Alaska Gold Rush Diary

Although it took longer to warm up the cabin after the fire was lit, the increased living space made the price worthwhile.

Currently, the river is covered with a thick layer of ice, and the soil is frozen solid, making it impossible to start panning for gold.

I only have myself to blame for setting off too early; the warm gold rush season is still a long way off.

But this also gave me ample time to prepare everything so that I could focus on panning for gold when the gold rush season arrived.

The first thing to prepare is food. We don't have much food left, so we must stock up on a large amount of food as soon as possible.

As for the source of food, it is naturally the river in front of us.

Firewood also needs to be stockpiled, as there will be another month or two of frigid weather, and collecting firewood will become a daily task.

He sorted through the remaining food: half a bag of compressed biscuits, five Snickers bars, a pound of rice and a pound of flour, an onion, five potatoes, two bags of pickled cabbage instant noodles, three boxes of luncheon meat, and half a bag of bacon.

We must eat sparingly until we find new food.

Fortunately, we don't have to travel long distances with heavy loads now, so we consume much less energy and it's okay to eat less.

In the evening, I simply broke up the compressed biscuits, put them in boiling water, cooked them into a thick porridge, and ate a little bit.

Another cost of having a larger dwelling is that you need to get up more often at night to add firewood.

When I woke up, I found that the weather had improved. Although there were still many clouds in the sky, the sun had already come out.

Breakfast was still thin porridge made with compressed biscuits. Today, we had to set up the fish trap and ice fishing equipment.

Walk to a spot on the river that is far from the icefall, find a suitable place, and start chiseling away at the ice.

The ice here is much thicker than before, making it very difficult to chisel.

In addition, the ice hole needed to set up the fish trap was even larger, and it took him two full hours to chisel the hole.

The good news is that he has seen fish swimming below through the broken surface of the water.

The water was icy cold, and Zhou Xin's hands were already red from the cold.

He first moved a large rock, put the prepared bait into the fish trap, and then sank the fish trap into the water through the ice hole.

The line for the fish trap was tied to a large rock, and then it was time to wait for the fish to enter the trap.

To prevent the ice cave from freezing again, he broke off some branches and covered the entrance with them.

The area is rich in fishery resources, and he believes there will be no air force here.

Of course, one fish trap is not enough.

In addition to the fish trap, he also prepared five ice fishing lines.

A short distance away from the fish trap, a small hole was drilled in the ice. Bait was hung on the hook and the hook was submerged in the water. The other end of the line was tied to a wooden stick and placed horizontally at the entrance of the ice hole.

The advantage of ice fishing is that you don't need to watch over it; you only need to check on it periodically.

It took another two hours to finally set up the five ice fishing spots.

He planned to come and check before dark, and now he can go do other things in peace.

During this time, he also spotted reindeer in the forest and even saw a few in the distance, but he did not take out his hunting rifle to shoot because he was in a hurry and it was inconvenient to carry it.

Now that he has a permanent campsite, he looks forward to finding reindeer in the area.

If you can hunt down an adult caribou, you won't have to worry about food for a long time to come.

He wandered around the camp and gathered up all the firewood that could be burned.

He found a dead spruce tree, so he took a rope saw and spent some time felling it down.

If you cut this spruce tree into small sections and split it open, it can burn for a month or two.

Like ants carrying food, he first cut down the branches and dragged them back to the camp and piled them up, then slowly dismantled the thick trunks.

But the tree is so big that it will probably take at least a week to cut it into smaller pieces and move it back to camp.

However, he has plenty of time now and can handle it little by little.

He was busy until 5 p.m., and after eating a compressed biscuit, he went to the ice to check the results of his fish traps and ice fishing.

He removed the branches covering the hole, picked up the fish trap rope, and began to slowly pull the fish trap out.

Wow, that's heavy! But it's in stock!

Overjoyed, he lifted the fish trap out of the water.

The sound of fish flapping their tails came from the fish trap. Looking closer, the trap was full of seven or eight fish!

Two of them were very large, estimated to weigh nearly ten pounds.

As Zhou Xin poured the fish onto the ice, he couldn't stop smiling.

Upon closer inspection, there were eight fish in total.

The two large fish, each weighing nearly ten pounds, were coho salmon. The other fish were smaller, including three rainbow trout, two longfin trout, and one fish of an unknown species.

The eight fish together weighed over thirty pounds.

Alaska's fishery resources are indeed very abundant.

At least I won't have to worry about going hungry while living here from now on.

He then checked five more ice fishing spots, two of which yielded catches: one where he caught a silver salmon, and another where he caught an extremely rare cod.

This cod is the only freshwater cod in the world, with flesh similar to lobster, making it a rare delicacy.

"Looks like we're in for a treat tonight!" Zhou Xin exclaimed excitedly.

He first rebaited the fish trap and ice fishing, then carried his full catch back to the camp cabin.

The temperature is currently low, so there's no need to worry about storing the fish.

He scaled and gutted all the fish, washed them clean, and buried them directly in the snow next to the cabin, which he considered refrigeration.

Once the weather warms up, any meat harvested will need to be smoked for storage.

Cod is extremely precious, so it should be eaten while it's fresh.

Steaming best preserves the original flavor of cod and is the most delicious way to eat it.

Although he didn't have a steamer, Zhou Xin had a solution.

He made incisions on the surface of the cod and marinated it with minced ginger, garlic, and salt.

In between pickling the fish, he found a few thin, hard twigs from the firewood pile, peeled off the skin with a knife, sharpened one end, and flattened the other.

After marinating the cod, he skewered the fish with a sharpened twig, placed the flat side of the twig into a frying pan, and the fish was suspended in the pan.

Water was poured into the pot and placed on the stove.

The only problem is that the pan is too shallow to seal properly, so I can only put the lid on the fish and let time work its magic.

After steaming for more than half an hour, with water added several times during the process, the unique aroma of cod filled the wooden house. Finally, it was barely cooked.

He tore off a piece of snow-white fish meat and put it in his mouth.

The cod has a firm texture and a rich sweetness, very similar to the taste of lobster.

The sweet flavor lingers in the mouth; it is truly a rare delicacy.

Zhou Xin ate one bite after another, unable to stop, and soon finished the cod completely.

"I hope we can catch cod every day from now on, it's so delicious!"

Zhou Xin muttered to himself as he sucked on the remaining meat on the fish bones.