The Young Alaskans by Emerson Hough

The Young Alaskans is a relatively uncommon five book series published by Harper and Brothers. These books were initially published between 1908 and 1922 and subsequently were reprinted numerous times. Harper and Brothers was not a major publisher of juvenile series books with only twelve series by this house noted in Mattson's guide. The stories chronicle the outdoor adventures of three Alaskan boys.

1. The Young Alaskans 1908
2. Y.A. on the Trail 1911
3. Y.A. in the Rockies 1913
4. Y.A. in the Far North 1918
5. Y.A. on the Missouri 1922



If you have one of these books, dating it is really quite easily done because Harper used an alphabetical key. Up to 1911 the date appeared on the title page.

Thereafter each month was designated by a letter.
A=January M-December. J was not included in the month list.

A letter was used for each year:
M-1912
N-1913
etc....T-1919.....
Z-1925.....A-1926

Thus A-M would be January, 1912
B-N would be February, 1913




Emerson Hough (1857-1923) wrote this series as well as a number of other novels, most of which are westerns. He was a noted conservationist. He spent his early years in the frontier west. Later he graduated from the University of Iowa. Although trained as an attorney, he spent many years exploring and traveling throughout the west. At the age of forty he wrote The Singing Mouse Stories and that launched his writing career. He died secondary to complications from a surgical procedure.






















Did you figure out the unknown book covers?? I know the guy who claims to be our
resident fisherman did not come close. He was too embarrassed to make his guess in the
public comments. He will remain anonymous!!