Random Klamath views

             Fort Klamath is one of those towns that 20 years ago may of had a purpose, today it seems as useful as Windows 95.

The Fort Klamath General store would be a nice addition if it weren't closed and for sale.

If anyone would like to visit us. I'll make reservations for you here at the Fort Klamath Biltmore...:-)

The last time this station sold gas it was probably under a dollar. All in all, Fort Klamath is a town that has seen better days and no real future.

A beautiful but abandoned homestead ranch house, that is not yet in total disrepair.

Some of the ranchers in the area use a unique, well it's the first time I have seen it, ramp that allows a dirt bike to go up and over the fences without having to stop and open gates. I guess this cowboy rancher rides a Yamaha instead of a quarter horse.

Dirt Devil Mine

               The Dirt Devil Mine, on a 20 mile rough dirt road from the nearest town, Plush, Oregon. (that is the writers stretch calling Plush a town) The Dirt Devil and other mines in the area are looking for sunstone which is the official gemstone of Oregon. Sunstone is a labradorite sub-group of the abundant feldspar mineral. The semiprecious stone can be found in several parts of the world in yellow and transparent colors.
     If you prefer to get "down and dirty", for a nominal charge you can hand dig all the earth you want searching for gemstones.

The raw rock travels thru five conveyor belts and hoppers that reject pieces based on size and weight.

All the remaining material is moved into this trailer where a photocell camera identifies by reflection, the right material and then air jets push off the gems quality stones into a holding bucket.

My "Nam" buddy, Don Buford , has run the mine for the last 21 years and was gracious enough to give us a special tour. Don is so knowledgeable about the area and sunstones gems...a pleasure to talk to.

Planting hatchery fish

           This is a photo journal of two trips. We planted thousands of fingerling's into 7 mud holes and two healthy looking reservoirs while driving nearly 800 miles. There are reasons for planting in what I would call a "mud hole" but the wildlife biologists dictate where to put the fish. Some of the reasons are in studying growth, and survivability.

        If we can't get close enough to the "mud hole" we have to net the fish out and transport them down in a bucket to the water.

Regen, my mentor, humping the buckets down to the water...and he is two years older than I.

The actual size of "Big Rock" reservoir, which even in early spring is only half full.

Warner Pond was the healthiest water that I thought we put fish in, but it is less than two acres large.

We had an audience waiting for us. Unfortunately for her, the fish were about 3 inches long. Regen takes water temperature of the water at every fish plant.

The one unsettling thing for me in an obscure place like 20 miles down a bad dirt road,

was pulling up and finding three guys packing pistols wondering where all the fish are?

They turned out to be a very polite group of  guys from Medford that run around on quads, fishing the "mud holes"and shooting anything legal like rabbits, marmots and coyotes. Those quads don't have extended handle bars...they are rifles.

After two straight days of driving on at least 70 miles of dirt roads in the off beaten area's of Southern Oregon, we did see some spectacular views.

Drove by a fire in the Warner Ranger on the way home.

Fish hatchery duties

           The state of Oregon would like us to accommodate them with about 40 hours of work combined, which can be 30 hours me and 10 Donna or visa versa. These hours can be watering, giving tours, gardening or the stuff I really like doing...fishy things, :-)

              This is called "doing the morts" Three times a week the dead fish are taken from each raceway, counted and entered into computer in order to keep track of an average for the raceway mortality count. If something goes awry, then hopefully the hatchery will be on top of it soon enough to make a correction.

Here's Donna walking out to the highway mail box, which is a half mile away...well you gotta get hours in some how right?

This is Donna and my gardening project. We had pulled out most of the plants, then replaced all with daffodils and irises that were growing wild in the meadow.

                       Stocking the local lakes ( if you consider local...120 miles away) is optional for us but the way I see it, I get to see beautiful country, talk to the hatchery manager for 8 hours and...did I say, sit on my ass for 8 of my 40 hours? We dropped some fish off at Paiute Lake, off hwy 140 near the Nevada border.

Paiute Lake was a mud hole that I could not even find on the map!

The water was so muddy that the fish were swimming back to shore because they couldn't tell the difference between the bank of the lake and the water. I've only been a "fish farmer" for less than two weeks, so what do I know?

Once a week the flood gates are opened on the raceways and they ( I wanted to do it too) sweep the bottom to stir up all the fecal matter which is then flushed down stream to clean the raceway.

My favorite job...tooling around the "south 40" looking for pine cones or sticks to pick up.

Crater Lake in early May

Donna and I went up to Crater Lake National Park the first week of May on a clear windless day. We both wanted to see the famous beautiful blue water that Crater Lake is known for.

                  Instead we were witness to what the ranger said is a rather rare event. Clear skies but with a heavy inversion of clouds covering the water. 

Some of the canyons in Crater Lake are remarkable in their formation. 7700 years ago when the mountain was undergoing it's last eruptions, many of the canyons were filled with ash and pumice which was easily eroded leaving deep and sharp walled sides.

            This year was considered an average snowfall year. Because of its altitude and only being 100 miles from the coast, it does get a lot of snow. Average years see nearly 40 feet of snow but one record year 1932-33 saw 73 feet of snowfall.

The entrance to the park is some 3000 feet lower in elevation.

Klamath Fish Hatchery

Well we have arrived at our first hosting job as part of the "give back" plan. This hatchery, about 35 mile north of Klamath Falls, Oregon, is not only historic but beautiful at the same time. Built in 1920 by the local Indians, the state bought it, and surrounding land, from the tribe in 1930.

                 Here's Donna at the crack of dawn ready to start our first day at the hatchery...ok, maybe not the crack of dawn, more like 8:30. Well, 8:30 might be stretching it but I'm sure it was before noon.:-)

These eight raceways (that hold 7-9 inch fish) are what you see as soon as you enter the hatchery. This is the osprey's favorite place to hunt...hunt may be a strong word, this is like shooting fish in a barrel so to speak. But they raise extra fish just for this reason.

This is the administration offices and one of the egg incubators buildings

The eggs under cover are about three weeks old. These eggs will produce a rainbow in about 75 days called triploid because before we get them they are treated to high pressure in order to make all the fish sterile. The pressure causes the fish to gain one extra chromosome which destroys their ability to reproduce.

Here are some fish raceways that hold recently hatched eggs. They are protected inside the building for another month before being sent to a outside raceway. When they get big enough to be introduced to wild trout rivers they are not a danger to the wild population because of their sterility.

After leaving the protection of the building, the fry (that's what they call the fish before they become fingerling's (3-4 inches) are moved to one of these outdoor raceways. There is some protecting cover overhead and a net on the side but the minks and otters still get in once in a while. Some are planted soon after reaching fingerling size while others are move to the uncovered raceways as seen in second photo.

This raceway and trailer are used to clip the fins of the fingerling's,this is done to all the fish raised at the hatchery in order to identify them as hatchery raised fish.

Inside the trailer, Heidi and three other kids, get minimum wage to fin-clip a couple hundred thousand fish. The fish, a few at a time, are under general anesthesia in the pool of water so they are easier to handle. I can only imagine how cold your hands must get doing this for eight hours a day.

Three springs flow into this pool to provide clean and cool water for the hatchery.

The cement dam was built in the 30's by the C.C.Corp but the deteriorating wood planks that line the creek are original pieces of the hatchery when it was first built in 1920's

One of the four residential properties on the hatchery grounds. There are 4 full time workers here and the state provides these houses at a very reasonable rate.

Here is our digs for the next two months. Right behind the motorhome is a beautiful creek that has fish, beaver and otters as it's local residents.

Another seemingly "permanent" resident is Edgar the Bald Eagle.

Here is "Edgar" strafing his favorite pond that holds all the bigger 2 pound fish. I'll work some more on my photography.

Wyoming "Big Coal"

Many people may not think of the beautiful mountainous state of Wyoming as coal country but this state is has a ton of it.
   This coal seam is approximately 100 ft thick and adjacent to highway 90 right in the middle of Gillette, WY.

The coal seam is so close that a conveyor belt runs underneath the freeway

directly to this power plant.

This is the huge coal strip mining area of the Powder River Basin, 

 the largest surface strip mine in the western hemisphere.

While this bad boy is of huge dimensions, you have to understand that the real machine is in the mine, a mile away from my camera. This P&H has a bucket capacity of 140 to 160 yards... the drag line monster in the pit is call "Big Muskie" (28 million pounds and 22 stories tall) and the worlds largest drag line bucket capable of holding two Greyhound buses at a time or 220 cubic yards.

The worlds largest drag line needs a very large coal elevator to feed the trains.

A  90 car train is filled every 58 minutes and the mine runs 24/7....you do the math.  

Wyoming.....Oil and Gas

BP's blowout last year was horrible but unless everyone wants to put their "red cups" down and quit driving than America still needs fuel. Renewable energy such as solar, geothermal, hydro and wind still only account for less than 15% total, so that leaves coal, oil and gas.

I have never been close to a drilling rig before but I did drive down a dirt road, right to the fence and from the road I could see tons of support that I did not realize was associated with the rig.

Huge generators, tanks for slurry and at least 8 full size trailers all with GPS and satellite dishes on top... with the added thump, thump,thump of the drilling rig going down foot by foot.

Every hundred or more acres you will see these areas that are retrieving gas from the ground.

You won't see cranes in the middle of the prairie unless it has to do with the oil business.

Hey!!!!!!! That's money going up in smoke?