A Tribute to My Father
Oscar Vogel's cabin on Alaska's Stephan Lake-1954
Click Here to see the same cabin photographed in June 2004
| A 50 year dream
of visiting Alaska came true last year as my
husband, Tom and I flew to Anchorage on June 14, 2004 for a 12
day visit. We traveled by rental car throughout the Kenai
Peninsula including stops in Girdwood, Soldotna, Kenai, Ninilchik, Homer, Seward, and Whittier
and
then spent four remarkable days at
Stephan Lake Lodge,
which is located about 150 air miles northeast of Anchorage in the
Talkeetna Mountains area of the 49th. state. Our mission while in
Alaska was to fly to Stephan Lake where we hoped to see and
photograph the cabin shown above that my father used as a hunting
and fishing base camp in 1954.
My father, D. Orville Ebersole, first traveled to Alaska in 1954, departing from the Martinsburg, Pennsylvania airport with his .30-06 cased and carried over his shoulder as he boarded an Allegheny Airlines DC-3. Arriving in Anchorage on August 19, he took a floatplane to this same Stephan Lake area where he hunted successfully for the Alaskan "Famous Five" trophies (moose, caribou, Dall sheep, black bear and grizzly bear) and fished until mid-September. He was to speak fondly of this great adventure the rest of his life. In his notes written after his return home in 1954 to Claysburg, Pennsylvania, regarding Alaska, he wrote, "I had the experience of waking from a dream of big game hunting in Alaska to find I was really in a hunter's paradise. The date was August 20, 1954, the first day of Alaska big game season. We had seen more game on the 150 mile flight by bush plane from Anchorage the day before than I had hoped to see on the entire trip. I am a lucky man to have had so much on one trip." To see the1954 journal illustrated with his photos, Click Here. And fifty years later, I am fortunate to
have been able to visit Alaska and especially to have spent time
at Stephan Lake, the exact site of those stories my father shared
with us. |
 D. Orville Ebersole
with his moose taken with a Winchester
Orville Ebersole was
privileged to hunt and fish with one of Alaska's most well-known and
respected big-game guides, Oscar Vogel, in 1954, 1956 and lastly, in
1957. Besides serving as a guide, Mr. Vogel also became a trusted
friend. This friendship continued long after Dad's memorable
mid-fifties hunts with the exchanging of numerous letters until Mr.
Vogel died in 1979. My father looked forward to a return visit but
was not able to see Alaska that one last timeModel 70 .30-06, August 24, 1954, Talkeetna Mountains near East Priarie Creek west of Stephan Lake, Alaska. In my father's words, " The antlers were in velvet, just starting to peel on the points; they measured 62 inches wide, even palms and good points." The moose was taken from over 400 yards away. |
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