17 Facts About Frederick Mears

Colonel Frederick Mears was an American military officer in the US Army and railroad engineer and executive.

Frederick Mears was the son of a career army officer and his brother Major Edward C Mears was in the US army.

In May 1906, Frederick Mears went to work relocating portions of the Panama Railroad.

When World War I broke out, Frederick Mears left Alaska and returned to Leavenworth where he organized and took command of the United States Army Thirty-first Railway Engineers regiment.

Frederick Mears then went on to France to build the railroad system for the Allied forces.

On July 7,1923, Colonel Frederick Mears resigned from the army and the Alaska Engineering Commission and, with his family, left Anchorage for Seattle to start with the Great Northern Railroad.

In civilian life Frederick Mears continued his association with the Great Northern Railroad.

Frederick Mears's crowning achievement as an engineer and project manager was the Great Northern Railroad Cascade Tunnel under Stevens Pass in Washington State.

Colonel Frederick Mears died on January 11,1939, at the age of 60 at Seattle, Washington, from pneumonia.

Frederick Mears is buried at Fort Lawton Cemetery, now part of Discovery Park in Seattle.

Frederick Mears spent virtually all of his formative years immersed in army life as his father spent 31 years in the military.

At 15 years old, Frederick Mears enrolled at Shattuck Military Academy, Faribault, Minnesota, the same institution his father had attended.

Fort Frederick Mears was built on Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands during the summer of 1941.

At its peak, the number of troops stationed at Fort Frederick Mears reached 10,000 people.

Frederick Mears's son Frederick Mears III was born on Christmas Day 1915.

Frederick Mears later attended Yale and joined the navy as pilot in Guadalcanal and other Pacific Battles.

Frederick Mears's son Frederick Mears III was a pilot in the US Army Air Corps and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.