McPherson, J. R.
Primary Name: Copper River and Northwestern Railway Survey Expedition
Filed as: Copper River and Northwestern Railway Survey Expedition, 1905
Also known as: Copper River Route Survey
Occupation / Association: Railroad survey expedition; Copper River and Northwestern Railway development
Associated places: Juneau, Alaska; Valdez, Alaska; Copper River Valley, Alaska; Cordova, Alaska; Haines, Alaska; Seattle, Washington
Keywords: Copper River and Northwestern Railway survey 1905, Jack Dalton railroad survey Alaska, Samuel Murchison railroad engineer Alaska, J R McPherson surveyor Alaska, Michael Heney railroad builder Alaska, Stephen Birch Alaska Syndicate, Copper River railroad history
Biography
In September 1905, Jack Dalton, Sam Murchison, and surveyor J. R. McPherson conducted a new evaluation of the proposed Copper River railroad route in Alaska and determined that the route was feasible.
The party returned to Valdez in late October 1905 and transmitted their conclusions to railroad builder Michael Heney by coded telegram. Heney later met Dalton and Murchison in Juneau and filed a right-of-way application with the United States General Land Office.
Because the Copper River route faced no competing applications, the right-of-way was approved. Heney and Murchison then traveled to Seattle to obtain equipment and supplies for the railroad project.
Meanwhile, Dalton, McPherson, several chainmen, and a group of Dalton’s Chilkat Native packers from Haines began detailed surveying work along the route. The group secretly purchased an abandoned cannery in Cordova to serve as the southern terminus of the future railway.
Construction of the Copper River and Northwestern Railway began during the winter of 1905–1906. Financial difficulties soon revealed that Close Brothers could not support the project. At the same time, the competing Katalla route, initially supported by Stephen Birch and the Alaska Syndicate, proved impractical.
The Alaska Syndicate eventually purchased Heney’s interests and continued construction of the railway. The line was completed to the rich copper mines of the interior in 1911, becoming one of the most significant industrial transportation projects in Alaska’s early twentieth-century development.
Sources
Alaska Mining Hall of Fame.
Birch, Stephen
Primary Name: Birch, Stephen
Filed as: birch_stephen
Also known as: Stephen Birch
Occupation / Association: Mining executive; Alaska Syndicate
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Associated places: Katalla, Alaska
Keywords: Stephen Birch, Birch Stephen, Alaska Syndicate railroad
Biography
Stephen Birch, of the newly constituted Alaska Syndicate, had already begun railroad construction from Katalla.
Sources
Tags: Stephen Birch, Birch Stephen, Alaska Syndicate, Katalla Alaska, Alaska railroad development
Murchison, Sam
Murchison, Sam
Biography
Sam Murchison was involved in early engineering and exploration work related to the development of Alaska’s copper mining region in the Wrangell Mountains during the early twentieth century.
The discovery of rich copper deposits in the Wrangell Mountains in 1900 prompted renewed interest in transportation routes connecting the interior mining districts with the southern Alaska coast. These developments significantly affected the operations of trader and transportation entrepreneur Jack Dalton.
In 1901, Michael J. Heney, a prominent railroad builder of the north, undertook a reconnaissance survey for a railway route from the south Alaska coast to the interior. Heney identified a rough but usable route along the Copper River beginning near present-day Cordova. Despite the possibility of such a route, Heney initially believed the known mineral deposits were not yet sufficient to justify constructing a railroad that would require multiple major river crossings and contend with advancing glaciers.
By 1905, however, interest in the region’s copper deposits had grown considerably. While in London at the offices of the financial firm Close Brothers, Heney learned that financiers were prepared to fund a railroad if a feasible route could be confirmed. Remembering his earlier survey, Heney wired his New York office to engage Jack Dalton and Sam Murchison to reexamine the Copper River route.
The proposal was controversial. Engineers advocating rival railroad routes beginning at Valdez and Katalla argued that the Copper River route was impossible. Meanwhile, Stephen Birch of the newly organized Alaska Syndicate had already begun construction of a competing line from Katalla.
Sources
- Alaska Mining Hall of Fame
Heney, Michael
Primary Name: Heney, Michael J.
Filed as: heney_michael
Also known as: Michael J. Heney, Mike Heney
Occupation / Association: Railroad builder; engineer; Copper River and Northwestern Railway surveyor
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Associated places: Alaska; Copper River; Cordova, Alaska; Valdez, Alaska; Juneau, Alaska; Seattle, Washington
Keywords: Michael J Heney, Mike Heney, Copper River and Northwestern Railway, Alaska railroad history, Alaska Syndicate
Biography
Michael J. Heney was one of the most important railroad builders associated with the early development of Alaska’s transportation system.
In 1901, Heney undertook a reconnaissance survey for a railway from the southern Alaska coast to the interior. During this survey, he identified a difficult but workable route up the Copper River beginning near present-day Cordova. The proposed route required several major river crossings and ran through terrain affected by advancing glaciers, making construction appear extremely difficult.
In 1905, while visiting the London office of the financial house Close Brothers, Heney learned that investors possessed reliable information about the richness of copper deposits in the Wrangell Mountains. The financiers agreed to support a railroad project if the route proved feasible. Heney immediately wired his New York office to engage Jack Dalton and Sam Murchison to reexamine the Copper River route.
The route was controversial. Engineers promoting rival railway routes from Valdez and Katalla claimed the Copper River route was impossible. Meanwhile, Stephen Birch of the newly organized Alaska Syndicate had begun construction of a competing line from Katalla.
In September 1905, Dalton, Murchison, and surveyor J. R. McPherson reevaluated the route and concluded that construction was feasible. After their report, Heney filed a right-of-way application with the General Land Office while meeting with the group in Juneau.
The Copper River route was approved, and preparations began for the construction of what became the Copper River and Northwestern Railway. Although the original financiers withdrew, the Alaska Syndicate later acquired the project and completed the railway to the copper mines in 1911.
Sources
Alaska Mining Hall of Fame; historical records of the Copper River and Northwestern Railway
Dalton, Jack
Primary Name: Dalton, Jack
Filed as: dalton_jack
Also known as: Jack Dalton, Jack Miller
Occupation / Association: Freighter, Explorer, Entrepreneur, Klondike Transportation Pioneer
Born: June 25, 1856, Michigan (most probable)
Died: December 16, 1944, San Francisco, California
Parents: Unknown
Spouse: Anna Krippeahne Dalton; earlier unnamed spouse
Children: Jack Dalton Jr., Margaret Dalton, James W. Dalton, Josephine Dalton
Associated places: Juneau Alaska, Haines Alaska, Pyramid Harbor Alaska, Porcupine Mining District Alaska, Cordova Alaska, Yakutat Alaska, Chickaloon Alaska, Klondike Yukon
Keywords: Jack Dalton, Dalton Trail, Klondike freighting, Dalton Trail Company, Porcupine Mining District, Copper River Northwestern Railway
Biography
Jack Dalton's life of nearly ninety years spanned an era of extraordinary change in Alaska and the Yukon. As Alaska's premier freighter during the Gold Rush era, he witnessed the transition from pack animals and human labor to the mechanized age of railroads and aircraft.
Accounts of Dalton's early life are inconsistent. His birthplace has been listed as Oklahoma, Kansas, or the Cherokee Strip, but his California death certificate records that he was most likely born in Michigan on June 25, 1856.
Dalton had only a limited formal education but became largely self-educated through reading and writing. He possessed a wide range of practical frontier skills and developed a reputation as a formidable and capable man with a quick temper. He was known as a skilled horseman, hunter, cook, and boatman.
As a young man, he traveled widely across the American West, at one time using the name Jack Miller. By the early 1880s, he had moved to Burns, Oregon, where he operated a logging business. A violent altercation there resulted in the fatal shooting of a cook during a struggle, prompting Dalton to leave the area.
Dalton eventually traveled to San Francisco and joined a sealing ship bound for the Arctic coast. The crew was arrested for illegal sealing and jailed in Sitka. After gaining his freedom in the mid-1880s, Dalton remained in Alaska and quickly developed a reputation as a skilled wilderness guide and negotiator with Indigenous communities. He learned Chinook Jargon, the regional trade language of the Pacific Northwest.
In 1886, Dalton joined the Schwatka–New York Times expedition attempting to climb Mount St. Elias. The expedition reached approximately 5,700 feet before being forced to retreat due to illness. Dalton remained in the Yakutat region afterward, prospecting and exploring coastal areas around Disenchantment Bay.
In 1890, Dalton participated in the Frank Leslie Newspaper Expedition led by E. Hazard Wells with explorer E. J. Glave. The expedition crossed Chilkat Pass and explored interior river systems, including the Alsek River. Dalton and Glave became the first known non-Native explorers to descend the lower Alsek River by canoe.
During the early 1890s, Dalton pioneered the use of pack horses for transportation between the Alaska coast and the Yukon interior. He developed what became known as the Dalton Trail, running from Pyramid Harbor near present-day Haines across the coastal mountains toward the Yukon River.
The trail was completed before the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897 and quickly became a major transportation route. At its peak, trains of more than 250 horses carried freight and livestock to the goldfields. Dalton received permission from the U.S. government to collect tolls along portions of the trail while allowing Chilkat people to travel freely.
Dalton was closely associated with Juneau attorney John F. Malony, who frequently partnered with him in business ventures. Together, they operated the Dalton Trail Company, the Dalton Trading and Transportation Company, and the Dalton Pony Express Company.
Dalton also played a role in the development of the Porcupine mining district near Haines after gold was discovered there in 1898 by prospectors he had grubstaked. Dalton and partners established the Porcupine Trading Company to support mining operations.
Later, Dalton assisted with survey efforts for the construction of the Copper River and Northwestern Railway. His reconnaissance helped demonstrate that a rail route up the Copper River was feasible, eventually leading to the construction of a railroad to the Kennecott copper mines.
Dalton continued to work as a freighter and transportation contractor into the early twentieth century. In 1913, he undertook a difficult contract hauling 900 tons of coal from the Chickaloon mine to Cook Inlet for testing by the U.S. Navy. The expedition required constructing over forty miles of winter road and hauling coal by horse-drawn sleds.
Dalton later moved operations to Cordova, where he ran sawmills and transportation companies. In 1915, many of his Cordova holdings were purchased by interests associated with the Kennecott Copper Corporation.
Dalton married twice and had four children, including James W. Dalton, an engineer whose name was later given to the Dalton Highway on Alaska's North Slope.
After leaving Alaska, Dalton lived in the Seattle and San Francisco areas and even prospected for diamonds in British Guiana in the early 1920s.
Jack Dalton died in San Francisco on December 16, 1944, at the age of eighty-nine.
In 1942, the United States Army reopened portions of the historic Dalton Trail while constructing the Alaska-Canada Highway.
Sources
Berton, Pierre. Klondike: The Last Great Gold Rush 1896-1899. Coutts, R. C. Yukon Places and Names. Blakemore, F. B. Grit and Gold. Cracraft & Cole. A History of Coal Mining in the Sutton-Chickaloon Area. DeArmond, R. N. “Miners and Cattle Used Dalton's Trail.” DeLaguna, Frederica. Under Mt. St. Elias. Glave, E. J. “Our Alaska Expedition,” Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper. Hakkinen, Elizabeth. Haines, the First Century. Russell, Israel C. An Expedition to Mt. St. Elias. Wier, Gary. “The Man Behind the Dalton Trail.” Alaska State Library Malony Files.
Tags: Jack Dalton, Dalton Trail, Alaska freighters, Klondike Gold Rush transportation, Haines Alaska history, Porcupine mining district, Copper River Northwestern Railway, Alaska pioneers, Alaska Mining Hall of Fame