I am fortunate to live in Alaska. I am even more fortunate to have been involved in GOLD mining here since I first came to Alaska in 1980. Most of my experience in mining has been in the Circle Mining District. The reason for this is I met people that mined there almost immediately after coming to Alaska. The area holds special meaning for me.

One of the unique things about this mining district is that it holds an annual miner's picnic. I was amazed when I first went to one and was welcomed even though I was not a miner and I also didn't know anyone there. The people in this mining district are the friendliest I have met anywhere.

1998 was the first time I had attended a picnic in about 10 years! It has changed in some ways during the years and it has also remained the same. It has most certainly become a bigger celebration. One thing about the picnic that has made it a great success is that it is held on the First Saturday of August. Makes it easy to remember and comes toward the end of the mining season here.

I was up in the district working on my newly filed mining claims and Saturday Morning rolled around. I gathered up my wife Lee Ann and two children, Gabriel and Maleaha and we all headed to town for the picnic. When I say "town", I mean an intersection in the road where you can either continue on to Circle or turn right and head to Circle Hot Springs. Central is a very small town. Very much like the town where I grew up in New Mexico. Coincidentally...a town with the same name! Central, New Mexico. Somehow this just seems to hint at some sort of predestined fortune.

This year the picnic was being held at the Central Museum. The Central Museum is a very nice little museum in the middle of nowhere. As with the rest of the town, it is staffed by some of the nicest people you will ever meet. We arrived before the festivities had begun and we helped to move a few picnic tables. I was looking for Ron Wendt. Ron is a well known author in Alaska of many very informative books on prospecting in Alaska. I had met Ron at a previous picnic many years before but not formally. I just knew who he was and that was just about it. I had recently been communicating with Ron via e-mail and we had arranged to meet at the picnic. Ron is an easy person to spot so I was looking for him. If he had been looking for me....he might never guess which short, balding middle aged guy was me. About the only thing he knew about me was that I would be wearing a White's Metal Detector hat. I spotted Ron and introduced myself. I shot some video of him so I could post some snapshots out of it here. Ron is one heck of a nice guy too....just like the rest of the folks at the picnic.

The Picnic gathered up steam in a hurry. People started to show up and pretty soon the whole place was buzzing with activity. Kinda like a hornet nest as soon as the sun warms it up. I started seeing lots of familiar looking faces. Miners I had seen around in the early 1980's and some from more recent years. The food was great!

The miners association holds an auction to raise money for their activities. Many nice items are auctioned off that are donated by many mining related businesses. There is something for just about everyone at these auctions. During the auction, it is really fun to just mingle in the crowd. You can hear miners doing business in the crowd. Making deals for heavy equipment parts, purchasing fuel and complaining about Government regulations. Working the crowd is where the really interesting action is taking place.

I am a person that likes gadgets. Now place me at a picnic on a Sunny day with good food and naturally....an ice cream machine will get my attention. But this is not just any ice cream machine...it was a gasoline powered combustion engine powered ice cream making machine. It is quite a unique contraption. I will include a photo here and a QUICKTIME MOVIE so you can see and hear it in action.

One of the more exciting activities at this year's picnic was going to the outhouse. There is a two room outhouse at the Museum. Well, waiting in line I noticed a cloud of black flies on the outhouses. The flies would land and when a person would enter or leave...the flies would become disturbed and fly around and land again. Well....it wasn't flies. It turned out to be Hornets! There was a huge hornet nest on one side of the outhouse structure and it became quite exciting to get in and out of the outhouse. Patience was a requirement. When a person left and the door slammed shut the hornets would become aggitated. One would have to watch and wait until the hornets would settle down before taking your turn and entering the outhouse. Timing was very important. Once inside...you would try to imagine the current state of the hornets to time your exit from the stall. I'm taking a wasp & hornet killing insecticide with me next year.

When we decided to leave the picnic we drove by a "bookstore" that carried used books. The bookstore was a canvas wall tent that was nextled between some spruce trees. My wife and daughter went inside to shop for books. The proprietor was not in and left a sign on his counter that said, "I am at the picnic, find your book and leave payment in the coffee can on the counter". Now tell me how many places you can buy used books that way! I Love living in Alaska. I can hardly wait until next year!!! We all returned to the mining claims and mined for another day.

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