See facebook page for more Fairbanks photos. We have been busy. We visited the El Dorado Mine, a working mine that offers the full gamete of tourist activities. We took a mine train ride into a permafrost mine where they explained the history of gold mining in Alaska and modern placer mining in Alaska. Because the ground here is permanently frozen (from ancient glaciers) mining is complicated. In winter they use steam to thaw the ground so they can dig tunnels and get the ore. Then they haul the ore to the surface and stockpile it until summer. When the weather warms they close up the tunnels to keep them frozen and begin work on the ore piles.  First they have to thaw the piles with steam, then the ore is washed in a sluice box.

To demonstrate the finals steps in mining the gold the El Dorado miners washed 7/8's of a yard of ore in a really BIG sluice box with a HUGE amount of water right in front of us. The sluice box is lined with astroturf, on top of that are metal screens for trapping the gold. Once the ore was washed the screens were pulled up and the material captured by the screens was divided between several gold pans.  Once they were done panning they had a considerable amount of gold in each pan. The lady in the picture said she had about $800 in gold in her pan. After the demonstration we got a chance to pan our own "poke" of pay dirt. It was fun, we learned some panning techniques, and got a little bit of color in our pans.

After the mine tour we went to see Dredge No. 8.  The tour of the dredge included lunch. They served us the best chunky beef stew with sourdough biscuits and blueberry crisp. This was the most complete and best preserved dredge we've seen. Because we arrived during the employee's lunch hour we got to see the dredge all by ourselves!  This dredge had many of it's buckets installed, something we had not seen before. Made it much easier to see how the whole process worked. They also had a spud on the ground by the dredge. This spud was mounted at the back of the dredge and was jammed into the ground. This allowed the dredge to pivot around the spud as it gobbled up ore for the trommel. I had no idea how HUGE the spuds were until Jim stood next to it! They also had several buildings with exhibits about how the miners lived and worked. In Alaska placer mining frequently unearths prehistoric animal bones. There were mammoth teeth, tusks, leg and pelvis bones and tons of other animal bones. Mining provided a wealth of information and material for paleontologists. Sometimes they find entire intact skeletons.  The dredge was powered by electricity from Fairbanks. In the summer the dredge used the electricity and in the winter the town used the electricity. 

We also visited Pioneer Village. While it was not Disneyland, it was interesting. There was a small main street lined with historic buildings from the gold rush era. They also had the biggest stern wheeler we've seen so far. With no roads in Alaska and several navigable rivers, boat travel was the only way to ship materials and equipment to Alaska. They had a gold mining display that included an old steam shovel originally used to build the Panama Canal. The park has an all you can eat salmon bake every night. They serve salmon, cod, halibut and prime rib, there's a huge salad bar, a dessert cabin, and of course an alcoholic libations shack. They had some interesting salmon themed wood carvings which Jim took advantage of.

After the salmon feed we saw a show at the Palace Theater. The show was very entertaining. They had a fashion show that included peeling about 20 layers of clothing and foot wear (apparently Fairbanks has the biggest temperature spread in the world with a recorded high of  99 and a low of 66 below.) Then there was the history of Fairbanks, the cancan with Fifi, the dance hall "girl" and the really cute snowbird skit. The chairs were a killer but the show was excellent! And of course, Jim is still making "friends" where ever he goes.

We drove out to the Chena Hot Springs Resort to tour the Aurora Ice Museum and take a soak in the hot springs. Ice museum was great, 20 degrees, beautiful carvings, and to top it off, a yummy Stoli appletini served in an ice martini glass. Then a dip in the hot springs (which was not nearly as nice as Liard Springs but sure felt good.)

Yesterday we saw a ton of moose on the road to Chena Hot Springs. There were a total of five cows, one had a last year's calf, one with a brand new wobbly calf, one foraging with a young bull and the other three were just grazing alone in deep roadside ponds. We also saw a HUGE bull moose feeding and a young bull  was just wandering through the Chena Hot Springs Resort. You have to look hard for the moose, in the ponds they are almost completely submerged. Amazing how long they can stay under water plucking vegetation from the pond bottom!