Another Futile Mine Trip & the Spirit Houses of Eklutna

Saturday, June 13, 2009 – Day 44

A slow start to the day.  The overcast skies and drizzle continued overnight.  The temperature this morning was 14C.  After a late breakfast we drove to Independence Mine site in the Hatcher Pass of the Chugach Mountains.  The Milepost said that this was a worthwhile trip and that the site opened the first weekend in June.  It was a beautiful drive beside the Little Susitna River.    Apparently, one can still legally pan for gold in these waters.  We passed on the gold panning as we didn't not want to get “gold fever”.   We continued to drive up the mountain switch backs and the rain increased.  We passed a few groups of oriental people in the bushes in the sub-alpine area and the only thing that we thought that they could be looking for was mushrooms.  As we were passing one of these pullouts a woman flagged us down.  Through her broken English, I learned that as they were parked, her son had been playing the radio and killed the battery, and she asked if we could give her a boost.  After several attempts with no luck, we gave up and she would try calling for service.  I told her that when we were finished at the mine we would stop on the way down if she was still there. 

We continued up the mountain as the rain started falling even harder.  We ultimately reached the mine site to find that tours did not start until June 20.  We took a quick look around to see that almost all of the mine buildings were in a very advanced state of decay…seems so typical in Alaska.  We decided to pass on this mine visit.  So far we have two strikes against us when visiting mines…first the flat tire affair going to Kennecott and now the Independence Mine debacle. 

We drove down the mountain and stopped at the lady with the starting problem.  Seems when I left she was able to get it started…so much for my mechanical skills. 

As we got further down the mountain the rain seemed to taper off, for a while.  Not wishing to make this a total waste of fuel we went to the nearby town of Eklutna to visit the Orthodox church there.  The Orthodox Catholic Church had become established in North America in Alaska when the Russians first colonized this area. It doesn’t appear that there was the same enmity that occurred in eastern North America, especially in Canada with the Native culture and the Church.  Anyway the Orthodox church, allowed the Athabasca Indians to incorporate some of their customs.  One of those customs was the “Spirit House”.   Essentially it is a small house built over the grave of the deceased person.  The Athabascan’s believed that the soul of the person dwelt there for the first year after the person died. Tools and personal belongings would also be placed in the spirit houses.  Some houses are more elaborate than others and some are decaying into the earth.  All are brightly painted in the colours of the family clans; with multi-coloured houses representing the mixing of the clans. Church services are still held in the tiny “seemingly standing-room only” church which is heavily adorned with icons and hangings on the all the walls.     This was really an interesting place although the mosquitoes were terrible. One thing though – they are much slower than Manitoba mosquitoes.

We drove around the town of Palmer later in the afternoon, then bought some groceries at the local Carr’s (Safeway) and returned to the trailer.  We will be heading toward Denali National Park tomorrow so we are hoping to get an earlier start.