Dredge buckets sinking into muskeg along Nome Creek The footprint left by mining on the Nome Creek Basin north of Fairbanks appears minimal at first glance. It’s obvious that the creek has been worked,...
Yesterday I took a day trip up to Nome Creek to check out the cultural resources there. The photo above is of the Nome Creek Valley from the top of the ridge between Nome...
Chicken dredge in 1999 The Fairbanks Exploration Company’s (FE Co.) Dredge No. 4 (also called the Pedro dredge) in Chicken originally operated along Pedro Creek just north of Fairbanks. Built by the Yuba Manufacturing...
Boundary Roadhouse in 2000 When the military road from Fort Liscum in Valdez to Fort Egbert in Eagle was “completed” in 1900 it was little more than a rough trail suitable only for...
Davidson Ditch inverted siphon across U.S. Creek “Ditch” is such a mundane word and certainly doesn’t accurately describe the Davidson Ditch, the 90-mile long system of open earthwork canals, steel pipe and tunnel that...
The Fairbanks Exploration Company’s Gold Dredge No. 8 at Fox (shown in the drawing) is perhaps the most visible and well-known dredge in the Fairbanks area, but the FE Co. actually operated eight of...
I enjoy tramping through the hills or along back roads, looking for hidden gems — out-of-the-way or forgotten buildings with lots of character. One of those hidden gems is the old Chatanika schoolhouse...
Ester Assay Office in 1993 Many people are familiar with the hotel and Malemute Saloon at Ester Gold Camp. But how many have paid any attention to the small frame-building on the northeast corner...
Gold dredges have majorly changed the landscape around Fairbanks. At one time or another there have been about eight dredges operating in the area’s valleys. These dredges, which floated in their own man-made ponds,...
Churn drill on Fairbanks Creek When I visited Fairbanks Creek in the 1990s there were several old churn drills sitting on the dredge tailings, obscured by trees. They had probably been sitting there for...
