© McCord Museum
Photograph
Weighing "clean-up" gold at 9 Anvil Creek, Nome, Alaska, 1900
Edwin Tappan Adney
1900, 20th century
Silver salts on film (nitrate ?) - Gelatin silver process
16 x 21 cm
MP-1979.111.121
© McCord Museum
Weighing "clean-up" gold at 9 Anvil Creek, Nome, Alaska, 1900
Edwin Tappan Adney
1900, 20th century
Silver salts on film (nitrate ?) - Gelatin silver process
16 x 21 cm
MP-1979.111.121
© McCord Museum
Keys to History:
"Clean-up" gold consists of the fine flakes and gold dust that remain when the larger pieces and nuggets have been recovered. Two miners are in their tent weighing gold on a set of scales, with a gold pan in the foreground and a bottle of liquor on the table in the background. Mining was hard work, so few miners worked alone; the vast majority had one or more partners. The Klondike Fever, Pierrre Berton's famous book on the gold rush, gives accounts of partners who got so angry with each other that they divided up all their belongings, even sawing their boat in half.
Source : Off to the Klondike! The Search for Gold [Web tour], by William R. Morrison, University of Northern British Columbia (see Links)
What:
The gold pan and weighing scales were important tools in the placer mining process.
Where:
This shot was taken at Anvil Creek, Nome, Alaska.
When:
The picture was taken in 1900.
Who:
Two unidentified partners are weighing the results of the day's work. Note the amount of pure gold still in the pan.