Kennecott Mines: An Alaskan Ghost Town

[Taraman]

1. It has aged a lot since I was there in the '70s

and the glacier has receded a bunch. My father and mother worked there in the '30s till they closed the mine. That mountain, Porphyry Mountain, has been emptied except for columns. The ore was very high grade. When I was in the assay office, papers said they were measuring 55% copper or so. The rocks were HEAVY.

As I recall the town was called "Kennicott" back then, after Robert Kennicott, an amazing early American explorer. A typo in incorporation documents became Kennecott. As I recall.

Beautiful part of the United States. Now a National Landmark and part of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.