What is the history of McCarthy, Alaska?
For centuries, Athabascans fished in the area of McCarthy, but they had no permanent settlement there. Copper was discovered in Kennecott Mountain near neighboring Kennicott, AlaskaKennicott in 1900. The mines and the company town of Kennicott were built by the Kennecott Mining Company quickly after the discovery. Partly because alcoholic beverages and prostitution were forbidden in Kennicott, McCarthy grew as an area to provide services not available in the company town. It grew quickly into a major town with a gymnasium, a hospital, a school, a bar and a brothel. The Copper River and Northwestern Railway reached McCarthy in 1911. In 1938 the copper deposits in Kennicott Mountain were mostly gone and the town was mostly abandoned. The railroad discontinued service that year. Over its 30-year operation, U.S. $200 million in ore was extracted from the mine, making it the richest concentration of copper ore in the world. The population of McCarthy and Kennicott fell to zero until the 197
