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 they could carry, the miners left plates on tables and sheets on beds. Preserved by their remoteness and Alaska's harsh freezing temperatures, the sites retain many of these precious artifacts. Most still lie where they were left, almost a century ago.
Photographer Paul Scannell has spent years hiking to the region's precariously perched mountain-top copper mines and remote gold mining sites with the aim of capturing America's slowly disappearing frontier history. His fascination with dereliction and its haunting beauty grows with each new adventure. Observing nature reclaim its territory, for him, holds irresistible drama. This book maps a personal journey, driven by loss and defined by discovery and healing. It is a collection of his photographs, travel notes and observations.
