5/14
We had a quiet morning sorting out what we wanted to do in Fairbanks. After lunch we went on the El Dorado gold mine tour. We sat behind Jeff, who was in training as an excursion driver. He had driven for Holland America Cruise Lines last summer, but since they merged with Princes Cruises, he was getting Princess cross-training. He told us about taking groups to Eagle, AK, for excursions on the Yukon River. Eagle, and the excursion boat, was damaged by flooding during the spring river ice breakup, so it will be a while before anyone makes that run.
When we arrived at the El Dorado Mine, the group was loaded onto a narrow-gauge (electric) train for a tour of the mine property.
We had a quiet morning sorting out what we wanted to do in Fairbanks. After lunch we went on the El Dorado gold mine tour. We sat behind Jeff, who was in training as an excursion driver. He had driven for Holland America Cruise Lines last summer, but since they merged with Princes Cruises, he was getting Princess cross-training. He told us about taking groups to Eagle, AK, for excursions on the Yukon River. Eagle, and the excursion boat, was damaged by flooding during the spring river ice breakup, so it will be a while before anyone makes that run.
When we arrived at the El Dorado Mine, the group was loaded onto a narrow-gauge (electric) train for a tour of the mine property.
The train stopped at several points for displays and demonstrations on how the gold prospectors dug up and processed the gold-bearing gravel. Costumed presenters showed a permafrost tunnel and the sort of cabin the ‘sourdough’ prospectors lived in (sour if they didn't make any dough!).
They demonstrated the boiler that was used to thaw the ground enough for the ‘donkey’ to pull buckets of gravel up to the surface.
It was interesting that the miners did their underground work in the winter, then processed the gravel, and recovered the gold in the summer. An unexpected find was that many extinct animal bone fossils were among the glacial deposits.
The train let us out at the “cook shack” where “Yukon Yonda” Clark, her partner, Dexter, and a group of young miner helpers demonstrated how a sluice was used for separating gold from gravel, and some modern innovations, including the use of astroturf!
The train let us out at the “cook shack” where “Yukon Yonda” Clark, her partner, Dexter, and a group of young miner helpers demonstrated how a sluice was used for separating gold from gravel, and some modern innovations, including the use of astroturf!
A bucket of gravel was dumped by a backhoe into the sluice, and the gravel that was collected at the head of the sluice was divided for a panning demonstration. Every pan contained a pretty good amount of gold, and “Yukon Yonda” found a nugget in her pan.
We were all given a “poke” of gravel to allow us an opportunity to pan our own gold. Everyone came up with some yellow flakes after swirling the gravel around for a while. We combined our haul and it was assayed to be worth about $21! We had the gold put into a locket for all to see.
The gift shop had the usual collection of t-shirts, key chains, etc., but there was also a case displaying nuggets and nugget jewelry. The highlight was a 19 oz. nugget worth $40,000!
We were all given a “poke” of gravel to allow us an opportunity to pan our own gold. Everyone came up with some yellow flakes after swirling the gravel around for a while. We combined our haul and it was assayed to be worth about $21! We had the gold put into a locket for all to see.
The gift shop had the usual collection of t-shirts, key chains, etc., but there was also a case displaying nuggets and nugget jewelry. The highlight was a 19 oz. nugget worth $40,000!
Under the watchful eye of the El Dorado staff, we were allowed to lift the nugget to find out what a really big nugget feels like.
On the trip back to the hotel, the bus made a stop at the Trans-Alaska pipeline. The Alaskans are quite proud of the pipeline; it has brought quite a bit of prosperity to an area where life is hard. Production from the oil field at Prudhoe Bay is in decline, so the future of oil in Alaska is cloudy. Like the gold rushes of the past, the towns build on black gold may fade away when the resource is gone.
On the trip back to the hotel, the bus made a stop at the Trans-Alaska pipeline. The Alaskans are quite proud of the pipeline; it has brought quite a bit of prosperity to an area where life is hard. Production from the oil field at Prudhoe Bay is in decline, so the future of oil in Alaska is cloudy. Like the gold rushes of the past, the towns build on black gold may fade away when the resource is gone.
Our pilot, Darren, gave us a quick safety talk, and we were on our way. From the air one can see that human habitation falls off quickly as one travels north of Fairbanks. There are a few roads initially, but soon there is only one - the Dalton Highway, which roughly parallels the Trans-Alaska pipeline.
After about an hour of flight time, we landed at the Coldfoot Air Strip, and that was exciting. The air strip is in a valley next to the Koyakuk River, and the wind rocked us back and forth as we headed down. There were no casualties, but we felt just a little green after landing. We met George, our guide, and got in a van for the next part of the trip. We stopped at the Coldfoot truck stop, the last source of fuel south of Prudhoe Bay, 240 miles north by road. We rode on the Dalton Highway to the community of Wiseman. The Dalton Highway is a packed gravel road, wide enough for two trucks to pass. There isn't much shoulder separating the driver from the tundra.
On our way back to Coldfoot, we came across a couple of moose grazing near the road. George backed up (although he isn't supposed to) to allow picture taking. The moose weren't particularly cooperative, so the pictures mostly show brush. (I'll try to edit those and post them when we get back!)
