Since I am on stories of Fred Wells, there is one more which happed
about 35 years later when Fred was 90 years old and still on the go.
One day Fred phoned from Vancouver to my brother Arthur. He had some
claims to stake in B.C. and wanted Art to go along and help him. Art was
unable to get away from business and asked me if I would like to go.
This sounded like an adventure, so I went to Vancouver and met Fred in
his hotel
room. He lived in this room and took all his meals out in restaurants. I
found his room so cluttered with tools, equipment and clothes that it
was hard to get around in it.
He explained to me that he had found some abandoned claims in B.C. about
50 miles up a long fjord. Some work had been done long before, but all
was now abandoned. He reasoned from some examinations that there was a
favorable chance to develop a mine. The previous year he had taken in a
young man to help him stake the claims. The understanding was that the
claims would be shared equally. Fred agreed to pay all expenses involved
and all technical information and advice. They went to Namu, where
incidentally the first killer whale was captured later. From Namu a boat
was hired to take them about 50 miles up the fjord (Burke Channel).
Arriving at the location, the claims were staked and they returned to
Vancouver, where the claims were recorded. Soon Fred discovered that
his associate had double-crossed him by recording all the claims in his
own name. Of course Fred was furious but could do nothing. The following
year, however, Fred's so-called partner had been unable to do any
assessment work and the claims were once more open for staking. Fred
wanted me to go with him and once more stake the claims. He offered me a
50% interest for my help.
I said "Fred, I shall be happy to go with you and stake the claims but I
want no interest in them." We started packing which was a big job since
Fred, being now so old, was not as efficient as he used to be. He took
me to a bank where he cashed a check for $300.00 and gave it to me to
pay the bills. He said that on a previous trip he had decided that to
avoid mislaying his money he had put his money in his sock and put it
under his pillow. Using one sock he said would be a reminder of where
the money was hidden. In the morning the first bell was rung and he got
up but could find only one sock. He searched for it and then went to
breakfast on one sock. Fred always tipped well, but when he felt for his
money it was not there. He thought he had been robbed and hurried back
to his stateroom and began a thorough search and found the wallet.
Therefore he wanted me to handle all the money. I kept a careful account
of all expenses for him.
We arrived in Namu where he knew a lot of people. He engaged a fisherman
who had a good boat upon which he lived with his Indian wife and a small
dog. This couple were most kind and friendly. I really enjoyed knowing
them. The little old Indian woman was extremely dirty both in person and
in her cooking and housekeeping. That did not bother me in the least. I
have never been afraid of dirt. People themselves are far more
important. She had never been educated in our fashion. After arriving at
our destination, a day's journey, we anchored the power boat and used a
little boat to go ashore. Fred had brought along a big stock of camping
gear, tools, etc. When a young man, he had frozen his feet badly. They
were always tender and he had great trouble getting comfortable shoes.
He had a new pair of very expensive shoes. When one shoe hurt his foot,
he got a piece of wood and a hammer and drove it into the shoe until he
split the top from the sole. He then flew into a rage because the shoes
were not built properly. When we got settled I was sent to get going on
the claim staking. Fred told me flatly that he was running the show and
he expected me to do exactly as he wished without question. I tried to
comply but he seemed unreasonable. I told him I had come along to help
him and expected nothing but the pleasure of the trip. He started to
climb up the mountain through dense brush and rocks. I followed him. We
did not talk. We broke separate trails as he would not follow me and I
would not follow him. After several hours of accomplishing nothing we
returned. We had not even found the original mining operations. Fred was
a very determined man accustomed to finding his own way. I could not
help protesting our waste of time. I talked to my fisherman and his wife
and they fully agreed with me. Things got worse between Fred and me.
After about 3 or 4 days Fred told our boatman to pack up and return to
Namu. He said that since he could not get along with me, I must be sent
home. We packed up and started early next morning for Namu, arriving in
the evening. There would not be a boat south for several days. Fred
moved to a hotel and I stayed on the boat with my friends. Fred came
to see our fisherman and said he wanted him to take him back to the mine
site. The fisherman flatly refused. He said he had no more time for
running about like that.
Fred then went to the cannery superintendent and asked him for another
fisherman to take him back. This was flatly refused. I went to see him
in the hotel and found him very despondent. I returned to the boat and
told the fisherman what had happened. I then asked him if he would
return to the mine if Fred should agree to let me stake his claims
without interference. He, being a kind man who understood that with great
age we have peculiarities, assented. I returned to Fred and said that I
would take us back on condition that I be allowed to stake the claims
without interference. Fred was really up against it, and he readily
agreed. We started our return journey early the next A.M. We camped
again and I started out with the fisherman, found the outcrops and
excavations, located where the claims would be and in 2 days had
restaked all the claims. Fred was most agreeable and there was not more
friction. We discovered a wonderful crab bed. We collected a sack of
them and brought them back with us. We also discovered a wonderful bed
of clams. Most of the beaches were solid rock and very precipitous.
Occasionally however in a small area a gravel beach had formed in which
were hundreds of beautiful large clams. The little Indian floated over
the clams in a little boat and speared them.
When we were ready to leave the dock on our first journey we first had
eaten our breakfast at a nice restaurant. We left the restaurant and
were boarding the boat when a pretty girl waitress came running, shouting
"Mr. Wells - Mr. Wells." We stopped and she said "you've lost your false
teeth."
Fred said "dammit, I'm always losing something. Thank you very much for
finding them." Fred slipped them into his pocket and we started up the
fjord, an all day journey. As already related, we returned within a
week. Before leaving the fjord Fred was busily packing his gear.
Suddenly he felt in his pocket and came out with a plate of false teeth.
"I forgot all about these teeth", he said and shoved them into his
mouth. He pushed them around a little, then said "They must have been
stepped on. I can't make them go into my mouth." He felt in his mouth
and suddenly said "I have all my teeth, where did these come from?" We
had barely landed on the Namu dock when the waitress came running out of
the restaurant, which was on the dock. She said "Mr. Wells, have you got
those false teeth? They belong to a logger and he has been asking for
them every day."
We returned to Vancouver and I on to Seattle. I never saw Fred again.
He died several years later, well into his nineties. After making a
report on the mine I had staked, Fred was able to interest a mining
company who shipped equipment up there and did a season of exploratory
work. Apparently the results were not satisfactory, since the mine was
abandoned. That was Fred Wells' last mining venture.