Daily Sitka Sentinel

Old-Time Sitkan Recalls the Gold Mine Years

EDITOR’S NOTE: Laurence Freeburn (1909-1987) spent his formative years in a remote area northwest of Sitka where his father was manager of the Chichagof Gold Mine. Over time the family moved to Sitka, where the elder Freeburn managed the Pyramid Packing Co. cannery on Katlian Street, in the building now occupied by Murray Pacific. Larry Freeburn had just graduated from the University of Washington when he was called back to Sitka in 1933 to take over the cannery operation from his father, whose health was failing. He forged lasting links to Sitka before the war and his business career took him to other places. He was living in Edmonds, Washington, in 1970 when, at the request of his friend Jack Calvin, he wrote some of his reminiscences about Chichagof and Sitka. Longtime Sitkan Larry Calvin kept a copy of Freeburn’s letter to his Uncle Jack, and with his permission it is published here as a six-part series.

Chichagof pictured around the 1920s. (Photo from The Alaska State Library)

Part 1
Edmonds, Washington
February 3, 1970

Mr. Jack Calvin
Box 97
Sitka, Alaska

Dear Jack:
    It is of great interest to me that you are conducting a campaign to have the west Coast of Chichagof Island declared a wilderness area. Your query as to what life was like around the old Chichagof Mine can, perhaps, be fulfilled by my recollection of the events and stories of the people of Chicagof Mine.
    My father was operating the Hollis Mine on Kasaan Bay in 1908. In 1913 we moved to Chichagof Mine and our first stop was Sitka, a sleepy and charming village. The recent presence of the hard working Russians was very evident. Their warehouses and buildings were predominant and the bullet holes in the heavy door of the block house behind the “Ranche” signified that all was not peaceful in an earlier day. Now, the sun shown on “Arrowhead” and “Verstovia” and the ground swells rose and fell as the sea fondled the small rocky islands as it had when the Russians first landed in the year 1804.
    Charlie McGrath’s general store was in a log building and his competition, W. P. Mills, was established across the street from St. Michael’s Cathedral. Mills’ father also had a store at Yakutat which they visited periodically by paddling a dugout canoe up the 270 miles of exposed coast as casually as it is flown today. The long war canoe lay between the beach and the parade grounds in front of the Marine barracks which were situated on the present site of the Pioneer Home. The barracks were dedicated as the Pioneers’ Home that year by Governor Strong, Alaska’s only Canadian Governor.
    Sitka’s water supply came to town in casks from Indian River on Tom Tilson Sr.’s iron wheeled wagon drawn by his team. This was the start of the Tilson Transfer of later days.
    Lover’s Lane, carpeted with spruce and hemlock needles and with the original totems standing as sentries of the past, was a lovely place to stroll. While there, we met Merrill, the photographer and naturalist who loved the country and depicted it on his glass plates. A true and unheralded artist.
    Before heading for Chichagof we visited Goddard Hot Springs. After mineral baths in the wooden tubs, a huge dinner was put out by Mrs. Goddard and Mrs. Klunes, her sister. Wynn and Dorothy Goddard were young teenagers and were the official “guides.”
    We were staying at the Millmore Hotel in Sitka, operated by the Millmore Mining Company and managed by Sam Sing, the genial host. At the float was the “Elk”, a pretty, slim gas boat, skippered by Pete Rasmussen, a salty Dane. As we slid up Olga and Neva Straits (named after the Russian rivers) little did I know that I would spend many years in this country operating in the salmon canning business. Crossing the open water from Klokachif Island to the “Cate” we twisted through “Elbow Passage” and the mine lay ahead of us in Klag Bay.
End Part 1
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