Erie Mine: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve

Region 11 Park Cultural Landscapes Program

Inventory Unit Description: The Kennecott Mines are located on Bonanza Ridge, several thousand feet above the Kennicott and Root glaciers in Wrangell St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Erie Mine, the most remote of the Kennecott Mines, is situated between the 3,370’ and 4,550’ elevations at the head of a steep gully 4 miles north of the Kennecott Mill Town. The landscape boundary encompasses all known historic features associated with Erie Mine in a 42 acre polygon surrounded by the Kennecott Mines National Historic Landmark. The Kennecott Mines were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 and designated a National Historic Landmark (NHL) in 1986. The NHL includes over 14 thousand acres encompassing the Mill Town, the aerial tramway system, and the Erie, Bonanza, Glacier, and Jumbo mines. The significance of Erie Mine has been established as a contributing feature of the NHL, however, further explanation is required to articulate its significance as a component landscape. Between 1900 and 1938, five distinct mines were developed at Kennecott, each with its associated surface camp: Bonanza, Jumbo, Mother Lode, Glacier, and Erie. All of the mines are situated adjacent to a greenstone-limestone contact which defined the location of ore on Bonanza Ridge. Although Erie was not the largest or richest of the Kennecott Mines, it produced over 56,941 tons of ore and 8,565 tons of copper between 1901 and 1937. Erie Mine supported operations as the rich ore bodies in the Bonanza and Jumbo mines began to slowly diminish during the late 1920s and 1930s. The Erie outcrop was discovered in 1900, shortly after Jack Smith and Clarence Warner located the Bonanza and Jumbo deposits while prospecting. Initially, the Erie deposit proved to be too remote and development was delayed in favor of the larger deposits. Further exploration of the Erie deposit occurred in 1909 when an open cut was made to better expose the ore; although significant development did not take place until 1913. Access to the mine was by way of a trail, later upgraded to a wagon road, that followed the east moraine of the Kennicott and Root glaciers from the Mill Town. By 1916, three prospecting tunnels were established. An aerial tramway was built to ease the transportation of ore from the tunnel to a staging area situated alongside the wagon road, where ore was loaded into wagons and taken to the Concentration Mill for processing. Labor shortages forced the mine to close from 1918 until 1924 when its tunnels were successfully connected with Jumbo Mine by a crosscut. Thereafter, the Erie Tramway was reserved for transporting supplies to the mine. This situation continued until the 1929 stock market crash and subsequent decline of copper prices forced the Kennecott Copper Corporation to temporarily close the mine in 1931. Electricity was cut on October 14, 1937 and the personnel and equipment were moved to Bonanza Mine. In October 1938, the Kennecott Copper Corporation closed all mining operations on Bonanza Ridge and no further work was done at Erie Mine thereafter.

Erie Mine: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve

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