The Cordova daily times., 1921-01-20
ONCE ACTIVE
 TOWN HADLEY
 IS DESERTED

Tumbling down and falling to ruin, the town of Hadley, once a flourish ing mining community of five hun dred, now houses but three inhabi- tants, according to report brought here by five Ketchikan men who re- turned from a bushes strip to the old town, says the Chronicle.
 Scores of oldtimers in Ketchikan once participated in the activities of the once prosperous and live com munity, It is now dead, the board streets collapsing, and many of the houses gradually tumbling to ruin. The large fifty thousand dollar ho- tel still stands; the store is now being torn down by Hank" Roselle and Ar thur Propp the present owners. With Lou Crane. who has been at Hadiey for some time tearing down the build 1 ing, and c. A. Richards and Jess 1 Fonck, they returned on the Eisinore at noon They left Friday, but owing to the unfavorabIe weather conditions and the fact they had a scow in tow were delayed three days in returning
 The small settlement at Lyman l Anchorage on Prince of Wales Island has had varied career. It was born | about 1904 when prospectors discov- cred copper ore in paying quantities in the district. It was on the high. road of prosperity about 1906, but l since the power plant of the Mamie mine there burnt down on the 4th of 1 July, 1918, while most of the popula- tion were celebrating at Ketchikan, the town has been on rapid decline Now only Jack McGilt and his na- tive wife and L. NJ. Farref, a form CT watchman, remain to put the only touch of life into the deserted com. munity. The rent problem and the lack of housing facilities. so dreaded in other places, hold no fears for them.
 For several years Hadley was the most active mining community in this part of Alaska. Three mines are To. cated there; the Stevenstown, the Mt. Andrew and the Mamie mines. To operate these mines a smelter was built, and on December ,. 1915. the blast furnace was put in operation. It was operated by the Alaska Smelling and Refining Company. who owned townsite of Hadley in the early days. The Mamie mine. nearest the town was discovered by c. w. Fickert, who came from WrangelI in 1899, and was named for the sloop in which he sailed The Mt. Andrew was the first discovered, and the locating of this by Sam Lickenstadle and four other men, was the real beginning of mining in the Ketchikan district.
 The Brown Alaska Company oper- ated the Mamie mine and the Hadley Consolidated Copper Company the Stovenstown mine The latter was controlled by Maurice D. Leehey of Seattle and Stanley Oaksmith of Ket- chtkan. The Mt. Andrew mine, which has produced many thousand tons of ore, was leased to R. W. Rogers, and is now held by an estate in London, England. Nearly a half million dol lars was invested in the town by one man. V. D. Brown, late of the Howe Scale Co
 The three mining companies were for some time operated by Sam l. Silverman. an oldtime Alaskan, till in the fall of 1908 the smeIter closed down and has not been operated since. In 1918 the Granby Cons. NJ. S. and P. Co. of Anyox, B. C., pur- chased the Mamie mine, and during its operation shipped the ore to their smelter at Anyox, where it was used principally as fluxing ore
 The first Band-saw mill in Alaska, which had teeth on both sides of the band, was built at HadIey. It was con- structed to furnish lumber to build the smelter and town and was oper. ated first by the Alaska Smelling and Refining Co.,, and later acquired by Floss Brothers X Go. This latter company merged into the Alaska Box X numbering Co.,, and in May, 1915, the mill was burned to the ground in spectacular fire.
 The Granby Company operated till their power plant burned on the fate ful Independence day of 1918. causing the termination of a pay roll that had been in existence for about thir- teen years and that had carried all the way from prospecting crew to list of over five hundred men.
 The large Had1ey hOtaI Ownad hv