Alaska 1950's Air Force and FBI plan to fight a Russian invasion including hidden coin caches

Operation Washtub: How the Air Force and FBI Recruited Alaskans to Resist a Soviet Invasion

From 1951 to 1959, the FBI and Air Force ran Operation Washtub, a covert program that trained bush pilots, trappers, hunters and miners to operate as covert agents if Soviet paratroopers ever landed in Anchorage or Fairbanks

The program scattered survival caches across Alaska's frozen landscape, hidden in caves, remote cabins, buried underground, or tucked into distant forests.

Inside these hidden stockpiles were tools for both survival and espionage.

Agents would find .30-06 semiautomatic rifles with telescopic sights, small-caliber pistols fitted with silencers, 150 feet of climbing rope, commercial skis, snowshoes, radio equipment, explosives to destroy evidence, and $500 in gold or silver coins for bartering.

Military.Com news article:
https://www.military.com/daily-news/investigations-and-features/2025/10/29/operation-washtub-when-air-force-and-fbi-trained-alaskans-fight-soviets.html

United States $20 1898-S
The 1898 coins were supposedly minted from Alaskan gold.