20030715                    Open new window with today’s pictures.

July 15, 2003
Tuesday


Start:   Tok RV Village, Tok AK
End:     Kenny Lake RV & Mercantile, Kenny Lake AK
Miles:   175
Hi Temp: 79.0
Lo Temp: 56.8


This was another interesting day.  It broke cool and cloudy. We got up, thinking we had vastly overslept.  However, we hadn't changed the clocks to Alaska Daylight Time, so we were on schedule.

We ate in. As I unhooked the utilities, I filled the fresh water tank, knowing that the only service we would have tonight and tomorrow would be electricity.  We hitched up the old gray mule (truck) and headed down the Tok Cutoff toward Glenallen.

After we'd gone about 40 miles, the road turned terrible.  We hit potholes, there were long stretches of gravel, and there were lots of heaves in the road like gigantic frost heaves.  It was worst around Mestasta and didn't end until Midway. After Midway, it was normal.

We continued, and the sun gradually came out.  By noon in Glenallen, it was at least partly sunny.  We stopped at a hardware store to ask if they had well-nuts (no), then went to the restaurant next door for lunch.  They had a small gift shop, so Dolores found a few goodies to distribute later.

We went then to the Carquest store, inquiring about well-nuts (no).  Then to the grocery store for a few things.  We went into the trailer to put them away and found water all over the floor.  Surprise! We cleaned that up, and in doing so, I found the fresh water tank empty.  Well, there wasn't much I could do there, so we drove on down the Richardson Highway from Glenallen to the turnoff to Kenny Lake (30+ miles), then to Kenny Lake, and checked in at the campground.

I opened the external compartment where you can see most of the piping related to the tank.  I moved things around and jiggled things. The valve and pipe used to drain the tank came off in my hand.  It had cracked apart at a tee, where the drain comes off one side, the tank comes off the other side and the pump takes suction on the middle part. So the water came out of the tank as fast as it could flow out that crack. It filled up a tray that's intended to catch free water even though there's a hole that drains it outside, then overflowed into the kitchen.  Our angles as we traveled allowed it to spread all through kitchen and even onto the rear part of the rug.

Humph. I undid the pipe clamps and took out the tee.  I figured we could do without the drain for a while, so all we really need is a barb-to-barb male fitting to connect the pump and the tank.  Nothing like it was found in the store here at the campground, although Sue looked all over the place. She advised me to drop the trailer and go back to Glenallen to get one.

We dropped the trailer and went to Glenallen, to the same hardware store I first went this noon. The guy gave me a strange look when I showed up with a new problem, then told me he didn't have any barb fittings that size and advised me to go to Carquest.

I went to the Carquest store and met the same guy I'd met earlier. I described the problem and he came up with a couple of barb fittings that looked like they might work ever though they weren't identical.  One was slightly small, the other slightly large; I took both.

I noticed the NAPA place across the street and went there to ask about well-nuts.  They had well-nuts, but they're considerably shorter that those I've used.  I took a package of three anyway, just in case.  Better than nothing.

Then we rolled back to the campground at Kenny Lake. I overtook on the way three 5th-wheel units travelling slowly together and passed them.  Then Dolores saw the oil pipeline viewpoint and we pulled in there. She took pictures of flowers and some of the pipeline.  Back on the road, we passed two of the three units again. We passed the third one after he turned toward Kenny Lake, off the Richardson. Two had Michigan plates, one Texas.

I started work inserting the larger of the two barbed fittings into the hose ends (hard to insert, but finally I won).  About then, the three units pulled into the campground. I screwed down hard on the clamps and put things aside.  We hooked up the trailer and took it to the water connection on a driveway toward the tenting area. There, I found the Texas guy filling his huge rig (slowly, like they were driving). I quizzed him a little and found out he had retired and is full-timing in his unit; he was also from Michigan ("outside Detroit").

He filled up and then I did. Nothing leaked, so we put the trailer back where it belongs and set it up for the two-night stay.  Then we went in to talk with Sue about taking the van to McCarthy/Kennecott rather than driving it ourselves.  She called the van folks and found that the trip tomorrow is full.  So she described the drive and said we could do it without problem. So we planned it that way.

We went to the little cafe here (they have everything here, in small versions) and had a halibut dinner (not bad at all, Dolores raved about the mashed potatoes).  Then we came back here to do chores.

A knock at the door. Sue. She told us the van people had called; they had a cancellation and did we want it?  We decided to take it, since things seem to be falling apart on rough roads and I could use a break. We signed up with them (outta here at 8:00am tomorrow!), then I called Valdez and made reservations at the Bear Paw RV Park there for Thursday thru Sunday (Dolores is emphatic about making church).

Then, back to the trailer to do these notes, enter the expenses into the spreadsheet and work the photos. Dolores took some nice pictures of mountains today, so we'll be going through those shortly.

Then we'll settle in.

20030716                        Open new window with today’s pictures.

July 16, 2003
Wednesday


Start:   Kenny Lake RV Park & Mercantile, Kenny Lake AK
End:     ditto
Miles:   0
Hi Temp: 70.2
Lo Temp: 49.3


This was an interesting and tiring day.

We got up early (for us), ate, and were waiting for the van to McCarthy/Kennecott by 8:00am.  The van came along a few minutes later and picked up us and a young couple from Atlanta.  The others in the van were a pair of brothers and their wives, farmers from Iowa, and the driver, Ewell.

Ewell drove off and stopped 20 miles down the road in Chitina for a last-chance rest-stop. I took a few pictures of the town that once was a boom town with 2,500 citizens.  The pavement ends here, and the next 60 miles are gravel, generally following the right-of-way of the old railroad to Kennecott. This railroad carried the rich ore generally following the rivers from Kennecott to Chitina to Cordova, where the ore was shipped to the smelter in Tacoma, Washington.

Copper ore generally runs about 2%; the deposit at Kennecott ranged up to 79% copper with only 21% rock. 

The Kennecott plant and support facilities were constructed in 1908-1910, concurrent with the mine development.  The mines were in the hills way above (NW) the mill.  The ore was sent down to the mill by overhead (cable-supported) tramways.  The rich ore was dropped all the way to the railroad cars for shipping.

The poorer ore dropped down through the mill, being stamped (crushed) in the stamp mill.  When the pieces were small enough, they dropped through the shaker tables and went to the ammonia leaching building where rich ammonia would leach out the copper; the now-richer copper ore could then be removed from the mixture and shipped.

Two hundred million dollars worth of ore was shipped over the years until 1938.  Then the high-grade ore ran out.  The plant couldn't make a profit on low-grade ore.  So the place was shut down and the train hauled everyone out. The doors were closed on the buildings and left as-was. Paperwork remained on the desks, material stocks remained in sheds, the boilers were left in place and the site abandoned.  In 1941, the company donated the road to the state for use as a highway; the site was sold in pieces to local investors for little money.

On the way out to McCarthy/Kennecott, we first passed over the Kuskulana bridge, the old 600-foot-long railroad single-track bridge over a gorge 280 feet deep. This bridge was used for automobile traffic even before the decking was renewed and guard-rails installed in 1988. It must have been a thrill to cross before that; some of the folks in the van weren't happy about it today.

Later, we passed by the remains of an old curved railroad wooden trestle over the Gilahina River.  It's one of the few remaining wooden bridges.

Finally, we came to the Kennecott River. There was a railroad bridge across it, but it has been washed out. The glaciers here usually dam up the melted water in the spring until it reaches a point and it breaks through and rushes out. For years, the only way across was on a cable-suspended hand-powered tram.  The NPS built footbridges in 1999.

So we walked across the river and got in a different van on the other side (vehicles on the other side are brought over there on the ice in the winter). It took us a half-mile up the road to McCarthy.  The plant and facilities at Kennecott were a company town with strict rules; McCarthy was the town down the road/railroad that had few or no rules. There's something of a ghost-town atmosphere here, with old abandoned buildings, but many are still used in summer. There seems to be a summer population (mainly young) that get here and stay the season. There are 30+ residents in winter, when the road from Chitina is closed and one must use a snowmobile to go the 60 miles, then go farther to get groceries and other needed things. 

McCarthy in the summer has a couple of cafes and gift shops plus local offices of fly-in small airlines (Wrangell Air, McCarthy Air).

We had sandwiches (very good, large) at one of the cafes.

The shuttlebus came back and took us the remaining four miles up to Kennecott on a terrible road still following the old right-of-way.  The National Park Service acquired most of the plant site and buildings and 3,000 acres in 1999 and has been working hard to stabilize the buildings most endangered and to begin restoration of those most restorable.  Several buildings are ruins and will be left that way.

We wandered down the old main drag (also used by the railroad), identifying buildings and their functions. We looked at the glacier just downhill; down here, it's covered with a few inches to a foot of dirt that it has carried down from the mountains.  We took pictures and noticed how quiet it was with only a few people around.

We went into the old depot, now the National Park Service admin building, and got maps and brochures. Dolores bought a book on flowers because it was cheaper there than anywhere else she'd seen it. We wandered some more, and then came back for a talk at 2:00pm.

The talk was given by a summer intern who lived in McCarthy/Kennecott from the time she was twelve (she looks to be about 20 now). She talked on the life of the people at Kennecott, particularly the children.  Only managers and foremen could bring their families to Kennecott; married laborers (who could not bring their families) and single men had to live in the bunkhouses and eat in the mess halls. So the kids were all bosses kids, and generally had the run of the place. Everyone looked out for them, but they had near-total freedom. There was nothing there to hurt them intentionally.

The kids could not, however, go near the bunkhouses (fear they might learn some new language phrases), or go to McCarthy (for obvious reasons).

There was a school, through 8th grade; after that the kids were schooled in the lower 48 states, generally in Washington state. Schoolteachers, however, rotated quickly.  They came right out of teaching school as single women; they generally married in the first year; and they couldn't stay if they married so they left.

The general store carried the basic needs for both sexes and all ages. It also had catalogues and would order anything in them for its customers. The post office occupied a part of the store building.

There was a dairy barn with cows to provide milk to the community. Coal was hauled in on the cars that took the ore out, as were most supplies.

Nowadays, you can see the mountains to the west from the main street.  Back then, you couldn't - the glacier was 300 feet higher and obscured them.

The recreation hall is the building in the best shape. We went inside and found a movie screen in place, markings on the floor for various games, and in really good condition.  It has had some basic restoration.

Eventually, we ran out of time and returned to the place where the van picked us up and took us to the footbridge back to civilization.  There, Ewell and the van were waiting and he drove us back, stopping at a gift shop for a little bit and then at Chitina for a rest-stop break. Once back on the pavement, he kicked it up and we scurried back to the campground.

We ate (again) in the little cafe and talked for a few minutes with the wife of the young couple, who had come in to get some take-out food to take back to their rental RV. Then they're going on to Matanuska Glacier.

Then we returned to the little house and settled in. But Dolores found the indicator light for the transmission cooler fan lit, but the fan not running - when I got under the truck I found a connector had shaken loose (or I pulled it loose while working on it). Once plugged back together, the fan worked normally.  One little thing after another.

Then we did computer chores (95 pictures), watched the weather (cool tomorrow), and settled.