{"id":7560,"date":"2021-02-17T11:32:21","date_gmt":"2021-02-17T16:32:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=7560"},"modified":"2021-02-17T11:37:26","modified_gmt":"2021-02-17T16:37:26","slug":"episode-254-a-rock-fell-on-the-moon-by-aliicia-priest-part-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=7560","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 254 A ROCK FELL ON THE MOON…BY ALIICIA PRIEST PART ONE"},"content":{"rendered":"
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   EPISODE 253      A ROCK FELL ON THE MOON  \u2026  by Alicia Priest \u2026magnetic  PART ONE<\/div>\n

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alan skeoch<\/div>\n

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Feb. 2021   <\/div>\n

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REMINDER <\/div>\n


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Story is intricate\u2026.fascinating at least to me\u2026very global as well, i.e. Russia in time of Stalin and <\/div>\n
persecutions of 1930\u2019s when people ate grass, dead animals and worse\u2026a marriage\u2026two<\/div>\n
little girls one of whom became an author just months  before she died\u2026and a  father<\/div>\n
who  had a grand  scheme\u2026and a trial in Mayo Landing in Nov. 1963 where it was so cold<\/div>\n
lawyers dare not turn of their car engines\u2026defence lawyer Molson (beer family fame) had a brand<\/div>\n
new 1963 Pontiac which was scrap at the end of the trial\u2026ran day and night\u2026<\/div>\n
45 degrees below zero\u2026lower than that\u2026coldest place in North America…Mayo Landing<\/div>\n
where the lawyers  and jurors drank double O.P.\u2019s<\/div>\n
in the Chateau Inn as we did in the summer of 1962..while Gerald Priest was stealing sacks<\/div>\n
of silver ore (if true)\u2026hidden  in the bush we were surveying that summer…and where a third man escaped prison because his <\/div>\n
jailed associates never ratted on him.  Honour among thieves.  <\/div>\n

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And the question of who owned 70 tons of silver ore\u2026Was it from a \u2018rock that fell on the moon.<\/div>\n
or was  it stolen from Keno Hill ?  How do you steal 70 tons of ore?<\/div>\n

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I must have seen, maybe talked to, Gerald Priest in the summer of 1962.  Maybe I even noticed<\/div>\n
Alicia playing with Caesar, her  dog, on a gravel road  in the lonely mining town of Elsa where<\/div>\n
we bought our food and had ice cream cones.  Alicia  may have had  an ice cream cone on a day<\/div>\n
that Bill Scott and I had ours.  We were there often.  <\/div>\n

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Alicia\u2019s story is magnetic\u2026like the Galena ore hidden on the trail near Keno Hill.<\/div>\n

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We were there\u2026.Bill Scott and I…while one of the great thefts in Canadian history was happening\u2026and no one knew.  <\/div>\n
Why did I never hear about this crime (if it was a crime)  until 2013? Simple.  President John Kennedy was shot in November<\/div>\n
1963.  All other news fell by the wayside.   THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT KENNEDY ECLIPSED THE THEFT<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

OF 70 TONS OF SILVER ORE FROM AN OBSCURE MINE HIDDEN IN THE YUKON.  Few people in 1963followed the mining story.
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alan<\/div>\n

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EPISODE 253   A ROCK FELL ON THE MOON<\/p>\n

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

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Alicia Priest was  10 years old  in 1962.   I was 23 years old.  We never met although we may<\/div>\n
have seen  esch other.  She lived  in Elsa and her dad  was the assayer for United Keno Hill Mines,<\/div>\n
a silver and lead mine in the centre of the Yukon Territory, Canada.  She was a happy  little girl<\/div>\n
living in a nice pan  abode house provided by the mining company. Alicia and her older sister<\/div>\n
Vona loved the wilderness in which they lived   Her mom was a German  born Mennonite who <\/div>\n
just barely escaped  the purges of Joseph Stalin after World War Two.  Her daughter becameMrs. Preist \u2026<\/div>\n
met Gerald through a lonely hearts club… through love letters exchanged before they met physically.  Gerald was in a dead  end<\/div>\n
job in Elsa\u2026OR he felt he was.   He was a genius who had a plan that was as  big as  the moon.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Too bad he failed in the end.  Lots of people were rooting for him\u2026i.e. all the miners except one in<\/div>\n
the Keno Hill mine at Elsa.  Even some lawyers.  All the citizens in Mayo Landing many of which<\/div>\n
had been our employees  and friends in 1962.   <\/div>\n

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I wish he had succeeded too.  <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

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I am not alone.  Mystery on top of mystery discovered reading Alicia Priest\u2019s  book<\/div>\n
\u201cA Rock Fell on the Moon\u2019.  Shocked  me.  I was much closer to events than I ever expected.<\/div>\n
 Where to begin?   Should I start with the White Pass truck  driver who wanted<\/div>\n
a coffee snd directions?  Or should I start with Alicia who wanted her Dad\u2019s story told?   Or should I start <\/div>\n
with a Ukrainian  Mennonite fleeing with the German army in 1945?    Or should  I start with the first trial <\/div>\n
and jurors  in Mayo Landing in November 1963?   Or should I start with Gerald Priest\u2019s giant boulder<\/div>\n
that fell on the moon?  Or should I start with the mysterious connection to Dr. Aho.?  When his name popped<\/div>\n
up in Alicia\u2019s book I got goose bumps.  I was a lot closer to this  story than I ever expected.<\/div>\n
 There was a lot I did not know.   Much  of which will never be known. <\/div>\n
Maybe I hould I start with myself\u2026I was there but did not see?  Blind.<\/div>\n

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Dan Bowyer, good friend and reader of these Episodes, has asked If the story of the Rock on the Moon<\/div>\n
is going to be made into a serial where he has to sit on \u2018pins and needles\u2019.  Can I tell the story all<\/div>\n
in one episode?  Sorry, cannot do that.  Charles Dickens wrote his novels in episodes\u2026tried to keep <\/div>\n
his readers on pins and needles\u2026succeeded.  While not as gifted as  Dickens, i will follow his example.<\/div>\n
Why?  Because the story is so damn complicated.  Many stories interwoven.  I have to surgically<\/div>\n
separate each story\u2026easier to do that using my Episode format.<\/div>\n

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To begin with I must have an attitude to the story.  A value judgment.  Where do  I stand on the big<\/div>\n
crime?   Do I support Gerald Preist?  Or do  I side with United Keno Hill Mines Limited (UKHML)?<\/div>\n
Like Alicia I really wish her father had succeeded in his  argument that \u2018a rock fell on the moon\u201d<\/div>\n

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We are not alone.  All the miners at Elsa, except for Price the mine manager, supported Gerald.<\/div>\n
Sort of a David and Goliath story.  Where the bold little guy succeeds.  Wish that were so.  Gerald\u2019s<\/div>\n
success is transient.  Wish that were not so.  Wish Gerald Priest was a really nice guy.  He became<\/div>\n
less nice as his life unfolded.  Wish that were not so.   If I had the power to change the story\u2026to<\/div>\n
make the story into a movie script with a happy ending, I would  do so in an instant.  Alicia felt that<\/div>\n
way but stuck to the facts.  I am afraid I would not do that\u2026I would  not let the facts  get in the way<\/div>\n
of a good story. I am not as devoted to journalism as Alicia.  Well.  Not entirely true.  I have written<\/div>\n
many episodes about Red Skeoch, my dad, who was anything but a prince of light.  He had criminal<\/div>\n
tendencies. But nothing like Gerald Priest.  Dad  stuck to $20 heists.  Gerald Priest’s heist , if it was a <\/div>\n
heist, amounted to anywhere between $200,000 and $1 million dollars.  <\/div>\n
Dad and Gerald Priest were both qjuie charismatic.  They could tell bold lies with a straight face.<\/div>\n
Schemers.  Interesting people.<\/div>\n

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A ROCK FELL ON THE MOON<\/div>\n

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So the book title is as good a  place as any to begin.  \u201cA Rock Fell on The Moon\u201d  Where did Gerald got the idea<\/div>\n
of shipping 70 tons  of silver ore <\/div>\n
in the first place.?  In his head. But there were other shadowy people involved. Mysterious<\/div>\n
people one of whom I knew quite well.  We were contracted to him but never fully knew that.<\/div>\n
He died in 1977\u2026an accident\u2026.tractor rolled over on him. Dr. Aho.  His book was published<\/div>\n
after his  death.  Very detailed and  wonderful book\u2026details, details, details.  Except for the mysterious<\/div>\n
story of the Rock  That Fell on the Moon.  In that chapter there are no names.  Not one.  All other<\/div>\n
chapters are awash in details right down to nitty gritty\u2026names, places, habits, broken legs, loose women<\/div>\n
with names  included.   But that one chapter<\/div>\n
has none.  Dr. Aho  was deeply involved.  He provided Anthony \u2018Pancho\u2019 Bobicik with $50,000 dollars in 1962 for<\/div>\n
whatever gear was needed\u2026yet that is not mentioned in his book \u2018Hills of Silver\u2019.  If I forked over<\/div>\n
$50,000 to someone as strange as Bobicik (Pancho) I would want a receipt at the very least.<\/div>\n

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The mystery of one of the largest thefts in Canadian history remains  a mystery to this day.<\/div>\n
Peso Silver and Silver Titan were mining companies owned by Dr. Aho.  I  spent the summer of 1962<\/div>\n
working on their mining claims.  Good friends with all his men.  But I never knew that somewhere nearby there were 70 tons<\/div>\n
of stolen silver ore waiting for White Pass trucks to pick up.  No one seems  to have known<\/div>\n
except for Gerald  Priest, Pancho Bobiceck and a mystery third man who will never be known.<\/div>\n
They kept their lips buttoned.  They went to the Moon.<\/div>\n

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SUCH a simple book title.  Enigmatic.  Do rocks fall on the moon?  Who would know?  Perhaps<\/div>\n
Neil Armstrong but I doubt that\u2026all he did was step on the moon and  leave bootprints.<\/div>\n
So the title seems  a bit stupid\u2026sounds like a science fiction novel.  <\/div>\n

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But Gerald Priest insisted until the day he died that a rock did fall on the Moon.    Gerald<\/div>\n
and Pancho, his partner, and a mystery man\u2026the third man who got away agreed that<\/div>\n
the rock that fell on the moon was nearly solid  silver.  Worth a lot of money.   They argued<\/div>\n
that this huge rock was loosened by weather or glacial activity thousands of years ago.<\/div>\n
The rock then tumbled down  Keno Hill and came to rest on the Moon.<\/div>\n

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The Rock that fell on the Moon must have been huge\u2026like this,<\/div>\n
perhaps larger.<\/div>\n

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How could a huge boulder roll down Keno Hill to the swamp far below?  It is possible. Look at the slope.<\/div>\n

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The Moon?   Yes, the Moon was the name given to series of four mining claims at the bottom of the Eastern<\/div>\n
slope of Keno Hill.  Gerald and  his partner, Anthony \u2018Pancho\u2019 Bobicik , put their staking tags  on the old <\/div>\n
 Moon claims whose tags had  expired.<\/div>\n
(claimed size 500, x 1,500 feet).  They had discovered a mother lode  of silver and lead.  Called a \u2018float\u2019 in<\/div>\n
mining parlance cause it floated on top of bedrock.  They kept their mouths <\/div>\n
shut lest others get involved.  Pancho was a Czechoslovakian immigrant among<\/div>\n
other immigrant miners at Elsa (UKHML).   Single like most of the miners. Gerald  Priest ran the assay office in Elsa.  He determined<\/div>\n
the silver content of the ore being mined underground.  Married  with two little girls, dog Caesar and a cat.<\/div>\n

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They were partners. Recent owners of the Mon  claims.  Miners who had struck it rich but<\/div>\n
did not want anyone to know until the silver ore was smelted.  Smelted?   No smelter in Elsa\u2026or<\/div>\n
the Yukon\u2026or western  Canada.  The nearest smelter was in the  western USA.   Somehow they had<\/div>\n
to get 70 tons of silver\/lead\/arsenic ore from Keno City to the smelter?  The  smelter would pay\u2026perhaps $200,000 or<\/div>\n
more.  Turns out the smelter paid  less\u2026$125,00.  But not to Gerald Priest.  What?  Explain!  i will in time.<\/div>\n

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  How could 70 tons be<\/div>\n
moved thousands of  miles without being detected?<\/div>\n

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As things turned out it was quite easy to move 70 tons  of ore\u2026671 Twill sacks to be exact, enough<\/div>\n
to fill two railway cars.   White Past Railway had the trucks sitting in Whitehorse.  Gerald called for<\/div>\n
three trucks to come to a long forgotten  spot on a  near forgotten mining road in June 1963.<\/div>\n


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Yes,  it was unusual for three large trucks to pick up 671 unmarked twill sacks of something heavy piled along<\/div>\n
the side of the gravel road.  But it was not illegal.  Why should the truckers even care.  it was a job.<\/div>\n

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Elsa, the mining site and mill site, was nearby\u2026at the end of the road really.  Nothing beyond except claim posts here<\/div>\n
and there, streams and rivers, a lot of the land swarming with mosquitoes who were breeding lustilly in the soggy swampland at the<\/div>\n
bottom of the McQuesten Valley.   If I was a trucker I would want to get loaded and get the hell back on the road to Mayo Landing<\/div>\n
for a beer before the long 250 mile haul to Whitehorse.  Two of the drivers must have felt that way.  Once loaded they hit the road.<\/div>\n
The last truck, however, did something different.  He was  supposed to take the Duncan Creek road  which by passed<\/div>\n
Also.  But he got lost.<\/div>\n

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He drove into Elsa.  Stopped at the coffee shop for a drink and some directions.   Elsa\u2026town of 600 people at the end of the road.<\/div>\n
A town that poppied up in the mid 20th century like a Sheep\u2019s Nose Mushroom, then after a couple of decades  just melted  into<\/div>\n
nothing as if it had never existed.   On that June day in 1963, the town was very much alive.  Miners, mostly immigrants.  Elsa was the second richest silver<\/div>\n
mine in Canada\u2026.third richest in the world\u2026\u201dspitting out 6 million ounces  of silver every year”  These were good times for UKHML.<\/div>\n

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Unknown resident in Elsa around 1962.  Pan Abode houses were provided to executives and professional employees<\/div>\n
like Gerald Priest and his family.   Even  so, life was bleak  at times.<\/div>\n

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A twist of fate occurred.  The Mine manager noticed  the truck and  wondered  what the hell it was doing on the Elsa road.<\/div>\n
This  was not an ore shipment day.  Albert Edward  Pike was  nicknamed  \u2018Little Hitdler\u2019 by his miners many of which were<\/div>\n
immigrants from post war ravaged  Europe.  He was not liked.  But he was  obeyed.   He wondered what was  in the truck.<\/div>\n
Suspicious he ordered the truck searched  but by then it was on the way to Mayo Landing 32 miles down the road.<\/div>\n

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Albert Pike wanted to know what a White Pass truck was  doing in Elsa  with piles of sacks  in the back.  <\/div>\n
He ordered one of  his men, Lang, to find out what he could.  \u201cAnyone know what that truck was doing here?\u201d  by then<\/div>\n
the truck was getting close  to Mayo Landing.  Pike wanted to know what was in those bags on that truck.<\/div>\n
The road to Mayo was not a  racetrack\u2026driving on a dry summer day was  akin  to crossing the Sahara.  Dust..dust..dust.<\/div>\n
Slow going.  And  another 250 miles to reach Whitehorse.  No rush.<\/div>\n

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The truck was  searched by many men while the driver had his lunch in  Mayo.  One of those men,  believe it or<\/div>\n
not, was Dr. Aaro Aho.  The man we worked  for in 1962.  Why would he jump on the back  of that truck to get\u2026steal\u2026<\/div>\n
 Samples were to send back to Pike?  Seems an odd thing for a man like  Aho\u2026a distinguished geologist. <\/div>\n
  “Strange things are done in the midnight sun\u201d as Robert Service said.<\/div>\n
Service should have been in Mayo Landing.  He would have written a poem about these men stealing samples from a<\/div>\n
truckload  of ore bags while the driver had  his lunch.  Did the driver not see them?  Mayo Landing is a  tiny place.<\/div>\n

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Think about it.  If the driver had not stopped for coffee and directions the three truckloads  of silver ore could well have<\/div>\n
reached  the  smelter and Gerald Priest need explain  nothing to anyone.   Alicia wished such had happened.<\/div>\n
Her life would  have not taken such a bad turn for the worse.   Her momma cat might not have been shot.  Her wonderful<\/div>\n
dog Caesar might not have been \u2018put down\u2019.<\/div>\n

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WHERE DID THESE 3 TRUCKLOADS OF  SILVER ORIGINATE?  TWO POSSIBILITIES<\/div>\n

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You will see this picture often.  It is one of the few pictures of Gerald Priest (on the right) , a picture<\/div>\n
that captures his personality.  When  I first saw this picture I thought it was taken in front of the cabin<\/div>\n
in which we lived  part of the time in 1962.  Not so.  Our windows  were intact.  But cabins like this<\/div>\n
popped up often as we did our surveys.  WHAT about the 70 tons of silver ore?  We could<\/div>\n
have walked over the pile and took no notice.  Take a close look at Gerald.  Memorize.<\/div>\n

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POSSIBILITY ONE:  The  671 bags  of  rich  silver ore came from a  boulder that fell from<\/div>\n
the top of Keno Hill to the Moon mining claims in the almost impenetrable valley below.  The Gerald  Priest And Pancho<\/div>\n
thesis.   The third man remained unknown.   The ore was listed  as the property of Alpine Gold and Silver Mines<\/div>\n
Limited.   Owner was  Pancho Bobicik<\/div>\n
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POSSIBILITY TWO  The 671 bags of silver ore were secretly stollen from the UNITED KENO HILL MINE.  Somehow?<\/div>\n
An investigation was  underway which would prove the origin of the ore.  Both Gerald Priest and  Pancho<\/div>\n
were thieves and  will be prosecuted.  The theft involved a third man who has not been identified.  The RCMP<\/div>\n
were notified immediately. (He had never heard of Alpine Gold and Silver Mines Limited.)<\/div>\n

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TWO POSSIBILITIES:  WHICH  SEEMS MORE LOGICAL?<\/div>\n

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TO BE  CONTINUED IN EPISODE 254<\/div>\n

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Sometimes the fate of great schemes collapse due to slight mistakes.   Had the truck driver not<\/div>\n
got last Gerald snd Pancho might have  been rich men.   And Geralds wife Helen with her two children<\/div>\n
Vona and Alicia would not have suddenly found themselves living  in the cellar of an East Vancouver slum.<\/div>\n
Alicia was 10 years old and confused.  Why were they leaving Elsa?   What about her cat whose<\/div>\n
kittens had  been so playful. \u201cWhat happened to our pussy cat, Daddy?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cShe is living with friends.  She is fine.\u201d Truth be told, Gerald Priest shot her.  <\/div>\n
\u201cAnd  where is Caesar?\u201d   \u201cHe is old\u2026have your mother put him down.”<\/div>\n

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Just who was Gerald  Priest?<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

   EPISODE 253      A ROCK FELL ON THE MOON  \u2026  by Alicia Priest \u2026magnetic  PART ONE alan skeoch Feb. 2021    REMINDER  Story is intricate\u2026.fascinating at least to me\u2026very global as well, i.e. Russia in time of Stalin and  persecutions of 1930\u2019s when people ate grass, dead animals and worse\u2026a marriage\u2026two little girls […]<\/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-7560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7560","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=7560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7560\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}