Primary Name: Pilz, George

Filed as: Pilz, George

Also known as: George Pilz

Occupation / Association: Mining engineer; prospector; Alaska mining promoter

Associated places: Saxony, Germany; Freiberg, Germany; Sitka, Alaska; Silver Bay, Alaska; Juneau, Alaska; Chilkoot Pass, Alaska; Dawson, Yukon; Katalla, Alaska; Chitina, Alaska; Forty-Mile region, Alaska; Eagle, Alaska; San Francisco, California; Michigan copper range

Keywords: George Pilz, Alaska mining engineer, Freiberg Mining Academy graduates, Silver Bay lode gold Alaska, Juneau gold discovery promoters, Joe Juneau prospecting party, Richard T Harris prospecting party, Auk Chief Kowee samples, Chilkoot Pass exploration, early Alaska mining development

Biography

George Pilz, one of the first professional mining engineers to work in Alaska, became a leading figure among the miners who entered the territory during the first decades following the United States purchase of Alaska.

Pilz was born in Saxony and educated at the renowned Mining Academy at Freiberg. After working on coal exploration in Germany, he left the country in 1867 to avoid conscription during the Franco-Prussian War.

Initially, Pilz investigated mining prospects in Canada and the United States for a German-owned company. He later left that position to work for the Calumet and Hecla Mining Company at Hancock in Michigan’s copper range. In 1869, he departed Michigan to erect a copper smelter in California.

During the following decade, Pilz worked throughout California, Arizona, and Nevada prospecting, developing mines, and erecting mills and smelters. His reputation for blunt and often cantankerous competence assured him steady employment, though it also kept him moving frequently from project to project.

In 1878, Pilz met Nicholas Haley in San Francisco. Haley, who had previously been stationed with the United States Army in Sitka, possessed rich gold-quartz specimens taken from the Stewart and other lodes near Silver Bay south of Sitka. Pilz initially suspected the samples originated from California’s Grass Valley district, but discussions with army officers and soldiers convinced him that the specimens truly came from Alaska.

Pilz secured financial backing and, in February 1879, traveled to Alaska to construct a mine and mill at Silver Bay. Gold processed by his five-stamp mill became the first lode gold produced in Alaska. The mine closed early in 1880 when the deposit proved too low-grade to sustain operations, though later events would vindicate Pilz’s belief that the region held significant mineral potential.

Seeking additional discoveries throughout Southeast Alaska, Pilz enlisted the assistance of several Tlingit communities, who supplied mineral samples from different areas. Pilz then dispatched experienced prospectors to investigate these reports, including Alaska Mining Hall of Fame inductees Joe Juneau and Richard T. Harris.

One of Pilz’s prospecting parties helped open Chilkoot Pass, which later became the principal gateway to the Klondike gold fields. The route was opened after Navy Captain Lester Beardslee negotiated with the Chilkat Tlingit to allow freighting through the pass.

Among the most promising samples received by Pilz were brought by Alaska Mining Hall of Fame inductee Auk Chief Kowee, who lived on Admiralty Island near the site of the modern city of Juneau. These specimens likely originated from the Gastineau Channel area.

Acting on Pilz’s direction, Harris and Juneau made their discovery in early October 1880 in Silver Bow Basin above present-day Juneau. Their earlier trip had taken them to Gold Creek, where they found promising placer gold and quartz fragments containing gold.

A grubstake agreement arranged by Pilz allowed Harris and Juneau to stake placer claims for themselves while granting Pilz a majority interest in the lode claims on a three-to-one basis.

After confirming the discovery in Silver Bow Basin, Harris and Juneau returned to Sitka, where Pilz joined them. Satisfied that the claims had been properly staked, Pilz approved the work and helped promote the new mining district. News of the discovery sparked a rush to the area in December 1880.

Controversy later arose involving N. A. Fuller, a Sitka merchant who had been connected with Pilz’s operations. Pilz maintained that Fuller acted only on his behalf, but the matter eventually resulted in a lawsuit in Sitka in 1886 in which Fuller obtained judgment against Richard T. Harris.

At the time, Pilz might have aided Harris, but was imprisoned in San Francisco, awaiting trial on a fraud charge he always denied. Despite later disputes between the two men, contemporary correspondence shows Pilz regarded Harris as one of his closest associates during the early Juneau mining period.

Miners from Juneau even sent gold dust to San Francisco to help Pilz post bail. The episode reflected the complicated and often contentious nature of Pilz’s career.

Pilz also likely erected the first prefabricated building in Alaska, constructing a pre-built house in Sitka. On February 7, 1881, he chaired a miners’ meeting that adopted revised mining district rules for the Harris district. He was also involved in organizing and platting the early town that became Juneau, then known as Rockwell or Harrisburg.

In later years, Pilz continued working in mining ventures across North America. He was reported in Dawson in 1906, at Katalla in 1907, working on coal projects, and in Chitina in 1911. He later spent many years in the Forty-Mile region.

George Pilz died in Eagle, Alaska, on September 15, 1926, remembered as a brilliant but often combative pioneer mining engineer who played a key role in the discovery and early development of the Juneau gold district.

Sources

Alaska Mining Hall of Fame.

Primary Name: Harris, Richard Tighe

Filed as: richard_tighe_harris

Also known as: Richard Harris; Dick Harris

Occupation / Association: Prospector; Miner; Founder of Juneau

Born: October 31, 1837, Drummadonald, County Down, Ireland

Died: October 11, 1907, Portland, Oregon

Parents: John Harris; Mary Anderson Harris

Spouse: Kitty Harris

Children: William J. Harris; Richard Tighe Harris, Jr.; Mary Kelchine Harris

Associated places: County Down, Ireland; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Kansas Territory; Bannack, Montana Territory; British Columbia; Juneau, Alaska; Douglas Island, Alaska; Portland, Oregon

Keywords: Richard Tighe Harris, Dick Harris, Richard Harris Juneau founder, Harris Mining District, Alaska Juneau Gold Mine discovery, Silver Bow Basin discovery

Biography

Richard "Dick" Tighe Harris was born on October 31, 1837, in or near Drummadonald, County Down, Ireland, to John Harris and Mary Anderson Harris. He immigrated to the United States by 1855 and was naturalized by about 1858.

Harris lived in Pennsylvania and Ohio, where he stayed with his uncle, Caldwell Anderson. He attended Duff’s Merchant’s College in Pittsburgh. In 1858, he went west, first to Missouri and Kansas Territory and then to the mining regions of the Rocky Mountains.

From 1859 forward, Harris lived the life of a frontier miner, working placer and lode mines in Idaho, Colorado Territory, Virginia City, Silver Bow, and Butte before recording claims near Bannack City in Montana Territory.

By 1877, Harris was in British Columbia. In the winter and spring of 1879, he began prospecting for George Pilz, a Sitka entrepreneur. Harris was guided in southeastern Alaska by Chief Kowee of the Auk Tlingit.

In October 1880, Harris, with partner Joe Juneau, made one of the most significant discoveries in American prospecting. Guided by Kowee, the men crossed Gold Creek into Silver Bow Basin, where they discovered rich placer deposits and the lode system that later became the Alaska-Juneau Gold Mine.

Harris named the new settlement Harrisburgh after the capital of Pennsylvania, though the town was later renamed Juneau. The Harris Mining District was named in his honor.

Harris married Kitty Newcombe, a Tlingit woman from Hoonah, around 1880. They had several children, including William J. Harris and Richard Tighe Harris, Jr.

In March 1881, just a few months after gold was discovered, Richard and Kitty purchased three lots in the Telephone Hill Historic Neighborhood. The Harris family residence stood near 219 Second Street.

After losing a legal dispute over mining claims in Silver Bow Basin in 1884, Harris lost most of his mining interests and property. He later worked for Thomas L. Nowell, managing the Alaska Union Mining Company mill on Douglas Island, and later held positions with the District Court, U.S. Customs Service, and as a Special Deputy Marshal.

Harris served on the first Grand Jury in Alaska in 1885 and remained active in mining ventures throughout his life.

By 1904, Harris’s eyesight had begun to fail, and his health had declined. He was eventually sent to a Masonic nursing home in Portland, Oregon, where he died on October 11, 1907.

Harris Street in Juneau bears his name, and the Richard Harris and Joseph Juneau Memorial commemorates the two men credited with the discovery of gold that led to the founding of Juneau.

Sources

Alaska Mining Hall of Fame; Alaska Consortium Library

Richard Tighe Harris Dick Harris Richard Harris Juneau founder Harris Richard T Harris

Tags: Richard Tighe Harris, Dick Harris, Joe Juneau, Chief Kowee, George Pilz, Alaska Juneau Gold Mine discovery, Silver Bow Basin pioneers, Juneau founders

The Edward Bayless House is located at 211 Dixon Street in the Telephone Hill Historic Neighborhood.

Ownership documentation of Lots 1 and 2 reveals that George Pilz and his wife sold the property to Juneau co-founder Richard T. Harris in March 1881.

Pilz grubstaked Joe Juneau and Richard Harris during their search for southeast Alaska gold. When Juneau's two founders discovered gold and reported to Pilz, he joined the others in staking local claims.

Although 1901 tax records show "lots and a building" and site improvements valued at $1,000, the Edward Bayless House located at on Lot 2 at 211 Dixon Street is reportedly visible in an 1885 photograph.

In a October 13, 1904 letter Richard wrote his brother that their father, "wants to sell the back lot so he can put up a new house and have money in case anything should happen to him." The boys own the place and he asks his brother to send permission for their father to sell the land. The permission was given but Harris did not sell the property as it will increase in value because the town is growing fast as was revealed in a November 20, 1904 letter.

The Harris family lived in a house on an adjacent lot at 219 Second Street, although Kitty Harris died in 1893 and Richard Harris died in 1907.  William John Harris, Junior inherited the property on his father's death.

The original residence was replaced around 1910; the second structure stood until the late 1950s. Harris married Kitty, a Tlingit from Hoonah, in the 1880s. They raised four children in the Telephone Hill home. William Harris, the oldest surviving child, inherited the house after his father's death in 1907 (Walle, 1981). William was nationally published political cartoonist who was involved in early Alaska Native Rights efforts.

Harris maintained property ownership until 1912, when Claire Bayless and Edward Bayless purchased Lot 1 and built the Edward Bayless House.  In 1913, tax records indicate a building was situated on the Bayless lot, and a 1916 entry lists a law library on the premises valued at $175.

Bayless, a registered Republican, engaged in a law partnership with Louis P. Shackleford. The Baylesses retained property ownership until 1921, selling to Thomas J. McCaul, owner of a cigar store on Front Street. McCaul continued ownership until 1933.

In 1941, Senna Paul Powers bought Lots 1 and 2 and the house.

The Bayless House, a rectangular, 30'x44.5', 1½-story Craftsman­ Shingle structure, has retained its architectural integrity. The post-and-beam frame is covered with cedar shakes and rests on a poured concrete foundation. The gabled roof is composition shingle-covered, and a chimney sits on the ridgeline. Extended eaves with fascia boards are visible.

The west facade features two gabled dormers. The original, double-hung sash windows with upper multi-lites are symmetrically arranged on all facades. Some original, wood storm windows are evident.

A small entry vestibule, oriented west, is centrally located on the main facade. Vintage doors appear here and at the basement entrance on the north facade. Small, multi-lite windows are located on the front entry, and smaller units appear on the basement level. The main floor is divided into two apartments; the upper floor contains one unit. 

Telephone Hill Historic Site and Structures Survey, 1984, found that  this well-built, unpretentious residence is important architecturally. A fine example of the Craftsman-Shingle style popular on the West Coast during the early 20th century, it has retained its architectural integrity. This distinctive design is evident in the building's original craftsman-like use of local and natural materials.

The most striking characteristic of this natural style is the dark-stained shake shingles covering the entire residence. The prolific use of shingles makes decorative trimming unnecessary. Other stylistic features include a moderately pitched, rectangular roof with gabled dormers. The eave overhangs were kept short for maximum display of the shingled walls. The original double-hung sash windows are grouped in twos and threes.

The house has undergone minimal structural alterations.  It was found to be a contributing member of the Telephone Hill Historic Neighborhood.

https://poajuneau.nationbuilder.com/garside_charleshttps://poajuneau.nationbuilder.com/degroff_edEuro-American presence in southeast Alaska began in·the latter part of the 18th century when explorers visited the area in search of highly prized furs, particularly the sea otter, for trade purposes. The survey for Alaskan resources included the search for precious minerals and the hope of discovering the famed Northwest Passage (State of Alaska 1982).

Countries involved in exploring the northwest coast of North America included Spain, England, Russia, France and Japan. Russian explorers are recorded as the first to encounter Native groups in southeastern Alaska. The first published account of exploration in Gastineau Channel was written by Captain George Vancouver, describing his journeys in 1793 and 1794. Seventy years later, the name Gastineau Channel was included on the 1867 Humphrey manuscript furnished to Western Telegraph Company (Werner 1925).

John Muir, a well-known naturalist, visited Lynn Canal in 1879. Upon his return to Sitka after interacting with Chilkat Tlingits, Muir noted that gold might be found in the area lying between Windham Bay and Sullivan Island in northern Lynn Canal.

Chief Kowee of the Auk Tlingit brought ore samples to George Pilz, a mining engineer residing in Sitka in 1880. These samples confirmed Muir's statements of potential gold reserves in southeast Alaska ( DeArmond 1967).

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.

Charles W. Wells was a charter member of the Juneau Men's Igloo.

Wells was born in Pennsylvania on July 17, 1847. He came west to California in 1867 and later moved to Washington Territory. In 1870, he went to the Omineca mining district in British Columbia, and in 1874 to the Cassiar district.

In 1879, he traveled to Sitka and was hired by George Pilz as a blacksmith. There, he worked on building a stamp mill at Silver Bay. Wells was among the first men to come to Juneau from Sitka in the late fall of 1880.

He staked both lode and placer claims along Gold Creek, some of which later became part of the Ebner Mine and provided Wells with substantial dividends.

Wells claimed a town lot on Main Street, now partly occupied by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and purchased half of another lot at the corner of Front and Main Streets from George Pilz. He constructed a building on the waterside of Front Street but was ordered by a town meeting to remove it.

At that time, it was considered important to keep the waterfront open so canoes and rowboats could be pulled up along the shore. Wells later leased a portion of a lot on Front Street from Pierre Erussard, built a blacksmith shop there, and operated it for nine years.

In addition to his work as a blacksmith, Wells continued prospecting and staked several mining claims, which he later sold.

On December 21, 1894, Wells married Miss S. B. Fisher in Juneau. He later became active in politics and in 1905 was appointed to the Republican Territorial Committee, serving on it until his death.

Charles W. Wells died in Seattle, Washington, on January 12, 1917.

Source
The Founding of Juneau, R. N. DeArmond, 1980, p. 200

Alaska Native Tlingit and Haida people reportedly occupied Southeast Alaska for hundreds of years prior to European contact.

The Haida lived primarily in the southwestern portion of Southeast Alaska, while the Tlingit resided in the rest of the region. The Auk, Taku and Sumdum tribes of Tlingit people lived in what is now the City and Borough of Juneau at the time George Vancouver's crew noticed smoke from a campfire at an Auke Bay village. This first recorded account of the Auks was in 1794.

In 1867, The United States bought Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million dollars. Gold was known to exist in Southeast Alaska as early as the 1860s located in a string of highly mineralized deposits along the coastline from Windham Bay to Berners Bay.

George Pilz, a Sitka miner, was convinced that gold existed in the Gastineau Channel area when Chief Kowee of the Auk people brought him ore from the mouth of what was to be called Gold Creek. He outfitted two prospectors, Richard T. Harris and Joseph Juneau, and sent them to investigate. Following the creek to its headwaters in Silverbow Basin, they staked a claim on October 4, 1880.

Harris and Juneau established a 160 acre townsite at the beach near the mouth of Gold Creek on October 18, 1880 and named it Harrisburg. In early 1881, a town meeting resulted in the name being changed to Rockwell in honor of the Naval Commander that was sent to the area to establish law and order. By the end of 1881, Joe Juneau lobbied the local miners, complaining nothing in the district had been named for him, and it was agreed to change the town's name to Juneau. In 1900, Juneau was incorporated and named the seat of government for the Alaska Territory.

As early placer mining operations gave way to large underground mines, transportation of vast amounts of goods, materials, and people became increasingly important. The glacial, mountainous, and coastal terrain surrounding the Juneau area made overland transportation impossible. The only reasonable options were by sea and later air.

Juneau's harbor developed with a number of ship docks to handle the influx of commerce to support the growing community. By1901, the Pacific Coastal Steamship Company had a wharf and warehouse facility at the subject site. The facility served the shipping needs of the community until 1924, when Pacific Coastal was purchased by Admiral Line, a competing shipping company, and moved to another location on Juneau's waterfront.

The Juneau Motor Company purchased the property in 1924, and erected a garage and office on the wharf to serve their new business. This was Juneau's first Ford dealership as automobiles became popular.

Aviation history was made on April 15, 1929, when Enscel Eckmann flew into Juneau in his Lockheed Vega named "Juneau." It was the first non-stop flight from Seattle to Alaska. Shortly after arriving, Eckmann formed Alaska-Washington Airways, Juneau's first airline. Alaska-Washington Airways operated out of a hangar built atop a large log raft anchored in front of the Juneau Motor Company facility. During the 1930s there were a number of companies providing float plane service out of the Juneau Harbor. These included Alaska Southern Airways, Pacific Alaska Airways, Panhandle Air Transport,Alaska Air Transport, and Marine Airways.

In 1936, the Juneau Motor company's building and dock were demolished by Alaska Air Transport (AAT) to make way for a hangar and repair shop. Local investors funded the hangar which was built to house five planes. The 5,000 square foot hangar was used in conjunction with a floating hangar already owned by AAT. A wood and steel ramp connected the new hangar to the sea level floating dock allowing loading/unloading of passengers and cargo.

In addition, a lift system, composed of a long boom, slings, pulleys and railroad tracks,was developed to lift planes out of the water and transport them into the hangar on the wharf. The 'crane' was designed by Shell Simmons and used for the first time to lift AAT's Bellanca on August 27, 1936.

Fire destroyed the Alaska Air Transport hangar on June 10, 1938. The Daily Alaska Empire (currently Juneau Empire) reported the fire started from a welding torch that ignited the fabric of a Bellanca Skyrocket float plane. Damage from the fire was estimated at $25,000 and included destruction of the Bellanca Skyrocket, substantial damage to the buildinq, and destruction of machinery, parts and tools. The buildinq was insured and plans were made to rebuild.

Sheldon "Shell" Simmons, owner of Alaska Air Transport, was quoted as saying, "We're in the flying business, same as usual."

Between 1938 and 1939,a new Alaska Air Transport hangar was constructed. In July 1940, Alaska Air Transport and Marine Airways merged to become Alaska Coastal Airlines. After the merger the new company purchased the hangar from the private owner from whom they had been leasing. In 1946, the building underwent a major renovation including a hangar addition of approximately 10,000 square feet. In addition, office space was added in 1951, and a baggage handling area was constructed in 1957. In the 1950's, Alaska Coastal Airlines served 33 towns throughout Alaska, only four of which had airports. Alaska Coastal Airlines was recognized as a model of independency because they were at least 1,000miles away from any repair-shop or parts department, thus all servicing and repairs were done in house.

In the July1959 issue of Popular Mechanics the article, "Alaska's Flying Bus Line", praised Alaska Coastal Airlines as being, "...a most unique air operation that's a tribute to old-fashioned American ingenuity." Many innovations came out of the Alaska Coastal Airlines hangar over the years, in order to combat the harsh Alaska climate and lack of available parts as well as making planes more efficient. Alaska Coastal Airlines retrofitted the first "Turbo Goose" by replacing the original engines with Pratt and Whittney PT6A turboprops.

Coastal Ellis Airlines continued their operations out of the Alaska Coastal hangar. They owned and operated the greatest exclusively amphibian airline in the world, with the largest fleet of the legendary Grumman Goose in private hands. Today five of Alaska Coastal Ellis Airline planes sit in museums around the world. These museums include the McChord Air Force Museum in Washington, DC, the National Canadian Aviation Museum in Ottawa, the Tongass Historical Museum in Ketchikan, the Yanks Air Museum in Greenfield,California, and the Swedish Air Force Museum in Linkoping.

In 1968, Alaska Airlines purchased Alaska Coastal Ellis Airlines. Alaska Airlines did not wish to continue float plane operations based out of the Alaska Coastal Airlines Hangar building, so Dean Williams and Bill Bernhardt formed Southeast Skyways in late 1968 to fill the void, renting the hangar facility from Alaska Airlines. Southeast Skyways was strictly charter until 1969, when Alaska Airlines asked Southeast Skyways to take over the former Alaska Coastal Ellis Airline routes.

In 1974, Henry Camarot, Louis Dischner, and Frank Irich purchased the Alaska Coastal Airlines Hangar. The building was remodeled for use as a retail center with restaurants, shops, and offices. They named the bulldinq "Merchant's Wharf" which continues to serve as a retail center today.

About this time Southeast Skyways was purchased by Wings of Alaska. Although the hangar and repair facilities have been converted to retail uses, Wings of Alaska continues to operate from a floating dock to serve the tourist trade. These floats and associated aircraft activity are reminiscent of former operations at this location and serve as a reminder of the history and historic events of this aspect of Juneau's past.

Alaska Coastal Airlines Hangar Historic Survey, September 2006