In 1900, a pair of prospectors hiking near Alaska’s Kennicott glacier discovered an outcrop of copper ore on a mountainside about 100 miles inland from Valdez. Soon, several mines were developed, and a small base camp grew into a mill town dominated by enormous processing buildings. Kennecott Mines (yes, the town name is spelled differently from the glacier’s) operated for nearly 30 years, until the ore was depleted and the remote town was abandoned in 1938. Kennecott’s massive structures sat deserted for decades, until the Alaskan tourism market developed, and the site was declared a National Historic Landmark, much of it later acquired by the National Park Service. Some preservation work has been undertaken, but a few of the buildings are being allowed to continue their “slide into oblivion.”
Kennecott Mines: An Alaskan Ghost Town
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Read moreA view of the abandoned buildings of Kennecott Mines, inside Alaska's Wrangell–St. Elias National Park and Preserve. The larger stair-step structure was the Concentration Mill, where copper ore was first crushed and separated. #
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Read moreA view near the top of the Concentration Mill, overlooking a rock-covered section of Kennicott glacier in the valley below. When the mine was operational, aerial tramways carried raw copper ore from the surrounding slopes to this point to begin processing. #
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Read moreLooking up at the 14-story Concentration Mill building from below #
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Read moreLooking out from inside one of the empty buildings, with a view toward Kennicott glacier #
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Read moreSome of the other camp buildings along National Creek. Kennecott Hospital is on the left, and the East Bunkhouse and National Creek Bunkhouse are on the right. #
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Read moreKennecott's power plant (the building with the smokestacks) and other outbuildings stand along the edge of Kennicott glacier. #
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Read moreA view of the Concentration Mill from the old railroad depot #
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Read moreA visitor holds a rock laced with copper-ore deposits near the site of Erie Mine, one of Kennecott's five mines, in Wrangell–St. Elias National Park and Preserve. #
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Read moreEquipment left behind in one of Kennecott's empty buildings #
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Read moreAn aerial view of Kennecott #
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Read moreAutumn colors and high-elevation snow at Kennecott #
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Read moreDirt and rocks cover the ice at the terminus of Kennicott glacier. #
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Read moreThe ruins of the old Bonanza Mine sit precariously high in the mountains above Kennecott on a scree slope. #
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Read moreLooking up toward the aging Concentration Mill #
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Read moreCollapsing platforms sit at the top of the Kennecott Mines. #
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Read moreMount Blackburn (center, in the distance) is visible beyond Kennicott glacier, as seen from Kennecott Mill Town. #
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