BOOK REVIEW - FIVE STARS
Gold Is Where It Finds You: The only survivor of a gold mining family shares their awe-inspiring journey by Brian Johnson
This is an exciting story of a determined, dedicated, focused, resolute, educated, and above all stubborn team.
A few came to the gold fields with dumb luck, but the true success stories were built on a work ethic backed up by a team of real men who couldn’t and wouldn’t let defeats kill their dreams.
Hard work is rooted in Brian’s Scandinavian ancestry.
This amazing book also delivers a wonderful collection of philosophical thoughts for a successful life and harmonious trusting relationships.
Worthy of more than five stars!
EXCERPTS:
I am the sole survivor, the only one left to tell the story of our mining operation. I felt I must record our lives for the sake of my family and the next generation, but also for other mining families and all families who work alongside each other toward a dream.
My hometown of Poplar, Wisconsin. Today about one thousand people live there. It was smaller in my childhood, but it was our world. Poplar was, and still is, a friendly town with a bank, grocery store, cafe, post office, lumber yard, and, the most significant place to our family, Poplar Hardware.
Our master plan was to finish logging and making plans through the winter, and then set off for Alaska in April. Everything we did had an undertone of excitement and purpose as we moved towards our big life change.
Now we were ready for the big move. And we expected that would be an adventure in itself!
Our route was set. From Poplar we headed west to Duluth, then on to Grand Forks, North Dakota. From Grand Forks we drove straight north to Winnipeg, then west to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
Our hopes were high when we began sluicing the first cut. Gold was selling then at about $375 an ounce, and it was our hope to recover at least an ounce an hour. We planned to work twelve-hour days. Every time we shut down the operation, we would check the sluice box for a glimpse of gold. Sure enough, we were seeing gold, but clueless as to the amount and weight. It lay among the riffles, shining in the summer sun. Yes! We were gold miners. At that time, finding any amount of yellow metal in the riffles, no matter how small, was exciting. Checking the sluice box could make our day or depress us depending on what we found. We felt we had a lot to learn about how to mine faster and better, but we were in Alaska, mining gold!
We bottled up the cleaned gold to make the trip to the gold buyer in Fairbanks. We hoped to earn enough to pay our fuel bill and buy groceries and other supplies in Fairbanks. Since we didn’t have a scale, Doug weighed it for us. Much to our surprise and dismay, we had only been producing half an ounce an hour and were going backwards fast. We were consuming about two-hundred fifty gallons of fuel a day and our fuel bill thus far was about $5,000. Our first cut had only produced about five thousand in gold. There were long sad faces in our camp as we wondered where we were headed and what our future looked like as miners.
An unpredictable grizzly is a miner’s biggest fear when working in the bush. Being alone made it even more dangerous.
We managed to get two twelve-gauge shotguns to camp and kept them strapped to the side of our ATV. Once we had protection, we never encountered a bear again!
Our investigation into the claim posts showed that the miner owning the claims above us had been prospecting on our claims and had even moved the claim posts!
With the gold cleaned and ready for market, the claim status legally established and staked, and even some potential buyers in contact with us, it was time to close the camp for good. We worked stoically, realizing our actions meant the end of our thirty-five years as partners, working and living together towards a singular goal. We also knew we would return to the creek only to tie up loose ends and move on. I knew I would have to accept a life without mining, or at least a life without mining with Loren.
“We’re better than we think we are.” We absolutely were. And without Loren around, it would be a life-long challenge to be as good alone as I was with him.
I’m older and wiser, I see that gold is more than the precious minerals we extract from the Earth. Gold is where you find it in the loving relationships that make your life worthwhile. It’s also found in the valuable lessons that you learn along the way. Find them and you’ll uncover the best treasures of your life.
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