Gordon and Marilyn Herreid

(1924-2001,1928-2018)

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Gordon Weed Herreid was a dreamer who climbed Alaska’s tallest peak, knew it’s mountains and rivers, mapped its geology, helped mine and assess its mineral resources, encouraged the arts, worked tirelessly at the Interior Alaska Foodbank, and farmed its lands. He was Alaska’s first appointed State Geologist who designed and implemented programs to acquire knowledge about the geologic framework and mineral resources of the 49th State. His wife of 51 years, Marilyn Hahn Herreid, played a pivotal role in Gordon’s life by ensuring that many of his accomplishments were fulfilled. After retiring from economic geology and mining, both Gordon and Marilyn would form, with others, the Tanana Valley Farmers Market, a very popular farm produce and arts distribution center in Fairbanks.

Early Years

Gordon was born in Santa Maria, California on October 24, 1924 to Walter B. Herreid and Florence Weed. Walter’s family were Norwegian immigrants who came to the United States and first resided in South Dakota and later in the Pacific Northwest. Walter Herreid attended Washington State University (WSU), where he met his future wife Florence. He played football at WSU, when his team improbably won the first Rose Bowl game in 1916 against Brown University. Walter later coached football for San Diego State University from 1930-1934, but passed away from a kidney infection in 1941, when his son, Gordon, was 17 years old. Gordon’s mother, Florence, had both Canadian and Scottish ancestry. She was adopted by the Mayor of Yakima, Washington, who found her left on his doorstep. Raised in a wealthy family setting, Florence would develop the incurable Huntington’s Disease later in life which would result in her early passing.

Marilyn was born Marilyn Hahn in St. Chales, Illinois on April 19, 1928 to Jennie and Walter Hahn. She remembered an idyllic childhood where music, friends, and academies were her passions. She became an accomplished piano player at an early age. Marilyn studied pre-med at Grinnell College in Iowa with the intention of becoming a pediatrician.

Gordon’s WWII Military Service

At the age of 18, Gordon enlisted into the United States Army and joined the 10th Mountain Division, originally the 10th Light Alpine Division, which was formed in 1941 for alpine combat and high-altitude mountaineering. Soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division were mostly trained at Camp Hale, Colorado, about thirty miles south of Vale, at an altitude of about 9,200 feet.

The 10th Mountain Division was activated for deployment into the European theater of WWII during 1944-1945 to break through German defenses, termed the ‘Gothic Line’, that spanned Italy’s Apennine Mountains for access into Central Europe and southern Germany. Gordon Herreid was seriously wounded early in the offensive operations along with many other fellow soldiers and hospitalized for months with shrapnel wounds in his back. He was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army on October 29th, 1945.

Gordon’s Mountain Climbing Adventures

While Gordon was convalescing from injuries obtained during combat in Italy, he decided to climb Mount McKinley (now Denali) in Alaska, North America’s tallest peak at 20,320 feet. As reported in two 1947 articles published in the Farthest North Collegian, Herreid, along with University of Alaska students George Schumann and Morton Wood, reached the 16,500 foot level of the mountain in mid-June before extreme altitude sickness experienced by one of them forced their retreat. Gordon quickly organized another climbing team consisting of Henry Daub, Frank Mills and himself. The three WWII veterans reached the summit of the South Peak on July 22nd, 1947, benefiting from equipment and food left by Bradford Washburn’s team that reached the mountain’s summit on June 6th, 1947. Thus, the second WW II veteran’s team organized by Gordon completed the 5th successful ascent of Mount McKinley (Denali).

In June, 1950, Gordon assembled a group of climbers that included Al Paige, Mark Christensen, and Harvey Turner that successfully made an ascent of Mount Logan in Yukon, Canada, the second highest peak in North America at 19,551 feet (Turner was forced to terminate his involvement shortly after the start of the expedition due to an injured knee). First climbed in 1925, Mount Logan is considered to have the largest base circumference of any non-volcanic mountain on earth. Prior to the expedition's start, Gordon contracted the Owl Bakery in downtown Fairbanks to supply a high energy, hard tack type of bread consisting of whole wheat flower, Rasins, and nuts. This was the origin of 'Logan Bread', which exists in many versions in todays' climbaing venues. Herreid’s expedition began near the terminus of Alaska’s Chitina Glacier where the expedition participants were flown from McCarthy by bush pilot Herb Harvey. The team would traverse eastward into Canada over rugged terrane to where the Chitina Glacier merges with Logan Glacier; then further eastward to the confluence of Ogilvie Glacier and Logan Glacier; then southward toward King Peak; and finally ascending the plateau-like top of Mount Logan from the south.

The total distance from the terminus of Chitina Glacier to the base of King Peak, where the actual ascent of Mount Logan began, was >45 miles—with all participants carrying a pack that initially weighed 80 pounds each. Gordon Herreid became the first man to successfully climb both Mount McKinley (Denali) and Mount Logan, the two tallest peaks on the North American Continent.

Education, Courtship and Marriage

After his discharge from the Army in 1945, Gordon traveled steerage from Seattle to Valdez aboard an Alaska Steamship Company vessel and hitched a ride to Fairbanks in time to enroll as a geology student at the University of Alaska. Gordon Herreid completed 4 years of classes at the University of Alaska and graduated with a B.S. in Geology in 1949.

In 1947, after two years at Grinnell College in Iowa, Marilyn Hahn transferred to the University of Alaska in search of adventure. This she found, especially in the person of Gordon Herreid, a young free thinker from California who had come to Alaska after serving in WW II and, like her, sought adventure. Marilyn was greatly inspired by and embraced Gordon’s world of ideas, his simple lifestyle, and his love for the great outdoors. Marilyn graduated from the University of Alaska with a ‘Pre-Med’ degree in 1950, the only one awarded by the institution at that time. Later in life, she would succeed in fulfilling her desire to help with the medical needs of rural Alaska residents whenever those needs arose.

The couple married in 1950. At their wedding, Marilyn was given away by the renowned Pleistocene Paleontologist Otto Geist, and the new couple moved into Otto’s tiny cabin on Deadman’s Slough near what is now Geist Road.

An important element of their early lives was developing a close relationship with Judge Charles E. Bunnell, the first President of the University of Alaska. Bunnell was very fond of the young Herreid couple and sold them 160 acres of land off Ballaine Road, two miles north of the University of Alaska campus. This would ultimately become the neighborhood of ‘Dog Patch’, where Gordon and Marilyn Herreid sold land parcels of up to 10 acres in size to others in an evolving community of creative people that included artists, university professors, scientists from several disciplines and musicians.

To enhance their ability to experience the great Alaska wilderness and facilitate various transportation needs, the couple purchased a single engine Luscomb airplane in 1952. The couple would use this aircraft to fly to Toronto and back to Alaska via Illinois and California.

Gordon entered graduate school at the University of California-Berkeley in 1956. His main advisor was the world-renowned petrologist Francis J. Turner, who coauthored several textbooks on the subject of petrography. While at Berkeley, Gordon also studied under Economic Geologist Charles Meyer, a noted expert on porphyry copper deposits. Gordon had initially wanted to complete a PhD program at Berkeley, but some key deterrents became evident, including his inability to communicate with his chief advisor Turner. Gordon settled for an M.S. Degree in Geology and left Berkeley to pursue a career in geology elsewhere.

Gordon’s Early Geological Career

Before enrollment at Berkeley, Gordon consulted for Teck Exploration—Chip Loy Mines Ltd., based out of Toronto, Canada. He worked on nickel prospects at Burwash Landing, Atlin and Telegraph Creek in western Canada and the Ungava Peninsula in Eastern Canada. Besides consulting for industry, he developed enduring professional relationships with geologists of the U.S. Geological Survey as a temporary WAE employee that lasted for years, working seasonally as a geologist/assistant with Robert Chapman, Clyde Wahrhaftig and Florence Weber throughout Interior Alaska, Bill Brosge’ and Irv Tailleur in the Brooks Range, and especially C. L. ‘Pete’ Sainsbury throughout Southeast Alaska, in Southwest Alaska and on the Seward Peninsula. He would briefly collaborate with Ed MacKevett and Hank Berg with ore deposit studies in southwestern Alaska. He maintained close ties with Bob Forbes and Troy Pewe at the University of Alaska Geology Department.

In February, 1958, Gordon accepted the position of chief geologist at the Red Devli mercury (antimony) mine in southwest Alaska from AMHF Inductee Robert F. Lyman, the general manager. At the same time, Gordon had also received a job offer from American Smelting and Refining Company (ASARCO) out of their Vancouver, Canada office to pursue exploration of porphyry copper deposits in western Alaska. Gordon believed Red Devil offered a chance to help develop what at the time was considered an important Alaskan mineral deposit.

Both mercury and antimony had been declared strategic minerals during WWII and funds from the Defense Minerals Exploration Administration (DMEA) were provided to mine operator De Coursey Mountain Mining Company, Inc. to reopen the Red Devil Mine in 1952. About 80 were employed, making Red Devil one the larger mines in Alaska at the time. Finally, working at Red Devil kept Gordon, Marilyn and their three young children, Walt, Ingrid and Gretchen in Alaska. The Red Devil mercury-antimony deposit was mined from five levels with the lowest being approximately 500 feet below the surface. Gordon and colleague John D. Murphy worked out the complicated structure that controlled the deposition of sulfide minerals; thus providing a predictive model on how to find more ore. In 1960, Gordon discovered a new ore zone above the 450-foot level, which added several years to the mineable reserve base. Also in 1960, a Japanese firm, Nomura, acquired rights to process byproduct ‘mine soot’ from Red Devil, from which antimony was recovered. Red Devil was notably wet. According to Herreid (person commun. with writer, 1977):

“When the water pumps failed underground, there was a scramble to get back to the surface. Once, the entire underground workings were flooded in just 6 hours”.

While Gordon pursued the mine exploration tasks, Marilyn raised their three children. She helped teach music courses in the general Sleetmute-Red Devil area and along with Gordon, introduced the region to cross country skiing. Marilyn had a piano barged upriver to Red Devil from Bethel for piano lessons. According to the late AMHF Inductee Alvin Agoff (pers. commun. to writer, 1984), Marilyn served as a mid-wife when needed in several villages, including Red Devil, Sleetmute, Stony River and Crooked Creek. According to long-time Sleetmute resident Nick Mellick (pers. commun. with writer, 1994):

"The Herreid family brought cross country skiing into the area, which previously did not exist.”

Alaska’s First State Geologist

Alaska became the 49th State of the Union on January 1, 1959. The new state created an Alaska Department of Natural Resources, which was comprised of four divisions: Division of Lands, Division of Agriculture, Division of Economic and Tourist Development, and the Division of Mines and Minerals (DM&M)—the last successor to the Territorial Department of Mines. According to the 1959 DM&M report:

“DM&M has charge of matters affecting mining and mineral exploration, development and production in Alaska; collects and disseminates official information relative to the mineral resources and production projects of the State and administers the laws with respect to all kinds of mining, mine safety, and conservation of oil and gas…….the DM&M conducts a continuing survey of mineral resources of the State and disseminates information in regard therto with perpetuating and assisting prospectors and miners; safe guards the lives and health of miners; protects investors in the mineral industry; and otherwise foster and promotes the best interests of the mining, mineral and related industries of the State…..DM&M maintains four public assay laboratories at district offices in Juneau, Ketchikan, College, Anchorage, and Nome. Mining engineers travel ‘into the bush’ to give advice and help”.

The administrative functions and data collection of all oil and gas information generated in Alaska, including exploration work, was included into Alaska DM&M during the early years of Statehood. In 1960, newly appointed DM&M Director James Williams was made aware that a significant shortcoming of the agency was the lack of any state geological expertise. The Alaska DM&M began to look for a qualified professional to fit the shoes of a ‘State Geologist’. Alaskan mine developer Kirk Stanley strongly recommended to Williams that Gordon Herreid be considered for the job and suggested to Herreid that he apply for the position.

In January, 1961, Gordon Herreid provided Alaska DM&M Director James Williams his ideas on what an economic geologist position could do for the State. In his opening comments, Herreid stated:

“One of the difficulties with mineral exploration data needs in Alaska is that it is too specific for the USGS, which have tended to produce regional geological maps, and too general for most mining companies. The State seems to be the logical one to handle the work in between—that is to produce geological investigations within known mineral belts at detailed scales.”

Gordon went on to suggest that, in addition to detailed geologic mapping, the application of new technologies such as systematic geochemical surveys that would include rock, soil and stream sediment sampling and deployment of both ground and airborne geophysical surveys might assist in the interpretation of geology and lead to new mineral discoveries. He explained to Williams that the Ross-Adams uranium deposit, which was a producing uranium mine in 1961, was discovered as the result of airborne geophysics (a Geiger counter) and that new iron discoveries during the late 1950s at Kemuk Mountain near Dillingham and at Klukwan near Haines were discovered in part by airborne magnetic surveys carried out by industry. Gordon ended his letter by explaining to Williams that a State Geologist’s job was to:

“integrate all geological information available in reports and maps; 2) collect new data so that maps and information can help define mineral provinces; and 3) publish results of investigations so that others can build on the results, thus spurring well planned mineral exploration efforts”.

On January 30, 1961, Williams replied to Gordon Herried’s letter by stating:

“I have received very few letters with so much good thought in them”.

He then offered Gordon the position of State Geologist and told him that the position would start on July 1st, 1961. Gordon finished his work at Red Devil in June and traveled to Juneau in early July, 1961 with his family to begin his new career as Alaska’s first State Geologist.

Williams advised Gordon that his idea was:

“A State Geological Survey setup within the Division of Mines and Minerals (DM&M) so that I can see to it that there is cooperation between geologists and engineers…..I’m disappointed that I am not allowed to hire more than one geologist but one man is better than none”.

Williams thought that the best place to put a staff of professional geologists and engineers would be in Anchorage but that he wanted Gordon in Juneau for his first year. Hence Gordon, Marilyn and their three children moved to Juneau in July, 1961. Gordon quickly got to work and provided important geological expertise for Alaska DM&M.

The December 1961 Issue of the well-regarded magazine Mining Engineering, was devoted to the 49th State in: Alaska--Regional Report. It contained fifteen (15) articles on Alaska’s geology, mine activity, including coal mining, gold and platinum dredging, and mercury, tin, tungsten and antimony mining activities, the Alaskan economy, mining and geological education at the University of Alaska, politics, and the future of mining in Alaska. Gordon Herreid provided the lead-off article entitled: Geology and Ore Deposits of Alaska. The December 1961 issue of Mining Engineering was an instant success, and it’s publication generated a significant amount of interest for those interested in investing in mineral exploration in Alaska as well as providing general information to Alaska’s government organizations and for it’s citizens.

The success of the Mining Engineering issue, along with increased awareness of the needs of the State, resulted in additional funds allocated for more geological staff at DM&M. Gordon moved to the Anchorage DM&M office in 1962 and began to build a state geological survey section within the Alaska DM&M as envisioned by Williams. Gordon would benefit from William’s strong support and picked top-flight people for employment at the Alaska DM&M. He hired Donald Richter as a mining geologist and Tom Marshall as a petroleum geologist in 1962 and Arthur Rose and Mo Kaufman as mining geologists in 1963. All four hires have had notable careers in economic geology and provided new and significant geologic information for the new State of Alaska. Richter would gain a well-deserved reputation as being one of the best geological mappers in Alaska’s history (for both the Alaska DM&M and USGS). Rose would later become a noted expert in the field of applied geochemistry in the Department of Geosciences at Pennsylvania State University. Mo Kaufman would be credited with discovery of the Denali Copper Deposit north of the Denali Highway (in 1963)—one of the few significant mineral discoveries made by an Alaska State Geologist. Using petroleum field geological analogs from Western Canada, Tom Marshall helped convince State of Alaska decision makers in 1963 to select 1.8 million acres of land on Alaska’s North Slope between then Naval Petroleum Reserve #4 and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which includes the present-day Prudhoe Bay, Kuparuk and adjacent petroleum fields. Some of DM&M’s earliest work focused on Southeast Alaska since the Alaska Statehood Act provided land selection rights within the Tongass National Forest.

Herreid was not just a manager of others. From 1962 to 1978, Gordon Herreid produced nineteen (19) geologic reports for DM&M, later the Division of Mines and Geology, and finally for the Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys and was one of the most prolific among the varied staff of the Alaska DM&M and successor agencies. He authored seven (7) reports from the Juneau, Admiralty and Ketchikan districts of southeastern Alaska; seven (7) reports from the Nome, Solomon, Omalik, Candle, and Inmachuk districts on the Seward Peninsula, two (2) reports from the Nixon Fork and Sithlymenkat districts of Interior Alaska; and one (1) each from the Wrangell Mountains (Nizina), western Alaska Range (McGrath) and Lake Iliamna mineral districts. Although busy raising her three children, Marilyn frequently worked side-by-side with Gordon in the field while Gordon conducted his research; organizing field camps, packing rocks, collating field notes, and taking care of camp needs.

Gordon was influenced by modern, contemporary ideas about the formation of mineral deposits. In 1962, Gordon Herreid authored DM&M Geologic Report No. 1 entitled: Preliminary Report on Geologic Mapping in the Coast Range Mineral Belt, Alaska.

Building on classic work by USGS geologists A.F. Buddington, T. Chapin and Arthur Spencer, Gordon described detailed geological features, mapped mineralization and collected detailed structural data around known mineral deposits throughout the Coast Range Mineral Belt. For the Alaska Juneau Gold mine, he states:

“It is suggested that water and other volatiles boiled off from the metamorphic zone below and deposited up the plunging structures bringing in quartz, ore minerals, and gold, with the heat necessary to raise the ore zone to biotite grade metamorphic temperatures”.

What Gordon described is the formation of an orogenic gold deposit as the result of regional metamorphic processes—years before that ore deposit model became accepted in economic geology circles. Jim Williams stated that DM&M Geologic Report No. 1 was so popular that it was reprinted in 1965 and again in 1970. In May, 1963, Herreid and a new mining geologist that he had just hired, Mo Kaufman, examined the Niblack Anchorage copper-zinc-silver-gold deposit on southern Prince of Wales Island, a modest past producer of copper during the early years of the 20th Century. Herreid compared mineralization studied at Niblack Anchorage to mineral districts in Europe:w

“Ore deposits are concordant with the bedding and are not primarily controlled by faults or associated with granitic bodies…..the strong stratigraphic control of ores resemble those in the Huelbe district in Spain, which Kinkle (1962) believes were deposited as sulfide precipitates on the sea floor around ancient submarine volcanoes.”

Gordon’s published geologic interpretation was that ores at Niblack Anchorage were volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits--years before general acceptance of that mineral deposit model in Alaska’s geological community. Later, in the fall of 1963, Mo Kaufman would discover the Denali Copper Prospect (DM&M Geologic Report 4); (now referred by the Australian-based junior firm ‘Polar-X’ as the ‘Caribou Dome Project’), a stratiform syngenetic copper deposit in south-central Alaska—and one of the few significant metalliferous discoveries credited to an Alaska State Geologist.

In 1966, Gordon Herried and Art Rose published the first State of Alaska geologic map of a significant mineral district--the Hollis district on Prince of Wales Island at a scale of 1:40,000 (DM&M Geologic Report 17). Herreid’s next geologic map at a district 1:40,000 scale would be the Sinuk River district near Nome (DM&M Geologic Report 36).

Winds of Change and Retirement from State Service

Winds of change for the Alaska DM&M began in early 1967, when the newly elected Governor Walter Hickel began to reorganize the Department of Natural Resources. As summarized by Leslie Noyes in her 2001 book Rock Poker and Paydirt, Earl Beistline, the Dean of the College of Earth Sciences and Mineral Industries (CESMI) at the University of Alaska, persuaded the Hickel administration to headquarter the Alaska DM&M in Fairbanks.

Beistline successfully argued that putting the DM&M in Fairbanks would give it access to the newly created University of Alaska Mineral Industry Research Laboratory (MIRL) with it’s much improved capacity for geochemical analytical work and to other University-based laboratories, including the new isotopic age dating laboratory being constructed by Donald Turner at the University of Alaska Geophysical Institute. Mutually beneficial ties could be (and were) made between DM&M’s staff and University of Alaska earth science and engineering professors.

The DM&M completed the move to Fairbanks in mid-1967. Don Richter and Art Rose retired from the State DM&M mostly because they didn’t want to move to Fairbanks. Kaufman had left State Service earlier. Tom Marshall remained in State Service in Anchorage, having moved into an Alaska Department of Natural Resources (ADNR) management level position by that time. Gordon and Marilyn Herreid were delighted to move to Fairbanks, because they could finally establish residence on their land parcel off of Ballaine Road acquired from Judge Charles Bunnell 15 years previously.

Oil was discovered on Alaska’s North Slope in December 1967, which fundamentally changed focus within ADNR toward petroleum development rather than toward minerals. In 1968, the Alaska DM&M was renamed the Alaska Division of Mines and Geology. In 1971, it was briefly renamed the Alaska Division of Geological Survey. Finally, in 1973, it became the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys.

Gordon hired geologists Gilbert R. Eakins, Roderick Asher, and Crawford E. (Jim) Fritts in 1968 but stepped down afterwards from management decisions regarding geological employment within the division. That same year, a new Division of Oil and Gas within the Department of Natural Resources was created to nurture the needs of that growing new part of the Alaskan economy.

Gordon finished up his multi-year Sinuk River investigations on the Seward Peninsula in 1969. His work on the zinc-barite-bearing stratiform mineral zones in Aurora Creek basin, which Gordon had discovered in 1967, generated some interest and Cominco Ltd. began to examine the district--even drilling a few core holes. But in the mid-1970s, Cominco left the Sinuk River area and began to focus on the western Brooks Range for potential development of those commodities, ultimately developing the Red Dog deposit with NANA Corporation starting in 1982.

Gordon’s last geological investigation was in the Southeastern Alaska panhandle on southern Prince of Wales Island. For three seasons (1970-1972), Gordon, Jim Pray, and the writer mapped the geology of the Craig A-2 quadrangle and vicinity at scale 1:40,000 scale, undertook a very detailed geochemical survey of the area, and examined the historic mines and prospects of the area. Marilyn was in camp nearly full-time for all three years, engaged in all aspects of field preparations, such as moving camps into new inlets with small inflatable boats, sample packing, field note preservation and overall camp management.

Unlike previous investigations, Herreid was able to complete detailed petrological and geochemical studies of igneous intrusions and metamorphosed volcanic rocks and worked with age-dating expert Don Turner to obtain estimates of plutonic crystallization ages and the age of regional metamorphism in the Wales Group, the basement. Based on detailed mapping and results of isotopic age dating, Herreid proposed that the Wales Group was likely late Proterozoic or Neoproterozoic in age and that many of the small copper deposits mined on Hetta Inlet and on Cholmondeley Sound were volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits. Both hypotheses have since been confirmed. He also noted elevated Y-REE values obtained from rock samples he collected on Cholmondeley Sound, which others have used to locate Y-REE resources to the east. His detailed mapping indicated future expansion of the well-known copper-molybdenum-iron-bearing skarns in the area around Mount Jumbo. Perhaps most importantly, his detailed mapping showed that a major angular unconformity existed between the Ordovician-Silurian Descon Formation and overlying Devonian sediments, which others would cite as evidence of a major orogenic event in late Silurian time called the Klakas Orogeny.

With the Craig A-2 project completed, Gordon retired in late 1974 at the age of 50, after a 25-year-career in economic geology and mining and began an active post-retirement career.

From Geology to Farming

In retirement, Gordon and Marilyn Herreid pursued an active artistic life in Fairbanks. The Herreids remained close to Marv Mangus, former U.S. Geological Survey stratigrapher turned petroleum geologist for Atlantic Richfield (ARCO) during Gordon’s early years with the Alaska DM&M. Mangus became a nationally recognized landscape artist while living in Anchorage. The Herreids, along with artist Bill Berry, started the ‘Monday Night Sketch Group’ in their self-created community of ‘Dog Patch’.

For a number of years, Gordon and Marilyn would spend nearly every Sunday at Koponen’s Sauna on Chena Ridge in West Fairbank where Marilyn trolled for models for the next Monday Night Sketch Group. The Herreids hosted many meetings for Quakers, often at their house. Marilyn and Gordon collected art and particularly enjoyed supporting young artists as they began their careers. In 1975, Gordon and Marilyn started Pearl Creek Farm at 849 Wolverine Lane on their Ballaine Road lands, a pick-your-own vegetable and strawberry farm.

Marilyn would state:

“Farming was a real challenge and Gordon had never grown a thing in his life. Grant Matheke of Georgeson Botanical Gardens held his hand through the whole process…..Gordon loved most everything about farming, especially driving the tractors and tinkering with the machinery. Since he had winters off, Gordon would visit farmers in the lower ’48. But first he had to buy a motorcycle in Seattle and learn how to ride it before he could do that”.

Shortly afterwards, Gordon and Marilyn were instrumental in the founding of the Whole Earth Store on College Road. In 1978, along with two other couples, Marilyn and Gordon started the Tanana Valley Farmers Market, where Marilyn sold Gordon’s vegetables. The popular Fairbanks institution continues to this day.

Their Passing

Gordon’s adventurous life, both physical and intellectual, continued with ever-increasing difficulty after he was diagnosed with the incurable Huntington’s Disease in the late 1980s, the same disease that afflicted his mother. Despite the limitation placed upon him by the disease, Gordon continued to work on farm-related business and volunteered countless hours at the Fairbanks Community Food Bank.

Gordon spent the last 10 days of his life at home surrounded by his family and long-time friends including three wonderful women—Kay, Debbie and Ursala—who looked after his comfort and spirit. His granddaughter Sabe played the cello for him as he left this world in a most blissful state on December 22, 2001, at the age of 77.

After Gordon’s passing, Marilyn continued to be very active in the Fairbanks arts community. Despite her peripheral involvement in Gordon’s Pearl Creek Farm, it is said that she had the green thumb of the family and was well-known for her wild and free flower gardens, which she sustained her to the very end of her life.

Marilyn passed away on February 2, 2018, seventeen years after Gordon’s passing, at the age of 89. She had suffered a stroke a week before her death and indicated her desire to stay at home, which she did, surrounded by her loving friends and relatives. Marylyn had been in decline for more than a year but managed to maintain a serene quality of life. Her daughters Ingrid and Gretchen, her grandchildren Reidar and Sabe and son-in-law Dick were at her side when she passed.

At this writing, Marilyn and Gordon are survived by Walt Herreid’s three children Benjamin, Jennie, and Sam; daughter Ingrid and her children Reidar and Sabe; and Gretchen Herreid Petersen and husband Dick.

Written by Thomas K. Bundtzen with many thanks to Gretchen Herried Petersen, Ingrid Herreid and Ron Kovalik; Reviewed by Mitchell W. Henning

References Used in this Biography

Publications and Manuscripts

Bundtzen, T.K., and Conwell, C.N., 1982, Madhatters of the Kuskokwim Quicksilver Mines: Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Mines and Geology Bulletin, vol. 31, no. 1, pages 1-5.

Bundtzen, T.K., and Miller, M.L., 2004, Alaska Resource Data File (ARDF) for the Sleetmute quadrangle, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open File Report 2004-1310, 159 pages.

Bundtzen, T.K., and Nokleberg, W.J., 2018, Geologic Sources of Energy, in, E-Book on the Dynamic Geology of the Northern Cordillera (Alaska and Western Canada) and Adjacent Areas: Tectonics, Hazards, and Resources: University of Alaska Scholarworks Publication, pages 1-17; https://scholarworks.alaska.edu/handle/11122/7994

Bushell, Sharon, 2003, Marvin Mangus, in, We Alaskans, Volume II, Road Tunes Media, Anchorage, Publisher, pages 156-160.

Herreid, Gordon, 1960, Geology of the Red Devil Mine and Suggestions for Prospecting: Unpublished Report for Alaska Mines and Minerals, Inc., 6 pages.

Herreid, Gordon, 1961, Geology and Ore Deposits of Alaska, in, editorial staff, Alaska Regional Report: Mining Engineering, Volume 13, No. 12, pages 1316-1325.

Herreid, Gordon, 1962a, Geology of the Red Devil Mine: Unpublished Report for Alaska Mines and Minerals, 18 pages.

Herreid, Gordon, 1962b, Preliminary Report on Geologic Mapping in the Coast Range Mineral Belt: Alaska Division of Mines and Minerals Geologic Report 1, Juneau, Alaska, pages 44-67.

Herreid, Gordon, 1964, Geology of the Niblack Anchorage Area, Southeastern Alaska: Alaska Division of Mines and Minerals Geologic Report 5, Juneau, Alaska, 10 pages.

Herreid, Gordon, 1965a, Comments on Bethwith’s Report of August, 1965 on Rehabilitation, Exploration and Development of Red Devil Mine: Report prepared for Jim Williams, Director, Division of Mines and Minerals, 4 pages.

Herreid, Gordon, 1965b, Geology of the Bluff area, Solomon Quadrangle, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: Alaska Division of Mines and Minerals Geologic Report 10, Juneau, Alaska, 20 pages.

Herreid, Gordon, 1965c, Geology of the Omilak-Otter Creek area, Bendeleben Quadrangle, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: Alaska Division of Mines and Minerals Geologic Report 11, Juneau, Alaska, 12 pages.

Herreid, Gordon, 1965d, Geology of the Bear Creek area, Seward Peninsula, Candle Quadrangle, Alaska: Alaska Division of Mines and Minerals Geologic Report 12, Juneau, Alaska, 16 pages.

Herreid, Gordon, 1966a, Geology and Geochemistry of the Nixon Fork area, Medfra Quadrangle, Alaska: Alaska Division of Mines and Minerals Geologic Report 22, Juneau, Alaska, 34 pages.

Herreid, Gordon, 1966b, The Geology and Geochemistry of the Inmachuk River Map Area, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: Alaska Division of Mines and Minerals Geologic Report 23, Juneau, Alaska, 24 pages.

Herreid, Gordon, 1966c, Preliminary geology and geochemistry of the Sinuk River Area, Seward Peninsula: Alaska Division of Mines and Minerals Geologic Report 24, Juneau, Alaska, 19 pages.

Herreid, Gordon, 1967a, Red Devil: Unpublished manuscript prepared for American Institute of Mining and Metallurgy Convention, held in Fairbanks, Alaska, 5 pages.

Herreid, Gordon, 1967b, Geology and Mineral Deposits of the Dolomi Area, Prince of Wales Island, Alaska: Alaska Division of Mines and Minerals Geologic Report 27, Juneau, Alaska, 28 pages.

Herreid, Gordon, 1968a Geological and Geochemical Investigations Southwest of Farewell Alaska: Alaska Division of Mines and Minerals Geologic Report 26, College, Alaska, 24 pages.

Herreid, Gordon, 1968b, Progress Report on the geology and geochemistry of the Sinuk River Area, Seward Peninsula: Alaska Division of Mines and Minerals Geologic Report 29, College, Alaska, 13 pages.

Herreid, Gordon, 1969, Geology and Geochemistry Sithylemenkat Lake area, Bettles Quadrangle, Alaska: Alaska Division of Mines and Minerals Geologic Report 35, College, Alaska, 13 pages.

Herreid, Gordon, 1970a, Geology and Geochemistry of the Sinuk Area Seward Peninsula, Alaska: Alaska Division of Mines and Geology Geologic Report 36, College, Alaska, 63 pages.

Herreid, Gordon, 1970b, Geology of the Spirit Mountain nickel-copper prospect and surrounding area: Alaska Division of Mines and Geology Geologic Report 40, College, Alaska, 19 pages.

Herreid, Gordon, Bundtzen, T.K., and Turner, D.L., 1978, Geology and Geochemistry of the Craig A-2 quadrangle and vicinity, Prince of Wales Island, Alaska: Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Geologic Report 48, 48 pages. Map at scale 1:40,000.

Herreid, Gordon, and Kaufman, M.A., 1964, Geology of the Dry Pass area, Southeastern Alaska: Alaska Division of Mines and Minerals Geologic Report 7, Juneau, Alaska, 12 pages.

Herreid, Gordon, and Rose, Arthur W., 1966, Geology and Geochemistry of the Hollis and Twelve mile Creek areas, Prince of Wales Island, Southeastern Alaska: Alaska Division of Mines and Minerals Geologic Report 17, Juneau, Alaska 31 pages.

Kaufman, M.A., 1964, Geology and mineral deposits of the Denali-Maclaren River area, Alaska: Alaska Division of Mines and Minerals Geologic Report 4, Juneau, Alaska 15 pages.

Kaufman, M.A., 1992, Mountains of Ore and Rivers of Gold—Stories of a Contemporary Prospector: Do Vulturos Company, Spokane, Washington, publisher, 278 pages.

MacKevett, E.M., and Berg, H.C., 1963, Geology of the Red Devil Quicksilver Mine, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1142-G, 16 pages, with 7 map plates.

Noyes, L.M., 2001, Rock Poker and Pay Dirt: The History of Alaska’s School of Mines and It’s Successors: University of Alaska Foundation, 712 pages.

Richter, D.H., and Herreid, Gordon., 1965, Geology of the Paint River Area, Iliamna Quadrangle, Alaska Alaska Division of Mines and Minerals Geologic Report 8, Juneau, Alaska, 17 pages.

Sweet, John M., 2008, Leases for Sale, in, Discovery at Prudhoe Bay—Mountain Men and Seismic Vision Drilled Black Gold: Hancock House Publishers, Ltd., pages 164-171.

Turner, D.L., Herreid, Gordon, and Bundtzen, T.K., 1978, Geochronology of Prince of Wales Island, Southeast Alaska, in, Larson, Frank, editor, Short Notes on Alaskan Geology-1977: Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Geologic Report 55, pages 11-16.

Washburn, Bradford, and Roberts, David, 1991, Mount McKinley, the Conquest of Denali: Harry Abrams Incorporated, Publisher, 205 pages.

Watkins, Darrin, 2025, Chance for Glory—the Innovation and Triumph for Washington State University 1916 Rose Bowl Team: 110th Anniversary of the 1916 Washington State Rose Bowl Game, 125 pages.

Williams, J.A., 1961, Division of Mines and Minerals Report for the Year 1961: Alaska Department of Natural Resource Annual Report, Juneau, Alaska, 108 pages.

Williams, J.A., 1962, Division of Mines and Minerals Report for the Year 1962: Alaska Department of Natural Resource Annual Report, Juneau, Alaska, 119 pages.

Williams, J.A., 1963, Division of Mines and Minerals Report for the Year 1963: Alaska Department of Natural Resource Annual Report, Juneau, Alaska, 87 pages.

Williams, J.A., 1964, Division of Mines and Minerals Report for the Year 1964: Alaska Department of Natural Resource Annual Report, Juneau, Alaska, 107 pages.

Williams, J.A., 1965, Division of Mines and Minerals Report for the Year 1965: Alaska Department of Natural Resource Annual Report, Juneau, Alaska, 99 pages.

Williams, J.A., 1966, Division of Mines and Minerals Report for the Year 1966: Alaska Department of Natural Resource Annual Report, Juneau, Alaska, 115 pages.

Williams, J.A., 1967, Division of Mines and Minerals Report for the Year 1967: Alaska Department of Natural Resource Annual Report, College, Alaska, 98 pages.

Newspaper Articles and Obituaries

Bunnell, C. E., editor, 1947a, UA Climbers Reach 16,500 Feet on McKinley, Farthest North Collegian, Vol. 25, No. 10, July edition, pages 1, 6.

Bunnell, C. E., editor, 1947b, University Trio Climbs Mount McKinley, Farthest North Collegian, Vol. 25, No. 11, August Edition, page 1.

Staff, December 22, 2001, Gordon Herried Obituary, Fairbanks Dailey News Miner, pages 5, 7.

Marilyn Hahn Herreid 1928-2018 Pamphlet; 8 pages.

Gordon Herreid 1924-2001 Pamphlet; 4 pages.

Written Correspondence

March 3rd, 1955 Letter Correspondence from Frank Mills of Teck Exploration-Chip Mines Ltd. to Gordon Herreid (job offer) to College Alaska, 4 pages.

January 17, 1957 Letter correspondence from Bob Chapman to Gordon Herreid, 2 pages.

January 21, 1958 Letter Correspondence from Frank Mills (Mount Logan expedition) to Gordon Herreid, 4 pages.

February 11, 1958 Letter Correspondence from Robert F. Lyman, De Courcy Mountain Mining Company to Gordon Herreid (job offer), 1 page.

February 26, 1958 Letter correspondence from G.A. Dirom of American Smelting and Refining Company (ASARCO) offering Gordon a job as exploration geologist, 2 pages.

November 22, 1958 Letter Correspondence from Gordon Herreid to Bob Chapman, 4 pages.

May 6th, 1959 Letter correspondence from Hank Berg to Gordon Herreid, 2 pages.

October 9, 1959 Letter Correspondence from Weston Bourret (Utah Construction and Mining Company) to Gordon Herreid (job offer), 1 page.

February 1, 1960 Letter Correspondence from Pete Russell to Gordon Herreid, 4 pages.

February 16, 1960 Letter correspondence from Ed MacKevett to Gordon Herreid,2 pages.

February 28, 1960 Letter correspondence from Pete Sainsbury to Gordon Herreid, 2 pages.

April 20, 1960 Letter correspondence from Gordon Herreid to Pete Sainsbury, 1 page.

May 21, 1960 Letter correspondence from Gordon Herreid to Bob Forbes, 2 pages.

January 20, 1961 Letter Correspondence From Gordon Herried to Robert Chapman, 3 pages.

January 24, 1961 Letter Correspondence from Gordon Herried to James Williams (job qualifications and ideas) 4 pages.

January 30, 1961 Letter Correspondence (job offer) from James Williams to Gordon Herreid, 4 pages.

February 23, 1961 Letter correspondence from Pete Sainsbury to Gordon Herreid, 2 pages.

July, 1994, Written notes by Ron Kovalik on the ascents of Mount McKinley (Denali) and Mount Logan based on conversations with Gordon Herreid, 12 pages.

June 16, 1996 letter from Bradford Washburn to Ron Kovalik asking if Gordon Herreid’s climbing team used the food cache at Denali Pass during the 1947 ascent of Mount McKinley.

August 28, 2001 Letter correspondence from Mark Christensen to Gordon and Marilyn Herreid, 3 pages, with 8 photographs.

July 10, 2014 Email correspondence from Henry Daub, who climbed Mt. Mckinley (Denali) with Gordon Herreid to Krista Heron; day-by-day events of the July 1947 successful ascent of Mount McKinley; 6 pages.

October 5, 2024 Written communication from Gretchen Herreid Petersen to Tom Bundtzen concerning Marilyn Hahn’s ambitions to be health care worker; 1 page.

March 12 2025 Written communication from Gretchen Herreid Petersen to Tom Bundtzen concerning early years of Gordon Herreid and Marilyn Hahn; 2 pages.

March 19, 2025 Written communication from Gretchen Herreid Petersen to Tom Bundtzen concerning clarifications and edits of manuscript; 1 page.

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