Paddock’s Picks: South to Alaska

Editor’s note:  Anita Paddock’s review of books we should read are scheduled to appear on the second Friday of each month. Enjoy.

review by Anita Paddock
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As Father’s Day approaches, as well as the month for another book review, I turn my attentions to a woman who wrote me and asked if I would review a book she wrote about her father.  I recognized her name, Nancy Owens Barnes, as well as her book “South to Alaska.”

I had heard her speak at the Fort Smith Public Library back in 2007, and I was intrigued with her story about her father who built a wooden boat in Hartford, Arkansas, and sailed it south to Alaska. Her story was fascinating and I bought a copy for my son, who always loved reading about Alaska, and who later did get to visit Alaska.

Nancy Barnes begins her story with her daddy, Melvin Owens, growing up in Capital Hill, Okla., just across the North Canadian River from Oklahoma City. Melvin lived in a 20 X 20 box house his father built for him and his mother and sister.

When Melvin was in elementary school he saw a picture of Alaska in a geography book. The picture had shown a cabin sitting in snowy woods. Smoke curled from its chimney and fur traps hung by the front door. Little Melvin was hooked on Alaska and remained so, even into adulthood.

He married, had a family, and spent 20 years off and on, in Perkins, Okla. In 1965 the family moved to Hartford, Ark., a small community on the edge of the Ouachita National Forest.

After two trips to Ketchikan, Alaska, Melvin and his wife were fascinated with the terrain, the waterways, the fishing boats, the float planes, and the small town flavor. He vowed to build a boat that he could sail to Alaska. So he did.

He started the construction of Red Dog under his carport, and his neighbors traveling by watched the construction with some disbelief. Some even called him “Noah.” His wife, a dark haired beauty, shared her husband’s lust for adventure and read books and articles about Alaska and studied maps.

In September of 1971, Red Dog was completed, and Melvin moved it, with the help of a police escort, 40 miles to Fort Smith and docked it at a marina on the Arkansas River. He planned to sail it down to the Mississippi, to the Gulf of Mexico, along the coasts of Mexico and Central America, through the Panama Canal, and then north to Alaska to Ketchikan. The Red Dog docked on Aug. 15, 1973, 23 months after leaving Fort Smith.

The adventures Melvin had on the Red Dog are documented here in the tale told lovingly by his daughter, Nancy. Anyone who ever had a dream of doing something exciting and adventurous and a little crazy will enjoy reading this book.

•••

Sam Kelley, a native of Pocola, Okla., and a 2011 OSU graduate has recently moved to Alaska, where he landed his first job after college. His major in entrepreneurial business and marketing helped him acquire the job with a microbrewery in Homer. The company hopes Sam will be able to put his book-learning to good use and boost their sales and profit.

Sam was raised in a family of readers who visited the library regularly. He loved the Harry Potter books, and all books that told of adventure. During college, he developed an interest in history and politics and can discuss those topics with both professors and old guys on park benches alike.

I hope Sam Kelley’s adventures in Alaska prove as wonderful as the skipper’s of the Red Dog did.