Nugget Creek: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve

Ferreira, Samson; Kadarauch, Lucy

The Nugget Creek landscape is a historic vernacular landscape that exemplifies the evolution of small‑scale copper‑lode mine on the Kuskulana drainage in the copper belt of the Chitina Valley, Alaska. The Kuskulana drainage is situated along the western slope of the Wrangell mountains, and is a tributary of the Chitina River, which is the major western‑flowing‑tributary of the Copper River. The property is owned by the federal government within the boundaries of Wrangell‑St. Elias National Park and Preserve. Access is along a dirt road/ATV trail from Strelna, at mile 14.5 of the McCarthy road. The McCarthy road was the original route of the Copper River and Northwest Railroad, which connected the famous copper mines at Kennecott with the port at Cordova. Strelna was an important railroad stop in its day and was the main point from which both the Kotsina and Kuskulana drainages were accessed after 1910. The Nugget Creek landscape contains four main sites, the camp, the developed mine workings, an isolated cabin ruin and the former McCarthy cabin site near the mouth of Nugget Creek. The landscape also contains numerous isolates scattered throughout the landscape, past evidence of exploratory prospecting. It is a component of the larger Kotsina‑Kuskulana Mining District, which encompasses the Kotsina and Kuskulana drainages, and the historic mining properties therein. The landscape is significant for its camp and mine remains, which exemplify a small scale copper mining operation typical of the era and the region. Its period of significance is from 1902, when James McCarthy first staked his claims in the drainage, to 1919 when the Alaska Copper Corporation shut down operations indefinitely. Extant features include a number of log buildings and structures as well as archeological deposits which reveal information concerning the domestic material culture of an Alaskan mining camp. The buildings, although partially in ruins, exhibit a high level of sophistication in design and craftsmanship, which is atypical of most mining camps in the region. The mine has artifacts and structures which illustrate the extractive technologies and methods of the early twentieth century copper‑lode mining. Often overlooked are the mine workings themselves, which are an extensive archeological resource. The Nugget Creek mine had over 5000 ft. of tunnels, shafts, and drifts, some of which are still accessible. In addition to these resources the landscape had an extensive network of roads and trails, connecting the camp to the mine, as well as routes to the railroad at Strelna and over the pass to the Kotsina drainage.

Nugget Creek: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve

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