Richard Proenneke

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Richard Proenneke

Richard Louis "Dick" Proenneke (born May 4, 1916 in Primrose , Iowa , † April 20, 2003 in Hemet , California ) was an American hobby naturalist and dropout . He lived alone in a self-built log cabin on the shores of the Twin Lakes in Alaska for over 30 years , taking care of himself by fishing, hunting, collecting and occasionally flown in supplies. Proenneke documented his activities during this time in diaries and films and also recorded weather data and other parameters. The diaries and films were later used by third parties to publish books and documentaries about his life in the wild.

Life

Proenneke's father, William Christian Proenneke, served in World War I and later worked as a well builder . His mother, Laura Proenneke (née Bonn), was a housewife . His parents married in 1909 or 1910 and had three daughters and three sons: Robert, Helen, Lorene, Richard (Dick), Florence and Raymond (Jake). In many sources, the year 1917 is given as Proennekes' year of birth. However, according to Social Security and Census data, he was born on May 4, 1916 in Primrose, Harrison Township, Lee County , Iowa.

Proenneke enrolled in the United States Navy the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor and served as a carpenter . During this time he developed rheumatic fever and was hospitalized for six months. Meanwhile the Second World War ended . In 1945 Proenneke was retired for medical reasons. According to Proenneke's friend, the author Sam Keith , this illness was very formative for Proenneke. It was the reason to devote the rest of his life to his body.

After his retirement, Proenneke trained as a mechanic for diesel engines. Although he was very adept at doing this, he followed his love of nature and moved to Oregon to work on a sheep farm. In 1950 he moved to Shuyak Island , Alaska.

For several years he worked on the military airfield in Kodiak as a machine worker and technician, traveled for a while through Alaska and earned his living as a salmon fisherman and mechanic. He worked for the Fish and Wildlife Service in King Salmon on the Alaska Peninsula . As a talented mechanic, he was in demand, so he was able to create a financial cushion with which he then retired to the Twin Lakes.

Retreat into seclusion

Proennekes log cabin

On May 21, 1968, at the age of 52, Proennekes began at the Twin Lakes. Prior to that, he agreed with Navy Captain Spike Carrithers and his wife Hope from Kodiak that he could use their wooden hut on the upper of the two lakes. Proenneke then built his own log cabin ( Lage ) near this hut .

The self-made hut is of “remarkable craftsmanship”, thanks to Proennekes skill as a carpenter. He filmed the entire construction process. The building and most of the furnishings were made from materials from the immediate vicinity. These ranged from gravel from the bottom of the lake, which was used for the foundations of the hut , to the tree trunks that Proenneke himself felled, sawn and provided with notches for the corner connections of the walls. The window openings were planned in advance and precisely cut. The fireplace, hearth and chimney were built with meticulous precision from excavated stones. He used metal containers to store food. He dug large tin cans into the ground below the frost line . In this way, fruits and other perishable foods could stay fresh for a longer period in the cool earth and could still be reached when the ground above them was already frozen. Proennekes friend, the bush pilot and missionary Leon Reid "Babe" Alsworth, flew to him regularly to replenish his supplies. Proenneke was also able to place orders at the Sears department store through him .

Proenneke stayed with the Twin Lakes for 17 months. Then he visited relatives and took care of the rest of the food supply. He returned to his hut the following spring and lived there for most of the next 30 years. Only occasionally did he visit his family again.

Death and legacy

At the age of 82, Proenneke returned to "civilization" in 1999 and lived with his brother Raymond "Jake" Proenneke in Hemet, California until his death. He died of a stroke on April 20, 2003 at the age of 86 . He bequeathed his hut to the National Park Service. It is now a tourist attraction in the remote Twin Lakes region of Lake Clark National Park . In 2007, Proennekes Hut was added to the National Register of Historic Places , the United States' list of cultural landmarks.

Sam Keith met Proenneke while he was working in Kodiak and often went hunting and fishing with him. He suggested using the notes in his diaries to write a book. Keith published One Man's Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey in 1973 , based on Proennekes' diary entries and photographs. A new edition of this book appeared in 1999, which won the National Outdoor Book Award (NOBA) .

Proenneke made film recordings of his life in solitude, which were later edited and shown in the documentary Alone in the Wilderness . The film shows how Proenneke builds his hut from the natural resources of the area and reports on the landscape, the weather and wild animals. His everyday life is shown during the winter months. With an average rating of 8.9 out of 10 points, the film is one of the best-rated documentaries in the Internet Movie Database . In 2011 a sequel was produced after it was found that Proenneke had recorded enough material for at least two additional films. Alone in the Wilderness: Part 2 premiered on December 2, 2011.

In 2005, the National Park Service and the Alaska Natural History Association published More Readings From One Man's Wilderness , another compilation of Proennekes' diary entries. The book was edited by John Branson, a longtime contributor to Lake Clark National Park and a friend of Proennekes. It covers the years after the creation of the national park (1980). Proenneke maintained a close relationship with the park staff, helping film hard-to-reach areas and reporting when poachers appeared.

The book The Early Years: The Journals of Richard L. Proenneke 1967-1973 was published in 2010 by John Branson on behalf of Alaska Geographic . This collection of diary entries covers Proennekes first years at the Twin Lakes building the cabin. The entries overlap with those in One Man's Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey. by Sam Keith. In contrast to this, in The Early Years , Branson sticks more to Proennekes' original writing style.

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Richard Proenneke  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ John Branson: More Readings From One Man's Wilderness: The Journals of Richard L. Proenneke 1974-1980. United States Department of Interior, National Park Service, Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, 2006, p. VII; XIII; 461.
  2. ^ Proenneke's Cabin on the National Park Service website , accessed March 25, 2015
  3. ↑ Aloneinthewilderness.com , accessed on 25 March 2015
  4. ↑ Lake Clark National Park & ​​Preserve official Facebook page , accessed March 25, 2015
  5. ^ Winner of the 1999 National Outdoor Book Award on the National Outdoor Book Awards Foundation website, accessed March 25, 2015
  6. ^ Highest Rated Documentaries With At Least 1,000 Votes. , accessed March 25, 2015
personal data
SURNAME Proenneke, Richard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Proenneke, Richard Louis (full name); Proenneke, Dick (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American hobby naturalist and dropout
DATE OF BIRTH May 4, 1916
PLACE OF BIRTH Primrose , Iowa
DATE OF DEATH April 20, 2003
Place of death Hemet , California