Spring Cleaning

In the spring of each year, placer miners all over the north who have spent the winter fine-tuning theories and making plans to find the motherlode – the source of all the area's gold – hope for an early snow melt to let them get back to searching for the secrets of the land. The snows of the Cassiar Mountains are melting too, but things are a little slow this year. February's shoveling trip found much more snow than usual, and several trips to the mine in May showed the spring melt to be a couple of weeks behind this year.

Starting up in the spring, at least for this placer mining operation, usually involves several trips to the property to scout out the conditions so that the year's supplies can start being hauled to the mine. A normal year would see the mine open up around the long weekend in May, but spring trips this year have showed much more snow later in the season than usual.

May 6 brought the first of several trips to the mine to check things out. Unfortunately, there's still a ton of snow around The Wizard, which also means that the mine roads will still be snowed and not passable. By the things on this trip, It looks like it'll be a couple of weeks before things have melted enough to allow reasonable access to the property.

On May 25, a couple of weeks later, Scott took another trip to the mine and found that there were still many patches of snow, but the extra couple of weeks seemed to have really helped melt things and make the mine road is a little closer to being passable. It might be a little early for a vehicle to travel onto the property, but the walking appeared to be good so it was time to go onto Holloway Bar for a closer look around and see what we were up against this year.

It was obvious from the time Scott set foot on the property that there would be a long “to-do” list this year. One of the first projects to be undertaken was clearly visible when crossing the bridge over McDame Creek. A dead tree carried downstream by the force of the rushing water was hung up just upstream of the bridge and would have to be quickly removed. Water freely flows under the bridge and its two adjustable legs, but any kind of obstruction could cause problems if things were to back up. This task was clearly a priority and would have to be dealt with before any damage was done to the bridge.

After crossing the bridge and walking into camp, it was becoming pretty obvious that this was a late spring in the Cassiar Mountains. There was still a lot of snow to be found on Holloway Bar, even though it's the end of May. Just look into the Holloway Bar back yard – even though the sun hits this spot every day, the snow was still not completely melted, although it was going fast. While some of the property was clear of snow, there were many spots where snow would have to be manually removed if camp was to be opened up for the season.

One of the first spots that needed to be shoveled out was the entrance to the shop. The ATV spends the winter locked in the shop and it would take a bunch of shoveling to get at it as snow was still piled high against the doors. The Holloway Bar buggy would have to be dug out and serviced before being put to work for another year. Without the four wheeler and its trailer, it would be hard to get the first supplies into camp, so this was something that would have to be done before trying to move into camp for the season.

There were other signs of a long winter throughout camp as well. As you saw in a picture of the week earlier this year, at least one of the hollowaybar.com webcams had taken a beating from the snow and was in need of repairs. As it turned out, the webcams all survived another winter, but the snow had taken a toll and many of the mounts had to be repaired and straightened out before they could be switched on. The communications system and webcam network came online on June 1 this year.

Starting up the mine in the springtime is a huge job. As soon as Scott opened up the trailer, he could tell that a marten had been inside. One got in a couple of years ago as well and made a huge mess – ripping pillows and bedding and running all over everything as well as getting into some of the few dry goods that had been left in the trailer. That was the last year that any kind of food was left in camp over the winter. This year the mess was much smaller – finding no food, the marten soon went on his way, but all the surfaces inside still had to be wiped down and cleaned thoroughly as it had been running and climbing on everything.

Some things survived the winter reasonable well. There was sign that Victoria the Moose and her offspring had wintered around camp again this year. They stayed away from the communications system (the TV and Internet satellite dishes – two essentials for living in the bush) – but ripped out the clothesline and sheared off one of the gate posts over their winter travels, leaving another couple of things that would have to be repaired this season.

While the camp's main water supply is from the mountain waterline that also supplies camp with power, there's also a backup system placed into McDame Creek. This small waterline is used early in the spring and late in the fall when the main water system isn't yet online, so an insulated box had been built around the plastic waterline to protect it from the hard frosts that are common in the mountains. The weight of the snow had crushed the insulated box, adding one more thing to the “to do” list that was growing rapidly.

Further exploration of camp brought Scott to the fire station, which stands right in the center of the camp, ready for action if trouble arises. It's still standing and mainly intact, but still needs a little tender loving care to bring it back to its standard operating condition.

Some of the equipment didn't fare quite as well during the winter. Although Scott and Christina spent several days at the mine in February shoveling snow to reduce the roof snow load around camp, not all of the equipment was cleaned off. At first glance, everything seemed to be pretty much in order, but once Scott and Christina got a little closer, they could see that the snow had pushed the fender down onto the tire of the dump truck, ripping it away from the hood and the rest of the truck body. This would have to be repaired before any material could be dug out of the ore pit and hauled to the plant for processing.

It was time to check out the rest of the property and see what other surprises this spring has brought. There's still patchy snow around many parts of the property. While the snow is gone off most of the exposed areas, anywhere that has any shade at all is still covered in snow. This makes for tough going in some places. While it would be possible to come to camp a little earlier in the season, it would be very difficult, particularly if one didn't have access to a cat and loader to move some of the snow. While the conditions look fine out in the open, the main mine roads will still have too much snow on them to travel over with the pickup.

The gold plant, named The Wizard, is the heart of the Holloway Bar placer mining operation and sits outside in the elements all year. It's a home-built machine constructed out of metal and various pieces of other machines (it contains pieces from a cement mixer, a dump truck, and is even powered by a four cylinder diesel motor and transmission from a old VW Rabbit). The plant is fully drained of all water in the fall and the sluice boxes taken apart so that it will survive the tough northern winters reasonably unscathed.

However, we already know that this wasn't a normal winter. The snow was so deep and so heavy that it bent some of the protective plates on the trommel made out of steel plate! It's amazing the power that nature has, and no wonder some area buildings collapsed over the winter. During the last dozen years, the plant has fared quite well over the winter and usually just needs a service and cleanup to get running in the spring, although there will be a little metal work required this year.

It's looking like spring down in the valley and soon the only reminders of winter will be the bent steel in need of repair. The next few days back in town will be to get the camp supplies together and actually move down to the mining property to start the repairs and get on with the mining season.

* * *

By June 1, Scott made it back to the property and started working on getting camp opened up for the season. The extra few days meant that more snow had gone, making life a little bit easier, but it's stilla different story in the mountains.

One of the most urgent projects every spring is bringing the power system back on-line. This is one job that isn't worth doing if it's too early – but the only way to tell what the conditions are at the top of the waterline trail is to hike up the trail and have a look.

There's still a pile of snow up here and the whole upper line is still frozen in. It will take a day of digging snow and chipping ice to expose enough water line to get things started. There's a small spring here that feeds the camp water system. The water system really is the key to Holloway Bar. Enough of the snow that accumulates every winter on the mountains above camp will melt and be diverted through the turbine generator to supply most of the camp's power needs for the summer. The clear, cold water is also perfect to use throughout camp – and is one of the key ingredients to the Holloway Bar coffee!

The snow lays in these high, hidden draws much longer than in any of the exposed areas. Spring is always late up high on the hillside, and even during a normal spring, getting things running in late May or early June still takes a lot of work.

The main task is to dig out enough snow to run the waterline to the headbox, delivering water trapped in the small sandbag dam. Water runs out of the outlet on the bottom side of the headbox into a 3” insulated pipe and begins its rush down the mountain, dropping 180 meters over an 800 meter run. That translates into about 120 psi of pressure at the bottom and enough volume to fill a 20 litre pail in 5 seconds.

It's expensive to be in camp for any length of time without the water and power system operating. Making power without it means running the camp generator – which burns expensive diesel fuel, which could be put to better use running the gold plant and equipment.

This last winter was the most damaging in the dozen years that Scott and Christina have been mining on Holloway Bar. All years present their challenges, but this year's fix-it list is the longest one yet. Once the important things have been crossed off the list, it will be time to go mining again. Stay tuned...

Winter Snows at Holloway Bar

The practice of placer gold mining is mostly a summer affair. Placer mining uses lots of water to help separate the gold from the surrounding materials. Once the fall frosts and winter snows arrive, the mining operation is shut down and the miners retreat to the warmth of their home fires to plan the next year's mining adventure.

However, the mine isn't maintenance free in the winter. Usually when the days start to get longer and the sun's warmth can be felt through the cold northern air, it's time for a February trip to the placer mine for some hard work – shovelling snow!


The mine road sits covered in snow. It's not accessible at all this time of year unless you happen to have a dogsled or set of snowshoes with you. While the Holloway Bar dogs do come along on these snow shovelling excursions, I don't think they'd be happy pulling a miner's sled through deep snow – so access has to be by snowshoes.

The snow and ice provides the ultimate security system – it's very tough going to get to the mine from the nearby highway, and tracks of anyone attempting to walk in are very clear for weeks if not months.


After walking into the mine past the now-silent equipment, the first thing you notice is the amount of snow on everything. This isn't the light, fluffy snow that northerners often see during cold weather – it's packed in tight by the mountain winds making it a solid, heavy mass.

While some may leave their facilities untouched during the winter months, they may return in the spring to many damaged or even a collapsed roof or two. This densly packed snow is very heavy, and it will become a lot heavier once the spring sun starts melting the top layers, so it's important to clear it off of the buildings and equipment to prevent damaging things too much.


So far, the winter of 2008/2009 has resulted in much more snow than previous years. While maybe not indicative of global warming, it does signify that things might be changing a little in the world. Years ago, the Yukon and Northern BC were known mainly for the winter colds – which still happen quite frequently – but lately, the cold snaps have been interspersed with much more snow during the warmer periods.

The Cassiar mountains seem to be hit hard this year, and reports have come in of the camps of others who haven't been as ambitious suffering some damage due to the weight of the snow. This bottom of this trailer is sitting a meter or more off of the ground and even before the snow was shovelled off of the roof, the snow level came to the bottom of the windows (don't try to open the door!) - so Christina is probably standing on some 2+ meters of packed snow on her snowshoes.


The equipment that was winterized in the fall and parked for the winter is also covered by great mounds of snow and ice from the warmer days – so much that the air cleaner on the dump truck actually bent under the weight of the snow this year. If Scott and Christina hasn't been able to get to the mine to remove some of this weight, it would have surely resulted in much more damage.


The powerhouse that contains the water turbine and power control center is almost completely buried by snow. The roof's been cleaned now – you can see the amount of snow that was knocked off this tiny area – so it will survive to house the power generating equipment for another year.

By the end of May, most of the snows will be gone in areas that get the sun, but there will still be ice and snow at the top of the waterline, so it might be June before the water is flowing enough to again generate power. The backup generator will have to be used to charge the camp batteries for the first few weeks of mine operation.

While this snow is a bit of a burden to northern residents, you also have to consider that it's fuel for the camp water turbine – when it melts in the spring and rushes off the hill, it'll flow through the turbine and generate camp power.


This is the 100 lb. propane bottle that operates the camp fridge, stove and hot water tank – but Scott had to dig down a couple of feet just to find the top of the tank to turn on the propane and hopefully light the stove for cooking. Refridgeration isn't necessary this time of the year and there is no running water to heat, but this snow shovelling trip, the second one this year so far, required staying at camp for a couple of nights and preparing a few meals.


You can't really tell from this picture, but Scott is standing on the roof of the Chevy mine truck. It's been completely buried by the snowfall this winter – and the snow is so packed and windblown, there's not even a bump where the truck is parked. But, it is there (or at least it was there last fall when the mine was shut down for the winter).


Even the old Holloway Bar miner looks a little snowed in – there won't be much action in his gold pan for a few months yet. One of the things that we've tried to show you on this weblog and on our website, www.hollowaybar.com, is a glimpse at some of the not-so-obvious parts of being a gold miner and living in the North.

It's not all fun and games and tripping over large nuggets sticking out of the ground (although that would be a welcome event!) - but a ton of hard work throughout the year.


Spring will come, the snows will eventually melt, and the mine will operate for another northern mining season – but the first task at hand in the spring will be to do some maintenance – like fixing this webcam that bent under the pressures of this year's heavy snowfall.


This trip to the mine, while requiring three or four days of heavy work shovelling snow, will lessen the startup tasks significantly in the spring – but there is still a long list of things to be done next year. Of course, gold mining is near the top of the list, but there are many things that need to be done to support the mining venture – and most of those things fall under the “camp maintenance” heading.

See you in the spring!

Getting ready to go mining...

The Holloway Bar placer mine on McDame Creek, while on a large piece of property, is a small gold mining operation. In fact, it is capable of and often operated by a single person, Scott. While it's easier with two or more, being able to run everything with one person gives the utmost flexibility, although probably at the cost of a little production.

However, it's not just a matter of pouring the fuel to the equipment and digging a hole - there's an awful lot of preparation that goes into a little bit of mining.

For example, Scott and Christina have been on the property for almost a month now and are just getting ready to start mining for the 2008 season. But first, the camp has to be opened up and the waterline hooked up. Since it was a late spring this year, that involved chopping through about a half-meter of ice in the head box to get the water flowing. The water system is essential and is usually right at the top of the to-do list each spring – it serves as the camp water supply, but more importantly, gravity pushes it through the turbine to generate camp power.

There's also a myriad of small (and large) repairs to be done after a tough Northern winter – this year's projects included some minor modifications to last year's bridge repairs, a last-minute emergency repair to the wood-fired hot water system (you can't have a bath when the heater's sprung a leak!), some work on the webcams, fixing a stuck-spool in the hydraulic system of the excavator, and this year's major spring project, fixing up the dump truck and getting it ready to haul.

The job started with paint. But with the closest paint shop hundreds of miles away, it would have to be fully completed in the bush. So, Scott loaded up the Holloway Bar buggy (the small trailer towed by the ATV) with a gas-powered portable compressed and waited for a couple of good days to do the actual painting. Good weather was essential as this was to be an outdoor job!

Sanding, lots of it, was the first task at hand. Preparing the body is key to a successful paint job. Once the sanding was done, it was time to mask off the areas of the truck that shouldn't be painted, such as the chrome trim pieces and the windows.

Since white was the first colour to be sprayed, all of the non-white parts were again covered up with masking tape and last week's newspaper. This is where you really hope for some good weather. As luck would have it, the weather held and the white went on without a hitch.

After drying for a day or two, the red was next to be painted. The masking was reversed and the fresh white paint covered up so the rest of the cab could be painted red. Again, good weather was needed for this part of the job.

The red went on and things are starting to look pretty good now – the tape's been peeled off and the shiny new red and white paint job has really made this truck look like a sweetheart.

However, if you've spent any time browsing through hollowaybar.com, you're probably aware that nothing is really finished at Holloway Bar until the dragon makes it's appearance. So, Scott broke out the stencil and a bit of green paint and put the dragon on the door to make the job complete.

And that's how you turn a blue dump truck into a red and white dump truck, ready to haul raw material to the Wizard for processing.

That's a little more insight into what it takes to run the Holloway Bar placer mine. So, when you're looking at the webcams and wondering when the mining will start, just keep in mind that there's a lot happening behind the scenes. This isn't a "hit and run" gold operation - we're here for the long haul - so we take the time to do the job right. Scott's training as a journeyman autobody technician sure came in handy on this job...

Be sure to watch the Holloway Bar webcams in the coming weeks as the Wizard gold plant and the rest of the Holloway Bar mining equipment springs to life to lead off another mining season in the Cassiar mountains.

Berry Picking Season

Life in the North is all about balance. We're placer gold miners here on Holloway Bar, but unlike some miners, we're not totally obsessed with digging the glittering substance from the ground all the time. There has to be some time to take advantage of some of the other treasures that this amazing place has to offer.

Scott and Christina often travel the mining property looking for promising places to dig for gold. With the gold plant just visible in the background, there appears to be a search for something - maybe little nuggets laying on the ground waiting for someone to come along and claim ownership.


But, everything is not always what it seems. Let's have a closer look and see what's happening...

Aha! This is what we're looking for. Sometimes just barely visible from a distance, there are a multitude of wild raspberry bushes around the property, growing anywhere they can cling onto a source of nourishment. Sometimes the berries are hidden underneath - lift up one of the branches and you're presented with the plant's bounty.


Sometimes the bushes are just so loaded with ripe berries that they're out in plain view - which makes for pretty easy picking.

The berry patches often serve as a shelter to some of the resident insects. If you're lucky, your berry picking day will come with a stiff breeze to keep the bugs at bay, but even with a breeze, you're often picking in a spot sheltered from the wind.

We try not to use bug dope or other types on insect repellent here on Holloway Bar, instead choosing to dress for the occasion. Christina's in her full bug gear here - long sleeves and a big hat to keep the sun's rays at bay and hold the scarf wrapped that keeps the bugs off her head and neck in place. The bugs will still be around, but they'll have a lot harder time getting to you for their dinner.

The raspberries are just ripe now. The summer is passing fast - there's already been a big frost in the past week (which did wonders to slow down the bugs!) and there's a very short window of time to harvest nature's various crops.

Different berries come ripe at different times. There are also patches of wild strawberries found around the mine property - but their time has come and gone for this season.

Once the strawberries and raspberries are gone, other berries ripen and take their place. We found this outbreak of cranberries in our journeys, just getting ready to be picked. There are also blueberries, mossberries, and numerous other types of wild berries that are crying out to be picked and frozen to serve up jams, preserves, and even desert toppings over the long, cold winter.

Berry picking on the mine property is pretty safe - but often you'll find yourself deep in the woods competing with some of the other animals for your dinner. You always have to remember that this is the wilderness - so you'll also need to watch out for bears and other animals that are getting ready for winter.

We had a pretty good couple of hours of berry picking - and our bounty tasted great with whipped cream for desert! Most of these berries went into the freezer, but you just can't pick all these berries without sampling them. This type of nature's candy is tasty, healthy, and you probably can't get much more organic than this.

The gold will still be in ground tomorrow for another day's mining. But, nature's gold, the wild berries that are abundant here, will be gone soon. If you don't put aside your urges to get rich, it'll be a long, cold winter without any berries to brighten up your day...

Highway 37 Commute

Two or three times a summer, I make the 1,500 kilometer round trip to the Holloway Bar Placer Mine from my home in Terrace. I just returned home on Friday from my second trip of the 2007 mining season. Highway 37, called the 'Stewart-Cassiar Highway' by many locals, is pretty much a wilderness highway. There are several small communities along the route (Bell II, Bobquinn, Iskut, Dease Lake) where a traveller might find some fuel or maybe a hot meal and place to stay, but there are often great distances where not much other than the natural wonders of the area are to be seen.

To bring you along on my journey, I've uploaded a few pictures of some of the things I spotted on my recent commute.

I left the mine at about 9:00 am on Friday morning. The bright green paint on the mine equipment is clearly visible to travellers along the highway.

As Highway 37 cuts a line through a very remote area, wildlife is often seen on or near the highway. This fox was quite inquisitive when spotted and didn't run away when I stopped to take this photo. This fellow lives just south of Jade City (I'm pretty sure I saw this guy on my last trip up in June as well).

About 10 km further south, still in the Cassiar mountains, these two moose were sharing the highway with me. To be polite and let me pass, they pulled off the road (actually they made a frantic dash for the cover of the woods) as I went by them.

Next was a small black bear. This guy was also making a run for it and didn't hang around long... Moose and bear are the animals I most often see along this route. Further south near Meziadin, there are a multitude of bears and sometimes 3 or 4 are seen in a short distance, many with cubs this time of the year.

The road follows the Dease River as you approach Dease Lake, and some of the old river routes have turned into small lakes. This beaver was busy looking for new building materials to chew down in this particular pond.


Just past the beaver in deeper water, a family of ducks looking for food left ripples in the still waters of this beautiful little lake.


While much of the highway is now either paved or sealcoated, there are still a few stretches of gravel, such as the 20 km or so along Dease Lake pointed out by this "end of pavement" sign.


You never really know what you'll see driving along this highway. I caught up with this truck on the Stikine River Bridge, hauling some of the excess materials away from the road construction I had just driven through.

Still further south lie several mines under development. This large helicopter was slinging a load into one of the area mines. The stretch of road between the Bobquinn highways camp and the Bell II Lodge, home to heli-ski adventures in the winter, usually has as much traffic above it as on it.

The Bell-Irving River flows right beside the Bell II Lodge, which serves as a staging post for many of the helicopters working in the area. Bell II is just about the half-way point home for me - it's about 350 km from both Terrace and the Holloway Bar Placer Mine.

Of course, with the abundance of game on the road, there are sometimes conflicts between the animals and vehicles. I came across this moose skeleton south of Meziadin down the bank from one of the many pullout rest areas. It's likely it was hit by a vehicle and pushed over the bank, where many of the local area scavengers were delighted to see a meal.

The highway has changed greatly since its official opening in the early 1970's and has changed primarily from a remote gravel wilderness road to a mostly-paved road with a fair amount of traffic should problems be encountered. But, it's still remote, and you still have to be prepared to travel this wilderness highway.

You'll appreciate the remoteness as you see the wildlife in its natural state, and you'll see many of the beautiful features that give this area its magnetism. They say the north gets in your blood. After seeing the beauty of this area, you'll understand why...

Waterpump Status

In the little bit of mining we've done this year, we've noticed that the existing water pump ( a 3-cylinder diesel powered 6" pump) has been running a little rough... Scott and Trevor had a good look at it a couple of weeks ago and discovered that the motor likely has a broken ring or some other kind of piston problem - so while it's running, it's only producing probably half of its rated 46 horsepower. That's just not enough power to pump any where near the amount of water needed by the gold plant.

Fortunately, Scott saw this coming and we've already told you about the larger diesel motor that he's removed from an old piece of logging equipment. Once this was removed, it was loaded into a pickup truck and hauled to the mine.

We just left the motor in the back of the truck after getting it here - the water was just too high to safely get it across the river. However, a week or so ago, the water dropped just enough to walk the hoe through the water across the river, pick up the large motor from the back of the truck, and pack it back across the river and lower it into the back of the mine truck to haul back to camp.

The first plan was to build up another skid to mount this motor into and keep the old skid frame intact with the old diesel motor mounted on it for a "backup plan" in case of problems with this pump. However, because of the problems with the old motor, Scott decided that it wasn't worthwhile doing this, and decided just to pull the old motor off the frame and modify it to hold the new motor.

So, the first thing to do is get the old pump and motor back to camp where it could be more easily worked on.

Using the hoe in its alternate role as a huge lifting device, Scott chained the old motor and pump assembly to bucket of the hoe...

Although very heavy, the hoe has no problem at all moving the pump around. This would be almost impossible to move by hand. Some miners actually build their waterpumps into the back of an operating pickup truck so that it can be easily moved, but here at Holloway Bar, the plant operations always stay in the same place.

The pump is finally lowered into the back of the mine truck and the chain disconnected. We drove the truck and pump back to the camp workshop and then returned to get the hoe so we could walk it back to camp as well.

Scott unloaded the pump near his workshop so that he could start pulling the old motor off of the pump's frame and start the modifications needed to install and attach the new motor to the pump. The hoe is serving as a second set of hands - providing the heavy lifting capabilities whenever needed.

We've got almost everything we need to get things moving - except for a way to hook the new motor to the existing pump. The old flywheel could be machined and modified to fit, but Scott spotted a small crack in the old assembly so new parts are on order...

So, in the meantime, Scott will start by stripping everything down and pulling the old motor out, and then start modifying the skid frame to take the much larger motor. The connecting parts should arrive just about the time the fabrication is done and things painted up in Holloway Bar green.

Before - we had a big pump and little motor. Now, we'll have a little pump and big motor. What more could you ask for?

Progress...

We're making some progress getting ready for the 2007 mining season...

Mining on Holloway Bar is quite dependent on the weather, particularly if there are any major projects to undertake that involve a river crossing. Once the snow starts to melt in late May, the water in McDame Creek is usually too high to safely cross with the equipment at hand, so it's a waiting game - when the water drops, you get busy before it comes up again...

This year, we had a pump motor to get across the river (it only looks like a creek when the water is low!!!). Well, the conditions were right on Thursday, so Scott walked the Link Belt across the river to move the motor. Once across the river, he picked up the motor (which probably weighs a half a ton or so), walked it across McDame Creek, and set it in the "camp side" pickup. He then drove this back to camp and then returned to the Creek to get the hoe. Once it was walked back to camp, he picked the motor out of the back of the camp truck and set it where he'll be working on it to build a frame and mount for the pump and other accessories...

We did get the plant put together last week, fired everything up, and run a bit of material through "The Wizard" just to make sure the carpets (which help to trap the gold) were covered by gravel and protected from the harmful rays of the sun. The old pump motor is certainly getting a little tired - so the new motor is coming none too soon!

Stay tuned for more as we get things up and running for the 2007 mining season...

First things First

The Holloway Bar Placer Mine, located on McDame Creek in the Cassiar Mountains in the far northern reaches of northern British Columbia, is an operational placer gold mine. But, while we have a passion for the land and the riches that it (hopefully) holds, we also like technology...

You've read about the new webcam we installed in Terrace in the past weeks, and now we've got the same plans for new webcams at the mine. So, before the gold mining season really gets underways, we needed to install the rest of this season's new technology at the mine.

After having lived with webcams for one mining season, we see the value in using this technology, not just for updating images on our Internet web site, but also for monitoring and just keeping an eye on things. Most of our cameras from last year are "fixed" position that look at what you point them at. If something scrolls off-camera, that's the last you'll see of it.

But this year, we decided to replace some of our fixed cameras with movable cameras - that we can control from camp or even from far away on the Internet.

The first thing to do when mounting a webcam is to scout out the best location for the camera. The best views are usually from the highest places - so our eyes all looked at the highest thing we could find - the mud box on the gold plant!


Power was the next issue. We generate our own power on the mine with a hydro generator - but it's located back at camp. However, we already had 600' of extension cords laid out from last year that power the MineCam - so we decided to run another couple of hundred feet of extension cord. So, by the time the power gets to the gold plant, it's run through a total of 850 feet of power cord... With this location in mind and the plant tied into the camp power source, Scott and Trevor set out to mount the camera on the gold plant. We found a 4x4 fence post that was a perfect mount - but the camera enclosure had to be mounted to it first and the antenna and solar panel tied to the post.

Trevor passed the pole, complete with camera mount, up to Scott who had already climbed up onto the gold plant. The best place to mount the camera is on the corner of the box that overlooks the rest of the gold plant.

It takes big ugly screws to make sure this pole isn't going anywhere. It should be pretty much out of the "line of fire" here as the raw materials for the mine are fed into the box just below it. Scott bolted the pole right to the metal corner of the box. Once mounted, we plugged it in and checked for a signal...

We do have a large antenna our the base station of our wireless network, but we're far enough away to require the use of directional antennas for any reliable communications. Once the laptop is hooked to the network, we have a full, high-speed Internet connection as well as solid communications with out network connection.

The camera "lit right up" and started talking to the base station. Once that was verified, phase two of the project was started - the BridgeCam.

We only had a couple of the custom webcam enclosures made by my father, so we were back to "jury rigging" an enclosure for the BridgeCam. With an old metal pot, some screws, a fencepost, and a lot of faith, we rigged up an enclosure that should protect the BridgeCam from most of the elements.

Once put together, Scott and Trevor headed off to the bridge to install the camera. This one is truly solar powered, as it's over 1/2 a km from the power source and definitely needs a directional antenna to reach the camp wireless base station. However, the planning paid off as the pole was planted, the power connected, and yet another camera is online...


At most gold mines, you have to be on the lookout for the gold miner and his dogs, who has to keep a close watch on things. At the Holloway Bar Placer Mine, we're wired and hooked to the Internet via our high-speed satellite connection. So look up, look around, and always know that "big brother" is watching - from camp, from our homes, and from anywhere on the Internet...

To watch our webcams, be sure to visit our webcam page on www.hollowaybar.com.

More on the motor...

If you've been following the Holloway Bar Weblog, you will have read about Scott's project to acquire and install a new motor in the waterpump so that we can increase our waterflow and our gold production.

The motor, out of a discarded piece of logging equipment, was successfully removed from the feller buncher and loaded into the back of Scott's heavy duty pickup for its trip to the mine. Once the large diesel motor and radiator are loaded into the 8' box of the truck, there's not a lot of room left for supplies...


So, accompanied by Christina with a load of camp supplies in her truck, they headed to the mine to deliver their load and do some more work on opening things up for the season. Travel in the North usually involves a fair number of stops, particularly with a loaded truck. There's no sense in rushing things...

The trip to camp was uneventful. However, this spring brought much high water to the McDame and most other area rivers - in fact, the Liard River which flows right by Watson Lake was at its highest point in years and some low-lying areas were flooded.


This has the immediate effect of not being able to cross the river to camp in any kind of motorized vehicle (except for maybe a helicopter - but ours in in the shop ). However, Scott built a foot bridge some years ago that allows crossing to camp at most times of the year.


In the time before the bridge was built, a cable tram with a small platform was the only way in and out when the water was high. This tram is still there for use as a backup system - it's always good to have more than one option!

So, until the water drops a bit, the motor will stay in the back of the truck. Once we're able to get it across the river, it will be "built up" into a new frame that Scott will fabricate and the pump transplanted into the new unit, rather than modifying the old frame and motor.

Again, this gives us a backup - with the old motor still sitting in its frame, if need be, the pump can be quickly moved back to that unit. We're not expecting to ever have to do this, but remember the old boy scout motto, "Be prepared."

Busy here, busy there, busy busy everywhere...

While Scott's been busy getting the mine property and equipment ready for the summer's production, there's also been a lot of activity in Terrace.

This spring, I found a place on the Internet that made security camera domes in just about any size and shape you can imagine. While most of the webcams we're using are of the "fixed" variety, we were able to make enclosures to protect them from the elements using various plumbing supplies. However, we've also got a couple of remote-controllable cameras which are a little tougher to build enclosures for, so we ordered a couple of these security domes to try out.

Of course, the domes by themselves aren't much use, so we had to design and build the rest of the enclosure. I'm not much of a builder, but fortunately for me, my father is. So, I drew a "very rough" picture of what I had in mind and off to work he went in his shop...

First, he cut out the base and mount from a piece of plywood. The camera and dome will mount to the bottom of this, and a modified shelf bracket will let us mount this to a 4x4 or other type of post.


We also had to build a covered area above the main mount to house the power supply and a small fan to circulate the air. There are several vent holes in here as well. Since wood doesn't bend very easily without breaking, the circular pieces were cut out of some more plywood with a bandsaw.


The base and circular pieces are put into a little jig my dad built to make it easier to stack, glue, and nail the pieces together to build up the housing. Another circular piece of plywood is screwed onto the top and is removable in case we need access.

Once the whole thing is put together, we painted it green (what other colour is there?). For waterproofing, we found that the plastic base for a large potted plant, attached with several pieces of velcro, is just the thing to use.


We mounted the camera, screwed everything together, and clamped it to the end of a clothesline pole. Pointed towards the south, this camera now gives a great view of Terrace and area from "the bench". With the remote control mechanism, we can also point it to the airport, to Terrace mountain, to the mountains to the north, or even down to the soccer fields below.


The fan we installed is solar powered (the small solar collector is "zap strapped" to the pole below the camera unit), and will spin whenever the sun is out. Since this is the only time we really need any cooling, it was a perfect arrangement!


The last picture is of the enclosure silouetted against the sky. We've got a couple more enclosures to build and a couple more cameras to put into them at the Holloway Bar Placer Mine.

For more stories and details of our adventure, check out hollowaybar.com, our web site!

Spring Work Bee

While we've been having high water problems with the 2007 spring runoff in the Terrace area, Scott's been having a few dramas of his own. This is a picture of last year's high water - but this year, McDame Creek was higher than it's ever been in recent memory.

The water was so high that the bridge was at risk if something large and unexpected was to wash down the creek. (It's hard to call the McDame a creek at high water, though!) Scott talked of many uprooted trees, logs, and other debris boiling down the river, and even spotted some 45 gallon barrels floating downstream.

If some of this debris were to hit the bridge in the wrong place, it could damage the bridge supports, or even worse, wipe the bridge right out. So, Scott fired up the excavator and moved it down to the river, and actually slept there during the highest water just in case he was needed... You can hear some of the sounds of the raging river in last year's audio report.

Fortunately, the runoff has slowed a little bit, which meant that Scott could get back to opening up the mine for the season.

There's a ton of work to be done in the spring. You can't just go in and flip a switch and have everything up and running. The first few days are pretty much cleanup of any mess left by the winter "rodents" and living off the residual power in the battery bank, firing up the generator occasionally to top up the battery reserve. Usually a small electric water pump is hooked up, fed by the river, and turned on only when running water is needed for cleanup or the odd shower. There's no flushing of the toilet - the outdoor "house on the hill" is used almost exclusively all year.

One of the priorities is to get the power turbine online. This means hiking up the waterline trail with a chainsaw to clear some of the deadfall off of the water line. It also means hooking up the water and connecting all of the lines. A small dam is built from sandbags where you see the water flowing here, and "plumbing" is connected to feed the water supply via the headbox, the green box at the bottom of the picture. Some of last year's dam is still evident, but it has to be rebuilt each year. Once the water's hooked up, it begins its journey down the mountain.

If you've been successful and the line has remained intact over the winter (this is checked numerous times before things are brought online), water should flow out one of the several outlets at camp. The turbine discharge below doesn't pass a lot of water, but you can fill a 20 litre pail in about 5 seconds from the main outflow which feeds the pond, and there's well over 100 pounds of pressure created by the 180 meter drop and 800 meter water line run. This is more than enough to spool up the turbine.

We took you on a journey up the waterline in last year's audio report - A Walk up the Waterline.


This is some of the first water coming off the hill in the 2007 mining season. The turbine is online, charging the battery banks, which hopefully means the few hours of early spring use put on the diesel generator this year will be the most usage it gets this season. With the high fuel prices we see now, it's essential to get the alternative energy system on-line and making power as early as possible.

Things are coming along - the satellite Internet and related communications system was one of the first things to come online this year, the wireless network fired up, and a few of the webcams installed.

We've got bigger plans for webcams this year - stay tuned to the webcam page and hollowaybar.com for more exciting developments!

State of Emergency...

Terrace, where I live, declared a state of emergency about 6:30 last evening due to the rising flood waters. The Skeena River has been rising rapidly the last few weeks and days and has been flooding low lying areas in the past several days. Homeowners are starting to be evacuated now and because there's a lot more water to come, many more will likely have to move to higher ground in the coming days. I took a little tour this afternoon and took a few pictures...I don't think this bridge is in danger, but the water is rising rapidly. You can't really see it very well, but the signs and building you can see just above the railing is the Terrace Wal-Mart store. If the water comes up much higher, it will be at risk of flooding...

This is just downstream from the bridge. You have to see the water rushing by, full of trees and other debris, to appreciate it...

Ferry Island is a popular camping and hiking spot in the middle of the river. Much of it is now submerged... The little boy that was standing beside me when I took this picture was concerned that the tadpoles in his favourite pond (which would be about in the middle of these flooded trees) would be in danger. I suspect they're long gone.

TV news crews, both local and from the lower mainland, have descended upon the area today and have likely chartered every helicopter in the area for footage for their 6:00 pm broadcast - this helicopter was circling the flooded areas ahead continuously as I got closer. The road was blocked just ahead...
... by the RCMP. The road drops a few feet past this point and is now flooded. I didn't try to get any closer for pictures - they've got enough problems without sightseers getting in the way.

Some homeowners close to the river are ready to sandbag their homes...
... and others have already done it. The river runs right behind these homes, and with the rage contained in its flowing waters, I'm not sure that the sandbags will be much help if the river overflows the banks.

There will be damage to many homes in low-lying areas - but much of the south side of Terrace is built on a floodplain, so floods do happen occasionally.


These pictures are from some of the devastation caused by the great flood of 1936. There were also large floods in the 1940's and the 1970's. So, I suppose this is a cycle that comes around every 20 or 30 years. However, it's the flood of the century - those that come in a 100 or 200 year cycle - that have most people worried.

Will this be one of those extraordinary floods? With the amount of snow in the hills and heavy rains forecast for upstream areas, it certainly looks like it could be...

Rising waters in the Skeena River...

The British Columbia news is filled with stories of floods all over the province. Some of Terrace's low lying sections along the Skeena River have already been evacuated, sandbagging around homes has been going on for a few days now, and many people are on evacuation alert.

I took a short drive yesterday to take a few pictures of the raging Skeena River - and here's what it looks like by the "old bridge". The water has been higher several times in the past, but there is still a ton of snow in the mountains, it's warm and raining off and on, and the predictions are for the water to keep rising.


Looking in the other direction, towards the "new bridge", you can see the volume of water that's currently flowing down the river. When the water is low, there are huge gravel bars frequented by the fisherman - there's no sign of these at all.

The water has also risen so much downstream that the road to Prince Rupert has been open only sporadically - and the local news station mentioned that some of the truckers were reporting that the water was on the road and lapping at their fuel tanks in places. The highway to the east is also still closed because of last week's major mud slide, so it looks like we're close to being cut off from the outside world, except for the logging road through the Nass Valley.

Sometimes gold miners look at river floods as a time of renewal, as it's this moving water through the "giant river sluicebox" that creates new gold deposits. However, when
this much water flows now, there's bound to be massive property damage and upheaval throughout any low lying areas.

Upgrade for the water pump

The heart of any placer gold mining operation is the water pump. Since by its very nature, a placer mine cannot run without water, it's essential to the gold mining process. The pump we've been using works, but only barely supplies enough water to run the plant.


Two or three times as much water would really be nice to get things "rocking and rolling". As the current pump is powered by a 40 hp 3-cylinder diesel motor, Scott's been on the lookout for an upgraded powerplant.


As you've probably gathered from reading both this weblog and the main hollowaybar.com web site, we often make due with the resources we have available. This usually means we have to be very creative and find "alternate uses" for materials that might be designed for something else. For example, if you look at the "wired" story on the website, you'll see that we made webcam enclosures out of plumbing and sewer supplies.

When Scott looked around for a "new" motor for the pump, the price quickly rose above $10,000 for the appropriate powerplant. Obviously, that's a lot of money, and would take a lot of digging for gold to pay for it. So, Scott went to work looking for alternatives.

So, what did he find? Let's have a look...

Hey, here's a discarded piece of logging equipment... This feller buncher was used in some of logging activity in the southern Yukon some 15 or so years ago, and was running well when it was retired. Now, missing a lot of parts, it doesn't look like much.

But, it has a working motor that's bound to have more than 40 horsepower. So, Scott went to work, first servicing and starting up the motor where it sits, just to make sure it runs well.


After a couple of days of work, the motor was fired up and ran well - so Scott went to work starting to take things apart.

This diesel produces about 200 hp - almost 5 times what we're making now to pump water! We'll be able to run it in its mid-power range, saving fuel and generally taking it easy on things.

The next step is to get it removed and transport it to the mine.



Another day's work and it's sitting in the back of Scott's heavy-duty pickup, ready to head to Holloway Bar.

Now, we'll have to wait for the water to drop a bit so we can get it across McDame Creek to the waterpump, and then get it installed.

Stay tuned!

Springtime in the Cassiar Mountains

It's been a long winter in the North. It's been looking a little more like spring the last week or two, the temperatures are starting to warm up nicely in the day, and the snow's going fast in the open areas. The May long weekend is the weekend that we've opened up the mine the last couple of years, so Scott, after hearing some conflicting reports of the snow remaining in the mountains, decided to take a trip to the mine to see for himself.


After a walk from the road to the main camp, here's what Scott found... The snow is going, but it's definitely at least a couple of weeks behind where things were last year.

Moving into camp requires a couple of things - having the snow pretty much gone is one of them. That just makes things easier. The temporary water system also has to be set up - early in the year, water is pumped out of McDame Creek with an electric water pump. Once the snow's melted up higher, the mountain waterline is hooked up and the turbine fired up - which generates power to charge the batteries and supplies camp water. Before then, the generator has to be run to charge the batteries.

If you're too early, you're just spending a lot of money and effort fighting the elements, rather than saving those scarce resources for the mining season.

So, it'll be a week or two yet before camp is opened up. The snow will melt some more, the sun will have more heat, and life will be good...

Since Scott was in the area anyway, he also decided to take a quick drive into Cassiar. It's still winter there!!! The snow has started to melt, but has a long way to go.

See for yourself... Here's a picture of Needlepoint Mountain from yesterday...
There's gold in them thar hills.... There's also a pile of snow.

Stay tuned for our 2007 adventure, coming soon to a web site near you. In the meantime, you might want to read a story about Robert the Gardener, on hollowaybar.com

Mining is for miners...

I just got back from my little excursion around the Holloway Bar property. It turned into a nice day - mainly overcast, a couple of sprinkles, and a bit of a breeze to keep the bugs at bay. It was a good day to dig a couple of holes...

For someone, that is. I cheated a little and dug a bucket full of material out of one of Scott's test holes. I didn't do so well on that pan - very little black sand and not really any gold that I could see.

So, for a second attempt, I decided to run another pan through, but this time panning out of the "raw ore" that he feeds into his gold plant. This is material that's been dug out of the ground but not yet run through the gold plant.

I did a little better on this stuff - there was some black sand in the pan, and I got a couple of colours as well - so there was a little bit of gold in the pan.

I have to admit that I've been pretty spoiled. I've been coming to this property off and on for the past 8 or 9 years now and the little bit of panning I've done is basically out of the gold plant. It's pretty easy to get the wrong idea about mining as every pan has good gold in it. But, then again, there might have been a couple of hundred yards of raw material put through the plant to get to the stage we're at.

I've been out wandering around for the better part of three hours, and essentially have a couple of small flakes of gold to show for it.

I think next time I'll just break open one of the Holloway Bar panning kit refills and be sure I'll get some gold. If you already have a gold pan and you'd like to try your hand at panning "on the cheap", you might want to check out the panning kit refills in the Holloway Bar Store. You can get about a kg of our special mixture (about 1/3 of the mixture right out of the sluicebox, and the other 2/3 out of the ore pit) for about $40 plus taxes and shipping.

I think that's the way I'll go from now on, and leave the mining to Christina and Scott. That way, at least I'll be sure to get some gold.

Until next time...

Heading for the gold fields...

I've been "on location" at Holloway Bar for almost a week now.


We've had a busy week - we've built a "hat" for the large carved dragon that oversees the pond and the gold property. This dragon was carved (with a chainsaw) from a single cedar tree a few years back, but is happiest uncovered. Unfortunately, this puts it out in the elements. As you can see from the photo, we salvaged an old TV dish from the Good Hope Lake dump a few days ago, built a supporting structure, and painted the whole works green. The dragon will be somewhat protected from the rain, but will still be visible from the highway. You'll have to bring your binoculars for a really clear view, though...

We also took a visit to a local gardener/farmer who grows all of his own vegetables. He also lives pretty much in the wilderness with no power and basically just his own hard work and initiative to survive. Remember, this is the north and the temperatures plunge to below -50C on a fairly regular basis in the winters. Look for a web story on Robert the Gardener coming sometime over the winter.


A trip up the waterline was also on the agenda. The waterline brings water from high in the mountains (about 130 meters about the level we're at now) to camp through almost a km of water line, where it's run through a turbine to charge our battery banks. Scott noticed that the water flow, which is usually rock-steady at 100+ psi where it runs into the turbine, was starting to get a little too variable which is a sign of debris in the head box. So up the mountain we go...

The cleanout was successful, but not uneventful. The bottom of the head box had a layer of silt on it that shot down the waterline once it was stirred up. We had disconnected the main turbine before heading up, but the silt and debris got jammed in another old Berkeley water pump that's still in the line. It took a couple of hours of messing around, complete with the blisters to prove it, to get things cleaned out and flowing smoothly back at camp.

This morning, I'm off on another adventure. Like the miners of old, I'm going to head off with a shovel and a gold pan to see what I can find. However, unlike the miners, I arrived here on the McDame Creek in my VW Jetta, I've been sleeping in a warm bed out of the bugs, and will take the mine truck out on my explorations later this morning.

I'm not sure what I'll find, but this is proven gold ground (BC's biggest nuggest at 73 ounces was found just a couple of km from here). I'll be happy with some colours in the gold pan...

More later. I'll let you know if I find the motherlode...

At the mine again...

I'm posting this update from the Holloway Bar Placer Mine, via our satellite Internet connection...

I arrived here on Thursday night with a carload of supplies and a couple of birdcages. Jill, the baby flycatcher that we're trying to get to adulthood, outgrew the nest she was born in. The nest was originally built by a family of swallows last year - so if you've ever seen a swallow up close, you'll know that they're small birds. Flycatchers aren't much bigger - we think Jill is a "Hammond Flycatcher" so will only be about 4.5" long when she's full grown. She's getting closer to that, but still has a little way to go.

Earlier in the day, Scott had moved the nest into a box and it was on a shelf overlooking the living room. Besides being too small, the light we were using for heat had dried out the mud nest to the point of it starting to crumble. So, we cleaned out the larger of the two cages - a large, wooden cage built a few years ago by my father, Ray, and donated to our cause by my sister, Patti - and transplanted Jill's box and what remained of her nest.



After a short while, she adapted to life in the cage. However, she does like the door to be open so she can sit on the edge and watch what's going on. She's even taken a couple of trips across the room in search of bugs.

As always, you can find a bit more information about Jill's saga on our website, Holloway Bar.

More soon!

Baby Bird Update

The struggle for life and journey the baby flycatcher is about to embark on has been well covered on the website, it seemed to be time for an update here...

Jack, the larger of the two birds, passed away fairly early on in the process after falling from his nest during a storm and getting a chill he never recovered from. However, Jill, the baby we had initially worried about the most as she was quite a bit smaller, has made it a few more days and is growing very quickly. Scott's been documenting everything that's been happening in his daily audio reports, and they've been mainly good news the last couple of days.

Jill's growing so fast that we're a little worried about the size of the nest. She's living in an abandoned swallow's nest (remember, swallows are tiny birds at best), so she's outgrowing it quite quickly and is really wanting out so she can hop around and stretch her wings a little more. Scott's thinking about making sure the greenhouse is sealed up and letting her loose in there a bit (just so she can't get away - not that she shouldn't be free, but she's still a baby and wouldn't survive long).

The biggest problem with the greenhouse idea is that there are a few chipmunks around, and we suspect they might pose a threat to Jill's continued survival. This is a wilderness area and there are multiple layers of predators and prey. We don't want Jill to fall victim and end up in the clutches of a predator...

I'm heading north in a few days and am looking around for a birdcage to take with me - it's not really the ideal solution, but it might buy us a bit of time while Jill continues to grow bigger and stronger. Hopefully she'll be ready to fly soon at the rate she's growing.

The latest audio updates are here:

July 28
July 29
July 30

Keep an eye on the website for more updates...

Saving the baby birds

If you haven't been following what's been happening on www.hollowaybar.com, then this will be news to you...

Christina and Scott have built homes for some of the migratory birds that stop on Holloway Bar to have their babies each summer. This year, a pair of flycatchers took over one of the nests that the swallows had build last summer and had two chicks. However, a few days ago, they heard a lot more chirping from the babies than they had in a while, so went out to check things out.

They discovered that the parents had left, along with (strangely) most of the other small birds that live on Holloway Bar. So, they decided to try to feed and water the little ones with the hopes that either the parents would return soon or the babies would be able to grow into young adults able to migrate in the coming months.

Both of the babies survived the first 3 or 4 nights, but yesterday afternoon, Jack (the larger of the two) fell out of the nest in the late afternoon. By the time Scott was able to return from work (he's been trying to work close by the last day or two so that he could feed them every couple of hours), Jack had been out of the nest for probably about an hour or so. There is a net just below the nest to catch them, but the problem is with the temperature. Jack fell out when a big storm went through - the satellite feed was down for an hour starting about 4:00 pm. Jack was in the nest when the pictures stopped, but was gone when they started up again just before 5:00 pm. Scott put Jack back in the nest about 5:20 or so.

It looked like all would be well - there's a light right below the nest to supply some warmth, and he did take some food and was looking fairly active last night. But, when Scott checked first thing this morning, Jack had died during the night...

Now, Jill's the only one that's left. The smaller of the two birds, Jill was the one we were most worried about as Jack was bigger and stronger. However, nature works in mysterious ways, and his strength and tendency to move around the nest a bit probably worked against him as he fell from the nest.



I managed to save this picture from about 10:00 this morning when Scott was back on Holloway Bar to feed Jill. So far, she's doing fine, but we've all got our fingers crossed. While some of the other birds have returned to the valley (including some of the swallows that Christina and Scott rescued and raised last year), there's no sign of the parents.

You can get a better idea of what's been happening by listening to Scott's audio reports and checking out some of the pictures by going to these links on our website.

Audio Update: July 23, 2006

Audio Update: July 27, 2006

We hope to have another update posted sometime tomorrow. You can watch in "almost" real time by checking out our webcam page.

Back home again...

After a successful trip North to Holloway Bar (with a side-trip into Watson Lake), I'm home again for a while...

The few days spent at the mine were productive - although most of the work we did was technology related. We did manage to get a lot done, though - and that's already paid off for us.

After installing the basic wireless network and webcam system in May, we had a few growing pains that had to be dealt with to make life a little easier.

The first thing was to do a bit of work on the network. When I initially set it up, I was using a subnet of 192.168.1.x - which I chose just for consistency with how I have things set up on my home network. However, we soon discovered a problem with this setup when our BridgeCam went down due to a power issue with the battery pack/solar panel system. The camera actually reset itself to its factory default settings - which meant that it could no longer see our network or upload any images to www.hollowaybar.com.

The webcam, when reset to factory defaults, sets itself to an IP address of 192.168.0.20 - so I decided to change the network to use the same address range (192.168.0.x). This would allow us to take a "default" camera, plug it directly into our router, have Scott change one or two things in the setup, and then make it accessible to me, via the Internet, for reprogramming.

This has already paid off. The BridgeCam lost its settings again last week - and I had Scott bring it back to camp, plug it into the system, and I was able to completely reprogram it and bring it back to live - from 700 km away.

I've only got one or two more small network issues to resolve on the next trip North - which shouldn't take long to deal with. One concerns getting a signal to the camp trailer I usually stay in. The signal gets there fine (it's probably about 100 meters away from the main antenna), but it can't get through the metal trailer walls. So, I've picked up a D-Link range extender with an external antenna that I can hang out the window on the antenna-side of the trailer.

In any case, it's been very interesting setting up and managing a remote network - and actually amazing that it all works the way I expected it to - in some cases, actually better than I thought. We also spent a bit of time fine-tuning Christina and Scott's computer - such as setting up and configuring an 160 gig external USB drive for backups, tweaking a few software programs, and showing Scott a few tricks to make his computing life a bit easier.

Once the network changes were made, Scott and I went on an expedition up to Cassiar (which you can read about here.



This is a picture of me in front of the old Cassiar tailings pile. A lot of jade and serpentine rocks were "thrown out" with the tailings when extracting and refining the asbestos from the mountain top.

We also visited a neighbouring gold miner on Snow Creek, which is accessed from part-way up the Cassiar road. We haven't posted that story on the website yet, but it'll turn up sooner or later - so keep watching www.hollowaybar.com!

Now that the technology infrastructure is pretty much in place, we can concentrate on other things now. I'm planning another trip in a few weeks, but will try to spend a bit more time on the placer lease this time. We've got a laundry list of things to do - including some gold mining (although Scott's already run a bunch of material through the plant), gathering some video footage to work with over the coming months, and pursuing some more adventures in the beautiful Cassiar mountains.


So, until next time, keep an eye on the webcams on the
Webcam page - you never know what you might see there...

Technology Update...

Isn't technology great? This is my first weblog update done from the Holloway Bar Placer Mine. In the past, I've travelled the 700 km to the mine, gathered my information, and headed back to Terrace to actually upload the images and stories. But, the key to connectivity in the wilderness is below. The satellite dish on the left is the StarChoice TV dish, which has been in place for a couple of years.



But, the real gem is in the smaller dish on the right - our XploreNet satellite Internet feed. We had this installed a few weeks back and it's changed life on Holloway Bar allowing us to connect to the world.

For example, this morning I was able to sit outside with my laptop, plug in a microphone and headset, and call my Dad using SkypeOut (which has free phone calls anywhere in North America until the end of this year) and have a nice chat over coffee. We're able to update the website, the weblog, check our email for sales orders from our online store, and just generally keep in touch.



However, one of the things we're most excited about is the webcam system that we've just brought online. You can see myself (on the left) and Scott (on the right) in this photo from this weekend just preparing Camera 2 - the BridgeCam - for installation.

You can see more of our webcam on the www.hollowaybar.com Webcam Page and keep an eye on what we're doing here at the mine...

Enjoy!

1st Trip of the Season

It's been a busy spring for us at hollowaybar.com - the website is coming along nicely, the message forums are a work in process, and the online store is ready and waiting for some action!

We've also made some plans for technology at the mine. The last post gave you a bit of a sneak preview of the camera enclosures that I've been building since finishing my teaching assignment for the semester, and when the May long weekend came about, it was time to head north to start installing the infrastructure needed to get these webcams online.

If you've played around with networks at all, it's not a real complicated setup...



We're using an off-the-shelf D-Link 802.11g wireless router and three self-contained wireless webcams from TrendNet (since Dell's had these on sale this spring!).

See my previous post for pictures of the webcam enclosures I've built for these.

However, from an operational standpoint, there were two main issues to resolve. The first problem was with the distances involved. Wireless networks (with the stubby antennas) typically have a range of a couple of hundred meters, at best. That would be OK for our "GameCam", which is right behind camp, but the other two cameras are a different story. To solve the distance problem, we replaced the small antenna at the base station (wireless router) with a large, external outdoor antenna (D-Link ANT 24-800 for those interested in the specifications) and used small directional antennas on the MineCam and at the BridgeCam - the latter being some 400+ meters from camp.

You'll be happy to know that once we installed the router, antennas, and webcams, we were able to get all three up and running and sending signals back to camp on the first try - so the planning paid off!

The second problem was with power. The GameCam was easy since it was within extension-cord distance from camp, so we just mounted it and plugged it in. This was the first camera we installed and brought online.



But, we had to come up with another solution for the other two cameras, since there's no power where these will be mounted. But, the solution to this was right in front of us as well. Scott's been using alternative energy to power the mine for some time now, and for the last several years, has been generating power with a water-powered turbine to charge a large battery bank.

Here's a picture of the BridgeCam in place.



But, before the turbine was online, a different, lower-capacity system was in place. In order to power the radios and a few lights in the evening, Christina and Scott had purchased several solar panels to charge batteries and run a small power inverter. The solar panels were still at the mine and serviceable. As it happens, Canadian Tire has had their powerboxes on sale this spring, so we picked up a couple of their 600 amp/400 watt units. Testing showed these will run a webcam for about 36 hours on a full charge. These units were also compatible with a solar-panel input for charging, so it appeared we were in business!

I also picked up a couple of plastic bins to keep the battery packs dry and out of the elements. So now, each camera was a self-contained unit containing the webcam itself in a weatherproof enclosure, a directional antenna to beam the signal back to camp, a battery pack with a built-in inverter, and a solar panel to keep the batteries topped up. We built mounts for these with materials Scott had laying around camp, and then loaded them up in the truck on an installation mission.

However, when we first installed the "MineCam" (which was on the second day at the mine - most of the first day was spent hooking up the camp water, network antennas, and building a mount for the future installation of the satellite Internet connection), we found that the battery packs weren't taking a charge from the solar panels. But, there was a solution to this as well. When I had read the manual for the battery pack, it described hooking up Canadian Tire's small "unregulated" solar panels into the charging connection on the back of the unit - so I built connectors to hook these up in the same place.

Here's what the MineCam looks like.



Scott's solar panels have regulation circuitry built in, though, so this wasn't really the connection we needed to use. Instead, we had to use the 12 volt connection on the front of the unit which is used to charge these from a vehicle (which already contains a voltage regulator, like our solar panels). So, once Scott changed the connections (I thought we might need to modify things a bit so brought lots of parts!), the panels started to charge the batteries and we were in business.

We also got the mount for the dish organized, and had an installer come down from Watson Lake to finalize the satellite Internet installation. However, we were unable to complete the installation on this trip due to some equipment problems (we were unable to get the satellite finder working properly - so were unable to tune the system in to a sufficient signal strength).

So, that's where we stand at the moment. The camp network is in and operational, the webcams are streaming video back to camp, and everything seems to be working as planned. The satellite system is still in the works, and we're expecting that to be installed in the next week or so. The, we'll tell the cameras to FTP images up to our webcam page every couple of minutes - and you'll all be able to share in our adventure on a little more "personal" basis - and make a virtual visit to the Holloway Bar Placer Mine.

If you want to read some more detail about the construction of the webcam enclosures, be sure to visit www.hollowaybar.com and read the latest installment in the Pictures and Stories section called Wired: Bringing Technology to the Mine.

See you online! Or, maybe once the satellite connection goes live, you'll see us online...

I'm getting excited...

Spring is almost here - within a couple of weeks, the snow should have melted enough so that we can head to the mine and start setting up the infrastructure that we need to bring this venture into the 21st century.

So, how will we do that, you might ask? Well, the gold mining part will pretty much follow the tried and tested ways - where we do lots of digging for a little bit of gold. But, we're excited that we'll be able to bring this to you on an almost-live basis.


Here's a couple of pictures of some of the things that we'll be trying to put into place over the next few weeks...

This is a head-on view of one of the three webcams we'll be putting in at the mine in a few weeks. You can see the camera hanging inside the enclosure that I've built for this.


Here's a couple more from the side so you can get a better idea of what these things look like...





As you can see, the dragon's painted on the side and they're sealed up and waterproofed and pretty much ready to go.





This picture shows another contraption hanging off the back of the housing - this is a little enclosure we've built to house the directional antenna that we'll be using to beam images first over the wireless network that is being installed at the mine, and then up to the Internet using a satellite-based internet system.



I've had an intense interest in technology ever since discovering personal computers some 20 years ago, so you can see why we're getting excited about this summer!

We're planning on having three three cameras running at this point - the MineCam, which will be pointed at the mining operations (and will sometimes be focused on the highway or other areas of interest); the MooseCam, which will be in behind camp where Victoria the Moose has been making her home; and the BridgeCam, which will be located upstream from the Holloway Bar bridge, and should provide some interesting shots of the mine.

I hope you can come along with us on our journey! We're planning on having an adventure this summer on Holloway Bar... Make sure you join us on www.hollowaybar.com!

The Holloway Bar Store is now open!

It's been a long time coming, but gold iss up to almost $660 US an ounce this morning and the snow is starting to melt, so we've finally taken the plunge and opened up the online store!

We've got a variety of products that will allow you to share in the excitement and adventure of placer gold mining! If you're looking for a gift, you might want to check out our Vials of Gold or Nugget Gift Boxes. Those who prefer more of a "hands on" approach might want to try one of our Official Holloway Bar Gold Panning Kits, complete with McDame Creek paydirt and a DVD showing you how to pan for gold. The DVD is also available by itself. We've also got a selection of hats and T-Shirts with our distinctive dragon logo.

We've worked hard to make sure that our store is safe and secure for you to use. Our shopping cart and checkout processes are hosted on secure servers that use the latest Internet encryption technology, and none of your credit card information is stored online! Our online cart is securely hosted by Mal's eCommerce and our payment processing is handled entirely by InternetSecure, a world-class eCommerce payment provider.

Enjoy your visit to our store and watch for more adventures coming soon (once the snow melts!!!).

Springtime at the mine...

After reading some of the message forums that some of the more southerly gold prospectors and miners frequent, I see that the southern snows have melted, the water is flowing, and people are starting to head out into the back country in search of placer treasures!

So, why is no prospecting happening at Holloway Bar so far this spring?

Well, the answer's easy. Holloway Bar Placer Mine is somewhere just barely south of the 60th parallel and winter hasn't released it's grip just yet. This photo is a couple of weeks old now, but you can clearly see that we're a little way from mining at this point of the year.

Actually, the move to camp usually happens sometime in May depending on the season - although I suspect Scott's mentally willing the snow to melt, and I wouldn't be surprised to get a message saying that he's shovelled all of the snow into the river and has moved to camp!

More updates as the snow melts...

Spring Update...

As usual, lots of things are happening in the background at Holloway Bar. We've been trying to design the wireless network that will go in at the mine in the next couple of months (when the snow melts and the days get a little longer). I've got a couple of wireless web-cams that will be installed at the mine to allow us to publish frequent picture updates of what we're doing...

Initially, we'll probably just set these up to upload a static picture to the web site every few minutes, but eventually, we'd like to get into some kind of streaming. But first, we need connectivity. I suppose we could run a long wire from the nearest high-speed Internet source, but I think we'd get a little too much line loss after the first 100 km or so ... Actually, we'll be arranging for satellite Internet, probably sometime in May - that will allow us to be a little more "interactive" when we're at the mine.

The store is almost open - Christina and Scott are busy with a last-minute residence change, so once that's done and the phone/Internet connections are moved and stable, the open sign will be going up.

I've also been working on some of the "paperwork" that goes along with a project like this and has just finished with the financial records for the first fiscal year. Now to get started on this year's record keeping...

We're getting excited about the summer and getting started on all of the little projects and adventures we've planned. We're lining up people to interview for some new web site stories and may explore "podcasts" along with some of the stories/pictures that we've been doing so far.

We're also going to try to more frequently update the weblog just to keep you "in the loop". Hopefully once we get "wired" at Holloway Bar, we can let you in on some more of our daily activities (last year I was posting "after the fact" when I got home from the mine and back to my Internet connection).

Anyway, it should be an interesting year. Make sure you keep an eye on our website at www.hollowaybar.com

See you online again soon!

Is it spring yet?

I apologize for the lack of updates over the past couple of months - but I've been busy working on other parts of the hollowaybar.com adventure...

I thought I'd start the year by giving a quick update as to what we've been up to and what's planned for the coming season. So, here goes:

- I've been working on getting the online store up and running. I had expected this would be operational by now, but ran into a couple of technical difficulties that I'm still trying to get resolved. But, if these problems can't be resolved (and I'm unsure at the moment about this), I do have a backup plan...

- Scott's been busy taking pictures when he gets the chance (but as he's been working nights out on the highway, some of them are a little "dark" ) But hopefully we'll be able to start getting some more current photos and content here and on www.hollowaybar.com

- I finished production on "The Official Holloway Bar Gold Panning Kit Video" at the beginning of December and have started to burn some DVDs. The video is part of the Gold Panning Kit that we're selling, and will also be available as a separate purchase. Some parts of it might end up online - but that's another project to be completed.

- Christina's been busy thinking about some "northern lifestyles" stories that we can put online in the coming months. Keep an eye on www.hollowaybar.com for new content...

- We've just acquired a "helmet camera" that plugs into our standard video camera. This will give us the opportunity for some very unique video footage. So far, we're planning on making some videos that include "WizardCam" shots - where the camera gets mounted on the gold plant while it's running; a "RiCam" - where we try to turn Ri, the Official Holloway Bar Guard Dog into a camera dog; and any other crazy shots we can come up with.

- I've been working on integrating some more features into the website. As one of the things we're trying to do is create a community, I've been experimenting with an online forum (message area) where people interested in our adventure can post their ideas and suggestions, or just talk among themselves.

Most of this stuff has been going on in the background, so it only "looks" like nothing much is happening. Hopefully it'll start to become a little more visible in the coming weeks and months.

In the meantime, I'm getting restless waiting for the snow to melt (another how many months?) so I can head north to do some digging and go on some more adventures. I hope you're able to come along for the ride...

Al

Footprints in the Valley

As you probably know, Holloway Bar is located in the far northern reaches of Northern British Columbia. While most of us are still clearing the colourful fall leaves from our lawns, the McDame Creek valley is now covered in a blanket of snow. It started a few weeks ago, and just keeps coming and coming and it'll keep coming until sometime next spring.

The Cassiar mountains have been long known for their changeable weather conditions. When I was a kid growing up in Watson Lake, Yukon, some 100 km directly north, it wasn't unusual to hear of a late spring snowstorm in June or July, or an early winter snow fall in August in these mountains. The valley bottoms are all a thousand meters above sea level, and the mountains rise another thousand meters into the sky. Sure, the snow melts in the summer and the mountain tops are bare, but anything can happen here. In the fall, the high mountain lakes are starting to freeze by the end of September, and all of the “bush people” that don't plan on staying the winter are usually out by the middle of October. After that, it might just be too late to get back to town without spending a lot of money (a helicopter ride, anyone?)...

Scott's winter job, when the snows come and the water freezes, is keeping highway 37 free of snow. It's a demanding job, requiring long hours out on the highway in sometimes crazy weather conditions like blizzards and the like. Right now, Scott's working the night shift, plowing snow and keeping an eye on things in the middle of the night. There's not much traffic at night, so you're pretty much on your own if anything was to happen. But, the North is like that – unforgiving, but at the same time, splendid in its beauty.

Sometimes there are even some surprises. While the snow is relentless once it starts in the fall, it does have a couple of advantages. Northerners sometimes see the snow as the beginning of a period of renewal. Everything from last year is covered up. No more mud, no dust, not even the odd piece of trash lying in the ditch (yes, some people still feel the need to leave their garbage on the roadside, even in an area with great natural beauty!). The snow covers the land with a thin (soon to be thick) white veil, smoothing out all of the rough spots.

But, it's also like an early warning system. Scott, on a recent drive by Holloway Bar (as the mine's on his snow plowing route, he's able to keep a pretty close watch on the property), spotted some footprints heading down the hill, across the bridge, and onto the property. These weren't from a bear or moose, but from a person. This meant it was time to tie up the winter boots (there's not quite enough snow yet to require snowshoes – but that time will come soon enough), grab a warm coat, coax the Holloway Bar guard dog into the truck, and head to the mine for a walkabout.

The tracks appeared to just be from someone with a bit of curiousity – they led down to the gold plant, circled the plant a couple of times, and then headed back up the hill. I guess someone was just having a look around. However, that can be a dangerous thing sometimes – wandering around a gold claim without the owner's permission in the back woods is probably not the smartest thing to do. But, at least there were no tracks leading into camp, so that was undisturbed...

In any case, Scott and Ri, the 50 kg german shepherd, decided to head into camp, a couple of hundred meters past the gold plant, just for a look around. Camp looked good with the layer of snow covering everything. It was silent, except for the muffled sound of the water still flowing down McDame Creek on its way to the northern ocean.

Anyone who's been in the north in the wintertime knows what snow does to the sound of things. It's like a big muffler – sucking in and absorbing sound. There's no silence that that you hear in the middle of a snow storm when the snow's falling straight down onto an already existing snow pack. The sound has nothing to bounce off of, so it just stops. It's an eerie feeling sometimes...

The valley had this silence to it. But, there was to be a little surprise. In the midst of all of this cold and snow that had been collecting for a few weeks now, Scott and Ri decided to check out the greenhouse, which was abandoned for the season. Upon opening the frame door covered in plastic, Scott was hit with a blast of warm air on his face. They quickly entered the greenhouse and pulled the door shut. Looking around in amazement, Scott saw that there were still some flowers blooming in the greenhouse. It almost seemed surreal – pretty blue flowers in the middle of a snow-covered valley. I guess the greenhouse managed to gather enough heat during the short days to keep the frost away during the long nights. Considering that the nightly darkness probably lasts for 16 hours now, that's a little unexpected.

Maybe the Holloway Bar ghost is watching over things and tending the greenhouse, and just didn't want the summer growth to go away just yet. But, it will probably be short lived – and soon the power of the summer will subside and the last few flowers succumb to the cold. Nothing can stand up to the power of the northern winter...

Still, it was nice to see some colour in the valley – even if it's only temporary.

Winter's almost here at the mine...

October 2, 2005 - Sunday night.

I was just talking with Scott and he's just shut camp down for the year. It was none too soon - the snows came this morning. Scott awoke to see some 5 inches of fresh snow on the ground! It may or may not stay - anything's possible in the mountains - but it's a reminder that this is a short season and it's time to get out and back to civilization...



Scott spent most of the weekend (before the snows!) shutting things down and hauling things back to his temporary winter residence. The only thing left to do on Sunday was to make a last climb up the waterline to disconnect the water flow. The turbine and power system was already off-line, but the catch-box at the top of the hill needed to be shut down and the water drained from the lines.

Frozen water lines are not a good thing - they tend to crack and break when the water expands and turns into ice. That could get expensive - when you have almost a kilometer of waterline ranging from 3" to 1.5" running up the mountain.

It's a few days work to shut down camp. Other than the water, things need to be cleaned up and any food taken out. Winter diesel needs to be put into the equipment (just in case the hoe needs to be fired up in the spring - it's easier to plan ahead a little), and things just generally tucked away for the season. With the snows here now, shutdown came none too soon.

But, it was a good season. Our projects are well underway (be sure to check out our "in progress" website at http://www.hollowaybar.com and have a look around), we've been gathering materials for the gold panning kits, clothing, and gift items that will be available online soon, and another summer has come and gone.

But, our adventure is still continuing. We've got some more pictures to put online at hollowaybar.com, and I hope to get another couple of short videos up in the coming weeks/months. Keep an eye on our websites - we hope you'll enjoy learning a little about the north and its people.

September Update...

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. But, here's what I've been up to in the last couple of months:

- I've been working on an instructional video that (hopefully) will demonstrate a technique for gold panning. This video will end up in the gold panning kits that we'll be selling through our Internet site, and is based (at least partially) on the video footage I shot during "my week at the gold mine". Most of the work I have to complete concerns the audio portion, and I figure I'll need at least a couple of full days to get through my final edits. This is a little complicated by the major video editing software update that just arrived a couple of days ago...

- I'm now back to work in my full-time job as a college instructor. The students arrived the day after Labour Day, so I've been hitting the books pretty hard the last few weeks - time has been in short supply lately!

- I've also been doing a lot of the background work for our company web site. You will hopefully see this come online in the next week or so (or at least part of it - much of it will become live as it is developed this fall). Watch for changes to http://www.hollowaybar.com. The site currently still shows up as a "business card" site, but the DNS changes should ripple through the Internet in the next week or so and you'll be able to look at what we've been up to.

- Scott's acquired a new camera - an 8 megapixel Canon Rebel XT - so the multimedia page on our web site should soon be updated with some content. The McDame Creek valley and the surrounding Cassiar Mountains are one of the most beautiful areas in the North, so hopefully our photos will do it justice. In the coming weeks, I'll be posting some of the lower resolution pictures we already have in our archive on the hollowaybar.com web site.

- I spent a couple of weeks in late July working with the new "Mineral Titles Online" system to "stake some claims" - I'll save the story for sometime over the winter - but the short version is that we've managed to expand our placer gold property holdings by about 50% (although it's not all usable). There's the makings of a video from the walkabout of the new area from my last trip north.

- I made a "quick trip" to the mine in late July/early August; Scott and I spent a weekend enjoying the country and working on a few shots for the video.

- Christina and Scott spent most of August making concentrate for our gold panning kits - which you should see for sale in the next month or two (once we get a few of the "technical" details, like the web site, worked out). We're really excited about the adventure we're just embarking on, and we want to take you along with us! Keep an eye on http://www.hollowaybar.com for updates!

- We're talking about putting a remote-controlled web camera in at the mine. We're hoping this might happen for next season, but here's what we're mainly up against. There's no telephone, power, or Internet at the mine. So, we're exploring the feasibility of using a two-way satellite Internet link to send the video signals and receive instructions for controlling the camera. If you want to see a similar camera in action, check out http://www.racerocks.com and go to camera five - a Sony SNC-RZ30N. Use the Java applet viewer to control this camera.

Once we get a similar camera, you'll be able to check out what we're up to and watch some of the mining (within reason, of course ), and also check out some of the wildlife around camp - which has included moose and bear wandering through camp this summer. You'll also be able to check out the highway just above camp. So, we're excited about that - and we're aiming to make it happen next summer on a seasonal basis.

I was fortunate enough to be able to actually visit Race Rocks in late August and check out the facilities and technology. Gary Fletcher from Pearson College (the operator of both the Race Rocks lighthouse and the racerocks.com site) was kind enough to spend some time with me and help me understand some of the finer details about both the Race Rocks camera network and their upcoming Tidal Power Generating project, which is, interestingly enough, similar to the hydroelectric turbine Scott's running at Holloway Bar.

So, these are just a few of the things "coming down the pipe" from Holloway Bar Productions and the Holloway Bar Placer Mine. We're really excited about the future of this project, and hopefully you'll be able to come along with us as we learn about some whole new areas!

Al

My Week at the Gold Mine - Days 5, 6 & 7

I'm back! I actually had a cable modem installed a week ago, but headed north to the gold mine right after getting back up and running. I just arrived home Thursday night (August 4) and will now try to pick up where I left off...

Upon continuing my ongoing saga, I decided to join three days together - Tuesday, June 28; Wednesday, June 29; and Thursday, June 30. These were the days that I spent on my own on the Holloway Bar gold property while Christina and Scott were away.

Anyone who knows me realizes that I'm a little uncomfortable out in the wilderness. Even though Holloway Bar is just across McDame Creek from Highway 37, if you left camp and headed east, you'd probably walk at least 150 km before you came across anything that would resemble a "real road". This means that there would be a lot of bears and other big, hairy critters wandering around the woods.

Big deal, you might say. However, I've had an intense dislike (more an "uncomfortableness" level - if I'm allowed to invent new words to describe this) of bears ever since I can recall. So, I'm happiest away from the woods and with other people around to "distract" these critters if they were to get any ideas about having me for lunch. You might think this is a little drastic, but knowing at least two people personally who have been mauled by grizzly bears does make you think a bit.

Anyway, I was faced with three days, on my own, with nothing but Mina, the blind dog, for company. I decided that, since I had the time, I'd plan out a segment of a video I'm working on for inclusion in "The Official Holloway Bar Gold Panning Kit" - which we hope to be selling online this fall.

I spent most of Tuesday, the first day, planning out what I was going to do the next couple of days. So, I fired up the laptop and created a script, of sorts, and a sequence of a dozen or so scenes that I wanted to video. I was working on the introductory segment of the video, so decided to concentrate on two things - where I was and why this place was important, and how this fit into the "quest for gold".

If you've done any research into gold mining in the Cassiar area, particularly on McDame Creek and its tributaries, you'd know that BC's biggest nugget came from here in 1877. It was a big one - 72 ounces - and came from Centreville. Centreville is just a couple of kilometers downstream from Holloway Bar, so that big nugget probably washed through here on the way to its final destination. So, I thought a good place for a short segment would be right at the "Cassiar Gold Rush" sign at Centreville. I also planned to shoot some video at the top of the hill by the "Holloway Bar" sign, and then work down onto the property. I also planned to spend some time at the gold plant, in the gold pit where Scott's currently mining, down by the creek (which was looking more like a river with the amount of water running through it!), and finally in some of the old hand-dug water canals left by the Chinese miners of 130 years ago!

So, with my plan in hand, I headed out after breakfast on Wednesday morning to collect the video I needed to further my project. It took a few hours to actually shoot the video, with several shots and angles for some segments. When you're both the cameraman and narrator, it's a bit of a challenge to get good shots and have everything work well - and I haven't really mastered this yet, but it's coming...

Wednesday afternoon was spent mainly capturing the video segments to my laptop for editing.

I expected Christina and Scott back Thursday evening, so wanted to be done the basic editing by then so that it didn't appear I was just sleeping the entire time they were away, so this took up most of Thursday. By the time they got back, I had edited the footage I had shot, along with some other footage I'd taken on a previous trip - to create most of the video I needed.

The funny thing is, I was so busy with the video, I didn't really have time to think about being all alone in the McDame Valley. Sure, Mina got my attention a couple of times with her "moose woof" - meaning that Mama Moose and her kids were probably within a couple of hundred meters (at least within "smelling range" - which can be quite a distance for a blind dog), but I didn't see them. There were tracks around, so they'd been through camp, but I guess our paths just didn't cross.

So, I did survive, and also managed to get quite a bit of work done on the video. The only thing left now was to video tape an ending - but that was something I wanted to do with Christina and Scott. I had this all planned out as well, and intended that we try to shoot this on Friday morning.

It hit mid-afternoon, and I figured I'd surprise Christina and Scott in a couple of ways - they didn't know about the video project - so that would be surprise #1 - and I also cooked up a big pot of spaghetti and meatballs for dinner - so that Christina wouldn't have to cook after travelling 300+ miles that day...

They did get back, and they were surprised! We had a blast watching the video (which ended up being about 25 minutes in length) - it's always fun to watch ourselves on TV! I told them about my plan to shoot an ending the next morning, so we were all up for that. I also was introduced to the newest addition to the family - Kay - the new german shepherd. She arrived like the tasmanian devil - full of energy and not taking any crap from anyone - which was a bit of a surprise to Rye, the 50+ kilo shepherd that currently lives on Holloway Bar with Christina, Scott and Mina. Rye got straightened out right away, the first time their eyes met... But, that's a story for another day.

Posting will be sparse...

I've been having problems with my ADSL connection the past while... In the past couple of weeks, I've gone from intermittent outages (which I could usually fix by resetting my modem) - followed by the first visit from the Telus technician - to more serious, total outages lasting several hours at a time - followed by a second visit from Telus.

Unfortunately, this second visit worsened my situation - and now I've been without high-speed Internet since Tuesday. Telus is in "hit and run mode" at the moment - unfortunately, they changed some setting at their office during the last visit, but never followed up with me to see if it worked. When I called their repair service again Wednesday morning, they told me that from their perspective, the Tuesday disaster they call technical support was successful and that now I had a new problem, which would require a new visit, but they couldn't come for three weeks.

So, after many years as a Telus customer (phone, long distance, cell, and ADSL) I told them to push off and have the cable modem people coming, but not for a week.

So, I'm on dial up - slow, frustrating, and otherwise inefficient - so I don't think you'll see many posts here for the next week or so.

Sorry about that...

The Dragons of Holloway Bar

I think I've figured out a way to post video into this weblog - so here's the first one. It's covered by a "Creative Commons" licence - which means you're free to show it to and share it with others, but you can't use it or any derivitives of it in your own work nor can you use it for commercial purposes.

Here's the link to the file on the Internet archives:

The Dragons of Holloway Bar

This video is approximate 6.3 megs - and requires Windows Media Player to view. Please be patient - the video must completely download first before it starts to play! Of course, if you don't have a high-speed connection, you may not want to click on this...

The generator is there mainly for backup purposes. It runs a little bit in the spring before the waterline (and turbine) are brought online, but it will top up the batteries in a few hours, giving you a couple of days of power. When you figure that it used to cost around $50 a day to make power with the generator, the turbine/battery system really starts to make a lot of sense, even though it requires a significant up-front investment to build the infrastructure.

This is the outflow from the turbine. Not much water actually comes out of here, but what does come out is clean - you can drink it! When you look up into the mountains in the spring and see the snow-covered peaks, you see the snow in a new light - it's now fuel for the turbine, and it refills its tanks every winter! Renewal energy is the way to go.

This is the "brain" of the system. About 1000 kg of batteries live behind this (in a small "wing" off the power shack), and this routes the incoming power to the batteries through the charging circuitry as well as converts the 24 volts from the batteries to 120 volts for camp power. The batteries will run camp for a couple of days with no charge going into them; but of course, the turbine constantly keeps the batteries charged.

This is the new turbine (well, new a couple of years ago). The water pressure is about 120 to 150 psi here, and this turbine constantly puts about 16 - 18 volts into a 24 volt battery bank. When it spins up, it sounds like a jet engine starting up...

This is the "old" Berkeley waterpump that Scott first hooked up the water line. Running backwards, it spins the wheel in the center of the picture, which in turn spins a small alternator with a belt drive. This charged a couple of 12 volt batteries and produced enough power for a couple of lights and the satellite TV system. But, it wasn't sufficient to power camp, so an upgrade was in the works.

Windfall (trees blowing over in the wind) is a constant maintenance item - and requires regular attention and clearing out with a chainsaw. Scott found a couple of places where the wind had blown the trees over on this trip, which isn't an unusual occurrence.

... and then into a 1.5" line nearer to the bottom. The pressure's well over 100 psi at this point, so a broken line creates a bit of havok.

The 3" line feeds into a 2" line part way down the mountain...

This is part of the 3" insulated plastic waterline near the top. The pressure isn't as great near the top as it is at the bottom of the line...

Early summer brings lots of melt water to the area - the head box, where the water is collected before its journey down to camp, is overflowing at the moment. This will change later in the summer as the water levels drop significantly.

Here's Scott, in full anti-bug mode, at the top feed for the waterline. You can see the green head box just to his left.

My Week at the Gold Mine - Day 4

Monday, June 27

Tonight, Christina and Scott are heading to town for a Whitehorse trip to take care of some "big city necessities" for a couple of days.

I've mentioned before that this area is pretty isolated. The nearest dentist, for example, is in Whitehorse, which is about a 6 - 7 hour drive from the gold mine. There is a hospital and doctor in Watson Lake (and Dease Lake), both about an hour and a half away - but only the basics and emergency services are available there. Anything that involves any kind of specialist requires a trip to a larger center. Terrace, where I live, is an 8 hour drive south on highway 37.

So, today is "maintenance day" at the mine. There are a few odds and ends to take care of (which Christina, Scott and myself will tackle throughout the day), but the major item is a trip up the waterline to change the screens and generally check things out. This trip is made at least once a week, but sometimes conditions necessitate an extra trip or two depending on the situation (usually weather related).

Because of the bugs liking my southern blood so much (my home in Terrace, still "officially" located in Northern BC, is south compared to here!), I decided to stay at camp while Christina and Scott headed up the hill to check things out. I will send my video camera up the hill, though, so that Scott can take a few videos of the system, starting at the water source.

Scott spooled down the turbine which produces the camp power in preparation for the trip up the trail, but he fortunately left power on to my place so that I could work on a few projects on my laptop while they were out of camp. This is possible through the use of a one-ton battery bank which holds a couple of days' worth of power for camp.

So, off they went. It's almost a kilometer to the top of the trail, and it rises a couple of hundred meters above camp, so it's a bit of a hike. But, all the trips up Fox Mountain have created a nice trail up the hill. The moose and other game now use the trail on their trips through the valley, including the cow moose with the two calves that we've seen around camp lately. Scott's also seen an old grizzly bear on various trips up the mountain behind camp, so this bear's on patrol keeping the varmints out of this valley (black bears, etc.). With any luck, I won't have any encounters with this big guy as I have a pretty pronounced "bear phobia" - and have had ever since I was a kid.

I guess they were gone about an hour or a little more, and reported that everything looked fine up above, except for a couple of trees down over the trail that will have to be cleared up. Regular visits up the mountain with a chainsaw are required to keep the deadfall cleared out.

Scott then spent a bit of time with me checking me out on the "camp operation" so that I could take care of things while they were gone. The camp, once it's fully "fired up", does pretty much run itself, although it is nice to have someone around in case a water line blows resulting in a stalled turbine. So, that would be my job for the next couple of days. I got checked out on how to stop and start the turbine, which charges the battery bank, as well as a few other things to keep an eye on. We also turned on the water to my place, as it hadn't been running yet this year. We did discover that some "winter critter" - probably a squirrel or marten or something - had chewed the rubber off one of the hoses - but the braided belting in the hose was intact and there were no leaks.

So, I was all set to be the "keeper of the mine" for a couple of days. Christina cooked us all some dinner before they headed off to town in the early evening.

So, here I am. All alone in the McDame Valley. Me and Mina, the blind dog. And maybe a few ghosts of the hundreds of gold miners who have worked their way through the country. A few unlucky ones are probably still here, buried back up in the hills somewhere...

What glistens here is gold... It's not hard to see why some lose touch with reality when pursuing this shiny, yellow metal. There's a couple of nice little nuggets in this pan that would make a good start on a necklace.

Scott's feeding the gold plant with the hoe. That's me you can see standing off to the left...

My Week at the Gold Mine - Day 3

Sunday, June 26

Later on this morning, we'll be firing up the gold plant to process some gravel into gold. A couple of neighbours (Gene and Mickey from a few miles north-east) will be stopping by later for a visit - their first trip out to the mine. They have a hay field and winter horses at their property near Boya Lake, and have been in this country for years.

Scott will have to start and move the hoe so we can feed the gold plant. As I'm always on the lookout for new, interesting video shots, we decided to mount the camera in the cab of the hoe with a wide-angle lense on it to "capture all of the action" and give a little different perspective on feeding the raw material into the top of the plant.

Once all of the equipment was fired up and the hoe moved, we set about to doing a little mining and panning once our visitors arrived. It was good to see Gene and Mickey again - and for me, it's probably been 20 years or more since I moved from this area in 1984.

It was a good day for us - we ran some material through the plant to make sure the carpets in the gold plant were covered up by some gravel (the direct sunlight doesn't do them much good), and then we did a little panning and got some nice gold.

Seeing the gold in the pan really makes all the hard work worthwhile. But, there is a lot involved in getting the gold out of the ground, and the pursuit has broken a lot of people (physically, mentally, and financially) over the years.

Gold has a blinding effect on a lot of people. Once you see the gold glistening in the pan, reflecting the sunlight, that's all you can see. Some will go to any lengths to get at it - including spending their life's savings. It does have that kind of impact on people.

Anyway, we finished the day off with a nice dinner and called it an early night as we were all a little tired from the day's mining. It's nice to "rule the land", so to speak, rather than have "the land rule you" as it does to a lot of gold miners...

This is the lower three-run sluicebox. It's the last place that gold will be caught on its journey through the gold plant. The water is dark with all of the waste material that it separates out from the gold.

The material here is pouring over the top nugget trap headed for the trommel.

The hoe is feeding the gold plant. You can see all of the water being sprayed into the old dump box. Larger rocks are ejected right away with the main "muck" starting its journey through the gold plant.

You can see the bugs that have gathered on my back as I walk away from the camera. I did have bug dope on all exposed areas, but they did seem to like the back of my shirt on this day.

My Week at the Gold Mine - Day 2

Saturday, June 25

This was a busy day. After killing a significant amount of coffee to catch up on things, we set about with the day's projects.

Christina had purchased a "screen bug house" in Watson Lake before coming out to the mine. The bugs are so ferocious in the north that you pretty much need to either prepare for any outside activities with the proper clothing, or you need to load up with bug dope (which, with all the chemicals they contain, can't be good for you!). The 10' x 10' screen house will provide a little protection from the mosquitoes and other assorted flying insects and allow us to spend a little time outdoors without the constant swatting. So, Christina, Scott and I set about to assemble this new shelter.

We put it in a little hollow that Christina has created over the past couple of seasons. There was just enough room for it to fit in the area and still leave a bit of a path by one side. This is important - as there's a cow moose with a couple of young (month or two old) calves that wander through camp, especially this little area, on a daily basis - and they will avoid running over things like this if you give them a little room. So, the bug house project was successful, and we tested it out by setting up some chairs and drinking a pop.

Then, it was time to get the rest of the gold plant running. Scott spent a bit of time in the days prior to my arrival doing some of the basic setup of the equipment, but we had to finish getting the plant ready by putting the carpets back into the nugget catch and lower sluicebox, along with the metal grates that hold them in place. We then fired up the pump that's down by the river, along with the trommel motor (an VW 4 cylinder diesel taken from a 1981 VW Rabbit).

Gold mining, or at least placer gold mining, is totally dependant on water to operate. We pump water out of McDame Creek to run the gold plant. The water washes the material that's dumped into the top of the plant with the hoe, and carries it on its journey through the gold plant. The big rocks are ejected first by the grizzly - a big grate right at the top of the plant. Smaller material drops into the chute and flows around a corner into the top nugget trap.

Gold is heavier than all of the surrounding rocks and dirt, so will naturally get hung up in either the top nugget trap or lower sluicebox. The slurry (water and dirt/gravel mixed) then heads out of the top nugget trap into the trommel, which is a large, rotating tube. This further separates more rocks, which are ejected out of the bottom of the tube. The slurry drops out of the bottom of the trommel and into the three-run sluicebox at the lower part of the plant. This gives yet another place for the gold to collect.

As Scott explains it, the entire purpose of the gold plant is to shake up the material (by taking it through the plant with lots of water) and simply give the gold a place to hide. Gold, being the heaviest material found here, usually cooperates and gets caught in the various nugget catches and sluiceboxes.

What you're left with at the end is a pool of muddy water that collects in one of the five tailings ponds that Scott has built, and a gold plant full of "special muck" - which will contain coarse placer gold. Larger nuggets collect at the top, and if you're really lucky, large "potato-size" nuggets will be ejected out the bottom of the trommel. Finer gold is collected in the carpets, which are washed out during clean up. The material is then run through either a smaller sluicebox for a more thorough separation from the surrounding muck, or is panned out using a gold pan.

When it's all over, hopefully you have enough gold to pay the bills - the fuel, camp costs, and food being the major expenses (once the equipment is bought and paid for).

However, all we did on Saturday is get things ready and fire up the plant just to run some water through it. The hoe is still back at camp where it was put away for the winter last fall, so we'll walk it over to the gold plant tomorrow and do a little actual mining...

This sign is just a couple of kilometers north of Holloway Bar - at Centreville. The 72 ounce nugget found here likely washed through the Holloway Bar property in its journey downstream...

The McDame Creek area is home to quite a bit of coarse gold, and there are still some large nuggets to be found. Christina and Scott found a 4.5 ounce nugget during their first year of mining - which does wonders to keep the motivation level up.

Here I am at the top of the hill, overlooking the gold property. Immediately behind this sign is a steep 90 meter drop to McDame Creek. There are no guardrails - just warning signs - so please keep back if you stop here at km 615 to have a look.

My Week at the Gold Mine - Day 1

Friday, June 24, 2005

Early in the morning on Friday, June 24, I loaded up the car with all of my gear and cameras and headed out the door in anticipation of a relaxing, 8-hour drive from my home in Terrace to the placer gold claim on Holloway Bar. The odometer on the car registers just over 700 km when I actually arrive at the mine, so it's a fairly long drive. Considering that most people regard my home as being in "Northern BC", it puts a new perspective on things when you can drive north another day before running out of province...

Anyway, after a few pit stops to off-load some coffee and a fuel stop in Dease Lake, just under 600km from here, I was getting close to the area. The roads are generally pretty good - Highway 37 is a wilderness road, but it is regularly maintained and the summer construction and paving projects were just getting underway - so it was a good drive. I saw one moose and about a half-dozen large deer on the way up - but no bears, which is a little unusual for the trip.

However, the bugs are pretty ferocious this time of year and the greenery is getting pretty thick up higher, so I expect that the bears have gone up to the high country to forage for food and get a little relief from the bugs. It's just as well they head for the hills - I like to stay low and I do have an intense dislike (fear?) of bears of any kind...

I arrived at the top of the hill around dinner time and signalled for Scott from the highway at the top of the hill. I headed down the road after unlocking the gate and Scott soon arrived on the ATV to pick me up and take me into camp. My adventure was about to begin...

After I'd been in camp for a half-hour or so, Christina also arrived at camp. As she's been working the last couple of times I've been up, it was nice that she could join us in camp for a few days - and it stops Scott and me from eating all of the Honeycombs!!!

We had a nice quiet evening and generally just caught up on things. I brought along a DVD with a few of the video shorts I've been working on this spring, so we had some fun watching the various video clips.

We were all tired from working/travelling/etc, so it was an early night for all of us. Scott and I planned to finish getting the gold plant operational for the season the next day, so we needed our rest as the days were about to get busy...

Back from the North...

I just arrived home late Saturday night from a little more than a week on Holloway Bar. It was a productive trip, and I'll be posting a bit more information (and hopefully some pictures) online in the next couple of days.

The gold plant is up and running, the mosquitoes are definitely out, and the moose are still wandering about the valley.

Things are shaping up nicely...

Now you can get a view of the surrounding features. The half-white mountain to the right of the mine is part of the Horseranch range - which marks the northern end of the Rocky Mountains. Holloway Bar is just upstream from Centreville, where the 72 ounce nugget was found!

We're a little more zoomed in now. North of the mine is the Yukon, and south is BC. The mine is located about 100 km south of the Yukon border.

This is where we are. Are you in this picture as well? (Thanks to NASA WorldWind for this photo!)

Questions, Questions...

So, what's so special about Holloway Bar?

Holloway Bar is a gold mining property on McDame Creek. It consists of seven placer claims and runs several miles from end to end. It's the largest single piece of property held in years in the McDame Creek valley.

McDame Creek flows north, not south, as it's in the Arctic watershed. This means that if you dropped a floating ball into the water (and it didn't get hung up somewhere), it would eventually make its journey down McDame Creek, then into the Dease River. The Dease River would carry the ball to Lower Post, BC, where the Dease River flows into the Liard River. The Liard River eventually flows into the Mackenzie River in the Northwest Territories, which would carry the ball right to the Arctic Ocean near Inuvik, NWT.

Interestingly enough, if you drove two hours south and dropped the same ball into the Tanzilla River just south of Dease Lake, the ball would eventually float down the Stikine River and end up in the Pacific Ocean near Wrangell, Alaska. So, we're just a bit north of the Arctic-Pacific divide - where all moving water north of the divide flows to the Arctic Ocean, and everything south of the divide flows into the Pacific Ocean.

McDame Creek is a creek by name only. During the summer when the water level drops, you can drive a truck across the McDame in some places (that's how everything got into the gold mine!), but at this time of the year, all of the meltwater from the snow in the mountains is rushing down on its journey to the ocean, so the river is raging. Trying to cross when the water is high would probably result in a severe problem, and probably the last problem you'd ever have. If you got stuck in the middle, the water's so cold that you probably wouldn't be able to make it to shore before becoming hypothermic!

McDame Creek flows through the rugged and beautiful Cassiar mountains in Northern BC. It's a little more than an hour's drive north to the Yukon border, so it's pretty far north compared to the rest of British Columbia. Just a few kilometers up the road from the gold mine is the site of the former Cassiar townsite, an asbestos mine that operated from the 1950's until 1992. Now, the town is gone, having been sold and hauled away after the mine closed.

Of course,McDame Creek is not famous just because of the Holloway Bar Placer Mine. Gold is at the root of all most of the creek's activity over the years. McDame Creek was originally prospected back in the 1830's - and Scott's managed to find an old claim-post tag dating back to that era. But, most people find McDame Creek in the history books because of the gold nugget that was found around Centreville in 1877. The nugget weighed 72 ounces and is the biggest found in BC! It would be about the size of a large potato - which is pretty much the nugget of most people's dreams.

There's still a lot of coarse gold here, which makes for some interesting mining!

When was the last time you saw your reflection in the eye of a bull moose? 

Could this be our camp visitor? Woops, this is a bull, not a cow...

News from the North

I talked to both Scott and Christina last week. It sounds like everything is going well so far. Christina managed to get to camp for a couple of days at the end of her shift to check out what we'd done on our lost weekend - I think we passed inspection OK. Scott and I installed a new entertainment unit as well as rearranged the living area a little bit to use the space a bit better, so I hope Christina liked what we did!

Scott also called on Thursday to say he'd had a visitor in camp the previous morning. When he got up in the morning, he looked out to see a cow moose that had just given birth to a couple of calves in the previous day or so. This must have been the moose that lived in camp over the winter, and Mama Moose was just in camp to see who was messing around. Mama was also around playing taunting the dogs last summer, so she's used to people and activity around camp.

Anyway, she spent some time around camp with her babies. Scott took some pictures - it's not that often you find a mama moose with babies trusting enough to put up with you being around. But, they really have nothing to fear in the valley - in fact, it's probably the safest place they could be. Hunters would have to be crazy and have a death wish to start running through gold country and other people's gold claims - it really is like the old west in some respects. Moose can't be hunted until fall in any case, but there's no hunting here.

If you try it, they you've got to do something about this angry gold miner in your face... That's enough to keep most people away.

Scott's also got the water flowing from the line up the hill and put the turbine online. Hydro power is the way to go. When the water's flowing, no diesel is being burnt by the generator, and at $40 or $50 a day for fuel for the generator, it makes a lot of sense to invest in a few thousand dollars of battery banks and turbine-powered generators.

Looks like things are starting to roll in the North. Summer's coming and the gold's still in the ground. You never know what a season's digging will bring about - maybe there's another big potato nugget laying under a rock somewhere...

This is camp seen from Highway 37.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Scott and I spent most of yesterday puttering around camp on various projects. We also had a chance to look at some of the "in progress" video and discuss a few other matters we've been working on that will be revealed over the next little while.

I took the opportunity to set up my video camera to do some "time lapse" stuff for fillers and transitions for the video both last night and early this morning. The clouds and fog rolling around the hills behind camp makes for an interesting backdrop to tell our story, particularly once things have been sped up a thousand times or so.

We headed into Watson Lake for the afternoon to see Christina who's in the middle of a work shift at her job. I picked up a few steaks, some prawns and corn on the cob for lunch. Pretty decadent lunch! But, it was great to enjoy a meal with Christina, who I've missed the last couple of trips. We did a little business and then got to visiting.

Watson Lake is about a 90 minute drive north of Holloway Bar. This is the highway that Scott works on - plowing snow in the winter and filling holes and keeping an eye out for hazards to tourists in the summer. I've always enjoyed this stretch of highway 37, and drove it lots when I was younger. These northern roads can bite you if you're not careful, but when you grow up driving them, they somehow don't seem as wild. But, you have to have respect for them - then nothing bad will happen...

We also filled up a couple of propane tanks in town so we'll have some fuel for cooking, refridgeration, and hot water for showers for a while. In camp, the hydro generator isn't online yet, so we're running off the battery bank for the time being. We did fire the generator up last night for an hour or so to have a shower and top up the batteries (although in the two days we'd used the power, the power meter/gauge hadn't moved off of full yet).

Tomorrow, I have to head home again as I have a little work to do on our projects. But, it's been a great weekend, and I've had a great visit with one of my oldest friends.

This valley is the most peaceful place I know of. Nature is everywhere - you can hear the birds in the trees, and there are moose that come into camp on a regular basis. Scott's run into an old grizzly bear in the hills above camp a couple of times over the years - so we're on his patrol area - but there's no reason for him to come into our clean camp, and as Scott says, he keeps the varmints away (black bears and the like). There's signs of a wolverine of something living in little caves in the canyon upstream from camp, and there are goats and dall sheep living in all the hills around here. But, even as nervous, chicken and jumpy as I am out in the bush (which is a little strange considering that I grew up in the Yukon and have been in some pretty isolated places over the years), I feel really comfortable here.

And the bugs haven't even been bad this weekend!!! It is a little early yet, but there are a few monster-big mosquitos around, but they're not quite with it yet. They're just as likely to try to drill into my jacket as they are my arm.

A good end to a great long weekend. I love coming to this time zone...

The gold plant on Holloway Bar - looking cold with the winter snows.

In for the Season...

This is a big weekend for me. I've travelled north to the Cassiar area to help Scott and Christina move onto the gold property for the season. I arrived in Jade City about 5:00 pm Friday after driving 700 km from Terrace.

On Saturday morning, we hauled three or four loads of stuff down in the truck as far as the bridge, and then hauled it across Scott's bridge and into camp with the four-wheeler and tandem trailer. Once we got everything in, I set to hooking up the electronics stuff inside while Scott built some bird houses for the swallows that were due to show up any time.

The funny thing is - just as Scott was finishing fabricating a nesting place for the swallows, the first swallow of the season showed up and sat on the antenna, chirping away as if to tell Scott to "hurry up - it's a short season!!!. As soon as he walked away from the nesting area just over the trailer addition door, it swooped in to check it all out.

It was a good day. We got lots done and we had a good visit. Weather is good - a few clouds moving through, but mostly sunny. The snow's pretty much gone around camp, but you only have to look into shaded areas to find more snow. The river is raging with all the melt water - and I stuck my hand into the water to feel the temperature - it had none!!! The water couldn't have been more than a degree or two above freezing. If you fell into the river now, you'd be dead within a couple of minutes. This land is not very forgiving...

Camp survived the winter fairly well, although Scott was in here on Thursday night cleaning up and getting the water running while running the generator to charge the batteries. A marten had broken into the camp trailer and made a heck of a mess - everything was knocked off the shelves while it tore other stuff into little bits. Scott and Christina don't keep much food here in the winter just because of varmints like this!

When I got to camp on Saturday morning, the first thing I noticed was that there was moose sign everywhere. I had to step over 4 or 5 mounds of it just to get to my little trailer. But, as Scott explained to me, I shouldn't worry too much about the moose that left the crap - it was from the cow moose that wintered in camp - when the snow melts, the moose crap just drops down to the ground.

Pizza in the oven for supper tonight - so we're ready to bunker down for the evening.