The ravens
discussed among themselves the increasing boldness of the other birds.
If things continued as they had in that last meeting of the birds, the
undisputed supremacy of the ravens would be over.
“What can we do about these birds who now are beginning to act as if
they are our equals?” asked on raven to no one in particular.
“Clearly only we are the rightful leaders over all of Creation.”
--Chief Nicolai from his Raven Story of Creation, Taral, 1910.
Mother Lode lower and upper
camps --Cap Hubrick photo
This is a Native story of Chief Nicolai of Taral and the people of the
‘Atn’atuuTs’itu at the time of the prospecting, development and
operation of the historic Kennecott Copper Company and its Copper River
and Northwestern Railway of Alaska in the years 1885 until 1938.
The Native family names I have used are well known in the Copper River
valley and are held high esteem to this day. They are the families of
Nicolai, Eskilida, Goodlataw and Billum.
Some historic disagreement exists over the exact age and year of death
of Chief Nicolai. In this story Nicolai was born in 1867, which was also
the year
the United States purchased the Russian interest in Alaska. He appears
to have died in 1918, a victim of the Spanish flu.
Nicolai was born at a Native
encampment somewhere near the confluence of Dan Creek and the
Chitistone and Nizina Rivers to the southeast of the Nicolai
Prospect. There can be little doubt as the the enormous
impact Nicolai had on history.
Chief Nicolai, tyone of
Taral, 1867-1918. Anchorage Museum of History & Art (AMHA),
380.98.52
Some historians
disagree with these dates, suggesting he was born in the 1840s and died
about 1900. Descendants of Nicolai tend to support my dates, especially
that of his death.
Nicolai was born at a Native encampment somewhere near the confluence of
Dan Creek and the Chitistone River to the southeast of the Nicolai
Prospect. There can be little doubt as to the enormous impact which
Nicolai had on the history starting with Lt. Henry Allen’s entry into
the country in 1885.
Cap Goodlataw was one of a very few Natives who actually worked in the
Kennecott mines. He once considered entering the Golden Gloves boxing
circuit because his fighting skills were phenomenal. Cap disappeared
from Chitina on May 23, 1932. Suspicious circumstances pointed to a man
named R.L. Read who allegedly shot Cap at Read’s home site four miles
north of Chitina and then buried the body in a turnip patch on the
property. The Valdez all-white jury found Read innocent of first degree
murder in November 1932. Cap was among a handful of rare leaders whose
loss to the Native community was immense.
Johnny Gakona Nicolai Gadanski is a composite fictional character who
could have been any of a number of half-breed people both living and
deceased.
Doc Billum's ferry site at
the confluence of the Tonsina and Copper Rivers.
--Simpson files
Doc Billum, Chief Eskilida, Chief Goodlataw, Hanagita and Tom Bell were
real players whose roles were much as described in this book.
Stephen Birch is often considered the founder of the modern Kennecott
Corporation. It was his hard work, political skills and incredibly good
luck combined with a determination and vision far ahead of his peers
which made the mine and railroad system a reality.
In short order, first the railroad rolling stock, then the steel rail, the
power lines, the machinery and the buildings and their furnishings began to
disappear. In time, the trestles began to collapse and the Copper River began
washing out sections of the rail bed. The stretch of railroad south of Chitina
and north of the old Million Dollar Bridge became inaccessible when the willows
and alders took over the remaining railway line, strangling the rail bed under
growth as thick as any tropical jungle. Remote buildings and other structures
collapsed under the weight of successive winters of heavy snow until little
remained of what had once been a magnificent railroad system.
Earl Tappan Stannard was a protege of Birch who developed the ammonia
leaching process and managed Kennecott during World War I. Daniel
Jackling was one of the genius engineers who held a prominent seat on
the Kennecott board of directors. Charles Earl and C.T. Ulrich were on
the board of directors of the Mother Lode Coalition Mines Company. John
N. Steele was the general counsel for Kennecott. F.A. Hanson was the
superintendent of the CRNW Railway. Wesley Earl Dunkle and Alan Bateman
were prominent consulting engineers for Kennecott. Bert Nieding was the
manager when William C. Douglass became superintendent in 1920. Douglass
arrived in Kennecott in 1916 and left late in 1929. He was the most
popular and influential of all the personalities at the site. W.A.
Richelson was chief engineer and the last superintendent of Kennecott.
Chris Jensen was the much-respected master carpenter for most of the
Kennecott years.
Frank Buckner is a composite character based on Frank Buckie, the junior
engineer who worked at Kennecott until the Mother Lode avalanche
disaster.
The last load of ore came off the Bonanza aerial tram on October 21
following the completion of mining operations at both the Jumbo and
Bonanza mines on October 16, 1938. The mill shut down October 31. The
last train pulled out of Kennecott on November 10, 1938.
Descriptions of the railroad, the mines, the mill town, Chitina,
McCarthy and Taral are as accurate as the historic record allows.
Likewise, the description of the demise of these historic places is very
close to what actually occurred. Engine number 74 was the one which
crashed through the trestle crossing at Chitina in 1918. It had the
distinction of being the Last Train Out and the was also last known
engine from the CRNW Railway line to be scrapped.
