Peter Caffall-Davis of the Hyder Museum was very patient in explaining to me the transportation system in that area in the 1920s. The Yukon Archives were helpful in supplying archival images and information. Laura Mann of the Dawson City Museum sent me their entire file on Lillian and some new photos of her as well, which was a wonderful surprise. They will be the recipients of my research files on Lillian Alling. The Carrie McLain Museum in Nome, Alaska, provided me with old news clippings from 1929, which proved invaluable.
Leslie Hamson of North Words Consulting was able to find some previously unknown information about Lillian by using the Yukon Archives. Elena of Blitz Information Russia was a great help in searching through Soviet newspapers. Siberian blogger and journalist Bolot Bochkarev was also of great assistance.
Lillian has been a passion and obsession for many people. Some have done their own research on her and collected documents and interviews but for their own reasons never put their thoughts into a book or an article. Instead, they generously shared their information with me. Alain Deschamps of Limoges, France, was extremely kind and sent all his Lillian research to me. Dietger Hollman mailed me a copy of his story on Lillian, which gave some new insight into her time in Atlin.
There were countless other local historians and interested folk who patiently answered my phone calls and emails with courtesy and enthusiasm. I thank them all very much.
Thank you to those people who read the manuscript in its early stages: Dan Davidson of Uffish Productions, Elizabeth Hunter of the Quesnel Museum, Jean Mackenzie, Bill Miller, Agnes Smith and Lorna Townsend. The line drawings were provided by Eric Josephy. Thank you, Eric.
Big thanks to editors Jane Stevenson and Betty Keller for their guidance. Thank you also to Vici Johnstone from Caitlin Press, who said “I’m interested” right from the start.
And the biggest thank you to Walter Josephy, for everything.
Selected Bibliography
Books, Articles and Pamphlets
Albee, Ruth and Bill. Alaska Challenge. London: Robert Hale Ltd., 1941.
———. “Don’t Pity the Poor Eskimo,” Part I & II, Popular Mechanics, November 1938.
Andersen, Earl. Hard Place to Do Time: The Story of Oakalla Prison: 1912–1991. New Westminster: Hillpointe Publishing, 1993.
Angus, Colin. Beyond the Horizon. Toronto: Doubleday Canada, a division of Random House of Canada Ltd., 2007.
Bennett, Martin L. “She Walked from New York to Russia.” True magazine, November 1941.
Berton, Laura Beatrice. I Married the Klondike. Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2006. Originally published: McClelland & Stewart, 1961.
Bride, W.W. “Lone Adventuress,” The Beaver, September 1943.
Burr, Martin. In Bolshevik Sibera: The land of ice and exile. London: H.F. & G. Witherby, 1931.
Coates, Ken S. and William R. Morrison. Land of the Midnight Sun. Edmonton, AB: Hurtig Publishers Ltd., 1988.
Cooper, Richard W. “Lonely Woman Headed Home the Hard Way,” Western People, WP4, January 3, 1985.
Coutts, R. Yukon: Places and Names. Sydney, British Columbia: Gray’s Publishing, 1980.
Dickie, Francis. “Mysterious Lillian: Human Homing Pigeon.” True West magazine, April 1972.
Duke, David Gordon, “Mystery surrounds the real Lillian Alling,” Vancouver Sun, October 13, 2010.
Eley, Thom. “Sergeant William Yanert, Cartographer from Hell.” In the Geographical Review, Vol. 92, 2002.
Greenfield, T.E.E. Drugs (Mostly). Meaford, Ontario: The Knight Press, 1976.
Hoagland, Edward. Notes from the Century Before: A journal from British Columbia. Vancouver/Toronto: Douglas & McIntyre, 1969.
Hoyle, Gwyneth. Flowers in the Snow: The Life of Isobel Wylie Hutchison. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 2001.
Hrdlicka, Ales. Alaska Diary 1926–1931. Lancaster Pennsylvania: The Jaques Cattel Press, 1944.
Hunt, William R. Arctic Passage. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1975.
Hutchison, Isobel Wylie. North to the Rime-Ringed Sun: An Alaskan Journey. New York: Hillman-Curl Inc., 1937.
Jutta, Frank. Abenteuer an Pelly und Yukon oder 6 Eier bis Dawson. 2003 traveldiary.de, Reisliteratur-Verlag. Jens Freyler, Hamburg.
Koshevoy, Hymie. “More on Lillian Ailing,” the Province, May 2, 1973.
Lebedev, V.V. “Siberian Peoples: A Soviet View” in Crossroads of Continents: Cultures of Siberia and Alaska. William W. Fitzhugh, Aron Crowell, eds. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1988.
Madsen, Charles, with John Scott Douglas. Arctic Trader. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1957.
Miller, Bill. Wires in the Wilderness. Victoria: Heritage House Publishing Company Ltd., 2004.
Millman, Lawrence. “Chasing Yukon’s Mystery Woman.” Yukon News, December 10, 2007.
Perdue, Edward M. Lost Adventures From Wango to Solovetski Island with John William Adkins: Westboro, MA, Curry Printing, 2004.
Potterton, L.A.N. Northwest Assignment. Kelowna, BC: Mosaic Enterprises, Finlay Printing, 1972.
Pybus, Cassandra. The Woman Who Walked to Russia. Markham, Ontario: Thomas Allen & Son Ltd., 2002. First published in Australia as Raven Road. Cassandra Pybus. St. Lucia, Qld: University of Queensland Press, 2001.
Reed, J. Irving. “Did She Reach Siberia?” Alaska Life, June 1942.
Satterfield, Archie. After the Gold Rush. Philadelphia & New York: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1976.
Stainsby, Donald. “She Walked 6,000 Miles to the Top of the World.” Weekend Magazine, No.17, Vancouver Sun, April 27, 1963.
Weatherford, Doris. Foreign and Female: Immigrant women in America, 1840–1930. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 1995.
Yardley, Joyce. Yukon Riverboat Days. Surrey, BC: Hancock House Publishers Ltd., 1996.
Yellowhead/Stewart/Cassiar Times. “Woodcock Remembers Siberian Girl and Telegraph Trail,” April 24, 1990.
Newspapers
Omineca Herald, 1927–1928
The Whitehorse Star, 1928
Dawson News, 1928–1929
The Province, Vancouver 1973
Yukon News, 1965
Nome Nugget, 1929
Archives and Libraries
Archdiocese of Toronto
Atlin Historical Society
CP Archives
Dawson City Museum
GIC MVD [Main Information Centre of the Ministry of Interior Affairs], Russian Federation
Hazelton Pioneer Museum & Archives
Hyder Museum
Ladysmith Archive
Library Archives Canada
Prince Rupert Public Library
Quesnel Branch of the Cariboo Regional District Library
Royal BC Museum
Smithsonian Institution, National Anthropological Archives
Stewart Museum
University of Alaska, Fairbanks
Vancouver Public Library
Yukon Archives
Papers and Manuscripts
Gaffin, Jane. “John Olaf Erickson: Prospector and Hotelier.” Unpublished article.
Hollmann, Dietger. “Mystery Woman—Der weite Weg der Liliane Alling.” Unpublished manuscript (in German).
Smith, Diane Solie. “The Legend of Lillian Alling: The Woman Who Walked to Russia,” Atlin Historical Society, 1997.
Whitehouse, Ed. “The Woman Who Walked to Nowhere.” Unpublished manuscript.
About Susan Smith-Josephy
Susan Smith-Josephy is a writer, researcher and genealogist. She trained as a journalist at Langara College and has worked for a number of smal
l-town newspapers in BC. She has a degree in history from SFU, and is passionate about BC history. She lives in Quesnel, British Columbia. Lillian Alling: The Journey Home is her first book.