Mount Susitna

The story of The Sleeping Lady is a commonly repeated tale set in a time where Giant People roamed the areas surrounding the Susitna (sandy) River. In the story, a woman named Susitna vows to remain in one place awaiting her husband’s return from war. During her long wait, she falls into a deep sleep lasting so long she eventually became one with the earth and formed the mountain we can see today when viewed from the west.
 
Accounts of the origin of this story differ. It’s rumored that the tale could have actually come from a short story published in Northern Lights Magazine by Nancy Lesh in the early 1960’s. Ann Dixon describes a very similar story in her 1964 children’s book, The Sleeping Lady.
 
Peter Kalifornsky paints a different picture in his 1991 book, A Dena’ina Legacy, describing stories that were told by Dena’ina Athabaskan elders of ancient Mountain People who gathered at Susitna. One of whom laid down to become Mount Susitna, while others wandered to become Mount Redoubt, Mount Iliamna and the Chigmit Mountain Range. Another wandered inland to become Denali. The Dena’ina named this mountain Dghelishla, meaning “Little Mountain.”
 
Original drawing on 100lb acid-free Bristol
11" x 14"