From town it was a 25 minute drive to the Eldorado Gold Mine and we arrived in plenty of time for the tour. As we left we realised that we has forgotten one of the cameras--the most versatile one of course!
We shaded the car with our various sunshades for the dogs, replaced the plastic side curtain with the mesh ones and opened the sun-roof and left two very disappointed dogs behind as we picked up our tickets and boarded the narrow gauge train. for the start of our tour. Trekker watched intently as we left the station.
What could easily have been a very hokey tourist trap theme park was in fact very good. Lots of fun to be sure but very well done and informative. While waiting for the 5 or 6 tour buses to arrive with tourists from various cruises and organised tours, we were entertained by Earl, an accomplished singer, guitar and fiddle player and storyteller. He also gave us detailed instructions and tips on how to pan for gold, we we would do later.
Eventually the buses arrived and with a couple of toots of the whistle we left the station to learn how it was done in the old days. The train took us through a very realistic mock-up of a permafrost tunnel where we learned about mining in permanently frozen ground. The danger of thawing and collapse during the summer made winter mining much safer. The dirt was excavated all winter and piled in huge heaps that during the summer were searched for gold! The tunnels and shafts were then sealed and covered to keep thinks frozen solid during the short summer.
We also passed displays of solitary miner's camps both temporary and more permanent.
The next display included a demonstration of a larger operation using steam power to lift buckets of dirt and rock from shafts and tunnels stacking the stuff in piles that by end of winter would surround the shaft and be ready for the search for the magic yellow metal. The dirt was blasted by large water cannons fed from streams high in the hills. Sometimes steam powered high pressure hoses were used to move the dirt.
We then visited a demonstration of a modern placer mining operation. Water is channeled from the river through a wooden sluice to where the dirt was added (using an excavator) washing everything though a baffled channel that allowed most of the sand, dirt and gravel to wash away, hopefully leaving the gold behind. This enriched “paydirt” was then put into the gold pan with a bit of water and the remaining gravel, sand and silt was washed away, leaving behind flakes and possibly nuggets of gold. It was during this demonstration that the battery in the camera called it quits.
After watching how the professionals did it then were led off to another area where we were all loaned a pan and received a bag of pay dirt to try our luck. Those who didn't find any gold received another bag of dirt. We met with some success, Art gathered $28.00 worth while Gillian's pan yielded $18.00 at today's prices. We managed to squeeze one more photo out of the camera--Art's tiny hoard of gold flakes
The tour cost us $69.00 , throw in the free coffee, hot chocolate and cookies and we had a good afternoon's entertainment and education at a pretty good price! The only downside to the afternoon was that we had left behind the good camera, and the “spare” ran out of battery before we ran out of things to photograph.
Back at the RV Art drove the rig to the sani-dump to empty the holding tanks while Gillian took the dogs for a walk and play. There was a large field where she could let Trekker off leash to chase his ball. Once the tanks had been seen to Art decided to do some preparation for the morning departure; he backed the car as far into our space as it would go, almost into the trees, then backed the motorhome up and was able to get the car connected and still have the front end of the rig clear of the road. No water connection tonight, the fresh water tank was full so we would be good for the better part of a week (80 gallons!) We plugged in the electric again for the fridge just because it would be easy put away in the morning and we were set. We found that now we could connect to the internet with a very strong signal. No idea what happened yesterday. We got a bit more posted to the blog and checked e-mails etc. before bed.
Looking forward to tomorrow's paddlewheel trip.
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