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EPISODE 278 SOCKEYE SALMON

EPISODE 578   SOCKEYE SALMON ..AND BRISTOL BAY


alan skeoch
May 7, 2022

See that little red dot?  That is the site of the Pebble Mine.  We worked 
somewhere in the centre in 1959;




If you eat canned salmon, odds are it came from Bristol Bay, Alaska.




Sockeye salmon….milions of them…startled us.  We came looking for mineralization.

 

we did not know that sockeye
salmon from Bristol Bay, Alaska. are highly valued  They provide 47% of the wild salmon
fishing industry in the world.  

“Between 1990 and 2010, the annual average inshore run of sockeye salmon
Was appoximately 37, 500,000 fish.” (Sept. 9,2021).   Oher studies say 70 million.



Sockeye salmon | U.S. Geological SurveyWildlife Preservation | The Conservation Fund

We did not know that.   This was a mining job;  We did not even  know that the 
river below our campsite was loaded with huge creatures working their way
eastward to their prime spawning ground.  Sometimes they virtually walked up
the river with their backs in the air where he water was shallow.

Bristol Bay, bounded on the south by the Aleutian Island chain, contains the
largest commercial salmon fishery in the world.  

  We were
searching for gold and copper. no one mentioned ’sockeye salmon’ to us.  Only Bill Morrison brought
a fishing rod and he was a sport fisherman looking for trout because they put
up such a fight.

Look closely…that’s Bill ..a speck of red.


 When Bill slipped down to the river he was astounded.   The river seemed
full of bright red fish…all moving determinedly to the river headwaters.
Today the estimate is that 71.2 million sockeye salmon will return to Brisol Bay
(Nov 16, 2021)

Why so many?  British Columbia salmon runs are diminishing year by year.
Why is Alaska’s Bristol Bay watershed loaded with millions and millions of salmon.

“Alannah Hurley, executive director of United Tribes of Bristol Bay, a consortium working to protect the traditional Yup’ik, Dena’ina, and Alutiiq ways of life in southwest Alaska, calls Bristol Bay a “salmon powerhouse.” There are many reasons for Bristol Bay’s bounty of salmon stocks. But chief among them is the robust health of the bay’s mountainous watershed, which remains untouched by industrial development. “There are no dams, there are no mines,” Hurley says in a telephone interview. “This is as pristine as it gets.”


“THERE ARE NO MINES…THIS IS AS PRISTINE AS IT GETS”  (Alanah Hurley, United Tribes of Bristol Bay)

In 1959 we were the thin edge of a wedge that would change Bristol Bay.  The toxic waste
of the mini industry tends to eliminate the word ‘pristine’ from vocabularies.

Of course we did not know that.  We did not know that the stage was being set for a momentous
battle that would last 60 years.  A battle between the people dependent on Sockeye salmon
and the Pebble Mine.   Both could not coexist. Only room for one.
Sockeye Salmon or gold and Copper.


DON Vanevery nd Bill Morrison…snagging sockeye salmon in Alaska in 1959




For us, we never thought of the big picture.  All we thought about was catching these 
30 pound salmon ….snagging them because they were not interested in food …then
dragging them ashore for s picture. Then releasing them.  They had not long to live.
The deeper the  redness, the closer to death.  Once spawning was complete they died
and the rivers were clogged with their bodies.  All the better for the Kodiak bears…


Bill Morrison…too big for 1 man to lift

“Al, I got a bIg one…must be better than 30 pounds.”
“Guess you have to land it yourself, Bill.”
“Why?”
“For the record books.”

The real battle was about to begin.   Would Bristol Bay remain pristine?.  Or would
the inevitable leaks from Pebble mine tailing ponds kill the salmon industry?


Dillingham native fishing drying rack

We never thought of the future.  But there were s great many people who would
find the next 60 years from 1959 to 2022 very stressful.   Victory was declared
eventually but wil it last?

NEXT EPISODE:  THE PEBBLE MINE … LARGEST OPEN PIT MINE IN NORTH AMERICA…MAYBE NOT

alan skeoch

post scriptGuided Salmon Fishing in Cooper Landing - Jason's Guide Service“There are no dams, there are no mines. This is as pristine as it gets.”


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EPISODE 577: Skeoch CAR re-creation hailed as ‘Epic Restoration’ in national magazine

> On May 4, 2022, at 9:05 AM, ALAN SKEOCH <alan.skeoch@rogers.com> wrote: > > EPISODE 577 THE SKEOCH CAR > > alan skeoch > May 2022 > > Well this note from Geoff Allison was a big surprise that may interest readers. > The ‘Little Skeoch’ had a short life when created in 1921 when fire destroyed the > factory and 6 of the 10 models ever made went up in smoke. Fragments of > the car remained … especially the paper plans. Thanks to Geoff and his > gifted friends a model of the little car has been made as you may remember as I did > a story on the car some time ago. > > Well today a thorough story has been printed in the june 2022 edition of > Classic Car. And I mean through. With a pile of detail pictures. The full > article is included. > > What is our family connection to this car.? I really do not know for sure. > Nice to imagine the connection may exist though. > > alan > >> >> Dear Transatlantic Skeochs, >> >> I am sending you a copy of an article published in the June 2022 edition of Classic Cars which refers to the re-creation of a 1921 Skeoch Cycle Car as an epic restoration – for your interest. >> >> Kind regards, >> >> Geoff > > > >

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Fwd: EPISODE 575 MINING CAMP ON THE ALASKAN BARREN LAND ADVEMTURE..1959.(SERIES ON PEBBLE MINE)


EPISODE 575   ALASKAN MINING CAMP ADVENTURES…1959 (SERIES ON PEBBLE MINE)


alan skeoch
MAY 2022




Large mosquito?  Don Van Every and Helicopter in Alaska 1959




SUMMER 1959:  Don VanEvery, Ian Rutherford, Bill Morrison, Mike Chinnery, Alan Skeoch and Dr. John StaM were flown to Dillingham, Alaska to conduct a Turam
geophysical ground survey in he summer of 1959.  From Dillingham the Canadian crew were flown into the Alaskan interior  by two Sikorsky
S 52 helicopters.   A camp had been constructed overlooking an Alaska river valley where thousands of sockeye salmon were laying their eggs before they died.

We were told the site was a secret.  Whether this was true or not I have never been able to prove one way or another.  What I do
know is that the site is located overtop a huge area  mineralization.  To this day, May 2022, no mine has been constructed

The hinterland of Bristol Bay has become one of the most controversial sites in the history of north America mining. All that needs to be
said is “How about the Pebble Mine?” and a stormy debate will follow.  “Are you for or against the Pebble mine?”

There was no such debate when we were there in 1959.   So let me state and restate some of our adventures and 
then look st the Pebble Mine controversy.   This is not a tiny story best forgotten.   It is one of the most controversial
issues in mining today.  Is the Pebble Mine a dead issue?  Could be.  One of our adventures was linked to the big story.
But we did not know it.  One tiny adventure.   


alan

ADVENTURES (as memory serves)


1)  TWO huge Sikorsky S 52 helicopters piked us up when our F 27 Fokker landed at the
obscure Dillingham fishing village on the Bering Sea not far from the Aleutian Island chain of
south west Alaska.  Flying in a helicopter became routine that summer . So much so that we often
sat with our legs outside the open cargo door.  Some kind of force held us in place.  Centrifugal?
totally enjoyable.   The lead pilot awoke us each morning singing over the camp Public address system,
“Let’s get fucking airborne”…and we would fly over the endless tundra to our survey points where we 
would be dropped for the work day then picked up.  I even had one small misadventure when trying 
to jump from the pontoon to the cargo cabin with a 90 pound reel of wire on my back. I missed
and fell through the gap just as lif toff began….distance 10 or 20 feet, hit the soft tundra like hitting
a rough feather bed.  I remember asking the pilot “What happens if we hit a sudden downdraft?”
“If I have a sling load I just press this button and drop the whole load.”
“Has that ever happened?’
“Had to drop a whole diamond driller drill unit once.”
“Wrecked?”
“Imagine so, never checked.”









2) WEAPONS:   “You boys can expect to be given rifles at base camp…30-06 hunting rifles. Be prepared.” said our boss
Dr. Norman Paterson, one June morning in Toronto.
And sure enough rifles were handed out on our first helicopter ride into the tundra.  I still remember my partner, Bill morrison , 
commenting.  “How the hell can we carry rifles when harnessed into the Turam?   So We just stacked the rifles at
the landing point.   Took a few practice shots at stunted spruce trees then forgot about the rifles.  Why were these
weapons distributed?  The Humble Oil contractor feared we would have trouble with Kodiak bears. I suppose that was
a legitimate fear but it never happened.  The closest I ever got to a Kodiak was one day trying to follow Bill up a 
river densely thick with tag alder scrub brush.  I was about 100 feet behind Bill.  Saw his footprint in the river bottom…
a swirl of sandy mud…and made a wrong turn.. I followed a bear who was getting out of our way.  Noticed a big patch of
brown fur . Moving.  Turned fast .  Bill had gone downstream.  Bear moving upstream.  Nobody hurt.  Would the rifle have
been any help?






Normally Bill and Were strapped together by a 100 feet of rubber sheathed cable.
Traversing river brooms often made it necessary to disconnect.  Hence my
confusion leading to the bear incident.  Bears do not like our smell so
they usually get out of the way if we make enough noise.  Sometimes a tin can
with pebbles strapped to our waist was all that was needed to alert the bears.




We were not the only people with weapons. The camp had a double purpose
Our job was to pin point anomalies (unknown but surprising blips on our Turam consols).
Then a diamond drillers crew would be ferried to the site to confirm by hard evidence (i.e. diamond
drill core) the nature of the anomaly.  

There were 25 diamond drillers in camp… and six Canadian geophysicists.   Seemed to me that 
they were all armed with revolvers on western styled gunbelts.  Maybe not all.   But many.  If you
carry a gun, there is a tendency to use the gun  As one of the drillers did one evening
down by our beaver pond in the river bottom.  “Watch this!” And he made a fast draw and aimed
at the beaver some distances busily chewing.  Killed the poor beaver.  
“Damn, I did not think I was that good.”

Bottom line?  The most dangerous place in my Alaska was our camp.


TO BE CONTINUED

“ADVENTURES IN ALASKA = THE PEBBLE MINE CONTROVERSY = TRIUMPH BY ENVIRONMENTALISTS”

ALAN SKEOCH
MAY 2022

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EPISODE 577: Skeoch CAR re-creation hailed as ‘Epic Restoration’ in national magazine

EPISODE 577 THE SKEOCH CAR
alan skeoch May 2022
Well this note from Geoff Allison was a big surprise that may interest readers. The ‘Little Skeoch’ had a short life when created in 1921 when fire destroyed the factory and 6 of the 10 models ever made went up in smoke. Fragments of the car remained … especially the paper plans. Thanks to Geoff and his gifted friends a model of the little car has been made as you may remember as I did a story on the car some time ago.
Well today a thorough story has been printed in the june 2022 edition of Classic Car. And I mean through. With a pile of detail pictures. The full article is included.
What is our family connection to this car.? I really do not know for sure. Nice to imagine the connection may exist though.
alan
> > Dear Transatlantic Skeochs, > > I am sending you a copy of an article published in the June 2022 edition of Classic Cars which refers to the re-creation of a 1921 Skeoch Cycle Car as an epic restoration – for your interest. > > Kind regards, > > Geoff
{CAPTION}

{CAPTION}

pdf icon ClassicCarsJun22.pdf
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EPISODE 576 : SOCKEYE SALMON or GOLD (a human dilemma )

EPISODE 576 :  SOCKEYE SALMON or GOLD (a human dilemma )

alan skeoch
may 2,2022




WHY THE DELAY?  

Sorry about the story delay.  What I wrote about the Alaskan mining camp

suddenly took a twist in my mind and I decided a bigger story would
be better.  

 I worked in Alaska in the summer of 1959.  It was a grand
adventure that I have presented in an earlier episode but the story
has unfolded into a bigger and more startling story since 1959.
A story that has only recently been resolved in favour of sockeye
salmon instead of opening what would have been the largest open
pit mine in the world.  The gold and copper extraction would have lasted
for 45 years and 1,000 miners would have been hired at an average wage of
$100,000 each.  The downside?  The last remaining wild sockeye salmon
breeding ground would have been lost forever. A vast tract of wilderness.

 This decision was made
in 2021.  The fight has been going on for more than 40 years.  Long after
we abandoned our mining campsite in 1959.  I really believed that
big money and human greed would trump sockeye salmon.  Hard to believe that
 Environmentalists
and the fishermen from 30 Alaskan aboriginal tribes won the
battle.  At least for now!

Caroline, our grandson Jack’s girlfriend is studying environmental science
at Queen’s University. I am writing this story for Caroline and her professors
as well as my readers.  The decision to abandon the Pebble Mine project
in Alaska needs to be told to a wider audience.  I still find it hard to
believe that 55 billion pounds of copper and 67 million ounces of gold
will remain buried in the Alaskan wilderness.

So give me a little slack.  I need time to put this decision in readable form.

alan skeoch
may 2, 2022

POST SCRIPT:  TAILING PONDS

“Scars from large mining operations are permanently etched across the landscapes of the world. The environmental damage and human health hazards that these activities create may be both severe and irreversible. 

Many mining operations store enormous quantities of waste, known as tailings, onsite. After miners excavate rock, a processing plant crushes it to recover valuable minerals such as gold or copper. The leftover pulverized rock and liquid slurry become tailings, which often are acidic and contain high concentrations of arsenic, mercury and other toxic substances. 

Mining companies store tailings forever, frequently behind earth-filled embankment dams. Over the past 100 years, more than 300 mine tailing dams worldwide have failed, mainly due to foundation weakening, seepage, overtopping and earthquake damage.”  (Research Scientists group studying river systems)

NEXT EPISODE— THE CAMP IN 1959