Can't Run & Never Will!

Built from 1908 to 1911 against nearly impossible odds of subzero temperatures and impenetrable snow, the Copper River & Northwestern railroad lines, nicknamed the "Can't Run & Never Will," created a two-hundred-mile route linking the coastal docks at Cordova with the copper mine at Kennecott. Guggenheim and Morgan interests had acquired one of the world's most valuable mineral deposits, but their holdings were worthless without an enormously expensive railroad. The Copper River's rapid fall, swift current, and wide, shallow channel underscored the difficulty of the work. Its completion was regarded as the most important advance in Alaska transportation since steamboat service was established on the Yukon. A 109.6-foot sternwheeler drawing six inches of water when unladen also had to be broken down and packed in from Valdez using sleds and horses.

Silver Springs, Alaska · United States