Primary Name: Northrup, Willard

Filed as: Northrup, Willard

Also known as: Willard Northrop

Occupation / Association: Prospector; steam engineer; charter member, Pioneers of Alaska Juneau Men’s Igloo

Associated places: Juneau, Alaska; Wrangell, Alaska; Cassiar District, British Columbia; Sitka, Alaska; Sitka Hot Springs, Alaska; Taku River, Alaska; Windham Bay, Alaska; Berners Bay, Alaska; Glacier Bay, Alaska; Lituya Bay, Alaska; Yakutat, Alaska; Yukon Territory; Dawson, Yukon

Keywords: Willard Northrup, Willard Northrop, Juneau pioneers, Pioneers of Alaska charter members, early Alaska prospectors, Cassiar mining district, Wrangell Alaska miners, Sitka Hot Springs miners, Taku River exploration, Windham Bay prospectors, Berners Bay mining history, Glacier Bay prospecting, Lituya Bay beach placers, Yakutat beach placers, Klondike Gold Rush miners, Dawson Yukon miners, Alaska territorial prospectors

Biography

Willard Northrup was an early Alaska prospector and a charter member of the Pioneers of Alaska Juneau Men’s Igloo. Born in 1850 in New York State, he came north during the early mining era of Alaska and British Columbia.

Northrup first traveled to Wrangell in 1877 and from there went into the Cassiar mining district. In the fall of 1879, he moved to Sitka, where he spent the winter at Sitka Hot Springs along with seventeen other Cassiar miners.

In the U.S. Navy census of April 1880, Northrup was listed as an American citizen, age thirty. During the summer of that year, he was prospecting throughout Southeastern Alaska and may have been the man sent by George Pilz to explore the Taku River region.

By 1881, Northrup was in Juneau, though he did not stake claims in the immediate area. Instead, he used Juneau as a base while prospecting throughout the region, including Windham Bay, Berners Bay, and the Glacier Bay country.

Beginning in 1887, he was among the first miners to work the beach placers along the Gulf of Alaska coast between Lituya Bay and Yakutat.

In 1892, Northrup traveled to the Yukon, and by 1895, he was briefly back in Juneau while en route to the Interior again. He was reported to have been among the earliest miners to reach Dawson following the Klondike gold discovery and apparently did well there.

In addition to prospecting, Northrup also worked as a steam engineer during his years in the North.

Sources

Pioneers of Alaska Men’s Igloo No. 6 Biographical Sketch.