YUKON-CHARLEY RIVERS The World Turned Upside Down: A History of Mining on Coal Creek and Woodchopper Creek, Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, Alaska

1 Gold Placers, Inc., General Ledger Books, located in the Patty Collection, University of Alaska — Fairbanks, Rasmuson Library, Alaska-Polar Regions Archives. These books contain annual accounting records for both companies. They list each person working on the crew, their position, wage scale or salary, amount of taxes paid, room and board, etc. This source provides an interesting insight into the accounting structure of the company.

2 Gold Placers, Inc., General Ledger Book, 1950.

3 Dale Patty to Douglas Beckstead, letter, May 8, 1998.

4 Gold Placers, Inc., General Ledger Book, (1954).

5 Dale Patty, personal communications, May 25, 1999 and July 20, 1999.

6 Karen Patty, unpublished memoirs, copy in Mrs. Patty's possession, p. 1.

7 Karen Patty, unpublished memoirs, copy in Mrs. Patty's possession, p. 2.

8 Karen Patty, unpublished memoirs, copy in Mrs. Patty's possession, p. 2.

9 Karen Patty, unpublished memoirs, copy in Mrs. Patty's possession, p. 2; and Dale Patty, lecture given to the Eagle Historical Society, July 18, 1998, Eagle, Alaska.

10 Dale was in Okinawa with the Army the previous year.

11 Dale Patty, personal communication, December 19, 1998; and Karen Patty, unpublished memoirs, copy in Mrs. Patty's possession, p. 3.

12 Water rams are an inexpensive, creative way to pump water. These semi-efficient pumps use the force of running water to pump water up an elevation. With six feet of drop you can pump water 100 feet up a hill. A Frenchman created the first self-acting water ram over a century ago. The pumps were celebrated as an easy, efficient and cheap means of pumping water without any electricity. All that was needed was flowing water, pipe, and the pump. Ads were produced in which water rams, and large amounts of pipe, sold for just a few dollars. These pumps are now quite common in the rural areas in Washington, Oregon, and Northern California. (Source: http://members.tripod.com/~dberger/index).

13 Karen Patty, unpublished memoirs, copy in Mrs. Patty's possession, p. 6.

14 Dale Patty, personal communication, July 20, 1999.

15 The Jones Act was intended to help the east coast transportation industry. It essentially prevented foreign flagged, or registered, vessels from picking up passengers on the American side of the border and then dropping them off on the American side of the boarder. At the time it was passed Alaska did not have the clout in Congress to prevent it from applying to transportation on the Yukon River below Dawson where the White Pass & Yukon Route operated its Canadian flagged steamboats. The end result, for Alaska, was that the Jones Act destroyed the in-place transportation industry on the Yukon.

16 Dale Patty, "Gold Placers Incorporated, Operating Report" (1954), 1.

17 Dale Patty, personal communication, May 25, 1999.

18 Karen Patty, unpublished memoirs, copy in Mrs. Patty's possession, pp. 5-6.

19 "Tundra Topics" is a communication service unique to Alaska. People living beyond telephone access can get messages broadcast via AM radio stations at set times throughout the day. The messages come through in a format such as "To Jim and Donna on May Creek. Mom and Dad will be arriving next Tuesday. Hope all is well with you." Because the messages go out over the radio waves, there is no privacy at all. Since most of Alaska is still without cellular phone coverage, "Tundra Topics" or "Caribou Clatter" (depending on the station transmitting the messages) is still a dependable means of communcation, even in the 21st century.

20 Patty, unpublished memoirs, copy in Mrs. Patty's possession, p 7.

21 Location Notices, Circle Mining District, Book 3 (1907-09), pp. 49-51. Dale Patty, personal communication, July 20, 1999.

22 Dale F. Patty, "Coal Creek and Woodchopper Mining," June 12, 1998, unpublished manuscript in author's possession. Dale Patty, interview, July 19, 1998, Coal Creek, Alaska.

23 Cleanup values are compiled from the Annual Reports for Gold Placers Inc. and Alluvial Golds Inc. See Appendices B & C for actual figures.

24 Dale F. Patty, "Coal Creek and Woodchopper Mining," June 12, 1998, unpublished manuscript in author's possession, p. 15.

25 Data was compiled from various Annual Operating Reports for Gold Placers Inc. See Appendix B for complete cleanup tabulations.

26 Gold Placers Inc. and Alluvial Golds Inc. both ceased operations in 1960. The ground was leased to Mr. Ted Mathews of Fairbanks in 1961 and 1962 during which time he only operated the dredge on Woodchopper Creek.

27 The Board of Directors decided that $229,653.21 was the cut-off point for making a profit versus paying the higher tax liabilities for continuing the operation beyond mid-September. (Dale Patty, "Gold Placers Incorporated, Operating Report" (1954), 1.)

28 Dead work consists primarily of maintenance activities on the dredge, the camp and other equipment and machinery. It is essentially that work necessary to support a mining operation, without actually mining.

29 This required miles of corduroy (logs laid perpendicular to the roadway to help "bridge" boggy parts) and filling with new gravel. The barrow areas where the crews dug the "gravel" fill (actually a type of shale) are still visible at several places along the road. Dale later commented that he had often thought "why hadn't they just abandoned the upper road and moved it to the valley below instead of constantly trying to maintain it year after year."

30 Dale F. Patty, "Coal Creek and Woodchopper Mining," June 12, 1998, unpublished manuscript in author's possession, pp. 15-16.

31 Dale Patty, "Gold Placers Incorporated, Operating Report" (1954), 3.

32 Dale Patty, "Gold Placers Incorporated, Operating Report" (1954), 3.

33 Dale Patty, personal communication, July 20, 1999.

34 Dale Patty, "Gold Placers Incorporated, Operating Report" (1954), 4.

35 Karen Patty, unpublished memoirs, copy in Mrs. Patty's possession, p 15.

36 Dale Patty, "Gold Placers Incorporated, Operating Report" (1955), 5; and Karen Patty, unpublished memoirs, copy in Mrs. Patty's possession, p 16.

37 Dale F. Patty, "Coal Creek and Woodchopper Mining," June 12, 1998, unpublished manuscript in author's possession, p 16.

38 Dale Patty, personal communication, July 21, 1990.

39 It was not uncommon to have the dredge freeze before the last cleanup could be carried out. The gold left frozen on the sluices would be cleaned up the following spring and the income would be used to carry the operation through until the second cleanup (which was actually the first for gravels processed that season). This practice helped avoid taking out loans from the bank to finance each new season.

40 Dale Patty, "Gold Placers Incorporated, Operating Report" (1955), 2.

41 Dale Patty, personal communication, July 21, 1999.

42 Dale Patty, "Gold Placers Incorporated, Operating Report" (1955), 5.

43 An Athey wagon is pulled behind a CAT. Instead of having wheels or runners, it has tracks similar to those found on a CAT. The remains of the wagon are located a few hundred yards upstream from where the Coal Creek dredge now sits, on the west side of the road.

44 Dale Patty, personal communication, July 21, 1999.

45 Although the "Gold Placers Incorporated, Operating Report (1955)" states that a 5,000 gallon tank was installed on the beach, Dale Patty recollects it being considerably larger. He remembered it as being "8,000 to 10,000 gallons in size." Dale Patty, personal communication, July 21, 1999.

46 Dale Patty, "Gold Placers Incorporated, Operating Report" (1955), 2. The statement "provided the mines are operating" is a significant one at this juncture. Such a comment had never been written into official company documents prior to 1955.

47 Dale F. Patty, "Coal Creek and Woodchopper Mining," June 12, 1998, unpublished manuscript in author's possession, p 5.

48 Dale Patty, "Gold Placers Incorporated, Operating Report" (1955), 5.

49 Dale Patty, "Gold Placers Incorporated, Operating Report, General Statement," (1956), 1.

50 Dale Patty, "Gold Placers Incorporated, Operating Report, General Statement," (1956), 1. Karen Patty, unpublished memoirs, copy in Mrs. Patty's possession, p 19. Dale F. Patty, "Coal Creek and Woodchopper Mining," June 12, 1998, unpublished manuscript in author's possession, p 16. Dale Patty, personal communication, July 21, 1999.

51 Dale Patty, "Gold Placers Incorporated, Operating Report, General Statement," (1956), 1; Dale Patty, personal communication, May 25, 1999; and Dale Patty, interview, July 19, 1998.

52 Dale Patty, personal communication, July 21, 1999.

53 Dale Patty, "Gold Placers Incorporated, Operating Report, General Statement," (1956), 1, 6.

54 Although "Susie" is generally considered a feminine name, in this case, it is masculine. Susie's Native name was "Soo-suh" (phonetic spelling) which was in turn familiarized to Susie.

55 Karen Patty, unpublished memoirs, copy in Mrs. Patty's possession, p 20.

56 Dale Patty, lecture given to the Eagle Historical Society, July 18, 1998, Eagle, Alaska.

57 Dale F. Patty, "Coal Creek and Woodchopper Mining," June 12, 1998, unpublished manuscript in author's possession, p 17

58 According to Dale, the twins "would rock and move all over the mess hall. Sometimes I think they were the entertainment for the crew every night at dinner." Dale Patty, personal communication, July 21, 1999.

59 Karen Patty, unpublished memoirs, copy in Mrs. Patty's possession, p 17-18.

60 Dale Patty, personal communication, July 21, 1999.

61 Dale Patty, "Alluvial Golds Incorporated, Operating Report," (1956), 1.

62 Dale Patty, "Gold Placers Incorporated, Operating Report, General Statement," (1956), 6-7.

63 Dale Patty, personal communication, July 21, 1999.

64 Dale Patty, "Gold Placers Incorporated, Operating Report, General Statement," (1956), 7.

65 A chinook is warm, moist wind, generally originating from the ocean that causes a rapid increase in temperature during the winter. After a short time, temperatures generally fall and return to normal.

66 Dale Patty, interview at Coal Creek, Alaska, July 19,1998.

67 Dale Patty, "Gold Placers Incorporated, Operating Report, General Statement," (1957), 1.

68 Dale Patty, personal communication, July 22, 1999.

69 As noted earlier, the dredge shut down early in 1954 because of the very high values it was digging in an attempt to reduce the tax liability the company would have faced had it continued. In 1954, the dredge only worked for 116 days and yet had the seventh highest production value ($236,664.23) of the entire history of both Alluvial Golds Inc. and Gold Placers Inc. Factoring in this year's figures skews the average unnecessarily.

70 Karen Patty, unpublished memoirs, copy in Mrs. Patty's possession, p. 24.

71 Karen Patty, unpublished memoirs, copy in Mrs. Patty's possession, p. 24.

72 Dale Patty, "Gold Placers Incorporated, Operating Report, General Statement," (1957), 1.

73 Dale Patty, Interview at Coal Creek, Alaska, July 19, 1998.

74 Freeboard is the distance between the gunwales of a boat and the water. It measures the area above the water.

75 Dale Patty, personal communication, June 15, 1999.

76 Dale Patty, personal communication, July 22, 1999.

77 Dale Patty later stated, "After we bulldozed below the dredge to get as much drop as possible, we broke the dike in front of the dredge with as big a hole as possible to reduce the water level as soon as possible. The only reason we did not break the dike earlier, was that we had to doze out the area below the dredge first so the water level would go down enough for us to pump out the pontoons." Dale Patty, personal communication, July 22, 1999.

78 Karen Patty, unpublished memoirs, copy in Mrs. Patty's possession.

79 Dale Patty, personal communciation, July 22, 1999.

80 A cofferdam is a temporary watertight enclosure built in the water and pumped dry to expose the bottom so that construction, such as piers, may be undertaken. It is also a watertight chamber attached to a ship's side to facilitate underwater repairs. In this case, the cofferdams allowed the crew to pump water out of the pontoons even though they were still submerged.

81 Dale Patty, Interview at Coal Creek, Alaska, July 19, 1998.

82 Dale Patty, "Gold Placers Incorporated, Operating Report, Dredging," (1955), 5.

83 Karen Patty, unpublished memoirs, copy in Mrs. Patty's possession, p. 25.

84 Karen Patty, unpublished memoirs, copy in Mrs. Patty's possession, pp. 21-22.

85 Karen Patty, unpublished memoirs, copy in Mrs. Patty's possession, p. 24.

86 Karen Patty, unpublished memoirs, copy in Mrs. Patty's possession, p. 24.

87 Dale Patty, personal communication, July 22, 1999.

88 Karen Patty, unpublished memoirs, copy in Mrs. Patty's possession, pp. 20-22.

89 Karen Patty, unpublished memoirs, copy in Mrs. Patty's possession, p 26.

90 Information contained in these tables was found in a hand written ledger page the "1957 Annual Operating Report for Gold Placers, Inc. and Alluvial Golds, Inc." The original ledger also includes a breakdown for the dredge operations costs and dredge repair costs. This information was not included in this table. Annual value of gold and silver production for the years 1952-57 was collected from the appropriate annual reports.

91 Ernest Patty, "Gold Placers, Inc. and Alluvial Golds, Inc., Review of the 1957 Operations on Coal Creek and Plans for 1958," 2. Dale Patty, personal communication, July 22, 1999.

92 Information contained in these tables was found in a hand written ledger page the "1957 Annual Operating Report for Gold Placers, Inc. and Alluvial Golds, Inc." The original ledger also includes a breakdown for the dredge operations costs and dredge repair costs. This information was not included in this table. Annual value of gold and silver production for the years 1952-57 was collected from the appropriate annual reports.

93 There is a discrepancy between the figure presented in the original accounting ledger and the narrative annual report. The ledger lists 280,000 cubic yards while the 1957 "Annual Report, General Statement," (page 1) states 305,200 cubic yards. The larger figure is presented here as it appears in several other documents as well.

94 Ernest Patty, "Gold Placers, Inc. and Alluvial Golds, Inc., Review of the 1957 Operations on Coal Creek and Plans for 1958," 1 and Dale Patty, "Gold Placers, Incorporated and Alluvial Golds Incorporated, 'Operating Reports, 1957'," 5.

95 Ernest N. Patty, "Alluvial Golds Incorporated and Gold Placers Incorporated: Report of the President, 1960," p. 3.

96 Dale F. Patty, "Coal Creek and Woodchopper Mining," June 12, 1998, unpublished manuscript in author's possession, p 16.

97 David Hopkins later became a professor of geology at the University of Alaska campus in Fairbanks. He is very well known and highly respected for his work on Alaskan geology.

98 Karen Patty, unpublished memoirs, copy in Mrs. Patty's possession, p. 28.

99 Dale F. Patty, "Coal Creek and Woodchopper Mining," June 12, 1998, unpublished manuscript in author's possession, p 17.

100 Dale Patty, "The Patty Family at Coal Creek," talk presented to the Eagle Historical Society, July 18, 1998 and Dale F. Patty, "Coal Creek and Woodchopper Mining," June 12, 1998, unpublished manuscript in author's possession, p 4.

101 The story about Martin Adamik's death is reported at length in Chapter 2 of this book.

102 Karen Patty, unpublished memoirs, copy in Mrs. Patty's possession, p 2.

103 Dale F. Patty, "Coal Creek and Woodchopper Mining," unpublished manuscript in author's possession, p. 18.

104 Dale F. Patty, "Alluvial Golds Incorporated and Gold Placers Incorporated, Operating Reports," (1958), 3.

105 According to Karen Patty, the crew found ice in the pontoons at the end of June. (Karen Patty, unpublished memoirs, copy in Mrs. Patty's possession, p. 32.)

106 An Athey wagon is a wagon that rides on tracks, similar to those on a CAT. It is pulled behind a CAT rather than being self-propelled. The remains of the wagon in question are located near the dredge on Coal Creek, across the trail and upstream approximately 200 yards.

107 Dale F. Patty, "Coal Creek and Woodchopper Mining," unpublished manuscript in author's possession, 18. By 1958 the number of positions at the camp were reduced to the manager, one CAT driver, a cook, a waitress, mechanic, accountant and the dredge crew consisting of three 3-man crews for a total of 15 people.

108 Dale F. Patty, "Alluvial Golds Incorporated and Gold Placers Incorporated, Operating Reports," (1958), 3.

109 Dale F. Patty, "Alluvial Golds Incorporated and Gold Placers Incorporated, Operating Reports," (1958), 1.

110 Dale F. Patty, "Alluvial Golds Incorporated and Gold Placers Incorporated, Operating Reports," (1958), 1.

111 Dale F. Patty, "Alluvial Golds Incorporated and Gold Placers Incorporated, Operating Reports," (1958), 1.

112 Ernest N. Patty, "Report to the Directors of Alluvial Golds Inc." (1958), 1-3.

113 Figures compiled from Ernest N. Patty, "Report to the Directors of Alluvial Golds Inc." (1958), 1-4.

114 See Figure 9-1.

115 Dale Patty, interview at Coal Creek, Alaska, July 19, 1935.

116 Dale Patty, personal communication, dated May 25, 1999.

117 Ernest N. Patty, "Gold Placers, Inc. and Alluvial Golds, Inc., Review of 1957 Operations on Coal Creek and Plans for 1958," p. 2.

118 Karen Patty, unpublished memoirs, copy in Mrs. Patty's possession, p. 34.

119 Dale Patty, personal communication, July 26, 1999.

120 Ernest N. Patty, "Alluvial Golds, Inc. President's Report to Directors, 1959," p. 1.

121 Ernest N. Patty, "Alluvial Golds, Inc. President's Report to Directors, 1959," p. 1.

122 Ernest N. Patty, "Alluvial Golds, Inc. President's Report to Directors, 1959," p. 2.

123 Ernest N. Patty, "Alluvial Golds, Inc. President's Report to Directors, 1959," p. 2-4.

124 Ernest N. Patty, "Alluvial Golds, Inc. President's Report to Directors, 1959," p. 4.

125 The Fairbanks Exploration Company came under the auspices of USSRM Co.

126 General A.D. McRae had died in 1948 after which his wife assumed his position as majority stockholder in the company.

127 Ernest N. Patty, "Alluvial Golds Incorporated: President's Report to Directors, 1959," p. 5.

128 Ernest N. Patty, "Alluvial Golds Incorporated and Gold Placers Incorporated: Report of the President, 1960," p. 1.

129 Ernest N. Patty, "Alluvial Golds Incorporated and Gold Placers Incorporated: Report of the President, 1960," p. 2.

130 Ernest N. Patty, "Alluvial Golds Incorporated and Gold Placers Incorporated: Report of the President, 1960," p. 2.

131 Dale F. Patty, "Coal Creek and Woodchopper Mining," June 12, 1998, unpublished manuscript in author's possession, p 19.

132 Dale F. Patty, "Coal Creek and Woodchopper Mining," June 12, 1998, unpublished manuscript in author's possession, p 19.

133 Ernest N. Patty, "Alluvial Golds Incorporated and Gold Placers Incorporated: Report of the President, 1960," p 2.

134 Ernest N. Patty, "Alluvial Golds Incorporated and Gold Placers Incorporated: Report of the President, 1960," p 2.

135 Dale F. Patty, "Coal Creek and Woodchopper Mining," June 12, 1998, unpublished manuscript in author's possession, p 19.