An email arrived at the Hotspringlodge office one day last spring. 'Hello from Stowe Creek Yukon!!!' the header read, one of those emails that you had hoped might come someday.
It was from Nika Guilbault, whom with her partner Chris St. Jean mine a group of our old claims out there and are featured on the popular series Yukon Gold, a program shown pretty much around the world, which once more I've taken an opportunity to brag about on here.
I have posted about my adventures prospecting in the area, and it was Nika's mom Sabine who ran across my site one night on a whim, looking up the origin of the name Stowe Ck. To her surprise, there was some character out there that had written about his experiences 35 years before on Chris and Nika's claims, and appeared to be the self-proclaimed 'keeper of the crypt' for everything Stowe.
It was from Nika Guilbault, whom with her partner Chris St. Jean mine a group of our old claims out there and are featured on the popular series Yukon Gold, a program shown pretty much around the world, which once more I've taken an opportunity to brag about on here.
I have posted about my adventures prospecting in the area, and it was Nika's mom Sabine who ran across my site one night on a whim, looking up the origin of the name Stowe Ck. To her surprise, there was some character out there that had written about his experiences 35 years before on Chris and Nika's claims, and appeared to be the self-proclaimed 'keeper of the crypt' for everything Stowe.
In some state of disbelief, she sent the link to Nika at the remote Stowe Ck. mine.
"I was shocked..." Nika's long letter began.
They might of heard bar-room talk about a couple of yahoos with a helicopter and a track-mounted drill pioneering that neck of the woods back in the last century, but I'm sure would have passed it off as old mining lore. She mentioned how much she enjoyed the stories and my old pictures, then casually suggested I should come back sometime. Which was about all the encouragement I needed.
They might of heard bar-room talk about a couple of yahoos with a helicopter and a track-mounted drill pioneering that neck of the woods back in the last century, but I'm sure would have passed it off as old mining lore. She mentioned how much she enjoyed the stories and my old pictures, then casually suggested I should come back sometime. Which was about all the encouragement I needed.
She offered a room in camp, but added there was a catch, that being filming of the television series,
"...which you will most likely be asked to be part of." she warned me, and asked if it was alright if the folks at Paperny Entertainment, the producers of Yukon Gold, sent me an email too.
I've never been one to seek-out the lime-light, but for some reason, once in awhile I get caught like a deer in the head-lights. With no small amount of trepidation, I said that would probably be alright, ...I guess. "...which you will most likely be asked to be part of." she warned me, and asked if it was alright if the folks at Paperny Entertainment, the producers of Yukon Gold, sent me an email too.
A few months later....
I stopped on the Eureka summit for a picture of the Montana Creek valley below, it was great to see the old stomping grounds again after all these years and a hundred memories unfolded. In the distance I can see Stowe Ck., Chris and Nika were expecting me tonight maybe, or tomorrow for sure, and I started off down our switch-backy old road in the rental Jeep to the valley below.
I was thinking that within the hour, I would be meeting Chris and Nika for the first time, and meeting their crew will be cool and..., then, a sense of dread set-in when I reminded myself there was a film-crew down there, possibly in ambush, awaiting my arrival. I held onto the false hope they would be finished for the day, having dinner, or better yet charging their dead batteries, and I would roll into camp, meet everyone and get comfortable for a day or so with the operation, then given a few hours of acting lessons I figured I was in bad need of before being turned loose in front of any camera.
I crossed the Montana bridge, and continued across the flats to the other side of the valley, where fame or fate awaited me, driving slower and slower all the time, as if to put off the inevitable.
The inevitable met me head-on.
About when I thought I might be successful in my attempt to sneak into camp I met a vehicle, then made the mistake of stopping to say howdy.
"Great day to be in the Yukon!" I stated through the window.
"Sure is..., and say, whats your name, and where you going?" the driver asked, probably mistaking me for a lost tourist, claim-jumper, or vacuum-cleaner salesman gone badly astray.
"Robin, and I'm headed to Stowe Creek." I told the nosey bugger behind the wheel.
Well just my luck, it was Darren from the Yukon Gold film-crew!
He told me they had just been out taking some cast portrait shots, and he needed to round-up his crew again, then get Chris and Nika mic'd up for my grand entrance.
"We like to film things as they happen, first time around." he said.
"Yes, of course," I observed, like a seasoned actor.
"You stay here." he tells me, much to my apprehension, then tears off to round up the rest of his crew.
So I hung-out there back-stage on Montana Creek as directed, and getting more nervous by the minute. Soon the guys come charging back, and the other two members of the Yukon Gold crew piled out of the vehicle.
"What's the proper spelling of your name?" says Tom, the field producer, scribbling in his ever present note-book, "And how does it feel to be back." he asks.
"Like deja-vu all over" I heard myself say.
"Here, let me get this mic on you." demands Nate the sound-man, tugging at my clothing and drops a small, cold transmitter down the front of my shirt.
"Put that in your pocket." he says, "Make sure you can't see the wire, and the mic sticks to the backside of your top button."
I was thinking that within the hour, I would be meeting Chris and Nika for the first time, and meeting their crew will be cool and..., then, a sense of dread set-in when I reminded myself there was a film-crew down there, possibly in ambush, awaiting my arrival. I held onto the false hope they would be finished for the day, having dinner, or better yet charging their dead batteries, and I would roll into camp, meet everyone and get comfortable for a day or so with the operation, then given a few hours of acting lessons I figured I was in bad need of before being turned loose in front of any camera.
The inevitable met me head-on.
"Great day to be in the Yukon!" I stated through the window.
"Sure is..., and say, whats your name, and where you going?" the driver asked, probably mistaking me for a lost tourist, claim-jumper, or vacuum-cleaner salesman gone badly astray.
"Robin, and I'm headed to Stowe Creek." I told the nosey bugger behind the wheel.
Well just my luck, it was Darren from the Yukon Gold film-crew!
He told me they had just been out taking some cast portrait shots, and he needed to round-up his crew again, then get Chris and Nika mic'd up for my grand entrance.
"We like to film things as they happen, first time around." he said.
"Yes, of course," I observed, like a seasoned actor.
"You stay here." he tells me, much to my apprehension, then tears off to round up the rest of his crew.
"What's the proper spelling of your name?" says Tom, the field producer, scribbling in his ever present note-book, "And how does it feel to be back." he asks.
"Like deja-vu all over" I heard myself say.
"Here, let me get this mic on you." demands Nate the sound-man, tugging at my clothing and drops a small, cold transmitter down the front of my shirt.
"Put that in your pocket." he says, "Make sure you can't see the wire, and the mic sticks to the backside of your top button."
"Yes, ...of course." I stammered, undoing my belt.
As I'm holding my pants up and trying to get my shirt tucked back in without the goddamn cord showing, Darren, cameraman, and lead-hand, takes command of the shoot,
"Chris is in the lower cut working on the dozer, we'll go on ahead and get his mic back on him, he always likes that, and Nika is up at camp putting on her transmitter, so just toodle-on in when we call on the radio, and remember, "Just be yourself, and don't look at the camera."
With that nine-worded acting lesson, they piled back into the Yukon Goldmobile, slammed the doors and drove off.
At this point being myself was what I was afraid was going to happen.
And if I wasn't before, I was really freaked-out now.
Game on.
Seeing this on the radio they left with me, which was about to go off any moment, and standing around with a live mic on didn't help my state of back-stage jitters one bit. But I finally convinced myself all I needed to do was toodle-on in as Darren had said and meet some fellow gold-miners that share a common bond, who are no doubt just itching to pick an old-timer's brain.
I was parked there near the mouth of my Stowe Creek prospect of long ago, in the Yukon Fall sunshine, with my arm out the window of the rental, feeling very much a celebrity, at the same time thinking what a hell of a deal I got myself into this time, when suddenly the radio crackled, and I heard my final call,
"Hey Robin, anytime your ready, drive on in."
Ready or not, I was about to enter into the world of docu/reality television, and for reasons known only to myself at the time, but could best be attributed to a shaking right foot, pushed down hard on the gas of the Jeep...
Yukon Gold, Chris and Nika crew.
Nate, Darren, and Tom, embedded at Stowe Creek.
There were 4 crews filming at different operations I was told, working a 10 week filming season.
The one-eyed monster.
This is were it all goes.
I picked it up once when no one was looking, and was surprised at the weight.
Being wired for sound took some getting use to, I never quite got to that point.
The tiny mic has a two-sided sticky deal on it for attaching it to the victim, I was putting on my rig one day, trying to save the outfit money, and attempted to use the sticky deal from the last time I'm pretty sure. Not too far into the day's activities, like within minutes, Nate wanders over and takes off his head-phones,
"Mind if I check your mic" he asks, "Your not sounding very good today."
Well dang if the mic hadn't come off the top button of my shirt and fallen down and attached itself to my belly-button area instead. I reached down and got hold of the cord and gave it a tug, bringing it up with a good patch of fur attached. We got a new sticky on there, the mic back on the proper location, and he gave me the thumbs-up.
Darren started in the business as a TV newscaster, in a suit and tie in front of the camera, before moving behind and documenting events through the lens.
Tom used to rappel out of helicopters as part of a smoke-jumping outfit.
Nate was a musician skate-board dude who parleyed his interest in recording into a cool gig outdoors.
Nika's cat Digger, an unofficial member of the team, would often jump in the truck and ride happily over to Big Al's, which is quite a drive for a cat. There he would wander around, visit and supervise, then hitch a ride back to Stowe later on with the guys.
Like the miners they follow, the crew put in long days during the short mining season. They are up early, gear-on, and ready to go when the day starts.
"You never know what might happen." Nate remarked, "We don't want to miss anything".
There were the usual legal matters that needed to be taken care of for head office.
One was a form to sign and witness for the use of your face, anywhere in the universe.
Another form was for the use of any other possible images, anywhere in the universe.
I got them to fill-out the form to avoid having the Hotspring Lodge logo on my hat pixilated-out, I hope, anywhere in the universe.
There was one form signed and witnessed, understandably enough, to curtail my literary endeavors in certain areas here on Hotspring lodge until sometime next season.
They film events as they unfold, but at times Darren might ask for something specific like,
"Drive in and the three of you get out and walk for a little ways".
I was standing around blabbing once about something and needed to do a few re-takes for mentioning brand names,
"Can we do that again Rob, this time don't mention Snap-On."
Then, I had to remember what the hell it was I had said.
During the one-on-one, from behind the One Eyed Monster, Darren will present a question, which you answer back to Tom who stands next to him, smirking back at me and often it was all I could do not to crack-up. The natural tendency is to speak to everyone present, Tom ideally, then theres the Natester dangling his fuzzy-covered microphone on a stick, and especially the guy with the camera who asked the question, and you got to think hard not to look around.
You need to answer in such a way, they explained to me more than once, 'that the unheard question is obvious in your response.' Or something like that, I'm not so sure I ever did quite get a handle on it, I was having a hard time lining-up all my planets right then, and at one point joked to the guys about wasting their film.
"Don't worry about it," said Darren, "...we don't use film anymore."
If nothing else, there's enough material for a blooper marathon someday.
You got to catch the buggers when their not catching you.
The camera mounted drone was pretty interesting, swooping in and hovering around.
It was really difficult not to look at it.
Often just loading your truck is fodder for the one-eyed monster.
Darren putting up an auxiliary light in the main-room for the final climactic scene.
Or it might end up being the opening climactic scene, we'll all have to wait and see.
I was getting to be quite the old ham by this time.
A good one on Tom.
It was the end of the season for Chris and Nika and the Yukon Gold crew, and it was a pretty relaxed atmosphere around camp into that last week. The TV guys were going to be away for a few days doing something else, so I had some time to kill and volunteered to take Nika's dad Bernie into Dawson to catch a plane one day, and of course heading for Dawson, I was handed a shopping list.
Along with the usual luncheon meats and stuff for sandwiches on Nika's list, there was a request for diapers for the twins. It has been a long time since I've shopped for diapers, and ran into some difficulty making sure I got the right thing, a simple a task that may seem to some. I asked the stock-boy there but he wasn't much help, so I'm standing in the Dawson City grocery store scratching my head over this dilemma, when I bump into Tom from the film-crew. After a little chit-chat there in the aisle he told me they would be back out to camp before I left on Wednesday to shoot some footage they needed to tie things up. In the end, I accosted a woman with a small child in the store, and she cheerfully helped me select my purchase, which I signed-off on Chris and Nika's account.
So Wednesday morning comes around a few days later back out at the Stowe Ck. camp. I had heard the film-crew arrive back late the night before, the camp dogs Bo and Duke warning us all of their arrival. My room was right adjacent to the table and kitchen in the main area so you hear just about everything going on in the morning. David, the bulldozer operator was first up, and I hear him tinkering away out there making his oatmeal and checking his email as it begins to get light out.
Chris comes in, stokes the wood-stove back to life, makes a coffee in the kitchen and sits down at the large table in the main-room, followed by Riley, and soon all the gals and kids would stampede in.
Feeling like the laziest guy in camp my last day on old Stowe Creek, I lay in bed listening to Chris laying out the last days work for the guys, and gold-mining talk I was getting a kick out of.
Pretty soon Tom from the film-crew comes in and sits down at the table with the miners. Theres a little chit-chat going on and Tom at this point is wondering why I'm not at the table.
"Is Robin still around?, I didn't see his vehicle", I hear him ask.
I got a big chuckle out of that, I was afraid of my little rental getting side-swiped by those big trucks they all drive up here, and had parked it out of camp a little.
Chris replied sober as a judge, "Nope. We haven't seen him for 2 days."
I had to bury my face into the pillow to muffle the laugh.
"Say what?" says Tom.
"We thought it was kinda odd too." replied Chris.
It was a little quiet out there, then I hear Riley's New Zealand accent,
"The buggers off on a toot in Dawson we reckon."
"Off on a... toot?" Tom finally manages to respond, probably looking down at his notebook and wondering where that last footage was going to come from.
This was all getting to be too much for me, almost, listening to poor Tom stress out there, but I got up and began to get dressed, ...slowly.
"You just never know with some guys." I hear Chris state,
"They go to town, get a few in them and there's no stopping 'em."
David gets in on the gag,
"Ya, and 'ee seemed so normal too!"
There was a long silence before I hear Tom again,
"I just saw him in Dawson the other day shopping for diapers."
After reflecting on the comment for a moment, Chris inquires, "Adult diapers?"
Well poor old Tom I thought to myself, laughing into my sleeve, he didn't need this so early in the morning on his first cup of coffee, let alone the last day of shooting, and Chris was really running him through the mill. I opened the door and headed for the washroom,
"Morning miners." I said casually, slapping Tom on the back on the way by, and a moment later the whole table erupted in laughter.
He wouldn't believe he hadn't been set-up, and told me the film-crews were often the brunt of 'childish' practical jokes from the miners.
In this very spot, drilling a test-hole 35 years ago, I never thought someday I'd be back standing around for a group photo.
Nate, Tom, Darren, me and Chris, taken by Nika.
I reluctantly drove out of camp that last day, with the camera-drone buzzing me on the way out, and I began to appreciate what a unique experience it all was. After all these years, with a very cool bunch of people, and was most interesting to get a behind-the-scene look at how these programs are roughed-out in the field. But I'm sure the real fun starts with the editors back at the production facilities over the Winter. And I wish them luck is all I can say.
So, thanks a million ounces Chris and Nika, thanks for the invite.
You pretty much dumped-out my entire bucket-list that time around.
And thanks to the folks at Paperny Entertainment, who bring the world of placer gold-mining to TV sets around the globe, and gave me the two golden-rules within to write this post.
So, if you want to know more, along with me, ready or not, your just going to have to watch the series.
http://hotspringlodge.blogspot.ca/2016/03/old-timers-on-stowe-creek-1901-1981.html
https://hotspringlodge.blogspot.com/2014/11/montana-creek-big-dreams-and-last-wishes.html
As I'm holding my pants up and trying to get my shirt tucked back in without the goddamn cord showing, Darren, cameraman, and lead-hand, takes command of the shoot,
"Chris is in the lower cut working on the dozer, we'll go on ahead and get his mic back on him, he always likes that, and Nika is up at camp putting on her transmitter, so just toodle-on in when we call on the radio, and remember, "Just be yourself, and don't look at the camera."
With that nine-worded acting lesson, they piled back into the Yukon Goldmobile, slammed the doors and drove off.
At this point being myself was what I was afraid was going to happen.
Game on.
I was parked there near the mouth of my Stowe Creek prospect of long ago, in the Yukon Fall sunshine, with my arm out the window of the rental, feeling very much a celebrity, at the same time thinking what a hell of a deal I got myself into this time, when suddenly the radio crackled, and I heard my final call,
"Hey Robin, anytime your ready, drive on in."
Ready or not, I was about to enter into the world of docu/reality television, and for reasons known only to myself at the time, but could best be attributed to a shaking right foot, pushed down hard on the gas of the Jeep...
Yukon Gold, Chris and Nika crew.
There were 4 crews filming at different operations I was told, working a 10 week filming season.
The one-eyed monster.
I picked it up once when no one was looking, and was surprised at the weight.
The tiny mic has a two-sided sticky deal on it for attaching it to the victim, I was putting on my rig one day, trying to save the outfit money, and attempted to use the sticky deal from the last time I'm pretty sure. Not too far into the day's activities, like within minutes, Nate wanders over and takes off his head-phones,
"Mind if I check your mic" he asks, "Your not sounding very good today."
Well dang if the mic hadn't come off the top button of my shirt and fallen down and attached itself to my belly-button area instead. I reached down and got hold of the cord and gave it a tug, bringing it up with a good patch of fur attached. We got a new sticky on there, the mic back on the proper location, and he gave me the thumbs-up.
Tom used to rappel out of helicopters as part of a smoke-jumping outfit.
Nate was a musician skate-board dude who parleyed his interest in recording into a cool gig outdoors.
Nika's cat Digger, an unofficial member of the team, would often jump in the truck and ride happily over to Big Al's, which is quite a drive for a cat. There he would wander around, visit and supervise, then hitch a ride back to Stowe later on with the guys.
Like the miners they follow, the crew put in long days during the short mining season. They are up early, gear-on, and ready to go when the day starts.
"You never know what might happen." Nate remarked, "We don't want to miss anything".
There were the usual legal matters that needed to be taken care of for head office.
One was a form to sign and witness for the use of your face, anywhere in the universe.
Another form was for the use of any other possible images, anywhere in the universe.
I got them to fill-out the form to avoid having the Hotspring Lodge logo on my hat pixilated-out, I hope, anywhere in the universe.
There was one form signed and witnessed, understandably enough, to curtail my literary endeavors in certain areas here on Hotspring lodge until sometime next season.
They film events as they unfold, but at times Darren might ask for something specific like,
"Drive in and the three of you get out and walk for a little ways".
I was standing around blabbing once about something and needed to do a few re-takes for mentioning brand names,
"Can we do that again Rob, this time don't mention Snap-On."
Then, I had to remember what the hell it was I had said.
During the one-on-one, from behind the One Eyed Monster, Darren will present a question, which you answer back to Tom who stands next to him, smirking back at me and often it was all I could do not to crack-up. The natural tendency is to speak to everyone present, Tom ideally, then theres the Natester dangling his fuzzy-covered microphone on a stick, and especially the guy with the camera who asked the question, and you got to think hard not to look around.
You need to answer in such a way, they explained to me more than once, 'that the unheard question is obvious in your response.' Or something like that, I'm not so sure I ever did quite get a handle on it, I was having a hard time lining-up all my planets right then, and at one point joked to the guys about wasting their film.
"Don't worry about it," said Darren, "...we don't use film anymore."
If nothing else, there's enough material for a blooper marathon someday.
You got to catch the buggers when their not catching you.
It was really difficult not to look at it.
Or it might end up being the opening climactic scene, we'll all have to wait and see.
I was getting to be quite the old ham by this time.
A good one on Tom.
It was the end of the season for Chris and Nika and the Yukon Gold crew, and it was a pretty relaxed atmosphere around camp into that last week. The TV guys were going to be away for a few days doing something else, so I had some time to kill and volunteered to take Nika's dad Bernie into Dawson to catch a plane one day, and of course heading for Dawson, I was handed a shopping list.
So Wednesday morning comes around a few days later back out at the Stowe Ck. camp. I had heard the film-crew arrive back late the night before, the camp dogs Bo and Duke warning us all of their arrival. My room was right adjacent to the table and kitchen in the main area so you hear just about everything going on in the morning. David, the bulldozer operator was first up, and I hear him tinkering away out there making his oatmeal and checking his email as it begins to get light out.
Chris comes in, stokes the wood-stove back to life, makes a coffee in the kitchen and sits down at the large table in the main-room, followed by Riley, and soon all the gals and kids would stampede in.
Feeling like the laziest guy in camp my last day on old Stowe Creek, I lay in bed listening to Chris laying out the last days work for the guys, and gold-mining talk I was getting a kick out of.
Pretty soon Tom from the film-crew comes in and sits down at the table with the miners. Theres a little chit-chat going on and Tom at this point is wondering why I'm not at the table.
"Is Robin still around?, I didn't see his vehicle", I hear him ask.
I got a big chuckle out of that, I was afraid of my little rental getting side-swiped by those big trucks they all drive up here, and had parked it out of camp a little.
Chris replied sober as a judge, "Nope. We haven't seen him for 2 days."
I had to bury my face into the pillow to muffle the laugh.
"Say what?" says Tom.
"We thought it was kinda odd too." replied Chris.
It was a little quiet out there, then I hear Riley's New Zealand accent,
"The buggers off on a toot in Dawson we reckon."
"Off on a... toot?" Tom finally manages to respond, probably looking down at his notebook and wondering where that last footage was going to come from.
This was all getting to be too much for me, almost, listening to poor Tom stress out there, but I got up and began to get dressed, ...slowly.
"You just never know with some guys." I hear Chris state,
"They go to town, get a few in them and there's no stopping 'em."
David gets in on the gag,
"Ya, and 'ee seemed so normal too!"
There was a long silence before I hear Tom again,
"I just saw him in Dawson the other day shopping for diapers."
After reflecting on the comment for a moment, Chris inquires, "Adult diapers?"
Well poor old Tom I thought to myself, laughing into my sleeve, he didn't need this so early in the morning on his first cup of coffee, let alone the last day of shooting, and Chris was really running him through the mill. I opened the door and headed for the washroom,
"Morning miners." I said casually, slapping Tom on the back on the way by, and a moment later the whole table erupted in laughter.
He wouldn't believe he hadn't been set-up, and told me the film-crews were often the brunt of 'childish' practical jokes from the miners.
In this very spot, drilling a test-hole 35 years ago, I never thought someday I'd be back standing around for a group photo.
So, thanks a million ounces Chris and Nika, thanks for the invite.
You pretty much dumped-out my entire bucket-list that time around.
And thanks to the folks at Paperny Entertainment, who bring the world of placer gold-mining to TV sets around the globe, and gave me the two golden-rules within to write this post.
So, if you want to know more, along with me, ready or not, your just going to have to watch the series.
http://hotspringlodge.blogspot.ca/2016/03/old-timers-on-stowe-creek-1901-1981.html
https://hotspringlodge.blogspot.com/2014/11/montana-creek-big-dreams-and-last-wishes.html
What a great journey! That's awesome Robin :)
ReplyDeleteSee you soon, Steph.
We enjoyed this, my wife and I watch it all the time, can't wait to see our favorite blogster. Is that your crew-hat? How much you want for it.
ReplyDeleteas usual you write to entertain.. and rather well
ReplyDeleteWow Robin I was just sitting here thinking about this past season and how much fun it was at the end of the year to have you come out and show us where all the Gold was !!! It was get fun and great stories from you !!!! I laugh so hard about the kids nappies.....but I think sending any guy to get things like that would have been the same.....so your not alone !!! stay warm out there :)
ReplyDeleteHowdy Nika, nice to hear from you. Yes it was the perfect time to visit, right at the end of season like that. And thanks for the Yukon Gold crew hat, I gave it to my daughter for her 16th birthday, she is a big fan and is tickled pink to have 'Nika's toque'.
Delete