Seek and You Shall Find

Is that rock you kicked out of the trail the other day just another rock or was it a copper or gold nugget, a meteorite or a skin scraper chipped out by ancient man?

It may be difficult to tell on the spot what a particular object is, but it is certain that one will never know without looking and thinking. Interesting objects are not that difficult to find especially in Alaska, where it is easy to walk ground little trod by modern man or perhaps never walked upon at all.

Almost any man-made or man-worked object found along the trail or on the beach can be an item of interest. The North is kind to objects of bone, wood, metal and stone, much kinder than regions farther south where water and plants and other life forms work more rapidly to cause rust and decay.

Iron objects do deteriorate rapidly near saltwater, but perhaps it's not impossible to still find remnants of the old whaling days on Alaska's northern and western shores. The early mining days are now removed far enough in time to make finds of implements interesting, at least to the finder.

Places where the soil is newly disturbed by water, wind or human activity are potential sites for finding artifacts. The fact that these are protected by state and federal law in no way detracts from the thrill of finding them. Suspected finds can be reported to the University of Alaska or to various state and federal agencies.