When I worked for one of the largest mining companies in the world, it had been the very first one to open a diamond mine in the Northwest Territories province of north central Canada. The mine was actually about 175 miles north of Yellowknife (as the crow flies). Most equipment and consumables were brought up during the winter when the thousands of lakes froze over hard, and winter ice roads could be built. A popular show on satellite/cable TV documents the many hazards of driving semis over the frozen lakes to deliver goods to the several mines that now operate just below the Arctic Circle. With temperatures well into -40 degrees and lower, ice thicknesses can eventually grow to over 42 inches. While helping to bring the very first mine to production, I was able to spend a total of 16 weeks over the course of one year on site. One perk was that I soon befriended many mine employees, and of course hunting and fishing invites soon came from them.
Chapter 1: Near the Arctic
My first trip up was during late summer, and my mind was really confused when I landed at around 9:00 p.m. The sun was still up, but it seemed to be acting very funny.It was not just above the western horizon, but way north, north-west, and it headed north the later it got. Around midnight, it had dropped to just under the horizon but perfectly due north and looked more like a morning sun ready to rise in the east. By 2 a.m., the “morning” sun was already rising in the far north, north-east sky. The reverse was true when I was there just past the middle of winter, except then it rose in the far south, south-east at around 10 a.m. By 12 noon it was just above the southern horizon,and by 2 p.m. , the sun was setting in the far south, south-west sky. So within six-month’s time at the same location, I was able to experience over 20 hours of direct sunlight and later, feel cheated to only witness 4 hours of sunshine. Over the course of that year, I saw temperatures
range up to the high 80’s in mid-summer, and farther north at the mine camp, an incredible -80 F one winter day, with strong winds.
In fact, on the chalkboard outside the dinner hall was written the incredible number of-148 F for the wind chill factor! Seeing that and knowing I will never experience temperatures like this ever again, I stepped outside after dinner in just a shirt and bluejeans to experience it in street clothes. I also brought along a glass of...
water to toss in the air. Two things happened: First, I felt the inside of my nose freeze with the first breath I took. I was wise to breathe through my nose to not harm my lungs. Second- the water instantly froze in mid-air with a crackling whoosh as I tossed it as high as I could! Note that even under those extreme conditions, outside you would still see an occasional raven/crow. How their naked feet and legs did not freeze, I’ll never know. And what could they have possibly scavenged up to eat at eighty-below?
Chapter 2: Amazing Mining Camp
Surprisingly, even when only sixty-below in the winter, in many buildings I found it to be too hot.
Everything of which the massive mining compound is comprised came up on the winter ice road during the months of February to April, at which time the ice has grown to be at least 42” in depth. The first winter before mining could begin, over one-million gallons of diesel fuel were hauled up the road to fill the four storage tanks located at the camp. This was the amount of fuel needed to ensure all of the heavy equipment could operate for a full year. The diesel is also used to power the three large generators (only one needed at a time), which provide electricity and heat to the many buildings. While a mid-sized jet flies up to camp every Thursday afternoon, items that are too large or too heavy to be flown must come by truck, and only during those months when the ice is thick enough to support heavy loads. The first year during camp construction, just over 2,700 semi-loads made their way up the ice road in those few months the road was safely drivable. All of the buildings' walls included a six-inch thick rigid foam core. Only one of the CAT 16 cylinder diesel generators ran at a time. The second one was at-the-ready, to take over in case the primary one had an issue. The third was for “just in case”. Over 17,000 gallons of antifreeze ran through and was warmed by the running generator to provide heat to much of the compound. The electricity it produced also provided heat for areas distant from the main building complex. Surprisingly, even when only sixty-below in the winter, in many buildings, I found it to be too hot.
...
With hourly employees working two weeks on, two off, and salaried working Monday through Thursday, the company did all it could to make the employees stay as pleasant as possible. Dorm-style rooms accommodated only two people; one on day shift and one on nights- 12 hours each. So workers never shared the room at the same time. The windows had solid pull down shades which ran in grooved channels, so day or night, the sleeping rooms could be totally dark. There was a gym with basketball and racquetball courts, a running track, and a full weight room. The food was so good, the first time I went up for three weeks, I gained 7 lbs.! Gourmet chefs prepared three meals a day and always had several choices for the entre. For dinner, there might be a choice of lasagna, fried catfish, or steak. The problems came when anyone tried some of each before deciding on the one really wanted! Every two weeks, there could be found a three-table spread of the most wonderful French cakes and pastries set out, looking like it was ready for a magazine cover shoot. Besides that abundance of the very best food offered for the 3 main meals, adjacent to the dinner hall was a 24/7, self-serve deli kitchen. In this wonderful room there was a full selection of sandwhich meats, cheeses of multiple varieties, and always fresh baked bread and rolls, condiments, yogurt, hard boiled eggs, and salad fixings. In the mornings, they also had over two dozen donut and pastry varieties from which to choose.I actually counted them one morning! My late night weakness was the chest freezer that contained six 5-gallon buckets of different ice creams, kept just cold enough so it was always very easy to scoop and add toppings as you please. It's easy to see why I gained weight the first time up! Working in such close proximity to so many friendly Canadians, talk soon turned to hunting and fishing. During a winter trip was when I was first asked to go along on a snowmobile caribou hunt.
Chapter 3: -30 Below Caribou
It was colder than -30 º below when my friend picked me up in his pickup truck with snowmobile loaded on back. We drove about forty-five minutes out of town to where the ice road began. The tall berms at the shoulder of the...
plowed road allowed him to simply drive his snowmobile right off into the snow- no need for a low trailer at all. I was surprised at how it started right up without a fuss at that temperature. I put on all of my cold weather gear as soon as we got out of the truck, then got on the snowmobile, sitting behind Dexter. Did I mention that besides the extreme cold, there were at least 20 mph winds blowing? Since we were both guys, I just sat with my hands to my side trying to hold on to the seat. He took off like a rocket- I did not stay on for more than a hundred feet, and then slipped/shot off the snowmobile on my rear end into the soft, deep snow. While it did not hurt and was almost a bit fun, getting powder stuffed up my legs and sleeves and around my neck was not very fun. After a few more tries, I told him I had to put my arms around his waist- there was no other way. So while Dexter again took off at full speed, going for miles and miles, I held on for dear life like his best girlfriend, with her arms wrapped around her man. At that temperature, my eyes started to tear up, and as the tears ran back on my temples, they would FREEZE to my skin before they made it to my ears. When that happened, I held on even tighter to Dexter, and buried my face against his back even more. Thirty below, plus the wind speed, and factor in the speed of the snowmobile, and I was looking at a wind chill -70 º below zero.
I was NOT having fun at all and wanted so badly to be someplace warm. After about a half-hour, we came through a group of pines and out onto a frozen lake. There to our right side, milling around in a tree line, was a herd of around a dozen caribou. They were not too taken by our sudden appearance. We stopped; my friend slipped out his rifle, and shot one at just over 150 yards, dropping him on the spot. I was never so happy to help field dress an animal in my life. The warmth of the freshly taken game was comforting to my extremely cold hands. Wool mittens do not help much with a wind chill that low. We tied the caribou to the snowmobile to drag it and made a bee-line back to the truck. I thanked Dexter so very much for taking me along, but I vowed to never do that again. Graciously, he said he would give me the meat to take home. I had eaten caribou before, so I knew what excellent meat it was and thanked him ahead of time for whatever he could spare. Early the next week, another guy at the camp said he would be going caribou hunting and invited...
me along. He said I should have a chance to get one for sure. The weather was still going to be just as cold but with virtually no wind that Saturday, so I agreed. When we got to town Thursday, I bought a license and was prepared for my second go at it. I had no rifle with me, but Marty said I could of course use his. Early Saturday, he picks me up; still -30 º below, but the air was as still as it could be. He also had his snowmobile in the back of his truck, and we do a repeat of the previous weekend, driving out of town, unloading off a snow bank, and head out with me behind, hugging my second “date” in a week just as hard. I guess up there everyone understands that is the way people have to travel as a team on a snowmobile. We had not gone but 20 minutes when we came out onto a huge lake. As we cruised the shoreline, we discovered it has lots of large bays with tree covered shoreline, but no caribou. We cut off into the trees, taking a shortcut to the far side of the lake. Just before we got back onto the ice, we stopped and looked because there were maybe sixty caribou spread out all over on the ice. Marty quickly killed the engine, pulled his .25-06 out of the scabbard, chambered a round, and hands it to me. “Here Ken, shoot a caribou- rest the rifle across the snowmobile seat and drop one!” “Where is the gun shooting, to where is it sighted in?” I asked. “Oh it’s dead on…hurry and shoot!” “Dead on at what distance?” I asked again. “Oh it’s dead on at any range! Now shoot!”
Seems as though his dead-on rifle, missed the 200 yard caribou, but dropped one directly behind it
So I took very careful and steady aim at a nice bull that was standing broadside at around 200 yards. BANG! The caribou just stood there like nothing happened. Marty started hooting and hollering, jumping all around, then he pounded me on the back, shook my hand and congratulated me. “I ain’t EVER seen anyone make a shot like that before, not ever! That has to be well over 400 yards, Ken! Helluva shot, hell-uv-a shot!” Confused, I stand up as my 200 yard caribou walks off. Out on the ice, I saw a caribou lying on its side, motionless on the snow covered ice. He was well over 400 yards away. Seems as though his dead-on rifle missed the 200 yard caribou, but dropped one directly behind it where it stood over 400 yards away! Not wanting to break Marty’s bubble, I simply said...
to him, “Yeah… that one was just too close, not very sporting, so I went for the far one…” Yes, I actually did drop him with one shot at well over 400 yards, but did I really need to crush Marty’s enthusiasm? Besides, for the rest of his life, I am sure he will enjoy telling stories of the incredible rifleman from the US who dropped a caribou at over 400 yards with one shot..
Chapter 4: Frozen Caribou
I swung by Dexter’s garage later that morning to drop off the caribou. He said he would butcher and wrap it for me right away. My flight back home was leaving very early the next day, so he’d leave a gray plastic tote bin with lid outside of his garage (after all it was -30 º below) for me to just grab and go. When I showed up at 5 am, true to his word, there sat a 24” x 30” x 16” grey tub; I could hardly even move it. Fortunately, with the snow on the ground I was able to slide it over to my rental car, taking considerable effort to do so. It felt like several sacks of premix concrete were inside, and I had a horrible time getting it into the car, on the passenger side, by myself. What had he put in here? At the airport, I of course got one of the little rental carts to get the tub inside to the check in line. I was flying from Yellowknife to Edmonton, then to Albuquerque. I was a little worried about declaring my luggage and the tub. A young woman was behind the counter, and I had to think quickly. Being a smaller airport, they had a pretty simple baggage system. As she took my boarding pass and started checking me in, I calmly stated, “This tub is a little heavy. I don’t want you to hurt yourself, so I’ll just put it on the conveyor belt for you.” She thanked me and seemed pleased that I was being so courteous.
I boarded the plane in a bit, and rested back knowing once they accepted the tub, it would be smooth flying all the way to my final destination in New Mexico. I forgot that Edmonton was a customs airport. The flight would be leaving Canada and landing in the US. So that meant I had to collect my bags there and recheck them on the flight to Albuquerque. As the next flight was pretty tight, I started to get a little worried. When we landed in Edmonton, I went to collect my luggage with everyone else from the flight. After a short while, I have my suitcase, but no tub. I waited and waited until finally time was almost running out. I approached the lost luggage office...
and inquired, saying I am missing one piece of luggage. “And would that be a gray tub?” the man asked. “Yes it would.” I quickly replied. “It was sooooo heavy it stalled out our conveyor- shut it right down- it sure did.” He seemed just a little upset. “You are going to have to pay an excess weight fee on this.” That was fine by me. Caribou meat is some of the best tasting wild game there is. It took two guys to get it up on the scale- 243 lbs- the red LED readout showed! Two-hundred and forty-three pounds! What was Dexter thinking?
“You are going to have to pay an excess weight fee on this.” That was fine by me, as caribou meat is some of the best tasting wild game there is.
“That can’t fly as luggage. You’ll have to take it over to air freight on the other side of the airport,” he offered. I was doomed, as my flight left in half an hour.
And even after I landed in Albuquerque, I still had a three hour drive home. Looking at the tub, I saw a small crack in one corner, and that it was starting to weep just a little. There was no way they were going to let that go all the way down to New Mexico in that condition, and what could I do with 243 lbs. of thawing caribou in Edmonton? “That is 243 lbs. of butchered and wrapped caribou meat. Do you think you could find a soup kitchen that could put it to good use?” I hopefully asked. “That is quite generous of you sir. Yes, I can find a place where it can be put to good use. Good day to you and have a safe trip home!”
“That is 243 lbs. of butchered and wrapped caribou meat. Do you think you could find a soup kitchen that could put it to good use?”