Went to the State's Office of Vital Statistics. Just getting there was an experience. Went up to the eighth floor of the beautiful new State Office Building. It has a terrific view. Also has an ATM, so I tried my Versatel card again. Again it was rejected, so I phoned Bank of America Customer Service in San Francisco. As I suspected, a block had been put on the card, probably from all my unsuccessful attempts to use it the other night. The clerk released the block. After that, everything worked fine.
When we got to Vital Statistics in the Old State Office Building across the walkway, we found out Thais died June 17, 1987, so we went to the State Library in the new building and looked at the microfiched local paper for that date. They have a neat machine that not only displays and magnifies the microfiche but also prints a copy of whatever page you want. We found the article about Thais on June 18th, but it turned out her tragic accident didn't occur at Mendenhall Glacier; it was at Kenai Glacier, south of Anchorage. We printed the article to take with us.
Ate lunch at McDonald's and then took the bus across the bridge to Douglas Island. Passed a house that had a pet pig on its front lawn. Got off at the end of the line and walked the trails where the old Treadwell goldmine had been from 1880 until it flooded in 1917. (A Canadian company is now trying to buy it and reopen it.) We saw a lot of tumble-down buildings, rusty machinery, and old tracks, but we didn't find a shaft even though we walked all the way up the hill to the end of the trail. On a seldom-accessed trail, we found a tent, sleeping bag, and clothing that appeared to have been there a few weeks or months at the most. It looked as if someone had spent the night there and then gone hiking, fully intending to return but hadn't. Perhaps he'd fallen off a cliff or something. When we got back to Juneau, we phoned the police.
Tomorrow, Glacier Bay!
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