Fairbanks 8/5 to 8/11

One of our first outings was to the Girl Scout Office here in Fairbanks.

Judy picked up some things in the gift shop for the troop back home, and, we talked with the ladies in the office.

On Saturday, the four of us (Chris, Bob, Judy and me) drove out to the gold mine to do some prospecting for gold.
In 2011 we panned at the Eldorado Gold Mine but now they have moved to their own property and call themselves "Gold Dredge 8".

The pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez runs thru here.

The silver things above the posts are to help regulate the temperature of the permafrost.

A train takes you around the area and this man sings a few songs along the way.  Another person talks about how gold mining was done here.

Here is a guy using a pan.

In this picture they show a bucket coming up from a deep well with dirt and in it they (hopefully) find gold.

This was an interesting section.  When the miners first came here, the ground was as high as the mountains in the background.  With the equipment they had back then, they dug down to find pay dirt and also used water from a nearby river to wash it out.

This is a dredge that was used to dig up the ground (buckets are going up that conveyor).  It goes into the dredge and is washed thru and thru so that only the (heavier) gold remains.

 In the end, we got our sack of "material," dumped it into a pan and began the process of eliminating the dirt, leaving only the gold!  Chris was watching them get started down the way.

We got our pans filled and started the process.  Gold is about 5 times heavier than dirt so it sinks to the bottom as you swish it back and forth.  After swishing it back and forth a few times, you let some of the dirt and water out. You do this a few times until you have very little sand left and then you swirl the water around the pan hoping to see some gold.

Judy and I ended up with about $21 of gold while Chris and Bob got around $42.  The gift shop is the main attraction, however, as you can then get your gold put into bracelets, necklaces, etc.  And they do have many other items you can buy that relate to process, such as hats, jackets, sweatshirts, and on and on!!!  But it was fun...