Page 190 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide 2017 - Alaska

188  ALASK A AREA B Y AREA

8 Kennicott

Overlooking the spectacular Kennicott Glacier, Kennicott
is a fascinating historical attraction. In 1900, while exploring
the mountain east of the glacier, prospectors Clarence Warner
and “Tarantula Jack” Smith discovered some of the richest
deposits of copper ever found. Mining engineer Stephen
Birch convinced wealthy East Coast families to finance
the completion of the Copper River and Northwestern
Railway to transport ore to Cordova. Over the years, nearly
$200 million in copper was mined, but declining copper
deposits and the high cost of railway maintenance led
to the closure of the mine in 1938.

Kennicott Glacier Lodge, housed in a replica
of a historic mine building

Mine buildings against the Wrangell Mountains

KEY
1 Workers’ cottages, dotted around
the site and perched on the hillsides
are now used as private homes. . Power House
2 Electrical shop Power at Kennicott
3 Storage shed was generated by the
large power plant
4 The machine shop, one of which overlooks
the most prominent buildings at Kennicott Glacier. In
Kennicott, held the metal-working this now partially
and maintenance operations of restored building, four
the mine. coal-fired steam boilers
5 The General Manager’s Office, and two diesel
Kennicott’s oldest standing structure, generators provided
had a large drafting room and was enough steam and
the heart of the mine’s operations. electricity for the entire
mining operation.
For hotels and restaurants in this area see p245 and p255

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