A Visitor’s Guide to Kennicott & McCarthy

  Copper Center has its origins with the Klondike gold rush of 1898, when prospectors were seeking an all American route to Dawson City. They climbed the Valdez Glacier, then descended the Klutina Glacier to Klutina Lake where several tent cities sprang up. A final push down the treacherous Klutina River brought the survivors to the new settlement  of Copper Center. Of the estimated 3,000 persons who attempted this trek, only about 300 actually arrived at the Copper River by this route.
  A ferry crossing here enabled the gold seekers to follow the Millard Trail on to the Tanana-Yukon waters. The next year the Army under Captain Abercrombie pushed through the Valdez trail that would become the Richardson Trail. Copper Center became the only real population center in the interior on the way to Fairbanks. About this same time, survivors of the Glacier crossing discovered the fabulous copper lodes that would presage the Kennecott Copper Mines.
      There was no indication of an Indian settlement at the present Copper Center site when the first settlers arrived, but natives in nearby camps up and down the Copper eventually moved into Copper Center to take advantage of a school there.
      Copper Center has a population of about 450, including the nearby native village of Kluti Kaah. The historic Copper Center Lodge was built in 1932, replacing the old Blix Roadhouse. There is an assortment of other small businesses here as well as a museum and the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve Visitor's Center.

Copper Center Lodge   Historic Roadhouse — Museum   888) 822-3245
Copper Rail Depot Saloon  CR&NW model  (907)822-3522
Copper River Princess Wilderness Lodge Princes Alaska Lodges (907)822-4000
NPS Visitor’s Center  Park Information  (907)822-7261