 |
| McCartney Road to Kennecott |
Today started early, waking at 4 am and starting our trip to the Kennecott Copper Mine and McCartney at 5:30 am. The distance is 83 miles from our base at Kenny Lake, but 59 miles of the road, McCartney Road, connects the Copper and Kennicott Rivers. The road follows part of the historic 196 mile long CRNW railroad that was constructed in 1908. The railroad ran from Kennecott copper mines, where over $200,000,000 of copper was dug out of the surrounding mountains.
In todays dollars that is roughly $2 billion dollars. The last train to make the journey was in November 1938. After the railroad was abandoned, most of its rails and ties were removed. The state of Alaska created the McCartney Road in 1970. The road is extremely rough and it took us over three hours to get there. That is why the early departure to get there by 9 am to catch a shuttle that takes you to the town of McCartney and Kennecott which was 5 miles from McCartney. The rode ends at the river 1/2 mile from McCartney. They warn of railroad ties and spikes still in the road that causes flats and to take a good spare and jack.
 |
| Tire on Roadside |
We Did, but thankfully did not need them, but we did see three old tires in the ditch. We also saw 3 moose and plenty of rabbits on the journey, old RR trussels and plenty of scenery. The big draw to Kennecott is the history and the Copper Mine refinery, which is a huge building with several floors. The tour took you through th building for 2 hours and explained the living conditions and how they dug the Copper out of the mountains and every step until they loaded on the train. The day was very interesting but extremely long and hazardous. This is not a place that the average tourist would go. Pictures from out trip are posted below.
 |
| View of Kennecott from top of Mine |
 |
| Single Lane Kuskulana Bridge |
 |
| View from Top |
 |
| The Top |
 |
| View of Mine from ground |
 |
| Gorge off Kuskulana Bridge |
 |
| Liberty Falls at Chitina |
 |
| Copper River |
 |
McCartney
|
No comments:
Post a Comment