Reasons for the Peppermint Mine

Me pater checked out the blog this morning and liked what he saw. Honestly, I think he was just pleased to see my "penmanship" back in the blogosphere, after my well chronicled struggles with Delawhere. But, he posed an interesting and important question...what's in the name and why the use of the quirky and rubicund (thank you thesaurus.com) prospector, Yukon Cornelius. As I mentioned before, I am originally from Wilmington, Delaware and I have moved my way out west, in search of natural beauty and elevation.

Factoid Break - the hike up to the M on Mount Sentinel is a mere 620 feet of elevation gain. Considered to be a recreational hike for many in Missoula, the M trail surpasses the total elevation change represented by the difference in Delaware's highest (the Ebright Azimuth - 447.85 feet above sea level) and lowest (sea level - 0 feet above...sea level) points.

My westward movement has coincided with my growing academic and personal interest in the geosciences. My academic research focuses on rivers and the movement of contaminated sediment in river systems. This growing interest in the outdoors and the processes that shape the landscape has contributed to, among other things, the growth of an amazingly patchy and poorly maintained beard. (Insert weak transition to the Christmas season here). This past month, the holiday season brought it's seasonal cheer, brisk winter weather, holiday music and classic movies. As a yute in the DE, there were many classic holiday movies in my family's rotation, including classics like A Christmas Story, White Christmas, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Black Adder's Christmas Carol, Mr. Bean's Christmas, How The Grinch Stole Christmas, Christmas Vacation, and Diner (a timeless Christmas movie in my dad's proverbial book). Missing from this rotation of holiday cinema is the original Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer. I am sure that I saw it a couple times during my childhood, but it never was an annual yuletide standard. Fast forward several years to Christmas 2008 in Missoula, my girlfriend put Rudolph on her Netflix queue. As we cozied up on the couch to watch the awkward teenage year's of Santa's guiding light, I was smacked in the face by the glory of Yukon Cornelius and his search for gold and silver. Impressed by his full, fiery beard and powerful voice, I latched onto Yukon Cornelius, the greatest prospector in the North.

The name is Yukon Cornelius, the greatest prospector in the North. This is my land and you know, it's rich with GOLD. Gold and Silver. Silver and Gold.

As a responsible geoscientist and amateur geographer, I found Yukon's introduction intriguing. Beyond the holiday warmth displayed by Mr. Cornelius in the remainder of the movie, at some level, Yukon's character represents the idea of ownership and subsequent exploitation of natural "resources" that has played such a significant role in the American West and has been a driving economic force in states like Montana (Side Note: good read - Wounding the West by David Stiller). In many ways, a lack of connection to the outdoors, a lack of understanding of nature's inter connectivity, and the idea that natural resources were created to be wholly exploited and taxed continues to plague our society. Combine these social elements with my graduate research addressing the downstream transport of formerly impounded sediment, contaminated with heavy metals from historic upstream mining activities, in the Clark Fork River following the removal of Milltown Dam. (See map below)


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As such, I felt like Yukon Cornelius and The Peppermint Mine was an appropriately sarcastic vehicle for my return to the blogosphere.