Going, going…gone: A historic AJ Mine building disappears

This story has been updated to correct references to the power plant being the last AJ Mine building in Juneau since others remain standing elsewhere in town.

A vestige of Juneau’s mining heyday disappeared in mid-January in an excavator’s bucket when the final wall of the Alaska-Juneau Gold Mine steam power plant was carefully removed. For the past several weeks Dawson Construction’s heavy equipment operators have skillfully plucked off parts of the building and deposited them into dump trucks.

“It’s the end of an era,” wrote Alaska Electric Light and Power Co. in an Oct. 28, 2024, Facebook post announcing the 1916 building was being readied for demolition. “The AELP steam plant is coming down.”

The three-story corrugated metal structure was looking derelict for the past few years. Many of the window panes were broken or missing. Rust stained the siding. Sheets of plywood covered the south-facing windows that had been battered by wind, snow and rain. The electric generating plant was shut down in 1943 along with the giant AJ Mine during World War II.

Today it is a prime location for tourism development. The lot is across from the South Franklin Street Dock and Miner’s Cove shops. Ship passengers from the farthest-south AJ Dock walk past the soon-to-be cleaned up parcel of land. It is at the end of downtown visitor facilities.

“There was an effort to redevelop the building in 2006-2007,” said AELP CEO and president Alec Mesdag in an interview on Wednesday. “Then the housing market fell through,” taking down with it investors’ plans for retail stores, a restaurant and other visitor amenities. Prior to that downturn the company reroofed the front section of the building in anticipation of renewed use.

Once the plant’s demolition became public late last year, Mesdag started receiving calls. The land is not ready for new uses yet, but he hopes it doesn’t remain vacant for long. He is interested in talking to people about development ideas.

“We want the site to be beneficial to the community of Juneau,” Mesdag said. “A healthy Juneau equals a healthy AELP. We want the property to have the greatest benefit to Juneau.” He cited opportunities for tourism, workforce housing or possibly a high-end downtown hotel.

The October social media announcement noted the building was “unsalvageable.” Structural reviews showed the hillside was moving, pushing through the retaining wall and breaking into the building. Water began leaking into the back. The building was no longer safe to enter. Stabilizing the slope was an important element of this winter’s construction work. Fill material was placed on the hillside to lower the angle of the grade. Mesdag was also concerned that high winds might blow off the old siding, hastening the reason for demolition.

Hazardous materials analysis is ongoing. Once the structural debris is removed the company can determine if environmental remediation is necessary. “So far, we don’t know what we’ll find until we start digging,” Mesdag added.

The steam plant was a remnant of the AJ Mine which was Juneau’s economic engine for decades. Photos of early mine construction show the steep mountainside where the gravity-fed ore processing mill existed. In 1916 when the power plant was under construction, the mine was still working out kinks in the milling process as the small stamp mill was supplanted with ball mills that were problematic for AJ ore. Eventually the solution was hand-sorting the rock to be processed. The intensive work was performed by Filipino employees who preserved the valuable ore while vast amounts of waste rock were dropped into the channel, forming today’s rock dump and providing fill for area development and construction projects. The AJ Mine was world famous for its innovative techniques.

Eventually the solution was hand-sorting the rock to be processed. The intensive work was performed by Filipino employees who preserved the valuable ore while vast amounts of waste rock were dropped into the channel, forming today’s rock dump and providing fill for area development and construction projects. The AJ Mine was world famous for its innovative techniques.

“In 1916, a steam powerplant with a power rating of 8,000 kilowatts was built on the shore of Gastineau Channel,” wrote renowned local mining expert David Stone and his wife Brenda on page 60 of their 1980 book “Hard Rock Gold, The Story of The Great Mines That Were The Heartbeat of Juneau.” “Its boilers were supplied with crude oil stored in two 55,000 barrel storage tanks.”

As the AJ Mine’s mill was being built in early 1917, tragedy struck on Douglas Island when the extensive Treadwell Mine complex was suddenly flooded by seawater from Gastineau Channel gushing underground and filling nearly all the below-sea level mine tunnels. While no one was reportedly killed in the cave-in, the economy of Douglas was shattered. Fortunately, AJ Mine work was soon ramping up.

Foundations of the AJ mill still cling to the hillside but are overgrown with vegetation and nearly invisible. After closure in the 1940s, milling equipment was sold. In 1965, the mill burned. In 1967, the steam power plant equipment was salvaged. “The building was used as a warehouse until 1996,” the electric company’s 2024 announcement says. Transmission and distribution equipment was moved to safer and more accessible AELP locations.

Photographs from the early 1980s show deteriorating dock pilings, rusted mine buildings and the green paymaster’s office surrounding the steam plant. Some observers regarded the buildings as picturesque and rustic historical elements of Juneau’s mining past. Until they fell into the channel on rotted pilings. All those are gone now, replaced by tourism facilities and sturdy docks.

Future uses of the former steam power plant site are unknown, but the familiar real estate term “location, location, location” hints at possibilities. In Last Chance Basin volunteers with the Gastineau Channel Historical Society operate a mining museum with artifacts and equipment that tell the story of Juneau’s mining history.

• Laurie Craig can be contacted via editor@juneauempire.com.