While Iwas waiting at the airstrip, this barge came upriver to unload some equipment This is the only way materiel that is too heavy or bulky to fly in gets out here. This barge was unloading some equipment for a construction project for the FAA. Typically, it'll sit on solid ground (near the airstrip) until the ground freezes enough to support the weight of the equipment and then the drill rig will drill the holes for the piling foundation. One of the crew told me that they came up on this barge from Seattle specifically to deliver this equipment, with stops in Anchorage and Nome. They then planned to go to Kotzebue and St. Lawrence Island before heading home. He said it's pretty tough, but I wouldn't want to be on it in the middle of the Gulf of Alaska in bad weather, but that's just me.