About The Blue Ribbon Miners
A Family Mine
Working Together for a Common Goal. And Having Fun and Adventure! Girls can mine also! And they can run Big Iron, in the Bush, and still stay clean! STEAM! (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Maths). The 5 gallon bucket is to keep the Big Bucket off the ground, and may be considered "For Scale." And my defensive stick in the lower right corner means they can focus on the experience.
In addition to The Girls, as they were known as in The Mining Country, getting all sorts of academic awards from 1st grade, they got hands on-real-life experiences, such as: A 7.5 cubic yard Hough Loader! And remote wilderness experience that resulted in a very strong sense of self-reliance, inner strength, resilience, adaptability, and Teamwork, while learning all sorts of Life Skills. The 2 little girls in the bucket camped in the Sockburn Cabin when they were still in diapers, and just arrived via the Alcan, in late November.
One cubic yard of the gravel under that loader is, dry, 3,500 pounds, a ton is 2,000 pounds. So, take 7.5 x 3500, or ~ 26,250 pounds, just in that bucket, and easily liftable! You could put, 328, @80 pound kids in that bucket and drive away!
But, we had just "rescued" that loader, only because the owners had gotten it stuck in a non-creek, and besides being a nuisance, and a hazard to navigation for the Willow Creek landing strip that we were using and maintaining, they had blown the head, so the kids, or anyone, would not have started it there beside the landing strip.
Blue Ribbon Mine, Gold Nugget-rich Blue Clay & Trommel
C. 1996. The first ~30 seconds of the video are blank, Do Not Adjust Your TV Set! This is where the intro will be.
A better version is forthcoming, I'm just learning the Linux video editor KDEnlive.
Outreach and Education Sharing
See our Outreach Page for further information.
More than Precious Metals
Early in 1913, Laurence was grubstaked with $400 in gold and a letter of credit by a group in Valdez to paint Mount McKinley for exhibit at the Panama Pacific Exposition in San Francisco.
He camped south of the mountain during the summer, returning to Valdez in the fall, and through the fall and early winter painted a 6-foot x 12-foot view of Mount McKinley.
The painting, “Top of the Continent” (1914),11 was accessioned into the National Collection of Fine Arts (now the National Museum of American Art) of the Smithsonian Institution in 1915. The piece remained in the custody of the Smithsonian Institution for more than fifty years, but it was later removed from the collection and has passed into private hands.12 Laurence’s views of Mount McKinley were extremely popular both with locals and wealthy visitors and it became his signature image.
"Top of the Continent" is a significant painting by Sydney Laurence, an American Romantic landscape painter known for his depictions of Alaska. The painting was created in 1914 and showcases Laurence's talent as an Alaskan Impressionist. It is currently in a private collection in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Laurence's work captures the beauty and ruggedness of the Alaskan wilderness and has made him one of Alaska's most important historical artists. See More: https://www.alaskahistory.org/biographies/laurence-sydney/
Raymond L. Garrett is on the closing credits of "Laurence of Alaska" (KAKM-TV) as "Denali Camp Cook", and I, Dennis Garrett, have a lower billing, and was the Guy that led the film crew to the various spots, while also providing commentary, and security while they filmed, and camped. It was Our Honor to contribute to a Public History Venture!
Summary:
Name: Blue Ribbon Mine, LLC.
Alaska Entity #10130813
Alaska Business License #2194989
MSB License #51474
NACIS codes, Primary 212220 Gold Ore & Silver Ore Mining, Secondary 212290 Other Metal Ore Mining.
IRS-EIN. 99-1845209
Mailing Address: P. O. Box 520481, Big Lake Alaska 99652
Email: BlueRibbonMine@proton.me
We take privacy and personal security very seriously, and so https://blueribbonmine.com/ is secure, and our proton mail and account is HIPPA-Compliant. And why is that, and also no "Social Media"? Quod Possum!
GOLD!
"Gold is where you find it, and where you find it, is where you mine it." The above photo was originally in color, it's on Lucky Creek, c. 1989-93, but in B&W, can be 1889 instead. Raymond L. Garrett, left, and Dale James, right. They built a wooden sluice with a wall to throw the shovel full of paydirt, and stacked all those large and heavy rocks, by hand. I'd panned some chunky, rusty gold from this spot, and said "Follow Me". They cleaned out a very nice pocket in Tertiary gravels, about 65 million years old.
About the author and instigator
Dennis R. Garrett was born the Son of a U. S. Navy SeaBee in Port Hueneme (and you can just imagine the fun this little smartassed boy exploited that particular spelling funtime, especially in the military!), and grew up in rural Minco, Oklahoma, a life filled with old-fashioned small-town culture, values, Community, exploration and adventure. He had a love of science, nature, history, languages, the military, and the world from an early age and was encouraged by his family and friends.
In 4th grade he read stories of Jack London and others, and set his sights on the last frontier. When he was barely 17 and in the army, he drove to Ft Richardson, Alaska from Ft. Bliss, El Paso, Texas in a newly-purchased, but used, 1972 Chevy Nova, with the intent to fulfill at least 2 dreams: To be a Soldier, and to be an Explorer. Except for Army travel, contract jobs, vacations and other side trips, he has been here ever since. While he claims no degrees other than “Absolute Zero”, (reaching absolute zero is impossible due to the laws of thermodynamics and the irreducible motion dictated by quantum mechanics, ergo, having such a goal gets him out of bed every morning before the Rising Sun!) but does have some relevant education from the finest schools and extensive Field Experience, and continues his education, training, and improvement to this day.
He is the author of The Field Guide to Alaska Rocks and Minerals, and has been featured in print and film; has taught courses in basic prospecting, geology, and tech-related courses, and is quoted and cited by numerous authors and publications; and provides services to the mineral industry, governments, and local Community organizations. He is the discoverer, developer, owner and operator of The Blue Ribbon Mine.
Brief of Education/Experience/Skills etc. available upon request, but it won’t equate to an Impressive Wall of Framed Papers, it’s Real-Life application in the field, where the discoveries are.
He may be contacted via HIPPA-Compliant secure email at AkAu79@protonmail.com