__
_Thomas ARIS ________|__
_Samuel ARIS _____________________|
| | __
| |_Sarah ARIS _________|__
_Samuel ARIS ________|
| | __
| | _John FAIRWEATHER ___|__
| |_Elizabeth Middleton FAIRWEATHER _|
| | __
| |_Hannah FAIRWEATHER _|__
_John ARIS _____|
| | __
| | _____________________|__
| | _Robert HAMILTON _________________|
| | | | __
| | | |_____________________|__
| |_Charlotte HAMILTON _|
| | __
| | _____________________|__
| |_Elisbeth DOUGLAS ________________|
| | __
| |_____________________|__
|
|--Albert Ernest ARIS
|
| __
| _____________________|__
| __________________________________|
| | | __
| | |_____________________|__
| _Patrick McCARTHY ___|
| | | __
| | | _____________________|__
| | |__________________________________|
| | | __
| | |_____________________|__
|_Jane McCARTHY _|
| __
| _____________________|__
| __________________________________|
| | | __
| | |_____________________|__
|_{Wife} McCARTHY ____|
| __
| _____________________|__
|__________________________________|
| __
|_____________________|__
The S.S. "Whatcom" was a steam-powered ship which carried passengers and
freight on the Puget Sound from 1904 to 1921. Originally named the
"Majestic", she sailed for the Thompson Steamboat Co. In 1904, she was
renamed the "Whatcom" and sailed for the Alaska Steam Navigation Co. and
later for the Puget Sound Navigation Co. After 1921, she was converted
into a car ferry for service between Bremerton and Seattle and was
renamed "The City of Bremerton". She was broken up for scrap in 1939.
- from "McCurdy's Maritime History of
Pacific Northwest"
On January 29, 1917, Albert's petition to become a U.S. citizen was
granted. He, Elizabeth, and daughter Alice lived in Treadwell, Alaska
Territory. With Albert's petition, Elizabeth also became a U.S. citizen.
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Albert's naturalization papers state that he came from Vancouver, British
Columbia to Victoria, British Columbia to Seattle Washington before going
to Douglas Island, Alaska Territory. Since Albert was a British citizen,
he did not require immigration papers to enter Canada. He may have
entered Canada on the east coast at Halifax, Nova Scotia or through the
St. Lawrence at Montreal, Quebec. He would have probably taken the
Canadian Pacific Railroad (completed in 1885) from the east to
Vancouver. Alternately, he might have travelled around Cape Horn to get
to the west coast or came east by ship from England.
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The following is the family story which was handed down regarding Albert
and the flooding of a gold mine in Alaska. Albert and his wife Elizabeth
lived in Douglas, Alaska for a time. This is where their daugther, Alice
Aris was born. While in Alaska, Albert worked running the lift in a gold
mine. The mine was being tunneled under water in the Bering Strait.
Russian engineers warned that the tunnel was too far out under water.
The mine flooded. They managed to get all the miners out using the lift,
except for one man. They believe that he had been napping in one of the
side tunnels. All the mules that were being used in the mine were lost.
Several of their bodies floated to the surface days later. After all
this, Albert moved his family to Seattle, Washington.
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The Treadwell Mine and its Flooding
Based on the above family story, we were able to find out a great deal about the mine that Albert Aris worked in and the story of its flooding. Treadwell was the site of a gold mine about ½ mile from Douglas, Alaska on Douglas Island across the Gastineau Strait from Juneau, Alaska. The towns of Treadwell and Douglas only existed to service the mine. In their heyday, they had a population greater than Juneau's. The Treadwell mine was the largest gold mine in the world in its time. It remains Alaska's second largest gold mine of all time. Some 3 million ounces (100 tons) of gold were taken out of the Treadwell mine from 1881 to 1917. The four individual mines which made up the Treadwell complex employed 2,000 people in its heyday.
The Treadwell mine was very technically advanced for its day. The techniques of deep (the Treadwell extended down to 2,400 feet below the surface) gold mining developed at Treadwell were later used in South Africa's deep gold mines. Also advanced for its time was the Treadwell mines' employee benefits. Wages for the miners were high for the time, averaging around $3.25 to $3.50 per 8 hour shift while Albert was there. These wages worked out to be an average of $100 per month. Employees could participate in a stock purchase plan which were not yet common. Medical care was paid for by the mining companies and could be obtained from any doctor. This was unusual at the time because most company-paid health plans required the employee to go to the company's own doctors or hosptials. Cottages (complete with electric lights, steam heat, and indoor plumbing) were provided in Treadwell for married families at $25 per month. Albert, Elizabeth, and Alice probably lived in one of these cottages.
Employment in the mine automatically qualified a worker for membership in the Treadwell Club. This was a social club sponsored by the mine and it included a marble-lined swimming pool, gymnasium, dance hall, 500 seat theater, billiards room, bowling alley, library, sauna, and Turkish baths. It was basically the only form of entertainment in Treadwell. Treadwell was "dry" but neighboring Douglas had drinking establishments.
From the sounds of it, life in Treadwell was probably pretty good for the Aris family. Good wages, social activities, subsidized housing and health care made the Treadwell mine a good place to work and raise a family. Albert Aris states on his naturalization papers that he came to Alaska in 1910 and was living in Treadwell in 1914. Daughter Alice was born in Douglas in 1912 so it can be assumed that Albert worked at the mine from at least 1912 onwards. By 1918, Albert Aris is listed in a Seattle city directory, so it can be assumed that he and his family had left Treadwell by then.
Albert's naturalization papers have his occupation listed as a hoist engineer. In mining terms, the hoist is the machine used to raise and lower the cage in a mine shaft. The cage is essentially the mine elevator, lifting men and ore up and down the shaft.
The Treadwell mine was running out of gold ore in 1916 and 1917. In response to the leaner mining conditions, the mine began a pratice of "pillar robbing". As the miners originally tunneled into the mine, they left behind pillars of unmined ore to help support the roof of the mine. Pillar robbing removed these pillars to process the ore in them. These pillars were not replace with wood or metal support beams when they were removed. This started to cause minor cave-ins and cracks started appearing in the mine as a result. By April 21, 1917, the mine was ready to give way. A huge sink hole appeared on the surface above the mine and swallowed the marble-lined swimming pool of the Treadwell club. This sink hole was unfortunately below the high tide line on the shore of the Gastineau Strait. As the tide began coming in, the sink hole let the seawater in from above into the mine and the mine began flooding. The mine was evacuated and all the miners and their families could do was watch as the sea flooded their livelihood. The story of a single fatality due to the flood was originally circulated when one of the miners could not be accounted for from the shift which evacuated the mine. This miner was, however, later seen in Douglas after the flood and it was generally agreed that he used the flood as cover to skip town due to marital difficulties. A dozen horses and one mule (which hadn't seen the light of day for five years) were lost deep in the mine to the flood.
After the flooding, Treadwell basically turned into a ghost town and is no longer found on modern maps. Although one of the four separate mines at Treadwell continued to function (it had been saved from flooding by a concreate bulkhead which separated it from the rest of the mines and continued to employee 500 men), it too finally closed in 1922. The flood, and Amercia's entrance into the First World War, basically emptied Treadwell as men searched for work elsewhere.
It is interesting to note how accurate the handed-down family story was regarding this historical event. It was in error in that there were, in fact, no fatalities other than the draft animals. The family story located the position of the mine near the Bering Strait, which is incorrect, and mentions Russian mining engineers. While there was a mining engineer investigating the Treadwell mine's cave-ins and cracks at the time of the flooding, he was not Russian. Furthermore, the mine did not flood because it was tunneling out under the water, but rather because it caved in at the surface below sea level which allowed the rising tide to flood the mine.
The flooding of the Treadwell in 1917 certainly explains why Albert and his family were back in Seattle by 1918.
Sources: "Hard Rock Gold" by David & Brenda Stone, Vanguard Press, 1987
& "History of the Mines & Miners in the Juneau Gold Belt" by Earl Redman,
1988.
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From "The Douglas Island News", Wednesday, December 25, 1912, page 3,
column 1:
"Born- To Mr. and Mrs. Bert Aris, on Dec. 23, 1912, a girl."
It is interesting to note that Albert may have been known by the nickname
Bert.
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From "The Douglas Island News", Friday, March 12, 1920, page 1, column 2:
"Lost Baby - From the Seattle Time of March 5 it is learned that Bella Marie Aris, one-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Aris and sister of Alice Jane Aris, of 1108 Taylor Avenue, died on March 4. The cause of death is not given. The funeral was on March 6.
The parents of the little one are former Douglas Island people who left here a couple of years ago to make their home at Seattle. Mr. Aris was for several years a hoisting engineer at the Mexican mine."
This new report provides the first evidence of which of the four separate mines (the Ready Bullion mine, 700 Foot mine, the Mexican mine, and the Treadwell mine) which worked the Treadwell mine that Albert Aris worked for. The Alaska Mexican Gold Mining Company employed an average of 145 men each year from 1894 to 1916. The average wage paid by the Mexican mine for an 8 hour shift was $3.26 during this same period. The Alaska Mexican Gold Mining Company was formed in 1891. Its property was located 700 feet south of the community of Treadwell. After extensive exploration, a 60-stamp mill was erected and began crushing in 1893. The book "Hard Rock Gold", page 31, provides a map which shows the building housing the mine's hoist (presumably where Albert worked) to be just above the Mexican Mill.
Source: "Hard Rock Gold" by David & Brenda Stone, Vanguard Press, 1987
------------------------------------------------------------
On the 1920 Census, Albert is shown as 40 years old. He was born in
England. His immigration date is 1908 and he was naturalized in 1916
(this disagrees with a naturalization date of January 29, 1917 from
Albert's naturalization papers). He is living at 1108 Taylor Ave.,
Seattle, Washington. He is listed with his daughter Alice Jane, age 7,
and his daughter Bella Marie, age 1 month. Alice was born in Alaska,
Bella in Washington. His wife Elizabeth is not listed in the household
since she is in City Hospital at the time the Census as taken. Albert
can read and write. He is renting their home. He is working for wages
as a machinist in a car shop.
In Seattle, Albert worked as a boilermaker in 1918. From 1921 until his
death in 1931, Albert worked as a clerk and a salesman for Schwabacher
Hardware Co. Albert died at age 52 from Myo-Carditis, or problems with
his heart.
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Funeral Announcement in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer January 10, 1931:
"ARIS - Of 7555 17th N.W., ALBERT E. ARIS, aged 51 years, beloved husband of Mrs. Elizabeth B. Aris, father of Alice Aris. Member of Lake Washington Lodge No. 87, I.O.O.F.
Funeral services will be held Sunday at 2 p.m. from the chapel of Daniels
and Brinton, West Seattle Undertakers."
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The I.O.O.F. is the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, a fraternal
organization to which Albert belonged. Mark Howells received the
following information from the Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of
Washington, IOOF dated July 26, 1996:
"Albert Ernest Aris was initiated into and became a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows on February 20, 1911 when he joined Alaska Lodge No. A-1 of Douglas, Alaska. On September 24, 1919, he requested and was granted a withdrawal card from Alaska Lodge No. A-1 which he deposited with Seattle Lodge No. 7 of Seattle, WA. Seattle Lodge No. 7 met in the Odd Fellows Temple at 915 East Pine and that building is still standing. A.C., as he was commonly called deposited his card with Seattle Lodge No. 7 on October 7, 1919. On June 14, 1921, he withdrew from Seattle Lodge No. 7 and became a member of Lake Washington Lodge No. 87 on September 26, 1921."
We're not sure where the nickname A.C. came from. Even the photocopy of
Albert's membership index card gives his typed initials as A.C. with A.E.
- his actual intitials, written in by hand later.
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Albert was cremated and his remains never claimed. We believe this was
due to the expense involved and the fact that he died during the Great
Depression. The county would cremate those who could not afford to be
buried. His remains were moved to their current, unmarked crypt with
other unclaimed remains in about 1973. As of July, 1988, Albert is in an
unmarked crypt at Evergreen Washelli: Rosehill Mausoleum, Rosehill Main,
Crypt 211, Comp 1, Row 1.
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The date for Albert's death is shown as January 9, 1931, Death
Certificate #112 on microfilm records of deaths in Seattle at the time.
Return to Mark & Cyndi's Family Tree