I truly feel blessed to be able to get off the grid and away from the constant barrage of bad news. For the next three months, Ray and I will be unplugged (with the exception of coming into town for supplies. We are thinking of getting a satellite internet connection since we’ll be gone so much, but we haven’t made any solid plans yet.
View of the sunset from our cabin. Time is approximately 12:30. The sun will slowly move to the right, hiding behind the mountains for a few hours before popping up again. It will never really get dark.
Sunset/Sunrise times
This year’s Solstice Noon occurs at 1:43 pm on June 20th. The sun will set at around 12:45, and rise again around 2:45***.
***this is approximate per the sunrise/sunset calendar.
Weekend Plans
This weekend we plan on focusing on the upcoming construction in July. The foundations are almost ready, and we will start building structures for the new cook shed and shower facility in July.
Artist’s Retreat!!!
We’ll also start earth work for future guest cabin. Our dream is to turn our 31 acres into an off-grid artist’s retreat so we can share the beauty and inspiration of the Alaska interior with others.
We also we spend time researching, reading, writing and reflecting. Without the constant rattle and distraction focus and clarity on what truly matters is much easier.
Ray’s sculpture, the “Lilly of the Valley.” We have been installing multiple large metal sculptures around the property.
Thanks for reading! My horror novella inspired by my adventures in the backcountry of Alaska is available on Amazon.
When I first wrote this post back in March, the State of Alaska had officially declared a “shelter in place order.” We had over 80 cases state-wide and 1 in-state death. The mandate didn’t actually change much for us here in Anchorage, we’ve been under a shelter in place since the 20th, with only essential businesses open. Though unofficially we were asked to minimize contact when the first cases broke out in Washington state and the first few trickled into Fairbanks.
Alaska Hunkers Down
This may seem a little extreme. Why did Alaska hunker down
so quickly while states like New York and California waited until the disease
was in full swing to call an emergency?
Echoes of the 1918 Pandemic
While there are many answers for this, one of the biggest
lies in the state’s past, and the tragedies revolving around the 1918 Flu
Pandemic.
Copper Center Telegraphs
In the fall of 2011, my husband and I took a trip to Valdez. Along the way, we stopped at the Historic Copper Center Road House and Museum. One of the fascinating displays was the collection of telegraphs reports—specifically from the 1918 Flu Pandemic. Even in these simple, short missives, you can sense the dread even a century later. The remote territory was watching the signs of spread the same way Londoners watched the eastern skies in the summer of 1940. But the illness imposed on the white population was nothing compared to the utter devastation wreaked on the native population that still echoes to this day.
Nome’s Fatal Mistake
From this Alaska Daily News Article by Tony Hopfinger in May
of 2012, it is hard for many to fathom how such a remote region at the time,
not connected by real roads or planes could have a disease still spread. The answers
are simple:
A lack of understanding of testing/identifying who had the flu and then quarantining the individuals
And a desire to get supplies and mail to the interior before winter set in and the ports became ice-locked
The flu was already spreading and killing in the south east
of Alaska. A supply ship was heading to Nome with people onboard who already
had it. Unfortunately, their inability to identify and quarantine the sick led
to its spread.
The mail carriers then began the deadly trail north, dying
and killing along the way.
The Lost Village of Wales
A Lonely, Weather-beaten Cross
On the sandy beach of the Wales, facing the Bearing Sea,
there’s a lone wooden cross. This windblown grave marker is a testament to the
ravages of the 1918 Flu on this coastal Native Village. The mail carrier
arrived in Wales already sick. Taking him in, the disease spread like wildfire.
The Devastation of the Flu on the Native Population
According to Hopfinger’s article, the territorial Governor of Alaska, Jack Riggs, saw the devastation on the villages in the South East and petitioned Washington for funds to bury the dead. Dealing with their own outbreak, and sending funds to Europe in the aftermath of WWI, they had no interest in sending money to the remote territory to bury non-whites.
When he realized no word had come from the Seward Peninsula. He commissioned rescue teams to investigate.
True-life Horror
I write horror for fun, and I love Alaska in all of its harsh beauty. But sometimes truth is far more terrifying than fiction. As I picture the scene from Hopfinger’s writing, I cringe. When the rescuers reached the village, with temperatures at 40 to 50 below in the winter of 1918, they encountered the worst of northern nightmares. Entire families huddled together, frozen in mass. Children barely alive, huddled against their dead parents-not understanding why mom and dad can’t wake up. Dogs and wolves snapped and snarled in the night, fighting over remains of bodies. The majority of the survivors huddled in the school house, terrified to come out.
This had once been one of the largest native villages on the
Seward Peninsula. It was now annihilated.
Burying the Dead
I know from both having a remote cabin and dealing with
ground that is frozen most of the year, trying to dig by hand (or even with
heavy equipment) is difficult if not impossible. From my research for my
historical fiction novels, the larger cities would often pre-dig a number of
graves in the fall, to minimize the amount of work they would have to do when
people died during the long dark winters. In the smaller communities, the dead
had to be stored somewhere the animals couldn’t get to them until spring thaw.
But how do you dig 172 graves while being attacked by
half-wild dogs and wolves?
Dynamite
In order to bury the dead, they had to use dynamite to blast
a hole in the sand. 172 bodies were stacked in a mass grave, along with an
unknown number of parts and limbs. They also threw in the dogs that had to be
shot because they had become feral, feeding on humans and now were out of
control in the village.
Shishmaref Prevents the Flu from Spreading North
Word had gotten ahead of the Flu’s deadly slog north to the village of Shishmaref. Forewarned, the village decided to quarantine themselves. They stationed armed guards eight miles outside the village. The precaution halted the disease’s march, it went no further. This action saved not only Shismaref, but the villages further north.
Alaska Covid-19 Response
I admit, even as this first broke out, I was a little
skeptical. I thought, this can’t be that bad. But as it began it’s spread first
in China, then to Italy, I’m glad the Mayor of Anchorage, Mark Berkowitz, was
proactive in his response.
Berkowitz put it bluntly:
If we don’t take care of ourselves, nobody else is coming because everyone else is contending with this pandemic at the same time.
Berkowitz, Mayor of Anchorage in response to ordering shelter in place on March 20, 2020
The shelter in place was issued for Anchorage official on
March 20th, though we had been asked to self-isolate a week prior.
Though we live in modern times, Alaska is still isolated and can easily
experience shipping issues and supply shortages on a normal basis, let alone
when the rest of the country is in an emergency state. Most of the medical
resources lie in Anchorage and Fairbanks, with the remote communities only
being served by a basic medical clinic.
History doesn’t repeat, but it often rhymes
Attributed to Mark Twain
This quote is attributed to Mark Twain (though it is hard to find proof he actually said it). It is one of my favorite quotes. I hope that we here in Alaska can avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. From what I can see, we’re doing a decent job, hunkering down as the cases rise. We’ve now had 10 deaths in state so far and over 300 cases. The cases are slowly flattening, as people stay home and reach out to one another online. We know our economy is about to take a huge hit, being dependent on both tourism and oil. Both will be depressed this year if not non-existent. If living in Alaska has shown me anything, Alaskans really do help each other, even in the worst of times.
Thanks for reading my post. Sorry for being kind of a Debbie-downer. I know everyone is a little weary of this. I hope that all of my friends ride through this safely, and we never hit the worst-case scenarios. Take care. I promise my next blog will be a little more upbeat. The next blog is going to be about the night Ray and I spent at the “haunted” Gakona Lodge and our experience in room number 5 (the haunted room).
The Dark Land, Available on Amazon
My novella, The Dark Land is available on Amazon:
The legend of Alaska’s Headless Ravine is steeped in blood. Its hunger for human flesh never sleeps, even in the deepest cold of winter. Courage, skill and love will be pushed to the limits on the isolated trails of The Dark Land.
Even as the snow continues to fall, the days are getting longer and we feel spring is right around the corner. Ray and I are planning for not only the 1st Chicken Run of 2020 (tentatively the last weekend in April), but placing orders for our summer projects. We have a lot of plans for this summer and we can’t wait to get started.
Travelling the Taylor and Top of the World Highways
Top of the World HIghway, Alaska side
But as some of you who follow me regularly know, Ray and I
have a passion for Historic Ghost Towns. We’re planning on getting out this
summer and visiting a few more in the region. We are going up the Taylor and
Top of the World Highways toward Eagle and Boundary to obtain large chunks of
quartz and granite for landscaping and sculptures. We are also going to drive
to Dawson, the setting for my Historical Fiction/Paranormal Romance, A Drink of
Darkness.
Yukon River, looking north from Midnight Dome
Ghost Town of 60-Mile and the Lonely Spectre
One of our stops along the way will be the Ghost Town of
60-Mile. On the Canadian side of the border, people were mining in this area more
than ten years before the discovery of gold on the Klondike. During its heyday,
almost 2000 people lived in this remote area. Before the highway was built, it
was the direct route between the mining towns of the 40-Mile district of Alaska
and the Klondike goldfields. Most people packed up and headed for Dawson when they
heard of the big strike. But a few stayed and continued to mine (there are
still some small mining operations to this day).
From the Ghost Town of Chicken, AK; a the former residence of a hermit miner featured in some of my blogs, Toad
Hermit Miners
According to resources, one character in particular was a
hermit miner named John Stockton. One of the interesting things about the
miners who come to the region, and really people who come to Alaska in general,
they are true loners. Many really want to just work their claims and be alone.
They might come into town on once or twice in a summer, pick up their supplies,
and head back out only giving the occasional greeting. From all accounts John
was one of these. Not hostile, but not social.
The Ghost’s Background
John was born in Oregon circa 1866* and was found deceased by the Northwest Mounted Police near his claim in 1944. He filed 6 mining claims with the government. He was buried on top of the hill in a spot he had pre-selected, overlooking the 60-mile valley. According to numerous stories and legends, his ghost still haunts the hill, and can be seen from time to time watching the new mining operations in the distance. He apparently doesn’t like anyone mining on the claim on which his grave rests. Anyone who tries experiences unexplainable equipment problems and bad weather.
Greeting the Ghost
We plan on checking out the ruins of the old town of 60-Mile.
Most of this Ghost Town has succumbed to the elements. We’ll also say hi to
John. According to legend, he’s amicable to people saying hi and visiting his
grave, he just doesn’t like it if they disturb things, linger long, or try to
find out anything about him. Mediums and other people trying to reach out to
him purportedly have gotten a stern, “Leave me alone,” in response to their
well-meaning efforts.
After having our cabin out in Chicken, I could understand
wanting to live my eternity undisturbed out in such a beautiful, peaceful
region. It sounds like the “Lonely Miner of the 60-Mile” is content with his
afterlife.
Who wouldn’t love to enjoy this view forever?
Much of my information on this story, I got from the book, Ghosts of the Klondike Gold Rush by Shirley Jonas.
Thanks for reading. My horror novella set in the Alaska backcountry, The Dark Land, is coming to Amazon May 4th. (pre-sale starts April 16th). If you sing up for my newsletter, you’ll get a sneak preview of a scene from the Dark Land.
Subscribe to our newsletter!
In my next blog post, I will talk about one of the most famous ghosts and hauntings of the Klondike Rush, and Dawson City’s Palace Grand Theatre.
The Dark Land, Available on Amazon
Ancient evil stalks the frozen trails of Alaska’ boreal forests. The legend of the Headless Ravine is steeped in blood. The Dark Land’s hunger for flesh never sleeps, even in the deepest cold of winter
*I did notice a minor typo in her book about John’s DOB, which is why I note the year of his birth as approximately 1866. It is listed in her book as 1886, which doesn’t add up to his death in 1944 at the age of 79. According to her notes, he filed his first claim in 1909 at age 44.
Reliable, cost effective and environmentally sustainable energy storage is a key to making alternative energy solutions competitive against other sources for the long term. Solar, wind, hydro, and tidal energy are abundant at times and in certain regions. Without the means to store this energy for when times are lean and make it accessible to all, it is easy to fall back onto fossil fuels.
Solar arrays near Nipton.
ALASKA CHALLENGES IN REMOTE LOCATIONS
Which brings me to my upcoming summer project with our new solar kit. For those of you who follow my posts regularly, our cabin is in a remote region of Alaska, subject to extreme temperatures. The record low for Chicken is -76. The highs can easily hit 80-90 in the summer months, where our ridge easily gets 21+ hours of sunlight a day at its peak.
View of the sunset from our cabin. Time is approximately midnight at the summer solstice. The sun will dip behind the mountains for about 3 hours, never quite getting dark..
BATTERIES AND PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEMS
TAKING ADVANTAGE OF SOLAR ENERGY
Battery longevity and efficiency is of extreme importance. Batteries are expensive parts of a photovoltaic system. They are, at their heart, simple devices. By definition, a battery is two dissimilar metals immersed in an electrolytic (typically acid) solution. This creates a chemical reaction. They are also (depending on their construction), highly corrosive and toxic waste in landfills. It is important that as we develop alternative energy storage solutions, we maximize storage efficiency to minimize waste and reduce cost. The extremes in temperatures that I mentioned above can degrade a battery’s life, requiring it to be replaced more frequently, thus adding more waste to our landfills and requiring more mining of rare earth minerals.
Me out in Chicken taking a break with Jane Friedman’s the Business of Being a Writer
I will be conducting a study of our system, keeping track of
load, temperatures, charge and charge times, acid levels and specific gravity. I
will track this information as a means to help manufacturers and researchers
refine their processes to create energy storage solutions that can better
withstand extreme environments and improve alternative energy accessibility for
all.
Taylor Highway Closed
This will be the first of many projects we hope to bring to life out in the 31 remote acres in the 40-Mile District of Alaska. Thanks for reading. In my next blog, I will discuss a little more in-depth on the details of our system design and capacity.
Summer of 2020 IS GOING TO BE AN ADVENTURE!
HOLD MY BEER!
Me and my father-in-law Shep, having a beer at the bar in Chicken, AK
Thanks for reading. I plan on posting many of our adventures this summer and beyond as I move into my next phase of my life and career. In the meantime, if you are looking for a fictional Alaska adventure, The Dark Land is available on Amazon
The legend of Alaska’s Headless Ravine is steeped in blood. Its hunger for human flesh never sleeps, even in the deepest cold of winter. Courage, skill and love will be stretched to the limits on the isolated boundaries of The Dark Land.
Sign up for my newsletter for sneak peaks of the sequel and my other writing!
It seems like for everyone I talk to, 2019 has been a
dumpster fire. I know that I will be happy to see this year in the rearview
mirror. For those of you who know me/follow me closely, you know that I have
struggled with MS and other health related issues this year. Then in August,
the company I worked for announced that they were selling our business unit.
These last few months I have spent a lot of time reflecting on my career path
and what I want to do going forward.
Me with a frame 5 GE rotor
It surprised a lot of people, given that I’m only 41, that I
opted to package out. Instead of applying for a job with the new operator, I
requested to be severed. For me, the choice was simple. This is an opportunity
to make a deep change in my life. I have explained in my blogs, that I have
always enjoyed writing. I enjoy engineering and math just as much. In the last
few years, I have felt that my job was taking me down a path that led me away
from what I enjoyed doing. I was no longer an engineer, I was pushing paper and
collecting a paycheck. Meanwhile my blood pressure was ratcheting up, as I argued
against decisions I disagreed with, only to get overridden. The stress seemed
to eat away at my very being. The only thing making my job worth doing was supporting
the great technicians and operators I work with.
The guys cleaning a substation
I hinted over this weekend of exciting announcements to come. I’m still waiting for my final severance date (I’ll get my letter in the mail Friday—I’ll be sure to let you know). But in the meantime, Ray and I are laying our plans for the future.
Monday Ray and I will be putting the down payment for our
first solar kit out at the cabin. We’ll be sharing pictures and posts as we
design and install our new solar panels, inverter, charger and batteries. We’re
looking forward to the greater flexibility as we stay out at the cabin for
longer in the summers and plan out adventures.
The cabin at night.
We also have some major construction projects in the works
for the summer of 2020. We poured our foundations this past summer, but in
July, we will be erecting a new cook shed and shower/sauna. It feels a little
weird, bringing creature comforts to our cabin that has been rustic for so
long. But as we transition from city living to Chicken these are changes that
will make living off-grid more convenient.
Breaking up the snow for water-I’ll really be looking forward to when we have a better water system!
We also plan on taking a few months and driving the ALCAN (a
trip I have never done before). We’re going to do an extended road trip to
visit friends in the lower 48. As some of you may have noticed, Ray and I have
kind of an obsession with old ghost towns. Expect to see lots of pictures and
historical blog posts about our adventures.
The Sternwheel Graveyard, one of our favorite stops on our Dawson City, YT adventure in the summer of 2019
We’re not entirely sure what the long term will bring, but I am excited for this leap. I plan on focusing on my writing in 2020 and hopefully bringing my fiction works one step closer to getting published. I also hope to get my own engineering projects/start-up company off the ground. I’m grateful for this deep-sea change. This is a true, once in a lifetime opportunity, and I look forward to sharing our plans and schemes with those of you who keep following me.
Me out in Chicken taking a break with Jane Friedman’s the Business of Being a Writer
More of my adventures in Dawson City, YT as I researched my Historical Fiction Novel, A Drink of Darkness
“You can drink it fast. You can drink it slow,
But your lips must touch the toe.” -The Sourtoe Cocktail Oath
I did a poll a while back about which blog posts people
wanted to see. While the Sternwheel Graveyard won the poll to go first, I did
promise to circle back around to the Sourtoe Cocktail.
The Sign for the Sourtoe Cocktail club. Yes, that many people have imbibed. I was #91346
What’s the Sourtoe Cocktail?
A tourist attraction in Dawson is to join the Sourtoe
Cocktail Club. It is even in the Yukon, Larger Than Life, tourist pamphlet.
What is the Sourtoe Cocktail, though? It is quite simple, but yet kind of
gross. It is a shot of alcohol (must be more than 40% by volume—no beer or wine)
with a toe in it.
It is an actual human toe preserved in salt.
How the hell did they come up with this idea?
Captain Dick Stevenson came up with the idea in 1973 when he
found the preserved toe of Louie Linken. The rum-runner lost the toe to
frostbite in the 1920’s.
Did I join the Sourtoe Club?
So at first I was resolutely in the no category. But my
husband wore me down in the week or so leading up to our trip—you know, the
whole when in Rome idea. We were staying at a B&B just down the street from
the Sourtoe Saloon, so we figured we’d just saunter down, do the shot and go
home. They don’t start up until 9pm. Much to our surprise, there was already a
huge crowd. We watched people down the shot for a while, then decided to come
back early the next day and get our spot in the queue.
The next day, I got a call from my boss letting me know our business unit was being sold, so I was going to be laid off at the end of the year. Primed for a few good drinks, I headed to the Saloon ready to join the club.
You pay for your shot of choice in advance. I decided on Jameson Irish Whiskey. When you sit down across from the Good Captain, he fills out your Sourtoe Membership certificate. You have to agree that you will not swallow, bite, or purposefully put the toe in your mouth at the risk of a $2500 fine.
The current toe used in the Sourtoe Cocktail. It is NOT the original toe.They are on #10 after the alst one was stolen.
Yes, if you are wondering—the toe has been swallowed more
than once. Last time on purpose. The toe I had the—uh—pleasure of imbibing is
not the original toe. They are actually on their 10th or so toe in
this game.
The toe looks more like a small shriveled sausage than a toe. I took the oath from the Captain and became the 91346-th member of the Sourtoe Cocktail Club. If you are interested, you’ll be happy to know that you only have to pay the fee one time. After that if you want to do it again, you can just show your certificate and the fee is waived.
Me with my certificate proclaiming me to be a proud member of the Sourtoe Cocktail Club
Wait—people want to do this MORE THAN ONCE?
Once was good enough for me. Apparently, the record is 14
times—in one night. One of the times the toe was swallowed was when a guy was
trying to beat the record.
Overall it was a fun experience. After Ray and I joined the club, we sat around joking and heckling others. The atmosphere draws a light-hearted tourist crowd, and everyone joins in on the fun. If you’re interested in joining the club, the Sourdough Saloon is in the downtown hotel on the corner of 2nd and Queen St. As previously mentioned, they start promptly at 9, but I would recommend getting there early and getting your shot ready (maybe have a few before hand to build up your courage).
Me posing with the Captain at the Sourdough Saloon.
Thanks for reading. My Alaska horror novella, The Dark Land is now available on Amazon. Subscribe to my newsletter below and get a sneak peak of The Dark Land.
Lured by her high peaks and vast forests, adventurers swarm to the siren call of Alaska’s backcountry. Her harsh bite scars many. Some never return.
The legend of the Headless Ravine is steeped in blood. Its hunger for human flesh never sleeps, even in the deepest cold of winter…
In the meantime stay tuned for more of our adventures in Dawson and the interior of Alaska.
Gold nugget from Jack Wade Gold Co. Guess how many oz this weighs
The “Tisha” of Robert Speck’s book published in 1976
Some of you who follow my posts about our cabin in Chicken, AK may have read the book, Tisha, written by Robert Speck. This book was loosely based on the life of a real school teacher in Chicken, AK. Her name was Anne Hobbs Purdy.
She wrote her another, based more on her time spent teaching in Eagle, titled Dark Boundary. This was published in 1954, and gave a much darker version of experiences as a school teacher in the territory.
Both versions are worth a read, and from talking with old timers in Chicken, Anne was quite the character. She was born in Missouri on November 10, 1901 and died in Dot Lake, AK on April 15, 1987. The Purdy family still owns property in Chicken. While I will be posting pictures of the “old town” of Chicken, I will not be posting any pictures or locations of the current Purdy family property out of respect for their privacy.
I put together this blog post for those of you who are fans of the book Tisha, but have never made it to Chicken. This will also be the setting for some of my future stories in my horror series (should it become one-rap wood!).
Jack Strong’s house. He had the contract for the mail in the 40-mile region, running a team between Eagle, Jack Wade, Steele Creek and Chicken. A key firgure in Tisha. The house has subsided up to nearly the windows.
We’ll start the tour with Jack Strong’s house. He had the contract to deliver mail and supplies to Chicken. He is the one who also “delivers” Anne to Chicken at the beginning of the story. His house was the largest and nicest in Chicken, also doubling as the General Store. As you can see in the picture, it has subsided over time into the permafrost.
Inside of Jack’s house. There are a few pieces of furniture left over from the era of when Fairbanks Exploration owned Chicken. The floor is nearly level with the window in the background due to the severe subsidence of the structure into the permafrost.Maggie’s Road House.
Maggie’s Roadhouse was the meeting Place for the town, where everyone would come together to gossip. It was also where they would get together after the dances on Saturday nights.
This cast iron stove in the roadhouse was brought in by dog sled. Fairbanks Exploration later retrofitted it to run on propane and installed the ventilation hood above.Sink and prep area in Maggie’s road house.This is where everyone would gather to eat after the dances at the school house.View looking toward the schoolhouse and Jack Strong’s warehouse from the Roadhouse.
So if you have read Tisha, you know that Maggie was a busy-body and a trouble maker. She didn’t like that Anne had taken in two native kids. She also didn’t like that Anne and Fred (a native man) were flirting with each other. As you can see here, she would have had ample opportunity to spy on Anne at the school house. This plays into several key scenes in the novel Tisha.
Front of Anne’s school house.Entrance to Anne’s personal living space on the north side of the buildingView from north side of Tisha’s School House. You can see in this picture that the structure has also subsided over time.View of rear of school house (west side) you can see doors and windows are closed off. At one point the building was two stories and used as a hotel. the second story burnt down in the early 1900’s.Inside the school room. Note the stove. It was made from a metal barrel. You can see the outline of the door and window and the back of the room that were closed off before Anne’s time.Anne’s personal living quarters. Sometimes when it got too cold, she would bring the children into her room and have them sit on her bed while she taught.Jack Strong’s Warehouse.Inside Jack’s storage warehouse in the old ghost town of Chicken, Alaska. Across from Tisha’s school house, it plays a central role in Anne’s story. Later it would become the warehouse for Fairbanks Exploration. Most of the goods left on the shelves are from their operations.“The Management House.” Once a private residence. One Fairbanks Exploration took over Chicken, it became a residence for upper management.Inside the management houseOld structureOld outhouse in Chicken. Could you imagine using this in winter. The record low in Chicken is -76 F.Toad’s residence
Toad is featured in a couple of my blogs. He was one of the last residents to live in Chicken full time before it was finally completely abandoned. He worked for Fairbanks Exploration and stayed on as a caretaker when they pulled out in the 1960’s. He eventually moved to a different place a few miles outside Chicken. Last year he moved to Tok. Only one person lives in the “Old Town” Of Chicken during winter as a caretaker now to prevent vandalism.
Me and my father-in-law Shep, having a beer at the bar in Chicken, AK
Thanks for reading! My horror series The Dark Land and The Devil’s Valley, based on the Athabascan legend of “the People with Tails,” is available on Amazon.
Some places were never meant for humans to trespass.
My research into Dawson City for my Historical Fiction novel: A Drink of Darkness
Gold was discovered in the Klondike in August of 1896 in a small tributary in the sprawling Yukon River. Due to slow communications, the rest of the world didn’t hear about it until July of 1897, after the Excelsior pulled into Seattle with “A ton of Gold.” A million people made plans to head north. Over 100,000 people actually crossed the Canadian border, taking one of few routes to the Klondike gold fields.
They could get to Skagway and take the “short,” treacherous
route over the Chilkoot Pass or White Pass. Too steep for horses, they carried
their 1000 lbs of goods mandated by the Canadian government on their backs. It
took an average of 40 trips over 33 miles to cart the goods over the passes to
Bennet City, where then the next leg was via river. This exercise took almost 4
months to complete.
Or they could take the 1600-mile, more expensive, all-water-route. They would travel by steamer from Seattle to St. Michael. Then they could take another boat up the Yukon. The steamers only ran from June until the end of September, when the river was free of ice. In the summer of 1898, the water levels were at record lows and the steamers got stuck multiple times, stretching the journey from 10 days into over two weeks.
In the summer of 1898, 40,000 people passed through Dawson City. A brash boom-town already calling itself the “Paris of the North.” During its boom from 1897-1899, it would be the largest city north of Seattle and west of Winnepeg. By the time the “Stampeders” reached the Yukon, most of the best claims had already been staked. People had been mining for gold in the region for over 10 years. When miners close by heard of the strike, they quickly moved in and staked the best claims, leaving little to nothing for the men who arrived by 1898.
As I mentioned in a previous post, we writers are often
told, “Write what you know.” I know what it is like to live in Alaska, and work
in the extreme cold (the coldest temperature I have ever worked in was -65 with
WC of -80). I know what it is like to be really remote with no internet, power,
cell service, running water and other basic services. But going back to another
period in time is a completely different story.
For my Historical Fiction, A Drink of Darkness, set in
December of 1898, the peak of the boom in Dawson City, I needed to do some
detailed research to give the story more depth. I used several sources, but
this blog post is going to focus on the archived photographs from the Alaska Digital
Archives. It is a compilation of historical photographs from Alaska’s past,
taken from various resources (UAA, UAF, Alaska’s libraries and records) and
digitized into one location. You can view and search them here:
It is free to view these photos online, but in order to use these photos for a blog or website, permission must be granted from the Archives. You can find the form and instructions to do so like I did on their website.
I started by searching through the archived photos of Dawson. I wanted to get a feel for the layout of the streets and the way the buildings looked. Built at a rapid pace on a muddy turn of the Yukon River, the first year it was mostly tents, yurts and three-sided log cabins. There was no sewage system or electric grid. Most heat was either wood or fuel oil.
Front Street in Dawson in 1898. Image P-277-79
Wickersham State Historic Site. Photographs, 1882-1930s. ASL-PCA-277
Note how the cart is buried up to its axles in the mud. Dawson was built on the mudflats of the Yukon River and extremely prone to flooding. The streets through downtown were unpaved in this period
They didn’t account for the spring flooding of the Yukon River or subsidence into the mud. As time went on, more “permanent buildings” were constructed. However, there were multiple fires. The worst being in April of 1899. Before this, there was no sewage/plumbing system downtown. After this, the new buildings were mostly finished wood instead of log construction. These details are important to my research both in showing the crude conditions in which my main character Helena had to live, but in determining which buildings belong to which era of Dawson. They were also helpful in understanding how people dressed when out on the street.
Picture of Front Street with people gathered to receive mail and news from the “outside.” Image P-41-161 P. E. Larss Photograph Collection, 1898-1904. ASL-PCA-41
Note the crude log construction in this photo and the lack of telegraph lines (though there appear to be poles with cable in the background-the system was under construction, completed in summer of 1899). This photo is probably from 1898, before the large fire that devastated the downtown.
It is also critical to note how the hills and river looked.
This land is similar to where our cabin is in Chicken with boreal forests
containing spruce, birch and willow. At roughly the same latitude as Chicken
and Fairbanks, it is also prone to permafrost. Due to all of the mining and
need for wood, the trees were clear cut around Dawson by the winter of 1898,
leaving Midnight Dome, the mountain behind the city, bare to the weather.
Front Street looking north toward “Midnight Dome” Image P-277-001-58 Wickersham State Historic Site. Photographs, 1882-1930s. ASL-PCA-277
The lack of telegraph lines and street lamps indicates the above photo was once again probably from 1898
Front Street along the waterfront Image P-277-001-81 Wickersham State Historic Site. Photographs, 1882-1930s. ASL-PCA-277
This is another view of Fronts Street. The better constructed buildings and docks along with the telegraph lines running along the water lead me to believe this photo has to post-date the fire of April 26, 1899 which leveled the waterfront.
I was also able to get an understanding for which businesses and Saloons were actually open the year Helena would have been in Dawson, along with an idea of the location of buildings critical to my plot (the Royal Mounted Police Barracks from which Liam and Zhang break into/out of at one point in the story).
Canadian Royal Mounted Police Barracks P-41-41, according to maps, it is still in this location P. E. Larss Photograph Collection, 1898-1904. ASL-PCA-41
There were fantastic pictures of the boats pulling into
Dawson. I used these, along with my other references to show what Helena’s
arrival into the “Paris of the North” would have been like.
Steamers pulling into Dawson and unloading, 1898 Image P-41-41 P. E. Larss Photograph Collection, 1898-1904. ASL-PCA-41
Pictures of steamers waiting to load/unload. Note the tents pitched right next to the river, along with the small boats just left along the shore. In the summer of 1898, boats pulled into Dawson by the hundreds nightly. But could you imagine wintering in the Yukon in a tent? Not to mention, the Yukon is notorious for flooding in the spring. Just ask the residents of Eagle, AK:
Dawson had a telegraph installed by summer of 1899, but little other communication to the outside world. The Yukon froze October 31, 1898. Steamer travel would have ceased weeks before as the river began to clog with ice (starts to happen beginning of October, pictures I reviewed online indicate mid-to end of September was the last Steamer out). Once the river freezes, the only way to transport supplies was by dog sled. This was treacherous at best, presuming the aforementioned passes were open. Skagway to Dawson was 444 miles over rough trails prone to avalanche, but a few brave souls did it for profit.
Dog Sled Team pulling into Skagway from Dawson, winter 1898. Image P-41-10 P. E. Larss Photograph Collection, 1898-1904. ASL-PCA-41
This is critical to my plot as well, both stranding Helena in Dawson for the winter (the Yukon typically won’t completely break up until May, with the first steamer arriving from Seattle until June). She then has to survive the boomtown madness. It is also critical to Liam. He needs to contact his brothers in Sitka and his oldest brother Jack, who is on the American side of the border, scouring the gold rush towns of Jack Wade, Steel Creek, Chicken and Eagle. The only means of communication by December of 1898 would have been mail delivered by dog sled.
According to the unofficial census taken by the Mounties, approximately 16,000 people wintered in Dawson, but only 500 of them were women. Something else is stalking the Yukon in the winter of 1898. Something deadlier than typhus or scurvy.
Helena will struggle to resist the Drink of Darkness. The taste is to die for.
Conrad J Kenneman Died Jan 23, 1911 age 51 years
Thanks for reading! For my next blog, I will be talking about my research into the real ladies of the night of Dawson City and other boom towns of the Alaska-Klondike Gold Rush.
Our second trip to Kennecott Mines National Historic Landmark and Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.
In 2007, I made the decision to pack up everything I had and take a job in Alaska working a rotational job in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. I didn’t know anyone, and had no idea what I was getting into. I moved from an office job in Seattle to a field-based job in the arctic. I can say, without a doubt, it absolutely was the best decision I ever made. And not only for myself, but for others I have met along the way, there is an enduring mystique about the land that is still dubbed: The Last Frontier. Wherever I go, I get peppered with questions about what it is like to live and work in Alaska. Some of my novels are based on adventures I have had along the way, but others are based here in the 49th State. While I have lived here almost 13 years now, I am amazed at how much I still don’t know about one of America’s youngest states.
My Alaska Adventures have become the inspiration for so much of my writing (as you’ll see below), and yet I am blown away by how much I don’t know.
A particular piece of writing advice that writers hear time
and time again is:
WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW.
I think we can all agree that this is a bit misleading, and
really, not very well defined. My perspective is that it means to write from
your life’s experiences and passions. When George Orwell wrote the War of the
Worlds, I don’t think he knew first hand anything about alien invasion, but he
understood people. Ernest Hemmingway wrote incredible novels based on his life
experiences as an ambulance driver during WWI. Charlotte Bronte wrote
passionate Gothic Romance based on her hardships and privations as a child
raised in a poor, rural English parish in the mid-1800’s.
Historical Fiction has always intrigued me, as well as historical non-fiction. It is fascinating to read about characters from the past and imagine what their lives must have been like. We can’t really KNOW what it was like to live in their time and walk in their shoes, but we can research and Imagine.
Pressure gauge on boiler in the old power plant at Kennecott
In my quest to write a series of both contemporary and
historical fiction about Alaska, I have been visiting some of the lesser known
historical sites. This trip, we went back to Kennecott, AK. This copper mine in
Wrangell-St. Elias National Park operated from 1911-1938. It produced 200-300
million dollars’ worth of copper and silver (4.5 tons of copper ore). Owned by
the Kennecott Syndicate, a corporation formed between the Havemeyer,
Guggenheim, and J.P. Morgan Families, it operated 363 days a year. A 96-mile
long railroad project costing $23 million was built from Cordova to Kennecott
to bring the ore to market. Deemed the Can’t Run and Never Will Rail Road
(Copper River Northwestern Railroad—CRNW RR), it ran until 1938, until the mine
was shut down.
Rail trestle over the Gilhana River. Part of the CRNW Railroad from Cordova to Kennecott. One of the few sections still intact.
My series a Copper Year is set in the roaring 20’s. It’s a
story about a young woman who survived the horrors of WWI France and travels to
Kennecott to work as a nurse. The novels are about her journey from Europe,
across America to Alaska. It then will detail the life of a single, female
nurse in a camp dominated by men. The societal expectation being that she
wouldn’t stay single long. She would find a good husband and settle down,
putting her career aside to raise a family (apparently, they had a rule that
once a woman got married, she could no longer work). No one really takes into
account if that is what she really wants.
This story was inspired by two ideas. One my own work
experience as a woman in engineering working almost always only around men.
Then also my research into the archived pictures of Kennecott. While most of
the women who got married were named in the photographs, the unmarried nurses
were just labeled “unknown nurse.” It was a symptom of the time in which they
lived. They weren’t considered a critical part of the story until they found a
man to marry. Otherwise, they merely faded into obscurity. This gave me the
idea for creating a romance around one of these “unknown women.”
Part of my research has been to dig into not only the photo
archives and written history, but to take actual trips out to Kennecott and do
tours to learn what life was like for the people who lived and worked at the
mines. It is fascinating to learn about day to day life at the mining
operation. The park rangers give daily talks about camp life and the people who
lived here.
Concentration Mill at Kennecott. At 14 stories tall, considered to be one of the largest free standing wooden structures in the world. It has metal buckles throughout to tighten it down from all the vibration.
We have also taken multiple tours of the Concentration Mill,
Power Plant, and Leeching Plant. These tours can be booked through St. Elias
Alpine Guides. They do a great job explaining some of the back history of
Kennecott and the purposes of the various buildings.
While my story A Drink of Darkness is currently set in
Dawson City, I plan on expanding the series to Kennecott eventually (rap wood
it gets that far). In this case, I will have my immortal vampires Eve, Bianca
(and others) who masquerade as “Ladies of the Night,” showcase the rowdy town
of McCarthy. Sitting at the toe of the root glacier, 5 miles away from
Kennecott, it was also the turnaround point for the CRNW Railroad. Kennecott
was a “Company Town,” owned by the Syndicate, with strict rules, and
technically dry. McCarthy was a boomtown that sprung up to cater to the whims
of the working men. Complete with bootlegging and brothels, a man could work
months for his pay check, walk to McCarthy, then be back at the mines in a week
or two, having blown it all.
My contemporary horror novella (currently available on Amazon), The Dark Land is also set in the area. This novel was inspired by the remote wilderness areas of the park, and local Athabascan Legends.
The Legend of Alaska’s Headless Ravine is steeped in blood. It’s hunger for human flesh never sleeps, even in the deepest cold of winter. Skill, courage and lover will be stretched to the limits on the isolated boundaries of The Dark Land.
Thanks for reading. Stay tuned for more book reviews and Alaska adventures!
As promised, a blog post about the interior of Alaska, the location of our cabin, and the inspiration for several of my stories. In particular, my horror novella, The Dark Land, inspired by the Legend of the Cet’aeni or the “People with Tails.”
Moonrise over the cabin
Since the white man’s “discovery” of the land the Aleut’s call Alyeska, there has been an intense fascination with this broad expanse of wilderness. Most people who visit barely scratch the surface, never understanding the true scale and depth of Alaska’s land. They stick to the tour buses, enjoying the safety of what my husband and I call the “look, but don’t touch” Alaska. These tourists will never experience her harsh bite. They can’t comprehend that behind her glacial beauty, beats a cold and unyielding heart that has lured many to a premature end.
None understand this better than the native peoples who populated this vast land long before the Europeans set foot here. Many distinct tribes and cultures lived within Alaska’s varied terrain. The subject of the different tribes and languages could take up multiple blog posts and books. If you are ever visiting Anchorage, a great stop is the Alaska Native Heritage Center:
They break down the enormous state into the 5 distinct regions of tribal peoples. It is a great place to get a better understanding of how these people lived and thrived in Alaska
As mentioned, most tourists see the southeast of Alaska. they take a cruise from Seattle or Vancouver up the inside passage. They see the land of the Haida and the Tlingit. Tall trees and totem poles. Calving glaciers and orcas.
They might head further north to Anchorage, or Los Anchorage as some of us who live here call it. Alaska’s largest city of roughly 300K people might seem paltry to outsiders, but it is a behemoth considering almost half the state’s population lives in one city. There’s another joke about Anchorage, “Alaska, 20 minutes from Anchorage.” Tourists who only come to Anchorage haven’t seen the real Alaska, they’ve just been brought here to spend money.
Some brave tourists venture into the interior, taking tours of Denali National Park and Fairbanks. Few tourists venture into the Eastern interior. Those who do might go visit Kennecott Mine, inside the boundaries of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, the largest US National Park by area. A few more might make the drive up the Alcan, visiting the Canadian cities of Dawson or Whitehorse, then visiting Chicken and Eagle on the US side of the border, all remnants of the great Yukon/Klondike gold-rush. Gold is still actively mined in these regions to this day. For those of you who regularly follow my posts, you’ll know this is where the cabin is located, just outside of Chicken.
The cabin in Chicken, AK
The interior is the land of the Athabascan. Most people would think that the North Slope/Arctic region would be the coldest, but that is not the case. Without the warming/cooling effects of the ocean, the interior experiences the extremes of weather. The Alaska interior holds the record low in Prospect Creek, AK at -80F (-62C for my friends on the Celsius scale). The record low in Chicken, AK is pretty close, at -76. The record high was at Ft. Yukon (north of Fairbanks) at 100F.
The native Athabascans adapted to their landscape and extreme environment and carved an existence out of the harsh beauty.
Mt. Sanford as viewed from the north boundary of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park
The fierce, tenacious tribes of Athabascans that inhabited this particular region of wild rivers and harsh extremes were the Ahtna and Tanana.
The first attempts by Europeans to navigate and chart the copper river were met by fierce resistance from the Ahtna and Tanana. The parties disappeared, never returning.
It wasn’t until 1885, Lt. Henry T Allen and two other men set off from Portland, OR with explicit orders to map and navigate the Copper and Tanana Rivers and bring back information on the peoples living in the region. A link to information on this expedition is below.
The Ahtna, like all people have myths and legends. Legends of the Gguux (pronounced gookh) that pull people into the water to drown. Stories of the “Hairy Man” much like the Bigfoot or Yeti of other cultures.
But the tale I will spin for you is based loosely on the legend of the Cet’eani or “People with tails.” My husband has done a great deal of hiking and skiing in the back country of the Copper Valley and Wrangell-St. Elias National Park while his brother had a homestead in Slana. This story is loosely based on some of his experiences.
There are multiple iterations of this tale, as it varies depending on location, tribe and dialect.
A young hunter set forth from the village in late winter to provide fresh meat for his family. When he did not return, a party went out searching. They tracked his steps some distance from the village to a valley that was seldom explored. It was whispered that evil spirits dwelled within, lurking in caves and trees. Creatures with tails.
The hunters entered with caution. Coming over a ridge in the dark, they saw a bonfire in front of a cave. Creatures with tails frolicked in the firelight, playing a game, kicking the young hunters head to and fro. The hunters waited until the creatures retreated to their cave for the night. They sealed the entrance with rocks and lit it on fire. They went back to the village and warned others of what they had seen.
Knowing they had not truly vanquished the Cet’aeni, they made the valley forbidden, calling it the “Dark Land.”
The cabin at night.
As I get ready to self-publish my horror/paranormal romance novel, the Dark Land, set in the back country of Wrangel St. Elias National Park, I’ll be doing more posts about this particular region of Alaska, and our plans for our cabin this summer!
