Fairbanks (28 May)
The main activity today was a trip on a stern wheeled steamer, the Discovery 3. It was a great trip with a very carefully scheduled set of calls and activities, choreographed by an MC, an old radio man. We learned a lot about Fairbanks, it's history, the boat and the family that set it up, etc. etc.
First, the boat:
Charles Binkley came to Fairbanks as a gold prospector in 1898. He found more money to be made in shipping other people and their possessions and so he built and operated boats. His son Jim followed in his father’s footsteps and eventually began a river excursion business in the 1950s. Five generations of Binkleys have worked in the business and today we were captained by a fifth generation member, Madison. As the commentator said, if you can do the job, Alaskans don't care which way you put your pants on.
Once underway we had a demonstration of float plane landing and taking off in this Piper.
Although they haven't been built for over 20 years, the Piper is popular in this area for its lightness and agility. This plane takes off and lands on floats, skis and wheels, depending on the season and location.
Interesting fact: What the northern Europeans call reindeer, Alaskans call caribou. This fellow is domesticated and has velvet in the current season.
Next we saw some dogs being trained as sled dogs. They start with newborns. The puppies below are 23 days old. They have been handled and spoken to since the day they were born because when they are in harness in a sled team, all the control is from the musher, using voice only; no harness steering as with a horse. These little guys are being taught to climb over the log. Some showed early intelligence by walking around the end.
The next act was to harness up a team of five pairs of dogs. Each pair has a discrete role and they are chosen for this based on aptitude. These dogs were really excited and took off towing a four wheel motor-bike. The musher had to use the brakes some of the time.
We saw an Indian village, created for tourists - no-one lives in it - and it displayed how they fish and hunt, smoke their meat and use their pelts. Indians have been there for 10,000 years. They initially did well when the white man came because the white man wasn't as adept at hunting and trapping so the Indians established trading posts.
This last picture is from our motorhome window at 11.45 last night. The sun has just gone off the spruce trees you can see just behind the neighbouring motorhome cab.
More fun facts about Fairbanks:
First, the boat:
Charles Binkley came to Fairbanks as a gold prospector in 1898. He found more money to be made in shipping other people and their possessions and so he built and operated boats. His son Jim followed in his father’s footsteps and eventually began a river excursion business in the 1950s. Five generations of Binkleys have worked in the business and today we were captained by a fifth generation member, Madison. As the commentator said, if you can do the job, Alaskans don't care which way you put your pants on.
Once underway we had a demonstration of float plane landing and taking off in this Piper.
Although they haven't been built for over 20 years, the Piper is popular in this area for its lightness and agility. This plane takes off and lands on floats, skis and wheels, depending on the season and location.
Interesting fact: What the northern Europeans call reindeer, Alaskans call caribou. This fellow is domesticated and has velvet in the current season.
The next act was to harness up a team of five pairs of dogs. Each pair has a discrete role and they are chosen for this based on aptitude. These dogs were really excited and took off towing a four wheel motor-bike. The musher had to use the brakes some of the time.
We saw an Indian village, created for tourists - no-one lives in it - and it displayed how they fish and hunt, smoke their meat and use their pelts. Indians have been there for 10,000 years. They initially did well when the white man came because the white man wasn't as adept at hunting and trapping so the Indians established trading posts.
This last picture is from our motorhome window at 11.45 last night. The sun has just gone off the spruce trees you can see just behind the neighbouring motorhome cab.
More fun facts about Fairbanks:
- We are 1800 miles from the North Pole and 120 miles from the Arctic Circle.
- Including snow melt, they have 11 inches of rain a year. It's so dry they can't make snowmen as the ice won't pack and hold together.
- Some of the houses have horizontal barriers on their low sloping roofs to stop the snow from sliding off. They hold on to the snow because the air it traps insulates their houses.
Comments
Post a Comment