Wayne and Duke Short : Cheechakoes no more

Wayne and Duke Short are larger than life. I originally  met them through Wayne’s first book “The Cheechakos”, which describes the adventures experienced by the Shorts when they first moved to Alaska. In this interview, Wayne and Duke talk about the time Duke was chased into the water by a snarling Brown bear, and was saved by Wayne’s steady aim. The picture above depicts an artist’s rendering of the incident from a magazine that published the story. Wayne also and Duke describe lively times at the cannery in Tyee at the south end of Admiralty Island. Now very little remains of the settlement pictured below in the late 1940’s. 

The world the Shorts describe is fading quickly into history. Their store and Post Office in Warm Springs Bay has long since fallen into the water. What remains is two very lively storytellers with wonderful memories about Southeast Alaska. I hope to feature them again telling stories about their many adventures in the country.