Forum

A couple years ago I helped my brother move his stuff from northern Idaho to Anchorage AK.  He had a new job in Katzebue and could get the stuff moved from Anchorage to Kotz fairly easy.  So after hauling the stuff up there in my trailer and throwing it into a storage unit, the plan was to take a couple weeks driving back home and seeing the country.

The severe storm that ravaged Alaska at the start of the winter in '11 was just blowing in as I dropped my brother off at the airport.  The night before, the weather channel had shown that a major storm was on it's way, so after filling the tank and grabbing some grub, I hit the road.

As I climbed up into the mountains east of Anchorage it started to snow.  As I drove, I kept an eye on the mountains watching the snow level get lower and lower.  When I finally topped over the pass and headed down into the interior valley the snow level was about a hundred feet up the hill from the highway.

I had already decided that a prolonged trip back home wasn't going to happen as I didn't want to be stuck in the middle of a blizzard, I continued on trying to stay ahead of the storm.  I got into Tok, Alaska at about midnight and pulled into a gas station to fill up before getting a room.

After starting the pump, I noticed a pair of moose antlers in the back of the truck parked at the pump in front of me.  Not to be too nosey, I stopped at the front of my truck and took a look.  It was a really nice rack, probably the best rack I have seen in a vehicle in decades.  It was then that I noticed that there were also meat bags in the there, along with the rack and a hide. 

It was about this time when the owner of the truck came around from in front of his truck and finished filling his tank.  I complemented him on getting such a nice moose and asked him where he got it.  He smiled and said he shot it in the mountains in the Alaskan Range.  

I was at this point he said.  "If you like those, you might like this too."  Where upon he reached behind the seat of the truck and pulled out what looked like a large pickle jar about 12 inches tall and 4 inches in diameter.  In the dim lights of the gas station, it appeared to be full of something orange with occasional black spots mixed in.  

Now I'm thinking:  "What part of the moose is orange, possibly the kidneys, maybe something else."  It wasn't until he handed it to that I see and now feel that the jar was full of gold.  I quickly looked at it and handed it back not wanting to accidently drop it and spill it across the parking lot.

I asked him where he got that and said he and his partner got it on their claim in the Alaskan Range.  They were using a small excavator and loader to feed their trommel.  They had just closed up the mine for the winter and were headed home.

I never found out the guys name, where he was from, if there were more jars like that behind the seat or any more exact location of their claim than "The Alaskan Range" which is a pretty large area.  Since it covers about half the state, the range is about the same size as Texas.

But it has always amazed me that this guy, who I had known for what 20 maybe 30 seconds just casually hands be a jar full of gold worth well over $150,000 and says, you might like this too.