EPISODE 216 YUKON DIARY 5 MONDAY JUNE 11, 1962 TO MONDAY JULY 2, 1962
RED BEARD
alan skeoch
Jan. 3,2021
OVERVIEW: 1) MEET DR. AHO…famous promotor of the Yukon … buyer of Double OP’s for fools and alcoholics
2) USE A RIVER AS A ROAD…to Silver King Mine
3) MEET BOTH A FAKE AND A REAL BLACK BEAR
4) MEET A HIDDEN MAN WITH STRANGE QUESTIONS
5) MEET AN ANCIENT BURNED FOREST (and recover some shapes)
6) DISCOVERED I WAS PAID LESS THAN OTHERS
7) LOSE WEIGHT…we are being sent to Dawson City for 3day holiday…at our expense
Diary Entry, Monday June 11, 1962: Arose at 7.30 and cooked a quick French Toast breakfast before packing into the survey site to rev up the motor generator. Spent another hard day doing lines 11,15,13,17 (2-1500 feet long), and lines 66 (1500), 62 (16-1500),64 (8-1500). Saw a spruce partridge en route back to camp. Bill Dunn found an old pick embedded in a tree stump by some long forgotten miner whose trail had disappeared long ago. We drove to Elsa to do the shopping including several extras — 24 cans general soups, stew, etc, 24 chocolate bars, 3 pints ice cream, 6 feet of garlic sausage, 3 boxes of Cadbury’s chocolate cookies, 1 tube of Jiffy-sew. Back at our camp we awaited the arrival of Dr. Aho and the mail. Both of which never arrived. My beard is progressing quite well and seems to be red. Imagine that. Dad was known as Red Skeoch when a kid…proof of my legitimacy maybe.
Diary. Tuesday June 12, 1962: Awoke early and had luxury of slowly getting ready for the day. Cooked breakfast for the fellows. Steve Rudnicki arrived and we set off for the base line. Long cable for Base line #2. Moved motor generator. Began reading lines 4,6,8,10,12,14,16 East. Fell and strained my leg badly. Bugs are now out in force. Packed part of equipment out to base camp where I received letters from Marjorie and mom. Wonderful. Eric has the rhubarb wine working in the cellar at home in Toronto. Bill Dunn and I walked up to the old shack on the road where the walls are papered with old London Illustraed News papers dating back to World War I. Abandoned log cabins are common here in the Yukon…some found furnished as if builders were going to return sometime but never did.Diary, Wednesday June 13, 1962: Arose early and made light breakfast of toast and cereal. Hard day in bush today. Bill Scott and Steve coiled up part of Base Line #1 while Bill Dunn and i completed Base Line #2. Completed reading lines 12, 14, 16…all 1600 feet long. While I was taking a reading Steve sneaked up behind me and growled. I was sure it was a bear just about to grab me…my heart raced. Spent afternoon hauling cable, more than a mile long. Then packing out the loads. Heavy reels of wire exhausted all three of us. My back has scrapes from the cable frame digging into my flesh. Drove to Mayo Landing to repair one of the reels…acetylene torch needed. Tlelegram from Peso Siolver re: survey. Bill Dunn and I had two rum and cokes while Mabel got our mail. Pork Hocks and pork and beans at Luigi’s. Expenses $5 for two dinners.Diary, Thursday June 14, 1962: Steve Rudnicki arrived and we coiled the rest of the base line.Spent an hour over a smudge fire trying to drive the mosquitoes away,. wonder at our loss of blood. Roasted good length of garlic sausage which was delicious. On way back to camp found several hundred feet of resitivity wire left by previous crew some time ago. In afternoon Bill Dunn and I drove as far as we could by road then hiked to the Gerlitzki claim where we left search guns. Found great waterfall en route. Then packed Turam and drove to Elsa to get grub for our last supper in the old miners cabin. Bought 3 steaks, bottle of whipping cream, one cake mix, 2 cans strawberries. I baked the cake in the wood stove and then fried the steaks…backwards dinner. Then packed all equipment including a pick, axe and shovel from the Wernecke mine stopes.
The Peso Silver men and our survey and line- cutting teams meet each other on one of the mining roads. There is
no danger of traffic as we are the only people here (except for one mysterious man seeking information about our survey.)
No problem so we stop for a beer and share stories. Nice bunch of men to work with really. Some First Nations guys
from the Mayo Landing tribal territory as well.
Diary, Friday June 15, 1962: Met Bill Dunn in Luigi’s for breakfast then joined by Dr. Aho and Bill Scott. Wheland Rand arrived at 1 p.m. from Peso Silver Mine and we loaded gear into the GMC four wheel drive. Marjorie sent me a 2.5 box of nuts from Kingston. The drive to Peso silver Mine was fantastic. Treacherous road up river beds with water over the running boards. Halfway there we switched to D6 Cat with wagon and drove up the river between the mountains for several miles then switched to an old Dodge Power Wagon with elevated body. Sometimes the angle of the so called road was 45 degrees. Reached Peso at 7.20 p.m. Site was on edge of a cliff. This would not be an easy job. Met new crew. HIlls are all very steep …some seem vertical;. Good supper though in the cook house.Fluff, the baby rabbit raised hell all night as she did not like the cardboard box. Our tent is white which makes night seem like day…too bright to fall asleep.
Expenses: Boots and KiT $5.80, Meals $3.50, Chocolate 70 centsDiary, Saturday, June 16, 1962: On the job by 7 a.m. Carried motor generator to site and strung out base line cable. Put grounding rods #1 in Secret Creek while ground #2 is in the saddle on Eastern ridge. Resistance 540 ohms. The high altitude and exceptionally steep slopes made Bill and I feel weak. Heart racing very fast. Mosquito bites are so numerous that my whole body seems swollen. The project looks quite difficult due to the steep hills…very rough following lines. Worried that squirrels will cut the base line. Spent evening setting up tent for our living quarters…built atable and several shelves. Hung up Marjorie’s photograph above my so called bed…a piece of canvas stretched over wire hoops. The new fellows trooped in and introduced themselves. Had coffee and went to bed.
Sunday June 17, 1962:
ON job by 8 a.m. Motor is not kicking out enough current…only o.2 amps at 240 watts.
did line w 4 Bm w t N. Storm hit and soaked us. Returned to camp to dry the instrument then coninued
after lunching lines W18W, W18S, W16N, W16S,…total for the day was 10,500 line feet. Good supper then
prepared maps for Barrie Nichols in Toronto. Wrote Marjorie.
Then had bull shit session with Paddy, our cook on this site.Nice to have someone making meals. Joined
by Fred,Ray and Dirk…subjects ranged from Catholicism, hiking, girls,whores and Ireland until 11.30 bed time.
Wheland Reed has gone to town with the line cutters He will have a tough time getting back because both
Len and Kellly are alcoholics.
Monday, June 18, 1962:
On the job at 9 am. Covered 14,200 line feet. One line went right through campsite so we had lunch with the lads
for a change. Better than sitting on wet moss and getting hemmoroids. Hugh Naylor and I discovered two birds
nests on our lines, both with babies but so well disguised that they were invisible in plain sight.
We took readings right over the known mineralized vein but got no indications of an anomaly. This caused us great concern.
We must keep that fact secret at all costs. Hard to explain. Wait until Toronto office hears that. Must not tell Aho as he
seems to want good news to help promote the mine he likes (which ever that is).
In the evening the truck came back from trip to Peso and town. Len was in an alcoholic stupor all night wandering from
tent to tent telling tales of Finland in broken English.
Tuesday, June 19, 1962
Bloody hot day covering 12,800 line feet…..lots …so hot out that tried to work without the mosquito net
over my head. Impossible to do that..too many bugs. Pulling the base line … winding on reel is nasty work.
Finished at 5 pm…so exhausted we left the reel and wire on top of hill.
Startled to fins a forest of skeletons…huge
forest of Yukon Spruce that had been burned years ago. Trees all silver grey trunks with old burn marks
scoured out. Beautiful in a grim way. Cut off a couple to take back to camp and maybe ship home to Toronto.
The piece we cut was over 100 years old yet looked liked 20 years old when we read the growth rings.
This is Bill Scott, my Toronto partner, hugging one of the burned over logs that has been scoured
by many Yukon winters. Maybe I will get it home (which I did…it sits in my workshop)
Short discussion with Wheland about oxidation. Then we talked about the dangers of Yukon mines cut into soft
rock…oxidation and weathering in Yukon mines…then went into mine workings to look at the soft, clay like pyrite, silver,
lead, antimony. soft form of rock Makes mines very unstable…danger of collapse.
Awoke st 3 a.m. to find the rabbit Fluffy asleep on my forehead.
Wednesday June 20, 1962
Got reasonable start today and managed 8,000 line feet of readings. The switch box gave us a lot of trouble…cut out three times.
Hugh and I are anticipating big trouble…hard to trace where wires are shorting. In the evening we took our gold pans to a spot
on the valley floor where a placer mine once existed…panned for gold. Found tiny pieces on first effort. Amazing. No value of course as
so small. Then Dirk and Ron gave it a try…eureka! Gold.
Apparently Peso Silver people ordered a case of toilet paper Air Express last winter…cost $54.00.
Thursday, June 21, 1962
Poor start today because no help available …still did 6,200 feet when 1 man joined me…The symmetry switch has broken delaying work in afternoon.
I did some repairs to the console and then lay down on my cot with a copy of Klondile by Pierre Berton.
Wheland Reed showed up at 7 with mail…got two letters from Marjorie, one from mom, and one from Aunt Mabel…and
a box of cookies from Marjorie…home made.
Spent evening talking with Fred and Dirk. Fred had been a pilot until his plane crashed in the bush.
Friday, June.22, 1962
Rain…Rain…wonderful rain! Got up, had leisurely breakfast and went back to bed. Wrote letters and wrote a poem (what drivel I write)
Spent whole day eating and sharing Marjorie’s cookies. Read more of Klondile where the fall of 1897 was tragic…3,000 horses were
lost scaling the Chilkoot Pass…killed, tortured, Maimed, poisoned.
Saturday June 23, 2962
fog and rain delayed us but still managed to do 13,400 feet of line. Dr. Green of the Geological Survey of Canada(DSC) dropped
in for supper putting pressure on our cook Paddy. After supper Wrote Gord Sanford a letter. Beautiful sunset.
Discovered that I am the lowest paid person in camp. Yet feel I am the person who does most of the goddamned work. My crew
was the only crew out working yesterday Bill gets $450 a month whereas I get $350 a month…not really fair. Feel badly
…love the adventures of the job. Wage works out to about $10 a day or $1 an hour. Then again I do get room and board …wire assembled cot
that has collapsed and good food occasionally. Dr. Aho does buy us drinks when given a chance. “calls them double OP’s”
which means Overproof rum (80 proof…nearly absolute alcohol) . Story of the Yukon there…overproof alcohol connects to rampant
alcoholism. Why send OP rum to Yukon? To save
shipping costs and expect the rum to be diluted 50%…never ever diluted though. One drink of OP rum and we are drunk. Rather funny
when it happens once. But if it happens regularly…not so funny
(Dr. Aho was a charismatic figure who would eventually write a 300 page history of the Yukon.
He is also a skilled geologist. Impressive.)
Sunday, June 24, 1962
Got good early start and covered 18,600 get of line…3.7 miles. Roughest day yet but I feel good about the mileage. Who would
be impressed? No one. Then we extended the base line to the east.
When I got back to camp my mouth was so dry I could not speak with ease. Had a good shower and then we had the usual
bull shit session with Dirk, Fred, Ron, Bill and Ray. Lots of off colour and funny jokes. Checked resistors before going to bed.
Monday June 25, 1962
Morning writing letters and checking equipment while Bill Scott set the grounding rods for new base line. Then managed to
do 8,900 line feet of readings…1.78 miles. We really worked like devils … before the rain came…heavy black clouds.
Returned to camp to discover that Paddy the cook had cut his hand badly…thumb deep cut…needed a doctor. My first aid
kit was the only first aid in camp. Never laugh at a Boy Scout. Bill and Ron served supper while Hugh and I did the dishes.
Then I washed 9 pairs of socks, 3 boxer shorts and 1 shirt. Mail arrived from Marjorie, mom and Russ Vanstone.
So far my earnings total $321.46 with $24.95 taken off for income tax. Russ says he is planning to go one for his MA at
U.of T…maybe.
My bed collapsed in the night…cannot be fixed as canvas ripped along the wire rods. Will be sleeping on the floor.
Tuesday June 26, 1962
Hell of an evening…slept fitfully with nightmares after my bed collapsed. Woke early and had terrible breakfast
of pork chops of all things…preferred bread and jam. Then Ray Harris drove me up to the top of the hill (Yukon people
seem to call mountains hills unless they have a snow cone on them) Managed to complete 19,000 line feet….3.8 miles.
Long but spectacular vistas … made return to camp seem dull. Paddy returned bandaged…brought mail.
I was so tired that I gave up efforts to repair my bed. Fred and I had a glass of sherry to soothe our nerves…Fred failed
his first year at UBC…word came in letter today. Then Hughie joined us as he just got a Dear John letter from his
girlfriend…he was very broken up to say the least.
Wednesday June 27, 1962
Tired…no sleep on cot…got up stiff in joints. Managed to cover 14,400 feet of line…2.88 miles…
Bill Scott and I spent evening talking religion of all things. What do I know about religion really? I am
Presbyterisn whatever that really means while Bill is a very active Catholic. No arguments. We will get
along fine. We traded Bibles … i brought my copy of New Testament but had not opened it…did not
tell Billl that.
Had coffee later with Fred who told funny stories about the Bengal Bicycle club snd the Dirty Buggers Club.
Lots of laughter.
Thursday, June 28, 1962
Fred, Len and I spent the day reclaiming Base Lines 1 and 2…shielded single strand copper wire. Then moved
the motor generator over to the new site. Seems to be difficult to read console here for some reason
Got some lumber and built a desk and a chair.
Wheland Read arrived with Roger Verity from Vancouver. Verity is a big promotor for Peso Silver. Seems nice.
I received a nice letter from the love of my life.
Names of men in our Peso Silver camp
Fred Carter
Hugh Naylor
Dirk Tempelman Kuit
Pat McGan
Wheland Read
Len Aaltonen
Kelly
Ray Harris
Neil Hager
Dinky (First Nations)
Lea
Ron
Roger Verity
Budd Rich
Friday June 29,1962
Looks like rain. Len and I attempted to reach the eastern edge of grid where we had a hell of a time
with grounding rods due to the permafrost. Eventually got satisfactory resistance of 290 ohms. Len
decided to walk back to camp along the ridge. Ten miles walking through the bush. Hard. Startled
a mother partridge and her chicks…got some pictures.
Saturday June 30, 1962
Drove to job site with the line cutters in our Power Wagon. Then Len and I put in the western grounding
rods…500 ohms … line resistance of 440 ohms (meaning what?)
A strange guy from Rio Plata popped out of the bush wanting to know what we were doing for Peso Silver…wanted
information but got none from us. Mystery . His name seemed to be Ed Chase but I could be wrong.
Len and I managed to cover 8,600 line feet….1.72 miles.
It was very cold today and some of the fellows expected snow. Imagine that ..snow at end of June.
Len commented “Imagine that, I will have put on my ‘Jesusly’ underwear when I just took them off last week.”
Jesusly is a new word.
Wheland Read and Roger Verity have planned a 3 day holiday for Bill Scott and me … in Dawson City
because we have overtaken the linocutting crew. Nothing really for us to do. We plan to take
our sleeping bags, mosquito nets and food. Not sure we can afford this trip but it is a chance
to see the Klondike at its core.
Went to bed and fell asleep for an hour. Woke up and read more of Klondike by Pierre Berton.
High wind shook our tent all night.
Sunday, july 1, 1962
This camp was made flat by the bulldozer then some professional carpenters set up the tents. Neat.
Kelly, the new cook, rang the gong at 6.30 so we got an early start on the Rex Base Line. Managed 19,280 line feet..
3.85 line miles. Switch box cut out twice. Today was cool with bright sunshine…conducive to working .
Back at camp Ron and I were discussing books when suddenly he looked down towards the cook shack…”God…there’s
a bear!” A large black bear was about 5 feet from the cook shack. I got two pictures of the fellow.
Later we had a discussion with Roger Verity and Wheland Reed about three possible extensions. Then we had coffee
and tried to guess Dinky’s age. He says he is 51 but looks about 21. Then he told us about bears and
wolverines on his trap line. Apparently a grizzly bear walked right into the Calumet bunkhouse.
“Wolverines are vicious and smart…got into my cabin by squeezing down the stove pipe….in summer”
Monday July 2, 1962
This was one of those bad days as the switch box failed 8 times and we lost the whole morning’s work. Put in extra grounding rods
at the western end. Still failed. I sent word to Bill Scott for help. He watched the switch while Len and I did lines. Then I
built a cover for the switch box…discovered that sun’s heat may have been problem. Bad day but did manage to
get 9,770 feet of line done…1.95 miles.
BEARD IS PROGRESSING FINE…..vanity you might say.
Tuesday July 3, 1962
DAWSON CITY, HERE WE COME!
END PART 5 YUKON STORY DIARY