Book review: Fairbanks legend Merritt Helfferich’s memoir is a rollicking delight

By Merritt Helfferich. Edited and published by April Crosby. 248 pages. 2021. $28.95.

Late in life, Helfferich set about writing his memoirs with the same approach. Just do it and see what comes out. His passing in 2019 left the work unfinished. Knowing the value of the project, however, his wife, April Crosby, edited what was there and has published it in a volume titled “Some Days You Eat the Bears,” and it’s a delight.

By his own admission he was a mediocre student, but Helfferich finally earned his sheepskin, bought property and built a home atop Ester Dome, got married to his first wife, and had his first child. He needed a job, and was hired into the Geophysical Institute, tasked with setting up camera stations across Alaska and northern Canada to photograph the aurora as part of federal research into the ionosphere — the scientists loved their work, but it was national defense needs justifying funding.

Closer to home, Helfferich was involved in an endless stream of community building organizations and efforts, and more than a few high jinks, most famously co-founding the Great Tanana Raft Classic, which took place from 1968 to 1971. A non-motorized event, participants were required to build their own rafts for a river race from Fairbanks to Nenana. It ended after a pair of drownings.

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