The land that would eventually become America's 49th state (Alaska) was purchased from Russia in March of 1867. Not even 30 years later gold was discovered, and the Klondike Gold Rush began. 100,000 people from all over the world (but largely America) made the journey towards Alaska. Of those, only about 30,000 actually made it there, and out of that number only 4,000 found any gold. It was a very rough and tedious task to undertake, all on the hopes that one would find a big hunk of yellow metal and become rich.
 |
If only it came out of the ground this way...
Image from www.munknee.com |
Let me tell you, that they were much better than I am to have that much hope. I panned for gold for 15 minutes and only found a few dozen flakes. It was tedious and not fun after the novelty of being a city girl gold prospecting wore off. Let me explain...
I did a cruise excursion to the
AJ Mine/Gastineau Mill during our (too short) port stop in Juneau, Alaska- the state capital. Early in the morning, myself and about 10 other cruisers hopped onto our mini bus, and took the 10 minute ride up the steep (and scary looking!) wooded mountain side to reach the first part of our experience: the mine entrance.
We had to wear safety helmets to go inside (I mean, we are going inside of a mountain after all) and were escorted by John Hughes. He was really nice and seemed truly interested in not only the entire culture of mining, but in telling us about it and learning about what we did in our non-vacation lives. He told us that he was half Welsh and half Tlingit, and that he also carved masks that were sold in the gift shop we would see later (great self plug, I gotta admit- tell us about the stuff you make before you take us into a mine that could potentially be dangerous).
 |
| John and I outside of the mine |
What I expected was a ride in an old mine cart on a rickety railway a la every adventure movie involving mines and treasure ever. Instead, there were easily walkable wooden walkways covered in highly textured... stuff... to prevent slipping and falling. John stopped us at various points in the mine to show us different steps on how ore was actually marked, drilled, blasted, and hauled away. I got a few videos of some of the demonstrations, and you can check them out on my YouTube Channel
here. All in all we spent about 45 minutes in the mine, which is much colder than the outside, so if you get the chance to go, take a jacket. I had a chill with a heavy cable sweater and corduroy jacket and pants on.
 |
| At the mine entrance |
 |
| John giving us a demonstration of one of the machines |
After that, we were bussed back down the mountain (just as scary and steep and bumpy going down as going up!) to an outdoor heated pavilion where we learned this history of the mine and how it used to actually operate and were showed pictures of the mine during its heyday. This was particularly cool, and a little eerie, when you realized the nature-covered structure you are facing is actually the ruins of the pristine looking mine in the photograph.
 |
| THEN.... |
 |
| ...AND NOW! |
After that presentation, which lasted about 10 minutes, we were free to roam the grounds (taking care not to go beyond the rope barriers for safety reasons), and to go to the gold panning station, where everyone is guaranteed to find gold or garnets to take home with them!
Walking around the grounds, there were a ton of old rusty machines and vehicles that were used at some point in the mine's active days. To me, they were beautiful, and the conservationist in me was flabbergasted as to why they were allowed to rust and decay out in the elements without any sort of protection. Why, in a few years most of them will be too rusted out to be recognizable! But perhaps that's part of the "charm" *history nerd shudder* they were going for.
 |
| Beautiful and tragic all at once! |
So, back to this gold panning. This was done under another awning (no heat this time) in dim light. Two guys showed us how to agitate our gold pans so that the silt and sediment and rocks would eventually filter out to leave us with pretty gold flakes or garnet grains to put inside of our little take home valves. I stood there for fifteen minutes, scooping two pans worth of gunk, and still needed help to get the last few bits of unwanted matter out. It was very slow, and in all that time I only found about $5.00 worth of gold. Now, if I had that much trouble in a touristy fashion, just imagine those poor souls 120 years ago having to do it all on their own without help!
 |
See those light colored flakes to the right of the bottom circle of my pan?
That's my gold! |
 |
| 15 minutes of tedious work for about $5 worth of gold |
I really enjoyed my time there. In talking with the two guys who helped us with our gold panning I learned that a lot of college kids from the Pacific Northwest and the Southwest come up to Alaska to work for a year or two, save up their money, and then use it to pay for college. I also learned Alaskan colleges tend to be extra generous with scholarship money. John also told us that with just a high school degree you can start off earning $80K to work in the mines, and that again, a lot of young folks come up and work for a year or two before heading off to college or other locations. While I don't think I personally have what it takes to do such intense manual labor, I applaud them for finding ways to make college more affordable!
The gift shop on site was pretty standard, but the prices were slightly less expensive than the "main" Alaskan tourist shops located in downtown Juneau. The biggest highlight was the lack of a huge confused crowd like in the shops at the port. When we were in Juneau, there were two other ships docked. Now my ship (the Carnival Miracle) holds more than 2000 guests- and we weren't the biggest ship there. So imagine 6000+ people clamoring for t-shirts and
ulu knives in a handful of stores---- stressful to say the least! Anyway, at the gold mine shop, I picked up a cute pair of earrings made by a local artist using Alaskan clay and white gold. I love them, even if they are a bit different for me, and was happy to support the local arts scene!
 |
| Kinda quirky, but they were calling to me! |
Well folks, I still have a TON of things to blog about from Alaska and Washington. I truly appreciate everyone who follows me along my journey via the blog, Facebook, and Twitter, and as always, I'll see you on the next adventure!
