Chitina

Well it rains overnight and is lightly raining in the morning. I tell Linda I made reservations for the 11:30 AM tour, last night.  She was planning on reading in the RV and waiting for me to return. As much as she was not interested, she is too cheap to let the ticket I already paid for, go to waste.

We make breakfast and get out our rain gear and warm clothing. Drive over and park near the river crossing footbridge. There are a couple van services to take tourists the half mile to McCarthy and the additional 5 miles to Kennicott.  After some mix ups with the Vans we get a ride to make our 11:30 Tour time with another couple who are getting dropped off at their airplane at the McCarthy airport.

There are only 3 people in our 11:30 tour group, normally up to 15 people. I think the weather held some people off and many do not book ahead. Anyway our guide Ben is excellent.  The down side for me is, I now have Linda’s cold or lung virus or whatever it is and am dragging my ass behind our 3rd member and Linda who is having a great time asking questions and answering Ben’s “Test” questions.  We hike to the top of the mill building and much of the tour is walking down inside the old processing mill.  This is not open to the general public.

Our guide, Ben, concentrating mill in background

Top of Mill

Glacier View

One of the chutes

Grinder

Shaker tables, wet slurry separates ore from rock

The building was heated to 35F in winter to keep water and ore flowing through machines. A wet cold job

Bottom of Mill, Ammonia copper separating tanks

While the Mill is fascinating, the story starting from discovery of the copper ore,  getting the machinery here, building the railroad to get the ore out is an amazing feat.  They were starting to mine, process ore a year a head of the railroad being completed in 1910 to take the ore to the rail terminal at port Cordovia, to be shipped to the lower 48 to be smelted. Big heavy machines were brought in, piece by piece, on horse drawn sleds and dog sleds over the Marshall Pass from Valdez. 

Three steamboats which served as construction workhorses on the Copper River, moving steel, rail ties and provisions prior to the rails from the port of Cordova reaching Chitina 1910 were “Imported”. These steamboats were brought in piece by piece and reassembled above the Copper River’s raging Abercrombrie Rapids.

Looking at photographs of the construction at the time shows denuded hillsides as trees were being consumed for bridges, buildings and running steamboats and steam engines. Fascinating that much of the rail construction was done through the dark of winter at 30F below. The investors must of paid very good wages to attract the thousands of workers. 30% of them were from Scandinavian countries.

 

Anyways after the tour ends, we stop at the Kennicott Lodge for lunch.  I have an excellent clam chowder which I barely make a dent in and Linda can’t finish her grilled cheese, so we leave with tonight's dinner.  I tried to book a room here, but you must do so weeks ahead. Most of the rooms are taken by tour group operators.

Kennicott Lodge entrance, glacier in background

Dinning room

Downtown McCarthy

Leaving over the foot bridge

We get back to the RV and decide to get the PIA McCarthy road behind us sooner than later and drive out to Chitina. We boondock at a rest stop on the Edgerton highway, there is so little traffic we have a quiet night.