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.
Fairbanks Spring 1998
Induction Ceremony Honoring Early Yukon Basin Traders and Prospectors
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Alfred Mayo: Captain Al well-known Yukon River trader, prospector.
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Jack McQuesten: Known as the Father of the Yukon grubstaker for prospectors.
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Arthur Harper: Well known and respected trader and prospector and promoter of the Yukon.
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Howard Franklin: Fortymile prospector, discovered first bedrock placer gold in Alaska.
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John Minook: Creole-Athabascan prospector who discovered Rampart district.
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Felix Pedro: Discoverer of Fairbanks district in 1902.
Nome Summer 1998
Induction Ceremony Honoring Pioneers of the Nome Gold Rush
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John Brynteson: A Lucky Swede'; an experienced hard-rock miner, discoverer of the Cape Nome district.
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Erik Lindblom: The eldest of the Lucky Swedes, a tailor.
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Jafet Lindeberg: The Norwegian of the Lucky Swedes, president and manager of the very successful Pioneer Mining Company.
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Charles D. Lane: Tough, honest, and wealthy miner who helped the Luck Swedes in their legal battles.
Juneau Spring 1999
Induction Ceremony Honoring Discovery of Juneau District
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Joe Juneau: Native of Quebec, a California 49er, co-discoverer of gold in Juneau district.
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Richard Harris: Irish immigrant, co-discoverer of gold in Juneau district.
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George Pilz: German immigrant who sent Juneau and Harris into the Juneau area.
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Kawa/ée: Tlingit leader who brought rich gold samples from Gastineau Channel area to George Pilz
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Livingston Wernecke: Geologist-engineer for the Bradley companies of Juneau.
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Bartlett Thane: Promoter-founder of the worlds largest gold mine, the Gastineau at Juneau.
Anchorage Fall 1999
Induction Ceremony Honoring Mining Pioneers of Southern/Southwest Alaska
Fairbanks Spring 2000
Induction Ceremony Honoring Early 20th Century Interior Pioneers
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Emil Usibelli: Founder of Usibelli Coal Mine, Inc., civic benefactor at Fairbanks.
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John B. Mertie Jr.: Leading U.S. Geological Survey geologist; world expert on platinum.
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Fannie Quigley: Prospector, renowned for her bush skills, legendary Kantishna character.
Juneau Spring 2001
Induction Ceremony Honoring Early Government Role in Mining
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 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: Highly successful miner in Fairbanks, Hot Springs District, and Flat. Founder of the First National Bank, Fairbanks
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Herman Tofty: Norwegian immigrant who worked prospects near Manley Hot Springs.
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Chester Purington: Acclaimed international mining engineer; wrote 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 Yukon.
Anchorage Fall 2002
Induction Ceremony Honoring Immigrant Pioneers
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Peter Miscovich: Croatian immigrant who settled in Flat, Alaska 1910. Pioneered the use of hydraulic mining techniques.
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David Strandberg: Swedish immigrant who joined the Klondike gold rush in 1898 and the Iditarod rush of 1910. Built placer mining dynasty Strandberg & Sons, Inc.
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Lars Ostnes: 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. He 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 time 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 efficient and successful dredge mining firms in the world.
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James D. Crawford: Well organized manager who acquired new dredge properties and guided 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. Published historian of USSR&M era.
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Genevieve Parker Metcalfe: 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 Richard Pilgrim: First Professor of Mine Engineering at University of Alaska. 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 States 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 upon his return from Juneau after discussing with other Alaskans challenges to President Carters 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 emmigrated 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, and considered to be one of the best managed mining operations in Alaska history.
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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 platinum discovery confirmed, the Goodnews Bay Mining Company purchased Smiths claims. He is honored today as the co-discoverer of platinum at Goodnews Bay and 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 knew English. Wuyas 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 Americas 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 that participated in many of the North American gold-silver rushes of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. Nellies 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 51 years 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 and traders from Haines to the Canadian and Interior Alaska gold fields. In later years, Dalton worked as a freight engineer for the Alaska Railroad. 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 ships officer for the Alaska Steamship Company, and mining attorney that spent most of his professional career in southeast Alaska. Eastaugh was appointed to the Alaska Minerals Commission in 1991 by Governor Walter Hickel. Upon his 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
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