Shotter, Lucy
Lucy Shotter was a Tlinigit from Wrangell.
She married George Ray Shotter, Senior. Their children include George Ray Shotter, Junior on April 5, 1882 in Chermainus, British Columbia Canada, Frank Shotter, Mrs. L. Kane (sp) and Mrs. Thomas Murry of Hoonah, Mrs. J.O. Ross of Seattle, and Margaret Shotter-Evans of California.
Shotter, George Ray Jr.
George Ray Shotter, Junior was born April 5, 1882 in Chermainus, British Columbia Canada to George Ray Shotter, Senior of Canada and Lucy Shotter of Wrangell. Siblings include Frank Shotter, Mrs. L. Kane (sp) and Mrs. Thomas Murry of Hoonah, Mrs. J.O. Ross of Seattle, and Margaret Shotter-Evans of California.
He was of mixed race, 5'9", 145 pounds, dark complexion and dark hair.
He married Frances W. Shotter from Hoonah. They had no living children at the time of his death.
Shotter worked as a fox rancher.
He died of pneumonia on January 4, 1931 at age 48 in St. Ann's Hospital after a 20 day stay with Dr. W.W. Council attending. Shotter was buried in the Douglas Indian Cemetery, with Chas W. Carter undertaker.
Murchison, Sam
The discovery of rich copper deposits in the Wrangell Mountains in 1900 led to a major move for Jack Dalton and his operations. In 1901, Michael J. Heney, the legendary rail builder of the north, undertook a reconnaissance survey for a railway from the south Alaska coast to the interior. He found a rough but useable route up the Copper River, beginning near modern Cordova. Heney, however, knew of nothing rich enough to justify the construction of a railroad which would need three major river crossings and butts against two advancing glaciers.
In 1905, Heney was at the London office of Close Brothers, a major financial house. The financiers had quite good information about the richness of the Wrangell copper deposits and promised to finance the road if it was feasible to build. Heney thought of his earlier survey and immediately wired his New York office to engage Dalton and Sam Murchison to reexamine the Copper River route. The route was particularly controversial as engineers for rival routes starting from Valdez and Katalla had stated that the Copper River route was impossible. Furthermore, Stephen Birch of the newly constituted Alaska Syndicate had already begun construction from Katalla.
Heney, Michael
The discovery of rich copper deposits in the Wrangell Mountains in 1900 led to a major move for Jack Dalton and his operations. In 1901, Michael J. Heney, the legendary rail builder of the north, undertook a reconnaissance survey for a railway from the south Alaska coast to the interior. He found a rough but useable route up the Copper River, beginning near modern Cordova. Heney, however, knew of nothing rich enough to justify the construction of a railroad which would need three major river crossings and butts against two advancing glaciers.
In 1905, Heney was at the London office of Close Brothers, a major financial house. The financiers had quite good information about the richness of the Wrangell copper deposits and promised to finance the road if it was feasible to build. Heney thought of his earlier survey and immediately wired his New York office to engage Dalton and Sam Murchison to reexamine the Copper River route. The route was particularly controversial as engineers for rival routes starting from Valdez and Katalla had stated that the Copper River route was impossible. Furthermore, Stephen Birch of the newly constituted Alaska Syndicate had already begun construction from Katalla.
In September 1905, Dalton, Murchison, and surveyor J. R. McPherson undertook a new evaluation of the Copper River route and pronounced it feasible. The men returned to Valdez in late October of 1905 and sent their conclusions to Heney via a coded telegram.
Heney met Dalton and Murchison in Juneau and filed a right-of-way application with the General Land Office. The Copper River route had no competition and was approved. Heney and Murchison went to Seattle to purchase supplies and equipment for the railroad.
Dalton, McPherson, chainmen, and several of Dalton's Chilkat natives from Haines immediately began the detailed survery. Secretly they bought an abandoned cannery in Cordova for the south terminus of the railway line. Construction on the Copper River and Northwestern Railway (C.R. and NW) began in the winter of 1905-06. It soon was apparent that Close Brothers could not finance the line but the Katalla-based route initially favored by Birch and the Alaska Syndicate proved impossible, and the Syndicate bought Heney's group out and proceeded to construct the line which was completed to the mines in 1911.
Dalton and Cordova prospered in the construction years of the C. R. & NW Railway. Steel, gravel and other construction material had to be delivered timely to the 3,000 men working on the roadway and bridges. In 1907, after the sale of the Porcupine gold claims, Dalton moved his operations to Cordova and set up sawmills, trading and transportation companies that largely duplicated those that he had operated out of Pyramid Harbor and Haines.
Malony, John F.
John F. Malony, Jr. was a charter member of the Juneau Men's Igloo. B. M. Behrend, himself a pioneer business man and banker in Juneau, Alaska, said of John Malony, “Mr. Malony did remarkable things toward promoting enterprises in this section of Alaska. He has probably done more for Juneau than any other man.”
The Alaska Daily Empire noted that John was a fighter but also, ” …that there was probably no man in Juneau who had more close friends and none anywhere who had closer friends.”
A very few people had a somewhat different opinion especially in regards to dealings that John had with his former partner Jack Dalton, the Alaska Pathfinder. At times any associate of Dalton who was prone to violent solutions was suspect. But memories were short in early-day Juneau.1
John Malony was born to Francis and Mary Donahue Malony in Shieldsville Township, Rice County in the Faribault region of Minnesota in 1857. Francis and his wife were Protestant immigrants from Ireland. Before moving inland the Malonys first settled in St. Johns, New Brunswick, Canada, sometime before 1841. Francis supported John at Shattuck School in Faribault and St. John’s college at St. Cloud, Minnesota. After college John Malony read law with sometime Minnesota Attorney General Gordon E. Coles in Faribault, and passed the bar in Minnesota. He practiced law for approximately 20 years, representing the Treadwell Gold mine. 2
At about this time a new western territory, Montana, was beginning to boom, especially at the Anaconda mine at Butte. In 1881, the Haggin-Tevis-Hearst syndicate bought the Anaconda from Marcus Daly then watched as a fair silver mine became a copper bonanza in 1884. There was a shortage of lawyers and Malony’s timing was excellent; he arrived in Montana about as the territory was beginning to explode. He moved from Minnesota to Glendive, Montana in July 1881 and moved upwards immediately. In September 1882 he was appointed Probate Judge by the governor of Montana. In November 1882 he was elected to the legislature, and a year later was elected to the Montana Constitutional Convention in 1884, representing Dawson County.3
With this meteoric rise in both his personal fortunes and that of Montana why did Malony leave Montana? Evidently he made at least one enemy—an enemy who shot Malony while John was speaking. The physical effect to his left arm was lasting. Perhaps more important was the fixating mental effect: From that time forward Malony studied and collected material on political assassinations as of the U.S. Presidents Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley.
Another event of uncertain significance is a marriage and the birth of a son, Joseph Mahony presumably in Montana. In any event Malony sometime before 1895 left Montana and moved to Alaska with Joseph but without wife, a defect soon remedied.
He met attractive Cora Cleveland formerly of Bryan, Ohio and Bellingham, Washington. Cora, some twenty-five years younger than John, had an independent streak of her own, establishing a hat shop when she moved to Juneau in 1895. John and Cora wed in Juneau and on December 29,1899. Cora gave birth to John F. Malony III4
A Sitka acquaintance, John Dalton, became one of Malony’s most important associates especially before about 1910.
In 1893, Malony defended Dalton in the shooting death of Don McGinnis or Dennis McGinnis. The Jury returned a not-guilty and quite controversial verdict, which quite a few believed was reached after some creative jury tampering but definitely effective work for the defense by Malony.5
Observing the pre-Klondike gold play in the Circle and 40-Mile Districts and consequent need for reliable freighting in the Yukon area in Alaska, Malony and Dalton formed a partnership for the Dalton Trail Company along with E. B. Hanley, Fred Norvell, and Henry Bratnober in 1895. The timing of the venture, with the related Dalton Pony Express Co. which had some merit in 1895 deemed major importance after the discovery of the Klondike in 1897. Malony worked with Dalton on improvements to the trail and both men traveled to the east coast in a search for capital to improve the trail—or construct a railroad. The need for a trail proved to be short lived as other parties obtained funding for the White Pass and Yukon Railway and one railway was sufficient.6 He was a principal stock holder in the Juneau Ferry & Navigation Company.
One of John’s first Alaska mining transactions was in Juneau where John and four others located placer claims on so-called Chicken Ridge in 1890; the area was subsequently developed as one of Juneau’s premier residential areas.
Another venture was the Porcupine gold field, just off the trail alignment near Haines. The field was rich, but the area was subject to flash floods which more than once wiped out the operation. Malony and partners Dalton and E. B. Hanley probably did better with their Porcupine Trading Company organized for general merchandizing, transportation, purchase and sale of mining claims, and timber lands and mills.7
Malony maintained and interest in mining until his death, but not too seriously. He was a part owner of the Gould and Curry claims in Sheep Creek basin in Juneau, and with Hanley the owner of five claims in the Rainy Hollow area in British Columbia, just across the Alaska-B.C. border. In the year of his death Malony was still interested enough in mining to maintain a 1/6 interest in a claim in the Windham Bay area south of Juneau.
Malony also invested in a more reliable Alaska industry—fishing. John had interest in the highly productive fishery at Anan Creek near Petersburg and in a cannery at Point Ward near Wrangell.8
Malony’s extensive involvement with Juneau’s private and civil affairs began about 1900 when John served on the first Juneau City Council. He was elected Mayor in 1907.
A major civic improvement, in conjunction with the large mines of Juneau, was the Alaska Electric Light and Power Company. E. D. Margrie was brought in as Manager by the Treadwell Company and Margrie installed the first arc and incandescent lighting system at the Treadwell Mine.
The administrative officers of the company were John F. Malony, President, and J. P. Corbus, Treasurer. Under their leadership, new steam and hydro power generators were installed by the company in 1914 delivering power at from 5-10 cents per KW. Only the Kennecott town site in the Chitina Valley of south-central Alaska was electrified to the same extent in Alaska as Juneau at that time.
Malony also developed a portfolio of commercial and residential properties, including the Gold Belt residential development and the Malony Block of downtown commercial space with the Malony building.
A residence was built in downtown Juneau for Bart Thane’s Alaska Gastineau mine. Much to the chagrin of Cora Malony, who hoped to live in the house, it was sold. The residence is now known as the Wickersham house.9
Malony’s health began to fail about 1915 and he moved to California although maintaining his business affairs in Alaska until his death. He died in early June 1919 in Palo Alto, California. He was survived by his widow Cora Cleveland Malony who died in 1967 at the age of 85 years and three children, Joseph, Mary, and John, Jr. His long time associate and Alaska pioneer John Dalton died in 1944.10
Malony was survived by Cora and three children, Joseph from his first marriage and Mary and John F. Malony Jr. from the marriage with Cora. He left no natural grandchildren but Mary adopted and raised seven children.
Written by Charles C. Hawley, January 10, 2013
I acknowledge the assistance from Paul Johnson and Jimmy Pat Cory who raised by Mary also that from the staff of the Alaska State Library of course absolving them of any errors or misinterpretations. The Induction of John Malony was first and strongly suggested by founding AMHF Board member, the late David G. Stone, to whom this biographic sketch is dedicated.
Photography
The photograph of John Malony is from the 1908 collection assembled by W.H. Case and now in the Alaska Pioneers Association collection, Alaska State Library, PCA 165, Photograph 67.
Bibliography
Hyde, Charles K., Copper for America: The United States Copper Industry from Colonial Times to the 1990s. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1998. Kirchhoff, M.J. Jack Dalton: The Alaska Pathfinder. Juneau Alaska Cedar Press. 2007.
Malony, John F. Sr., Alaska State Library, Historical Collections, MS 40, esp. Folder 1, others as noted.
Notes
1 On B. M. Behrends assessment of Malony in obituary article, Alaska Daily Empire, June 2, 1919.
2 General background material on Malony: Alaska State Library (ASL), Introduction to Malony collection, MS 40, 1857-1915
3 On synchronous activity in Montana mining and Malony’s activity in Montana: Ibid, and Charles K. Hyde, Copper in America, 83-84.
4 On assassination attempt on Malony in Montana and effect on Malony, mainly family sources—Paul Johnson; also on meeting of Malony and Dalton in Sitka and possibly earlier Montana. See especially Kirchhoff, Dalton, 62.
5 On Malony and Dalton-McGinnis trial, Kirchhoff , ibid,60-62.
6 On partners in Dalton trail and formation: ASL, MS 40, folders 4-6
7 On Porcupine Gold District, ibid, folders 10 and 13.
8 On Miscellaneous gold claims, ibid, folders 11, 12, 14, and 15. On Ward Point cannery and Anan fishery near Wrangell, mostly oral communication Paul Johnson.
9 On Alaska Light and Power Company: 1915 Development issue, Alaska Daily Empire, also ASL MS-40, folder 20b article by Kay Kennedy.
10 See 1: On Cora’ death California and Alaska newspapers.
Gastineau Channel Historical Society, Winter 1986.
Alaska Steam Laundry Company
The Alaska Steam Laundry Company building at 174 South Franklin Street is an excellent architectural example of an important commercial enterprise which bridged the historical continuity of 19th and 20th Century Juneau.
When it became apparent after the 1880 placer gold strike that Juneau would not be a quick "boom and bust" camp —but rather would enjoy a long, prosperous future, with great mechanized mills, mines and a large payroll of miners, it grew more progressively than other mining camps and reached a level of sophistication surpassing any other in Alaska in the 19th Century.
This was assured by, first, the Treadwell mines, just across the narrow Gastineau Channel on Douglas Island. Deep mining started there in 1882, and by 1885, four corporate groups were mining with several stamp mills and a smelter were in operation.
In 1890 all operations at Douglas consolidated into the great Alaska Treadwell Gold Mining Company. It had then produced $14,000,000 from its four mines and 880 stamps in five mills. It would add some $40 million more to this by 1917 when wiped-out by an unexpected ocean cave-in.
On the Juneau side, starting the same pattern only a few years later, the Alaska-Juneau Gold Company, began acquiring all claims in that district, combined into one great mine and mill which operated up to 1948 and produced $67 million in gold.
Juneau was officially made the capitol of Alaska in 1900, with the executive offices gradually moved from Sitka by 1906. This brought about the residence here of most of the territorial and federal employees in Alaska, in seven territorial departments and 27 federal offices.
At Tacoma, Washington in 1894, Ernest Reinholt Jaeger and his wife, Anna Jaeger, flipped a coin to determine whether they should move to Hawaii or Alaska. The coin favored Alaska.
In January, 1895, Mr. Jaeger selected Juneau as the most promising business location in the Territory, and arrived by steamship from Seattle. Because of the extensive payroll of miners and millworkers—mostly single—laundry and cleaning was a lucrative enterprise.
He leased the Juneau Steam Laundry from A.H. Day, then located in log cabin on the hillside at the end of 2nd just beyond where the Baranof Hotel was later built.
Anna joined him in March, traveling on the maiden voyage of the new flagship of the leading Alaska line, Willapa. The Jaeger family, soon increased by the birth of a daughter. Hazel Jaeger, lived in an adjoining cabin and operated the laundry from there for several years. Then they moved to a larger existing building on Front Street.
Having prospered, he decided to build a show-case operation which would have outlets in Apollo, Valdez, Sitka, Ketchikan and Wrangell; thus the name: Alaska Steam Laundry.
The Jaeger's resided in the master apartment upstairs while Hazel attended local schools. Then they built a home on Fourth Avenue.
While attending Juneau High School, Hazel was a classmate of James Simpson MacKinnon AKA Sim MacKinnon, son of a pioneer Fortymile and Juneau mining family.
Hazel attended Mills College in California and then returned to Thane, Alaska to teach.
Sim MacKinnon was appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy and graduated as an officer.
They were married in 1923 and spent several years in the Orient, where their son, J.S. Jr., was born, at Manila.
In 1926 Slim retired from the Navy and returned to Juneau to take over management of his Father-in-law’s laundry business.
No longer "Alaska Steam", nor at the same location, the business continued into the fourth generation with grandson Neil MacKinnon, who graduated from the University of Alaska at Fairbanks.
Alaska Steam Laundry is one of the better existing examples of the transition of Juneau from mining camp to Capital City.