Alaska Recreational Mining areas

[alaskatravelpros]

I have found prospecting to be a fun activity for my Alaskan weekends. So far, I have only found some small flour (need a 10 power magnifying glass to really see it) gold, but have enjoyed every minute of it. It would be really nice to see a few bigger flakes of gold though. Prospecting is like fishing, it's fun to fish, but catching is a whole lot better. Anyway, I plan on hitting the recreational mining sites around south central Alaska again this year. I am wondering if anyone has, or knows where I can get better, more detailed maps of these sites than the generic, hardly readable maps that appear on the fact sheets. Even better, GPS coordinates of the boundary lines. Although I want to find some gold, I have no desire to be confronted by someone for inadvertently wandering onto their claim or private property. Petersville and Hatcher pass are the main areas I'm interested in working this year. Free or inexpensive maps or info would be great as my wife says any more upgrades have to come from my findings and well, there hasn't really been any yet. I recently built a sluice box frame with adjustable legs and am working on a classifier/highbanker set up to work with it. I will post pictures when I get a little further along.I appreciate the help and good prospecting.

 

[steve herschbach]

The maps you find at the Public Mining Sites List are generally as good as you need. I have not heard of anyone having boundary issues as long as you use reasonable care. The Hatcher Pass site is over ten miles long so unless you are at either end you do not have to worry much. People with claims on the boundaries of areas like these that want you to know about their claims do mark them. However, I have found for you direct links for these three sites to the DNR land records which should give you all the information you need and then some, including links to the online mapping system. This will show adjacent claim locations. The new information has been added to the pages below - look on each page for this note "More information including detailed land status maps can be found at the Alaska DNR Case Abstract."

Petersville Recreational Mining Area

Hatcher Pass Public Use Area

Caribou Creek Recreational Mining Area

Be sure to review each page for the rules pertaining to each location.

Steve Herschbach

 

[jwgroves]

Steve,
Is It also ok to MD in these areas as I'm interested in MD @ Hatcher Pass.

 

[steve herschbach]

You are ok to metal detect in any of the recreational mining areas but in Hatcher Pass do not stray into Independence Mine Historical Park with a metal detector.

Steve Herschbach