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Mining History Association Annual Conference June 15-19, 2017 University of Alaska - Fairbanks Fairbanks, Alaska
By Train. The Alaska Railroad runs daily service between Anchorage and Fairbanks. It is a 12-hour trip aboard the “Denali Star.” By Bus. The Alaska Shuttle runs daily service between Anchorage and Fairbanks. It is a 9-hour trip. By Car. By Car. Several car rental and RV rental agencies operate in Anchorage. On the highway between Denali and Fairbanks, the Usibelli Coal Mine can be seen to the east of Healy. This surface mine is a fourth generation family-owned operation, Alaska’s only operating coal mine, and an important energy source for interior Alaska For car travel, always keep in mind that the distance between destinations is often considerable and that Alaska also has a low population density. This translates to patchy cell phone coverage and long distances between road services. So, be sure to pack snacks and water, and take opportunities to keep the car fueled up rather than testing the limits of the gas tank. Also consider purchasing a copy of The Milepost. This excellent road companion provides a detailed log of each of the highways in the state, as well as land and ferry routes to Alaska. Highway logs include descriptions of towns and businesses along each route (sometimes with brief historical notes), in addition to noting rest areas, scenic viewing points, and other points of interest. ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS Daylight Hours. Fairbanks has almost 22 hours of daylight in mid-June. The curtains in hotel and dorm rooms may not block out all of the light, so pack a sleep mask to cover your eyes if you need the dark. Temperatures. Fairbanks temperatures in mid June range from the 50s to 70s. The days are typically warm and dry, but pack a sweatshirt or two and a raincoat in case of inclement weather. Bugs. Alaskans joke that the state bird is the mosquito (it is actually the ptarmigan). You’ll find the cities and the UAF campus essentially free of this pest, but the situation can change when you are out in the woods. When going on one of the expeditions, wear a hat and long pants, and take along a long-sleeve shirt. You’ll find a range of mosquito repellants available in the stores, both Deet-laden and Deet-free. If selecting the former, purchase ones with 20% to 40% Deet--anything less just makes the mosquitoes angry. CLICK HERE FOR CONFERENCE PROGRAM CLICK HERE FOR MORE FAIRBANKS AND ALASKA MINING HISTORY CLICK HERE TO LEARN ABOUT CURRENT ALASKA MINING SOCIAL EVENTS (CLICK BELOW for Photo Galleries) Opening Reception, June 15, 2017. The opening reception was held at the Alaska Mining Hall of Fame, located at 825 1st Avenue in downtown Fairbanks. The museum was founded in 2013, for the purpose of honoring Alaska’s mining pioneers. Inductees include famed mineral discoverers, educators, geologists, engineers, as well as those engaged in the legal profession. The building itself is a historic structure, constructed in 1908 to serve as an Odd Fellows Hall. Our reception was catered, and you could wander about the exhibit space to learn about Alaska’s mining inductees. Its location in downtown Fairbanks also meant you could walk from there to other downtown sights. Awards Banquet, June 16, 2017. The banquet was held aboard the riverboat the Tanana Chief. A delicious Presidential Luncheon, June 17, 2017. The luncheon was held at Dine 49 in Woods Hall on the UAF Campus. The luncheon program included the “Passing of the Presidential Pick” from Erik Nordberg, MHA President 2016-17, to Peter Maciulaitis, MHA President, 2017-18. The Presidential Lecture will followed.
TOURS AND FIELD TRIPS (CLICK BELOW for Photo Galleries) Pre-Conference Tour: Alaska and Polar Regions Collections & Archives, UAF Campus, Thursday Afternoon, June 15, 2017. The University of Alaska Fairbanks opened in 1922 as the “Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines.” Like other mining schools, the college library became well stocked with mining textbooks and periodicals. The university archives also became a repository for a range of mining-related collections, including company records, historical photographs of mining operations, and film archives. The archive staff provided interested researchers with a tour of the facilities and a highlight of some of the mining collections. Fairbanks Exploration (FE) Company Machine Shop Tour, Saturday, June 17, 2017. Following the Saturday Presidential Luncheon, we visited the FE Company Machine Shop. The US Smelting, Refining & Mining (USSR&M) Company constructed this facility in 1927 to support the company’s extensive operations throughout the Fairbanks District, making both repairs and tools for the various dredges. When operations closed in 1964, the company left the shop items in place. All of the equipment, including industrial lathes and large-scale welding equipment were left in the condition they were when they turned them off. Workers’ clothing still hangs in the lockers, the shelves remain stocked with miscellaneous tools and equipment, and the belt-driven machinery still runs. John Reeves, owner of the machine shop, explained what is stored and operated there. This was a rare opportunity to see a different facet of mining operations. The site is not otherwise open to the public. Tour of the Chatanika Gold Dredge, the US Army Corps of Engineers' Permafrost Tunnel, and USSR&M Archives and Pleistocene Fossils, Sunday, June 18, 2017 . From the UAF campus, we traveled by bus to Dredge #3 situated in the northeastern corner of the Fairbanks Mining District, and one of eight bucketline stacker dredges that the USSR&M Company had in operation from 1927-1963. The drive out included a visit at the Pedro monument, commemorating the discovery of gold in the Fairbanks area by Felix Pedro in 1902, and a stop at Cleary Summit, the principal lode mining area of the Fairbanks District. Patricia Piersol and Jane Haigh, the owners of Dredge #3, led a tour of the dredge, which is about 300 meters west of the Steese Highway. We then visited the nearby Chatanika Gold Camp, the original facility built by the USSR&M Company to house and feed its employees, where the owner provided a brief tour. After lunch, we visited the U.S. Amry Corps of Engineers Permafrost Tunnel, AKA the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL), a unique research installation that allows scientists and visitors to walk into the permafrost. Then we visited John Reeve's private collection of Pleistocene fossils of fauna that roamed Central Alaska during the Ice Age. John also discussed his archive of records from the USSR&M Company. Tour of the USSR&M Archives and Pleistocene Fossils, US Army Corps of Engineers' Permafrost Tunnel and the Kinross Gold Corp., Fort Knox Mine, and Sunday, June 18, 2017. From the UAF campus, we traveled by bus to see John Reeve's private collection of Pleistocene fossils. John also discussed his archive of records from the USSR&M Company. A quick photo stop was made at the Trans Alaska Pipeline which is across the highway from John Reeve's Gold Daughters gold panning attraction. The next stop was the Permafrost Tunnel (see description above). We then headed to the Kinross Gold Corporation’s Fort Knox Gold Mine, via the Steese Highway, making a lunch stop at the Pedro monument, commemorating Felix Pedro’s gold discovery in 1902. The Fort Knox Mine is an active, modern open pit operation located in the vicinity of Cleary Summit. The mine works a low-grade ore body (with less than one gram of gold per ton). In operation since 2011, its production record now makes this mine the single largest gold producer in the state. The tour visited the open pit and ore crushing facilities. Other onsite processing facilities include a mill processing 2,800 tons an hour, and a heap leaching operation. Post Conference Tour: Lode Mines of the Fairbanks District, Monday, June 19, 2017 (Self-Driving Tour). The Fairbanks region is dotted with the remnants of historic lode gold mines, and although today some are a little off the beaten path, the preservation is remarkable. This tour included a visit to some of the key properties in the two centers of lode mining: the Pedro and Ester Domes. Sites in the Pedro Dome vicinity included the Hi Yu Mill, a 10-stamp mill in operation through the 1930s and still largely intact, with the majority of crushing and recovery equipment in place. In the Ester Dome area, we visited the Grant Mill as well as the Clipper Mine, where we had an opportunity to venture underground. This small-scale mine remains in private ownership (the original family house stands beside the adit entrance). Although no longer in operation, the mine has an interesting history that included adaptive use for research during the Cold War. Post Conference Tour: Sumitomo Mining’s Pogo Mine, Monday, June 19, 2017. In 1994, the Teck-Cominco Corporation discovered a rich hard-rock gold deposit about 70 miles southeast of Fairbanks and 35 miles northwest of Delta Junction. It was placed into production in 2005 by Sumitomo Metal and Mining and is currently one of Alaska’s largest gold mines. Gold at Pogo is mined underground with the latest mining technologies and deploys state-of-the-art environmental monitoring. It was truly a mine worth seeing and a unique opportunity to experience large-scale underground mining in the remote interior of Alaska. A 56-mile-long road was built into the mine site from the Richardson Highway prior to production. MINE VISITS ON THE WAY TO FAIRBANKS (CLICK BELOW for Photo Galleries) Independence Mine State Historical Park. Join Mike and Pat Kaas for a walking tour at the Independence Mine in the Willow Creek Mining District, near Hatcher Pass, above Palmer, Alaska. Kennecott Mine and Mill. Join Johnny and Dawn Johnsson and Dick and Elna Houck for a visit to the famous Kennecott Mine, in McCarthy, Alaska, now part of the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. FAIRBANKS SURPRISES (CLICK HERE for Photo Galleries) The Fairbanks area held many mining-related and some non-mining surprises for those with the time to do a bit of exploring on their own. Check out the Photo Galleries for a quick look at a few of them. • Alaska First Families Monument • Pioneer Park • Museum of the North, University of Alaska Fairbanks • Davidson Ditch CLICK HERE for ALASKA TRAVEL BEYOND THE CONFERENCE
VISITOR INFORMATION (Accessed 6, March 2017) Alaska Tourism (and Visitors Guide) Fairbanks Tourism (and Visitors Guide) University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) Museum of the North, UAF Campus Alaska Mining Hall of Fame Foundation Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Kinross Gold Corporation (KGC), Fort Knox Mine Sumitomo Metal Mining Company, Ltd., Pogo Gold Mine US Army Corps of Engineers, Permafrost Tunnel
READING AND REFERENCES (A Short List) Charles Caldwell Hawley, Wesley Earl Dunkle, Alaska’s Flying Miner, University Press of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, 2003. Lael Morgan, Good Time Girls of the Alaska-Yukon Gold Rush, Epicenter Press, Fairbanks/Seattle, 1998. Clark C. Spence, Northern Gold Fleet: Twentieth Century Gold Dredging in Alaska, University of Illinois Press, Urbana, 1961. Catherine Holder Spude, Robin Mills, Karl Gurke and Robert Sprague, Eldorado! The Archaeology of Gold Mining in the Far North, University of Nebraska Press and the Society for Historic Archaeology, 2011. CLICK HERE FOR MORE READING AND REFERENCES
ORGANIZING COMMITTEE Paul White Tom Bundtzen Rolfe BuzzellTed Hawley Robin Mills Patricia Peirsol OPENING RECEPTION, JUNE 15, 2017 ALASKA MINING HALL OF FAME FOUNDATION MUSEUM CLICK ON AN IMAGE TO ENLARGE
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