Ain't nothing but a gold digger

May 28, 2009|by Rebecca Palsha

The old homestead of Peter Rutland Strong (Phil Walczak/KTUU-TV)

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — There's gold in them there hills, and Alaska's famous for it.

At Indian Valley Mine along the Seward Highway you can step into a piece of Alaska's history.

With Roger Cowles as our guide we tour the old homestead of Peter Rutland Strong, a goldpanner known for his tall tales who built this place in 1915.

"It was just a place to sleep, there's no designer kitchen in there," Cowles said.

It may lack a designer kitchen, but there's something better here -- gold. And Strong spent the rest of his life trying to find it.

"No one knows how much because smart miners don't tell," Cowles said. "He lived to be 99, so he must have been pretty smart."

Now it's my turn.

"I warn people from the beginning -- if I had small print on my shirt it would say ‘Warning: There is no known cure for gold fever' and folks do get hooked," Cowels said.

Cowles divides our panning dirt between us. We opted for $50 worth, but you can get smaller amounts for $10 or $20.

Then it's over to the water and time to get serious.

"Get a lot of water, you can't have too much, then shake vigorously. You want all that sand to be moving," Cowles said.

It doesn't take long to start seeing results.

"You'll shake and tilt some of the sand will slide off the top but that's OK," Cowels said.

As the sand slips away we finally spot the good stuff. While it may not look like much, I've struck it big about $10.25 worth -- I can quit my job now!

Maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration. But it seems like most goldpanners stretch the truth just a little bit.

"To just sit down at the picnic table and just listen to them, and then I steal their stories like I was the guy! Because it's legal to tell tall tales here," Cowles said.

A few good stories, and if you're lucky a nice little souvenir.

Contact Rebecca Palsha at rpalsha@ktuu.com

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