Independence Mine

Over the past few weeks I have shown you photos of the Hatcher's Pass, Alaska and Independence Mine. I thought you might like a little more history of this area. The Hatcher's Pass area is home to Independence Mine.

Robert Lee Hatcher staked the first lode gold claim in the Willow Creek Valley in 1906. Others followed but because lode mining was so expensive the companies merged to save on expenses. Lode mining is mining of a mineral deposit in solid rock which requires the use of heavy equipment to build tunnels.

Independence Mine was once two mines, The Alaska Free Gold Mine on Skyscraper Mountain and the Independence Mine on Granite Mountain. The two were consolidated in 1938 under one company the Alaska-Pacific Consolidated Mining Company (APC). At its peak APC employed 204 men, blasted almost a dozen miles of tunnels and produced 34,416 ounces of gold worth $1,204,560 (on today's market about $17,208,000). Near the mine was Boomtown which housed about twenty-two families, with eight children attending the Territorial School.

In 1942 when the US entered World War II gold mining throughout the US came to a halt as it was deemed nonessential. Independence Mine however continued to operate, not because of gold, but sheelite. Sheelite occurs in some quartz veins with gold, it is a source of tungsten, a valuable metal to the war effort. Production was low however and the mine was ordered closed in 1943.

The mine opened again in the late forties but closed in 1951 as gold became unprofitable. At that time gold could only be sold to the US government at a fixed rate of $35 per ounce.

In 1974, Independence Mine was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. 270 acres of land were donated to the Alaska Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation for the establishment of Independence Mine State Historical Park. In 1980 the title to the acreage was transferred to the State of Alaska.