Alaska Hall of Fame Members by Induction Groups
Anchorage, Fall 1997
Six charter members of the Alaska Mining Hall of Fame Foundation were previously elected into the National Mining Hall of Fame in Leadville, Colorado.
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Stephen Birch: Founder and developer of the Kennecott Copper Mines.
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Frederick Bradley: Successful manager of the Treadwell and A-J Mines, Juneau.
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John Treadwell: Founder of the Treadwell Mines, Juneau.
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Alfred H. Brooks: Chief Geologist of the U.S. Geological Survey in Alaska.
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Earnest Patty: A professor, and later president, at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks and the manager of a placer dredging venture.
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Clarence Berry: A prominent Klondike and Interior Alaska miner.
Fairbanks Spring 1998
Induction Ceremony Honoring Early Yukon Basin Traders and Prospectors
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Alfred Mayo: Captain Al, a well-known Yukon River trader and prospector.
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Jack McQuesten: Known as the Father of the Yukon, a grubstaker for prospectors.
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Arthur Harper: A well known and respected trader, prospector and promoter of the Yukon.
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Howard Franklin: A Fortymile country prospector who discovered the first bedrock placer gold in Alaska.
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John Minook: A Creole-Athabascan prospector who discovered the Rampart district.
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Felix Pedro: Discoverer of the Fairbanks district in 1902.
Nome Summer 1998
Induction Ceremony Honoring Pioneers of the Nome Gold Rush
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John Brynteson: One of the 'Three Lucky Swedes' of Nome - an experienced hard-rock miner and the discoverer of the Cape Nome district.
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Erik Lindblom: The eldest of the 'Three Lucky Swedes' - a tailor.
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Jafet Lindeberg: The Norwegian of the 'Three Lucky Swedes' - the president and manager of the very successful Pioneer Mining Company.
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Charles D. Lane: A tough, honest, and wealthy miner and lawyer who helped the 'Three Lucky Swedes' in their legal battles.
Juneau Spring 1999
Induction Ceremony Honoring Discovery of Juneau District
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Joe Juneau: A native of Quebec, a California 49er, and co-discoverer of gold in the Juneau district.
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Richard Harris: An Irish immigrant who co-discovered gold in Juneau district.
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George Pilz: A German immigrant who sent Juneau and Harris into the Juneau area to prospect.
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Kawa.ée: A Tlingit leader who brought George Pilz gold-rich rock samples from the Gastineau Channel area.
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Livingston Wernecke: A geologist-engineer for the Bradley companies of Juneau.
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Bartlett Thane: Founder and promoter of what was then the world's largest low grade gold mine, the Gastineau, at Juneau.
Anchorage Fall 1999
Induction Ceremony Honoring Mining Pioneers of Southern/Southwest Alaska
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Andrew Olson: A Swedish immigrant who was an innovator at Flat and a long-time miner of platinum.
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Evan Jones: A Welsh immigrant - the father of Alaska coal mining.
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Wesley E. Dunkle: An innovative Kennecott engineer and geologist; the co-founder of Star Air Service, the predecessor of Alaska Airlines.
Fairbanks Spring 2000
Induction Ceremony Honoring Early 20th Century Interior Pioneers
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Emil Usibelli: The founder of the Usibelli Coal Mine, Inc., and a civic benefactor in Fairbanks.
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John B. Mertie Jr.: A leading U.S. Geological Survey geologist and a world expert on platinum.
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Fannie Quigley: A prospector renowned for her bush skills, and a legendary Kantishna character.
Juneau Spring 2001
Induction Ceremony Honoring Early Government Role in Mining
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Benjamin D. Stewart: A State and Federal mining administrator and an Alaska constitutional delegate.
Fairbanks Summer, 2001
Induction Ceremony Honoring the Pioneers of the Large Scale Gold Dredging Industry of Nome and Fairbanks Districts
Anchorage Fall 2001
Induction Ceremony Honoring Discovery of Flat District
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John Beaton: Co-discovered the Iditarod district with William Dikeman.
Fairbanks Spring 2002
Induction Ceremony Honoring Successful Miners and Engineers of Early 20th Century
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Frank G. Manley: A highly successful miner in the Fairbanks, Hot Springs, and Flat districts; founder of the First National Bank, Fairbanks.
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Herman Tofty: A Norwegian immigrant who worked prospects near Manley Hot Springs.
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Chester W. Purington: An acclaimed international geologist and mining engineer who wrote a treatise on Alaska placer fields.
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Thomas P. Aitken: Arguably the most successful small scale mine developer during the Alaska-Yukon Gold Rush; worked both lodes and placers in Alaska and the Yukon.
Anchorage Fall 2002
Induction Ceremony Honoring Immigrant Pioneers
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Peter Miscovich: A Croatian immigrant who settled in Flat, Alaska in 1910; pioneered the use of hydraulic mining techniques.
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David Strandberg: A Swedish immigrant who joined the Klondike gold rush in 1898 and the Iditarod gold rush in 1910; built placer mining dynasty Strandberg & Sons, Inc.
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Lars Ostnes: A Norwegian immigrant who mined in the Iditarod district and developed placer mines in remote western Alaska for over 50 years.
Fairbanks Summer 2003
Golden Days Induction Ceremony (also recognized during Fall AMA convention)
Anchorage Fall 2003
Induction Ceremony Honoring Early and Mid-20th Century Placer Miners
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John Gustavus (Gus) Uotila: By 1915, Gus Uotila was known as a tough Iditarod teamster who mentored placer mining operations throughout Alaska and became a respected overland freighter.
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Simon Wible: He mined gold, built water canals, and became a wealthy man in California; when the gold rush came along, he pioneered hydraulic mine technology on the Kenai Peninsula.
Fairbanks Spring 2004
Honoring Early Pioneers Associated with USSR&M Dredge Fleet
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Roy B. Earling: Built pre-World War II FE Company into one of the most efficient and successful dredge mining firms in the world.
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James D. Crawford: A well organized manager who acquired new dredge properties and guided the FE company into successful post-World War II period of gold mining.
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Jack C. Boswell: Engineered the development of the rich Cripple deposit and helped build giant FE machines used to dig deep placer deposits; a published historian of USSR&M era.
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Genevieve Parker Metcalfe: A breakthrough woman mining engineer who developed initial plans for FE Fairbanks operations, wrote a landmark thesis on Alaska placer mining, and was a champion athlete and scholar.
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Earl R. Pilgrim: The first Professor of Mine Engineering at University of Alaska and an independent Kantishna miner and FE consultant; thought of as Mr. Antimony in the US for many years.
Anchorage Fall, 2004
Honoring those in the Mining Legal Profession, In Cooperation with the History Committee of the Alaska Bar Association
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William Sulzer: Bill Sulzer became a prominent New York attorney and politician and briefly served as Governor of New York; the ever optimistic Sulzer mined copper in southeast Alaska and developed gold in the Chandalar district.
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Joseph Rudd: Shortly after Statehood, Rudd drafted the State's mining law on State lands, and was highly sought for his expertise on Natural Resource issues throughout his career; he was killed in a plane crash while returning from Juneau after a discussion with other Alaskans regarding the challenges to President Carter's Implementation of the 1978 Antiquities Act.
Anchorage Fall, 2005
Honoring the Discoverers and a Developer of the Platinum Resource at Goodnews Bay
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Per Edvard (Ed) Olson: Born in 1898, Edward Olson was the eighth of ten children born to a farming family in west-central Sweden. They immigrated to the United States in 1905. In 1934, Edward assumed the position of General Manager of the Goodnews Bay Mining Company. The firm was the largest source of platinum in the United States from 1934-1975.
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Walter Smith: In the summer of 1926, Yupik Eskimo Walter Smith and a younger apprentice prospector, Henry Wuya, found suspected platinum-bearing grains. One year later, the Goodnews Bay Mining Company purchased Smith's claims. He is honored as the co-discoverer of platinum at Goodnews Bay and as a contributor to Yupik history.
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Henry Wuya: Henry Wuya was born to Eskimo parents in Quinhagak, on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. Wuya was proficient in the English language at a time when few Yupiks spoke English. Wuya's diverse skills landed him a mentorship with the prospector Walter Smith. Together, the two men would make the discovery that led to the development of America's largest source of platinum during most of the 20th Century.
Fairbanks March 2006
Honoring Two Pioneers Important to both Canadian and American Mining Communities
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Ellen (Nellie) Cashman: The barely five foot tall Irish immigrant Ellen (Nellie) Cashman was a quintessential gold mining stampeder who participated in many of the North American gold-silver rushes of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. Nellie's final home was the Koyukuk district of northern Alaska, where she lived until she became terminally ill in 1925. Cashman died in St. Annes Hospital in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a medical facility that she helped found decades before.
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Jack Dalton: As one of the premier horse freighters of the Alaska-Yukon Gold Rush era, Jack Dalton opened up the Dalton Trail for prospectors prior to the Klondike gold rush. The Dalton Highway is a tribute to the Dalton family here in Alaska.
Juneau June 2006
Honoring the Mining Legal Profession In cooperation with the History Committee of the Alaska Bar Association
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Frederick (Fred) Eastaugh: Nome-born Frederick Eastaugh was an Alaskan accountant, a ship's officer for the Alaska Steamship Company, and a mining attorney who spent most of his professional career in southeast Alaska. Eastaugh was appointed to the Alaska Minerals Commission in 1991 by Governor Walter Hickel. Upon Eastaugh's death a year later, Hickel ordered state flags flown at half-staff.
Anchorage November 2006
Two Importand mining pioneers whor figured prominently in the development of mining in Alaska
Juneau Spring 2007
Honoring an Outstanding Statesman and Mine Attorney Active in Southeast Alaska's Mineral Industry
- Phillip R. Holdsworth: After serving as Alaska’s first Commissioner of Natural Resources, Holdsworth became Alaska’s elder natural resource statesman.
- Herbert L. Faulkner: As an attourney, he represented almost every major mining company operating in Alaska during his lifetime.
Fairbanks July 2007
Honoring Two of Alaska’s Outstanding Mine Educators
- Earl H. Beistline: He has had a distinguished career as a mining educator at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.
- Ernest N. Wolff: He prospected, mined, taught, administered at the University of Alaska, helped write the Handbook for Alaskan Prospectors, and served on public bodies.
Anchorage November 2007
Honoring Those Involved in Southwest Alaska's Quicksilver Mining Industry
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Robert F. Lyman: He lived in the tradition of an intelligent, entrepreneurial, hard working, independent Alaska miner who established a mining family that is now in its third generation.
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Wallace M. Cady: He worked succcessfully to research and describe the geologic framework of the state's primary mercury producing area and helped small miners increase their production.
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Russell Schaefer: He is remembered for his ingenuity and tenacious persistence in the search for mineral deposits in the Kuskokwim Mineral Belt of southwest Alaska.
Fairbanks Spring 2008
Honoring Three Attourneys and a Civic Minded Woman Important to the Interior Alaska Mining Industry
- Luther and Harriet Hess: A couple whose philanthropy and service to the state's mining industry and the University of Alaska were remarkable.
- John McGinn: He was a smart mining lawyer who helped develop and finance gold and silver mines in the north.
- Earnest B. Collins: He came to Alaska in 1904, and began a long career as a miner, a lawyer, the mayor of Fairbanks, and a delegate to Alaska's Constitutional Convention.
Fall 2008
Three Pioneers Who Helped Bring Success to the Kennecott Mines in the Chitina Valley
- Earl T. Stannard: He made contributions to the mining processes at Kennecott, managed the Kennecott mines, and served as President of the Alaska Steamship Company and the Copper River and Northwestern Railroad, and for eight years was CEO of Kennecott Copper Corporation.
- William C. Douglass: He was remembered at Kennecott as an outstanding miner, manager, and, in the view of his children, an exceptional father.
- Reuben (Fred) McClellan: He led a party that prospected in the Wrangell Mountains and staked outcrops that became the Bonanza Mine.
