Hey Richard, your memory is still functioning; the cabin is five miles up
the Nation River, whose mouth is forty six miles down the Yukon from Eagle.

The 4-horse did seize 1/3 the way back to Eagle on its first run (which is
how I found out about Evenrude's problem), so we pulled out the spa 100'
of 9mm climbing rope. With one end of the rope tied to each end of the
canoe and a bight 1/4 back from the bow in hand, the canoe would "track"
nicely out in the current as I walked along the bank. Hell, after the
disappointment of the motor sh***ing the bed, it turned out to be a
beautiful three-day walk back to Eagle. Lilly, my wife at the time, enjoyed
the tracking, so that left me to look for small game, take pictures, and
daydream.

In a pressing emergency there was always the option (in the summer) of
heading downriver from the Nation the one hundred or so miles to Circle,
which was connected to Fairbanks by a 152 mile dirt road. The float would
take about 20-30 hours depending on the wind.

If you want to see some pictures, go to:
http://uaf-db.uaf.edu/Jukebox/PJWeb/proguseyuch.htm agree to the simple
terms, click on "Interviews" on the left, and "Brad Snow" fifth from the
bottom on the right, then "Click here to go to slide #1" and page through
the slides until you see what you want. There's also commentary about the
slides if you click on the audio icon. This site is the product of the Oral
History Department at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks Campus, and was
funded in part by the US Park Service, who, despite the US Congress' intent
to preserve the subsistance lifestyle along the Yukon, has managed to force
everyone off the land.

Brad







"Oci-One Kanubi" wrote in message
oups.com...
padeen wrote:

snip
... but allowed me to go against the
Yukon River current solo quite easily (the river current was around 4-6
kts
and I could go upstream about 4-6 kts).

Brad, if my memory serves me (and this is not something I ever want to
count on, these days) your cabin was about 40 miles downriver from
Eagle.

I know you back-country types are self-sufficient jacks-of-all-trades,
but I wonder what your back-up plan was for the event of catastrophic
and irreparable failure of that motor?

Just ponderin' this matter, I thought, well, wouldn't it be better if
you lived UPRIVER of your connection to the outside world, so that in
such a case you could float with the current to the place where you
would have to have a replacement engine (or parts) delivered?

Or was your mind-set such that you preferred to have the option to have
the current help you get HOME to your cabin, and you'd deal later with
the problem of getting to town?


-Richard, His Kanubic Travesty
--

================================================== ====================
Richard Hopley Winston-Salem, NC, USA
rhopley[at]earthlink[dot]net
Nothing really matters except Boats, Sex, and Rock'n'Roll
rhopley[at]wfubmc[dot]edu
OK, OK; computer programming for scientific research also matters
================================================== ====================

When were you up there? That sounds like a pretty nice life, were you
studying, or just living up there? Saw a recent PBS special on the
Murry's, and they were up there in the 50s and 60s, and had quite a
storry to tell! HYY


padeen wrote:
Hey Richard, your memory is still functioning; the cabin is five miles up
the Nation River, whose mouth is forty six miles down the Yukon from Eagle.

The 4-horse did seize 1/3 the way back to Eagle on its first run (which is
how I found out about Evenrude's problem), so we pulled out the spa 100'
of 9mm climbing rope. With one end of the rope tied to each end of the
canoe and a bight 1/4 back from the bow in hand, the canoe would "track"
nicely out in the current as I walked along the bank. Hell, after the
disappointment of the motor sh***ing the bed, it turned out to be a
beautiful three-day walk back to Eagle. Lilly, my wife at the time, enjoyed
the tracking, so that left me to look for small game, take pictures, and
daydream.

In a pressing emergency there was always the option (in the summer) of
heading downriver from the Nation the one hundred or so miles to Circle,
which was connected to Fairbanks by a 152 mile dirt road. The float would
take about 20-30 hours depending on the wind.

If you want to see some pictures, go to:
http://uaf-db.uaf.edu/Jukebox/PJWeb/proguseyuch.htm agree to the simple
terms, click on "Interviews" on the left, and "Brad Snow" fifth from the
bottom on the right, then "Click here to go to slide #1" and page through
the slides until you see what you want. There's also commentary about the
slides if you click on the audio icon. This site is the product of the Oral
History Department at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks Campus, and was
funded in part by the US Park Service, who, despite the US Congress' intent
to preserve the subsistance lifestyle along the Yukon, has managed to force
everyone off the land.

Brad







"Oci-One Kanubi" wrote in message
oups.com...
padeen wrote:

snip
... but allowed me to go against the
Yukon River current solo quite easily (the river current was around 4-6
kts
and I could go upstream about 4-6 kts).

Brad, if my memory serves me (and this is not something I ever want to
count on, these days) your cabin was about 40 miles downriver from
Eagle.

I know you back-country types are self-sufficient jacks-of-all-trades,
but I wonder what your back-up plan was for the event of catastrophic
and irreparable failure of that motor?

Just ponderin' this matter, I thought, well, wouldn't it be better if
you lived UPRIVER of your connection to the outside world, so that in
such a case you could float with the current to the place where you
would have to have a replacement engine (or parts) delivered?

Or was your mind-set such that you preferred to have the option to have
the current help you get HOME to your cabin, and you'd deal later with
the problem of getting to town?


-Richard, His Kanubic Travesty
--

================================================== ====================
Richard Hopley Winston-Salem, NC, USA
rhopley[at]earthlink[dot]net
Nothing really matters except Boats, Sex, and Rock'n'Roll
rhopley[at]wfubmc[dot]edu
OK, OK; computer programming for scientific research also matters
================================================== ====================

'74 to '83, but still own property in Eagle. Don't know the Murrays

Whew, I've just idled away an hour looking at pictures of Brad and
Lilly. Better you than me, buddy, but I'm glad some of us tread the
borders of human experience.

The one thing I couldn't find on that Oral History website was an
enumeration of the 54 Eskino words for "Brad".

-Richard, His Kanubic Travesty
--
================================================== ====================
Richard Hopley Winston-Salem, NC, USA
.. rhopley[at]earthlink[dot]net
.. Nothing really matters except Boats, Sex, and Rock'n'Roll
.. rhopley[at]wfubmc[dot]edu
.. OK, OK; computer programming for scientific research also matters
================================================== ====================



padeen wrote:
Hey Richard, your memory is still functioning; the cabin is five miles up
the Nation River, whose mouth is forty six miles down the Yukon from Eagle.

The 4-horse did seize 1/3 the way back to Eagle on its first run (which is
how I found out about Evenrude's problem), so we pulled out the spa 100'
of 9mm climbing rope. With one end of the rope tied to each end of the
canoe and a bight 1/4 back from the bow in hand, the canoe would "track"
nicely out in the current as I walked along the bank. Hell, after the
disappointment of the motor sh***ing the bed, it turned out to be a
beautiful three-day walk back to Eagle. Lilly, my wife at the time, enjoyed
the tracking, so that left me to look for small game, take pictures, and
daydream.

In a pressing emergency there was always the option (in the summer) of
heading downriver from the Nation the one hundred or so miles to Circle,
which was connected to Fairbanks by a 152 mile dirt road. The float would
take about 20-30 hours depending on the wind.

If you want to see some pictures, go to:
http://uaf-db.uaf.edu/Jukebox/PJWeb/proguseyuch.htm agree to the simple
terms, click on "Interviews" on the left, and "Brad Snow" fifth from the
bottom on the right, then "Click here to go to slide #1" and page through
the slides until you see what you want. There's also commentary about the
slides if you click on the audio icon. This site is the product of the Oral
History Department at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks Campus, and was
funded in part by the US Park Service, who, despite the US Congress' intent
to preserve the subsistance lifestyle along the Yukon, has managed to force
everyone off the land.

Brad







"Oci-One Kanubi" wrote in message
oups.com...
padeen wrote:

snip
... but allowed me to go against the
Yukon River current solo quite easily (the river current was around 4-6
kts
and I could go upstream about 4-6 kts).

Brad, if my memory serves me (and this is not something I ever want to
count on, these days) your cabin was about 40 miles downriver from
Eagle.

I know you back-country types are self-sufficient jacks-of-all-trades,
but I wonder what your back-up plan was for the event of catastrophic
and irreparable failure of that motor?

Just ponderin' this matter, I thought, well, wouldn't it be better if
you lived UPRIVER of your connection to the outside world, so that in
such a case you could float with the current to the place where you
would have to have a replacement engine (or parts) delivered?

Or was your mind-set such that you preferred to have the option to have
the current help you get HOME to your cabin, and you'd deal later with
the problem of getting to town?


-Richard, His Kanubic Travesty
--

================================================== ====================
Richard Hopley Winston-Salem, NC, USA
rhopley[at]earthlink[dot]net
Nothing really matters except Boats, Sex, and Rock'n'Roll
rhopley[at]wfubmc[dot]edu
OK, OK; computer programming for scientific research also matters
================================================== ====================

Oci-One Kanubi wrote:
Whew, I've just idled away an hour looking at pictures of Brad and
Lilly. Better you than me, buddy, but I'm glad some of us tread the
borders of human experience.

The one thing I couldn't find on that Oral History website was an
enumeration of the 54 Eskino words for "Brad".

My curiousity just got the better of me, and I too started going through
the pictures and listening to Brad's description. Wow, that someone can
live like that in the wilderness. It does wake up my adventurous side,
but I can also see the hardship of it.

Thanks for sharing, Brad!


--
Wilko van den Bergh wilkoa t)dse(d o tnl
Eindhoven The Netherlands Europe
---Look at the possibilities, don't worry about the limitations.---
http://kayaker.nl/

A woodsman nicknamed Nessmuk from the American 1880s once said, "Were not
out here roughing it, we're smoothing it; it's rough enough in the city." I
can't say we were under any "hardships", unless you mean that we didn't have
TV, alcohol, chips, soda, stoplights, insurance, cops, or LDS knocking at
our door. We never thought of what we were doing as extreme, just hard work
at times, and not so hard at others. The first cabin I built didn't have a
door through the first winter, just a blanket, which was usually pulled back
even at 50 below zero; the wood stove kept the cabin too hot to keep it
closed.

Brad



"Wilko" wrote in message
...
Oci-One Kanubi wrote:
Whew, I've just idled away an hour looking at pictures of Brad and
Lilly. Better you than me, buddy, but I'm glad some of us tread the
borders of human experience.

The one thing I couldn't find on that Oral History website was an
enumeration of the 54 Eskino words for "Brad".

My curiousity just got the better of me, and I too started going through
the pictures and listening to Brad's description. Wow, that someone can
live like that in the wilderness. It does wake up my adventurous side, but
I can also see the hardship of it.

Thanks for sharing, Brad!


--
Wilko van den Bergh wilkoa t)dse(d o tnl
Eindhoven The Netherlands Europe
---Look at the possibilities, don't worry about the limitations.---
http://kayaker.nl/

padeen wrote:
A woodsman nicknamed Nessmuk from the American 1880s once said, "Were not
out here roughing it, we're smoothing it; it's rough enough in the city." I
can't say we were under any "hardships", unless you mean that we didn't have
TV, alcohol, chips, soda, stoplights, insurance, cops, or LDS knocking at
our door. We never thought of what we were doing as extreme, just hard work
at times, and not so hard at others. The first cabin I built didn't have a
door through the first winter, just a blanket, which was usually pulled back
even at 50 below zero; the wood stove kept the cabin too hot to keep it
closed.

It was very late last night after I had showed my girlfriend all the
pictures and listened to the accompanying comments by you. The first
thing she said afterwards was: and when are we going to live there? :-)

From what I understand everyone living there was eventually kicked out
by the park service? Is it still possible to live like that legally,
maybe in Canada?

When I first met a Greek shepherd high up in the mountains, I was
wondering how he could live with only a handful of goats and sheep.
Being invited by the guy to share dinner, and seeing the simple joys of
life, I realized that more definately isn't the same as better.

--
Wilko van den Bergh wilkoa t)dse(d o tnl
Eindhoven The Netherlands Europe
---Look at the possibilities, don't worry about the limitations.---
http://kayaker.nl/

On Tue, 27 Jun 2006 07:12:44 GMT, "padeen"
wrote:

A woodsman nicknamed Nessmuk from the American 1880s once said, "Were not
out here roughing it, we're smoothing it; it's rough enough in the city." I
can't say we were under any "hardships", unless you mean that we didn't have
TV, alcohol, chips, soda, stoplights, insurance, cops, or LDS knocking at
our door. We never thought of what we were doing as extreme, just hard work
at times, and not so hard at others. The first cabin I built didn't have a
door through the first winter, just a blanket, which was usually pulled back
even at 50 below zero; the wood stove kept the cabin too hot to keep it
closed.

Brad

Brad, Strangely enough, I've just finished reading Nessmuk's book
"Woodcraft and Camping"! (published 1920) A very entertaining read
....and what a neat surprise to find a chapter on ultra-lightweight
canoes of the period near the end!

I read a very similar book (similar style and similar subject-matter)
called 'The gentle Art of Tramping' by Stephen Graham, (also pre-WW2)
...but I preferred Nessmuk's book, somewhat.

Al D

The one thing I couldn't find on that Oral History website was an
enumeration of the 54 Eskino words for "Brad".

Just two: "small nail" you open-boat reprobate!

padeen wrote:
The one thing I couldn't find on that Oral History website was an
enumeration of the 54 Eskino words for "Brad".

Just two: "small nail" you open-boat reprobate!

Don't you have to be, like... OLD, to be a reprobate?

Are you typing to me? Are YOU typing to me? Are you typing to ME?

-R