Jul 25

Written by:
7/25/2001 12:00 AM 

Greetings from Cripple River! Summer is well advanced as far as the calendar year goes, but here at Cripple River it still feels like spring. The weather had been variable with several days of light rain alternating with days of bright sunshine. As it is summer, the sun sets around one a.m. and rises around four a.m. It gets dusky but it never gets dark! It’s not unusual to be outside panning your cons (concentrated gold bearing material), look at your watch and YIKES, it is midnight and the sun is still shining. This is truly the land of the midnight sun!! No wonder you’re getting tired. So you chuckle at yourself for loosing track of the time, and off you go to bed to get ready for the big day tomorrow. One misty day last week, I heard a new saying I really like. “The worst day at Cripple River is better than your average day at work”. Not that you don’t work here at camp. Getting gold can be a great deal of work, but you are usually having so much fun you don’t notice the work. Just the GOLD.

The flowers around camp and on the tundra are in full bloom. The fields of Alaska Cotton Grass are so white they look like fields of virgin snow. The deep purple Artic Iris are in bloom, and with the bright yellow Snow Buttercups, the sky blue Bluebells and pink Prickly Rose, there are spots on the tundra that look like a giant crazy quilt. Add to this the red of Tall Fireweed and the myriad shades of green of the other tundra plants and the colors are breath taking! And this only names a few of the local wild flowers. Flower photographers have plenty to occupy them. For the berry enthusiasts, in season there are Bog Blueberries, orangish Salmon Berries (an Eskimo favorite) and red Low Bush Cranberries and a small black colored berry the natives call Gublucks. To name a few of the edible berries here.

The fishing continues to be good for Dolly Varden Trout, but the Salmon season has still not opened so if you catch one by accident it is strictly catch and release.

Now about the important item. The GOLD!!! The eight-inch dredge is in a good area and getting great GOLD, the trommel operation is reporting similar information. The people on the common operations are dedicated to get as much of that yellow metal as they can so the GOLD draw on Friday is as good as possible. The individuals working the beach are doing fair to great depending on location, individual effort, and how they pick the material to run through their beach boxes. There are people metal detecting, sluicing, high banking, dredging, and just plain old shoveling and panning. Again the results vary from fair to great.

Friday was the 102nd anniversary of the discovery of GOLD on Nome’s beach, and the 3rd Annual Gold Panning Contest sponsored by the GPAA and Rasmussen’s Music Mart. Included in the festivities is a speed-panning contest. First place was taken by Perry Burress of Nome who won with a time of 16.4 seconds. Second place was taken by Cripple River Camp’s Tera Bailey from Princeton IN with a time of 20 seconds. Third place was Violet Hill of Nome, and fourth place was Cripple River’s Vernon Frietas of Ceres CA. His time 32.4 seconds!! A good time was had by all. (An interesting aside – Ralph no nugget Rogers, so named after last years debacle did not show up to clear his name or record).

Meanwhile back at the camp. Friday afternoon on the 20th of July, after more than a year’s planning, hard work, love and dedication, The Cripple River Camp unveiled a monument to it’s late great founder George (Buzzard) Massie. The Cripple River Camp was a favorite place for George and it seems only fitting that a tribute to his insight and wisdom be located here in camp. Last year a large piece of Verde (silvery, greenish) colored bedrock was found on the beach by George Backstrom. Perry Massie and several other people viewed this piece of stone, and decided it was perfect for the monument. It was brought to camp in the fall of 2000. Then photographs of George were screened to pick the one best suited to use for a bronze plaque. The picture chosen had been taken by the mayor of Nome Leo Rasmussen, a good friend. It had been decided that as so many of the people here at the Cripple River Camp wanted to be involved in this project that a monument fund be set up and the monument would be built using donations from his Cripple River Friends. A way of showing their love and respect for this truly great individual. This summer the monument rock was cut to allow the insertion of the bronze plaque. This was accomplished by George Friga, who spent day after day painstakingly recessing a place on the rock face to hold the plaque. A true labor of love and dedication. The bronze plaque was then affixed by Lawrence Sandy using epoxy, and the rock set in a concrete footing poured by Dale Jones and John Hendricks. The monument situated by the road at the corner of Grizzly Bear Chow hall is set at a slight angle so it almost seems that George is still here to greet each person as they come into camp. The ceremony that marked the culmination of the year plus work and planning was held at 5 p.m. John Backstrom was Master of Ceremonies followed by his father Ralph Backstrom who gave the invocation. Following the prayer, Mayor of Nome Leo Rasmussen gave a heartfelt speech. The drape was removed by Wilma Massie (who was bravely smiling through her tears) and by Perry Massie unveiling the monument. It was a poignant moment with not a dry eye seen in the crowd. Everyone present stayed quiet as each person spoke a few personal words to George Massie in their heart. It was a very sad/sweet moment. Then the people respectfully crowded around to take pictures and capture this very special event on film to share with family and friends not lucky enough to be here. This ceremony was covered locally by radio station KNOM News Director Paul Korchin and the local paper The Nome Nugget. George Massie may be gone but he is definitely not forgotten, and he will be remembered with love ALWAYS!!! The inscription on the plaque says it nicely:

A MAN OF INCREDIBLE VISION

HUSBAND OF WILMA, FATHER OF PERRY AND TOM,
FOUNDER OF GOLD PROSPECTORS ASSN., LOST DUTCHMAN’S,
GOLD PROSPECTORS MAGAZINE, THE OUTDOOR CHANNEL AND
THE CRIPPLE RIVER CAMP.
GEORGE T. MASSIE
1939 – 1993

Until next time go get some food from your cache (small storage area usually on stilts to discourage marauding animals). Take your umiak (Eskimo skin covered boat), watch out for the williwas (sudden gusts of wind reaching 90 miles per hour) and go prospecting…….and may the bottom of your pan turn GOLDEN!!!