With the opening of the Alaska Highway to civilian traffic in 1947, Clermont, an Amy Air Corps veteran, and his sweetheart, Gwynne, came to the Copper River Basin, a vast wilderness where only a small community of individuals lived and depended upon each other. This is the true story of a time and place that are nearly forgotten, and some of the real characters who made things happen in post World War Two Alaska. Cler and Gwynne left Ogden, Utah, in the spring of 1947, and took their three tiny children, making the three-thousand-mile journey in an Army surplus Jeep, pulling a two-wheeled trailer. The trip had its hazards, and circumstances took them not to the Kenai Peninsula, as they had planned, but to the magnificent Copper River Basin in Alaska's Interior, where the climate varied from 80 F. in the summer, to -60 F. in the winter. They were poorly prepared for what they encountered. At that time, this vast area had one highway and only a few inhabitants. These people depended on and willingly helped each other. There were the old timers, like the trapper, Ben Pinks, who did everything in his power to keep the fiercely independent Chechakos, Cler and Gwynne, from starving and freezing to death the first winter; Ma Barnes, who owned the Road House at Copper Center and took them in after a dangerous flood; and the Ahtna native family of "Mama George," who were like angels to Cler and Gwynne and their small children during those first critical years. Bear encounters were so common that every family needed a good dog and a powerful gun. Cler and Gwynne had no dog, and only a .22 rifle, which would kill a rabbit or a duck for food, but only make a bear angry. Ben Pinks gave them Buddy, "the best darn bear dog in the Interior," who saved their lives more than a few times. Ben also loaned them a gun that would take down a grizzly. They had a lot to learn. Because of their great love for each other, and the kindness of friends, Gwynne and Cler were able to meet the challenges of isolation, incredible cold, limited resources, lack of medical access, and other stresses that took a toll on their physical and mental health. In spite of the odds against them, they "proved up" on the first homestead at Kenny Lake, and established a family and a community in the wilderness.