Kennecott

Overview

Copper, a railroad, and a town left standing

Kennecott stands on the edge of the Kennicott Glacier in the Wrangell Mountains, about 5 miles above the little town of McCarthy. In the summer of 1900 two prospectors saw a patch of green on the ridge high above the ice. It was malachite, the sign of an enormously rich copper deposit, and Stephen Birch, a young mining engineer, spent the next years buying the claims and then finding the money. In 1906 he joined the Guggenheims and J. P. Morgan in the Alaska Syndicate, which built the Copper River and Northwestern Railway 196 miles from Cordova to haul the ore out.

Five mines worked the ridge: the Bonanza, Jumbo, Mother Lode, Erie and Glacier. Aerial trams brought the ore down to the mill town, where a 14-story concentration mill crushed, sorted and leached it before it was sacked for the train. The first ore went out in 1911, and 1916 was the peak, with ore worth $32.4 million. By the early 1930s the best ore was gone. The Glacier Mine closed in 1929 and the others in 1938, and on November 10, 1938 the last train left.

The company ordered the town torn down in the late 1960s but never finished the job. Kennecott became a National Historic Landmark in 1986, and in 1998 the National Park Service bought much of it. A few buildings, the store and post office among them, have been rehabilitated, and others are being stabilized. Visitors come in summer for the mill, the glacier and the hikes to the old mines on Bonanza Ridge.

Timeline

Thirty-eight years of copper

1. Summer 1900Prospectors "Tarantula" Jack Smith and Clarence Warner spot a green patch high on the ridge above the Kennicott Glacier. It is malachite with chalcocite, and becomes the Bonanza claim.
2. 1901–1902Stephen Birch, a young mining engineer backed by the Havemeyer family, buys up the claims and maps and samples the ground.
3. Jun 28, 1906Birch joins the Guggenheims and J. P. Morgan in the Alaska Syndicate, which raises more than $30 million for the mines, a railroad and a steamship line.
4. 1909–1923The concentration mill is built in stages. Ore comes down from the Bonanza and Jumbo mines by aerial tram.
5. 1911The first ore leaves by train on the Copper River and Northwestern Railway, 196 rail miles to Cordova.
6. Apr 29, 1915The Kennecott Copper Corporation is formed. The name took an "e" for the glacier's "i" by a clerical error.
7. 1916Peak production: copper ore worth $32.4 million in one year.
8. 1929–1938The Glacier Mine closes in 1929 and the Mother Lode in July 1938. The Erie, Jumbo and Bonanza close that September.
9. Nov 10, 1938The last train leaves Kennecott, and the camp is left empty.
10. 1939–1960sA watchman's family of three stays until about 1952. A late-1960s plan to reprocess tailings fails, and an order to demolish the town is never finished.
11. 1978, 1986Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 and named a National Historic Landmark in 1986.
12. Dec 2, 1980Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve is established around it.
13. Jun 1998The National Park Service buys 2,839 acres, with many of the main buildings. Other buildings and land stay private.
14. 2026The Kennecott Visitor Center opens daily from May 23 to September 13.
15. Jul–Aug 2026Landslide danger closes the old way onto the Root Glacier north of town on July 21. A reroute from the Erie Mine Trail opens on August 3; the old route stays closed.

What's left

A mill town on the moraine

Most of the mill town still stands. The park's landmark page points visitors to the General Store and Post Office, with the largest set of exhibits and the films; the North Sacking Shed, with a scale model of Bonanza Ridge; the General Manager's Office, the oldest building in town; and the Blackburn School, now the Kennecott Visitor Center. It also lists the Recreation Hall, the refrigeration plant, the railroad depot, the power plant and a residential cottage. Above them all rises the 14-story concentration mill. The NPS says some buildings still need immediate stabilization to keep them standing, others are past saving, and the work will take many years. It is also looking at possible cleanup at the mill town as part of an ongoing environmental investigation (August 2026).

The mines themselves are a hard day's hike up Bonanza Ridge. In July 2025 the park announced helicopter flights to the Bonanza Mine to deal with hazards, among them ground that a geologist saw collapsing in July 2024. In September 2026 it announced flights to the Erie Mine bunkhouse, where crews were to clear fallen rock from around the building ahead of more stabilization. Federal rules bar entering mine tunnels and other openings, entering closed buildings and going past barricades.

The 1951 USGS sheet in the historic maps below marks Kennicott on the edge of the glacier, with a track up past Bonanza Creek toward the mines and a road down the glacier's edge to McCarthy and its airstrip. The 1960 sheet labels the aerial trams climbing toward Bonanza Peak, the Green Butte Mine on the far side of the ridge, the old railroad grade and landing areas near McCarthy.

• 14-story concentration mill
• Power plant
• General Store and Post Office (exhibits)
• North Sacking Shed
• General Manager's Office
• Blackburn School (visitor center)
• Recreation Hall
• Railroad depot
• Cottages and bunkhouses
• Bonanza, Jumbo and Erie mines on the ridge

Historic maps

Kennecott on USGS maps, 1951–1960

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

19511:250,00019601:250,000

Map & directions

Getting there

The first route starts in Glennallen, on the Glenn Highway. It runs down the Richardson Highway, east on the Edgerton Highway to Chitina, and out the McCarthy Road, which NPS pages from 2023 describe as narrow, unpaved and about 60 miles long, with two hours to allow each way. The router puts mile 58.6 of the McCarthy Road, at the McCarthy Road Information Station, 125.6 miles and 3 hours 49 minutes from Glennallen. The road ends about 0.8 mile farther on, at the Kennicott River footbridge (mile 59.4). There is no public vehicle access to the mill town, says the NPS directions page (September 2025). An NPS notice of August 2026 says ATVs, personal vehicles and bicycles may park at the shuttle turnaround just south of the visitor center, but the subdivision road easements that motor vehicles must use to get there are private and reserved for lot owners and their guests (NPS, 2022). The two parking areas by the footbridge are private and charge a fee; free day parking is at the State Wayside (mile 55) and the information station (mile 58.6). From the footbridge it is about half a mile to McCarthy and 5 miles to Kennecott, on foot, by bike or by a private summer shuttle. The routed line below leaves the McCarthy Road at the information station, crosses a private bridge downstream and follows the road up to the mill town, so its last 6.4 miles and its time are not a drive you can make. The Google and Apple Maps buttons go to the footbridge instead.

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

Directions go to the end of the McCarthy Road at the Kennicott River footbridge, where the drive ends, not to the townsite.

Photos

Kennecott in photos

The mill town from a boardwalk, with the rubble of the Kennicott Glacier at left, August 2016The mill town and Bonanza Ridge from the glacier's lateral moraine, June 2012The concentration mill above the Kennicott Glacier, September 2018The mill on the slope, with a tall smokestack below it, June 2013The mill town in winter, February 2014The hospital and the East and National Creek bunkhouses, July 2011Weathered mill buildings, one with its roof falling in, June 2010Machinery and chutes inside a mill building, July 2011A ranger and visitors outside a visitor center building below the mill, July 2010The Bonanza Mine workings high on Bonanza Ridge, June 2015The Bonanza Mine, about 1912

Visitor reports

Been to Kennecott?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

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Nearby

Other sites near Kennecott

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Alaska index.

• Chisana48.7 mi NE · Valdez-Cordova
• Chitina51.1 mi W · Valdez-Cordova
• Katalla104.8 mi SW · Valdez-Cordova
• Chicken181.2 mi N · Southeast Fairbanks
• Portage208.1 mi W · Anchorage
• Kern209.9 mi W · Anchorage
• Independence Mine211.0 mi W · Matanuska-Susitna
• Knik225.8 mi W · Matanuska-Susitna

Sources

Sources and credits

1. Wikipedia, "Kennecott, Alaska", retrieved October 2026: the Bonanza discovery, Birch, the Alaska Syndicate, the five mines, the railroad, the mill, 1916 production, the closures, the last train, the watchmen, production totals, the 1986 landmark, the 1998 purchase and access by the McCarthy Road. Its coordinates fall on Bonanza Ridge, so we use the GNIS point instead.
2. National Park Service, "Kennecott Mines National Historic Landmark", last updated August 20, 2026: the 1978 and 1986 listings, the June 1998 purchase and its acreage, private ownership, the buildings open to visitors, rehabilitation, stabilization and the environmental investigation.
3. National Park Service, "2026 Summer Visitor Center Hours", April 24, 2026: the Kennecott Visitor Center season and hours.
4. National Park Service, "Kennecott Visitor Center", last updated September 2, 2025: services, the 5 miles from McCarthy, and winter access on foot or skis only.
5. NPS, "McCarthy Road Guide" (updated April 20, 2023) and "Directions" (updated May 15, 2023): road length, surface, fuel, rental cars, the information station at mile 58.6 and the bridge at mile 59.4, no overnight parking at the information station, parking at the bridge, shuttles and winter access.
6. NPS, "Directions to McCarthy Road & Kennecott" (updated September 17, 2025): about 8 hours from Anchorage, 59 miles of narrow gravel, road hazards, rental cars, no public vehicle access to the mill town, private fee parking by the footbridge and free day parking at miles 55 and 58.6, two summer shuttle companies, winter access.
7. NPS, "Getting to Kennecott Mines National Historic Landmark" (June 30, 2023), "Kennicott River Bridge" (August 2022) and "Shuttle Services" (February 2023): private land in the Kennicott Subdivision, private easements, the two bridges and the private shuttles.
8. NPS, "Closed Area on Root Glacier Access Trail in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve" (July 21, 2026) and "Access Restored to Root Glacier via New Trail Reroute" (August 3, 2026): the closed area, its reason, the reroute and that the closure stays in effect.
9. NPS, "Wrangell-St. Elias Seeks Public Comment on Proposed Changes to Electric Bike Use" (August 7, 2026): parking for ATVs, personal vehicles and bicycles at the shuttle turnaround, and the proposed e-bike change and its comment period.
10. NPS, "Helicopter Operations to Support Stabilization Project at Erie Mine Bunkhouse" (September 14, 2026) and "Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve reduces abandoned mine hazards" (July 25, 2025): the Erie and Bonanza mine work, and the rules on closed structures, barricades and mine openings.
11. Wrangell-St. Elias Superintendent's Compendium, last modified January 22, 2026: the 10 mph limit on NPS-owned easements in the landmark, e-bikes, and the camping ban at the McCarthy Road Information Station.
12. 36 CFR 13.1904 (rules for the Kennecott Mines National Historic Landmark), 36 CFR 1.5(f) and 13.50(g) (violating a closure is prohibited), 36 CFR 1.3 and 18 U.S.C. 1865(a) (up to six months in jail, a fine, or both), read October 2026.
13. ghosttowns.com, "Kennecott": fact sheet fields (climate, best time, about 40 structures, post office closure).
14. Photos: Wikimedia Commons, credited below each one. Coordinates: USGS GNIS, Kennicott (feature 1404588). Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026. End of the McCarthy Road, the Kennicott River footbridge and the private bridge downstream: OpenStreetMap, October 2026. Not field-checked.

Photo and map credits

• The mill town from a boardwalk, with the rubble of the Kennicott Glacier at left, August 2016: Jim Gove, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• The mill town and Bonanza Ridge from the glacier's lateral moraine, June 2012: Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
• The concentration mill above the Kennicott Glacier, September 2018: Michael F. Wacht, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• The mill on the slope, with a tall smokestack below it, June 2013: Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
• The mill town in winter, February 2014: Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
• The hospital and the East and National Creek bunkhouses, July 2011: Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
• Weathered mill buildings, one with its roof falling in, June 2010: Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
• Machinery and chutes inside a mill building, July 2011: Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
• A ranger and visitors outside a visitor center building below the mill, July 2010: NPS Photo, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
• The Bonanza Mine workings high on Bonanza Ridge, June 2015: Kpcevergreen, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• The Bonanza Mine, about 1912: John E. Thwaites, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
• Area base map, topo and aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).
• Historic maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain): McCarthy 1951, 1:250,000; McCarthy 1960, 1:250,000.