AAP, CONTINUED from PAGE 53
Mining has been a part of the Zerkel family for many years. ‘My Father, Gene Zerkel, owned and operated an Airline in the 70’s. He worked with Joe Usibelli Sr., and much of his business supported re- source development across Alaska. Similar to my father, after a career as a Military Officer I came back to Alas - ka to make my living, and I still live here with my wife, raising our sons as Alaskans. I just took an interest in mining, and I’ve been very fortunate to work with an extremely dedicated, hardworking, team of men and wom- an who love working in the mining industry.” “There is no other industry quite like it, and no industry AAP would rather work in.” AAP working in old and new mining worlds It is a given that modern Alaska miners use techniques and tools far advanced from miners of a century ago. But occasionally there is a chance to work with both today’s tools and those of a century ago, as is the case this year for AAP. AAP is currently working on a $4 million stabilization and preserva - tion project at the historic Kennecott Mine in McCarthy. “The work at Kennecott is the third phase of a long-term goal to preserve, and in the future restore the Mill Building,” Zerkel said. “The work is primarily rough carpentry, using chains, hoists, saws, and hammers kind of work. It is similar to when it was built 110 years ago.” “I think ours is an interesting sto- ry tying Alaska’s mining past and present. “This is the first year we’re working for the National Parks Ser- vice, and it’s great what they are do- ing to keep the legacy of Kennecott alive” Zerkel said. “The buildings are all over 100 years old, or quickly approaching it” he said. “The focus of this project has been the Kennecott Mill, which is re- ally the flagship structure of the mine complex, going 14 stories up the side of the mountain. It is the tallest wood building in Alaska.” The whole building has been slow- ing falling off the side of mountain, roof collapses had exposed much of
Photo Courtesy AAP AAP is currently working on a $4 million stabilization and preservation project at the historic Kennecott Mine in McCarthy.
it to rain and other seasonal hard- ships. We had to cut out big columns and joists and replace them with spe- cially milled and treated timber out of the Pacific Northwest. They’re cut and painted to historic standards, so everything we replace looks just like what we take out. “We’re primarily working inside the mill building this year, replacing structural members, roofing, siding, and flooring. Unfortunately, a lot of the work we’re doing this year won’t be seen from the outside. It’s more structural repairs than the visual. However next year AAP is sched- uled to rebuild the High Grade Ore Chute, which is one of the most iconic features of the mine facilities. “The Ore Chute is the most rec- ognized and featured part of the Mill building. It was pretty well falling off the building. The park maintenance crew took off the lower half previous - ly. Our job next year is to scaffold and shore up the entire length, demo the remaining chute, and then rebuild the whole thing from the start. “We have already laid out and mea- sured the timber bents in the yard. We then pre-drilled and cut the supports so that when we stand it up, it will all bolt together in place. We will end up standing them with winches and pulleys. It’s closer to construction
methods when it was originally built than to modern construction, which we would have used a crane to lift. “ One of the joys of the Kennecott project is relearning what miners did long ago. “Our project manager and his crew are true, blue-collar carpenters. He loves his work, and loves working re- motely in Alaska, and when we looked at this job he just fell in love with it.” That intersection of old and new, history and the future, makes Zerkel especially proud. “Mining is where I focused this company from the beginning, but we always knew that experience could lead us into other opportunities. AAP is both a Service-Disabled Vet Owned, and Small Business Entity. We look for Federal projects like this (to apply what we know). “One funny story about our pre- construction visit at Kennecott, while we were walking through the project, we met with the park staff—archeol - ogists, engineers, disposal people— and one of the engineers walked up and said: ‘I see you’ve done a lot of earth work, but have you worked on many old Historic wooden buildings in Alaska?’ “No, and neither has anyone else! There are not a lot of old wooden his- toric buildings in Alaska like this!”
54
The Alaska Miner
October 2020
Made with FlippingBook - Share PDF online