The Pioneering Spirit

[JavaPhil]

People die within a few hours walk of a road and here it's a statistic. Outside it's a tragedy.

[starlite9]

When I was hauling out building supplies for my cabin by snowmachine and track rig which is a 40 mile cross country trip. A guy came up to me while I was filling up with gas and was told we were headed to the lake he had bought property at off "Ebay" and wanted to know if he could follow us out. I said "Sure" and asked him what he was driving, figuring that he had a snowmachine of some kind.

He pointed to a Ford F150, two wheel drive pick up packed with all his gear. He had sold everything stateside and drove to Alaska to build his dream cabin.

I told him he could follow us for about a half a mile until we come to the Nenana River, from there the road ends. He looked like someone had slammed a shovel into his face with disbelief. On Ebay, the seller said it had a "Winter Road", I told him it had a "Winter Trail" which is a lot of difference and that is why I had a track rig with two 32" wide tracks and snowmachine for going back and forth.

He went to his truck and sat there as if he lost his last friend. Never saw him again, so I figure he went back South or someplace where the road went.

Lots of people come here with false expectations because someone sold them a bill of goods. I read the "Alaska" section of Ebay's Real estate stuff now and then. I find that about 90% of them are flat out lying about the property and what it is like. They buy it from the State site for a couple of thousand dollars, mark it up ten times and sell it on Ebay at a high interest rate, and then when the people find out the truth, they quit paying and the seller repo's it and resells it again over and over with hefty down payments from each buyer.

[JavaPhil]

They used to say "Caveat emptor", let the buyer beware, but ripping off folks with false advertising constitutes fraud and I personally hope that karma has some basis in reality.

I want folks that prey on others to get their comeuppance.

[Grannysroost]

Originally Posted by BudinAk

You're right Rance! And, in more recent times, this is what comes to my mind:

Alone in the Wilderness, the story of Dick Proenneke, by Bob Swerer Productions

I don't mean to "plug" a commercial enterprise, but this is one fantastic story. A sourdough's life in the wilderness of Alaska. They made a movie about him....remarkable tale. Made me want to go out and do the same, but my wife said "nyet"...

Bud

I saw two of three listed a few years ago on a PBS drive. Thought they were fantastic, how one person could do what he did alone, and had to make the tools to do it.... I am not advocating idiots..this guy lived and worked up here for quite a while and was retired when starting his pioneering.

[starlite9]

Originally Posted by JavaPhil

They used to say "Caveat emptor", let the buyer beware, but ripping off folks with false advertising constitutes fraud and I personally hope that karma has some basis in reality.

I want folks that prey on others to get their comeuppance.

Can't aggree more, but they do it and seem to get away with it. People are looking for a dream and they tend to forget reality during that phase of the dream....

[asassyvic]

Originally Posted by karfar

That would be very cool, I can't imagine that you can still see wagon wheel ruts after all this time. Very special.

I saw some pictures of ruts left from the covered wagons. It was very cool. They are still there. I don't remember which forum. I think it was someone on one of the states that the pioneers went through. I found this persons pictures fantastic. You might search for them. I had no idea that they would still there after all these years. Amazing.

[starlite9]

Originally Posted by asassyvic

I saw some pictures of ruts left from the covered wagons. It was very cool. They are still there. I don't remember which forum. I think it was someone on one of the states that the pioneers went through. I found this persons pictures fantastic. You might search for them. I had no idea that they would still there after all these years. Amazing.

It is kind of like the old mines, they were pretty toxic, made a mess, raped the enviorment and then left. A hundred years or more later, they are now Historic Landmarks that people come from all over to see.

The new mines of today are run so differently that the Toxic mess issue isn't the same, and in another 100 years, they will have been taken apart as part of the enviormental plan, reseeded and nothing will be there. Which is a shame that our future Generations won't have the same sites as we had to go and see.

Yeah I know, there will be other stuff to see, but not the history stuff like we have now. Even the oilfields in Northern Alaska are suppose to be removed after the oil is shut down... and returned back to what it looked like before the oil...

If they did the wagon wheels stuff now, they would be required to go back and fill in the Ruts.... Just no fun...