Chapter 28: "Reassignment to Erie-1924," Pt 2

As the wagon rounded another bend, the wide rock-strewn area lay before them.  They began crossing the fan of a flood plain.  All the rocks were a rusty color. Henry pointed toward a ridge ahead.  Because of its color, the barracks blended in with the surrounding rock amazingly well.  Then they saw it.           “That’s it? It looks as if it’s growing out of the side of the mountain, like it belongs there.  That’s a long way up there, Henry.” Looking up the Erie waste-ore slide: A tram tower is in view in advance of reaching the adit level at approximately 4,200 feet. To this day that tower still stands. From this vantage point one could only see the snow sheds leading to the mine entrance on the left. Shot taken from the Erie tram bucket:  As one approached the Erie main adit level the barrack finally came into view.             “Doesn’t it? We still have a distance to go to reach it.”            Henry stopped the wagon while a large porcupine worked its way across the trail.  They heard rocks crashing in the distance.            “The earth around these parts is noisy. Rocks are always falling up there.  It’s amazing that there are any hills left at all considering all the erosion going on.”             They had a clear view up a wide gulch with a rapid incline leading toward the large rock glacier.  The sound of rocks falling stopped.  Then it started again.            The ice fall came into view as the wagon left the Amazon flood plain.  This  was a massive, irregular, white wall reaching thousands of feet upwards from the head of Root Glacier to a point well above the height of the northwesterly-running  ridge ending at Erie.      “This is it.  Look at that tram line,”  Henry said.  It was a gas motor-powered tram serving as the supply line.  Reminiscent of the Green Butte tram, the men could barely see the covered adit near the head of the waste ore dump.  A snowshed extended from the adit to a small building near the barracks.  The waste ore dump was a huge light-colored rubble pile extending from the tram base nearly to the adit over a thousand feet above.   Henry jumped off the wagon and grabbed the phone at the tram terminal.  He spoke a few words into it and then turned to the two Indians. This is the only picture I have ever found of the Erie tram base near Root Glacier.     --Ben Jackson Photo            “We have to sling this wagon load of material up this tram line.”            Henry pulled the tarp back.            “See the black rolls? That’s the tar paper you’ll be working with.  You two will be applying it to the building exterior and the new part of the roof.  I also brought the lathe sticks and three buckets of nails.  Help me unload all this off the wagon.   Then we can begin making up the slings to send it all off.  Once we have it all up there, I’ll send you two, and then I’ll be on my way. ”            “I sure hope they have some kind of lunch up there ready for us.  We’ll be ready for it by the time we unload all this material. Johnny, let’s rush this us, I want to eat.”           “You’re not the only one, Cap.  Henry, you didn’t tell us we’d be doing this. When did you have time to load it all?”            “I had the men load it up early this morning.  It didn’t take as long as you’d think.  There’s more material up there, but Chris wanted to make sure you didn’t run short of supplies.”            “He could have at least sent lunch.”           “Sorry, guys.  You know how it goes Loading and unloading is my business.  If you’re around me, expect to work hard.           “We want to send the entire load up first, or else every hundred feet it will stop and leave you dangling out there while the men above unload the freight.”            Henry called the tram tender on the head end and the three of them watched as the load advanced  in stages until all of it was finally clear of the tram.             “Now it’s your turn.”            “What about you?  Don’t you want lunch?”           “Brought my own. I’ll eat on the way back. So who’s going first?”            “I always let Johnny go first,” Cap said.             Johnny pulled himself into the next empty ore bucket on the seventy-degree angle line,  then Henry advanced the tram just like a clothesline until the next bucket was in line for Cap.  He signaled to the top one last time. The tram began to work its way up.   Cap looked back as Henry waved them off.  The two of them were dangling close to the steep cliff, rising steadily to the tram head.  As they approached the top, Henry and his wagon turned and left.            The ice fall disappeared behind the ridge as the tram continued up into the gulch advancing toward the Erie main portal level.  Cap’s bucket stopped, causing it to swing, dangling him a thousand feet above the ground.  He looked up.  Johnny was out of sight.  He was being helped off the ore bucket.           Transformer station at Erie Camp  --NPS photo The tram head was next to a small transformer station at the head of the power line.   At the platform were other buildings covered with tarpaper and lath sticks.  Cap saw the portal to the north, but he was much more interested in the mess hall to the south, which was in the  unfinished forty man barracks.  Johnny helped him off at the top and pointed toward the rear barracks door.            “You don’t need to tell me where the food is, Johnny. I can smell it from here.  Let’s eat.”            The path to the barrack was an elevated, covered wooden walkway, open except for a railing on both sides.  The distance to the tram base was about the same as that at Green Butte, but the angle of the tram was steeper.            The tram motor operator directed the two newcomers inside.            “The lunch room is in the barrack.  You’ll find food set out. We’ve been expecting you.  Aren’t one of you the boxing champ?  Everyone heard about that.”           “That’s me.  I’m Cap. I just want to eat.”            “Great to meet you, Cap.  See the boss inside.  He’s waiting.”             Cap looked across toward Donohoe Peak across the glacier gorge to the immediate southwest.  Erie was truly an eagle’s nest with a magnificent view.             “I thought the view at the top of Green Butte was something.  I’ve never seen anything like this before--not where someone has built a full-sized camp anyway.” The abandoned Erie site in 1979: One barrack designed to house forty men.   --UAF Archives            “What do you suppose was the meaning of those four ravens, Cap.”            “Saghanni ggaay. I’d forgotten about them, Sla’cheen.  Look ! They’re still out there.”            There they were.  Four ravens were riding the top of a cold mass of air right in front of Erie.           “They’re not for us, Sla’cheen.  But something bad is going to happen.  When four of them fly together like that, it always means something engii.            “As long as they don’t land here, we’re okay.”            The high circular path of the ravens worked its way south toward Kennecott.           “That’s good, Cap. For a moment I thought they’d start landing on the power lines above us.  Let’s forget them and get some lunch.  It’s too high up here to start thinking engii.” Continue with Chapter 29, "Frank Argues the Point"

Chapter 28: "Reassignment to Erie-1924," Pt 1

The Abandoned Erie Mine bunkhouse:  This is the last complete bunkhouse still standing on any of the five Kennecott mine sites (Glacier Mine had no bunkhouse).  This bunkhouse can best be seen on one of the many flight-seeing tours out of the McCarthy airfield.    --Ron Niebrugge Early snowfall at the Jumbo Mine, elevation approximately 5,800 feet. Kennecott is approximately 2,100 feet elevation. The view is west, overlooking Kennicott Glacier and looking toward Fireweed Mountain.  The photo was taken some time prior to 1918 when bunkhouse #4, which is missing from this picture, was constructed. In the foreground is bunkhouse #3, just behind it is #2, and above that on the slop is #1, which originally contained the kitchen.  The higher structure just beyond that is the tram terminal, ore bunker and waste ore dump.  This photo is interesting in that it originally appeared in reverse. Note the words on the lower left, which identify the photographer "Baxter," and then the word "Jumbo," that appear backward. I was probably the only one to notice the error and to reverse the photo so it appears properly.   --RS     Cap was the first to awaken.  In a matter of a few weeks, it had become very cool in the mornings.  Steam heat was now running from the new power plant throughout the facility. He pulled his heavy potlatch blanket off and stepped onto the cool wooden floor.  Walking over to the window in his bare feet he could detect a new coldness beginning to permeate the building.  Winter was no longer a distant possibility.  He looked out the window, expecting to see the usual fog.  Instead it was perfectly clear.  The four tall stacks were quietly puffing away.  Only yesterday the crew removed the last of the scaffolding around stack number two.  The others had been removed as Cap or Johnny finished painting each one.  Today this last piece of platform would come down, the remaining tarps and other debris would be cleaned up around the plant, and the job would be complete.           The sun was not out, but it was light out.  Lighter than normal, it seemed for this early time of the morning.  Then he realized why.  The top thousand feet of the ridge was white.  It had snowed all the way down to about 6,000 feet, which was the adit level for the Bonanza and Jumbo.  It was difficult to tell from here, but it appeared that Jumbo camp might be under the snow as well.  The storm had come in the night and vanished before the first light of morning.  It would be a clear, but cool day today.           “Johnny, get up.  It snowed out there.  Time to finish our job and get ready to head home.”           “Snow?”           He bounded up.             “It feels cooler in this room.  Looks like woolen underwear today.”            “No, it’ll warm up by late morning.  You’ll be sweating by the afternoon, Sla’cheen.  We’ll need the wool soon enough.  Besides, we didn’t pack any. Have to get new ones at the store.”            “Wow !  It really hit the upper ridge, Cap.  Looks beautiful out there, doesn’t it?  No fog either.  Sure sign summer’s over.  Let’s check on Dad and go to breakfast.  Lots of cleanup work ahead.”            The train sat loaded with ore ready to run.  There were only ore cars.  Nothing else.  Number 72 was steaming away with Art Holt standing by for the ten-hour ore run into Cordova.            “Don’t see that engine up here too often.  Usually it’s 71 or 74.  One of them must be down.”           “The ground is hard, Sla’cheen.            “You’re right, Cap. It frosted hard out here.  There’s our job.  Look at that work.  That’s us, Cap.  The carpenters built it, but it’s the paint that makes it.”            “We did this.  Now that’s what I call good work, partner.”           “Well, at least we painted most of it.  No one else wanted the job, especially on the second and third levels.  And who did they turn to for the blackening job on those eighty-foot stacks, Sla’cheen?”           “Who else?  Are we an unbeatable team or what?”             Henry was right there looking over the work remaining to be done.  He was wearing his customary smile.  Henry seemed to completely lack in prejudice.  He tended to view everyone was part of the same family and the world was a great place to live.  That was simply all there was to it.  Because of his perpetual optimism and child-like belief in the underlying good of humanity, he was immensely well liked.           “Henry, I guess you’re the boss today, since we’re done painting.  We have a good day of clean-up here.”           “No you don’t. I have something else for you.  Just got the word from the big boss, of all people.”            “Which one is that?”            “Bill Douglass.  He called me in early this morning.”           “What’s going on, Henry?”            “Look, you guys, we have an unfinished job up at Erie.  That barracks was supposed to be completely rebuilt this summer. It almost was, but this emergency matter of rebuilding the plant here just got in the way.  They even had to close Erie completely due to the lack of power.  Erie barrack on the NW end of Bonanza Ridge, 1200 feet above Root Glacier, still proudly stands, nearly 70 years since abandonment. The photo could have been taken at any time from 1924 when the long part of this structure was completed until 1938 at abandonment.   --McCarthy-Kennicott Museum           “Anyway, the super thought maybe you’d consider staying long enough to  finish the work up there.  It’s not a very tall building.  Tall enough, I suppose, but it’s practically right over a high cliff.  They call it the “eagle’s nest,” because it’s perched on the edge of a nearly sheer drop-off, ending at the Root Glacier.            “They want us to finish it?”            “We all know how you guys are. I have to say that you put most everyone else to shame when it comes to raw physical courage, not to mention the really outstanding work you two do.”           “Henry, you’re buttering us up.”           “Maybe.  But you’re the superintendent’s first pick.  He wants you to finish the work.  Someone in the office finally realized they can’t go through the winter, even with Erie closed, without finishing up the barrack.  The temporary tarp covering the roof is sure to blow off.  The walls aren’t sealed either.”            “But us ?  We thought we were leaving. We were planning on moving my Dad on out of here.  He’s been getting seriously ill, you know.  He has bad spells where he has breathing problems.”            “I suspect there’s something more to it than that.  My guess is Frank was in there arguing to keep you two longer than this first lay-off.  Then it hit them that they really do need you.  No one else wants that job.”            “We’ve heard that one before.  Seems that if it’s really tough, only the Indians can do the job.”            “I could do the job, Johnny.  But I’ve got too much to do as yard boss.  They need me here more than up there, or I’d go myself. I don’t mind at all.  Not much anyway.  Frank came down to my room early this morning to consult me on this.  When I got to the office, Chris Jensen was already there.  The four of us talked about the problem.  Chris told them that the work had to be done, or the building could be damaged or even lost.            “We discussed our options, but they always seemed to come down to you two.  We could probably find someone else, but Chris said one of them would have to be him, and he’d rather not.”             “Sound all right to you Cap?”             Cap nodded back to Johnny.           “Henry, if this is a short job and you really need us, we’re your Indians.”            Henry gave him a puzzled look.  The phrase threw him.            “Great !  You’re on.  Don’t bother with the clean up work here.  I’ve got plenty of help who can finish this job.  Get back to the barracks and grab your gear.  Expect my wagon to be coming by to pick you up very shortly.  You’ll have to move to Erie for a few days.”            “How many days, Henry?” Those of you who have walked this trail will see little difference from this historic photo and the relatively-rough trail that still exists.  --Allen Library, UW, Seattle    “Chris says ten days should be all you need, if all goes well. We take a five-mile wagon road to the Erie tram base.  You’ll appreciate the ride. We follow right next to the glacier. Up there you’ll  see more raw ice.  You know--white and blue ice.  Not so much of the gravel and boulders.  Say hello to Emil for me.  Don’t worry.  We’ll take care of him until you get back.”            “What do you suppose really went on in that office, Sla’cheen ? Frank just told us we were being laid off.”            “Don’t understand what goes on up there among those engineers.  They’re a different bunch--different breed from the workers here.  They’re not much like us. They’re sure not like most of the other men we’ve met here either.  Though some of them seem awfully icy.”              “Do you think Frank was serious about the sheep hunting?”            “I believe he really meant it, Cap, but he’ll probably never find the time.  They seem to keep him very busy here, ”             The steam whistle sent out a series of blasts. Number 72 began pulling out.  The loaded flatcars began creaking and groaning in protest over the heavy loads.  The conductor jumped aboard the rear platform of the caboose, turned and waved at the two.”            “When it’s that close, it’s one huge machine.  That thing is tall.”            “The engine, you mean?  Yes, Cap.  Those 70-series engines they use now are monsters.”            “I still wonder how they were able to figure out how to drag No. 74 out of that ice-filled river so they could place it  back on the tracks and drag it back to Cordova.”            “That was some job positioning the boat so we could hook onto it.   It seemed like more trouble than it was worth, though I sure wouldn’t like the thought of having that huge piece of steel forever blocking our river channel, Sla’cheen.”            “That must have been quite an embarrassment for the railroad.  Imagine having a big, new engine like that crash through a trestle because someone forgot to check the bridge for damage.            “Never seen a hundred-ton crane before.  Between that crane and the smaller one, and all that block-and-tackling, they must have used every bit of knowledge and resources they had to get that engine out of those waters.”            “It’s amazing to me that they’re still running it, Sla’cheen.  You’d never know from looking at it now how badly it was damaged.”            The train pulled away from them and out of sight as they  walked on toward the barracks and headed up the stairwell just inside the glass enclosed porch way.  Emil was in his room.  He was not feeling too well.  But as the two approached, they realized that he was not alone.  Johnny started to quickly back out of the room when he saw the visitor, but Emil waved him back in.            “Come in both of you. I want you to meet someone.   Mr. Douglass, this is Johnny Gadanski, my son and his friend and very loyal co-worker, Cap Goodlataw, who is from a very prominent family in Chitina.  He’s just like another son to me.  Boys, this is the superintendent himself, Mr. Bill Douglass.”            The two had never encountered Douglass before.   They were surprised to find him to appear to be a very open and friendly man.   Bill immediately extended his hand and greeted them.             “I want you to know that I’m very impressed with your work.  You have done credit to your people, and I know your dad here is very proud. I wish we could find more like you.”            “But it was Frank who got us here.”            “It was.  Frank stood up to everybody, including me, to get you in here. He turned out to be right.  If it wasn’t for Frank and Emil, you two would not  be here.  I just wanted you to know that.”           “Mr. Douglass has convinced me that it is time for me to retire out of here.  Not that it took all that much convincing.  There’s no such thing as retirement if you’re a working man here,  but the company has generously offered me a severance bonus.   I’ll remain on the job here until you two finish up at Erie, then we’ll all return to Chitina. I’ll have more than enough saved up to buy that cabin I want and get on with my life as a retired man.”            “So you don’t mind if we take a few weeks to finish the Erie job?            “You guys go on and do the work.  You came up here to prove a point.  I know that.  Well, you just keep on doing it.  I’ll be here ready to leave when you get back.  Go on now, get yourselves ready.  I’ll see you when you return.”            The two Indians returned to their room in the attic.            “This was a nice room.  Wonder what the next one will be like.”            “We’re going right up to meet the winter, Sla’cheen.  You saw it this morning.  Sounds more like Green Butte again to me.”            “Small and primitive, you mean.  I guess so. What a surprise, meeting Mr. Douglass here, of all places.  I’ve heard some good things about the man, and now I think I can understand why,”           “Don’t get too taken in, Sla’cheen.  We all know that your dad is dying and he that  probably got ill having to working with all that paint.  We worked with it, too.  You know how bad those fumes are.  I think they’re giving him a bonus because they feel guilty and want to get rid of him.  And us.”            “You may be right, Cap,  but this was Dad’s life.  He really seems to like it here.  If it’s all right with him, I say, let’ em do it.   I’d like to see him leave here happy.”            Cap grimaced back at Johnny.            “Don’t forget that these are the same people who disturbed our graves.”           “Shee’ya told us that we had to make the best of the world which has been given us, and this is it, Cap.”            “You guys ready yet?”            “Henry ! That was fast.”           “We have to get going.  It’s a long wagon trip up there.  I want to get back this afternoon.”           Outside they encountered a wagon pulled by two large horses.            “Jump on board, guys.  I managed to hijack this here rig, and now we’re off on a scenic cruise.”

Root Glacier view from the Erie Mine bunkhouse area.   --Anchorage Museum of History & Art Continue

Legacy of the Chief, Chapter 27: "Boxing Match at Kennecott-1924"

We have been given the role of guardians of this land, for we are the Children of the Earth.  We must never forget this nor give up our role, for it was given us by the Great Creator--He who is even over the raven and the wolf, the bear and the fox--and who is over every one of us.  This land belongs only to the Great Creator.  It was he who has given us life within it and it is he who has placed on us the duty to protect this land and all the creatures who dwell here. --Chief Nicolai speaking to his grandsons at the Spirit Camp of Taral in 1910 View of the Kennicott Glacier from Staff Row: Many of the engineers lived in the 3-story staff house shown here.    --Anchorage Museum of History & Art            Kennecott had a class structure resembling that of the military where the enlisted men and officers do not mix socially.   In the case of Kennecott, the engineers and managers who ran the camp remained separate from the miners and other wage earners.   The foremen, who generally came up from the ranks of their individual specialties--be it in as a carpenter, electrician, millwright or miner--could be compared to the non-commissioned officers of military service.  It was these men and their families who lived in the thirty cottages as they became available. The lower class of workers did not keep families on the property.   Few of them stayed with Kennecott more than one season.  The employee turn-over averaged in excess of 200 percent.            The engineers in particular seldom spoke with the workers.  They were kept insulated from them in some ways almost as fully as were the children who grew up there.  Because of this separation of the engineers from the others, Johnny found it very difficult to communicate with Frank Buckner. There were things which concerned him which he would like to have discussed with the young engineer.  Foremost on his mind was the condition of his father Emil, who was showing a steady decline in health as fall began to move into winter.             The carpenters, electricians and machinists completed the  new and improved power plant on schedule, though at considerable cost.   As the carpenters finished their work, the painting crews moved in behind them, ready to tackle the job of finishing the massive exterior walls before late fall arrived.  Johnny and Cap very quickly made names for themselves due to their willingness to work long hard hours.  Under the watchful eye of Emil the painting was of the highest quality.   The two became well known for their lack of fear working in high places.  Their work extended to the industrial black coating the two applied to the four eighty-foot smokestacks, which began on a roof line thirty-five feet above the ground.           In time their presence at Kennecott was grudgingly accepted.   The two  became fixtures in the yard, paint and carpenter crews.  They were always there when a train needed to be loaded or unloaded. They performed their work without delay or complaint.  Occasionally someone would come along who wanted to put them through a test, but the Indians were able to successfully convince all challengers but one to take them on either on the billiards table or at the small basketball court in the recreation hall or on the softball field just south of the barracks.  Camp life worked out well for the two Natives who came to Kennecott just to prove they could do it.           The single challenger who refused to take on the two at one of the games, insisted on boxing with Cap.  Somehow rumors of Cap’s boxing skills followed him from Chitina.            Henry Jackson was in the billiards room when he heard the brash young Aaron challenge Cap.           “I’ll fight you in the ring, siwash, and put an end to the rumors of your invincibility once and for all.”           Henry was up instantly to deflect the blow he knew was coming, while Johnny restrained Cap from striking back. Cap shoved Johnny out of the way and moved forward toward the taller and heavier man who had tried to strike him.          "Any time, white man.  You name the place.  We’ll see who gets to call the other names.”            Henry placed himself between the two men.            “Stop ! Not here ! Cap, you really want to do this?”            Cap nodded an unmistakable affirmation.            “Aaron, are you sure?”            Aaron tried to get past Henry to strike at Cap.            “Okay, then.  Here’s what we’ll do.  Management will never allow this, so you men have to keep quiet about it.  I’ll set up a boxing match right now in the rec hall.  Whoever loses, leaves camp for good.  And I don’t want to ever hear anything more about it, or I’ll personally come after either one of you.  Are we agreed?”            That was it.  The fight was on.  The men were ready.  Henry and the other foremen who lived at the barrack would have to pull this off right under the noses of the engineers, or risk having everyone fired, including themselves.            “Give us an hour.  Those of you who work with Aaron,  keep him away from Cap.  Cap, you stay with Johnny until I get back to you.  Whatever you do, don’t go near Aaron until I have the boxing ring set up.  It just happens that I have boxing gloves.  It’s my sport.  I’m taking some men with me to set up for the fight.”            “Cap, are you crazy?  Now you have to win, or we’ll both have to leave.  They’ll never let any of us back in after that.”            “Not crazy. He’s bigger. Maybe stronger.  I’m better.  White man will fall  hard.  No more siwash.  Tired of hearing it.”           Emil came into the room.   “I heard what’s going on, boys.  The whole camp knows by now.  Even some of the  engineers probably know. My bet is they’re going to let this one pass.  It’s been  coming to this for some time now.   Henry’s on your side, you know.  I’m going out  and taking bets.  Hope you’re as good as your reputation, Cap.”                      Cap growled.            “Sounds good to me.  I’ll be back to escort you boys to the ring.  Wait for me here in the room. Better limber yourself up, Cap.  That’s a big, tough boy down there.”           It was almost an hour later when Emil and several of his cronies arrived to escort the two Indians.            “Most of them are putting their money on Aaron.  We’ll clean up, Cap.”            “No more talk. Time to box.” The recreation hall was on the west side of the tracks, down hill from the five-plex apartments in South Kennecott.   --McCarthy-Kennicott Museum           When Cap and Johnny approached the recreation hall, surrounded by a group of men who were clearly gambling on the Indian, they found the place completely packed. Aaron was already inside with his shirt off and his gloves ready, anxious for a chance to pummel Cap.  He had the build of a weigh-lifter.            “This doesn’t look good, Cap.”           “No worry, Sla’cheen.  This is what I know best.  Believe in me.  Cap no fool. Big man fall hard.”           When Cap pulled off his shirt, he revealed a wiry, muscular body, though easily thirty pounds lighter than his opponent.  He was thick through the shoulders, arms and chest.  When the men looked into Cap’s eyes, it appeared that Aaron was about to encounter the soul of a wolverine.  The ferocity in his face even gave Aaron a moment of doubt.  It was all that Cap needed.            “Where did Henry come up with this rope and gloves in such short order,” Johnny asked his father.           “Son, Henry’s been waiting for an opportunity like this since he got here.  He’s probably only disappointed that he’s not the one in the ring.  He loves to box.  That’s what he did in the states.”            Johnny felt someone squeeze his shoulder.  He turned an went white.  There was Frank smiling.  Frank was tall enough to tower over Johnny, who was himself six-foot-two. All the men saw the young engineer at the same time. The room went silent.  Frank motioned them to continue.  The Kennecott junior mining engineer Frank Buckey (real name) in 1924             “It’s all right, Johnny.  We know. We don’t approve of this sort of thing, but we’re going to let this one happen.  I’m here to make sure no one thinks they’re going to run over you guys.  If the men mobbed you, we’d risk problems we don’t want.  Besides, I believe in Cap.  I wagered with my friend Russell.  Russell bet on Aaron.”            Henry rang the bell.  Aaron immediately struck out.  He had a longer reach and considerable power.  Cap fell.  There were several cheers, then silence.  Cap pulled back and sprung up, then motioned Aaron foreword.  Aarron bounded foreword and found himself on the floor.  He pulled himself up and found himself on the floor again. Aaron put everything he had into his final attempt to strike Cap.  Cap met him with a perfect counter-punch, knocking the man cold.  It was over.            “No more siwash !” Cap yelled, as he held up his gloved hands.             “No more fight !”            They were back in 205.  Aaron moved to the east barrack for the night.  He would be leaving on the train the next day.             “He barely touched you when he knocked you down that one time.  Look at you.  There’s not a mark on you.  Why did you let him knock you down.”            “Out of practice.”            “I think you let him do it.”            “No matter now.  Problem over.”            The next day the men went about their work as if nothing had happened.  Aaron left as he had agreed.  There was never a word of any kind from management.  Work went smoothly.  Cap found that he was receiving considerably more signs of respect than had been the case before.  The power plant was nearly completed.  Frank called the two men into the office.             “I’ve been watching you two on the job.  So has our head engineer Mr. Richelson.  We’ve been talking about you up here and we’re all pleased with you. Unfortunately, work will be slowing here with the end of the power plant job. You will probably be among those who are laid off for the season.  However, if that is the case, I would still like to see you be available early next season because we have another big painting job coming up.  And by the way, thanks to you, Cap, I’m one paycheck richer. I knew you could do it.”  Native-American boxer Alvin Williams           Cap gave Frank one of his rare smiles.            “We were just getting into the rhythm of the work here.  We’re both sorry to go so soon.  Right, Cap?  We’re wondering if there’s anything else coming up.  If not, we always have winter trapping.           “Before you send us on our way, I’ve been wanting to ask you about Dad.   This is the first time we’ve been together long enough to talk.”            “You must be referring to the bad decline in his health, Johnny?”           “Yes, he’s not going to be able to work much longer. Now that Cap and I are  leaving soon, maybe I can convince him to leave with us.   I need to get him somewhere that we can take care of him.”           “We’ve discussed it. We figured we’d take advantage of this big layoff now that the new plant is almost completed and things are nearly back to normal to go ahead and end his job as well.  I could have probably keep you here longer, but I already know how concerned you are about him. So I guess we can look at this as an opportunity.”            Frank was sounding too much like he represented the company to suit Johnny.  It appeared that Kennecott simply wanted to get rid of his dad while it was convenient to do so, which would probably have to happen soon anyway. He expected to hear something more personal coming from Frank.   Frank sensed Johnny’s irritation.            “Look, I really have been happy with having you two here.  I don’t want this to sound like the bum’s rush.  It is not.  You’ve made it easy for me to have you rehired next year. I’ll have you requested back if you send a letter to the superintendent asking for employment again early next year.  The super’s truly pleased with both of you.   I am sorry I could not visit with you during the time you’ve been here.  Believe me. But it’s just not done.  You know how it works around here. Let me know if there is anything I can do for you. I’ll sure try to help.            Now, let me finish what I was about to say.            “Next year the superintendent wants the top of the mill repainted.”            “We already figured that out.”           “You did?”           “First thing we noticed on arriving here is how badly the mill needs a new paint job.  You can tell it gets hit hard by the winds.”            “You’re right. It’s overdue. It’s a very large job. Most men don’t want to work up that high.   We also have plans to nearly double the size of the hospital.   This should have been done long ago. We need more living space in that  building for the doctors family as well as apartments for the nurses.            “I’ve seen that your carpentry skills have developed as you worked with under Chris Jensen, so I’m sure you can get on the hospital  job as well.  Anyway, we’re going ahead with the expansion, so there will be plenty of work here for you if you want it. ”           “Speaking for myself,  I’ve been happy here. The pay is good.  But I need to get back to being Indian for a while. That’s hard to do around here.  So I’ll be more than happy to leave soon.   But if my brother here wants to come back next year, and you still want me, I’ll be here with him. We work very well together.  Long ago made a pact about that.”            Frank nodded at him. “Actually, Cap, your presence has provided us an unexpected bonus.  We have a practice here of placing our nationalities together and working them as teams.  It just works out better.  But you’ve also shamed the others into doing better work than usual. They just can’t let an Indian show them up.  You have, anyway, in my opinion.”            “We noticed the same thing happen at Green Butte.  Even Mr. Barrett commented on it. Cap and I seem to keep the others motivated somehow.  Speaking of that, we still haven’t been asked to work up in the mines. We have the experience for that now, you know.  We both have learned something about being  muckers and power men.  And we’ve also worked drill stoping machines.”            “I expect to be reassigned back to the mines myself.  If there’s any way at all that I can get you up there, believe me, I will.  As you know, I’ve been on this power plant project since before you got here.  I may not even be down here if you come next year, as most of us engineers are needed up on the hill, especially at Mother Lode.  I’m primarily a geologist.  And a good one.  That’s what I came here for anyway. ”            “I know that you can’t socialize with us here at camp, but I would love to challenge you to a game of pool or two at the Mecca in McCarthy if you can get down that way while I’m down there with Rose.”.           “Johnny, thanks for the offer.  I can’t promise anything, but  I probably should get out of here for a while anyway.  One of the things I’d really like to do, though, is go sheep hunting.  If one of you could take me, I’d sure like to give it a try. ”            The two Indians looked at each other.  Johnny was left to speak first.            “We both do guiding for some very rich white men.   I sometimes do that in the fall when the railroad lays off its summer crews.  The money is much better, and I know my way around this country better than most--except for Cap.  He’s the one I’d recommend.  He’s spent more time out here than most anyone except some of the elders, and I don’t know if any of them are available anyway.   Have you hunted sheep before?”            “I grew up on a ranch in mountainous Wyoming. I’ve been in the Rockies many times, but this is country I’ve never tried. I’d sure like to.  The season is here already, so if either or both of you are available, I’ll try to get a release out of here from Douglass.  He already suggested I should try getting away for a while.”            “Cap and I will discuss that and get back to you before we leave.  Are you laying off dad soon?”           “I’m not the one who does that, but if you’re willing to take him back to Chitina with you, let’s just say, we’ll find a way to make it easy for you.  Has he ever said anything to you about wanting to leave?”            “He’s been talking about Mom a lot lately.  If she’s in Chitina, I know she’d take care of him.   If she isn’t, I’ll find her.  I just hope she isn’t drinking too much.  That’s been a real problem for her ever since I was a kid.   But I guess you’re asking if he wants to leave.  I think he’s ready.  Cap and I will get him out of here.  I suppose I should be indebted to you for helping us do that.”           “No, not at all.  None of this is easy.  Emil has been here a long time.  He’s a part of this place, and we’ll all miss him.   No one wants to see him leave, especially if he doesn’t want to go, but we don’t want him to die here either.   The superintendent will go down there and talk to him.  See you guys later.”            The two left the back room of the office and walked around the payroll clerk’s window to the front door.            “Cap, it looks like once we clean up around the power plant, our work here is finished.  I yearn to visit Rose, but I’m torn at the same time.  I feel like I’m being shoved out.              “We’ve been out here too long, Sla’cheen.  It’s time to go home with your father, like Frank said.”            The two turned west, heading in the direction of the Kennicott Glacier. The sun was just setting beyond the western ridge.  The cool shadows of the early evening had overtaken the lowers parts of the narrow valley, including all of Kennecott.  They crossed over a coupling of the empty train which sat silent, blocking their way.  Then they turned south toward the west barrack.            “Let’s walk out to the moraine.  I want to take a closer look at the glacier.”            The Indians took a narrow path north of the old sawmill and carpenter shop. To their right was a wide, steep gully where the end of the National Creek flume spewed a mad rush of water into a pond held in place by a high crib dam.  Just beyond it, a series of icy, rock-covered mounds rose to a height hundreds of feet above the track grade. They stopped at the Laundromat, which stood at the precipice where another flume at the top of the crib dam directed the water into a final deep fall to the dark, hidden and even mysterious base of the glacier over a hundred feet below. The sawmill-carpenter shop-paintshop, the company store-warehouse, and the west barrack. In front of the company store, on the edge of the drop-off, was the laundromat.   Below it was the crib dam.  Photo was taken from a high point on the Kennicott Glacier.   --UAF Archives           The small building was closed for the day.  The men walked past the structure to the steep edge of the moraine.  Here they had a good view of most of the camp and its mountainous surroundings.            They stood in the path of the breezes which constantly flowed from the steep, massive ice falls at the heads of Kennicott and Root glaciers.  Cap lifted his eyes to view the outline of Fireweed Mountain.            “Just beyond the ridge is home.  It’s not that far.  So why does it seem like home’s an entire world away?”            A sudden gust of wind off the glacier hit him, enveloping him in an unexpectedly sharp coldness which brought tears to his face. Cap turned away from the stinging iciness coming from the north, turning in the direction of the craggy ridge to the northeast. There he could see the mine sites thousands of feet above bathed in the rapidly diminishing rays of the sun.  Castle Rock and Bonanza Peak stood out starkly, a thousand feet above Bonanza and Jumbo mines. The sharp blue sky to the east now featured a line of blackening clouds forming in a high wall behind Bonanza Ridge. The ominous cloud formation emphasized the rugged outline of the Chitistone formation which was still painted in sunlight. His eyes returned to the north in the cold direction of the Root Glacier Icef all, Donohoe Peak, and the Erie Mine.            It was there that Cap spotted four large ravens circling high overhead, riding atop a heavy, invisible layer of cold glacial air.             “Engii, engii ! Sla’cheen, look!  The Saghanni ggaay are here.”  Continue with Chapter 28, "Reassignment to Erie"