Look east across the Susitna River and you'll see the old Valdez Creek gold mine in the foothills of the Clearwater Mountains. The mine was started by the Peter Monahan Party in 1903, triggering a small gold rush and an outpost settlement known as Denali. The original diggings and settlement are long gone. Over the past century, various mining operations recovered about 495,000 ounces of gold from the rich deposits along the creek. Active mining last took place in the 1990s, but new operators are exploring the site.
