Alaska Syndicate
In an effort to thwart statehood and Alaskan home rule from Washington D.C., the Alaska Syndicate, was formed in 1906 by J. P. Morgan and Simon Guggenheim.
The Syndicate purchased the Kennicott-Bonanza copper mine and had majority control of the Alaskan steamship and rail transportation.
[2] Forester and conservationist Gifford Pinchot led the charge against the Alaska Syndicate and the so-called "Morganheims" and their supporter in Washington, Secretary of the Interior Richard Ballinger.
Ballinger, a perceived enemy of the conservation movement of which Pinchot was a leading mover, had intervened in and investigated the legality of coal mining claims made by Clarence Cunningham, a partner of J.P. Morgan and the Guggenheims.
Cunningham had been the representative of 32 individuals seeking claims in what would soon be protected by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1908 as the Chugach National Forest.
Coupled with the growing distaste for wealthy bankers and "Captains of Industry" that was brewing across the country at the time, the public images of the Morgans and Guggenheims took a great hit.
Often portrayed together in political cartoons (with thinly veiled anti-Semitism) as the Shylock-like monster Morganheim (or Guggenmorgan), the controllers of the Alaska Syndicate continued to be a lightning rod for the press, conservationists, anti-business forces, small merchants, and all others who believed that Alaska's pristine lands should be exploited only through the careful regulation of the government.
That summer, he was approached by Clarence Warner and Jack Smith – two members of the McClellan group – for financial investment to develop the Bonanza claim.
[5][6] After the acquisition of the original McClellan group claims, Birch realized he desperately needed funding to construct a railway from the port of Valdez to the Bonanza mine nearly 200 miles away.
"[7] While the unique difficulties of development in the north did not inspire the building of roads, the lure of profits attracted railway companies.
He garnered an international reputation following his work on the White Pass and Yukon Route for Close Brothers and Company of London.
Heney chose Cordova as port for his railroad and, supported by Close Brothers and engineer Erastus Corning Hawkins, began construction in April 1906.
The more famous occasion involved the fatal shooting of a worker from the Alaska Home Railroad, a rival who wanted to pursue the Valdez route that the syndicate had abandoned.
The deputized leader of the band who shot the worker was subsequently tried and "the syndicate lost much face as charges of bribery and other irregularities were aired.
"[8] The terrain presented difficulties including bridging the intense flow of the Copper River, building around glaciers, and chiseling into the rock faces of two canyons.
[13] The Alaska Syndicate, as typical businessmen in the 19th century, used bribes and promises to win business favors in the political system.
His successor, president Wilson had a series of political reforms which made the old methods of the Alaska Syndicate to not work in the new times.
James Wickersham Delegate from Alaska, on May 24, 1910, together with a copy of a letter which he forwarded to the Attorney General on the same date, with reference to the matter of furnishing coal to military posts at Forts Davis and Liscum, Alaska, and on May 28, 1910, this office informed the Secretary of War that the papers referred to would be held, pending call from the Attorney General for any papers or information that may be on file in this office.
The Syndicate had purchased the large Kennicott-Bonanza copper mine and controlled much of Alaskan steamship and rail transportation, as well as a major part of the salmon canning industry.
Wickersham argued that Alaska's resources should be used for the good of the entire country rather than exploited by a select group of large, absentee-controlled interests—home rule, he claimed, would assure more just utilization of the territory's natural wealth.
The 1910 Ballinger-Pinchot affair, which involved the illegal distribution of thirty-three federal government Alaskan coal land claims to the Guggenheim interests, culminated in a Congressional investigation and brought Alaska directly into the national headlines.
Robert Kennicott was a part of the Western Union Telegraph Expedition and arrived in San Francisco in April 1865.
