Side Trip

There is a story from Alaska's history of a group of men traveling through the Wrangell - St Elias mountains who looked down upon a green valley below and thought it would be a good place to spend the night, good pasture for their horses.  After working their way down, they came upon, not lush grasses, but the richest copper lode every discovered in the USA. 

Thus began the saga of the Kennecott Mine-adventure and tragedy that included a shoot-out between groups competing to get their railroad to be the copper hauler; a steamboat dismantled, carried in pieces across the mountains, and then reassembled to be used to carry the ore one part of the journey; a 10 million dollar fortune made. . . .

We decided to take a side trip toward the now defunct mine.  We traveled 31 miles along the road. Saw our first Alaskan farms (hay fields and a yak herd, a road side stand-no vegetables yet, but lots of flowers) and the remains of the once thriving Chitina, jumping off, supply area for the mines.  Today it's partly ghost town, partly last place to get supplies before the 60 mile gravel road (built on an old railroad bed) toward the mine.  The railroad's first cut, is the road's one lane path to the copper river basin.

 We took some pictures of fishing on the copper river and turned back.  These fishwheels are allowed only for subsitent permits.  Dipnets are allowed only for Alaskan residents.

On the way back we tooks some photos of the "almost" ghost town.

Helen