Did You Ever Want to Live in a Small Town?

I always have said that I would like to live in a small town. It is either a dream or a hallucination…. the remoteness, the slower pace, knowing everyone, improvising to get things done, etc. have always been appealing. But Dee keeps bringing me back to reality, pointing out how much I like Home Depot, Lowes, Barnes and Noble, good restaurants, running water, sewer systems (more later)….  Let me tell you about Atlin.
Atlin is a small isolated community in the NW corner of British Columbia, on the traditional lands of the Taku River Tlingits. Glacial-fed Atlin Lake is 4 miles wide and 85 miles long, in a wide wilderness valley surrounded by snowcapped mountains. Atlin is a 2 or 3 hour drive from Whitehorse Yukon, the capital of the Yukon with . Current population is up to 400 full-time residents. During the Klondyke Gold Rush of 1898, the population was 10,000! Many buildings from that era still remain. Though Mining and Tourism underpin the economy of Atlin, there is a large and very influential number of artists, artisans and authors in this very special little-known community.
Atlin is about 60 miles off the Alaskan Highway, one way in and one way out. About 20 of those miles are dirt/gravel. Just our kind of place and road to get there.
So off we went.

From the Alaskan Highway you are in The Yukon and you cross over into British Columbia further down the road. They Yukon is fixing up the road as you can see from these photos from the Trek.

It is hard to imagine a town that is unincorporated. In Atlin’s case, and I assume many unincorporated towns, that means there is no mayor, no council, no elected officials, i.e. no one is in charge. Everything that needs to be done to keep the town operating is done by volunteers. Volunteers groups sign up to watch after the roads, docks, library, museum and historical buildings, campground, festivals, etc. etc. Many of the people near the lake draw their drinking water from Lake Atlin, said to be much cleaner than any domestic water system in big cities. There is no sewer system so if the home has no septic, the sewage is hauled to the “lagoon” and dumped! Here is a sign at a campground a little ways out of town that characterizes the place

Just drop your fee at ANY business in town! Would that work in Phoenix? Or any other place you know of?

OUR CAMPSITE

    

We paid an extra $3 and got the “el primo” Penthouse Site. It is on a spit of gravel, only 14 feet wide, that extends out into Lake Atlin. How cool! We stayed three days!

  

Bow and Starboard Views

 

Port View and Front Deck – Awesome!

 

Norm is the owner and developer of the Norseman RV Park

 

Views Around Town

The Tarahne was originally a tour boat on the lake. It was saved and is being restored by townspeople.

 

 

Gold mining is pretty big these days with heavy equipment being used and 24/7 operations.  Helicopters and planes fly workers and supplies to the mine sites.

Atlin is a unique place. There are a couple general stores/groceries in town and a single gas station. No cell service and shaky landline. People are pretty independent but pull together to get things done. We would like to go back some day.
SO, Would YOU want to live in a small town? As small and remote as Atlin, BC?

It took us a while to figure out what was going on here. Someone had replanted downed tress upside down! They also have a sense of humor in Atlin.
Next time I will summarize our trip to Alaska and share some of our observations. Until then…….

A Hammer Museum and a Totem Pole Factory–in One Town!

The Hammer Museum

One of my favorite hammers. A good carpenter, using this hammer, can pound twice as many nails!

Being an Industrial Engineer, I really appreciate this innovative, labor-saving hammer.

Further evidence that Haines is a great place is the fact that it is home to a Hammer Museum, as well as a Totem Pole Carving “Factory”.

In the process of building a homestead, outside of Haines, Dave Pahl started accumulating hammers. His wife told him that his limit on hammers in the house is 100! It wasn’t long before the accumulation became a collection of hammers of all types, sizes, purposes etc. Dave decided to open a hammer museum right on the main street of Haines. The museum is said to have 1800 hammers, not counting 4000 he has stored some place. That is not to mention the 99 he has in his home! Wow! He traveled in the “outside” and collected many. He bought some on the internet. And many were donated. Hammers show up in the mail several times a week from folks who have bee to Dave’s Museum or have heard about it.

I am not sure what the purpose of this one is, maybe to hammer around corners?

We had a great time looking at the displays and talking with Dietra, the volunteer guide. Dave was out getting supplies to build an addition on his museum!

This hammer was designed with safety in mind. No way you can hit your finger with this baby!

Now….. I am thinking about a Screwdriver Museum. Perhaps located right in downtown Congress, AZ. Think of the tourists who would go out of their way to  see the world’s largest and finest collection of drivers. It could really put Congress on the map. I could get corporate sponsors and sell monthly, annual and lifetime memberships to The Screwdriver Club. For every person who donates a screwdriver, I will give a plaque that says “You Have Been Screwed In Congress”. (Perhaps in todays time it should be “You Have Been Screwed By Congress”)

Moving right along….

The Alaskan Indian Arts Inc., Totem Pole Carvers

The Chilkat Tlinglet native tribe carve and restore totem poles in this building. When we were there no one was carving so we just walked around. A man told us the current rate for a new totem pole is about $3,000 per foot. Then there is the shipping and installation and I decided not to order one that day.  But we could certainly appreciate the skill required to carve a pole. I believe all totems are done on commission.

This pole is being restored.

We saw one totem in a restaurant that we really liked and thought maybe it would be neat to have one. It was about 5 feet tall which equates to $15,000 about $14,500 over our totem pole budget. Oh, well they were sure nice to look at. During our time in Canada and Alaska we saw a lot of totem poles.

And here is your bonus photo for this post

This fellow is a fish counter. Stationed on a weir on the Chilkoot River, he counts salmon.

I think he might have missed one when his head nodded off. But I didn’t tell him.

 

See you next time, folks………