El Dorado Gold Mine

"Great gold mine tour"

We loved taking this tour of a gold mine with our 4 kids and grandparents.  My 1 and 3 year old loved riding the train and were contained and content for the 30 minute ride and presentation.  My 7 and 9 year old also loved the train and were able to see and hear the presentations and actually learn about how gold was mined in the early 1900s.  My husband and I enjoyed sitting down and relaxing and appreciated the live feed video in each train car, the professional actor who worked in the mine and explained important facts.  I especially loved the conductor who played his fiddle and guitar and sang some good old country songs about "going north to Alaska".  He was a pro!

After the train ride, we got out and sat by the sluice boxes while Yukon Yolanda and her husband explained how gold is extracted from the dirt.  Then several workers demonstrated how to use the gold pans to reveal the flecks of gold in every bag of dirt.  

Then came the fun part... we got to pan our own gold!  My kids really enjoyed swishing the dirt and rocks in the water, even though my 3 year old dashed himself with water.  We found quite a few flakes!  The workers guarantee each bag and will continue to give you new bags of pay dirt until you find gold.  

Once we found our gold and stashed it in the provided plastic cups, we wandered into the large and beautiful gift shop where free cookies, water, hot chocolate and coffee were waiting.  My kids were in heaven.  We had our gold weighed and we had a combined total of $70 worth in gold between 6 people.  Pretty cool!

This company, owned by the Binkley family, is an excellent and professional tour group.  We felt welcomed and enjoyed each part of the tour... especially the cookies.