Colonel Frederick Mears (May 5, 1878 – January 11, 1939) was an American military officer in the US Army and railroad engineer and executive.

When World War I broke out, Mears left Alaska and returned to Leavenworth where he organized and took command of the United States Army Thirty-first Railway Engineers regiment.

After World War I, Colonel Mears and his family returned to Alaska; he was appointed Chief Engineer to help complete the railroad.

On July 7, 1923, Colonel Mears resigned from the army and the Alaska Engineering Commission and, with his family, left Anchorage for Seattle to start with the Great Northern Railroad.

His crowning achievement as an engineer and project manager was the Great Northern Railroad Cascade Tunnel under Stevens Pass in Washington State.

[2] The US Army honored Frederick Mears’ service in Alaska by dedicating one of its posts in his memory during World War II.

His son Frederick Mears III was a pilot in the US Army Air Corps and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.