Author Archives: icefogger
About icefogger
Call of the Sandhill
Early Saturday morning I heard the calls of sandhill cranes echoing from the Goldstream Valley.
It was the first time this season. It is officially spring.
Right Day; Wrong Time
The ice officially went out on the Tanana River on 27 April at 5:18am.
Another year; another breakup.
Gilahina Trestle
Wrangell – St Elias National Park & Preserve
The Gilahina wooden train trestle was built in eight days in January 1911. Copper ore had been discovered in Kennecott and a railway was quickly built to get the ore to Cordova on the coast. The final copper spike was driven on March 29, 1911.
Originally 890 feet long and 90 feet tall, with a 120 degree arc, the trestle required 1/2 million board feet of timber. The original trestle was burned during a wildfire in 1915. The bridge was rebuilt the same summer. It is the 1915 trestle which still stands today.
The McCarthy Road travels the old railroad grade of the Copper River and Northwestern Railway. The CR&NWR, affectionately known to Alaskans as the Can’t Run & Never Will, ran its last train on November 11, 1938.
Wrangell – St Elias National Park & Preserve
Camera: Leica M3; Film: Kodak 35mm, TMax 100
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