The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1921-04-30
LIVE IN ISOLATION
OFF ALASKAN COAST
Fred Schiller, Formerly Chef at Brooks
House, and Wife Carry on Silver
Fox Business

An article in the Boston Sunday Her
aid concerning Mr.. and Mrs. Fred SChil-
Ter and their cabin home on Middleton
island. of the coast of Alaska, is Of in
tereSt to many Brattleboro persons who
knew Mr.. Schiller when he was chef at
the Brooks House. He was a member
of Company l. of Greenfield, Mass, in
the Spanish-American war and while
serving with the I'd Massachusetts regi-
ment was shot through the lungs at the
battle of Ell Caney in Cuba. He recOv-
cred completely and for an extended
chef at the Brooks House. The Sunday
Herald article was illustrated with pic
lures of Mr.. and Mrs. Schiller and their
cabin The article follows:
F0UND-A place where there is no
housing problem.
The finders are Mr.. and Mrs Fred
Schiller, formerly of Greenfield.
The place is Middleton island. 100
miles off the Alaskan coast.
Nobody can throw empty tomato cans
into the Schiller back yard. The near
est neiEhbor is 60 miles away. on an
other island. The Schillers aren't both
cred by visitors, either. Their only link
with the mainland is a small boat that
puts in at their island once a year, in
January. 1t is then that the couple go
to Cordova, the nearest Alaskan port.
do the big town" for a few days, load
up with years supply of canned goods
and other 0n-peTishable food. and then
go back to Middleton for another year of
seclusiOn.
Silver Fox Farmer.
The Schillers have lived there since
their marriage seven years ago. Mrs.
Schiller was Miss Elizabeth Kelley of
Greenfield. Her husband lived formerly
in Worcester. He is a fox farmer. Sill
Yer foxes roam all about the island.
When it comes time to gather the skins
traps are set, the animals caught and
skinned and the skins sold for about
$500 each. Schiller markets about so
skins a year.
Through some strange freak of cur
rents much driftwoOd is cast up on the
island. enough to build houses for who
ever may come along. The SchillerS live
in a three-room cabin that is cool in
summer and snug in winter. In the
winter the nights are about 20 hours
long: in the summer the day is of that
length.
Mr.. and Mrs. Kelley of Greenfield have
been to the. island on their honeymoon.
Mr.. Kelley is Mrs. Schillers brother
In the summer there is no real dark
ness on the island said Kelley. Just
a sort of twilight. 1t begins to get dim
about 1880 O'Clock at night, but the sun
rises again about go o'clock in the
morning. Nobody ever thinks of sleep
there. You just sleep when you feel like
1t. There is no place to go and nothing
to be done in hurry.
Clocks don't mean very much to my
sister and her husband. tt is q strange
thing that clocks don't seem to run very
well there. l can't explain it, They lust
don't that's all. But it doesn't make
much difference what time it is. If a
clock runs down and somebody decides
they would like to start it running again,
they just get out an almanac and find
out what time high tide Is due that day
and then wait for the tide TO come i'm.
Then they set the clock and let it run for
while.
Isolated but Not Lonesome.
They do not seem to be lonesome
there and have expressed no desire TO
quit the island. Their chief amusement
- playing a monograph and reading. /
don't know Just what they would do if
one of them should be taken i'll. They
have medicine on the island They live
outdoors so much that neither of them
has been sick. There wouldn't be a
chance for them in the event of anything
serious happening. They have no boat
with which to reach the mainland. All
they have is small rowboat, and even
that IS not strong enough to be used i'm
the sea. They use it in a little lake on
the island.
There is plenty Of fishing and hunting
there. so there is no lack of good sport
My sister and her husband have a fine
garden. They raise potatoes that weigh
nearly n pound apiece. The climate is
very good. Often the Temperature Zoos
TO 30, and when snow does come it sell
dom remains more than As hours. The
Japan stream-the Gulf stream of the