Jack Hayden 7-27-07

I started coming up to Pinedale in 1956 when my sister (Pat Hout) and her family moved here. In 1960 I was 22 and just out of the service and I got to know Clem real well. The Skinner Brothers had just started up their camp and Clem and I would drive up to Burnt Lake every day. We’d get there about 8am and the brothers and clients had left. All the breakfast stuff was still out. It was our job to clean it all up and then we would start getting things together for the evening meal. He was a gourmet cook. He’d cook an elk heart or a roast. I helped him prep everything.

We’d be there all day. In the afternoon we’d go out fishing in the boat and we’d catch the big fish. Then the hunters would come in about 5:00 and have dinner. Clem and I would go back to town every night.

Clem had about 20 huge dogs on clotheslines with a tether rope so they could run to the fence and back – about a quarter mile. They were a Husky/Malamute cross. Clem said he wanted me to meet his lead dog, Tippy. Tippy had this huge jaw and he was growling and I didn’t think Tippy wanted to meet ME, but Clem said to go ahead. So, I petted him a little and he just melted.