Joe Rogan Experience #1918 — John Reeves, from The Boneyard Alaska Transcript

Transcript

0:00 Joe Rogan Podcast, check it out! How the hell did you acquire this magical spot that you have in Alaska? This is where I grew up, and it was on top of an Indian mound. You might recognize his name. And that was a couple hundred pounds ago, by the way, I should mention. I start running down the field. The next year, my coach, the NCAAs were in Knoxville, Tennessee.

3:16 I'm going to Alaska. So just because he said that. He said, man, if you don't get out of here, you're going to flunk out. And then after that, I went down to the registrar's office, Hitchhiked, got down to I-75 and started hitchhiking. Sniper with a shotgun? I go, what are you talking about? So I called that number. We had to drop the engine out in Tempe, Arizona.

6:53 part-time job swim coach working as a film editor from the University of Alaska. I went to the NCAAs in Long Beach. I'm going to go places. I'm out of here, man. So off I went. Went back to Alaska and I've been there since. Started hauling freight as a teamster started getting going and a buddy of mine who's a diver at the University of Florida he came up

10:31 The last bank we went to was the First National Bank, And we said, what's that mean? Your first delivery is sitting over at Reed Tool. We made $700 or something on that in minutes for them to drive a forklift up, Get 10 or 12 trucks every morning before 8 o'clock. That's a recipe for disaster. A lot of stuff happened during that pipeline that people don't even realize.

14:28 It was like somebody flew over Alaska and said, let's drop $9 billion on these guys and see what they do with it. Went to work drilling for uranium for Exxon and Chevron up in the Seward Peninsula a lot of treasure. But when you have conquistadors going by going, And we have five kids of our own. And I said, oh, this is glorious. And through the trees, I see these big metal pipes sticking out of the ground. It was the fall time, so I walked back there, and it's a gold dredge.

17:41 And while I was there, some other people drove in. to sell that dredge? They said, sure, we'll sell it. We were going to turn it into a tourist attraction, but we bought some leases in a place called Prudhoe Bay. Oh, okay. You guys We don't think you should ever have to work again. United States Smelting, Refining, and Mining Company. These guys were tired of it.

20:05 USS R&M was headquartered. And that's the kind of stuff that was left. They were trying to find gold. How do you get these bones? And the way I discovered the bones was after I bought the property. So he went and he was gone half an hour. The company took out about 3,000 ounces out of this one little area. built a little road around the side so we could get back to it with a machine,

24:26 The overburden there is about 60 feet high. we found thousands and thousands of tusks and bison heads and bones. Okay. And so the permafrost is slowly melting, and you're hosing it down and pulling it. So the stench is literally like this ancient rotting biological material. way you do it is you just spray much in this one area? Nobody knows. Really? Nobody. Well, that's what's so crazy. Like when

26:56 Wow. I mean, it's so hard to believe that this one area has so many bones. We're not even talking fossils. Dick Mole. Don't make me worry about finding you under a muck bench or a tree falling on you. That's it? and talked about our site, on my Instagram account that day I've had countless opportunities to talk to newscasters and network reality TV people that want to do blah, blah, blah, blah.

30:26 oh, you probably found a couple of things on this place. And then as I'm going over your Instagram That's insane. They went from as recent as 3,000 years ago to 22,000 years ago. And so I'm kind of going along with them because people would— Well, that would make sense why they're all there. You found short-faced bears? Probably about that long. Did you know that?

33:22 No. The golden rule. And so anyways, you've got to remember also that a grizzly bear can cover about 100 yards What? Go find a group of pelicans flying in an odd number. They're ruthless motherfuckers. I saw a pelican last year. They probably figured it out. and then they just got sunk into the muck and permafrost. ice, half the country, all that was wiped out almost instantaneously. And that these things

37:20 But in the boneyard, we use the excavators primarily to keep the drains open. Now, to go along with that theory, we had sea levels that rose 300 to 400 feet in a relatively short period of time. Yeah. and and you know particles into glass and they found they find that all around the world when they do core samples It's about a mile wide, this pay streak, where the gold is.

40:01 the gold goes right to the bottom. So at one point in time, there could have been a river that's a mile wide that was running through there. So when you found dire wolves, like in what condition? Just the bones? Wow. And I know you like to hunt elk and eat elk. They have them on some of the islands on the coast. and they come back the next day to cut it up and to take it apart.

43:11 plows through the camp, and he's riding this bear's back for like 15, 20 yards, and then falls They say these miniature mammoths lived there till three four thousand years ago It's a mammoth trunk in its leg and its skull cap and stuff. We have found a lot over the years and they all, you know, started hydraulicking, they started They decided to get a hold of the USS R&M Company in Boston.

45:54 and write reports and submit them to my company. Well, they didn't do that. They collected the because I've told everybody that I'm going to start a bone rush. What? And so they dumped how much in the East River? Some of it, maybe? that follow me thanks to you. I'll tell you exactly Do you know what street You do it. Authored by Richard Osborne, Aquedinary Center, University of Alaska Museum,

50:00 Because if I was, and I'm not going to tell people you're allowed to do this, You looking for the address? The dump site at that time was off. archaeologists in the distant future now i'm going to say this about that. These bones that we find, they're paleontological in nature. So they dumped valuable bones. Go get the gold. I take a pretty long view of history, and I appreciate your view of history.

53:21 And how far into the water was it? Is that right? and so somewhere if there's fucking and a complete set of tusks like They don't roll along the bottom. And they got the side-scanning sonar and stuff that you can use. And guess what, Joe? Yeah. Now, I don't have as many sunsets in front of me as I do behind me. so crazy in a five acre parcel wow yeah That is so wild.

57:41 You know how amazing it would be if someone came on? It's just weird that you could even own them, you know? i think ever found yeah on his rancher. By the way, when I go to Florida in the wintertime, I always bring down some of his smoked salmon. And cans it. But yesterday he posted a video that's no longer online of a grizzly bear that charged I haven't asked them, but I'm going to find out.

1:00:21 Yeah. Oh, you're both. about. Here it is. It's a great town. And Eddie Reese lives here, too. Or you're helping the wrong people. You've got an enormous number of them. Oh yeah. That is so cool. at about the same time and that thing is staring at us out of the muck wow just the top part not They're all boxed. What's in that box right there where it looks like skin below that, Jamie?

1:03:57 Horse? They've never found them. 20,000 years ago, and I've got a doctorate in this field, so that's what happened. Right, but they're Zero. It's going to summer, though. Delicious. All you got to do is find one. I'm sure. Don't be scared of a name. Want to hear my moose call? Yeah. When we bag a moose, we want to make sure it's near someplace we can get a front end load or two.

1:06:56 I tried to chop them up in half with an axe underwater. And they're like, fuck. and I have one group of guys that likes to go to certain areas. I'll take some and give them some moose meat. It's like similar but not, you know. I think we brought some freezer. Because we're going to. It's the best meat. The problem with moose is moose are usually around grizzlies.

1:09:47 About 3 o'clock in the morning, I hear this boom, John, boom, another rifle shot. they're not even nearly as big as grizzlies, I think it's Big BC Outfitters. And they put a ban on hunting them too because all the people from Vancouver are like, And so there's all these people that understand the balance of nature you lower the amount of game that are there, the game animals. And also you make it very

1:12:09 They really are. I said, there's a calf out here if you want to come rescue it. That's awesome. God. Wild-looking cat. Cool saw lynx in Alberta. Wild looking cat. But sometimes, like where we're at, you can hear them howling. I can walk. This guy did several tours in Vietnam as a sniper because he liked his job. That guy might be in trouble. He will take their life. He doesn't like them.

1:15:20 My friend Steve Rinella said that some of the best meat he's ever eaten is black bear that had been eaten and I cut a couple of his claws off, He was in the woods outside of Rutgers University a few years back in New Jersey. The bears are your friends. But they're everywhere. He sent me this recently. You know what? It might be on instagram i'm not

1:18:16 And beavers can fuck up a water system pretty quick, He made like a beaver pot roast. Yeah, the other thing they used to eat, we tried, but it's disgusting, is the tail. It's not something you're interested in. ground where all these animals from thousands of years ago died. That is a special place you have. At one point in my life when I had all this land, I was going, okay, I got to somehow make a living with all this property if I'm not going to mine it. And I had a piece that was all mined out. We got it permitted

1:20:54 Wouldn't that be dirty? No, we don't, we just. Yeah. All that part has already been mined out. are out there and how many more in the surrounding land that's not yours might also hold these similar piles of these dead ancient animals? So when she sees this, if she ever discovers how much money we spend on fuel and equipment, you know, I'm in trouble.

1:23:27 I'm not a scientist. If you're a paleontologist and you're studying short-faced bears or if you're studying, you're studying these ancient deceased mammoths and all these, explorers club in new york city for a screening of it uh several years ago when it was done But you're, Because it's a moving And you're just kind of doing it for yourself. I know.

1:26:00 Jesus. That he's grabbing right there. Oh, like they died in a flood. Super boner. Oh, yeah. It's one of the main displays at the University of Alaska Museum. Yeah. Not off that one. We can come in, have it out of there in a day. We're not going to do an emergency excavation on this. This is a He says, I ate nothing but pork and beans and hot dogs all winter.

1:29:43 Does he regret making that phone call? They were sitting down to eat, looked out, grabbed his rifle, bang. one of the EPA guys came running down and said He clipped him. to the guy who got shot. We've caught people doing stupid shit. No. but my buddy, She goes, oh, that's nice. the same guy found a Now explain what condition the meat was in. Once it's out of the permafrost, it starts melting.

1:34:07 Not after the first few drinks. Like, what do you do? What? What's the point if you don't? So how did they cook it? Oh, yeah. Just whiskey. Oh, fuck no. It's pretty common amongst the kind of people that I associate with. God damn, this is cold. got up to my rental car, going back into Juneau. I'm going too fast through residential area. Get pulled over by a cop license registration. I said, it's a rental car. Here's my license.

1:38:15 Wakes you up, doesn't it? Jesus. Those are 90-pounders. We have a little box. That CrossFit's good for you. It's already frozen. It'll probably feel good. Yeah. It's a friendly town. That's 357 miles from Alaska. And I was like, of course they are. It's a big city. A big city. It's a huge city. How many people? A couple hundred thousand. Maybe. No, I have not.

1:42:18 It is. 700,000 something. All right. It's big as the most 20 eastern states on the sea. Holy shit is it big. That's still Alaska, bro. What a wild lady that is. Oh, yeah. So the structures that she lives in all have like cloth outside. They're the nastiest. Two. And the University of Alaska head of geology had brought a visiting dignitary from somewhere in England,

1:46:12 Off it went. of the bones that were sent to AMNH. Could it be in those crates? That's how you get rid of stuff like that. You get your benefactors. Hey, would you like a mammoth tusk? of something that's very valuable. Fairbanks Gold Company, Alaska. Mm-hmm. Whoa. Look at that thing. Jamie, do you ever use a pipe? My No, we own thousands and thousands of pounds of that material.

1:50:34 You'll like this story. Yeah, 100%. it to him. He goes, oh, this is cool. Cause he likes to collect fossils too, apparently. You know how many elephants we've saved? and things like that. It was all elephants Have you ever seen those where they have piles of tusks and they just burn them? of make it better. Like, knowing that you're playing with something that died 20,000 years

1:53:17 tens of thousands of years ago? But the pre-ban ivory that's an animal that exists, they're still around. down that they would make that illegal. But you can't use the ones from the ones that are alive. Go to her Instagram, see if you can find her. So this stuff that she has, all that, this is all mammoth ivory? She makes rings too? whatever that is.

1:55:38 is a nasty looking just shard. So you sell the tusks off another Creek. do no we sell them told this guy go ahead and sell them if you want wow he's got a real upscale Probably bought it from your guy, stole it from you. Yeah. Uh, it's the fact that they're finding badgers. And, you know, when you're cleaning out a tusk, I don't know what the fuck that is.

1:59:03 But I've always wondered that. You know, there's Forrest Galante. And he thinks it's really possible that at one point in time that was a real animal. animals. So it'd be like an eagle. And it's so, especially when you come to dinosaurs, they're always finding a new dinosaur. And we're not interested in assisting. if someone finds something, it becomes property of the country.

2:02:53 I can't imagine why someone hasn't reached out to you, why there isn't like— And the story itself is even more crazy than I thought it was. So as you dig into these, what do you call them, muck hills? of five acres, you've extracted these bones. Five acres, but the company didn't save bones. Yeah, it's tight. Jesus. The caribou, the bison, they're all grazers.

2:06:05 And you sometimes see people that build on permafrost. And if you do that, you're asking for trouble, because the and we stack all that material up. We bail them out. Whole trees? They eat trees. It's got a carbon date. I've used you as a crutch for years. What do you think is going to guys come up there before and they see all the stuff But it's going to cost somebody a lot of money to do it, and I'm not going to pay for it.

2:10:54 anything of archaeological value i mean theoretically hypothetically well i got it did That's not it. Yeah, with a point tip that apparently stuck in it. that's a ground squirrel jaw skull Those are all a bunch of spear points and arrowheads that were found on my ground. It's got a big gold scale sitting on a gold scale. Right there? Yep. So nobody had any speculation or nothing?

2:14:10 Yeah, right there to the right. And so they didn't think dire wolves lived up there? It grows there in the silt that comes down. It just starts I don't want to. like what is it about that area i mean is there any speculation as to why they would all wind up Yeah. I'm not sure. Even the people in that film who are experts have no idea. We own it. It got confiscated.

2:18:06 you're just continually Well, here's the downside I always tell- Go to that tusk that he has, Jamie. That's beautiful. I think that's the one I have. He made that pipe there out of a mammoth tooth. Now, you haven't found any dinosaurs. Do you ever stop and think, like, how crazy it is that it's you, that you are the guy who has found this stuff? fuck these bones. Let's just go mining. What are you doing? What are you doing? Other people,

2:21:21 I said, what do you mean do I have my collection insured? Now, after that conversation, I got back in my truck. and i stumbled across this if i would do anything different no you wouldn't i don't think i would Just a bunch of stuff. So amazing, man. I'm trying to look Based on, I'm like, we've done this stuff with Graham and Randall, you know, See that body of water right there?

2:24:00 Alright, now go where it meets. Oh, God, how gross is that? Just go straight up to the left. That's a big pond. that you've pulled all these bones from, It might be everywhere up there. It just seems like it's so important. And that's leased out to a gold miner out of the Yukon. So, Elon, if you're listening, call me. FAA. its location to the I'd put it in my truck.

2:29:05 I mean in terms of how incredible it is. Not only that, but that I haven't spent a shit. Yeah. Imagine if you weren't there. about yay long damn that's gotta be worth a lot of money. See if you can find a dire wolf skull for sale. And I said, Kurt, where did this come from? Now, Bulgaria, Romania, one of those areas. That's what he said. Whoa. No. arrowheads, spear tips.

2:33:15 How are you contributing to the safety of America? cables, machinery, boxes, travel, kind of high-tech stuff. I said, what's the experiment? I said, what's the problem with the bunker buster? Steve here is saying that you can probably accommodate us. right to me. He goes, step outside. So we go outside. I said, what the fuck are we doing here? I said, I'll tell you what we'll do.

2:36:50 Brigadier General John Mark Joe, how do you say his name? to monitor nuclear weapons development around the world. Three inches by two and a half inches with a little area where you can see a thumb or a finger to hold on to it. What's the rules on that? Like, what if you past. Yeah. What if you find a dude? What's the rules on that? Those are nice.

2:38:33 That's cool, man. So I told Are there rules if you find a dude?'s archaeology is different they can shut the You've found evidence of humans. school, flinting tool was found. It was a promontory across from us, about a mile away He goes, what's that? I'm proud of that letter. You got credit for 14 kills. Yeah. He says, this Vietnam War is all wrong.

2:42:28 Build a road up there, or I'll build a road up there. of those for not a whole lot of money, just a big garden hose. You're not having to worry about oil spills. Yeah, but, you know, the people we got, I don't want to start. We're fully permanent for what we do, Am I going to go over it, around it, under it? It's a pretty big deal. And for my friends in Mexico, they tell me it's not even Mexicans.

2:45:30 It makes too much sense. to take it up. I don't know if they know if these people are coming from who knows fucking where. There's no management. my property taxes turn around and give it away to places i would never want to see my money go to, but they do it because that's what they do. No, I haven't been since the pandemic. I said, that fucking And he goes, my mother lives in Toronto.

2:50:19 Yeah. I wouldn't advise getting rid of those. Well, that's why people like, you know, they go over there and they get great tax breaks. As long as they spend more than 50% of their time there, they don't have to pay federal income tax, which is bananas. And they were down on resources and stuff. They wanted it to remain a territory. So you just take the map out and go, let's go dig over here.

2:52:27 but don't let them become a state. And the F.E. company shut down half the dredging fleet, including contracts with AM&H and the University of Alaska. Those are my goddamn bones. So when I I'll pay for it. But I told you I was in the solid waste business. So I'm going, okay, I'll get these bones. So then we found the boneyard. Well, why not start a bone rush?

2:55:41 Yeah. Yeah. Daddy's got a new boat. What if it was a dire wolf skull? I told him, we got a bunch of those. I just don't know. They were finding all kinds of stuff. Harrington horse. So it's kind of fun. Wow. When did they discover this thing? Equus genus, which includes all living species The New World stilt-legged horses They diverged from Equus horses between four and five million years ago.

3:00:25 And, you know. You know, with his thought out and waters running and shit like that. We just did three hours, believe it or not. I haven't slept well in a week. which is, if you don't have that, I ain't got time to talk to you. That'd be awesome. Thank you very much, man. I really appreciate it. Thank you, sir. I appreciate it. And the And then my son's is at Kinsey.

3:03:04 That's my darling wife. Yeah, we'll let you know. I'll let you know as soon as it's coming up. All right, brother. Bye.