Gold Mining in Chicken, Alaska

 

Arriving in Chicken we went to Chicken Creek Outpost to camp and go gold mining.  They had only 5 or 6 sites with electric, all the rest were dry camping.  Our electric came on at 7:00 AM and went off at 9:30 PM.  They have showers available for a small charge. $3.00 for 7 minutes,from 7:30 AM to 8:00 PM.  In the store they had lots of souvenirs, and a soup, sandwich and breakfast bar.  All very good.  We made arrangements to go to the mining claim which is about 2 miles from the camp ground. We were lead by Greg to the claim and given instruction as to where we could dig and pan for gold.  The claim is huge and covered with vegetation.  A small creek flows down through it.  I had brought my metal detector with me and worked with it with no success. They was to much brush and over burden.  So we tried our hand at gold panning. We got a few flakes with a lot of work.   We didn’t get any gold nuggets but really enjoyed the time.  I didn’t mention that we had to walk in on a dirt trail about a quarter of a mile, which meant we had to walk out the same amount.  I think at was further on the way out.  By lunch time we had worked up a appetite  so we walked to the truck and drove back to the campground  for lunch at the store.  Umm good.  In the afternoon we tried our hand at panning at the wooden troughs at the campground.  Here we found some gold, not a lot but in  each pan full of dirt we would get several flakes of gold. By the end of the evening my hand was so stiff I could hardly move  it.  I thought about the men who panned for gold back in the gold rush days.  They had to have been some tough hombres.

The next day it was raining and I decided that a few flakes of gold wasn’t  worth the effort and standing in the rain.  I must be becoming a wimp.  We took a drive on the road that goes to the US and Canada border.  The road that we came in to Alaska on early in the spring. At that time it was rough and dusty, now it was wet and muddy in some places.  We drove about  15 miles hoping to see some wild life.  Out and back and only one little squirrel.  Even through we didn’t see any wild life the scenery was beautiful.  It is starting to become fall, the leaves are changing color.  Lots of pinks, yellow, purples, red and browns.  Many shades of each color.  We took lots of pictures  but it is hard to show the large expansion of hills and valleys covered with the changing foliage.

While at Chicken we met several folks from around the US, Canada and Germany, all trying to find a little bit of gold. A couple of people found small nuggets.  All were really enjoying it.

The hill sides on the way to Chicken.

   

The campground and our campsite.

 

Our campsite, very clean out houses, the troughs where  we panned for gold.

 

Around the campground, the picture on the right is Pedro, the gold dredge that was used back in the late 1800’s, and early 1900’s.  It was moved here in 1998.  It was a major task.

       

The gold claim and the last one is a moose trail.

 

The road we walked to get to the mining claim

Equipment from yesteryear along that same road

   

The road from the campground to the mining claim.  To folks who go off road and four wheeling this is not much, but to those that live in the cities and don’t get out in the country this could be a challenge.

    

Some pictures along the highway to the border.

 

A long way down.

        

It looks like that road has got some bends in it.

  

 

Mud, we were just over there.

 

Our campground and the town of Chicken from the hill overlooking it.