Alan Skeoch

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  • EPISODE 691 THE MARATHON JOB…AND MARRIAGE AUGUST 24, 1963

    EPISODE 691    THE MARATHON JOB…AND MARRIAGE AUGUST 24, 1963


    “Floyd, why don’t we have a gun to protect us from bears?”
    “Because we would likely shoot each other” (Floyd Faulkner 1958*
    *That was one of the worst jobs ever. Floyd was right. Bob Hilkar, Floyd
    Faulkner, Walter Helstein and I did get on each other nerves but never
    so much as we needed a gun.  We spent 3 months in that tent.  Smelled bad.
    All the same the principal of ’no guns’
    was a sane principal that should be etched in stone somewhere…everywhere.”)

    This job in Marathon in 1963 was supposed to be my last bush job…but it wasn’
    Read on.

    alan skeoch
    Dec. 11, 2022

    My mining days were not over quite yet.  Even though marriage was on the near horizon…August 24, 1963…
    I accepted a survey job near Marathon, Ontario.  A wilderness job.  Dr. Paterson put me in charge
    of the logistics and sent a Welsh man, John Lloyd, to do the interpretation of our results.  

    Marjorie accepted my explanation. “The money I earn will pay for our honeymoon.”  

    MARATHON JOB and THE BLACK BEAR and BILL GILBEY 

    “What about the bear?”  I know. I know. (Some readers may wonder about the bear story
    alluded to in a previous episode)

     That was one smart bear.  It seemed to like our camp.
    Hung around. Once it Grabbed a salami hanging in our cook tent.  Expected easy pickings…better than
    the local garbage dump. One dark  night John Lloyd reached for his axe mistaking me for the bear.
      Dangerous.   The bear was a novelty at first.

    We tried our damndest to scare the bear away. Like hitching the generator to the garbage can lid.  It did not
    work.  Before we could flip the switch the bear got our box of chocolate bars.  We had figured
    a good jolt of electrify would deter the bear. Nothing worked and the bear was getting bolder.
    We expected the bear would join us at our cook tent table one day.  Did the bear reach into the cook
    tent for that hanging salami while we were having supper?  That might be my imagination.



    I was in charge so had to make a decision.  A gun!  The bear had to be removed before
    someone got hurt,  Canadian mining survey crews do not carry guns.  Why not? “Because.”
    said Floyd Faulkner, “we were likely to shoot each other”.  Which was true. The job
    was tough.  Slogging through bug infested forests day in and day out tends to breed
    discontent.  Sleeping on the ground beside a  guy who snores and farts can be irritating.
    Having wet feet day after day also makes men irritable.  No anger on this job but lots 
    of laughter…especially when Bill Gilbey was reading and showing us excerpts from
    the Eaton mail order catalogue.


    Marathon hob, left to right:  Bill Glbey, David Murphy, Alan Skeoch, Roger Nicholls,
    John Lloyd.  
    I have a good memory but not perfect.  I do not remember what this machine did.
    Suspect it was a trial machine to find underground conductors.  Seems not to have worked
    because we never used it. Then again maybe we were just too stupid and could
    not figure how to make the machine work.  Pics were taken as promotion for investors.  Mining
    exploration was going through terrific changes in the 1960’s.  Don’t we look impressive.?

    BUT NO GUNS IN CAMP

    So no guns.  Fine by me.  I hate guns and regard gun lovers as deranged.which alienates 
    me from hunters and the gun sport lobby (IRA).  I  Became a gun hater by experience rather than idealism.
    I shot my brother in the ass just to see if our brand new BB gun had punch.  Lost him
    as a friend for a while as a result.  Dad smashed the BB gun across a Manitoba maple in
    our back yard.   Before that I managed to shoot the panes out of several farm
    drivesheds and even put a BB through the back window of Angus McEchern’s 
    half ton as he drove down the Fifth line that Christmas day so long ago.  

    I know this dissertation is too long.  Only desperation caused me to invite the
    local Lands and Forests Ranger to our campsite. “The bear is getting a little
    too friendly.  There he is over at the tent flap.”  The bear visited us in the daytime 
    at that point. 


    We were more at fault than the bear.  All our food just sitting in the cook tent.



     “Only one thing we can do…shoot the bear.  Too bad. Easy access
    to food results in a lot of dead bears.” (a veiled criticism)
      Ans he raised the rifle
    “Stay behind me…OK he’s standing to get a good look at us.”
    And he fired
    “got him”
    The bear did not move for a second or so.  Then it did something I will
    neer forget.  It cried like a little baby.  Slumped over and died.    We buried him
    where he fell.   None of us on crew…Roger Nichols, DavidMurphy, John Lloyd,
    Bill Gilbey and myself felt good about what we had done.  Since I had made
    the decision I probably felt the worst.   Never could understand the joy a hunter
    feels when he shoots an animal for no other reason than the joy of the kill.

    Thankfully Bill Gilbey broke our depression by turning the pages of
    Eatpn’s catalogue as he did every night.  A whole section of the catalogue
    is devoted to female lingerie.  “How we have fallen when we have to depend
    on Eaton’s catalogue for our pornography?”   And he held up a model showing
    off a brassiere or something even more suggestive.  we all laughed as we 
    did with just about everything Bill Gilbey did.



    Perhaps a word about Bill Gilbey migh be interestng.  Those of you who drink gin
    might recognize the name.  Gilbey’s Gin is sold in liquor stores around
    the world.  Bill was born into the ranks of English lesser nobility.  His father,
    Sir William Gilbey had been knighted for some reason or other.  That put Bill
    into the upper class.  What was he doing on a lowly geophysical survey crew
    like ours?  Will he require bowing and scraping….maybe a curtsy?

    “Alan, you will have a special person on he crew this year.  Guy whose family
    name is on thousands of gin bottle.  Gilbey.”





    Bill Gilbey in his sleeping bag with an air mail letter close by.  And Bill Gilbey in our canoe on the
    Little Pic River where one of our line cutters drowned or so we were told.
    Bill turned out to be a wonderful guy to work with….sharp sense of humour…capable..wonder what he wrote in that air mail letter ?

    Capable of swearing at mosquitoes and black flies with the rest of us.  Later 
    some beer drinkers mimicked his accent…kept needling him.  He met one of them
    outside the pub who wanted to punch him out.  It was a one punch fight.  Bill could
    box.  Surprised me for he was nicest guy imaginable.  (A Couple of years ago I tried to
    find him in England and discovered he had died.) He was as sad about the bear as
    the rest of us.

    And so the summer of 1963 rolled  along and was over too soon.

    Then  a Chevrolet pulled in to our gravel site campsite.  Marjorie and her guardian, Phyllis Morgan and my mom 
    arrived to take me back to Toronto for the wedding.   The boys gathered round, presented us 
    with a card table as a gift.  

     Marjorie fitted in so well wit the boys that an idea
    was hatched in the far corner of my brain. Maybe Marjorie could join us next summer.

    Maybe my mining exploration days were not over.  Maybe Marjorie might like
    to come along on another job.  As long as I kept my mouth
    shut about the plan.  Our boss, Dr. Paterson, made a big mistake telling
    me that his wife came with him on a couple of jobs.   Marjorie could be a big
    asset as she could cook, sew and sing.  And we could swim nude in some unnamed
    lake in the Canadian boreal forest.  Like Adam and Eve but no fig leaf. Good idea, Alan….

    Marjorie prepared for a honeymoon on Cape Cod but the real place chosen was
    the Bahamas.   We had a great time but ran out of money in four days so came
    home earlier.  I worked for 3 months to pay for the honeymoon but it was gone
    in four days.  We didn’t care….we were married.


    alan skeoch

    NEXT EPISODE # 694    MY LAST TWO JOBS…AGAWA CANYON, Ontario, and OPEN PIT MINE MERRITT, British Columbia

  • EPISODE 693 MAKING A MOVIE…JAPAN IN 1945


    EPISODE 693:THE BITS AND PIECES THAT MAKE A MOVIE

    alan skeoch
    Dec. 9, 2022

    How is it possible TO MATE two giant trucks?


    Now that takes skilll.

    But it had to be done before loading  could be done.  The 5 ton truck
    ferried the pieces to the 14 wheeler parked on the road.  It took THREE MATINGS 
    TO FILL THE TRACTOR TRAILER..




    “Hello, Alan, what have you got that might look like Japan in 1945?”
    “Lots…come up to the farm.”

    And that led to a bit of an adventure.  And caused two big trucks to get sexy.
    One was an 18 wheeler with a trailer 53’ long and the other a large 5 Ton.  What was loaded?
    …well take a look.

    Such is the process of MATING two big trucks.  Then the loading of our set dressing.  Imagination !




    The second day was cold…ground hard as a rock which was good for loading had not the Bob Cat tire gone
    flat.  Nor easy to get a man ro repair a tire …. made urgent call and Steve arrived with his sledge hammer
    and new tube….cost $220.

    The crew had been loading by hand….lots of labour..cheerful because there was a
    soccer game interlude and even hot soup for Martin and Brian courtesy of Marjorie.  Hot soup
    with lots of spice.

    “How is the soup Martin?
    “a bit hot…I mean really hot.”
    “because it’s kimchi”


    Loaned my Bob Cat to the movie crew. I hoped the movie company would pay the bill for the tire but on the whole was relieved we got both trucks
    filled to the brim with set dressing …convincing set dressing when the film comes out in the open.  Some sample pics above.



    alan

  • EPISODE 689 ESCAPE FROM YUKON JUNEAU AND PAN AMERICAN “707 SET TO GO”





    EPISODE 689   ESCAPE FROM YUKON    JUNEAU AND PAN AMERICAN “707 SET TO GO”

    alan skeoch
    Dec. 4, 2022



    Transportation – Salt Spring Chamber of Commerce

    My Escape from the Yukon began when I hi-jacked that bus from Mayo Landing and drove the bus
    and passengers to Stewart Crossing where the bus was vacated and then caught the early morning bus to
    Whitehorse from Dawson City.

    September 11 to September 15, 1961 Escape from the Yukon retracing the trips of
    the Yukon Gold Rush   Mayo Landing to Stewart Crossing to Whitehorse to Skagway to Haines
    Junction to Juneau to Seattle to Vancouver to Toronto.  

    (I do not expect all episodes will be read…who gives a sweet goddamn about
    my experience in the Yukon.?    I may be the only one.  Understand that.  our
    two sons seem to avoid the emails. Maybe Marjorie, my proof reader, is the only
    reader.  Not quite so. I was amused at curling
    yesterday when three of my curling friends began talking about their Yukon adventures. 
    Triggered by my emails.  That made me
    feel good.)

    256 Juneau Alaska Downtown Stock Photos - Free & Royalty-Free Stock Photos from Dreamstime
    Main street in Juneau…with mountain hovering over.

    Juneau was quite a shock after Keno City whose population was 50 or less…perhaps 20 or even less.  I can count 20 people on this street alone.


    What do I remember about Juneau leg of the trip?  Nothing very remarkable. Spent 6 hours in small cabin of 
    the S.S. Chilcot, a water taxi.  Arrived at Juneau in pouring rain.  No shelter at dock, soaked.  Taxi to
    downtown Juneau (really uptown Juneau because the city is built on slope
    of mountain.  Rather miserable place in pouring rain.  As a matter of fact my
    memory of Juneau boiled down to one event.   Leaving Juneau on a
    Pan American Boelng 707 and the voice of Gordon Lightfoot:

    arrived in a rainstorm … and flew out in a rainstorm.



    Lyrics  IN THE EARLY MORNING RAIN
    In the early morning rain with a dollar in my handWith an aching in my heart and my pockets full of sandI’m a long way from home, Lord, I miss my loved ones soIn the early morning rain with no place to go
    Out on runway number nine a big 707 set to goAnd, I’m stuck here in the grass where the pavement never growsNow, the liquor tasted good and the women all were fastWell, there she goes, my friend, she’ll be rolling down at last
    Hear the mighty engines roar, see the silver wing on highShe’s away and westward bound, far above the clouds she’ll fly
    There the morning rain don’t fall and the sun always shinesShe’ll be flying over my home in about three hours time
    This old airport’s got me down, it’s no earthly good to meAnd I’m stuck here on the ground as cold and drunk as I can beYou can’t jump a jet plane like you can a freight trainSo, I’d best be on my way in the early morning rain
    You can’t jump a jet plane like you can a freight trainSo, I’d best be on my way in the early morning rain

    GORDON LIGHTFOOT   1966*

    (* Song was not written in 1961 as I believed…no matter
    I have always associated it with the Pan American 707 in Juneau.)



    Juneau airport … I think pic was taken in 1961…notice the background…needs lots of power to clear the mountains.
    Pan Am Boeing 707 cabin | Aircraft interiors, Airline interiors, Vintage airlines
    That song I will never forget.  Travelling alone is not enjoyable. Better
    to have Marjorie with me…far better.  That was what I felt for most
    of those last Yukon days  “In the early morning rain”.  My flight out
    of Juneau fitted the song so well….”Big  707 set to go”.
    The Boeing 707 had to be really set to go because the Juneau
    airfield is short and the mountains are close.  Extra boost needed.

    Before boarding I visited a tourist gift store and bought Marjorie
    a wall hanging titled Toads on Tidewalker not knowing this was
    a Tlingit legend.  Not even knowing much about the Tlingit people.

    I just wanted get home but “just can’t jump a jet plane like you 
    csn a freight train”…I had to arrange flight to Seattle and then
    a $99 prop driven flight to Vancouver and finally an Air Canada
    flight to Toronto.  That took time and reinforced the loneliness.

    Her picture hung in every tent we pitched.


    Marjorie and I had got engaged just before i took offer the mining
    job in the Yukon.  We got married August 24, 1963.  In September I would begin
    teaching at Parkdale Collegiate Institute in West Toronto. 

    How could I finance our honeymoon?  Mining exploration.  Dr. Paterson
    offered a job North of Lake Superior near the company town of
    Marathon.   Maker of cardboard from boreal forest pulpwood.  Air full
    of H2S..Hydrogen sulphide…lots of it.  What does it become when mixed with moisture in our lungs?
    H2s04..sulphuric acid.  Not nice stuff.

     My excuse to
    Marjorie was the need for some cash for our honeymoon which was only
    partly true.  I wanted another summer doing mining exploration…loved the
    adventure.  Probably did not fool Marjorie because when we got close to
    the wedding date she arrived in Marathon with my mother and aunt Phil
    to make sure I showed up for the wedding. That was a three day drive
    for them.  Maybe Marjorie felt I would not show up for the wedding as 
    Bill Dunn did on the Yukon job.  He left his girl at the alter, or so he said.
    In any event  I was kidnapped…willingly so.

    Marjorie and her guardian and mom did all the wedding arrangements.
    All I had to do was show up.  Some think that is still the case.

    And I was able to have one more year of wilderness adventure. “Needed to
    pay for the honeymoon, Marjorie.”  Not sure anyone believed that half truth.

    The Marathon job had lots of excitement.  I was in charge of the camp.
    A black bear insisted on joining us no matter how we tried to discourage the
    poor creature.  One night I got up to go for a leak.  John Lloyd thought
    I was the bear coming into the tent and grabbed an axe ,. Close call.
      We did not want to kill the bear.  Tried electricity
    to scare him or her away.  Our meat and chocolate bar locker was a big meal garbage can buried
    to the lip in the ground.  We hooked our motor generator to the garbage can
    lid and all of us, six men, crammed into our truck and waited.  The bear came,
    lifted the lid and grabbed a box of Neilson’s Jersey Milk chocolate bars before
    we could flip the switch.  That was a very fast bear.  And dangerous..

    A nasty decision had to be made…I am a firm believer in gun control…what to do?

    NEXT EPISODE:  MINING DAYS COME TO AN END — MARJORIE JOINS THE CREW

    post script   

    In those long Yukon summer nights there was lots of light for reading.  That summer of
    1961 I was deep into the thoughts of Thoreau: I was 23 years old and a touch idealistic.

    “The greatest compliment that was ever paid me was when one asked me what I thought, and attended to my answer.” 
    ― Henry David Thoreau

    “Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth.” 
    ― Henry David Thoreau, Walden
    nature
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    “Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all.” 
    ― Henry David Thoreau, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers
    “However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shun it and call it hard names. It is not so bad as you are. It looks poorest when you are richest. The fault-finder will find faults even in paradise. Love your life, poor as it is. You may perhaps have some pleasant, thrilling, glorious hours, even in a poorhouse. The setting sun is reflected from the windows of the almshouse as brightly as from the rich man’s abode; the snow melts before its door as early in the spring. I do not see but a quiet mind may live as contentedly there, and have as cheering thoughts, as in a palace.” 
    ― Henry David Thoreau, Walden

    The Founding of Juneau, Alaska

    by Nancy Warren Ferrell

    For the most part, the vast spruce covered mountains and protected waterways along Gastineau Channel in Southeastern Alaska laid untouched to the mid 1800s. Before that, Tlingit Indian tribes fished the rich salmon routes for centuries. And a few well-known explorers had come before: Men such as George Vancouver and John Muir.

    But it was rumors of gold that lured prospectors to the Gastineau Channel in the 1870s. Sandwiched in quartz within these coastal mountains, ran a 100-mile belt of gold from Windham Bay to Berners Bay1. River gravel below the peaks sparkled with yellow particles washed down from the mountain lodes.

    A German-born mining engineer, George Pilz, then working in the headquarters of the Territory–Sitka–grubstaked prospectors to search for gold and silver 2 in Southeastern. Pilz offered substantial rewards to the local Indians(“100 pair of Hudson’s Bay blankets, and work for the tribe . . . “) 3 for any promising gold-bearing ore. When Chief Cowee of the Auk Tlingits brought in rich ore samples, Pilz sent out a party of miners to follow-up on the hopeful location. The party consisted of Joe Juneau and Richard Harris. They left Sitka in the summer of 1880.4

    The two prospectors, with an Indian guide showing the way, located gold in Silver Bow Basin, on a stream they simply called Gold Creek.5 “We followed the gulch down from the summit of the mountain into the basin,” Harris later said, “and it was a beautiful sight to see the large pieces of quartz, spangled over with gold.” 6 This find was the first major Alaskan gold discovery.7


  • EPISODE 690 SENIORS OVER 80 DRIVING TEST — EVERYONE SCARED



    EPISODE 600      SENIORS OVER 80 DRIVING TEST — EVERYONE SCARED

    alan skeoch  
    dec. 3, 2022








    I was scared.  Everyone seemed scared.   With good reason .  The “Over 80’s’ compulsory Drivers test
    had grave implications.  To fail meant loss of drivers licence.  loss of mobility, loss of freedom, loss of confidence.
    Recognition of age and all that burden implied.  Alzeimers, dimentia, failing eyesight, Parkinson’s, Arthritis…the
    whole ball of wax.  I am 84 and in good health.  Just a bad knee from football days 70 years ago.  No real need for
    a cane although I use one whenever with people who might want me to race them around the block.

    To fail the test meant reliance on other people…to use public transportation which is not so easy in Canada where
    we need cars just to get to public transport   The plazas all have spacious parking lots.  Corner stores are pretty well
    a thing of the past.  

    “Your test will be at the Best Western Hotel on Dixie Road….do not come early as others are being tested all day long.
    Bring your drivers licence and glasses if you need them to drive.. The test will take 90 minutes.”

    So around 20 of us gathered.  All nervous.  Even me even though I had been through the test when I turned 80
    And failed.  Yes I failed.  More about that later.  I know my failure triggered your interest.  Humans are less interested
    in perfect people that they are with those who are imperfect.  Human nature.

    The odd thing about my test last week was the presence of many men who seemed very fit.  About half the women
    were using canes  One woman needed two canes.  And their bodies seemed to shake….quiver…more than those
    of the men.     But we all shared one thing.  Nervousnes.  We all knew that failure woluld mean a dramatic change
    in lifestyle.  Would  mean dependence on others…particularly dependence on our children who may or may not
    be pleased to cart us around.

    The room was a little on the dingy side….lighting was not good or my eyes were not good.  Either or both.

    “Just take a seat anywhere.  No rush.  I’m doing an eye test with these ladies right now so grab a seat,
    your time will come.  Our mandated test for those oner 80 willl take around 90 mnutes.  Perhaps less
    because the projector failed so the film will not be shown.  I am the regional manager.  Doing tests from
    here to Niagara Falls every day.  Usually around 15 per class….a few more today.  Please feel welcome.
    My name is Natasha.”  

    Natasha was the chattiest of people.  She tried to make the Drivers’ Testing of over 80 year old as
    comfortable as possible.  

    But nobody spoke,  When Matasha stopped to take a breath the silence was absolute.

    “Some of you, those over 80 will remember the written test .  Rules of the Road.  Well that test is
    gone now.  We have one test of your cognition.  I will hand out a paper face down.  When I say
    turn it over you will draw a  face of  a clock with the numbers of the hours..  And finally you will use the hands of the clock
     to indicate ten minutes after eleven.  You will have five minutes;  No cheating..keep your eyes on your own paper.”

    That’s all?  I had studied the MTO Handbook for two days.  No test.

    “To finish the test each one of you must do a vision test.  Same kind as used optomotrists.  Just to make sure
    you can see where you are going and to check your peripheral vision.?”

    Natasha did all this with a big smile as she moved among the chairs and tables.  She was not
    overtly threatening  in any way.

    But we all remained nervous.  For good reason. If we were unfit to drive then our lives would change abruptly.

    No laughing matter.  The two men on either side of me were very serous  Both wives required 
    constant care.  So bad that both women were in places where constant care was possible. The men needed to
    drive to visit their wives.  And they  now had to run their homes….washing machine, stove, bills, food, etc etc.  Most of which
    required driving.  No matter how Natasha tried to make light of her role everyone knew she had the power to
    turn their lives topsy turvy..

    HOW YOU CAN FAIL

    My previous test taught me a big lesson.  I failed.  Not the written test.  That I got perfect.  When the
    meeting was over the tester…a serious man who was not chatty…dismissed everyone “Except for you
    Mr. Skeoch.”

    “Why?”

    “I see here you got a ticket two years ago. Do you remember why?”

    “No, I only dimly remember getting s ticket…. a long time ago.:”

    “well, you did and sorry to say you will have to do a full Drivers test.  And make sure
    you bring someone with you as a driver.  If you fail the test, then you will not be able
    to drive until you pass the test. “

    There was a 30% failure rate where I was tested.  I passed.  Test only took 15 minutes.  My examiner beside me with a 
    notebook.  Checking my left turns, three point turns, parking, attention to stop and go lights, safe lane changes,
    yield signs, idling positions, …all the things we do  drivers and take for granted.

    Did you ever wonder why people over 80 are so cautious as drivers.  Why they drive the speed limit rather than
    10 M above the listed limit.  Why they do not rush orange lights.  Why they twist their heads when changing lanes?

    ANSWER:   THEY FEAR THE DRIVERS TEST…THEY FEAR FAILURE…THEY FEAR THAT THEIR
    LIFE’S PATTERNS COULD BE SUDDENLY CHANGED.  THEY NO LONGER TAKE DRIVING FOR GRANTED.
    IT WILL HAPPEN TO YOU.

    alan skeoch
    Dec. 3, 2022

                                                               
    I passed the test…now I can drive for another two years.





























  • EPISODE 688 ESCAPE FROM THE YUKON PART 8 WHERE DID THE TLINGIT PEOPLE COME FROM 11,000 YEARS AGO?



    EPISODE  688   ESCAPE FROM THE YUKON  PART 8   WHERE DID THE TLINGIT PEOPLE COME FROM 11,000 YEARS AGO?

    alan skeoch
    dec. 1, 2022


    Tlingit girls, circa 1900


    Photo of two large canoes with many rowersTaku.jpgupload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Taku.jpg 2x” data-file-width=”485″ data-file-height=”599″ class=””>
    Tlingit Canoes in Alaska, 1887…Did the Tinglits paddle there way to North America?  Or walk? No one knows.

    SKAGWAY, HAINES JUNCTION, TREADWELL, JUNEAU… ‘TLINGIT’ TERRITORY

    Several of the Treadwell miners In 1917 were First Nations people…Likely Tlingits.

    Who are the Tlingit people?  No one really knows their origin.  But there are two schools of thought.
    The first is fairly well known.  Eleven thousand years ago much of the world’s water had become ice
    A huge sheet of ice covered much of North America.  But not all of North America.  Vast amounts of water
    was stored in the Arctic and Antarctic ice caps.   

    “During the last glaciation 18,000 years ago sea levels were 120 metres (394 feet) lower than today.”
       (Brian Fagan, THE COMPLETE ICE AGE, How climate Shaped the World, P.76)  Climate changes
    not new.  The difference is the speed of climate change due to human intervention.  In the last 100,00
    or so years there have been five Ice Ages and five Warm ages.  As ice melts, oceans get deeper.  As ice forms
    oceans get shallower.

    What is now the Bering Sea was a land bridge joining Asia to North America.  It is believed that
    Asiatic human beings crossed this land bridge at various times and settled in various locations.
    The First Nations.  Why?  Because animals such as Hairy Mammoths and others had already made the
    crossing and humans were hunter gatherers.  A hairy mammoth could make a fine and lasting meal.
    This theory believes humans, like the Tlingit, ‘walked’ across the Bering land bridge.  It makes sense.

    There is another theory, however, that also makes sense. Eleven thousand years ago a small group of
    people paddled their way from island to island, from headland to headland…from the South Pacific
    to North America. Polynesians. They found the food sources available in the Alaskan panhandle plentiful.  So 
    they settled themselves on the islands and the mainland from Skagway to Juneau.  

    As our climate warmed  the sheets of ice melted, the sea got deeper and what was shoreline
    in the last ice age changed.  Evidence of the movement of stone age people who came to North 
    America by sea was obliterated.  
    Tlingits are different than other native people;  Or are they?

    upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a2/Tlingit-map.png/440px-Tlingit-map.png 2x” data-file-width=”637″ data-file-height=”1057″>


    EARLY HISTORY

    The name Tlingit essentially means human beings. The word was originally used simply to distinguish a human being from an animal, since Tlingits believed that there was little difference between humans and animals. Over time the word came to be a national name. It is speculated that human occupation of southeast Alaska occurred 11,000 years ago by Tlingit people. Haida people, with whom the Tlingit have frequent interaction, have only been in the area about 200 years, and the Tsimpsian migrated only recently from the Canadian interior mainland.

    Tlingit legends speak of migrations into the area from several possible directions, either from the north as a possible result of the Bering Sea land bridge, or from the southwest, after a maritime journey from the Polynesian islands across the Pacific. Oral traditions hold that the Tlingit came from the head of the rivers. As one story goes, Nass-aa-geyeil’ (Raven from the head of the Nass River) brought light and stars and moon to the world. The Tlingit are unique and unrelated to other tribes around them. They have no linguistic relationship to any other language except for a vague similarity to the Athabaskan language. They also share some cultural similarity with the Athabaskan, with whom the Tlingit have interacted and traded for centuries. There may also be a connection between the Haida and the Tlingit, but this issue is debated. Essentially, the origin of the Tlingit is unknown.

    NOTE No one really knows where the Tlingits originated.  Was the Pacific Ocean sprinkled with more islands 11000 years ago? Was island hopping easier?

    Even with today’s DNA testing, the origin of the Tlingit people is not certain. It is generally accepted they came from the Eastern Hemisphere across the Bering Strait and down into Southeastern Alaska. Some believe the ancient imigration by-passed the glacier-choked panhandle and instead populated parts of California and the Lower 48, even as far south as South America and then returned later when the ice had receded. Others believe some of these ancient travelers remained to settle this area.
    The pre-contact native population of the Pacific Northwest Coast is also difficult to determine. Successive epidemics of measles and smallpox took their toll on native villages, sometimes leaving only one or two survivors. There is no way to determine exactly how many lives were lost due to these new diseases, but it appears that there was a great decline in population in the first half of the nineteenth century.
    The ocean provided not only food, but also a transportation corridor. Highly skilled navigators with seaworthy canoes, the Tlingit thought nothing of paddling for days in any direction. The Chilkats and Chilkoots also had overland routes to the interior. A great trade empire was established from interior Alaska/Canada south to northern California. In the Americas, this trade empire was rivaled in size only by the Incas.
    (William M. Olson, The Tlingit, An Introduction to their culture and history, 1997
    POPOLATION
    According to the 2o16 census there are 2110 Tlingit people most of them living in Haines Junction, Alaska,   First contact with
    Europeans the population was estimated.  Not large.  

    Dance Hat
    Tlingit dance hat. circa 1850
    (National Museum of Canada)
    alan skeoch
    dec. 2,2022
    NEXT: EPISODE 689   ESCAPE FROM THE YUKON 1961:  GORDON LIGHTFOOT “IN THE EARLY MORNING RAIN”