History of Sutton

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Sutton is a small community that was founded in 1918 as a station on the Matanuska Branch of the Railroad. As well as a washing plant site for the US Navy's Chickaloon Coal Mine. Sutton's growth was then spawned by the development of several nearby coal mines in the 1920's, which produced coal to meet a significant portion of Alaska's energy needs through the mid 1960's.
Even Jones Coal Mine, located just north of Sutton was the largest and the most productive of the matanuska Coal producers with an average employment exceeding 100 miners. For nearly a half a century, the Evan Jones Coal Mine supplied coal to various customers that included the Alaska Railroad, local military and utility powr plants, as well as domestic heating for customers with total sales exceeding Six Million ( $6,00,000 ) tons.

The Alaska Railroad switched to diesel powered locomotives during the early 1950's and local military. Utility powered plants converted to natural gas in the late 1960's which eliminatd local demand for coal causing the Evan Jones Coal Mine to close in 1968 with little hope of ever reopening.
Today more than thirty years since the closure of the Evan Jones Coalmine, there is renewed intrest and optimism that once again the high quality coal of the Matanuska Valley could pay a meaningful role in meeting Alaska's gowing energy needs.