Keno City Mining Museum

One of three buildings

One of three buildings

I road Honda to Keno City today. Keno is 35 miles northeast of Mayo, at the end of a gravel and dirt road. The loose gravel road made it seem longer than 35 miles and it took me almost an hour to get there. I was bundled up in three jackets because the temperature was in the 60’s, but I kept warm by keeping my speed down. Whenever I met another vehicle I would have to stop until the dust settled.

Keno City was founded when silver was discovered in 1919. The silver ore was one of the richest deposits in the world, and the town of Keno and the town of Elsa nearby, grew with the mine. There is still some mining in the area but the town of Elsa didn’t survive the closure of the original mine.

Photos and artifacts

Photos and artifacts

There is a large and diverse museum in Keno, and that is what I went to see. It took me two hours to browse through all three buildings that house the museum. There were artifacts, photos, old mining equipment and everything else you can imagine.

Old dozer

Old dozer

Before silver was discovered in the area, gold prospectors took many ounces of gold in the rivers near Keno and Mayo, but the gold was small and not as rich as other areas so the miners moved on. I talked with the manager of the museum and asked if I would be able to pan for gold in the rivers. He said no one would care. He even told me of a guy that lives up the road that would let me pan in his stream and show me where some good places are. I didn’t have my gold pan so I thanked him anyway.

3 Responses to “Keno City Mining Museum”

  1. Daryl says:

    I always hear about gold in the Yukon, but not silver. Interesting.

    You went to Alaska and the Yukon without your gold pan? How were you going to strike it rich?

    The museum website lists the location as “end of the Silver Trail”. Apparently that’s the name of the dirt road you took to get there.

  2. Dale says:

    I forgot to mention that there is a big gold operation just starting near Keno City. The manager at the museum said the oil companies are cutting back and they had all this heavy equipment not being used. So they brought it in and are running dirt looking for gold.

  3. Renee says:

    Hey Castaway! Just wanted to let you know I’m back in Anchorage, so let me know when you’re headed this way! It’s be great to see you!

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