European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 9, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse Alaskan sourdough by g. Michael Harmon associated press he people who be lived their lives in Alaska wonder Why Congress can t leave room for the Earl pilgrims. Up on the Antimony claim he s been mining at Stampede Creek for 40 Odd years Pilgrim wonders the same thing. I made my first trip across this country in 1923 with a pack horse and a Young wife says Pilgrim an 86-year old Mirror of Alaska s history and pack horse and the wife Are gone but i m still Here. I plan on staying until i decide to talk comes easy for an authentic sourdough such As Pilgrim who got his first look at Alaska in 1915 As a Gold Miner. But even the toughest talkers and there Are a lol in Alaska these Days acknowledge that Pil grim s Way of life is in danger of losing its Only remaining outpost in North claim is two Miles Over a Ridge and a River from the Northern Border of Mckinley National Park a 1.9-Mil lion acre mass of Mountain and Tundra. The . House of representatives voted last Spring to expand the Park s boundaries by 3.7 million acres including Pilgrim s 20 acre Stampede As the Alaska National interest lands Conser vation act the Bill would protect 120 million acres of fed " this is my land and nobody s going to Tell me i can t mine it " really owned land an area larger than California As Parks wildlife refuges wild and Scenic Rivers forests and wilderness areas. Opposition to the Bill has been intense in Alaska. Sen. Mike gravel has threatened a filibuster in the Senate and other alaskans Are circulating petitions to secede from the Union. A poll commissioned by gov. Jay Hammond showed 67 percent of alaskans oppose the Bill. A poll commissioned by the legislature found 61 percent of alaskans favored expanding National Parks and wildlife refuges but not at the expense of continued Access and development. And the legislature has approved overwhelmingly a Resolution opposing the Bill As it is now written. Few alaskans deny that their opposition stems from emotion. They fear the Bill will hasten the end of the fron tier life that lured so Many to this Beautiful but inhospitable alaskans also question the Bill s premise that regardless of past uses and potential Oil and Mineral riches vast areas should be set aside for the Sake of Beauty and and newcomers alike recoil at unfettered growth and development As typified by the Urban sprawl of Anchorage and Fairbanks. But though they dislike much of what has happened since Oil was discovered on the North slope the Prospect of sweeping government restrictions on land use is even More repugnant. And up on Stampede Creek Pilgrim typifies the con House Bill sponsored rep. Morris Udall d-ariz., recognizes valid existing rights and won t automatically throw miners such As Pilgrim off their claims. But it would subject them to Complex rules which opponents say would have the same s claim would be among More than 64 million acres designated As wilderness areas where mining and activities such As Hunting and trapping would be subject to such restrictions As the Secretary of Interior deems necessary to preserve the wilderness character of the Winter miners such As Pilgrim transport their Ore on sleds drawn by bulldozers. Under the Bill any such movement would require permits approved by both the Secretary and Congress. And nowhere does the Bill say anything about protecting people who just want to live off the s nearest neighbor is George Davies a 41 year old los Angeles real estate executive who spends his Summers panning Gold from crooked Creek about six Miles to the met Pilgrim three years ago on his first trip into the country when he staggered up. Stampede Creek half starved after failing to make Contact with a Bush Pilot flying in supplies. I was a real mess Davies recalls. But Earl did t even blink an Eye. He invited me into his Cabin and fed me for several Days until we got a plane aware that his annual adventure will come to a halt if the lands Bill passes Davies stopped by Pilgrim s claim on the fourth of july weekend to try to buy a Home site. Look Earl Davies pleaded i be heard you say a Hundred times about How a Man ought to have a piece of land of his own. My friends Down in la think i m crazy to come up Here every year but i love this Don t want any part of your claim. I really Don t care about mining. I just want you to sell me a lot. Just a Little lot where i can build a could get no More than a Promise from Pilgrim to think about but the Appeal brought a two Day Dis Cussion of Pilgrim s life with the land the creatures that live on it and and treasures beneath son of a Miner he was born in Durango colo., in 1892. First came to Alaska in 1915 the summer before his senior year at the University of Washington working at the famed Treadwell Gold mine across the Gastineau Channel from from the University of Washington the next year with a degree in geology and mining. Refused to accept a deferment during world War i and joined an elite army unit formed to destroy German mines in the in mines in Idaho California Nevada and British Columbia. Hired by the University of Alaska in the mid-20s As its first professor of mining. Dissatisfied with academic life resigned after four years. Hung out his Shingle As an Independent mining the Stampede Creek Antimony Deposit in 1937 and purchased the claim shortly after the outbreak of world War the exception of Brief trips outside he s lived in the isolated narrow Valley Ever the past 40 years with an undefined number of wives Pilgrim has turned his claim into a comfortable compound of tin roofed log structures including a Long Low House a traditional stilted alaskan food Cache a Large barn like workshop and a bunkhouse me shall. But the dominant Structure is the Ore Mill an Irreg George Davies left and Pilgrim examine a wildflower found near their Homes. Early shaped three Story tin sided Structure on the Side the Ridge across the Creek from his log House. Inside is a Maze of pulleys belts gears crushing machines and water troughs All powered by one old diesel engine. Pilgrim climbs ladders and tiptoes along narrow catwalks like a circus aerialist. At the mine s Peak during world War ii and after grim employed up to 20 men to dig Antimony Ore fro narrow Shaft and process it in the Mill. Supplies were flown in and the crushed Ore flown from an Airstrip he built two Miles away along the a of Stony Creek which forms the Northwest Boundary Mckinley National is used As an Alloy to Harden other met and increase their resistance to chemical action. I used for example to make stainless steel and Batt digging and processing nearly 30 tons of Antii by out of the Ridge overlooking Stampede Creek Pilger stopped production when the world Market for the very White metallic element dropped drastically in Early 1970s. The Price is Back up to about $1 a Pound Pilgrim is preparing to dig again. This Udall Bill has got me All enthused again grim said Over a breakfast of pancakes made from sourdough starter he s kept for the last 40 years. This is my land and nobody s going to Tell me i mine it. They re not going to run me out with rules a regulations la be moving Ore Down the Road to the Airstrip a i m going to be mining up on top of the Ridge above Mill with a Bulldozer and a Backhoe and Down in to Creek bed too. This is still the second richest ant inn mine s voice rings with anger when he talks a the legislation and the people who support it but it s ens when he talks about the land and the Way it has fluence his on Congress a whole Bunch of them came Here last summer when Udall s committee the House terror committee was flying All Over the country holding hearings. Some of their eunuchs i guess they Call them aides came up the mine for a while. I talked t them and even went up to Fairbanks to testify. But in was like they weren t even listening. I guess it Don l make much difference what an old Man like i on bureaucrats the Park service people in Ala Are Okay. But the Guys in Washington Are liars. To Tell you one thing and turn around and do just the o site. I spend two and three hours filling out a report an just disappears. I think they just throw them away Send you another on the proposed Mckinley Park expansion they want More land period. If they had their Way the have the whole state. They talk about wilderness hell there Ain t no More wilderness. At least not there was when i came into the state. There Ain t no place you can go in this country out finding Man s Leavings an Oil drum Here a Cabin on wildlife they say the reason they want to exp the Park into this area is to protect critical habitat Moose Caribou and wolves. I Ain t seen a Caribou years and the Moose Are scarce now too. The wolves have eaten them All because the Envoi mentalists won t let anybody kill them. One Caribou Moose is Worth 100 on living in the Bush living out Here is like no else. Everybody helps everybody else but every leaves everybody else alone too. I Don t care if p want to come up Here and look around. I like to people around. But i Don t know Why the govern Mej thinks it s got to Stop me and people like me from Doi what we re at the state capital in Juneau rep. Steve Cowper chairman of a Council formed to lobby against lands Bill says he is mystified Why supporters can Compromise to accommodate people such As Pilgrim. They say they can t make exceptions for Access people who want to go out with a Little Gold dredge an 1 their thing because that would discriminate against big mining companies that need stopping Cowper a but they just Don t understand or even want to Earl Pilgrim has no plans to leave his log Cabin Home on his Antimony claim. Debate Over the future of one third of alas a s land centers on two opposing philosophies that go to the heart of the american Issue is legislation in Congress to place 120million acres of Federal land in Alaska into a. Tonal Parks wildlife refuges wild and Scenic Rivers for ests and wilderness areas. Those who support the Alaska National interest lands conservation act say it represents one last Chance to protect vast stretches of wilderness. But opponents of the Bill which passed the House and is being debated in the Senate say it violates the Ameri can tradition that land should be used to Benefit the people who live and work on it. Both sides have mounted emotional arguments to Back their positions. The National Park service said in a recent brochure that vast areas Are needed to protect wildlife in a land where climate spreads the membrane of life so thin that a single grizzly Bear May need 100 Square Miles As Terri tory Caribou herds must keep moving As they Graze and full grown Trees stand Mere inches on the other Side opponents within Alaska Call the legislation a lockup which would Block development of much of the state s natural resources based on the false Assumption that alaskans Are incapable of managing theland. We want the natural values of Alaska preserved while at the same time we want an economically feasible life for our people says gov. Jay Hammond. And we want decisions on Alaska land allocation to be made on the basis of facts and not on the basis of fear innuendo or two other historic acts set the stage for the Battle. One was the Alaska statehood act of 1958 which gave the state the right to select 103 million acres of the 375 million acres of land in the territory. The other was the Alaska native claims settlement act of 1971 which gave the state s eskimos aleuts and indians another 40 million acres of Federal land. But in passing the 1971 Bill Congress authorized a study of another 80 million acres for inclusion in the four Federal systems of Parks wildlife refuges for ests and wild and Scenic Rivers. The study ended last year with rep. Morris Udall d ariz., introducing a Bill to have it both ways to pre serve Over 100 million acres of breathtaking splendor and still leave plenty of land to be used for rational and Sensi ble economic but alaskans such As Republican . Sen. Ted Ste Vens say the Udall Bill goes far beyond protecting nation ally significant natural historic and Scenic values. As an alternative Alaska leaders have proposed to sharply reduce the acreage to be placed in the existing Federal systems while earmarking both Federal and state lands for a cooperative management approach to land use planning. Basically what we re asking for is rational planning not to be completely overcome by an extremist protectionist wave Stevens says. A f Pilgrim s Antimony claim is entered on this Cluster of buildings in the wilderness. A 3 Page 14 the stars and stripes saturday Imber 9, 1978 the stars and stripes Page 15
