The River Is Wide

During the gold rush a century ago, gold miners came down the swift and treacherous Klutina River in boats they hand-made from spruce logs. Copper Center became the hub where the miners dried out.

Today, fishermen clean their catch in the Klutina.

The cabins along the Copper Center road are truly genuine, but are beginning to suffer from their age and poor original roofs.

Jim McKinley's Wrangell Mountain Song

One of John Denver’s songs is “The Wrangell Mountain Song”, which celebrates the spirit of Copper River people.

He sang: “It’s a quiet life out here among the mountains/In a cabin that was built with these two hands.../I can’t wait to see the Wrangell Mountains/I can’t wait to do what I will do...”

Only a year after the Trans-Alaska Pipeline was built, back in the 1970’s, Ahtna elder Jim McKinley, who had seen tremendous change in the region during his long life, wrote a potlatch song, also defining his Copper River homeland.

The brand-new Pipeline had already become a part of the landscape. Jim McKinley sang: “Look for the Wrangell Mountains. Look for the Pipeline. Look for the Ahtna. That’s where you find the Copper River...”

Metal Insulation in 70 Below Cold

An early Copper Center cabin-builder tried to keep out the cold of an intensely arctic winter with pieces of metal – probably cut-up gas cans.

Nowadays, flexible caulking is the order of the day.

Gold rush cabin-builders also used oakum, mud, and sphagnum moss for old style insulation.

Russian Influence

Early Russian Orthodox priests never entered the Copper River Valley. But Ahtna Natives traveled widely on their trading trips and set up their own log Russian Orthodox church in Copper Center.

Although there is no Russian Orthodox presence in the valley today, the Russian style fenced grave – and Russian names, like “Nicolai”, “Walya” and “Basille” – remained.

A Cache of Memories Spanning Decades of Life in Copper Center

Lisa Yoshimoto, a Copper River Native, dug out all the old mocassins, mittens, and other handmade and beaded objects from her grandmother’s sheds and around the house.

The objects had been made, used, and set aside.

This stunning collection clearly shows the utilitarian and esthetic values of a typical Athabascan Indian family as seen in everyday objects.

Fishing on the Klutina River

Two bridges cross the Klutina River in Copper Center. You can fish for kings and reds here.

The Klutina is a beautiful, milky, turquoise-blue, yet clear enough for fish to see flies and bait. The river has a steep grade and many boulders, making it tricky to navigate.

You’ll have to use heavier line and it’s safer to go with a guide who knows the river.

Copper Center Museum

Located on the banks of the Copper River in “old” Copper Center, part of the museum is an authentic log bunkhouse.

The Copper Center Museum is open in the summer from 11 am - 5 pm. Check hours here.

Near the museum, check out the Copper Rail Depot, featuring scale models of Kennecott.

While viewing cabins on your trip, please note they are private property. Don’t trespass.

National Park Headquarters and Visitor Center

Look for the highway sign 1/4 mile from the turnoff to old Copper Center at Mile 106.8 on the Richardson Highway.

The park headquarters aren’t in the park itself, but they're close. Head to McCarthy and Kennicott to get the real park experience.

There’s plenty of room to park and turn around at the National Park Headquarters and Visitor Center, even with large vehicles.

You can get up-to-date information on the park, the road to McCarthy and the Nabesna Road – or purchase maps, get bear resistant food containers, and watch a movie about the national park.

Edgerton Highway (33 paved miles)
to Kenny Lake & Chitina

Kenny Lake is a farming community – one of the last to be homesteaded in America. It stretches for miles along the Edgerton, and is proud of its country fair, held this summer on August 14th. At Chitina, the road descends to the Copper River bridge and then on for 60 narrow unpaved miles to McCarthy and Kennicott. If you’re in the Copper Valley and it’s a clear day, you’ll be able to see the Wrangell Mountains from Willow Lake Viewpoint (mile 88 Richardson) just before the Edgerton Highway turnoff to Kenny Lake (Mile 82.5 Richardson).

All the highways around here follow the arc of the Copper River, which flows around the mountain range.

Mt. Wrangell Is Alaska's Largest Active Volcano
Of the 15 highest peaks in Alaska, 12 are in Wrangell-St. Elias Park. Mt. Wrangell is the largest active volcano in Alaska. On cloudless days, a small puff of steam can often be seen rising from the north crater near Wrangell’s summit. Before the Great Alaska Earthquake in 1964, the west crater on top of Mt. Wrangell was the most active. But after the earthquake, the north crater became more active.

There is a kilometer of ice on top of Mt. Wrangell. Its mean annual temperature at the summit is 21 degrees below zero. In spite of the extreme cold, over 100 million cubic meters of ice have melted on the north crater since 1964. One meter below the crater’s surface lies boiling sulfuric acid.

During the days of the gold rush, early miners (who chronicled every day of their exasperating adventures with early Kodak cameras) took photos of Mt. Wrangell billowing big clouds of dark steam. Scientists are now probing to see what happened inside the mountain after the 2002 Alaska earthquake – and the big tsunami-generating earthquake in Asia.

Chitina Is The Gateway to Wrangell–St. Elias National Park and Preserve

The Edgerton Highway leads to Chitina, which was a major supply center, because goods were shipped to it directly on the Copper River & Northwestern Railway from the port of Cordova.

Some speculated Chitina would become the capital of Alaska.

Half of Chitina’s 100 or so residents are Native American. They are direct descendents of the famed chiefs and leaders who are mentioned by the gold miners in their diaries. Chitina’s original Native settlement was Taral, on the trade route south to the coast. The Ahtna people were expert traders who traded all over Alaska.

The Chitina Centennial – 1910 - 2010

Chitina as a railroad town was an important supply route to Fairbanks and in 1910, the railroad offered the first townsites at Chitina. Freight came into Alaska at the port town of Cordova. It was then shipped up the Copper River and Northwest Railroad, and taken by the Orr stagecoach company up the Valdez-Fairbanks Trail. The railroad was also linked by track to the Kennicott mines, so Chitina was an extremely important Alaskan town. By 1942, the mines had closed, and Chitina began to decline in importance -- though the buildings still remain.

Dipnetting In Chitina

A unique type of salmon fishing – other than fishwheels – is found here in Chitina. But it’s limited to Alaska residents.

You’ll see people down at the Copper River using long-handled nets to scoop up salmon. This is a variant of a method Ahtna Natives used in the old days, when they fashioned similar nets from natural materials.

Chitina As A Ghost Town

Chitina is a very remote town, where local people provide visitors with almost all of the basic services.
This means emergency care, firefighting and cleanup – all volunteer jobs.

While in Chitina, please use public facilities, like the Chitina wayside. And please take home your trash.

The Copper River and Northwestern Railroad, Part 2

Americans were proud of their achievements a century ago. And the Copper River and Northwestern Railway, which ran from Cordova to Kennecott, was an Alaskan engineering marvel.

It was completed in 1911 at the cost of $23 million, as America basked in the glories of its industry.

The railway was 131 miles long, and faced many of the serious construction problems that later plagued the Trans-Alaska Pipeline: huge river crossings, swamps and ravines. Not to mention 50 below zero working conditions and mosquitoes. A massive crew was required to maintain the railroad, and the biggest rotary snow plows in the world were brought in to clear the tracks.

The railroad followed the Copper River from Chitina to Cordova. A spur went from Chitina to the Kennecott Mines.

When the railroad was running, Chitina served as a central supply depot for both Kennecott and Interior Alaska. Remnants of the railroad, like the abandoned boxcar in the photo, abound.

Then, in 1938, the last train pulled out of Kennecott, abandoning the mines, the buildings, and the tracks. The Copper River & Northwestern was now gone, and tracks and trestles were gradually torn up and replaced by today’s gravel road.

The section to Cordova fell into complete disrepair, and Cordova is now accessible only by air and water.

The 1918 Flu Epidemic

The “Spanish Flu” began in 1918, and came back to America with U.S. soldiers from World War I.

More than 20 million people died of flu worldwide. In Alaska, an estimated 3,000 people died

At that time, there were small newspapers fiercely competing with each other all over Alaska. Some towns even had two or more papers.

This story in the Chitina Leader, on display at the Copper Center museum, shows how the flu was both national and local news.