Gold Fever, Reignited: Nome Experiences Second Gold Rush - ktuu.com

Gold Fever, Reignited: Nome Experiences Second Gold Rush - ktuu.com:

With the price of gold increasing worldwide, hundreds are flocking to the shores of Nome for what's amounting to a second gold rush.

video:   Gold Fever in Nome Alaska

A welcome sign in Nome, Alaska shows the history behind the town's first gold rush in the 1890s, Wednesday, June 20, 2012. Hundreds of hopefuls have arrived in Nome for a chance to strike it rich while dredging for gold, some calling it a second gold rush.

 

Fine gold form the beaches of Nome, AK.  The gold in Nome is very fine and found in super heavy black sand making it a chore to remove for most prospectors.

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Sunken gold rush ship to be salvaged in AK

Sunken gold rush ship to be salvaged | World | News | London Free Press:

"Sunken gold rush ship to be salvaged"

6 TONS OF GOLD BELIEVED TO BE ABOARD

A U.S. federal court has approved a Washington state company's plan to recover cargo, including any gold, on a Klondike gold rush-era ship that sank en route from Alaska to Vancouver in 1901.

The SS Islander, owned by the Canadian Pacific Steam Navigation Company, plunged to the ocean floor Aug. 15 near Juneau, Ala., after hitting an iceberg.

The luxurious 240-foot vessel could have had up to 480,000 ounces of gold aboard (worth about $720 million) — some owned by the Canadian Bank of Commerce, the Puget Sound Business Journal reports.

Seattle-based recovery company Ocean Mar, owned by Theodore Jaynes, 72, has been in a decades-long legal battle to obtain the rights to the cargo.

Controversy erupted when rival outfit Yukon Recovery filed a restraining order against Ocean Mar in the 1990s, however in April, U.S. District Court Judge H. Russel Holland sided with Ocean Mar because it was determined to have located the ill-fated vessel first.

"One way or the other, we're going to know the answer to the SS Islander story," Jaynes' Seattle-based lawyer, Jed Powell, told the Journal in May.

It remains a mystery if there's gold on board.

"Some people say none, some say a lot. Sworn affidavits from 1902, from people on the docks in Skagway (Alaska) — some of them said there were tons of gold, others saw there were boxes of gold," Powell said.

It's not the first time treasure hunters have attempted to salvage the contents of the steamliner. In 1934, a company raised about two-thirds of the hull, but the front half — where the gold is believed to be — broke off and remains on the ocean floor.

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Nome, Alaska Braces For Start of Gold Rush Part Deux | Alaska Dispatch

Nome, Alaska Braces For Start of Gold Rush Part Deux | Alaska Dispatch:

"Gold Rush Part Deux unfolding in Nome - Craig Medred | May 22, 2012

The news coming out of Nome, Alaska reads like something from 100 years ago: "Five hundred tons of mining equipment is on the way to Nome with Northland Service’s first barge,'' the Nome Nugget reported this week.

This could be the early days of the Alaska Gold Rush, but it's not. This is Gold Rush Part Deux.

Thank the skyrocketing price of the yellow metal and television. There has always been gold in the beaches of the fabled City of the Golden Sands. Mining in Nome waned after the early Gold Rush but never stopped. There were always people pulling money out of the ground, which is what drew the Discovery Channel north to start filming the reality show "Bering Sea Gold."

read more about Nome Alaska prospecting boom

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State Park Closure: CALIFORNIA STATE MINERAL AND MINING MUSEUM: Trip #40 of 70

State Park Closures Trip: CALIFORNIA STATE MINERAL AND MINING MUSEUM: Trip #40 of 70: "CALIFORNIA STATE MINERAL AND MINING MUSEUM"

The Fricot Nugget (pictured ) weighs thirteen pounds and is one of the finest and largest examples of crystal-lized native gold in the world. It is the largest surviving specimen from California’s Gold Rush era and can be seen in the vault at theCalifornia State Mining and Mineral Museum in Mariposa. 

It was discovered in 1865 near Georgetown



Sadly, the Fricot Nugget is once again getting ready to do a disappearing act.  visit on May 10 found the museum already packing their contents for shipment to a warehouse in Sacramento, in preparation for the July 1 closure. Artifacts will be stored there until money is once again available for the parks to re-open. In other words, maybe never.    ...read more

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California - Sounds of the Gold Rush

California Gold Rush Glimpses Video: "DEJA VU—Sounds of the Gold Rush

Standing alone on a hillside, gazing down at what’s left of a Sierra mining camp, you hear the wind sigh through the pines as you glance at a crumbling stone wall, stubbornly defying time, as long as it can.

It is part of the nostalgic spirit, clinging to the once bustling diggings, where water still gushes over and around the stream’s rocks, just like it did back then. You wonder about the rush of hopeful miners, scrambling after their share of riches, working in icy water from sunup to sunset. “Wonder what it sounded like?” you think as your mind drifts away."   read more....  http://www.goldrushglimpses.com/sounds.html


Gold Rush Glimpses III, part of a popular series of books from author Craig MacDonald, has been featured in numerous media outlets.

Before dawn, a miner’s snoring like a trombone inside his tent, while a rooster crows outside. But it’s not long before the dozens of eager prospectors take their spots by the river and begin feverishly searching for their fortunes. You can hear the clinking of pickaxes, the grating of shovels, the rattle of gold pans, the rocking of cradles and the splashing of water all around.

When a lucky miner finds some gold, he may let out a triumphant shriek or say nothing at all, in hopes of finding more before his secret isn’t......    read more....

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Stolen rare mining museum artifact recovered | TheUnion.com

Stolen rare mining museum artifact recovered | TheUnion.com: "Stolen rare mining museum artifact recovered"

A rare wooden mining ore cart was recovered along the side of a road just outside Nevada City Monday morning, less than a week after it was stolen from the North Star Mine Powerhouse and Pelton Wheel Museum in Grass Valley, according to the Grass Valley Police Department.

As reported in Monday's edition of The Union, the museum officials had offered a $200 reward for the 75-year-old stolen wooden cart after they noticed the artifact missing from a line of seven more-common metal ore carts in the museum's outdoor yard on Allison Ranch Road five days ago.

“We just don't know how to say it,” said museum Director Robert Shoemaker about the cart's return.

“It's just wonderful.”

The wood cart was a rare piece of the area's rich mining history. With more than $440,000,000 worth of gold extracted from 1848-1965, Nevada County was the most gold-producing county in California, according to California Division of Mines and Geology estimates.

With hundreds of operations that dug thousands of mining miles beneath the county, sturdy ore carts were critical, Shoemaker told The Union Sunday.

By the 1920s, most of those operations had switched over to metal ore carts because the wood carts were far less durable, which is why few remain, Shoemaker said.

Shoemaker estimated the stolen mine cart would fetch more than $1,500 if sold to a collector.

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GPAA: Gold & Treasure Show Headed to Red Bluff, California

GPAA: Gold & Treasure Show Headed to Red Bluff, California: "GPAA: Gold & Treasure Show Headed to Red Bluff, California
Gold Prospectors Association of America: Catch the fever at the GPAA Gold & Treasure Show March 10-11 in Red Bluff, California."

The Gold Prospectors Association of America will hold its Gold & Treasure Show March 10-11 in Red Bluff, California. The show will feature mucking and gold-panning contests as well as seminars led by Tom Massie, host of “Gold Fever” on the Outdoor Channel, or guest speakers.

With the price of gold spiking to record highs in 2011, GPAA President Brandon Johnson said gold fever is definitely rising and memberships to the organization have shown substantial growth over the last year.

“Spiking gold prices are sometimes the deciding factor to turn off the TV and actually go gold prospecting to experience it for yourself. A quarter-ounce or pennyweight of gold is worth a lot more now than it used to be,” Johnson said.

“Prospecting isn’t necessarily all about having the gold. It’s as much about finding it,” he said, adding that for many members the thrill is enjoying the outdoors with family and friends.

The Gold & Treasure Show in Red Bluff will feature vendors and displays of gold nuggets, jewelry and prospecting equipment such as metal detectors, drywashers, spiral gold pans, dredges and highbankers.

Showgoers over 18 years of age will get a chance to win a two-week Alaska Gold Expedition trip to GPAA’s famous Cripple River gold prospecting camp near Nome, Alaska. The event will run Saturday, March 10 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, March 11 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Tehama District Fair, 650 Antelope Blvd., Red Bluff, CA 96080, Tyler-Jelly Building.

Admission is $5.

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