Hanley, Elizabeth
Primary Name: Hanley, Elizabeth
Filed as: hanley_elizabeth
Also known as: Elizabeth Hanley
Occupation / Association: Resident of Alaska; correspondent in early Alaska business affairs
Born:
Died:
Parents:
Spouse: E. B. Hanley
Children:
Associated places: Juneau, Alaska; Cordova, Alaska
Keywords: Elizabeth Hanley, Hanley Elizabeth, E B Hanley family, Juneau Alaska residents
Biography
Elizabeth Hanley was the wife of E. B. Hanley.
In December 1916 she wrote to Juneau attorney John Malony, commenting on developments involving Jack Dalton. In her letter she noted that Dalton had sold his interests in Cordova and remarked that “Dalton sold out at Cordova and is now a capitalist. Jack feels pretty big.”
Sources
Correspondence referenced in Juneau historical records, December 1916
Wiley, Perry
Porcupine Mining District Discovery
In 1898, prospectors Mix Silva, Edward Findley, and Perry Wiley, who had been grubstaked by Jack Dalton, discovered placer gold on Porcupine Creek north of Haines near the Dalton Trail. Following the discovery, the Porcupine Mining District was formally organized on October 22, 1898.
On November 5, 1898, Dalton and his three prospectors located the Discovery Claim. Additional claims were subsequently located by Dalton and his business partners, E. B. Hanley and John Malony.
The district experienced a stampede in 1899 as prospectors rushed to the area. Gold was discovered in nearby creeks, and additional deposits of gold and copper were found as far as sixty miles away, including in the Rainy Hollow district in Canada. During the first year of mining, gold production was reportedly worth approximately $50,000, of which about $40,000 came from Dalton’s Discovery Claim.
The deposits in the district were rich but fairly deep, requiring significant infrastructure to mine effectively. Miles of ditches and flumes were constructed to supply water for hydraulic lifts, sometimes called gravel elevators, where miners processed the gravel to recover gold.
Commercial support for the new district was supplied by the Porcupine Trading Company, organized by Dalton, Hanley, and Malony on August 1, 1899. The company imported mining equipment and extended liberal credit to other miners operating in the district.
In 1900, Dalton and his partners shipped in approximately 300 tons of equipment and supplies. The mines operated profitably until about 1905, when a major flood destroyed much of the mining infrastructure. Recognizing that most of the easily recovered gold had likely been extracted, Dalton, Hanley, and Malony sold their interests at a profit in 1907.
Source
Alaska Mining Hall of Fame
Findley, Edward
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Primary Name: Findley, Edward
Filed as: Findley, Edward
Also known as: Edward Findley
Occupation / Association: Prospector; miner; discoverer of placer gold on Porcupine Creek; Porcupine Mining District discovery party
Associated places: Porcupine Creek, Alaska; Haines, Alaska; Dalton Trail; Rainy Hollow district, British Columbia
Keywords: Edward Findley, Porcupine Creek gold discovery, Porcupine Mining District, Dalton Trail prospectors, Jack Dalton mining operations, Mix Silva prospector, Perry Wiley prospector, Alaska gold rush prospectors, Haines Alaska mining history
Biography
Edward Findley was one of the prospectors associated with the discovery of placer gold on Porcupine Creek north of Haines along the Dalton Trail.
In 1898, prospectors Mix Silva, Edward Findley, and Perry Wiley, who had been grubstaked by Jack Dalton, discovered placer gold on Porcupine Creek north of Haines near the Dalton Trail. Following the discovery, the Porcupine Mining District was formally organized on October 22, 1898.
On November 5, 1898, Dalton and his three prospectors located the Discovery Claim. Additional claims were soon located by Dalton and his business partners, E. B. Hanley and John Malony. The district was stampeded in 1899 as prospectors rushed into the region. Gold was discovered in nearby creeks, and both gold and copper were found in areas as much as sixty miles distant, including the Rainy Hollow district in Canada. The first year’s gold production was reportedly worth about $50,000, of which approximately $40,000 came from Dalton’s Discovery Claim.
The deposits in the district were rich but fairly deep, requiring complex infrastructure to mine effectively. Miles of ditches and flumes were constructed to supply water to hydraulic lifts, sometimes called gravel elevators, where miners recovered the gold. Commercial support for the new district was supplied by the Porcupine Trading Company, organized by Dalton, Hanley, and Malony on August 1, 1899. The company brought in mining equipment and extended liberal credit to other miners working in the district.
In 1900, Dalton and his partners shipped approximately 300 tons of equipment and supplies into the district. The mines operated profitably until about 1905, when a major flood washed out a considerable amount of the mining infrastructure. Recognizing that much of the easily recovered gold had likely been extracted, Dalton, Hanley, and Malony sold their interests profitably in 1907.
Edward Findley’s role in the original discovery party places him among the early prospectors whose work helped open the Porcupine Mining District and contributed to the mining history of the Haines region during Alaska’s gold rush era.
Sources
Alaska Mining Hall of Fame
Silva, Mix
Primary Name: Porcupine Mining District
Filed as: Porcupine Mining District
Also known as: Porcupine Creek Gold Discovery
Occupation / Association: Placer gold mining district
Associated places: Porcupine Creek, Alaska; Haines, Alaska; Dalton Trail; Rainy Hollow District, Canada
Keywords: Porcupine Mining District Alaska, Porcupine Creek gold discovery, Jack Dalton, Mix Silva, Edward Findley, Perry Wiley, EB Hanley, John Malony, Porcupine Trading Company, Dalton Trail mining, Haines Alaska mining history, Rainy Hollow mining district, Alaska placer mining, hydraulic mining Alaska, Alaska gold rush mining districts
Biography
In 1898 prospectors Mix Silva, Edward Findley, and Perry Wiley, who had been grubstaked by Jack Dalton, discovered placer gold on Porcupine Creek north of Haines along the Dalton Trail. The discovery quickly attracted attention and the Porcupine Mining District was formally organized on October 22, 1898.
On November 5, 1898, Dalton and the three prospectors located the Discovery Claim. Additional claims were soon located by Dalton and his business partners E. B. Hanley and John Malony. The district experienced a mining rush in 1899 as prospectors arrived and began working nearby creeks and surrounding areas.
Prospectors soon discovered gold in nearby creeks and both gold and copper deposits in areas as much as sixty miles distant, including the Rainy Hollow district in Canada. First-year production from the Porcupine district was reported to be worth approximately $50,000, with about $40,000 coming from Dalton’s Discovery Claim.
The gold deposits in the district were rich but fairly deep, requiring significant infrastructure to mine profitably. Miners constructed miles of ditches and flumes to deliver water to hydraulic mining systems. Hydraulic lifts, sometimes called gravel elevators, were used to raise gold-bearing gravel for processing.
Commercial support for the mining district came from the Porcupine Trading Company, organized by Dalton, Hanley, and Malony on August 1, 1899. The company imported mining equipment and provided supplies and credit to miners working in the district.
In 1900 Dalton and his partners shipped approximately 300 tons of mining equipment and supplies into the area. Mining operations continued profitably until around 1905, when a major flood destroyed much of the mining infrastructure. Recognizing that much of the easily recovered gold had been extracted, Dalton, Hanley, and Malony sold their interests in the district in 1907.
Sources
Alaska Mining Hall of Fame.
Lindsay , Jack
Primary Name: Dalton, Jack
Filed as: dalton_jack
Also known as: Jack Dalton
Occupation / Association: Freighter; Trader; Hotel Proprietor
Born:
Died:
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Spouse:
Children:
Associated places: Haines, Alaska
Keywords: Jack Dalton, Dalton Jack, Dalton Trail freighter, Haines Alaska trader, Hotel Haines proprietor
Biography
Jack Dalton was a freighter and trader active in the Haines area of Alaska. In 1894, with backing from John Maloney, Dalton acquired land from the widow of George Dickinson, the first trader in the area.
Dalton built a warehouse and a store on the Dickinson tract and later constructed the Hotel Haines. He continued operating his freight business while leaving hotel management to Jack Lindsay.
Sources
Tags: Jack Dalton, Dalton Jack, John Maloney, George Dickinson, Haines Alaska pioneers, Alaska freighters
Bratnober, Henry
Primary Name: Bratnober, Henry
Filed as: bratnober_henry
Also known as: Henry Bratnober
Occupation / Association: Businessman; Mining Investor; Partner, Dalton Trail Company
Born:
Died:
Parents:
Spouse:
Children:
Associated places: Alaska; Yukon District; Pyramid Harbor; Forty-Mile District; Circle District
Keywords: Henry Bratnober, Dalton Trail Company partner, Yukon freighting, Alaska mining investor
Biography
Henry Bratnober was a partner in the Dalton Trail Company, organized in 1895 to provide reliable freighting services into the Yukon during the early gold rush period.
Observing the pre-Klondike gold activity in the Circle and Forty-Mile mining districts and the growing need for dependable transportation into the Yukon region, John Malony and Jack Dalton formed a partnership for the Dalton Trail Company. Bratnober joined the venture along with E. B. Hanley and Fred Norvell.
The company operated the Dalton Trail, a packhorse route extending from Pyramid Harbor across the coastal mountains toward the Yukon interior. Prior to the completion of the White Pass & Yukon Railway, the trail served as an important transportation and supply route for miners and prospectors traveling to the interior goldfields.
Sources
Historical accounts of the Dalton Trail Company and Yukon freighting operations
Tags: Henry Bratnober, Dalton Trail Company, Alaska mining investors, Yukon freighting, Klondike Gold Rush logistics, Pyramid Harbor trail
Norvell, Fred
Primary Name: Dalton Trail Company
Filed as: Dalton Trail Company
Also known as: Dalton Trail freighting partnership
Occupation / Association: Yukon freight and transportation company
Associated places: Yukon River region; Dalton Trail; Alaska; Yukon Territory, Canada
Keywords: Dalton Trail Company, Jack Dalton freighting, John Malony Yukon freighting, EB Hanley Yukon trade, Fred Norvell Yukon freighting, Henry Bratnober Alaska mining investors, Dalton Trail history
Biography
The Dalton Trail Company was formed in 1895 to provide reliable freight transportation into the Yukon region during the early years of northern gold exploration.
Observing the growing pre-Klondike mining activity in the Circle and Forty-Mile Districts and the resulting need for dependable supply routes into the interior, John Malony and Jack Dalton organized the partnership. They were joined by investors and associates E. B. Hanley, Fred Norvell, and Henry Bratnober.
The company operated along the route that became known as the Dalton Trail, a major overland route used by miners, prospectors, and freight outfits traveling between the coast and the Yukon interior before and during the Klondike gold rush.
Through their freight operations, the Dalton Trail Company played an early role in developing transportation infrastructure supporting the mining districts of Alaska and the Yukon.
Sources
Alaska Mining Hall of Fame
Hanley, E. B.
Primary Name: Dalton Trail Company
Filed as: dalton_trail_company
Also known as: Dalton Trail freighting partnership
Occupation / Association: Freighting company serving Yukon mining districts
Born: 1895 (formation)
Died:
Parents:
Spouse:
Children:
Associated places: Circle District, Alaska; Forty-Mile District, Yukon; Dalton Trail; Yukon River region
Keywords: Dalton Trail Company, Dalton Trail freighting, John Malony, Jack Dalton, E B Hanley, Fred Norvell, Henry Bratnober, Yukon freighting companies
Biography
Observing the pre-Klondike gold activity in the Circle and Forty-Mile Districts and the resulting need for reliable freighting in the Yukon region, John Malony and Jack Dalton organized a partnership in 1895 to operate the Dalton Trail Company.
The company was formed with additional partners E. B. Hanley, Fred Norvell, and Henry Bratnober. The enterprise provided freighting services along the Dalton Trail and into the Yukon mining districts, supporting prospectors and miners working in the region before the Klondike gold rush.
Sources
Tags: Dalton Trail Company, John Malony, Jack Dalton, E B Hanley, Fred Norvell, Henry Bratnober, Yukon freighting companies
Malony, Cora Cleveland
Primary Name: Malony, Cora Cleveland
Filed as: Malony, Cora Cleveland
Also known as: Cora Cleveland Malony
Occupation / Association: Milliner; Juneau business owner
Associated places: Bryan, Ohio; Bellingham, Washington; Juneau, Alaska
Keywords: Cora Cleveland Malony, Cora Malony Juneau, Juneau hat shop owner, Malony family Juneau Alaska, Wickersham House history, Alaska Gastineau Mine community
Biography
Cora Cleveland Malony moved to Juneau, Alaska, in 1895. She had previously lived in Bryan, Ohio, and Bellingham, Washington.
Cora, some twenty-five years younger than John Malony, had an independent streak of her own and established a hat shop in Juneau.
She married John Malony in Juneau, and on December 29, 1899, she gave birth to their son, John Malony, Jr.
A residence was later constructed in downtown Juneau for Bart Thane’s Alaska Gastineau mine. Much to Cora’s disappointment, as she had hoped to live in the house, it was sold. The residence later became known as the Wickersham House.
Cora Cleveland Malony died in 1967 at the age of eighty-five.
Sources
Alaska Mining Hall of Fame.
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