EPISODE 706 GOLD PANNING IN YUKON….A MYSTERIOUS DISCOVERY
alan skeoch
Dec. 27, 2022
We used Haggerty Creek to get up into Dublin Gulch as I remember.
Seemed the creek was the only way to reach the gold operation
Driving up creek was bone causing adventure.
EPISODE 706 ESCAPE FROM THE YUKON….GOLD PANNING IN YUKON….MYSTEROUS DISCOVERY
alan skeoch
Dec. 27,2022
One strange and mysterious event that happened in the Yukon was our discovery
of a cache of gold that would today be worth thousands of dollars. Not our gold.
Abandoned gold in rusty barrels that Bill Dunn and I on impulse decided to test
for gold content.
Why would anyone leave these rusty barrels filled with fine gravel in a small clearing
by the side to Haggerty creek in Dublin Gulch, Yukon Territory. Beside the barrels was
a kind of open ended centrifuge kind of thing that would eject light stones and pebbles
but save the heavier gold bearing gravel. Or so we thought.
So we bought a pair of gold pans from the outfitters store in Mayo Landing or Elsa and
proceeded to swish some of the gravel beside the creek.
“Burn the gold pans first…gets any sticky stuff off them.”’’
“Any special way to swish”
“Yes…slow and steady…wash away the stones, the sand…the crap.”
“Swish one side then the other.
“Tiring job.”
“Who said life was easy?”
“By the way, this is not your gold.”
With each swish some small pebbles
popped over the edge of the pans. Eventually we had a thin deposit left in the pans.
When we looked closely we saw the glitter of gold dust or tiny flecks of gold. Just
enough for me to sprinkle on black electrical tape and mail to Marjorie.
How much gold dust could we retrieve from those rusty barrels? Maybe 16 ounces…maybe
more. In 1961 gold sold for $35 an ounce. A pound of gold (16 ounces) would be worth
16 x 35 = $560. Suppose there we’re 10 pounds of gold? 160 x 35 – $ 16,035, worth the
effort! at 1961 price. Suppose there were 100 pounds of gold? 1600 x $2,000 =$32 million
at modern prices.
Those barrels must be long gone!!!
Now suppose we go there today…year 2022 to find those barrels. I think we could do it.
And then spend a few weeks panning or, better still, get a machine to do it for us.
And suppose we get 10 pounds of gold. That would be 160 x $2,000= $320,000
Holy Cow!
Suppose there were 100 pounds of gold in those barrels? 1600 x 2,000 = $32 million
Hold on, Alan, the is not your gold. That is not your land claim. So that is not
your money.
Bill Dunn and Alan Skeoch panning for gold late one summer evening in Dublin Gulch. Not our gold.
I have a suspicion that those rusty barrels belonged to Mr Acheson who held a number of
claims in Dublin Gulch where he spent each summer using a small bulldozer and a hydraulic
hose to wash off the overburden of glcacial gravel to get down to the the bedrock where placer gold
was caught in nooks and crannies. Nice guy. Carried a slab of gold which he was ready to
use as a nuckle duster if anyone gave him trouble. Slab fitted neatly into his hand.
As he washed away the gravel he found something more interesting to me than gold.
He found the bones of ancient mammoths. Their tusks were lined up at his cabin.
He gave me a Mammoth tooth which I valued highly. Somebody at Parkdale Colliegiate
stole my tooth in my first year teaching. Was it a teacher o a student? I wish Jack Acneson
was alive today just so I could get another mammoth tooth and maybe do a little gold
panning to finance my trip back to Dublin Gulch.
Occasionally we found the wrecks of wagons like this deep in the Yukon wilderness where
there was not obvious road.
Big time sluicing operation. Like using a giant gold pan where the heavy placer gold was caught in
wooden riffles while the stones and lighter travels were washed away. Jack had some big nuggets
in his cabin. (Do not tell anybody) He would divert the water to check the riffles every once in a while.
Some placer miners tunnelled into the Yukon hills to reach bed rock where gold might be found. Using a hydraulic driven hose
was labour intensive. Jack Acheson hired us to do a seismic survey across his property . He wanted to know
how deep it was to bed rock.