Inside the eerily abandoned ghost town left untouched for nearly 100 years

24 February 2023 , 14:35

953     0

Abandoned factories of the historical Kennecott Copper Mine (Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

An eerily abandoned ghost town has been left untouched for nearly 100 years after a once-thriving

was decimated.

The bustling and busy town of Kennicott in Alaska, US, attracted thousands of families and miners from 1905 until 1938 and was responsible for over 590,000 tonnes of copper and nine million ounces of silver.

It had dozens of hotels, dress shops, saloons, dairy farms and restaurants to help meet the services of families in the area who moved for a better life due to the attraction of working for Kennecott Copper Corporation.

In addition to having its own stores, the town also had their own hospital and at its peak was producing a staggering $200million (£167million) in copper.

Spooky abandoned house in woods left full of creepy dolls and forgotten dentures

However, by the late 1920s profits started to decline and the Kennecott Copper Corporation started to look into other North American markets.

The once-thriving town is now completely desolate (imageBROKER/REX/Shutterstock)

Broken down infrastructure and railroads were becoming problematic for the town and it was starting to become a less than ideal place to invest.

This would soon have an affect on the families living in the area as they had to search for work elsewhere after the company started to explore the possibility of shutting down their business in Kennecott.

With increasing costs and the repairs of railroads set to reach millions of dollars a decision was made to close the Kennecott operation in 1938.

Hundreds of families would have lived in the homes which are now abandoned (imageBROKER/REX/Shutterstock)

The site was left abandoned after the cost of transferring the copper became too expensive.

This saw lots of the equipment left dumped as there was no means of using public transport to help shift the different tools and appliances.

As a result, many of the buildings have been left derelict for decades with lots even struggling to stand without support.

And sadly some of the buildings were left beyond saving and have since collapsed.

The National Park Service, however, has been trying for years to keep as many buildings up as possible and have been successful in protecting the history of the mining town.

Miners and families were drawn to the town back in 1918 (Granger/REX/Shutterstock)

A post office and general store have been refurbished along with a recreation hall that was given new life thanks to the local community who provide educational support and community programmes.

Inside abandoned funeral home's 'crying room' where children mourned quietly

Many of the sites opened in 2004 and Blackburn School now acts as the park's Kennecott Visitor Centre where holidaymakers and ex miners queue up to see where their families worked.

But sadly as the town needs ongoing investment many of the walls and roofs in the town have continued to collapse as locals try and save what's left of the once historic mining town for future generations.

Liam Buckler