Kennicott (Alaska)
| Kennicott | |||
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 Kennicott |
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| Location in Alaska | |||
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| Basic data | |||
| State : | United States | ||
| State : | Alaska | ||
| Coordinates : | 61 ° 29 ′ N , 142 ° 53 ′ W | ||
| Time zone : | Alaska ( UTC − 9 / −8 ) | ||
| GNIS ID : | 1404588 | ||
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Kennicott , also known as Kennecott , is a ghost town in Alaska , north of Valdez in Wrangell-St.-Elias National Park . Kennicott was the supply center for several copper mines .
history
In August 1900, prospectors Jack Smith and Clarence Warner discovered a copper vein near what would later become the city area and founded the Chitina Mining and Exploration Company . An analysis of the ore showed a copper content of 70%, as well as traces of silver and gold. Stephen Birch, a young mining engineer, bought the prospectors' mining rights for $ 275,000 in the fall of 1900. The ore deposit turned out to be the most productive in the world at that time.
In 1903 JP Morgan and the Guggenheim family joined as investors and founded the Kennecott Copper Corporation . The company and the newly founded town were named after the Kennicott Glacier in the adjacent valley. Since the city is spelled "Kennecott" in English, that is how the company is spelled. From Kennicott the five mines Bonanza , Jumbo , Mother Lode , Erie and Glacier , of which the first four were connected by routes , were administered.
1916 was the mines' most productive year with $ 32.4 million in revenue. The end of the 1920s decreased the promotion . The Glacier Pit was the first to close in 1929. This was followed by Mother Lode in July 1938 and the remaining three of the same year in September. The last train on the Copper River and Northwestern Railway left Kennicott after 27 years of mining on November 10, 1938. During that time, 4.625 million tons of an average of 13 percent copper had been mined for a total value of about $ 200 million.
A family of three lived in town from 1939 to the early 1950s, after which Kennicott was deserted until the late 1960s. Attempts to resume ore mining failed because of the cost. A demolition of the city was only partially carried out, so that a large part of the buildings is still there today.
Kennicott was listed on July 12, 1978 as a Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places . Since the 1980s, Kennicott has developed into a tourist attraction that can be visited via McCarthy Road from nearby McCarthy . The city was declared a National Historic Landmark on June 23, 1986 , and the National Park Service acquired part of the privately owned urban area in 1998.
literature
- Elizabeth Tower: Ghosts of Kennecott . The Story of Stephen Birch. Publication Consultants, 2003, ISBN 1-59433-007-7 .
Web links
- Kennecott National Historic Landmark on nps.gov (English)
- Kennicott on alaskaontheweb.com (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kennecott Mines on the National Register Information System. National Park Service , accessed July 27, 2017
- ↑ Listing of National Historic Landmarks by State: Alaska. National Park Service , accessed July 20, 2019.