Northern Mining History
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 28
Canada was built on the back of a train
While the journey west during the frontier days often paints a picture of strife and hardship, not every tale was filled with sorrow and loss. Although covered wagons were definitely a thing, the... — Updated 5/4/2023 Full story
Alaska still feels the work of Wesley Dunkle
As we honor tradition and significant achievement toward mining, mineral exploration, or all-around trailblazing in Alaska, there are many individuals who have been immortalized through the Alaska... — Updated 12/3/2022
Eerie vision of Far North ghost towns
For this special spooky edition, North of 60 Mining News is revisiting some of the most bizarre and disturbing ghost towns in its northern coverage area. From one of the most haunted places in... — Updated 10/10/2022 Full story
Sky-high success, feet firmly on the ground
It all began in 1991, when geologists Charles E. Fipke and Stewart Blusson found 81 small diamonds at Lac de Gras in Northwest Territories, Canada, marking the first diamond pipe discovery in North... — Updated 7/21/2022 Full story
Willow Creek Mining District revisited
Roughly a 90-minute drive from Anchorage, it can be easy to miss Willow as one makes their way northbound. The view of Denali on the horizon, perhaps a visit to the Princess Lodge or a journey to... — Updated 3/3/2022 Full story
Alaskan copper mine, once giant of America
"During the two decades preceding and those following World War I, when the United States produced more than half the world's copper, the mines at Kennecott, Alaska were among the nation's largest,... — Updated 1/20/2022 Full story
Nunavut mine created legacy of partnership
Found within the newest territory of Canada, Nunavut may seem barren and inhospitable, yet it has provided resources and succor to its First Peoples for thousands of years. While European... — Updated 11/18/2021 Full story
Bill Ellis blazes trail of Alaska discovery
Throughout the relatively short modern history of Alaska, many nameless and oft unrecognized explorers have contributed to the Last Frontier state in ways that future generations will never be able... — Updated 9/30/2021 Full story
Dyea, Alaska: The lost sibling to Skagway
If one were to stand in the dense, silent coastal forest at the head of the Taiya Inlet today, it would be nearly impossible to imagine that 123 years prior, this Southeast Alaska locale was home... — Updated 8/12/2021 Full story
Pioneering explorer, pilot Ron Sheardown
Few men and women could attest to having lived with an adventurous spirit and actually having gone and adventured, but this isn't so for mining and aviation pioneer Ronald Sheardown. Soon to be... — Updated 7/29/2021 Full story
Tahltan people safeguard ancestral home
From the Coast Mountains in the west to the lower parts of the Yukon's Boreal forest in the north, the Cassiar Mountain range in the east, and the headwaters of the Nass and Skeena Rivers in the... — Updated 6/24/2021 Full story
Forgotten chain of Alaska mining history
After the United States' purchase of Alaska, and before the boom brought on by the Klondike Gold Rush, a small island just off the Alaska Peninsula would have gold-bearing quartz discovered,... — Updated 5/27/2021 Full story
The only city in Northwest Territories
Far to the north lies the second largest of Canada's three territories, simply named the Northwest Territories, and within this vast region of more than 400,000 square miles lies its only city, the... — Updated 4/29/2021 Full story
The man who linked Seattle to Alaska gold
As the historian Murray Morgan once observed, Seattle residents "tend to look on Alaska as their very own... Seattle stores display sub-arctic clothing, though Puget Sound winters are usually mild;... — Updated 3/25/2021 Full story
The Alaskan business as old as America
"Less than a year after the formal transfer of Alaska from Russia to the United States, there was formed under California law a corporation named the Alaska Commercial Company. Its home office was... — Updated 1/28/2021 Full story
Thousand-mile ride from Dawson to Nome
Over a century ago, a gold rush pioneer set out on an incredible journey of more than one thousand miles across the breadth of Alaska upon his two-wheeled iron steed, braving the brutal winter... — Updated 1/18/2021 Full story
Friendliest mining ghost town in Alaska
Resting on the eastern fringe of the Misty Fjords National Monument, at the head of Portland Canal, the Southeast Alaska mining town of Hyder survives through a symbiotic relationship with Stewart,... — Updated 12/3/2020 Full story
Over a century of mining in Dublin Gulch
From sourdoughs dipping pans into creeks at the northern edge of the frontier to enormous haul trucks dumping ore on a heap leach pad, the story of Dublin Gulch is a 125-year saga of trials and... — Updated 9/26/2020 Full story
The valuable lessons of Kitsault Valley
Mining found its way to the remote Kitsault Valley in northwestern British Columbia around 1910, bringing with it the ups and downs typical of mining regions in a bygone era. Roughly 29 miles... — Updated 9/26/2020 Full story
The silver-lined history of Keno City
More than a century-old silver discovery turned settlement may see a revitalization with recent exploration efforts at the Keno Hill District. Lying within the traditional land of the First Nation... — Updated 9/26/2020 Full story
An Alaskan fortune: 'Wise Mike' Stepovich
A true northern pioneer far from his Eastern European home, 'Wise' Mike Stepovich, settles in a new land and leaves behind a historic legacy in Alaska's Golden Heart City. The history of Fairbanks... — Updated 9/26/2020 Full story
Unlikely mine district now Alaska capital
The incredibly interesting history of Juneau is a tale of gold, the persistence of a Tlingit chief and a series of chance events that allowed Alaska's future capital to grow and leave its mark on... — Updated 9/26/2020 Full story
Hidden Atlin draws Klondike crowd south
By 1898, the Klondike Gold Rush was beginning to wane and many of the roughly 100,000 people that trekked to the Yukon were seeking new regions to make their golden fortunes - moving in every... — Updated 9/26/2020 Full story
The hope of a nation within Tin City
In the westernmost reaches of Alaska lies "Tin City," a mining settlement that all but disappeared except for a lonely radar station looking out over our seas and skies today. Located on the Seward... — Updated 9/26/2020 Full story
Dust on the beach at Nome creates Rush
Alaska, the Last Frontier, it is home to some of the most influential pioneering and mining discoveries in history. A rich wilderness still rife with unexplored and untapped potential. It is here... — Updated 9/25/2020 Full story