Last Chance Mining Museum

and walk a short way across the bridge over beautiful Gold Creek and up the hill. The museum is in an original turn-of-the-century building (which has no heat, so dress warmly). The site houses what had been, in 1914, the world's largest air compressor, used to power tools in the more than 100 miles of tunnels inside Mt. That and other cutting edge technology made Juneau the most productive low-grade gold mining area in the world: more than 7 million ounces were produced -- and about half that much silver. Original equipment, documents, and photos bring alive the earliest years of an industry that shaped the history of the town that is today Alaska's bustling and beautiful capital.