Mush! Westport Ho!

Nearly thirty-one years ago, the stories and legends of the Land of the Midnight Sun combined with the games of skill of a winter Scouting event, resulting in the first of what we now know as the Camp Cachalot Klondike Derby. This wasn’t the first Klondike ever in Scouting history, nor was it even the first event at Cachalot to be called a Klondike, but that 1981 event kicked off the current chain of Klondike Derbies. Held annually ever since, occasionally threat- ened by actual snow, and even happening on occasion outside of Cachalot so the public could see a bit of Scouting in action, the Klondike continues as one of the more successful annual programs run in the area that once was Moby Dick Council.

Sleds lined up at the North Pole await the starting gun at Klondike 2

And any event that’s been run for that long, by so many different people, for so many different people, has stories to tell. A lot of stories. And we hope to tell them, and maybe hear a few of yours while we’re at it.

So, on January 28th, 2012, from 11:00am through 3:00pm, we hope you’ll be able to join us at Our Lady of Grace Church in Westport for our annual Winter Gathering. We plan to have on hand many former Klondike Governors and Mayors, photos, video, and memorabilia from Klondikes past, and tell and hear stories from all those winter days where teams of boys act as sled dogs and run a race through Gold Rush-themed challenges in a quest for (spraypainted) gold nuggets, trophies, and bragging rights for the next year.

In addition to talking about Klondikes past and present, we'll be doing a few other important things at the Gathering, including:

• Updating you on what the Association’s been up to over the last year
• Kicking off the nominations for our 2012 Wall of Fame inductions
• Giving a preview of some new upcoming events
• Displaying collections of Camp Cachalot memorabilia, especially Klondike-related memorabilia
• Showing off the Association's archive of photos and video of Cachalot

We'll have food and drink available for lunch. This year's event is free, although we'd appreciate a small donation ($5 is suggested) if you join us for lunch, to help cover costs, if you're able.

If you do plan on joining us for lunch, please RSVP either on the event page on our Facebook group, or by visiting our registration page.

Share Your Memories

We are especially interested in any old photos and slides of Cachalot and Noquochoke that you might have. If you have pictures, feel free to bring them with you – we plan to have a computer scanning station set up and staffed by a member of our History committee to scan in prints and slides. Our ability to scan things in will be limited by the time we have available, so if you are able to scan things in yourself, feel free to bring them along in electronic form (CD- or DVD- recordable, USB or Firewire drive – contact curator@cachalotalumni.org if you have any questions about the formats we can cope with.) The higher the resolution, the better.

Thanks to our members, we've already collected over 1,500 photos covering the 1920s right through to modern times, although we're still missing photos of many notable figures from the past. We are especially interested in any photos of the old Quonset Hut at Cachalot.

We look forward to seeing you (again)!

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