Copper River Steamboats

Between 1907 and 1911 the Copper River and Northwestern Railway operated a fleet of steamboats on the Copper and Chitina Rivers in support of railroad construction and the copper mining operations at Kennicott.

The discovery of the world's richest commercial copper deposit near Kennicott Glacier in 1899 prompted the Alaska Syndicate to build a 196-mile railroad from tidewater at Cordova up the Copper and Chitina rivers to the rich copper mines in the Wrangell-St. Elias Mountains. Construction of the Copper River and Northwestern Railway (CR&NW), begun in 1905 and completed in 1911, involved fierce battles against the natural obstacles, gunfights over rights-ofway, and extraordinary feats of construction under the most grueling conditions.

The Copper River Route

In his Foreword to Lone E. Janson’s book, "The Copper Spike" (Todd Communications, Anchorage, Ak 1975), Alaskan Senator E. L. ‘Bob’ Bartlett wrote, “It is an eventful tale, full of the vagaries of Alaska weather, the crags and glaciers of Alaska mountains, the daring and resourcefulness of Alaska pioneers. In the background are the legal and political battles reaching all the way to Washington, D. C., the financial struggles and schemes involving the giants of Wall Street, and all the colorful scenes of America in the years when the Gay Nineties closed in a whirl of boom or bust philosophy, and the new century began with a surge of excitement and high endeavor.”

In the middle of this unparalleled project, between 1907 and 1911, the Copper River and Northwestern Railway operated a fleet of steamboats on the Copper and Chitina Rivers in support of railroad construction and the mining operations at Kennicott. This was no easy feat, as the Copper River is wide, fast, and dangerous, with shifting gravelbars, rapidly changing channels, and treacherous rapids, and the Chitina River is no less daunting. Winds tearing down the canyons at up to 95 miles an hour can be as formidable as the currents, as author Lone E. Janson describes in "The Copper Spike:" “The Copper was everything that ornery rivers are noted for, and then some. Besides icebergs, rapids, and shifting sandbars there was the ‘Copper River wind,’ a force to be reckoned with as it coated everything in its path with sheaths of solid ice. Railroad legend holds that the force of this wind was so great that when the railroad was running, a chain was fastened to the entrance to the Flag Point Bridge (mile 27), and if the chain stuck straight out in the wind, the trains didn’t cross.”

The Copper River was not navigable below the point where the Childs and Miles Glaciers faced each other across its waters, approximately 45 miles north of Cordova. The CR&NW Railroad would cross it twice, at Flag Point (mile 27), and at Miles Glacier (mile 49). At the foot of Miles Glacier, the river broadened out into Miles Lake, and just above the lake was the infamous Abercrombie Canyon, where the Copper River roared through the most dangerous rapids in its course. Before the railroad was built the only access to the upper part of the river was overland, and that is how the first steamship arrived.

Chever Hazelet, freighter George Meals, and the firebox for Chittyna, leaving Valdez, March, 1907.

P. S. Hunt, Library of Congress

The first river steamer was the sternwheeler 'Chittyna,' christened with the original spelling of the river and town of the same name. The 70-ton, 110-foot-long, double-decked steamboat was hauled eighty miles overland in March of 1907 by the A. J. Meals Co., carried piece-bypiece from Valdez on huge horse-drawn double-ender freight sleds, up Keystone Canyon, over Marshall Pass, and 31 miles down the Tasnuna River to its confluence with the Copper

River, where it was re-assembled in the spring. In Lone E. Janson’s "The Copper Spike," one of the freighters, George Meals, shares details of the trip, and the author explains: “That was a 79 mile journey over trackless wilderness with a huge sled carrying a nearly three ton boiler, through Keystone Canyon on the frozen river and up to the summit of Marshal Pass, 1,700 feet high, in the dead of winter! Here the climb to the summit was a series of sharp turns or ‘switchbacks’ because of the steep grade involved. There was no road other than the trail established by the freighters themselves in hauling freight to the gold ‘diggings’ in the Interior.”

River steamer Chitana [sp] on Tasnuna Divide.’ March, 1907.

P. S. Hunt, photographer

Quoting George Meals: “Going up the switch(back) I used a block and tackle in order for the horses to stay on the trail, chain to a tree and as they made a turn, throw the cable off the block. That would give them a straight pull. Used six horses on the cable and one in the staves. Took three or four days to reach the summit. Going down the river in places had to rough-lock (hitch ropes to the trees, hauling back on the sled) to keep it from breaking loose and running over the horses pulling it.”

Reassembly was completed in July, and by July 27 the 'Chittyna' had made a successful trip to Copper Center. The tough little sternwheeler navigated 170 miles of the Copper and Chitina rivers, providing construction support and transport of materials for the railroad. When the river and the town of Chitina changed to the newer spelling of the name, the steamboat’s name was changed as well.

With the 'Chittyna’s' arrival on the upper part of the river, supplies for the building of the necessary facilities could be brought in by steamer. In 1908 the construction of a three-mile,4,000-foot aerial tram was begun to carry the copper ore from the mine to the concentratorand ore bins. The tram, completed in 1909, could carry 100 tons of ore per day.

Two other steamers were built in 1909 by the Moran Shipyards of Seattle: the 120 foot 'Tonsina' and the 80 foot 'Gulkana;' the 'Nizina' was the last to be constructed. The boats were patterned after Columbia River sternwheelers, designed for shallow waters and shifting channels. They were knocked down and crated to Alaska for reassembly, and they proved to be the railroad's real workhorses.

The 'Gulkana' shuttled freight across Miles Lake, cautiously skirting the mighty Miles Glacier as it provided a link from the eastside camp at mile 49 to the rails on the west side. A 1911 newspaper article in the 'Chitina Leader' noted, “When the railroad reached mile 54 a steamboat landing was established and until the end of last season three steamers, the 'Tonsina,' 'Chitina' and 'Nizina,' were used to transport freight and supplies for the railroad up the river. The cost was $1.07 per ton per mile. The cost of building these steamers was $215,000.”

The largest steamboat, the 'Tonsina,' had originally been built to carry passengers, with 14 staterooms having double berths and featuring electric lights and steam heat throughout the vessel, but an attempt to operate the upriver fleet as a passenger and freight line proved unfeasible because of the short three month season.

The dangers were real and constant. In "The Iron Spike" Lone Janson tells of one unusual incident: “The heaviest rock work was in Woods Canyon just below Taral. Here it was necessary to blast off thousands of yards of solid rock. All of this heavy blasting had farreaching consequences. One time during exceptionally high water a blast sent tens of thousands of tons of rock into the deep, narrow river channel. The rock and debris sent a wave raging down the canyon with such force that the river’s three sternwheelers, which had tied up to avoid the swift waters, were picked up and slammed down with such force that several holes were knocked in the hulls requiring extensive repairs.”

Hardships aside, the four Copper River steamboats worked steadily each summer hauling freight, supplies, and passengers up and down the big rivers. Their participation was essential to finishing the railroad in the federally allotted construction years.

Chitina, Nizina, and Tonsina, on the Copper River, 1909.

P. S. Hunt, photographer

Following the completion of the railroad in 1911, the steamboats were dismantled, and their lumber and parts were reused in buildings in the town of Chitina. The wreck of the 'Gulkana' met an even more ignoble end, dismantled at Miles Lake, where its derelict hull collapsed and its machinery was scattered along southern edges of the lakeshore. But if one listens carefully to the winds howling down the river, one can easily imagine the far-off sounds of a steamboat engine humming across the roiling waters, delivering much-needed supplies to the hardworking men. ~•~