Gray Line Pans for Gold in Alaska

Alaska’s Gold Dredge No. 8, a tourist lure since 1982 and now a National Historic Site, has been revamped by its new owner, Gray Line of Alaska.

Summer visitors to the site outside Fairbanks can now pan for gold, eat miner’s fare such as stew and biscuits, view a mining video, tour bunkhouses and examine mammoth and other ancient bones unearthed onsite.

Essentially a giant gold pan, the 99-foot-long machine operated from 1928 to 1959. Each spring, using steam cutters powered by its boiler, crews would strip away ice several feet thick on Goldstream Creek. Then the dredge would scoop up gold-bearing gravel with a bucket line, sort out the gold and expel the tailings. During three decades, Dredge No. 8 chomped its way through 4.5 miles of territory.

Touring Gold Dredge No. 8 costs $19 for adults, $12 for children 4 to 12 and is free for children under 4. It is open daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. through mid-September. Information: (800) 544-2206.