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CHARLES GOODYEAR HUBBARD II. Papers and Photographs; 1897-1916, 1982-1987. .25 cu. ft. Inventory.
Charles Goodyear Hubbard was born in 1869 in Shermantown, Nevada. He taught school for two years in eastern Nevada after graduating from high school. He also studied mining on his own and prospected. In 1888 he moved to San Diego where he continued his study of mining and also prospected in California and Arizona. He married Bertha Huntley in 1891. In 1895, Hubbard moved to San Francisco and prospected in Central California before going to work for the San Francisco Call newspaper until 1897 when he left California to prospect in Alaska. He made his way up the Copper River to Bremner where he met his future partner, Harry Elliot. Together, Hubbard and Elliot located and staked out 120 copper claims along the Kotsina River, thirty-two of which they later patented, and formed the Hubbard-Elliot Copper Mining Development Company of Alaska. The Company began to decline after the death of Elliot in 1909 and was eventually dissolved. In 1910, Hubbard acquired eight placer gold claims on the Upper Kenai River near the town of Seward. That same year he also dredged for gold on Cooper Creek as head of the Kenai Dredging Company. He also established the Primrose Mining Company which took over the Primrose and Bluebell claims on the Kenai Peninsula in 1912. Hubbard remained the principle operator of the Primrose Mine until his death in Seward in 1969 at the age of 100 years and three months.
The collection consists papers and photographs relating to Charles Hubbard's work as a miner and prospector in Alaska. Included are: a letter from Hubbard to his wife Bertha in April 1898; an account written by Charles Hubbard concerning his journey up the Copper River in the winter of 1897-1898; a transcript of the account; a cassette tape, with transcript, of a 1966 oral history interview of Charles Hubbard; a draft of an article concerning Hubbard and his journey written by his wife, Bertha Hubbard; a copy of an Alaska Journal article by Charles Hubbard concerning his travels in Alaska during 1897-1898; stock certificates from the Crown Copper Company and the Kenai-Alaska Gold Company; and other papers. There are also photographs of Hubbard, his mining claims, his cabin on the Primrose mining claim, the Charlie Hubbard Museum near Cooper Landing, and other subjects; and a copy of a National Register of Historic Places nomination report on Hubbard's cabin on the Primrose mining claim.
The collection was presented to the archives by Helen H. Nicholson in 1989. Papers are added periodically. A deed of gift was signed in 1989.
HMC-141
DFW (2/ 2000)