Jul 8

Written by:
7/8/2002 12:00 AM 

Greetings from The Cripple River Gold Camp! It has been a very busy week, with our camp humming with activity. The weather turned rainy with some cool, light winds blowing, and the Bering Sea had some nice whitecaps and breaking waves. It was mentioned that if you had a wet suit and a surfboard you could “Hang Ten” easily. In fact we had several brave, daring (also spelled coooold, foolish?) people who went swimming in the Bering Sea at three a.m. Saturday morning. The camp may soon have to add a polar bear swim to our activities list.

The gold claims on the beach appear to be rich ones, with a lot of beach gold being found, including a few “beach nuggets”. This year the beach claims are a little further from the main camp, in an area that has a lot of red and black sand, (and savvy prospectors know that here at Cripple River the dark sands have a lot of gold in them). Even on the most rainy day this week we had daring prospectors on the beach running their beach boxes well into the evening. In summer, the land of the Midnight Sun is either light or twilight all the time. Although the sun sets for up to three hours, the nights do not get dark from May 15th through July 30th. Summer in Nome is June, July and August with the arrival of warm temperatures depending on when the Bering Sea ice breaks up and drifts away. In summer the temperatures range from 40 degrees to 75 degrees, with higher and lower temperatures possible. In June a light snow is rare but not unknown. The one thing you can count on as far as weather goes is it changes often and fast! Layers of clothes, and a rain suit are very important!

The weather isn’t the only thing changing fast, our camp here just gets better and better. This year champion elk hunter Clint Larson from Colorado came with his three sons Gary, Kevin, and Charles. They have built a large steel building 24 feet by 40 feet. The building sets on a platform and has one roll up door and two walk in doors. This new structure is appreciated by all the camp, but especially the mechanics who don’t have to work out in the mosquitoes, cold, or rain to do equipment repairs. Thanks to the Larson’s and the many others in our camp who worked on this project.

Talking about a project, how do you throw a surprise birthday party for Perry Massie’s fortieth in a close knit camp? Sandy, Perry’s wife, and many helpers decorated the saloon with balloons, streamers, and a large red sign that said “Lordy, Lordy, Look Who’s Forty” (it was on a 4 X 8 sheet of plywood). Champagne and soft drinks were served, and everyone sang Happy Birthday! Many a crusty old miner had a tear in their eye when they wished Perry the best! If good wishes were gold nuggets, Perry would rival Fort Knox. The big day even made the local paper, “The Nome Nugget”.

In the lost and found department, found a key, a pair of gloves, a hat, a confused BEAVER swimming in the Bearing Sea just outside of camp!!! The key, gloves, and hat were claimed, but if you lost your BEAVER he (or she) was last seen swimming east towards town.

The Cripple River non-denominational chapel has really blossomed! Donations for the chapel have been received from various Christian groups from around the United States. Included was a custom made pulpit, flags, hymnals, and bibles from N.C., communion set from Georgia, and an antique chapel bell from Ray Miller. A television was purchased with monies donated, and the new carpet has been installed. (The carpeting was ordered and chosen by color, imagine the smiles when the color name was finally discovered to be Gold Dust). The chapel is also to be used by the park service for their nature talks, as well as other meetings. While the chapel is not yet completely finished, it is fully in use.

A short memorial service was held at the non-denominational chapel for the three crewmembers who will no longer be with us, except in spirit. Like our beloved George (Buzzard) Massie, they are gone but not forgotten. This year we are handing out stickers commemorating the 20th anniversary of George Massie’s first visit (in 1982) to Nome and what would become the actualization of his vision, the Cripple River Gold Camp. Thank you George!!! Without you we wouldn’t be here now “getting that gold”!

Many of us at The Cripple River Camp attended the annual Fourth of July parade and celebration in Nome. This is an event that Norman Rockwell should have painted. Not to repeat last year’s comments, but this was a rare chance to get a glimpse of the joys of living in a small town in America. The parade had two tracked military vehicles and an honor guard from the local armory, marching proudly while carrying the state flag of Alaska and our American flag. There were several floats with red, white, and blue bunting followed by small children riding in peddle cars and a peddle train, little white fluffy dogs with American costumes, the GPAA truck (with people in the back throwing bags of candy to children of all ages) followed by a contingent of Cripple River ATV’s with smiling waving riders in loose formation, riding two by two. And don’t forget the red pick-up truck with the adolescent reindeer in the back. (The reindeer’s name is Moses and he is a real ‘dear’ or deer). There were clowns and unicycle riders – well you get the picture. A one of a kind event. It seemed that most of Nome’s five thousand residents were somewhere in town Saturday, and I was in my first Nome traffic jam, with a truck, a car, a taxi, and two ATV’s at the same stop sign at the same time!!! Pride in America was in the air so thick you could breathe it in to warm your heart and soul. An interesting aside – in 1900 during the gold rush, Nome had a population of over 20,000 and was the largest city in Alaska. By 1925 the number of people living here was 1,400 and Nome was considered a remote outpost.

Back to the gold mining. The dredge crew and the trommel crew have been hard at work at the common operation getting gold for the Friday night gold draw. They are finding gold and looking for a rich pay streak, or glory hole. The individual miners are working the beach, using high bankers at Ketchmark, and metal detecting and sluicing in other areas of the claim. Photographers are taking photos of the unusual flowers here, beach glass hunters are busy, and even sea shells and unusual driftwood are being collected. There is good fishing, with Dolly Varden Trout biting. (The season is still closed for Salmon at this time). Garnet and jade are sometimes being found. Last year I wrote about a large green rock that was found on the beach, and tentatively identified as quartz or jadeite with unusual matrix. The miner who found the rock took it to the lower 48 (Alaska lingo for the lower 48 contiguous states or also called “going outside”) and sold it to a jewelry maker / rock shop for $8,000.00. Seems it was a large sample of rock containing quartz, jadeite and another rarer gemstone type rock usually found only in Russia! Mr. Bill Potter now has a new ATV and other mining equipment. His gold came in the green form!!! Well it’s time to put on my mukluks (boots) and my parka and go out on the tundra and smell the flowers. May your life and the bottom of your pan turn golden.