Wasilla Hatcher Pass/Gold Mine

Our drive up into the mountains took about 30 minutes.  The mountain streams were beautiful.

When we arrived at the Hatcher Pass Turnoff, it was still closed.  It's only open July thru September.  We thought that since it was almost July, we could get thru it, but the ranger said that there is still 3-4 feet of snow up there.

 So we contiued up the road to the Independence Mine Historical Park, high in the mountains east of Wasilla, was a working gold mine until World War II. Robert Lee Hatcher discovered and staked the first lode gold claim in the Willow Creek Valley in September 1906, and others soon followed. But lode mining was expensive for an individual operator; it required elaborate tunnels and heavy equipment, so companies merged to pool resources and reduce expenses. Today it is a park. All but a few of its buildings are boarded up or have been reduced to rubble.

Still alot of snow up here.

This was a beautiful setting with the mountains in the background.

The end of another great day in Alaska!