went away. We blasted this incredible amount of dynamite 3 times a day- not all on my shifts. Helicopters routinely moved drilling equipment and people around from site to site and one day that I did not witness, one of the helicopters got too close to the blast and everyone was killed. On another occasion, one of the bush planes had crashed on its entry into Atigun Pass and we all had to spend time searching for the airplane where others had died. Fortunately, I did not see that either, even though I was on one of the search teams.
Bearded Worker, Alaska circa 1971, Photo by Barry Epstein
The excitement was not just on top of the mountain but elsewhere. The road construction was also on the tundra at the base of the mountain so many days, the helicopter took me over the pass and dropped me off to work, miles from everyone. But the first time this happened, there were three wolves at the proposed landing site and I commented to the pilot to land somewhere else. He virtually said something about man-up and he proceeded to drop me right where the wolves were! He also said that he would pick me up in exactly 12 hours in the same spot.
Well I knew a great deal about wolves as I had read many books in University, but I never had such a face to face interaction before in the wild. I was not allowed to carry a gun so all I had was a backpack full of food! I had remembered reading that the lemming population was at its peak and these small rodents represented the main diet of wolves. Essentially, when the cycle was at its peak, the aggressiveness of the wolves was at its minimum. I immediately saw signs of this as the tails of the three wolves were between their legs and they did not exhibit any assertive behavior.
So, I started hiking and doing my job, which included finding the surveyors markers and using the blue prints to insert stakes that marked the right-of-way for the road. The wolves would follow me and I kept looking at them every few seconds. They were impressive creatures and I was so grateful to have this opportunity to be with them in the wild. After a few hours I took my lunch break and threw some of my food to them. They would have come and eaten out of my hands but I knew that many animals north of the Yukon River had rabies and I didn’ t want to chance it. They would not fight each other for the food that I gave them but sometimes they would eat and poo at the same time.
Purchased photo Artic Wolf
My trust for them grew each hour and each day. I spoke to them regularly, I watched them jump and move around quite a bit and we essentially became friends! One day, I had seen a rare blond grizzly bear quite a distance away. The bear appeared most days but was usually far enough away that didn’ t bother me that much as you can literally see for miles in the Alaskan tundra. On some days, I actually took a short nap as the wolves were very nearby. I had a feeling that I was safe from the bear and never felt unsafe by being around the wolves. It was an incredible feeling for me and each time I watch my favorite movie, Dances With Wolves, I remember my time with these incredible creatures.
One day after returning from the helicopter ride back to camp, there was a flurry of excitement as people were running around. I had noticed that the blond grizzly bear had found its way to camp and was now walking down the wooden runway that connected the sleeping quarters to the mess hall. This was unbelievable as it was a potentially life threatening situation. We had no guns in camp. Then several Alaskan Fish and Game people came running up with a tranquilizer gun and shot the bear several times and it fell flat to the floor. A helicopter was soon overhead and the bear was put in a net and lifted away. Apparently, it returned the next day but I was not in camp at the time. It was then flown more than 400 miles away not to be seen again.
BARRY STEVEN EPSTEIN- PhotoAutobiography DRAFT 31 of 156