Legacy of the Chief, Chapter 24: "Green Butte Copper-1924" |
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The fog began to lift by the time the three men left the two-story log building which both housed and fed men at the creek level. The Indians were now officially working for Green Butte Copper Company. “I had no idea the line would be this high, Cap.” “We don’t have a fear of heights, remember, Johnny?” “Yeah, Cap. I just can’t believe how far up this line runs. Look up there. You can barely make out anything.” “It’s still foggy, but I can see a building hanging on the cliff wall, Johnny. Strange place to put a building.” “That’s a snowshed, Cap. It covers a portal that leads to the center area of our mine. We have a back-up generator in there. Don’t want to lose our lights or compressors, you know. So, which one of you goes first?” “I’ll go first, boss.” “Okay, Johnny. I’ll follow Cap. Wait for me at the tram head.” Up they went, a cable distance of 2,800 feet to the main level of the mine. “Cap, look at this! The view up here is spectacular, even through the fog. I wonder when it will clear up enough to see across the canyon?” “Should be soon. The fog is lifting quickly, now.”
“Oh, hi again, boss. Great view up here. I have to wonder what possessed those prospectors to work their way up to nearly inaccessible places like this one in search of gold.” “Copper. It was copper. But it could just as well have been gold. Good question, Johnny. Let’s head toward my new barrack toward the south and I’ll try to explain it to you. “All the paying copper in the Nizina district seems to occur only at these higher altitudes. The good copper runs in almost a straight line from the Erie to the Nicolai Prospect and possibly even beyond. It was those early prospectors over at Nicolai who figured that the Nicolai probably was just an indicator of a much greater copper pay streak which had to lie somewhere in the area.” “We know that only too well.” “Right, you’re grandsons of old Nicolai himself, you said?” “You mean, Chief Nicolai, Tyone of Taral.” “Tyone?” “He was the supreme chief, boss. The tyone was the chief of chiefs in the Copper River.” “I’ll bet he regretted ever showing the location of that place.” “It wasn’t really his to give, Mr. Barrett. We needed to save ourselves from starvation. Grandfather bought our people some time. He ended up getting a lot more than that, though.” “Well, you two are here. Some of you Indians obviously survived. And you learned to read our English language. Not bad.” “And write.” “Yes, Mr. Barrett. We’re here. We wanted to see what the big deal was about all this copper. You white men have gone to a lot of trouble to get at it. Was it really worth it ?” “I don’t know. This mine never really did much more than provide a living. I realized that this particular spot lay along the line. I hiked up here the hard way back then in 1906. Sure enough, there were exposed copper veins along the cliff. I staked these claims. But the real heroes were Clarence Smith and “Tarantula” Jack Warner who found the other end of this long line of copper vein at Bonanza. They were also the ones who staked the Mother Lode, which is three miles up this creek.” “Not to take it all away from you pioneering prospectors, but I hope you realize that the Nicolai Prospect was in my grandfather’s old sheep hunting country. Your copper mining activities ended that. Our people never come up this way anymore.” “These claims fall under federal mining laws. They are rightfully mine.” “Rightfully? How can you say that? No one gave any of you title to this land. “As for Smith and Warner, they’re the only ones who became famous. It all really started with us--the Natives. If we’re not going to benefit from all this, at least you should give our grandfather more credit for his part in making you white men rich.” “Us white men? All of us?” “I mean you white men.” “Cap, he wasn’t one of them. I’m sure Barrett doesn’t appreciate this. “Don’t let Cap get you too upset, Mr. Barrett. We still want to work here.” “That’s all right. I understand, I think. I can’t promise you anything special. But you have jobs here now. I’m not one of those rich white men like Cap thinks I am. I’m just another small business owner who’d really like to get rich off this mine. That’s why I still have it.” “We came here for the work and the adventure, Mr. Barrett. We’re following the words of our grandfather. He and others before him long predicted the coming of those of you from other lands.” “He did? That was easy to predict. The Russians were here before us for a good century.” “Yes, but we drove them off. Nicolai told our people it was useless to stand in the way of the white man, but he meant you Americans. But we’re not letting you miners and the rest of you settlers run wild up here, either. It’s still our country. We won’t leave. This is the home of our ancestors. They are all buried here. Someday we’ll be buried here. We’ll see that when you’re done here that you will leave us a land we can still live in.” “Seems fair to me, Johnny.” “Don’t take us for granted and we’ll try not to disappoint you. We know that in some way things have changed forever. We’ll survive this. It’s our way to adapt to change. After all, we’ve lived here thousands of years. No one else can make that claim.” “What Johnny says speaks for me as well. We’re not your cigar-store Indians, Barrett. We’re real people. Treat us the same as anyone else and we’ll show you and your other men what real work is. We can follow directions and we can work. We worked hard on the railroad for eight years. We’ll do the same for you--for a while.” The three of them arrived at the new, two-story frame barracks. “Jacob, these are our new workers. This is Johnny Gadanski and Cap Goodlataw. Meet the foreman. This is Jacob Harrison. Jacob, I’m going in to check progress on the main stope.” “I’ll go with you, Mr. Barrett. Harry!” The Chinese cook appeared from a lower stairway. “Harry, set these guys up with a room, would you? I’ll be back for them soon.” “Guys, wait here at the barrack while I accompany Mr. Barrett. Have some coffee from the pot on the stove over there. I’ll be back shortly.” The two bosses headed up the hill through the covered walkway to the main portal, leaving Johnny and Cap in the rustic mess hall with the Oriental cook. “Boys, pick up your bedrolls and follow.” He led them up the stairs to a single room with two beds.
“It’s all yours. Set yourselves up. The coffee is on downstairs, just as the boss said. See you for lunch.” Harry turned and swiftly headed down the stairs, leaving the two Indians alone. “Sometimes I think you say too much, Johnny. You were sounding almost too white. I’m not sure I want them to know all that much of what we’re thinking.” “Cap, I sometimes wonder myself if I’m saying too much. But I need to draw some kind of line without scaring them off. That would do nothing for us. Right now we need men like Barrett just to let us in the door. Remember, George Brown?” The two new Indian miners began their first day of underground work as apprentice powder men and muckers immediately after Jacob Harrison returned. The Green Butte copper, like that at Kennecott, was found in the Chitistone limestone on a bedding plane angle of about thirty degrees tilting toward the northeast. It followed that the main haulage tunnels were thirty-degree inclines, cut along the base of the bedding plane where the productive Chitistone limestone contacted the basalt base of the Nicolai greenstone. As in most mines which use incline tunnels, the Green Butte haulage tunnels were tracked for moving the ore to the surface in skips pulled by electric motors. Alongside the skip tracks were wooden stairs leading to the various levels. Green Butte had eight levels at hundred-foot intervals. The two apprentices absorbed much about mining and miners during the month they worked at Green Butte. It became obvious to the two that there was little likelihood that the Green Butte would become a major producer. It seemed a miracle that it was operating at all, given the small amount of production which occurred while they were there. As a result, working at the Green Butte did not hold much interest for the Indians for very long. They were joined the second day by the Siberian mutt, just as Johnny had predicted. This was grizzly bear country. Most of the crew was quite happy to have a large dog at camp who would help to keep the bears at bay. Kay-yew-nee never lacked for scraps. It was a small and friendly camp, but the Native team found themselves getting restless after only two weeks. On the beginning of the third week, while Cap was pushing an ore bucket out the main adit just above the upper camp barracks he looked toward the sky to see a large amount of heavy black smoke coming from the northwest. C’eyuuni lede’! No. Too close for that. Must be Kennecott. They’re losing something they value. Nicolai always told us to look toward the sky for the smoke. It is a sign. Something is changing. Soon it will be time to leave. Cap ran back into the tunnel. Johnny was at the top of the incline. “Sla’cheen! It’s smoking heavily out there! Come, see!” He rushed down the tunnel toward the entry at the covered stairwell. “I thought at first it must be Wrangell smoking, but it’s too close. It has to be Kennecott!” “I hope it’s not the whole camp, Cap. Maybe it’s a nearby forest-fire.” “Look! The smoke is already clearing. Someone is knocking down the fire already. It can’t be that big.” “Let’s hope not, Cap. Father still works there. I’d like to have a chance to work there, too.” It was three days later when Jacob brought in the letter. “Cap, it’s from that man I met last year at Smitty’s. Frank the geologist.” “The one you beat at pool?” “I beat everyone at pool, Cap even you.” “Don’t get too cocky, arrogant one. I just might surprise you one day.” “Was Frank that Kennecott engineer?” “Yes, he writes that he works for a man named William C. Douglass. Name sounds familiar. Now that I think of it, he mentioned that name to me back in Chitina. He writes that Father is growing too ill to work much longer. I knew that already. We saw him, ourselves. “Listen to this, Cap. Frank wants me to work at Kennecott where I can be closer to my father.” “What about the smoke?” “I’m getting to that, Cap. It reads: ‘Due to a recent fire which took out the power plant and one cottage there is now plenty of extra work available. The superintendent has agreed to hire you.’ “He means me.” “What about me, Sla’cheen?” “I’ll send back word that you’re here. He doesn’t know you, but I’ll ask him to hire you as well.” “You sure? What if they say no? They may not want any other Indians there. If you ask them to take me, they may not want you there, either. Your father’s dying. You need to be there.” The two were resting at the top of the covered stairwell, which led down to the upper barracks. The dog was beside them as usual. The sun was going down over the ridge but the sky still had bright streaks of color as the canyon below fell into cold, deep shadows. This was a one-shift mine. The day was over. The others were down in the barrack having dinner. Since the sken’nie first arrived the crew had been driving the main incline farther down into the Chitistone layer in search of ore which was not to be found except in disappointingly small showings. Rumors of an impending camp closure were rampant, but management remained adamant about continuing the search for copper. Cap focused on the rock glacier facing him from along the west wall of the canyon. There were no formations like this anywhere near Chitina, but Jacob told them rock glaciers existed everywhere in this part of the country, especially up and down Bonanza Ridge. This one extended from nearly the top of the east face of Porphyry Mountain, which was 6,375 in elevation, all the way to the creek bed--a vertical drop of about 4,000 feet. The leading edge of the glacier was being cut by the action of the fast moving waters. The McCarthy Creek road crossed over the top of the rock glacier toe as the trail worked its way northward up the canyon. There was no room elsewhere to place the road.
“You don’t really need me here, Sla’cheen, but I’ll go along if you can find a place for me. I’m not yet ready to return to Chitina. I like it way up here. Very peaceful. No family arguments. No drunks lying all over the place. ” Johnny’s eyes followed the rock glacier to the narrow part of the steep-walled canyon in the direction of Mother Lode. It would soon be dark enough to see the lights from the upper camp reflecting off the south face of Marvelous Ridge. The camp itself was masked by Independence Ridge. In the distance above Mother Lode camp was the nearly 7,000 foot-tall Bonanza Peak--the tallest point on the ridge. “Cap, if you and I were to stand up there, we could probably see hundreds of miles. That’s the peak we saw above Kennecott from the tracks. It overlooks this area like Spirit Mountain watches over Nicolai’s country from Bremner to Chitina. We need to climb that peak one day just to see what’s up there. “I said we. We’re a team. Inseparable, I hope. Do you think I came all the way up here in the middle of the white man’s world to work by myself? You’re my Sla’cheen. We’ve always worked together. It wouldn’t seem right for me to be up here without you.” “I wasn’t sure, Johnny. You know I wouldn’t be here by myself. These men at Green Butte seem reasonable, but Kennecott’s different. It’s huge. I’d never go there without another Indian to back me up. But it’s a lot more than that. I’m too used to working with you to work way out here without you.” “I’ll write Frank a letter and see if I can get you hired along with me. If not, I’ll try to get Dad to just come back home to Chitina. Maybe Mom will take care of him there. I don’t want him to die alone at Kennecott.” The two pulled themselves up from their sitting position on the waste ore dump. They slid their way down the long pile to the back of the barracks. In the process, they knocked several small rocks loose, which began catapulting down the hill toward the buildings below. A number of them smacked into the back of the barrack. There were no windows at that level on the back side of the structure. “I guess we could have taken the covered stairs, but this was faster and more fun. We sure sent a lot of rocks flying.” “I wouldn’t want to try to climb back up that loose pile, Johnny.” “Cap, I’m gong to pen a letter to Frank Buckner. I’ll bet he’ll take you.” They entered the mess hall. The dining table had been cleared off already. It was too late for dinner. The two usually ate their meals after the others were finished. The cook was used to their habits and did his best to accommodate the two. Johnny sat down at the long table to compose the letter while Cap pulled out a deck of cards and began playing solitaire.taire. “You know, Sla’cheen, maybe I should just go back home.” “Not just yet. Once we’ve tried Kennecott, then we’ve done what we set out to do. What else is there up here except the goldfields of the Nizina? Those are just small operations, like this one. Maybe even smaller. But Kennecott stands alone.” “Have you thought about leaving the country, Johnny?”hnny?” “Yes, Cap, I have. I think someday I will. Maybe soon. This is a great experience being up here. All the better that you’re here to keep me company and work with me. But who wants to muck rock or set rail all their lives? I know you don’t” “No, not really. I have often wondered what’s really out there beyond those mountains. I know what I’ve read, but reading about it and seeing it are two different things.” “But would you go, Cap?” “Probably not. I belong here. I’d climb that peak with you, but that would be about it. I can take just so much of white society. Then I get upset. This was the only land I know and I feel very attached to it, even out here. Maybe more so here.” “Here? Really? Chitina is so far away from here.”
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