text: In 1938, Ernest Gruening proposed Kennecott be preserved as a National Park.  A recommendation to President Franklin D. Roosevelt on January 18, 1940, for the establishment of the Kennecott National Monument went nowhere.  However, December 2, 1980, saw the establishment of the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve.
  From 1939 until the mid-1950s, Kennecott was deserted except for a family of three who served as the watchmen until about 1952.  In the late 1960s, an attempt was made to reprocess the tailings and to transport the ore in aircraft. The cost of doing so made the idea unprofitable. Around the same time, the company with land rights ordered the destruction of the town to rid them of liability for potential accidents. A few structures were destroyed, but the job was never finished and most of the town was left standing. Visitors and nearby residents have stripped many of the small items and artifacts. Some have since been returned and are held in various archives.
  KCC sent a field party under the geologist Les Moon in 1955.  They agreed with the 1938 conclusion, "no copper resource of a size and grade sufficient to interest KCC remained."  The mill and other structures remain, however, and many are in the process of being restored.