The town of Wiseman was born in the mining era.  It boomed then busted and now settled in to a tiny mountain town population 16.  Not even half that many were around when we visited today.  A Post Office that opened in 1909 and long ago closed stood sentinel at the entrance to town.   We strolled the dirt streets and admired the wonderful old log cabins.  Mining equipment occupied some portion of nearly every lot.  It is hard to tell what’s antique or what’s scrap or what’s just not being used today.  The beautiful Kalhabuk Chapel is tucked away on a back street.  It is a tiny log building, chinked with moss, insulated with rags and beautifully kept.  They still have service every Sunday.

One resident is a trapper.  He still makes his living selling local hides.  Wolf, bear, wolverine and more.

Then there is Clutch.  As we were walking out of town he called out.  “Want to visit a museum?”  “It is all about the history of town”  “It is free.”  We turned to see a gray bearded, overall wearing local with a big smile and a mug of coffee in his fist.  Who could turn down an offer like that?

Clutch ushered us into one of the cabins and it was absolutely filled with all manner of collectable.  There were handwritten family histories.  Newspaper articles.  Photos.  Mounted stones both rough and finely polished.  The very best thing though, his stories.        Of course we have no idea what was truth and what might have been exaggeration but they were wonderfully entertaining none the less.  The stories revolved around two main themes, ice hockey and gold mining.  He jumped between tales so fluidly it was all I could do to keep up.  I am pretty sure that if we go into the Hockey Museum in Fairbanks we will find his grandmother among those honored.  He had a wonderful story about buying a manikin (a flexible one so it could hold a hockey stick and skates), having an undertaker put a face on it to look like grandma, and a friend making an old time ladies hockey uniform for it.  Grandma is in a glass and oak case at the museum.

I am a little less sure about the ending of a long, convoluted story about a 35 oz gold nugget supposedly found on the very claim Clutch was working years ago.  Somebody ran off with it.  Then somebody claimed it was actually found in the Yukon, not the US.  Somehow it got into the safe at Dawson City (then capital of Yukon Territories).  The capital of Yukon moved.  The stuff in the safe was forgotten about.  Years later some guy in Whitehorse bought the safe at auction and when he had it drilled open; tada, a 35 oz gold nugget.  For all I know, the “guy in Whitehorse” was/is Clutch.

There is a formal tour into Wiseman as well but I suggest you do a walkthrough on your own so you can spend some time with Clutch.  It was great fun.