Jul 7

Written by:
7/7/2005 12:00 AM 

Greetings from the Cripple River Gold Camp! The weather is PERFECT, warm and sunny, with a light breeze to help blow the little flying insects away. The cold wind went back home to the North Pole after taking a short vacation at our camp. Or maybe Santa Claus is planning to recruit some new reindeer for his sleigh. With all the reindeer seen near our camp maybe he sent the North Wind down to scout out likely prospects! Think of it, next year we may have a Cripple River reindeer pulling Santa’s sleigh.

Last night was so beautiful I took a picture of the Cripple River and our camp at 1:30 a.m., in the sunshine. The Land of the Midnight Sun still surprises and delights me. Unique beauty is everywhere you look, and the chance to interact with Mother Nature is “still alive and well” in Alaska. Yesterday a large seal swam west past our camp, surfacing every 75 feet or so, close to the shore line. While we know she was probably looking for a safe place on shore to leave her pup (baby) while she hunted for her dinner, it was almost like she was checking out all the miners on the beach to see if they passed her motherly muster. Getting gold was put on hold for a few minutes until she had passed by, and several pictures were taken. Everyone at camp knows if they see a small seal on the beach not to bother it, as it is waiting for its seal-mom to return. If these babies are frightened back into the water, sometimes the mother can’t find her baby, or a hungry walrus may find the pup first. This is “nature’s way” but we would rather let the walrus go a little hungry and keep our baby seals safe.

Recently there have been a group of seals in the Bering Sea right across from camp. The salmon run is starting, and seals love salmon. Yesterday morning as I walked to breakfast at 7:30 am the golden sun was smiling down on the clear turquoise blue water of the sea, with the sky just a slightly lighter blue. The colors were so clear and beautiful it was hard to tell where the blue sky of heaven met the blue water of earth for a secret kiss. Floating on the water were about a hundred balls of snow white, looking like perfect giant pearls, glowing in the morning sunshine. They were birds, resting and floating on the water waiting for their fishy breakfast of seal leftovers. At times the beauty that surrounds this gold camp takes your breath away, and fills your entire being with joy!

Not only the seals are having good fishing here, anglers in camp have found that fishing is good for Pink Salmon as well as Dolly Varden, and seems to just be getting better. This year again, the fish seem to prefer bright pink, red, or silver lures but fish can be fickle and their preference could change without notice. Many anglers brought their favorite lures from home, and these also are working fine. Most fishermen and women “catch and release”, but a few extra nice fish make their way to the camp barbecue grills or fish smokers.

Speaking of fish, midnight Friday night was the 4th annual “Texas Chum Run, the Cripple River’s version of the Polar Bear swim. The “Texas Chum”, again bravely made their appearance at the stroke of midnight, this time accompanied by a fireworks display. With the sun shining brightly the fireworks lost some of their dazzle, but this was more than made up for by the chance to see bright fireworks against a perfect light blue sky. These hardy men from Texas were cheered on by a warmly dressed crowd on the beach, as a cold wind was blowing from the northwest. The sunshine and cold breeze did not deter our swimmers. Texas breeds sturdy men with sturdy souls. What an adventure! For everyone! See you all next year!

Jerry Kobierecki from Appleton Wi., and Mel Waxham from Collierville Tn., were on their way to Arctic Creek for a day of prospecting and sluicing. As they passed Bowhead Creek, they saw a giant mother moose and two baby moose or moose-lings. (Also nicknamed “mooseketeers, or meese” by Jerry.) The mother watched these prospectors as her precious babies climbed up the far bank, and then the family disappeared into the thick underbrush. This year marks the second trip to the Cripple River Camp made by Jerry. He was glad to see that the salmon fishing season was open, and was especially happy to see that the bad mud bogs on trails out of camp had dried out since his first visit in 2003. This year Jerry immediately noticed the many changes in camp but he said, “I was glad to see that all the good things stayed the same.” Jerry also is getting good gold on the beach, and is happy with the gold from sluicing the Arctic Creek. He isn’t saying where he located his sluice, as is proper for a true miner.

Carl Belt, Brian Smith and Chris Riley were sluicing on Arctic Creek last week, and as they left Arctic they decided to ride towards Teller to take some photographs. Chris was leading, when all of a sudden he slammed on his brakes and did a fast u-turn. Followed by his friends, the trio rode back a few hundred yards to where he had seen a Musk Ox, just calmly lying down chewing its cud. As he and Brian grabbed their cameras, Carl (who had binoculars) asked, “Why do you want a picture of an old rusty barrel?” Sure enough that’s what is was! These old rusty-red 55 gallon barrels are seen all over the country side, left-over from Nome’s mining hey day. On the way back to the main camp this group rode past the old bucket-line dredge with its field full of scattered barrels. Carl called to Chris in an excited tone, “look, an entire herd of Musk Ox!” Chris stopped his ATV on a dime and quickly took a picture before he realized these too were old rusty barrels lying on their side. As he was about to give up, he saw a real live Musk Ox standing near the old dredge. One click and the animal is captured on film---mission accomplished! Finally!

Donna and Richard Fairless from the Fresno California area, manage the more remote Ketchmark Camp. This area is absolutely beautiful, and there are photo opportunities (and animal sightings) at every turn. It almost seems with more of the prospectors traveling on rental ATV’s, some of the local wildlife are becoming sorta camera shy. Not so at Ketchmark! This year if we had held an animal sighting contest, Donna and Richard would have won hands down. The season had barely started when a lonesome Musk Ox visited the dredge by their cabin. He seemed to enjoy just standing there with only the dredge for company. Next they saw a herd of Musk Ox made up of four cows with little calves. Then behind the old and picturesque bucket-line dredge at Creosis, a male Musk Ox has been seen several times just hanging around, possibly waiting for a cute lady ox. Numerous Caribou as well as a moose family, (mom and children) have also been sighted. This year in their camp, just as Richard opened the door to the hooch for the first time, an adolescent Sisilik (Arctic Ground Squirrel) dashed into the cabin with Donna in hot pursuit, and hid under their bed. Two hours later Donna finally was able to remove this unwanted tenant. These little squirrels are cute, but as Donna noted,”They are rodents, and make lots of mess (droppings) on the floor, and I won’t share my hooch with a rodent.” There are almost twenty sisiliks in the area, so now Richard opens their door carefully. There is a female fox and her foxy boyfriend living close to the camp, so we expect to see little ones soon. The list of animals goes on and on. For more details just ask Donna Fairless.

Now we come to a sad part. Sunday at 1pm friends of Dorothy Barber (May 26,1932-August 16 2004) gathered at Bowhead Creek for a short memorial service. Ralph Ours read a few Bible verses, and friends in the crowd recalled their favorite memories of Dorothy. The 51 ATV’s and a shiny white camp truck carried a total of 80 people who attended this short, yet heartfelt service. Dorothy, a beautiful woman with mesmerizing blue eyes was a true lady prospector. An excellent gold panner, she was blessed with an adventuresome spirit, and accompanied by her loving husband Kenny, she willingly prospected areas most women and many men avoided as too “primitive”. Dorothy was able to tell fascinating stories of the first years George “Buzzard” Massie was in Alaska starting the gold camps, as she and Kenny were there. Dorthy was a real treasure to all of us who knew and loved her and she will be sadly missed. Our heartfelt condolences go out to Kenny Barber.

On a lighter note, Perry Massie’s ATV trip to the Sinuk River was a resounding success again this week. The beautiful ride down the beach ended in a fish cookout, and Perry gave an impromptu class on filleting and cooking fresh caught fish. (Hot Dogs were also available, but as they were boneless no filleting was necessary.) Many nice quartz rocks were found for rock tumblers, and interesting driftwood and tiny sea shells were found by the beach combers. After a rest and fishing for their lunch, the happy group returned to camp, full of fun and interesting stories about their day’s adventure.

The Trommel Trip whether by truck or by ATV is also ever popular, with the chance to see the location of the eight-inch dredge, and later, run high bankers, sluices, or just relax and pan. It is also an opportunity to see the trommel in action, a real commercial style gold mining operation. The gold from the trommel and the gold from the eight inch dredge on Arctic Creek is split equally for the Friday night gold draw.

The flowers in bloom this week are too numerous to list. The lavender and purple hues of the Eskimo Potato and Dwarf Fireweed brighten the tundra everywhere you look. The Wild Iris, also called the Blue Flag is blooming a deep royal purple, the Tall Cotton Grass is waving its’ fluffy white luxurious hair in the breeze and the Tundra Rose is showing its’ golden glory. We also have added birding walks to our lists of things to do when you need a change of pace. While Nome is a birder’s paradise is twelve miles away, we have fantastic birding opportunities both in and just outside of camp. With classes on Gold panning/cleanup, operation of mining equipment, goldsmithing, rock and mineral identification, native flowers, as well as birding, this camp is full of fun activities.

Cripple River Camp members rode in the parade in Nome on the fourth of July. Over 56 ATV’s motored down the street two abreast with one of the camp’s large white trucks leading the “ATVers “ and another camp truck following behind. Hard candy, as well as bead necklaces were thrown to the crowd, which seemed to please everyone. This year the theme of the parade was “Mother Goose.”

Well, my feet are ‘a itchin’ to go look for some gold, maybe sluice a little, so until next time may your life and the bottom of your pan turn golden.

Arctic Annie