Death of an Empire

Death of an Empire: Collapse of the Treadwell Gold Mine is a collection of poetry, historical digital photographs, and modern imagery depicting the once great gold mining empire in Juneau, Alaska. In this unique publication, Kevin Lee McIver takes the reader through an intimate journey beginning with the infancy of the Treadwell Mine Complex in the 1880s through an April 1917 collapse that nearly brought the end to what was the largest low-grade gold mine in the world. Using the collection of historical images, the past is revealed through glimpses into the infrastructure of this modern and comfortable mining town that included all the luxuries of the lower-48 states like a natatorium, a gymnasium, a bowling alley, and modern kitchen appliances like a mechanical potato peeling machine. Luxuries, if you will, that were seldom found elsewhere in Alaska during the end of the 19th Century. Faces of the past come alive through digital photographs of some of the 2,000 employees who worked the mine or supported their efforts before the 1917 cave-in that crippled the once great empire. Kevin Lee McIver then takes you along a journey through modern imagery that brings you to the site of the ruins that remain today - and is reminiscent of ancient structures hidden beneath. Step into the past and experience the Treadwell Gold Mine Complex and its place in American history.