Without a doubt the finest documentary on the Copper mines of Alaska! Your pacing is excellent...it draws the viewer in with clever use of quiet and wonderful narration ...the music tract is sublime and the photography/videography is outstanding! Thank you so much Cora and Jose' for another fabulous look at Alaska. Much love to you both....Bob
It’s amazing that every new video tops the last one. The videography and commentary leave nothing untouched. It’s so easy to see why you both fell in love with Alaska! Gracias
I’ve seen several other You Tube videos about McCarthy & Kennecott done by other traveling VLoggers. But I have to say yours is the absolute best one yet. All the history and background information you provided was fabulous. I love watching your videos.
What a wonderful expose' of an amazing part of Alaska and yes, US history from days gone by. The Park Service has done a wonderful job over the past 30 years or so, of preserving the relics of the past found here. Our earliest trek prior to then, the entire area was still in private hands, and most buildings in disrepair. Thank you for devoting so much time to the story so that others get a glimpse of "how things were" once upon a time in Alaska.
We really enjoyed this video and learning about Kennecott. You caught our attention when you mentioned the copper was shipped to the smelter in Tacoma, WA. Our grandfather worked in that smelter (although he didn't start until the mid-1940s). The Tacoma Smelting & Refining Company began operations in 1889, originally to extract lead from metal ore. In 1902 it switched to extracting copper. It was sold in 1905 and became American Smelting and Refining Company (ASARCO). The ASARCO copper smelter closed down in 1985 following a mix of environmental regulations and a recession. The land surrounding the old smelter is still considered toxic. Air pollution from the smelter settled on the surface soil of more than 1,000 square miles of the Puget Sound basin. Arsenic, lead, and other heavy metals are still in the soil as a result of this pollution.
Oh wow, so interesting how your family history ties into this history! Yes, unfortunately there just wasn’t that understanding of environmental impact…
This was so interesting! Another amazing video. As always the filming and narration are perfection. Sorry we missed the live! We were traveling back from Payson.
Aw yay! Glad you enjoyed it, Martha! And no worries about the premiere - we had technical difficulties with the export, so couldn’t do it at the right time. Just had to throw it out there at 11am and hope for the best! Hope the drive back from Paxson went well!
So wonderful!!!! People have no idea how lucky they are to have you as guides on this colossal journey south! Slyly humorous. Delightfully human. Thoroughly studied. Kindly written. Happily narrated. And, most important, stunningly filmed. You guys SO ROCK (pun intended) as a team! A few observations from the middle past: When I was a kid The Glacier (Kennicott Glacier) rose to about eye-level. During mining, eye was about the top of the Mill Building. Now, you see it much lower, far below the Union Creek bridge. Shocking to me, as I haven't seen Root Glacier from the Mill Building before, is how Root Glacier is thinning so much more quickly than the Kennicott. I know it will be fascinating to it the valleys sans glaciers, watch rivers find their legs, and plant/forest reclaim the valleys. It will still be sad.
your adventure to Mcarthy is making me for one, want visit Alaska, "it's all good" with the history, the people and the landscape u r good at telling the whole story, well done.
Cora, your narration is superb. Honestly, you should get an agent who works with audiobook publishers and see where that might go. Your voice is extremely listenable. Everything about this video is just excellent.
The early tram to the other river side looks so cool :) I love relics, artifacts etc. - even most of them might be very simple, still I dont know of how all of that might have worked in the past. I hope human beings dont forget simple technologies.
Wow, what a find. January 1961 I was interviewing for a job and a remote area called. Kenny caught Copper wow Suzette and I had just gotten married my last semester at Penn State. The interview was would your wife be willing to go to a really remote area Well I thought so. I couldn’t find a job in Pennsylvania. Well, they didn’t think I was gonna fit in for the remote job now I see what it would’ve required so glad that Martin and Orlando offered us a job in Florida. We’ve been here since January 19 61, marriage 64 years and, had a wonderful life here in Florida. It would’ve been an incredible challenge for industrial engineer to try to bring this place back to life. Thanks for the wonderful video and your experts and travel and document. Lester and Suzette.
Curious, are there helicopter rides offered for Tourists to visit this place without the travel that you and your partner have made to get there thanks, Lester
Yes, you can fly to McCarthy from Chitna and I think a few other places. But, it's a beautiful 60-mile drive. If you drive slowly around 30mph and cautiously and have a spare tire you'll be fine.
Sounds like it all worked out in the end, with the position in Florida facilitating a beautiful life in Florida. There aren’t helicopter tours out of McCarthy, but Wrangell Mountain Air does bush plane flights from Chitina. That would be an adventure into itself!
That brings back memories. I made several trips to Kennecott in the 1970s when there were no guides nor shuttles. I rode the cable tram with our big labrador retriever.
Another great video. Thanks. I love how much research your pour into these videos with archival footage from UAF and other sources. I definitely need to revisit McCarthy again. I remember being overwhelmed at the engineering greats they pulled off over 100 years ago in this remote area. And I always found it fascinating that they gave people 24 hours to pack up and leave and some stayed. It would've been wild to be one of the few people who stayed behind when that last train left or be someone who "found" it in the 1950s as a bush pilot and started doing tours. History is cool. You should definitely read the book or listen to the audiobook Cold Mountain Path by local Alaskan author Tom Kizzia about the history of McCarthy. It's very well done. I could definitely see you two staying there for a year and working with the summer arts community.
Thank you for appreciating the time we put in. It's a lot, but worth it in the end (we think so at least, so when others do as well....it means a lot!) Yes, I'm just trying to imagine what it was like after that last train left and it was just the wind, sound of the ravens, and just....quiet. Must have been SO trippy.
Only people who made a fortune were the Guggenheims, the 100+ bridges on the rail line to Cordova is a pretty fun story too. Used to be able to get out to the last one standing at Miles Glacier, the million dollar bridge, but the bridge at 37 mile on the way out there washed out years ago. Doubt the State will ever replace it. Back in the day the locals called the Copper River and Northwestern Railway the 'Can't Run And Never Will" Fun fact. Valdez was in the running to be a deep water port for Kennecott as well. There was actually some fighting about that one. Since the '64 quake, Cordova is no longer a deep water port. The whole inlet rose more than six feet and filled in with silt. It's a local knowledge navigation kind of place now, big tides as well. Cool video.
Thank you for watching and for sharing those super interesting historical facts. We never got the chance to visit Cordova while we were in Alaska but we would to visit that area in the future.
@@ArtWeThereYet You'd like Cordova. Take the ferry from Whittier. It's about 8 hours. No cruise ships, about one a year shows up, and it has to park two miles away and shuttle people in. And there is some mighty fine fishing. Home of the Copper river Kings. A very quiet place, it probably gets less tourists than most anywhere in SE Alaska. My family first turned up there from Norway in 1932.
Awesome video beautiful views. But how did they get the shuttle van, and other vehicles, across the water, ice bridge? I’m surprised they didn’t just build a vehicle bridge.
Good question! So there is a private bridge with (we were told) a $600 yearly key fee charged by the owner to use. That’s how locals and tour companies get their vehicles over. We also saw a lot of ATV traffic, so it seems some of the locals who live on the McCarthy Rd side of the bridge opt out of paying that fee and just get to town via ATV/snow machine.
Nice to have a choice of pure drinking water, the walking bridge is good to see..was the lady driver called to meet you (which makes sense) or is there someone always there to give vehicle rides?
:) Knew someone would eventually ask that. So there is a second, privately owned bridge. The owner charges an annual "key fee" of about $600 USD. It's worth it for locals and businesses, but even a lot of locals don't use it. A lot of folks that live on the other side of the river just drive their ATVs across the footbridge instead.
Why is it that the Russian Federation was Forced to Sell a wonderland called ALASKA to the U.S for a paltry 7 million back in the day is still refusing to sink in...😁😁
![Hatcher Pass & Independence Mine | MUST VISIT in Alaska [S1-E18]](/img/n.gif)
👋POLL TIME! The contractor who skipped town: villain or hero?
our hero 🙂 Time heals all wounds
Hero
Hero!!!!!
Hero for sure!
Hero
Without a doubt the finest documentary on the Copper mines of Alaska! Your pacing is excellent...it draws the viewer in with clever use of quiet and wonderful narration ...the music tract is sublime and the photography/videography is outstanding! Thank you so much Cora and Jose' for another fabulous look at Alaska. Much love to you both....Bob
Thank you, Bob! We thought you might really like this one, and so happy you did!
So great you found all the old video footage - so cool to see how things worked back then
Agreed! It's fascinating to see it "then" and "now"
It’s amazing that every new video tops the last one. The videography and commentary leave nothing untouched. It’s so easy to see why you both fell in love with Alaska! Gracias
Thank you so much 😀
I’ve seen several other You Tube videos about McCarthy & Kennecott done by other traveling VLoggers. But I have to say yours is the absolute best one yet. All the history and background information you provided was fabulous. I love watching your videos.
Wow, thank you!
What a wonderful expose' of an amazing part of Alaska and yes, US history from days gone by. The Park Service has done a wonderful job over the past 30 years or so, of preserving the relics of the past found here. Our earliest trek prior to then, the entire area was still in private hands, and most buildings in disrepair. Thank you for devoting so much time to the story so that others get a glimpse of "how things were" once upon a time in Alaska.
Thank you, Joseph. Yes, agreed, the park service has done an AMAZING job!
Your cinematography is stunning! And the way you tell the story is captivating and informative!! I'm so glad I found your channel.
Welcome aboard!
"built on the promise of" .... love it! great writing, great filming ... as always!
Thanks papa 😊
The geologist dream: to be into the earth and speaking about minerals.
Great video as always! 🤗
We really enjoyed this video and learning about Kennecott. You caught our attention when you mentioned the copper was shipped to the smelter in Tacoma, WA. Our grandfather worked in that smelter (although he didn't start until the mid-1940s). The Tacoma Smelting & Refining Company began operations in 1889, originally to extract lead from metal ore. In 1902 it switched to extracting copper. It was sold in 1905 and became American Smelting and Refining Company (ASARCO). The ASARCO copper smelter closed down in 1985 following a mix of environmental regulations and a recession. The land surrounding the old smelter is still considered toxic. Air pollution from the smelter settled on the surface soil of more than 1,000 square miles of the Puget Sound basin. Arsenic, lead, and other heavy metals are still in the soil as a result of this pollution.
Oh wow, so interesting how your family history ties into this history! Yes, unfortunately there just wasn’t that understanding of environmental impact…
This was so interesting! Another amazing video. As always the filming and narration are perfection. Sorry we missed the live! We were traveling back from Payson.
Aw yay! Glad you enjoyed it, Martha! And no worries about the premiere - we had technical difficulties with the export, so couldn’t do it at the right time. Just had to throw it out there at 11am and hope for the best! Hope the drive back from Paxson went well!
Great video again! We love the quality video and the history details you share with us!!
Thanks again!
So wonderful!!!! People have no idea how lucky they are to have you as guides on this colossal journey south! Slyly humorous. Delightfully human. Thoroughly studied. Kindly written. Happily narrated. And, most important, stunningly filmed. You guys SO ROCK (pun intended) as a team!
A few observations from the middle past: When I was a kid The Glacier (Kennicott Glacier) rose to about eye-level. During mining, eye was about the top of the Mill Building. Now, you see it much lower, far below the Union Creek bridge. Shocking to me, as I haven't seen Root Glacier from the Mill Building before, is how Root Glacier is thinning so much more quickly than the Kennicott. I know it will be fascinating to it the valleys sans glaciers, watch rivers find their legs, and plant/forest reclaim the valleys. It will still be sad.
What a great and fascinating video! And informative: for the first time in my life, I actually understand how mining works. Thanks!
So glad you enjoyed it, Josh!
Thanks!
Wow, thank you Lester!
Thank you for your perseverance getting there. A fantastic presentation of the history and beauty of this little known gem. A NatGeo worthy episode!
Wow, thank you Tom!
Great story telling, visuals, and music, as always! 🙂
Thank you, Bill!
Incredibly beautiful and informative. Thanks for creating this video. Perfection!
Wow, thank you!
So awesome!! Really one of the very best videos of the McCarthy & Kennicott area. Well done!
Wow, thank you! And thank you for being such an awesome company, getting us everywhere we needed to go! Ms Rita is the bomb :)
So glad to see your videos getting many views! Congrats. Hoping you both have happy holidays.
Thanks, we really appreciate you watching! Happy holidays to you too! 🙂
your adventure to Mcarthy is making me for one, want visit Alaska, "it's all good" with the history, the people and the landscape
u r good at telling the whole story, well done.
We are glad you enjoyed the video, if you have a chance you should definitely visit Alaska, you’ll never forget that experience!
Agree with the above, have you seen the Northern lights yet?@@ArtWeThereYet
Yes, we have multiple times, it's magical!🙂
Just caught the end of your
Live feed ugh 😑 will watch the whole video in awhile. Love ❤️ your channel!
Aw, no worries! I hope you enjoy the watching the video in full. And sending loving thoughts for your community with those fires!
@@ArtWeThereYet 🫶🏻😌
Loving this new found series!! Thank you both
Hey Stephen - so glad you found us! Welcome aboard!
So expertly informative, good luck on your amazing adventure and thank you.
Thanks for watching! 🙂
You guys are so cool 😎 keep on trucking. Thanks for taking us with you ❤
Thank you for watching! We're so glad you're enjoying our journey.😊
Very nice job. We will travel to McCarthy/Kennecott next spring to explore! Thx "R we there yet!"😁
Have fun! You will love it!
Very nice narration
Thank you! 🙂
Thank you for sharing incredible history and I really like the video and narrative well done guys well done Merry Christmas 2024
We’re so glad you enjoyed it! Merry Christmas! 🙂
What an amazing places...thanks so much for sharing your travels!!
Muy bonito Alaska! Gracias por compartir!
🤝👋👋
Gracias por acompañarnos en la aventura!
another great video by you two.... thank you. as a civil engineer i really appreciate all the detail and information in your videos.
Thank you for appreciating the effort we put into them!
Thanks for all the great information! I was there in June, but didn't see everything, so this was interesting to watch!
Thank you, we are so glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Cora, your narration is superb. Honestly, you should get an agent who works with audiobook publishers and see where that might go. Your voice is extremely listenable. Everything about this video is just excellent.
Wow, thank you! Your feedback is inspiring to me! 😊
The early tram to the other river side looks so cool :)
I love relics, artifacts etc. - even most of them might be very simple, still I dont know of how all of that might have worked in the past.
I hope human beings dont forget simple technologies.
Yes, that's what makes this place so fascinating...all the pieces of history left behind.
😮WOW! Come sempre un video fantastico! 🤗🤗
Grazie 😊
I drove my bluebird to McCarthy...but I had a car in tow....my escape vehicle which fortunately was not required. Love you Videos!
Happy you made it through unscathed!
Wow, what a find. January 1961 I was interviewing for a job and a remote area called. Kenny caught Copper wow Suzette and I had just gotten married my last semester at Penn State. The interview was would your wife be willing to go to a really remote area Well I thought so. I couldn’t find a job in Pennsylvania. Well, they didn’t think I was gonna fit in for the remote job now I see what it would’ve required so glad that Martin and Orlando offered us a job in Florida. We’ve been here since January 19 61, marriage 64 years and, had a wonderful life here in Florida. It would’ve been an incredible challenge for industrial engineer to try to bring this place back to life. Thanks for the wonderful video and your experts and travel and document. Lester and Suzette.
Curious, are there helicopter rides offered for Tourists to visit this place without the travel that you and your partner have made to get there thanks, Lester
Maybe now that copper is 4 to 5 dollars a pound???? Guess we missed an investment opportunity;LOL Lester and Suzette
Yes, you can fly to McCarthy from Chitna and I think a few other places. But, it's a beautiful 60-mile drive. If you drive slowly around 30mph and cautiously and have a spare tire you'll be fine.
Sounds like it all worked out in the end, with the position in Florida facilitating a beautiful life in Florida. There aren’t helicopter tours out of McCarthy, but Wrangell Mountain Air does bush plane flights from Chitina. That would be an adventure into itself!
I love this i take people here and you did an amazing job on this. I actually passed you on your way in that day.
Oh that’s so cool!
That brings back memories. I made several trips to Kennecott in the 1970s when there were no guides nor shuttles. I rode the cable tram with our big labrador retriever.
That is so awesome. Hope you have pictures! The road must have a different animal then!
Great video
Thanks Pops!
Thanks for sharing very cool.
Thanks for watching!
Nice presentation.....thank you !!
Cheers,
Thank you! Cheers!
Another great video. Thanks.
I love how much research your pour into these videos with archival footage from UAF and other sources.
I definitely need to revisit McCarthy again. I remember being overwhelmed at the engineering greats they pulled off over 100 years ago in this remote area. And I always found it fascinating that they gave people 24 hours to pack up and leave and some stayed.
It would've been wild to be one of the few people who stayed behind when that last train left or be someone who "found" it in the 1950s as a bush pilot and started doing tours. History is cool.
You should definitely read the book or listen to the audiobook Cold Mountain Path by local Alaskan author Tom Kizzia about the history of McCarthy. It's very well done.
I could definitely see you two staying there for a year and working with the summer arts community.
Thank you for appreciating the time we put in. It's a lot, but worth it in the end (we think so at least, so when others do as well....it means a lot!)
Yes, I'm just trying to imagine what it was like after that last train left and it was just the wind, sound of the ravens, and just....quiet. Must have been SO trippy.
Kennecott looks pretty good for a ghost town those buildings look freshly painted
The Park service has done a great job maintaining some of the building but a lot of them are falling apart.
Only people who made a fortune were the Guggenheims, the 100+ bridges on the rail line to Cordova is a pretty fun story too. Used to be able to get out to the last one standing at Miles Glacier, the million dollar bridge, but the bridge at 37 mile on the way out there washed out years ago. Doubt the State will ever replace it. Back in the day the locals called the Copper River and Northwestern Railway the 'Can't Run And Never Will" Fun fact. Valdez was in the running to be a deep water port for Kennecott as well. There was actually some fighting about that one. Since the '64 quake, Cordova is no longer a deep water port. The whole inlet rose more than six feet and filled in with silt. It's a local knowledge navigation kind of place now, big tides as well. Cool video.
Thank you for watching and for sharing those super interesting historical facts. We never got the chance to visit Cordova while we were in Alaska but we would to visit that area in the future.
@@ArtWeThereYet You'd like Cordova. Take the ferry from Whittier. It's about 8 hours. No cruise ships, about one a year shows up, and it has to park two miles away and shuttle people in. And there is some mighty fine fishing. Home of the Copper river Kings. A very quiet place, it probably gets less tourists than most anywhere in SE Alaska. My family first turned up there from Norway in 1932.
Great Story! I was sitting in front of my computer and missed the live chat :-) Maybe first time.
Our fault - export issues that kept us up all night 😔
@@ArtWeThereYet Fun with tech. The timing was fine, no worries, I just missed notifications some how.
Another great video
Thank you!
Very very interesting. I would love to go there sometime
You should definitely put it on your bucket list!
Awesome video beautiful views. But how did they get the shuttle van, and other vehicles, across the water, ice bridge? I’m surprised they didn’t just build a vehicle bridge.
Good question! So there is a private bridge with (we were told) a $600 yearly key fee charged by the owner to use. That’s how locals and tour companies get their vehicles over. We also saw a lot of ATV traffic, so it seems some of the locals who live on the McCarthy Rd side of the bridge opt out of paying that fee and just get to town via ATV/snow machine.
Education at its best :)
Such an awesome comment. Thank you!
Beautiful video…
Thank you! Cheers!
You not only see the beauty of the Alaska but the history ,where else do we need ?
😊
I was there more than 20 years ago before it became tourist beautiful placecand interesting....
Ooh interesting! Was the mill open for tours back then?
Nice to have a choice of pure drinking water, the walking bridge is good to see..was the lady driver called to meet you (which makes sense) or is there someone always there to give vehicle rides?
During summer time they have a schedule to take people from the bridge to McCarthy and from McCarthy to Kennicott.
@@ArtWeThereYet Thank You for this information!
How did the vehicles get to the town of Mc Carthy(sp?)if one uses the walking bridge?
Great question! There is a private bridge for local residents only. Since the bridge is private the locals have to pay an annual fee to use it.
@ArtWeThereYet Thank You!
I always liked the tv show about this place.
We’ll have to watch that show!
🙂 thank you 👍
Thank you for watching our videos 🙂
How did all the vehicles get to Mccarthy if all there is is a walking bridge?
Great question! There is a private bridge that only residents are allowed to use.
There’s that guy who tried to open it from McCarthy! Even though the McCarthy people protested.
Do you mean there was someone who tried to reopen the mine?
Question remains, why they left and never restart?
Seems like it was because it wasn't profitable anymore.
I'm song, but how do the other cars and trucks get there
:) Knew someone would eventually ask that. So there is a second, privately owned bridge. The owner charges an annual "key fee" of about $600 USD. It's worth it for locals and businesses, but even a lot of locals don't use it. A lot of folks that live on the other side of the river just drive their ATVs across the footbridge instead.
There’s a TV show on Mcarthy isn’t there?😮😅
Yes, we think there is one, but we haven't seen it yet!
It's called Edge of Alaska, supposedly Neil Darish owned the Town of Mccarthy.
Dude took out the community.
Luckily there still is a small community that keeps the history of this place alive!
Makes me want to move there?
Can you imagine how peaceful it would be in the winter? But so cold!
@@ArtWeThereYet the state of Alaska should be funding you guys great work!
That would be pretty awesome 😊
@@ArtWeThereYet just fact. Wonderful videos
Why is it that the Russian Federation was Forced to Sell a wonderland called ALASKA to the U.S for a paltry 7 million back in the day is still refusing to sink in...😁😁
They must sure be kicking themselves now, right?! 😂
And why didn’t Canada take it over?
Looks that way ....ma'am😂😂😂@@ArtWeThereYet
I've been to Alaska and parts of this looks very staged.
How so?
clickbait
🤔
The geologist dream: to be into the earth and speaking about minerals.
Great video as always! 🤗
It really is!
@@ArtWeThereYetWas your tour guide a geologist?