Walter Harper
American mountain climber
Died when: 26 years 297 days (321 months)Star Sign: Capricorn
Walter Harper (1893 – October 25, 1918) was an Alaska Native mountain climber and guide.On Saturday, 7 June 1913, he was the first person to reach the summit of Denali (Mount McKinley), the highest mountain in North America.
He was followed by the other members of the small expedition team, guide Harry Karstens, Episcopal archdeacon Hudson Stuck, who had organized the effort, and Episcopal missionary Robert Tatum.
After gaining more formal education, Harper married in 1918 and planned to go to medical school in Philadelphia.He and his wife took the steamer SS Princess Sophia from Skagway to Seattle for their honeymoon before setting off cross-country.
The ship ran aground on a reef in a snowstorm, and was broken up in a gale, sinking on October 25.
All 268 passengers and 75 crew were lost.
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