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1959 Map of McCarthy B-6

Name: 1959 Topographic Map of McCarthy B-6
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1969
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1969

About this map

Bonanza Mine sits high above the ice in this 1959 field-annotated study, overlooking the copper-rich corridor where the Kennicott Glacier meets the industrial settlements of Kennicott and McCarthy. The map illustrates a landscape of transition, where the legacy of heavy mining is etched into the terrain via an Old Railroad Grade and a Tractor Trail that navigate the slopes of Fireweed Mountain.

Downstream, the geography opens into the braided channels of the Nizina River and Chitina River, which dominate the southern half of the quadrangle. For those interested in the social geography of the era, the presence of a Cem, a Landing Strip, and several isolated Cabins near Wheat Lake and Camel Lake provides evidence of the dispersed but persistent human presence in the Copper River Meridian, even as the larger industrial operations of Blackburn had shifted.