Matthew and Joshua Hojem have gathered their garnets for the upcoming tourist season, just as legions of Wrangell youths have done for decades.
For the Hojem family, and many others, garnet mining and selling is a tradition. The annual April pilgrimage to the Wrangell Garnet Ledge marks the beginning of spring.
The ``ledge'' is located about seven miles northeast of Wrangell Island, on the mainland near the mouth of the Stikine River. It lies within a metamorphic layer of rock along the Coast Mountains. Garnets have been mined there since the 1860s. The land was deeded to the children of Wrangell in 1962, through the Boy Scouts of America.
About Wrangell's garnets
Garnets have long been valued as gemstones - and have been found among the belongings of Egyptian mummies, according to literature published by the Wrangell Museum.
Garnets emerge from minerals that undergo crystal-forming changes caused from heat and pressure within metamorphic rock.
Wrangell garnets, although quite beautiful and luminous, are difficult to cut attractively for the finest of jewelry.
Early gold miners first discovered the gemstones in Wrangell in the early 1860s. Some 50 years later, the garnets were actively collected.
In 1912, the gemstones drew the interest of the all-woman, Minnesota-based Alaska Garnet Mining and Manufacturing Co.
Woman mined the garnets at the site, and cut and polished them in Minnesota, making pinheads, watch fobs and other jewelry.
The mining company was active until 1936.
Ownership was eventually transferred to Fred G. Hanford who held onto the site until 1962 when he deeded it to the Boy Scouts, ``for only so long as the said grantee . . . shall use the land for Scouting purposes and shall permit the children of Wrangell to take garnets from there in reasonable quantities.''
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Only children and their parents are allowed to mine garnets at the ledge, using only hand tools. No blasting is permitted.
``It's hard work,'' said 8-year-old Matthew Hojem, who has become quite good over the past three years wielding hammers, picks, shovels and chisels.
``Sometimes you're lucky and sometimes you're not. If you're lucky you'll find them, if you're not, you won't,'' said Matthew.
He and his 5-year-old brother Joshua have made about $800 a summer selling the garnets along the waterfront to ferry and cruise ship passengers. They are two of about 25 children who regularly mine and sell the reddish-purple gemstones.
The money earned by the Hojem brothers goes to their church, and college funds, said their mother Kathee. They were allowed to buy bikes with some of their earnings from last year.
They pay income taxes, too, Kathee said.
``Some kids buy them, some adults, and a lot of old people,'' Matthew said.
The biggest garnet Mathhew has ever found was about one inch in diameter. He sold it for $7 - a bargain, he said.
Joshua says he likes looking under rocks for garnets, and when he finds one, especially a flat one, it's a dilemma whether to keep it or skip it across the water.
More than garnet mining, the children like going to the ledge to camp and spend time with their families and friends who go along.
``We usually go up with another family with kids of similar age,'' Kathee said. ``We go for two nights and three days. That's about all we can handle.''
Kathee Hojem said there are other benefits to mining and selling garnets.
``Having them interact with adults is good. And Matthew's math skills are just incredible, really.''
Making change for a twenty-dollar bill is no problem, Matthew said.
Jeff Jaybusch, 45, said he remembers selling garnets along the waterfront when he was a kid in the early 1960s.
``Back then, we didn't make all that much,'' Jaybusch said, adding that only two or three other kids besides himself sold along the Wrangell waterfront.
Jaybusch's two sons, Mike, 20, and Jake 17, followed in their father's footsteps mining garnets for several years, each earning up to $2,000 a summer.
``They did it hot and heavy for about four years,'' said Jaybusch.
Garnet quality has also improved as new sites have been mined, Jaybusch said. ``They're generally a lot better quality than what we were selling.''
Jaybusch said several years ago a supermarket tabloid did a front-page story on garnet mining in Wrangell, with a headline blaring. ``Your children can make you rich through hard labor.'' He said it was right next to a story on an Elvis Presley sperm bank.