I didn’t know the name of this mine until I did some research when I got back home.  This mine is called the Martin Mine, part of the Willow Creek mining district.  The Martin Mine was originally called the Alaska Free Gold Mine and was later consolidated with the giant Independence Mine.

The Martin Mine produced gold, copper and lead and miners extracted 28,000 ounces of gold between 1911 and 1920.

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Hatcher Pass is an incredible area with creeks, lakes, tall mountains and lush green meadows.  Here are some pictures of the the drive to Hatcher Pass coming from Wasilla.

This area is probably most famous for the Independence Mine State Historic Park.  Check out the Independence Mine Trek after you read this one!

The Independence Mine park has tons of mine artifacts and trails for you to explore.  I was planning on just hiking around the Independence Mines part this day but I was looking around the tops of the mountains with my camera and saw a shack way high up and decided to try and get to it if possible.

The next few pictures are from the Independence Mine State Historical Park portion of this trek.

I eventually found a narrow trail that zigzagged up about 800 ft in elevation which came right to the abandoned shack.  On the way up this trail you will see lots of scrap metal, old food cans and wood pieces from who knows what.  The trail was very steep and it disappeared in several spots – I got off trail a few times and figured I would just keep hiking up.   It wasn’t difficult hiking but it was just very steep.

The picture above is the start of the trail to the Martin Mine.

Along the way I heard lots of pika squeaking.  I saw maybe a dozen or so pika among the rocks but that was the extent of wildlife I found.

I’m sure the miners built this path to the mine – it was still in decent condition!  Except for the parts where the trail disappeared…

There are TONS of interesting mining relics here.

GPS coordinates will not be posted so as to protect this place as much as possible.

You could see where the miners dug out the side of the hill so they could create level space for machinery and buildings.

Here is a picture of one of the tailings piles – it was mostly dirt.

There were a few other broken down buildings and towers.

The shack had an incredible view of the valley below.  I could see several tailings piles around but I’m sad to say that the mines were all caved or closed.   Hiking all this way was still worth it and even worth a return trip to hike to the summit of this mountain to see what else is around.

The shack has two rooms with two beds and some cool stuff inside.