Nome

We never made it to Nome before. Nome is on the Seward Peninsula – while Seward is on the Kenai Peninsula - huh. While it was once considered for the State Capital, there are no roads leading there. You can only get to Nome by either water or air, so smarter folk chose a more suitable Capital – Juneau. Wait a minute – there are no roads leading to Juneau – you can only get there by water or air – huh.

Nome was the center of the 1899 gold rush. It only played out for about 10 years, but many a miner became rich working the land here. The original gold strike was discovered by the Three Lucky Swedes – actually one Norwegian and two American citizens of Swedish birth – named Jafet Lindberg, Erik Lindblom and John Brynteson. In early 1898, the population of Nome was around 100. In 1899, it was well over 10,000.

As elsewhere, the mining here was by pan, some underground (limited due to the permafrost) and dredging. The dredges lay rusting where they were last operated, to big and expensive to move and not worth the cost to do so. This dredge, the Swanberg Dredge, was actually operated up until the 1960’s until the cost to run it became more than the payload it delivered. Decedents of Mr. Swanberg still live in Nome to this day.

It turns out that Nome is still a gold mining boom town today. The geologic history of the Nome area is such that glaciers scattered gold all over the surface here. While most of the gold on the land had been raked over in the early 1900’s, the gold that had been washed into the Bering Strait was left untouched. There is still active mining operations going on here daily, using dredges as in the past, except that these float, and use a suction tube to suck up the floor of the Strait. Then the material is run through sluice boxes pretty much like it was at the turn of the century.

We toured Nome and saw all the sites that we could find. The end of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race from Anchorage to Nome is here, and the actual finish line they use each year is their pride and joy. It sits next to Front Street all year but is hauled out onto Front Street and covered with snow to mark the official completion point of the race each March. Our chauffer and narrator was none other than Richard Beneville, the Mayor of Nome. We have never had a mayor of a city as our tour guide before - novel!

Roald Amundsen, the Norwegian explorer who first reached the South Pole, also attempted to be the first to sail the Northeast Passage over the top of Russia in 1925 in a specially designed boat, the Maud. He intended to attempt to also be the first to reach the North Pole on that voyage. He didn’t make it however, due to ice, and ended up spending a week in Nome, which they commemorate with his statue. The following year he did fly a dirigible to the North Pole via Nome again, so he may also have been the first to reach the North Pole. When we were in Eagle Alaska we had seen evidence of his exploration of the Yukon River there as well.

We visited the site of the Train to Nowhere – no, not Palin’s bridge to nowhere. In the early 1900’s in an effort to capitalize on the gold being found everywhere on the Seward Peninsula, some Chicago investors built a rail line from Council City to Solomon, just outside Nome. The track laid, engines were actually purchased that ordinally ran on New York City’s elevated rail lined in the late 1800’s. However, after operating only a few years, a freak storm in 1913 tore up much of the railway. The cost to replace the rail was deemed not worthwhile, and the engines and cars were left to rust where they stood at the time of the storm.

As with many towns in Alaska, Nome burned many times. As a result, very few of the buildings that were here at the time of the Gold Rush still exist. The Board of Trade Saloon is one of the rare exceptions. Operated 

Nome is known for its population of local Musk Ox. While not exactly pretty, these mammoth beasts are very interesting. There are half a dozen herds of around twenty that roam the area, and appear to really favor being right in town. The locals don't know if they come into town to avoid the grizzly bears on the Peninsula, who eat Musk Ox by the way, or if they just come into town because the grazing is better.

The Dexter Bar in Nome is no longer in business – too bad as the proprietor of that establishment was none other than Wyatt Earp. Wyatt Earp arrived in Nome in 1899 at the time of the Gold Rush, but he didn’t arrive seeking his fortune as did tens of thousands of others. He was fleeing a murder indictment in Arizona for the massacre of the Clantons at the OK Corral, and the shooting of Frank Stillwell. By 1901 he was already back in the lower 48, but not in Arizona – but in Tonopah and Goldfield Nevada. We saw Earp’s Nome house, but was not impressed.

We visited the Safety Roadhouse before we headed back to Nome. Built in the early 1900’s to provide solace to travelers, the Roadhouse has operated continuously serving food, drink, and providing some haven from the weather. At 22 miles away from Nome, it is now the last checkpoint along the Iditarod race, just before the finish line. Not only do they provide food and adult beverages, but they have a driving range out on the local tundra.

Talk to you soon!