Fwd: EPISODE 924 PART 4: SUMMER 1959 ALASKA JOB

Begin forwarded message:

From: ALAN SKEOCH <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>

Subject: EPISODE 924 PART 4: SUMMER 1959 ALASKA JOB

Date: December 5, 2023 at 5:09:42 PM EST

To: John Wardle <jwardle@rogers.com>, Marjorie Skeoch <marjorieskeoch@gmail.com>, Pam G <pamlikestokayak@gmail.com>

EPISODE 924   PART 4  — SUMMER 1959   ALASKA JOB

alan skeoch

dec. 4, 2023

NOTE: OUR EXPLORATION OCCURRED IN 1959…THE PEBBLE MINE WAS DISCOVERED IN1987.

Secrecy was common with most of the mining jobs.  And often controversy.  Mining is a dirty business.

 iStock prices go up and down. Investers in and lose millions.  One of the largest mine proposal in the world today

TO START the Alaska job we got instructions from Bill Morrison who would 

be my partner for he summer.   Don and Ian were the other field crew while Mike Chinnery pllotted

and interpreted the data.   Basically we searched for anomalies….blips on our consoles..

TO SET UP the motor generator was the first ask.  More than a mile of single strand shielded copper

wires laid out in a straight line grounded at both ends with heavy grounding rods,  The generator crested an

electro magnet field that coulld be detected by heavy coils of copper wire hung on our belts.  If an ore body existed below 

ground…deep below…we would find unexplained bias…anomalies..  Examining these blips was Mike’s job.  

The diamond drill crews were sent to places we directed.

TO LAUGH every morning when our pilot awakened on loudspeaker wit “Let’s get fucking sir born.”

TO BE OVERWHELMED by the pure untouched wilderness inland from Bristol Bay

and the shallow Bering Sea.   This  became the land bridge to North America during

the ice ages ….. today a vast open expanse of tundra cu by river valleys choked 

with tag alder an Beaver Dams ….cut off from Siberia by the Bering Sea.

TO FLAG DOWN a helicopter among age old stunted spruce .

TO BE DROPPED miles from camp on the open tundra which had been marked with pickets or bright red plastic tape.

 …base line 6,000 feet long  made of grounded single strand

shielded copper wire tethered to our motor generator.

TO SPEND each workday taking readings at 100 foot intervals at right angles to the base line.  The Turam was a Swedish

invention thst coould detetect mineralized rock deep below the overburden.  

(Note: This training in Alaska served me well.  In subsequent summers I was the only one available which led to

fascinating jobs in Southern Ireland and he Yukon Territory.  Lucky…very lucky.

TO CO EXIST with millions…billions?..of blood sucking insects the worst of which were the ‘white socks’ as Alaskans called

the black flies that chewed away at us. They had little white feet hence ‘whitesocks’.   These creatures liked to worm their way

into places where clothing was tight like our waists….or worse, they tried to get in our ears en route to our brains.

We wore loose fitting clothes and mosquito nets.  Blood sucking bugs of all kinds made our lives miserable.

TO SEE one Ameericsn diamond driller flown out to hospital.  His body bloated from bites after an 8 hour shift with

no insect protection.  He never returned.

TO SPEND our leisure time hooking Pacific salmon as they made their way up our river (stream) to nesting grounds.

Huge fish often too heavy to lift and close to 2.5 feet long.  Ugly mouthed creatures that were turning red as they’re

about to die and clog our trees with their bodies  much to the  joy of feasting Kodiak beas. This was one of North Americas’

last stretches of  pristine wilderness.  Shoudl it be turned over to a mining company noted for poisonous wastewater?  That issue

TO ABANDON our 30,06 rifles each day at the S52 drop points.  To stack them on top of the big red blankets laid

out on the tundra spot pilots could find us for return trips.  Canadiansurvey crews did not carry guns “lest we shoot each other” Floyd Faulkner

said on a previous job. “Living together can get tense at times.”

TO JOIN Bill Morrison and take a few practice shots with the rifles which were far too heavy to carry along with our

Turam harness, cable and copper coils.

TO STRAP us together like medievall warriors.   Two man 100’ apart bound together by a 100 foot heavy cable which

was hooked to two heavy copper piled tube and a battery pack.  One man was outfitted with a receiving

console on his chest snd a large battery pack on his harness backside…and a notebook to record the readings

TO KNOW that any contact with a kodiak bear would be bad news because the Tursm Harness was impossible to quickly remove..

“No worries…Kodiak bears think we stink and avoid us unless startled.   They have lots of dead and living Pacific

salmon that must taste better than us,:” said Bill.

See Bill deep down in the river valley near our camp.   Perfect for wanderingg Kodiak bears.

TO MEET one kodiak bear boy accident wile wing upstream when i should have been wading downstream

…Bill was100 feet ahed of me and i interpreted te swiping mud spots in the water as cased by his feet.

Not so.  A kodiak bear appeared in the tag alder brush.  He or she was not interested in me.   I back off

and found Bill.   Sounds moe dramatic than wss the actual case.  he bear was distant and disinterested.

TO PLAY with

Aleut native yo-yo’s at midnight because there was nothing else to

but go fishing if the yo-yos failed to amuse.   Camp life was boring.

Perhaps dangerous as many of the Americans had hand guns for target practice.

TO EAT on one occasion a piece of moose here with ventricles apparent. Yuck!

TO BE CHASTISED after  foolish decision explore the tundra alone.   We  had finished our survey

and would soon be flying home.  Nothing to do but sit in camp . One of the S52’s was about to pickup 

a drill crew miles from our base.  I hitched a ride and figured  it would take four or five hours to hike 

back to camp.   The land was flat and treeless . Undulating so I could duck out of the wind

and red a few pages of East of Eden by Steinbeck,

As the helicopter

lifted off I thought — “This is not A good idea”  but it ws too late so I walked back to camp.  

 And I Got scared.   I was all alone and the camp 

was distant.  We had never seen a Kodiak up on the tundra  but I begsn to feel uneasy.

Occasionally an S52 flew overhead but could not see me.  A search had been organized.  

 When I reached camp

the reception ws not pleasant.  “That was stupid , Alan” . I agreed…very stupid. 

TO RETURN to Anchorage where Don and Ian got into a spot of trouble.   Could have been

big trouble.  They decided to checkout an American jet fighter parked on the tarmac with no one around

I believe it was an F – 104.  There was a metal ladder for th pilot to access is his seat..   Ian and 

Don wanted to look at those controls.  As they were doing so a military jeep moved in fast.  Two or three

MP”s took the boys away… Sort of arrested ?.  No drawn guns..  drove the boys away.  

  Later they were returned to our hotel after, I believe, a phone call to Toronto but I am not sure.

What did i do?  I walked off the base and home to our hotel.   So much for US security at Elmendorf

air base in 1959.

TO FLY HOME SLOWLY when our regular flight was cancelled due to landing gear problem.

Don, Ian and I were rebooked on a military flight from Japan.   Officers aboard it seemed

Very serious…no smlles…no drinking.  We were the reverse.  We were ready for a good time as were 

the stewardesses who gave us free drinks as we laughed and joked our way down the rocky Mountain

coast to Seatle.  Bit of a blur really.  We booked into a cheap hotel and were a little surprised that 

the three of us were wearing Japanese kimonos.  Mine is still around the house somewhere.

Noody was hurt.  Just silly 20 year old boys.

Ian and I  then flew to Vancouver where a relative had arranged a tour of old mines

in British Columbia.  I was included in the tour but felt a little embarrassed.   Freeloading. The result 

of the later  flight meant I was a little late starting my new life st  the University of Toronto, Vctoria

College.  Did I know where my life was heading?  I had no idea.

I suppose someone  had to hold up the Golden Gate Bridge to Vancouver Island.

next episode 925    part 5   SUMMER 1959 MOST EXCITING YEAR OF MY LIFE….I FIND MARJORIE HUGHES