All work and no play....well you know the rest.

Every winter the snow brings lots of trees down in the trail and every spring we have to get out the chain saw and start clearing the way so we can make it down our trail. Here is a picture from thanksgiving to show that the mess has already begun. You would think that we would get at least one spring that would be free of fallen trees on the trail, but that is so not the case. Mother Nature loves to keep us busy.

A Story to Remember!

My Father in Law Just Published a great book Where the main character is my daughter, Woohoo!  Its a gold mining story, some truth in it, some not so truths.  A little bit of history, and alot of excitement.  Those of you who know me, you will recognized some of the names in the book, some of the places.  I have included a link to the store and intro to the book below.  If interested the book may be purchased on Amazon, the name is "Talking Ice."

Here is the intro:

Lyra Winter the main character in the Novel and she is the Author’s grand daughter, three years old at the time Talking Ice was published. It is an actual account of small scale mining methods on working claims and the story is set twenty two years in the future. The Action/Adventure, Fiction is the story of a young woman who inherits mining claims on the Kenai Peninsula and all the dangers of mining and those who would do anything for the price of Gold. 

Locations on the creek, named by previous owners after special events or earlier gold discoveries have been carried through the years along with some history of the claims. Placer Bluff is at the opposite side of the main camp on the first claim, in an area that was mined by hydraulic methods. Three hundred yards up the trail is Mastel’s Dig, a large area of exposed large rocks and boulders and gravel where the most recent previous owner mined two half gallon jars of “wheat size,” gold, prior to 1990.

Dead Dog bluff is a location just past the Mastel Dig, on the right side of the trail, overlooking the creek, still using the creek, left or right designations as a reference, where a previous owner buried his dog. Midway into the next claim going north is Seven Hundred, an area on the left side of the trail on the first shelve where seven hundred ounces may have been mined using placer methods with machinery and possibly even high pressure pumps.

No records were found to authenticate the existence of the Chinese mine, but as all legend goes, it may have existed and might have been buried rather than continue the risk of a cave in. The large deposit of black Slate where the mine may have been located is so unstable, it would have been dangerous work to keep it open or even dig. The fictional account of the Chinese mine in this work of fiction was a result of conversations around a late night campfire and speculation about where the mine may have been located. The "Talking Ice," is located on the lakes West of the Authors home. The ice resounds in the deep of winter and brings images of eerie shapes and wisps moving over the ice. The sounds can be heard in the bedrooms at night and have been known to influence dreams.