Photo Album Documenting Life at the Kennecott Mines in Southeastern Alaska

Kennecott, Alaska: 1920s. String tied photo album binding of blue and gilt cloth measuring 12 x 7.75", containing 99 cornered in, uncaptioned, black and white photographs. A photo album documenting life at the Kennecott Mines, a major mining camp in a remote corner of southeast Alaska that is today a ghost town and part of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. After a significant amount of copper was discovered in the region near Kennicott Glacier in 1900, mining syndicates built a railroad through the Alaskan wilderness, a huge project at the time, resulting in the first ore removal from the area in 1911. Several mines were constructed in the heights of the Wrangell Mountains, linked to the railroad by cable car. A large community of workers and their families sprung up around the mines in Kennecott and nearby McCarthy. By 1938, with the copper depleted, the last mine shut down, and the area became a ghost town.

This album documents the lives of the workers and their families, and includes images of the workers together with their wives and children. One photo shows a group of men and women feasting in a cabin, while another shows a baseball game. Other photos depict sledding, skiing, and show shoeing, including one of a woman in showshoes wearing a tie. 35 or so images show hunting expeditions in the nearby wilderness, including a train of pack animals on a glacier, tent camps, a dead moose, and a photo captioned "Cinnamon Bear Killed by R.R. Thompson 1929". The impressive buildings and infrastructure of the mines is also shown, with photos of mine buildings (including two images of the Jumbo Mine with printed captions), a control room, cable cars, and a biplane. A rare glimpse into a major boomtown in a remote region of Alaska. In very good condition with a few photos detaching from photo corners, slight musty odor present, some images faded or discolored. Item #12717

Price: $1,200.00