John Wager on the tender Hemlock

Sunday, Dec. 30,1934, La Center, Wash. The depression is in full U swing. An 18-year-old man, working for a local restaurant, trudges into the snow to Cut logs under the boss's orders. After two days of monotonous cutting, the young and adventurous John H. Wager decided it was time for something new. Alaska seemed like something new.