Austin Lathrop
Austin Eugene “Captain” Lathrop was born in Lapeer, Michigan, on October 5, 1865, the son of Eugene and Susan (Sarah) Miriah Parsons Lathrop. He was still a baby when the family moved to Harrisville Michigan where he completed elementary school and quit attending during his first year in high school. When he was sixteen years old the family moved to Ashland, Wisconsin. In Ashland, he worked at a variety of jobs involving draying and contracting business with teams of horses. While engaged in that business Captain Lathrop read of the disastrous Seattle fire of June 6, 1889.
He left Ashland and was on his way to the Pacific Northwest. Upon his arrival in Seattle he sent to Wisconsin for several teams of horses and engaged in the contracting business wrecking damage buildings and clearing the land for re-building. He pushed his business with such energy that ins a short time he was working forty teams and became known as the “boy contractor,” being at the time but twenty-four years old.
Captain Lathrop’s first active interest in Alaska was aroused by news of the gold strike at Cook’s Inlet. Seizing the opportunity the gold rush opened in the transportation business, he purchased a half interest in the steam schooner, L.J. PERRY and for some years operated the vessel in Alaskan waters. It was this connection with the sea, which won Captain Lathrop the title of “Captain,” and he has since been known as “Cap.”
The year 1901 may be taken as the date of his entry into business in Alaska proper. In that year he took the first standard drilling rig to the Territory and used it to prospect for oil in the Cold Bay district. Shortly thereafter he moved to Valdez. In Valdez he organized the California-Alaska Mining & Developing Company to prospect for copper in the Kotsina district. Copper was found, but could not profitably be mined because of lack of transportation facilities to move it to market.
In 1923 the city of Fairbanks was brought into the realm of Captain Lathrop’s activities. In that year he purchased a theater. In 1924, his Alaska Moving Picture Corp. produced The Chechahcos (sic), the first feature-length film shot entirely in Alaska. He acquired an interest in the Healy River Coal Corporation, which operated a mine approximately 114 miles south of the city. In order to insure the efficient and stable management of that company, he then purchased control. Establishing a new camp and taking personal charge of the operation of the mine, he developed it into the largest coal mine in Alaska. He built, in 1932, new bunkers to facilitate transportation of the coal, and to improve the efficiency of the mine, which has made possible much of the large-scale mining in the Territory by keeping the scores of massive dredges, supplied with fuel.
Captain Lathrop’s building enterprises in Fairbanks were enlarged in 1927 by the construction
of a theater building of reinforced concrete, the first building of concrete in the
city. At the time his judgment in using concrete was questioned, many holding that
a concrete building could not withstand the extreme changes in temperature. Time has
proved his judgment. In 1937-38 he constructed another large reinforced concrete building,
which houses two of his other enterprises. On the first floor are located the NEWS
MINER and the ALASKA MINER both of which he is publisher. On the fourth floor are
located the offices and studios of the radio station KFAR, of which he is an owner.
Captain Lathrop’s latest building enterprise was the construction, in 1940, of the
Lacey Street Theater, which is the most expansively furnished theater per seat in
Alaska or the United States.
The business of which he is president includes: Tanana Publishing Company the Midnight
Sun Broadcasting Company, and the Healy River Coal Corporation.
He served as national committeeman from Alaska from 1928 to 1932, and has served in
the Alaska Legislature representing the third division. He was a member and vice-president
of the Board of Regents of the University of Alaska from 1932-1950. Elmer E. Rasmuson was appointed to take his place on the Board. Lathrop was active in the financial
dealings of the university. In 1948, when the university was badly in need of funding,
Lathrop helped secure $200,000 in interest-free loans from private businesses.
On July 26, 1950 he fell beneath the wheels of a railroad car at his Healy coal plant,
which killed him. He was 84.
UAF Site named after Austin Lathrop
Austin Lathrop is also mentioned in these articles
UA Regent:George Lingo
Notable People:Ivar Skarland
Link
A Fairbanks 50: Remembering a few who helped build a frontier town
Sources:
BOR file
Cole, Terrence. The Cornerstone on College Hill. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Pres, 1994. Print. ISBN: 0912006579