Sandy Beach Pump House and the Treadwell Mine, Douglas Island, Juneau, Alaska

I wanted to know the story of this tall skinny building I kept coming across on Pinterest.

It is the Pump House from the Treadwell Gold Mine on Douglas Island off the coast from Juneau, Alaska.

At one time the Treadwell Mine was the largest and most productive gold mine in the world.

The pump house was built at the end of a 600-foot long pier. When the tide is in, the Pump House is at water level. When the tide goes out, the pump house stands high above the sand. That’s why it looks so tall and skinny.

This is a postcard that shows the Treadwell wharf.

The Pump House was constructed in 1914 at the end of the 600-foot long pier. The building’s three centrifugal pumps lifted 2,700 gallons of water a minute from Gastineau Channel. Salt water pumped from Gastineau Channel was used for milling and fire protection during the winter when fresh water from the Treadwell Ditch was frozen in snow pack.

January 2013 Current Projects
Treadwell Historic Preservation & Restoration Society, Inc.
treadwellsociety.com/projects.php

Some photos and paintings show the pump house before the Treadwell Historic Preservation and Restoration Society replaced the roof.

They removed the remains of the deteriorated roofing and roof structure and replaced them with new wood trusses and corrugated dark red metal roofing to “secure the structure and prevent further deterioration.”

This is what is inside the pump house. See the ladder going down?

Here is a better picture of the pier with the pump house.

The Pump House is one of the remaining structures left of the Treadwell Gold Mine. First a 1917 cave-in closed some of the mines, then a 1926 fire destroyed the pier, boardwalks and wharf and nearly all of the wooden buildings. The fire was driven by Taku Winds, a localized weather phenomenon with wind gusts up to 100 mph over the Gastineau Channel, right where the mine is.

More about Taku Winds from NOAA >

The Alaska Treadwell Gold Mining Company

The book Death of an Empire: Collapse of the Treadwell Gold Mine by Kevin Lee McIver collects lots of historical photos and maps telling the story of the Treadwell Gold Mine. He begins before the Alaska Gold Rush, through the 1880s to the collapse of April 1917 and follows events after.

From 1882-1922, the Treadwell Gold Mining Company on Douglas Island was the largest gold mining operation in existence.

John Treadwell came to Alaska seventeen years before the Klondike Gold Rush of 1898. He bought claims on Douglas Island, off the coast southeast of Juneau and formed the Alaska Mill & Mining Company. His first tunnel discovered that the vein he had struck was not running under his claims, but he was able to buy the neighboring claims before anyone found out.

With financial backing from investors, John Treadwell was able to build a mining operation using the most modern technology of the time.

The gold mine was first powered by a coal-fired electric plant, then two hydroelectric dams with backup oil.

This postcard shows one side. The postcard below shows the other side of the same buildings, where the mine is.

At one point over 2,000 people worked the four mines and five mills.

The book Death of an Empire shows what life was like for miners. The mining town had a baseball field, an indoor swimming pool, a gymnasium, a bowling alley, and modern kitchen appliances like a mechanical potato peeling machine.

The Treadwell Mining Complex was ultimately composed of four different mines: Treadwell, Ready Bullion, Mexican and 700’. At the height of their glory, the mines employed over 2000 people.

Treadwell Mining Complex Historic Resources and Site Survey Report
www.juneau.org/history/treadwell/TMCHRS.pdf

Detail from a 1914 Panoramic photograph of Douglas, Alaska
Photograph by F. W. Sheelor
Click to see the rest of the photo.

The communities of Douglas and Treadwell were founded to house the miners and their families. In the Treadwell heydays the communities were among the most populous in Alaska and amenities offered Treadwell employees and their families were abundant.

The Treadwell Complex soon became the largest gold mine in the world and over the course of its lifespan produced approximately $66 million dollars of gold.

Treadwell Mining Complex Historic Resources and Site Survey Report
www.juneau.org/history/treadwell/TMCHRS.pdf

Mine shafts were excavated to 2,400 feet down, more than 500 feet below sea level. The mine extended under the Gastineau Channel toward Juneau. On April 1917 these tunnels started to leak. They were evacuated, so no one died, but the two mines that extended under the channel collapsed sending water up to 200 feet in the air at the mine entrances.

The mine after the cave-in.

The US Census shows the area with a population of 522 in 1900 and 1,222 by 1910. After the collapse, only 325 people lived in the area by 1920 and by 1930 only 16 remained.

Following the cave‐in Treadwell slowly died and now all that remains are remnants and artifacts of this once vibrant place that embodies the gold rush era of Alaska.

The remains of the Treadwell Mining Complex offer an insight into the mining history of the Juneau‐Douglas area and the magnitude of the industry in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Today the area is a popular recreation area with a network of trails.

Treadwell Mining Complex Historic Resources and Site Survey Report
www.juneau.org/history/treadwell/TMCHRS.pdf

This PDF gives lots and lots of photos of what the site looks like now.