Alaska Home Railroad

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The Alaska Railroad Home is a former railroad in Alaska ( United States ). In 1907 it took over the standard gauge line of the Alaska Syndicate , which had started in August 1906 to build a railroad from Valdez to the copper mines at Kennicott . Until then, the route had only led a few kilometers out of Valdez and did not yet have any tracks. The syndicate's rail operations have been known as Valdez – Yukon Railroad since 1905 . In 1907, however, the Alaska Syndicate decided to move their route to the better protected port in Cordova instead of Valdez , from where the coal fields of Katalla were easier to reach.

Unfinished rail tunnel in Keystone Canyon

Henry Reynolds, a Valdez-based businessman, founded the Alaska Home Railroad, acquired the Valdez – Yukon Railroad, and continued building the line until just before Keystone Canyon . This canyon is a bottleneck through which the only possible route to Kennicott ran. The Alaska Syndicate, whose new railway company was now known as the Copper River and Northwestern Railway , still had the building rights for the route through the Canyon and refused to sell it to Reynolds as well. Finally, on September 27, 1907, there was a shootout in which an Alaska Home Railroad worker was killed. Out of anger about this, the residents of Valdez took their tools and helped the railway workers with the construction work, so that the first one and a half kilometer route could be officially opened on October 4th. Just six days later the company's money was used up and construction work stopped. They were never continued and the route was later dismantled. Reynolds, who had amassed $ 210,000 in debt, fled. He was convicted of fraud in 1908.

Sources and further information

Individual evidence
  1. ↑ Clifford 1999, pp. 168/169.
literature
  • Howard Clifford: Alaska / Yukon Railroads. An illustrated History. Oso Publishing, Arlington WA 1999, ISBN 0-9647521-4-X , pp. 159-169.
Web links