Jamboree Floats Make a Parade!!
In the business category, Double J Sports and Spirits/ABC Logging had a float with the younger “loggers” and logging equipment for first place.
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Author: Judy Bushy
Judy Bushy fell in love with the beauty of Creation along the Klamath River Valley and the friendly little town at the top of California, Happy Camp when moving here over forty years ago. She would like to share the many wonderful things about this special place where in some ways time has stood still and the beauty of forest, river and sky surround us. Yet modern technology is helpful and Computer Center is available to all of the community. It is a community that has built a log cabin school in 1933 so that our young people wouldn't have to leave to continue their education, and can still do remarkable things working together. In difficult times, our Klamath neighbors care!
48th Annual Bigfoot Jamboree complicated by Wildfires!
Lightening stuck on August 11th and fires have been growing since, and smoke has made air unpleasant for communities along the Klamath River! We had about two thousand fire fighters at the River Park when they weren’t out fighting the flames!!
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Fire Meeting Saturday Night & Wednesday
Fire Incident Command was handed over to Mike W after two weeks.
Size: 44,549 acres total for the complex
Containment: 15 percent for the complex
Date Started: August 11, 2014
Estimated Containment Date: September 8, 2014
Estimated Cost to Date: $29 million
Total Personnel: 1,972
Committed Resources: 48 crews, 11 helicopters, 131 engines, 18 dozers, 27 water tenders
First of all, for the most up to date news and opportunity to ask questions, there will be two community meetings tonight. The Seiad meeting will be at 6 p.m. at the Seiad Valley Fire Station.
In Happy Camp the meeting will take place at 7 p.m. at the Karuk Tribe Senior Nutrition Center (64101 Second Avenue). Team members and Klamath National Forest representatives will present information and answer questions about the Happy Camp Complex fires.
Mandatory Evacuation orders are in effect for the below areas. People in areas under mandatory evacuation should be aware they may not be able to reenter the evacuation area until fire danger has passed. The Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Department will be patrolling 24 hours in the evacuated areas.
Due to increased fire activity of the Happy Camp Complex, the following evacuation orders are currently in effect:
Mandatory Evacuations: Scott River Road from Bridge Flat to the intersection of Hwy. 96 and all areas south of Hwy. 96 between Scott River Road down river to Cade Summit
Advisory Evacuation: All areas north of Hwy. 96 between Scott River Road and Grider Creek
An evacuation center is located at Winema Hall at the Siskiyou County Fairgrounds, 1712 Fairlane Road, Yreka. Both large and small animals will be accommodated at the Fairgrounds. Large animal transport can be arranged through the Sheriff’s Posse. Contact Jodi Aceves, (530) 340-2422 to arrange transport. For more information contact the Siskiyou County Sheriff Department at (530) 841-2900.
Fire Information: The Happy Camp Complex has grown over 13,000 acres on Friday to 57,722 acres and is 15-percent contained. The fires merged into one.
The Faulkstein Fire: Last evening fire activity was significant with fire spread to the north and east along Highway 96. A cold front passed through the area, and shifting winds with unstable air caused a smoke plume to develop leading to an abundance of embers spreading out from the main body of the fire. Communities that are threatened by the fire are Happy Camp, Elk Creek, Seiad, Hamburg, Kelsey Creek and Scott Bar. Structure protection groups composed of hand crews and engines are engaged and are placed in strategic locations to assist in protecting homes and property should the fire move into these areas.
Structure defense groups utilize hose and sprinkler systems to assist in fighting fire. Additional duties include locating water sources and clearing of combustibles around structures. The fire is also established in Tyler Meadows and moving east toward Middle Creek Meadow’s.
The Frying Pan Fire: Friday’s fire activity over much of the Happy Camp Complex was a repeat of the previous day. The fire has reached the Klamath River just east of Grider Creek. Firefighters contained a spot fire that ignited across Highway 96 between Hamburg and Seiad. The north edge of the fire is holding west of Grider Creek, though east of Grider Creek the fire is moving to the east and northeast. Containment lines near Happy Camp and on the west side of the fire continue to hold. Air operations took advantage of the clear skies, using helicopters and air tankers to drop water and retardant on the north and south ends of the complex.
The fire is threatening approximately 200-250 structures within evacuation areas. Completed and ongoing protective actions include limbing trees, clearing brush, removing yard debris and brushing roads. A total of 131 engines are supporting fire suppression and structure protection activities within both zones of the fire.
Fire activity in the south end of the fire has slowed as it moves into the 2008 Panther Fire perimeter. Tactical ignitions took place along a dozer line in this section to strengthen and extend containment lines.
Forest Closure Order No. 14-05-755 is in effect for Klamath National Forest lands affected by the Happy Camp Complex. For details on this closure and other fire area closures, please see http://www.fs.usda.gov/alerts/klamath/alerts-notices.
Approximately 75 percent of the 1.7 million acre Klamath National Forest remains open to forest adventures.
Weather and Fire Behavior: Today there will be gusty northwest winds, with daytime temperatures in the mid-50s to mid-80s; nighttime temperatures will be in the 50s. Tonight minimum temperature will be in the low to mid 50s with a weak to moderate inversion layer. The fire remained active into the night with primary fire spread from spot fires caused by rolling materials and tree torching. This will continue to be the case today. Expect an acceleration of fire behavior when the inversion lifts.
Safety: A Clean Air Respite Center is located at the Karuk Tribe Senior Nutrition Center in Happy Camp (64101 Second Avenue). The center is open from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. daily and will remain open longer if needed due to smoky conditions.
Air quality: Today, stronger northwesterly winds, cooler temperatures, and better smoke dispersion continue into the weekend. Conditions will still be smoky for communities southeast of the fires but better dispersion should provide a few hours of cleaner air. By Saturday evening smoke impacts could reach Weaverville and Redding.
Honey Receives a book, Dear Mad’m!
Honey Receives A Copy Of Dear Mad’m
June 1, 2014 · Posted in Notes from Above Ground
NOTES FROM ABOVE GROUND
By Honey van Blossom
(Honey is a Belgian Marxist former strip-tease artiste)
A package arrived in the mail with my cousin Little Barbara’s address in the top left hand corner. I found a note inside the book in the package. Little Barbara wrote she and her sister Daina thought I would enjoy reading a book about an eighty-year old woman who begins a new chapter in her life in the mountains of Trinity County (sic: actually Siskiyou County), near where our Aunt Big Barbara taught in Blanchard Flat School in Hoosimbim Mountain during the Great Depression.
I’m approaching seventy, and my cousins approach eighty. This book seemed like it would be just the ticket to a new way to look at growing old.
What reading the book — and then following up with some research — turned out to be was the revelation of a life that vividly soared without a safety net over a ranch in Stockton, literary San Francisco and a remote cabin near Happy Camp in Trinity County. (sic) The author was not an eighty-year old; she was close to ninety when she finished writing it.]
Although Honey was incorrect about Trinity County, Dear Mad’m moved to her cabin near Clear Creek just down river from Happy Camp, CA and was in Siskiyou Mountains of Siskiyou County, California. She seems to have enjoyed the story. Stella moved to the mining claim when she was 80, after a leg injury, and wrote the story, but it went to various publishers and had final editing from the eventual publisher by 1955.
The printing was postponed to 1956 after McCall’s Magazine wanted to include it in serialization that spring.
To see more of Honey’s account of the story: http://boryanabooks.com/?p=4514
A letter from DearSir was Shared!!
Sharing Dear Mad’m mementos and reminisce as we walk down memory lane…
One of the very interesting mementos that Karen Benson shared at our last Dear Mad’m get together was to read a letter from Fred H. Crooks, Clear Creek, Siskiyou Co. Calif. written BY HAND at Clear Creek 5/12/57:
“Dear Mrs. Buck;
“Thanks for your nice letter, and I know Mrs. Patterson would have enjoyed it very much, but she passed away Dec. 23, 1955. She saw her book in print and had the fun of spending some of the money. The Norton Co. paid her $1,000.00 in advance royalties, the McCall’s Magazine paid $5,000.00 for the condensation, and the book is being published in England for which the English Co. paid 3,000.00 pounds at $2.87 per. But money didn’t mean much to her.
“The character writing this is known as DearSir in the book. I have tried to answer all the letters and cards that have come for Mrs. Patterson, but there has been hundreds and I am way behind, they have come3 from all over the U.S. and Canada and are still coming.
“Mrs. Patterson would have gotten a big thrill out of all the letters.
I have her dog Vicki she is 15 the 20th of this month.
“I am still mining every winter.
“Thanks again for your nice letter, enclosed is a picture of Mrs. Patterson and her dog Vicki when she was writing her story.
“Best Wishes
“Fred H. Crooks
“Clear Creek, Siskiyou Co. Calif.”
48th Annual Bigfoot Jamboree will be Classic “camp!”
How exciting!! The Happy Camp Coordinating Council has announced the theme for this years Bigfoot Jamboree Parade!! Now don’t go thinking that you have all the time in the world to make a float. Put your thinking caps on and come up with a stupendous idea!!
The theme is (da da…drum roll!!) Classic “Camp.”
Create a float that captures a piece of Happy Camp History. Maybe you’ll want to talk about the logging history and the mill or mills of your choice. Maybe you will want to talk about the Karuk Tribal Culture and the rich traditions of the Native American members of the community. Perhaps you want to talk about Mining, the Classic Hill, Siskon, Independence, Chamed or GreyEAgle mine. The original name, Murderer’s Bar, might be your float, the ’64 flood or fire fighting to keep Happy Camp safe. Perhaps you’ll recreate the historical “Camp” places, woodsman bar, the movie theater,, Evans Mercantile, Clear Creek or “the Eddie” swimming holes.
The Parade begins at 11 o’clock on Sumnday August 31st, 2014. We are looking forward to seeing you there, and seeing your entry into the Parade!!