I had to google what gopher was...
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2009/11/the-web-may-have-won-but-gopher-tunnels-on/
I remember going using gopher yo look stuff up. If you really want to ferret out old timers, ask about ‘archie’, ‘jughead’, and ‘veronica’ searches. Of the 3 veronica was by far the most advanced. For doing compound searches. First ‘web’ site I ever saw was some cartography site run by a university. I think I still have the bookmark for it, but it is long since dead.