Harry Wollenberg UC Berkeley Yearbook (1909)
Harry Lincoln Wollenberg arrived in Alaska in 1909, just a year after graduating from the University of California at Berkeley with a degree in Mining Engineering. That year he went to work as a mining engineer for the Alaska Gastineau Mining Company. Wollenberg was described as being "one of the most brilliant students in the class of 1908". One of his first assignments for the Alaska Gastineau was to prepare a report on the feasibility of constructing a hydroelectric project on Salmon Creek to provide power for a new mine and mill.
Just 25 years old when he started work for the Alaska Gastineau, Wollenberg's talents were quickly recognized, and by 1912 he was the Chief Engineer at the Alaska Gastineau Mining Company. In this capacity, Wollenberg investigated, designed and supervised the construction of both the Salmon Creek and Annex Creek Hydroelectric Projects. Both of these projects were bold engineering accomplishments, incorporating new and innovative design and construction techniques.
Harry Wollenberg in Juneau (1915)
In 1916, as the Annex Creek Project was completed, Wollenberg not only left Alaska, but also left the mining industry and engineering profession. He and his family moved back east where he managed an explosives manufacturing firm and later became president of an oil refining company. In 1927 he received a call from a friend asking if he wanted to be his partner in a new business venture, making cardboard. They started Longview Fibre, a pulp and paper company, with a factory located in Longview, Washington. Harry Wollenberg became the CEO and President of the company and ran the company from an office in San Francisco, California. His son succeeded him and later a grandson ran the company until it merged with a larger firm in 2013.
Harry Wollenberg died in 1979 in San Francisco, California.