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![Souvenir Placer Mining Spoon Bowl Nome Alaska.JPG - SOUVENIR MINING SPOON NOME ALASKA - Sterling silver souvenir spoon, engraved mining scene in bowl showing miners panning for gold, marked PLACER MINING, NOME, decorative design with flowers on handle, reverse marked Sterling with makers mark, 5 3/8 in. long [The Nome mining district is a gold mining district in Alaska. It was discovered in 1898 when Erik Lindblom, Jafet Lindeberg and John Brynteson, the "Three Lucky Swedes", found placer gold deposits on Anvil Creek and on the Snake River, a few miles from the future site of Nome. News of the strike reached the gold fields of the Klondike that winter and by 1899 Anvil City, as the new camp was called, had a population of 10,000. It was not until gold was discovered in the beach sands in 1899 and news reached the outside that the real stampede was on. Thousands poured into Nome during the spring of 1900, as soon as steamships from the ports of Seattle and San Francisco could reach the north through the ice. In the treeless location, tents soon covered the landscape, reaching the water's edge, and extending most of the 30 miles between Cape Rodney and Cape Nome. Buildings of finished board lumber began going up as early as 1899, as soon as ships reached Nome from the states with supplies. The town was locally known as Anvil City for much of 1899, but the United States Post Office Department insisted on calling the community Nome, apparently because it was thought that a town called Anvil City would be easily confused with the village of Anvik on the lower Yukon. A vote was held and the town’s merchants reluctantly agreed to change the name from Anvil City to Nome. This was one of the first and was the biggest Alaskan gold rush in North America; only the California and Klondike stampedes were larger. A chaotic and lawless scene ensued, with rampant claim-jumping, crooked judges, and not enough gold found for the 20,000 prospectors, gamblers, shop and saloon-keepers, and prostitutes living in the tent city on the beachfront tundra, at least not at first. Then someone thought to pan the red-and-black streaked beach sands. Within days, gold was found for tens of miles up and down the beach from Nome. More than a million dollars' worth of gold was taken from the beach in 1899. Subsequently the second and third beach lines were discovered and mined. Anvil Creek produced the second-largest gold nugget found in Alaska (182 troy ounces). Except while prohibited by law during WWII, placer mining near Nome has continued to this day. Over 3.6 million troy ounces of gold have been recovered from the creeks of the Nome District. A myriad of small hard-rock gold deposits were exploited near Nome, but production was very small, compared to the placer deposits, and none of the hard rock mines operated for more than a few years.]](Souvenir Placer Mining Spoon Bowl Nome Alaska.JPG) |
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| Souvenir Placer Mining Spoon Bowl Nome Alaska | SOUVENIR MINING SPOON NOME ALASKA - Sterling silver souvenir spoon, engraved mining scene in bowl showing miners panning for gold, marked PLACER MINING, NOME, decorative design with flowers on handle, reverse marked Sterling with makers mark, 5 3/8 in. long [The Nome mining district is a gold mining district in Alaska. It was discovered in 1898 when Erik Lindblom, Jafet Lindeberg and John Brynteson, the "Three Lucky Swedes", found placer gold deposits on Anvil Creek and on the Snake River, a few miles from the future site of Nome. News of the strike reached the gold fields of the Klondike that winter and by 1899 Anvil City, as the new camp was called, had a population of 10,000. It was not until gold was discovered in the beach sands in 1899 and news reached the outside that the real stampede was on. Thousands poured into Nome during the spring of 1900, as soon as steamships from the ports of Seattle and San Francisco could reach the north through the ice. In the treeless location, tents soon covered the landscape, reaching the water's edge, and extending most of the 30 miles between Cape Rodney and Cape Nome. Buildings of finished board lumber began going up as early as 1899, as soon as ships reached Nome from the states with supplies. The town was locally known as Anvil City for much of 1899, but the United States Post Office Department insisted on calling the community Nome, apparently because it was thought that a town called Anvil City would be easily confused with the village of Anvik on the lower Yukon. A vote was held and the town’s merchants reluctantly agreed to change the name from Anvil City to Nome. This was one of the first and was the biggest Alaskan gold rush in North America; only the California and Klondike stampedes were larger. A chaotic and lawless scene ensued, with rampant claim-jumping, crooked judges, and not enough gold found for the 20,000 prospectors, gamblers, shop and saloon-keepers, and prostitutes living in the tent city on the beachfront tundra, at least not at first. Then someone thought to pan the red-and-black streaked beach sands. Within days, gold was found for tens of miles up and down the beach from Nome. More than a million dollars' worth of gold was taken from the beach in 1899. Subsequently the second and third beach lines were discovered and mined. Anvil Creek produced the second-largest gold nugget found in Alaska (182 troy ounces). Except while prohibited by law during WWII, placer mining near Nome has continued to this day. Over 3.6 million troy ounces of gold have been recovered from the creeks of the Nome District. A myriad of small hard-rock gold deposits were exploited near Nome, but production was very small, compared to the placer deposits, and none of the hard rock mines operated for more than a few years.] |  Original Image |
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