He has no running water, but Murray Lundberg does have high-speed internet service.
And with this high-speed service he can earn just enough money to live in his beloved cabin at
the foot of Montana Mountain on the shore of Lake Bennett.
In Carcross, just across the footbridge, many of his neighbors don’t know he
operates the world's largest internet portal to accurate information on the circumpolar north.
But, in May, 86,000 people from all over the world visited one of four websites he operates.
And there are 40 commercial customers who call him, "My webmaster."
Standing in his front yard, Mount Gray rising from the far shore of Lake Bennett on his left and
Caribou Mountain on his right, Lundberg contemplates a decision he made a few years ago.
At the time, he could have expanded his internet business and had an office in
Whitehorse and a staff and more money. Lundberg knew it would be a decision he would re-visit often.
"It’s one of those decisions that makes me wonder if I did the right thing," he says.
There’s Labrador Tea growing at his feet, just waiting to be picked and thrown into a pot; his
Siberian Husky and a Husky/Wolf Cross stare at him in case he bolts for the mountain trails they all love so much.
"Absolutely," he finally says with an off-kilter and satisfied smile.
"I can live on $600 a month and that’s the kind of freedom I like."
And, without a boss, he can work when he wants to maximize the nice summer days the Southern Lakes Region has been blessed with.
That morning, he began work at 2:00 a.m. to answer emails and visit travel-related bulletin boards on "the 'Net".
One person wanted to know if canoes could be rented from Spirit Lake Lodge.
Lundberg wrote back with a "yes" and then showed them pictures of the trip on the South Klondike Highway.
And Spirit Lake Lodge isn’t even one of his customers.
"That’s why I get the traffic I do, I’m always yakking," he says.
Back to bed at 4:30, he was up again four hours later to update his clients’
websites and receive requests to add links to www.explorenorth.com. That’s his flagship website
that introduces visitors to useful information and websites dealing with the north.
Lundberg receives about a dozen such requests each day and he has to check each one out for
suitability and accuracy.
"That’s the reason I started this a few years ago," he says. "There was so
little information available."
It was more of a hobby back in those early days. It was a favor to the
scholars and people genuinely interested in the north.
"If I got 2,000 hits a month I’d be ecstatic."
Lundberg’s main site now receives six times the hits the Yukon government’s www.touryukon.com
gets. That is 101,700 hits in May with over 621,300 pages visited.
"Now I’m just thoroughly pleased," he adds.
Then he wrinkles his forehead at the thought he built his website with little
expense. And he remembers reading that the City of Whitehorse budgeted $60,000 over four years
just for website strategy.
"That’s more than I charged all 40 of my customers," he says, shaking his head.
And that is just for one budget year.
But he admits he works for free often. "When you charge for things you don’t
make friends."
Indeed, he gets visits from at least 25 people each summer who had been helped
with their vacation plans.
There is one person visiting this year who had received help for three years now.
"There will be a free meal in it for me for sure," he says with a good-natured laugh.
Those who are looking for help with their family tree don’t always get
immediate attention.
"I’ll send a quickie note and tell them we have different priorities up here," he says. This
detailed digging is saved for a rainy day.
"Yeah, it’s a lot of work. Don’t ask me why I do it. It drives my bank
manager crazy."
One reason he will offer is that he has to keep his income below $30,000
so he won’t have to charge GST.
So far, that hasn’t been a problem.
Lundberg definitely is not willing to join the "big time." He ponders on how his work
life is different from someone doing his job in the city:
His dress code is pyjamas or t-shirt and shorts. In the city they wear dress shirts, slacks - and shoes.
Lundberg’s lunch could be a Grayling he catches a stone’s throw from his front porch. In the city it comes from McDonald’s.
His desk is six meters from his bedroom. In the city it is probably a one-hour drive.
Lundberg claims to have the best view in the world. In the city the view is the cubicle across the aisle.
At an internet conference in Las Vegas a few years ago, Lundberg brought a photo of his "office". The reaction was usually, "You do that - from there?"
Then there was the flip side. Sometimes he was asked, "You live there?"
So, an unhurried lifestyle isn’t for everybody.
But, for Lundberg, "This is what we live here for." His arms are stretched out receiving a beautiful and expansive sky
with only enough clouds to make it interesting.
"We go for a quality of life that people Outside don’t understand," he says.
"People here appreciate the value of the experience."
I review my notes and find I haven’t finished a thread I’d been following: "What happens after you update the website links at 8:30?"
Lundberg, usually a study in calm, can’t hide his smugness. "That’s the end of my planned day."
He then ponders the most difficult question of the day: "Canoeing or a walk on the beach?"
Click here to see a live webcam view from Murrays' kitchen window (this single page gets 700-800 visitors a day).
