? Northwest of Pickle Lake

[North Shore]

A few months back, I was flying from YGQ to YTH. The route took us over YPL. About 50nm NW of there, we passed over a small, abandoned-looking settlement, on a lake shore. 52 20 47.78N 91 01 28.36W on Google Earth.

Anyone know what it was called and the story behind it? Thanks!

ps. No, it wasn't the Wiebenville strip, or the dock at Windigo Lake

[jet a1]

no idea... but i looked at google earth and my guess is a campground...?

[nopilot]

Is this the place?

http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.p ... t=stirland

Pictures of the settlement start on page 2 and crashed airplane on page 3.

[Antique Pilot]

It might have been a site with an airstrip set up on the north side of the road close to Menako lakes. This would have been about 15 miles SE of Wiebenville. It was set up by Hooker Air Service in late 1970, early 1971 to compete with Wiebenville. Quite civilized compared to Wiebenville I am told.

[rubberduck]

That is Stirland Lake. Was a residential school until it was abandoned in the mid 80's. Was mostly people from Round Lake that went there. Its an interesting place to walk through if you ever get the chance.

[DaveP]

Probably Wiebenville. Kelner and wasaya haul fuel out of there with the hawkers from time to time. Another old strip I think was on the north side of the road. That's the one hookers used to own/run. The last I saw that one it was really overgrown.

The only other things around there are possibly the small Mennonite community of crystal lake(north east side of the road or stirland on the south west side of the road.)

There was also an old fish processing camp on the menako lakes too OR quite possibly you saw just north of there is Opap lake (gold mine) with a strip. You can see the mine on google map just north east of your provided coordinates.

Funny story when I was a young guy flying the 185 on skiis into Opap lake, the geologist said to me "if gold gets to 300.00 - there will be a mine here"

Well, needless to say I didn't have two nickels to rub together at that time.....wudda shoulda coulda...lol.

[Taiser]

I use to work here... 51°22'5.26"N 51°22'5.26"N About 100 clicks south of what you saw. Had a good long solid gravel strip and about a 3 click walk from strip to the mine/camp area. Nothing left there, unless you count all the mining gear still underground! I'm hoping to go back for a look once my homebuilt is done.

There was also lots of exploration camps and areas that use to be gold mines or prospective gold mines, and lots will be picking up again due to the recent value of gold. Lots of the old mines that shut down will be looking at opening up again as the value of gold makes it worthwhile getting the harder to access stuff. Lots of these places have old landing fields and are fun to go to and explore...not to mention some awesome fishing!

[North Shore]

RubberDuck and nopilot get it, I think. The size of the buildings in the pictures from the bikes matches what I could see from the air.

DaveP, no not Wiebenville, Opap, or Crystal lake (Had to stop there once, due to WX, northbound from YPL to Summer Beaver. They were super nice - food, and a bed - very christian of them. Opap gave me (and Meatservo!) a bed for the night once, too; they were a little more suspicious of two pilots showing up at dusk.)
Funny we didn`t meet during your time in YPL - I was there at the same time, flying for Jen and Andy at GoldBelt.

Taiser - I`ve been there, too. Can`t remember the name of the place offhand, but do remember it was a nicely kept strip. It was pretty much wound up when I was there. My pax were off at the mine site doing their thing, and I was sitting quietly in the plane eating my lunch, when a bear wandered out of the bushes, and came sniffing around the floats. Even though it was an Otter on amphibs, I was still rehearsing the moves needed to get up onto the roof on short notice, in case the bear decided he wanted to share my sandwiches!

Thanks to all for your input!

[oldncold]

the other possibility nw of ypl is the ole muskeg lake mine strip until a few yrs ago at 5000ft it was the best emergency strip around . the clean up and the hydro line from there were extended to cat lake to get them off diesel when the mine closed . some of the older ex bearskin pc12's had the muskeg lake strip in gps i landed there many moons back when they were doing the clean up in a 208 that was as great fall day .

ps north shore when did you work for gb air?

[North Shore]

oldncold...Muskeg Lake! That's it. Muskegsagegen, IIRC they called it also.

Summer of '97 at GBAT until November when we were shut down for maintenance irregularities I flew GYBJ out of Summer Beaver for most of the summer.

[Meatservo]

Ha, ha. I forgot about that time in Opap. Yeah, they acted like we were there to steal their gold! I think other than Uncle Les I was the last guy to work for old GBAT. I remember when I quit Andy said "Well, fare thee well and f@ck ya."

I still have a picture of North Shore baking scones in the gas oven in our hovel in Summer Beaver.

[Taiser]

Yeah the mine was next to Muskeg Lake and near the Dobie River. It was the Golden Patricia Mine owned by Bond Gold then Lac des Isle, then bought out by Barrick Gold. We still had gold when it shut down, but it wasn't feasible to get anymore at the current price. I've heard rumors that it's going to be explored again and might open up because gold has been going through the roof! Thunder Airlines had the flight contract for the workers and flew us in with a Metro!

[Cap'n P8]

Ha, ha. I forgot about that time in Opap. Yeah, they acted like we were there to steal their gold! I think other than Uncle Les I was the last guy to work for old GBAT. I remember when I quit Andy said "Well, fare thee well and f@ck ya."

I still have a picture of North Shore baking scones in the gas oven in our hovel in Summer Beaver.

Was that the little cabin down by the dock? Stayed in that thing for two weeks at the end of the float season 1993. Was there for their moose hunt. Spent the whole season up to that point based out of Webequie. Niigaani air beaver C-GEDE.

[Meatservo]

I guess that must be the one. I lived there for the better part of a winter. I am not the better for it.

[North Shore]

Last time I was there, they'd improved that place drastically: the tyvek had been covered with real siding, they'd drywalled and painted the interior, baseboard electric heat, and running water (shower and toilet!) No more jumping in the lake for a bath, or running off to the school for a shower. Sadly, though, they'd taken the woodstove out..

[Pete]

What is this one?? It's almost due west of YPL.

51° 23' 5.85", -91° 9' 38.79" Cut and paste that into google, then it should map it (not good at computers)

Anyone know??

[North Shore]

Pete,

That's Muskegsagegen Lake strip. You can see the old mine site a few miles to the SE, connected by a road to the airstrip.

[Pete]

North Shore,

What did they mine for there, and when? Seems interesting, and still fairly visable.

[Meatservo]

Last time I was there, they'd improved that place drastically: the tyvek had been covered with real siding, they'd drywalled and painted the interior, baseboard electric heat, and running water (shower and toilet!) No more jumping in the lake for a bath, or running off to the school for a shower. Sadly, though, they'd taken the woodstove out..

I wonder if they took out the pink insulation you stapled up into the rafters or just drywalled over it. That's kind of funny: Siding on the outside, drywall on the inside, peeled logs in the middle. I bet it's not very square. Too bad about the woodstove.

[Beefitarian]

I'm mostly here for a laugh but.. This is an excellent thread for reading.
AAAA+ would read again.

[North Shore]

North Shore,

What did they mine for there, and when? Seems interesting, and still fairly visable.

Pete, AFAIK it was a gold mine. I was there in 1997, and it had just been shut down, so I guess that it was active from the mid-80's to the mid- 90's, but don't quote me on that. Perhaps Meatservo knows?

Edited to add: Even better, Google knows all: http://www.trilliumnorth.com/project/dorothy-dobie/

Barrick Gold's Golden Patricia Mine adjoins the Dorothy Dobie Project to the east and produced 860,000 tons at a grade of 0.58 oz/ton gold between 1989 and 1997

[Taiser]

That whole area is basically gold. In fact many of the mines in the Northwest are sharing the same gold ore vein(s) that extends to several different mines, or so I was told by the geologist at my old workplace!

[North Shore]

I dug around and found a picture of the Summer Beaver Hilton. This was taken about half way through August, after they'd dug up the whole town to install sewer and water. 'Course, it being the pilot's shack, I got neither!

[Taiser]

BWAHAHAHAHAHAA !!! Does that ever look typical for up there!! At least it looks like you had hydro!! Does that ever bring back nightmares for me! LOL

[benoit.baril]

*****
Looks like 5 star accomodation to me.