In the waning days of the Klondike Gold Rush, the Arctic tundra far to the north gave birth to another Alaska gold mining legend. Japanese sailor Frank Yasuda left a whaling vessel to make his home among the Inupiat people at Point Barrow.

A few years later, disease and hardship had decimated the village of Barrow.

Yasuda, an enterprising fellow, and his young Inupiat wife, Eneveloe, joined ano...