Independence Mine, Superintendent’s Home, Hatcher's Pass, AK
Posted by: 
garmin_geek
N 61° 47.442 W 149° 16.966
6V E 379633 N 6852977
Quick Description: The living room fireplace of the Superintendent’s Home of the Independence mine, circa 1940. The building is now the visitors center for the Independence Mine Historical State Park.
Location: Alaska, United States
Date Posted: 8/16/2009 3:19:57 PM
Waymark Code: WM70XK
Views: 1
Long Description:Robert Lee Hatcher discovered and staked the first lode gold claim
in the Willow Creek Valley in September 1906, and others soon
followed. But lode mining was expensive for an individual operator;
it required elaborate tunnels and heavy equipment, so companies
merged to pool resources and reduce expenses.
What is now called Independence Mine was once two mines: The
Alaska Free Gold (Martin) Mine on Skyscraper Mountain, and
Independence Mine on Granite Mountain. In 1938 the two were bought
together under one company, the Alaska-Pacific Consolidated Mining
Company (APC). With a block of 83 mining claims, APC became the
largest producer in the Willow Creek Mining District. The claims
covered more than 1,350 acres and included 27 structures. In its
peak year, 1941, APC employed 204 men, blasted nearly a dozen miles
of tunnels, and produced 34,416 ounces of gold worth $1,204,560;
today $17,208,000. Twenty-two families lived in nearby Boomtown,
with eight children attending the Territorial School in the new
bunkhouse.
By 1942, the United States had entered World War II, and the War
Production Board designated gold mining as nonessential to the war
effort. Gold mining throughout the United States came to a halt,
but Independence Mine continued to operate because of the presence
of sheelite. Sheelite occurs in some of the quartz veins along with
gold, and was a source of tungsten, a strategic metal. But because
Independence Mine's scheelite production was low, the exemption was
short-lived. In 1943, Independence Mine was ordered to close.
("http://dnr.alaska.gov/parks/units/indmine.htm)"
target="_blank">visit link)
Map ("http://dnr.alaska.gov/parks/units/indminemp.pdf)"
target="_blank">visit link)