FACES, CONTINUED from PAGE 16
“I was going upstream and had seen lots of bears but ev- ery time they took off. Then this one bear was fishing, and I had lots of fun watching him. Then he saw me and started walking toward me. Every step I took backward he took one forward. I jumped up on a big snag washed down in the creek and he came at me. I tried to hit on the nose with my salmon snagging stick, but he swatted it away. “I had not had a chance to pull out the revolver, and he came again, and he hit me across legs. I went up in air but was able to pull the revolver. Now he was probably a foot from me. I fired and hit him in the head, but the bullet ric - ocheted off his skull. “And right then I couldn’t help but laugh! Here’s this bear with a huge ring of smoke around his head. I cocked it again, but he just turned and took off!” Another time on a foggy day, he heard a caught a group of fishermen about to net a stream. They fled when he ap - proached, so he followed in the fog in his small boat. “I could hear whales in distance sounding. Sitting there in the fog, it was an eerie situation. All of a sudden, the water next to the boat exploded and a whale came up for air. All I could see was straight into his eyeball. I always wondered what he thought but luckily, he wasn’t upset!” “Experiences like that leave everlasting impressions.” Roger switched his college major to wildlife manage- ment and graduated from Cornell with that and a minor in geology. Roger had served in the Naval Reserve at 17, wanting to be a pilot but was color blind. After college, he received a commission in the U.S. Army Artillery and served on active duty from 1957 to 1959. “I got a commission and went to Army Ranger School. I really enjoyed the service but came straight back to Alaska as soon as I got out in 1959.” As now a captain in the Alaska National Guard, he was the first commander of the new National Guard Armory in Fairbanks. After his military service, he worked in banking for 14
Photo Courtesy Roger Burggraf
In the late 1970s, Roger with a pan full of the huge gold nuggets for which Nolan Creek is famous.
years and enjoyed the banking business until entering the mining industry in 1972. Roger had had a love of sled dogs going back to college and now had the place and time to develop that into a full- time hobby. He purchased an Army sled dog pup from Carl Heinmiller of Haines, Alaska. That pup later lost his left leg after being hit by a car and forever more was known as “Tripod.” “Tripod used to follow me to class at Cornell. When I went into the service, I left him with my fraternity. He be- came a famous dog on campus, after during the big rivalry game with Syracuse, he ran the full length of the field and disrupted the kickoff!” Fairbanks has been home to Roger since 1959. “I’ve had a lot of good years here. I drove dogs for years, of con-versation, and emotions were high, and you had the unenviable task of corralling the normal independent lot of the miner into a single voice that could influence the changes coming and their impact on the industry. “How you managed to lead the placer sector through s0uch turbulent times and still manage to run your busi - ness and earn a livelihood amazes me even now. Part of this was perseverance, a lot of sheer courage, but I never saw you without a positive attitude and a vision which was looking to the future, and not dwelling on the past. Roger, you have been a role model and inspiration of leadership for me ever since. “Seeing a recent picture of you in the rain, cheerful - ly discussing gold nuggets…reminds me that a cheerful positive attitude, while being realistic, also keeps you young. You look great!
Letter from Tom Albanese, former president of Rio Tinto, one of the world’s largest mining companies
Roger, "I have known you since the 1970s when I first joined the mining industry as an undergraduate at the School of Mines. In meeting with the Alaska Miners Association, you were always the first to speak up ad the one in the room with t he considered opinion which usually let a way forward. In the 1980s when I was more active in AMA, I remember seeing you on a regular basis in the Nerco of - fice building. At the time, the placer mining industry was going t through an incredibly tough time with the EPA and U.S. Federal regulators. As president of the Fairbanks chapter, you were in a very difficult position with changing environmental laws and norms on one side, and aggres - sive placer miners on the other side who wanted no part of these changes. Alaskan secession was a regular topic
“With warm regards, Tom”
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The Alaska Miner
Fall 2022
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