In a far country : the true story of a mission, a marriage, a murder, and the remarkable reindeer rescue of 1898

In the fall of 1897, eight whaling ships became trapped in the ice on Alaska's northern coast. Without relief, two hundred whalers would starve to death by winter's end. Mercifully, an extraordinary missionary, Tom Lopp, and seven Eskimo herders embarked on a harrowing journey to save the whalers, driving four hundred reindeer more than seven hundred untracked miles. At the heart of the rescue expedition lies another, in some ways more compelling, journey. In a Far Country is the personal odyssey of Tom and his wife Ellen Lopp— their commitment to the natives and the rugged but happy life they built for themselves amid a treeless tundra at the top of the world. The Lopps pulled through on grit and wits, on humility and humor, on trust and love, and by the grace of God. Their accomplishment would surely have received broader acclaim had it not been eclipsed by two simultaneous events: the Spanish- American War and the Alaska gold rush. The United States and its territories were transformed abruptly and irrevocably by these fits of expansionist fever, and despite the thoughtful, determined guidance of the Lopps, the natives of the North were soon overwhelmed by a force mightier than the fiercest Arctic winter: the twentieth century. Title Page; Praise; Also By John Taliaferro; Dedication; Introduction; [1] -- Beyond the Pale; [2] -- The High Place; [3] -- A Race Worth Saving; [4] -- Just the One for the Place; [5] -- Not So Much to Be Pitied; [6] -- Good Faith; [7] -- Camels of the Far North; [8] -- Floe Monsters; [9] -- Godspeed; [10] -- Sorry-Looking Bunch; [11] -- Errand of Mercy; [12] -- Labyrinth; [13] -- Killing Time; [14] -- Last Obstacle; [15] -- Arctic Hole; [16] -- Fish in a Barrel; [17] -- Real Deermen; Epilogue; Acknowledgements; Bibliographic Notes; Index; Copyright Page.;The awesome, untold adventure of one couple's harrowing, heroic effort to save several hundred ice-bound whalers-- and the future of the Eskimo people. Recounts Tom Lopp's 1897 journey to save two hundred whalers whose ships had become trapped in the ice on Alaska's northern coast, decribing how Lopp and seven Eskimo herders risked their lives to drive four hundred reindeer across more than seven hundred untracked miles to save the strangers