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Pages tagged "Perserverance Mine"


Thane, Bart

Posted on Historical Pioneers T by Dorene Lorenz · January 09, 2024 3:31 AM

Bart Thane was born in 1879. One of a new breed of college trained engineers, he graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1898. He was the star quarterback on Berkeley's football team. Many of his teammates were majoring in mining engineering and would play key supporting roles in Thane's most ambitious endeavor.

At just shy of 20 years of age, the young Thane came to Juneau to begin his mining career. Long time mining man Herman Tripp hired Thane in his first job running and maintaining the shaft pumps in the Sumdum Chief mine 60 miles south of Juneau. Tripp, who had reservations about college boys, quickly became a fan of the young Californian, resulting in a lifelong friendship. In three years, Thane gained controlling interest in the Sumdum Chief mine.

By successfully raising money from state sources Thane had, by 1911, obtained operational control of six gold mines in the Juneau Gold Belt and had a mountain name after him.

Through a rather bazaar course of events, Thane would gain control of the Perseverance mine near Juneau. The President of the company, Colonel William Sutherland had been accused by stock and bondholders of mismanagement of the company and was sued. Sutherland dropped dead of a heart attack; two wives claimed his estate, neither of which knew about the other.

The company seemed to be hopelessly caught up in litigation when with the backing of D.C. Jackling and W.P. Hammon, Thane raised $8 million in 1912 to take over and develop the Perseverance mine into the world's largest gold mine at the time. This complex would later be known as the Alaska Gastineau.

Thane had a three part plan for the Perseverance mine: provide for tide water access via a two mile tunnel, develop a year round hydroelectric power plant, and construct a revolutionary new mill that would handle up to 6,000 tons per day of ore.

The Sheep Creek Adit, as the tunnel was known, was started in November 1912 and completed in February 1914. It is 10,497 feet long and was driven at the fastest rate any tunnel had been excavated in the world. This tunnel gave Thane tide water access via Sheep Creek valley.

With the assistance of some of his former football teammates, Thane constructed the Salmon Creek Dam, which is the first thin arch concrete dam ever constructed. The dam is 172 feet high, 648 feet across at the crest, 47.5 feet thick at the base tapering to 6.5 feet at the top. Today there are more than one hundred of these dams throughout the world designed after the one at Sheep Creek near Juneau, Alaska.

The new mill designed to crush, grind, and recover gold from 6,000 tons per day relied on a new rotating mill that was being used in the large copper mines of Nevada and Arizona. Completed in 1915, and the mill, which many in the mining industry were skeptical as to its success, did not handle 6,000 tons per day, but rather handled 10,000 tons per day at less than the cost projected.

With the success of the new mill, it became clear that more electrical power would be needed. Annex Creek on Taku Inlet was optioned from Herman Tripp in April 1915, the power project was producing power by December of that year. It is the first time a lake had been tapped via tunneling under and punching a hole through the bottom of the lake.

Amazingly, water was turning the water wheels 2 miles away within 42 minutes after blasting the hole through the lake. Annex Creek and Salmon Creek still produce 20 percent of Juneau's power today, and are the lowest cost power producers in the State of Alaska.

The Alaska Gastineau Perserverence, for a short period prior to World War I, was the largest gold mining complex in the world. It produced more than 500,000 ounces of gold.

The loss of labor during the war and post war inflation made the mine unprofitable. On June 3, 1921, the mine shut down.

Thane promoted the hydroelectric plants, mill town, and support facilities for a new pulp mill site. In 1923, an apparent deal was made with Japanese investors. However, the Yokohama, Japan earthquake of the same year killed the investors and the proposed pulp mill died with them.

Even though he had positively changed the course of the mining industry, Thane died in New York City in 1927, a broken and embittered man.

Fred Bradley, the genius behind the Treadwell and AJ Mines, said of Thane upon hearing of his death, "He built great monuments to man, but forgot what he was here for."


Garside, George

Posted on Historical Pioneers G by Dorene Lorenz · January 07, 2024 11:04 PM

George Garside and his brother, Charles W. Garside, came to Juneau in 1884. They were mining engineers and early surveyors of the Juneau Townsite. George Garside was one of the original developers of the Perseverance, Atla and Jumbo lodes in the Silver Bow Basin (Stone 1980; DeArmond 1967)


Garside, Charles

Posted on Historical Pioneers G by Dorene Lorenz · January 07, 2024 10:55 PM

Charles W. Garside and his brother, George Garside, came to Juneau in 1884. They were mining engineers and early surveyors of the Juneau Townsite. George Garside was one of the original developers of the Perseverance, Atla and Jumbo lodes in the Silver Bow Basin (Stone 1980; DeArmond 1967).

The 1894 plat map of the Juneau Townsite shows Charles owning Lots 3 and 4 at the turn of the century. City tax records show that Charles Garside sold the two lots to William Bosch in 1912. The William Bosch House is part of the Telephone Hill Historic Neighborhood.


Bosch House

Posted on Historic Properties by Dorene Lorenz · January 07, 2024 10:42 PM

The William Bosch House at 214 Dixon Street sits on the west slope of Telephone Hill. It was constructed between 1913-14 by William Bosch.

The 1894 plat map of the Juneau Townsite shows Charles W. Garside owning Lots 3 and 4 at the turn of the century. Charles and his brother, George Garside, came to Juneau in 1884.

They were mining engineers and early surveyors of the Juneau Townsite. George Garside was one of the original developers of the Perseverance, Atla and Jumbo lodes in the Silver Bow Basin (Stone 1980; DeArmond 1967).

City tax records show that Charles Garside sold the two lots to William Bosch in 1912. Bosch owned the Old Stand Saloon on Front Street, located next to the 20th Century Market in 1983. The estate of William Bosch sold Lots 3 and 4 to Joseph Stocker in the 1950s.

Ownership was transferred to the Nordales in 1967, and to Roy and Verna Carrigan in 1969. (Carrigan 1983; City of Juneau 1965-1983).

Verna Carrigan is the granddaughter of of Edward and Anna Webster, the founders of Juneau-Douglas Telephone Company. She vice-president and chief operator during the 1960s (DeArmond 1967).

This l½-story, rectangular, 28'x34' dwelling is representative of the Decorated Pioneer Farmhouse style. Its identifying characteristics include a steeply pitched gable roof, boxed cornices and detailed ornamentation consisting of scalloped/fish scale siding on the gable ends. The rest of the house is clad with cedar shingles.

A shed dormer is situated on both gable slopes, and the original brick chimney adorns the ridgeline. The windows are double-hung sash, multi-lite, fixed-sash, large picture and casement. A few windows exhibit a diagonal , leaded-glass pattern.

The extended front entry was originally an open porch. It was enclosed in the 1930s with numerous multi-lite windows (Carrigan 1983). The Carrigans reconstructed the extension in the 1970s. Fixed-sash windows replaced the multi-lites. The original single leaf, three-paneled door to the 5'x12' front entry and the inner door to the house were retained. The inner door has beveled glass with fir trim and beveled-glass side panels.

Pre-1984 structural alterations include a shed-roof dormer on the south facade with clapboard siding and two picture windows. A decorative bay window on the south facade's first floor was replaced with a picture window.

Several other fixed-sash windows were installed on the front and rear facades, and a wood deck and concrete walkway were placed along the north and east facades. A small, enclosed rear entry stoop was reconstructed by the Carrigans. The above-grade concrete block basement was completed in the 1970s.

The interior consists of a living room, dining room, kitchen, small sewing room, vestibule and bath. The kitchen and bath, with acoustic-tile ceilings, underwent extensive remodeling pre-1984.

Original features include an ornate sideboard or "pass-through" with leaded-glass windows located between the living and dining rooms. A partial wall divider between the living and dining rooms displays book shelves and leaded glass. An original stairwell leads to a second floor landing.

The second floor has a remodeled bath, and its two bedrooms were enlarged when the south facade dormer was constructed. Adjacent to the north facade sits a wood-framed, ll' x20', one-bay garage with a vertical sliding door. The structure has a medium-pitched gable roof, extended eaves and verges with exposed rafter ends and cedar shingle siding. 

Telephone Hill Historic Site and Structures Survey, 1984 found this well-maintained residence to be is one of the most architecturally significant structures in the study area and a contributing member of the Telephone Hill Historic Neighborhood.

A fine example of the Decorated Pioneer Farmhouse style, this building was constructed with a greater concern for detail and embellishments than was the basic Pioneer house. The structure's steeply pitched gable roof, boxed cornices and meticulous trim reflect this distinctive design. Ornamentation consists of scalloped/fish scale siding on gable ends, leaded-glass windows and a beveled-glass front door with beveled-glass side panels. Many interior decorative features were retained, reflecting fine carpentry work and preserving the ambience of the era in which it was constructed.

Although the house has undergone several ,..structural alterations, they are not severe enough to compromise the building's architectural integrity. Unfortunately, a fair number of the original double-hung sash and multi-lite windows were replaced with single-sash types. A shed dormer was added on the south facade; there had always been a dormer on the north facade. The enclosed front entry, recently reconstructed, was originally an open porch. The entry's original outer door, however, was retained, as was the beveled-glass door to the main house.


Gold Discovered, Juneau Founded

Posted on Historical Events by Dorene Lorenz · January 07, 2024 8:11 PM

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).

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Bergmann Hotel

Posted on Historic Properties by Dorene Lorenz · October 22, 2023 9:38 PM

The Bergmann Hotel is significant for the role it has played in state and local history; and for commemorating the name of a pioneer Alaskan woman, prominently associated with leading Juneau hotels from 1896 to 1916.

The present capital city of Alaska came into existence with the first major placer gold strike in the Territory, in 1880.

As the placers declined, hard-rock mining developed and eventually these consolidated into two world-famous properties, the Treadwell Mine and the Alaska-Juneau Mine.

Juneau was made the capital in 1900, but the executive offices were not moved from Sitka until 1906. Because of gold, fisheries, shipping and government, Juneau has played a prominent role in Alaska's 19th and 20th Century history.

The Bergmann Hotel, built in 1913, is among the oldest surviving hostelries in Juneau. It was built by Marie E. Bergmann, a German emigrant who came to the Gastineau Channel in 1896 following the death of her husband in Seattle.

Her initial employment was at the Franklin House, a pioneer board-and-rooming establishment for miners. She then worked at the Perseverance Mine and as a nurse at the Simpson Hospital, established in 1886 by a prominent early-day physician.

About 1907, she began managing the Circle City Hotel, owned by businessman George Miller; acquiring the location, she selected a new site, just off the principal business district and central to the leading residential area and built the 50 room, rectangular, three-story, full basement apartment-hotel, which held its grand opening on December 16, 1913.

Her initial hopes, with outside capital, was to build a 64 room structure, steam-heated, with electric lights, hot and cold water in every room, with both baths and showers on every floor, it was considered—even in its scaled down version—as the best in Juneau.

Widow Bergmann, however, did not long enjoy the fruits of her success. Stricken with brain hemorrhage, she died on March 18, 1916. The hotel was left to relatives in Germany, but management was placed with a former employee, Mrs. Mary Bernhofer.

The Alaskan Daily Empire in a front page obituary story, called Mrs. Bergmann "one of the best known and best loved women of the city. . .friend, comforter and counsellor, and often banker, to those in need."

National Historic Register Nomination Form


Frances House

Posted on Historic Properties by Dorene Lorenz · October 22, 2023 9:14 PM

Frances HouseBuilt in 1898, the Frances House, is significant for its architectural character, its place in the historic development of the mining town, and association with important historic people who built and lived in the structure during the early development of Juneau.

Eighteen years after the discovery of gold in Juneau, Jerry Eicherly, postmaster and owner of the post office, built the Frances House. During that time, the house was leased to a Superintendent of the Perseverance Mine.

In 1911, he sold it to John Rustgard, who owned it until 1927. Mr. Rustgard was the Attorney General of the Territory of Alaska from 1920 until 1933 as well as the author of a number of books on politics and economics.

When the builidng was condemned by the city in 1927 to make way for the building of Capital School, Frances Davis purchased it. Frances, one of the first recognized Alaskan painters, was married to John M. Davis, the assistant manager of the Nowell Gold Mining Co.

Her sons moved the house fifty feet to where it rests today. The building has been known to the Community as "The Frances" since that time. The house remained in the Davis family under the stewardship of Trevor Davis, pioneer photographer and a prominent person throughout the history of Juneau in the civic and business community.

It is an outstanding example of late nineteenth century domestic vernacular architecture found in Juneau. Essentially the house is architecturally typical in materials, construction and scale for the period it was built in Juneau. It is significant for these reasons, but more so because stylistically this house is unique. A roofline like that found on the Frances House is not found elsewhere in Juneau. The design is a blending of different architectural influences from the continental U. S. with improvised changes to make it appropriate for Juneau.

Detailing embodies unusually good design composition, and the quality of the craftsmanship is time-tested, in spite of minor changes in detailing that were made when the single family house was converted to boarding rooms in the early 1900's, when and the basement converted to an apartment in 1929.

The relationship of house to street is uniquely adapted to Juneau's topography and represents an interesting solution to a street regrading. The house is in a historic residential area where many of the "best" homes of early pioneers were located. It is a well known local landmark, appreciated for its reminder of Juneau's history. The structure retains character individually and as a significant example of Juneau's residential stock. The original fabric is intact and therefore its historic integrity as well.

National Register of Historic Places Nomination form

Frances House Photos


Holy Trinity Episcopal Cathedral

Posted on Historic Properties by Dorene Lorenz · October 22, 2023 8:48 PM

The Church of the Holy Trinity is the oldest Episcopal Church in Alaska. Among local churches, it is second in survival age only to the Russian Orthodox Church of St. Nicholas.

Just as the Episcopal Church is closely interwoven with the history of Alaska, so Holy Trinity Church has been part of that history, associated with persons and events of significance.

It especially commemorates the almost 50-year legendary career of Bishop Peter Trimble Rowe, a figure of commanding public stature beyond his ecclesiastical achievements.

Juneau developed from the raw mining camp which sprang up in 1880 following the discovery of gold on both sides of Gastineau Channel.

It was four years before the first Organic Act was passed by Congress, giving Alaska a token civil government for the vast possession purchased from Russia in 1867.

For almost two decades, American churches accepted the general myth that Alaska was an uninhabited frozen waste land. There was little attempt to send missionaries; although the Church of England, in Canada, had followed the Hudson Bay Company into the Upper Yukon River area in 1861.

The Organic Act of 1884 provided for a governor, courts, and schools. The remarkable Presbyterian missionary. Dr. Sheldon Jackson, assumed the post of education agent, but recognizing the scope of the task turned to the missionary board of other churches for assistance.

An informal regional agreement was worked out to present overlapping. With but three missionaries, stationed in widely separated places, the Episcopal Missionary District of Alaska was constituted in 1892 and a Bishop for Alaska elected in 1895.

By this time, the necessity of expanding the work of the Church to include the miners, settlers, and other whites was obvious. The discovery of gold was soon to attract hordes of people.

Peter Trimble Rowe, first Episcopal Bishop of Alaska, was born, educated, and ordained in Canada. He came to the United States in 1882 to take charge of a mission in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and became an American citizen. His experience in Canada and northern Michigan helped prepare him for the rugged life ahead. Bishop Rowe received his appointment in 1895 and continued a dynamlc involvement in Alaska life until his death in 1942.

Arriving aboard the steamer, "City of Topeka", in March 1896, Bishop Rowe was accompanied by the Rev. Henry Beer from Michigan, who would stay in Juneau. Mrs. Rowe and their two sons waited in Tacoma with Mrs. Beer until there would be a place for them to live. The "City of Topeka" was crowded with more than 200 men, their sled dogs, and a few women bound for Circle City. The Bishop held services aboard ship on Sunday, and all who could crowd into the saloon did so to hear him.

The previous year Reverend R.D. Nevins had been sent ahead to Juneau by the Bishop. He had gathered several families for services, organized Sunday School classes, and a ladies guild.

It was these first services conducted by Dr. Nevlns in the old Presbyterian log cabin church, on Trinity Sunday in 1895, which suggested the name for the new congregation. The collection of frame and log buildings and muddy streets, while not attractive to newcomers, indicated Juneau's future. Gold Stamp mills were operating in the Basin and at Treadwell Mine.

The Sisters of Ann, who arrived in 1887 had started a hospital and school; the Rev. and Mrs. Jones of the Presbyterian Church operated a mission school. There were two weekly newspapers, hotels, a doctor, large business establishments, and a great many saloons. Juneau was crowded with miners getting outfitted for the coming summer. It was impossible to rent a house.

Bishop Rowe wrote, "The present population is about 1800 whites with some hundreds of Natives. Saloons and variety shows are numerous and alarmingly active and seductive. Mr. Beer and I lodge together in one small room, cold and bare, and are obliged to skirmish around for meals...to do our writing, we are obliged to resort to use the small quarters occupied by the Rev. Dr. Nevins...0ur mission here is to the white. It is the only mission to the white population in this part of Alaska...we shall be obliged to build...as soon as possible."

Leaving Rev. Beer in Juneau, Bishop Rowe then made his way north for his first inspection of Alaska. Rev. Beer set to work to build a church and rectory. Lots 8 and 9, Block 15, were purchased for $375. Contracts were let by Trustees R. D. Bently, J. J. Rutlege, C. D. Taylor, and J. Montgomery Davis, with builder George E. James. The rectory was quickly finished and Mrs. Beer arrived with the Rowe family on their way to Sitka.

The new house faced Gold Street behind the church, and cost $1,400. The Alaska Searchlight reported, "This house is one of the best residences of Juneau, and Mr. James, the builder, is to be congratulated on the style and the finish of the structure."

There was a social at the rectory May 19, 1896, to welcome Mrs. Beer. Rev. Beer and a few volunteers then assisted James with the building the church according to plans furnished by the Bishop. Labor costs were $700. Including materials the total was $2,600 for the church. As there was no kiln to dry the spruce lumber commonly used, high quality fir was imported from Tacoma, testifying to the quality construction.

On Saturday, July 25, 1896, the Searchlight advised, "The new Episcopal Church in Gold Street, which is to be known as Holy Trinity Church, is now so far completed that it is being used for services on Sundays. Stoves, seats, and other necessary articles of furniture have been put in the church, and the rector wishes the people of Juneau to bear in mind that it will be open to all every Sunday at 11 a.m. and 8 p.m. The seats are free, and it is earnestly desired that worshipers may crowd the 'Courts of the Lord's House' every Lord's Day. This beautiful building has been erected at considerable expense for the benefit of the people of Juneau, and only by attending its services can that benefit be attained."

Bishop Rowe, meanwhile, landed at Dyea, hired a helper and packed over the Chilkoot Pass. He whipsawed lumber, built a boat, and made the hazardous trip down the Yukon to Forty Mile and to Circle. During the journey, he conducted services everywhere and was an inspiration and help to the many men struggling to the Klondike and interior gold fields.

When he returned, by way of St. Michael in October, he reported to the mission board: "I found the church and the residence of the missionary completed and occupied. They do give us credit. Mr. Beer gave much personal work in their erection. It is a difficult place to get insurance. Fortunately, I succeeded... as a few weeks after, the church caught fire from cinders carried by the terrible Taku winds, which proved the wisdom of insuring...the moral condition...is not conducive to religious work. The population is transient, it is the center and metropolis of a large mining district sure to develop. Its future is certain. It is a good outfitting place for the Yukon. Meanwhile, it is a trying field for the missionary; he fills no enviable place, and well deserves the prayers, cheer, and aid of our friends. A guild and Sunday School flourish. A class of four was presented to me for confirmation."

That summer a medical missionary. Dr. A. J. Cambell, a friend of Bishop Rowe's, arrived to work in Douglas, where he later established St. Luke's. The early registers of Holy Trinity reflect the events of the day: weddings, baptisms, confirmations, and many burials. Some members of those original families of the first congregations still live in Juneau.

One instance, reported from newspaper files: the law-abiding citizens were shocked by the killing of Deputy Marshall Watts, by an escapee of the Jail in January 1897. "The most splendid funeral ever held in Juneau" took place in the new church. Bishop Rowe, who was visiting, used the occasion to suggest mercy for the wrong-doers. After an elaborate procession to the cemetery, the mourners organized a posse, and heavily armed, went out in three boats and peacefully apprehended the fugitives on Admiralty Island.

Bishop Rowe traveled north again in 1897 by reversing the Yukon route. Coming out in the fall across Chilkoot Pass, he met the tide of men going into the Klondike. When he saw the new city of Skagway which had sprung up, he recognized the necessity there.

Accordingly, both Rev. Beer and Dr. Campbell were assigned to Skagway, establishing St. Saviour's Church. The Juneau and Douglas churches were served, sporadically, for the next few years from Skagway. On his third trip north in 1898, Bishop Rowe again made the Chilkoot trek, this time in the company of thousands of gold seekers. Back in Sitka that winter, plans were made for the building of St. Peter's-by-the-Sea, and for a Bishop's residence, called the See House.

For the next decade the work in Alaska continued as what Bishop Rowe was to describe as "a mission to a movement, a procession." The Bishop and his clergy, some with families, did their best to follow the miners as they moved from old strike to new, establishing missions, building churches and hospitals where they could in the camps.

1903 saw the coming of another missionary to Alaska, who was to have a vital influence in Juneau; though not until 19 years had elapsed. This was the Rev. Charles E. Rice, who was stationed at Circle. In 1901, nine victims of the wrecked S.S. Islander, were burled from the church.

By 1906 the capital of Alaska had largely moved to Juneau from Sitka. The Rev. C. E. Renison arrived in 1910, and from that day onward the church has had a continuous ordained ministry. This was a peak period for mining, both at Treadwell Mine and the Alaska-Juneau operations.

Trinity services were also held weekly at Thane, reached by ferry; and Perseverance Mine, by wagon on the mountain road where an active congregation provided a church school, altar guild, and choir.

The establishment of territorial status for Alaska and provision for a legislature in 1912, meant even more families residing in the capital city. Continued Improvement was necessary for Holy Trinity Church.

A basement was installed, with a furnace replacing dangerous wood-burning stoves. The interior was refurbished, particularly with the addition of a series of paintings done by Mrs. J. Montgomery Davis, an accomplished English artist who had studied art in Europe. She came to Juneau as a visitor in 1891, and met and married Mr. Davis. An organist, she also taught Sunday School classes in the old log cabin church. She and her husband were among those most instrumental in establishing Holy Trinity.

The cave-in of the Treadwell Mines in 1917 and the following year, the wreck of the Princess Sophia in Lynn Canal and the deaths of hundreds, including Mr. and Mrs. Walter Harper, missionaries from Fort Yukon, are sadly reported in the Register. The Treadwell disaster diminished the population at Douglas.

When a bridge to the island was finally built in 1935, the two congregations united. The last services were held at St. Luke's in December of 1951.

The war years of 1917-1918 saw the addition of memorials to church furnishings, but the attractive rustic character of the original interior remained. In 1915, the rectory was extensively repaired and a new rector.

The Rev. Guy D. Christian, arrived from St. Mary's Church in Nome. In 1918 he became the first Dean of Holy Trinity Cathedral, so designated by Bishop Rowe. By this time, the Bishop had moved his residence to Victoria, B.C., and his office to Seattle.

In his absence, the church in the capital city was made the pro-cathedral; later when a new bishop chose to reside in Nenana, and then in Fairbanks, this was dropped, in 1944.

In 1921 the Rev. Charles E. Rice returned to Alaska to become second Dean of Holy Trinity Cathedral, a post he filled ably for 22 years. Dean Rice firmly laid foundations of the church that is today, both on composition of the congregation and improving the physical plant.

According to old timers, the Dean and his boys were regularly seen repairing, painting and maintaining the church and old rectory. Almost all of the shingles on the roof, one of the steepest in Juneau, bore his fingerprints, some said. Unlike the church, the rectory had deteriorated and was inadequate.

In 1940, the Kohlepp residence on the northeast corner of Fourth and Gold was purchased, and the old building was dismantled.

In 1942, in his eighty-sixth year, Bishop Rowe died. He had kept busy almost to the end with a trip north in the summer of 1941. He last visited the Church of the Holy Trinity in 1937. There are many memorials in his honor, and in the hearts of the many lives he touched.

The lovely "Denali" window in the Holy Trinity Church, in memory of the Bishop, was executed and donated by artist Jessie Van Brunt of New York.

In 1929. Dean Rice retired in 1943, but remained in the territory ministering to several vacant churches in southeast Alaska during the war years and after. The Dean died in 1952.

The Rev. W. Robert Webb succeeded Dean Rice in 1944 when the cathedral was returned to the status of a parish church.

Four years later the Rev. Samuel A. McPhetres came to Juneau. Inspired by his vision and enthusiam, the church moved forward in vital ways, culminating in "aided parish" status in 1955, and the building of a parish hall and extension of the church building in 1956.

A profound sense of loss was felt throughout the entire community with the sudden unexpected death of the Rev. Mr. McPhetres in June, 1959, and the laity of the church carried on for six months until a rector could be found.

The new parish hall was named McPhetres Hall in his honor, and has since filled many community needs. Several times it has been used as classroom space when there have been crises in the schools. Other community service organizations have been grateful for the use of the hall. He was replaced by The Rev. Mark A. Boesser.

In 1961 the Rev. Walter W. Hannum arrived from Fort Yukon to serve as Associate Rector, considerable time to the study of alcoholism in Alaska. He also gave It had become obvious that the Kohlepp house was not much younger than Rev. Beer's original "splendid residence" of 1896, and it, too, needed replacement.

The parish found it necessary to demolish the old building and built an attractive new rectory on the corner of Fourth and Gold in 1966. Father Hannum returned north that year, and the Rev. Charles H. Eddy, a new graduate of Virginia Theological Seminary, joined Father Boesser.

His particular interest were in activities for teenagers and young adults, both in the parish and the community, as well as regional community action programs. Father Eddy went on to St. Mary's in Anchorage in 1968, and in 1972 Father Boesser resigned as rector and, following a year of special study, became Diocesan Coordinator of Developing Programs for Ministry.

The Rev. John B. Bentley, appointed in 1930 as Archdeacon of the Yukon and as Suffragan Bishop to assist Bishop Rowe, in 1943 was named second Bishop of Alaska. In 1947 he became Vice President of the National Council.

In November 1947, the Rev. William J. Gordon, Jr., was elected third Bishop of Alaska. Bishop Gordon traveled all through the parishes and served the Church in Alaska by airplane, which he flew when he could, or by dog team, just as Bishop Rowe had, as well as by steamers, automobiles and any other mode of transportation he could find. In 1974, the Right Rev. David R. Cochran was elected the fourth Bishop of Alaska.

At Holy Trinity the present rector is the Rev. Dale G. Sarles who came with his family from Valdez in November of 1972. When fires in 1973 and 1974 destroyed both Resurrection Lutheran and the Mormon Church, Holy Trinity share facilities with the Lutherans for the two years it took them to rebuild.

The Episcopal Church in Alaska commemorated the 100th anniversary of the arrival of the first English missionary at Fort Yukon in July of 1961, and is now in its second hundred years.

National Historic Register Nomination Form

Holy Trinity Church Photos


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