Alaska is known is known for its gold rushes. Many Alaskan prospectors mined other minerals than gold, however. They found copper,coal,silver,mercury,platinum, and tin.
The copper deposits in the Copper River basin had been an interest for a long time.
In 1899 an Ahtna Chief, Nicolai,had led the mineral lookers to his own copper deposits. It was a hard year and people were starving.The chief traded his knowledge for a cache of food.
The next summer "Tarantula Jack"Smith, and
Clarence Warner were looking for minerals about 60 miles east of
Chitina. On a July day,the two men sat down to eat lunch and
commented on the sun. They noticed green patch high above them in a
mountain.They looked closer and found high-grade copper ore. The
discovery led to the opening of the Kennecott Mine, which proved to
be one of the richest copper ore ever found, and one of the biggest
copper mines ever.
In 1911 the Kennecott Mines were started after the railroad to carry the ore to the seaport had been financed by the wealthy Guggenheim family, and built by Michael J. Henney. The copper was being mined from the inside of the Wrangell Mountains.The tramway carried the riches to the concentrator. The concentrator process separated ore into concentrate and tails.
The concentrated ore was separated by smelting. Without coal, the copper would not be separated at Kennecott. The concentrated ore was shipped to Washington. Only high-grade ore could be shipped because of the cost.
Copper prices went much higher during World War I. In 1915, the Kennecott Company took over the management of the many Latouche mines as the demands for copper called for bigger openings. At one time 300 occupants worked at the mine. During the post-war period, the profits were declining. In 1930 the Latouche mines finally shut down.Soon after, in 1938, the Kennecott mines shut down when the price of copper went down. Kennecott Mine was shut down, and people who had lived in the community of Kennecott for many years were moved out quickly.
Today Kennecott Mine is a popular tourist spot, with a nice lodge in which visitors can stay and see the remains of the copper-mining days.
