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Jafet Lindeberg
JAFET LINDEBERG, president of the Pioneer Mining Company and prominent
mine owner and operator of Seward Peninsula, has the distinction of being one of
the three men who first discovered gold on Anvil Creek and Snow Gulch. This
discovery made in September, 1898, was the inception of active mining operations in
Northwestern Alaska, and the beginning of exploration in a region where vast and uncalculated mineral wealth still lies fallow. At the time that Mr. Lindeberg, in company with
Erik O. Lindblom and J. E. Brynteson, made the famous strike he was a mere youth. He
was born in Norway September, 1 874, and was just 24 years old when the discovery was
made which not only turned the current of his life but changed the course of the lives of
thousands of others.
The four partners, Lindeberg, Lindblom, Brynteson and Kjelsberg, known as the
Pioneer Mining Company, mined a large quantity of gold in 1899 and 1900. In 1901
the Pioneer Mining Company was incorporated, and Mr. Lindeberg was elected presi-
dent and general manager. He was a very young man to occupy such an important and
responsible office, but his experience as a miner had developed the practical knowledge,
which was the first prerequisite of the position he held, and the policy he has pursued has
shown a wise foresight and a correct estimate of the undeveloped value of the country.
His policy has been to secure additional holdings for his company, and in this respect he
has followed the example of one of the most successful miners in the West or North,
Charles D. Lane, whose methods in Alaska have placed the Wild Goose Mining Company
in possession of many very valuable mining claims. To Mr. Lindeberg it was obvious
that the wisest plan to pursue was to use the earnings of the company for the first few
years to increase the company's possessions. The new discoveries that are made every year
in the Nome country are conclusive evidence of the undiscovered mineral wealth of the
country and of the permanency of the mining camps of this part of Alaska. The slowly
developed conditions have shown the wisdom of Mr. Lindeberg's policy. He regards the
work he is engaged in as his life work, and to it he is devoting all the energy of youth and
the judgment gained by experience of mature manhood.
Mr. Lindeberg owns the electric light and power works at Nome, and he and his
three early associates constructed and own the Moonlight Springs Water Works which
supply Nome with pure water and provide the town with protection in the event of fire.
The quality of the water furnished the residents of Nome is not excelled, and in this
respect the people are fortunate, as prior to its introduction there was an epidemic of
typhoid fever which has not since occurred. The Nome Electric Light plant is the first one
established in Northwestern Alaska.
Mr. Lindeberg is married. Mrs. Lindeberg is a member of an old and prominent
family of California. Their winter home is the Palace Hotel, San Francisco. The
summer seasons are periods of active work at Nome for Mr. Lindeberg, when he is most
frequently seen in the garb of a miner looking after the many details of the company's
extensive interests. He is a man of untiring energy who has made the most out of the
opportunities of life, and by inherent strength of character has elevated himself to a position
of prominence in the field of industrial activity.
Source: Nome and Seward Peninsula by R. S. Harrison. Seattle:
The Metropolitan Press, 1905.
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