Alaskan Gold: Placer Mining in Interior Alaska VHS

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Alaskan Gold: Placer Mining in Interior Alaska VHS:
$4.99

Alaskan Gold: Placer Mining in Interior Alaska. VHS, plays approximately 29 minutes. Plays well. In 1949 the U.S. Smelting Refining and Mining Company commissioned Alan Probert to produce Alaskan Gold, a film about the gold mining activities in Interior Alaska. Company stockholders and other potential investors from the East Coast were excited by the prospect of this new wealth, but they knew little about the remote land and the business of gold mining. Probert\'s film answered those concerns and explained the process of placer mining - running water through ore bearing gravel to separate gravel and sand from the gold.In 1949 the U.S. Smelting Refining and Mining Company, known locally as Fairbanks Exploration or the F.E. Company, had the largest dragline (over 750 tons) in operation in the state and the electric stacker dredge worked 24 hours a day. Still it was backbreaking, tedious work. Tough weather conditions made the Alaskan operation unique. There were only nine months of the year in which the temperatures allowed the work, and the ground had to be thawed each spring before dredging began. The entire process, from survey to a bar of gold, could take up to seven years, and at that time an ounce of gold was worth just $35.00.Alaskan Gold illustrates the entire fascinating process from washing away the frozen overburden and thawing the underlying gravel to dredging in the bedrock for the precious ore. And it offers some rare scenes of life around post-World War II Fairbanks, the center of government and gold mining for the 5,700 people who lived in Interior Alaska.