Raising Ourselves

Velma Wallis shares the love, loss, and struggle that mark hercoming of age in a two-room cabin at Fort Yukon, Alaska, whereshe is born in 1960, the sixth of thirteen children. Family life isdefined by the business of survival: Haul water from the Yukon.Kill a moose. Chop firewood. Feed the sled dogs staked aroundthe cabin. Run the trap line. Catch salmon. It is a time of innocenceand laughter, too, as the children escape into a world ofplay under the midnight sun.The once-migratory family has settled at the confluence of twoshe is born in 1960, the sixth of thirteen children. Family life isdefined by the business of survival: Haul water from the Yukon.Kill a moose. Chop firewood. Feed the sled dogs staked aroundthe cabin. Run the trap line. Catch salmon. It is a time of innocenceand laughter, too, as the children escape into a world ofplay under the midnight sun.