Library Planning Meeting #1 6/17/06 See also: New Library Building Walk of the property The premeeting walk included Kate Billington, Maggie Billington, Mindy Gallagher, Deirdre Helfferich, Kris Chandler, John David Ragan, George Riley, and Dianne Taylor. Amy Cameron Luick came and took photos. George had walked the property before, and acted as guide.
On the uppermost piece we found two old mine shafts, apparently boarded up and covered with leaf litter and soil; these are very dangerous, as a person could walk right over them without realizing there’s a deep hole underneath, as I did, and fall through a weak spot (as I fortunately didn’t). JD kept testing spots of soil on the walk by bouncing up and down on them, but he didn’t fall through anywhere either. There is also what appears to be a rectangular test plot or possibly grave (it’s the right dimensions and is sunken). Vegetation on the upper plot is mostly large white spruce and roses (around the mine shafts) and shrubbery, a few aspens, and birch on the lower part. On the middle piece we found a place possibly suitable for building the library, at the top of the cliff and back up toward Main Street about 20 feet. The soil will have to be checked, but it seems pretty solid and there are plenty of birches. Part appears to have been cleared a while ago, as there are grassy little meadows here. George Riley said that some dumping of gravel and equipment had been done here, and we found several old pieces of metal. The middle piece is bisected by a cliff, at the bottom of which is the old Ready Bullion creekbed. A collapsed mineshaft was apparent in the cliffside. The base of the cliff is well dredged and full of tailings. Looking up at the cliff we could see several feet of loess and rock, so there is some concern that the cliff face may not be very stable, and if we build at the top we’d have to build back far enough that the building won’t eventually fall down the cliff. Vegetation at the base of the clliff was mixed aspen-spruce-birch, becoming more dominated by birch toward Old Nenana Highway. The area at the base of the cliff was full of old equipment and junk. The lower piece is owned by Larry Flodin, and is mostly pretty solid tailings with birch trees and some shrubs. We found quite a lot of old metal equipment, drums, parts, and whatnot. The ground would be good to build on but is not very wide. We found a nice spot across from the post office for a gazebo/warmup room. Meeting at Hartung Hall Meeting participants included Kate Billington, Kris Chandler, Mindy Gallagher, Deirdre Helfferich, JD Ragan, Margaret Rogers, Lois Sala, Alice Stickney, and Bob Trigg. I brought some printouts of the design ideas list that Kate Billington and I had come up with, and Kris Chandler brought some guidelines for library planning that he found on the net from New York State, along with a rough sketch for a beginner library. I also brought an outline of the kinds of things businesses like to see in requests for donations, courtesy Steve Becker. Much discussion ensued, with the following decisions made:
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