Chilkat Valley News - Serving Haines and Klukwan, Alaska since 1966

Don Bertroch, a welder and shop owner who lived here during the timber boom, died in Kingman, Ariz., on Dec. 3. He was 79 and suffered from complications of a stroke.

Bertroch was born in Newcastle, Colo., on March 7, 1936. He worked as a ranch hand and wrangler, competed in rodeos and was hired as an animal handler for the 1962 movie "How the West Was Won," daughter Kelly Bertroch said last week.

Inspired by photos he'd seen in National Geographic, Bertroch headed to Alaska to work in the oilfields, but on arriving here in 1967 was captivated by the town's setting and eagles and scratched plans to go further north, his daughter said.

Bertroch worked at the sawmill and operated Don's Repair Shop on Major Road.

"His willingness to barter in exchange for his work kept him entertained with colorful characters adventuring up the unsung hippie trail that was Southeast Alaska back in the day. His contribution to helping the artists, seekers, dreamers and back-to-the-landers take root helped make the town unique," his daughter said.

Dwight Nash owns a 16-inch metal shaper that once belonged to Bertroch, a kind of motorized vice and "monster machine" Bertroch used to take apart and fix hydraulic jacks.

Nash said Bertroch belonged to a generation of old Alaskans who could fabricate a needed part from a yard full of old equipment out back. "He was almost an inventor. He could look at an item and turn it into whatever you needed. His quotient for that was quite high. He was open to trying to tackle any mechanical problem and to delight in the complexity of it."

Bertroch also flew a plane that landed with skis on Santa Claus Mountain, said resident Erwin Hertz. He pulled off the stunt by slowing the plane to a slow speed and allowing its rear end to plop down. Then he took off by pulling on it to make the nose face downslope. "He always wanted to do that and to say he was the first one to do it. He was an amazing guy."

Daymond Hoffman and Bertroch's son "Dude" were friends as teenagers. Hoffman said Bertroch helped them work on their motorcycles and would let them use his front-end loader to build jumps at the Major Road gravel pit. He also let the boys eat on his account at Dan & Barb's, a local restaurant.

Hoffman said Bertroch was a cowboy in the best sense of the word. "He tried a lot of business things that maybe didn't pan out the way he hoped. In a way, Haines was the perfect place for him. He would do all these things that he always wanted to try."

Daughter Kelly said her father helped residents with their horses and was quick to come to the aid of others. "He's not really a person you'd meet anymore."

Bertroch left Haines in 1986, during an economic slump when a statewide recession followed the closure of the Lutak sawmill. He worked in marine engineering in shipyards around Seattle and in construction in Nevada. Most recently he served on the board of a nonprofit water company in Dolan Springs, Ariz.

As Bertroch disliked the cold, his ashes will be spread in Arizona's high desert in the springtime "when it's warm and the hummingbirds come," his daughter said.

In lieu of cards, to remember her father, Kelly Bertroch said, "Take a day off and go off in the woods and see something pretty for him."

Don Bertroch was preceded in death by brother Dewey Bertroch and son David Bertroch. He is survived by brother Delbert Bertroch, of Pardeeville, Wis .; children Danial Beard of Paris, Texas, Durward "Dude" Bertroch of Gypsum, Colo., and Kelly Bertroch of Point Roberts, Wash.