YUKON JOB
Art is what you think is art.
BILL SCOTT and I spent an unforgettable summer doing geophysical prospecting in the Yukon Territory in the Early 1960’s.
Our base was Mayo Landing (red false front store below) which was just a tiny village really whose centre was that
grey nondescript hotel.
In the bush where we spent most our time there was a place where a forest fire had swept through decades ago. The trees still stood…bare and
wind scoured by many winters. As a result their shapes were wonderful. Two of them I was able to rescue and send back to Toronto by a truck
along with a big set of caribou antlers. Our boss, Dr. Norman Patterson, might have been amused had he known. I paid the freight bill but had
a very tough time getting the trucking company to hand over the shipment. They thought something important was missing and figured my tree
trunks and antlers were just junk.
The scoured tree trunks were interesting in another way as well. The growth rings were tiny. The trunk that Bill and I are
shortening for instance is more than 100 years old yet only the witch of a goal post..
As I remember Bill Scott was not as enamoured of the dead tree as he seems in the picture below.
Our client was Dr. Aho who often treated us to a ‘double OP’ which is overproof rum and a little Coca cola. Deadly. This might explain
our behaviour.
alan skeoch
May 2019
PS Norm…send this forward to Bill Scott … he might be amused
