We expect some of the artifacts we find to be gold!

Looking ahead to summer ... an update.

There has been a change of plans since the last "Looking ahead to summer" post. We recently spent a week in Yuma, Arizona with Jim Crabb, owner/operator of Nugget Gulch. We reviewed our plans for this coming summer and decided not to have four digs.

We are going on one dig this summer in the Circle Mining District, established in 1893.

This dig is for everyone who:

• can get to Nugget Gulch or Central Corner (see locations below),
• has or has a ride on a 4-wheeler-ATV,
• and has registered,
  

Please note: There will be a small registration fee (yet to be determined) to help us to keep track of the registered participants when we are out in the bush.

Couple of items still in the planning hopper: when and where.

• We will announce when the dig will be held as soon as Jim decides. The announcement will be before May 1st if everything lines up. We are planning to hold the dig over a weekend from Saturday morning to Monday evening.
• Where is another matter. It won't be announced until the participants are ready to start out on the first morning of the dig. It should be obvious that announcing the location of the dig beforehand simply invites others to get there first and take the "low hanging fruit."

Each morning Jim will lead the "expedition" from Nugget Gulch, located at Circle Hot Springs—7+ miles up the Circle Hot Springs Road from Central on the Steese Highway. Central is just past 127 Mile. He will gather the remaining participants from Central Corner, at the corner of the Steese Highway and Circle Hot Springs Road, where folks can get breakfast for themselves and gas for their 4-wheelers.

Each evening the group will return to Nugget Gulch or Central Corner for the night.

The dig itself will be over three days and two nights. Participants can join for any part of the dig: one, two, or all three days, and in the nighttime activities at Nugget Gulch and Central Corner.

Participants in the dig will search for artifacts left behind by the gold rush miners in Interior Alaska's Circle Mining District from the late 1800's on. Besides gold, bottles, tools, and coins are some of the items we expect to find. In the process we will be guided by archaeological methods as much as practical. Please Note: You can read about Archaeology and its methods in: Wikipedia.

Jim will make a "go or no go" decision by March 31st. We will announce his decision here.

If you are interested in going on the dig if it's a "go", please contact us at hglindquist@gmail.com. We'll put up direct contact info when and if it's a go. We would encourage and welcome any inquiries from anyone interested in archaeology and its methods, such as students, amateurs, professionals, and simply those eager to learn more about it.

Short Guide to the Steese Highway: From Fairbanks to Circle

Getting started in Fairbanks: Fairbanks in wikipedia.

• Alaskan Prospectors & Geologists Supply

Heading up the Steese Highway, you can explore the following along the way: 

• Steese National Conservation Area
• White Mountains National Recreation Area 
• Beaver Creek Wild and Scenic River 
• Birch Creek Wild and Scenic River

Steese Highway Mileposts

• 8 Mile: Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline viewing area
• 9 Mile: Gold Dredge No. 8 exit
• 11 Mile: Fox General Store and junction with Elliott Highway.
• 16 Mile: Pedro Monument
• 28 Mile: Chatanika Lodge 
• 39 Mile: Upper Chatanika River State Recreation Site 
• 42 Mile: McKay Trailhead 
• 45 Mile: Long Creek Trading Post
• 57 Mile: Junction with U.S. Creek Road with access to Nome Creek Valley
• 60 Mile: Cripple Creek Campground
• 66 Mile: Sourdough Creek
• 85 Mile: Twelvemile Summit, Elevation 3,190 ft.
• 107 Mile: Eagle Summit Wayside
• 107 Mile: Eagle Summit, Elevation 3,624 feet.
• 127 Mile: Central, Population 134 approx., Central in wikipedia.

In Central you will find the Circle Mining District Historical Museum and the Central Corner, a recently re-opened roadhouse. (Note: We are currently contacting the new owners to update their information. -hgl)

The "Central Corner" is on the northeast corner of  the Steese Highway's junction with the Circle Hot Springs Road, and from 1982 to 2002, Central Corner was the legendary Crabbs Corner, owned and operated by Jim Crabb. Jim now operates Nugget Gulch, 7+ miles up the Circle Hot Springs Road from Central and next door to the now closed Circle Hot Springs Resort. (Note: We are currently contacting Jim Crabb on the status of his development of the hot springs on his property for next summer. Stay tuned, this could be huge. -hgl)

Central, with its year-round facilities at Central Corner (Note: Until we have verified days and hours of operation, please do not assume they will be able to accommodate you on any given trip. We will publish contact information as soon as we have it available. -hgl), and seasonal facilities at Nugget Gulch, is--in our opinion--an attractive destination of recuperation and renewal after a trip of any duration through the Steese National Conservation Area and its surrounding wilderness filling the a large sector of Alaska's Yukon Wilderness Arc.

• 160 Mile: Circle, Population 100 approx., Circle in wikipedia.

To be continued ...

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Note: Mileposts are listed as the distance going up the Steese Highway from its intersection with Airport Way in Fairbanks, and as the last one passed at a given location. For example, Chatanika Lodge is between Milepost 28 and Milepost 29. The best guide to the mileposts of the Alaskan highways can be found in The Milepost®: "Since 1949, the bible of North Country travel." 

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Welcome to the Steese Review

We will be writing about Alaska's Yukon Wilderness Arc formed by the bend in the Yukon River at Fort Yukon. It has a quasi baseline running from Healy on the west, up the Parks Highway to Fairbanks, then on up the Steese Highway to Central and beyond. From Central you can continue further northeast to Circle City on the Yukon River, or east to Nugget Gulch and the Circle Hot Springs. Along the way there are branches south to North Pole and to Chena Hot Springs out of Fairbanks, and, from Fox, north to Livengood and the Yukon River. From Livengood you can head west to Manley Hot Springs.

We will focus on two aspects of the arc: (1.) the vast area the arc covers with its sparse population; and (2.) the people who live here. We won't cover everything or everybody. We can't. We will concentrate on examples we come across of people who survive and thrive in the north country. In this way we hope to interest you in taking the time to learn more about Interior Alaska in person, and to keep learning and experiencing it's way of life throughout the rest of yours. Like fine wine or loving marriage, only the commitment of time can create the otherwise unattainable.

Let us begin by considering that Alaska's Yukon Wilderness Arc is anchored on the west by the Denali National Park and Preserve, and on the east by the Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve.