On Sunday Jerry and I had dinner with 3 of our Manley friends. We have been away for a year, and so we had a lot to catch up on.
The new airport, which had been planned last year, was not funded, and so its construction has been put off. Perhaps it will be started next summer. Our friends think that it will ultimately go. The road to Nome, which the Fairbanks Daily News Minor had shown a few months ago as probably going through Manley, turning on the Tofty Road and passing right by our house, is another matter. Our friends said, basically, that’s not going to happen, at least not in our lifetimes.
In a way I’m sorry, because I would like to travel that road, but on the other hand, I dislike the little bit of mining traffic that passes along our road now. It seems that most of the mining is moving from Tofty to Livengood. Every night when we walk the dogs we see big trucks going up the road pulling empty lowboys. They come back the next morning hauling heavy mining equipment. Jerry thinks there hasn’t been much gold at Tofty for a long time.
But the big event of the past year was the death of Bob Lee which happened just before Christmas. Of course, we had heard about it, but last night we got all the details.
Bob Lee, a towering man, was a pillar of the Manley community. He came here in the early 70’s and bought the lodge. Before he came here he had been a state trooper. He had a seemingly endless supply of stories about when he was a trooper. I have heard him tell some of those stories, and they were always entertaining.
Before Bob bought the lodge it had gone through several owners who were unable to make a viable business from it. In the first few years he owned the lodge it did well. There was commercial fishing on the Yukon and a small processing plant here in Manley. There were 2 or 3 Japanese fishermen here processing roe. That was going on when Jerry came here and bought the store and the electric company.
Bob was the postmaster when Jerry got here. The post office was in the bar and there were complaints about that: some people objected to having to enter the bar to pick up their mail. Jerry ran the store for a couple of years, but shop keeping was not really to his liking. Jerry started a telephone company since at the time there were no telephones in Manley. Bob bought the store and moved the post office from the bar into the store.
Mining in Tofty brought business to Bob. The store sold groceries, liquor and a few basic necessities. Fire crews and construction crews used the lodge which include over night facilities and a restaurant.
Bob prospered with the years. He had one child, David, who grew up in Manley.
David Lee had a job on the pipeline road near a small airport and he often flew his airplane to work. One day about 3 years ago he left here in marginal weather and never arrived. Jerry saw the initial FAA accident investigation report and it appears the plane came apart in the air. This can happen in severe weather. It was a dreadful accident and, as someone said, David must have had an “Oh Shit” moment. He was the only one in the small single engine airplane, a Piper Cherokee 235.
It was a terrible blow to Bob to lose his only child. For a long time he could talk of nothing else, and his planned marriage to Lisa, his third wife, was postponed for a year.
Over the years that he owned the lodge Bob improved it. He carefully kept it in the old style, collecting articles and decorations in keeping with its tradition and he furnished it with antiques of its period. The bar was lovingly restored and improved. I am told that Bob’s son David did much of the carpentry work on the bar counter, which is really a work of art.
I have no pictures of the bar counter and the lodge is not open at this time of year. It is closed during the winter from the end of the hunting season until May. But here are some pictures of the restaurant and bar from my archives.
The lodge
The bar in the lodge
The lodge dining room
Another view of the lodge dining room
The wonderful old lodge makes a trip to Manley worth while.
Last year Bob was medivaced out of Manley, and when he came back he was attached to an oxygen supply. He told us that he would probably have to be on it for the rest of his life. Just before he died he and Lisa made a trip to the Mayo Clinic. He was told at the clinic that he was doing well but as almost as soon as they came back he collapsed and died.
Lisa is working hard to run the store and the lodge. There is a temporary postmaster, and the job is now being advertised. Untangling Bob’s affairs is a huge job for Lisa. First the settlement of David’s affairs must be completed, something Bob was working on before he died. David left a child, Bob’s grandchild.
Bob was generous with his employees. He did great good for this community, and his loss will be felt for a long time.
Another development that our friends told us of is the plan by one of the owners of the land around the hot springs (where there is thermal activity) to establish some commercial greenhouses. That should be a big boost to the economy of the community.
In the meantime, since we arrived a week ago, most of the snow has melted. We took our first walk in the woods. The poodles, who clearly remembered this place, were overjoyed. I know that they remembered because almost as we walked in the door Fluffy found his favorite toy, a cong and Daisy took up her perch on the back of the sofa, scanning the yard for rabbits.
As we walked up the hill in back of the house, through the birch forest Fluffy streaked back and forth through the trees sniffing all the exciting scents. Poor Daisy can’t be let off the leash. She is naughty and doesn’t come when called unless she feels like it. The forest floor is already beginning to green.
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The last time I was in residence in Manley I wrote a number of posts about this small community. My husband spent his prime here, and those years I believe were his happiest. I came here with him almost 4 years ago, we were married here. Later we bought a small house here which we worked hard to fix up.
I write about things which interest me. There are many things that interest me; too many, I often think, which may be why I never really excelled at any one thing. Besides writing, I am interested in politics, rocks, painting, birds, dogs, opera, biology, gardening, microscopic things and more.
People interest me. People of all sizes, shapes, colors and ages, of all religious or political persuasions. I like most people. I liked the people here in Manley and I wrote about them. I thought many of them were smart, resourceful and funny. They struggle with a harsh climate and make a good thing of it. I tried to convey that when I wrote about them. Somehow, without meaning to, I managed to offend a number of them, and for that I am truly sorry.
It’s so lovely to read about your life in Manley, Anne, and I was sorry when some of your neighbours took offence last year. All I saw in your writing about them was a strong community of really interesting people.
I’m glad the pooches have settled in, and that you and Jerry have been able to catch up with your friends.
Sometimes it’s hard to know what people will or won’t appreciate you mentioning. A few years back, I wrote what I thought was a proud, affirming piece about my straight son, his gay housemate, and his Haitian girlfriend, and why can’t everyone get along like they do, blah blah, and when my son read it he was very upset. I had to cut out the choicest paragraphs before sending it to the parish newspaper (who wouldn’t have known who my son was, and never put my name on the piece when they did publish it). Sigh.
Before reading this entry of yours, I glanced over the photos. From the second one on, I “heard” a player piano playing “Oh Susanna”. Quite gratified to see the piano in the final photo.
I love the way you write. I love how you describe people, places, and your life. I have also offended people I love and admire with posts I thought were kind to them. It’s the most difficult aspect of blogging … realizing how we see things is not the way the people we write about may see them.
I can totally understand your afffection for Manley and its inhabitants and like Tessa, never understood their sensitivity to your comments. Oh well.
Lovely piece on Bob and son. Tragic too. I think about death a lot lately. And what we leave behind. I’m very like you – I dabble in everything and I truly believe it is the way to happiness, retain that child like wonder and jump up and down with excitement at discovery.
XO
WWW
Since I had not discovered your blog when you wrote the things that caused upset, I cannot comment on that; but I do enjoy your writing and the way you describe your life and in this case a place I will likely never be.
If you write with honesty you are going to see people as you see them and not as they see themselves. While both views are true, people can be very sensitive to how others see them. This lifestyle is becoming limited as most move to cities or towns run by corporations in order to survive.
I appreciate all your posts, but the Manly posts are especially rich. I have a friend who lives in Skagway year round, and here too her posts capture a uniqueness those of us who live in the lower 48 can’t imagine.
I’m so sorry that you irritated friends up there….I enjoyed all those posts. May you have a wonderful sojurn there in the north this year, and please don’t stop recording you life there.
I too, am a new reader to your wonderful blog. It occurrs to me that private people are often even more private than can be known of them, and from this deeply sensitive place can be offended by someone else “defining” them. As a writer and observer, you are not actually in charge of your reader’s response/reaction to your words. How, as a writer, could one ever figure out all the nuances and histories that come together when one reads your writing? Impossible. Ultimately, I believe that we write for our own Soul, to express the delight (and sometimes despair) we experience on the earth-bound journey. Your blog is like a “best book!” in that I look forward to your next post. It is obvious that you hold a deep and abiding love and respect for your up-North community.
Your post makes me want to visit Manley. I’m suffering from Wanderfoot right now. That house and bar look so cozy, so suited to the climate.
As to offending people: it’s a constant problem for writers. I have been ordered not to write about my family on my blog. And that’s fine with me. If I do write negative things about other people, as I often do, there is no doubt that that is what I’m doing.
I think it’s mixed signals that get writers in trouble.
I would love to see the beautiful scenery that surrounds you, but I would not like being cold. I moved to Arizona because of that. Growing up in Colorado Springs at the foot of Pike’s Peak means I also appreciated beautiful mountains looming over me, but I didn’t appreciate them in the winter.
It is so easy to offend someone when you think you are being kind. I have done so and nearly lost a dear friend that way. It happens to all of us. They will probably come around in time. If not, you haven’t lost much.
You are among the least combative people I have ever known, and I hope that any Manley folk who were offended will eventually work out that you always meant to write with affection and respect.
I’m glad the poodles are happy.
What a great, fascinating post with great photos!!!!! I am looking forward to your adventure!!!!
Great writing, as usual. The lodge in Manley sounds and looks just like the Talkeetna Roadhouse, which was run by Carroll Close in the 60s.
Small towns in Alaska (and maybe small islands in America!) are comprised of eccentric characters who can be stranger than fiction. I’d describe my childhood in small Alaskan towns as “start with Northern Exposure and just get weirder.” You never know how someone is going to take something. An insult could be taken as a compliment and vice versa.
Looking forward to your next post!
Thanks for the info on Manley. I am a land owner near Manley and visited last Summer. Anyone in the area, i suggest the hutlinana hot springs 7 mile hike / snowmachine / x-country ski trip. I hope the road to Nome gets built, and hopefully the part to Tanana / Yukon bridge gets done first. I also wish Manley well, get the airport built. I plan to visit again.