The Doug Ryder Reports

Chapter 3: A Descent Downward Into The Mining History of Fairbanks

The third Doug Ride of the 2001 season got going at the usual Doug time and with the usual Doug Ride aplomb. There were 14 of us all told for the May 15, 2001 ride. We met up at the first level area after Cleary Summit and headed downhill. Up top, the wind was blowing so hard it felt like winter, but down below, it was a bit warmer. The first mile and a quarter or so was a fast downhill that put us down in the valley below Cleary. We could see and hear the ore trucks driving up and down the new road going over to True North whose underpass was put in last winter just south of Cleary Summit.

About a mile past the end of the main downhill, the road forked. We took the south fork, which dead-ended at a chain across the road with the clear message to KEEP OUT of that claim. We did as was instructed and went back out the main road for about another four or five miles or so to where it ended in a swamp, six miles from the top. Along the way we passed a number of abandoned and active placer mining claims and quite an eclectic assortment of heavy equipment, vehicles, machinery, etc., most of which was in various states of disrepair and/or nonfunctional. It was like riding past an open-air mining museum or something.

Once we got to the swamp, we stood around this deep, water-filled hole in the ground to which the miners had dragged or driven some old decrepit bus, removed the engine, and used said engine in a generator to blow hot air down the hole. Evidently their endeavor did not meet with success. Tom and I messed around with making little sailboats out of pieces of foam insulation and testing them in the pond next to the road. Tom won.

Then we turned around and went back the same way we came, back through the mud, snow, streams, et cetera until we got to the big, gnarly uphill. I left Burnside, Yates, et al behind and was the third one back after the two young gentlemen who got there a few minutes before me. Then everyone else straggled back, some having gotten quite the workout (including Yours Truly; I confess that I had to get off the bike two or three times in order to get up through muddy and/or soft spots on the hill) and all having had an awesome time on the third Doug Ride of the season.

Total distance: about twelve miles. Total elevation difference: about 1100 feet. Best part: the downhill at the beginning. Worst part: the uphill at the end. Most interesting moment: hearing wood frogs in the ponds along the road as we neared the swamp as well as Burnside expounding upon the knowledge that at one point the road went all the way to the Hilltop Cafe (this was more than thirty years ago though)

That’s my report for this week. See ya next week!

Liam Wescott

a/k/a The Doug Ryder

FCC Historian