UAV + SURVEYING
View of Kennicott Glacier from the top of the mill. Long range scanning can help monitor the shrinking glacier.
Located near the town of McCarthy in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Kennecott is a popular place. Due to its setting at the park gateway, Kennecott’s spectacular landscape and buildings are seen and photographed by many of the park’s roughly 75,000 annual visitors. After NPS acquired Kennecott, it began the lengthy effort to preserve the site and determine which buildings should be stabilized or reha- bilitated. Nearly 80 years of neglect and Alaska weather had taken its toll, and NPS historical architects and archaeologists needed accurate information on the structures that remained. Shortly after the acquisi- tion, NPS prepared Historic American Building Survey (HABS) and Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) drawings of the entire mill building and the equipment inside. According to Greg Biddle, Cultural Resources Management special- ist for Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, NPS specialists worked to map the site in 1999 and 2000. The resulting sketches, CAD drawings, and photographs with details on the structures have been instrumental in supporting NPS efforts to date. But the effort to capture images and dimensions was difficult and sometimes dangerous. People often needed to climb ladders to reach features high above the ground or to enter areas and structures of ques- tionable stability. Teams needed an entire summer just to document the site’s iconic mill. The 14-story structure received raw ore delivered by aerial trams from mine entrances in the mountainside above and delivered processed copper to railcars that passed through the mill’s lowest level.
When the last trainload of copper pulled out of Kennecott, Alaska, in 1938, it left behind a community that had supported one of the most productive copper mines in the world. During its heyday in the early 20th century, the mine at Kennecott epitomized America’s industrial boom and rapid growth. But when its rich ore deposits were depleted, Kennecott was no longer profitable. The once-bustling mill town was abandoned and left to decay. Carved out of wilderness in the early 1900s, Kennecott operated for nearly 30 years before falling victim to the boom-and-bust cycle ex- perienced by many other Alaskan communities. Over its life cycle, the mine and supporting facilities employed thousands of workers and pro- duced approximately 600,000 tons of copper from a difficult, remote location. The Kennecott site was declared a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1987. In 1998, the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) purchased much of the site and its industrial buildings. The NPS is charged with preservation, stabilization, and restoration of the historic facilities, including the power plant and massive mill. Visual and empirical data provide comprehensive documentation of an important historic site. By John Stenmark, LS New view of an Alaskan icon
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csengineermag.com
july 2018
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