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Part Two of Climbing Denali
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| By Jim Wilson |
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THE RUTH GLACIER
The plane had left us on the Ruth Glacier in an environment so different than the one we had just left. The landscape around us was white and black, void of any color other than our gear piled around us. The wind was blowing slightly making the 20 degree temperature seem more like 0 degrees. It took us some time to rig up the plastic sleds we would use to pull behind our skis with the heaviest part of our gear. The sleds needed to be rigged in such a fashion to allow us to escape them and at the same time save them in a crevasse fall. Everyone had their own idea on how to rig it, but more important was finding a way to keep the sled from rolling over on itself on a side hill. After two hours of packing and sorting gear we were finally ready to put some distance between where we landed and our destination. It was now close to 4:00 p.m. and the temperature was slowly starting to fall. The first mile was spent figuring out how to control the sleds and travel as a roped team. It was important to be roped over the glacier because of the many crevasses on our route. Most of the crevasses were covered with snow making it impossible to see them. The glacier in this part of the Ruth was known to be several thousand feet deep so any sort of crevasse fall would be dramatic to say the least.
We were finally moving down the glacier and the first steps of our dream began to fall behind us. Up to this point most of the attitude I had was positive and full of conquering the world, but now as the cold wind bit at my face and the strain of the load pulled at my back negative thoughts began to creep in. I started to ask myself questions about why I left the comforts of home, a loving wife and good business to labor across the glacier fighting to keep my hands and feet warm and packing an oversize pack and sled. For the next couple weeks I would be working hard at keeping warm, feeding myself and providing shelter for the cold at nights, not to mention those heavy loads. Those first two miles were filled with buyer’s remorse. What have I done to myself this time? By 6:00 p.m. we were all bushed. It had been a long day coming all the way from Talkeetna, the packing, unpacking and repacking. The temperature was dropping fast and we had to set up our camp for the night. We probed the snow for hidden crevasses and spent the next couple hours building snow walls around each tent, making a latrine, and constructing a kitchen protected from the wind. Each man began to figure out his duties with his tent partner. While one person was boiling hot drinks and getting dinner ready the other would be setting up the tent, blowing the foam air mattresses up and laying out the sleeping bags. Camp duty would keep us busy for a couple hours especially digging snow. If a blizzard were to blow in you had to be prepared or it could cost you your life.
For the next week we labored up the glacier to a distinguishing feature called the Tralieka Col. The Col was a notch in the ridgeline that separated the Ruth glacier from the Tralieka Glacier. From the Col we would climb down to the Trailieka Glacier and travel several miles to the base of our proposed climb. The week was filled with extremely laborious load hauling. At times the terrain was so steep and difficult it demanded carrying two loads instead of one. Double carrying our loads made the days longer and in some instances we would only travel two or three miles a day. There were times when we would cross under the path of ice falls and avalanche areas and during these situations we would have to hurry through the section with out resting to help lower the risk of being buried. The hard work and stress soon brought out the worst in everyone’s personality. We were all guilty at one point or another of being negative and pessimistic. Our decision to land on the Ruth instead of going to Kantishna was another issue that seemed to pop up during our moments of despair. We had made the decision and I felt that we now had to make the best of it, even if it was the wrong decision. The group itself was a mixture of varying abilities and fitness. When we had a slow day on the trail the group in shape was disappointed in the progress while the slower group was fatigued beyond believe. The technical ability of each climber also played a role in everyone’s attitude. The better more experienced climbers had a comfort level that far exceeded the inexperienced climbers. For the first time I was beginning to realize that our plans to climb the mountain were far fetched.
The last day in reaching the Tralieka Col was one of the hardest days of the trip. In an effort to rally the troops we pushed hard to reach the Col in hopes of gaining the added excitement of reaching a goal. The push ended up being too hard and had the reverse affect on half the group. Upon reaching the Col and looking down the steep slope leading to the Tralieka Glacier two members of the party refused to go any farther. There was a heated argument with accusations thrown from one person to another and as quickly as it started the decision was made to cancel our plans and climb something in the Ruth Glacier before flying home.
It was a traumatic day for myself. I had lost a friendship in the dispute and had to deal with the disappointment of months of planning and the feeling of failure. The friendship I had lost with my close friend Dan would plague me for sleepless nights before the trip was done. In retrospect we had been a good combination as climbers. I was overly optimistic and Dan was either pessimistic or more realistic. During our rock climbing days I had pushed him to do harder climbs while he kept me from killing myself. During this trip the combination failed and our personalities clashed; I had to force myself into keeping a positive attitude and continuing with the new plans.
The Peak ‘Dan Beard’ loomed impressively to the south of our camp near the Traleika Col. From where we stood it appeared to be an accessible climb for everyone in the party. The next morning we broke camp with intentions to find a route to the summit of Dan Beard. The group that set out the next morning was a somber, exhausted group of men with little ambition. To compound the prevailing attitude was a long hard day breaking trail through deep snow and crevasses. When we finally approached the slopes of the mountain we struggled in vain to find an easy route up the mountain. It was getting late by the time we did find a reasonable route so, we decided to head back to camp and think about trying it in the morning.
On the way back to camp we climbed a small peak called Peak 9650. It was a beautiful peak separated off a ridgeline from Dan Beard. Climbing this peak gave everyone the sense of accomplishment that had been missing throughout the trip. With lifted spirits we headed back to camp to rest for another try on Dan Beard.
With a new spirit and a good night’s sleep we all awoke ready for the challenge of the day. Our trail had already been broken the day before, so the going was much faster. After several hours we came to the base of Dan Beard and began climbing the steep snow gullies leading to a cliff band. Once we reached the cliff band we traversed south to a steep snow gully leading to the summit. By 5:00 p.m. we reached the saddle between the two summits of Dan Beard. The final summit push was a steep slope leading to the top. A new spirit encompassed the group as we stood around for summit pictures. We had finally climbed a mountain fulfilling a portion of our aspirations.
The trip down from the summit was filled with the thoughts of all the work and disappointment of the trip. Nothing had been easy. Personalities played a huge roll in our success and failure. My own personality did not help with the group dynamics, but it made me realize how important it was to climb with like-minded people with the same skill level. As a group we did well in managing the situations presented to us in a mature manner, but it wasn’t a group that could manage the difficulties of a hard technical route. There were just to many people of differing skills, desires and personalities.
The trip back up to the airstrip on the other side of the Ruth Glacier was as hard as the trip up. We fought the weather going back down the glacier. The temperature seemed to get colder as we went with temperatures well below zero. On the steep slopes our sleds would roll out of control and we would spend hours loading them back up after the contents scattered down the glacier. If it weren’t so funny to watch you would have burst into tears with the frustration of it all. After two weeks of glacier travel we pulled up to the airstrip and waited for the plane to arrive and take us home.
It had been a tough two weeks emotionally and physically. I had lost a friendship and failed at the primary purpose of the expedition. We had made the best of the situation and climbed a mountain, but there was a sadness in my heart and a burning desire to come back and try again.
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Meet Your Neighbors: Dr. Gregory M. Behm
Orthopedic surgeon one of two physicians in state certified in FDA approved hip resurfacing procedure
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By Brian D’Ambrosio, Editor
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Doctor Gregory Behm is familiar with patients who travel lengthy distances to see him for their appointments. Indeed, he opened his first orthopedic practice in Glendive, county seat of Dawson County, Montana, with a population near 4,729.
That was in 1999, back when patients arrived from as far as Scobey; some even drove more than 120 miles to meet with Glendive’s first full-time orthopedic surgeon.
“It’s very humbling to have people drive all that way to see you for care,” says Behm. “People would come from all over, including western North Dakota.”
Behm chose the sparsely populated hinterland of Glendive as the place to begin his medical career because he wanted to practice medicine in a region where his services were novel to the community, and greatly needed at the same time. It was all part of his preconceived formula to bring high level orthopedic care to small town Montana.
These days, folks still clamor for Behm’s care. Only now he’s practicing in Hamilton.
Behm is an orthopedic surgeon at Ravalli Orthopedics & Sports Medicine, and is one of only two surgeons in the state to be certified in a new hip resurfacing procedure approved by the US Food and Drug Administration last May.
His mission as a physician is straightforward and unequivocal: provide unsurpassed patient care while continually authenticating his orthopedic research.
Indeed, Behm is an unmistakably humble man with a very keen intellect, reliable judgment, superior medical training, and a hearty sense of humor, dedicated to the care of his patients.
Consequently, his patients still connect to him on sincere and enthusiastic terms.
“It’s very exciting to have people coming to see me in Hamilton from Billings, the Salmon, Idaho area, Bozeman, and Helena. There have even been a few people who have followed us here from Glendive, traveling as many as 700 miles.”
While the Birmingham Hip Resurfacing implant is new to the United States, it is not a new implant or approach. It has been in use worldwide since 1997, and the US Food and Drug Administration reviewed much resulting clinical data before approving it for use in this country.
“I believe in this surgery,” says Behm. “I wouldn’t have predicted that there are so many young people suffering so horribly with hip pain. We’ve done 10 or 11 surgeries since March. We’ve got five or six more scheduled. So, we’re at a rate of 20 plus per year.”
The typical patient undergoing a Birmingham Hip Resurfacing implant, says Behm, is physically active, under 60 years of age (some are as young as their early 40s), suffering from hip arthritis, hip dysplasia or avascular necrosis of the hip. The implant can be used in patients over 60 years old whose bone quality is capable enough to endure it.
“There’s an interesting type of person who does this,” says Behm. “They’ve read all the literature. They probably know about as much about hip resurfacing as I do when they show up for their appointment.”
Doctor Behm is dedicated to the well being of every patient he treats. This philosophy was embedded in him from his days as a student at the Campbell Clinic, one of the more preeminent practicing and teaching orthopedic centers in the world.
It was there that Behm dedicated himself to the advancement of orthopedic techniques in order to better serve patients.
“The most read textbooks on orthopedics in the world come from the Campbell Clinic,” says Behm. “I was taught ‘don’t cut first and ask questions later,’ but take time to find out what the problems are. And that patients need to be treated like people, almost like members of your family, as opposed to getting them in and rushing them out. I learned to take time with a patient’s treatment.”
Breakthrough Hip Resurfacing in Ravalli County
What’s unique about the Birmingham Hip Resurfacing System is that when the FDA put its seal of approval on the implant last year, the administration attached a clause to it: the implant device will only be sanctioned if the surgeon executing the procedure attends a specialized training course on the apparatus and its implementation.
“So, the implant is approved only if the surgeon doing it has the necessary training,” says Behm.
Smith & Nephew, owner of the Birmingham Hip resurfacing technology, and one of the leading providers of hip resurfacing technology worldwide, asked Behm to be one of the two doctors in Montana to carry out the surgery.
“I trained in Canada over the course of four days. It wasn’t a crash course, because the techniques used for Birmingham Hip Resurfacing are very similar to what’s used for a total hip replacement: the approach, the closure, the soft tissue, and the anatomy are all very similar.
“There are very specific steps you need to learn that are different from a standard total hip (replacement), but it’s not like learning a whole new program.”
Because this technologically cutting edge surgical procedure resurfaces rather than removes the end of your femur (thighbone), after surgery one may engage in more rugged physical activity with an implant.
Hip resurfacing, says Behm, is potentially more durable and may have greater longevity than traditional total hip replacements. And if future revision surgery is unavoidable, it may be a less intricate and less painful procedure.
The Birmingham Hip Resurfacing procedure safeguards more natural bone than traditional hip replacement, ending the hip pain of arthritis and degenerative hip disease, and helping rehabilitate patients to an active lifestyle.
Explains Behm: “With a total hip replacement, heavy lifting, jumping, running, high level skiing, are things that patients can’t do afterwards, and really shouldn’t do. But with hip resurfacing, they can go back to rock climbing and marathon running, or high-level skiing, or ditch digging, or playing rugby, and return to the things that they really shouldn’t do after undergoing a standard total hip surgery. Bo Jackson would still be playing baseball (if this were an available option at the time).” From the instant of precise incision to the time the wound is carefully dried and dressed is around 80 to 100 minutes.
“This is a real procedure not an office procedure,” says Behm. “It’s a big surgery requiring two to four days of inpatient care.”
Behm says that during the last ten years somewhere around 80,000 Birmingham Hip Resurfacing surgeries have taken place throughout the globe. He says that he’s received only positive feedback from the patients he’s performed the operation on. Such comments humble his heart and solidify his disciplined sense of responsibility.
“My patients are thrilled. That makes me even more proud of the work I do. To be able to help people deal with painful situations and problems, and to correct them, is why I love being a physician.”
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Despite Awareness, Domestic Violence Still Serious Problem in Ravalli County
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By Brian D’Ambrosio, Editor
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In October 1987, the first Domestic Violence Awareness Month was observed. That same year Supporters of Abuse Free Environments (S.A.F.E.) was founded when the local branch of Soroptimists International identified a need for tended shelter for women and children who had been victims of domestic violence in Ravalli County.
Twenty years later, S.A.F.E. still speaks as a voice for victims, offering economic, legal, and psychological aid to abuse victims, and organizing educational campaigns to improve domestic violence awareness.
Today it functions as Ravalli County’s only domestic violence program, and has grown considerably in size and scope since its inception, even providing comprehensive services targeted at meeting the needs of individuals, families, and the community.
The need for domestic violence shelter services in Ravalli County is certain and undeniable, explains Jamie Ogden, coalition coordinator of S.A.F.E. in the Bitterroot for more than five years.
“S.A.F.E. is part of a coalition formed as a coordinated community response,” says Ogden.
“Meaning, we want any place that’s connected to the Ravalli County system to help send two messages: domestic violence isn’t acceptable, and there are resources available to those who need it. The community, on many levels, has come far on hearing that message. But at certain times, barriers seem greater.
“We know that the community can absorb this message, and we’ve made tremendous strides in this our 20th anniversary year. No one should be physically, economically, or psychologically abused.”
White Ribbon Week takes place from Friday, October 5 through Friday, October 12. The week long event was started by the White Ribbon Coalition, in 1991, and remains the largest effort in the world of men working to end male violence toward women. That year, a handful of Canadian men decided they had a responsibility to urge other men to speak out, and determined that wearing a white ribbon would be symbolic of concerted male solidarity for their cause.
S.A.F.E.’s main goal as a participant in White Ribbon Week is to hold events to create awareness of the issues and dynamics of domestic violence and explain how the community can help end it.
”Every ribbon sends a message,” says Ogden. “And that is that every person can do something to end domestic violence.”
White Ribbon Week events include a community luncheon on Friday, October 5, at noon, at St. Francis Parrish Center (411 South Fourth Street, Hamilton) and a domestic violence in the workplace seminar, featuring national expert Johnny Lee, at the same location, on Thursday, October 11, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The cost of which is $20 per person.
“We’re relying on the community to take this in the right direction,” says Ogden. “The coalition and the community are set to talk about domestic violence and the accomplishments of the community over the past year. This is the only time of the year the entire coalition gathers.”
“We’re asking people to wear white ribbons that week to help draw attention to the issue of domestic violence,” says Stacey Umhey, executive director of S.A.F.E in the Bitterroot.
Umhey helped organize White Ribbon Week in Ravalli County ten years ago. Since then other communities, rural and urban, have followed suit, and the message of individual awareness and collective alertness is spreading.
“We’re proud that other communities in Montana, like Missoula and Havre, have white ribbon campaigns now,” says Umhey. “One of the goals of White Ribbon Week is to get people who speak from a local perspective about different aspects of domestic violence, and to talk about its impacts. The goal is to get people aware of domestic violence in the community and to get people excited about being a part of the solution. We’ve stayed pretty close to that message since the beginning.”
In its twenty years of existence, S.A.F.E. has gone from being the grassroots secret effort of two women combating domestic violence out of their own homes, to a group of women offering ongoing supportive services, including long-term transitional housing of up to 18 months, a 60 day emergency shelter facility, as well as volunteers monitoring a 24-hour hotline.
Although great progress has been made in Ravalli County over the past decades identifying domestic violence issues, and S.A.F.E. is a viable and visible part of the community, concerns still persist, horrific incidents go unreported, women and children continue to be coerced and fearful of domestic male tyrants. (Each year, more than 300 domestic violence survivors in Ravalli County seek service at S.A.F.E.; women make up 90-95% of domestic violence victims in the United States.)
It is up to every single person in Ravalli County to stand up and say they will no longer tolerate any behavior, attitude or belief that will allow these tragic situations to go on.
Ogden and Umhey say that people should seize this campaign as an opportunity to address one of the most serious social ills facing us, and use it to make positive change in the lives of themselves and their loved ones.
“It can be difficult and take incredible bravery and courage to step forward,” says Umhey. “But this is something we cannot accept.”
Ogden says people need to utilize and access the services available in the community that can help them achieve effective and long-term change.
“There are woman out there experiencing emotional violence and people in relationships who experience terrible fear, and are subject to another’s power and control, and as challenging as it is, we want them to know that we’ve got an airtight community response to their issues.”
Since domestic violence is in many cases, if not most, a learned behavior, working with children, says Ogden, is a smart and productive way of demonstrating, explaining, and preventing the good, the bad, and the ugly.
“Working with kids, and teaching them about healthy relationships based on equality and respect, is something we encourage,” says Ogden. “Prevention programs and school programs need more resources put into them.”
In the end, getting help usually falls on the shoulders of the victim. But those dedicated to stamping out domestic violence say friends and family and community support groups and centers could make all the difference by making sure victims know they are not alone.
“Domestic violence is still an issue, and this is where we deal with it,” says Umhey.
“Having a program like this in the community saves lives,” says Ogden.
For more information about S.A.F.E., contact Jamie Ogden at 363-2793.
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Ducks Unlimited:
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| Doing more than preserving habitat for waterfowl |
| By Shannon Selway |
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Ducks Unlimited has been around since the mid-1930s. Preserving habitat for waterfowl is its key focus, and with that core mission all of us reap its many benefits.
Prairie potholes are an extremely significant habitat source for waterfowl, and about a quarter of Montana’s potholes have been drained or filled, and over 70 percent of the wetlands in the Prairie Pothole Region have been drained or degraded. The United States is losing more than 80,000 acres of wetland habitat annually, which translates into a loss of about seven football fields every hour. Ducks Unlimited is working harder than ever to protect what it can. Embracing and preserving our wetlands is essential, not only as a habitat for waterfowl and other wildlife, but also as a significant water supply for people.
There are over 40 DU chapters in Montana with most communities haveing one nearby. DU operates totally by volunteerism, which also includes the chairmen. Hamilton’s Chapter 32 of DU’s chairman, Bill Reed, is nothing short of passionate for its cause. He has spent tireless volunteered hours on fund raising and educating folks, and it is abundantly proud of the strides Montana has made.
“For every dollar raised, DU gets back four, and that is spent in Montana,” Reed said. “We use those funds on education and conservation efforts.”
Generally those matched funds are supplemented from sources such as the Lee Metcalf Wildlife Preserve and some government assistance. Funds generated often go to supplementing a farmer. This is especially true in Eastern Montana which hosts many wetland potholes. Farmers often find it more profitable to convert their wetland into useable farmland. This is when DU comes in with funds to offset what the farmer might generate if it was converted, thus, creating a win-win situation. The wetlands remain intact via a land conservation easement and the farmer is compensated for the preservation.
The majority of Montana’s wildlife refuges, wildlife management areas and waterfowl production areas have benefited from DU’s assistance. In 2005, Ducks Unlimited completed over $1 million worth of wetland restoration work in Montana on tracts of land enrolled in the Wetland Reserve Program, covering 2,330 acres of wetland habitat. In 2006, the grassroots dollars raised in Montana was $644,173, and the total acres conserving in Montana was 45,569. This summer DU volunteers and members raised over $1 million dollars.
Montana ranks third in duck production in the lower 48 states, and the state’s DU programs are of great importance. Montana Ducks Unlimited recently received the Gold Presidential Citation award for the number one state in the nation in duck conservation. Hamilton area kids recently enjoyed a “Greenling” day of fun and education. DU taught them about decoys, retrievers and gun safety. Kids built boxes for wood ducks while attending the camp, which in turn will be strategically placed in a suitable habitat for the ducks. With the sponsorships of Farmers State Bank and other businesses, every kid won a prize.
November 15th Hamilton’s Ducks Unlimited is hosting a banquet at the Bedford building (City Hall). With the purchase of a ticket ($75/single; $100 couple) attendees will automatically be enrolled as DU members.
Reed stresses that volunteers are every bit as important as the fund raising, and DU sure could use the help. Putting on the banquet requires a lot of helping hands, but it won’t take too much time – just a couple of meetings and setting up the banquet.
To inquire about membership or volunteering, Bill Reed is more than happy to take your call at: 821-0187, or you can drop by his business, Darby Espresso, for the best cup of coffee in the Root.
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From inside Bitterroot National Forest
A Fire Fighter’s Perspective of Fire Season 2007 |
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Intro by Nan Christianson, Bitterroot NF Public Affairs Officer
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Hundreds, if not thousands of firefighters set aside work on their home units, and left their families to respond to wildfires on the Bitterroot National Forest this summer.
The jobs are varied, but nearly all combine a few common elements: long hours, important responsibilities, and above all, a commitment doing any job that is asked safely.
We’re fortunate that one firefighter who visited our Forest, Brandon Overhardt of the Black Hills Fire Use Module, was willing to share a description of his work.
My Views from Paradise, Brandon R Oberhardt,Black Hills Fire Use Module: 8/24/07
I’m looking across the Snake Creek drainage at the Snake fire (wildland fire use fire -WFU). It’s been burning since July 19 but today there are only ten visible smokes. Hiking, it took my partner Rob Schultz and myself more then an hour to get to the lookout point; it’s 1,200 feet straight above camp. In the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness there are two directions. That’s either up or down.
The sun is at my back, highlighting the torched-out trees from the Snake fire. This fire is located on the corner of a dog-leg in Snake Creek drainage, which is located in a side drainage of the Selway River drainage. The fire’s location shelters it from the prominent southwest wind. The result has been that during a time of record breaking burning conditions, or ERCs (Energy Release Component), the Snake Fire has grown little. Despite 40 mph wind gusts in the area the fire is still just over 200 acres.
(ERC- Energy Release Component is a term used to quantify the dryness of forest-wide fuels)
Even though the Snake fire has had no major runs and received two days of substantial moisture this fire still has potential to grow. Light, white, scattered smoke drifts through the tops of the trees at the crest of the ridge above 5,000 feet. Judging by the smoke, it’s slowly burning heavy, deep, mixed conifer litter.
The Snake fire is living on borrowed time. On August 19, a wetting rain tempered the extreme burning conditions present in the Snake Creek drainage. Now the only active perimeter on the Snake fire is on the eastern edge. The days are becoming shorter and the nights are getting colder. This means shorter burning periods, and less time for the Snake fire to grow.
That being said, this is not the time for firefighters to become complacent. Day and night the fire continues to work its way through rock scree slopes, knapweed laden ridges, and shaded wet fuels. The incident team managing the Bitterroot Wildland Fire Use Complex is concerned that after a few warm days, and a continued drying trend, the fires in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness will have the potential to threaten public lands and forest visitors once again.
The values at risk are two Forest Service work stations, Paradise and Cooper’s Flat. Cooper’s Flat Cabin has been wrapped in fire resistant material and a sprinkler system powered by a Mark III pump has been put in place. Coopers Flat is a difficult structure to protect because it is in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness.
To get there from Paradise Work Station it is a nine-mile walk. Paradise Work Station is on the edge of the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness Area so it is accessible by vehicle. This Forest Service workstation is crucial to managing hundreds of square miles of wilderness in the surrounding area. A hose with sprinklers and attack nozzles surrounds the compound. This system is also powered by a Mark III pump that’s drawing its water out of White Cap Creek.
This is why the Black Hills Fire Use Module is still camped at the Paradise Work Station, and why I am posted as a lookout today. I am here to watch, and to be vigilant. Rob and I have an excellent view looking straight across Snake Creek drainage at the Snake fire. Looking down canyon Snake Creek runs into the Selway River drainage.
Looking up the Selway drainage the smoke from the Magruder Wildland Fire Use, or “WFU” fire and the South Saddle WFU fire is visible. In every direction I look the continuous mountains are checker-boarded with fire scars. From this high vantage point I can see the mosaic patterns of wildfires on a land scale basis. The Snake fire is filling its role in the greater scheme of things. Today, there is blue sky once again.
Over the last three years, I’ve been in Idaho over three months working on wildfires. This is the first week I’ve been able to enjoy the deep blue skies of Idaho. It is amazing how beautiful Idaho really is.
Rob and I alternate every hour who will take weather. This information is taken to track weather trends and to pass on to the incident meteorologist. The weather information is crucial for fire fighter safety, to understand why the fire is behaving the way it is and to track future weather trends.
Being a lookout is a crucial job on the fire line. The person acting as a lookout provides weather information, acts as a communication relay, observes fire behavior and keeps track of the location of fire crews.
This task is difficult, especially on a day like today. There is absolutely nothing exciting going on. Fire behavior is minimal, nobody is working on the fire, and the air is very still. But fire is never still. So here we sit, watching, waiting on time to pass, as the next moments will reveal what the Snake fire is fully capable of. Fire Use Modules (FUM) include seven to ten specialized firefighters available as a team to support interagency fire management assignments, with emphasis on fire use events.
They can also be utilized for other emergency incidents (fire suppression), prescribed burns and hazardous fuels reduction projects. FUM’s are self-contained and self-sufficient in most aspects and are often assigned to remote wilderness fires where they implement fire management tactics, monitor local fire and weather conditions and utilize wilderness survival techniques. FUM’s carry with them firefighting equipment, laptop computers, weather equipment, Global Positioning Equipment, water filtration systems, and camping gear as a normal part of their gear.
Wildland Fire Use Wildland fire use events are naturally-ignited fires managed over a long period of time to restore the role of fire as a critical natural process. The fires are expected to restore or maintain ecosystems and increase the diversity of habitat for plants and animals by creating a mosaic vegetative pattern of differing size classes and ages.
Reducing fuel accumulations built up over time and breaking up the continuous tree canopies through wildland fire use can reduce the potential for larger catastrophic fires in the future.
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The Gold Creek Gamblers
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| Bitterroot’s unique source for bow hunting supplies and home decorating decisions |
| By Wm. W. Whitfield |
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It has long been believed that Francois ‘Benetsee’ Finlay, an employee of the Hudson’s Bay Company, first discovered gold on an upper tributary of the Clark Fork sometime between 1850 and 1852. Reportedly, Finlay brought the gold in to trade at Fort Connah, where he was warned by the chief factor not to spread the word of his discovery. Around the same time, a short entry in the Fort Owen Journals dated February 15, 1852 simply states, “Gold hunting…found some.”
Apparently Major Owen didn’t make the entry himself, and for the most part it remains unclear who wrote it or where the gold was found, but presumably it was somewhere near the fort in the Bitter Root Valley.
That simple journal entry still stands as the first documented reference to gold being discovered in what would eventually become the Treasure State.
The following year members of a railroad expedition led by Isaac Stevens, the newly appointed Governor of the recently formed Territory of Washington, may have also managed to pan some colors on Benetsee Creek, or what would eventually be referred to as Gold Creek. These early discoveries represented the first real gold strike in Montana, and like the more famous camps that were soon to follow, the opportunity there in the early 1860’s attracted more than a few men of a somewhat questionable character.
According to the journals of James Stuart, on the 14th of August 1862, three men arrived at Gold Creek with “six good horses, but very little in the shape of a traveling outfit.” James and his brother Granville had been working the gravel bars in the area off and on since a prospecting venture in 1858 seemed to show some promise. The brothers were returning from the California gold fields when they somehow caught wind of the recent discoveries near Deer Lodge. Both men kept a regular journal of their adventures, and today those entries offer a priceless insight into the daily life of an early Montana gold camp.
Two of the men Stuart describes in his journal, “showed that they were on the gamble, and one of them kept his belt and revolver on, and rather posed as being a bad man.” By August 24th Stuart claimed, “our monte sharps are about to take the town,” which would seem to indicate that they had an uncanny ability to win more often than not. The following day two men arrived from Elk City, Idaho, in pursuit of the card sharps, who had apparently stolen the horses they rode in on. One of the men was “armed with a double barreled shot gun heavily loaded with buckshot, and a Colt’s Navy revolver.”
The two-man posse soon found their men at a game of monte in a nearby saloon, and ordered them to throw up their hands. One of the outlaws instantly reached for his revolver and received a full load of buckshot for his effort. The other ran into a corner yelling “don’t shoot, don’t shoot, I give up!”
The next morning the gambler was buried with the “monte cards clenched so tightly in his left hand and his revolver in his right, that they could not be wrenched from his grasp.” An ad hoc jury quickly sentenced the other gambler to be hung within half an hour, and the third man, who they had fallen in with along the trail, was given six hours to leave the country. Stuart succinctly stated, “needless to say, he left a little ahead of time.” Before meeting his untimely demise, the condemned man was allowed to write a letter to his father detailing his fall into a life of crime, and begging for his forgiveness. The confessional was probably never delivered and Granville later noted, “I have an indistinct impression that Brother James destroyed it, for of course, we would not send such a letter to anyone’s father.” The hanging at Gold Creek has the dubious honor of being the first on a long list of lynchings that took place during the gold rush days of Montana.
Just a couple of weeks later James Stuart took the oath of office as Sheriff of Missoula County, Washington Territory. His brother Granville had been elected County Commissioner and Frank Woody had been chosen as auditor. Frank and Granville immediately set out for the county seat, which was at Hell Gate, to begin organizing the county government.
Granville Stuart picks up the story from there. “On our way to Hell Gate at Beaver Dam Hill we met two fine looking young men. One of them said his name was Henry Plummer, the other was Charles Reeves. Woody and I told them who we were. They were from Elk City on Clearwater, and enquired about the mines at Gold Creek and at Beaverhead. They rode two good horses and had another packed with their blankets and provisions. We liked their looks and told them that we were only going down to Hell Gate and would return to Gold Creek in a few days and asked them to return to Hell Gate with us and then we could all go up the canyon together. They accepted our invitation and in a few days we all went up to Gold Creek together.”
The town of Hell Gate was an early trade center located at a junction of well-established Indian trails just a few miles west of Missoula.
While Plummer and Reeves stayed with the Stuarts at Gold Creek, Granville and their longtime traveling companion, Reece Anderson, went to work on fixing Plummer’s double barreled shot gun, “which had been broken off at the grip, coming through the timber from Elk City.”
Or at least that’s the story the infamous outlaw told at the time! According to the journal entry of James Stuart, “Reece forged four strips of iron about five-eighths inch wide and three and one-half inch long and Granville set them into the gunstock on top and bottom of the grip, and screwed them down solid so that the gun stock was stronger than before it was broken.” The next day Frank Woody and another man headed out for some newly discovered placer mines on the Beaverhead River, and Plummer and Reeves went with them. Who knows how many men fell afterwards from the blast of that newly restored shotgun, or how much gold was promptly handed over while staring down those two deadly barrels? Both men were later implicated in a string of robberies and murders and were sentenced to hang, but not before Henry Plummer had managed to get himself elected Sheriff of both Bannack and Virginia City! That fact alone would seem to prove that Granville Stuart wasn’t the only early Montana pioneer who was guilty of a momentary lapse of good character judgement.
Afterwards things seemed to settle down considerably at Gold Creek. By the end of the year James and Granville Stuart had also decided to go to the diggings at Beaverhead, leaving Reece Anderson to mind the holdings at Gold Creek. Granville and his brother planned to open up a butcher shop, and Frank Woody would run a grocery.
The rich placer mines on the Beaverhead were actually on a small tributary called Grasshopper Creek, and the discovery of gold there was destined to become one of the biggest bonanzas the state has ever seen.
The bustling little camp soon took on the name of Bannack, and would eventually become the site of Montana’s first Territorial Capitol, but that of course, is a whole other story.
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Cooking With Wildlife Chef Vince
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| ByChef Vince |
This month is the month that many a young and old hunter alike have been greatly looking forward to -- Big Game season opens! Now they can get that much desired big buck or elk. Getting that big critter harvested is the easy part of the hunt. The work now begins, if you want to have a freezer filled with tasty meat, take a few precautions.
As soon as the animal is down is when care of the meat begins. After the critter has been cleaned out be sure to remove all debris from the cavity. A small amount of water carried in your pack and a cloth will go a long way in keeping your meat palatable. I like to wipe the cavity clean with the damp cloth and be sure to remove any dirt or pine needles, etc. from the cavity. If you are not going to mount the head, split the animal from the rear all the way up and to the head.
Be sure to remove the wind pipe because it retains heat. The shoulder area needs to be cooled out as soon as possible because this area really will sour faster than most areas of the animal. Remove the hide as soon as possible. If you want to keep the cape for mounting, cut behind the shoulders and peel the hide up to and over the head.
The following list of helpful tools will make cleaning the animal easier. Carry several sets of disposable latex or rubber gloves, to keep hands clean and to remove entrails. When removing scent glands, the gloves keep the odor off of your hands, and be sure not to touch the meat with these gloves. Put a new pair of gloves on when removing blood and debris from the animal’s cavity. I keep a large tarp in the truck so I can skin the animal as soon as possible without getting the carcass dirty. Next be sure you have a good quality game bag handy to bag up your kill. It keeps the dirt and dust off while letting air in to cool the carcass down. Never use plastic bags to store meat or to bag the animal as it will spoil your meat.
A good rule of thumb is to carry several knives with you. One should be for fine work, and one should be for splitting the animal, and another should be for skinning. Carry a good steel or other sharpening tool. This helps to keep a good edge which makes things a lot safer because a dull knife causes more injuries than a sharp knife. If a long way from the rig and you need to bone out the animal, carry quarter bags to put your boned out meat into.
If the weather is warm and you have problems with flies and yellow jackets be sure to carry black pepper or Pam vegetable spray. These problem insects do not like these items when applied very liberally on the skinned animal. They do not harm the meat. One more very important item is to always have a good quality first aid kit. You never know when you may nick or cut yourself. Disinfectant and a bandage could save problems long after a hunt.
Hunting is a great way to teach your young ones fair chase and sportsmanship. Now is the time for a great recipe. With cool weather upon us what is better than a pot of Quick Venison Chili.
What you need:
• Three pounds of venison - cubed or ground course
• One 28 oz. can tomato sauce
• Two 28 oz. cans of diced tomatoes with juice
• Two large onions chopped
• Three cans kidney beans
• One 7 oz. can chopped green chili peppers
• Quarter cup olive oil
• Three cloves garlic - minced
• Four tablespoons red chili powder (more if you desire)
What you do:
In a large Dutch oven or cooking pot pour the olive oil and add the onions and garlic. Sauté for five minutes and then add the venison and brown the meat. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer for 60 to 90 minutes. Be sure to stir several times so the chili does not stick. Serve in individual bowls with grated cheddar cheese and chopped onions if you want a better kick.
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