Circle Mining District reunion relives gold rush history - Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

FAIRBANKS — When the price of gold went up in the early 1970s, a new generation of gold miners jumped on the opportunity to strike it rich. That renewed interest in mining created the second gold rush in the Circle Mining District of Interior Alaska.

“The Circle Mining District, in the 1980s, collectively with all the placer mines — a total of 92 — was the largest gold producer for placer gold mining in the United States,” according to Gail Ackels, who wrote a book about her family’s experiences on Gold Dust Creek in the Circle Mining District.

She should know. She and her husband, Del, were part of that group that also included Joe Vogler, Ernie Wold, Ed Gelvin, Fred Wilkinson and many others.

Many of those miners gathered for a special reunion earlier this month, hosted by fellow Gold Dust Creek miners Bernie and Connie Karl at Chena Hot Springs Resort. There were more than 50 people there — some were old timers, some were young adults who grew up on those mining claims, and some were young people who tagged along to learn about the history of their own families and gold mining on Gold Dust Creek and nearby creeks.

There was actually much talk about summer pig roasts and friendships and practical jokes played on each other — and lots of conversation about heavy equipment and gold mining.

Bernie Karl was a gracious host. He provided a tour of the resort. The highlight, of course, was a visit to the Aurora Ice Museum.

“In 2004, Forbes Magazine called this the dumbest idea of the year,” Karl said as as everyone entered the icy building. Yet it remains a popular tourist attraction today, all these years later.

Normally, visitors are invited to purchase an appletini, an alcoholic cocktail for visitors age 21 and older served in a glass carved out of ice. But for this special occasion, Karl created the Gold Dust cocktail. It packed a little more punch than the appletini, which Gail Ackels said was perfect for the miners.

“We’re not teetotalers,” she laughed. “Not this group.”

Despite all the jovial conversation, there was a somber moment when everyone respectfully raised a glass to the friends and neighbors and miners who were unable to attend the reunion.

Five young women who grew up on Gold Dust Creek all attended the reunion. Some even flew in from Outside. They included Jackie and Tiffany Ackels and Fawn, Misty and Crystal Glassburn.

“It’s hard to capture the culture of the miners,” said Crystal Glassburn, who also documented the reunion with photographs. “We were all so close knit.”

Those childhood experiences led to her career as an archaeologist. Her sister, Fawn, is a geologist.

“It gets in peoples’ blood,” she said. “You know you’re never going to make it rich. But some day, you might make it rich.”

Mining at Gold Dust Creek attracted miners who were fiercely independent and self-reliant, she said. But the challenge of meeting new federal regulations soon forced families to abandon those mining claims.

“This was the beginning of the end of the placer mining in Alaska,” Gail Ackels wrote in her book “Gold Is Where You Find It: An Alaskan Family’s Adventures.”

“Most small family mining operations in the Circle Mining District were destroyed,” she wrote. “They were forced out of business and could no longer pay their mining loans or any other debts. Most small family mining operations were forced to pull up stakes and leave their federal land because they could no longer afford the continuous rise in the cost of compliance.”

Ackels’ family was one of the mining families that left Gold Dust Creek. She described the decision as heartbreaking. Regardless, at the reunion, everyone reminisced about good times.

“All these people have stories to tell,” Crystal Glassburn said, looking out at the roomful of miners and their families, obviously enjoying each other’s company.

This was a gathering they’ll long remember.

“Their stories deserve to be told,” Glassburn said.

Reach columnist/community editor Kris Capps at the office 459-7546. Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/FDNMKris.