In Alaska, 195 mi. up the winding Copper River Valley, is Kennecott, a raw mining town sprawled on the edge of what was once the richest copper mine in North America. Alexander Baranof, first Governor of Russian America, bought copper from the Kennecott district Indians in the 18th Century to cast a bell. A hundred years later two grizzled sourdoughs stumbled upon what looked like grass on the mountainside at Kennecott, found pure copper ore. A taciturn young engineer named Stephen Birch bought their claims. With backing from Daniel Guggenheim, a railroad...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
