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In the natural state the water measured PHs in the range of 3-4, and so much iron was present that much of it precipitated making the creek literally run red. Or so it appeared from the air to Bob Baker, a bush pilot (and of course prospector) from Kotzebue. As side note: in it's natural state—totally out of EPA guidelines—no fish frequented the stream, until Tech Cominco lined the creek with high density polyethylene, and then their mining plan required they build a weir across the mouth to keep fish out.
Barker always flew with his dog, who he claimed was a full partner in his Red Dog Mining Company. I heard from a supposed friend of his that he even went so far as to rig up a periscope in his Cub so he could duck down to make it appear the dog was actually the pilot in command, or indeed the only living thing onboard. In McGrath, where this trick wasn't well known, and "Main Street" a taxiway, he actually had people running after what appeared to be a runaway, on the runway.
Actually the funny part of this story to me is that Barker never did find a way to set his fixed-winged aircraft down near the creek named for his flying companion—red dog. And, being a typical Alaska Bush character prone to talking a leg off whoever would listen to what you had seen, (oops—am I doing that here?) he mentioned the sight to Irving Taileur of the U.S. Geological Survey, who had access to a helicopter.
Taileurs examination and the "significant similarities of with other large zinc/lead deposits around the world," led to a USGS open file report. He also was the one to name the creek for Barker's co-pilot. To me the significant similarity is that another USGS geologist about that time published a paper on an equally exciting zinc/lead/silver exposure—on Bowser Creek (which I own—see some of my ore in photo above).
Bob Barker didn't make anything out of his prospecting, other than being a footnote to history. I like to think of him as one of the Chilkoot pioneers shown on the splash page of this site. Most made the trip for nothing, being all the good ground was gone, but at least they were part of it all, and that was worth everything.
What do you think about this article? We want to hear from you.—Alaska Mining Blog
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