Railway to Riches

From 1911-1938, the Copper River & Northwestern Railway served as the lifeline for the Kennecott mines, overcoming extraordinary obstacles in construction and operation through the Alaskan wilderness. Built in just five years by as many as 6,000 men, the line was blasted through massive cliffs, crossed raging rivers and frozen ground, and faced even icebergs as workers hauled rock, blasted tunnels, built bridges, and laid track. The railway allowed ore to reach market and supplies to reach the mines year-round, but keeping it open was a monumental task as rotary snowplows fought avalanches and deep drifts, the wooden trestle across the Copper River washed out each spring under moving ice, and the Kennicott River trestle was destroyed each summer when Hidden Lake burst from beneath the glacier. Despite these challenges, the railway successfully carried rich copper ore from the Kennecott Mines to the docks in Cordova, where it was loaded onto steamships bound for Tacoma, WA, for smelting, helping the Kennecott Copper Corporation realize profits of 100 million dollars. After the depleted mines closed in 1938, the rails were salvaged for scrap and the line was gradually reclaimed by the wilderness; in the 1970s, a new bridge over the Copper River and a gravel-covered railbed created the McCarthy Road, which today provides access to Wrangell-St. Elias, the nation's largest national park.

Chitina, Alaska · United States