The various Kennicotts of Alaska

Did you see the ship in the background of our recent "ride your bike to work" blog?

Here's a pic from its official website:

Well, that's the Kennicott, the ferry you will most likely be riding if you are transferred to Kodiak this summer.

I tried pedaling home to get something better than my I-Phone to show it to you...but couldn't keep up as I pedaled uphill trying to beat that ship!

You'll enjoy the ride in it form Homer.

And for history's sake, let us tell you that it is named for the Kennecott mine here in AK. Copper first was discovered there in 1900, while the great Alaskan Gold Rush was still running. What is interesting is that this is the richest copper mine in the world. They took $ 270 million dollars worth of coper out of it and 9 million of silver before it closed in 1950. (That's when a million dollars was worth a million dollars) And guess who owned it: a syndicate of the Guggenheims plus other rich cats. So next time you go to appreciate the art museums in Bilbao, Berlin, Venice, NY, or their photo museum in LA.....remember this is where much of that money came form.

And if you want to go to the mine, you can: it is a now National Historic Landmark, administered by the National Park Service. You can fly there, or you can drive off the road that goes to Valdez, AK.

But, may we recommend that you leave your car in Chitina and take a paid tour to the mine....'cause the road from there is over the old railroad route. We can tell you personally that the left-over railroad spikes will puncture your tires....and if you have anything other than the most common size tires, you will have a $ 1,000 tow to get you back to Anchorage to get new tires.










Well, as you ride the Kennicott ferry, you can read the posters about the mine and learn that a typing switch of an"e" for an "i" led to naming it the Kennecott Mine on the formal organization papers, instead of Kennicott glacier, for which it was named.

PS We apologize for snatching all these picture off the internet, but we left all our pics of that trip on a computer in the lower 48. If we had our pictures, we would show you some wonderful public campsites, with your own private waterfall, more beautiful than those we in the the Southwest would drive hours just to see. Imagine, just you and the waterfalls, miles from the closest human being.....except for perhaps a few bears who were doing their best to hide form you.

Yes, take your time in AK to see not only what Kodiak has, but check out the rest of this state while stationed here!

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