Julie VanZandt's Page

Tom,

Thank you for asking. My husband worked on an expedition in the mid-1970's; probably in 1975 since he believes that he said that he was only 16 years old at the time. It was referred to as the "Fort Charlotte" Expedition, on the Pigeon River in Minnesota. He worked under Douglas Birk, but evidently National Geographic must have had something to do with it - perhaps in partially financing it? Anyway, my husband has told me that at the time, he was one of the youngest people ever 'hired' by National Geographic, they paid him a dollar, which he was very proud to receive!

He said that in his best recollection, he thinks that the article written about the expedition was probably actually an insert in one of the magazines rather than in the magazine itself. He remembers that there was a picture of him in his diving gear, and that his mother proudly kept a copy of the article for some time. He does not know when the article was actually written though, since he was working on the expedition for the better part of the summer that year. I imagine that it would have been published in later 1976 or perhaps 1977?

My husband's name was Robert Fanth; he said they often called him RK. I would love to see a copy of the article, but I do not know which one to look for. If anyone can help me, I would surely appreciate it!

* I meant to say that the article may have been published in later 1975 or in 1976, not in 1977. Sorry about the confusion!

Tom,

Thank you for that information. I really appreciate it and will see if I can purchase a back copy from Ebay. Did you happen to note if that article was an insert or not?

Julie