Harper, an Athabascan from interior Alaska, was the first person to set foot on the 20,310-foot summit of Denali, North America’s highest peak. He was 20 years old when he joined Hudson Stuck’s 1913 Denali Expedition, and Stuck credited Harper’s skills and leadership for the team’s success. Harper was a skilled mountaineer, dog sled driver, boatsman, marksman and hunter. In 1918, he was among those who perished on the Princess Sophia when the ship sank en route to Juneau. Harper, 25, was traveling with his wife to Philadelphia, where he had been accepted to medical school.
Walter Harper
