The Golden Sands of Nome
When destitute miners on the beach at Nome realized that the ruby colored
sand at their feet was laced with gold, they must have thought that they
had died and gone to heaven. The beach strike was a poor man's paradise
where digging the gold was said to be easier than stealing it. The work
required only a shovel, a bucket or can, and a crude, easily built rocker.
Efficient use of the rocker required two or more people, with one filling
the hopper, another pouring water over the sand and another rocking the
cradle. The shallow diggings on the beach were open to everyone; beach
land could not be staked by any individual. If you left your diggings
another prospector could move in. Poet Sam Dunham wrote in 1900, "For
many miles along the beach, double ranks of men were rocking, almost shoulder
to shoulder, while their partners stripped the pay streak and supplied
the rockers with water and pay dirt." At the height of the summer mining
season, nearly 2000 men, women and children were rocking on the beach.
It is estimated that the "beachcombers" mined as much as $2 million in
gold from the sand. By fall of 1899, Nome, easily reached by ship, had
become a booming city of about 5,000. Among the variety of businesses
were at least 20 drinking establishments, 16 lawyers, 11 physicians, 12
general merchandise stores, 4 real estate offices, 4 drug stores, 3 watchmakers,
3 fruit and cigar stores, 5 laundries, 4 bath houses, 2 paper hangers,
2 hospitals and one "massage artiste."
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Used with
permission.
Gold Rush Centennial Task Force, State of Alaska.
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