Abandoned Alaska: Copper, Gold and Rust

Completed in 1911, the Copper River Northwestern Railway allowed Alaska's mining industry to flourish. Copper and gold prospecting townships and camps spread rapidly in the following thirty years. Far—flung glacier—side bunkhouses and angling stations dotted the wild landscape, with workers coming from all around the world to seek their fortune. The sudden closing of the Kennecott copper mine in 1938 left many of these industrial and residential structures abandoned. Leaving with only what th...