The museum holds a collection of over 1.4 million artifacts and specimens showcasing the history of thousands of years of cultural traditions in the North.  There are 10 disciplines represented.  These consist of archaeology, birds, documentary film, earth sciences, ethnology/history, fine arts, fishes/marine invertebrates, insects, mammals, and plants.  To be able to see them and research them enables researchers to study things such as climate change, genetics, contaminants and other issues facing Alaska and the circumpolar North.  The museum is also the premier repository for artifacts and specimens collected on public lands in Alaska.

One of the exhibits highlights a 2,000 year spectrum of Alaska art, from ancient ivory carvings to contemporary paintings and sculpture.  There is also the state’s largest public display of gold and Blue Babe, a 36,000 year old mummified steppe bison.  There are many exhibits to keep you interested in learning about the history and culture of the state.

In the Gallery of Alaska, the main exhibition area, you will be exposed to the 5 regional galleries representing the major ecological regions of Alaska.  It is thought that the most impressive and popular exhibit is the 8 foot 9 inch brown bear which greets everyone that comes to the museum. 

In the Southeast Gallery holds a series of plate tectonic maps to show the reconstruction of Alaska’s geologic history.  You will also be able to see the king salmon display showing the typical life cycle, from fertilized egg to spawning adult, for all salmon species found in Alaska.  The Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian people harvest salmon as well as marine and land animals such as seals, whales, halibut, black bears, ducks, and geese.

There is a display of social and ceremonial clothing worn by the Southeast people which are decorated with trade beads or buttons sewn into clan designs, such as ravens, bears, orca whales, or other animals.  These beautiful pieces of clothing will show you how proud the people were of their heritage and clans.

The Southcentral Gallery shows the history of the Alaska Pipeline as it traverses high coastal mountain ranges on its way fro Prudhoe Bay south to Valdez.  You will be able to see the museum’s 1/3 scale model of the pipeline’s above-ground supports demonstrating the engineering involved in keeping soils frozen when the pipeline and its warm oil crosses the frozen ground.

You will also see the Birds of the Wetlands exhibit which highlights the Copper River Delta.  This are is an important resting and feeding area for several million migratory shorebirds and waterfowl.  Some of these birds are eiders, geese, swans, jaegers, and dunlins.

The Russian influence on Alaska is not ignored at the museum.  There is a display showing the brick tea, samovars, padlocks and brass bells of the Russian-American Company’s early history in Alaska, with their extensive network of trading posts.  The Russian Orthodox missionaries traveled to these outlying areas and established churches and schools.  Today some of these buildings are still the centers of the village life.

Going to the Interior Gallery you will be able to view the video and discover the science, history, and beauty of the northern lights.  This is a wonderful experience to share or just sit and absorb the beauty of this phenomenon.

The Athabaskans are the native people of the Interior of Alaska.  The displays will show you how animals were the primary source of food, clothing, and tools for these people.  You will also see how some of the forest products were used to make many of the useful household utensils.

You probably know that Fairbanks began as a gold-mining town.  There is a display to show small to fist-sized nuggets recovered from streams, as well as gold worked into artistic objects.  This is the largest display of gold nuggets in the state.

The Alaska Highway was built during WWII.  There is a display showing how the 97th Army Corps of Engineers, an all Black regiment, built the Richardson Highway, Tok Cutoff, and the Alcan Highway from Delta to the Canadian border.

In the Western & Arctic Coast Gallery you will see nine species of marine mammals, including polar bears, seals, walrus, and bowhead whales, inhabit this coastal sea-ice environment. Seals were probably the most useful animals in providing many of the day-to-day needs of the coastal Eskimos. The Eskimos have created spectacular ivory carvings since 500 B.C. Prehistoric artworks often had engraved decorative lines and drilled pits inlayed with jet, baleen, or wood.
 
In this gallery, video clips produced by the Alaska Native Heritage Film Center enhance understanding of the exhibit themes by showing whale hunting, dancing and storytelling.

The Dinosaurs of Alaska exhibit emphasizes the Museum’s pioneering techniques used to collect plants and animals that lived on Alaska’s North Slope during the Cretaceous era, 65 million years ago. This Museum now has the largest collection of high-latitude dinosaurs and related vertebrates in the world, including many early mammal and reptilian species.

Enter the Southwest Gallery and you will be brought into the world which includes the Alaska Peninsula, Kodiak Island, Pribilof Islands, and the Aleutian Islands extending more than 1,000 miles across the North Pacific Ocean. Seabirds by the tens of thousands use the Aleutian Archipelago for nesting in the summer as shown in this exhibit area.

The Southwest gallery shows a splendid collection of some of the world’s finest basketry, which flourished among the Aleuts until about 1919. Despite a decline in the number of Aleut basket makers over the last 40 years, there is now a growing interest in reviving this craft.

The museum has so much to offer that you will want to spend more than a few hours here exploring the history and life of the Alaskan people.  There are educational programs available for you pleasure and knowledge as well as the short and long term exhibits for you to enjoy when you return to the museum.

Location: 907 Yukon Drive
Fairbanks, AK 99775

tel. 907.474.7505
fax. 907.474.5469

Museum Hours
NEW Winter+Spring Hours
Through May 14, 2009
Monday-Saturday 9 AM – 5 PM
Closed Sundays, Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.

Extended Summer Hours
May 15 – September 15, 2009
Daily 9 AM – 9 PM

Admission
$10 general admission
$9 senior (60+)                         
$5 youth (7-17)
Free for museum members, UA students with ID and children under 7

How To Get There
The museum is located on the UAF campus in Fairbanks. Follow the signs from any campus entrance to get to the museum. The museum is also accessible by borough bus and taxi. Some hotels may provide shuttle service.

Visitor parking for cars and recreational vehicles is available adjacent to the museum.

University of Alaska Museum of the North – Fairbanks, Alaska is a post from: Alaska Tourism

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

El Dorado Gold Mine – Fairbanks, Alaska is a post from: Alaska Tourism

In 2001, the name was changed to Pioneer Park as a way of more accurately reflecting the kind of information, activities and sights visitors would enjoy.

For many, a trip to Pioneer Park means a special dinner and movie in a particularly Alaskan style. Alaskan cuisine is known for its heartiness, heavy with fresh fish and meat, and rounded out with old-fashioned favorites like beans and stews, breads and homemade desserts meant to keep away winter’s chill. In the “Mining Valley” area of the Park the Alaska Salmon Bake Restaurant has been providing visitors with the finest examples of Alaskan fare available for more than twenty five years running.

Fresh halibut, cod and salmon are gathered from the state’s icy waters where they are prepared in the most ideal methods. The salmon is basted with the restaurant’s trade secret lemon, butter and brown sugar sauce, and the delicate cod and halibut are only lightly breaded and quickly fried. For those looking for even heartier fare, the restaurant also serves its special wood fired Prime Rib, cooked on a custom outdoor grill.

Because the Alaska Salmon Bake Restaurant is conveniently located in Pioneer Park, many patrons make a point of completing their special Alaskan experience by attending a performance of the “Golden Heart Revue” in the Palace Theatre, only a short walk nearby.

The Palace Theater is part of “Gold Rush Town” area of Pioneer Park, and it is a collection of thirty five restored buildings from the early days of Fairbanks. While most of the buildings house merchants, the Palace Theater still proudly runs as it was intended. The Golden Heart Revue is a humorous look at the characters which filled the city during the “gold rush” of the early 1900s. It is a musical and comedy review, and the composer, Jim Bell, is a native of the city himself.

Most visitors to the city find that a visit to the Alaska Salmon Bake and Palace Theatre is frequently recommended and since it is such a highly rated experience, reservations should be made in advance. While the restaurant is open seven days a week, the revue runs from mid-May through mid-September to accommodate the busiest part of the travel season. HotelsCombined.com offers excellent rates on Fairbanks hotels throughout the travel season as well.

2300 Airport Way
Fairbanks, AK 99701
(907) 459-1087

Pioneer Park – Fairbanks, Alaska is a post from: Alaska Tourism

The Chena Hot Springs has been popular since the 1900s when gold prospectors would make their way to the springs to cure their bodies of their aches and pains.  The springs are the most accessible and developed hot springs in the interior of Alaska.  In 1904, Robert and Thomas Swan heard that a U.S. Geological Survey Crew had seen steam rising from the Chena River.  Swan suffered from rheumatism and set out with supplies to reach the hot springs.  A month later, the two brothers were at the North Fork of the Chena River and had to work their way up a tributary where they found the hot springs on August 5, 1905.  As the popularity of the springs grew, the water was analyzed and the Bureau of Chemistry that there were three components in the water that made it different from American hot springs. These included bicarbonate sodium, chloride and sulfate.  Today, you can easily reach the hot springs by visiting the Chena Hot Springs Resort.

The Chena Hot Springs Resort provides you with accommodation options year round, so you can enjoy the springs, whether you’re coming to the area in the summer or winter.  You can soak in the hot springs at any time of the year.
 
In the area, you will also find many summer and winter outdoor day activities.  You can go horseback riding, snowmobiling and cross-country skiing.  The Chena Hot Springs Resort also features the Aurora Ice Museum.  You may have once heard of the ice hotel on the Travel Channel.  Well, unfortunately the hotel melted, but the owners have not created the Aurora Ice Museum, which features an ice bar where you can have a cocktail in a glass made of ice.  The museum is open in both the summer and the winter.  

The resort is also doing its part in helping the environment.  The resort makes use of the first low-temperature binary geothermal power plant that was built in Alaska and they are working on several different alternative energy projects.  These include using hydrogen and vegetable oil as fuel.  They have also been conducting greenhouse production of vegetables with the University of Alaska Fairbanks Agricultural and Forestry Experimentation Station.  
 

Chena Hot Springs – Chena Hot Springs, Alaska is a post from: Alaska Tourism

Denali National Park

Located in Fairbanks, Alaska, Denali National Park is a vacation in and of itself.  If you’re traveling to Alaska, Denali is one attraction that you can’t miss.  It’s well worth the time to travel to Denali if you’re visiting Anchorage and if you’re in Fairbanks, you’re just a short drive away.

Denali National Park is managed for the good of the animals, so it’s not your typical national park.  When you enter the park, you will then need to ride a bus to the actual main part of the park.  This bus ride is a must, as it will allow you to view the park with an experienced guide and you’ll have the opportunity to see the wildlife that Denali has to offer.

There are no animal enclosures in this park.  Grizzly bears roam the park naturally and Denali is one of the best ways to see bears.  Anywhere else in the state, you could easily pay $400 a person, but you don’t have to here.  It’s only about $30 a person to take the bus ride.  The park’s main goal is the safety of the animals, so they handle park visitors in a manner to avoid scaring the animals and causing them stress.  This is ideal for you, because you’re more likely to see the wildlife because they are at ease with their surroundings.  There are a wide variety of wildlife animals that live in the park including moose, caribou, Dall sheep.  If you’re lucky, you might see wolves and even beavers, but these are harder to catch.

It is important to be aware that the bus ride through Denali is long, but well worth it.  The drive is also rough, as there are no paved roads, only narrow gravel roads.  The only vehicles the park allows on these roads are their busses.  You need to spend at least one day in Denali devoted to the bus ride.  You also need to be sure that you make reservations well in advance. 

If you’re goal is to see the massive Mount McKinley, it’s important to realize that it’s not seen from all parts of the park.  It may be the largest mountain in the US, but Denali is a massive park as well.  The best way to see Mount McKinley is if you take the longest bus ride from the south part of the park, but by doing this you often give up your opportunity to see a lot of the wildlife.  One option that many people choose is to take a helicopter ride around the mountain.  This is a pricey option, but will provide you with a view of the mountain that few will ever see. 

Because Denali is such a large park, there are numerous hotel accommodations around the park.  You’ll also find plenty of hotels in Fairbanks.  Check out HotelsCombined.com for the best rates.

Denali National Park – Fairbanks, Alaska is a post from: Alaska Tourism

Alaska Vacation is a post from: Alaska Tourism