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WRANGELL-ST. ELIAS
A History of the Chisana Mining District, Alaska, 1890-1990 |
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ENDNOTES
INTRODUCTION
1 David Wharton, The Alaska Gold Rush (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1972), 3-5; William R. Hunt, North of 53°: The Wild Days of the Alaska-Yukon Mining Frontier 1870-1914 (New York: Macmillian Publishing Company, Inc., 1974), passim.
2 Gold Hill alone retains over two hundred historically significant mining features. For a specific breakdown, see Geoffrey Bleakley, "Gold Hill Historic Mining District," draft National Register Nomination, historic files, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Copper Center, Alaska (hereafter cited WRST).
3 Mark J. Kirchhoff, "Shushanna: Alaska's Last Great Rush," Alaska Geographic 16, no. 3 (1989): 68.
4 See, for example, Pierre Berton, The Klondike Fever. The Life and Death of the Last Great Gold Rush (New York: Alfred A Knopf, 1958), 101-04.
5 John D. Hicks, The Populist Revolt. A History of the Farmers' Alliance and the People's Party (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1961), 322.
6 Richard Hofstadter, ed., The Progressive Movement, 1900-1915 (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1963), 2.
7 John D. Hicks, "Populist Origins," in Arthur Mann, ed., The Progressive Era. Liberal Renaissance or Liberal Failure? (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1963), 18.
8 George E. Mowry, The Era of Theodore Roosevelt and the Birth of Modern America (New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1958), 3.
9 Elizabeth A. Tower, "Hazelet's High Road to Chisana: Tapping a Gold Mine for Cordova," Alaska History 6, no. 2 (Fall 1991): 2. Hazelet was widely recognized as the discoverer of gold in the Chistochina district. In 1905 he had helped organize the Copper River and Northwestern Railway. He had helped found Cordova in 1908, later serving as the community's first mayor. Evangeline Atwood and Robert N. DeArmond, Who's Who in Alaska Politics (Anchorage: Alaska Historical Commission, 1977), 42; Ed Ferrell, Biographies of Alaska-Yukon Pioneers, 1850-1950 (Bowie, Maryland: Heritage Books, Inc., 1994), 134.
10 Ernest Gruening, The State of Alaska. A Definitive History of America's Northernmost Frontier (New York: Random House, 1954), 208.
11 Lewis Green, The Gold Hustlers. Dredging the Klondike, 1898-1966 (Vancouver: Dacher Printing Ltd., 1994), 99.
12 Hudson Stuck, Voyages on the Yukon and Its Tributaries (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1917), 383; Clarence C. Hulley, Alaska, 1741-1953 (Portland: Binfords and Mort, Publishers, 1953), 282.
CHAPTER ONE
1 The Upper Tanana word "Chisana" is usually translated as "red river." Donald J. Orth, Dictionary of Alaska Place Names, USGS Professional Paper 567 (Washington: GPO, 1971), 213. For the arguments over its pronunciation, see Appendix One.
2 Fred John, "Mendaes Nenn' Shallows Lake Country," in James Kari, ed., Tatl'ahwt'aenn Nenn' The Headwaters People's Country (Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center, 1986), 200-01; Jack John Justin, "Naabia Tl'aat Upper Nabesna River," in ibid, 208-11; Frederica de Laguna and Catharine McClellan, "Ahtna," in June Helm, ed., Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 6, Subarctic (Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1981), 641; Catharine McClellan, "Tutchone," in ibid, 494; Robert A. McKennan, "Tanana," in ibid, 564; Holly Reckord, Where Raven Stood: Cultural Resources of the Ahtna Region, Occasional Paper No. 35 (Fairbanks: Cooperative Park Studies Unit, 1983), 238-39.
3 Charles W. Hayes, "An Expedition through the Yukon District," National Geographic Magazine 4 (May 1892): 143-45.
4 S. E. Harrrison, "Great Copper Zone in Alaska," Alaska-Yukon Magazine 3, no. 4 (1907): 339; Ibid, "Alaskan Copper," Alaska-Yukon Magazine 4, no. 6 (1908): 452. It was Bratnober who later convinced the Guggenheim brothers to finance the Copper River and Northwestern Railway. Elizabeth A. Tower, ed., "Railroad Fever in Valdez, 1898-1907: An Account by George C. Hazelet," Alaska History 9, no. 2 (Fall 1994): 34.
5 Stephen R. Capps, The Chisana-White River District Alaska, USGS Bulletin No. 630 (Washington: GPO, 1916), 90; Dalton's cabin still stood in August 1918, when it was visited by a big-game hunting party sponsored by the Colorado Museum of Natural History. J. A. McGuire, In the Alaska-Yukon Gamelands (Cincinnati: Stewart Kidd Company, 1921), 106. One of Alaska's foremost pathfinders, Dalton established a trading post in the Yukon Territory in 1894, eventually building his famous "Dalton Trail" over Chilkat Pass to connect it with the coast. In 1905 Dalton guided the surveyors locating the route for the Copper River and Northwestern Railway. Tower, "Railroad Fever in Valdez," 34.
6 Alfred H. Brooks, "A Reconnaissance in the White and Tanana River Basins, Alaska, in 1898," in U.S. Geological Survey, Twentieth Annual Report... 1898-1899, Part 7 (Washington: GPO, 1900), 433-34. For the details of Brooks's later career, see Allen Johnston, ed., Dictionary of American Biography, Vol. 3 (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1929), 72-74.
7 Alfred H. Brooks, "A Reconnaissance from Pyramid Harbor to Eagle City, Alaska, including a Description of the Copper Deposits of the Upper White and Tanana Rivers," in U.S. Geological Survey, Twenty-first Annual Report . . . 1899-1900, Part 2 (Washington: GPO, 1900), 339.
8 Oscar Rohn, "Report of Oscar Rohn on Exploration in Wrangell Mountain District," in Capt. William R. Abercrombie, ed., Alaska, 1899. Copper River Exploring Expedition (Washington: GPO, 1900), 119-27.
9 Walter C. Mendenhall and Frank C. Schrader, "Copper Deposits of the Mount Wrangell Region, Alaska," in S. F. Emmons and Charles W. Hayes, eds., Contributions to Economic Geology, 1902, USGS Bulletin No. 213 (Washington: GPO, 1903), 148; Walter C. Mendenhall and Frank C. Schrader, The Mineral Resources of the Mount Wrangell District, Alaska, USGS Professional Paper No. 15 (Washington: GPO, 1903), 45.
10 Alfred H. Brooks, "Placer Mining in Alaska in 1903," in S. F. Emmons and Charles W. Hayes, eds., Contributions to Economic Geology, 1903, USGS Bulletin No. 225 (Washington: GPO, 1904), 58-59; Capps, The Chisana-White River District, Alaska, 22.
11 Valdez News, June 20, 1903; October 3, 1903.
12 Dawson Daily News, June 22, 1905; July 24, 1905; October 3, 1905; August 6, 1913; Alaska Prospector, August 10, 1905; Fairbanks Times, September 6, 1913; Chitina Leader, January 21, 1918.
13 Dawson Daily News, August 6, 1913.
14 Fred H. Moffit and Adolph Knopf, Mineral Resources of the Nabesna-White River District, Alaska, USGS Bulletin No. 417 (Washington: GPO, 1910), 62. Placer gold is found in alluvial gravel and extracted by removing the detrital material with running water.
15 Dawson Daily News, July 29, 1913; Anchorage Daily Times, April 6, 1960; April 9, 1960. Experienced northerners called inexperienced newcomers "cheechakos," a term borrowed from Chinook jargon, the Pacific Northwest trade language.
16 Ivan R. Thorall, personal communication with Geoffrey Bleakley, August 8, 1996, Chisana, Alaska, notes in author's files.
17 Dorothy H. M. Prescott, "The Alaska Story of Fred W. Best, Vol. II," passim, Best Collection, Alaska State Library and Archives, Juneau, Alaska (hereafter cited ASL).
18 Anchorage Daily Times, April 6, 1960; April 9, 1960.
19 Fred W. Best to his parents, August 27, 1914, Best Collection, ASL.
20 Fred Best diary, September 19-December 15, 1912, passim, Best Collection, ASL.
21 Capps, The Chisana-White River District, 92. Some controversy surrounds Joe's true role in the Chisana discovery. Joe maintained that, in addition to the lode deposit, he also showed James a small quantity of placer gold, which he had earlier taken from Bonanza Creek. Several prospectors corroborated parts of Joe's story, confirming, for example, that Joe had shown them similar nuggets several months before the Chisana strike was made. James, Nelson, and Wales, however, denied Joe's claim, and provided the version of the story included here. DeLorme D. Cairnes, Upper White River District, Yukon, Geological Survey Memoir 50 (Ottawa: Canadian Department of Mines, 1915), 128.
22 Matilda Wales must have been an accomplished prospector in her own right, as she was authorized by one Dawson City miner to act in his name. Utilizing his power-of-attorney, she staked No. 1 Chicken Creek for Edward Erikson on June 30, 1913. Woodman v. Erikson, case C74, R.G. 21, Alaska District Court Records, National Archives-Alaska Region, Anchorage, Alaska.
23 Kirchhoff, "Shushanna: Alaska's Last Great Gold Rush," 48. According to Tappan Adney, the "pan" was the miner's basic measurement: two "shovelfuls" made one pan and 103 "pans" equalled one cubic yard of earth. Tappan Adney, The Klondike Stampede of 1897-1898 (New York and London: Harper and Brothers, Publishers, 1900), 231.
24 Capps, The Chisana-White River District, 92. Andy Taylor, sometimes called the "pathfinder of the White," had led International Boundary Commission parties when hey surveyed the U.S-Canadian border in 1912. In 1925 he also guided the first expedition to climb Mt. Logan, Canada's highest peak. "High Peaks of the Wrangell and Saint Elias," Alaska Geographic 8, no. 1 (1981): 103. For more on Taylor's mountaineering career, see Walter A. Wood, A History of Mountaineering in the Saint Elias Mountains (No city: Yukon Alpine Centennial Expedition, [1967]).
25 Dawson Daily News, October 9, 1913.
CHAPTER TWO
1 Dawson Daily News, June 6, 1913.
2 Seattle Post-Intelligencer, July 27, 1913; Kirchhoff, "Shushanna," 49.
3 Dawson Daily News, October 9, 1913.
4 Ibid. In the late 1920s, Whitham shifted his attention to the west, where he developed a gold lode in the Nabesna district. That operation is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Kirk W. Stanley, "Nabesna Gold Mine Historic District," National Register Nomination, 1978, copy in WRST files; David and William Tewkesbury, Tewkesbury's Who's Who in Alaska and Alaska Business Index, Vol. 1947 I (Seattle: Tewkesbury Publishers, 1947), 87.
5 Cairnes, Upper White River District, 131.
6 In 1913 Chisana gold was worth approximately $16.40 per ounce. Ibid, 132.
7 Ibid, 129; Dawson Daily News, July 28, 1913. Taylor apparently did not retain his Chisana riches: "He paid his debts, bought more supplies, then celebrated for a couple of days, and gave away, threw away and spent his share of the gold." "Andy Taylor--A Man of the Region," Alaska Geographic 8, no. 1(1981): 107.
8 Chitina Leader, July 22, 1913; Seattle Post-Intelligencer, August 11, 1913.
9 Fairbanks Times, July 20, 1913; Fred Best diary, July 17-20, 1913, Best Collection, ASL. Chisana residents renamed virtually all the streams in the vicinity, including Chavolda Creek. Miners called it "Wilson Creek," probably for pioneer prosector George Wilson.
10 See, for example, John Bufvers, "Valdez Trail Days," Bufvers Collection, ASL.
11 Cordova Daily Alaskan, July 18, 1913; Chitina Leader, July 22, 1913.
12 Dawson Daily News, August 1, 1913. During the gold rush era, the Upper Tanana name "Chisana" was usually transliterated as either "Shushanna" or "Shushana."
13 For a first-hand account, see Ruben Lindblom, "A Cheechaka's First Stampede," typed manuscript in historical files, WRST.
14 Cordova Daily Alaskan, July 21, 1913.
15 Alaska Daily Dispatch, August 5, 1913.
16 Seattle Post-Intelligencer, July 29, 1913.
17 Seattle Times, August 7, 1913.
18 Vancouver Sun, August 9, 1913.
19 Weekly Star (Whitehorse), August 1, 1913.
20 Fairbanks Times, July 26, 1913.
21 Ibid, July 12, 1913. The first permanent trader on the upper Tanana River, Newton opened a store at Healy River in 1907. After moving part of his operations to Tanana Crossing in 1912, he established caches at both Tetlin and the mouth of the Nabesna River. William E. Simeone, Rifles, Blankets, and Beads: Identity, History, and the Northern Athapaskan Potlatch (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1995), 28.
22 Fairbanks Times, July 12, 1913.
23 Ibid, July 13, 1913; July 22, 1913; Valdez Miner, July 20, 1913; Dawson Daily News, July 30, 1913; August 6, 1913.
24 Ibid; Fairbanks Times, September 2, 1913; September 12, 1913; September 25, 1913. For an exhaustive examination of early traffic on the Nabesna and Chisana Rivers, see Terrence M. Cole, Historic Use of the Chisana and Nabesna Rivers, Alaska (Anchorage: Alaska Department of Natural Resources, 1979).
25 Fairbanks Times, August 15, 1913; August 28, 1913.
26 Ibid, October 8, 1913; Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, May 19, 1914. Hudson Stuck lists six boats that were wrecked while trying to ascend the Tanana River during the Chisana stampede: the Koyukuk, the Dusty Diamond, the S. and S., the Atlas, the Tetlin, and the Samson. Stuck, Voyages on the Yukon and Its Tributaries, 306-07.
27 Dawson Daily News, August 14, 1913; Cairnes, Upper White River District, 129.
28 Weekly Star (Whitehorse), November 14, 1914.
29 Hazelet diary, July 21-31, 1913, cited in Tower, "Hazelet's High Road to Chisana," 3.
30 Ruben Lindblom, "A Cheechaka's First Stampede," 7-8. Several stampeders were less fortunate than the Lindbloms. Fairbanks resident Fred Tam, for example, drowned while trying to ford the Chitistone River on July 16. At least two others, James (or Jack) Sullivan and Dan Crowley drowned in the Nizina River during the same period. Lewis Green, The Boundary Hunters. Surveying the 141st Meridian and the Alaska Panhandle (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1982), 175; Chitina Leader, July 22, 1913; Dawson Daily News, October 23, 1913.
31 International Boundary Commission, Joint Report upon the Survey and Demarcation of the International Boundary between the United States and Canada (Ottawa and Washington: GPO, 1918), 81-82.
32 Weekly Star (Whitehorse), September 26, 1913. Riggs, a Princeton graduate who had previously participated in the Klondike gold rush, later served as governor of Alaska. Atwood and DeArmond, Who's Who in Alaska Politics, 84.
33 Weekly Star (Whitehorse), August 22, 1913.
34 Dawson Daily News, August 14, 1913.
35 While Cairnes estimated that more than fifty stampeders perished during the Chisana rush, contemporary newspapers reveal far fewer casualties. Many, however, were probably never reported. Cairnes, Upper White River District, 130.
36 Lindblom, "A Cheechaka's First Stampede," 15.
37 Mary Barry, "The Recollections of Neil Finnesand," Anchorage Today, October 29, 1975, 10.
38 Dawson Daily News, October 1, 1913; Seattle Post-Intelligencer, October 8, 1913; Weekly Star (Whitehorse), June 6, 1913; September 26, 1913.
39 Dawson Daily News, October 1, 1913.
40 Ibid, August 13, 1913. Hamshaw was financed by prominent Salt Lake City capitalist R. H. Canning, Jr. Ibid, August 20, 1913. Ground-sluicing involves the excavation of gravels by running water which is not under hydraulic pressure. In effect, it is controlled and accelerated erosion. E. D. Gardner and C. H. Johnson, Placer Mining in the Western United States, Part I, General Information, Hand-Shoveling, and Ground Sluicing, U.S. Bureau of Mines Information Circular 6786, September 1934.
41 Dawson Daily News, September 15, 1913; Rolfe Buzzell, "Big Eldorado Creek Drainage History," 2-3, typescript in historical files, WRST. Having arrived in the north prior to the Klondike rush, McKinney had led a miners' rebellion against Canada's attempts to regulate its portion of the Fortymile country in 1896. It was while working there in about 1900 that he had first become acquainted with Fred Best. Gates, Gold at Fortymile Creek, 113; Fred Best to Jack Best, January 19, 1901, Best Collection, ASL.
42 Cairnes, Upper White River District, 129-30. A "wildcat" was a speculative claim located on unproven ground.
43 Hazelet diary, July 30-31, 1913, cited in Tower, "High Road," 3.
44 Hazelet diary, August 12 and 14, 1913, cited in Tower, "High Road," 6.
45 Ibid. Ostrander, like Hazelet, was one of the founders of Cordova. Ferrell, Biographies, 243.
46 Lindblom, "A Cheechaka's First Stampede," 14.
49 Dawson Daily News, September 24, 1913; October 9, 1913; Chitina Leader, April 14, 1914. In exchange for dropping their law suit, Dubois and Brady apparently received rights to work Bonanza No. 9, which, unfortunately for them, turned out to be relatively worthless.
50 For more on Purdy, Best, and their operation of the Cassiar Roadhouse, see Fred Best to parents, June 30, 1903, Best Collection, ASL.
51 Interestingly, the Cordova jury which initially found against Sutherland was chaired by famed Klondike photographer Eric A. Hegg. William R. Hunt, Mountain Wilderness: Historic Resource Study for Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve (Anchorage: National Park Service, 1991), 102; Avalanch (McCarthy), August 19, 1916. Similar cases included C. H. Likaits v. W. E. James, J. W. Nickell and Frank H. Foster v. William A. Johnson, Frank H. Foster v. William A. Johnson, and C. H. Likaits v. William A. Johnson. Cases C72, C76, C78, and C79, Cordova Civil Docket, 1910-1938, R.G. 21, Alaska District Court Records, National Archives-Alaska Region, Anchorage, Alaska. Sutherland served as a member of the territorial Senate from 1913-1921 and as Alaska's sole delegate to the U.S. Congress from 1921-1931. Atwood and DeArmond, Who's Who in Alaskan Politics, 97.
52 Dawson Daily News, September 4, 1913.
CHAPTER THREE
1 Weekly Star (Whitehorse), August 1, 1913; Cordova Daily Alaskan, August 11, 1913; August 20, 1913; Alaska and Northwest Mining Journal 3, no. 3 (September 1913): 56; Dawson Daily News, September 17, 1913.
2 Fairbanks Times, September 29, 1913; Dawson Daily News, September 15, 1913; October 13, 1913. Contemporary newspapers reported other charges as well, including the mistaken belief that Morgan was not a citizen of the United States. Weekly Star (Whitehorse), September 19, 1913; September 26, 1913.
3 Hazelet diary, August 12 and 14, 1913, quoted in Tower, "High Road," 6.
4 Cordova Daily Alaskan, September 26, 1913. Although several contemporary newspaper articles suggest that Hazelet situated Woodrow on Chavolda (Wilson) Creek at the mouth of Glacier Creek, that location is difficult to reconcile with Hazelet's own verbal description.
5 Ibid; Dawson Daily News, October 11, 1913.
6 Cordova Daily Alaskan, September 26, 1913. At least one structure may have already have been present. O. J. Wheatly claimed that he and his partner had built a cabin near the mouth of Chathenda Creek before prospecting the rest of the district. When they returned a month later, a town had developed around their site. Alaska Weekly (Seattle), October 7, 1955. Although frontier towns were often built on mining claims (like Kennicott) or homesteads (like McCarthy), most communities established during this period were situated on official townsites. In order to create a townsite, local inhabitants had to form a townsite association, which could then obtain the property from the public domain. There is no record that any such association was ever formed in the Chisana district. Robert L. Spude, "Historic Chisana Townsite Land Claims," 1, historic files, WRST.
7 Dawson Daily News, October 23, 1913; Clarence Craig, "Post Office Ledger, Vol. II, 1908-1920," 2992, Dawson City Museum, Dawson City, Yukon Territory, Canada.
8 Fairbanks Times, October 17, 1913; Dawson Daily News, October 20, 1913.
9 Fairbanks Times, October 13, 1913.
10 Chitina Leader, October 21, 1913.
11 Cordova Daily Alaskan, September 18, 1913. Dimond later served as mayor of Valdez, a member of the territorial Senate, and from 1932 to 1945, as Alaska's sole delegate to the U.S. Congress. Atwood and DeArmond, Who's Who in Alaska Politics, 24; Tewkesbury, Who's Who in Alaska, 18.
12 Chitina Leader, September 23, 1913.
13 Anthony Dimond to George Reed, September 24, 1913, Donohoe-Ostrander-Dimond Collection, Rasmuson Library, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska (hereafter cited UAF).
14 Cordova Daily Alaskan, November 24, 1913. Hazelet knew about the passage over Nizina and Chisana Glaciers because one of his former mining partners, Arthur H. McNeer, had accompanied USGS cartographer Oscar Rohn over that route in 1899. McNeer had spent the winter of 1898-1899 prospecting with Hazelet in the Chistochina area and rejoined Hazelet in February 1900 to help develop the Chisna mine. Tower, "Hazelet's High Road to Chisana," 15, endnote 17.
15 Chitina Leader, November 11, 1913.
17 Anthony Dimond to Joseph H. Murray, December 12, 1913, Dimond Collection, Personal File, 1904-1953, box 38, UAF.
18 Dawson Daily News, January 1, 1914; January 26, 1914; Fairbanks Times, January 20, 1914; Alaska Weekly (Seattle), October 7, 1955.
19 Dawson Daily News, December 10, 1913; December 13, 1913.
20 Cordova Daily Alaskan, December 11, 1913; Weekly Star (Whitehorse), December 19, 1913. Price was one of the most successful mining men in Alaska, holding rich properties on both Cleary Creek, north of Fairbanks, and Glen Gulch, a tributary of Otter Creek in the Iditarod district. Ferrell, Biographies, 257-58. The other claims leased by the syndicate included Big Eldorado Discovery, Gold Run Discovery, Glacier Discovery, Bonanza Discovery, Bonanza No. 1 Below, Bonanza Nos. 1, 4, 5, 6, and 8 Above, Caribou Pass Discovery, and Caribou Pass No. 1. Capps, The Chisana-White River District, 104. Contemporary reports of the syndicate's offer were undoubtedly exaggerated. Later estimates suggest that James and Nelson leased the property for 50 percent of any recovered gold plus a single lump payment of $40,000. Alaska and Northwest Mining Journal 4, no. 2 (August 1914): 34.
21 George C. Martin, "The Alaskan Mining Industry in 1918," in George C. Martin, et al., eds., Mineral Resources of Alaska: Report of Progress of Investigations in 1918, USGS Bulletin No. 712 (Washington: GPO, 1919), 43.
22 Fred Best diary, October 5, 1913, through February 28, 1914, passim, Best Collection, ASL.
23 Fairbanks Times, February 6, 1914.
24 Dawson Daily News, May 20, 1914.
25 Ibid, February 14, 1914; Weekly Star (Whitehorse), December 19, 1913; March 13, 1914; April 19, 1914. At the time of his appointment, Hoffman was mining in the Nizina district. Before that, he had served as chief of police in Valdez. Cordova Daily Alaskan, September 18, 1913; October 14, 1913.
27 Seattle Post-Intelligencer, March 20, 1914.
28 Fred Best diary, March 15, 1914, Best Collection, ASL; Dawson Daily News, June 8, 1914. Although usually called Bonanza City, some early residents referred to the community as Mouth-O-Bonanza. Ibid, June 3, 1914.
29 Cairnes, Upper White River District, 31-32.
30 Cordova Daily Alaskan, August 20, 1913.
32 Capps, The Chisana-White River District, 21.
33 Reckord, Where Raven Stood, 238-39.
34 Stephen R. Capps, "Mineral Resources of the Chisana-White River District," in Alfred H. Brooks, et al., eds., Mineral Resources of Alaska: Report on Progress of Investigations in 1914, USGS Bulletin No. 622 (Washington: GPO, 1915), 211-12; Dawson Daily News, June 3, 1914; Juneau Dispatch, July 14, 1914.
35 Capps, "Mineral Resources of the Chisana-White River District," 211.
37 Ibid, 209. Alaska and Northwest Mining Journal 4, no. 5 (November 1914): 116. Sources differ as to who operated this claim during the summer of 1914. The Mining Journal suggests that it was worked by a Johansen and company. The Dawson Daily News, however, maintains that Waggoner, McLennan, and Chisholm leased the property from Billy James. Dawson Daily News, July 13, 1914.
38 Capps, "Mineral Resources of the Chisana-White River District," 209-10. An "open-cut" placer mining operation is simply a surface working, open to the sky. "Shoveling-in" was a hand technique used in open-cuts. The gravel was normally loosened with a pick and then shoveled directly into the sluice box. Chester W. Purington, Methods and Costs of Gravel and Placer Mining in Alaska, USGS Bulletin 263 (Washington: GPO, 1905), 56-60; Norman L. Wimmler, Placer-Mining Methods and Costs in Alaska, Bureau of Mines Bulletin 259 (Washington: GPO, 1927), 91-92.
39 Fred Best to parents, July 3, 1914, Best Collection, ASL; Dawson Daily News, July 13, 1914; Capps, "Mineral Resources of the Chisana-White River District," 209-10.
40 Cordova Daily Alaskan, August 28, 1913; Dawson Daily News, August 29, 1913; Chitina Leader, September 9, 1913.
41 Capps, "Mineral Resources of the Chisana-White River District," 210-11.
42 Ibid, 211-12. Writing in 1905, Purington notes that "ground which can be worked by men shoveling into sluices can, under certain conditions, be worked satisfactorily by horse scraping, and at an expense of one-third of that necessary to shovel in." Purington, Methods and Costs of Gravel and Placer Mining in Alaska, 60.
43 Capps, The Chisana-White River District, 105.
44 Chitina Leader, February 6, 1914; Dawson Daily News, July 13, 1914. Best's journal contained a list of the equipment he utilized on Bonanza No. 7 in July 1914. This probably typical assortment included fourteen sections of sluice box, two dump boxes, two hundred feet of sixteen-inch hose, fourteen picks, eight shovels, a gold scale, a level, two double jacks, an anvil, a hammer, a forge, a crosscut saw, a sluice fork, a bit brace with bits, two planes, one hundred feet of fire hose with nozzle, a tent, three cords of wood, a dam, two stoves, a half case of dynamite with caps and fuse, and a wash tub. Fred Best diary, July 1914, "list of stuff on No. 7," Best Collection, ASL.
45 Capps, "Mineral Resources of the Chisana-White River District," 213-14. "Booming" is an important variant of ground-sluicing, practiced in areas possessing little water. The stream to be worked is impounded behind a dam. On being released by either a hand-operated or an automatic gate, the water rushes down the cut, carrying most of the surface material with it. Wimmler, Placer-Mining Methods and Costs in Alaska, 90. For a more colorful explanation, see the Valdez News, February 15, 1902.
46 Dawson Daily News, July 13, 1914; Capps, "Mineral Resources of the Chisana-White River District," 214.
47 Ibid, 214-15; Alaska and Northwest Mining Journal 4, no. 5 (November 1914): 116.
48 Dawson Daily News, July 13, 1914; Alaska and Northwest Mining Journal 4, no. 5 (November 1914): 116; Michael R. Healy to Anthony Dimond, August 22, 1914, Donohoe-Ostrander-Dimond Collection, UAF.
49 Dawson Daily News, July 13, 1914; Capps, "Mineral Resources of the Chisana-White River District," 215.
50 Ibid, 215-16; Capps, The Chisana-White River District, 108; Healy to Dimond, August 22, 1914; Donohoe to Dimond, September 1, 1914, Donohoe-Ostrander-Dimond Collection, UAF; Alaska and Northwest Mining Journal 4, no. 5 (November 1914): 116.
51 Fred Best diary, August 30 and September 1, 1914, Best Collection, ASL; Chitina Leader, September 15, 1914.
52 Capps, "Mineral Resources of the Chisana-White River District," 216.
53 Thomas J. Donohoe to Anthony Dimond, September 1, 1914, Donohoe-Ostrander-Dimond Collection, UAF; Capps, The Chisana-White River District, 105.
54 Capps, "Mineral Resources of the Chisana-White River District," 216-17.
55 Ibid, 217; Alaska and Northwest Mining Journal 4, no. 5 (November 1914): 116.
56 Capps, "Mineral Resources of the Chisana-White River District," 217-18. Chitina Leader, September 8, 1914. Like many of those who rushed to the Chisana, Charles Range possessed extensive local experience. In 1903 he and four partners had worked an important claim on Dan Creek in the Nizina district. Valdez News, July 11, 1903.
57 Capps, "Mineral Resources of the Chisana-White River District," 222; Weekly Star (Whitehorse), September 12, 1913.
58 Alaska and Northwest Mining Journal 4, no. 5 (November 1914): 113-21.
59 Capps, The Chisana-White River District, 113.
60 Capps, "Mineral Resources of the Chisana-White River District," 218-19.
64 Daily News, June 3, 1914; June 13, 1914; Chitina Leader, February 3, 1914; November 3, 1914; December 1, 1914; Capps, "Mineral Resources of the Chisana-White River District," 221.
65 Ibid, 222-23; Dawson Daily News, June 9, 1914. McGuire claimed, however, to have encountered a narrow band of paydirt at forty-five feet. Weekly Star (Whitehorse), July 24, 1914.
66 Capps, "Mineral Resources of the Chisana-White River District," 202.
68 Chitina Leader, July 7, 1914; Dawson Daily News, July 28, 1914.
69 Fred Best diary, July 1914, passim, Best Collection, ASL.
70 Dawson Daily News, July 28, 1914.
71 Fred Best to his parents, May 12, 1914, Best Collection, ASL.
72 Quoted in Hunt, Mountain Wilderness, 99-100. Waller served in the Chisana district as Horatio E. Morgan's assistant recorder in 1913. Dawson Daily News, October 13, 1913.
73 Ibid, July 23, 1914; Chitina Leader, September 22, 1914. After leaving Chisana, Kettleson served briefly as a member of the territorial House before moving to Sitka, where he ended his career as a prominent banker. Clara Kettleson, The Golden Thread (San Diego: North Star Press, 1984), passim; Atwood and DeArmond, Who's Who in Alaska Politics, 54-55; Tewkesbury, Who's Who in Alaska, 43-44.
74 Chitina Leader, September 22, 1914. Before rushing to the Chisana, Goshaw had served as a deputy U.S. marshall, headquartered in Valdez. After leaving the district, he became a fur trader and a prominent resident of Alaska's Seward Peninsula. During the Second World War he was instrumental in organizing the Shishmaref Company of the Alaska Territorial Guard. Ibid, February 16, 1915; Tewkesbury, Who's Who in Alaska, 28.
75 Thomas J. Donohoe to Anthony Dimond, September 1, 1914, Donohoe-Ostrander-Dimond Collection, UAF; Fred Best to parents, August 16, 1914, Best Collection, ASL.
76 Martin, "The Alaskan Mining Industry in 1918," 43; Chitina Leader, September 22, 1914.
77 Cordova Daily Times, January 5, 1915; February 2, 1915. Schonborn operated the Yukon Hotel, said to have been the first such establishment in Dawson City, from 1897 to 1901.
78 Ibid, February 12, 1915. Unlike most residents, who were buried locally, Schonborn was ultimately interred in Puyallup, Washington. Valdez Weekly Miner, April 4, 1915.
79 Cordova Daily Times, January 30, 1915; February 2, 1915; February 12, 1915; September 30, 1915; Chitina Leader, February 16, 1915; October 5, 1915.
80 Valdez Weekly Miner, September 26, 1915; Spude, "Historic Chisana," 1; Nome Daily News, October 26, 1915. During the First World War, Captain J. J. Finnegan managed Alaska's military draft. McCarthy Weekly News, September 21, 1918.
81 Alaska and Northwest Mining Journal 7, no. 3 (September 1915): 58; Chitina Leader, October 25, 1915. James Murie originally came to the district as a special correspondent to the Vancouver World.
82 Cordova Daily Times, August 9, 1915. Hydraulic mining utilizes pressurized water to break up gravel and to wash it to the sluices. Charles F. Jackson and John B. Knaebel, Small-Scale Placer-Mining Methods, U.S. Bureau of Mines Information Circular 6611, sixth revision, May 1934, 13.
83 Cordova Daily Times, August 10, 1915; Chitina Leader, August 17, 1915; Alaska and Northwest Mining Journal 7, no. 3 (September 1915): 58.
85 Ibid; Chitina Leader, January 12, 1915.
86 Alaska and Northwest Mining Journal 7, no. 3 (September 1915): 58.
87 Martin, "The Alaskan Mining Industry in 1918," 43; Alfred H. Brooks, "The Alaskan Mining Industry in 1915," in Alfred H. Brooks, et al., eds., Mineral Resources of Alaska: Report on Progress of Investigations in 1915, USGS Bulletin No. 642 (Washington: GPO, 1916), 62; Cordova Daily Alaskan, August 31, 1915.
88 Chitina Leader, October 19, 1915. Johnson received his nickname from his propensity to unload freight on the Nizina and Rohn Glaciers when the weight got to be "too much." Spude and Lappen, "Chisana Historic District," n.p.
89 Fred Best diary, March 7, 1916, Best Collection, ASL.
90 Ibid, April 10, 1916, Best Collection, ASL.
91 Ibid, May 2, 1916, Best Collection, ASL.
92 Chitina Leader, May 5, 1916.
93 Alfred H. Brooks, "The Alaskan Mining Industry in 1916," in Alfred H. Brooks, et al., eds., Mineral Resources of Alaska: Report on Progress of Investigations in 1916, USGS Bulletin No. 662 (Washington: GPO, 1918), 55.
94 Chitina Leader, October 19, 1915; March 7, 1916; Brooks, "The Alaskan Mining Industry in 1916," 55.
95 Chitina Leader, October 3, 1916; William Maloney, Report of William Maloney, Territorial Mine Inspector to the Governor of Alaska for the Year 1916 (Juneau: Territorial Department of Mines, 1917), 75. Although professional photographer Lewis Stanley never struck it rich, he left posterity a valuable legacy: the most emotionally evocative images of the Chisana district.
96 Ibid; Harold H. Waller, survey map, "Placer Claims in the Shushana Gold Fields Alaska, 1916," copy in WRST files.
97 Maloney, Report of William Maloney, 1916, 75.
98 Brooks, "The Alaskan Mining Industry in 1916," 55; Fred Best diary, September 10-13, 1916, Best Collection, ASL; Chitina Leader, March 7, 1916; October 3, 1916; Avalanch (McCarthy), September 23, 1916.
99 Prescott, "The Alaska Story, Vol. II," 56, Best Collection, ASL.
100 Fred Best diary, November 15, 1916, Best Collection, ASL.
101 George C. Martin, "The Mining Industry of Alaska in 1917," in George C. Martin, et al., eds., Mineral Resources of Alaska: Report on Progress of Investigations in 1917, USGS Bulletin No. 692 (Washington: GPO, 1919), 36.
102 Chitina Leader, October 16, 1917; William Maloney, Report of the Territorial Mine Inspector to the Governor of Alaska for the year 1917 (Juneau: Territorial Department of Mines, 1918), 43. Like the other miners in the Chisana, Billy Johnson had paid his dues. On his way to the Klondike in 1898, he was buried by a massive avalanche in Chilkoot Pass and barely survived. While working in Dawson as a driver for the Cascade Laundry Company, Johnson grubstaked James and Nelson, receiving in return a full partnership in their claims. Dawson Daily News, July 29, 1913.
103 Ibid; Chitina Leader, October 16, 1917.
CHAPTER FOUR
1 Martin, "The Alaskan Mining Industry in 1918," 43.
2 Hulley, Alaska, 1741-1953, 315.
3 Commissioned as an ensign, Best served as the executive officer of the U.S.S. Dochra, reaching the rank of lieutenant before receiving an honorable discharge at the conclusion of the war. He then returned to the sea, working in the merchant marine until he retired in 1935. He never returned to Alaska. Prescott, "The Alaska Story of Fred W. Best, Vol. II," 74-75, Best Collection, ASL. Stanley, "Nabesna Gold Mine Historic District," National Register Nomination, 1978.
4 Mrs. N. P. Nelson to Fred Best, June 7, 1918, Best Collection, ASL.
7 Alfred H. Brooks, "The Alaskan Mining Industry in 1919," in Alfred H. Brooks, et al., eds., Mineral Resources of Alaska: Report on Progress of Investigations in 1919, USGS Bulletin No. 714 (Washington: GPO, 1921), 84.
8 Alfred H. Brooks, "The Alaskan Mining Industry in 1920," in Alfred H. Brooks, et al., eds., Mineral Resources of Alaska: Report on Progress of Investigations in 1920, USGS Bulletin No. 722 (Washington: GPO, 1922), 50-51; Robert L. Spude and Michael Lappen, "Chisana Historic District," National Register Nomination, 1984, copy in historic files, WRST.
9 Nenana Daily News, May 25, 1920.
10 George E. Walker, "Residents of the Chisana District, March 24-27, 1920," Fourteenth Census of the United States: 1920, Roll 2031, listing 670, 111-13. National Archives, Alaska Region, Anchorage, Alaska. Strangely, 40 percent of the white population, including the commissioner, the trader, a freighter, a trapper, three prospectors, and nine placer miners, were born outside the United States, and only seventeen could trace their American roots back more than a single generation. For a more complete enumeration of Chisana's census, see Appendix Six.
11 Alfred H. Brooks, "The Alaskan Mining Industry in 1921," in Alfred H. Brooks, et al., eds., Mineral Resources of Alaska: Report on Progress of Investigations in 1921, USGS Bulletin No. 739 (Washington: GPO, 1923), 34-35.
12 The Pathfinder (October 1921): 6.
13 Knut D. Peterson, When Alaska Was Free (Port Washington, N.Y.: Ashley Books, 1977), 112-15.
14 Buzzell, "Big Eldorado Creek Drainage History," 4-5.
15 Alfred H. Brooks, "The Alaskan Mining Industry in 1922," in Alfred H. Brooks, et al., eds., Mineral Resources of Alaska: Report on Progress of Investigations in 1922, USGS Bulletin No. 755 (Washington: GPO, 1924), 40.
16 Alfred H. Brooks, "Alaska's Mineral Resources and Production, 1923," in Alfred H. Brooks, et al., eds., Mineral Resources of Alaska: Report on Progress of Investigations in 1923, USGS Bulletin No. 773 (Washington: GPO, 1925), 45; Norman L. Wimmler, "Placer Mining in Alaska in 1923," in Benjamin D. Stewart, ed., Annual Report of the Territorial Mine Inspector to the Governor of Alaska, 1923 (Juneau: Territorial Department of Mines, 1924), 28.
17 Ibid. Aaron E. Nelson served as Chisana's last commissioner, replacing Anthony McGettigan in 1921.
19 Chitina Leader, June 16, 1923.
20 Ibid. Boyden possessed extensive knowledge of Skolai Pass, having freighted and guided in the vicinity since 1914. George O. Young, Alaskan-Yukon Trophies Won and Lost (Huntington, West Virginia: Standard Publications, Inc., 1947), 90-94. The Boyden Hills, lying north of Nabesna, were named in his honor.
21 Philip S. Smith, "Mineral Industry of Alaska in 1924," in Philip S. Smith, et al., eds., Mineral Resources of Alaska: Report on Progress of Investigations in 1924, USGS Bulletin No. 783 (Washington: GPO, 1926), 13.
22 Fittingly, Medary's guide on his excursion was Andy Taylor. Milton B. Medary, Jr., "A Hunting Trip in Alaska, Diary of Milton Bennett Medary, Jr., 1924," 14, UAF. Medary was undoubtedly referring to trader Charles A. Simons, who continued to supply the district's few remaining miners. McCarthy Weekly News, November 10, 1923.
23 Fred H. Moffit, "Mineral Industry of Alaska in 1925 and Administrative Report," in Fred H. Moffit, et al., eds., Mineral Resources of Alaska: Report on Progress of Investigations in 1925, USGS Bulletin No. 792 (Washington: GPO, 1927), 17; Philip S. Smith, "Mineral Industry in Alaska in 1926," in Philip S. Smith, et al., eds., Mineral Resources of Alaska: Report on Progress of Investigation in 1926, USGS Bulletin No. 797 (Washington: GPO, 1929), 23; Philip S. Smith, "Mineral Industry of Alaska in 1927," in Philip S. Smith, et al., eds., Mineral Resources of Alaska: Report on Progress of Investigations in 1927, USGS Bulletin No. 810 (Washington: GPO, 1929), 24; Norman L. Wimmler, "Placer Mining in Alaska in 1926," U.S. Bureau of Mines Microfilm Records, roll 21, item 6, 33, ARL.
25 McCarthy Weekly News, January 3, 1925.
26 Smith, "Mineral Industry of Alaska in 1927," 24.
27 Philip S. Smith, "Mineral Industry of Alaska in 1928," in Philip S. Smith, et al., eds., Mineral Resources of Alaska: Report on Progress of Investigations in 1928, USGS Bulletin No. 813 (Washington: GPO, 1930), 27, 34-35.
28 Philip S. Smith, "Mineral Industry of Alaska in 1929," in Philip S. Smith, et al., eds., Mineral Resources of Alaska: Report on Progress of Investigations in 1929, USGS Bulletin No. 824 (Washington: GPO, 1932), 32, 39-40; Norman L. Wimmler, "Placer Mining in Alaska in 1929," Report to the Territorial Department of Mines, U.S. Bureau of Mines Microfilm Records, roll 22, item 1, ARL.
29 Robert McKennan, The Upper Tanana Indians, Yale University Publications in Anthropology No. 55 (New Haven: Yale University Anthropology Department, 1959), 26.
30 "Description of Chisana-Nabesna Landing Fields," Alaska Road Commission, Bureau of Public Roads-Project Correspondence, 1916-1950, RG 30, Box 33/10/05/14(4), SP1 Chisana, National Archives-Alaska Region, Anchorage, Alaska. During this same period, Gus Johnson also built a slightly smaller airstrip at Nabesna. R. J. Shepard to Alaska Road Commission, December 6, 1929, ibid.
31 Philip S. Smith, "Mineral Industry of Alaska in 1930," in Philip S. Smith, et al., eds., Mineral Resources of Alaska: Report of Progress of Investigations in 1930, USGS Bulletin No. 836 (Washington: GPO, 1931), 32.
33 Ibid, 40; Benjamin D. Stewart, Report on Cooperation Between the Territory of Alaska and the United States in Making Mining Investigations and in the Inspection of Mines for the Biennium Ending March 31, 1931 (Juneau: Territorial Department of Mines, 1931), 67-68.
34 Smith, "Mineral Industry of Alaska in 1930," 41; Earl R. Pilgrim, "Placer Mines Visited 1930," Report to the Territorial Department of Mines, U.S. Bureau of Mines Microfilm Records, roll 9, item 21, 2, ARL.
35 Philip S. Smith, "Mineral Industry of Alaska in 1932," in Philip S. Smith, et al., eds., Mineral Resources of Alaska: Report on Progress of Investigations in 1932, USGS Bulletin No. 857 (Washington: GPO, 1934), 30.
36 Benjamin D. Stewart, Mining Investigations and Mine Inspection in Alaska, Including Assistance to Prospectors, Biennium Ending March 31, 1933, (Juneau: Territorial Department of Mines, 1933), 94-95.
37 Ibid, 94; Smith, "Mineral Industry of Alaska in 1932," 30; Beth Day, Glacier Pilot: The Story of Bob Reeve (Sausalito, Calif.: Comstock Editions, Inc., 1986), 52-55.
38 R.G. Wayland, "Gold Deposits Near Nabesna," in Philip S. Smith, et al., eds., Mineral Resources of Alaska: Report on Progress of Investigations in 1940, USGS Bulletin No. 933 (Washington: GPO, 1943), 177. Bell Joe, interview conducted by Geoffrey Bleakley, September 16, 1995, Chistochina, Alaska, audio tape in historic files, WRST.
39 Stewart, Mining Investigations . . . in Alaska, 1933, 94; Philip S. Smith, "Mineral Industry of Alaska in 1933," in Philip S. Smith, et al., eds., Mineral Resources of Alaska: Report on Progress of Investigations in 1933, USGS Bulletin No. 864 (Washington: GPO, 1936), 42.
40 Peterson, When Alaska Was Free, 90; Smith, "Mineral Industry of Alaska in 1933," 42.
41 Philip S. Smith, "Mineral Industry of Alaska in 1934," in Philip S. Smith, et al., eds., Mineral Resources of Alaska: Report on Progress of Investigations in 1934, USGS Bulletin No. 868 (Washington: GPO, 1937), 44; Peterson, When Alaska Was Free, 25.
42 Philip S. Smith, "Mineral Industry of Alaska in 1935," in Philip S. Smith, et al., eds., Mineral Resources of Alaska. Report on Progress of Investigations in 1935, USGS Bulletin No. 880 (Washington: GPO, 1937), 47; Fred H. Moffit, "Recent Mineral Developments in the Copper River Region Alaska," in ibid, 105. Hirst was hardly a newcomer to the area, having traded in Chistochina since the early 1920s. See Milton Medary diary, September 1924, Medary Collection, UAF.
43 Philip S. Smith, "Mineral Industry of Alaska in 1936," in Philip S. Smith, et al., eds., Mineral Resources of Alaska: Report on Progress of Investigations in 1936, USGS Bulletin No. 897 (Washington: GPO, 1938), 55.
44 John C. Roehm, "Investigations: McCarthy, Nizina River, Bremner and Chisana Mining Districts," 13, Report to the Territorial Department of Mines, U.S. Bureau of Mines, roll 7, item 25, ARL.
45 Ibid. A "giant" is large nozzle used for directing a stream of water under a hydraulic head. E. D. Gardner and C. H. Johnson, Placer Mining in the Western United States, Part II. Hydraulicking, Treatment of Placer Concentrates, and Marketing of Gold, U.S. Bureau of Mines Information Circular 6787, October 1934, 24.
46 Roehm, "Investigations," 13.
47 Smith, "Mineral Industry of Alaska in 1936," 55; Roehm, "Investigations," 13; John C. Roehm, "General Conditions Relative to Mining in the Chisana District, August 1936," U.S. Bureau of Mines Microfilm Records, roll 2, item 45, 1, ARL.
48 Ibid; John C. Roehm, "Preliminary Report of Peterson's Lode Prospect, Big Eldorado Creek, Chisana Mining District, August 23, 1936," U.S. Bureau of Mines Microfilm Records, roll 2, item 39, ARL.
49 Philip S. Smith, "Mineral Industry of Alaska in 1937," in Philip S. Smith, et al., eds., Mineral Resources of Alaska: Report on Progress of Investigations in 1937, USGS Bulletin No. 910 (Washington: GPO, 1939), 56; Philip S. Smith, "Mineral Industry of Alaska in 1938," in Philip S. Smith, et al., eds., Mineral Resources of Alaska: Report on Progress of Investigations in 1938, USGS Bulletin No. 917 (Washington: GPO, 1939), 55; William R. Hunt, Golden Places: A History of Alaska-Yukon Mining with Particular Reference to Alaska's National Parks (Anchorage: National Park Service, n.d.), 242.
50 John C. Roehm, "Summary Report of Mining Investigations in the Nizina, Bremner, Chisana, Tiekel, Nabesna, and Prince William Sound Districts . . . August 22 to September 1, 1938," Report to the Territorial Department of Mines, U.S. Bureau of Mines Microfilm Records, roll 7, item 35, 4, ARL. Oral testimony suggests that "Shushanna Joe" was the same "Indian Joe" who guided Billy James to the site of the original Chisana discovery.
51 Roehm, "Summary Report," n.p. This "unidentified Native man" was probably Jack John Justin, who is known to have mined in the vicinity during this period. James Kari, ed., Tatl'ahwt'aenn Nenn' The Headwaters People's Country (Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center, 1985), 149.
52 Lone E. Janson, Mudhole Smith: Alaska Flier (Anchorage: Alaska Northwest Publishing Company, 1981), 67.
53 Philip S. Smith, "Mineral Industry of Alaska in 1939," in Philip S. Smith, et al., eds., Mineral Resources of Alaska: Report on Progress of Investigations in 1939, USGS Bulletin No. 926 (Washington: GPO, 1941), 53; Philip S. Smith, "Mineral Industry of Alaska in 1940," in Philip S. Smith, et al., eds., Mineral Resources of Alaska: Report on Progress of Investigations in 1940, USGS Bulletin No. 933 (Washington: GPO, 1942), 51; Hunt, Golden Places, 242.
54 Fred H. Moffit, "Geology of the Nutzotin Mountains, Alaska,"in Philip S. Smith, et al., eds., Mineral Resources of Alaska: Report of Progress on Investigations in 1940, USGS Bulletin No. 933 (Washington: GPO, 1943), 171.
56 Ibid, 171-72; Fred H. Moffit, Geology of the Eastern Part of the Alaska Range and Adjacent Area, USGS Bulletin No. 989 (Washington: GPO, 1954), 200.
57 Moffit, "Geology of the Nutzotin Mountains," 172-73.
58 Ibid, 164-65, 172-73. In the late 1930s, Gamblin mined property further to the east near Horsfeld Creek. Janson, Mudhole Smith, 56.
59 Reckord, Where Raven Stood, 236. Bell Joe interview, conducted by Geoffrey Bleakley, September 16, 1995, Chistochina, Alaska. Audio tape in historic files, WRST.
60 Kari, Tatl'ahwt'aenn Nenn', 149; Reckord, Where Raven Stood, 70.
62 Philip S. Smith, "Mineral Industry of Alaska in 1941 and 1942," in Philip S. Smith, et al., eds., Mineral Resources of Alaska: Report of Progress of Investigations in 1941 and 1942, USGS Bulletin No. 943 (Washington: GPO, 1944), 11.
63 Smith, "Mineral Industry of Alaska in 1941 and 1942," 11; Mary J. Barry, A History of Mining on the Kenai Peninsula (Anchorage: Alaska Northwest Publishing Company, 1976), 168.
64 Peterson, When Alaska Was Free, 87, 90-91 . Searchers, however, recovered one of McGettigan's boots, still containing the missing miner's foot.
65 Janson, Mudhole Smith, 104.
66 Benjamin D. Stewart, Report of the Commissioner of Mines for the Biennium Ended December 31, 1946 (Juneau: Territorial Department of Mines, 1947), 37, 41-42; Bruce Thomas, "Report of Mining Investigations, September 1946," U.S. Bureau of Mines Microfilm Records, roll 8, item 40, 3, ARL. Nelson failed to preform his required assessment work in 1947, and appears never to have worked his claims again. At this point, however, Nelson still controlled Bonanza Creek No. 8, No. 8 Fraction, No. 9, and the Discovery Claim at the mouth of Coarse Money Creek. N. P. Nelson, Declaration of Intention to Hold, July 5, 1947, Record Book Vol. 13, Chitina Recording District, 1945-1948, 199, District Court Records, Third Division, Glennallen, Alaska.
67 B. J. Davis, Proof of Annual Labor, February 24, 1947, Record Book Vol. 13, Chitina Recording District, 1945-1948, 159, District Court Records, Third Division, Glennallen, Alaska.
68 B. J. Davis, Notice of Intention to Hold, February 24, 1947, ibid.
69 Quitclaim deed, William E. James and Agnes T. James to the Nutzotin Mining Company, September 17, 1946, Record Book Vol. 13, Chitina Recording District, 1945-1948, 127-28, District Court Records, Third Division, Glennallen, Alaska. The claims transferred to the new corporation included Bonanza Creek Discovery, No. 1, Discovery Fraction, No. 4, No. 5, No. 5 Fraction, No. 5 Bench on Left Limit, and No. 6; Chathenda Creek No. 1 and No. 1 Above; Little Eldorado Creek No. 1 Fraction, Discovery Bench Nos. 1, 2, and 3 Left Limit, No. 3 Creek Claim, James Bench Right Limit joining No. 3 Little Eldorado, Gold Bug Bench Nos. 1, 2, and 3 Left Limit, No. 4 Creek Claim, and No. 5 Creek Claim; and Gold Run Creek Discovery and Discovery Annex. Billy had married Agnes in Seattle in 1926, following the untimely death of Matilda Wales. McCarthy Weekly News, September 5, 1925; March 13, 1926; Anchorage Daily Times, April 9, 1960.
70 Stewart, Report of the Commissioner of Mines, 1946, 41; Tewkesbury, Who's Who in Alaska, 248.
71 Wright held Gold Run Creek Nos. 1 Above Discovery and 2 Above Discovery in 1947. Alfred T. Wright, Exemption from Assessment Work, June 21, 1947, Record Book Vol. 13, Chitina Recording District, 1945-1948, 189, District Court Records, Third Division, Glennallen, Alaska.
72 Tewkesbury, Who's Who in Alaska, 247-48. B. J. Davis, Proof of Annual Labor, November 10, 1947, Record Book Vol. 13, Chitina Recording District, 1945-1948, 237, District Court Records, Third Division, Glennallen, Alaska.
73 Tewkesbury, Who's Who in Alaska, 194, 247.
CHAPTER FIVE
1 Tewkesbury, Who's Who in Alaska, 212.
2 Stuart Starbuck, interview conducted by Geoffrey Bleakley, August 25, 1995, Skagway, Alaska, audio tape in historic files, WRST.
3 Georgia Strunk, personal communication with Geoffrey Bleakley, March 15, 1996, Glennallen, Alaska, notes in author's files.
4 Ivan R. Thorall, personal communication with Geoffrey Bleakley, Steve Lang, and Amy Gallaway, July 20, 1995, Chisana, Alaska, notes in author's files. Bell Joe, interview conducted by Geoffrey Bleakley, September 16, 1995, Chistochina, Alaska, audio tape in historic files, WRST.
5 Ivan R. Thorall, personal communication with Geoffrey Bleakley, August 8, 1996, Chisana, Alaska, notes in author's files.
6 Spude, "Historic Chisana" attachment, "Chisana: History of the Townsite," 4.
9 Tundra Times, January 28, 1966.
10 Anchorage Daily Times, December 24, 1966.
11 Stewart Udall, Public Land Order 4582.
12 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, Pub. L. No. 92-203, 85 Stat. 688 (Dec. 18, 1971).
14 Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980, Pub. L. No. 96-48 (Dec. 8, 1980).
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