Exploring Kennecott mines/McCarthy Alaska 

I was one of the last winter Care Takers of the Kennecott. We were there the winter of 1974 to spring of 1975. The house we stayed in was at the entrance to the town. We had an outhouse between the house and what is now the hotel. At that time, we received our mail by airplane, Al Fegis {Pilot} every Thursday, We picked up our mail and packages at Less and Flow Haglin's cabin in McCarthy. Back then McCarthy had a winter population of 8 people. We skied down the mountain on mail day once a week. LOL. Looking at this video sure brings back fond memories. Thank you

Wow, Neil actually pulled it off!

I have a friend who lives here! He prospects back in the mountains and has now for around fifteen years. Its a more laid back quiet lifestyle and it makes him quite happy to just live a way of life that would run most people away from the land that most couldn't survive.

Was just there for the summer and I had the greatest time of my life! Truly is a magical place with great people and great times

The preservation is fantastic someone really made a suprime effort. Thank you for bringing us along.

Wow! Thank you for sharing this! Love seeing history like this!

This was awesome. Thanks for sharing.

Hi you guys it was great to see Von out and about. That old mining town was awesome to see. Von I am scared of heights also, but the views were beautiful. Thanks for sharing with us.

The glacier used to be right off their back porch, it wasnt always a drop off! Check out the book "born in kennecott." It was on the night stand at the kennecott glacier lodge where we stayed at. Mccarthy and kennecott are such a beautiful place to be in. Nice video

Such an amazing video, so much history in that place it's hard to take it all in!! Thank you so much for sharing! Thumbs up on your merch, Bonfire does an amazing job! Your t-shirts are great quality!

If you enjoyed this historic town,try Sumpter Oregon because it has a dredge restored that you can go on for free,trails where it dredged and a quiet historic town alot like McCarthy.

We were there summer of 2023. great place. very peaceful and a great place just to roam and look at the sites. I agree about the big drop off. Wouldn't want to drive / walk around at night and just go off the edge. Thanks for the video.

Alaska is so beautiful. Their was a tv show I think on discovery channel called edge of Alaska and it was about McCarthy and the mine. It amazes me what the old timers where able to build. Thanks for sharing.

Awesome video, thanks for sharing! 😀

Keep up the great work. Love what you guys do.

Very cool, it's amazing the technology and how they made things work with what they had. Life looked so much simpler back then.

Fascinating video! Thank you

I walked across the same bridge im 2017. My good friends chuck and Jodi Gretzky used to own the camp ground in McCarthy, and I also walked through the Kennicott mine myself. Also I met Tim Mitchell the elderly gentleman who lived up at the angle station. Awesome video it really touched me. I would love to meet you folks someday.

Thanks for the interesting and educational video 💖

I love it

Awesome !

Pretty cool. It would have been amazing to see things in full operation back in the day. A lot of true craftsmanship put into those buildings. Thanks for sharing and have safe travels!

So cool adventure guy’s 🤘🏼😎

Kickass video and drone flying! We are headed up for some flying and fishing next week.

Gorgeous country

Enjoyed the video.

I used to go up there every summer back in the 80s. Those windows have all been replaced. The original windows were warped. They were replaced with painted wood as a place saver... They all look like modern windows. You used to be able to find cobalt glass and some old medical grade brown glass all over the trails. It's amazing it's almost been 100 years since the town was vacated.

Spectacular drone footage near the bridge Ryan (even if Von was petrified). .😂

Alaska is such a treasure ❤

That's an awesome bridge. That took some guts to walk over .

One of the places id like to see when i do my trip to Alaska

Great audio selection

Chamber of Commerce day you three shared. Took a break from building? Thanks for the link for merchandise.

I guess I was wrong about this old town. It's awesome guys.

What an amazing trip. You have to admit we live in a beautiful state.

Great video as always 👍 and did you happen to see the crazy guy of the TV show that was building a motel and wanted to give tours in the mine ?

Would love to see some fishing videos 😅👍

The man who runs the generator for the town of McCarthy his name is Neil darish

What a cool adventure. There is still a large mining company called Kennecott which operates copper mines in Utah for sure and I believe Arizona? Didn't research that claim but pretty sure. Wonder if it's origins come from right there near McCarthy, AK? Being a mining guy from MT originally, I really appreciate the content of this presentation. It has always boggled my mind how the men of "yester-year" just forged ahead despite the obvious obstacle of distance and shear magnitude of what they intended on doing, let alone getting it done! To set up a Mill such as what you visited would be a HUGE undertaking in current times let alone back then........but they did it and it was not a short term thing. The infrastructure there is incredible and like your dad commented "I just can't get my head around it!" is so very true. Those people that lived and worked there definitely had grit and were part of an elite group of our country's culture. I think of those- and others in our growing country's industries: cattle ranching, farming, manufacturing, etc. Think about Allis/Chalmers company for one: all the heavy equipment they made? Mining, milling, farming, and who knows what else they made to support those industries? In the early 80's I worked at a fly in Gold operation near Chandelar Lake and the crushers in that mill were Allis/Chalmers and there were steam tractors of the same brand in the bone yard. How did the founders get all that heavy equipment in to there? Wow! What a heritage we benefit from.......

Should have more likes. Scenery filmed beatifully

We made it through to video 25 for the "let it play while away...at work". Always great to help the community with watch hours regardless if they are already monetized or not.

Dang guys wish I had known I would have bought your gas and food lol. You see I bought a lapsider for my sawmill from a guy there but due to my mother having Alzheimer's I can't be gone that long. Used to trap up there in the 70's. Nice video..it brings back a lot of memories.

We went to Valdez a couple weeks ago and loved it. We were thinking of going to McCarthy later this fall or next spring. Do you happen to know if we brought our side by side if we would be able to get around? I wish RU-vid would have notified of your latest videos. Thanks for the great content and keep up the good work.

I've bungie jumped off that bridge a few times. 😮

Curious it it changed much in 15 years? Really enjoyed the video

I bought a coffee mug! I wanted to help out as best I could.

😂😂😂 Von running with that look on her face when you shook the hand railing 😂😂😂…I would have done the same thing to my wife

We went there to hike on the Root Glacier about 3 weeks ago! We also went to the potato restaurant!

The hotel part of the mine is haunted AF! I stayed there a few years ago and had the strangest experience if my life. The vibe there is .. weird? Some dark shizz went down there. More than once.

Id like more info on the parking. Id be driving from Anchorage. Has anyone taken the shuttle to McCarthy? How much was the shuttle to the mine?

Is Tim mishell house there below the mine? He died in December 22 and lived in that house forever

They have done a bunch of restoration since edge of Alaska was filmed

Edge of Alaska...is Neil still there? How bout Jeremy and his family? Have a great day🙂

How come you did not show any of the residence from the area. Thst would have been nice to see. The video was so so, and I did skip over some of the video. See you in the next one.

McCarthy it’s good great community nell daglish won’t too break tradition

I would not have lasted on that bridge, esp walking. Beautiful country though.

You need to take your dad/father in law down to Seward to see the Seaworld and then out to Kodiak and out to Bristol Bay and up to Nome for the gold dregges and then up to Barrow. So you can see the Artic ocean

Still rather drink that stream water unfiltered than most of the tap water in the lower 48.

i would love to buy a claim or talk to someone who knows more than me and who has been doing it for years.

I’m with you Von. I get terribly sick to my stomach with heights. Just you showing the camera over the edge it got me. Not fun.

Where’s all the people…hiding 😮😅

It looks like a typical backwoods town .

I guess they couldn’t keep McKarthy to themselves He officially made it a tourist attraction “The all mighty dollar”

Whorehound candy is still made. I use in in winter when I get a cold. It's good dissolved in a hot tottie too

watch out for the locals some of them don't like you 😂😂😂

Check out my Facebook group kennecott/CR&NW HISTORICAL SOCIETY