Berry, Donald
Primary Name: Berry, Donald
Filed as: berry_donald
Also known as: Donald Berry
Occupation / Association: Millwright; Carpenter
Born: St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada
Died: July 24, 1903, Douglas, Alaska
Parents:
Spouse:
Children: One married daughter living in San Francisco at the time of his death
Associated places: St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada; Boston, Massachusetts; Virginia City, Nevada; California; Treadwell, Alaska; Douglas, Alaska
Keywords: Donald Berry, Berry Donald, Treadwell Mine millwright, Douglas Alaska carpenter
Biography
Donald Berry was born in St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada. At the time of his death, he had a married daughter who was living in San Francisco.
Berry worked as a millwright and carpenter and was employed in mining camps in Boston, Virginia City, Nevada, and California.
He came to Alaska on January 16, 1886, aboard the steamer Idaho. Berry helped construct the 240-stamp mill at the Treadwell Mine.
Donald Berry died in Douglas, Alaska, on July 24, 1903, at the age of 69. Funeral services were held at the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church with Reverend Christian A. Roth presiding. He was buried in the Douglas City Cemetery.
Sources
Tags: Donald Berry, Berry Donald, Treadwell Mine workers, Douglas Alaska pioneers
Shotter-Evans, Margaret
Evans, Margaret (Shotter)
Parents: George Ray Shotter, Sr., and Lucy Shotter of Wrangell, Alaska
Siblings: George Ray Shotter Jr. (born April 5, 1882, Chemainus, British Columbia, Canada); Frank Shotter; Mrs. L. Kane; Mrs. Thomas Murry of Hoonah; Mrs. J. O. Ross of Seattle
Associated Places: Wrangell, Alaska; Chemainus, British Columbia, Canada; Hoonah, Alaska; Seattle, Washington; California
Biography
Margaret Shotter Evans was the daughter of George Ray Shotter, Sr., and Lucy Shotter, a Tlingit woman of Wrangell, Alaska. Through her parents, she was part of a family connected with both Southeast Alaska Native communities and the broader network of settlers and traders moving between Alaska and British Columbia during the late nineteenth century.
Her siblings included George Ray Shotter Jr., born April 5, 1882, in Chemainus, British Columbia, Canada; Frank Shotter; Mrs. L. Kane; Mrs. Thomas Murray of Hoonah, Alaska; and Mrs. J. O. Ross of Seattle, Washington.
Margaret later lived in California, reflecting the movement of many Alaska territorial families along the Pacific Coast during the early twentieth century.
Sources
Find A Grave memorial records
Shotter, Lucy
Primary Name: Shotter, Lucy
Filed as: Shotter, Lucy
Also known as: Lucy Shotter
Occupation / Association: Tlingit resident of Southeast Alaska
Associated places: Wrangell, Alaska; Hoonah, Alaska; Seattle, Washington; Chemainus, British Columbia, Canada; California
Keywords: Lucy Shotter, George Ray Shotter Sr family, Tlingit families Wrangell Alaska, Shotter family Southeast Alaska, Hoonah Alaska families, early Alaska Native families
Biography
Lucy Shotter was a Tlingit woman from Wrangell, Alaska.
She married George Ray Shotter, Sr. The family was part of the network of early Southeast Alaska Native and settler communities that connected coastal towns throughout the region.
Their children included George Ray Shotter, Jr., who was born April 5, 1882, in Chemainus, British Columbia, Canada; Frank Shotter; Mrs. L. Kane; Mrs. Thomas Murray of Hoonah; Mrs. J.O. Ross of Seattle; and Margaret Shotter Evans of California.
Sources
Find-A-Grave
King, John H.
Primary Name: King, John H.
Filed as: king_john_h
Also known as: John H. King
Occupation / Association: Early resident of Douglas, Alaska
Born: January 1879, Amador City, California
Died:
Parents: Nicholas King; Alice Develin King
Spouse:
Children:
Associated places: Amador City, California; Juneau, Alaska; Douglas, Alaska
Keywords: John H King, King John H, Nicholas King son, Alice Develin King son, Amador City California pioneers Alaska, Douglas Alaska early settlers
Biography
John H. King was born in January 1879 in Amador City, California, to Nicholas King and Alice Develin King.
His father came to Juneau in June 1885. The rest of the family followed on July 24, 1888. The King family was among the earliest settlers of Douglas, Alaska.
Sources
Pioneers of Alaska family records
Tags: John H King, King John H, Nicholas King, Alice Develin King, Amador City California, Douglas Alaska pioneers
McCormick, Richard
McCormick, Richard (Senior)
Biography
Richard McCormick, Senior, was born on August 8, 1859, in Pottsville, Pennsylvania.
By 1886, a number of families connected with the developing Treadwell mining operations began settling on Douglas Island. Among the earliest permanent residents were Richard McCormick, Nicholas King, George Shotter, Mike McKanna, P.H. Fox, and Henry Mead. Their arrival marked the beginning of the residential community that grew alongside the mines on Douglas Island.
In 1888, McCormick married Nora Connors-McCormick. The couple had eleven children, including Richard McCormick, Junior.
McCormick worked for many years in positions connected to the mining industry that dominated Douglas Island. He served as a blacksmith at the Mexican Mine, one of the early mines associated with the Treadwell mining complex. In 1911, he served as postmaster at Treadwell and later worked at the Treadwell Foundry.
Richard McCormick, Senior, died on May 3, 1934, at the age of seventy-four in Pacific Grove, California. He was buried in the Douglas Catholic Cemetery.
Sources
- Survey and Inventory of Douglas Historic Cemeteries
Boyd, W.C.
Primary Name: Boyd, W. C.
Filed as: boyd_w_c
Also known as: W. C. Boyd
Occupation / Association: Prospector; Manager, Alaska Snettisham Gold Mining Company; Douglas Cemetery Committee Clerk
Born: ca. 1837
Died: 1917, Sitka Pioneer Home, Sitka, Alaska
Parents:
Spouse:
Children:
Associated places: Douglas, Alaska; Snettisham, Alaska; Sitka, Alaska; California
Keywords: W C Boyd, Boyd W C, Douglas Alaska pioneers, Alaska Snettisham Gold Mining Company
Biography
W. C. Boyd came to Douglas around 1885 and was referred to as the "grand old man of Douglas." He was very active in Douglas civic affairs.
Boyd was a prospector and served as manager of the Alaska Snettisham Gold Mining Company.
In 1899, mining engineer W. A. Sanders agreed to give the people of Douglas “the dry knoll this side of Lawson Creek” for use as a cemetery if the townspeople would not object to his mining patent. Sanders also agreed to build a road to the grounds, stating that his word was sufficient rather than putting the agreement in writing.
Immediately after the meeting, a Cemetery Committee consisting of P. H. Fox, M. J. O'Connor, Reverend Peplogle, and W. C. Boyd took possession of the knoll and ran a line from Third Street in Douglas to the area.
In November 1900, Boyd was appointed clerk of the Douglas Cemetery Committee and was responsible for maintaining all cemetery records. He was also placed in charge of the road gang and later appointed a grave digger because earlier diggers had not been “observing the plan of the streets and alleys as marked out.”
In 1910, Boyd moved to California for health reasons but later returned to Alaska, where he lived at the Pioneer Home in Sitka. He died there in 1917 at nearly eighty years of age.
Sources
Douglas historical records
Tags: W C Boyd, Boyd W C, Douglas Alaska pioneers, Douglas Cemetery Committee, Alaska Snettisham Gold Mining Company
Dalton, Josephine
Primary Name: Dalton, Josephine
Filed as: dalton_josephine
Also known as: Josephine Dalton; Josephine Grant
Occupation / Association: Daughter of Alaska pioneer Jack Dalton
Born: 1916
Died:
Parents: Jack Dalton; Anna Krippeahne-Dalton
Spouse: U. S. Grant
Children:
Associated places: Alaska; Seattle, Washington; San Francisco, California
Keywords: Josephine Dalton, Josephine Grant, Dalton family Alaska, Jack Dalton daughter
Biography
Josephine Dalton was born in 1916 to Jack Dalton and Anna Krippeahne-Dalton, about the time the Dalton family left Alaska for the Seattle area.
She later married U. S. Grant, a descendant of the Civil War general and President of the United States, and became a well-known citizen of San Francisco, California.
Sources
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
Thane, Bart
Primary Name: Thane, Bartlett L.
Filed as: Thane, Bartlett L.
Also known as: Bartlett Lee Thane; Bart Thane
Occupation / Association: Mining engineer; mine developer; Alaska Gastineau Mining Company executive
Associated places: Juneau, Alaska; Sumdum, Alaska; Sheep Creek, Alaska; Salmon Creek, Alaska; Annex Creek, Alaska; New York City, New York; Berkeley, California
Keywords: Bartlett L Thane, Bart Thane, Alaska Gastineau Mining Company, Perseverance Mine, Salmon Creek Dam, Sheep Creek Adit, Juneau Gold Belt, University of California Berkeley engineers, early Alaska mining engineers
Biography
Bartlett “Bart” Thane was a mining engineer whose work in the Juneau Gold Belt helped create one of the largest and most technologically advanced gold mining complexes in the world during the early twentieth century.
Thane was born in 1879 and graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1898. While attending Berkeley he was the star quarterback of the university’s football team. Many of his teammates studied mining engineering and would later assist Thane in his ambitious mining ventures in Alaska.
At just under twenty years of age, Thane came to Juneau to begin his mining career. He was hired by veteran mining man Herman Tripp to operate and maintain the shaft pumps at the Sumdum Chief Mine, located approximately sixty miles south of Juneau. Although initially skeptical of college-trained engineers, Tripp quickly developed respect for the young engineer, beginning a lifelong friendship. Within three years Thane had gained a controlling interest in the Sumdum Chief Mine.
By 1911 Thane had successfully raised investment capital and obtained operational control of six gold mines in the Juneau Gold Belt. A mountain in the region was later named for him.
Through a complicated series of events Thane gained control of the Perseverance Mine near Juneau. The company’s president, Colonel William Sutherland, had been accused by stock and bondholders of mismanagement and was facing legal action. Sutherland died suddenly of a heart attack, and competing claims by two wives further complicated the estate. The company appeared hopelessly tied up in litigation.
With financial backing from prominent mining financiers D. C. Jackling and W. P. Hammon, Thane raised eight million dollars in 1912 to take over and redevelop the Perseverance Mine. His project would eventually become the Alaska Gastineau Mining Company, which developed into the largest gold mining operation in the world at the time.
Thane’s plan for the mine had three major components: providing tidewater access through a two-mile tunnel, developing year-round hydroelectric power, and constructing a revolutionary mill capable of processing thousands of tons of ore each day.
The Sheep Creek Adit, begun in November 1912 and completed in February 1914, was 10,497 feet long and at the time was driven at the fastest rate of any tunnel excavation in the world. The tunnel provided access from the Perseverance Mine to tidewater through the Sheep Creek Valley.
With assistance from former Berkeley teammates, Thane also oversaw construction of the Salmon Creek Dam. Completed as the first thin-arch concrete dam ever built, the structure stood 172 feet high and 648 feet across at the crest. The design proved revolutionary, and more than one hundred similar dams were later constructed around the world using the same principles first demonstrated at Salmon Creek.
The massive mill constructed for the Alaska Gastineau operation was designed to process up to 6,000 tons of ore per day using new rotating mills developed in the large copper mines of Nevada and Arizona. Completed in 1915, the mill exceeded expectations and was soon processing approximately 10,000 tons of ore per day at costs lower than projected.
To meet the growing demand for power, Thane developed another hydroelectric project at Annex Creek on Taku Inlet. The site was optioned from Herman Tripp in April 1915, and power was being produced by December of that same year. The project marked the first time a lake had been tapped by tunneling beneath it and blasting through the lakebed to release water for hydroelectric generation.
When the blast opened the lake, water reached the turbines two miles away in just forty-two minutes. The Annex Creek and Salmon Creek hydroelectric plants continue to generate power today and remain among the lowest-cost sources of electricity in Alaska.
For a brief period before World War I, the Alaska Gastineau Perseverance operation was the largest gold mining complex in the world and produced more than 500,000 ounces of gold.
The loss of labor during World War I and rising costs following the war made the operation unprofitable. On June 3, 1921, the mine closed.
Thane later attempted to repurpose the facilities for a large pulp mill development. In 1923 an agreement was reportedly reached with Japanese investors, but the catastrophic Yokohama earthquake that year killed the investors and the proposed pulp project collapsed.
Although his work had transformed the mining industry and left lasting engineering achievements, Thane died in New York City in 1927 reportedly embittered by the collapse of his final venture.
Upon hearing of his death, Fred Bradley, the legendary engineer behind the Treadwell and Alaska Juneau mines, remarked, “He built great monuments to man, but forgot what he was here for.”
Sources
Juneau mining historical records
Treadwell, John
Primary Name: Treadwell, John
Filed as: Treadwell, John
Also known as: John Treadwell
Occupation / Association: Mining entrepreneur; founder of the Treadwell Mine operations on Douglas Island
Associated places: Douglas Island, Alaska; Gastineau Channel, Alaska; Juneau, Alaska; San Francisco, California; St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada
Keywords: John Treadwell, Treadwell Mine, Alaska Mill and Mining Company, Alaska Gold Mining Company, Douglas Island mining, Gastineau Channel gold mining, Alaska territorial mining history, Treadwell mining complex, Alaska mining pioneers
Biography
John Treadwell, a California carpenter with a background in mining, prospected, explored, developed, and operated Alaska’s first successful large-scale, low-grade gold mine. His work played a major role in stimulating the economy of the Territory of Alaska and advancing large-scale industrial mining in the United States during the late nineteenth century.
Treadwell was born in St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada. In 1881, he was building a house in California for a prominent banker when news arrived of a promising gold prospect across the Gastineau Channel from Juneau, Alaska, on Douglas Island. The banker, John Fry, suggested that Treadwell travel north to examine the property.
Initially unimpressed with the deposit, Treadwell planned to return to San Francisco. While waiting for a ship, however, he met a French-Canadian prospector who described the claim but was financially unable to develop it. Treadwell purchased the claim sight unseen for $400. Assay results later proved encouraging, prompting him to organize a mining venture with Fry and an associate.
In May 1882, he returned to Alaska with a five-stamp mill and formed the Alaska Mill and Mining Company. Early operations demonstrated that the deposit could be profitable if worked on a much larger scale. The experimental mill was replaced with a 120-stamp mill in 1883, and in 1887, another 120 stamps were added.
These developments marked the beginning of the Treadwell mining complex, which eventually grew into a system of four mines and five mills. Together, they produced nearly $70 million in gold. At peak capacity in 1914, the combined mills operated 960 stamps, crushing approximately 5,000 tons of rock per day—then a world record—with an average value of about $2.50 per ton.
Approximately 2,000 men worked eight-hour shifts seven days a week, 363 days per year, with only Christmas and the Fourth of July as holidays. By 1920, miners’ wages averaged about $100 per month, among the highest in the world at the time.
The mining camp that grew around the operation developed into a substantial community known as Treadwell. During its forty-year evolution, it expanded from a single claim into a thriving town with stores, bunkhouses, mess halls, recreational facilities, and even a marching band and natatorium.
Treadwell himself sold his interests in 1889 to the Alaska Gold Mining Company for a reported $1.5 million. His success attracted additional investment and settlement to Alaska and brought national attention to the region’s mineral resources. The industrial methods used in the Treadwell operations helped shape modern hard-rock mining practices.
Mining operations ended in 1917 when caving and flooding destroyed large sections of the Treadwell mines. Afterward, Treadwell briefly pursued coal development projects in western Alaska, though these ventures proved unsuccessful. Later, he became involved in banking, but the bank eventually failed, and he filed for bankruptcy.
Sources
Telephone Hill Historic Neighborhood
Alaska Mining Hall of Fame