We took our first trip to the property with our son in July of 2001 with only a topo-map showing an old logging road leading right to the property. We thought it would be no problem.......We rented an ATV and the only truck we could find in town, which was about as old as the patent on the property..... We drove the first 40 miles in the truck with the ATV loaded in the back. When we got to the ATV trail, we unloaded all of our gear onto the ATV and started up the logging road....which lasted only about 200 feet until it dropped off into the river. We found a way around and started traversing the river, hoping we were going in the right direction. After a couple hours we reached a spot in the river that we thought we too deep to cross, so we turned back. Discouraged, we loaded everything back into the truck and went back to Nome. The next day we found the friend we were looking for at a restaurant called "Fat Freddies". She hollered at everyone in the room "Can anyone give these folks directions to the Casadepa river?" Soon a very helpful man gave us directions and off we went. Luckily, when we got to the ATV trail, there was another group headed our way and offered to show us how to get there.....traversing a river, driving up on an old cordouroy road, going by Ruby Roadhouse and then following the Casadepaga River to our place. Rolling Tundra hills for as far as we could see and the big beautiful Casadepaga River. We set up our tent on the first corner of the property we got to. Chris immediately set out with the gold pans to see what he could find. It wasn't long before he found color! He showed Christopher and Marilyn how to pan for gold and everyone found some gold. We went back to the tent for our last night on the river, very quiet and peaceful. The next morning we were up early and walked over to look at the river and saw what we thought was a brown bear....oh no. Then we saw another one, and another. It wasn't brown bear, it was a huge herd of Muskoxen. There must have been 40-50 total, males up on the neighboring hills keeping a watchful eye, females down in the river with their babies playing in the river. We video taped as long as we could, but we had to get packed up and back to Nome. We found out what we wanted, there was gold onsite and it was a beautiful area. The next year we went back and spent about 3 weeks on the property and found an old miner's cabin on the property made of railroad ties. The roof had caved in, but we were able to scrounge enough lumber to put up rafters and a tarp, then found enough metal roofing to cover most of the roof, which ended up saving our lives......
A few years later, Chris and Marilyn were at the property. Lori and Ken Elliott had just come up to visit and left just 3 days before. We went outside in the morning to brush our teeth when we spotted a brown bear across the river, Yikes. Chris yelled to scare it away, but it charged instead. Chris told Marilyn to get a gun, she got the pistol from the cabin. He took one look at and said, "better get the big gun". Marilyn got the rifle and he told her to get on the roof. He shot a warning shot into the river in front of the bear, but he kept coming. He shot again next to him and the bear veered of into the willows. We spent the next 4-5 hours up on that old metal roof, waiting for the bear to leave. At one point he circled around behind the cabin sneeking up on us, but we yelled and he ran off to the blueberry field just a couple hundred feet away from the cabin. He eventually left and didn't return. That old cabin saved our lives. We have only used shovels and sluice boxes (both highbanker sluice and regular sluice boxes) in our attempt to find gold on the property. Our friend came down one day with a suction dredge, but it was only one small spot and not very successful. We have built a newer cabin now, just a bunkhouse (approx. 8' x 12' with a small 4' addition for tools). There is a double and single bunk, fold up table, oil heater stove, sink (no running water or drain), counters, shelves. It's perfect for a summer operation. All of our supplies are brought out with ATV's hauling small trailers. We boil river water for drinking and it works well. We tried to go up every summer, but bad health and "life" has prevented us from going up as often as we want to. It is fantastic property, not only for mining, but there are lots of places to explore, lots of wildlife, and lots of peace and quiet. We always wanted to build a stone cabin, but haven't had the resources to build it. Maybe someday.
