Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve 

National Park Service 

US Department of the Interior 

Chitina 

Chitina 1925 

The railroad town of Chitina sprang to life in 1910. The town was a stopover and service point for the 

trains that traveled from the copper mines at Kennecott to ships waiting for ore at the port of Cordova. A 

steamship passenger arriving in Cordova could travel comfortably by train to Chitina, then by stage, 

sleigh or horse to Fairbanks other interior destinations. Native trails were improved to provide access to 

resources such as gold and copper. 

This Copper River area supported a population of approximately 200 Athabaskan 

Indian people when U.S. Army explorer, Lt. 

Henry T. Allen, traveled up the 

Copper River in 1885. They found 

the area very sparsely populated by 

people who followed fish and animal migrations and lived in seasonal camps. One winter village 

was located southeast of the current site of Chitina, where Taral 

Creek enters the Copper River. 

When mines and the railroad came 

to the area, some Natives found 

employment in those enterprises. 

By 1928, the Bureau of Indian Affairs had 

built a school near Chitina to serve the region. Population ebbed, the school closed, 

and Chitina faded from its earlier ambition 

to be the metropolitan center of the Interior. However, the town did not completely 

“die out” as the area residents struggled to 

Taral support themselves in the decades following 

the Kennecott Mine closure. Though some 

people still came to take salmon from the 

Chitina 1908

Copper River, Chitina had become a “ghost 

town,” as evidenced by town father O.A. 

Nelson’s ghostly art work which adorned 

many Chitina buildings in the 1940’s. 

New Influences Many reproductions of historic photos transportation in the history of Chitina. 

from various sources are on display here, Some of the photos at the Chitina Ranger 

providing glimpses of Chitina as it was in its Station show a prosperous main street, 

heyday. The riverboats that carried building where homes of people like J.C. Martin are 

materials for the railroad and Kennecott well tended. Furniture in the restored cabin 

mine, the depots, trains, and the railroad copies popular styles of that era, which 

tracks in the making, plus autos and dog could be brought in by railroad. 

teams all illustrate the dominant role of 

The establishment of Wrangell- St. Elias Co. manager, J.C. Martin. Over the years the Inside the National Park and Preserve in 1980 has con- log structure had suffered from the instabilRanger Station tributed to the rediscovery of Chitina. One ity of permafrost below it’s foundation, as 

of the two roads leading into the Park and well as from neglect, but it had been soundly 

Preserve is through this town. Since the built and so endured fairly well. Through 

paving of the Edgerton Highway in 1987, painstaking attention and detail, the buildgreater numbers of visitors “discover” ing has been restored, and is now the 

Chitina each year. In 1990, Wrangell- St. “home” of the Chitina District Ranger StaElias acquired the home of Ed S. Orr Stage tion and Visitor contact facility. 
Downtown Chitina 1914 

 

 

 

 

Chitina Chronology 

1885 Army explorer Henry T. Allen encounters Ahtna natives. 

1908 Missouri schoolteacher, O.A. Nelson, comes to Chitina area as a surveyor for Copper River & Northwestern 

Railway, settling there. 

1910 August- Chitina townsites offered for sale by railroad as the railroad construction reaches the area. 

September- Jesse C. Martin, manager of Ed S. Orr Stage Co., purchases Chitina lots for company. 

November- 39 mile long cut- off from railroad in Chitina to Valdez- Fairbanks trail completed allowing first 

Orr stagecoach to depart for Fairbanks on November 25. 

November/December- Home of Jesse C. Martin completed. 

December- Orr company offices, complete with telephone, are set up in the new Hotel Chitina. 

1911 March- Record 3 days, 17 hours, 30 minutes set driving Orr Co. sleigh from Chitina to Fairbanks. 

March 27- First train from Cordova reaches Chitina. 

Mid- September- J.C. Martin resigns and moves to Valdez; new manager, Jack Rockerfeller, moves in above 

Orr offices, and co- owner of Chitina Hotel, Horace Leach, moves into former Martin home. 

1912 Summer- “Billy” Cameron supervises work for Orr Co. 

on the cutoff road near Tonsina. 

1914 April15- Ed S. Orr Stage Company dissolved. Robert 

Sheldon drives a Ford Model T from Fairbanks to 

Chitina with Mrs. Leach as passenger. 

1920 Chitina population.....171 

1928 Bureau of Indian Affairs builds school at Chitina Village 

site (established by U.S. Commissioner O.A. Nelson, 

one mile south of Chitina). 

1930 Otto Moses and family live in former Martin cabin and manage Chitina Cash Store for owner O.A. Nelson for 

approximately 10 years. 

1931 January 17- Bush pilot, Harold Gilliam, lands first airplane on frozen Trout (Town) Lake. 

1932 Last winter train run scheduled. Three story Overland Hotel burns. O.A. Nelson constructs two- story structure on site and opens drug store. 

1938 Alaska Road Commission constructs airfield 5 miles north of Chitina. 

November 11- Last train leaves to Chitina on Cordova run. 

1939 Spring- Copper River trestle at Chitina washes out for the final time. 

Chitina population.....176 

1940’s The rails are removed. Many buildings are dismantled or moved. Town father O.A. Nelson paints ghosts on 

some buildings, indicating the new character of the town and perhaps hoping to lure tourists to the area. 

1950’s Population 92. The BIA school is closed, and Chitina continues it’s quiet decline. 

1960 Population 31. 

1964 The Good Friday earthquake damages the Million Dollar Bridge at Cordova, frustrating local efforts for completion of the Copper River Highway. 

1971 Copper River Bridge rebuilt at Chitina. 

1980’s The National Park is established, the Edgerton Highway is paved, telephone and electrical services are improved, and tourists again discover Chitina. The Park Service acquires and restores the former home of Orr 

Stage Company manager J.C. Martin for use as a district ranger office and visitor contact station. The 1990 

population in Chitina is 49. 

Downtown 1936 

The Ed Orr Stage 

Experience Your America!