Model Railroading > Copper mine photos

An article about abandoned copper mine, with interesting pics.
(If you're into that style of modeling).
https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2020/01/kennecott-mines-photos-alaskan-ghost-town/604558/

Interesting.  Now I would like to see photos of the mine during it's productive years.....

Thanks,
Very interesting.Great photos.What a complex.
How long has it been closed?

Uncle Joe
Seffner,Fl.

The last CR&NW train pulled out November 11, 1938, with almost everybody on it.   Kennecott Copper kept a caretaker there until the early 1950s sometime, and at that point it was completely abandoned until parts of it were sold off to private parties or made part of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park

Most of what you're seeing in those photos is the mill and concentration facilities.  The actual mines were far up on the hillside, with ore coming down via tramway into the receiving house atop the big mill building. 

I model the CR&NW (albeit a proto-freelance, near modern day version), so I've spent weeks up there researching, photographing, and measuring stuff.   I've attached a picture from my collection of the mill complex taken shortly after the railway's completion, likely 1911ish, and then one taken slightly later.  It's still fairly early, as the powerhouse only has two boilers at that point.

Absolutely fascinating place to visit, but your car is going to get rattles and squeaks in places you didn't know it could from the 50 miles out from Chitina.  As someone who lived up there explained it to me:  if they don't grade the old right of way, it's a horrible washboard that rattles your car apart.  If they do, they dredge up spikes and you're fighting flat tires for the next two months.

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Thanks for posting your information and pics!
Bill in Ft Worth

In my Coast Guard days, I was stationed in Cordova which was the southern terminus for the CR&NW. The only railfanning I could do was to look at the photos and newspaper articles at the town library and drive on the old right of way. But...we would pull into Cape Yakutat on occasion and I found an engine house there with one steam engine and a motor car (not CR&NW), overgrown but unmolested. Great day, fond memories of living up that way!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/09/20 07:51 by pilotblue.

You know there is or was a show about the denizens of the near by town of McCarthy AK 
It's called Edge of Alaska and you get to meet some crazy people. The Mill plays a prominent 
role in many of the story lines as one of the locals tried to turn mine tours into an attraction; much to
the dismay of some of the other locals who like the solitude of the area. One fellow actually lived 
in a head-house where a tramway made a cable turn (forget what the location was called)
There is one episode I see on demand and it sometimes re-runs. sometimes there are even new
seasons! Dunno about any more but yeah, the Mill and mine area is pretty wild place.