How To Find The North Star

For many thousands of years Polaris has been used as a guiding star and reference point for navigators and astronomers. Through experience and observation wayfarers discovered the North Star lights the way to true north.

In ancient times locating this lodestar was crucial to navigating long distances through the wilderness. The beauty of using the north star for navigation is that unlike a magnetic compass the north star always points to to true north. There is no magnetic declination to deal with.
North Star Location

By shear luck, the northern axis of the earth points directly toward the North Star. This means that when you are observing this star you are facing true north toward the North Pole. Because of this we also call the North Star the Polestar or Polaris, its astronomic name.

When you are facing the North Star you are looking toward true north. This is because by chance this lodestar lines up with the celestial sphere almost perfectly, so that all other stars appear to rotate around it. Simply by finding the North Star travelers are able to determine all the points of the compass: westward would be on your left, eastward to the right, and southward in back of you.

via: Survival Topics.com