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| I have always been fascinated by the railroad. From the moment I saw that first locomotive approach Chitina in September of 1910 I was hooked. --Johnny Gakona |
| A small passenger consist headed by locomotive #100--a mogul--is backed up on the Cordova wharf. --UAF, Julie Sweeney Collection, 97-139-434 |
I have always been fascinated by the railroad. From the moment I saw that first locomotive approach Chitina in September of 1910 I was hooked. It was the first standard-gauge railroad to enter the interior of the territory, having crossed the Chugach Range to enter our valley. The CRNW began at a wharf near Cordova at Orca Inlet. The large terminal there included a roundhouse as large as the one constructed at Ship Creek for the new government railroad that began out of Seward. Alaska Steamship Lines could dock up to four of its vessels at the Cordova wharf. It was impressive.
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| Walkway and railroad trestle approach to the Cordova wharf, c. 1911 --UAF, Mrs. E.P. Harwood Collection, 79-93-299 |
Mom wanted to visit Dad at Abercrombie before continuing on to see some
of her friends at Eyak. She brought my Charles and me to see the places
Dad surveyed down to CRNW mile 0 where the railroad originated. We were
anxious to see where it began after watching a succession of ore trains
travel by us on their way to the Bonanza mine at Kennecott for the last
four years.
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| The Copper River & Northwestern Railway was the center of life for the Copper River valley almost until the Second World War, drastically impacting the lives of those who had been there from the beginning--the Ahtnas, or "people of the great river." During its existence the CRNW Railway served the richest lode mine of any kind ever developed in Alaska until well after World War II. The railroad brought a level of civilization to the valley which has never been restored. It was directly responsible for the creation of the communities of Kennecott, McCarthy, Blackburn, Strelna and Chitina. The railroad company transformed Cordova from a small cannery port originally known as Eyak into a busy shipping terminal. Finally the ore played out. As the winter of 1938 approached, the last train arrived in Cordova, leaving in its wake a string of ghost towns. |
| An early railroad scene at CRNW mile 104, three miles north of Tiekel, on the Copper River. --UAF, W.F. Erskine Collection, 70-28-607 |
We caught one of the trains headed south from Chitina depot, CRNW mile
131, in mid-June of 1914. Our overnight stop was Abercrombie Rapids
Landing, mile 55 at the head of the canyon where Dad was working his
last surveying job for the railroad.
After that we would head on down the line to visit the coastal people
known as Eyaks, just as we in the Copper Valley are known as the Ahtna.
Mom told us she had friends there. Those friends turned out to be male
companions. Since the railroad was providing free rides to Indians who
lived along the railway, the time to visit Dad and the relatives was
now.