Jul 15

Written by:
7/15/2003 12:00 AM 

Greetings from the Cripple River Gold Camp! It has been an exciting week! A new hooch was finished last week by our hard working construction crew; as well as small additions added to two other hooches. The extension to our saloon is finished, and was completed in less than a week! (The saloon, soon to have a new name, is not exactly a saloon. It is really a camp meeting hall. In this building, classes are held, Friday Night Miner’s Court holds its official sessions---and hangings, the Hole in the Rock Club inducts new members, followed by the end of the week miner’s party.) Other repairs and modifications are proceeding at a rapid pace, with tentative plans for next year’s projects and improvements all ready under discussion. Our camp is bursting at the seams with activity. This great place just gets better and better! To our carpenters Cripple River Gold means dry straight 2x4’s, sturdy CDX plywood without lots of knotholes, clean straight nails, and no rain until the roofs are on.

Loren Raddatz, prospector extraordinaire, from Vista California, has been coming to Cripple River for six or seven years. This year, in his spare time he located a layer of black sand on the beach, at the edge of camp. Foxy person that he is, he mined this material on the sly. This is both smart and perfectly acceptable, as any prospector worth his or her snuffer bottle knows. Mother Nature, however, decided to play a trick on Loren. She washed up a red and black sand pay-streak eight feet wide and twenty-five feet long, right on Loren’s secret claim. This new material was noticed by another prospector, who alerted the camp. IMMEDIATELY the gold rush was on! Miners with shovels and buckets appeared from all over camp as if teleported, several participants even worked into the night gleaning this rich material. Everyone in camp is happy today, except maybe Loren who lost his “secret” beach claim.

This week, again, a moose walked through camp in the middle of the “night”. Our camp must be listed in the “Moose’s Guide of Things to Tour on the Bering Sea”, as moose also have been frequently seen just outside of camp. Several caribou have been sighted, and there are two musk oxen living up by Bowhead Creek. Yesterday a local red fox decided to raid an Arctic Tern’s nest near our cleanup boxes in camp. This poor fox was attacked by both of the Baby Tern’s parents. Then other birds were seen to join in the fray. The badly pecked and scratched fox was last seen heading north at a high (for a fox) rate of speed. Several people had cameras, and took pictures of this short-lived fight. Two protective Arctic Tern parents a fox can deal with, but not the whole neighborhood.

Several caribou or reindeer were seen on the tundra just outside of camp, towards Edward’s Creek. And for those of you who didn’t know, Nome Alaska is a bird watcher’s paradise. Birders from all over the world come to Nome as there are birds seen here that are seen no where else in all of North America. A local tongue in cheek joke is that the way you can tell birders from miners is the birders use binoculars to look in the bushes, the miners use binoculars to look in their gold pans! This year Chip and Laverne Yorde had a mini “family reunion” in camp. Chip, who many of us think should teach at the Academy of Cordon Bleu, (but we are glad she is ours) and Laverne who keeps the trommel trammeling, are returning for their seventh year. They are being visited this year by Laverne’s brother Ken and his better-half, Francine, his son Dennis and, of course, Jake “the snake”. Ken said, “I am an old hand in the Arctic, but this is Francine’s first trip”. This is Dennis’s third year at Cripple River, and Jake’s second. The Yorde’s have enjoyed their wildness experience, have toured the area, caught fish, panned for gold, photographed musk ox and caribou, and enjoyed a trip to town. Chip’s father Albert, who is in the lower 48 (or “outside” to use another native expression) just celebrated his 94th birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

This year some of our favorite Texans returned to the Cripple River Gold Camp, and hosted their version of the Polar Bear Swim. Last night was the second annual meeting of the Cripple River Texas Chum Run. (Chum as in Salmon, and Texas for the state that spawned such sturdy men). Pat Taylor and Kenny Kremm, are from Colony Texas. They, joined by their fathers Frank Taylor and Kenny Kremm sr., led the rest of the swimmers, Brent Lindsey, Collette Todd, and Spike Littlejohn in a midnight swim in the Bering Sea. Evidently there are three divisions of swim-ees, the prestigious All Naturals who are birthday suiters, the Hatchlings division according to the founders for any male who is partially clad, and the Women’s Division. The charter and only member of the Women’s Division is Collette Todd. (I swam in the Bering Sea five years ago during my first year in this camp, and the water, usually about 36 degrees doesn’t get any warmer as I get older.) This year there were about 35 spectators who called advice from the shore. Now midnight in this part of Alaska it is still light, so Pat Taylor, gentleman that he is, and out of respect for the lady onlookers used his Stetson as a fig leaf going to the waters edge. Rumor has it that soon certificates of “bravery” may be in the offing.

The flowers are in full bloom, and the Alaska Iris is turning parts of the tundra a brilliant velvety purple. The Dwarf Fireweed, a member of the primrose is starting to bloom adding a reddish mauve to the color scheme, and this year the Shrubby Cinquefoil also called the Tundra Rose is especially plentiful turning entire sections of the tundra a glowing yellowish gold. In the main camp, White Water Crowfoot and Cut Leaf Flea Bane are blooming snow white. Bog cranberries soon ripe enough to eat add a deep ruby color to the milieu. The blueberries are growing nicely, and I can hardly wait for fresh picked Arctic Blueberries in my pancakes. Alaska, wild, unspoiled, colorful and tasty.

The weather here has been beautiful the past two days, sunny, and warm! We had rain showers about four a.m., but the overcast burnt off before noon and the sun is out again. Prospecting weather for sure.

Until we meet again may your life and the bottom of your pan turn golden.

Arctic Annie