Lillian Alling (17 page)

Without the assistance of librarians, museum staff and volunteers this book would not have been possible. The Quesnel Library's interlibrary loan service was so helpful in getting me the books I needed. The Stewart Museum gave me information that helped me to better understand the topography and geography of the area. The Hazelton Pioneer Museum and Archives sent me many useful items by mail, and Eve Hope was particularly helpful. The members of the Atlin Historical Society were terrific and also supplied some great photos, including some of the only known photos of Lillian in existence.

Peter Caffall-Davis of the Hyder Museum was very patient in explaining to me the transportation system in that area in the 1920s. The Yukon Archives were helpful in supplying archival images and information. Laura Mann of the Dawson City Museum sent me their entire file on Lillian and some new photos of her as well, which was a wonderful surprise. They will be the recipients of my research files on Lillian Alling. The Carrie McLain Museum in Nome, Alaska, provided me with old news clippings from 1929, which proved invaluable.

Leslie Hamson of North Words Consulting was able to find some previously unknown information about Lillian by using the Yukon Archives. Elena of Blitz Information Russia was a great help in searching through Soviet newspapers. Siberian blogger and journalist Bolot Bochkarev was also of great assistance.

Lillian has been a passion and obsession for many people. Some have done their own research on her and collected documents and interviews but for their own reasons never put their thoughts into a book or an article. Instead, they generously shared their information with me. Alain Deschamps of Limoges, France, was extremely kind and sent all his Lillian research to me. Dietger Hollman mailed me a copy of his story on Lillian, which gave some new insight into her time in Atlin.

There were countless other local historians and interested folk who patiently answered my phone calls and emails with courtesy and enthusiasm. I thank them all very much.

Thank you to those people who read the manuscript in its early stages: Dan Davidson of Uffish Productions, Elizabeth Hunter of the Quesnel Museum, Jean Mackenzie, Bill Miller, Agnes Smith and Lorna Townsend. The line drawings were provided by Eric Josephy. Thank you, Eric.

Big thanks to editors Jane Stevenson and Betty Keller for their guidance. Thank you also to Vici Johnstone from Caitlin Press, who said “I'm interested” right from the start.

And the biggest thank you to Walter Josephy, for everything.

Albee, Ruth and Bill.
Alaska Challenge
. London: Robert Hale Ltd., 1941.

———. “Don't Pity the Poor Eskimo,” Part I & II,
Popular Mechanics
, November 1938.

Andersen, Earl.
Hard Place to Do Time: The Story of Oakalla Prison: 1912–1991
. New Westminster: Hillpointe Publishing, 1993.

Angus, Colin.
Beyond the Horizon
. Toronto: Doubleday Canada, a division of Random House of Canada Ltd., 2007.

Bennett, Martin L. “She Walked from New York to Russia.”
True
magazine, November 1941.

Berton, Laura Beatrice.
I Married the Klondike.
Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2006. Originally published: McClelland & Stewart, 1961.

Bride, W.W. “Lone Adventuress,”
The Beaver
, September 1943.

Burr, Martin.
In Bolshevik Sibera: The land of ice and exile
. London: H.F. & G. Witherby, 1931.

Coates, Ken S. and William R. Morrison.
Land of the Midnight Sun.
Edmonton, AB: Hurtig Publishers Ltd., 1988.

Cooper, Richard W. “Lonely Woman Headed Home the Hard Way,”
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, WP4, January 3, 1985.

Coutts, R.
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. Sydney, British Columbia: Gray's Publishing, 1980.

Dickie, Francis. “Mysterious Lillian: Human Homing Pigeon.”
True West
magazine, April 1972.

———. “New York–Siberia: The Astonishing Hike of Lillian Alling” in
Pioneer Days of British Columbia
, by Art Downs. Victoria: Heritage House, 1975

Duke, David Gordon, “Mystery surrounds the real Lillian Alling,”
Vancouver Sun
, October 13, 2010.

Eley, Thom. “Sergeant William Yanert, Cartographer from Hell.” In the
Geographical Review
, Vol. 92, 2002.

Greenfield, T.E.E.
Drugs (Mostly)
. Meaford, Ontario: The Knight Press, 1976.

Hoagland, Edward.
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. Vancouver/Toronto: Douglas & McIntyre, 1969.

Hoyle, Gwyneth.
Flowers in the Snow: The Life of Isobel Wylie Hutchison
. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 2001.

Hrdlicka, Ales.
Alaska Diary 1926–1931
. Lancaster Pennsylvania: The Jaques Cattel Press, 1944.

Hunt, William R.
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. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1975.

Hutchison, Isobel Wylie.
North to the Rime-Ringed Sun: An Alaskan Journey
. New York: Hillman-Curl Inc., 1937.

Jutta, Frank.
Abenteuer an Pelly und Yukon oder 6 Eier bis Dawson
. 2003 traveldiary.de, Reisliteratur-Verlag. Jens Freyler, Hamburg.

Koshevoy, Hymie. “More on Lillian Ailing,” the
Province
, May 2, 1973.

Lebedev, V.V. “Siberian Peoples: A Soviet View” in
Crossroads of Continents: Cultures of Siberia and Alaska
. William W. Fitzhugh, Aron Crowell, eds. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1988.

Madsen, Charles, with John Scott Douglas.
Arctic Trader
. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1957.

Miller, Bill.
Wires in the Wilderness
. Victoria: Heritage House Publishing Company Ltd., 2004.

Millman, Lawrence. “Chasing Yukon's Mystery Woman.”
Yukon News
, December 10, 2007.

Perdue, Edward M.
Lost Adventures From Wango to Solovetski Island with John William Adkins
: Westboro, MA, Curry Printing, 2004.

Potterton, L.A.N.
Northwest Assignment
. Kelowna, BC: Mosaic Enterprises, Finlay Printing, 1972.

Pybus, Cassandra.
The Woman Who Walked to Russia
. Markham, Ontario: Thomas Allen & Son Ltd., 2002. First published in Australia as
Raven Road
. Cassandra Pybus. St. Lucia, Qld: University of Queensland Press, 2001.

Reed, J. Irving. “Did She Reach Siberia?”
Alaska Life
, June 1942.

Satterfield, Archie.
After the Gold Rush
. Philadelphia & New York: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1976.

Stainsby, Donald. “She Walked 6,000 Miles to the Top of the World.” Weekend Magazine, No.17,
Vancouver Sun,
April 27, 1963.

Stewart Advancement League pamphlet. “The Gateway to the Mines of the Portland Canal District; the Mountain Anthracite Coal Fields and the Logical Railway Outlet for the Peace River Valley,” May 1928.

Weatherford, Doris.
Foreign and Female: Immigrant women in America, 1840–1930
. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 1995.

Yardley, Joyce.
Yukon Riverboat Days
. Surrey, BC: Hancock House Publishers Ltd., 1996.

Yellowhead/Stewart/Cassiar Times
. “Woodcock Remembers Siberian Girl and Telegraph Trail,” April 24, 1990.

Omineca Herald,
1927–1928

The
Whitehorse Star,
1928

Dawson News,
1928–1929

The
Province
, Vancouver 1973

Yukon News,
1965

Nome Nugget,
1929

Archdiocese of Toronto

Atlin Historical Society

CP Archives

Dawson City Museum

GIC MVD [Main Information Centre of the Ministry of Interior Affairs], Russian Federation

Hazelton Pioneer Museum & Archives

Hyder Museum

Ladysmith Archive

Library Archives Canada

National Archives and Records Administration

Prince Rupert Public Library

Quesnel Branch of the Cariboo Regional District Library

Royal BC Museum

Smithsonian Institution, National Anthropological Archives

Stewart Museum

University of Alaska, Fairbanks

Vancouver Public Library

Yukon Archives

Gaffin, Jane. “John Olaf Erickson: Prospector and Hotelier.” Unpublished article.

Hollmann, Dietger. “Mystery Woman—Der weite Weg der Liliane Alling.” Unpublished manuscript (in German).

Smith, Diane Solie. “The Legend of Lillian Alling: The Woman Who Walked to Russia,” Atlin Historical Society, 1997.

Whitehouse, Ed. “The Woman Who Walked to Nowhere.” Unpublished manuscript.

Susan Smith-Josephy is a writer, researcher and genealogist. She trained as a journalist at Langara College and has worked for a number of small-town newspapers in BC. She has a degree in history from SFU, and is passionate about BC history. She lives in Quesnel, British Columbia.
Lillian Alling: The Journey Home
is her first book.