Aug 6

Written by:
8/6/2005 12:00 AM 

Greetings from the Cripple River Gold Camp! There is an oriental curse, “May you live in interesting times.” There is an oriental blessing, “May you live in interesting times!” This year at our camp has been an interesting year. First, the severe storms of the past year left a good layer of rich gold bearing black and garnet sand on our beach. Then just a few days before camp opened for the year, another small storm came up and dumped more sand on top of the ‘good stuff’! These storms hit our camp first---causing some damage, before going on to Nome to work their mischief there. Most of the mosquitoes took a hiatus this year, so in that respect the year was perfect. Our weather in main camp, and in the outer camps, could best be described as quite variable. Rainy---then sunny, and hot---then sunny and cold, then windy---then dead calm. Except for sleet, hail and snow we have basically experienced it all this year. Next year we hope to have more hot sunny days, but in Alaska one never knows. We had our first wedding in camp this year when Kathy Raver married Lin Miller. Both are from Tijeras NM. The largest nugget found in Cripple River history was found by the trommel crew, weighing in at slightly over 1 ½ ounces. There were several minor equipment breakdowns, people caught colds, or experienced minor injuries, etc. ---all in all it has been a challenging and rewarding year. But a FANTASTIC, WONDERFUL, GREAT YEAR nonetheless.

Today it is raining off and on, from light sprinkles to outright downpours. The gossipy wind has been whipping up the white caps on the water to a frothing frenzy, as it tells the beautiful Bering Sea lies about her handsome husband, the sky. Several people are standing in the back of our chow hall looking out the windows at the awesome waves and breakers; waiting for this lover’s quarrel to end, and the Sea and the Sky kiss and make up!

Many beach claims were very rich; a few others were not as good. Also, as the gold is not equally distributed on all areas of each claim, test panning and sampling was a MUST! Just because there was a hole where someone else had maybe worked didn’t mean you should work the same area. The prospectors who worked smart, as well as hard ‘did good’. This is a gold camp, not a tourist trap with salted claims or dirt. Here, if you want to, you can learn the prospecting ‘what to do and how to do its, and you can take this knowledge with you to any other gold mining area and be miles ahead of the prospectors who depend on luck and not knowledge or skill. The equipment is here, the gold is here, and the knowledgeable people are here for you. One thing you might remember is that our volunteer crew also pays to be here, and while they will demonstrate for you the skills you want to learn, and share their years of ‘know how’ with you, they WILL NOT do all the work for you. You don’t learn anything that way. Another interesting fact of life is there is rarely just one right perfect way to do anything. Prospecting is the same. Each crew person may do the same task (i.e. gold panning, snuffering, metal detecting, working material down to ‘cons’, picking garnets, digging a hole down to bedrock, even reading a river bank) slightly different. Even the choice of a gold pan, tweezers, or the size, shape and even the material making up their gold vials varies person to person. Watch these experienced people, ask questions, try different approaches, and soon you will develop your own personalized method, a style all your own that works best for you.

At 4:15 pm, on the 5th of August in the Cripple River Chapel, Kathi Raver and Lin Miller declared their love to the world, before God, and in the presence of their friends. In a touching ceremony they became husband and wife. The blond statuesque bride beamed with love and joy as she walked down the aisle, escorted by Fred Buescher, to stand beside the justly proud groom. Eileen Yager was matron of honor, and Al Marconi was best man. As Kathy and Lin stood side by side in front of the Marriage Commissioner, John Handeland from Nome, the guests at the wedding couldn’t help but notice what a perfect couple they made. In a short but sincere ceremony, their vows were meaningfully exchanged. When the minister reached the part about ‘speak now or forever hold your peace’, Perry Massie stood up. (Now Lin is a great guy, but nobody is quite good enough for our beautiful Kathi!) The minister, a loyal watcher of Perry on Prospecting America, firmly told Perry to please sit back down. Which sadly Perry did, depriving us all of his heartfelt words of humor and wisdom. The ceremony continued, the rings were exchanged and the bride and groom shared their first tender-sweet kiss as a new married couple. There were many tears quietly shed as the guests were caught up in the sincerity and beauty of this unusual wedding. Tears of deep felt pride, love, and joy! A special bouquet of fireweed and local flowers was carried by the bride. A reception was held in our camp chow hall, which really is ‘the heart of the camp’. A white heart shaped angel food cake, decorated with delicate peach colored flowers, was lovingly made by Chip Yorde our illustrious chef. Best wishes for our new bride and groom, who were the guests of honor at Cripple River’s first wedding!!!

In another first, the 6th week’s number one nugget in the gold draw weighed in at 31 pennyweight! Just over 1 ½ ounces! This nugget, lovingly called the Holy Cow Nugget, was named after the excited exclamations of the crew who first saw it in the riffles of the trommel. This is the largest nugget ever found here on the Cripple River gold claim. A small biding war was started with Lavern Yorde offering his draws and five hundred dollars for the nugget. Perry Massie countered with an offer of a thousand dollars. Bidding went back and forth with the final bid by Perry Massie of twelve hundred dollars cash, or a three week trip next year. Chip Yorde, (who is married to Lavern Yorde) is a very lucky person. She won number one draw last year, and to the cheers and groans of the crowd repeated this feat and drew number one nugget again this week!!! (Some ladies have all the luck!) The Holy Cow Nugget was hers. She gave it to Lavern who is also called just ‘Yorde’! That Yorde is a VERY LUCKY man! Hopefully next year we will find this nugget’s twin brother or sister, or maybe even its grandparents!!!! This is the stuff dreams are made of!

All in all it truly was a great year and we are all very lucky to be in this place at this time, with our prospector friends. Here’s wishing and praying that we all make it back next year safe and sound, and that you can join us in Alaska.

Until next year, may life and the bottom of your gold pan become “Holy Cow” golden!

Your friend Arctic Annie