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Chickaloon Coal Company records

Guide to the Chickaloon Coal Company records
1910-1922, bulk 1917-1919

Collection number: HMC-1309.
Creator: Chickaloon Coal Company.
Title: Chickaloon Coal Company records.
Dates: 1910-1922, bulk 1917-1919.
Volume of collection: 0.8 cubic feet.
Language of materials: Materials in the collection are in English.
Collection summary: Records of a coal mining company in Chickaloon, Alaska.

Organizational history:
Chickaloon Coal Company was formed in 1917 and based in San Francisco. The company’s president, M.J. Fontana had an agreement with Lars Netland to assign Netland’s lease of property in the Matanuska Coal Field to Fontana’s company, originally called Matanuska Coal Company. Netland and Walter Gompertz, who was to manage the mine, traveled to Chickaloon and discovered that there was already a Matanuska Coal Company operating in the area, so the company was incorporated as Chickaloon Coal Company. Between November 1917 and June 1919, the company drilled five holes in units 10 and 11 of the Matanuska Coal Field, looking for coal. The company was unsuccessful in finding commercially viable coal deposits on the property and ceased drilling on June 26, 1919.

Collection description:
The collection consists of records of the Chickaloon Coal Company, including receipts and bills from various companies with which Chickaloon Coal Company did business; an oversize map of units 11 and 12 of the Matanuska Coal Field; laboratory results; payroll sheets; lease documents for units 10 and 11 of Matanuska Coal Field; insurance records; tax documents; stock documents; weekly reports detailing progress on development of the mine; monthly ledger sheets; geological findings for bore hole number 2; account summaries; and correspondence. The majority of the correspondence is from the onsite manager of the mine, Walter Gompertz, to Chickaloon Coal Company President, M.J. Fontana, updating him on progress at the mine.

Arrangement: The collection is arranged in the order in which it arrived at the Archives.

Digitized copies: All documents in the collection have been digitized but are not available online. For information about obtaining digital copies, please contact Archives and Special Collections.

Rights note: Archives and Special Collections does not own copyright to the collection.

Preferred citation: Chickaloon Coal Company records, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage.

Related materials: For additional collections related to mining in Alaska, please visit our Miners and mining collections topic guide.

Custodial history: The collection was purchased at online auction by Joseph and Cheryl Homme from a seller, who obtained them in a storage unit auction in California.

Acquisition note: The collection was donated to the Archives by Joseph and Cheryl Homme in 2018.

Processing information: Joseph Homme digitized all of the documents in the collection prior to donating it to the Archives. This collection was described by Gwen Higgins in 2018.

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