23 July, Thursday

Up early again for tours in Fairbanks. Our first tour was the paddlewheel river boat on the Chena river. This boat and the family running it have been in Alaska since the early 1900’s. They originally used the boats for hauling cargo up the Chena from the ocean. The same family members are now using the boats for tourists to show them the early days of Alaska.

The cruise started out by the skipper turning the boat sideways in the river. Then thru the magic of remote mikes the narrator talked to a pilot in a Super Cub on floats on the river. The pilot proceeded to take off from the river, circle the boat and then land next to the boat. Very impressive. The pilot then talked about the importance of the small plane in Alaska. One in six residents have their license to fly, and some fly without a license.

Moving on down the river we stopped at a Alaskan Sled dog facility. It was the husband and two daughters of Susan Butcher. She raced the Iditarod several times, winning it several times. Barbara and I saw her start the race in 1993. It was explained, again by remote mikes, how the dogs are handled and trained for sled racing.

The next stop on the river was the confluence of the Chena, a clear water river, and the Neana, a glacial fed river. Again the importance of how watercraft play a huge part of the Alaskan live.

Turning the boat around we then stopped at an Athabasca village. This of course is a recreation of a real one. Here they had real natives, mostly high school and college students explain the old and new ways of the Athabasca’s. They have lived in the area for over 10,000 years.

When the river boat cruise was over we then started another tour to the Alaska Pipeline viewing point. It was explained how the crude oil comes out of the ground very hot and is then pumped over 450 miles to Valdez, the seaport. Along the way precautions have been taken to prevent the hot oil from melting the permafrost and damaging the surroundings.

Our next stop was the El Dorado gold mine. After boarding a train we were entertained by Earl Hughes, the official Country Music singer of Alaska. He also narrated the sights along the way, explaining how the miners would dig and store ore in the winter and then sluice it in the summer.

At the end of the train ride we each got a pan and a bag of raw ore to try our luck at panning. It was difficult at first but it did not take long to get the hang of it. They guaranteed gold would be found. We found several small pieces, about the size of a salt crystal. Total it was worth about $26. We did discover panning was NOT the way we would choose to live.