Profiles in Mining: Don Stevens g 50-plus years in Alaska geology
SPECIAL TO THE ALASKA MINER But for a twist of fate, Don Stevens might have made a career of baseball instead of geology. “I was born and raised in Ord, a small town in Central Nebraska. After graduation from high school I played semi-pro baseball for the home- town team. My last game was memorable when I struck out eight consecutive batters with a fast ball, a sharp curve, and a wild knuckleball. I had heard that there was a scout in the stands, so I prepared myself for a call from him which I was sure would come. After two weeks of waiting, I joined the U.S. Navy.” The Navy brought Don to Adak, Alaska. “Looking back, it was the best thing that could have happened to me. “I was the only lab technician in the Adak Den- tal Department, which kept me very busy. Then the most amazing thing happened: Leo Mark An- thony arrived with his four-week Introductory Prospecting and Mining course. “I really became interested in the Prospecting aspect of the course. The last Saturday before he left, Mark took us to a small bay with a sandy beach and taught us gold panning. We all got gold and Mark provided vials to store it in. I was hoo- ked. “I spent the rest of the spare time of my Adak _Z`]_]dTYR_ZʭYORZWOTYZ_SP]N]PPV^,WL^_SP]P bL^YZYP-PQZ]P4ʭYT^SPOXd,OLV_Z`]XdWL^_ year in the Navy) I applied to the University of Alaska in Fairbanks to major in Geology and was accepted. He bumped into Anthony on the campus. “He looked at me and said “Do you want a job QZ]^`XXP]*4YPPOLʭPWOL^^T^_LY__ZbZ]VbT_S one of my experienced prospectors.” “Of course, the answer was Yes! I worked for Mark the next four summers, each one being a ]PXL]VLMWP PO`NL_TZY ?SP ʭ]^_ ^`XXP] ^_L]_ - ed on Unga Island where we did cold extractab- le soil geochemical surveys. After Unga, we went to Susitna Lodge on the Denali Highway and then ^d^_PXL_TNLWWd []Z^[PN_PO _SP ^Z`_S ʮLYV ZQ _SP Alaska Range eastward to the Slate Creek area northeast of Paxson. “In the summer of 1967, I was the project geo- logist working with the project engineer Doug Colp on the Denali Copper prospect, now known as
Caribou Dome. In the summer of 1968, I worked for the USGS on Ester Dome west of Fairbanks. In the summer of 1969, I was back to the Denali Copper Prospect where I was project manager in charge of, driving a 1,400-foot adit. I also did my ;S/OT^^P]_L_TZYʭPWObZ]VZY/PYLWT.Z[[P]L_ the same time. Carolyn was working on a prove- nance study of the sandstones in the Healy coal area, and we were married on September 5, 1969 in Fairbanks. I defended my dissertation on Au- gust 13, 1970. “On August 15, 1970, I started work as District Geologist for Alaska with Cities Service Minerals Corporation (the minerals division of a major oil company) based in Anchorage. Owen Kingman, the Vice President of Exploration came to Ancho- rage and told me “we did not hire you for your Ph. /M`_QZ]dZ`]ʭPWOPc[P]TPYNP2P_Z`_LYOʭYO us a mine!” The next seven years were focused on just that. “Many of our discoveries are still active prospe- cts. Because of my work with Leo Mark Anthony, I got involved with the Alaska Miners Association right after I moved to Anchorage. “The top management of Cities Service Compa- ny then decided to get out of the copper business. ?SPd^ZWOXP_SP,YNSZ]LRPZʯNPP\`T[XPY_aP - hicles and the library for a very reasonable price, and gave me the exploration data generated in Alaska over the seven years. “Carolyn and I started Stevens Exploration Ma- nagement Corp. on February 1, 1978, and had a full workload right from the start. ɭ8dʭ]^_NWTPY_bL^/ZXP8TYP^LYO_SPdSLO four prospects that needed drilling. The second was Bering Straits Native Corporation. Carolyn had written several comprehensive mineral re- ports for BSNC on the Bering Straits region to help them make land selections under ANCSA while I was working for Cities Service Minerals Corp.” Drilling to collect samples for assay is a critical task, he said. “It’s very precise and has to be done right. One of the things that often look for is people dril- ling and wearing a gold wedding band, which will contaminate the assay. That’s a big deal.” “My biggest success was Valdez Creek, where I
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The Alaska Miner
July 2019
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