Nome Gold Rush

Nome Gold Rush
Prospectors on Nome beach ca. 1900.
Center	Nome, Alaska
Discovery	September, 1898, Anvil Creek
Duration	1899–1909
Goldfield	Snake River and beach at its outlet
Legacy	North to Alaska, 1960

Coordinates: 64°29′25″N 165°24′47″W / 64.49028°N 165.41306°W / 64.49028; -165.41306

The Nome Gold Rush was a gold rush in Nome, Alaska, approximately 1899–1909. It is separated from other gold rushes by the ease of which gold could be obtained. Much of the gold was lying in the beach sand of the landing place and could be recovered without any need for a claim. During the rush Nome was a sea port without a harbor, and the biggest town in Alaska.

Together with the Klondike Gold Rush (1896–1899) and Fairbanks Gold Rush (1903-1911), Nome was among the biggest gold rushes north of 60 degrees latitude on the North American continent. It shared prospectors with both Klondike and later rushes like Fairbanks. It is memorialized in films like North to Alaska. Nome City still exists and the area is mined as Nome mining district and by tourists. Total production of gold from the area is estimated to be 112 metric tonnes.

The center of the Nome Gold Rush was the town of Nome at the outlet of Snake River on the Seward Peninsula at Norton Sound of the Bering Sea. Inupiaq Eskimos had camped for centuries in the Nome area before Russians came. In the 18th century, they established the port of St. Michael, 125 miles to the southeast, for sailing on Yukon. Fur traders and whalers from many countries visited the area. A few church missions were established beginning in the 1880s. Gold was found in smaller amounts at Council 1897, the year before Nome, and subsequently other places in the area.