The Independence Mine: a Brief History

The 1898 Yukon Gold Rush attracted thousands of prospectors to Alaska. While south-central Alaska has been overshadowed in popular memory by places such as Dawson City, Nome, and Fairbanks, the Kenai Peninsula and the Mat-Su Valley too witnessed a stampede of newcomers with gold fever. The early stages of gold mining began with placer mining (aka panning for gold in streams and rivers). Over time, people began to follow the streams and rivers inland to their sources in the mountains. Thus enters Robert Lee Hatcher, who in 1906 found a quartz vein—quartz loaded with gold—in the Talketna Mountains.

Hard rock mining, mining in mountains, where the gold is bound to other minerals requires more investment (machinery, equipment, and extremely high transportation costs) than placer mining. After Hatcher’s find, various other prospectors entered the Willow Creek region. Necessity ensured that over time, individual claims became companies and corporations. Gold mining received a shot in the arm during the Great Depression when the federal government raised the price of gold from $20.67 per ounce to $35 per ounce. In 1936, a Seattle-based company—the Alaska Pacific Consolidated Mining Company—bought a few smaller companies and started the Independence Mine.

The mine flourished from 1937 to 1941, as more buildings went up, more employees were hired, and the amount of gold extracted increased. The structures that are presently at the Independence Mine, those standing and those not, trace back to this period; when mining became a 365-day per year, 24 hour per-day process. (Employees received two days off per year: the 4th of July and Christmas.) Ultimately, the Second World War spelled the end for the Independence Mine. Gold production was not essential for the war effort, and the mine closed. Post-war attempts to revive the mine proved unsuccessful, and by 1951 mining efforts came to an end. Aside from a ski lodge that briefly operated from two of the old Independence Mine Buildings, the once self-sufficient and isolated mining town became a ghost town. In 1980 the site became a state park, and a non-profit began the immense task of restoring parts of the facility.