Once a bustling railroad station on the line to the Kennecott Copper Mines, this Cooper River Basin community has gone full circle. It became a ghost town but emerged in the 1990s as one of the principle gateway communities for the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, the largest national park in the country. Chitina’s main attraction is the Copper River that lies nearby. During the summer, subsistence dip netting for salmon on the river brings a large number of Alaskans from Anchorage and other areas of the state
Located 66 miles southeast of Glennallen at Mile 34 of the Edgerton Highway, this community of 125 residents is in a scenic location near the confluence of the mighty Copper River and the Chitina River and overshadowed by 16,390-foot-high Mount Blackburn.
Chitina sprang to life in 1910. The area was already home to Athabascan Indians and was attracting the attention of miners and homesteaders when officials designated it as one of the principal railroad stations of the Copper River & Northwestern Railroad. Chitina quickly became an important transportation hub to interior Alaska and a thriving community of more than 3,000, featuring stores, five hotels, rooming houses, bars, a dance hall, even a movie theater.
All but abandoned after the mine closed in 1938, Chitina began its revitalization with the creation of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve. It now serves as the principal gateway for visitors embarking on the rugged McCarthy Road which heads 60 miles east into the heart of the park following the old railroad bed.
The town offers accommodations, groceries, gas, eateries, fishing charters, lodging, church services and other amenities, all within walking distance. If you travel on to McCarthy, it is a long 60 miles from Chitina on a gravel road. Plan to take at least three hours for the drive to the park; shuttle and air taxi services are also available. Information is available at Wrangell-St. Elias National Park’s Chitina Ranger Station (907-823-2205), housed in a historic log cabin containing historic photographs and displays. Equally historic is the town’s original tinsmith building that has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places and is now an art gallery.