7th USASA Field Station

In Soldotna there was a place called the "Bear Den".  Some of you may remember it as it was more or less in the center of Soldotna. One night in late 1958 they were having Bear steaks, salad and garlic bread as a special.  As it happened my Trick was working evenings and Larre Haskell, Dick Harker (worked in Service Company) and myself wanted to go eat "Bear Steaks."  Well, it was a Saturday night and as well as I remember the end of the work week.  So after work we went to the "Bear Den," going to try Bear Steaks but when we got there the steaks were gone, the salad was gone so we had a few pieces of garlic bread.  After a while we got bored and decided to leave.  That is when we discoverd there was a major snow storm going on, but back to post we went.

The snow was so deep that the road was completely gone.  Larre was driving, Dick in the middle and me on the right side.  The plan was for me to watch for the right ditch (if there was one), Dick to watch the center of the road and Larre to watch for the left ditch.   Now that seemed to us a good plan, but like all good plans it had a few flaws.  Soon Larre start drifting to the left, I was telling him, "I think we are getting too far away from the right ditch" or something like that.  Suddenly we rolled over to the left, in a snow drift, so soft it was like a feather bed.  We ended up with the right side of the car up (have you every tried to lift a door from the inside, heavy aren't they).  I thought we would not get that door open!  Mind you Dick was a little short, so when I jumped out the snow was deep, but when Dick jumped out it was almost up to his armpits. Larre and I are about the same height so he was okay.  We worked our way to the road, but it was about 3:00 AM (or somewhere about that time), no cars anywhere to be seen.  We started walking, besides it being cold and dark, the snow was a little deep for walking.  Soon we had enough of the walking bit but there seemed little else to do.  Larre remembered that Bob Holt was building a house up the road somewhere, we found the house, broke in, thank goodness the heat was on and slept on the floor unil morning. (Glad it was the right house)

The next morning we caught a ride back to post, fast talked someone at the motor pool into taking a wrecker off post and pulling the Ranchero out of the snow drift.  In doing so the front left wheel on the car was bent (Note: page 3 of the photos, there is a picture of the Ranchero in front of the Kenai Variety, the front wheel is leaning over a bit).

It seems that Capt. Hackett, Provost Marshal, wanted to get involved in the wrecker going off post without authorization.  Nothing happened but Capt. Hackett kept a close eye on us from then on.

Never did get to try "Bear Steaks" and found out I did not care for walking in deep snow.  In fact we really did not walk a quarter of a mile at best.  Sure seemed long, in the dark, in the cold and deep snow!.

We came into the Port of Whittier with probably the most replacements ever to arrive at Wildwood Station, 23 of us if I remember correctly.  We were put on the train and given a bag with a sandwich and an apple.  After riding for a few hours the train stopped and we were put off in the middle of nowhere.  A wild man in a big bus drove up through the woods to pick us up.  He drove through the woods as fast as I drive on the interstate.  After awhile he jumped a ditch, two feet deep, on to a dirt road.  We passed Kenai on the way to Wildwood Station.  When we arrived they fed us and put us on the top floor in a big room.  Does anybody remember being on that ride?

Sleeping at Building #100

By Joe Breslin

Here is a 8607 story that you might not have heard.  I was part of the group that moved 8607 from Fairbanks to Kenai.  A lot of the married guys bought mobile homes but the single guys did not have it so good.  The barracks were not completed so they pitched tents along the sides of the Building #100 inside the fence, in the winter!  It was so cold that the fuel oil, for the space heaters, got so stiff that it would not flow and the heaters would go out. When the married guys would report for duty in the morning they would find the hallways in the building lined with sleeping bags, some still occupied!   Yes, they really prayed for a quick completion of the barracks. (And we thought we had it tough, Mike)

Stanley Remembers The Above Winter!

By Stanley Wilner

The story from Joe Breslin made me remember the aspects about the 8607, except I was on the other side of the "fence".  I was married and in one of the mobile (trailer) homes that we brought down from Fairbanks, but I do remember the guys in the tents during the winter.  And, that was a cold winter.  I was in the trailer park with my trailer directly behind the Kenai (one small generator) power plant.  Most of the 30 or so trailers in the park did not have running water in the winter due to the water freezing.  Mine was in the section of four trailers that the water lines did not freeze up.

Just before the 8607 was closed up in Fairbanks, those of us with trailers were transfered to Kenai before winter really arrived.  If I am not mistaken, Fairbanks set a new record (???) that year for the temperature difference in a twelve month period.  The temperature that Summer reached 99 Degrees above and in the Winter, it reached 77 Degrees below.