5 miles to go and take a break! Pete is on a equal Run/Rest strategy so I anticipate he will take his 8 hours in Ruby like everyone else has and head towards Galena in the morning.
Pete has been on mining roads for the last 40 or so miles. This is really the last road he’ll see until he gets quite a bit closer to Nome.
Ruby is 497 trail miles from Nome and the finish.
How ’bout a bit of Ruby trivia: (Wikipedia)
History
Riverboats on the Yukon River at Ruby, Alaska during the town’s heyday
The town of Ruby was established in 1911 as the result of a gold rush. Gold was first discovered at the current townsite in 1906 on Ruby Creek. That discovery brought more prospectors to the area. In 1910 word leaked out about a gold strike on Long Creek, 30 miles south of Ruby, and a stampede was on. Discoveries on other nearby creeks followed and Ruby became the supply point for the mines.
At its peak the population was near 3000. By 1918 The town was in decline. Many of the men had left to fight in WWI and several of the towns business people and their families were lost in the sinking of the ship Sophia.
A fire in 1929 destroyed much of the business district and a flood in 1931 took out what was left of buildings on the river front.
After WWII the population of the community had left. Natives from the village of Kokrines moved in to take advantage of the abandoned homes. There are currently less than 200 people living in Ruby.
Noted people
- Emmitt Peters– Last rookie to win the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
The largest gold nugget ever found in Alaska(294.10 Troy Ounces)was found near Ruby, Alaska in 1998.
