{"id":7430,"date":"2021-01-29T20:17:30","date_gmt":"2021-01-30T01:17:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=7430"},"modified":"2021-01-29T20:22:18","modified_gmt":"2021-01-30T01:22:18","slug":"eoisode-238-yukon-diary-tagging-claims-sounded-easy-squishsquishsquish-my-poor-feet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=7430","title":{"rendered":"EOISODE 238 YUKON DIARY TAGGING CLAIMS…SOUNDED EASY…SQUISH,SQUISH,SQUISH MY POOR FEET"},"content":{"rendered":"
EPISODE 238   YUKON DIARY    TAGGING CLAIMS..SOUNDED EASY\u2026SQUISH,SQUISH,SQUISH\u2026MY POOR FEET!<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
January 2021<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
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<\/div>\n
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<\/div>\n
Monday Sept. 10,  2021<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Up at 7, breakfast at Luigi\u2019s then met Bob Gilroy after arranging flight<\/div>\n
from Juneau to Vancouver \u2026 planned my exit adventure … getting from Mayo<\/div>\n
Landing to Juneau\u2026(I really  did not know how to do it)<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
We then drove to Silver Titan camp to pick up the claim tags\u2026also<\/div>\n
a blazing  axe, compass, skinning knife and rifle (30.30)   Knife did not<\/div>\n
make much sense.  Drove  to the McQueston flats for  day of tagging<\/div>\n
claims\u2026if I could find the base lines.  All alone in the silence of an oncoming<\/div>\n
winter.  There was an inch  or more of ice in the swamps and  most of<\/div>\n
the tagging was in surface water.  I wanted to be quiet lest a bear get<\/div>\n
wind of me.  Not possible.  Each step cracked a slab of ice. Lots of sound.<\/div>\n
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
This is  the way I would meet a bear I imagined.   In truth bears stayed  away<\/div>\n
from humans.  We do not smell good.  <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Worse still was the water that percolated through the holes  in my<\/div>\n
gum rubbers and over the tops on occasion. Goddamned cold.  Best<\/div>\n
thing, however, was to keep moving once I found the base line<\/div>\n
leading to the claim posts.  This was  no picnic\u2026no easy money\u2026this<\/div>\n
was as  bad  or worse than conducting the Turam  survey.  Worse,<\/div>\n
because I was all alone.  I guess that was  why Bob  gave me the<\/div>\n
rifle.  Jesus!  I never fired rifle except once in western Alaska when we were<\/div>\n
armed in case of Kodiak bear attacks.  We dumped  the rifles because <\/div>\n
the Kodiaks were stuffing their guts with dead  salmon.  No danger.<\/div>\n
And we were dropped into our location by an  S 52 Sikorsky helicopter.<\/div>\n
Airborne rescue could be fast.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Here I was alone.  Not too sure I even found the old base line. Seemed <\/div>\n
to be some blazes but they were old.  And I was cold.  This was a winter<\/div>\n
day in the Yukon\u2026sept. 10, 1962.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Trying to follow an old claim line was sometimes like the proverbial needle in a haystack.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
But I did find the claim posts  more by chance than design.  The best kind of<\/div>\n
claim post is a living tree that has been decapitated and marked by axe slices<\/div>\n
on two sides.  One side faces the direction of the claim\u2026the other faces the<\/div>\n
direction where the other claim post can be found.  Two claim posts.   At one time these posts<\/div>\n
had  fresh slices\u2026easy to see.  After a year these slices had  turned Grey<\/div>\n
and  the spruce gum had oozed our\\t as if trying to scab the wound.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Every year the claims had to be tagged to indicate work had been done<\/div>\n
on the claim.  No work had been done on any of these claims.  No one had<\/div>\n
been in here for some time.   Later i discovered that in lieu of work the<\/div>\n
claimer could pay $100 which is what seems to have happened on these<\/div>\n
Silver Titan claims.  <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
While  miserable I was at the same time rather proud  of myself.  Bob Gilroy<\/div>\n
thought I knew what I was doing.  He did not know that I had never<\/div>\n
staked or tagged mining claims in my life.  But I did it.  Took a full <\/div>\n
day of squishy squishing my way through these swamps and forests<\/div>\n
of stunted Yukon spruce.  But I did it.  And  I sure needed whatever<\/div>\n
extra money they paid me.  \u201cBe bold, Alan, pretend you know  what<\/div>\n
you are doing\u2026and you may discover that you do know who you are doing.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
My feet were as wet as the feet on these moose.  They were designed for that.<\/div>\n
I was not.  (see postscript)<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Made my way\u2026squish, squishing\u2026back to the road at 4.30.  No one there.<\/div>\n
Walked \u2026squish,sguishing\u2026for 2.5 hours until I met Steve and his <\/div>\n
truck heading for Mayo.  No supper.   Met Bill Scott and Alex Doulis<\/div>\n
who were in a fine good mood fuelled  by rum I assumed.  Good to see<\/div>\n
them.  My feet were tingly at first but soon became normal.<\/div>\n
 Ate a can of cold pork and  beans as a supper around 9.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Reported to Bob Gilroy and drew  a rough map of the tagging.  around 8 p.m.<\/div>\n
Then Mrs.<\/div>\n
Gilroy cooked me a nice T bone steak around 9 …(did  not mention the pork and beans<\/div>\n
consumed earlier).  Packed gear in back of truck and drove to Hutton\u2019s where<\/div>\n
I had my personal stuff weighed and shipped home.  From this point I will<\/div>\n
be travelling light.just clothes on my back, my camera and  diary.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Dropped in at the bar at 10 p.m. where Bill awaited with a couple of  drinks.<\/div>\n
Met Fred Carter who wanted  me to see his 35mm slides. Great pictures<\/div>\n
including interior of the Dawson City church which was slowly sinking into<\/div>\n
the permafrost\u2026weird to see sunday  school basement with chairs and lecturns<\/div>\n
half covered by clear ice\u2026sort of unsettling.   Other pics, of course, of live bears.   <\/div>\n
Then we went back to the<\/div>\n
bar to drink that dreaded \u2018double OP\u2019 with Fred  and Jim Moran.  <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
All in all the day was better at the end than it was at the beginning and<\/div>\n
the middle.  <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Now, if anyone asks me about staking mining claims I can assume <\/div>\n
the posture of a veteran.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Expenses    Food \u2026 Shipping personal gear  $10.52<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Post script: MY FEET<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Friction between  underbrush and my gum rubbers was hard on my feet.  Eventually the gum rubbers<\/div>\n
got holes in them.  Rub!Rub! Rub!  Sometimes I stepped  on what I thought was  solid  ground and found  my foot<\/div>\n
submerged in water. Slosh! slosh! slosh!  I got used to it.  On  the Alaska  job  I was lucky if a pair of rubber boots lasted<\/div>\n
three weeks.  Dr. Paterson was persuaded to foot the bill for new rubber boots on that job.   The <\/div>\n
Yukon job  was similar  but I Kept my mouth shut.  Who wants to appear to be a  suck? Even when my feet were protesting.  When the<\/div>\n
summer ended my feet were as  white as ivory and as  pock marked as  a No Hunting sign targeted<\/div>\n
by a shot gun.  Skin could be peeled.  This final claim staking job was  the worst for my feet but<\/div>\n
that was clearly my own fault.  I know this sounds trivial.  Not so.  Do an  experiment.  Walk around<\/div>\n
for a few days with water in your boots .  Water that starts off cold but soon becomes heated by<\/div>\n
our body temperature.  The result is  not pretty.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EPISODE 238   YUKON DIARY    TAGGING CLAIMS..SOUNDED EASY\u2026SQUISH,SQUISH,SQUISH\u2026MY POOR FEET! alan skeoch January 2021 Monday Sept. 10,  2021 Up at 7, breakfast at Luigi\u2019s then met Bob Gilroy after arranging flight from Juneau to Vancouver \u2026 planned my exit adventure … getting from Mayo Landing to Juneau\u2026(I really  did not know how to do […]<\/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-7430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7430","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=7430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7430\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}