Gold was first discovered in the Chicken Creek drainage on Myers Fork Creek in 1896, 10 years after the initial Fortymile discovery, and has been mined continuously since then with the exception of the war years. The F.E. Company, a subsidiary of the U.S. Smelting Refining & Mining Co., acquired most of the claims during the 1940s and after trucking the F.E.Co Dredge #4, or the Pedro Dredge as it is now called, from Fairbanks over the Alaska Highway and then up the Taylor Highway to Chicken, dredged 2 miles of the creek from 1959 to 1967. Mining continued on Chicken Creek through 2004 by several family operations. The drainage has most likely produced over 150,000 oz of gold.

We began operating as the Chicken Creek Mine in 1990 as lessees and purchased some of the ground in 1998. In 2000, we began to implement a sustainable development plan incorporating mining, reclamation, tourism and local history with a vision of creating the Chicken Gold Camp & Outpost, also known as the Chicken RV park and campground, which was opened in 2001. That year our efforts were recognized by the State of Alaska when we received the prestigious Alaska Governor's Award for Mine Reclamation. In 2006, the same year that the Pedro Dredge was listed as a National Historic Site, our business was recognized nationally as the small mine operator of the year by the U.S. Interior Department with the Reclamation and Sustainable Mineral Development Award.

In 2004, we ceased our mining operations on Nora Bench (the location of Chicken Gold Camp & Outpost), leaving some of the remaining gold resource for panning and recreational mining opportunities. In 2006 we opened our claims on Myers Fork to the public for recreational mining. In January of 2015, we participated in the purchase of Lost Chicken Hill Mine, which is one of the oldest continuously operated placer gold mines in Alaska (discovered in 1895). We continue to operate a commercial gold mine at Lost Chicken Hill.

BLM Reclamation and Sustainable Mineral Development Award, September, 2006 (pdf, 1.8Mb)

North of 60 Mining Article, October 2006 (pdf, 4.3Mb)