In early July around the 8th or so I left Marshall headed for the Willow Creek Mine. With me was the captain of the boat, Joe Isaac, my sister Martha and her friend Rena. It was around 12:20 a.m. when we reached the mine landing. Waiting at the mine were about four guys that reached the mine two hours before we reached the landing.

While we were waiting for the others one of the girls asked if we wanted to go up to the mine and see if the others were still up there. We were too scared because there was a bear somewhere along the trail. Everyone decided to sit down and wait for the guys at the mine. Finally (after waiting too long) we decided to go further into the slough. Just when we were turning a bend we saw a tiny beaver swimming on the left of us. Joe slowed the engine until it eventually stopped. Everyone sat in complete silence as Joe took his 12 gauge and cocked it. The beaver just swam along the river bed and ignored us. When the sight was accurate and the timing was right, Joe took a shot. KABOOM! But he missed it by a couple of inches. The B-B's flew above the beaver's head. It dove for a while and popped out in front of the boat not further than 14 feet away. Again Joe took a shot but unfortunately missed and sent the beaver swimming for its life. After a couple tries we gave up and headed for the landing.

It got cold and we decided to make a fire. No one from the mine showed up so we decided to go down to Marshall to get some things. Joe got more shells, I got a blanket and some coffee and the girls got more impatient waiting. Somehow James Oney met with Joe and asked if he could come along. It was around 2:30 a.m. and we finally left Marshall for the mine landing. There was a cooler in the boat with some coffee, hot dogs and some juice.

Around 3:09 a.m. we heard something in the trees. We stumbled through the woods to get to the boat as fast as we could. Everyone sat in the boat waiting for James to push the boat out because there was no reverse on the engine. When we were at a safe distance Joe shot once into the air. We waited for a while to see if there was anything in the trees. Whatever it was took off when the shot was fired or stayed very still where ever it was. We assumed that it was a bear and it was curious about the first shot that we fired earlier. Just to be on the safe side we went to the lake to see if we could find the little beaver. No luck. While were idling down to the landing we heard something in the trees walking at a steady pace. Martha and Rena were sort of scared and we wanted to wait for whatever it was. I tried to make sounds like a baby black bear crying and whining. Still there was no answer from what ever it was. It could have been a moose or an owl darting for a mouse.

When we felt that everything was safe and sound we went back to the landing to wait for the people at the mine. For a while we fiddled around with the fire, using an old Rosinol bottle that we found in the boat. I took a bunch of grass and stuffed it on a stick and squirted some Rosinol on it. The flames rose instantly and danced in the wind. James did the same. I'm not sure but I think that Joe had gottten his boots wet and he was drying them near the fire.

Time flew by faster than we thought. It was around 7:50 a.m. and we were getting tired of waiting for the guys at the mine. The fire died down and was asking for more wood. We told James to get more wood since he wasn't doing anything. Meanwhile, Martha and Rena had been in the boat for a long time. We asked them if they were scared and they said no. They said that they were just waiting for something to happen.

Around 9:00 in the morning we finally decided to go home. When we reached Marshall it was foggy and cold. Just before everyone went home we heard an engine. It was faint but noticeable. Of course it was those boys coming back from the mine. We went to see them and ask what they were doing at the mine. They said that they were having a good time. We said that we were going up to the mine with about 3 joints and a bottle of Gilby's Vodka. We were just pulling their chains. We didn't really have any joints or a bottle of Gilby's Vodka. When we finally had them convinced, we headed home.