After crossing Hatcher Pass we stopped at Independence Mine State Historical Park.

Independence Mine is a former gold mining operation in the Talkeetna Mountains, across Hatcher Pass from Palmer, Alaska.

The mining operation at Independence was the second-largest hard-rock gold mining operation in the state, after a larger site near Juneau. The company and the miners that preceded it built a substantial mining camp, with as many as sixteen wood-frame buildings, which were originally connected to each other by sheltered wooden pass ways.