April 1, 2004
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Porky's April Fool's Day Adventure...
Mt. Edgecumbe After Porky Lit It
Photo: Charcoal Island Photography
On Kruzof Island, about 13 miles west of Sitka, Alaska, sits Mt Edgecumbe. The extinct volcano is 1300 feet in height and covered with snow about eight months of the year.
On April 1, 1974, Porky Oliver Bickar of Sitka made up two manila rope slings about 150 feet long...each holding about 50 old car tires. He also gathered up a batch of oily rags, a gallon of sterno, a lot of diesel oil, and a dozen smoke bombs.
When Earl Walker and his chopper arrived, Porky, Earl, Larry Nelson, and Ken Stedman first loaded up the incendiaries. Larry and Ken hooked one sling of tires to the chopper and off they went toward Mt. Edgecumbe.
Porky and Earl dropped the tires into the up-til-now extinct volcano, then set the chopper down. Porky got out and unloaded all the fuel...just the right stuff to make a lot of black, smoky fire.
Earl lifted off headed back to Sitka for the next load of tires. Porky stacked the first load in a big circle and poured on the fuel. When Earl returned and dumped 50 more tires into Mt. Edgecumbe, the two boys finished the arrangement...set the whole mess ablaze...and happily headed back to Sitka.
While Mt. Edgecumbe was busy spewing out its black smoke, the Coast Guard Commander called for a chopper to investigate and sent a whale boat over to check things out. The chopper pilot radioed back to the commander that all he saw was a bunch of smoldering tires and a big April Fool sign in the snow.
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