Independence Mine, a ‘gem’ in state park system, gets big donation for restoration work

A private charity has donated $1.3 million to restore historic buildings at a popular Alaska state park.

The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust has provided the money to restore buildings at the Independence Mine Historical Park. The site, in the Talkeetna Mountains near Palmer, once housed a thriving gold-mining operation but has fallen into disrepair despite being listed in 1974 on the National Register of Historic Places.

“This work will help preserve an iconic state treasure,” Walter Panzirer, a trustee of the Helmsley Charitable Trust, said in a statement. “I was captivated by the history and beauty of Independence Mine State Park when I first saw it, and we are committed to the shared vision for protecting the Park’s buildings, which capture such a significant part of Alaska’s history.”

Restoring the historic buildings and protecting the Independence Mine site has been a high priority for years, said Stuart Leidner, the superintendent of the Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation’s Mat-Su and Copper River Basin region.

“It’s a gem of the state park system,” he said. 

But making good on those preservation ambitions has been difficult, Leidner said. Conditions at the site, which sits at an elevation of about 3,500 feet, are harsh and taking a steep toll on the structures, he said. And money for restoration work has been tight and difficult to obtain through the state budgeting process. 

The last time there was significant work to protect the buildings was around 2013 or 2014, when paint was reapplied, he said.

“Since then, it’s been a matter of just trying to have sufficient funds to work on a backlog of deferred maintenance,” he said. For the Mat-Su/Copper River Basin region alone, one of six Alaska state park regions, there is probably $16 million in deferred maintenance needs, he said. Even some routine needs like trail upkeep and latrine service are pressing, he said. “It’s a challenge to keep up with basic maintenance,” he said.

Officially, the $1.3 grant from the Helmsley trust will go officially to the nonprofit Mat-Su Trails and Parks Foundation. The repair, restoration and preservation work is to be guided by a team to include Leidner, Wes Hoskins of the Mat-Su Trails and Parks Foundation and experts from the Alaska Office of History and Archaeology and the National Park Service.

The work, to start next year, will focus on four buildings at the site: the manager’s house, two bunkhouses and the mess hall.

It is hoped that most of the work will be done next year, but work will continue in following year or years if needed, Leidner said.

The park’s mining history dates back to the start of the 20th century.

The first lode gold claim was staked in 1906, according to the state parks division. Two separate mines and two companies established operations in the decades to come, merging in 1938 as the Alaska-Pacific Consolidated Mining Company.

The site was almost a city onto itself, with 200 employees and 22 families living in a residential area called “Boomtown,” their children attending school operated in a bunkhouse, according to the division.  

Mining was shut down during World War II, resuming at only a low level after the war. In 1951, after nearly $6 million worth of gold had been extracted, the mine shut down permanently. In 1980, the area was designated as a state park.

It now draws crowds of tourists, sightseers, hikers and, in the snowy months, skiers. That includes high school teams and elite U.S. Ski Team members who use the site for early season training or post-season training.

This is not the first big Alaska donation from the Helmsley Charitable Trust. Last year, it donated $20 million to a project aimed at improving water and sanitation services in rural Alaska, with a focus on the Bering Strait region.

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