Digital Bob Archive

Heavy snowfall and snowslides are a characteristic of the Gold Creek Valley and together they frequently interrupted traffic on the Perseverance Road when it was the main route between Juneau and the mining camp and community of Perseverance.

The early part of the year 1917 was one of particularly heavy snowfall and the passenger stage between Juneau and Perseverance several times had to cease operation, both because of deep snow on the road and the danger from slides. Electrical lines in the valley were endangered by the slides, as were the men who worked to keep them operating.

Two employees of the Alaska Gastineau Mining Company, patrolling the lines near the end of January, were caught and buried by a gigantic slide about half way up the valley from town, and two others narrowly escaped the onrushing snow. Crews from both the Alaska Gastineau and Alaska Juneau hurried to the scene but Ben Grout and Marvis Rasmussen perished before they could be dug out.

Another huge slide that roared down Mount Juneau near Shady Bend threw fine snow and sticks over much of Juneau and caused a whiteout that lasted many minutes. Another slide demolished a rock crusher owned by the City of Juneau. The road was blocked many feet deep and an estimated 3000 feet of snow sheds at the Perseverance Mine were demolished. The mine was forced to suspend operations for many days.

The following year, 1918, was almost as bad. The mine put a regular crew to work to clear the road in May, but so much snow had to be moved that volunteers were called for to help and more than 40 miners toiled on the road in the off-work hours. Many large boulders that had come down with the slides had to be blasted to bits and the road remained closed into June.

After the Perseverance Mine closed in 1922 the road became of less importance.
but men were still endangered by spring snow slides. In April, 1932, George Bacon was carrying supplies to Alaska Juneau Camp No. 1, which was about half way between the boarding house in Last Chance Basin and the abandoned Perseverance site, when he saw a slide start down the mountain and was able to warn the four men in the camp. They escaped but the three buildings of the camp, each measuring 18 by 36 feet, were demolished.

Snowslide Gulch, at the upper end of Last Chance Basin, is noted for its slides, but it outdid itself at about 9 o'clock on the morning of May 15, 1922. The snow filled Gold Creek and much of the valley to within 150 feet of the Alaska Juneau bunkhouse. It piled up behind the old Ebner mine dam to a depth of fifty feet or more, damming the creek and creating a lake in the upper part of the basin. The dam held for about two hours, then the water broke through with a tremendous roar and carried logs, a small cabin and other debris downstream to Gastineau Channel. The ball park would have needed a rebuilding before it could be used again, but a decision had already been made to abandon it for one closer to town. Water in the lower part of Gold Creek reportedly raised about four feet as the crest went through, but damage to property in the area was far less than might have been expected.