Month: December 2022

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Fwd: EPISODE 697 MEMORY OF ABUL MOUSUF, GEOPHYSICIST



Begin forwarded message:


From: ALAN SKEOCH <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>
Subject: EPISODE 697 MEMORY OF ABUL MOUSUF, GEOPHYSICIST
Date: December 15, 2022 at 10:41:12 PM EST
To: Alan Skeoch <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>


EPISODE  697   ABUL MOUSUF AND SEISMOGRAPH 


alan skeoch
dec 14  2022

This is what remained of our blasting caps once the Forite explosive was triggered by bus Mousuf who held the firing bus and watched the the seismograph register the number of milliseconds it took for the sound wave

to travel a fixed distance.  This way we could determine the depth of overburden over bedrock.   I saved the wire for these 60 years just to show you.

Before I can describe my last mining  job in 1965  I have to go back to 1959 when I had the privilege of working with Abul Mousuf…Dr. Abul Mousuf.  There are People in this world whose force of personality enter long term storage in my brain.   Abul was one of these.   Not because he ws dominating.  He was 

very soft spoken even shy.  Silent, as we flew to Fredericton on a rush Seismic 
job in the upper St. John River Valley where the immense dam had
been consructed and would eventually drown one of the prettiest river valleys in
Canada.



“Alan, you will be the hammer man for Abul”
“Hammer man?”
“Your job will be to hit a steel plate with a ten pound hammer…seismic work involves sound waves…you will generate the sound waves.  Abul will do
the rest.  Not quite true. When the hammer waves are too far from the 
seismograph, we use explosives.””
“Explosives? Like Dynamite?”
“Forcite explosives triggered by electric blasting caps.   Comes in sticks
about length of weiners.   Usually quarter sticks are enough.  Hook caps
to wire then Abul will trigger.”
“Dangerous?”
“Not really if you are careful.  Slide the cap gently into the Forcite.  Once you get the Forcite armed…get out of
the way and signal to Abul.   “
“How does the blasting cap get into the Forcite stick?”
“That’s your job.  Just slowly push the metal cap into the Forcite.  Slowly.  
Avoid too much friction.   then tie the lead wires around the Forcite tight.”
‘Bury the charge.”
“Abul in any danger?”

“Soft soil, muddy soil, swamp…impossible to use the sledge hammer …in

those cases Forcite explosives are quite close to Abul as you will see no doubt”



ABUL HELD THE FIRING BOX AND WATCHED THE SEISMIC RESULT REGISTER ON THE SEISMOGRAPH..  THIS WAS A TWO PERSON OPERATION.
MORE THAN TWO COULD SPELL TROUBLE SUCH AS A MISCUE  ON THE FIRING BOX.




Sound waves are measured in milliseconds…one thousand 
milliseconds in 1 second.  Sound travels faster in rock than
in soft ground or air. 

WE HAD A THHIR MAN WHOSE NAME I HAVE FORGOTTEN.
HE WAS FAMIIAR WITH FORCITE AND PREPARED MULTIPLE 
CHARGES.  ENOUGH HERE TO BLOW OFF ARMS AND HEAD

THE St. John River valley was slowly fill-in with water. Farms disappearing.   Temporary car ferry where road disappears.


So my job was a touch more complicated than swinging a hammer.  Quite exciting really.  Danger is exciting.  Sound waves measured in milliseconds. We would draw profiles of the depths 
of overburden in the St. John Valley .  Locate the bedrock.  Construciton 
engineers needed this information.  

 So many beautiful ancient farms were
about to be destroyed.  That saddened me.

But this story is about Abul.  He was an expert in geophysics.  Had a doctorate
although ne never said so.  I was a student.   Yet he treated me as an important
team member.  

Abul was a muslim.  First musliim I had ever met.  First impressions are important.    

What term is correct? — Moslem or Muslim?
“A ‘Muslim’ in Arabic means ‘one who gives himself to God,’ and is by definition, someone who adheres to Islam. By contrast a ‘Moslem’ in Arabic means ‘one who is evil and unjust’ when the word is pronounced, as it is in English, ‘Mozlem’ with a z.”Jan 12, 2015

On other mining jobs cursing, drinking,  laughter were the order of the day. 
We always tried to have a good time because  the working conditions were 
rough often.  That was not so on the job with Abul.
We just talked.  Partly about the horrors that attended
the split between Hindus and Muslims,,, between Pakistanis and Indians.   Partition of India and Pakistan occurred in 1947 when the British colonialists withdrew from India after World War Two.
This was not a peaceful transition.   Many
died .  Abul was in the centre of it all as a young man.
Horrified by what he saw around him. 

I think he was a student at U. of T in 1947.  Could never go back home maybe.


Abul loved Cnada.  Warmed his heart to see our level of innocence with regard 
to the violence elsewhere.  Dr Norman Paterson sent me these two memories of Abul,   

“”The Beloved Professor” incident was when Tuzo Wilson took a bunch of graduate students on a hike across the steep north rim of the Sudbury Basin. Abul fell behind and curled up under a tree. When the others went back looking for him he looked up and said Oh my beloved professor, I thought you had left me here in the wilderness to die. 

The Resolute (not called that now) story was when Abul took an FS-3 Hammer seismograph to measure the depth to bedrock on the ice off Resolute Bay. His helper, an Inuit got very agitated as evening approached and made signs that he wanted to return home. Abul continued making measurements. Eventually the Inu threw all the gear on the sled and left. That night the Mess Hall was buzzing with the story of how the brave man from India continued his work with a polar Bear only 100 feet away.””
                (Dr. Norman Paterson, Dec. 15, 2022)


DEATH OF ABUL MOUSUF

In 1961 Abul died. 

“Abul’s wife, I think her name was Dorothy. She came toToronto after Abul’s death. She told me Abul was not really that sick but he was VERY tatalistic, and when they put him in an oxygen tent he told her he was going to die, and so he did The job was a small IP survey I believe, in the Restigouche Area.
          (Dr. Norman Paterson, Dec. 15, 2022)

MOUNT PLEASANT CEMETARY

Dr. Mousuf is in all likelihood one of the first Muslims to be buried in Metro Toronto. He died years before there was a substantial Muslim population. In those days there were a number of Muslim students attending University of Toronto and doctors in residency programmes at local hospitals. His grave is located on the west section of Mount Pleasant Cemetary (the section located between Mount Pleasant Road in the east and Yonge Street on the west) near the fence on Mount Pleasant Road.  

Dr. Mousuf was born in Bihar State, India. He was an Earth Scientist (geophysics) by profession. His headstone states ‘in loving memory’, 

==========================
A Google search of the name ‘Mousuf’ yielded this result, among others:

K40 Radioactive Decay: Its Branching Ratio and Its Use in Geological Age Determinations
A. K. Mousuf
Geophysics Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada 
Received 30 June 1952 
©1952 The American Physical Society

POST SCRIPT

PARTITI0N OF INDIA ACT 1947

The partition caused a large-scale loss of life and an unprecedented migration between the two dominions.[4] Among refugees that survived, it solidified the belief that safety lay among co-religionists. In the instance of Pakistan, it made palpable a hitherto only imagined refuge for the Muslims of British India.[5] The migrations took place hastily and with little warning. It is thought that between 14 million and 18 million people moved, and perhaps more. Excess mortality during the period of the partition has been conventionally estimated to be between 200,000 and 1 million. The second figure is thought to be too low, though a lack of reliable data precludes a more robust figure.[6] The violent nature of the partition created an atmosphere of hostility and suspicion between India and Pakistan that affects their relationship to this day.

Why the Partition Is Not an Event of the Past

The long journey across new border


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EPISODE 695 MEMORIES OF THE ALGOMA CENTRAL RAILWAY 1964 MY FAREWELL TO MINING


 
EPISODE 695   MY FAREWELL TO MINING — MEMORIES OF THE ALGOMA CENTRAL RAILWAY

alan skeoch
December 12, 2022



Marjorie arriving at Paradise Lodge, a flag stop on the Algoma Central Ralway.in 1964

The conductor is helping Marjorie unload her sewing machine, her luggage and a

cage with our cat Presque Neige.   There is noting here….no station.


abandoned algoma central railway station, searchmont, onta… | Flickr


MINING DAYS WERE NOT OVER


 But my mining
days were not over.   Dr. Paterson sent me to Paradise Lodge in the summer
of 1964, a wilderness job that depended upon flagging down the AlgomaCentral 
Railway out of Sault Ste.Marie en route to Hearst.  A ghost railway line.
 Marjorie joined our bush crew.  She arrived with her sewing machine and our cat,
Presque Neige, much the amusement of the fellows.  No electricity for
the sewing machine and wolves howling to get at the cat.  

Not sure if Imentoned Marjorie would join the crew to my boss, Dr. Norman Paterson,?  Not sure about that.

I paid her transportation.  No salary but free accommodation and meals.  Marjorie 
did some of the cooking and made the camp seem like a home away from home
for the crew.  Take Serge Lavoie for instance.  He swam in the nude before Marjorie’s
arrival so she made him a hand sewed bathing suit.   And her voice joined with Bob Bartlet’s
around our campfire evenings.  Bob had his guitar and a long list of the current folk
songs of the 1960’s of which Four ‘Strong Winds’ dominated.   This geophysical 
survey seemed more like a summer camp than a wilderness ordeal.

Every time I hear The Sound of Silence sung by Simon and Garfunkel  I remember
Bob Bartlet leading us in song.  Especially the first verse. “Hello darkness, my old 
friend…”

  • Hello darkness, my old friend
    I’ve come to talk with you again
    Because a vision softly creeping
    Left its seeds while I was sleeping
    And the vision that was planted in my brain
    Still remains
    Within the sound of silence

The crew were younger than I was…the sixties generation.
,,,not too anxious to live rough, sleeping on 
the ground when our anomalies were too distant from the
civilized life at Paradise Lodge.  We used a Cessna
170 to set up a fly camp several miles west of the ACR.  Landed
there just before night fell.  Then in the dark we cooked supper.


(Bob Bartlett, Serge Lavoie on left)


“Special treat to night … I was able to buy dried dinners…all we need
is water to make a big beef stew.  No more canned food, we can travel
light with this freeze dried stuff.  Just hang the pot over the fire and in
a few minutes we’ll have beef stew.”

Well this was a case of good news and bad news.  The good news was that
we all had lots of beef stew.  The bad news was discovered in the light of
the next morning.  The remainder of the stew was in the pot…along with a host
of tiny cooked worms.  The dried beef stew was full of maggots.   My leadership
suffered a bit as a result.  There was an upside.  No one got sick.

“Alan just what do you do each day in the bush?”
“Why don’t you come along today,  Have to renew some claim tags.”

That led to two memories I will never forget.   I hope no one
will get offended and accuse me of sexism. 

 Paradise Lodge is located
near he ACR tracks on  one side and network of lakes on the other.

“We can get close to the blazed trail using thereat and outboard motor.  Bring some
lunch and hop in.”

And away we went.  A beautiful day.  Full sunshine above and cool water
below.

“We’l pull into that little island and go for a swim.”
“No bathing suits, Alan.”
“Who is there to care…strip down and dive in.”
 
What a delightful dip that was.  Even managed to catch a photo of Marjorie
getting ready … semi-clothed.   She looked terrific and this is one of my special
photographs.  A keeper.

That was  a day to remember forever…long term storage in my brain and it was

not just the nude swimming with my wife.  We beached the boat where the blazed trail

began and hiked deep into the forest for a couple of miles.   Our future base line
for the magnetic survey.   

We stopped at the claim post,  Marjorie looked around.

“What are those scars on that tree?”
“That’s where a bear sharpened its claws or a moose rubbed the velvet off his
antlers.”
“Oh…OH!  Let’s get out of here now.”
“No danger as long as you make lots of noise.  Wild animals try to
avoid humans…”  (I was tempted to say ‘unless they are hungry”. I held
my tongue.)




Serge Lavoie and I had a close call 
that I will never understand.   We finished Magnetometer work on a small
anomaly a few miles south of our camp when a sudden summer storm swept through
the bush.  High velocity wind.  Strong enough to blow over a patch of cedars
and strip leaves off deciduous trees.

“Let’s get the hell out of here fast.”
“We can get to the ACR track in a mile or so…late
afternoon train northbound. “

We ran like broken field runners on a football field.  But we
did not get far before strange thing happened.  Something I will
never understand.  In the flash of an instant we were both flung to the 
ground.  Knocked out.   For how long?  No idea, perhaps a few seconds,
perhaps minutes.  When we came to, we were a bit stunned.  The mag which
I was carrying was hung on a bunch of tag alders.   Maybe tenor fifteen feet
from where we lay.   The wind  was cyclonic…blew in circle it seemed.
Did a flash lightning hit the ground near us?   Were we nearly struck by lightning.  I seem to remember clumps 
of cedars uprooted at an angle.  Shallow roots, easy to upset.

“What happened?”
“Lightning?”
“Cyclonic storm.”
“Grab the mag and let’s get out of here.”
“Still time to flag down the ACR.”

The train was intercepted.  Flagged down and we flopped into
t;he open doors of a baggage car and rode north to Paradise Lodge.
I am not sure what happened to us that day.   If I was alone no one
would believe me.  But the same thing happened to Serge.  It was
our own little adventure.   Wonder if he remembers?  Wonder if Serge
is stil alive. If so, he will be 80.
 
The final adventure on that job could have been catastrophic.
Our final anomaly was near a small lake southeast of Paradise Lodge.
When we flew in the pilot cautioned us.

“Thi lake is small and getting smaller in summer heat. Little rain..  Landing could
be difficult if we wait too long.  The survey went well and the crew
was taken out first.  The last load included our camp gear and tent…and me.

Seemed OK as the Cessna set down.   Great flume of water at the shallow end
then a dead head log  ripped a hole in one pontoon.  Small hole but big enough
to pick up water on takeoff.  The exact particulars are a little misty but bottom 
line was we abandoned  our gear to lighten the load which basically included the 
pilot and ,me.   Our first attempt was a failure as the ripped pontoon picked
up too much water.

“Lean forward as far as you can … get your weight  to balance the load…picking
up too much water.”
“Got to cut power or go up on shore.”

Been a long time since that failed takeoff.  Not crystal clear.  Pilot pumped
the water out of the dmaed pontoon. Then lightened the load even more 
for the final run.  We ferried as far down the lake as possible and hoped a light
headwind would help lift us up.  

He got us moving.  Applied full power and we bobbed our way down the lake.
And lifted off.  I wish my memory was better .  Did it happen as described or have
I over dramatized the flight?   The ripped pontoon  is confirmed in my diary. The terror
of the takeoff is not.  Once in the air we headed for the airport at Sault Ste. Marie


Marjorie had come out by train with some of the crew.  She took  our car to the
airport and waited for me.   Waited and waited.  

“How would you like to join me?” asked a young man who had just learned to fly solo.
“Dangerous?”
“No, I have my licence and just want to build up a few hours in the air…circling around
the airport mostly.  Take offs and landings.  Really fun.”
“My husband is due here shortly.”
“Flying could relieve the boredom of waiting…but suit yourself.”
“OK, I’ll do it…may even see Alan coming in.”

Mistake.   Big time mistake.  I was upset when Marjorie told me about
joy riding over Sault lSte Marie.  She was not too happy about it either.

“He wanted to show me what he could do…flew in big circles …tilted lots…then accelerated up and
drifted down.  I got scared and wanted  to land.  Yelled ‘I’m going to be sick …going to throw uo”
which got me back on the tarmack.

The summer of 1964 was over.

alan

post script

FORGOTTEN RAILROADS LIKE ACR

Arlo Guthjrie singing  CITY OF NEW ORLEANS
written by Steve Goodman

Riding on the City of New OrleansIllinois Central, Monday morning railFifteen cars and fifteen restless ridersThree conductors and twenty-five sacks of mailAll along the southbound odysseyThe train pulls out at KankakeeRolls along past houses, farms and fieldsPassin’ trains that have no nameFreight yards full of old black menAnd the graveyards of the rusted automobiles
Good morning America, how are you?Say, don’t you know me? I’m your native sonI’m the train they call the City of New OrleansI’ll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done

Stompin Tom Connors  wrote a song about the
Algoma Central Railway.

Lyrics

Posted on

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

Posted on

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
Posted on

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


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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.





























Posted on

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”
Posted on

Fwd: EPEISODE 687 REPRINT OF EPISODE 249 YUKON DIARY LIVINGSTONE WERNICKE . ON KENO HILL 1925 TO 1935



Begin forwarded message:


From: ALAN SKEOCH <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>
Subject: Fwd: EPISODE 249 YUKON DIARY LIVINGSTONE WERNICKE . ON KENO HILL 1925 TO 1935
Date: November 30, 2022 at 2:02:07 PM EST
To: Alan Skeoch <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>




Begin forwarded message:



Subject: EPISODE 687 RERINT OF  EPISODE 249 YUKON DIARY LIVINGSTONE WERNICKE . ON KENO HILL 1925 TO 1935

Subject: EPISODE  687  REPRINT OF EPISODE 249 YUKON DIARY LIVINGSTONE WERNICKE . ON KENO HILL 1925 TO 1935
 

NOTE: Early in June 1961 I explored a ghost town and got mine on Keno Hill called Wernecke.  The name was strange

and had little meaning until I did research on Livinsgston Wernecke.  My Escape from the Yukon in September 1961 
ended in Juneau, Alaska, across the Channell from the Treadwell Mine where Wernecke worked before moving to the Yukon
as explained in an earlier episode.  He was a very interesting  man.


EPISODE 687  REPRINT OF EPISODE 249

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.
 
cid:A29E50C4-A6C1-420B-8FA4-0F285F6C6B03
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.
 
 
 
 
cid:568A7B77-9D1F-4DF7-81BE-5FA67CE4920F
 
 
 
 
 
 
cid:DA949E58-6A04-48FA-B01B-280CE8CEF2D6
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.
 
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So much more could be said about Livingston Wernecke.   Too little time to do it.
 
alan skeoch
Feb.  2021
 
 
 



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