Robert Neff has authored and co-authored several books, including Letters from Joseon, Korea Through Western Eyes and Brief Encounters.
A gold miner's life in Korea in the 1960s: part three
Mrs. Choi “was a fine person and reasonably good cook. The little girl whose name I now forget was Mrs. Choi's helper and came from the local village and had learned to cook beautiful biscuits under my tutelage. Between the two, they did a good job.” Circa 1961.
By Robert Neff
Looking at some of the images of the gold mine, it is easy to imagine that they were taken somewhere in the American Wild West ― only the small thatched-roofed Korean homes in the background dispel this image.
Like the stereotypical mining camps of the past, life at the Tongsan mining camp and the nearby village was rather spartan.
According to Fred Dustin, “only the mine had electricity; there was none in the village at that time; but, the generator did not run all the time so aside from lights, it just ran a radio, an old Zenith with batteries.” [I was surprised several years ago when Dustin revealed that he still had that old radio. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised as it was part of his character to save everything ― the frugalness of the older generations.]
No electricity meant no refrigerators, so the miners had to be creative, especially in the summer when a cool drink was more than appreciated.
“Beer I kept in the creek or in a bag on a rope in the well which was just next to the house; the water was no good but it was cool!!” But that wasn't the only thing kept in the well. Mine owner General Richard Whitcomb used to send them powdered milk that they made in a makgeolli bottle and kept cool in the well. But, with a smirk, Dustin added, “As I remember, there were both OB and Crown but Crown was the favorite of most in those days … I guess, in retrospect, beer was my mainstay” and not the water or the milk.
Empty makgeolli bottles were also used for the stove. “At that time I was using a little two-burner kerosene stove with an oven which could be used over one of the burners.” But the only place where kerosene could be procured was at the village's Chinese restaurant. The kerosene was poured into a large bottle and then carried up to the mine ― not a pleasant task.
From the mining camp looking toward the village. The mine's pump house can be seen near the stream.
The Chinese restaurant was one of the favorite places (if not the only one) in the village to eat. Its jjajangmyeon was one of the mainstays of the miners but Dustin rarely ate it as “the pork always tasted rancid.” He was, however, a steady customer ― it was from there that he bought all his beer.
When asked about food, Dustin replied: “It was certainly an 'eating to live rather than living to eat,' though I will say that I never went hungry.”
General Whitcomb “used to send packages of stuff from the PX/commissary and those items were staples like spaghetti, macaroni, pork & beans, etc. We would get those packages now and then and, usually on our trips to Seoul, would bring back a couple of boxes of stuff.” But, acknowledged Dustin, it was a headache trying to get all of those packages to the mine and far easier to buy meat for stew from one of the nearby towns and chickens from the village. The villagers also provided the miners with seasonal vegetables, often for free.
In the beginning, Dustin did most of his own cooking but later Mrs. Choi was hired to do it, along with a small girl from the village who helped her.
“Most often, breakfast was eggs fried or scrambled, bacon from the PX, baking soda biscuits or maybe pancakes and coffee: lunches were usually ramyon; supper would have been a pork roast or roast chicken; or maybe a can of pork and beans with toast. Tubers like potatoes and carrots were always on hand and people from the village were always giving me the cabbage kimchi which they knew I battered and lightly fried.”
Not all things came out of a can ― as we shall see tomorrow.