Copper River and Northwestern Railway
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The Copper River and Northwestern Railway (CR & NW) is a former railroad in Alaska ( United States ). It existed as an independent company from 1905 to 1939.
history
prehistory
After rich copper deposits were discovered around McCarthy in the Wrangell Mountains in 1885 and the Bonanza mine finally started operations in 1900, the Alaska Syndicate, under the leadership of the Guggenheims and J. Pierpont Morgans , planned to build a railway to the coast. They also wanted to extend the route further north to the Yukon River . Three possible ports were considered as destinations, Valdez , Cordova and Katalla . First, the syndicate founded a railway company in 1905 under the name Valdez – Yukon Railroad and began building the railway in Valdez in August 1906. The Copper River Railroad was founded in Cordova on May 16, 1905 , and from there also began to build a railway. In 1907, the syndicate decided to build their line from Cordova, because from there you had easier access to the coal fields near Katalla, but the port of Cordova, in contrast to that in Katalla, was much better protected from storms. The Valdez – Yukon Railroad was sold to a businessman in Valdez and the Syndicate acquired the Copper River Railroad, which from that time on was referred to as the Copper River and Northwestern Railway . At the same time, construction work began in Katalla for a mine train , the Katalla Coal Company Railroad , which was later to be connected to the CR&NW route, but which never came.
Construction of the railway
After a storm in November 1907 had destroyed some systems that had already been built in Katalla, the syndicate decided to put the railway construction in Katalla on hold for the winter. In 1908, however, construction of the mine railway was not resumed and the existing line was shut down.
However, the main line from Cordova was also built throughout the winter. In the summer of 1908, 75 kilometers of the standard-gauge line were completed. The Copper River had to be crossed a short distance north of the end of the route . The problem was that Miles glacier ended a kilometer from the crossing point . So the bridge had to be built strong enough to withstand any icebergs that might break off the glacier. It was decided to build a massive steel bridge. First the tracks were led to the river and in March 1909 over the ice of the river to the other side in order to have construction material in stock at both bridgeheads and to be able to continue building the actual railway line north of the bridge. In the summer of 1909, building materials were also transported across the river by ship. The railway company owned five steamers for this purpose. The construction of the bridge cost 1.5 million US dollars, which is why the bridge is also called "Million Dollar Bridge". It was completed on June 19, 1910.
Since the entire 315-kilometer route was to be completed by spring 1911, the rest of the line had to be continued quickly. Other notable bridges were built in the process. The 160 meter long Kuskulana Bridge led 72 meters over the gorge of the Kuskulana River and was also made of steel. The Gilahina Bridge was the longest wooden bridge on the route with a length of 268 meters. The first trains reached Chitina at the end of September 1910 . From here the branch line to the copper mines should go off. The branch line was first built in order to bring in money through the copper transports for further construction in the direction of the Yukon River. Shortly after Chitina, the Copper River had to be crossed again, which was much less problematic there, as the river was not that wide at this point and there was no danger from calving glaciers.
On March 29, 1911, the last nail, which had been specially made from copper, was finally hammered in. The first scheduled train from the mines reached Cordova on April 8th. Due to the lengthy construction of the line, the railway was nicknamed C an't R un and N ever W ill ( German : cannot drive and never will), derived from the abbreviation of the company name.
Further planning envisaged a branch line to Katalla and an extension of the line in the Valley of the Copper River and on to Fairbanks . Both routes were never built. In 1909 Katalla was satisfied with the establishment of a new mining railway, the Alaska Anthracite Coal and Railway , which did not open until 1917 and was closed again in 1921 for economic reasons.
Further development
After the global economic crisis , which the Guggenheims also had to contend with, the supply of copper ore slowly ran out. The mine became uneconomical and finally closed in 1935. The railway was able to hold on for another three years until the last train finally left on November 11, 1938. In January 1939, the Copper River and Northwestern Railroad was disbanded and the railroad facilities shut down.
From Chitina to McCarthy, about 97 kilometers, the tracks remained in operation until 1947. Light tram-like cars were used here by local operators. The last tracks on the line were not dismantled until 1964. McCarthy Road was built on this stretch of railway between the Tiekel River and Kennicott . About 21 kilometers of the line from Cordova were used during the Second World War to transport construction materials to the airfield with a locomotive that had remained in Cordova. In 1945 this line was also dismantled and instead the construction of a road, the Copper River Highway , began on the route of the railway, which was completed in 1958 up to the Million Dollar Bridge. However, a severe earthquake damaged the bridge in 1964, so that the road was not continued. The bridge was not repaired until the mid-2000s and has been navigable again since 2005, but the road has not yet been built.
The railway line has been a listed building since 1973, and the Hotel der Bahn in Cordova since 2002.
vehicles
On June 30, 1910, the railway company owned 15 locomotives, six first-class cars, four second-class cars and 140 freight cars.
passenger traffic
The timetable from June 1913 only provided for one pair of passenger trains on the route that ran on weekdays. The train left Kennicott at four in the morning, while the counter train left Cordova at eight. The trains crossed in Bremner around noon, where both trains had a longer stop. The train took 12 hours for the entire route.
According to the timetable of June 1933, the train left each day at eight o'clock in the morning at both ends of the route and also took 12 hours. The train crossing took place in Tiekel , roughly in the middle of the route.
literature
- Mike Walker: Comprehensive Railroad Atlas of North America. Pacific Northwest. Steam Powered Publishing, Dunkirk No. Faversham 1998, ISBN 1-874745-09-9 .
- Howard Clifford: Alaska / Yukon Railroads. An illustrated History. Oso Publishing, Arlington WA 1999, ISBN 0-9647521-4-X , pp. 179-202.
Web links
- History of CR & NW (English)
- Rails to Riches (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ Poor's Manual of Railroads, 44th Annual Number. Poor's Railroad Manual Co., 1911, p. 1395.
- ↑ Official Guide of the Railways and Steam Navigation Lines of the United States, Porto Rico, Canada, Mexico and Cuba. Issued November 1913. Copper River & Northwestern Rwy. Page 859.
- ↑ Official Guide of the Railways and Steam Navigation Lines of the United States, Porto Rico, Canada, Mexico and Cuba. Issued February 1934. Copper River & NW Rwy. Page 1191.