a gift my parents gave me==lucky start for this young man

  during my entire childhood on the interior waters of alaska, i never gave much thought to living on a tug boat.  this was just another town, fishcamp, or creek. i had seen before, on the way down river. looks purdy much the same as it did last month.  it wasn't till i started to mature did i begin to see just how special it was to see these places and to have these river journeys of many kinds. always close to me~ never far.  i find river metaphors in everything i do. i'll try to show you.

maybe you'll see how special it was.  or not.  it's ok,
every wind in the river finds it's way the sea.

claude JR!  mom sometimes said...was all it took. like bears make their cubs escape danger. 

a clear calm very hot summer afternoon. heat only the interior alaska water can make.

 i was at the wheel of the ramona, our family home and business.

 i thought i was as pilot now! we were heading down river with the store boat in an area of the yukon near half-way to ruby. the yukon spreading out just a little bit.  mile or so.

dad noticed that i always took the same path through this 20 mile stretch.

favoring some hills yet half-way across the yukon, he tells me, "you'll never know what's over there (pointing to the far bank lined with sandbars), unless you go over there".

he was right, so i went.

turned the wheel till barge starts to swing, turn back feel....rudder pressure. make the swing stop. 

>>>>>>>>>>>and i was on my way across to the rest of the river.

'''''happy explorer now````

i spent the remaining 4 hours of my shift exploring yukon gravel bars. all the while heading in the right direction, down river, just close enough to understand what's happening on this new side.

too shallow for barges, i used that area of the yukon years later as a wind route, during a yukon 800 race.

and was also used in high water by the ramona on upriver runs because of it's good slack water.

 

on that hot..lazy yukon river day, i learned to not use the whole river unless i had to.

the store boat would load in fairbanks at a landing called weavers,

the weaver bros. fuel transport header to galena. the bulk tanks are still there.
their tug was the skookum, a very fast twin tunnel tug with a single narrow 50,000 gal. tanker barge.

when dad, our captain, thought everything was aboard and in the store to complete a trip to holy cross, we'd cast off on the winding, narrow, swift run to nenana. 75 miles or so.  only takes 10-12 hours with a barge drawing 2' of water.  takes twice as long to go up empty.
 the first leg is a dandy!!  if one leaves early enough it can be done in one alaskan summer day. otherwise gonna spend the night somewhere between wood river and nenana. 10-20 miles short of our 1st stop, nenana.

it's ok to camp as long as we're at the dock when coghill's standard oil opened first thing in the morning, some trips our plan was to camp, as we called it. sleeping on the tug.   to break camp....we'd cast off..

take on our fuel in 50 gal drums.  the barge back deck held 20 barrels.

usually filled them all with diesel as well as the engine day tank.

then we cast off>>>>>>> the trip starts

next leg is to old minto. only called minto at the time. 3 hrs...35 miles or so.....  1st stop for store.

and then on to the yukon.  but....the best laid plans of...we never made it to holy cross with a fully stocked store.

could only make kaltag then have to return to fairbanks and restock. do it over again.

this became the family summer routine for the first 15 yrs.  5 or 6 runs to kaltag a summer.

holy cross became a special trip in the fall!!

what fun that was.  time to fill the freezer.

this is the story of how i fell into this luck of growing up on a river. it's a gift.

dad and i navigated, learned these waters together. memorized horizons,  points, sloughs,  cotton wood and spruce stands.

 i'd learn about  reading water and life.............not entirely unlike.

thank you Claude and Martha demientieff for giving me such a wonderful life.

this blog is for you. rip, i love you.

with a third grade education dad built our life with his own hands. in the 1950's He was one of the cat skinners on the construction of the dewline.  returning after one  long rotation  been away for quite a stretch.  my 6 yo baby sister, ramona, didn't recognize him for a moment. 
during his free time on the slope he had been making drawings of a tug boat and covered barge to hold a general store.  when mona became a bit nervious and hesitant, he said ok..that's it. 

he had made a decision.

we are gonna go build a tug and barge, make it into a store. travel the river, open the store business in each community till we run out. then return to fairbanks, restock. do it over again till the ice run.

that's how it started.  my baby sister, ramona, is the genesis of claude demienrieff, sr.'s river business.  not surprisingly the tug was named ramona.  typical of that generation. dad simply set out to do it. make his dream real.  keep everyone  together....he can be home.. quit the dewline job and went into business.  that was in 1960.

we built the two hulls in the yard of columbia lumber; in the area around 18th and cushman, fairbanks
the lumber yard is no longer there.
dad got a $10,000 sba loan, set up an account with max hundorf, the manager at the time and went to work. 

many people would come around watch. sometimes help.  my uncle rudy seemed to always be available, when something essential or extra hard  needed doing..  dad's brother, we could always count on uncle rudy.

long daylight makes for pleasant work evenings.  i didn't have to do much for the $5/wk that was my allowance.. follow dad's drill with a box of brass 3" wood screws and a can of red paint..i learned how to work till the job or sun was done. learned how to work by simply dipping a wood screw into paint, start it into a pre-drilled hole. dad would go around  back behind me with a screw gun sinking each screw holding 2" plywood to 2 x 10 ribs.

it took all spring and a good part of the first barging season.  worked till it was done.

finished with the 2 hulls and all that could be done there.. she was ready to be turned over, loaded on a flatbed trailer and  brought to the river to be set down close to the water for finish and a launch.

dad chose a slip at the end of a road on the chena.  a trucking company lifted and moved these plywood hulls in the middle of night through fairbanks over a gravel college road, down university ave. to the chena at the end of the road.. the ramona was launched right on the north shore of the chena where the university ave. bridge now lives.

set it down close to the water and the work continued.

in short order the barge had walls, a roof,  and store shelving.

the tug, a cabin, engine, and pusher knees with tackle.

exploring the controls and wheel house perched high on top, i did not know the helm was to be my study hall for the next 45 years. i learned how shafts could go through hulls without leaking.  how engines tie in.

to pick and tie the right knot for the job, mainly a special knot which could be taken apart no matter how much strain was applied.

a simple, amazing knot, the bowline.  double bowline being perfect for a tow harness.

setting out on this adventure...i had only eager anticipation.  now turned into fond memories of working long into a fairbanks summer evening,  till mom would makes us stop by calling at 10 or 11pm,  " i warmed up our dinner left overs........... made fresh tea, and it's rreadyyy!" 

eventually all was ready.  launch time. the blessing and christening set,

mom's best friend, mary van hatten, was asked to break a bottle of champagne over a crowbar hung on the bow.  to give the tug a name.

father richard carrol, S.J. blessed the vessels and work.  and the ramona was born.  people brought food and beer and we had a special river side picnic and a short barge ride on an chena river summer evening.

received our first truck deliveries, loaded by rollers.  and we're off...........

while traveling or tied up, it was common for mom and dad to be in the barge. stocking shelves, cleaning, always working.

getting ready to open the store at the upcoming village.  mom liked to get special things for the kids.  we carried a blue ball of bubble gum called satellite. was the only time it came to town.  anticipated by village children.  years later, she'd ask grown people,  are you one of my buble gum babies?

store booooaat is commming!!!!STORE BOAT!!  we could hear as we approached a village.

  mostly the store was general merchandise.  sugar, flour,coffee,salt, etc.  occasionally we'd stop at a fish cxamp with gardens to trade staples for fresh vegetables to be sold farther down along the line.

and that's how this journey begins