At Fairbanks, AK

Our land tour started with a flight from Anchorage to Fairbanks. During the flight we got a beautiful view of Mt. McKinley. The next pictures are the Princess Lodge and river scene from their Riveredge Restaurant deck. The first memorial is to honor the "first family" in Alaska believed to be the Athabaskan Tribe that came about 35ooo years ago. In World War II, Fairbanks was an important stopover point on the route for lend-lease aircraft headed to the Soviet Union. This memorial was created to commemorate the cooperation of the two nations in the war effort.
We went on a tour of the Eldorado Gold mine. We rode the narrow-gauge rails into a permafrost tunnel where they had a demonstration of early underground mining techniques. After a short course in gold panning we were given bags of "pay dirt" to try our own luck at panning. The two of us had a total value of $13.50 in gold flecks which we put into a clear case locket to show our sudden fortune.
While returning to Fairbanks we stopped at an Alaskan Oil Pipeline checkpoint. This pipeline has 11 pumping stations and pumps about 2 million barrels per day from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez. Facts: Length: 800 miles. Diameter: 48 inches.
Crosses three mountain ranges and over 800 rivers and streams.
Cost to build: $8 billion in 1977, largest privately funded construction project at that time.
Construction began on March 27, 1975 and was completed on May 31, 1977.
First oil moved through the pipeline on June 20, 1977. The last picture shows a device called a "pig" which is sent through the pipeline to clean the inside of any residue and measure wear on the pipe skin.