,YNSZ]LRP1TPWO:ʯNPbSP]P/ZYMP - came Branch Chief. During his early years in Alaska, Don conducted oil resource studies and compiled oil, gas and mineral resource information in cooperation with Tom Marshall, Phil Holdsworth, and Kevin Malone. One of Don’s major legacies bL^ ST^ ^`NNP^^Q`W PʬZ]_ _Z TOPY_TQd locate and describe oil and gas seeps in ,WL^VL?SP]P^`W_^ZQST^ʭPWO^_`OTP^ were published as Reports of Investi- gations, Open File Reports and the Bu- reau of Mines Minerals Yearbooks. Don also became an acknowledged Pc[P]_ZYNZLWʭ]P^LYOSPW[POPWTX - TYL_P LN_TaP NZLW ʭ]P^ ZY _SP 6PYLT Peninsula near Ninilchik. He main- tained the readiness of the Bureau mine safety railroad car which was stationed in Palmer for potential use in the Sutton Coal Fields and Healy. Don passed away at age 73 in 2009. During a long Alaskan career span- ning 30 years, he became major con- tributor to Alaska’s mining and ener- gy resource industries. His surviving family members include two children, two grandchildren, two cousins and several nieces and nephews. John Mulligan (1917-2012) John was born in Woodbury, N.Y., on February 28, 1917, the oldest of three brothers and a sister. His father and mother (Matthew Mulligan and Brid- RP_ /`ʬd bP]P MZ_S MZ]Y TY 4]PWLYO and immigrated to the United States as adults. John learned to shoot, hunt LYOʭ^SL^LNSTWOLYONZY_TY`PO_Z[`_ RLXPLYOʭ^SZY_SP_LMWPTY_ZST^#^ He started a lifelong career in min- ing as a helper for two miners blast- ing a road cut at the age of twelve in 1929. During and after high school, he worked at farming, trapping, well drilling and construction. In 1937, he began underground work as a muck- er and a driller on tunnels, dams and mines in the Northeastern and South- ern states, Alaska and California. That is what brought him to Alaska in 1941 to work on driving the Whittier Tun- nel. On leaving Alaska that fall, he worked on the Shasta Dam project just before the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
time, he was the longest-serving em- ployee of the U.S. Bureau of Mines in Alaska. Pittman was born December 19, 1909, in Lewiston, Montana, where he spent his formative years. He earned B.S. and M.S Degrees in Metallurgy from the University of Washington in 1931 and 1933, respectively. In 1936, Tom married Pamelia Fergus Pittman. The couple would have three children. Tom became a metallurgist for a number of companies active in Ken- ya, East Africa, Nevada, Montana, and Washington. His work in Africa in- NW`OPO MPYPʭNTL_TZY LYLWd^T^ ZQ MZ_S placer and lode mineral deposits. In 1957, after a 20-plus year career in the private sector, he accepted a position with the U.S. Bureau of Mines (USBM) in Juneau. In 1958, as Alaska was preparing to enter into Statehood, the Territorial Department of Mines signed a formal agreement with the USBM for the mu- tual cooperative interchange of infor- mation — thus eliminating duplica- _TZYZQPʬZ]_LYOLNSTPaTYR^TRYTʭNLY_ cost savings. As the new State was be- ing formed, there was a free exchange between the USBM, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Atomic Ener- gy Commission (AEC) and the newly forming State Department of Natural Resources. In his later years, Pittman was con- sidered by many to be exceptionally ʭ_ QZ] ST^ LRP LYO ZQ_PY Z`_OT^_LYNPO many younger colleagues on numer- Z`^ʭPWOPcN`]^TZY^3T^_S]PP[]TXL]d interests outside of his career with the USBM was his wife and family, down- hill skiing, and amateur radio. During the 1960s, Pittman was instrumental in establishing Juneau’s power ski tow on Douglas Island. During the 1970s, as the Juneau City and Borough con- templated a more formalized ski area, Tom was instrumental in planning and installing what became the Eaglecrest >VTL]PLbSTNSʭ]^_Z[PYPOTY $" ?ZSZYZ]ST^[TZYPP]TYRPʬZ]_^ZYP of the mountain ridges in the area was formally named ‘Pittman Ridge’. To- day, the Eaglecrest Ski area has four double-lift chairlifts that access 640 acres of ski slopes, with 34 marked al- pine runs, two Nordic skiing loops, and access to world-class backcountry.
John enlisted in the Army Engi- neers in 1942. Following scant basic training and a great number of tests, he found himself in the Army Air Corps taking a crash course in weather sta- tion construction. This was followed by promotion to sergeant in charge of building weather stations at bomber _]LTYTYRʭPWO^TY4ZbLLYO>Z`_S/L - kota. John was discharged in 1945, and the following year, enrolled under the GI bill in the Missouri School of Mines in 1946, graduating in June of 1949 with a degree in Mining Engineer- TYR?Z^`[[WPXPY__SP24MPYPʭ_^SP worked as a cave guide in the nearby Onondaga Caverns. John was hired by the U.S. Bureau of Mines in July 1949 and returned to Alaska as a Mine Evaluation Engineer. For most of his career with the Bureau he discovered and mapped mineral re- sources throughout Alaska, spending XZY_S^TY_SPʭPWONZWWPN_TYR^LX[WP^ during the summer and analyzing the samples and writing reports in winter. During the summers of 1959 and 1960, John spent half the year in Ant- arctica searching for coal deposits. This was done under the auspices of the Na- tional Science Foundation and done for the State Department. It was thought that these deposits could be used to heat U.S. bases on that continent. However, the deposits proved to be too small and remote to be useful. One of the coal deposits he discovered was lo- cated on a mountain near MacKay Gla- cier that is named Mulligan Peak. After retirement in 1985, John traveled extensively, developed an in- terest in genealogy and wrote biogra- phies for the Miner’s Hall of Fame. He ]PXLTYPOʭP]NPWdTYOP[PYOPY_OZTYR solo winter car-camping trips, solo boat trips and cross-country driving trips into his 90s. Thomas L. Pittman (1909-1992) Noted metallurgist and U.S. Bu- ]PL` ZQ 8TYP^ >_L_P 8TYP]LW^ :ʯNP] Thomas L. Pittman died in a taxi of a heart attack on November 3, 1992, while traveling to the Sheraton Ho- tel to attend the annual Convention of the Alaska Miners Association. At the
57
January 2020
The Alaska Miner
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