El Dorado Gold Mine - Fairbanks, Alaska

The Lure of Alaska. Today people visit the state of Alaska because they know about its remarkable beauty and scenery, its fascinating native peoples, the wide variety of wildlife in its forests and surrounding waters, and to taste its wonderful native specialty foods. Originally, however many people traveled to Alaska to benefit from its natural resources, such as animal skins and pelts, bountiful fish and gold and mineral deposits.

Today, the remains of Alaska’s historic “Gold Rush” period can be seen and experienced at the El Dorado Gold Mine near Fairbanks, Alaska. Here visitors will enjoy a train journey, walking tour, and will actually be able to pan for gold in the same manner that miners used over one hundred years earlier. They will also discover the geological history of the region and even get to see the fossilized remains of some of the area’s ancient native animals – including the famous woolly mammoths.

Near Fairbanks lie the Tanana and Yukon Rivers, and it was along them that supplies and people traveled to the mining camps of the late 1800s. Most journeys began near Seattle, Washington, where steamships and boats headed to the mouth of the Yukon River. After that, freight and people were loaded to sternwheelers that went upriver on the Tanana or Yukon to Alaska’s interior.

Many miners used the Tanana Railroad to take them to their final destinations, and it is along a portion of the old rail bed that today’s visitors enjoy their educational and exciting visit. The rail journey heads inside a permafrost tunnel, where working miners take some time to explain the types of minerals and rocks that traditionally identify a lode of gold. After that the train continues on to the actual miner’s camp, where a pair of working miners demonstrates the science and technique of “placer” mining.

Guests will then have a chance to use the traditional “sluice box” and panning methods relied upon by placer miners of the Gold Rush period. Any gold that visitors find is theirs to keep, and the facility can even melt it into a keepsake piece of jewelry for those who wish.

While the El Dorado Gold Mine was not the only mine in the area, it is the only remaining facility established as an educational destination for visitors to the area. In fact, it was because of the decline in independent mining that the facility was converted by its owners into a living museum, and today it operates from May through September, illustrating one of the state’s most profitable and historic industries.

1975 Discovery Drive
Fairbanks, AK 99709
907-479-6673
866-479-6673