<p>McCARTHY -- Like most people who meet the Pilgrim family for the first time, Walt Wigger was mightily impressed when they showed up to buy his mine in the Wrangell Mountains.</p>
<p>Wigger, a crusty Fairbanks miner in his 80s, was struck by the size of the family and its energy and obvious unity of purpose. He was also impressed by the $30,000 in $100 bills that Papa Pilgrim pulled from his coat pocket -- money from cashing the family's Alaska Permanent Fund dividend checks.</p>