Copper River and Northwestern Railway, Railway historic district in Copper River Census Area, United States

The Copper River and Northwestern Railway ran 196 miles from the port of Cordova to the Kennecott mines, crossing the Copper River on the steel Million Dollar Bridge and the Kuskulana River on a 160-metre steel span 72 metres above the gorge. Its 129 bridges included the 268-metre Gilahina Bridge, the line's longest timber bridge. The photograph shows one of the surviving timber trestles: weathered crosswise planks, vertical posts, diagonal braces and bolted metal plates.

Michael James Heney secured the Copper River right-of-way in 1904 and began building from Cordova in 1906; the Alaska Syndicate of Guggenheim and J.P. Morgan took over the line in 1907. Construction ran from 1908 to 1911, and the last spike, a copper spike, was driven at Kennicott on 29 March 1911. The first ore train reached Cordova on 8 April 1911; the last train ran on 11 November 1938.

Locals watching the railway's construction gave it the nickname 'Can't Run and Never Will' because of the severe weather and difficult landscape that seemed impossible to overcome. This name shows how people in the region viewed the ambitious project at the time.

The McCarthy Road follows about 97 km of the old grade from Chitina toward McCarthy; the rails stayed in use until 1947 and were lifted by 1964. The road is unpaved, and Bridge 339 washed out in 2012, cutting access to the Million Dollar Bridge. The Copper River Highway from Cordova reached the bridge in 1958, but the 1964 earthquake damaged it and stopped further construction.

The railway's initials gave it the mocking nickname "Can't Run and Never Will", coined while construction dragged on through Alaska's weather. The line also employed wigwags at its crossings, the only Alaskan railway known to do so. The last spike, driven at Kennicott on 29 March 1911, was made of copper.