Alaska Anthracite Railroad Alaska Anthracite Railroad The Alaska Anthracite Railroad Company was formed about 1907 by several people to exploit the Bering River coal fields after the Alaska Syndicate that consisted of M. Guggenheim & Sons and J.P. Morgan & Co. left the area for the Copper River copper. It was after the 1907 winter storm destroyed their Copper River and Northwestern Railway (CR&NW) in the Katalla - Palm Point area and access to the Bering River coal fields. The principles of the Alaska Anthracite Railroad Company were John A. Campbell, President; James Campbell, Vice-Pres. & Treasurer and Charles D. Davis, Secretary. The
Anthracite iron States, in the principal control and supervision of Ironmaster David Thomas who had begun experimenting with attempts to use locally available Wales anthracite deposits as early as 1820 soon after he became in charge at Yniscedewin Iron Works in Wales. About this 1837-38 timeframe experiments were also being made in Pennsylvania near Port Carbon, and in Mauch Chunk, but with overall better success than in Wales. White, Hazard and the LC&N Co. had begun systematic experiments to smelt using anthracite in two furnaces in Mauch Chunk in 1832-1837 with intermittent but sporadically improved successes using cold blast processes with two