The End of The Road

Episode 1
GHOST TOWN: Tom Kizzia on cold mOuntain Path

November 3, 2021

In our first episode of Season Two we explore the Ghost Town decades of our Kennecott-McCarthy community in remote Alaska by way of an interview with author Tom Kizzia and his new book, Cold Mountain Path: The Ghost Town Decades of McCarthy-Kennecott, Alaska. We discuss ghost towns and what that means as a metaphor, not just about the past but about how we process the past. Along the way we explore the harrowing stories and thoughts of Jim Edwards as well as our community's relationship with the Ahtna people and culture that predate the arrival of white development, by millennia.

Photo: Jeremy Pataky

In this Episode

  • Tom Kizzia: Discusses the process of bringing this book into the world, and the deeper meaning behind the stories he highlights from our town.

  • Jon Erdman: Interviewer, Producer, and Wrangell Mountains Center Executive Director

  • Michelle McAfee: Co-host, script writer, audio editor/engineer

  • Peter Bradley: audio editor

  • Erin McKinstry: logistical support, coordination

  • David Jacobs-Strain: Audio Mastering

 

Tom Kizzia Podcast Preview

 

Special thanks to the Alaska State Council on the Arts for their generous grant, making Season Two of this podcast possible!

Get your copy of

Cold Mountain Path: The Ghost Town Decades of McCarthy-Kennecott, Alaska (2021)

Published by Porphyry Press located in McCarthy, AK

Tom reporting for the Anchorage Daily News, 1983

Tom on the Kennecott mill building

Music Attribution

The Day Dawn by Jonathan Greer
https://www.neosounds.com/royalty-free-music/styles/folk License:https://www.thedaydawn_#License_85267-MTR-128016

Red Fern Grows by John Francis Jorgensen (BMI)/Publisher: Lynne Publishing (PRS)
https://www.neosounds.com/royalty-free-music/styles/folk
License: http://RedFernGrows_License_85268-MTR-128017.pdf

Folk Guitar Bed by Jonathan Greer (ASCAP), Adam Carney/Publisher: Pot of Earth (ASCAP)
https://www.neosounds.com/royalty-free-music/styles/folk
License: http://FolkGuitarBed_License_75153-MTR-111530.pdf