Article / Content Title:

Synopsis /  Author Bio

This Photo-documentary is copyright by Hugeaux aka Hugo R. Miller with The Library of Congress of The United States Copyright Office. USA

Hugeaux aka Hugo R. Miller is a world traveler and professional artist/photographer living in Florida.

Author's Name

Hugeaux

Phone

none

Web Site

www.hugeaux.com

Email

CLICK HERE

PART #5

DAY #5
8:30am
Flattop Mountain, Alaska.
I am writing this entry while up in Flattop mountain. The Arctic wind is whistling and must be whipping about 100mph. The arctic rains are partnered with the winds. There is no sun. It is impossible to photograph. The Arctic winds are shaking the car. I am getting a good idea of what the natives say what a day with no sun looks like. It is 8:00am in Alaska, but it looks like 7:00pm in Florida. I can see a canyon below me. Woo!!!!, the Arctic winds are whipping. I hope they do not blow me off the mountain. It is unbelievable, but people live up here, with these very steep hills. I drove on the paved roads until the dead end and it turned narrow and onto gravel. When it became too steep I had to go in reverse to get down, danger on both sides, yet I was determined. To be honest there is a quiet peacefulness up here, especially with the Arctic winds blowing. I am hoping that it would let up and I can hike, but that seems impossible. I may have to photograph from my car, however if I let the window down to far, the Arctic wind may swoop in and lift the car. I get a strong feeling of what the African-American expeditioner Mathew Henson must have felt. It is good weather to light a fireplace and look at nature. Okay I must push onward north of Anchorage to Palmer, Alaska. Flattop Mountain is about 30 - 40 minutes south from Anchorage.

10:30am
Matanuska River
Palmer, Alaska
I am writing this entry after photographing at the Matanuska River. It is very cold about 30 degrees wind chill and the Arctic winds are whipping as in Flattop Mountain. I decided to get out and go photograph on the dry river bed in the middle of the river. I am cautious, because I can smell bear dung everywhere, and I must be aware when the river starts to fill up, that I am not trapped in the middle. The mountain and fall Arctic scenery is breathtaking. The mountains are covered with snow and it is too cold for anyone to be about. It is not raining. These Arctic winds are brisk, but can be deadly. I decided not to go far off into the middle of the river bed, because if they are bears, I would not startle them and them me. Well, I must push onward east on the Glenn Highway. I gathered some dirt from the Matanuska river bed to take back to Florida. Alaska is beautiful even without the sun. As I said earlier in my diary, you must go through the rough to see the beauty..ie from Flattop to Matanuska, It can only get better.

11:00am
Somewhere between Palmer & Glennallen, Alaska.
As I am headed east on the Glenn Highway, I stopped again to photograph some of the mountains. What beautiful country. To my surprise I saw a bald eagle free styling in the Arctic winds, what a beautiful sight.

11:30am
Granite Creek
Sutton, Alaska
I discovered while driving along the Glenn Highway this powerful creek outside Sutton, Alaska called Granite Creek. As I climbed down upon the river bed, there was this interesting rock formation, which someone built by placing large pebble stones atop each other in a tower like format. The photograph of this pebble tower looks very beautiful against the Alaskan mountains. My only regret is that I should have placed another boulder pebble stone on top to add to the creation. The Arctic winds and Arctic rains have died down here, but there is no sun.

Photographs (Sutton, Alaska)
1) A spirit house, grave site of John Goodlataw and Ahtna Indian
2) Nay’dini’aa’Na’ Xay Hnax (Chickaloon River Winter Log House), an Athabascan Winter Lodge
* The Chickaloon Ahtan Athabascan People *

12:45pm
Sutton, Alaska
I decided to photograph the historic coal plant in the Sutton dating back to the 1920’s. It is very beautiful and cold here with the snow from the mountains surrounding this village. Many native Alaskan artifacts are here. I have seen my first spirit house (a grave house) and my first winter lodge which is half way into the ground. (this section is not in my manuscript diary: The Chickaloon Ahtan Athabascan People architecture is beautiful, especially how the long logs are cut down the middle and then reapplied to form the roof. It is symmetrically even to the ground and the front door has ramp-like steps which go down to the front door. There are no windows. I believe that the The Chickaloon Ahtan Athabascan People philosophy for their winter home architecture was to utilize the warm of the earth, to build into the ground for addition warmth and strength against the Arctic elements. This means they had to build a deep square trench for the foundation about 3 feet in the ground. By the size of the house The Chickaloon Ahtan Athabascan People were no a tall people. The birch tree bark is used as trimming around the borders of the lodge where the earth touches. Long branches of birch are used as bars, set vertically against the doors to hold in the animal fur which is on the door, as added insulation. It has a sweat house at the rear of the lodge which sits halfway and is diagonal, connected to the lodge with its own separate roof. I believe that one of the architectural philosophies of The Chickaloon Ahtan Athabascan People for building their winter lodges into the ground was because the Arctic winds can be so strong, reaching over 100mph, that they could easily blow and freestanding lodge over. By having the foundation in the earth, the Arctic winds have to pull against its own nature, which makes it impossible to blow over: Nature versus Man.…). The door is from long branches of the birch tree and covered with animal skins. It has a sweat room also. It is decorated at the border, where it touches the earth with large pieces of birch bark, either as a décor or an insulation to keep the bugs out.
I can see first hand, all the heavy machinery used during the coal period, as they are historic relics from Sutton. Sutton has its own US post office. It is very tranquil writing this entry and peering up into the Alaskan snow covered mountains in the cold Arctic weather. Cold Arctic vapors are coming out of my nose and mouth, however I do not feel cold.
No one is around except the workers and it is so wet, photogenic and peaceful. Everything here is orange, green, red and brown. I can hear the sounds of chickens and school children playing in the distance. I had a brief lunch of the wild mustard greens growing everywhere, the wild raspberries and I believe the boysenberry (something which looks poisonous in Florida, but edible here). It is funny. It is 30 - 40 degrees and mosquitoes are present. I did my research when researching the 93rd, 95th and 97th African American Army military who built the ALCAN Highway (Alaska Highway) and they mentioned a very bad mosquito problem as well. Well this is the farthest I shall go down the Glenn Highway, which is 4 hours out of Anchorage. I must return the rental car in another 5 hours. This is a part of Alaska, I really did not know about.