Mountain Air: The Life of Gordon Stuart - Mountain Man of the North Cascades

No roads lead to Domke Lake in Washington State's rugged North Cascade mountains. To visit Domke, one walks or flies in with a floatplane. Gordon Stuart lived alone there more than 60 years. He trapped and hunted to survive and later operated a small fishing camp for a modest yearly income. In his latter years his health demanded that he hire help to keep the operation going and so began a series of some 16 "Hired Girls" over 12 years. Sandy Bryant was "Hired Girl #16" and stayed two summers and two winters. She kept a journal of her experiences with and impressions of this unusual mountain man. She was at Domke Lake the winter Gordon died. Mountain Air is the charming, ingenuous narrative of Gordon's life as told to Sandy. Stuart is revealed to be a sensitive, caring and somewhat lonely man. At times quarrelsome and vindictive, he could become the epitome of charm entertaining a group of boisterous fisherman. Used to dealing with death on a daily basis as he tended his winter trapline