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February 4, 2008
Flying in the winter isn't all fun and games in the northern Yukon. On this job just north of the Arctic Circle near the Dempster Highway, temperatures warmed to -35 during the day allowing flight, but plunged off the bottom of the thermometer nightly. The crew started at 4:30 am by starting the portable generator inside of the slightly warmer tent. Then it was moved to the airplane to supply power to the master heater, where its heat was combined with that from an gas-fired blowpot to warm the inside of the canvas engine tent, heating the 40+ litres of 100-weight engine oil held by this piston-engined deHavilland Otter. By sunrise at around 9:30 am, the Otter was ready to go for the day's work ending some 6 or 7 hours later.
February 11, 2008
Not all placer gold mines in the North are close to a Northern highway like Holloway Bar. This Otter is just about to touch down at Boulder City on the Turnagain River about a 30 minute flight east of Dease Lake with a load of supplies for the camp's winter caretaker. Regular flights are needed to bring groceries and fresh produce along with the mail and other news of the world during the winter months. Remote camps were in regular communications with the outside world via high frequency radio, and often participated in a nightly check-in on on 4441 khz with trappers and other bush people using a battery powered SBX-11 radio, which was pretty much the lifeline of the North before the advent of satellite communications and Internet.
February 18, 2008
The first light of the morning hits Fox Mountain just above Holloway Bar and is often accompanied by the smell of hot, fresh coffee brewing to start us on another day of mining. Miners here a century ago would have seen and smelled much the same things as us, except their sense of isolation would have been much greater. Most men here were weeks if not months away from home, many with very little chance of ever seeing their families again. One email we received from a website visitor from California pondered about what might have happened to a long lost relative last heard from in 1899 when the letters mysteriously stopped. At times like this we pause to consider the hardships faced by the early miners in search of their fortunes and for many, a future for their families.
February 25, 2008
Most of us find out about lunar eclipses by watching the TV news or reading about it on the Internet. The old timers would have learned of these upcoming astronomical events by reading the farmer's almanac - if it was available to them. More likely they would have looked up into the sky during an eclipse and wondered where the moon was going! Much of western Canada was blessed with clear skies during last Wednesday's eclipse of the full moon, and Scott took the opportunity to take a few pictures with his digital SLR camera, long lens and tripod from his vantage point in Watson Lake, Yukon. Even though it was a warm evening by Yukon standards at about -15C, standing out in the cold with a camera pointed at the sky is a chilling experience. Note - this moon image was enhanced with "The Gimp" for clarity.
