Amalga, Alaska: The Southeast Alaska Gold Camp Found in a Tree Root

Amalga, Alaska is an abandoned gold mining town in the Tongass National Forest along the Lynn Canal, north of Juneau. It operated from 1902 to roughly 1927, producing about 19,000 ounces of gold and 9,000 ounces of silver before the mine played out. Today the townsite has been reclaimed by the Southeast Alaska rainforest, though Amalga Harbor remains a popular fishing and recreation spot.

01Why Was Amalga Founded?

C. D. Mallory, a businessman from Macon, Georgia, heard about Ward and Sandstone's tree-root discovery and took an option on the property in 1902. He partnered with Bart Thane to create the Eagle River Mining Company. Thane became superintendent and directed the construction of what would become one of the more thoroughly developed gold operations in the Juneau area.

Thane built a seven-mile road from the mine down to Amalga Harbor. He imported a 10-stamp mill — a significant capital investment. The company constructed flumes for water control, a hydroelectric waterpower plant, a boarding house, a bunkhouse, a general store, an assay office, a sawmill, a blacksmith shop, a machine shop, and a two-mile horse tramway. It was an engineered mining town, not a rough camp.

02Life in Amalga

The town of Amalga functioned from 1904 to 1915. Workers at the Eagle River Mine lived in the company boarding house or bunkhouse, ate at the company kitchen, bought supplies at the company store, and shipped ore down to Juneau via Amalga Harbor.

Southeast Alaska's rainforest climate — cool, wet, heavily vegetated — shaped daily life. Winters were dark and snowy. Summers brought long days of work in steep, mossy terrain. The mine itself sat in rugged country near Eagle Glacier, with the surrounding forest growing dense enough to reclaim clearings within a few years of abandonment.

03What Happened to Amalga?

The Eagle River Mine produced moderately. Over its operational life it produced 19,451 ounces of gold and 8,855 ounces of silver, for a total of $445,138.21 in period dollars — respectable but nothing like the massive operations at the Alaska-Juneau Gold Mine across the water.

By 1915, the town of Amalga itself had been largely abandoned. Mining operations continued intermittently through the 1920s, but by 1927 the site was fully shut down. The infrastructure was left to the forest.

04Can You Visit Amalga Today?

The harbor is easy to visit — drive north on Glacier Highway from Juneau. The townsite itself requires more work: hiking through forest to reach the old mine location, with no interpretive signage or maintained trails. The Juneau Empire newspaper has written local history pieces on Amalga that include some visit guidance for those interested in tracking down the ruins.

05What Remains of Amalga Today

Very little. Southeast Alaska rainforest grows aggressively, and the townsite has been overgrown for nearly a century. Scattered foundations, rusted mining equipment, and the outline of the old road to Amalga Harbor survive, though most of it is difficult to find without local knowledge.

Amalga Harbor itself is a recreation area, accessible via Glacier Highway from Juneau. Salmon fishing, kayaking, and beach exploration draw Juneau residents. Most visitors don't realize they're standing at the shipping point for a gold mine that operated a century ago.