United States Destinations

Kennicott, Alaska: ghost town among the glaciers

By Toni Dabbs

In the summer of 1900, Gold Rush fever gripped the west coast of North America. Clarence Warner and “Tarantula Jack” Smith were prospecting in Alaska near the Yukon border.

While exploring the east edge of Kennicott Glacier, they spotted what they thought was a grassy patch where they could stop for lunch. But as they drew closer, they realized the green was oxidized copper exposed on the mountainside.

Just as the need for copper wiring to carry electricity was growing, the pair had discovered one of the richest copper deposits in United States mining history.

Today, the ramshackle red buildings of the Kennecott Copper Corporation (the name incorporates a spelling error that distinguishes the mine’s name from that of the glacier and the town) still cling to the mountainside above a moonscape of gravelly moraine at the foot of Kennicott Glacier. It is located near the center of 13.5-million-acre Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, the largest unit in the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) System.

The apparent ghost town is actually an odd mix of park service land and private property, the homes and businesses of a few intrepid souls who occupied the mill town after the miners abandoned it in 1938, when the high grade copper veins were depleted.

At the peak of the mine’s operation, around 1923, Kennicott was a self-contained company town with a population of about 300. It had its own hospital, dairy, school, post office, general store, community center, and even a skating rink, baseball field and tennis court.

Many buildings remain. Some are in a state of disrepair, but others, including the power house and 15-story concentration mill, are being stabilized by the park service, and a few may be visited with authorized guides.

I toured Kennicott with Bryce Broderick of St. Elias Alpine Guides, who met my Wrangell Mountain Air flight at McCarthy International Airport, an unusually long airstrip for rural Alaska at 4,000 feet. Broderick, who hails from Bend, Oregon, is among the seasonal (May through September) residents who boost the combined population of Kennicott and nearby McCarthy from about 30 in the winter to almost 120 in the summer.

As we strolled among the mill structures, Broderick explained how construction materials had to be brought to the remote site by horse cart in the summer and dog sled in the winter. Materials included huge pieces of old growth Douglas fir lumber shipped up the coast from Washington state.

The Kennecott Copper Corporation eventually built a railroad to transport ore from the mill to the city of Cordova, where it was sent by steamship to smelters in Tacoma, Washington. The 196-mile (314-kilometre) Copper River and Northwestern Railway (CR&NW) was jokingly called “Can’t Run and Never Will” by the miners, but in fact it transported more than$200 million US worth of copper ore.

The rail line terminated at the entrance to McCarthy, a support town five miles away that provided “services” not offered by the company mill town, including gambling, moonshining and prostitution. In an attempt to clean up the town, U.S. revenue agents occasionally took the train to McCarthy, but when engineers learned the agents were on board, they would sound a special warning signal with the train’s whistle.

McCarthy is somewhat more sedate these days. The old rail depot is now the McCarthy-Kennicott Historical Museum, filled with artifacts and documents from the area’s past. One legal notice on display, dated September 13, 1922, informs Kate Kennedy that “the property in your possession is being used for the purpose of lewdness, assignation and prostitution and that the same is a nuisance.”

Another vintage structure is a log cabin built circa 1910 as home for the territorial commissioner. On May 12, 1921, Commissioner C.A. Spongberg had the duty of arresting the same Kate Kennedy for violating the Prohibition Act.

Another resident who disregarded the liquor laws was Blazo Bill, who was said to be able to distill whiskey out of anything handy. He occupied O’Neill’s Hardware Store, built between 1915 and 1920, now the Wrangell Mountain Center for educational programs.

J.P. Hubrick, whose photos are exhibited in the McCarthy-Kennicott Historical Museum, operated his studio and supply store in what is now McCarthy Lodge. The building started life as a cannery on the Copper River before being dismantled and brought to the town.

With much of Kennicott designated as a National Historic Landmark, McCarthy still fulfills its role as a support town, supplying restaurants, accommodations, transportation and guide services. It is a base for outdoor activities ranging from river rafting to ice climbing as well as for visiting the old mill site.
Info to go

To get there, from British Columbia, drive the Alaska Highway to Tok, and take the Tok Cut-Off to Glennallen. From Anchorage, drive the Glenn Highway to Glennallen. From there, drive to Chitina, and follow the single-lane rough gravel track known as the McCarthy Road.

Backcountry Connection (PO Box 65, Glennallen AK 99588, phone 907-822-5292, e-mail: bakcntry@alaska.net, web site: www.alaska-backcountry-tours.com) offers one-way and round-trip shuttle service between Glennallen or Chitina and the Kennicott River footbridge at McCarthy.

Wrangell Mountain Air (No. 25, PO Box MXY, McCarthy AK 99588, phone 907-554-4411,
e-mail: info@wrangellmountainair.com, web site: www.wrangellmountainair.com) offers day trips between Glennallen or Chitina and McCarthy International Airport that include “flightseeing” enroute and van transportation in McCarthy and Kennicott.

St. Elias Alpine Guides (McCarthy AK 99588, phone 907-554-4445, e-mail: info@steliasguides.com, web site: www.steliasguides.com) provides certified custom guide service for alpine hikes, glacier hikes, ice climbing and river rafting. The company also takes visitors on historical tours inside the Kennecott mine buildings.

Copper River Princess Wilderness Lodge (Brenwick Craig Road, Mile 102 Richardson Highway, Copper Center AK 99573, phone 800-426-0500, web site: www.princesslodges.com) features full-service accommodations at the gateway to Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. The tour desk can arrange day trips to Kennicott and McCarthy, as well as other excursions.