The Legal Maze of Small-Time Gold Dredging in Alaska ...
Nome has been the epicenter of gold mining in Alaska since the Alaska Gold Rush blasted off in 1898. Prospectors and miners have been finding gold deposits in the hills and creek beds around Nome for over a century. They have also been finding placer gold (i.e., unrefined gold) in the seabed of Norton Sound, an inlet of the Bering Sea.