Editorial

Alaskans eulogized on this page generally are those who have held prominent positions in government or major corporations — roles in which they have had great influence upon the character of the state.

Dean Wilson, who died last weekend at Kenny Lake after a long fight with Parkinson’s disease, didn’t work in government or lead a corporation. But he did preserve some of the character of this state by helping numerous people make a living from the land.

He did so simply. He bought the fur they trapped. And he taught them how to catch more.

Trapping is one of the few ways rural Alaskans can earn a little cash to buy clothes, tools and basic food to supplement that which they hunt, gather and grow. And even for people with “town” jobs, a little trapping can boost the family income, provide raw material for warm clothing and maintain connections with an increasingly disconnected natural world.

Trapping has never been an easy way to make a living, and prices for many wild furs haven’t kept with inflation in recent decades, so creating a positive cash flow has become gradually more difficult. Some people manage to do so, though, and others keep at it because they enjoy the work.

Wilson helped preserve those opportunities simply by being himself. Starting in 1969, he became one of the principal fur buyers in Interior Alaska, if not the principal fur buyer. During many of those years, he would rent a room in the Klondike Inn off Airport Way in Fairbanks and open for business. His son told a News-Miner reporter this week that Wilson probably bought 80 percent of the fur in Alaska at the zenith of his career.

Wilson didn’t only buy fur, though. He gave back. He wrote “The Alaska Trapper’s Handbook” and was active in the Alaska Trappers Association for many years. And he encouraged many young trappers.

Wilson might have been just a regular guy, but for many Alaskans, he was an extraordinary and important regular guy. He’ll be missed by many.