Wrangell St. Elias News March & April 2010 Page 1
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WRANGELL ST. ELIAS NEWS MARCH & APRIL 2010 PAGE 1 Wrangell St. Elias News “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty” Volume Nineteen Issue Two March & April 2010 $2.50 A winter “Mail Day”—McCarthy style our mail pilot tries ail days in McCa- again the next day. rthy look much Copper Valley Air Mdifferent than Service has a variety of mail day delivery in the “big airplanes and pilots. city.” Dave Parmenter, own- First, it is not 5 or 6 days a er, is often our “mail week but twice a week; that pilot.” Dave is pictured is, unless the weather keeps here as he prepares to our mail pilot on the ground unload his Cessna 185 in Glennallen, about 125 with all our mail day WSEN staff photo miles west of our community. goodies. Wheel skies Dave—our mail pilot. are still a “must” dur- ing the latter part of or just seek out those warmer February. climes. Winter mail days Transportation to mail is are usually sparsely usually by snowmachine with attended by local sleds to haul incoming boxes. residents. The (continued on page 11) McCarthy/Ken nicott area population is only about 50- 60 year round WSEN staff photo folks and work Bonnie Kenyon, Howard Haley, Jim Edwards is seasonal— and Mike Monroe. mostly in the summer Wednesdays and Fridays months. In recent are the scheduled days for years, the majority of us both incoming and outgoing take advantage of the WSEN staff photo mail. For the most part, if one slower-paced winter Park Ranger Stephens Harper meets incoming of those days is missed due to months to travel and passenger, Erica Edmonds who is the new adverse weather conditions, visit family and friends Kennecott Interpretive Ranger. PAGE 2 WRANGELL ST. ELIAS NEWS MARCH & APRIL 2010 A note from the publisher with an approximate snow depth of art, Florida. To be honest, I wasn’t t’s February 23rd and the 31 inches on January 11th. too keen on putting my hand under- McCarthy area is still in Rick and I left just in time to water and actually “encouraging” hibernation mode. Rick beat the increased snowfall which Sting Rays to come and partake of I the tiny shrimp between my fingers. and I “reentered” that quiet, started Dec. 14. Mike recorded al- most 19 inches of snow over a 4-day Their mouths were so soft and gen- slower-paced season about 2 tle that there wasn’t any weeks ago when we returned need to hold back on feeding from our trip to the lower 48. these interesting creatures. I There were only 13 inches of guess you call it getting out snow on the ground Decem- of my comfort zone! Please ber 10 as we left McCarthy, be sure to find Rick’s story but 6 weeks later a whopping on page 6. 28 inches greeted us. Our While we were in Florida neighbor, Audrey Edwards, and close to our departure says that number was “after” date, we discovered the snow had settled. As we Walmart’s garden section was freshly stocked with drove up to our driveway on seeds. Rick and I brought the 8th, Audrey’s husband, varieties of vegetable seeds Jim, was busy snowblowing Photo courtesy Suzy Malcolm home and are now determin- our driveway! What a great Publishers feeding fish? ing dates for starting our “welcome home.” Thanks so garden transplants. Winter much, Jim. period. At the present, Mike’s snow may still be hanging on in the Mc- Carthy area, but residents are be- It was 3 pm when we made our depth reading is in full agreement ginning to foresee springtime. way up to the cabin. The outside with ours—both recording 23 inch- Wrangell-St. Elias News wel- temperature was approximately 18 es on the ground. Thanks, Mike, for keeping tabs on the weather! comes aboard the following sub- degrees and 26 degrees inside. By scribers: Thomas Turner, AK; Barry 8 pm the thermometer in the liv- As you can see, Rick and I paid Sullivan, HI. ing room read 70 degrees. Of a visit to a marine life center in Stu- course, that was with the wood- stove, oilstove and a propane heat- er (in the back bedroom) all Table of Contents working together for the same A winter “Mail Day”—McCarthy style.....................................................1 purpose—heating our log cabin. A note from the publisher.......................................................................2 Items of Interest.....................................................................................3 Our minimum thermometer Feeding the rays!....................................................................................6 read -42 degrees which verified neighborly reports that McCarthy Personnel changes at WRST...................................................................7 did have quite a cold snap end of McCarthy-Kennicott Historical Museum newsletter................................8 December and into the first week of Friends of Kennicott newsletter............................................................10 January. Mike Monroe lives in Ken- A winter “Mail Day”—McCarthy style...................................................11 nicott year round and does a good Nabesna Mine Site community fact sheet.............................................12 job of taking notes of weather con- Be snow smart......................................................................................12 ditions. I touched bases with him to Good News from the Wrangells.............................................................13 see the difference in low tempera- THE McCARTHY WEEKLY NEWS..........................................................14 tures and snow depth between our Bitter weather may have wiped out reindeer.........................................16 home in the valley and his on the Book review—Little People Little Patriots............................................17 side of the mountain. Usually Mike Cooking with Peggy..............................................................................25 is much warmer than we are “down” FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION..............................................................26 here. He said Kennicott experienced LETTERS TO THE EDITOR...................................................................27 -23 on the 1st and 2nd of January Items of WRANGELLInterest ST. ELIAS NEWS MARCH & APRIL 2010 PAGE 3 America’s Child” and a live con- wood supply in before summer Dave Hollis: Dave is about as cert featuring John’s music. For begins. His summers are busy far away from the “ice” as you can further information you may working for the National Park Ser- get this winter. He’s presently in email: [email protected] or vice. He figures this is his 10th Hawaii, basking in the sun and phone 907-554-4464. season to work in Kennicott. doing whatever McCarthyites do Mark Wacht: Mark is back in In the meantime, Mark is when they visit these warmer the neighborhood after spending making the most of the remaining climes. It seems to be a popular a couple months “outside” visit- winter months and thoroughly gathering spot for local folks. ing family and friends. He cele- enjoying the warmth of impend- Here is Dave’s “item” in his own brated Thanksgiving in Texas with ing spring! words: his mom and other family mem- Wedding blessings: We ex- “Aloha from the big Island! bers, then climbed Texas’ highest tend our blessings and best wishes I’ve been having a great time in mountain in Guadalupe National to Tracey (Gressel) and Aaron Volcanoes National Park — Park— to the tune of 8,749 ft— Gerrard who married on Novem- playing with the Hawaiian goddess with a friend, Alysson Jones. ber 28, 2009, in Valdez where of Fire Pele, she’s hot! I’ve ex- Before heading home, he they are presently living. Many of plored the isle with McCarthy made a trip to the northern part our local folks know Tracey, her friends, including Terry Blosser, of Mexico, visiting other family brother Carl, and their mother Diane Malik, Spuddy, and JT. Ter- members. Michelle Casey, who owns proper- ry and I had an amazing experi- Since returning to his cabin ty and a cabin on the west side of ence helping dig up a very rare south of McCarthy, across McCa- the Kennicott River. Congratula- Hawksbill Turtle nest, then releas- rthy Creek, he’s been putting tions, Tracey and Aaron! ing the just-hatched baby turtles miles on his new SKIDOO Ladies’ Cookie Exchange— to the Pacific Ocean.” “Backcountry” snowmachine. 2009: McCarthy area ladies gath- Thanks for the beautifully-il- When he’s not out and about play- ered for the 14th annual cookie lustrated poster and map of the ing in the snow, his winter proj- exchange at the home of Audrey area, Dave! We’ll expect to see ects include installing new tile in (and Jim) Edwards on Saturday, you back in the neighborhood his kitchen which should pretty th come springtime. well complete the downstairs, he December 19 . John Denver Tribute III: says. Another home project is the Nestled in the spruce trees Writing about “Hollis” reminded building of a woodshed/shop com- near Swift Creek, the Edwards’ me to remind you about the John bination. home has served the local ladies Denver Tribute III which is sched- Springtime, which is just as a cozy and comfortable place uled for June 18, 2010, at 6 p.m., around the corner, is designated to bring cookies and candy to in Kennecott, Alaska. On the time for “cutting firewood.” Mark share with one another. Instead of agenda is a potluck dinner and is one of those who plans ahead a family, or individual, having to social, movie clips from “Alaska— and likes to get his winter fire- eat just one kind of Christmas “sweet,” they can take home a Wrangell St. Elias News (USPS 011301) VOL. Nineteen, Issue Two, March & April 2010. Published every two months at McCarthy, Alaska. McCarthy, PO Box MXY, Glennallen, AK 99588-8998. Phone (907) 554-4454. FAX 1-866-487-7657. E-mail: [email protected] “Copyright © 2010 by Wrangell St. Elias News. No part of this publication may be reproduced by any means without the express permission of the publishers.” Contributors to this issue: Peggy Guntis, Ned Rozell and Dorothy Adler. Subscription price is $14 for one year in the USA.