Earth Quakes

Final cleanup of Alaska automobile junkyard is underway

Associated Press
Published | Updated

A helicopter brings a 700-pound sack of car parts to a trash bin on Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2016, in Anchorage, Alaska. More than 2,000 cars were dumped over a bluff above a wildlife refuge after the 1964 Good Friday earthquake, and a clean up effort to remove about 100 of those cars imbedded in the bluff has been going on for nine years. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen) (The Associated Press)

A helicopter brings a 700-pound sack of car parts to a trash bin on Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2016, in Anchorage, Alaska. More than 2,000 cars were dumped over a bluff above a wildlife refuge after the 1964 Good Friday earthquake, and a clean up effort to remove about 100 of those cars imbedded in the bluff has been going on for nine years. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen) (The Associated Press)

The final cleanup is underway in Anchorage, Alaska, after the 1964 Good Friday earthquake helped turn a sea-side bluff into an auto junkyard.

More than 2,000 cars, many damaged when downtown Anchorage buildings collapsed in the quake, are estimated to have been pushed over the cliff above the state-run Anchorage Coastal Wildlife Refuge.

Over the years, the dump site remained popular with Anchorage residents wanting to illegally get rid of cars, tires or household items like refrigerators and ovens. Other strange items dumped at the site were wheelchairs and outhouses.

Most of the cars remained at the site, but volunteers have cleaned out nearly 100 over the years. Lately, crews have helped load the last cars or car parts into bags weighing about 700 pounds. A helicopter on Wednesday was used to ferry 16 of those bags up the 250-foot cliff into trash bins. The metal will be recycled.