C2—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 26,1980
Bartels
Dorothy Bartels points out the vast expanse of territory Alaska covers from
the lowest tip near the state of Washington in the lower right corner to the Arctic
area in upper left corner of map.
By SUSAN KAUFFMAN
Staff Correspondent
Albert and Dorothy Bartels left their six children at
home last August, packed their bags and set out on a ten
day celebration of their thirty-fifth wedding anniversary.
Their anniversary trip was a group trip to the United
States’ largest and most unsettled state, Alaska. Looking
back some eight months since the trip, Dorothy says she
and her husband were very surprised at what they saw
and what they learned.
The Chester County couple had spent their years
together as dairy farmers. They were unaccustomed to
traveling great distances or even thinking about traveling
far from home. But they agreed and made plans to take
part in the agriculture-sponsored tour to Alaska last Sum
mer anyway. Their six children were by then old enough
to handle things at home.
The Bartels have a milking herd of 110 Holstems with an
additional 75 heifers on their farm in Penn Township near
West Grove. Two of their four sons, Richard and Edward,
are employed fulltime on the family farm and they and
the youngest son, David who still lives at home took over
the chores. These three took care of home while Dorothy
and Albert set off on their adventure.
The excitement and interest in learning about other
areas of the World became a lasting souvenier of their
trip, Dorothy explained. She kept a detailed scrapbook of
the trip including photos, postcards, plane tickets, cruise
ship newsletters, certificates stating passing over the ar
tdc circle all combined m chronological order according to
the daily itinerary of the ten-day excursion. Actually the
trip exceeded the ten days for the Bartels. They had to add
a few extra days away because they had to fly to Seattle,
Washington first and then from there back to Penn
sylvania after the scheduled ten-day Alaskan tour.
All the tour group met at Seattle, August 3,1979, and did
some sight-seeing there for the day. From there they rode
a bus to Vancouver. On the way into Canada, Dorothy said
the customs officials were not particularly thorough in
their procedures. The tour guide took care of the customs
arrangements. However, later in the tour they were sub
ject to a thorough personal search at Kotzebue which is
only 250 miles away from Russia.
To give an idea of the immensity of the territory she and
her husband and the rest of the group covered, Dorothy
pointed out that Alaska is twice as large as the state of
Texas or about one-fifth the size of the contiguous United
States. The area is so vast and transportation is so limited
that one in sixteen have pilots licenses and one in forty
four of the Alaskan population has his own plane. The tour
group flew several times from point to point in Alaska as
well as ride a bus and took a 1000 mile cruise up the inland
waterway.
Methods of transportation were as vaned as the
climate, terrain and degree of settlement throughout the
vast state.
Dorothy said there was so much to see and experience
that all their days and nights were filled with new in
formation.
The first leg of the journey involved a boat cruise of 1000
miles up the inland waterway from Vancouver, through
Ketchikan, with a one day stop then on to Juneau, the
capital of the state. While at Ketchikan, Dorothy and the
rest of the group got to see the native Alaskan Indians and
their customs. The typical totem poles abounded in the
area. A feature of the Indian lifestyle which amused
Dorothy was the custom of leaving the poles and roofs of
the winter homes behind and taking the sides along to the
summer homes fishing waters. Mother Nature took acre
of the house cleaning of the winter home until the family
returned the next season.
After seeing the Indians of Ketchikan for a day, the
cruise went on to Juneau. There they transferred to a day
cave dairy herd to take group tour
celebrate
flying high over Alaska
boat for the ride up to Skagway. The scenery was
unbelievable with its Glacier Bay water set against steep
glacier of cliffs, sometimes as high as 9000 feet. While feel
ing totally safe on the cruise boat and the day boat as they
made their way through the steep-sided waterways,
Dorothy said she was less confident about the bus trip
over steep gravel roads from Skagway to Whitehorse, in
the Yukon Territory.
The customs getting into the Yukon Territory were
also more strict than at Vancouver. Noted for its history of
gold mining, the sights of the area included the Golden
Nugget and other buildings all built on pilings because the
perma frost in the ground will not make stable foundation
sites.
Whitehorse was typically settled with log cabins with
sod roofs which helped insulate from the cold. At the time
this trip was at Whitehorse, it was summer time and
gardens abounded with sweet peas, carnations and
bachelor buttons with such intensity of color that Dorothy
said it is impossible to imagine; one has to be there to see
all the color.
The group left Whitehorse at midnight by plane to fly to
Fairbanks, Alaska, to tour the University of Alaska
grounds. Although it was midnight, there were only five
minutes of darkness before the sun’s rays emerged again.
Fairbanks is situated in a hollow of a deep bowl-shaped
terrain, Dorothy explained. Surrounded by mountains on
all sides, it is very cold and very dry. While most of the
trip brought unexpected warm weather, the stop over in
Fairbanks reminded the group of the cold in the northern
parts of the state. Instead of seeing parking meters along
the streets, Dorothy said there were battery stations
where drivers would plug in their car batteries to allow
them to start in the extreme cold.
While at Fairbanks, the group also saw a “frozen fog”
or as Dorothy explained it, the atmospheric condition
when the fog appears to be frozen in suspension. During
the stay at Fairbanks, the group also saw the enormous
pipeline and the University of Alaska’s farm and
museum. From Fairbanks they flew to Anchorage.
While at Anchorage, the group visited the Palmer
University Farms and saw the huge-sized produce grow
ing there. The heads of cabbage averaged a weight of 86
pounds apiece, Dorothy recalled. Besides the modern
farming taking place at Anchorage, the Indian population
was living out its existence in the midst of government
subsidy and ancient customs. Fishing and bunting for
furs, living in sod houses' built on poles for support and
using dog sleds and snowmobiles, were typical of the
Indian lifestyle.
The northernmost pari of the journey was to Kotzebue.
The flight-from Anchorage to Kotzebue brought the
travellers within 250 miles of Russia. Just before reaching
Kotzebue, the plane flew over the arctic Circle and all
passengers were given certificates stating that passage.
their 35th anniversary
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Dorothy displays an Arctic circle certificate stating that husband Ai
passed over the Arctic Circle, August 11,1979 during a flight to Kotzebue,
250 miles from Russia.
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The Black candle in front of Dorothy is a cn
oil candle and the white candle is made from si
oil. The Bartels kept a detailed scrapbook of thei
trip.
At Kotzebue Dorothy said she could see the tundra aiu
vegetation. Although blueberry bushes were only eight
ches high, they still produced regular-sized fruit.
A typical situation travelers often find when searc
for authentic souvenirs was that found at Kotzebu*
welL Dorothy explained that the area has jade t
deposits, but the Eskimos usually sell the jade to visit
after it has been fashioned into ornaments in Japan
present, training is taking place so that the natives
fashion their own merchandise.
From Kotzebue the group started back home wii
flight to Anchorage on an inlet in the Gulf of Alaska, I
back to Seattle. Along with memories of spectacular si
Dorothy brought bade candles made from both crudi
and seal oil. The crude oil candle was black while the
oil candle was a creamy white color. She also bough'
miniature wooden totem pole.
The state was opened to extensive tourism commerce
1972, Dorothy explained and she “would highly rec(
mend it.” She packed clothes for cold weather and ft
them practically useless most of the time because
areas they were in were warmed by the ocean air
mentioned that the Grange which served the group a
per had told them that the projected legislation to .
much of Alaska a wilderness area would greatly him
the tourism and their established farming enterpr
(Turn to Page C 4)