Anchorage 1910 - 1940 Legends & Legacies

Strandberg, David H.

1875-1949 | Placer Miner, and Mine Owner and Developer

David H. Strandberg was a Swedish miner who joined the Klondike gold rush in 1898, with his brother Charles, and the Iditarod gold rush of 1910. He became the patriarch of one of the most prominent mining families in Alaska, and built Strandberg and Sons, Inc., a placer mining company with headquarters in Anchorage.

Early Years

David Harold Strandberg was born near the village of Halmstad, Gottland, Sweden on September 27, 1875, the son of Johan Peter Strandberg and Susanna Johanna Johansdatter Strandberg. David obtained his early education in Sweden, where he and his brother, Charles “Charley,” attended the local school.  

In 1890, at the age of fifteen, Strandberg immigrated to the United States with his family and first settled in Elk County, Pennsylvania, where his father was employed in the timber business.   He worked in the coal mines and forests of Pennsylvania, and in Minnesota before moving to Sheldon, Washington. In Sheldon, he learned the skills of a high-line logger, including becoming adept at rigging and the use of the gin-pole, skills which were directly transferable to gold placer mining methods employed in the Klondike gold fields and elsewhere. Strandberg attended Wilson’s Business College, Seattle, Washington, where he learned to systematically keep records, a valuable skill in managing a small, but complex, mining corporation.[1]

Gold and Platinum Mining Claims: Yukon Territory and Alaska

Strandberg and his brother Charles ("Charlie") responded to the gold discovery in the Klondike by traveling to Alaska in 1898, where they crossed Chilkoot Pass and traveled to Dawson, Yukon Territory. The two brothers acquired working interests in valuable Klondike claims on Dominion Creek and were active in gold mining and prospecting.

In 1908, Strandberg married Jenny Sophia Johanson. She was born in Småland, Sweden, in 1884. She and her younger sister, Hilma, arrived in the United States in 1904, and then traveled to Dawson City to join their uncle Girard and his wife.   In 1905, David and Charles Strandberg and the Johansons moved to Fairbanks. In Fairbanks, the two brothers acquired several claims in the Ester Dome area, where they operated as Strandberg Brothers on No. 3 Below. In 1907, the partnership of Strandberg Brothers and Johnson [Johanson] was formed.[2]

In the spring of 1911, the Strandbergs moved to the Iditarod district, arriving with David Strandberg, Girard Johanson and his wife, at the gold diggings at Flat Creek near Iditarod. The Strandberg-Johanson party acquired valuable mining claims on Flat Creek, and formed the Strandberg-Johnson Mining Company in 1910, which ceased operations at Flat Creek around 1915.[3] 

In 1923, the Strandbergs moved to Anchorage to provide a better education for their six children: Harold (1909-1995), Olga (1910-1993), William (full name: John William Strandberg, 1911-1993), Theodore (1913-1965), Odin (full name: Edward Odin Strandberg, 1915-2002), and Genevieve (full name: Linnea Genevieve Strandberg, 1918-2009).[4] As his sons grew up and acquired the ability to run complex and remote gold mining operations independently, gold mining ground was acquired and placer operations were started as the Cripple Creek Mining Company (later to become Strandberg and Sons, Inc., with David Strandberg as president) at Bear, Cripple, and Colorado Creeks in the Cripple Creek Mountains. Other mines were opened at Candle Creek near McGrath, Indian Mountain near Hughes in the Koyukuk district, Tofty near Manley Hot Springs, and a platinum-bearing mine at Clara Creek near Goodnews Bay.[5]

Both David and Jenny Strandberg became highly regarded pioneer citizens in Anchorage. The Strandberg family home and office was located at 926 Fourth Avenue. Jenny was well known for her participation in community affairs, and her garden at the family home was one of the city’s best. According to the biographical sketch of David Strandberg in the Alaska Mining Hall of Fame: “David proudly drove the few streets of Anchorage in a big Pierce-Arrow and occasionally had to be reminded by Anchorage’s lone policeman to refrain from taking his lane in the center of the road.”[6]

In 1937, Strandberg Mines, Inc., originally named Strandberg and Sons, Inc., was established by David Strandberg. Its mining activities included prospecting, mining, milling and smelting, principally in Alaska. The company’s mining operations were located at Eureka, Folger, Prospect Creek, Bishop Creek, Candle, Bonanza Creek, and Ruby. The company ceased operations in the early 1960s.[7]

David Strandberg died in Anchorage on June 3, 1949, after suffering a stroke and quickly afterwards, a fatal heart attack.[8] On August 15, 1951, Jenny Strandberg died at her home in Anchorage.[9] She was survived by four sons: Harold, of Anchorage; William, of Indian River Mine, at Koyukuk; Theodore and Odin, Candle Creek Mine, near McGrath; two daughters, Olga Strandberg Doheny of Anchorage, and Linnea Genevieve Strandberg Kuntz of Arcata, California; and ten grandchildren. David and Jenny Strandberg, and their sons Theodore[10] and William[11] and daughter Olga Doheny, are all buried in the Pioneer Tract of Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery.[12]

Legacy

The Alaska Mining Hall of Fame Foundation published an excellent, detailed biography, “David Strandberg (1875-1949), written by Charles Hawley, Sig Strandberg, James Strandberg, and Tom Bundtzen. It is available online on the Foundation’s website at this URL:   http://alaskamininghalloffame.org/inductees/strandberg.php.

The David and Jenny Strandberg Family Papers, 1897-1970 (HMC-0357), are held by the Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage, Anchorage, Alaska. In addition, there are five other related collections: the Harold Strandberg Papers, 1923-1985 (HMC-0237); Strandberg Mines, Inc., Records, 1910-1964 (bulk: 1937-1964) (HMC-0359); Lawrence and Olga Doheny Family Papers, 1910-1980 (HMC-0355); Robert Geehan Papers, 1933-1940 (HMC-1163); Erickson Family Papers, 1903-1971 (HMC-1971), and other materials. These collections are open to the public for research.

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Harold Strandberg, one of the sons of David and Jenny Strandberg.

Courtesy of the Strandberg family.

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