| 1902: |
Discovery of placer gold in Wiseman area, 60 miles west of Chandalar Lake starting a small gold rush to the Chandalar district, Alaska. |
| 1905: |
Frank Yasuda, Nevelo Yasuda, Charles McNett, James Minano, and Thomas Carter stake Discovery Claim on Little Squaw Creek, Chandalar district, Alaska. |
| 1906: |
Gold placers discovered on Big Creek and St. Mary's Creek, Chandalar district. Approximately 100 miners are working in Chandalar area. |
| 1909: |
Four gold veins are discovered, reportedly the sources of the placer gold. A small stamp mill is shipped into the area to test ore from the Little Squaw Lode and other lode claims. |
| 1909-1941: |
William Sulzer, former governor of New York, acquired the majority of the most promising prospects in the area. He financed exploration and development through his company, Chandalar Mines Company and later, as the major shareholder of Chandalar Gold Mines, Inc. when the two Chandalar companies merged in 1926. |
| 1916: |
Most of the shallow placers are playing out so miners shift their interest to the placer drift mines (underground operations). The most notable of these is the Little Squaw Bench, including the Mellow Bench. Approximately 29,000 ounces of gold were recovered averaging 1.0 oz/cubic yard of gold in the gravels with spikes of up to 4.6 oz/cubic yard. Some individual nuggets were over 10 ounces. |
| 1920s: |
Drift mining continues in the Chandalar district. |
| 1937-1939: |
William Sulzer acquired federal mineral patents for the principle discovery claims and a series of reports were produced to prepare the properties for production. However, no mining and few exploration activities occurred. |
| 1930s: |
Chandalar district mining diminishes as the remaining pay zones are either deep or lower grade, or in many cases, no longer frozen (necessary for drift mining). |
| 1946: |
Eskil Anderson acquired the interests in the Chandalar district from Sulzer's estate. |
| 1954-1955: |
Hugh Matheson, Jr. of Chandalar Mining Company began mining on Big Creek. |
| 1959: |
Little Squaw Mining Company (LSMC) was incorporated in Alaska. |
| 1960: |
Ellis Anderson (no relation to Eskil Anderson) first mines the Tobin Creek gold-bearing bench. He employs hand mining methods. Frank Birch acquired the Tobin Creek placer mine and expanded it while also commencing development on the Mikado Lode. |
| 1967: |
LSGMC issued a lease to Chandalar Gold Mining and Milling Co. Led by Frank Birch, Chandalar Gold Mining and Milling was consolidating mining claims in the district. |
| 1968: |
LSMC changed its name to Little Squaw Gold Mining Company (LSGMC). |
| 1970: |
LSGMC listed for trading on the Spokane Stock Exchange. Frank Birch constructed a 100 ton-per-day mill for the Mikado Lode, to be mined under lease from LSGMC. |
| 1971: |
Frank Birch killed in an airplane crash at Tobin Creek. His company's assets were acquired by LSGMC. |
| 1972: |
LSGMC merged with Chandalar Gold Mines. |
| 1980s-1990s: |
Spokane Stock Exchange closed and LSGMC transferred to trade on the NASDAQ-OTCBB trading under the symbol LITS. A succession of companies leased the Chandalar properties from LSGMC including Canalaska Placer Inc., Whelan Mining & Exploration, Jan Drew Holdings, Ltd., Canadian Barranca, Gold Dust Mines, Marmac Alaska Mines, Ltd. , Noranda Mining Corporation, Callahan Mining Company, Mikado Gold Mines, Inc., and Chandalar Development Corporation (CDC). |
| 1980-1983: |
CDC recovered 8,169 ounces of gold from the Mikado and Summit mines. |
| 1984: |
LSGMC won back their leases from CDC in litigation. |
| 1988: |
LSGMC hired professional mining engineer Edward Odin Strandberg, Jr. to prepare a comprehensive report on the Chandalar district, finished in 1990. |
| 1989-2003: |
LSGMC offered leases to various parties but no significant development ever occurred because of low gold prices. |
| 2003: |
New LSGMC management was installed, a new board of directors was named and the elimination of 1/3 of a million dollars in debt brought new life to the company. The new management are seasoned professionals with a broad range of modern technical and financial skills and capabilities. |
| 2005 |
First-ever successful public fi nancing completed and a new era of exploration starts, with good drilling results in 2006. |
| 2007 |
The State of Alaska establishes a public highway right-of-way from the Dalton Highway to Chandalar, and an expanded exploration drilling program begins. |
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