Born on Snowshoes

Three girls, their mother and an old man, 280 miles deep in the wilderness, running traplines for a living. It may seem like an odd combination, but it was reality for much of Evelyn Berglund Shore’s young life.

George Berglund and his brother caught gold fever during the Klondike gold rush of 1898. They returned years later to work mining claims, searching for riches along the Yukon River for years. George met and married Maude, and they had several children. When mining didn’t work out, George and family took to the trapline to catch fur.

The Berglunds trapped the Sheenjek River, north of Fort Yukon, Alaska in the 1920’s. Little money and a big family to feed made it difficult at times, but Evelyn remembered those early childhood days very fondly. George and Maude ran traplines on foot and by dog team, and the children helped where they could. They trapped all winter, hunted muskrats in the spring, and floated down to Fort Yukon during breakup to sell furs and resupply.

Then, tough times hit the Berglund family hard. George suffered from severe arthritis, which began to worsen and have a crippling effect. He deteriorated to the point where he could no longer support the family on the trapline. Three of he and Maude’s six children died tragically around that time. They sold the trapline and moved to the village, hoping George’s health would improve.

John Roberts was an old time trapper who ran a line way up the Salmon Fork of the Black River, hundreds of miles from town. Seeing the family falling on hard times, he lent them money for food and supplies, and offered to take them on his line to trap for the winter. They loaded up and tied on to John’s big boat and motor, and went trapping again.

George’s health continued to deteriorate, so Maude and the three girls – Evelyn, Hazel and Elsie, started to do much of the hunting and trapping on their own. The girls shot moose and caribou, ran dog teams, and stayed out from their home cabin for weeks at a time running traplines during the brutally cold winter months.  

His debilitating arthritis forced George to leave the bush and live in an old folks home until his untimely death. He never saw his wife or children again. For thirteen years, Evelyn and her two sisters ran traplines up the Salmon Fork each winter. There were good times and bad times, and not much in between. As the girls got older, they longed for freedom, friends and marriage, but their aging mother and old John Roberts depended on them to help provide food and fur in the harsh Arctic country.

Feeling the need to go out on her own, Evelyn met and married Bill Grinnell, a California man who trapped on the Kandik River for years. She left the Black River country and spent several seasons trapping throughout Alaska with Bill. They shared the ups and downs of raising a family on the trapline in the Alaska wilderness.

In her book “Born on Snowshoes”, Evelyn Berglund Shore tells her fascinating story of life in the Alaska bush. She and her sisters were beyond tough, and they experienced things most folks never will. Some of her stories of wildlife encounters and extreme weather are pretty incredible.

Evelyn also shares some of the emotional struggles the girls dealt with out there in the bush. They loved being there, but at the same time they wanted to leave. As a trapper who’s had it pretty easy in life, I sometimes find difficulty in understanding this perspective. I go to the woods to trap because I love and thoroughly enjoy the experience. In those days, most people trapped because it was a way to earn a living. Sure, they enjoyed it, and the natural beauty and challenges trapping offered were a great bonus, but if they could have made better money in a factory, many would have moved to town in a heartbeat.

Folks like me? I guess we’d have the place to ourselves. With today’s low fur prices, we kind of do.

“Born on Snowshoes” was published in 1954 and again in 1993. The second edition includes many additional photos and updated information on Evelyn’s later experiences.