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Indian Mountain AFS 1953 to 1982 |
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~ MAPS ~ |
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This large scale topo map shows where Indian Mountain is relative to Hughes (a village of less then 100). Other than that, this remote radar station is not close to any town or road. (click on this map to expand it) |
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A zoomed in view of the topo map shows Bottom Camp and the access road climbing about 3200' to Top Camp. The dashed red line shows where a ski run would make sense - start above tree line and ski down the ridge until you met the powerline clearing that led to Bottom Camp. (click on this map to expand it) |
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| Research Correspondence | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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[Mike Gantz - 20 December 2004 email]
Tim, |
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[Ed Bertschy - 20 December 2004 email]
Saw your
post. There definitely was skiing at Indian Mountain. At bottom camp,
there was a graded slope where cables were buried. This was pretty much
a beginners slope. The service section which loaned out camping
and sport equipment also had ski's you could check out.
At top
camp, no one ski'd that I know of. But many of us use to run survival
sleds down the side of the mountain. We tried to build a jump so you
could catch some air, but everyone tended to get dumped when they tried
to take it. Our commander decided he'd show us all. He dislocated
his shoulder on the run, and got sent back to the states. We even got it
on film.
There is at
least one good picture of the ski run on the Indian Mountain web site.
Ed Bertschy Indian Mountain 77-78
Ed,
Thanks for the information and story on
skiing at Indian Mountain. This info will help our web site
(www.alsap.org). Not many
people in Alaska these days even know where Indian Mountain is ...
even much less know that there was skiing there when the radar base
was in operation. On radomes.org there is a picture of the
cleared power line swath going from behind the power station up
to top camp. I figure this is the ski run you guys used?
Thanks again,
Tim
Tim,
Yeah,
that's the run. We'd get a good 12 foot base on that. People still
managed to hit trees and each other.
Ed |
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[Ron Nigg - 4 July 2005 email]
I was stationed at Indian Mountain 72-73 (top camp). We lost two guys that froze to death due to tracking a wounded moose and getting lost. There were three guys tracking and only one was found alive the next morning. One of the guys was in radar ops and the other was in radar maint. The one that made it out was a civilian and retired from the navy. I don’t remember any names. I also don’t remember the skiing but I was stranded on the road going to the hill top with 5 other guys one time and two of us walked up about a half mile to the next survival shack and called for help as our pickup crew cab had broken down and no one had missed us, they sent a bulldozer after us so we all made it in good shape. I was also stationed at Tatalina 63-64 but that is another story. I will look around and find my old pictures of the site as I know I have a good one of what the hill top camp looked like in 72-73
Ron Nigg |
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[Don Chaffin - 12 July 2005 email]
Skiing at Indian Mountain I arrived at Indian Mountain on June 23, 1982. My first day off was Sunday June 27th. On that day I decided to walk from top camp to bottom camp (10 miles by road). After walking down about 2 miles I spotted some snow lying in a ravine and it extended all the way down to the creek below (approximately a 4000 – 5000 ft elevation drop.) I figured that if I slid all the way down to the creek on this crust of snow I could then walk downstream to bottom camp. Not only would it be fun but it should be a little shorter. So, standing in a nice breeze on this mountain and looking out over this beautiful valley I was determined to embark on this little skiing adventure. Without skis or a snowboard I walked over to the snow and placed myself in a squatting position so as to have a lower center of gravity. I then began the slide of my life! I certainly never expected to be traveling at the speed which this little ride was affording me! Within seconds I was at the bottom and landed in a thicket of willows that saved me from serious injury which would have been caused by the large rocks, only a few feet away. And now for my introduction to the Alaska Mosquito! Here's what I found out. It's not that they are so big; it's just that there were so darned many of them!!! They started eating me alive! There was no way that I was going to be able to walk down this creek without being driven insane by these pesky little blood suckers. I recalled that before I started this slide I was not being bothered by mosquitoes. This was probably due to the slight breeze at the higher elevations. So, I decided to climb back to my starting point and walk down the road to bottom camp. This was easier said than done! As I started my climb the mosquitoes followed me. They were ferocious! As I climbed back to the top I was waving my arms trying to keep them away from my head. The exertion of climbing caused me to breathe harder which produced more carbon dioxide. This seemed to attract more mosquitoes. They were so thick that I started breathing them into my lungs! In order to filter them from getting in my lungs I clinched my teeth and breathed through my mouth. They actually started building up so thick on my teeth that I had to clean them off every few seconds. My arms and legs were black with a covering of mosquitoes. I can only imagine how much blood I was about to lose. I could brush them off of my arms and legs but I couldn't get them off my back. I envisioned that I was going to become exhausted or maybe have a heart attack. The mosquitoes would suck me dry and no one would ever know what happened to me. With every bit of strength I had in my body I finally arrived at a high enough elevation that the mosquitoes began to dissipate. That was not only the last time I attempted any form of skiing at Indian Mountain; it was also the last time I went on a hike by myself! Don Chaffin RCA Radar/Digital Tech. 1982-84 |
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[Doug Cummings - 05 April 2006 email]
I was stationed at Indian Mountain in 75-76 as a heavy equipment operator. It was our job to keep the runway and the 10 mile road to top camp open in the winter. Our skiing was done on what we called a cat trail, which was used by us as a shortcut in the dozers and trackmasters to bypass the jug handle on the road to top camp. It started somewhere past "fish camp" at the bottom and came out just above Langford Switch on top. It was about a fifth of a mile long and we would pack it with the cats for skiing. Forty to fifty feet wide and no room for errors. We had shirts made that said "Ski Indian Mtn." with an Indian on the edge of a radar dish. I still have it somewhere. If you're interested, I'll find it and send you a pic. We didn't ski the power line as it was quite rough. Regards, Doug Cummings |
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[Jake Huether - 12 December 2006 email]
My son found your website
http://www.alsap.org/IndianMountain/IndianMountain.htm.
I was stationed at Top Camp as a Radar Maintenance Technician from
December of 1965 until December of 1966. We were stationed with a
guy from Portland, Oregon who was a ski instructor and he taught
many of us to ski. We would ski down the road to Lower Camp and a
guy from the motor pool would drive us back up to Top Camp in
whatever vehicle was available -- usually a dump truck. During my
time at Indian Mountian one USO show visited us -- Christmas of
1965. Nothing after that.
The 1962 "Guide to AAC
Remote Stations" was a bit of a stretch. As I remember, there were
two pool tables, two ping-pong tables and a one lane bowling
alley -- you either became very good at these activities or didn't
use them. There was no T.V. and we had AFRN reception about 4-5
hours/day. Indian Mountain truely defined a "Remote Assignment".
We depended on the movies that came in periodically for
entertainment -- we saw lots of re-runs. At 19, I was the youngest
person on site. As you can imagine, I had quite an education during
my time there. Your web site brought back many
memories........
Jake
Huether
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[Joe Bell - 24 December 2006 email excerpt]
Arrived at Indian Mountain right after Thanksgiving , 1953--took over as site chief --10th Radio Relay detachment--stationed there one year--have lots of slides and b&w--will try to send you some--we had a bunch of army engrs come out in summer of 54 to survey for new antenna arrays for the new tropo scatter stuff--screwed up their compass settings and located antenna's in valley --we maintained good communications using GE commercial fm transmitters at 1kw--lots of stories here about how we did it--don't know about the power line ski area but there was cleared path on the side of the mountain toward Hughes that was supposed to be used for a aerial lift for supplies--had a snow fence all the way along it--this project was abandoned and the Indians that operated the gold dredge got permission to salvage the gear--they took everything but the building--even the big buda diesel engines that operated the lift--they were good mechanics and took a lot of the gear apart to transport it on dog sleds back to Hughes--my bunch made a toboggan and used that area to slide down--did not know they had brakes until we found out the hard way--we had a few visual sighting of soviet aircraft and our radar had very good coverage due to the elevation--we saw lots of U.S. aircraft enter soviet airspace (on radar) and soviet aircraft entering ours--all denied in the press--our radio was supposed to be line of sight but the best programs we could get were from radio moscow and they had a lot of news about our sites. |
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[Joseph Bonta - 05 September 2007 email]
My name is Joseph Bonta and I was
stationed at Utopia (Indian Mountain) from May1954 to May 55. I
live in the Boston area and worked as an engineer for Sylvania &
Raytheon Co. I am now retired and still think of my life at
UTOPIA. I was a Radar mechanic on the FPS 3 radar. WE
named it Utopia because it was so unutopian , Did you know that?
Time Magazine sent a photographer to the site and in their
December 20 1954 issue there are photos of the site on pages 18
& 19 [see below]. We had no sledding or skiing when I was
there. No water (one Gallon a day to wash-up), an outhouse
and there was 50 men on top site and about 150 at bottom camp
The Old Utopian
[Joseph Bonta - 17 September 2007 email]
We all have our individual
experiences about our tours up in Alaska. When I
first got to Ladd AFB I was assigned to what were called
the Russian Quonset huts. I was there for my arctic
indoctrination for about two weeks before I went to
Utopia. The guys that I met there told me that I was
going to the worst site in Alaska. That the runway was
up hill and that because I was a Radar mechanic I would
be up on Indian Mt. where there was no water, or
indoor plumbing , but an outhouse. Well I thought
that they were pulling my leg as they all would laugh
when I said I did not believe all the stories that they
told me. When I left for the site, the crew chief
told me he would show me where I would be for the next
12 month, and when we got to Utopia he showed me from
the plane the Radar dome sitting on top of the mountain.
I will give you an example of what could and did happen to you after you were there for awhile. As you can imagine fire was a real problem at the site because we had no water to put out a fire....So..
Like I said we all have
individual experiences. But what I learned is that the
Air Force did not give a rats ass about us poor souls
stuck up on a mountain for 12 months straight. When I
went to my promotion hearing at bottom camp I was asked
tech questions about electronics. I answered all the
questions' without any problem because that was my
expertise ( I worked as an electrical engineer from 1956
to 1993) But when I was asked if I would re-up into the
AIR FORCE, I said "No way would I reenlist" The Air
Force had a policy that once you had experience at a
remote site chances were good that you would be sent
back to one after a year or so of state side duty.
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[Charles Lowther - 11 September 2007 email]
My name is Charles Lowther and I was stationed at Indian
Mountain from June 1958 to June 1959. I worked as a ground to
air radio maintenance tech. (see photo of radio maintenance
shack) The radio shack was the only occupied building that was
not connected by the hallway system. We had no skiing when I
was there so we would just lay down on our backs, lift our legs
and slide down head first. (see attached photo) While at Indian
Mountain there were 80 guys at top camp including civilians.
Some of the civilians were tech reps and others ran the micro
wave station called White Alice. (see attached photo) Our Baker
went for a walk one afternoon and never was seen again. Later,
the ball field at base camp was dedicated to him. (See photos)
Also, there were no power lines to top camp. All power came from
diesel generators located at the top camp.
Originally from St. Louis, I am now retired and live in Reno Nevada. I spent most of my working career in the semiconductor industry working for Monsanto co., Hewlett Packard, and Siemens to name a few. I would like to hear from anyone that was there while I was. Thanks. |
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[Jean McCaleb - 08 May 2008 email]
MY NAME IS DORIS JEAN MC
CALEB AND MY HUSBAND WAS STATIONED HERE IN LATE 1954 AND
1955.
HIS NAME WAS FELIX ANDREW MC
CALEB, JR AND THE ONLY OTHER PERSON THAT I HAVE A NAME
FOR WAS OSCAR COGGINS. MY HUSBAND PLOWED THOSE RUN WAYS
AND KEPT THE ROADS OPEN DURING HIS TIME THERE.
I HAVE MANY PICTURES THAT
WAS TAKEN AT THIS TIME, SOME OF THE PICTURES HAVE
NAMES, IF ANYONE IS INTERESTED IN SEEING THEM I COULD
SCAN THEM AND E MAIL THEM TO SOMEONE.
THERE IS A PICTURE OF A BEAR
CUB THAT SOMEONE HAD SHOT THE MOTHER AND ALSO SHOT THE
CUB IN THE LEG. IT HAD A CAST ON IT'S LEG, MY HUSBAND
SAID THAT EVERYONE STOLE ALL OF THE HONEY AND SWEETS
FROM THE MESS HALL AND FED IT.
I WOULD BE INTERESTED IN
HEARING FROM ANYONE THAT KNEW HIM. HE PASSED AWAY IN
DECEMBER 2005.
I TRIED TO FIND SOME INFO
ABOUT THE SITE SEVERAL YEARS AGO, BUT HE ALWAYS CALLED
IT UTOPIA FIELD, BUT I KNOW FROM THESE PICTURES THAT
THIS IS THE SAME PLACE AND ALSO HIS OPERATOR'S PERMIT
LISTS INDIAN MOUNTAIN AIR FORCE STATION ON IT, I
TALKED TO SOMEONE IN THE AIR FORCE RECORDS AND THEY TOLD
ME THAT IF SUCH A PLACE HAD EVER EXISTED THAT IT WAS
CLASSIFIED AS TOP SECRET. I KNOW HIS PAPERS WERE
STAMPED SECRET, BUT I DON'T KNOW WHY HE NEVER TOLD ME
THIS NAME. THIS CARD JUST FELL OUT OF SOME PAPERS THAT
HE HAD SAVED AND I SAW IT JUST RECENTLY. WOULD BE NICE
TO KNOW IF ANYONE ELSE FROM THERE IS STILL ALIVE. I
TALK TO OSCAR COGGINS OCCASIONALLY, HE IS IN NORTH
CAROLINA.
I WILL WAIT TO HEAR FROM
SOMEONE
THANK YOU
jeanjean70 -at- bellsouth.net
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[Lawrence Myers - 29 May 2008 email]
Fall into winter 1966…..What I remember is the dump and helping the guys in the deuce and a half back into the dump area really quick and then hitting the brakes and letting the garbage slide off the truck ! Why? There were always 5 or 6 bears hanging around and no one wanted to unload in a more conventional way. I skied from top camp to bottom camp in late Nov., with a 30-06 rifle on my shoulder (per camp commander’s orders). Thank god for the trees, they gave me something to help break my many falls. I recall a fella “Wild Bill” this guy was crazy; he was a civilian at the white Alice operation at top camp but always came to bottom camp on Friday nights to win all the G.I. money floating around at the NCO bar. I heard he passed away a few years ago in Wasilla, Alaska. This guy was a true Alaskan in every sense of the word. He landed his plane upside down one time and when we got to the cockpit to take him out, he was strapped in his seat laughing like hell. A friend of mine at the site shot a Boone & Crockett size moose that fall and we used a D-8 Cat to bring it into the motor pool to hang up and butcher. We chained the moose to the blade and drove it in without any problem! We ate moose for 2 months after that, the cooks were even getting tired of finding recopies to try. It was 10 miles from bottom camp to top camp with a survival shack every mile. We took the weasel (track vehicle) to top camp in the winter and stalled right next to one of the shacks (mile 6). It was thee that I saw the largest Wolf that I have ever seen. Lots of memories…………….all good. |
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[Tom Pitman - 23 October 2008 email]
Subject: Utopia Creek AK |
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[Jim Zuehsow - 03 February 2009 email]
I enjoyed looking at your web
page. I was only at UTO as a White Alice
vacation relief tech. I noticed pictures of the
new radomes at top camp. I have some pictures
from about 3 years ago when a windstorm just
about destroyed them, and also busted up the
Alascom satellite dish down below. I just
retired from Alascom after 36 years , the last
26 of them working at the Eagle River gateway
station. My white Alice time was mostly at Big
Mountain there on Lake Illiamna. I saw one email
where someone mentioned Wild Bill. That would be
Wild Bill Nelson, and yes, he did die several
years ago. He was a mechanic at Big Mountain in
1968 when I was there. After he left White
Alice, he continued working construction and was
up on the Trans Alaska Pipeline. I used to see
him around Anchorage all the time. He had a
thing about lawyers, since he had several bad
run-in with them and the legal system. He would
drive around the courthouse with a truck and
trailer that had all kinds of defamatory stuff
painted on 4 by plywood sheets about how all
lawyers are crooks and judges are all corrupt.
The cops would come and arrest him and he’d do
the same thing the next week.. His hate of
lawyers and judges stemmed from back when he was
19 years old. He had a gravel hauling contract
out at the Air Force base, and some
lawyer gypped him out of this million dollar
contract and passed it on to his contractor
friend. He said since Nelson was only 19 years
old, the contract was invalid. Later in life, he
went through a nasty divorce and lost his shirt,
so he had good reason to feel the way he did. A
true Alaskan character, for sure. |
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[Bob Johnson - 04 February 2009 email excerpt]
I saw link below and
while I was appreciating the research and
dedication to producing it, I came across the
photo captioned: "Here
is a view of the radars on top of Indian
Mountain and the Top Camp. A rather desolate
place to be in the middle of winter! "
The photo is actually
of the White Alice
troposcatter communications site located on a
bench in the side of the mountain below the
actual radar site. The two 30-foot dish
antennas, seen from the rear in the photo point,
almost due south to the Bear Creek White Alice
site. This photo had to have been taken either
from the AFS Radar site itself, or from the air
just above it. I was a White Alice supervisor
there, briefly, in, 1972. [TK note -
this picture caption has been corrected]. |
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[Bill Hanson - 21 October 2009 email]
My name is Bill Hanson and I too was stationed at Indian Mtn from 1970/71 I was one of a couple 603’s(driver) that were there and I drove the mountain 2 times a day, I also had to haul diesel fuel up the mountain to top off the 100,000 gal tank up on top camp. There is a lot of info that happened that year. Top camp storage tank caught fire. I diesel generator froze up and had to haul a new up the mtn. on this web site you have two of my pictures. One is a P/u truck side of a snow drift, what is so important about that photo is I was driving on snow that the dozer’s kept plowing the more that was plowed the farther away from the mountain the road got so this is why I said I was just driving on snow. Top camp lost the toilet’s cause everything froze up so we had to poop in a can. Being that I drove up twice a day I was up there a lot so yes I to had to poop in the can. When Mike Ganz (sp) was alive he kept the web site going and I provided a lot of info for him. Good ol 708thAC&W Sq. something I will never forget. If you would like more let me know. OK. I retired from the AF in 88 and live in NC and still work for the AF as a civilian of course. I have been doing this 20 years come Nov 27th. Bill Hanson nosnah@icomnet.com |
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[Hugh Cannon - 07 February 2010 email]
I was
stationed on Indian Mountain from August
1953 until July 1954. I was there when
they started building the Radom. The
initial radar set that operated there
was an FPS 3 and installed under the
direction of a tech rep from Bendix
Radio..last name was Terry..I have
forgotten his first name. I worked with
him in installing some of the equipment
and was there when the site became
operational. Recall watching movies in
bottom of the Radom and we had a little
PX there...no heat.. In addition to
work in Radar Maintenance work also in
Radio Maintenance
I
contributed to the new outhouse being
built. A guy by the name of Benny and I
were burning out the honey pit under the
old outhouse. Shallow pit scooped in
the rocks. Fire lit and we going to
pour another 5 gallon bucket of diesel
oil on the fire. We each held a
side...we swung the bucket forward,
Benny let go of his side and I held
on...diesel went through the fire and
also onto the old outhouse...great fire.
Attached is a picture of the new
outhouse being built. Also one of
Midnight Sun (not very good)
During the
winter of 53-54, Mr. Terry led a number
of guy across the snow to Hughes. They
spent the night there. I believe some
from the 10th RR were among the hearty.
During the
winter a number of us missed the first
switch back going off the top in a Snow
Cat and proceeded a long way toward the
big drop off. Sometime spent as much as
8 hours making the trip from Bottom
Camp to Top Camp.
I was there
when Joe Bell came in 1953 and when
Joseph Bonita came in 1954. Visited
with the guys of 10th Radio Relay a
number of times. I was in the 712 AC&W
Squadron.
I am in the
process of review some old slides and
picture that I have. I have a number.
I'll try to send some more when I find
them.
Recently
went back to Alaska; but not to Indian
Mountain.
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[Bill Aldred - 12 February 2010 email]
I was stationed at Indian Mt. from
Sept 1959 - 1960. It was my first
"overseas" assignment as a 2nd Lt,
Air Force. Some 40 airmen and 5
officers inhabited top camp, while
the commander, a Major, and support
services were at bottom camp - 12
miles by snowy road down the
mountain. A PBX telephone connected
the two camps.
We had no skiing while I was there.
We had a one room officers' club at
top and bottom camps with a
shortwave radio that was connected
by cigar box speakers to each of the
five officers' rooms. Each Saturday
night we hosted lemming races in the
club. Someone had made a
rectangular track on which the
competitors raced. Lots of money
changed hands. Other activities
included once a week movies and when
the weather permitted, target
practice on rats at the outside
materiel dump.
Living quarters were Quonset huts
joined together to form hallways and
each was tied down with guy wire to
protect the units from being
catapulted off the mountain by the
ever-present winds.
We had about 3 civilian RCA
technicians attached to top camp.
These folks were working on the then
top secret "White Alice" radio
network. At top camp, the radar
command post with long range radar
and height finding radar was
operated by the technicians and
officers on an around the clock
basis. We controlled the Air
Defense aircraft, f-89's, from Ladd
and sometime in 1960 we began
working with the f102's out of
Galena AFS. Call sign for Indian
Mountain was "top coat" and for the
Ladd fighters out of Fairbanks the
sign was "Eva Reds". Landing strip
for Indian Mt featured a 30 degree
angle for landing and take-off.
Mail and supplies were shipped
primarily by a local Indian operated
Wien airlines. Eskimo and/or Indian
pilots flew the aircraft and
unloaded the supplies .
Every now and then a prospector
would wander into our camp and spend
the night. Most of these folks were
panning for gold in the old
abandoned goal mine within a
half-mile of the top camp. One
night, a prospector very much
"loaded" from adult refreshments
ordered a steak dinner for all of
the troops at top camp to be
delivered from a restaurant in
Seattle Washington. Believe it or
not, it came within days and we
cooked it up in the small mess hall
we had....
Then there was the time a brown bear
wandered into the Mess Sergeant's
room in the mess hall .......
I hope these facts are somewhat
interesting to your readers.....
Bill Aldred
Lt Col (USAF), Ret.
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[Ted - 25 March 2010 email]
Ran
across your site re: Indian
Mountain as I was looking for
some information to send to
another person regarding the
Northern Lights.
I
was stationed at the AACS site
at UTO -then a top secret site
-- to direct air traffic to our
dirt runway and report weather
to Ladd AFB @ Fairbanks anks.
We
were housed on the side of one
of the mountains overlooking the
base camp at the foot of he
mountain that housed the radar
site construction crew. I was
there from January to May and
one of the most memorable times
in life. I had 2 sometimes 3
radio operators housed in canvas
Quonset hut, a pyramid tent
housed a HF transmitter and a
plywood building (such as it
was) housed a Willis auto
engine/generator for our lights
plus a another Willis used for
parts as we needed. We melted
snow for our water using a empty
5 gallon can used at one time
for coffee.
The
ACW outfit was a small crew just
to keep the buildings in shape
and when we could we'd take the
jeep down the mountain to their
camp for a decent, like home
cooked meal. I remember there
were only 15 -20 guys at that
site then, but in the summer
time it a busy place.
Those were the days. Did a
little panning for gold-- a gold
mining company had dredged the
creek for gold with
large banks of dirt either side
of the creek. Our runway ended
at the edge of the creek so it
was full power on the C-47
coming down the runway to clear
the dirt banks. There was a 12
degree rise from the bottom end
of the runway to the top end of
the runway.
Could go on with story's about
the place.
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[John Draper - 18 August 2010 email]
Arrived
in summer. 24 hour daylight. Bad
case of the "Big eye"... I wake up
(top camp), go to chow hall
expecting it to be 3 pm.... place
practically deserted. Initiated at
the NCO Club, had to drink through
the "panties" - got totally
crocked.... massive hangover...
I ran a small AM radio station with
a small transmitter I built and kept
it under the Ops Building. My USAF
duties were Radar Repair and
Maintenance. I was working on the
FPS-6 height finder radar. AFSC
30352. I was Airman 2nd Class -
totally at the bottom of the food
chain. Had to carry 110 lb test
equipment from tower to tower at 40
below, through enclosed tunnels
which were totally buried in the
snow. There was an FPS-90 PPI
radar feeding the Ops with radar
data running through a BUIC Computer
system (All tubes). A White Alice
Communication station used tropo-scatter
to Elmendorf AFB. They also had
AFRN radio that sounded like it was
miked through a 6 transistor
radio. I played a lot of Oldies
rock and roll from 6pm to 10pm and
Soft music after that. I had a
small single turn table, a
reel-to-reel tape deck, and my
music was taped from a San Jose
station by my brother...
They had 'Call night' every Friday, when "Alaska Switch Autovon" operators would call a phone in the orderly room. We were allowed 20 minutes to talk, and there was no charge, complements of the WATS lines in Sunnyvale... one just called a base near where you wanted to call, and the comm center would make the call during non-duty hours. I was also a HAM radio operator, and used the MARS station to work an amazing amount of really cool DX... Conditions were amazing.... weren't allowed to talk to the RUSSKIES which had very strong signals from Siberia only 150 miles away. They had a Cold storage warehouse, and a warm storage for the vehicles, the normal "dump truck" Blue USAF vehicles and larger ones used to drive the 10 miles to bottom camp. They had an 8 million gallon tank for water they pumped during the short 3 month summer. Showers were limited to 30 second wet, turn off water, and 30 second rinse. They had BOQ housing for officers, and on the other side BAQ's where both NCO's and Airmen were housed. I got stuck with a chain smoker in MY room who outranked me, and complaints were futile. I was sick all the time, had breathing problems, and still reel from the effects today. It so sucks to be at the bottom of the food chain. For those with 69 days left would wear a whistle.... when I was "Short" it was really cool to blow it to people passing me in the halls... Totally different people up there just before shipping out, then what was up there when I first got there. There were about 15 civilians who were there for more then 2 years. large heat banks were used to keep the antennas warm, and when we had to turn them on or off, we had to call the power plant so they can adjust the generator output or equipment would blow up. Dorms were very hot and stuffy, and the heat was coming in from hot water from a large furnice near the power plant. It was used to keep the 8 million gallon tank of water in a liquid state for 8 months out of the year. it was a court marshall offence to turn off the heat - The water would freeze and shut down the entire heating system, then they had to come in with welder transformers to heat up the pipes for water to flow again. The window panes were 3 layers of class, with air gap between then, and still the snow manages to come in with small snow drifts on the floor we had to mop up. In winter, it was almost always whiteout conditions. Every morning AFRN would have a contest to see who the coldest site was, and ours was at the top of the list almost all the time. Tin City site (On bearing sea) was practically "tropical". You could practically WALK to russia from there in Winter. Had to do KP every 2 weeks, and tradition was that for Xmas, NCO's would do the KP with each one doing just a 30 minute shift, and officers would do KP for new years.... No TV, but old rerun movies every night at 8 pm, using an 8 mm projector that was constantly unfocused and jittery. They had a library of about 3000 books, I was into Sci fi - only 3 were available.... so care packages from home were always welcomed. People would use any excuse in the book to get transferred out of this sh*thole. One person punched a fist through glass, that got him shipped back down to Elmendorf, then got a mental discharge. "Faked" Emergency leaves were highly frowned upon... I really f*cked up my back, but couldn't do anything about it because of the general attitude at the base. I would travel down to Bottom camp to see "new faces" and to take in the steam room... people would get hot in the steam room and roll around in the snow for entertainment. In winter, air very still, windless, but 85 degrees below zero - I could stay out there for about 4 minutes... the base record was 9 minutes. I installed a transmitter at bottom camp with cooperation from White alice that supplied the lines. In summer, it was impossible to go outside because the mosquitoes. Repellent just did NOT work. Midnight baseball games were popular in summer if you can stand the mosquitoes. A small sloping air field was used to fly things in and out, and once you released the brakes you were committed to take off. C130's and other cargo planes were coming and going. land uphill, take off downhill.... As far as I can tell, there was NO skiing allowed in 65 - 66, and they had "survival shacks" every mile along the service road. There is NOTHING living at top camp. No plants, flowers, trees, etc. It was rocky and devoid of all life except the Brown Bears, wolves, and wolverines, and caribou and moose. On my last few weeks in June, it snowed. Those leaving the building were required to have a firearm. Not far from the main Mountain was "Flat top", a kind of plateau. Good caribou hunting, wolf and wolverine... One wolverine got stuck in the cable ducts under the Ops Building and wouldn't get out.. snarling, and very mean.... was eventually shot. trash is just dumped over the side of the hill, and bears would have a huge ass buffet. I remember one time there was an IG inspection, we had a roll of RG-8U coax (10,000 ft) were weren't supposed to have (due to an error in shipping). They just rolled it down the hill. FYI... RG-8U coax was 12 cents a foot from electronic and ham stores. Anyway, this is MY story about this very remote and isolated place, and I still have nightmares about still being up there. I keep asking myself what the heck I did to get stationed up there..... it must have been pretty bad, whatever it was. I got shipped to Maine after that Charleston AFB - at least they had living plant matter there.... and now it's a prison... how ironic... Feel free to post this to other Indian Mt people who ski or served up there. John |
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[Wayne Duke - 27 August 2011 email]
Hello. My name is
Wayne and I lived in a cabin on
Indian Mountain with my aunt, uncle
and cousins. He was a civil engineer
at the base. I was fairly young but
I will never forget the time I spent
there. We mostly subsisted and built
the cabin right on the Indian river;
I am very curious if it is still
there. We even had an outdoor sauna
and my uncle bulldozed the river and
made us a swimming hole. We trapped
and fished, hiked and hunted all
over the area including gold camp
and Chicken river. To my knowledge
we were the only civilians allowed
at the site at the time. Thought you
might like to hear a little about
it.
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[Mark Sachs - 15 September 2011 email, see pictures above]
I was
stationed at the Indian Mountain AFS
in 1969-1970, and years ago I
mentioned to a friend that it was at
Utopia Creek. After I explained what
the place was like, my friend told
me that it sounded like I was more
up the creek than in utopia! I
agreed with him wholeheartedly!!!
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[Charles Fullenwider - 13 December 2011 email]
I
was there winter 54 till summer 55.
Was at bottom power house such as it
was, D13000 cat and an
international. Went thru several
upgrades power and otherwise. |
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Do you have further information, stories or pictures that you would like to contribute about this ski area? |
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