I was one of the last winter Care Takers of the Kennecott. We were there the winter of 1974 to spring of 1975. The house we stayed in was at the entrance to the town. We had an outhouse between the house and what is now the hotel. At that time, we received our mail by airplane, Al Fegis {Pilot} every Thursday, We picked up our mail and packages at Less and Flow Haglin's cabin in McCarthy. Back then McCarthy had a winter population of 8 people. We skied down the mountain on mail day once a week. LOL. Looking at this video sure brings back fond memories. Thank you
I have a friend who lives here! He prospects back in the mountains and has now for around fifteen years. Its a more laid back quiet lifestyle and it makes him quite happy to just live a way of life that would run most people away from the land that most couldn't survive.
Yeah I can imagine all of you to be taken around probably do do plenty to keep you occupied plus all of the mining Explorations that you can go on down there yes there's a lot of fun to be hot down there
We were there summer of 2023. great place. very peaceful and a great place just to roam and look at the sites. I agree about the big drop off. Wouldn't want to drive / walk around at night and just go off the edge. Thanks for the video.
Hi you guys it was great to see Von out and about. That old mining town was awesome to see. Von I am scared of heights also, but the views were beautiful. Thanks for sharing with us.
If you enjoyed this historic town,try Sumpter Oregon because it has a dredge restored that you can go on for free,trails where it dredged and a quiet historic town alot like McCarthy.
Alaska is so beautiful. Their was a tv show I think on discovery channel called edge of Alaska and it was about McCarthy and the mine. It amazes me what the old timers where able to build. Thanks for sharing.
The glacier used to be right off their back porch, it wasnt always a drop off! Check out the book "born in kennecott." It was on the night stand at the kennecott glacier lodge where we stayed at. Mccarthy and kennecott are such a beautiful place to be in. Nice video
I walked across the same bridge im 2017. My good friends chuck and Jodi Gretzky used to own the camp ground in McCarthy, and I also walked through the Kennicott mine myself. Also I met Tim Mitchell the elderly gentleman who lived up at the angle station. Awesome video it really touched me. I would love to meet you folks someday.
I used to go up there every summer back in the 80s. Those windows have all been replaced. The original windows were warped. They were replaced with painted wood as a place saver... They all look like modern windows. You used to be able to find cobalt glass and some old medical grade brown glass all over the trails. It's amazing it's almost been 100 years since the town was vacated.
Pretty cool. It would have been amazing to see things in full operation back in the day. A lot of true craftsmanship put into those buildings. Thanks for sharing and have safe travels!
@@wildwoodoffgridalaska for sure!! Supposed to be raining here for the next week. Hope they got your tractor fixed and the plastic floor covering is holding up for you. Looking forward to seeing some fish footage soon. ;)
Such an amazing video, so much history in that place it's hard to take it all in!! Thank you so much for sharing! Thumbs up on your merch, Bonfire does an amazing job! Your t-shirts are great quality!
Hey Brian, I keep looking for updates on both you and Ryan’s vlogs. Russia gifted Alaska to us for free practically! It is a magnificent place that is on my bucket list.
We made it through to video 25 for the "let it play while away...at work". Always great to help the community with watch hours regardless if they are already monetized or not.
We have been struggling to get our tractor fixed, which is holding up our milling and everything else. We’re supposed to hear something today from the dealer. We should be back to work this week.😊
Dang guys wish I had known I would have bought your gas and food lol. You see I bought a lapsider for my sawmill from a guy there but due to my mother having Alzheimer's I can't be gone that long. Used to trap up there in the 70's. Nice video..it brings back a lot of memories.
What a cool adventure. There is still a large mining company called Kennecott which operates copper mines in Utah for sure and I believe Arizona? Didn't research that claim but pretty sure. Wonder if it's origins come from right there near McCarthy, AK? Being a mining guy from MT originally, I really appreciate the content of this presentation. It has always boggled my mind how the men of "yester-year" just forged ahead despite the obvious obstacle of distance and shear magnitude of what they intended on doing, let alone getting it done! To set up a Mill such as what you visited would be a HUGE undertaking in current times let alone back then........but they did it and it was not a short term thing. The infrastructure there is incredible and like your dad commented "I just can't get my head around it!" is so very true. Those people that lived and worked there definitely had grit and were part of an elite group of our country's culture. I think of those- and others in our growing country's industries: cattle ranching, farming, manufacturing, etc. Think about Allis/Chalmers company for one: all the heavy equipment they made? Mining, milling, farming, and who knows what else they made to support those industries? In the early 80's I worked at a fly in Gold operation near Chandelar Lake and the crushers in that mill were Allis/Chalmers and there were steam tractors of the same brand in the bone yard. How did the founders get all that heavy equipment in to there? Wow! What a heritage we benefit from.......
We went to Valdez a couple weeks ago and loved it. We were thinking of going to McCarthy later this fall or next spring. Do you happen to know if we brought our side by side if we would be able to get around? I wish TH-cam would have notified of your latest videos. Thanks for the great content and keep up the good work.
We love Valdez😊. McCarthy does not allow vehicles unless you are a resident. All visitors are on foot or can use the shuttle services or some enjoy biking. Take care and thanks for watching.
If you don’t want to drive the rough road you could use the Kennicott shuttle that picks up in various areas. If you get to McCarthy, I believe parking is under $10 and the shuttle to the mine is $8-12. I know it’s not specific but it’s the best I can remember. Maybe someone with more recent costs will chime in.
Hey, it looks like a trip for a cyber truck. I wonder if they have any superchargers nearby ha ha ha oh well helicopter might be better Lester. Wonder how our Twins would have enjoyed that experience???? Please comment!!
The hotel part of the mine is haunted AF! I stayed there a few years ago and had the strangest experience if my life. The vibe there is .. weird? Some dark shizz went down there. More than once.
It changed a ton. It’s become commercialized like everything these days. The buildings are cleaned up and renovated but there never was a real party k Ranger presence back then and now you can’t just go in any building you want. Paying for tours and guided trips was new. It used to be a little more Wild West felling, with little to no rules.
How come you did not show any of the residence from the area. Thst would have been nice to see. The video was so so, and I did skip over some of the video. See you in the next one.
You need to take your dad/father in law down to Seward to see the Seaworld and then out to Kodiak and out to Bristol Bay and up to Nome for the gold dregges and then up to Barrow. So you can see the Artic ocean
Living in AK gives a different perspective on everything here. Kinda tends to harden you to ppl prospering off of the land 3 mos out of the year but not living here.
I was one of the last winter Care Takers of the Kennecott. We were there the winter of 1974 to spring of 1975. The house we stayed in was at the entrance to the town. We had an outhouse between the house and what is now the hotel. At that time, we received our mail by airplane, Al Fegis {Pilot} every Thursday, We picked up our mail and packages at Less and Flow Haglin's cabin in McCarthy. Back then McCarthy had a winter population of 8 people. We skied down the mountain on mail day once a week. LOL. Looking at this video sure brings back fond memories. Thank you
Wow, that must have been something to have been up there then. Things have sure changed but something’s will always be the same. Thank you 😊
Wow, Neil actually pulled it off!
I have a friend who lives here! He prospects back in the mountains and has now for around fifteen years. Its a more laid back quiet lifestyle and it makes him quite happy to just live a way of life that would run most people away from the land that most couldn't survive.
I just Imagine that it’s a peaceful way to live .😊
Yeah I can imagine all of you to be taken around probably do do plenty to keep you occupied plus all of the mining Explorations that you can go on down there yes there's a lot of fun to be hot down there
Was just there for the summer and I had the greatest time of my life! Truly is a magical place with great people and great times
We were there summer of 2023. great place. very peaceful and a great place just to roam and look at the sites. I agree about the big drop off. Wouldn't want to drive / walk around at night and just go off the edge. Thanks for the video.
The preservation is fantastic someone really made a suprime effort. Thank you for bringing us along.
Hi you guys it was great to see Von out and about. That old mining town was awesome to see. Von I am scared of heights also, but the views were beautiful. Thanks for sharing with us.
Thank you, glad you enjoyed it. We had a great time walking around a place we hadn’t seen in quite some time.😊 have a great day.
If you enjoyed this historic town,try Sumpter Oregon because it has a dredge restored that you can go on for free,trails where it dredged and a quiet historic town alot like McCarthy.
Alaska is so beautiful. Their was a tv show I think on discovery channel called edge of Alaska and it was about McCarthy and the mine. It amazes me what the old timers where able to build. Thanks for sharing.
It amazes you and me both. 😊
I remember that show & watched it faithfully then the show quit.
Watching it now awesome to see when it all began glad to see he pulled it off after all the crap he took trying to get it going!
Wooow, great music to great pictures! I enjoyed it a lot and subscribed. Interesting history of Kennecott. Greetings from Germany!
Kickass video and drone flying! We are headed up for some flying and fishing next week.
Thank you, good luck with your trip.
Wow! Thank you for sharing this! Love seeing history like this!
Your welcome and thank you for watching.
The glacier used to be right off their back porch, it wasnt always a drop off!
Check out the book "born in kennecott." It was on the night stand at the kennecott glacier lodge where we stayed at.
Mccarthy and kennecott are such a beautiful place to be in. Nice video
I walked across the same bridge im 2017. My good friends chuck and Jodi Gretzky used to own the camp ground in McCarthy, and I also walked through the Kennicott mine myself. Also I met Tim Mitchell the elderly gentleman who lived up at the angle station. Awesome video it really touched me. I would love to meet you folks someday.
Glad you enjoyed it.😊
@Jesse Morton....is Tim still there? Have a great day🙂
I used to go up there every summer back in the 80s. Those windows have all been replaced. The original windows were warped. They were replaced with painted wood as a place saver... They all look like modern windows. You used to be able to find cobalt glass and some old medical grade brown glass all over the trails. It's amazing it's almost been 100 years since the town was vacated.
Fascinating video! Thank you
Glad you enjoyed it!😊
This was awesome. Thanks for sharing.
Very cool, it's amazing the technology and how they made things work with what they had. Life looked so much simpler back then.
It is amazing to see what humans can accomplish with so little. It makes you think how resilient we can be but how soft we’ve become as a society.
Thanks for the interesting and educational video 💖
That's an awesome bridge. That took some guts to walk over .
It amazes me to think of how that bridge was built in the 30s with little technology.
Pretty cool. It would have been amazing to see things in full operation back in the day. A lot of true craftsmanship put into those buildings. Thanks for sharing and have safe travels!
I agree. It is amazing just to think how much can be accomplished through hard physical work and little to no technology.
@@wildwoodoffgridalaska for sure!! Supposed to be raining here for the next week. Hope they got your tractor fixed and the plastic floor covering is holding up for you. Looking forward to seeing some fish footage soon. ;)
Alaska is such a treasure ❤
I love it
Spectacular drone footage near the bridge Ryan (even if Von was petrified). .😂
Thank you. It is an amazing bridge in a beautiful setting.
@@wildwoodoffgridalaska The entire video included in the mine tour was great Ryan. Thanks for that.
Awesome video, thanks for sharing! 😀
Thank you
Such an amazing video, so much history in that place it's hard to take it all in!! Thank you so much for sharing! Thumbs up on your merch, Bonfire does an amazing job! Your t-shirts are great quality!
Thanks Lisa and thank you for supporting us through our merch.
So cool adventure guy’s 🤘🏼😎
Keep up the great work. Love what you guys do.
Thank you
One of the places id like to see when i do my trip to Alaska
It’s a must see.😊
Should have more likes. Scenery filmed beatifully
Thank you 😊
What an amazing trip. You have to admit we live in a beautiful state.
It never gets old looking at the beauty of this state. Take it easy guys.
Hey Brian, I keep looking for updates on both you and Ryan’s vlogs. Russia gifted Alaska to us for free practically! It is a magnificent place that is on my bucket list.
@@davidmueller980 I missed uploading this past Sunday. I’ve been hooking up Hughes net so hopefully I can upload our first video from the island soon.
Awesome !
I guess I was wrong about this old town. It's awesome guys.
Only residents can have cars In McCarthy. You need a key to access the car bridge over the river. It’s quite unique in that aspect.
Gorgeous country
I've bungie jumped off that bridge a few times. 😮
Enjoyed the video.
Thank you
We made it through to video 25 for the "let it play while away...at work". Always great to help the community with watch hours regardless if they are already monetized or not.
The man who runs the generator for the town of McCarthy his name is Neil darish
Great audio selection
Would love to see some fishing videos 😅👍
I bought a coffee mug! I wanted to help out as best I could.
You are awesome, thank you so much for the support.
Chamber of Commerce day you three shared. Took a break from building? Thanks for the link for merchandise.
We have been struggling to get our tractor fixed, which is holding up our milling and everything else. We’re supposed to hear something today from the dealer. We should be back to work this week.😊
Dang guys wish I had known I would have bought your gas and food lol. You see I bought a lapsider for my sawmill from a guy there but due to my mother having Alzheimer's I can't be gone that long. Used to trap up there in the 70's. Nice video..it brings back a lot of memories.
Aw man! Had we known, we might have been able to hook you up.
Great video as always 👍 and did you happen to see the crazy guy of the TV show that was building a motel and wanted to give tours in the mine ?
You should look it up. It's all up and running!
What a cool adventure. There is still a large mining company called Kennecott which operates copper mines in Utah for sure and I believe Arizona? Didn't research that claim but pretty sure. Wonder if it's origins come from right there near McCarthy, AK? Being a mining guy from MT originally, I really appreciate the content of this presentation. It has always boggled my mind how the men of "yester-year" just forged ahead despite the obvious obstacle of distance and shear magnitude of what they intended on doing, let alone getting it done! To set up a Mill such as what you visited would be a HUGE undertaking in current times let alone back then........but they did it and it was not a short term thing. The infrastructure there is incredible and like your dad commented "I just can't get my head around it!" is so very true. Those people that lived and worked there definitely had grit and were part of an elite group of our country's culture. I think of those- and others in our growing country's industries: cattle ranching, farming, manufacturing, etc. Think about Allis/Chalmers company for one: all the heavy equipment they made? Mining, milling, farming, and who knows what else they made to support those industries? In the early 80's I worked at a fly in Gold operation near Chandelar Lake and the crushers in that mill were Allis/Chalmers and there were steam tractors of the same brand in the bone yard. How did the founders get all that heavy equipment in to there? Wow! What a heritage we benefit from.......
It’s amazing to think of the grit our forefathers had. The magnitude of what was accomplished here was simply awe inspiring. Thanks for watching.😊
We went there to hike on the Root Glacier about 3 weeks ago! We also went to the potato restaurant!
It’s amazing up there. What did you think of the potato?
It was amazing! Delicious foods! It’s satisfying after 8 mile hiking on the glacier!
@@wildwoodoffgridalaska your vlog was so vivid! It’s exactly like what we had seen and experienced back there just weeks ago!
Thank you.
We went to Valdez a couple weeks ago and loved it. We were thinking of going to McCarthy later this fall or next spring. Do you happen to know if we brought our side by side if we would be able to get around? I wish TH-cam would have notified of your latest videos. Thanks for the great content and keep up the good work.
We love Valdez😊. McCarthy does not allow vehicles unless you are a resident. All visitors are on foot or can use the shuttle services or some enjoy biking. Take care and thanks for watching.
@@wildwoodoffgridalaska thanks for the heads up.
They have done a bunch of restoration since edge of Alaska was filmed
It’s a continuing effort.😊
Id like more info on the parking. Id be driving from Anchorage.
Has anyone taken the shuttle to McCarthy?
How much was the shuttle to the mine?
If you don’t want to drive the rough road you could use the Kennicott shuttle that picks up in various areas. If you get to McCarthy, I believe parking is under $10 and the shuttle to the mine is $8-12. I know it’s not specific but it’s the best I can remember. Maybe someone with more recent costs will chime in.
That's great info. Do you know what their firearm policy is?
@@alervold99801 firearm policies follow state law, so you should be fine to carry.
Hey, it looks like a trip for a cyber truck. I wonder if they have any superchargers nearby ha ha ha oh well helicopter might be better Lester. Wonder how our Twins would have enjoyed that experience???? Please comment!!
The hotel part of the mine is haunted AF! I stayed there a few years ago and had the strangest experience if my life. The vibe there is .. weird? Some dark shizz went down there. More than once.
Is Tim mishell house there below the mine? He died in December 22 and lived in that house forever
Not sure
Curious it it changed much in 15 years? Really enjoyed the video
It changed a ton. It’s become commercialized like everything these days. The buildings are cleaned up and renovated but there never was a real party k Ranger presence back then and now you can’t just go in any building you want. Paying for tours and guided trips was new. It used to be a little more Wild West felling, with little to no rules.
16oz of coffee for 4$ more or less. That's a good price, even in 2021.
😂😂😂 Von running with that look on her face when you shook the hand railing 😂😂😂…I would have done the same thing to my wife
I mean, I had to do it.😂😂
Hey, it looks like a trip for a cyber truck. I wonder if they have any superchargers nearby ha ha ha oh well helicopter might be better Lester.
Edge of Alaska...is Neil still there? How bout Jeremy and his family? Have a great day🙂
I believe Neil is still around but don’t know about the others.
@@wildwoodoffgridalaska ...ah cool, man I miss that show...thanx for the reply, have a great day🙂
McCarthy it’s good great community nell daglish won’t too break tradition
I would not have lasted on that bridge, esp walking. Beautiful country though.
How come you did not show any of the residence from the area. Thst would have been nice to see. The video was so so, and I did skip over some of the video. See you in the next one.
You need to take your dad/father in law down to Seward to see the Seaworld and then out to Kodiak and out to Bristol Bay and up to Nome for the gold dregges and then up to Barrow. So you can see the Artic ocean
Would love to if we didn’t have work to do and I had a million dollars. Traveling around like that costs a ton of money.
Still rather drink that stream water unfiltered than most of the tap water in the lower 48.
Where’s all the people…hiding 😮😅
I’m with you Von. I get terribly sick to my stomach with heights. Just you showing the camera over the edge it got me. Not fun.
It looks like a typical backwoods town .
i would love to buy a claim or talk to someone who knows more than me and who has been doing it for years.
I guess they couldn’t keep McKarthy to themselves
He officially made it a tourist attraction
“The all mighty dollar”
It’s been completely bent over for the “almighty dollar”.
Living in AK gives a different perspective on everything here. Kinda tends to harden you to ppl prospering off of the land 3 mos out of the year but not living here.
Wish we could afford to live here and see/do everything AK has to offer. There should totally be a reasonable resident rate on ALL tourist adventures.
Whorehound candy is still made. I use in in winter when I get a cold. It's good dissolved in a hot tottie too
That’s cool that those old candies have been around for so many years. I’ve never seen this particular candy sold. Thanks for the good tip.
@@wildwoodoffgridalaska
If you would like me to I'll send you a bag of it when I find it
That would be kind of cool. We would love to try it out.😁 our address to is under the About tab on our channel page. Thanks😊
watch out for the locals some of them don't like you 😂😂😂
😂🤣😂
Check out my Facebook group kennecott/CR&NW HISTORICAL SOCIETY