Wrangell-St Elias / Kennecott (07-05-2023)

 

Our morning starts off similar to yesterday morning.  We are in the dining room around 8:00 for the breakfast buffet.  The buffet offerings are the same as yesterday.  The cinnamon rolls are still good.  We have our last cup of coffee on the porch taking in the view.

This morning I'm with the St Elias Alpine Guides for a tour of the Kennecott Mill. 

The tour is 9:30 to 11:30. Lodge checkout time is 11:00.  BB and I hope we have enough time to eat after the tour and make the 12:30 shuttle to the pedestrian bridge.  BB opted out of the tour.  She agreed to handle checkout, put our luggage in storage until we are ready to leave and procure lunch.  I am hoping she has time to wander around and visit the gift shop.

I check in at St Elias Alpine Guides.  They tell me the group is gathering on the deck behind the Gift Shop.  The deck has a great view of Kennicott Glacier and Mt Blackburn.

Snow topped Mt Blackburn

The lower end of 27-mile-long Kennicott Glacier.  It is covered with rocks and dirt, called moraine.

Our guide starts the tour by pointing out the landmarks visible from the deck, the glacier, various mountains and creeks.  Next come basic facts about the mine and mill. Prospectors Clarence Warner and Tarantula Jack Smith discovered the Bonanza mine in 1900.  The Havemeyer, Guggenheim and J. P. Morgan families joined together to finance the mine.  They later organized as the Kennecott Copper Corporation.  Established in 1900, Kennecott expanded in stages until the mid-1920s. Then the limited supply of ore and dropping prices slowed things down and the mine closed, with less than a day's notice, in 1938.  By then there were more than 100 buildings in the mining camp, including a hospital, school, recreation hall, bunk houses, store and post office.  The tour takes us through the recreation hall, general store, concentration mill, leaching plant and power plant.

Dances, movie nights and holiday parties were held in the recreation hall.

The creek is National Creek.  The two red buildings were bunk houses.  The used to be white building on the left was the hospital.

The tour of the concentration mill starts at the top of the hill.  We come down  using ladders inside the mill.

Lots of great views from the top.

National Creek

Mt Blackburn and power plant

If you look for it you can still find evidence of copper.

I am a John Denver fan.  The guide told us that John Denver visited Kennecott in the 1970s and filmed a video.  Check it out here: The Kennecott Chase Scene & Johnny B. Goode.

Harrison Ford also visited Kennecott and toured the mill.  He told his guide that he liked a particular room. Our guide pointed out the room Harrison Ford liked. Our guide told us he mentioned to a tour of teenagers that Harrison Ford liked this room.  He later heard the teens talking that he must be the man who invented the car.  (What?!)

Inside the mill.

Our Guide.  (Recognize him from yesterday's egg toss?).

Tour ends promptly at 11:30.  I am at the opposite end of Kennecott from BB.  I text her that I am on my way.  She is at the Meatza Wagon food truck with a meatball sub, a salmon pita and 2 chocolate chip cookies just out of the oven.  We agree that this is the best meal we've had this trip.

We make the 12:30 shuttle with time to spare.  Others on the shuttle are going to the airport.  The driver lets us get out and look around.

The ride home is more scenic that our trip to McCarthy.  The weather is better. There aren't any clouds so we are able to see the mountains!  And they are beautiful!  We make it down the McCarthy Road to Chitina with no problems.  Our time today is about like Monday's, 2.5 hours.  We stop at the Wrangell-St Elias Visitor Center.  BB gets a pretty park T-shirt.  We still have our chocolate chip cookies.  We stop at the Hub in Glenallen for gas and iced coffee to go with our cookies. 

We are home by 9:00.  Grey is happy to see us.

A great trip.

Sal