In June of 1998, the National Park Service acquired many of the significant buildings and lands of the historic town of Kennecott. Designated a National Historic Landmark in 1978, it is the best remaining example of early 20th Century copper mining.

The historic mining town of Kennecott is an extraordinary piece of history in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve. The impressive structures that remain at the mill site and mines represent an ambitious time of exploration and discovery in Alaska. Kennecott's high grade copper ore, previously known and used by the region's Ahtna native population, was among the nation's richest deposits ever found in the twentieth century. The mountains to the northeast of the present townsite of Kennecott display a well defined contour line apparent at about the 6,000-foot elevation. This contour line is the contact between the Chitistone Limestone (the light colored rock) and Nikolai Greenstone (the dark colored rock beneath it). It is this limestone-greenstone contact that USGS geologists noted and reported around 1899 as the dominate formation along which copper ore bodies formed.

In the summer of 1900, prospectors Clarence Warner and"Tarantula Jack" Smith were exploring the east side of the Kennicott Glaicer with this valuable information. As they drew closer to the limestone-greenstone contact, they could not miss the magnificent green cliffs of copper perches on the mountainside. Their discovery was staked as the "Bonanza mine outcrop". A yound and ambitious mining engineer, Stephen Birch, later purchased this claim. Birch was financially backed by some of the most influential families of the time, including the Morgans and Guggenheims. Originally called the Alaska Syndicate, it became the Kennecott Copper Corporation in 1915. (The mining company was named after the Kennicott Glaicer. It was misspelled as Kennecott, with an "e" instead of an "i".)

Along with the building of the mine and mill works, the corporation controlled the entire transportation route. It funded 196 miles of railroad from Kennecott to Cordova, and organized a steamship line that shipped the ore to the smelters in Tacoma, Washington. From the first shipment of high grade copper ore in 1911 to the final shipment in 1938, approximately $200 million worth of copper traveled the Copper River & Northwestern Railroad to the port of Cordova. At its peak, the Kennecott Copper Corporation employed about 600 people: approximately 300 in the mill camp, where the ore was processed, and 200-300 lived in the mines up the mountain. Kennecott was a self-contained company town in the truest sense of the word. It came complete with a hospital, general store, schoolhouse, ball-field, skating rink, tennis court, recreation hall and dairy.

The historic buildings in Kennecott are in various stages of collapse and disrepair. With the very recent acquisition by the National Park Service, plans for improving safety around the mill site and the removal of remaining contaminants are underway. At this time, the doors of the buildings are locked. There is one local guiding company that currently has permission to lead groups through the safer parts of the buildings. Feel free to explore the outside of buildings, but remain aware of hazards that still exist.

Debris is scattered throughout the area. Lookout for sharp or loose objects such as glass, metal scraps or nails underfoot. Avoid the steep slopes where loose debris is present.

Please keep to the gravel paths. Do not attempt to walk on decks or stairs attached to the buildings. Many of the boards are rotten and unsafe.

The Kennecott Copper Corporation conducted hazardous materials clean up of asbestos, oils and other materials between 1990 and 1993. Lead contamination is still present in the paint covering the buildings. Removal of the lead hazards is planned for the upcoming summers.

If hiking to one of the mine sites, be aware that these same hazards exist. Often, these buildings are in a much greater state of disrepair and are more prone to collapsing than the mill site buildings. The mines themselves are collapsing and are extremely dangerous. Please keep children under close supervision.

Chisana: A National Historic Landscape

Copper mining inspired some of the early propectors to travel to the land that is now Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, but it was the discovery of gold in Chisana (pronounced Shooshana) that began the last great gold rush in Alaska. In 1913, thousands of stampeders made the treacherous journey through rugged country by whatever means possible to reach the new found mining district. Chisana soon became known as "the largest log cabin town in the world." This was was a short boom, only lasting a few years, but an important part of the history of this area.

In 1996, Geoffrey Bleakley, park historian, completed the National Park Service resources report, A History of Chisana Mining District, Alaska, 1890-1990. This was quite a project, since most of the mining records of Chisana were lost in a fire. Wrangell-St. Elias Cultural Resources staff worked hard on finishing the two season archeological survey of Chisana.

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