Kennecott Copper Mine, Alaska

The copper mining town of Kennicott was established by the mining company Kennecott (and is where the company got its name - the difference in spelling was due to an early clerical error that was never corrected). A very remote operation, owned by J.P. Morgan and Daniel Guggenheim, it was started in the early 1900s, and required a 196-mile rail system to bring the ore to the southern coast of Alaska. The rail system included the Million Dollar bridge, which spanned two glaciers, and collapsed in the 1964 earthquake. The mines shut down in 1938, and are now a spectacular ruin. The National Park Service acquired most of the major buildings in 1998, and the site is slowly being stabilized and partially restored. There are private homes and small hotels at the site as well.