THE JOURNAL - AN OFFICIAL PUBLICATION BY THE ALASKA MINERS ASSOCIATION AMA CONVENTION 2025
alternative to the Nome airport during inclement flying conditions. In 1963, He married the love of his life Lorena Mills in Kotzebue. Ron Engstrom is best known for the nearly continuous operation of the Basin Creek gold dredge for more than 25 years. Long before state and federal requirements, Ron was a strong advocate for reclaiming mined lands for future uses and was an industry leader on how to carry out reclamation of placer mine tailings. The Basin Creek dredge (right) and the Tweet Family dredge in the Kougorok district north of Nome have been the only gold dredges that have operated in Alaska after 1995. Ron Engstrom was buried at his Basin Creek mine in 2021.
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worked at White Alice sites in remote areas of western Alaska for many years. Ron was born to parents Herbert and Helga Engstrom, who operated placer gold mines on Santa Clara and Pajara Creeks in the Kougorok and Solomon Mining Districts north and east of Nome. Subsequently the Engstrom family moved to Basin Creek, where they installed a floating bucket line stacker dredge in 1960 that previously had operated on the Seward Peninsula. At the age of 8, Ron learned to operate a caterpillar tractor and drive a car. In his teens, Ron and others constructed an airstrip at Basin Creek, which was frequently used as an
The Alaska Mining Hall of Fame Foundation will induct placer gold miner Ronald Herbert Engstrom during induction ceremonies held at 7 p.m. during the Nov. 4 History night at the Marriott Hotel in Downtown Anchorage. Engstrom was born in Nome, Alaska, in 1937 and died unexpectedly at Basin Creek east of Nome in 2020. Besides his extensive gold mining activities, Ron was an aircraft pilot, master mechanic, seasoned heavy equipment operator, a Captain in the Alaska National Guard for more than 10 years, and owned one of the largest ‘Arctic Cat’ snowmachine franchises in the United States. He seasonally
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