We are planning an exhibition entitled "Gold Fever in the North" in
commemoration of the gold rushes to the Yukon and Alaska 100 years ago
(for the summer of 1997.)  We are planning some hands on activities
within the galleries.  I wonder if any of you science or children's
museums have any experience demonstrating the properties of taking gold
out of gravel (the placer mining method) using something other than gold,
gravel and water.  We want to do this is a carpeted space too far away
from water.  Could we use rice and buckshot?  Garbanzo beans and pea
gravel? We're looking for the principal of running something through a
rocker box and having the desired stuff caught in the riffles.
    Impress me with your ingenuity!
     Diane Brenner
     Anchorage Museum
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