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EPISODE 259 SURPRISE FROM BUNMAHON, IRELAND showered in sea foam

EPISODE  259    SURPRISE FROM BUNMAHON, COUNTY WATERFORD, IRELAND…showered in sea foam


alan skeoch
Feb. 2021

I hope some of you remember the Irish Episodes when Huntech sent me to the small
village of Bumnahon on the south coast of Ireland.   My friend Jack Maize remembered
and sent this video of the village under assault from the sea.  Perhaps  some of you will
know why such a  thing can happen.

You will find the sea foam video below…just after the Volkswagen and Tinker’s Carts picture.




This is where we lived…very close to the sea so the foam must have plastered Mr. and  Mrs.
Kennedy’s store.

Drinking water from an Irish mountain stream was not s good idea….hundreds of sheep wander the mountains adding
fertilizer…  Drinking that sea foam is also not a good idea.

Rough weather in 1960…nothing compares to the sea  foam weather of 2021.


This  is the beach in front of the village of Bunmahon.  The bug rusty iron ball was once a World  War II
floating mine…I cannot sea anything recognizable covered in sea foam.


Not sure this is the Bunmahon beach but it is nearby.  I recognize the woman though…Marjorie when we went back
to visit Bunmahon around  1965.   Charming.  Not so charming with the sea foam.

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NOTE RE: EPISODE 254.. ROCK FELL ON THE MOON…

Note re EPISODE 254 ROCK FELL ON THE MOON
The story written by Alicia Priest shortly before she died in 2013 has so many twists and turns that at present i cannot complete my Episode. Lots of attempts but nothing is just right. The story I sent was generally joyful…Thing One and Thing Two. A family.
Life did not go so smoothly after the family was suddenly uprooted and left the cosy mining town of Elsa. Gerry was a big time thief…or was he?
Alicia Priest captures so much that I fear I cannot do justice to her work.
Dan Bowyer even bought the book because I am so slow in finishing my story about the Priest family….high grade ore theft, family plunged into poverty, tensions, steady decline of Gerald…then some money comes from startling source but the money is soon lost in legal fees, etc. Not many laughs. Maybe best lease the story when the family was full of joy. We will see.
There is also a very chilling side story about Helen’s mother who fled across Eastern Europe with the Red Army not far behind. the story of a German Mennonite family uprooted from the Ukraine many times. Including the horror of the 1932-1933 mass starvation triggered by Stalin which resulted in bodies of starved Kulaks in the sweet and side roads. Awful. Not sure I can complete the story.
Long ago, about 1963 I read a book titled Documents of The Expulsion which covered the subject in all its horrifying detail. Maybe best not told. Helen’s mother got out while thousands and thousands did not. She never talked about the escape in any detail except to say “I did what was necessary to survive.”
Canadians have never faced the kind of hatred that spread like a cancer through Eastern Europe in the 1940’s. Many of those survivors came to Canada in the post war years. Some even worked in the Yukon mines.
alan skeoch Feb. 2021

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EPISODE 257 MAGNIFICENT ELM TREE…LONE SURVIVOR OF DUTCH ELM DISEASE

EPISODE 257     MGNFICENT ELM TREE…LONE SURVIVOR OF DUTCH ELM DISEASE


alan skeoch
Feb. 2021

This wonderful elm tree may not be the only survivor of Dutch Elm disease but it is the only one
I know.  And it remains stately, huge, and very much alive on the fifth line of Erin Township,
Wellington County, Ontario.  Very close to our farm so we see it several times a day.
Why did it survive?   There must be a  genitive reason for at one time elms were common.
Always aristocratic among the maples.  Haughty trees.

Today  there are whole generations of young people who have never seen  a stately elm.
Remember how they dominated and made our city streets  so inviting. And remember
the devastation as they died by the thousands…and the hum of those chain saws.

My cousin Eleanor’s  husband John Calder made the interior panels of his stone house from those
devastated elm trees.  Spoliated  Elm he called the planks.   When put through his saw mill the dead
elm logs revealed  a fungus among the wood fibres. Quite pretty although sad.

Compare ‘my elm’ to the elms currently being raised.  Not nearly as stately.  Why is  
that?  I have been told that Canadian arborists have been searching for survivors
of Dutch Elm Disease for decades so this big one may not be alone.   We had two or
three generations of elms survive the initial devastation.  Hope was strong.  Not 
lucky though.  The last of ours was cut into firewood  last fall.  It had been standing
dead along the fifth line sideroad.  Dangerous for Andrew to get underneath  with
his  chain saw. But also dangerous lest it fall suddenly on a car…or a deer…or a turkey
…a coyote…or one of us.

Gone Gone Gone.  But this beauty remains. 
( As if a hairy mammoth is surviving on some
deserted  Arctic Island.   Some did.  But they did not survive human predation.)

alan skeoch
Feb. 2021

post script

Cultivars of the elm are flourishing but somehow they do not look as  stately.  Why is that?




Elm as a future urban tree: is it possible?

Author:  Henrik Sjöman & Andrew Hirons
  08/01/2021
Last Updated:  08/01/2021

The Plantsman’s Choice

Dr Henrik Sjöman and Dr Andrew Hirons

The high tolerance of many elms to challenging urban conditions, combined with their ease of establishment, meant that they were widely appreciated across Europe and North America until their near-complete demise as a result of Dutch elm disease (DED). Today, as we seek long-term sustainable tree species for our towns and cities, there is a great desire to make the elm part of our urban treescape once again.

In Europe and North America, the elm (Ulmus spp.) was historically one of the most common urban trees until the end of the 20th century. Parts of Amsterdam in the Netherlands had over 70% elm along their streets and in their parks. Cities such as Malmö in Sweden were also proud of their majestic elms. It seems that in the eyes of some policy makers there was no reason to break a winning concept: all other trees were worse in comparison; it had to be elm on elm. However, these cities experienced the catastrophic effects of over-reliance on one type of plant material as the DED epidemic struck. Such widespread mortality of such a profoundly dominant tree was a bitter blow to many towns and cities. The effects of these losses can still be observed today.
Therefore, proposing elm once again as a city tree may seem unthinkable, but thanks to the hard work of tree breeders, it is now a realistic prospect. We know that many Asian species of elm are resistant to the serious type of DED, which has led them to be used in extensive hybridization work to produce DED-resistant trees. Many of these selected cultivars are of North American origin, including two that we have a substantial experience of now: the so-called Resista® elms, ‘New Horizon’ and ‘Rebona’. In order to succeed with them, however, you must know their background, so that you can more easily understand their capacity for growing in urban environments, as well as the care they may require.
Both cultivars are American hybrids from the University of Wisconsin and both have the Siberian elm (Ulmus pumila) and Japanese elm (Ulmus davidiana var. japonica) as their parents. It’s important to note that the characteristics of Siberian elm are such that its genes might be considered something of a mixed blessing.
In fact, some of what is said about the Siberian elm would not be polite to put into print. Suffice to say that some consider its weed-like growth, which results in an untamed, wild crown perched atop a stick, makes it one of the worse trees you can grow. However, the advantage of the species is its outstanding tolerance for hot and dry conditions, attributes that have served it well in its native regions around the edges of the Gobi Desert in northern China. So, having Siberian elm as a parent in these cultivars means that you get trees that are tolerant to the most challenging of urban environments and that quickly establish and grow fast. On the other hand, you also get trees with a rather messy crown structure, which is particularly difficult to manage at a young age when branching can be very dense and irregular. This means that it is wise to buy larger plant material (trunk size at least 25–30cm circumference at 1m) where the nursery has already done the difficult and extensive work of building an even and attractive crown structure.
Ulmus ‘New Horizon’

Ulmus ‘New Horizon’.

Ulmus ‘New Horizon’

Ulmus ‘New Horizon’.

Ulmus ‘New Horizon’

Early-mature trees of the cultivar develop with an oval crown, 10–12m high and 4m wide, but over time they can become significantly wider, usually with a continuous single trunk and a dense but fairly evenly distributed branch structure. The dimensions of the mature tree are listed by German nurseries as 25m × 10m. The cultivar enjoys heat and is a really good inner-city tree; its wind resistance also makes it a good tree for planting adjacent to highways. The autumn colour is not spectacular though. The variety has been around for 25 years in European cultivation and in the USA for another 10–15 years and is considered completely resistant to DED.
Ulmus ‘Rebona’.

Ulmus ‘Rebona’.

Ulmus ‘Rebona’

This cultivar is similar to ‘New Horizon’ but has a stronger tendency to develop a consistent single trunk with a more even crown density. The leaves are also slightly larger in ‘Rebona’ compared to ‘New Horizon’. Trees of the cultivar are very fast growing and initially develop a narrow pyramidal growth pattern, 10–15m high and about 4m wide, while older trees become significantly wider. Here, too, German data describe final sizes of 25m × 10m. ‘Rebona’ is also heat tolerant, wind resistant and it has proven to be resistant to flooding. The cultivar is somewhat newer and thus has not been tested as long as ‘New Horizon’, but it has shown remarkable tolerance for inner-city environments.
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EPISODE 256: LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL..AUGUST 1963…ERIC ARRANGED A STAG AT THE FARM…DREW DIVERSE BUTWONDERFUL CROWD.

Note:  The Yukon story is coming but 
needs a bit more research…so here is
a short bit nostalgia…remember those days?


EPISODE 256   LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL…AUGUST 1963 ERIC ARRANGED STAG AT FARM

alan skeoch
Feb. 2021

What a grand time we had  that late August evening in 1963 when my brother Eric, my best msn, arranged a  stag for
all of our friends at our farm.  We drank a lot of beer but not so  much that there was  any danger.  Just lots  of laughs.
The only concern was when Bill Doyle disappeared and was found enmeshed  in a forsythia bush…staggering.  It Was
his birthday and he promised  his mom he would not drink until he turned 21.  So he had a couple of beers and
made up for lost time.  No, he was not driving.  

Ron Saunders came over from the farm across the road.  He did not know anyone but that did not stop him from
mixing with the crowd.  About 1 a.m. I remember carrying him back to his house across the road.  He  was  quite
happy.   We probably had about 20 to 30 friends arrive, maybe more.   All done in good taste as you
can see in the picture  with Eric  and  the special sign he constructed.

Life in the  1960’s was good.  A grand time to get married.

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EPISODE 256 WHO WAS GERALD PRIEST? HE FOUND OR STOLE 70 TONS OF SILVER ORE (STORY 2)


Gerald Priest took this  photo of his family…powerful photo.  Yukon in June…spring time.


EPISODE 256    WHO WAS GERALD PRIEST?   HE FOUND OR STOLE 70 TONS OF SILVER ORE, (Story 2)
                            (subtitle  THING ONE AND THING TWO)
alan  skeoch
Feb. 2021

Gerald Priest was believed to have stollen 70 tons of silver ore worth upwards of $200,000 from  United Keno Hill Mine
company.  Stollen from the  mine  and hidden various places. This was not some nickel / dime theft.  Big time.
He  denied the charge stating that the ore came from a boulder  that had rolled onto the Moon claims which he
and a partner owned.  

Who was Gerald Priest?   No-one really knew much about him until his youngest daughter wrote A Rock  Fell on the
Moon in 2013…fifty years after the event;

I think her description of her father reveals that Gerald Priest was quite a  normal guy.  Nice father.  Could have
been.  Yet…..

Gerald Priest on the right with the roll your own cigarette and rifle. Dark Glasses.

THING ONE  AND  THING TWO  (from Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss, 1957)

“Ring…Ring…Ring! “ sounded  the newly installed telephone at the Priest home in Elsa.
“yes, yes…Alicia is here.”  said Alicia’s mother Helen.
“Phone call for you Alicia.” , a little girl at the time.
“Hello, who is this?”
“This  is the BIG BAD WOLF, and I am coming to eat you up.”, said Gerald Priest from  his
assay office at United Keno Hill Mine in the company town of  Elsa, Yukon Territory, one of
the largest silver mines in the world in the late 1950’s and 1960’s.  Alicia was either terrified
or consumed by giggles and  laughter.  She never said which.  I prefer the latter.

Why tell you this story?  First, I found the story amusing.  The kind of story my dad might
have told Eric and I when we were very small and  easily frightened.   Secondly, I want
my readers  to try and understand  Jerry Priest, a man who changed  from an idyllic husband
and father into a master criminal.

Alicia Priest, his youngest daughter, draws a  wonderful picture of  Jerry.  Her prose is faultless
revealing, touching, sometimes  unforgiving, at other times warm and loving.  I think you need 
this biography.  It will help you understand his story.   Jerry was  a nice guy.   A little private but all the same a nice person to share
a beer with if given the chance.

Jerry was born on August 27, 1927 in Edmonton.  His parents  dirt were poor and remained so  all
their life.  They never owned a home but rented places  in communities  across  western Canada.
Three boys.  Jerry was the middle child and resented his father’s favouritism of his  older brother Bill.
His mom, Alice, was  disowned  at 18 when she loved and married Bertrom, a  printer by trade.
Out of sync with his times in that he remained wedded to cold type.

As I read these descriptive  words I thought of Steinbeck’s Grapes of  Wrath families.

They moved around a lot.  Depression family…dirt poor.  Powell River, Nelson, Prince Robert, Kimberley, 
 Kitimat, Williams Lake, Maple Ridge, Slocam City, and others. “Occupational Nomads.” Poor with no
prospects of anything  better.

He finished  High School in Nelson, enrolled in the University of Alberta in chemistry for a short time
then took a short course in assaying techniques…i.e. determining the mineral content of
ore samples.

“Dad grew into a  quiet, clever, well-read and well-spoken young man” with all the attributes of a gentleman
who could preside over business meetings.   Flip side … Jerry was at ease leading a string of
pack horses through the Rocky mountain wilderness.  But when his guard was down “he squirmed
in his own skin…a fretter, a finger kneeder…out of step with his times.”  Shy in that he “disdained parties, 
crowds, and  gatherings of more than three or four and  was most at home when seated at a kitchen
table with a dog at his feet, a cup of  coffee or a freshly rolled cigarette in hand and one agreeable
companion across  the table, preferably female.”  (P.16,17, A Rock Fell on the Moon)

He had a cruel streak. “he could trigger my tears by scowling in my direction”  when Alicia was two  or three
years old.  “Mom would say ‘Stop it, Jerry’ and he  would lean over and kiss me.”  Jerry was witty,
affectionate and  ” original” most of the time.  He would give us the “works” which entailed
tickling us “until we screamed  for mercy”.  In winter, when the snow was deep he would throw us
“full force into snowbanks.”

Jerry loved practical jokes and  once persuaded his wife to drink a full spoonful of Tabasco sauce.  She
choked and spat and did a full Ukrainian cossack dance then “collapsed in a fit of breathless giggles.”

He pulled off the “let  me put a string around the  tooth trick” successfully “Don’t worry, I won’r pull
the string.” followed “Yank!”  Tooth out.  I did this trick with my own brother.  String from his loose tooth
to our bedroom doorknob. “Don’t want this done.”  Eric said.  So I exited in a huff and  firmly closed the
door.  Wham!  Tooth came out;  His trust in me however was another matter.   The story made me
see  Gerald as a  normal person. No comment required from readers.


Helen’s story is powerful.  A great mother…seamstress.  She  made  clothes
for the family…in this case deerskin jackets.  Her story comes next.  Global
in its reach.  Tragic in its consequences.  Loyal to the end.


He  was an outdoorsman. For four summers from  1958 to 1961 he ventured through  the Rocky 
Mountain wilderness on a horse  with a pack horse in tow.  Helen went with him on some of
these jaunts while her mother babysat the kids.  A solid  marriage.  A camera buff, he photographed these
trips with joy and  then turned  his  lens  of  his wife Helen and daughters Vona and Alicia both
of whom were born in the Mayo Landing clinic, not far from Elsa.  They were children of the northland
with a father that fitted into his  home and his surroundings.

Jerry loved sing cowboy songs while picking his guitar and puffing on a mouth organ strapped
to his mouth.  The Priest’s subscribed to Book Clubs.   Obviously the children were  up to date
since Gerald called his girls ‘Thing One and Thing Two’ .  Names he took from Dr. Seuss’s
Cat in the Hat which had just been published.   

He was  indeed an ideal father.   How could Jerry become one of Canada’s great con men?
A mega thief?

I suppose the simple  answer is that people change.  Is greed our fatal flaw?
I want you to know Jerry as we explore his heist.






What are facts about Cat in the hat?


  • Dr. Seuss was asked to  write a children’s story in 1957 using only
    words  on a list that children …new readers …would be expected
    to know.  He was given a list of 438 common words.  He wrote
    The Cat in the Hat using 223 of those words…which included
    ’Thing One and Thing Two. (three words)

THE CAT IN THE HAT
Dr. Seuss 

“I think I will call them Thing One and  Thing Two”

excerpt

you will see something new. 
two things. and i call them 
Thing One and Thing Two. 
these Things will not bite you. 
they want to have fun.’ 
then, out of the box 
came Thing Two and Thing One! 
and they ran to us fast. 
they said, ‘how do you do? 
would you like to shake hands 
with Thing One and Thing Two?’ 

and sally and i 
did not know what to do. 
so we had to shake hands 
with Thing One and Thing Two. 
we shook their two hands. 
but our fish said, ‘no! no! 
those Things should not be 
in this house! make them go! 
they should not be here 
when your mother is not! 
put them out! put them out!’ 
said the fish in the pot. 

‘have no fear, little fish,’ 
said the cat in the hat. 
‘these Things are good Things.’ 
and he gave them a pat. 
‘they are tame. oh, so tame! 
they have come here to play. 
they will give you some fun 
on this wet, wet, wet day.’ 

Next Episode:   Helen Preist

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EPISODE 255 CREDIT RIVER…GOOD WALKING ON THE WATER TODAY FEB. 17 2021

EPISODE 255      CREDIT RIVER…GOOD WALKING ON THE WATER TODAY   FEB. 17, 2021

alan skeoch
Feb. 2021

Now  here is something you can all do…take a long walk up the Credit River.   The snow  gives
you good traction. Not nearly as  dangerous  as  the glare ice was two weeks ago.
  More snow will just make it easier.  So put on your snow boots…grab
your camera and take a couple  of hours doing something that does not happen 
every year.  Marjorie  has  taken the hike twice today…and will do it again.  She even
met some  of our neighbours on the river.  Shake away the Covid 19 fear…social
distancing is easy on the Credit River., 

My Yukon story…A Rock Fell on the Moon, Part 2…will come later.

alan


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EPISODE 254 A ROCK FELL ON THE MOON…BY ALIICIA PRIEST PART ONE






   EPISODE 253      A ROCK FELL ON THE MOON  …  by Alicia Priest …magnetic  PART ONE

alan skeoch



Feb. 2021   

REMINDER 


Story is intricate….fascinating at least to me…very global as well, i.e. Russia in time of Stalin and 
persecutions of 1930’s when people ate grass, dead animals and worse…a marriage…two
little girls one of whom became an author just months  before she died…and a  father
who  had a grand  scheme…and a trial in Mayo Landing in Nov. 1963 where it was so cold
lawyers dare not turn of their car engines…defence lawyer Molson (beer family fame) had a brand
new 1963 Pontiac which was scrap at the end of the trial…ran day and night…
45 degrees below zero…lower than that…coldest place in North America…Mayo Landing
where the lawyers  and jurors drank double O.P.’s
in the Chateau Inn as we did in the summer of 1962..while Gerald Priest was stealing sacks
of silver ore (if true)…hidden  in the bush we were surveying that summer…and where a third man escaped prison because his 
jailed associates never ratted on him.  Honour among thieves.  

And the question of who owned 70 tons of silver ore…Was it from a ‘rock that fell on the moon.
or was  it stolen from Keno Hill ?  How do you steal 70 tons of ore?

I must have seen, maybe talked to, Gerald Priest in the summer of 1962.  Maybe I even noticed
Alicia playing with Caesar, her  dog, on a gravel road  in the lonely mining town of Elsa where
we bought our food and had ice cream cones.  Alicia  may have had  an ice cream cone on a day
that Bill Scott and I had ours.  We were there often.  

Alicia’s story is magnetic…like the Galena ore hidden on the trail near Keno Hill.

We were there….Bill Scott and I…while one of the great thefts in Canadian history was happening…and no one knew.  
Why did I never hear about this crime (if it was a crime)  until 2013? Simple.  President John Kennedy was shot in November
1963.  All other news fell by the wayside.   THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT KENNEDY ECLIPSED THE THEFT

OF 70 TONS OF SILVER ORE FROM AN OBSCURE MINE HIDDEN IN THE YUKON.  Few people in 1963followed the mining story.


alan

EPISODE 253   A ROCK FELL ON THE MOON


alan skeoch
Feb 2021



Alicia Priest was  10 years old  in 1962.   I was 23 years old.  We never met although we may
have seen  esch other.  She lived  in Elsa and her dad  was the assayer for United Keno Hill Mines,
a silver and lead mine in the centre of the Yukon Territory, Canada.  She was a happy  little girl
living in a nice pan  abode house provided by the mining company. Alicia and her older sister
Vona loved the wilderness in which they lived   Her mom was a German  born Mennonite who 
just barely escaped  the purges of Joseph Stalin after World War Two.  Her daughter becameMrs. Preist …
met Gerald through a lonely hearts club… through love letters exchanged before they met physically.  Gerald was in a dead  end
job in Elsa…OR he felt he was.   He was a genius who had a plan that was as  big as  the moon.

Too bad he failed in the end.  Lots of people were rooting for him…i.e. all the miners except one in
the Keno Hill mine at Elsa.  Even some lawyers.  All the citizens in Mayo Landing many of which
had been our employees  and friends in 1962.   

I wish he had succeeded too.  

I am not alone.  Mystery on top of mystery discovered reading Alicia Priest’s  book
“A Rock Fell on the Moon’.  Shocked  me.  I was much closer to events than I ever expected.
 Where to begin?   Should I start with the White Pass truck  driver who wanted
a coffee snd directions?  Or should I start with Alicia who wanted her Dad’s story told?   Or should I start 
with a Ukrainian  Mennonite fleeing with the German army in 1945?    Or should  I start with the first trial 
and jurors  in Mayo Landing in November 1963?   Or should I start with Gerald Priest’s giant boulder
that fell on the moon?  Or should I start with the mysterious connection to Dr. Aho.?  When his name popped
up in Alicia’s book I got goose bumps.  I was a lot closer to this  story than I ever expected.
 There was a lot I did not know.   Much  of which will never be known. 
Maybe I hould I start with myself…I was there but did not see?  Blind.

Dan Bowyer, good friend and reader of these Episodes, has asked If the story of the Rock on the Moon
is going to be made into a serial where he has to sit on ‘pins and needles’.  Can I tell the story all
in one episode?  Sorry, cannot do that.  Charles Dickens wrote his novels in episodes…tried to keep 
his readers on pins and needles…succeeded.  While not as gifted as  Dickens, i will follow his example.
Why?  Because the story is so damn complicated.  Many stories interwoven.  I have to surgically
separate each story…easier to do that using my Episode format.

To begin with I must have an attitude to the story.  A value judgment.  Where do  I stand on the big
crime?   Do I support Gerald Preist?  Or do  I side with United Keno Hill Mines Limited (UKHML)?
Like Alicia I really wish her father had succeeded in his  argument that ‘a rock fell on the moon”

We are not alone.  All the miners at Elsa, except for Price the mine manager, supported Gerald.
Sort of a David and Goliath story.  Where the bold little guy succeeds.  Wish that were so.  Gerald’s
success is transient.  Wish that were not so.  Wish Gerald Priest was a really nice guy.  He became
less nice as his life unfolded.  Wish that were not so.   If I had the power to change the story…to
make the story into a movie script with a happy ending, I would  do so in an instant.  Alicia felt that
way but stuck to the facts.  I am afraid I would not do that…I would  not let the facts  get in the way
of a good story. I am not as devoted to journalism as Alicia.  Well.  Not entirely true.  I have written
many episodes about Red Skeoch, my dad, who was anything but a prince of light.  He had criminal
tendencies. But nothing like Gerald Priest.  Dad  stuck to $20 heists.  Gerald Priest’s heist , if it was a 
heist, amounted to anywhere between $200,000 and $1 million dollars.  
Dad and Gerald Priest were both qjuie charismatic.  They could tell bold lies with a straight face.
Schemers.  Interesting people.

A ROCK FELL ON THE MOON

So the book title is as good a  place as any to begin.  “A Rock Fell on The Moon”  Where did Gerald got the idea
of shipping 70 tons  of silver ore 
in the first place.?  In his head. But there were other shadowy people involved. Mysterious
people one of whom I knew quite well.  We were contracted to him but never fully knew that.
He died in 1977…an accident….tractor rolled over on him. Dr. Aho.  His book was published
after his  death.  Very detailed and  wonderful book…details, details, details.  Except for the mysterious
story of the Rock  That Fell on the Moon.  In that chapter there are no names.  Not one.  All other
chapters are awash in details right down to nitty gritty…names, places, habits, broken legs, loose women
with names  included.   But that one chapter
has none.  Dr. Aho  was deeply involved.  He provided Anthony ‘Pancho’ Bobicik with $50,000 dollars in 1962 for
whatever gear was needed…yet that is not mentioned in his book ‘Hills of Silver’.  If I forked over
$50,000 to someone as strange as Bobicik (Pancho) I would want a receipt at the very least.

The mystery of one of the largest thefts in Canadian history remains  a mystery to this day.
Peso Silver and Silver Titan were mining companies owned by Dr. Aho.  I  spent the summer of 1962
working on their mining claims.  Good friends with all his men.  But I never knew that somewhere nearby there were 70 tons
of stolen silver ore waiting for White Pass trucks to pick up.  No one seems  to have known
except for Gerald  Priest, Pancho Bobiceck and a mystery third man who will never be known.
They kept their lips buttoned.  They went to the Moon.

SUCH a simple book title.  Enigmatic.  Do rocks fall on the moon?  Who would know?  Perhaps
Neil Armstrong but I doubt that…all he did was step on the moon and  leave bootprints.
So the title seems  a bit stupid…sounds like a science fiction novel.  

But Gerald Priest insisted until the day he died that a rock did fall on the Moon.    Gerald
and Pancho, his partner, and a mystery man…the third man who got away agreed that
the rock that fell on the moon was nearly solid  silver.  Worth a lot of money.   They argued
that this huge rock was loosened by weather or glacial activity thousands of years ago.
The rock then tumbled down  Keno Hill and came to rest on the Moon.

The Rock that fell on the Moon must have been huge…like this,
perhaps larger.

How could a huge boulder roll down Keno Hill to the swamp far below?  It is possible. Look at the slope.



The Moon?   Yes, the Moon was the name given to series of four mining claims at the bottom of the Eastern
slope of Keno Hill.  Gerald and  his partner, Anthony ‘Pancho’ Bobicik , put their staking tags  on the old 
 Moon claims whose tags had  expired.
(claimed size 500, x 1,500 feet).  They had discovered a mother lode  of silver and lead.  Called a ‘float’ in
mining parlance cause it floated on top of bedrock.  They kept their mouths 
shut lest others get involved.  Pancho was a Czechoslovakian immigrant among
other immigrant miners at Elsa (UKHML).   Single like most of the miners. Gerald  Priest ran the assay office in Elsa.  He determined
the silver content of the ore being mined underground.  Married  with two little girls, dog Caesar and a cat.

They were partners. Recent owners of the Mon  claims.  Miners who had struck it rich but
did not want anyone to know until the silver ore was smelted.  Smelted?   No smelter in Elsa…or
the Yukon…or western  Canada.  The nearest smelter was in the  western USA.   Somehow they had
to get 70 tons of silver/lead/arsenic ore from Keno City to the smelter?  The  smelter would pay…perhaps $200,000 or
more.  Turns out the smelter paid  less…$125,00.  But not to Gerald Priest.  What?  Explain!  i will in time.

  How could 70 tons be
moved thousands of  miles without being detected?

As things turned out it was quite easy to move 70 tons  of ore…671 Twill sacks to be exact, enough
to fill two railway cars.   White Past Railway had the trucks sitting in Whitehorse.  Gerald called for
three trucks to come to a long forgotten  spot on a  near forgotten mining road in June 1963.








Yes,  it was unusual for three large trucks to pick up 671 unmarked twill sacks of something heavy piled along
the side of the gravel road.  But it was not illegal.  Why should the truckers even care.  it was a job.

Elsa, the mining site and mill site, was nearby…at the end of the road really.  Nothing beyond except claim posts here
and there, streams and rivers, a lot of the land swarming with mosquitoes who were breeding lustilly in the soggy swampland at the
bottom of the McQuesten Valley.   If I was a trucker I would want to get loaded and get the hell back on the road to Mayo Landing
for a beer before the long 250 mile haul to Whitehorse.  Two of the drivers must have felt that way.  Once loaded they hit the road.
The last truck, however, did something different.  He was  supposed to take the Duncan Creek road  which by passed
Also.  But he got lost.

He drove into Elsa.  Stopped at the coffee shop for a drink and some directions.   Elsa…town of 600 people at the end of the road.
A town that poppied up in the mid 20th century like a Sheep’s Nose Mushroom, then after a couple of decades  just melted  into
nothing as if it had never existed.   On that June day in 1963, the town was very much alive.  Miners, mostly immigrants.  Elsa was the second richest silver
mine in Canada….third richest in the world…”spitting out 6 million ounces  of silver every year”  These were good times for UKHML.

Unknown resident in Elsa around 1962.  Pan Abode houses were provided to executives and professional employees
like Gerald Priest and his family.   Even  so, life was bleak  at times.


A twist of fate occurred.  The Mine manager noticed  the truck and  wondered  what the hell it was doing on the Elsa road.
This  was not an ore shipment day.  Albert Edward  Pike was  nicknamed  ‘Little Hitdler’ by his miners many of which were
immigrants from post war ravaged  Europe.  He was not liked.  But he was  obeyed.   He wondered what was  in the truck.
Suspicious he ordered the truck searched  but by then it was on the way to Mayo Landing 32 miles down the road.

Albert Pike wanted to know what a White Pass truck was  doing in Elsa  with piles of sacks  in the back.  
He ordered one of  his men, Lang, to find out what he could.  “Anyone know what that truck was doing here?”  by then
the truck was getting close  to Mayo Landing.  Pike wanted to know what was in those bags on that truck.
The road to Mayo was not a  racetrack…driving on a dry summer day was  akin  to crossing the Sahara.  Dust..dust..dust.
Slow going.  And  another 250 miles to reach Whitehorse.  No rush.

The truck was  searched by many men while the driver had his lunch in  Mayo.  One of those men,  believe it or
not, was Dr. Aaro Aho.  The man we worked  for in 1962.  Why would he jump on the back  of that truck to get…steal…
 Samples were to send back to Pike?  Seems an odd thing for a man like  Aho…a distinguished geologist. 
  “Strange things are done in the midnight sun” as Robert Service said.
Service should have been in Mayo Landing.  He would have written a poem about these men stealing samples from a
truckload  of ore bags while the driver had  his lunch.  Did the driver not see them?  Mayo Landing is a  tiny place.

Think about it.  If the driver had not stopped for coffee and directions the three truckloads  of silver ore could well have
reached  the  smelter and Gerald Priest need explain  nothing to anyone.   Alicia wished such had happened.
Her life would  have not taken such a bad turn for the worse.   Her momma cat might not have been shot.  Her wonderful
dog Caesar might not have been ‘put down’.

WHERE DID THESE 3 TRUCKLOADS OF  SILVER ORIGINATE?  TWO POSSIBILITIES


You will see this picture often.  It is one of the few pictures of Gerald Priest (on the right) , a picture
that captures his personality.  When  I first saw this picture I thought it was taken in front of the cabin
in which we lived  part of the time in 1962.  Not so.  Our windows  were intact.  But cabins like this
popped up often as we did our surveys.  WHAT about the 70 tons of silver ore?  We could
have walked over the pile and took no notice.  Take a close look at Gerald.  Memorize.


POSSIBILITY ONE:  The  671 bags  of  rich  silver ore came from a  boulder that fell from
the top of Keno Hill to the Moon mining claims in the almost impenetrable valley below.  The Gerald  Priest And Pancho
thesis.   The third man remained unknown.   The ore was listed  as the property of Alpine Gold and Silver Mines
Limited.   Owner was  Pancho Bobicik
 

POSSIBILITY TWO  The 671 bags of silver ore were secretly stollen from the UNITED KENO HILL MINE.  Somehow?
An investigation was  underway which would prove the origin of the ore.  Both Gerald Priest and  Pancho
were thieves and  will be prosecuted.  The theft involved a third man who has not been identified.  The RCMP
were notified immediately. (He had never heard of Alpine Gold and Silver Mines Limited.)

TWO POSSIBILITIES:  WHICH  SEEMS MORE LOGICAL?

TO BE  CONTINUED IN EPISODE 254


Sometimes the fate of great schemes collapse due to slight mistakes.   Had the truck driver not
got last Gerald snd Pancho might have  been rich men.   And Geralds wife Helen with her two children
Vona and Alicia would not have suddenly found themselves living  in the cellar of an East Vancouver slum.
Alicia was 10 years old and confused.  Why were they leaving Elsa?   What about her cat whose
kittens had  been so playful. “What happened to our pussy cat, Daddy?”
“She is living with friends.  She is fine.” Truth be told, Gerald Priest shot her.  
“And  where is Caesar?”   “He is old…have your mother put him down.”

Just who was Gerald  Priest?

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I will be late today EPISODE 252 “A ROCK FELL ON THE MOON”…by Alicia Priest…magnetic


   EPISODE 252      A ROCK FELL ON THE MOON  …  by Alicia Priest …magnetic

alan skeoch



Feb. 2021

I WILL BE LATE TODAY    EPISODE 252     

Story is intricate….fascinating at least to me…very global as well, i.e. Russia in time of Stalin and 
persecutions of 1930’s when people ate grass, dead animals and worse…a marriage…two
little girls one of whom became an author just months  before she died…and a  father
who  had a grand  scheme…and a trial in Mayo Landing in Nov. 1963 where it was so cold
lawyers dare not turn of their car engines…defence lawyer Molson (beer family fame) had a brand
new 1963 Pontiac which was scrap at the end of the trial…ran day and night…
45 degrees below zero…lower than that…coldest place in North America…Mayo Landing
where the lawyers  and jurors drank double O.P.’s
in the Chateau Inn as we did in the summer of 1962..while Gerald Priest was stealing sacks
of silver ore (if true)…hidden  in the bush we were surveying that summer…and where a third man escaped prison because his 
jailed associates never ratted on him.  Honour among thieves.  

And the question of who owned 70 tons of silver ore…Was it from a ‘rock that fell on the moon.
or was  it stolen from Keno Hill ?  How do you steal 70 tons of ore?

I must have seen, maybe talked to, Gerald Priest in the summer of 1962.  Maybe I even noticed
Alicia playing with Caesar, her  dog, on a gravel road  in the lonely mining town of Elsa where
we bought our food and had ice cream cones.  Alicia  may have had  an ice cream cone on a day
that Bill Scott and I had ours.  We were there often.  

Alicia’s story is magnetic…like the Galena ore hidden on the trail near Keno Hill.

We were there….Bill Scott and I…while one of the great thefts in Canadian history was happening…and no one knew.  
Why did I never hear about this crime (if it was a crime)  until 2013? Simple.  President John Kennedy was shot in November
1963.  All other news fell by the wayside.

alan

EPIODE 252   A ROCK FELL ON THE MOON


alan skeoch
Feb 2021

Alicia Priest was  10 years old  in 1962.   I was 23 years old.  We never met although we may
have seen  esch other.  She lived  in Elsa and her dad  was the assayer for United Keno Hill Mines,
a silver and lead mine in the centre of the Yukon Territory, Canada.  She was a happy  little girl
living in a nice pan  abode house provided by the mining company. Alicia and her older sister
Vona loved the wilderness in which they lived   Her mom was a German  born Mennonite who 
just barely escaped  the purges of Joseph Stalin after World War Two.  Her daughter becameMrs. Preist …
met Gerald through a lonely hearts club… through love letters exchanged before they met physically.  Gerald was in a dead  end
job in Elsa…OR he felt he was.   He was a genius who had a plan that was as  big as  the moon.

Too bad he failed in the end.  Lots of people were rooting for him…i.e. all the miners except one in
the Keno Hill mine at Elsa.  Even some lawyers.  All the citizens in Mayo Landing many of which
had been our employees  and friends in 1962.   

I wish he had succeeded too.  

etc.etc.
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EPISODE 251 YUKON DIARY MY LAST ENTRY…BUT NOT MY LAST STORY: A BIG EVENT WAS HAPPENING BENEATH MY FEET

EPISODE 251   YUKON DIARY    MY LAST ENTRY…BUT NOT MY LAST STORY: A BIG EVENT WAS HAPPENING BENEATH MY FEET


alan skeoch
Feb. 2051

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 14, 1962

THIS IS MY LAST DIARY ENTRY…
IT IS  NOT MY LAST YUKON STORY, HOWEVER, MY BIGGEST, MOST
FASCINATING YUKON  STORY WAS  HAPPENING AROUND ME BUT
I HAD NO IDEA WHAT WAS HAPPENING UNTIL ALICIA PRIEST, A LITTLE
TEN YEAR OLD GIRL IN 1962 LIVING IN A PAN ABODE COMPANY HOUSE IN
ELSA PUBLISHED  HER BOOK TITLED ‘A ROCK FELL ON THE MOON’
IN 2013.   HER STORY COULD BECOME ONE OF THE GREAT MOTION PICTURES
OF OUR CENTURY.   HER STORY…AND MY STORY…INTERSECT.  AS  YOU WILL
SEE IN EPISODE 252.

BIT FIRST I HAVE TO GET OUT OF JUNEAU ON FRIDAY  SEPT. 14, 1962

YUKON JOURNAL

UP early and  out walking the streets of Juneau.  Wondering why in hell i came here
…sensing there was  some reason…some hidden reason. (Which turned  out to be the Treadwell 
Mining disaster on  Douglas Island in 1917…I would not know that reason for many years.)
Lots of art shops here.  And many  more novelty shops for tourists fascinated by Pacific
Coast First Nations legends printed  on tea towels and plywood slabs and cheap pottery.
Bought two prints for $6.00.  Tourist stuff but nice.  Saleslady was very nice and recommended
I read ‘Cry The Beloved Country’…not pushing me to buy just saying it was a good book.

Confirmed  my exit flight with Pan American Airways.   Strange how links to the Yukon keep
surfacing.  In a clothing store I got in a discussion with the manager.  He knew Jack Acheson…
the placer gold miner who gave me the mammoth tooth.  Strange that the Yukon keeps  coming
up.  How does that happen?   Do I look like a prospector?   Or is it just that I am alone and ready
to meet people?  We talked  mining for a bit.




Then caught the limousine service to the Juneau airport.  Turned out to be a decrepit old bus.
But the takeoff was terrific.  Juneau is in a deep valley on edde  of  a fiord.  The airport runway
is short so  the big 707 had to accelerate fast and  then tip up equally fast or else we would
scrap metal and flash glued to a rock face.  As  we rumbled and  got speed I could hear 
Gordon Lightfoot singing, “In the early morning rain…big 707 set to go” and I thought,
‘Jesus, Garden Lightfoot has been here when he wrote the song.  Not true of course but
I felt the same as he must have felt only I was in the 707 while he was only watching the takeoff.
(Jet service had  just come to Juneau with a 2,000 foot runway extension.  In 1963, however, Pan
Am terminated  service to Juneau…so my flight was unusual…seemed the 707 needed  extra
power to clear the mountains but that could  have been my imagination))

“Early Morning Rain”

In the early morning rain with a dollar in my hand
With an aching in my heart and my pockets full of sand
I’m a long way from home and I miss my loved one so
In the early morning rain with no place to go

Out on runway number nine big 707 set to go
But I’m stuck here in the grass where the cold wind blows
Now, the liquor tasted good and the women all were fast
Well, there she goes, my friend, well she’s rolling down at last

Hear the mighty engines roar – see the silver bird on high
She’s away and westward bound – far above the clouds she’ll fly
Where the morning rain don’t fall and the sun always shines
She’ll be flying o’er my home in about three hours time

This old airport’s got me down – it’s no earthly good to me
‘Cause I’m stuck here on the ground as cold and drunk as I can be
You can’t jump a jet plane like you can a freight train
So, I’d best be on my way in the early morning rain

You can’t jump a jet plane like you can a freight train
So, I’d best be on my way in the early morning rain


Met forest ranger Dan Henny, nice chap.   We flew to Ketichikan from  Juneau together on
a big Boeling 707.  Music in my mind.  Lightfoot was depressed.  I was  not depressed.  Quite a 
difference.   Service was superb.    I was heading home to meet Marjorie….full beard  and  all.
Nicegin and tonic…fine meal…and  free cigarettes which I did  not want.

Eventually  we set down in Seattle and  I scoured  around for a flight to Vancouver.  Waitred
a bit then boarded for  short flight to Vancouver.  Booked into theGeirgian Towers hotel as usual
Had supper alone aboard the Royal Alaska (ship).  …Not great supper…would rather have  enjoyed my
cold can of pork and beans, wasted  $3.50.  

honed to confirm my flight reservation  with CPA and was alarmed when told “no chance,  flight is full”
I raised hell because I had  booked this flight long ago.  My costs would increase…my plan was unravelling.
They  booked me aboard a DC8 Vanguard with about same time arrival in Toronto.  Relieved.  had a
nice hot shower, listened to radio and  went to bed.  My plan seems to be working out.

Expenses   food  $3.50
                  Taxi  $2.00

Saturday Sept. 15, 1962

Up early and double checked flight with CPA just in case of trouble.   Walked uptown and paid CPA  $99.00
Nothing much to do so took walks through Hudson’s Bay store then over to  Stanley Park.  Rented a bicycle
for .50 cents an hour …cycled to the Stanley Park Zoo,

Lo and  behold I met Bill McAdam from Mayo Landing while at the Zoo.  What a small world.  What a great
collection of friends I had made in the Yukon. Walked back to hotel, had s bath, packed my little handbag
 and caught limousine to the airport.

Jet fight 1,  DC8 direct from Vancouver to Toronto.

Greeted by Marjorie, mom and dad.  No one is impressed  by my red beard.  Took all summer to 
grow it.  “keeps mosquitoes away”…”no mosquitoes here…makes you look old”  AND I was a bit
nonplussed on my first day at the Faculty of Education.  Nobody knew who the hell I was.
Friends who I had shared a glass or two of  beer at the King Cole Room of the Park Plaza
walked  by me without comment.  My beard!  Beard lasted a while then mom and Marjorie pinned me to
the ground beside the pump at the farm and proceeded to butcher my beard.  Lots of laughs.

So ended the YUKON DIARY,   I put the diary away for the last six  decades  and  it likely would
have remained in the dark had not Covid 19 struck the world  with such force.  I would like to
thank the Virus for the chance to rescue my Yukon Diary and bring back so many fond
memories.  On Sept. 15, 1962, I believed my days prospecting were over and a new career
was opening up.  That made me feel bad.  Working for HunTech for so  many years  was hard
to let go.  As things turned out the adventures were not over. We spent two more years
working the bush trails.  We?  Yes, we, Marjorie joined  me in the summers of 1963 and
1964.   The last job  was a seismic job for an open pit mine in Merrit, BC.  Very amusing.
We flew to Vancouver.  I had second thoughts.  What would the geologists and  mine
manager think when I arrived with my wife?  “Best you stay in a hotel, Marjorie,
and come to the BC interior tomorrow…I can explain that to the miners.”
Well, that did not work out as planned.   The hotel was  bad  news…in a slum
in East Vancouver.  Marjorie got scared and hopped the night bus to Merrit…overnight.
When I got back to my motel with the geologists and mine manager for a discussion
about the seismic results  first day.  There was Marjorie asleep in my room.

What a joke!  They thought Marjorie was a hooker I had hired in Vancouver
for the job  evenings.  No  matter what I said, their minds were fixed. Sly grins.
“Marjorie, they think you are a hooker.  No matter what I say.  So you’ll just
have to accept that I guess.”  She did.

Since my former boss,  Dr. Norm Peterson, is reading this Episode, I must explain
that Huntech did  not pay for Marjorie.  I paid that part of the bill.  Rather than  fly
back  to Toronto,  we took the transcontinental  train.  One birth.  Both of us in
a lower birth.  Tight but fun.

An aerial view of the mine. (Nicola Valley Museum and Archives)
Craigmont open pit, BC.  Site was  not as elaborate in 1964
This may not be the same mine but the only one I can
find in Merritt, BC, where we did the job.

And Norm, your advice about the FS2 seismograph  was excellent.  Remember I asked
what should I do  if the damn thing did not work.  “Alan, take these electronic boards.
If there is s problem, just slip the old boards out and the new boards in.”  Well
the damn thing did  not work on the first demonstration.  All the big shots watching because
they feared  their open pit mind was about to collapse unless the FS2 could find
a rock ledge deep below the loose ground.  A hook.  All  watching.  First explosive.  BOOM!
Nothing registered.   The moment of truth had arrived.  I kept my calm. “Just let
me replace a few things”  and I slipped a new board in the right slots. Signalled
for the forcite to be buried at the right interval.  Cleared the site. Pushed the firing
button.  And BOOM.  The damn thing worked perfectly.  In the eyes of the mine
manager I was competent…more than that…professional.   And he would  not
have to entertain me in the evenings because I had arranged my own entertainment
with a brothel madam in Vancouver.

Funny thing.  About 10 years ago, Norm asked me to give a speech to a
bunch of his church friends in Clarksberg.  He introduced  me.
I was flattered.   He used a big work that I still do not understand.
“Alan was a bit precocious.”  Now what the hell does that mean?

Since  then Norm has become quite a writer.  Two books done and a
third underway.  His  first book deals with the science of geophysics and
the role of Canadian engineers in those post World  War II decades.
Very scientific. An important piece of journalism.   Norm left out one
piece of information that fascinated me since we both did jobs in
the Northern Quebec town of Chibougamau.  There were no washrooms
in the bar.  Outdoor facilities.   Norm’s description of the difference between
the male and  female washroom was a hoot.  I might have enough nerve
to tell you the difference.   Hey, maybe that is part of being precocious.

alan skeoch
Feb.  2021

NOTE:  THE NEXT STORY YOU WILL FIND SPELL BINDING AS I DID.
IN 2013 ALICIA PREIST’S BOOK “A  ROCK  FELL ON THE MOON”
WAS PUBLISHED  BY LOST MOOSE  PRESS.  THE SETTING OF THE
BOOK IS  1962….THE PLACE IS  KENO HILL, YUKON TERRITORY…
THE EVENT ?  GERALD PREIST MAY HAVE STOLEN 700 TONS
OF SILVER ORE.  I SAY “MAY HAVE STOLEN”  BECAUSE HE INSISTED
THAT A HUGE ROCK FELL ON THE MOON…THE ROCK WAS SILVER.

LITTLE ALICIA PREIST WAS ABOUT 10 YEARS OLD WHEN I WORKED
THERE IN 1962.   I MAY HAVE SEEN HER.  HER DAD, GERALD,
WOULD NOT HAVE WANTED  US TO SEE HIM..

TOO BAD I CANNOT TELL YOU THE FULL STORY.





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EPISODE 249 YUKON DIARY LIVINGSTONE WERNICKE . ON KENO HILL 1925 TO 1935

EPISODE 249   YUKON DIARY  LIVINGSTON WERNECKE   ON KENO HILL 1921 TO 1935


alan skeoch
Feb. 2021

WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO BE IN WERNECKE CAMP, KENO HILL  1925

Mining is dangerous.  So it is not first in line up of desirable careers.  Test yourself.  
Would you take a job cutting out slabs of rock with explosives five  to 1,000
feet beneath the ground where the darkness is absolute and arsenic is just
one of the nasty minerals you will be handling while the air you breathe
is often  filled with tiny dust particles that are sharp enough to grind  your
lungs to a cancerous  pulp.

Arsenic and lead pouring out of mine site…not the Wernecke mine site but the problem was present in the Yukon and remains a problem

Not so nice.   Probably worse than I have noted.  Many miners, even as late
as the 1920’s could not stand erect in the stopes.   And the water they drank
had contaminants no one had identified…arsenic for sure.

Livingston Wernecke was well aware of the dangers miners faced.  He tried
to make the conditions in Keno Hill as pleasant as possible.  His mine was
not filled with dust.  His drills were water infused to reduce the chances of
silicosis of the lung;  It was safer to work  in a Wernecke mine than the
Guggenheim mine at the top of Keno Hill.  Not perfectly safe.  Mining
can be  dangerous but Wernecke made sure his miners knew the dangers
and took precautions.  

YES, he seems to have been erasable at times.  Miners that displeased
him were told to ‘get your time owed and get out’.  When buying claims from
stakers he gave fair prices as high as $100,000 if the site was tops.  But
he only made one offer.  Take it or leave it.  He did not talk much…lacked
the social graces. 

 He did not like prostitution or hard liquor.  Attempts to control both of these
vices failed it seems but were minimized.


WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO BE A MINER ON KENO HILL BETWEEN 1925 AND 1935.

   Dr. Aaro Aho in his book, ‘Hills of Silver’ shows  the good  side of Livingston Wernecke.
He referred to his miners as his ‘boys’.  Livingston may not have spent a lot of time
sharing stories with them over a hot drink but he made the conditions of their
lives as good as possible.  

Wernecke Camp Mine was not the wreck  that we saw in 1962.   In 1927 “there were two bunkhouses, 
a cookery, two  shafts and head  frames, a machine shop, a framing shed, mill buildings, Wernecke’s
and Hargreaves’ (mine manager) houses, three other residences, several outlying log cabins
and shacks, a recreation hall with a poolroom, bowling alley, library and radio, an outdoor skating
and curling rink, a warehouse,an office, a mess hall for 200 people,  laundry, the mill,
power house,  and assay office.” (P. 123, Hills of Silver)

Because of his stomach troubles, Livingston kept a cow for fresh milk.  Often the cow
did not give  all the milk expected because some teamsters would  milk her at night.
She eventually died… lead contamination from eating ore sacks. 
 
Wernicke’s  house was attractive since he expected his wife Mabel and their
two children to live on the mine site. Livingston liked to sit on his porch and watch moose
wading in the lakes far down in the McQuesten Valley.  Married miners with children were welcomed
as  employees .  Mabel and Maud (Hargreaves wife) often had games of bridge with other wives.

The poolroom, barbershop and  store were operated like any  such businesses in towns like
Dawson City, Whitehorse or even Keno City.

“In the recreation hall Emil Forrest showed silent movies on a small canvas screen for 75 cents  
admission and the  show  was always crowded  to see  Rudolph Valentino in the Sheik, Douglas
Fairbanks in The Three Musketeers, Gloria Swanson,  Tulula Bankhead, Pavlova, Tom Mix, Charlie
Chaplin and other great entertainers of the golden flapper era.”

Dances  were held with music  provided by the miners own “Jackhammer”  band  …a sax, 3 violins, a drum,
piano, and two banjos.   One prospector and  miner even gave dancing lessons.  When a dance
was planned Wernecke sent invitations and  provided  transportation from Keno City or even
as far away as Mayo Landing.

At Christmas time Wernecke threw  a big party for all.  

Drunkenness was unacceptable to Wernecke and one  story is told that he  threatened  to fire any
Irishman who got drunk on St. Patrick’s day.  None got drunk.  But his Swedish employees] did
get drunk so he  fired them all.  This sounds a little far fetched but the story does underline  the
stiff moral code by which Werncke lived.   And his determination to make sure others shared
his principles whether they liked it or not.

The brothel down in Keno City bothered Wernecke as mentioned earlier.  He visited the place
intending to have a talk with the Madam…perhaps named Vimy Ridge.  Before  the discussion
got underway one of his miners noted Livingston and said, “Hello, Mr. Wernecke, I see
you use this place too.” Seems Livingston said nothing but may have stared  at the miner in disgust.
 Another tale that may or may not be true but underlines his determination
to protect the  health of his boys.   He paid a doctor to ensure the girls were in good health and not
likely to infect his boys.   Infections would reduce production  at the mine.

A complicated man.   He looked after his boys well.  Grant that.  But he would fire them on the
spot for minor transgressions.   He gave terse orders which were sometimes misunderstood
which kept his miners on pins and needles.  

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE HORSES?

When Bill  Dunn and I visited  the ruins of the Wernecke Camp Mine we found a horse stable with
two horse collars.  I made a big mistake when I assumed  the Mine was  shipping ore concentrates
by horse and sleigh or wagon to Mayo Landing where sternwheelers would load the sacks  and 
beat their way to Whitehorse.  Livingston Wernecke got rid of his horses in 1923…the same year
that Benjamin  Holt invented  and marketed  the Holt bulldozer…then called  the ‘caterpillar’.
At least two of these powerful machines were shipped  to Skagway and on up the White Pass
railway to Whitehorse then driven at crawl speed  all the way to Keno Hill.   Wernecke was criticized
for this  leap  of technology. “We do not even know how to get the machines off the boat in Skagway let
alone onto a White Pass railway flatcar.”   But it was done.   The Holt machines hauled multiple
sieighs of ore all hitched to the Holt caterpillars with a caboose as living space for the drivers
when at rest. 

What happened to the horses?  The good horses  were sold. “The others were shot.”  A  few were
kept to haul ore from the mine to the  ‘Holt train’ and others  hauled waste rock to be dumped over
the cliff into the MvQuesten Valley.

Werencke always tried to make his mine as efficient as possible for Treadwell Yukon directors
in California.










Wernecke was quick to see that these huge  Holt Caterpillars could haul many many
sleigh loads of silver ore from Keno Hill to Mayo Landing cheaper than the teams of horses
…and cheaper.  



HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF THE WERNECKE MOUNTAIN RANGE?

Livingstone Wernecke was a shy man  really.  Efficient, frugal, irascible, generous, …a man who loved the wild places as  much as he loved
developing mining ventures.   Prospectors were often provided with food, gear and even airborne transportation to the unknown
part of the Yukon in hopes they would make discoveries. If a prospector found  and staked promising mining sites Wernecke was
quite willing, as mentioned earlier,  to pay as high as $100,000.   He encouraged discoveries by these free ranging unprofessionals.  He admired  their
tenacity..their risk taking…their independent spirit.

One  of the rewards, after his death, was the naming of a largely unexplored Yukon mountain range after him.  The Werneke Range.
Incredibly beautiful.





So much more could be said about Livingston Wernecke.   Too little time to do it.

alan skeoch
Feb.  2021