A Tale of Two Cities

Alaska Territory 1938, it was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

Kennicott, AK - a town formed in the early 1900's to pull rich copper veins by the Kennicott Copper Corporation. When the mine closed in 1938 their profits (profit, not revenue mind you) had amassed over $200M (in todays dollars over $3B) in 30 years of working the hills. Contrast that with some 40 years earlier the USA purchased all of AK from Russia for the paltry sum of $7M.
USA 1 - Russia 0.


Kennicott Ore Processor, Kennicott, AK

It is also important to remember the era when all of this happened - electrification was on in a big way and TONS of copper wire were needed to make it happen. Like all success stories - vision, risk, hard work and being in the right spot at the right time with the right product. And it all ended overnight in 1938 - the great depression was still lingering and copper demand tanked. At the end of the Friday day shift all workers were told to leave. They had two choices, be on the last train leaving in 24 hours or stay here, your choice. The best of times in Kennicott were over.

And McCarthy, AK some 5 miles down the river from Kennicott, it was the booze and red light district for the folks working the huge copper mines and processing facilties. See, the owners and managers of Kennicott did not want 'their town' to be like every other mining town in the world at that time with loose morals - besides, it served as a distraction from mining and making money. And it was absolutely their town - company currency only, company provided housing and meals, company hospital - yep, the company store and thank God it is prohibitively illegal to do these days. They wanted to keep their town clean (and profitible) so you guys need to hike 5 miles downstream to get your ya-ya's out.


McCarthy town sign fashioned out of old railroad spikes

I really like this shot...sculpture depicts the AK state flag with Dipper and North Star and I managed to frame a nice glacier high on the hill. McCarthy, AK.

I think we should all go take a look see and check out the tales of these two cities - wanna come along? OK, let's go then.

Getting there - from Chitina it's one way in, one way out and you can only get to within 1 mile of the first town McCarthy by crossing a pedestrian bridge and then catching a shuttle (or walk) on up to town. The 40 miles of washboard road from Chitina will make you want to appreciate the majestic surroundings about you. The road was touted in the info guide books as extremely degraded and in fact, all of the rental car/RV rental companies up here prohibit their customers from driving on it. The other ingredient for our planned day trip out there was heavy rain in the forecast for the day (Monday June 20th, the longest day of the year).

Here's how the road starts off...wowser.

We got up early Monday AM and said the hell with it, let's go and we soldiered on, just to grab some stories and pics for you, our loyal followers and co-pilots. We were a razors edge away from cancelling but we're so glad we followed thru. Sort of became a bit of a challenge for us which ended up making the trip that more exhilirating and memorable.


The Fit (for a low clearance ride) did great, although a bit dusty.

The advertised bad road conditions (I think it is really an attempt to get people to buy shuttle/air services to avoid the road, but that's my cynacle side speaking) and the forecast for rain was on our mind as we started down the 60 mile (20 miles paved/chip seal and the rest gravel/washboard) one way out and back road. We then quickly find that we're cruising the singularly most beautiful stretch of road we have ever been on. What crappy road? What jarring lower back condition is happening to me right now? It all pales into insignificance if you look around and marvel at the scenery...absolutely mind blowing! Slow and easy was the order of the day.

We were most pleasantly surprised at the good condition of the road out there. You could make 30 mph pretty easily but it required close attention to the potholes, dips and sudden crossings of old (early 1900's) exposed railroad ties and spikes. The road today follows the old copper ore railway line constructed back then along with, still functioning, steel truss bridges built for the railroad, not casual tourists like us.

It was such an adrenaline rush to be driving this route - yes, even at 30 mph! Lasted long about 3 hours I reckon - finding bliss on a beater road, nuttin' better!

The promotional brochures for Wrangell/St. Elias NP (surrounding McCarthy/Kennicott) bill it as "Little Switzerland". I've been to Switzerland and Switzerland ain't got shit on this place - this slice of heaven makes Switzerland look like a ghetto. I mean 25 Million acres as one of our NP's? You could fit all of Switzerland, Yosemite and Yellowstone NP's into this mother and still have plenty of elbow room left over...Little Switzerland, yeh right. Switzerland should be called Little Wrangell.
USA 1 - Switzerland 0.

Absolute highlight of the trip was the tour of the old Kennicott Copper mill. I heard from at least a dozen travelers that this was a worthwhile tour so I booked the supreme tour which included the town, mill site AND the inside of the mill. If you go make sure you book the tour that takes you thru the inside of the mill - not all tours do it and it would be a shame if you missed it.

This facility is massive. Built in 1907 it is 14 stories tall (see photo from 1st paragraph) and processes copper ore from underground mines 4 miles up into the mountains which is trammed to the processor via cables and ore cars.
They had 5 mines working 24/7 for 30 years - one mine had such high grade copper ore it did not even require processing, nearly 95% copper and it bypassed the mill and went to the smelter down in Tacoma, WA via rail/ship. The rest of the ore went thru the mill.

I was completely fascinated with all of the old machinery that looked as though a little spic and span could get them running just as well today as they were when first built. Works of art as well as turn of the century engineered marvels, beautiful stuff - nothing comes close to the quality and workmanship today.


A beautiful pressure boiler inside the ore processing facility.

The other engineering marvel associated with this mill was the railway constructed from the port of Cordova (chosen by Kennicott because it was the most northerly ice free harbor on the AK coast) straight to the mill in Kennicott. 60 pound bags of pure copper powder were loaded on to the train, transported to Cordova and then shipped to the Kennicott smelter in Tacoma, WA.

This is the grade used today for the 60 mile route from Chitina to McCarthy - I was loving it.

McCarthy is today, how should I put it - a tourist trap not trying to look like a tourist trap. They are 100% dependent on tourist dollars but they have this air of being out in the middle of nowhere, not wanting contact with other people, we're free/leave us alone. I don't know, it was weird. Maybe I was just a bit tired from the drive and tour, who knows.

At the same time the people were all friendly and we heard some good stories of how they ended up here. We stopped in to the local saloon, had a quick beer and then shuttled back to the footbridge, got in the car and drove 3 hours back to Chitina.

Here's our man guarding the entrance back into Chitina and welcoming us home from our adventurous day, thanks buddy. Man, I believe someone's (Debbie) getting the eagle eye!

















Sorry TJ, we were looking for more of a blues and reggae campground.

Long day, had dinner in town, early to bed and we pull out tomorrow for the Tonsina River lodge for some Russian food...more later.

The summer soltice was a bust sorry to report. It was overcast all day, no rain, but we never saw the sun or the moon - not for a second. No weirdos either...damn, I was looking forward to that part. Oh well, try again in another 70 years I guess.

We moved on Tuesday and spent a couple of nights at the Tonsina River Lodge owned by a Russian couple who immigrated from the motherland 7 years ago. Love Alaska, love the opportunity of owning their own business and deeply appreciate all of the joy in being American citizens. Besides, they are a lovely couple and whipped up some excellent Russian food and hospitality. Shouldn't have let these two go Putin.
USA 2 - Russia 0.

More on our stay there and our time in Valdez in the next post.
Later good people and thanks for following along.