{"id":7293,"date":"2021-01-14T09:47:50","date_gmt":"2021-01-14T14:47:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=7293"},"modified":"2021-01-14T10:05:48","modified_gmt":"2021-01-14T15:05:48","slug":"episode-223-yukon-diary-1953-dodge-power-wagon-rolls-over-and-over-in-1962","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=7293","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 223 YUKON DIARY 1953 DODGE POWER WAGON ROLLS OVER AND OVER IN 1962"},"content":{"rendered":"
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EPISODE  223   YUKON DIARY  8    1953 DODGE POWER WAGON ROLLED LIKE A  SOCCER  BALL<\/div>\n

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alan skeoch<\/div>\n
Jan. 2021<\/div>\n

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Our 1953 Power Wagon\u2026bought or rented just forget which\u2026looks rather<\/div>\n
nice here as we consider whether to drive over the rubble blocking the road<\/div>\n
up to Keno Hill.  Sadly we did not treat the  Power Wagon well.<\/div>\n

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\u201cHE  rolled the Power Wagon\u2026rolled on that hairpin turn\u2026 the son of a bitch went over  sideways.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhat \u2026 are you kidding?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNo\u2026rolled over the edge near the hairpin\u2026went over sideways..<\/div>\n
\u201cWho was driving?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cMoses Lord or Bill Dunn\u2026not sure which but the Power Wagon rolled<\/div>\n
over and over like a soccer ball.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWrecked?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the funny part\u2026.the  son of a bitch landed on the bottom part of the fucking hairpin\u2026landed on all four wheels.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cAnd  Moses* drove it back to camp\u2026take  a look over here.\u201d<\/div>\n

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*Not sure who was driving.  As my diary unfolds you will find out.<\/div>\n

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WHEN we heard that our 1953 Dodge Power  Wagon rolled over on a hairpin turn we were sure it<\/div>\n
was a write off.  More concerned that Moses Lord was hurt\u2026maybe dead.  But both Moses and<\/div>\n
the Power Wagon were just  shaken up.  Moses was more embarrassed than physically scarred\u2026just<\/div>\n
surface cuts and bruises.  <\/div>\n

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The Power Wagon looks a little worse for wear. Some broken windows\u2026cracked.   A lot <\/div>\n
of dents\u2026sides, roof , fenders\u2026but we  had already done some of those.  And  it was second<\/div>\n
hand when and not very pretty when we got it.  It looks prettier than it really was  in the picture.<\/div>\n
If I find my bashed up version of the truck I will include it later.<\/div>\n

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Power  Wagons were built for that kind of thing.  Originally built in World War II as a heavy<\/div>\n
duty off road military truck.  Most had half ton bodies\u2026open back.  A few looked like ours.<\/div>\n
They were advertised as indestructible and seemed to live up to their name.<\/div>\n

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This is the same model Power Wagon owned originally by the United States  Navy\u2026 restored by a collector.<\/div>\n

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This is  NOT THE PESO SILVER HAIRPIN CURVE but gives some idea of the mountain  (hill) roads bashed<\/div>\n
through by mining companies.  Our power wagon rolled down as far as those two dead trees and landed on<\/div>\n
the switchback part of the road.   This picture was  taken in British Columbia on a different job.<\/div>\n

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And here are a while collection of hairpins\u2026again picture NOT TAKEN IN THE YUKON but the hairpins<\/div>\n
looked  much  like this only not so  many.<\/div>\n

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Somewhere I have  a picture  of the Dodge Power Wagon after the roll\u2026if  found I will include it<\/div>\n
in the diary entry.<\/div>\n
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This direction finder is located at the top of Keno Hill today…looking over the silver rich McQuesten valley\u2026picture gives some<\/div>\n
idea of the topography\u2026in the distance is the Peso Silver property where the Dodge did its tumble.  The grade on the Peso Silver<\/div>\n
bush  road  was  not as steep as the previous pictures.  But dangerous all the same.<\/div>\n
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Here some of the  Peso Silver boys are looking  over the Dodge\u2026with the usual nonplussed expressions.<\/div>\n

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And here is another  Power Wagon making its way through the bush  where there is no road.<\/div>\n

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We had one other adventure with the Power Wagon\u2026again amusing.  One of the guys\u2026name forgotten at present\u2026was sent to Mayo<\/div>\n
Landing  for food or some such thing.  He got drunk instead and did not get back to camp so we sent a search party down the hill<\/div>\n
looking for him.  Found him and the Power Wagon resting in the middle of  Haggart Creek.   The boulder strewn creek was  part of<\/div>\n
the road to Peso Silver.  He had  passed out.  I seem to remember that the Power Wagon  was still running but I  could be wrong.<\/div>\n
The driver was an  alcoholic.  We knew that and should  never have sent him to Mayo Landing.   Neither he nor the Dodge were hurt.<\/div>\n

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The incident reminded  me of my first job in the wilderness north west of Chibougamau, northern Quebec, when we sent Joe Fortin<\/div>\n
to get food supplies on a  Beaver float plane.  He was not the pilot\u2026that\u2019s for sure.  He arrived  back dead drunk.  So drunk<\/div>\n
he nearly fell off the pontoon.  No food.  Just Joe coming back to camp.  That was my first bush  job with Geo Tech Exploration<\/div>\n
when I was  a Grade 11 high school student.   I did  not drink back then.  Well, not quite true, I did drink a couple of those tiny<\/div>\n
draught glasses of  beer in the Chibougamau Inn.  When Joe staggered off the Beaver I was shocked.   By the time I worked<\/div>\n
for Hunting Technical and Exploration Services that shock  had worn off.   We tried to separate the alcoholics  from<\/div>\n
the social drinkers.  Sometimes that was not easy to do.   When I was  given a can of Molson\u2019s Export on one occasion <\/div>\n
I wrapped  it in brown paper and mailed it to my dad back in Toronto.  Mom said  dad was touched.  <\/div>\n

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alan  skeoch<\/div>\n
Jan.  2021<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EPISODE  223   YUKON DIARY  8    1953 DODGE POWER WAGON ROLLED LIKE A  SOCCER  BALL alan skeoch Jan. 2021 Our 1953 Power Wagon\u2026bought or rented just forget which\u2026looks rather nice here as we consider whether to drive over the rubble blocking the road up to Keno Hill.  Sadly we did not treat the  Power […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7293\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}