Digital Bob Archive

Testing a mineral lode and then preparing to open a mine on that lode is a slow process, as many in Juneau have observed in recent years. Testing of the Whitewater group of claims, some six miles up the Tulsequah River from where it enters the Taku, began in 1932. The property, known as the Whitewater-Taku while it was being tested, later became the Polaris-Taku.

Once it was decided to open a mine, an immense amount of work remained to be done. A large camp and a reduction mill had to be erected, and for several seasons William Strong's river boat, the Jeanne and a couple of barges were busy hauling equipment and supplies to Tulsequah Landing, at the mouth of the Tulsequah River. From there, at first, the material was carried up the turbulent Tulsequah to the mine site in outboard river boats. Later a road connected the landing with the mine, and in time a landing strip was also constructed near the mine.

By 1937, when the mill was built, it was estimated that a thousand tons of material had been hauled in and a million dollars had been spent on the property in three years. B.B. Neiding was the superintendent for the Polaris-Taku, D.C. Sharpstone was the consulting geologist, and George Griswald was the consulting metallurgist.

The mill, which began operating in late September 1937, had a capacity of 150 to 250 tons of ore a day, depending in part upon the amount of water power available. Approximately a hundred men were employed that fall, but later the crew numbered more than 200.

Water transportation was important to the Polaris-Taku mining operation because a great deal of the ore was reduced to concentrates that had to be shipped south for final processing. A separate company, the Taku Vessel Company, was formed with its corporate headquarters in Duluth, Minnesota, the home of the Congdon family, the owners of the mine. The Taku Vessel Company had a diesel-powered towboat, the Taku Chief, built at Seattle in 1938. She was designed for river work, with very shoal draft, and was 59 feet in length with a beam of 18 feet. A pair of diesel engines developed 250 horsepower. A number of barges were also built for the company, the largest of them 90 feet in length with a beam of 24 feet.

The Taku Chief and her barges operated between Tulsequah Landing and deep water on Taku Inlet, where the concentrates were transshipped to a steamer, with occasional trips into Juneau to meet the Canadian Pacific steamer, usually the Princess Louise. When the Taku River closed at the end of October 1939, Captain Archie Currie of the Taku Chief reported that 10,000 tons of cargo had been transported up the river during the season, and 5,000 tons of concentrates had been brought out. The Taku Chief and her five barges were taken to Auke Bay where they were hauled out for the winter.

The Polaris-Taku mine was closed in April 1942 because of World War II. The camp was left in the care of three watchmen and the government commandeered the Taku Chief and her barges.