An Alaska Story - Snow Pictures

This is a true story: Fairbanks has been at 45 BELOW ZERO in recent weeks. There is a man who gold mines in the Fairbanks area - all year round. Last winter, people who know him talked the State Troopers to go find him when it was 50 Below. They found him both times and the miner told them to leave him alone and get the hell away from me. They did.

This year: The man was found close to death in an old shack. He had set off his beacon to get help.

The story: The miner had someone drop by his camp and robbed him of his survival gear and any gold he had. The man left him to die. The miner hiked with fall clothing in 30 to 45 DEGREE BELOW temperatures 15 miles to get to the cabin. Hypothermia had set in and the man could not get fire wood to warm up and set off his locator beacon. The Troopers went to the man and rescued him. The Troopers said he would have died during the night had they not gotten to him. He told the Troopers about the man who stole his winter gear and left him to die. He would not file a police report but said he knows who the man is.

I have this feeling that the fellow that stole his stuff would wish he were facing a judge and looking at 20 years in prison instead of dealing with the miner. True Story.

The pictures of buildings during skiing are of the Treadwell Mine buildings which were used at the turn of the century. It is now a park.