Now that you’ve seen some more of Cordova, maybe you’re still curious about where we went those last few days?
We decided to go to Kennecott (Kennicott being the Company’s name, Kennecott the Glacier’s and the National Park’s name… there was some confusion back in the day, and still is now :D) . The road to Mc Carthy (through Chitina) was in itself an adventure! Gravel road, pretty difficult driving for 66 miles… a lot of fun... but still, you had to be extra careful not to drive through holes in the street or to hit a rock the wrong way… It was a good thing we had that spare tire in the back, although luckily we didn’t need it!
You have to imagine Kennecott as a ghost town that, from 1911 to 1938 was one of Alaska’s most profitable industries! From 1908 to 1911 they built the “railroad to hell” (through glacier valleys, streams, thick nature, extreme temperatures, …). Now why did they built a railroad that went that far into wilderness?
Well, a young fellow came across a patch of green grass where he wanted to feed his animals and rest. Only when he arrived at the top of the mountain, so the story goes, he only found big chunks of pure copper lying around on the ground. (Their purest copper was about 87%!!) 87% is a whole lot considering we’re processing today mostly 1% copper :D So this is why New York (the Guggenheim’s included) decided to spend this huge amount of money on a copper mine, lost in the wild!
But as of the thirties, copper prices dropped and the company started to buy other mines in other states/countries, closing the Kennecott Copper Mine in 1938. Their last message to the workers was: “There will be two trains next week and you have to get on either one of them, otherwise you will be left here”… Nice!
It’s just amazing seeing all those buildings left behind, some of which are still in good shape! They had a dentist, a hospital, a school, a community center, showers, a store, and a huge steamhouse which produced electricity that reached even into the mines! They had the telephone as soon as it was available, even down in the mines! They had a refrigerator house and heated boardwalks :D They did everything to be the most modern mine and mill by far!
So that tour we did in the Mill was amazing! Really interesting! And then we headed off toward Root Glacier, having seen Kennecott Glacier all day (that gravel covered volcano-like landscape). The trail led us to the foot of Root Glacier which we decided to climb :D Not too far though as we know glaciers can be quite tricky, only like 20 meters or so. It was a really neat feeling though, standing on a glacier… :D
Oh and one more thing! When we arrived in Kennecott it had rained almost without end since Cordova!! But when we woke the next day, the sun was shining and we had one of the most amazing days! :D Let’s pretend that was an early birthday gift for Davy since today’s the seventh! Happy Birthday Davy! :D
So there you go, that’s all I can tell you all about Kennecott… Now we’re off to Chena Hot Springs with a short stop at Delta Junction! Here, both of us just had three Buffalo Burgers, straved from all the driving :-) Yummy! (the buffalo herd here in Delta Junction is their pride!)
You’ll hear from us soon enough! :D
Take care,
AnD
 |
| Richardson Highway from Valdez |
 |
| on the footbridge to Mc Carthy |
 |
| Mc Carthy (looks like a western movie) |
 |
| the Kennecott Glacier |
 |
| these guys you sure know :-) |
 |
| the Kennicott Mill and ghost town around it! |
 |
| Kennecott Glacier and steam house |
 |
| Root Glacier on top of Kennecott Glacier |
 |
| me :-) |
 |
| our campsite at Glacier View Campground (at the bottom of the Kennecott Glacier) |
I'm so glad the sun found you again! If you feel like sharing, you can send some out our way! Rainy days and Mondays! ;-(
ReplyDeleteTo Mom: The sun will soonly appear at the Belgian coast. Could be an opportunity...
ReplyDeleteDid you find the millions at the bridge? You gently omitted to go into details about this specific topic.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to look at your fotos. Safary could't open those pages.
Best regards from Danièle. She's gone to Salzburg for some mountain trecking with Michel.
Enjoy your nature trail and don't forget to celebrate that passed birthday. :)
Finally my struggle with Safary ended with a display of marvelous pictures from Kennecott and surroundings. I liked the views of the mill with the ghost city. Those houses are all painted in copper red. You were certainly told that during mill exploitation the workers were allowed to gather some of the sludge remaining from the industrial washing of the copper. They used this sludge as a basis for painting their house fronts, giving this lovely red colour.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the pictures, enjoy your trip. :)
Hey dad!! :)
ReplyDeleteNow that was fun this morning waking up!! Davy said: "Hey there's a comment from your dad on the blog!!" :-) Zooom, and I was out of bed :-)
HA! So that's how they painted the houses! Thx for the info :-) We are working with Firefox browser now because Camino had problems and Safari couldn't even open our blog dashboard.. :-/
How cool they went to Salzburg! I love that city :-) ...not only because I bought the perfect pair of boots there, haha :)
The millions? Nope we didn't find them... the thing about the bridge goes like this:
They wanted the railroad to Kennecott to be built by 1911. The engineer they hired told them he would build them a railroad to hell. So he started to build the "Million Dollar Bridge" between two advancing glaciers, on the copper river. Everybody else thought this to be impossible and didn't want to accept the job.
But he managed to built the Bridge, (sooo interesting building process! Google it!) which cost the Kennicott company one million dollars back in the day.
But then, in 1964, the earthquake destroyed the last part of the bridge, so people from Cordova couldn't cross the river any more (except they built a ramp afterwards over the ruins).
Then in 2004 they restored that last part op the bridge (you can still see where it broke off) and now the town people call it the one hundred million Dollar Bridge because it cost so much more money rebuild only that last part! Plus they humour about why it was rebuilt at all, as (you surely remember) the road after the bridge only goes so far and reaches absolutely nothing except greater wilderness! :) Whatever...
So that's the bridge story :-)
We're off to Chena Hot Spings with the sun still shining on us :-) (to get there we have to take a right on "North Pole" :-) haha)
I just figured out that this could be a 2 way street - I've been reading your blog, but not opening comments or adding my own til Nance corrected me... Ah well, just in time to wish Davy a Very Happy Birthday. Is it 27 this year? I'm hoping so - as your GodMother, I should know these things. A card awaits you at your new apt, and I am ready to shop or write checks at your suggestion. More A&F to replenish the used up items from your trip? Or cash money to replenish THAT from your trip?? I'm loving your blog, and enjoying your wild and crazy excursion. Glad you included all of us along! XOXO to both of you and I hope tomorrow is a be-YOU-tiful day in every way. :-* Connie
ReplyDeleteNice snail mail waiting for me upon my return home (whichever one ;-))! Man, you guys leave before me and return after my vacation. Does this sound fair to you?! Sorry I didn't drop off a card from the rue Beres. I thought you knew all about it already. Therefore I didn't blog either. In any case, just in case you start looking for A Connie's card, you might want to try at your secondary Howald address. Your mailbox tends to exceed its quota. Upgrade necessary?
ReplyDeleteHi Aunt C, great hearing from you! I'm glad you're enjoying our blog :) I've been thinking all along of you and Uncle Mike whenever I had my chilled Miller beer watching the sun set on Exit Glacier or at the McKinley Cabin in the rainforest :) Thank you for the bday wish, I had a fantastic birthday!
ReplyDeleteBig B, I'm glad you liked our postcard. If we had know, we would have sent in from North Pole :)