made many lifelong friends there.” While going to college he made the best of his time seeking adventure and work. He traveled to Alaska the first time and found work in Tom Morgan’s lumber mill. After the mill shut down, he worked const ruction setting power lines going to the airport and residential area north of Juneau. Roger loved playing sports and played 150-pound football and lacrosse while at Cornell. He joined a small fraternity and waited tables and washed dishes to help pay his way through while at the fraternity. His primary major was wildlife management, and geology and agriculture. During his second year at Cornell, he spent the summer months working in Alaska. “I lived with a family and got a job with Smith Dairy working in the milk plant. The family I lived with loved it because I was able to bring home free milk, ice cream and other dairy products. His next summer job was for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a “fisheries aide,” more correctly a stream guard, protecting spawning salmon from poachers. There, his adventures really began. “First thing was they asked if I was afraid of bears. I said I’d been around them and knew to respect them. And they said ‘we’ve got just the spot for you! So, they handed me an old Enfield .30/06 and dropped me off in Glacier Bay.” Provisions were meager so he quickly began living off the land, which he relished, except for the bugs. “Lot of times mosquitoes were so bad I would take the boat out in the middle of the bay. A seal popped his head out of the water, and I was hungry for meat, so I shot the seal. I got to shore, cut off a piece and put it in the frying pan. And it smelled awful! Next, I cut out the liver, fried it and boy it was good!” He had crafted a primitive cooler, kept stocked with ice from passing icebergs and kept his provisions cold. “Besides the seal liver and fish, I feasted on Dungeness crabs and clams, and t he blueberries and strawberries which were abundant.” With no neighbors and a job guarding the creek full of salmon, he reveled in the wilderness. “They gave me a boat and motor and tent and orders to not let any fishermen fish out the creek. I did stream surveys too. It was like a paid vacation!” “I’d go upstream, catch dollies, The Alaska Miner Spring 2025 10 CONTINUED on PAGE 12 Roger has worked and explored and built and mined in Alaska. He has had enough adventures for 10 lifetimes! BURGGRAF, CONTINUED from PAGE 8
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