Treadwell gold mine

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The mine.

The Treadwell gold mine was the largest mine of the Alaskan Panhandle and, in its time, the largest gold mine in the world. During its operation from 1881 to 1922 over 3 million troy ounces of gold were extracted. The mine was owned and operated by John Treadwell, from whom it derives its name, who was a carpenter and builder by trade who came up during the Juneau gold rush although Treadwell had twelve years of experience in both placer and lode mines previously. The mine was composed of four sub-sites and at its peak employed over 2000 people.^[1]

1 Geography
2 Beginnings
3 Operation
4 Decline
5 See also
6 Sources
- 6.1 Online
- 6.2 Printed
7 References
8 External links

[edit] Geography

The Treadwell mine is located on the north side of Douglas Island half a mile away from the town of Douglas itself, just south east of Juneau, Alaska. Not much remains of the mine now except for a few degenerating buildings and a large "glory hole".

[edit] Beginnings

In 1880 the prospectors Joe Juneau and Richard Harris discovered gold in silverbow basin. This discovery of gold brought waves of prospectors to the region. Amongst these fortune seekers was John Treadwell. John Treadwell's first move on coming to Alaska was to purchase from Pierre Joseph Erussard, a lode claim on Douglas Island. Treadwell also formed a partnership with three other men Erussard, D.P. Mitchell and Dave Martin under the name the San Francisco Company in September 1881. For unknown reasons he later backed out of this and devoted his attention solely on the Douglas island property in early December of that year. He then went on to buy two claims neighboring his property from D.W. Clark. After extracting twenty two samples from his three claims he sent San Francisco for a mill test yielding encouraging results. On December 27, 1881 Treadwell organized the Alaska Mill & Mining Company and begin operations at the Treadwell dike. Shortly after five Californian men bought over 10,000 dollars worth of stock in the business. Their men were James Freeborn, John D. Fry, E.M, H. H. Shin and H. L. Hill. With these men funding him Treadwell began running a tunnel and discovered that much of the vein he was mining was not on his property. Because the word about his strike had not yet gotten out he was able to buy many of the adjoining claims for very little money after which returned to San Francisco to acquire more money to put in a much larger mill. His financial benefactors agreed to invest more and the major mining operation had begun.^[2]

[edit] Operation

Miners in an under-sea shaft, 1916

At the height of the Treadwell mines operation five separate mills containing over 960 stamps were in continuous operation. These mills were fed by four separate mines know as the Treadwell, 700-Foot, Mexican and Ready Bullion. At this time the mine employed over 2,000 people and had the largest mill in the world. The gold mined was 55% free milling and 45% embedded within pyrite. The gold in the pyrite was extracted in three different ways by; chlorination, smelting, and cyanidation. Power to the complex was supplied by a coal fired power plant that was later switched to oil and two electric dams.

[edit] Decline

The mine was still yielding gold until 1917. In 1917 the Treadwell, 700-Foot, and Mexican Mines which had been excavated to a depth of more than 500^ft below sea level suddenly began leaking, and had to be evacuated. Hours later the mine collapsed. Fortunately no miners where killed because everyone had been evacuated long before the collapse. At the climax, the collapse sent sprays of water up to 200^ft in to the air from the mine's entrances.

Evidence of instability was noticed first around 1909 but there had been no clues of the impending disaster until 1913, when major geological shifts occurred. Reinforcements were constructed but as shown by the eventual collapse, it was ineffective. The last shaft continued to operate until 1922, although only in a limited fashion.

[edit] See also

[edit] Sources

[edit] Online

Treadwell family history
Bureau of Land Management
Treadwell mine City of Juneau official history site

[edit] Printed

Hard Rock Gold by David & Brenda Stone, Vanguard Press, 1987
"History of the Mines & Miners in the Juneau Gold Belt" by Earl Redman, 1988.
The Birdman of Treadwell: Diary of a Treadwell Gold Miner by Edwin Warren with Barry Kibler (ISBN 9781425960643)