound effect on Richard after a welding accident and nearly losing his eyesight. In 1967 he would spend six months at "Spike's" Twin Lakes cabin making preparations to build his own cabin. Brother "Jake" visited Twin Lakes for the first time in August of that year. It was important for Richard to prove to himself he could get through a winter at Twin Lakes with temperatures reaching more than -50¿ Fahrenheit.

In Volume I of the "Dear Jake" letters, Richard, in 1965, was still living on Kodiak Island. He had begun visiting Twin Lakes in 1962 having been invited by "Spike" and Hope Carrithers. The letters track his movements from Kodiak to Twin Lakes to Primrose, IA and the various places he stopped in-route from his Iowa homestead back to Alaska.

These letters are significant because it was the beginning of Richard's adventure of a lifetime. He cut the logs for his cabin, allowed them to cure over winter, built his cabin, gathered rocks for his fireplace, built the cache for storing of food and supplies, kept a journal of his daily activities. His letters to brother "Jake" dealt with issues of the various cameras, film and photos, cooking stove, investment in a plane, type of floats. He often used brother "Jake" as a sounding board for ideas he had, revealing yet another aspect of Richard's personality, his close relationship to his brother, and his wry sense of humor.

With the creation of the now famous book "One Man's Wilderness" based on Richard's first two years of Journals, he was learning all about the intricacies that accompany the publishing world. In 1973 the book was introduced to the general public in the USA and would eventually travel throughout the world. Richard's life was about to change forever. His notoriety would be a part of him throughout the rest of his life.