Gold Creeks Flume Trail

Fourteen years after Thomas Edison invented the incandescent Light, Juneau merchant Willis Thorpe installed a water wheel and an electric generator on the banks of Gold Creek. The year was 1893, and his fledgling power plant soon had a name: Alaska Electric Light and Power Company.

Today, a sophisticated hydroelectric facility now harnasses the power of Gold Creek. The old water flume, however, still remains. The trail that runs along the flume has become a very popular hiking trail.

It takes about 10-15 minutes to walk the entire 3,250 feet of pressure treated lumber that makes up the Flume Trail. The walk is a relatively level one with only 2 obstructions at present. These obstructions are called colluvial (rock) or alluvial (water) driven slides or "fans".

Typically the only wildlife you will see are squirrels or porcupines. Black bear and mountain goats have also been seen near the trail, but I am told it is very rare to see them.

There are many types of trees and foliage along the trail including spruce, hemlock, alder, cottonwood and willow. The devils club is EXTREMELY tall here, so you have to be careful as the thorns embed themselves for weeks and are very irritating.

It is HIGHLY recommended not to go off trail for good reason. Many people have been killed by doing this, and many have been experienced climbers. There are memory plaques along the trail for one of these unfortunate people.

A Little Intermission....

Sorry about the lack of posts lately.... It is not that I haven't been mining as much as haven't been writing about it. At this time, I am waiting for my son Kiegn to join me (September 10th) so that I am not traveling out in the wilds by myself. The mountains here are the most dangerous I have seen anywhere, and can understand why there have been so many accidental deaths. I will be, however, walking a trail today called the Flume Trail, as it is on top of a working flume. For those of you who do not know what a flume is exactly....

A flume is an open artificial water channel, in the form of a gravity chute, that leads water from a diversion dam or weir completely aside a natural flow. Often, the flume is an elevated box structure (typically wood) that follows the natural contours of the land. These have been extensively used in hydraulic mining and working placer deposits for gold, tin and other heavy minerals. They are also used in the transportation of logs in the logging industry, electric power generation and to power various mill operations by the use of a waterwheel.

Last Chance Mining Museum At The Jualpa Mine Camp

Perseverance-Gold-Mining-Company-Mill-Archive-Album-45465

The Last Chance Mining Museum is located in the historic compressor building associated with the former Alaska Juneau Gold Mining Company which operated in Juneau from 1912 until 1944. The museum features the world's largest Ingersoll-Rand air compressor and other industrial artifacts associated with hard rock gold mining. The site also includes electric locomotives and rail cars which hauled men to the mine and ore to the mill. Access to the museum is via a short hike up the hill on a trail of uneven terrain-well worth the effort. Museum is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and Alaska Gold Rush Properties.

The museum is the only historic mining building officially open to the public from Juneaus gold rush era. There are MANY artifacts throughout this area that are accessible and well worth exploring. When you think you've seen it all, you stumble across more. So make sure you have extra batteries and lots of storage space, because you WILL be taking a lot of pictures.....
 
The museum is open daily, mid-May through late September 9:30am-12:30pm & 3:00pm-6:30pm
The admission is $4, and well worth the price!

<><>

<>

<><>

There is even an easy location to try your luck and strike it rich.

First Monthly Gold Giveaway!

CONGRATULATIONS dawnrc123, you won this months gold!!! You have 7 days to supply me, via email, with your mailing info to receive your prize.

Klondike Gold Rush Video

This is a VERY good video that gives a LOT of background to the mining and hardships of the Klondike gold rush. It is based on the book of the same title.

_/'The Klondike Gold Rush'\_
--( CLICK HERE )--

Treadwell Mine Complex

Treadwell Neighborhood

Case and Draper, PCA 39-863

Alaska State Library

The strike at Gold Creek sparked the Juneau gold rush which resulted in the development of many placer and lode mines including the largest, in their time, gold mines in the world: the Treadwell complex of lode mines on Douglas Island (across a narrow sea channel from Juneau) and the AJ lode mine, in Juneau itself. The steep, wet, timber-covered, seaside mountain setting provided water power, transportation, and lumber such that, "extraordinarily low costs of operation make available low grade ore that under conditions only slightly different would be valueless."

The first claims of what was to become the Treadwell complex were staked in 1881. Mining the Treadwell site began by sluicing residual placers over the lode deposits. Underground mining began with a five-stamp mill operating in 1883. In the mid-1910s, with 960 stamps grinding ore and tunnels reaching as far as 2400 feet below the surface and extending under the sea, Treadwell was one of the most technologically advanced mines of its day. Up to 2000 people worked at the mine before a collapse allowed the rising tide to flood the tunnels in 1917. All operations at the Treadwell ceased by 1922.

As the Treadwell mines declined and closed, the AJ mine rose in prominence. After years of losses and labor problems, the mine became profitable in the mid-1920s: with 600 workers it was setting production records. Through the decade, it was the main economic engine of Juneau. In the 1930s, with 1000 workers, it was an important factor in softening the impact upon Juneau of the Great Depression

If you ever get a chance to visit this historical site, you will not be disappointed! The hiking is very mild, and the trails are well groomed. Many of the buildings are still standing as you can see, and you get a real sense of what the original miners felt as they walked through this area.

There is a wonderful website that is dedicated to the Treadwell complex that I highly recommend.

Treadwell Gold

Gold Creek Timeline

The first creek to spotlight is the closest one to me at the moment. Gold Creek. I will be posting all my research as I go and will create a final report on each creek once I have exhausted my resources. Here is the online information I have found in a timeline format.

Gold Creek, Juneau, AK
1870 - The Gastineau Channel area was a fishing ground for native Tlingit and Haida people of Southeast Alaska for thousands of years; Tlingits are the most numerous in Juneau. In 1870, the largest permanent settlement in the Juneau area was Auk Village. What later became Douglas Island was Taku territory. Gold Creek was called Dzantik'i Heeni; Tlingits considered it the "biggest salmon creek of all."

1871 - The saloons, of which in 1871 there were already twenty-two, have increased proportionately, and there are, further, at least one weekly newspaper, one volunteer fire brigade, a militia company and a brass band in Juneau. The curio shops on Front and Seward streets are well worth visiting, and from the top of Seward Street a path leads up to the Auk village, whose people claim the flats at the mouth of Gold Creek.

1872 - The precious metal was originally discovered near Sitka in 1872. Eight years later, the state's first big gold strike made news in Juneau, when two prospectors and their Indian guide collected over 1000 pounds of gold ore in what is now aptly named Gold Creek.

1877 - Outline history of development and description of placer and vein deposits in area less than 200 mi east of Juneau, Alaska; known gold-bearing veins occur in volcanic rocks, in area 3 by 5 mi; some veins are 15 to 100 ft. wide; larger veins contain little pyrite or other sulphide and are not known to contain visible free gold; in 1877, McDame Creek produced nugget worth $1300.00.

1879 - Placer gold was found at the mouth of the creek in 1879 and the " city " was settled in the following year by two prospectors named Joseph Juneau and Richard Harris. The camp was called Harrisburg until it was given its present name of Juneau. The principal gold-mines are situated in the adjacent Silver Bow basin, the source of Gold Creek and the site of the Great Perseverance Mine.

August, 1880 - Pilz grubstaked prospectors Richard Harris and Joseph Juneau in August 1880. They found plenty of color in Gold Creek, but did not follow the gold to its source. At Kowee's urging, Pilz sent the pair back again. Harris and Juneau climbed Snow Slide Gulch at the head of Gold Creek and looked down into the mother lode of Quartz Gulch and Silver Bow Basin.

Oct 4, 1880 - On October 4, 1880, Harris and Juneau laid claim to the area which was later named Gold Creek. The discovery produced one of the largest finds in history of the Alaska Gold Rush era. Juneau is between Mt. Juneau (3576 feet) and Mt. Roberts ( 3819) which provides the town with natural protection against the cold winds and permafrost.

Oct 18, 1880 - The town of Juneau was the first to be founded after the US purchased the territory of Alaska. It was founded October 18, 1880 by Joe Juneau and Richard Harris.


Nov 1880 - When Juneau and Harris came to Sitka with their news concerning Gold creek, Pierre started forth on a similar quest, accompanied by several Indians, one of whom was his wife's brother. They landed on the beach of Douglas island in November 1880 and found gold in the sand. Pierre also found an outcrop of gold- bearing quartz on the hillslope, about a quarter of a mile from the shore.

Dec 1880 - Following the discovery of the rich deposits in Silver Bow basin above modern Juneau, Harris and Juneau returned to Sitka. Pilz returned to the new town site with them. He approved of the work that the men had done and accepted the claims as fairly staked. There were enough miners in the territory to set off a rush to the new site in December 1880.
 
Dec 14, 1881 - The town initially went by two names, Rockwell and Harrisburg, until gold miners voted on December 14, 1881 to rename the town after Joe Juneau, one of its founding prospectors.


1882 - Harris and Juneau named the creek where they found gold, Gold Creek, and they named Silver Bow Basin at the head of the creek. In 1882, the First Alaska salmon canneries were built in central Alaska and first commercial herring fishing began. Two years later Steamers began bringing they first tourists to Alaska.