6/15/06 - El Dorado Gold Mine - from Fairbanks, AK

We boarded the train for our ride to the gold camp at the El Dorado Gold Mine

We arrived at the El Dorado Gold Mine

On the train ride we enter a tunnel down into the permafrost earth

He is pointing out where the rock and gravel ends and the bedrock begins. Miners cut tunnels to dig down to bedrock.

One of the buckets used to bring soil out of the tunnel and dump it

Hydraulic cannon used to wash the rock and gravel away

Old wood burning boiler used to operate the buckets

Dexter Clark on the sluice

Close-up of the sluice

Water us used to wash the paydirt down the sluice. They had just turned the water on and it was cascading down the hill.

Paydirt being emptied into sluice

Panning for gold

Gold that was in the pan

Mike panning for gold

Susan and Mike panning for gold

Our gold being weighed. We ended up with 4 grams of gold worth about $8.00

Mike holding a 17 ounce piece of gold