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Poopdeck Platt fishes with friends in this undated photograph. (Photo courtesy of Ken Moore)

Life

Poopdeck: Nearly a century of adventure — Part 7

By the late 1970s, Poopdeck was already investing in stocks and bonds.

Clarence Hiram “Poopdeck” Platt sits atop a recent moose kill. (Photo from In Those Days: Alaska Pioneers of the Lower Kenai Peninsula, Vol. II)

Life

Poopdeck: Nearly a century of adventure — Part 6

Poopdeck Platt was nearly 80 when he decided to retire from commercial fishing.

After Red Cleaver, in 1959, helped Poopdeck Platt add 30 inches to the stern of his fishing vessel, the Bernice M, Platt took his boat out onto the waters of Kachemak Bay. (Photo courtesy of Ken Moore)

Life

Poopdeck: Nearly a century of adventure — Part 5

Clarence Hiram “Poopdeck” Platt had already experienced two bad years in a row, when misfortune struck again in…

As his wife Bernice looks on, 43-year-old Clarence Hiram “Poopdeck” Platt poses atop a road sign welcoming him to Alaska. This 1947 photograph from the Huebsch Family Collection memorializes Platt’s first trip to Alaska, which became his home for the next 53 years.

Life

Poopdeck: Nearly a century of adventure — Part 4

In 1947, their correspondence led to wedding bells, and the magazine subscription led them to make a new…

Poopdeck Platt, in western Montana circa 1946, packs out a deer after a successful day of hunting. (Photo courtesy of the Huebsch Family Collection)

Life

Poopdeck: Nearly a century of adventure — Part 3

“For a while,” said Poopdeck, “we were eating guinea pigs.”

In the 1990s, Poopdeck Platt enjoys some sunshine in front of The Saltry, in Halibut Cove. (Photo courtesy of Ken Moore)

Life

Poopdeck: Nearly a century of adventure — Part 2

The story of Poopdeck Platt, who lived in Homer for nearly half a century, began in the American…

Poopdeck Street, in Homer, became a reality in 1996, honoring Clarence Hiram “Poopdeck” Platt. (Clark Fair photo)

Life

Poopdeck: Nearly a century of adventure — Part 1

Clarence Hiram Platt — who preferred to have people call him Poopdeck — may have been slowing down,…

The Palm Springs Limelight-News used this photo in 1946 to announce the start of the Alaska Photographic Expedition, guided by Keith McCullagh (left) for his expedition partner and photographer, Harry Reed.

Life

Mostly separate lives: The union and disunion of Nellie and Keith — Part 5

After a bankruptcy, a divorce and an 18-year absence from Alaska, Louis Keith McCullagh headed north on vacation.

This 1931 photograph from the Wrangell Sentinel shows the Wrangell public school where Jean Hofstad (the former Nellie McCullagh) taught during the 1940s.

Life

Mostly separate lives: The union and disunion of Nellie and Keith — Part 4

The two members of what the Cordova Daily Times had once called a “popular young couple” began carving…

Keith McCullagh is photographed poling a raft down the Kenai River in 1911 during a forest survey. (U.S. Forestry Department photo by John “Jack” Brown)

Life

Mostly separate lives: The union and disunion of Nellie and Keith — Part 3

As Keith McCullagh sailed home from Europe in the spring of 1926, he may have believed himself on…

Nellie McCullagh feeds a pen-raised fox on her family’s farm in Kachemak Bay, in 1922. (Photo courtesy of the Peggy Arness Collection)

Life

Mostly separate lives: The union and disunion of Nellie and Keith — Part 2

By this point their lives were beginning to diverge.

Nellie Dee “Jean” Crabb as a young woman. (Public photo from ancestry.com)

Life

Mostly separate lives: The union and disunion of Nellie and Keith — Part 1

It was an auspicious start, full of good cheer and optimism.

Mitch Gyde drowned not far from this cabin, known as the Cliff House, on upper Tustumena Lake in September 1975. (Photo courtesy of the Fair Family Collection)

Life

The 2 most deadly years — Part 8

The two most deadly years for people on or near Tustumena Lake were 1965 and 1975

Spencer Linderman was a game biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish & Game in 1975 when he and pilot Robin Johnson crashed while flying a goat survey in a glacial valley near upper Tustumena Lake. Neither man survived. (Photo from a eulogy in the Homer News)

Life

The 2 most deadly years — Part 7

The two most deadly years for people on or near Tustumena Lake were 1965 and 1975

The mouth of Indian Creek in the spring, when the water is shallow and clear. By summertime, it runs faster and is more turbid. The hand and trekking pole at lower left belong to Jim Taylor, who provided this photograph.

Life

The 2 most deadly years — Part 6

The two most deadly years for people on or near Tustumena Lake were 1965 and 1975

Map courtesy of Kerri Copper This map of Tustumena Lake was created in 1975 by John Dolph as he planned an Alaska adventure — and delayed honeymoon — for himself and his wife, Kerri. On the upper end of the lake, Dolph had penciled in two prospective camping sites.

Life

The 2 most deadly years — Part 5

AUTHOR’S NOTE: The two most deadly years for people on or near Tustumena Lake were 1965 and 1975.…

Photo by Clark Fair, 1990 This is the cabin on Pipe Creek, along the north shore of Tustumena Lake, where Harold Galliett sought shelter after surviving a commercial airlines crash in the lake in September 1965.

Life

The 2 most deadly years — Part 4

The two most deadly years for people on or near Tustumena Lake were 1965 and 1975

Harold Galliett, the sole survivor of a 1965 Cordova Airlines crash into Tustumena Lake, is seen here raking his lawn in 1958. (Photo courtesy of the Galliett Family Collection)

Life

The 2 most deadly years — Part 3

The two most deadly years for people on or near Tustumena Lake were 1965 and 1975

This is the 42-foot Aero Grand Commander, owned by Cordova Airlines, that crashed into Tustumena Lake in 1965. (Photo courtesy of the Galliett Family Collection)

Life

The 2 most deadly years — Part 2

Records indicate that the two most deadly years for people on or near Tustumena Lake were 1965 and…

Jane Fair (standing, wearing white hat) receives help with her life jacket from Ron Hauswald prior to the Fair and Hauswald families embarking on an August 1970 cruise with Phil Ames on Tustumena Lake. Although conditions were favorable at first, the group soon encountered a storm that forced them ashore. (Photo courtesy of the Fair Family Collection)

Life

The 2 most deadly years — Part 1

To newcomers, residents and longtime users, this place can seem like a paradise. But make no mistake: Tustumena…