Inside Alaska’s Lost Ghost Town | Exploring Kennecott & McCarthy

Inside Alaska’s Lost Ghost Town | Exploring Kennecott & McCarthy

Deep in the Alaskan wilderness sit the ruins of a town with an epic story…

Traveling to McCarthy/Kennecott?
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✓The Kennecott Mill Tour: https://www.viator.com/tours/McCarthy/Kennecott-Mill-Town-Tour/d22687-454777P1?pid=P00140841&mcid=42383&medium=link&medium_version=selector&campaign=kennecott-mill-tour

Mentioned Episode (Driving the McCarthy Road): https://youtu.be/iVo1aMWfg3g

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About ART WE THERE YET 🚌🌎
Cora & Jose. Two artists on an epic journey. Alaska to Argentina in a bus turned professional art & recording studio on wheels. Creating art and music inspired by the people and landscapes of the Americas. Creating connections through community murals and songwriting workshops.

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ATTRIBUTIONS:
Public Domain Historical Footage from “The Story of Copper”, published 1928 by the Department of the Interior: Bureau of Mines: https://archive.org/details/70-126
Clips from “The Story of Copper” archived by the Alaska Film Archives: https://vilda.alaska.edu/
Historical Photographs & Blueprints: Public Domain, provided by: https://commons.wikimedia.org

#alaska #ghosttown #travelvlog

36 Comments

  1. @burninoutloud on September 20, 2024 at 6:11 pm

    Great Story! I was sitting in front of my computer and missed the live chat 🙂 Maybe first time.

  2. @apologiamixer on September 20, 2024 at 6:12 pm

    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.

  3. @heiser_bill on September 20, 2024 at 6:13 pm

    Great story telling, visuals, and music, as always! 🙂

  4. @lesterhousel on September 20, 2024 at 6:14 pm

    Thanks!

  5. @lesterhousel on September 20, 2024 at 6:16 pm

    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.

  6. @sherrymejia5759 on September 20, 2024 at 6:19 pm

    Beautiful video…

  7. @pratheepgopalan226 on September 20, 2024 at 6:19 pm

    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…😁😁

  8. @alfredodejuan390 on September 20, 2024 at 6:20 pm

    The geologist dream: to be into the earth and speaking about minerals.

    Great video as always! 🤗

  9. @coffee-co8gk on September 20, 2024 at 6:20 pm

    Makes me want to move there?

  10. @joshweinstein5345 on September 20, 2024 at 6:20 pm

    What a great and fascinating video! And informative: for the first time in my life, I actually understand how mining works. Thanks!

  11. @JamesLewicki on September 20, 2024 at 6:23 pm

    "built on the promise of" …. love it! great writing, great filming … as always!

  12. @BreakTime10101 on September 20, 2024 at 6:24 pm

    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.

  13. @vee8317 on September 20, 2024 at 6:25 pm

    Another great video

  14. @ddawson8069 on September 20, 2024 at 6:28 pm

    Very nice job. We will travel to McCarthy/Kennecott next spring to explore! Thx "R we there yet!"😁

  15. @cindywiech2675 on September 20, 2024 at 6:33 pm

    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.

  16. @edwardmiller6353 on September 20, 2024 at 6:38 pm

    Great video again! We love the quality video and the history details you share with us!!

  17. @StephenP.Conrad on September 20, 2024 at 6:38 pm

    Loving this new found series!! Thank you both

  18. @alfredodejuan390 on September 20, 2024 at 6:41 pm

    The geologist dream: to be into the earth and speaking about minerals.

    Great video as always! 🤗

  19. @washingtonbob49 on September 20, 2024 at 6:42 pm

    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

  20. @CerraEquus on September 20, 2024 at 6:44 pm

    So great you found all the old video footage – so cool to see how things worked back then

  21. @nancychuck5183 on September 20, 2024 at 6:45 pm

    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.

  22. @tompfeiffer2755 on September 20, 2024 at 6:46 pm

    Thank you for your perseverance getting there. A fantastic presentation of the history and beauty of this little known gem. A NatGeo worthy episode!

  23. @ericsmith9777 on September 20, 2024 at 6:48 pm

    Nice presentation…..thank you !!
    Cheers,

  24. @rebekahdilbeck6919 on September 20, 2024 at 6:51 pm

    Your cinematography is stunning! And the way you tell the story is captivating and informative!! I’m so glad I found your channel.

  25. @brendamountaingirl8354 on September 20, 2024 at 6:51 pm

    Just caught the end of your
    Live feed ugh 😑 will watch the whole video in awhile. Love ❤️ your channel!

  26. @marthakratchman448 on September 20, 2024 at 6:52 pm

    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.

  27. @josephvantreeck2989 on September 20, 2024 at 6:53 pm

    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.

  28. @Ellangellemni on September 20, 2024 at 6:53 pm

    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.

  29. @mariodesortes9180 on September 20, 2024 at 6:56 pm

    😮WOW! Come sempre un video fantastico! 🤗🤗

  30. @jameslewicki8628 on September 20, 2024 at 6:58 pm

    Great video

  31. @ArtWeThereYet on September 20, 2024 at 7:00 pm

    👋POLL TIME! The contractor who skipped town: villain or hero?

  32. @c.alcazar2584 on September 20, 2024 at 7:01 pm

    I was there more than 20 years ago before it became tourist beautiful placecand interesting….

  33. @tacrewgirl on September 20, 2024 at 7:04 pm

    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.

  34. @spencer6633 on September 20, 2024 at 7:07 pm

    another great video by you two…. thank you. as a civil engineer i really appreciate all the detail and information in your videos.

  35. @tomas5376 on September 20, 2024 at 7:08 pm

    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

  36. @CerraEquus on September 20, 2024 at 7:10 pm

    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.

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