Juneau, Alaska

After Tracy Arm, we docked at Juneau.  What a place for a state capital.  There are no highways into Juneau so everything has to be flown in or brought in by boat.  It consists mainly of 183 jewelry stores (maybe not quite this many but a bunch).  We have figured out (I am slow but the light usually finally comes one) that the cruise lines either own them outright or they get a cut from the sales.  We were constantly bombarded with the propaganda that shopping in Alaska saves tons of money.  Especially in Ketchikan and Juneau, which makes absolutely no economic sense due to the fact that everything for sale either has to be flown in or sent by boat.

 In Juneau, we went on a gold mining tour.  It was educational but we definitely would not want to do it again.

Coming into Juneau.  (Toni and I along with the multitude of other boat people.)

This mine hasn't been operative for years.  They say that it produced 500,000 ounces of gold and their reports say there is still 800,000 ounces left in there but politics (it is close to Juneau) and the expense of starting it again prohibits re-opening.

Self-explanatory.  ( a dark hole in the rock).

This is the toilet the miners used when working in the mine.  Very little privacy!

I reckon this is a ore chute.  (I am posting these while in Bigfork, MT and can't remember much, but.............what's new pussycat.)

Our guide is an actual miner that could be working in one of the two active mines in the area but he said he would rather do tours.  The mines would do all their timber work inside of the mine with pnuematic saws and he is demonstrating one.  Very noisy.

Lookiong towards the rear as our guide tells us something.

This thing is called a mucker that they used to scoop up rock to put in the ore cars.

Picture of a couple of local miners founrd deep in the mine.  They were very happy to be found alive.

Nearly all of these stores in Juneau were jewelry stores.

They called these long stairways "streets" and this one led up to Sarah Palin's house, where she could see Russia from.  They called them streets so the city or county would have to clean the snow off.  Government at its best.