Last Chance Mining Museum


Useful Information

Location: East of Juneau. Follow Basin Road along Gold Creek to parking lot. Short hike across bridge and uphill.
Open: Mid MAY to late SEP daily 9:30-12:30, 15-18:30.
[2012]
Fee: Adults USD 4.
[2012]
Classification: MineGold Mine
Light: LightIncandescent Electric Light System
Dimension:
Guided tours:
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:
Address: Last Chance Mining Museum, Gastineau Channel Historical Society, 1001 Basin Road, Juneau, AK 99801, Tel: +1-907-586-5338. E-mail: contact
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then.
Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1912 mine opened.
1944 mine closed.

Geology


Description

The Last Chance Mining Museum is located east of Juneau, Alaska, in the historic Compressor Building of the former Alaska Juneau Gold Mining Company. It also contains one of the world's largest Ingersoll-Rand mining air compressors. Other exhibits include industrial mining tools, electric locomotives and rail cars, and numerous artifacts related to the local hard rock gold mining. It has a mineral exhibition and a three dimensional map made of glas and showing the Deep North ore body. The musem is operated by the Gastineau Channel Historical Society and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and on the list of Alaska Gold Rush Properties.

In Juneau once was a gold rush. This museum is the only mining related building which remains from this era. But Juneau is in the southernmost part of Alaska, located at the sea it is easy to reach with ships, and the gold is located underground and was mined with an underground mine. The Americans call this hard rock mining. So this is not the gold rush town and the remote area with gold placers which you will read of in one of Jack Londons books.

This visit could be completed by a visit to the Juneau-Douglas City Museum at Fourth and Main streets. The East Gallery focuses on Juneau's mining history. Juneau has three museums, the third one is the Alaska State Museum at 395 Whittier Street, which focuses on the wildlife and the culture of the native Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian peoples, but it also has a small exhibit on the local mining history.