Heinie Carstens speaks at a Tanana Yukon Historical Society meeting at Pioneer Hall in Fairbanks, AK on February 25, 1970. [sound recording] [WorldCat Entities]

"Heinie talks about mother and father and when they came to America, working in a sawmill, supporting his family, coming to Alaska, working on the Salcha for Jimmy Stewart on a mining operation, staking claims on No Grub Creek, getting married, working Ketchum Creek near Circle Springs, working on Glacier Creek, mining on Lower Eagle, working on Porcupine Creek with Paul Menzel and Dick Thorson, using hydraulic equipment for mining, working with Tony Zimmerman on Ketchum Creek, working on Deadwood Creek and Bottomdollar Creek, mining on Portage Creek, being a successful mechanic, building the first dozer in the interior of Alaska, living in Central, problems with transportation in the early days, mining Portage Creek, thieves, building a trammel to help him mine, buying gear, Walter Roman, honey moon at Eagle Creek, mining at Eagle Creek, moving houses and gear over to Eagle Creek, hardships that he faced while mining, talks about the time he almost froze to death walking through the bush without all of his clothes, discusses some feats of strength, talks about the caribou migrating through the head of the Salcha in 1908 and 1909, talks about killing a moose and having to shoot a grizzly who was trying to steal the meat, killing a 10 1/2 foot grizzly down in Turnigan Arm, killing bears that tore up his cache, the last big herd of caribou that he saw, other pioneers such as Ed Owens and Charley Lockhart, Frank Miller, his dog Boots, poling boats, being burned out of the Nordale Hotel, the narrow gauge railroad from Nenana to Fairbanks, the town of Golden, living a long healthy live, Mary Carstens, the building of the oil pipeline from the North Slope to Valdez, talks about Pete Bloom and how he committed suicide, Lydia Fohn-Hansen talks about Bloom's journal, discussion of Circle camp and how it predates Dawson, Antone Standard, Clarence Berry, Pete the Pig, Michael Lester, sings the song "O, don't you believe it" and a song about dogs."