Henry P. "Harry" Karstens came to Alaska in 1897 with the Klondike Gold Rush and later mined in the Seventy-Mile River area. He was one of a small group of men who laid out the townsite for Eagle, Alaska. Karstens was known as a skilled outdoorsman, who, with his partner, Charles McGonagall, broke the first dogsled trail for the movement of U.S. mail from Fairbanks to Valdez. In 1906, he was a guide for the hunter and naturalist, Charles Sheldon, who was largely responsible for the creation of McKinley National Park (later Denali National Park and Preserve) in 1917. Karstens also served as the guide for a party of climbers led by Episcopal pastor Hudson Stuck, who were the first to successfully climb the south peak of Mount McKinley in 1913. In 1921, Kartstens was appointed the first superintendant of McKinley National Park, a post he held until his resignation in 1928, after having overseen the early developent of the infrastructure and roads of the park.
From the description of Diary transcripts, 1913. (UAA/APU Consortium Library). WorldCat record id: 59227657
