Why do we put metal tags on Glacier Smoothie Soap? Our inspiration is straight from Alaska's booming gold rush days...
Every mine worker was assigned a tag. At the beginning of shifts, these assigned tags were taken from a large peg board and then returned to its place when coming out of the mine. If a tag was missing at the end of the shift, a search was started for that miner. They may have also been used as markers for loads coming out of the mines.
In 1880 gold was discovered in Gold Creek by Joe Juneau and Richard Harris. Many prospectors followed, but soon consolidated their efforts into what eventually made Juneau the lode mining capital of the world at one time. There have been as many as thirty-two mines in the Juneau Gold Belt District through the years. but the most famous and successful were the Treadwell, the Alaska Gastineau (Perseverance), and the Alaska Juneau (A.J.) Mines. By 1944 these mines were all closed, but not before producing $158,000,000 in gold.*
The tags photographed here are from our company collection and are from Juneau area mines. The top three tags are from Alaska Gastineau Mining Company. The middle tag is from the Jualin Mine (the name of which was derived from the first syllables of the words Juneau, Alaska, and Indiana - the home state of an owner). This mine, located north of Juneau, operated from 1896 to 1917. The bottom left tag is from the 700-Foot Mine, one of the four mines which fed into the Treadwell. The last two circular tags are believed to be from the Alaska Juneau Mine.
*Information Source: "Hard Rock Gold. The Story of the Great Mines
That Were the Heartbeat of Juneau, Alaska" By David and Brenda Stone