Jamie's
stove heats water keg above and toilet seat behind.
I've
met numerous people who live in the many old miner cabins
through out the county, similar to Harold's or Carl
Fulton's. Often I refer to these people as "the cabin
people." Their lives are as colorful and unique as
the miner's during the gold rush. Their brief stay in the
high country is constantly being phased out by development
as well as the US Forest Service. Each year the Rangers or
property owners demolish a greater number of cabins, which
are often jokingly referred to as employee housing.
Usually cabin people have more demanding lives than those
with modern conveniences, due to the lack of public
utilities and isolated locations away from plowed roads.
I
had seen women working on a number of construction
projects in Summit County. Laboring is tough work in the
city under good conditions, but in Summit County, can be
grueling. Any time a women works this type of job, I'm
impressed. While I framed steel studs at the St. John's
construction site in Keystone, there was a woman named
Jamie Frieze working on the job. Jamie not only took on
heavy-duty work, but she did it well and better than many
men. At the time I saw her on the job, I didn't realize
the rustic lifestyle she had to deal with. After getting
home at the end of a winter day's work, I take a long hot
shower and continue warming up next to the fireplace. For
Jamie to get home, she has to drive half way up Boreas
Pass. Then she has to walk a snowy path through the woods
to get to her decayed old log cabin. When Jamie finally
gets home, her room is cold and she has to build a fire
for heat and hot water for a bath. If she hasn't enough
wood spit for the fire, then her bath is delayed until she
has enough.
"My
brother moved out here and, for about four or five years,
wrote to me, and told me about Breckenridge. His
girlfriend finally sent me a little picture of Lake
Dillon. Plus they had a son and I thought, it's going to
be my only nephew and it's beautiful out here and I'll
come out and make a visit. I got a ride out with some
people.
Jamie
in her rustic log cabin.
"We
drove and camped cross country. That meant camping on the
snow. We had a fire under our tarp to keep warm, because
everything was water soaked. Lots of smoke coming in under
our tarp, on our trip. When we finally got here, I just
pulled my backpack out of their truck, and I've never
left.
"Then
we stayed at my brother's house that was unfinished. It
had two rooms that were heated and the rest of the place
had plastic windows. It was pretty primitive. We stayed
there a couple of months.
"I
worked at this bookstore and the owner was financially
going under, so she didn't pay me much. However, she let
me live in the children's section of the bookstore, since
she couldn't afford to pay me and I needed to live. And
so, we both did each other a favor. I rolled out my
sleeping bag there for probably a month. Then I moved into
a trailer for a month. Then I stayed with a couple of
people for another month. So it was about six months
altogether before I got my cabin.
"At
that time, I was working in that bookstore and another as
well, and in addition, I was a waitress at the Gold Pan. I
had those for awhile until I got tired of it. I'm really
not into the service types of work...being a waitress or a
maid. So after thinking about it, I decided I wanted to do
what guys do. They work all summer, spring, fall and ski
all winter. So I decided `I am going to do what they do.'
You know I've been into skiing for a couple of years, and
I kind of like construction.
"So
I got a job as an apprentice carpenter at St. John's
Condominium. It was fun. I probably spend an extra two and
a half to three hours a day more doing chores than someone
living in a regular house. I get up at five to go to work.
You know, I have to heat the water first. Being compulsive
as I am, I have to take showers and clean every day
because of my trade. Gary is my neighbor and I trade with
him. I cook him a meal and he lets me use his shower. In
summer or spring we can shower at the Mosquito Flats, but
in winter there's no way. He has a solar shower and it
doesn't work in the winter or late fall or early spring.
That's when I go to the health club. I mean it's worth the
membership.
"I
have learned a lot, because I grew up in a really
sheltered life, because my family was very comfortable. I
never saw dust under the bed or cracked walls. Everything
was push buttons. Everything was perfect, I mean everybody
was the same type of person. Everybody had the same
education. Everyone had the same ethnic background and it
was so the... same! We never really new what the real life
was like so when I came out here, I was dazzled. This was
wonderful.
Jamie
at work.
"I'm
not saying that I feel this is the real life, but there's
no pressure here. You're away from your family, so you
feel more freedom to do what you want. Life up here is
full of adventure every year.
"I
kind of got used to it being this wonderful. But when I
drive to Denver, I get really bad stomach aches and
headaches, because I can't handle the city. I mean this
place is not real, but I can deal with it real easily.
It's real easy for me to live here.
"I've
changed, I think my goals have changed. However, I'd still
like to stay even though I've gotten out of the partying
and all this other stuff. I've enjoyed the last five years
since I've been out of that scene. My life has been more
wonderful, but you know you come here and are just totally
irresponsible. All you do is have fun, you know you don't
really care about succeeding or setting that many goals or
anything.
"I
don't exactly know what I want to do next. Because there's
not many opportunities here, there's only certain jobs you
can get. You know and that's it. I noticed the weather
getting colder, so I don't know how much longer I'll be at
the job I'm on now or how much longer work will be
available. I don't know...I may go back to school. My
apprenticeship is over in like about a year and a half, so
then I can do something different. I don't know how much
longer I'm going to stay here."
#
# #
Ten
years later, Jamie is still living in Summit County, and
bought her own home in Blue River, just south of
Breckenridge, about a year after I photographed her cabin
at Mosquito Flats.
While
working on a construction site a few years ago, Jamie was
seriously injured. She was helping get ready for a
concrete pour. A cable used by a forklift to pull out a
wooden post snapped and its recoil crushed Jamie's skull.
Instead of waiting for an ambulance, Jamie sought medical
help on her own two feet. She suffered permanent damage,
but is back working at a new job. The accident emotionally
scarred her with a fear of going back to construction. She
is now driving a shuttle van and working as a dispatcher
