Charles Caldwell Hawley

October 23, 1929 to January 14, 2016

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Noted economic geologist, mining industry leader, musician and mine historian Charles C. (Chuck) Hawley died of complications due to Parkinsons Disease on January 14th, 2016 in Anchorage, Alaska. Chuck was born in Evansville, Indiana to William McKinley Hawley, a Presbyterian Minister, and Evelyn Barnes nee Caldwell. Chuck Hawley was one of most respected and beloved individuals among Alaska’s Mining Fraternity.

Early Life and Education

At an early age, Chuck discovered his calling as a geologist. He enjoyed football in high school and college and played the trumpet in community bands throughout his life. He met his true love, artist Jenny Lind, at Hanover College in Indiana, and they were married in 1951. They were married for 64 years at the time of his passing.

After obtaining a BS Degree in Geology and Chemistry in 1951 at Hanover College, Chuck joined the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and moved to Denver, Colorado, where he worked on uranium exploration and support for the Nevada Test Site and other projects. In 1963, Hawley completed a PhD degree in Economic Geology at the University of Colorado-Boulder while studying mineral deposits in the Colorado Mineral Belt. During this time, Chuck became an acknowledged expert on the strategic metal beryllium, which was and still is used in the nuclear weapons applications as well as other applications in the nuclear power industry. Hawley became acquainted and worked closely with C. L. Pete Sainsbury, a well-known Alaska economic geologist who, in 1962, had discovered new beryllium deposits at Lost River west of Nome, Alaska. As Chuck was completing his PhD, he would also corroborate with Alaska Mining Hall of Fame (AMHF) Inductee Donald Grybeck, who initiated a study of mineral deposits near Central City, Colorado, near where Chuck had completed his thesis work. Don was also in pursuit of a PhD in Economic Geology but as a student at Colorado School of Mines in Golden.

Hawley’s Alaskan Career

Hawley’s initial work in Alaska began in the early 1960s working with AMHF inductee Edward MacKevett during Ed’s landmark mineral investigations in then Glacier Bay National Monument. These studies, initiated in the 1960s, later expand to include the Wrangell and Saint Elias Mountains—now largely within a national park and preserve. Chuck’s first Alaskan technical paper was titled: “Geochemical Studies in Glacier Bay, Alaska”, which was presented at the 1967 Alaska Minerals Conference held at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks. During his work in southeast Alaska with MacKevett, Hawley investigated a massive barite-sulfide deposit on Glacier Creek that he then judged to be a volcanogenic massive sulfide-barite (VMS) deposit, while MacKevett and colleagues were busy producing a geological map base of the area. The property, which was staked by prospector Merrell Palmer in 1969, would later be known as the ‘Palmer Project’, which has been explored and developed for the last decade by Constantine Minerals and Dowa Metals and Mining Company of Japan. Chuck would later publish the first summary of the distribution of stratified massive sulfide deposits in Alaska in a 1976 Alaska Geological Society Annual Conference proceedings.

In the mid-1960s, Chuck was appointed to the position of ‘Geologist in Charge’ in Alaska of the well-funded USGS Heavy Metals program, a nationwide research program initiated by the Kennedy and Johnson administrations for metallic mineral resources. He focused on investigating mineral districts throughout south-central Alaska. Eventually his landmark studies of the Chulitna Mining district would be released in a series of USGS open file reports, circulars, and finally a 1974 USGS Professional Paper with Alan Clark as coauthor.

In 1969, Chuck Hawley left the USGS and moved his family to Anchorage, Alaska and started a consulting business, C.C. Hawley and Associates—this was three years before AMHF Inductee Riz Bigelow established WGM Inc. in Anchorage. Their competitive spirits would sometimes clash but more often blend in their endeavors to find the next great ore deposit. It was during this time that many young geologists were hired and trained by Chuck to explore Alaska, including Carl Hale, Rob Retherford, Geoff Garcia, Toni Hinderman, Tony Van der Poel, David Hedderly-Smith, and many others.

Over the next 40+ years, Hawley became familiar with nearly every major mineral deposit in Alaska, as well as literally hundreds of gold miners, geologists, geophysicists, drillers, historians, and many important decision makers. Clients of Hawley’s consulting companies included both small and large exploration firms, government contracts, and Alaska Native Regional Corporations. A few high lights of his work are mentioned below.

In the mid-1970s, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) funded a large-scale reconnaissance for uranium resources in Alaska and elsewhere throughout the United States. The program, entitled the National Uranium Resource Evaluation (NURE), involved the collection of thousands of rock, soil and stream sediment samples in most of the USGS topographic quadrangles covering Alaska. Under contract to DOE, C.C. Hawley and Associates completed much of the Alaskan effort. The thousands of samples collected during the 1970s NURE program in Alaska are now being reanalyzed by the U.S. Geological Survey using far better and more comprehensive analytical data packages as a Federal-State effort to evaluate the potential of Alaska’s Strategic and Critical Minerals.

The U.S. Bureau of Mines contracted with C.C. Hawley and Associates, WGM Inc., and Salisbury and Dietz to undertake a systematic evaluation of the mineral potential of ‘d-2’ withdrawn lands adjacent to then Mount McKinley National Park. Hawley’s 1978 report would serve as a blueprint for a 1983 re-evaluation of selected portions of these lands, which was also administered by the U.S. Bureau of Mines, and by contractor Salisbury and Dietz.

During a nearly ten-year period, virtually all of the 1970s, while Chuck was very busy running his consulting businesses, he was also heavily connected with lobbying efforts connected to the mineral industry. As related by former AMA Executive Director Steve Borrell, Chuck’s efforts to protect the Federal Mining Law (Mining Law of 1872) were well recognized across the U.S. mining industry.

In 1966, Secretary of the Interior Stuart Udall closed all lands to Alaska State Selection pending resolution of Alaska land claims. In 1971, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) was passed by the U.S. Congress. Besides awarding 44 million acres of land to Alaska’s natives, section 17 d-2 of ANCSA required withdrawal from mineral entry of 83 million acres of land to be considered for inclusion into National Conservation units. During the continuous ‘d-2’ land debates, Chuck and others worked hard to prevent highly mineralized areas out of the proposed national conservation units—in terms of the national interest. His contagious enthusiasm for the Alaskan mining industry led to strong support from Senators Ted Stevens, Mike Gravel, and later Frank Murkowski and Congressman Don Young. The Congressional delegation were always willing to defend the industry during those difficult days. Chuck also obtained the significant support of other resource users including those in the forest products and hunting/guiding industries that were also adversely impacted by the d-2 lands decisions.

At the request of Congressmen Udall and Siberling; through Chuck’s leadership, industry groups drafted maps showing areas of mineral potential and released previously classified, drill-tested, mineral resource estimates for many Alaskan prospects--only to have many of the areas and associated mineral deposits intentionally included into proposed conservation units. Many in the mineral industry believed they were deceived by the federal decision makers. This was a personnel blow to Chuck, but he was not blamed for this alleged malfeasance. The 1980 ANILCA Act was passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Carter and added 104 million acres of land into national conservation units, where mineral development was severely restricted or banned. One example of success for Chuck and others, including the organization Citizens for the Management of Alaska Lands (CMAL), was the lobbying effort to keep the newly discovered Greens Creek deposit out of wilderness designation in Admiralty Island National Monument. As a result, the 1980 ANILCA Act allowed for the Greens Creek to proceed toward development. Today, Greens Creek is the nation’s largest mine producer of silver, and byproducts of zinc, lead, and gold; and a significant economic driving force in southeast Alaska.

Chuck was the driving force for the establishment of the first AMA Annual Convention, which was held in Anchorage in 1976. This first gathering of the organization has served as a blueprint for all subsequent AMA Conventions. Chuck Hawley was one of the first Executive Directors of the Alaska Miners Association, serving for two years at that position during 1978 and 1979.

Besides being directly associated with mineral exploration, Chuck, under his firm Coronado Mining Company and later, Hawley Resource Group, became directly involved in attempts to bring into production several, small-to-mid sized lode gold mining projects, including the Independence and Lucky Shot deposits in the Hatcher Pass area, the Big Hurrah deposit east of Nome, the Golden Zone deposit in the Chulitna district, and more recently the Herbert Glacier deposit north of Juneau, where he served as a consultant. It is fair to say that Chuck Hawley spent a good part of his career attempting to put one or more of these deposits (especially the Golden Zone gold-copper-silver deposit near Cantwell) into production and suffered the many trials, heartaches, and tribulations that many small firms experience. All of these properties continue to exhibit strong interest from the mining community. The Golden Zone and related deposits near Cantwell are currently being explored by Avidian Gold Corporation using, of course, many of Chuck’s past data compilations, and drilling and underground efforts.

One deposit associated with Hawley’s past work deserves mention. During Hawley’s work in the Chulitna district, he identified tin-silver mineralization near the future George Parks Highway what would be later called the Coal Creek tin-silver prospect. In the late 1980s, a large mining firm, BHP, drill- tested the Coal Creek tin-silver deposit, but judged that the tin and silver content was too low. Recently, it was determined from examination of past geological information that the Coal Creek deposit might contain elevated lithium—now a strategic mineral due to its use in modern lithium-based battery circuitry. By reanalyzing Coal Creek core stored at the Geologic Materials Center in Anchorage, the high lithium contents at Coal Creek have been confirmed by the Australian junior Discovery Alaska Limited.

Chuck Hawley The Historian

Chuck had a special interest in Alaska’s mining history and played an important role in the formation of the Alaska Mining Hall of Fame Foundation (AMHF), an organization formed to honor Alaska’s mining pioneers. The AMHF was incorporated as a 501 c-3 nonprofit organization in 1997. Chuck was a founding board member and chaired the honors committee of the organization until 2013.

Chuck has published two mining history books:

1) Wesley Earl Dunkle — Alaska’s Flying Miner

2) A Kennecott story — Three Mines, Four Men, and One Hundred Years 1897-1997.

His first book is the biography Wesley Earl Dunkle—Alaska’s Flying Miner (UAF Press, 2003, 2006) which describes the life of a multi-versatile, talented, and well-educated individual engaged in various mining and aviation endeavors in Alaska during the early 20th Century.

His second and most recent contribution toward the understanding of Alaska’s mining heritage is: A Kennecott Story—Three Mines, Four Men, and One Hundred Years 1897-1997 (University of Utah Press, 2014). In his most recent contribution, Hawley traces the story of three mines so important to the Kennecott Copper Corporation, the world’s largest copper producer for the last half of the 20th Century. Hawley’s book focusses on four mining engineers—Stephen Birch, Daniel C. Jackling, William Braden, and E. Tappan Stannard—self-made men whose technological ingenuities were responsible for much of Kennecott’s success not only initially in Alaska but in other national and international venues. In A Kennecott Story, Chuck weaves in the political realities present in Alaska during the Early 20th Century, which included the distrust of the Guggenheim Syndicate, which effectively financed the Kennecott mines developments in Alaska and their respective industrial conglomerates, including the Alaska Steamship Company, and one of their chief critics: Alaska Delegate to Congress Judge James Wickersham. The writer knows of no other narrative that so successfully presents a much broader picture of the Alaskan and American mining industry during it’s most critical and revolutionary period.

Concerning A Kennecott Story, Richard Sadler, Professor of History at Weber State University, stated:

“I know of no other book that attempts to do what this book does. This (Hawley’s) book is a major contribution to the field of mining, mining history, the history of the American West, the history of copper production, and economic history”

The writer (Tom Bundtzen) was asked by the Alaska Historical Society to review A Kennecott Story. In 2015, Charles C. (Chuck) Hawley was awarded the Historian of the Year by the Alaska Historical Society (the writer managed to get the award plaque to Chuck just two months before his passing).

Chuck Hawley’s Legacy

Chuck Hawley had a huge personnel impact on all of the mining fraternity that worked with him. Many colleagues, friends and family members have displayed a strong sense of loyalty to him, as evidenced by many tributes published in a 2016 Alaska Miners Association Journal devoted to his life and accomplishments.

Chuck Hawley is survived by his brother, John W. Hawley of New Mexico; and three sons David Hawley (who holds a PhD degree in environmental geology) of Portland, Oregon, Ted Hawley of Anchorage, Alaska, and Andy Hawley of Keystone, Colorado; and eight grandchildren and twenty+ great-grandchildren.

Written by Tom Bundtzen; reviewed by Robert Retherford and Ted Hawley

Selected References Sourced for this Biography

Miner: Journal of the Alaska Miners Association, Volume 42, No. 10, pages 16-21.

Bundtzen, T.K., 2015, Nomination for 2015 Alaska Historian of the Year—Charles Caldwell Hawley

Hawley, C.C., 1967, Geochemical Studies in Glacier Bay, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Abstract, Denver, Colorado—Presented at 1967 Alaska Minerals Conference, University of Alaska Campus, College, Alaska, May 23-26, 3 pages.

Hawley, C.C., 1976, Exploration and distribution of stratiform sulfide deposits in Alaska, in, Miller, T.P., editor, Recent and Ancient Sedimentary Environments: Symposium Proceedings of the Alaska Geological Society, pages T1-T23.

Hawley, C.C., 1978, Mineral appraisal of lands adjacent to Mount McKinley National Park: U.S. Bureau of Mines Open File Report 24-78, 184 pages.

Hawley, C.C., 2003, Wesley Earl Dunkle—Alaska’s Flying Miner: University of Alaska Press, Fairbanks, Alaska, 274 pages.

Hawley, C.C., 2014, A Kennecott Story—Three Mines, Four Men, and One Hundred Years, 1897-1997: University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City, Utah, 367 pages.

Hawley, C.C., and Clark, A.L., 1974, Geology and Mineral deposits of the Upper Chulitna District, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper, 758-B, 47 pages.

MacKevett, E.M., Robertson, E.C., and Winkler, G.R., 1974, Geology of the Skagway B-3 and B-4 quadrangles, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 832, 33 pages.

Voshell, Amanda, editor, 2016, Chuck Hawley—Family Man, Prospector, and Legend: The Alaska Miner, the journal of the Alaska Miners Association, Volume 44, No. 2, 29 pages

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