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From Gold Rush to Capital City, part 2: the mines across the channel
The Treadwell mines on Douglas Island were among the largest gold operations in the world, until a spring day in 1917.
Across the channel on Douglas Island, the Treadwell complex grew into one of the largest hard-rock gold operations in the world, with stamp mills that pounded ore day and night and could be heard for miles.
The ore there was not rich, but there was an enormous amount of it, and the mines were built to process it on an industrial scale. Ships carried supplies in and gold out, and the company town grew into one of the largest communities in the district.