One man’s determination led to Palmer Project in Haines
SPECIAL TO THE ALASKA MINER The joint venture between Constantine Metal Re- sources Ltd. (51%) and Dowa Metals & Mining Co., Ltd. (49%) achieved several milestones recently, including the addition of a second deposit to their polymetallic mineral resource, permitting for an underground exploration ramp, and publishing of L [Z^T_TaP ;]PWTXTYL]d 0NZYZXTN ,^^P^^XPY_ ,^ exploration moves ahead toward development, we take a moment to look back at the initial discovery that has fueled 50 years of exploration at the Palmer Project in Haines. That exquisite sense of feel In California in the early 1960s, Merrill Palmer was a Depression-era baby, Korean War veteran, Califor- nian and avid woodsman who heard that the Alaskan wilderness could give him the means to provide for his wife and two young sons. He loved his beat-up ’57 Chevy but didn’t trust it enough to take it on the long trip, so in 1964 he bought a motorcycle and pointed it northward. In Haines, Palmer made fast friends and ended up at the US-Canada border for a visit. In the old log cab- in there, a picture window looks out toward a certain mountain across the river. Out of the thousands of peaks between California and Alaska, as he looked at this one, he suddenly felt something... extrasensory perception, the woodsman’s sixth sense, a hunch. “Because it happened to me in such a dramatic way _SPʭ]^__TXP4OZYɪ_TRYZ]PT_ɮ;LWXP]^Ld^P\`L_TYR the moment in the cabin to the moment he met his wife. “The second I’d seen her, I knew our lives would be involved together. And I went on to marry her. I just knew.” To answer the mountain’s call, he crossed the Klehini River on foot and arrived at the base of Mt. Henry Clay where he and his hiking partner sat down to rest. That’s when he saw something, and suddenly felt it again. “You see that small reddish rock over there?” he said. “My life is going to be involved with that rock. I want to you remember this moment.” Then Palmer bLWVPOZaP]LYO[TNVPOT_`[4_bL^^\`L]T^SLYTYNS LYOLSLWQ bTOP LYO ST^ ɭPc\`T^T_P ^PY^P ZQ QPPWɮ kicked in. He doesn’t have only one intuitive gift, as it turns out. The stone’s unusual weight for its size gave STXST^ʭ]^_NW`P_SL_T_NZY_LTYPO[]PNTZ`^XP_LW^ When Palmer’s companion felt sure he was in the
wilderness with a crazy man, Palmer didn’t blame him, and he didn’t argue. He let the rock’s laboratory results speak for themselves. This was no ordinary stone. They returned to the area, found more promising samples, and ^PY_ _SPX Zʬ _Z MP L^^LdPO — lingo for “tested to deter- mine exact mineral content.” But when they didn’t all as- say the way he’d hoped, “that was the beginning of the work,” as the newly minted prospector put it. A hard-driving spirit Hard work it was. Law stated that a person had to physically post stakes in order to claim a plot, and the terrain around Mt. Henry Clay was steep, dangerous, icy, and most of all, remote. Palmer had to tackle all of it. Although he lacked any formal training in geology, (“I was the dumbest prospector to ever go prospect- ing,” he’s been known to say) Palmer’s extraordinary senses served him well over the next three decades and he discovered promising mineral deposits that entire teams of geologists did not. In all, he staked 340 claims, some on lonely days, some during a “rush” while com- [P_TYR[]Z^[PN_TYR_PLX^TYZ_SP]SPWTNZ[_P]^ʮLYVPO his, racing each other to hop out and drive stakes. In the decades that followed, Palmer became a piv- Z_LW ʭR`]P TY _SP 3LTYP^ -Z]Z`RS LYO bL^ L^VPO _Z NZYO`N_ T_^ ʭ]^_ _TXMP] TYaPY_Z]d _Z SPW[ OP_P]XTYP loggers’ yearly sustained yield. In 1979, he ushered in _SPʭ]^_3LTYP^>VLRbLd7LYO@^P;WLYLYOTY $# SPW[PO[PY_SP.STWVL_-LWO0LRWP;]P^P]aPɪ^QZ`YOTYR charter, signed by Lynn Canal Conversation, the Na- tional Audubon Society and other groups. Throughout the years, he says, he always kept the well-being of the community front and center in his mind. From 1969 to 2006, Palmer invited 15 companies to explore the property, and all 15 came and went. Often Q]`^_]L_PO;LWXP]YPaP]QPW_OPQPL_PO?SL_ʭ]^_UZW_ZQ destiny always burned in him, even when, in 1992, his claims almost slipped out of his hands forever. That bL^_SPdPL]LYPbQPP^_]`N_`]PNLXPTY_ZPʬPN_QZ]@> mineral claims which meant he suddenly owed $60,000 [P]dPL]BSL_bL^SPRZTYR_ZOZ*3PNZ`WOYɪ_LʬZ]O that himself. In the nick of time, a mineral exploration MERRILL PALMER
The Alaska Miner
October 2019
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