The ancient Egyptians believed that the flesh of the sun god Ra was pure gold. In the 1600s, tales of “El Dorado,” a city in South America allegedly constructed from gold, caused explorers to criss-cross the globe in search of this fabled legend. Most returned empty-handed, if they returned at all. And just over 100 years ago, the frenzied stampede to Alaska brought thousands of people to the shores of Nome in search of glittering nuggets. Our obsession with gold spans across every age and continent, seducing and luring individuals to leave family, travel to unknown lands, and risk it all in search of this shiny, yellow metal. And so begins the tale of Betty Krutzsch-Johnson, a part-time Nome resident since the 1960s. Betty was born in Colorado and her upbringing is something reminiscent of a Charles Dickens novel. When she was 11, Betty and her siblings were taken away from their mother and placed in a state run orphanage. Her older brother had gotten into trouble with the local police because of sneaking into abandoned mines and using left over dynamite to blow things up. Betty’s father wasn’t involved in the family and the courts deemed her mother to be unfit. The State of Colorado determined the best place for Betty and her younger siblings was in an orphanage. Like many orphanages at the time, conditions were tough and there was little protection for the children. But Betty is a survivor and what she endured during her childhood helped create a strong, formidable woman.
In 1963, Betty’s second husband, August, bought 147 acres of land for $2,000 in a tax lien sale from the state of Alaska. The land was outside the town of Nome, a place 100 miles from the Arctic Circle on the edge of the Bering Sea. The purchase included 5 claims that dated back to the Nome gold rush. In 1898, gold was found in the Anvil Creek outside of Nome. The first prospectors to descend upon the small fishing village were seasoned miners from the Klondike gold field. As gold fever spread, thousands rushed to Nome by way of dog sled, walking, and even riding bikes down the frozen Yukon river to the Bering Sea. In less than a year, this barren tundra grew from a population of a few hundred to over 10,000, complete with restaurants, tent hotels, and 100 saloons. By the time the rest of the world found out about Nome, most of the claims around the creek had already been staked.
Then, according to legend, a soldier sent to Nome to help keep the peace ran his hand through the sand on the beach and discovered gold. The beach was named “poor man’s paradise” because everyday men and women could easily pan for gold with very little equipment. In a short time period, 30 miles of tents dotted the treeless coastline along Nome’s windswept shores.
After August died in 1988, Betty sold her home and went into the mining business. This caused quite a stir as a woman mining the land was unheard of. “People said women couldn’t do the job because they were too weak, too unskilled, too fragile.” But Betty, along with her son August Jr., Augie for short, held firm and mined their property outside of Nome. One of their claims, named “snowflake,” covers the top of a hill and is the first place to receive snow. Another claim has the illustrious title of “Caribou Bill,” allegedly named after Bill, who ate a whole lot of caribou. Almost all the claims are close to Anvil Creek, where the first discovery of gold ricochetted throughout America. During the gold rush, claim-jumping was prevalent. This is when someone stakes a land claim on top of another person’s established claim and then holds it by force. Today, claim-jumping involves expensive lawyers and the courts. “You won’t believe what happens to people when they think of gold. Gold can turn people into something you don’t like,” says Betty, and that is exactly what happened after August died. Thinking that because she was a woman and a recent widow, three men moved in to jump her claims.
“But these guys didn't know my history. They didn’t know what a fighter I was, and I was going to fight them until my dying breath." It took two years and most of her money, but in the end, she had the land, the claims, and the respect of Nome, who called her “Queen of the Mountain.”
In 1992, Betty married Victor, a meat cutter in San Diego County. Each summer, Betty and her son would travel back to Nome to mine while Victor stayed in California, causing Betty to tell people they were married for only six months out of the year. During the winter months, Betty goes back to California to give school-age children presentations on panning for gold along with pearls of wisdom for girls such as, “Beware of men who say they want to help you anyway they can. The only thing they want to help is themselves!”
In 2012, Betty used her savings to begin the Alaska Gold & Resort, LLC, also called AKAU Resort. AK is the state abbreviation and AU stands for the chemical composition of gold. The resort is a folksy experience set in the middle of Alaska’s finest land, where guests can dine on hearty meals, enjoy outdoor activities, and try their luck at striking it rich. During the resort's first year, she started with four rooms, a little kitchen, a sunroom, and plenty of hospitality. But when a few guests hit a glory hole and found 30 ounces of gold and a 4 1/2 ounce nugget, the place took off. Today, she has 10 rooms, four cabins, and over 200 guests who visit the property from June through mid-September. Along with hiking, fishing, history tours, and gold panning, guests can also just sit in the sunroom with its expansive windows and enjoy the wildlife. The area is home to herds of musk ox and their babies, as well as fox, deer, and eagles. All gold panning equipment is included in the stay's price, while other equipment, such as metal detectors, is free for the first day and then $50 a day thereafter. The one thing you won’t find at the resort is a TV or a computer. “We have some of the best guests that come from all over the world. They come to get away from the busyness of their life and when they are here, they just want to soak in the uninterrupted beauty of Alaska.” When guests find gold, they can choose to sell it to Betty, who takes a 10% deduction, or take it home and use it as a paperweight, as one guest did when he found a 7.2 ounce gold nugget. Even though most guests find gold, it is the friendliness of the resort, and Betty’s love for each guest, that truly sets AKAU apart from other resorts. Her motto is “Come as a client, leave as a friend.” However, the true Alaskan treasure is not the gold, it is Betty.
For more information vis AKAUgold.com
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