There is no place like Nome
As I write this article I am two degrees south of the Arctic Circle (about 120 miles) in the city of Nome, Alaska. We are working within a stones throw of the Bering Sea helping to build a house for a missionary pastor.
It was here that gold was discovered in 1898. Miners used to pan the beach sand for gold and today they are still looking for gold but they use pontoon boats with pumps on them to suck the sand off the bottom so they can remove the gold from the sand. They dive in wet suits and operate suction hoses while their partner operates the separation process topside. The water temperature is about 32 degrees but I am told that 20 feet down it is colder than that. When I lived here over 40 years ago gold was worth $35 per ounce. With gold over $1200 per ounce there is a resurgence of activity with lots of people making a good living as miners, not only from the ocean bottom but also from the streams.
43 years ago, Ruth and I along with our two boys lived in this community where I taught math to the Eskimos. When we lived here it was pretty basic with boardwalks on the main street. Now they have concrete sidewalks and asphalt streets. They even have water and sewer for the whole town of 4000 people. We had no TV so the children didn’t know what they were missing by not dressing and acting like the sophisticated folks in the lower 48. Satellite TV has changed all that. They have abandoned their traditional Eskimo dress in favor of polyester and nylon. Even tattoos have gained popularity as well as drugs.
I asked an old timer the other day when she noticed a shift in the value system. She answered, “When we got TV”
I have a fondness for this city because it was here that I became a Christian.
I had grown up in a denominational church and heard Bible stories all of my life. I even knew a few Bible verses by heart, but the old adage, "Just because you walk into a barn, that doesn't make you a horse." Well, the adage is correct because I had grown up in the church and I wasn't a Christian.
I had been teaching math and science in the city of Bloomer, Wisconsin. I heard of a man who had grown up in Bloomer who was the superintendent of schools in Nome, Alaska, and was visiting relatives on his way back from a meeting in Washington, DC.
I was able to meet the guy and after a few minutes he said to me, "Jim, if you want to come to Nome next year and teach math, the job is yours.”
Now, to a young adventuresome guy like myself, saying do you want to come to Alaska and teach, is like saying, "sick'em" to a dog.
I went home and said to Ruth, “Honey, we are going to Alaska, I have a teaching job if I want it.”
Now, we must back up a couple of years when I first got out of college. I had decided that I wanted to teach out west. Ruth and I took off after graduation and went as far west as Colorado to interview. For some reason I didn't like or want any of the jobs available and on our way home we went via the Black Hills of SD. While sitting in a restaurant in Custer, I said, "I wonder if the superintendent of schools is in at this hour." I went to the phone and called the school and sure enough he was in and asked me to come right up for an interview. When we got home there was a contract to teach waiting for me in the mailbox.
Ruth's reaction to the contract was, "I am not going to live that far away from my folks."
Now, you can imagine what her reaction was to my coming home and saying, "Guess what honey, we are going to Alaska." I had better not repeat what she said.
That fall found us winging our way north. We had moved through the mail by parcel post. During that summer our youngest son Randy was born and by moving time he was six weeks old, too young for any immunization shots, "we'll get them there," we said.
We weren't in Nome more than a few weeks when the baby got "Whooping Cough." Nome didn’t have any permanent doctors; only young residents who volunteered to go to Nome for a couple of months and help out. These young whippersnappers had never seen "Whooping Cough" in the lower 48 and had no idea what it was. Randy would cough until he stopped breathing and we would have to pick him up and pat him on the back until he started breathing.
I really thought that I would be digging a grave for that boy before we left Nome. I was also teaching adult education at night and an old Eskimo woman in my class diagnosed the illness for me as she lost a couple of children to "Whooping Cough."
About that time our oldest son Jeff, was sick as well and spent some time in the hospital.
We were going to an Eskimo church that had about 5 white families. The denomination sent an evangelist up to our church to evangelize the Eskimos. There was to be a week of evangelistic meetings and while Ruth stayed home with the boys I took in a couple of them. On February 26th, 1967, while sitting near the back of the church, I asked the Lord Jesus to forgive of my sins and save me.
It took nearly losing my boys to get me to the point where I couldn't look any direction but up, fortunately, I looked up, and He looked down and saw my need.
I was the only white face sitting in the audience that night and I believe that I was the only one to get saved. What God won't do to save one soul is more than we can imagine.
As I walk around town there have been lots of changes. The one thing that has not changed is the high prices. Milk is about $10 a gallon, a 12 pack of Coke is $12.00. A sheet of plywood is over $50 and a yard of concrete is $350.00.
Since frozen food and fresh items must be flown in almost all of the meat that I have eaten is either Moose or Musk Ox, supplemented by Salmon. When we lived here we lived on Reindeer and Salmon. Reindeer is still available in the meat market.
Here we are in June and the temperature is in the 40’s with a strong wind coming off the ocean. Throw in some rain into the mix and it gets challenging. I don’t expect to see the sun very often.
The superintendent of schools goes to the church that I am attending. I told Ruth over the phone that she doesn’t have to loose any sleep wondering where we will be living next fall.
It was here that gold was discovered in 1898. Miners used to pan the beach sand for gold and today they are still looking for gold but they use pontoon boats with pumps on them to suck the sand off the bottom so they can remove the gold from the sand. They dive in wet suits and operate suction hoses while their partner operates the separation process topside. The water temperature is about 32 degrees but I am told that 20 feet down it is colder than that. When I lived here over 40 years ago gold was worth $35 per ounce. With gold over $1200 per ounce there is a resurgence of activity with lots of people making a good living as miners, not only from the ocean bottom but also from the streams.
43 years ago, Ruth and I along with our two boys lived in this community where I taught math to the Eskimos. When we lived here it was pretty basic with boardwalks on the main street. Now they have concrete sidewalks and asphalt streets. They even have water and sewer for the whole town of 4000 people. We had no TV so the children didn’t know what they were missing by not dressing and acting like the sophisticated folks in the lower 48. Satellite TV has changed all that. They have abandoned their traditional Eskimo dress in favor of polyester and nylon. Even tattoos have gained popularity as well as drugs.
I asked an old timer the other day when she noticed a shift in the value system. She answered, “When we got TV”
I have a fondness for this city because it was here that I became a Christian.
I had grown up in a denominational church and heard Bible stories all of my life. I even knew a few Bible verses by heart, but the old adage, "Just because you walk into a barn, that doesn't make you a horse." Well, the adage is correct because I had grown up in the church and I wasn't a Christian.
I had been teaching math and science in the city of Bloomer, Wisconsin. I heard of a man who had grown up in Bloomer who was the superintendent of schools in Nome, Alaska, and was visiting relatives on his way back from a meeting in Washington, DC.
I was able to meet the guy and after a few minutes he said to me, "Jim, if you want to come to Nome next year and teach math, the job is yours.”
Now, to a young adventuresome guy like myself, saying do you want to come to Alaska and teach, is like saying, "sick'em" to a dog.
I went home and said to Ruth, “Honey, we are going to Alaska, I have a teaching job if I want it.”
Now, we must back up a couple of years when I first got out of college. I had decided that I wanted to teach out west. Ruth and I took off after graduation and went as far west as Colorado to interview. For some reason I didn't like or want any of the jobs available and on our way home we went via the Black Hills of SD. While sitting in a restaurant in Custer, I said, "I wonder if the superintendent of schools is in at this hour." I went to the phone and called the school and sure enough he was in and asked me to come right up for an interview. When we got home there was a contract to teach waiting for me in the mailbox.
Ruth's reaction to the contract was, "I am not going to live that far away from my folks."
Now, you can imagine what her reaction was to my coming home and saying, "Guess what honey, we are going to Alaska." I had better not repeat what she said.
That fall found us winging our way north. We had moved through the mail by parcel post. During that summer our youngest son Randy was born and by moving time he was six weeks old, too young for any immunization shots, "we'll get them there," we said.
We weren't in Nome more than a few weeks when the baby got "Whooping Cough." Nome didn’t have any permanent doctors; only young residents who volunteered to go to Nome for a couple of months and help out. These young whippersnappers had never seen "Whooping Cough" in the lower 48 and had no idea what it was. Randy would cough until he stopped breathing and we would have to pick him up and pat him on the back until he started breathing.
I really thought that I would be digging a grave for that boy before we left Nome. I was also teaching adult education at night and an old Eskimo woman in my class diagnosed the illness for me as she lost a couple of children to "Whooping Cough."
About that time our oldest son Jeff, was sick as well and spent some time in the hospital.
We were going to an Eskimo church that had about 5 white families. The denomination sent an evangelist up to our church to evangelize the Eskimos. There was to be a week of evangelistic meetings and while Ruth stayed home with the boys I took in a couple of them. On February 26th, 1967, while sitting near the back of the church, I asked the Lord Jesus to forgive of my sins and save me.
It took nearly losing my boys to get me to the point where I couldn't look any direction but up, fortunately, I looked up, and He looked down and saw my need.
I was the only white face sitting in the audience that night and I believe that I was the only one to get saved. What God won't do to save one soul is more than we can imagine.
As I walk around town there have been lots of changes. The one thing that has not changed is the high prices. Milk is about $10 a gallon, a 12 pack of Coke is $12.00. A sheet of plywood is over $50 and a yard of concrete is $350.00.
Since frozen food and fresh items must be flown in almost all of the meat that I have eaten is either Moose or Musk Ox, supplemented by Salmon. When we lived here we lived on Reindeer and Salmon. Reindeer is still available in the meat market.
Here we are in June and the temperature is in the 40’s with a strong wind coming off the ocean. Throw in some rain into the mix and it gets challenging. I don’t expect to see the sun very often.
The superintendent of schools goes to the church that I am attending. I told Ruth over the phone that she doesn’t have to loose any sleep wondering where we will be living next fall.
posted by Jim Burton at 11:31 PM
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