This book is the result of over 37 years researching the women who owned the Alaska Garnet Mining and Manufacturing Corporation at Wrangell, Alaska in the early 1900s. They lived in the Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota area but seemed to virtually drop off the face of the earth. But I am happy to say that I have not only found the original women and their descendants but have found more women who were involved. In the process, this has become more than just the history of the Wrangell Garnet Ledge. It has become the story of Anna E. Durkee and her success as a well-known mining woman; although it could be said that her success was actually as a promoter of mining and/or fund-raiser. The Wrangell Garnet Ledge is better known as being owned by the Boy Scouts who held it in trust for the children of Wrangell. Several years ago the property was turned over to the First Presbyterian Church of Wrangell as required if the property stopped being used for scouting purposes.
About the Author: Patricia "Trish" Neal, while director and curator of the Wrangell Museum, developed a fascination for Wrangell, the Wrangell Garnet Ledge, and the Stikine River. Thus began almost 40 years of researching local history. Her research on local businesses, people who called Wrangell home in the late 1800s, and the Stikine and its river boats took place in many repositories at Victoria, B.C., Anchorage, Alaska, Seattle, and Wrangell's Irene Ingle Public Library. Early research was accomplished in Wrangell through interlibrary loan. Her research notes on Wrangell and the Stikine River are available at the Irene Ingle Public Library. Trish was involved in the Wrangell Totem Restoration and Replication Project during the 1980s that included restoration of Chief Shake Tribal House. She lobbied the Alaska State Legislature for funding and wrote matching grants to fund the project. She was adopted into the Eagle Tribe by Sadie Campus and given the Tlingit name of Sadie's Aunt, Tsa Yaas in appreciation for the work that she did to help preserve the local Tlingit history. Trish continues to share her historical research by posting information online and answering queries. Trish published her first book, Fort Wrangell, Alaska, Gateway to the Stikine River: 1834-1899 in 2007, with the assistance of the Friends of the Wrangell Museum and fellow Historian, Patricia Roppel. It is available through the Wrangell Museum. Her second publication, Stickeen River Journal, relates the history of Wrangell and the Stikine River and is a compilation of articles she wrote as a free-lance writer for the Wrangell Sentinel. She maintained her copyright to the material so that she could publish them in book form. Stickeen River Journal was published in 2012. The Wrangell Garnet Ledge History is her third book published in 2016. It reflects almost 40 years of research of the women who owned the Wrangell Garnet Ledge as well as others who filed claims to the area beginning in the early 1800s. Trish plans on continuing her research of Anna E. Durkee to tell Anna's story of her mining days in Arizona. In researching the garnet ledge history she was able to gather a great deal of information on Anna's mining claims in Arizona.