Kuskulana R, Wrangell St Elias NP
Fish trap, Copper River
Pub sign, Chitina
The owners of the Red Eagle camping ground had arranged for all of us to join them for breakfast which turned out to be an absolute feast. There were various fruits, cereals, eggs, juices, toast and condiments to fit all tastes and as it was days since we’d had much choice, this proved to be too good an opportunity to not indulge.
Once we’d finished this sumptuous breakfast we were once again on the road and the first significant landmark was the Copper River at Gakona. With a backdrop of the snow capped St. Elias Mountains, this vast river flood plane had a width of over a kilometre and one can imagine that at flood times the whole region in the river valley below us becomes a raging torrent. At its present flow rate, the river consists of many meandering streams that occasionally join and then redivide forming a giant network of glacial melt-water channels in amongst a pebbly plane.
We then continued further south towards Chitina where more of the old world 19th century mining relics were evident. The local pub advertised “warm beer, lousy food and bad service” together with a sign saying “have a nice day”!
Further down the road we came very close to the mighty Copper River and stopped. Wandering down to the river bank enabled us to see the many salmon fish traps that the locals use. The most common type is one that involves a water wheel turned by the river current that has metal meshed baskets that scoop up river water and separate fish off into a side container. Other fishermen stand up to waist deep in the river and catch salmon using large hand held nets on the end of long aluminium or wooden poles.
During our visit we saw no salmon caught despite the great amount of activity directed towards this goal.
Now heading further south and then eastwards into the Wrangell St. Elias National Park and Preserve we came upon the remarkable road and railway bridge across the Kuskulana River.
The bridge was built to facilitate the rail transport of copper ore from the famous 1911 – 1938 and now abandoned Kennecott copper mine which we hope to visit tomorrow.
The bridge was built to span a 150 m gap over the Kuskulana River which flows rapidly in a deep and spectacularly narrow gorge 65 m below.
Further along the road are further signs of the Kennecott railway line and at the Gilahina River there is a very high section of trestles that once supported the line where it crossed the river. The trestles are formed from an interlocking network of vertical and diagonal logs. In some places the trestle was about 15 m high. The 250 m section over the Gilahina River required over half a million spruce logs and was constructed in only eight days! The work force involved was reputedly about 3000 workers.
The rough road terminated at the McCarthy River where we left the bus and carried our bags across the footbridge to another bus that was to take us the last kilometre to McCarthy village, our home for the next two nights.
McCarthy is a barely altered relic of the 1911 town established to support the nearby copper mine at Kennecott. The town has a rocky main street with old timber buildings including a pub, some small shops, tourist facilities and our hotel called Ma Johnsons. She ran the brothel for the town and was undoubtedly quite a character gauging from the stories of her exploits.
The hotel is tastefully decorated with artefacts from the mining days decorating the rooms ,walls and corridors.
The day was completed with a meal at the hotel across the road.