Severe heart condition didn't stop Phillips bear guard

1953 field party member Al Schlottman says guard Carl Killian could out-climb and out-hike rest of team

By Jen Ransom

Contract Writer

Editor’s note: If anyone has any information on Carl Killian, please contact PNA writer Jen Ransom at [email protected] or (907) 522-9469.

Readers may recall a recent Petroleum News Alaska article featuring Al Schlottman, one of the geologists on the first Phillips Petroleum Co. field party to come up to Alaska in 1953.

Schlottman was an associate geologist under party leader Phil O’Rourke, and spent the summer assisting doing field work at Icy Bay in the Katalla-Yakataga region about 50 miles east of Cordova.

Schlottman, since his interview was first published, has graced Petroleum News Alaska with emails of remembered stories from his earlier days in Alaska. In one such correspondence, he recalls getting in a bit of hot water after completing his first Alaska assignment, which was hiring two “bear guards” out of Cordova to protect the geologists while they were working in the field:

“I don’t recall how I got the name of the first fellow I hired, a Mr. Carl Killian. Carl was a friendly, somewhat elderly fellow (at least to me, a kid in his twenties!) — your typical Alaskan sourdough. The hiring itself was simple; Carl and I got together in a local Cordova bar, I gave him a brief description of the work involved, which was followed by a simple hand-shake, and that part of my assignment was done. No fancy formalities were involved or even seemed necessary,” Schlottman wrote.

“Carl was a great guide and bear guard, and a heck of a nice fellow to have around our camp. Everything worked out just fine and our summer field season went by without incident. However, on practically the last day of our stay at Icy Bay, there arrived in the mail some “Employment Forms” from the main office in Bartlesville, which they required me to have Carl fill out.

“In all innocence, somewhere within those forms Carl mentioned the fact that many years previously he had come up to Alaska, where he wanted to spend what was to be his little remaining time on earth there. It seems that years ago, doctors had discovered that Carl had a heart condition, and they told him that he had only a year or two to live!

“You can imagine the horror back in Bartlesville when they found out that I had hired a fellow in such a poor physical condition. But the funny thing is, Carl could out-hike, out-climb, out-shoot and out-work any one of us young pups on the crew! I never did hear what finally happened to Carl after we parted company, but I hope that he had many more happy years of living in Alaska.”

Schlottman spent many years working for Phillips, and made numerous trips back up to Alaska. He is now retired and resides in Washington.