Exploring the historic Kennecott Mine and Mill

The Kennecott Mines are a National Historic Landmark. The mines, which ran from the early 1910s to the late 1930s, stayed pretty well preserved until it was taken over by the Parks service. It is in a state of “arrested decay,” meaning that they’re working to keep it in its current state. It isn’t going for a full restoration, but they’re preventing nature from taking over much more.

The Parks service and their staff do a much better job of explaining the history than I ever could. I would highly recommend reading what they have. If you find your way to Kennecott, take the tours and read the signage. Walk in every building that welcomes you with an open door. We only had a couple of days here, but could have spent much more.

We stayed at the Kennicott Glacier Lodge. Note that this is not a typo, or rather, it is from an old one. “Kennicott” is the glacier, named after a guy who wanted to string a telegraph line to Russia overland. “Kennecott” is the name of the mine, which is from an early 1900s typo. I somehow managed to get a total of 0 photos of it. I would highly recommend it, however, as it lets you spend more time in the park itself, and makes you much less reliant on shuttles. The view from the deck at the restaurant was phenomenal though.

The Kennicott Glacier, with a building in the foreground and mountains in the distance. — The view of the Kennicott Glacier from the lodge’s deck. The lodge used to be a building for Kennecott senior employees.

A zoomed in version of the Kennicott Glacier, with mountains in the distance. — Zooming in over the toe of the glacier with the Chugach Range in the distance.

While it looks like just sand and gravel in front of the site, it’s just a coating of debris on the glacier itself. You can see some areas where the glacial ice pokes through. You’ll see more pictures of the glacier in the hiking trail post or flightseeing post.

We were lucky enough to have some excellent weather days. We got a great view of Mount Blackburn, which looms large over the glacier and area.

Mountains with red, historical mine buildings in the foreground — Mount Blackburn, with one of the processing buildings in the foreground.

The Kennecott Mill is the focal point of the site. It stretches up the side of the mountain. These old mills often used the help of gravity in the processing.

The mill, stretching up the hill, with a bridge and small train station in front and mountains in the background. — The Kennecott Mill, with the bridge and train station.

We took a tour of the mill, and again, I highly recommend it. Going inside was hard for pictures, but it was interesting to hear the history of how the mine ran. The views from the top were stunning, too!