Alaska Mining 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.
Anchorage, 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.
Anchorage, Fall 2009
Four Pioneers Important to the Willow Creek Mining District
- Robert L. Hatcher: Began the lode mining boom in the Willow Creek mining district with his 1906 discovery of gold-quartz veins on Skyscraper Peak in the Talkeetna Mountains, which later became part of the Independence group of mines.
- Orville G. Herning: Located placer claims on Willow Creek and joined with others to form the Willow Creek mining district. Later became a general store owner and important civic leader in Wasilla, Alaska.
- Byron S. Bartholf: Represents a large family group of at least nine that was instrumental in the development of the gold lodes of the Willow Creek mining district. Family discoveries include the Gold Bullion, Mabel, Gold Cord, and Lucky Shot deposits.
- Walter W. Stoll: Became the general manager for Alaska Pacific Mines, Inc., operator of the Independence Gold Mine, which became the largest gold producer (in ore tonnage) in the Willow Creek mining district.
Fairbanks, Spring 2010
A Postal Inspector and an Accomplished Engineer
- John P. Clum: An Indian agent, mayor and newspaper publisher in Arizona who later traveled to Alaska to work as a Postal Inspector and established at least ten post offices in Alaska.
- Irving M. Reed: A Territorial Mining Engineer, the Chair of the Alaska Game Commission where he was instrumental in introducing musk oxen, bison and elk to different parts of Alaska, elected as Territorial Highway Engineer, and a fighter for Alaska statehood.
Anchorage, Fall 2010
Pioneers Important to the Seward Peninsula Gold Dredging Industry
- Nicholas B. and Evinda S. Tweet: A husband and wife team that created a remarkably stable, family-owned company which mined gold in Alaska for 110 years.
- Carl S. and Walter A. Glavinovich: A pair of brothers who, collectively, devoted more than 100 years of their lives to the prospecting, deciphering, drilling, thawing, and dredging of the Nome, Alaska placer gold fields.
Juneau, Spring 2011
Honoring a pioneer important to the Late 19th Century development of lode mining in the Juneau Gold belt
- Thomas Mein: Born into a Scottish tenant farm community. After Mein immigrated to the United States, he sought and found a fortune in gold during the California Gold Rush and later became instrumental in the establishment of large lode gold mines near Juneau.
Anchorage, Fall 2011
Honoring Two Pioneers Active in South-Central Alaska Mining and Economic Development
- Martin Radovan: A Croatian prospector who prospected the Chitina Valley for decades and found the high altitude Binocular copper prospect. He never made a mine, but his dreams live on.
- Arthur A. Shonbeck: He joined numerous mining stampedes during the Alaska-Yukon gold rush, and became an outstanding business leader in Anchorage, Alaska, where he helped found Providence Hospital. He drowned in Ganes Creek, west of McGrath, Alaska, while on a trip with AMHF inductee John Beaton, the man who discovered Iditarod.
Fairbanks, Spring 2012
Honoring Pioneers Important to Mid-20th Century Interior Alaska's Placer Mining Industry
- Oscar Tweiten: He arrived in Fairbanks during the Great Depression, and mined on Cleary Creek in the Fairbanks district for more than 50 years.
- Glen DeForde Franklin: A gifted athlete who studied business administration at the University of Alaska in the 1930s, and placer mined with others in both Alaska and the Yukon Territory, Canada.
- Donald Jean Cook: An Oregon-born graduate of the University of Alaska, who pursued a long career, both in mining and in education.
Anchorage, Fall 2012
Honoring Mining Pioneers from the Innoko and Iditarod-Flats Mining Districts
- Mattie Crosby: aka Tootsie, arrived in the gold rush town of Iditarod, in 1911 and stayed for 50 years. She was a compassionate entrepreneur, a prospector, and the only African-American in town.
- Merton H. Marstons
was an newspaper editor in the midwest who left to join the Alaska - Yukon Gold Rush. Eventually he reached his goal of wealth found in the Iditarod mining district.
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Toivo Rosander:
Involved in placer mining for nearly 70 years and influential in the contentious D-2 lands debate on behalf of placer mining
Juneau, Spring 2013
Honoring Important Mining Pioneers of Southeast Alaska
- Alexandre Choquette, nicknamed Buck, sought gold in the California Gold Rush, the Frasier Rush, grubstaked Joe Juneau in the Dease Lake area. He made the first discovery of gold in Southeast Alaska, on the Stikine River above present day Wrangell which brought Americans to help settle their newly purchased territory.
- John F. Malony, Sr. participated in southeastern Alaska mineral rushes. He helped organize and later became the President of the Alaska Electric Light and Power Company.
Fairbanks, Summer 2013
Honoring an outstanding mining pioneer, educator and civic leader
- Doug Colp: Placer mining engineer that was active in Alaska from the end of the Alaska-Yukon Gold Rush to the end of the 20th Century. One of Alaska’s top dredging experts.
Anchorage, Fall 2013
Honoring Three Important Economic Geologists with the United States Geological Survey
- Arthur Coe Spencer provided the first geologic descriptions of the Kennecott Mines in the Chitina Valley and authored a classic: USGS Bulletin 287—The Juneau Gold Belt in 1906
- Josiah E. Spurr forged a career as a renowned economic geologist—and helped found the Society of Economic Geologists. Best known for his pre-Klondike adventure—Through the Yukon Gold Diggings.
- Stephen R. Capps, an outstanding regional geologist that specialized in the study of Alaskan placer gold deposits in glaciated areas and stood among the first to study strategic minerals in Alaska.
Fairbanks, Spring 2014
Honoring Alaskan Mining Pioneers with an International Background
- Peter P. Doroshin: Russian Mining Engineer who explored for minerals during the late Russian-American Period. Pioneered the geology of Alaskan coal resources. Returned to Russia and served with distinction in the Russian Mining industry.
- Wise Mike Stepovich: Self-educated prospector and miner from Montenegro (Yugoslavia) that mined placer and lode gold and tungsten in the Fairbanks Mining District. Patriarch of the Stepovich family in Alaska
- Helen Van Campen: Creative adventurer first came north during Alaska-Yukon Gold Rush and who became well known in journalism, equestrian sports, and mining. A Memorial Scholarship in Journalism at the University of Alaska bears her name.
Anchorage, Fall 2014
Honoring Important Contributers to the Kennecott Copper Corporation
- Alan Mara Bateman: An important geological consultant for the Kennecott Copper Corporation mines in Alaska during the early 20th Century. After working for more than a half century as the editor of the journal Economic Geology, he died in 1971 at his home in New Haven Connecticut at the age of 82.
- Edward M. MacKevett Jr.: A renowned economic geologist best known for his work at the Bokan Mountain Uranium-thorium-REE deposits in Southeast Alaska, the Red Devil mercury-antimony district in Southwest Alaska, and the Kennecott copper-silver deposits in the Wrangell Mountains.
- William Seagrave: A hands-on manager that oversaw the operations of the Kennecott Copper Corporation mines in Prince William Sound and in the Wrangell Mountains. After Seagrave left the company in 1916, he continued work at the Chichagoff mines near Sitka, before passing away in 1929.
Anchorage, Fall 2015
Honoring the discoverers of the Red Dog Zinc-Polymetallic Mine in Northwestern Alaska and a mining pioneer of Hatcher Pass.
- Robert (Bob) Baker: A pilot who urged geologic investigation of red gossan exposed along Ikalukrok Creek in the DeLong Mountains, leading eventually to the devolopment of the Red Dog Mine.
- Donald Rae: A Canadian-born miner, prospector, assayer and mine promoter who worked throughout the West, including Arizona, Oregon, Montana, Nevada and ultimately Alaska.
- Irv Tailleur: Responsible for the geological work that led to the development of one of the world's largest zinc deposits, The Red Dog Mine in northwest Alaska.
Fairbanks, Spring 2016
Honoring Two Pioneers Associated with Alaska's Gold Dredging Industry
- Walter W. Johnson: Established dredges on the Seward Peninsula starting in 1909, eventually placing 32 dredges in Alaska as well as others throughout the world.
- Patrick H. O'Neill: Began as a dredge superintendent in Fairbanks Mining District, eventually went on to found successful dredging operations in Central and South America.
Anchorage, Fall 2016
Honoring Three Pioneers Associated with Placer Mining, Invention, Mineral Industry Management, Scientific Inquiry, and Public Service
- Donald John Grybeck : played a key role in the establishment of the Alaska Resource Data File (ARDF) system.
- Cole Edwin McFarland: rose from a remote placer mining camp in Alaska to being president of a large mining company.
- John Miscovich: for his creative and practical water technology innovations, especially the Intelligiant.
Fairbanks, Spring 2018
Honoring Three 'Minority' Pioneers of the Alaska — Yukon Gold Rush Period
- William T. Ewing: teamed up with Daniel McCarty, who owned the Discovery Claim on Fairbanks Creek, and made a fortune in gold.
- Kate Kennedy: climbed over Chilkoot Pass and ended up in McCarthy running boarding houses, kitchens, taxi companies, and practically any other business needed for the small isolated mining community for decades.
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Eugene Swanson: was reported to be the only consistently successful miner in the Rampart Mining District.
Anchorage, Fall 2018
Honoring Three Pioneers from Frontier Mining Camps
- Alvin Agoff: Son of a Russian immigrant, he grew up in the Iditarod Mining District and mined, trapped, freighted, built cabins there for decades.
- Tekla Kanari: A Finnish immagrant who helped form the Trinity Mining Company, one of the most successful small scale placer operations in the Kougarok District north of Nome.
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Joseph Quigley: Ascended Chilkoot Pass in 1891, prospected and mined on numerous creeks before establishing himself in the Kantishna Hills in 1905, where he spent most of his mining career.
Anchorage, Fall 2019
Honoring Three Pioneers from the US Bureau of Mines
- Thomas L. Pittman: Worked for the USBM in SE Alaska, collecting and archiving mineral data.
- John Joseph Mulligan: Worked throughout Alaska investigating mineral wealth and managed projects related to ANILCA and ANCSA.
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Donald Paul Blasko: Published technical papers on oil and gas resources in Alaska and managed mineral resource projects related to ANILA, ANCSA, and RARE II.
Fairbanks, Summer 2020
Honoring three pioneers associated with mining activities in Interior and Northern Alaska
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Roshier Creecy stampeded to Dawson, then settled in the Wiseman area and mined for gold there for the rest of his life.
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Raymond Smith started mining, went to school and ended as a president of Michigan Technological University.
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Arnold Nordale Studied mining engineering, played a role in the development of the Davidson Ditch, later a mayor of Fairbanks, and ending his career as general mananger of a large Canadian mining company focusing on dredge operaitons.
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