Kennicott or is it Kennecott?

The Kennicott glacier and the resulting Kennicott river were named after Robert Kennicott, the chief scientist on an expedition to find a telegraph route from the US to Russia. Most people believe that the mine and mining company names are an inadvertant misspelling. The town is spelled the same as the glacier.

The high grade copper deposits were discovered in 1900 but the logistics made mining the deposits very expensive. The Kennecott Copper Corporation was formed in 1903 by the Havemayer and Guggenheim families and J.P. Morgan to fund the development of the mines, mill, and the Copper River and Northwestern Railroad used to haul the ore from Kinnicott to the sea at Cordova.

The ore was shipped from Cordova to the smelter in Tacoma, Washington. The mine closed when the deposits ran out in 1938. Some high value items were removed but the buildings and most of the furnishings and equipment were left behind.

Quite a few of the houses are private property, purchased before the National Park was formed in 1980.

The iconic mill and concentrating plant, after years of neglect, is now the subject of efforts to stabilize it and replace some of the rotting log foundations.

Parts of the power plant have been stabilized and repaired while work continues on other parts.

Inside the powerplant was a telling artifact. The railroad started hauling ore to Cordova in 1911. Note the patent date on the boilers. The mine and mill were using the best and most modern equipment available to them.

Other buildings wait their turn for repairs

while some are already gone.

Just foundations of others remain.

It's possible to stay right in Kennicott at the Kennicott Glacier Lodge. Meals are also available there or at the "pizza bus" on the lower level of the town.

Given the years, things aren't as plumb and level as they once were

but I found it awe inspiring to think about the challenges of weather, available technology, and location that these miners had to overcome in order to be successful.

Had to get a rust picture in - they're hangers for tramway buckets.

McCarthy

Located about 4.5 miles downstream from the Kennecott mine, McCarthy grew up with the mine, providing services that weren't available in the company town. After the mine closed, it almost died out, but now has 15-20 year around residents and around 300 summer residents. Access to Kennicott is via McCarthy, and it's well worth a visit. No public motor vehicles are allowed - access is via a modern foot bridge.

The town has lots of original buildings, some of which are housing popular businesses. Ma Johnson's Historic Hotel has attracted lots of very positive national press. There are at least three different places providing overnight lodging.

Not all of the buildings are as well maintained. In fact, this one comes complete with a feathered visitor

sort of front & center, above the faded word "meat" on the face of the building.

Some of the buildings, although looking pretty tired, are still actively used as summer residences.

There are a number of businesses that support outdoor activities from hiking the local trails and glaciers to running the area rivers. (This one's especially for our friend Helen who owns a kayak & canoe livery.) There are two charter flight providers in town including one that provides scheduled service from Chitina.

There are vehicles of various vintages hiding in the grass,

and at least three places in town where you can find something to eat.

The flower baskets throughout town were profuse,

and some of the baskets were unique.

There is also a museum in town but I didn't visit it. I thought visiting McCarthy was worth the effort even if Kennicott was ignored. Don't forget, it is a minimum of 3 hours each way from the Richardson Highway so it's not a trivial effort.

Edgerton Highway / McCarthy Road

With Turk expected to remain in the hospital until Saturday, but improving daily, I made a quick solo trip to the McCarthy / Kennicott area. Access to the Edgerton Highway is available from the Richardson Highway in two places. The northern point puts you on the old Edgerton Highway alignment - a good gravel road, until you meet up with the real thing in 7 miles at Kenny Lake.

From Kenny Lake it's 26 miles of classic Alaskan two lane asphalt, complete with the requisite frost heaves and views, to the town of Chitina. I spotted mother moose with a calf on the way but they didn't hold still for a picture.

The 60 mile gravel road to McCarthy starts on the outskirts of Chitina (about 2 blocks from the center of town) with the narrowest part of the whole road. Most of the McCarthy road was built on top of the old Copper River & Northwestern Railway right of way, thus the narrow cut here.

Within a couple miles of Chitina the road crosses the Copper River where there were a number of fishwheels in operation.

The road was certainly passable by any motor vehicle, but was narrower and not as well maintained as the Dalton. It had been oiled in places but clearly hadn't seen a grader this year with more washboarding and chuckholes than I experienced on the Dalton.

The highlight of the road was the Kuskulana Bridge. It was built in 1910 for the railroad with the roadbed 238 feet above the river.

I couldn't resist the view from a different angle.

The speed limit was posted at 35 miles per hour but someone clearly thought that was too optimistic. Much of the time, I thought the speed limit was pretty appropriate.

The other piece of engineering that attracted me was the Gilahina Trestle. It was over 800 ft long and 90 high, incorporating over 500,000 board feet of lumber in its construction. It was built in just 8 days, in January 1911 and is just one of the over 270 trestles used on the 170 mile route. It's now showing the impacts of wood rot and gravity.

The land along the route varies between National Park land and private land with quite a few private homes or cabins scattered along the way. This building may have been associated with the railroad which shut down in 1938 when the Kennecott* mine closed.

At the end of the road, at least for visitors rather than residents, is a parking lot ($5 per calendar day or $20 per night for camping) and a foot bridge to the town of McCarthy. Much is made about the rough road and the need for full-sized spares, but this car in the parking lot didn't seem to read that note.

Next up - McCarthy, with Kennicott / Kennecott to follow.