Happy Camp Loves Our Veterans!


byJudy E. Bushy
Veterans Day
The next big day coming up is the Veterans Day a week from Thursday. The committee to put on a Veteran’s Appreciation Dinner on that evening is in full swing and going well. If you know a Veteran from our home area along the Klamath River, please let us know so they can receive our appreciation and an invitation to the dinner. Dinner will be served at the Happy Camp Elementary School.

Do you have photos of Happy Camp or area veterans who are serving, or have served? Happy Camp loves our Veterans is the Facebook page where you’ll find out more about the Veterans Appreciation efforts. Please give a call to Lisa Bousfield if you have names of veterans of our area that we can invite. Don’t want to miss any! Veterans, please R.S.V.P.Call Robin 530-598-2035 with names and number. We’d appreciate your help!

The committee is so very grateful to the Karuk Tribe, Bob and Trista Parry of Kingfisher Market, NAPA Auto Supply of Happy Camp, Marble Mountain Hardware, Scott River Builders, Connor Card Lock, Rick Jones of Seiad Valley Store, Pepsi Cola of Mt Shasta for drinks and Partner’s Deli. Thanks to all the Happy Camp businesses that will be putting up American flags for Veterans Day as well.

Thanks to the individuals who have donated their time and resources, worked on the committee and “Ms Muffin’s” Cupcakes…My how I’ve missed them recently as there’s no more Farmer’s Market this year. Glad that Leona McLaughlin has a kitchen as her new home was one of the first in the Indian Meadow’s to be replaced following the disaster of the Slater Fire last year.
We have much to be grateful for since the 2020 event, sad though that was!!It’s wonderful to see the community working together, helping each other out and coming back stronger than ever!

Klamath Neighbors Cooperation

steelheadsign-2by Judy Bushy
We have so many Klamath neighbors to be thankful for. The Happy Camp Neighborhood Watch met last night seeking ways to solve the mysterious bicycle thefts. While we are sorry there are thieves, we are thankful that others want to work together to help stop them

Some of the High school students are planning a trip to Washington D.C. for the inauguration. They’ve been working so hard with bake sales, car wash, spaghetti dinner, enchiladas and baked potato dinners and Chinese lunch. We are thankful for a community that gets together and supports the fundraising of the youngsters.

There are many who made decorated bras for the annual Breast Cancer Fundraiser as well even though there wasn’t a dinner this year.

Saturday there will be a good opportunity at the Harvest Craft Faire at the Seiad Valley Fire hall 9am to 3 pm. There will be a great array of beautiful craft items available. There will be homemade soup and bread and lunch will be at 11:30 t6o0 1:30. Annie Buma who makes beautiful wooden frames was at the Orleans Craft Fair last week for the Mid-Klamath Watershed (MKWC)group and mentioned that she will be in Seiad next week. They appreciate your support of the local fire department as well.

They’ve sold out all tables, so if you missed these sales, your opportunity will be Saturday, December 3rd at the Grange. Give Ruth Bain 493-2989 a call if you want a table.

So though our community seems to be shrinking from all the Lions, Lioness’, american Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars, and other formal organizations, our Klamath Neighbors are still working to combat crime with the Neighborhood Watch, to support our students, to fight cancer that plagues some residents-our friends and neighbors, and to prepare for the Holidays and earn a bit of spending money with out art and craft creations and even needlework and baking! It is easy to be thankful for a community like Happy Camp and those who volunteer and give of themselves!!

Extreme Prospector from Happy Camp!!

Extreme Prospector
Authored by Dave McCracken of Happy Camp!


J.E. Bushy
Congratulations to Grace Bennett who was honored as the Citizen of the Year in Yreka recently.

One of the last times I saw Grace was at a Collier’s Information and Interpretive Meeting and they were brainstorming ideas for the name for the new California Welcome Center name that will be added to Collier’s title. One of those suggested was Extreme California, because it is located at the farthest north in California!! We have such extremely fun outdoor recreation, extreme hiking, extreme biking, extreme mountain climbing. Just everything seems to be the utmost extreme fun! People come to Happy Camp for the extreme fun of gold prospecting and treasure hunting.

This week I picked up a book about a man, well known in Happy Camp for his gold prospecting fame. Dave McCracken, also known as Dave Mack, founded the New 49ers Prospecting Club in the old Kevershan Drugstore Building in 1985! Dave is a well known authority of gold mining and gold dredging and has written a number of books on the subject.and videos.

The book that he has written @2012 is different from the previous instructional books. Extreme Prospector by Dave Mack is an exciting book about his adventures as a modern day gold and treasure hunter. The back cover blurb compares his adventures to Mission Impossible Action Stories, and suggests that the fact he has survived them all will leave you wondering if he has a whole army of guardian angels watching over his shoulder.

True to form, the book is dedicated to Dave’s friend and mentor, Sam Speerstra, who is likened to the fictional character Indiana Jones.
The introduction starts out with Dave and Rob Towner working along the bottom of the Klamath River with an 8 inch dredge. When they started moving a large boulder that neither Dave nor Rob could move themselves, you kind of hold your breath. Such action in strong currents can be hazardous. This occurred a number of years ago, so I’m sure logically I know they survived, but the telling of the tale keeps you hoping they do make it from this emergency!!

Dave talks about experiences growing up in a Navy family as the son of a submarine commander and homemaker with two brothers and a sister. Building a rowboat in the living room of their home enabled him to start a lobster business. That likely led to his being scuba qualified at 13 years of age. Due to his passion for boats and the water, his mother suggested seeing a Navy recruiter to see if there was any kind of diving program. There wasn’t. As they were leaving, the recruiter said in passing, there was a “Navy Seal” program-toughest, meanest men on the planet.

Dave’s account of the harrowing experiences of training is amazing. His class started with 58 men and only 8 survived to graduation. Reminded me of my husband’s helicopter pilot training when they “washed out” as many as they could You never knew if you’d be there another day let alone to finally get “your wings” and became a Warrant Officer! But piloting a helicopter training didn’t include drown proofing. only crashes!

At any rate, there were high adventures in the Seals, jumping ship and swimming against the tide to get Suzy Wong’s phone number, for instance. The adventure didn’t end when he left the mlitary.

He tells of being pursued by Royal Canadian Police, diving for rich diamond deposits in crocodile infested waters in the Amazon, and venturing to the far corners of the world to seek the gleaming gold nuggets and priceless gemstones.

In between he has information on gold, of course, the economy, and responsibilities of being the leader of a team; to the recent work up on the Rogue River, and back home on the Klamath.

Extreme Prospector by Dave Mack is available in hardcover at the New 49er Prospecting Club on Davis Road and also on the Internet.