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Independence Mine Ski Resort 1960 to Late 1970's |
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PHOTOS ~
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After World War II, when skiing at Hatcher Pass became popular and even before lifts were built, you could take a 3 hour bus ride from Anchorage to ski here. You would stay overnight and then take the long bus ride back home. (click on pictures to the right to expand them) [Photo Credits: right: Anchorage Museum of History and Art, far right: Anchorage Museum of History and Art] |
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Skiers would drive up the Hatcher Pass Road to get to Independence Mine. This road goes through a canyon carved by the Little Susitna River that used to have this neat rock horn at a curve in the road. To the dismay of many people, this unique landmark was dynamited and removed in the late 20th century to widen, and eventually pave, this road. [See J. S. Parry email below concerning the name of this rock.] (click on this image to expand it) |
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Elizabeth Tower, in her book "Skiing in Alaska", has an interesting section on the history of skiing at Hatcher Pass. In her book she credits Russell Dow, a former Dartmouth College ski racer, for the birth of skiing at Hatcher Pass. In the late 1930's Russ was working as a tractor driver at the Independence Mine. He had a girlfriend named Dusty that ran the town laundry in Palmer. So to visit her he would ski from Hatcher Pass down to Palmer. Fellow miners saw all the fun he was having, and realized there were way more single women in Palmer than (none) at the mine. Soon many of the miners became skiers and were accompanying Russ on his ski treks to Palmer. Elizabeth Tower also states that miners would occasionally ski down from the mine pulling sleds with their wives in them - so they could deliver babies at the Palmer Hospital. To the right is a picture from 1940 of Dusty and Russell Dow at the City Ski Bowl Jump in Anchorage. [Photo Credit: Russell W. Dow collection, UAA Consortium Library Archives] |
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Russell Dow took this picture in 1939 at Independence Mine. Featured is the tractor, or 'cat', that he drove for the mine. These diesel tracked vehicles would pull supplies up on large sleds to the mine from lower on the Hatcher Pass road, like from the Fishhook Inn. What is also interesting about this picture are the ski tracks in the background. These are likely Russell's tracks. So - this is the earliest know photographic record of skiing at Independence Mine. [Photo Credit: Russell W. Dow collection, UAA Consortium Library Archives] |
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This large scale topo shows where Independence Mine is located in relation to Palmer and Wasilla. (click on this map to expand it) |
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A zoomed in topo view shows the area around the Independence Mine State Historical Park. The location of the area served by the ski tows is shown by the red ellipse, extending from the main mine building complex up to the Gold Cord Mine. (click on this map to expand it) |
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[Rodney Crew - November 14, 2004 email excerpt]
Independence Mine: Had a rope tow and a poma-lift (I remember because I dreaded them); the day-lodge was the main bldg. there that's closed to public now -- had 1 40-watt bulb for the whole joint, but was warm.
[Curt Christiansen - November 16, 2004 email excerpt]
My
family and I grew up skiing at Independence Mine. My parents were on
the ski-patrol so we went often. I’m guessing from about ’67 to
’72 or ’73. My recollections are vague as I was 6 when we
started skiing and I think it was open until I was 12 which would have
been 1973. I do remember that sometimes when the day was over our
parents would let us ski down the road all the way to the Little-Su
Roadhouse (now the Motherlode Lodge). That was basically a downhill
speed run in a full tuck as fast as you dared go.
[Daryl Haggstrom - October 25, 2005 email]
I Skied Cleary Summit on the uphill side of the highway in the 50's
(rope tow). Skied Ullerhaven too.
And in 1970-71 operated Independence Mine with Ron Jaeger, Leif
Kopperud, and Charlie Wansor (RIP).
Leif has a story to tell...Yes, we had a bar, homestyle dinners, and
turned the bunkhouse into a "condo". The US Army biathlon team
trained there also. The sauna was built over a creek for a cold
plunge.
They [rope tow grippers] were used at Cleary Summit, Skiland, Independence Mine (and repaired in the infamous "Boiler Room at Independence Mine"), and just about everywhere there was a rope tow. They were simple and SAFE tools that made riding a long rope tow much easier. [J. S. Parry - 01 January 2006 email excerpt]
The name given the old erratic which used to teeter over
the Hatcher Pass Road, (approximately a half mile
upstream from the bridge), was called "Bent Dick"
previous to it's first blasting. After that time, it
was retagged "The Nub" and "Broken Dick" in various
climbing and trekking books. I believe Fred Beckey,
(who mapped the Archangel, Lane, and Reed Valley
climbing areas in Hatcher Pass), was the man responsible
for renaming it "Broken Dick", which was what I grew up
knowing it to be. In fact, if you can find the old book
"Hatcher Pass Climbs" that was written in the mid 70's,
that's what it is uncontestedly called in plain print.
That was the rock I learned to rock climb on, and it is
a shame that it no longer exists. Please, don't let
this pass through history without resolving the issue.
It had a name, and while not everyone was terribly
excited about the name it received, that's the name many
of us grandchildren of the early Mat Su pioneers
affectionately remember it as.
[Elaine Morris Moxness - 28 November 2006 email excerpt]
I attended Palmer
Elementary School, my brother went to the high school as
did my sister in law. My 6th grade teacher was Charles
"Chuck" Akers, who had been an Army Olympic biathlons
skier. My early ski coaches was Hans Metz and Chuck.
We skied mostly at
Independence (Julius Moore family owned) and
occasionally at Arctic Valley near Ft Richardson.
Independence had only a rope tow; there was a school bus
that you could take to go skiing - round trip was
cents. We had to pack the left side of the
hill/mountain where the rope tow was for the adults.
Usually plenty of powder so it was a workout.
Have many fond memories of
spending new years at Independence. The parents would
stay in the executive lodge; us kids would stay in the
main lodge with no heat. Boys on the third floor and
girls on the second floor. We used our arctic sleeping
bags and slept on the old bunk beds still in place.
[Franz Froelicher - 08 March 2008 email]
Besides the information on
Gunsight Mt. Ski Area which I sent you, I also have some
interesting information you might like to have on
Independence Mine Ski Area. I was a friend of Julius
Moore and we used to talk about how to "develop" the ski
area he had going there.
In the summer of 1963 I was instrumental in bringing a Mr. Fred VanDyne, VP of Loomis Sayles & Co. of Wall St. NYC, a friend of our family, to look over the area. He said that a client of his, Fred Pabst, of Pabst Beer Co. was developing ski areas in New England (Mad River Glen, MA/CN and some others) and wanted to know if Mr. VanDyne had any likely prospects. My father mentioned that I was living in Alaska and was active in skiing. VanDyne arrived during the beautiful days of July of 1963 and I hooked him up with Julius. Julius organized a helicopter trip up to and around Independence Mine. I was able to tag along for that glorious tour. We stopped at the mine buildings, looked them over, got back on the helicopter, blazed up the pass and just cleared the top of Bald Mt. Ridge at 80 miles an hour at surely no more than a few feet. As the chopper cleared the ridge the Susitna Valley exploded into view. I still remember VanDyne's intake of breath! (well... mine too!) After stopping at an A-Frame Chalet that I (Chalet Craft) had just sold to a family in road-less Knik, we stopped for dynamite dinner at the Wassilla Lake Lodge. Needless to say VanDyne was impressed and he pitched the idea to Fred Pabst. Fred was very interested and a firm plan was made to come up and take a good look in April 1964, but the earthquake changed all that as it did so much in Southcentral Alaska and nothing ever came of it. When I returned in the summer of 2006 my good friend and fellow Alaska Methodist University student, Harvey Bowers of the Agate Inn in Wasilla introduced me to his brother-in-law Fred Trimble and we went up and toured the Gold Cord Mine. I remembered so much of the old days. It seemed very little had changed, or perhaps it had the time to revert back to the old. So much in Alaska seems to do that. [Tony Jaramillo - 18 July 2009 email]
FYI, during the 70's it was used by the US Army to train
the Infantry on how to ski. I was stationed @ Ft.
Richardson with the 172th Supply Bn. We supported the
infantry, by setting up fuel support stations while they
were there for 3-4 weeks learning how to ski. I had the
pleasure of breaking my nose on mountain next to ski
slope, right next to the entrance of the mine. As it
was, the infantry practiced skiing while we just slept.
We alternated shifts fueling the guys gas cans, on one
occasion my buddy and I got an (akquio) pull behind a
snow mobile. Anyway, we took it up on the mountain, I
mention and rode it down the mountain. We learn that we
could control the way it went with body english, lean
one way and it would go the opposite direction. Both
being from Texas we had no idea what we were doing. So
after a while we were having a ball.... We were frozen
stiff, so we went to warn up in our tent. At that time
we asked our other buddy if he wanted to join us? He was
chunky and we wanted the extra weight to see what would
happen. We convinced him to join us and put him at the
end of the sled, myself in the middle and the other guy
in front. We were doing great until we went over this
hump on the path, (covered tree stump). We shot, they
say about sixty ft. in the air. The guy up front landed
flush to his chest in the snow, I landed rolling in the
snow, but the chunky guy landed head first with his feet
sticky out of the snow. We both hurried to pull him out
of the snow, we did, and as we turned around we had the
whole Infantry Co. clapping and laughing at us. They
were rolling on the snow from laughing so hard. Needless
to say we got off, went to our tent and five minutes
later a Captian walks into our tent, and we thought for
sure he was going to chew us out for doing what we were
doing. Boy were we wrong, his eyes were watery from the
laugh he had at our expense, and he thanked us. We
couldn't believe our ears, he said his Co. was so tried
of training and the moral was bad. But when they saw us
having a great time. They all stopped and observed us
acting, really like kid. The Capt. then asked us to look
outside the tent. The whole infantry company was out
there skiing or trying anyway. He then handed us a
bottle of whiskey, so we could stay warm. What a nice
guy! Hence my blood in still on the mountain and the
sled kept going down the mountain, so if you guys find
it, please return it to Uncle Sam! Thanks! lol.........
Tony Jaramillo SFC USA Ret. [Tim Kelley - 04 November 2009 note] This picture of a Hatcher Pass Lodge, at Independence Mine, nordic skiing pin from the late 80's is not really related to the lost alpine ski are at Independence Mine. But I figured I'd put it here as it is an old pin from a nearby skiing operation.
[Fred Trimble - 12 July 2010 email excerpt] If you go to Hap's place [Hatcher Pass Lodge] at Hatcher Pass any time soon, go in and buy a Wadem and Hanks era Independence Mine Ski Area patch from him. One of the Wandems (or Hanks) came up recently and gave Hap a large supply of brand new old stock embroidered patches that were made up in the 60s. Hap is now selling them for something like $7.00 each. This is a totally undiscovered stash.
[Doug Braddock - 10 September 2015 email] I captured this photo of the price list for the Independence Mine Ski Area recently while touring the mine. I thought you might want to add it to your site!
[Joe Gilmore - 30 September 2020 email] When I was in the army in 1967 my friends and I used to spend our weekends at the mine I can’t believe the amount of snow they would get there, my buddy had a small car he left there one weekend and when we returned we couldn’t find it until we dug around with shovels, it was completely buried. We stayed in the bunkhouse for $ 1.50 a night. I didn’t know how to ski but we spent most of are time in the lodge at the bar. I remember the moose head over the fireplace. I run the rope tow for the skiers and got free room and board. I asked how to get down the hill and they said I would have to ski or walk so I learned how to ski but not very well. Anyway we had some good times there. Glad I could share with you. [David Mork - 18 September 2021 email] I was stationed at Ft. Richardson, AK, from 3/61 to 3/63. The winter of 61-62, I was with 3 others, in my car, and we went to the Independence Mine ski area several weekends. I recall being the first to make the ski run down the hill after the rope tow was running, and looked back to see my run carved out of the fresh fallen snow! It was amazing! As I knew how to ski, being from Duluth, Minnesota, I was a ski instructor for the military on the annual trip for cold weather training, and never spent the obligatory night(s) in the cold, as ski instructors were returned to the barracks nightly!!! My monogrammed Head skis, with my name, the Chugach range, and Anchorage, Alaska all monogrammed above the Marker bindings, were purchased from Gary’s Ski Shop in Anchorage in the summer of 1961, and I gave them, (through an Alaska based resident and long time friend), to the ski shop in Aleyska in 1997/98, which I understand is no longer in business. Where they are now is not known… Thanks for the data and readings in www.alsap.org, it brings back many good memories, now 60 years later.
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Do you have further information, stories or pictures that you would like to contribute about this ski area? |
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