Fairbanks Daily News-Miner from Fairbanks, Alaska • Page 45

Morcft of Progress leaves Progress Edition, Fairbanks Nm-Mlntf, November 9, 33 'Ghost' Towns in a a ''i a 0-Q USED NO MORE--These houses at Kennicott, the company town for Kennicott Copper employes, are empty and used no more, borthey still are in good state of repair. The mine closed down in 1838 and the population left. Here's a group of Fairbanks tourists exploring. Kennecott, McCarthy Live Again for A laska Tourists aOLOEN AGE PASSES--This Is the main street of McCarthy, once a thriving: mining town seven miles from the Kennicott Copper Co. mine, about 100 miles northeast of Cordova.

"The Golden," whose sign projects over board walk at right, once was hotel, now houses tourists. Before the Kennicott mines closed down in 1938, McCarthy had a large population and served miners in their off hours. Now the permanent residents are less than a dozen. KENNICOTT STIRRING AGAIN--Here's the old copper mill of the Kennicott Copper Co. in the Copper river country, about 100 miles northeast of Cordova.

The mill was closed down when Departed Glory Surrounds Ghost Village of Deering the rich seams of copper ore gave out, but the mill is coming to life again--with tourists. --Photcs by Jim Leveque McCarthy and Kennecott are twin ghost towns near the Wrangell Mountains, about 100 miles northeast of Cordova. Until 1938, the great Kennecott Copper Corp. mine poured out rich ore which was transported to the coast over the Copper River and Northwestern Railroad. When the quality of ore taken from the tunnels honeycombing Bonanza Mountain began to dropj By FLORENCE DOUTHIT It's easy to believe in ghosts a Deering.

The 90 some villagers of thii Seward peninsula town are sur rounded by the remnants of what used to be. The ghost of Deering is made cf gold, and covered with tarnish. Deering is believed to be an old Eskimo settlement. In the first years of this century the gold soekers moved in and set up naning operations in hills a few miles behind town. In 1919 the villagers decided to move down the beach to better hunting grounds and waters.

But they wandered back and resulted in their former homeland. Mining Closes Down In 1950 there were 150 residents in Deering, all Eskimo. ihere are less than 100 and the prediction is that many more will move away in coming months. The last of the mining ventures closed down this summer. "I almost hate to stay here this and see this village without any money," said Mrs.

Ralph Hoverman, Alaska native service teacher at Deering for the past five years. Seal and salmon are the major sources of food in this Kotzebue sound village. And they're not caught in abundance. Deering is not a typical Eskimo village in appearance. It is a typical ghost town.

There is one street in the village. On it stand the abandoned hulks of a bank, dance hall, two hotels, a general store and several business houses. It's a white roan's dead town. Built in Gold Rush The houses w.tre built during the gold rush to accommodate miners. They are now being lived in by villagers, who put up with them probably only because they spend most of their time out-of- doors.

The houses are tar papered, shoddy and composite of many different types of construction and materials. In the dance hall are a pool tnble, sewing machine, dog sled, chairs, cash box and account books. The bank is boarded up, as are many of the old building houses. It was a booming, gaudy, makeshift, money-hungry town once. It's dead now but the buildings still stand, to haunt the living and render strange a stretch of beach onto which rushes the Bering sea, making the village seem even lonelier.

Airplane Abandoned the edge of Deering, on the leach, is an old single-engine transport plane. It was apparently rammed into the shoreline and abandoned as not being worth salvage. The exterior of the plane is almost wholly intact. It's an eerie sight, but fitting. In among the buildings hastily constructed by white men in search of gold live a colony of Eskimos.

The surroundings are natural but the trappings are artificial. The real village of Deering is on the back side of the only street. There are lined the fish racks and stacked the gear for ground and sea expeditions. There also are chained the dogs. A lagoon is located immediately in back of the village.

There only can be found a slight flavor of the typical Eskimo village. GHOST TOWN TOURISTS--This Is the lodge at McCarthy, a real Alaska ghost town seven miles from the old Kennicott Copper Co. mine, where tourists are now visiting. These people are group of Falrbanksana who flew to McCarthy one weekend last summer via Cordova airlines for a "ghost town tour." and this Alaskan could not compete on the world market with ores produced more cheaply elsewhere, Kennecott copper decided close down the mine. This was In 1938.

Closure of the mine sounded the death knell for the nearby town of McCarthy. The population left, leaving furniture and possessions in homes which now are falling apart. Rails of the Copper River Northwestern were ripped for scrap. During the past two years, Cordova Airlines has started Its "ghost town tours" to McCarthy and Kennecott and the past Is beginning to live again for modern Alaska tourists. The 512 THIRD AVE.

I FOR Fashion Wise Women PHONE 4254 (News-Miner photo by Jim Douthit) S. I A I GHOST village of on the southern coast of Kotzebue sound just a short distance below the Arctic Circle, appears to be a ghost town left behind by the end of gold mining in the vicinity. The nnpainted buildings arc inhabited by less than 200 Eskimos. To conserve on fuel, generally oil in barrels shipped in once a year, some of the village families live in one or two rooms in five or six room buildings. "Shall We Dance" Let's Make Et A Date At The louida Gail Dance Studio ANY WEEK NIGHT From 5 to 11 p.m.

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