Fairbanks Act.--July 3

The entire caravan had a terrific time. We took off in a bus at 8am for a trip down to the Riverboat Discovery. This is a sternwheeler plies a small section of the Chena River now due to the silt build up in the river. The Binkley family has operated sternwheel riverboats in Alaska since the gold rush of 1898. Charles Binkley came up the Chilkoot Pass like the other thousands of men in search of gold only he chose a different path. He wanted to chart and navigate the Yukon River and its tributaries. He became a pilot and boat builder and his son Capt. Jim piloted freight vessels on the Yukon and Tanana Rivers in the 1940's-journeys of about 2,000 miles round trip. In a good season (120 days) from break up of ice to freeze up he could make 10 such trips. By the early 1950's the last of the steamboats were retiring so Capt. Jim and wife Mary decided to go into the excursion business. They went from a used 25 passenger boat to building their own 150 passenger boat-Discovery I-in his back yard to Discovery II to fit 300 passengers to now Discovery III--900 passengers with 4 decks. Mary is still active in the business and it has now gone down to the 5th generation. They have their hands in a lot of pots here in Fairbanks.

They, of course, have a gift shop where we were let off the bus at Steamboat Landing. After shopping we went on board for a 3 and a half hour tour. Right after departure they gave us a demonstration of a float plane take off and landing right beside us on the river. The river narrator was a local DJ and he was quite good. The temperature ranges from 95 degrees to -65 degrees. We stopped in the river next to the house of Susan Butcher-winner of 4 Iditarods and participated in 18-she died in 2006 of luekemia at 53. Her husband David Monson and 2 daughters still live there and breed and train sled dogs. Before she died she wrote a book about her lead dog-Granite who also died after many long years. Her story is an interesting one. He talked to us via a microphone and ran his dogs pulling a 4 wheeler around the trail he has built around his house and lake/river property. Very nice man.

I stood at the rail on the 3rd deck both ways. On the way out I saw a kingfisher along the shore keep dipping down into the water fishing as well as an eagle up in a tree top right after the sled dogs. I had taken my spotting scope just in case. It was a beautiul sight.

We stopped at the confluence of the Chena and Tanana Rivers. The Chena was clear but at the "Wedding of the Rivers" the Tanana is bringing down all the silt and under the water you could see the clouds of silt which is now keeping the boat from going any further because it is filling up the river. We had seen earlier in our drive how the silt had settled in the Tanana and made it impossible to navigate-just small channels going thru this huge mud flat(my description). At that point he backed up and turned around.

We then stopped at an example of an Athabascan Indian fish camp where they would set up when the salmon started running. Before we even got off a young Indian girl showed up how they caught the fish in a fish wheel and then she filleted a fish for us and prepared it to be smoked. First it was hung out in the open over a pole to air dry and if raining under a tent awning and then into the smoke house. A lot of it ends up being long and flat like jerky and very light to carry on their sleds. They also have to take care to have enough for themselves and to use as dog food for their sled dogs.

With that many people who departed the boat they broke us up into 3 groups and there were 3 stations to go to and they explained their life and culture to us as they showed us how they lived. The guides we had were all young native Indians but not necessarily the same tribe. One was still in high school but the others were going to college next year. There is not enough time to tell you all I learned but it was really fascinating.

We reboarded the boat for our trip back to the Landing. Some houses along the river were superb while right next door might be an old trailer or a small cabin. There are no building codes up here for individual housing, I guess. They did point out a house that Pres. & Mrs. Reagan stayed in one time while visiting the area and also the home of the Binkleys who started this freight business turned excursion business. One of her sons was our boat pilot (Capt.) and she was standing out in the yard near the river to wave to us--nice house. After the boat we went in the bus to The Pumphouse to eat lunch--nice lunch and right on the river.

The bus then took us out to where you can view the pipeline and read about it. We could have gone up and touched it. It is about 800 miles long. Some is buried underground and some is above ground because of the perma frost. The driver was giving us info as we travelled--the population is 51% male and 48% female, I know, it doesn't add up. Go figure. The average age is 29--I can believe that. They avg. about 18" of snow beginning in Sept. and staying on until May. At the busiest part of the building of the pipeline there were 70,000 people employed with it. How accurate all his figures are is your guess.

We then went out to the Eldorado Gold Mine. On the other side of the mountain is the Ft. Knox Gold Mine which is still working and employees about 500 people. We are experiencing about 20 hours of sunlight in the summer. The Binkleys who own and run the Riverboat also set up and run the Athabascan Fishing Village and the Eldorado Gold Mine. They have really not only diversified but have tried to preserve the historical areas and then it also brings in income for them and the young people that are employed by them in all those areas. At each stop they introduced the employees and told about their heritage and their schooling. As we rode a narrow guage RR they made stops and told us about the different mining techniques over the years. We went thru a tunnel and stopped for more demonstration and when we got off they took us over to a long ditch set up as a sluice box where he explained how it was used and then showed us--very informative. Then we were given a small pouch of gravel and dirt and we sat down at tables with water in a large wooden trough and we panned for gold. We were guaranteed we would find some and by golly we did. Then when you get into the building they will weigh it and tell you how much it is worth. Ours was worth, at today's gold price, $36.00. Then if you want you can have it put in a small locket with a gold chain for somewhere around $60 which we didn't do. I will just keep mine in a little tube. It was more fun and productive than in Chicken where I stood and created a back ache for 3 days. We went home and collapsed.