Our wanderlust next took us to the Prince William Sound in the south central part of Alaska to visit the towns of Whittier and Valdez. Both are set in beautiful surroundings, but their history couldn't be much more different!
So, I know, I haven’t yet said why Whittier is considered “strange”, right? Well, after the defeat of Japan in WWII, the U.S. military pulled out of Whittier, but then returned a year later with the start of the Cold War with the Soviet Union. It became a permanent army base then, and large concrete buildings were constructed, three of them, to house troops, their families, and other army personnel. These were 14 story “skyscrapers” in a small village, the largest buildings in Alaska at the time, and virtual cities under one roof with bowling allies, shooting ranges, barber shops, hospital, theater, photo lab…you get the picture. Why such high-rises in the wilderness? To lessen the need for snow removal in this place where it can top 14 feet! One of the buildings was badly damaged in the 1964 earthquake, but the other two continue to house nearly the entire population of Whittier, about 300 persons.
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| Buckner Building, damaged by the earthquake and subsequently abandoned |
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| Buckner Building where most of the residents of Whittier live! |
It is striking to note the contrast between the beautiful blue sea, towering glaciated mountains, and waterfalls surrounding this seaport—and the really unattractive town the people choose to live in. This is so unlike every other town we’ve visited in Alaska and strange…!
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| The town of Whittier tucked away in the beautiful Prince William Sound |
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| The harbor at Whittier, Alaska |
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| Our campsite in Whittier |
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| Sunrise over Prince William Sound seen from our campsite |
We had hoped to catch a ferry boat from Whittier to our next planned destination, Valdez, in order to save us the drive. Space on the ferry was already fully booked, but we were told we’d have a good chance to get on it “stand-by”, provided they could fit Lily in on the morning of departure. That morning, however, the word came down that the ferry was “broken down” and would not be going out that day. On the plus side, we’d always heard the drive from Whittier to Valdez was beautiful and so we headed back through the marvelous Whittier tunnel, and on our way!
Unfortunately the weather was less than ideal for viewing the gorgeous scenery en route. We could see through the clouds and mist and drizzle that the mountains and glaciers were pretty spectacular out there!
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| Rainy drive to Valdez |
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| Driving to Valdez |
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| Keystone Canyon...almost to Valdez now!! |
We landed at an ideal campsite on Robe Lake, just 3 miles from Valdez, and enjoyed a full week there, taking in the scenery, fishing, and visiting multiple museums which documented the fascinating history of this place.
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| View from campsite on Robe Lake near Valdez, Alaska |
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Our only neighbor was a floatplane which stayed parked the whole week and was
beautiful to look at in its own right |
My first question was, how did this town get its obviously Spanish name? Besides Russia, Spain was also active in marine explorations back in the 18th century, and this area was named “Valdez” by Salvador Fidalgo in 1790 for a Spanish navel officer. That seemed to be the extent of Spanish history or culture here though. In fact Valdez is called Alaska’s “Little Switzerland”, situated as it is in a majestic fjord of the Prince William Sound, bordered by 5000 foot mountains rising straight up from the sea.
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| Can you see the tiny city at the base of the enormous mountains? |
The launch of Valdez as a town is steeped in—you guess it—GOLD! In 1898, four to six thousand stampeders arrived here on their way north to the interior Copper River basin and Klondike gold fields. This was billed the “All American Route” because it did not require travel through Canada as did the routes through Skagway/Dyea described earlier in this blog. The plan was to travel up here via a Seattle steamship, disembark in Valdez, travel 5 miles to the foot of the Valdez Glacier, cross the 20 mile long glacier, and then go by handmade “watercraft” 25 miles down the Klutina Lake to the Klutina River to the Copper River and beyond—and untold RICHES!! Oh, and one would have to do this many multiple times to transport one's gear, all told about 360 miles!!
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Goldrush Centennial signs along the road throughout Alaska mark the places
where significant gold rush events took place |
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| Map of the proposed "All American Route" to gold, gold, GOLD!!! |
Turns out this was a marketing ploy by the steamship companies seeking fares, and the prospectors were indeed “taken for a ride"! There was no “Valdez” to support these guys. No dock, no services, no village. Nothing but a snowbank. And, unlike in Skagway and Dyea, there was no trail to follow here! Few were prepared for the perilous journey in a minus 60 degree interior Alaska winter, falling to their deaths through deep crevasses in the glacier, drowning in swift waterways, starvation/scurvy, frostbite, snow blindness, and exhaustion—with little or no gold to be found.
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| Valdez stampeders camping in the snow en route to the goldfields |
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| A sorry-looking bunch of stampeders |
Conditions were so bad that the Army became involved, and after an assessment of the situation, the U.S. Congress funded the Trans-Alaska Military Trail, widening to 5 feet a native-used footpath through Keystone Canyon to the summit of Thompson Pass to get prospectors off of the glacier. Over the decades, this evolved from trail to sleigh/wagon road to highway and extended all the way to Fairbanks. This so-called Richardson Highway is the route we took to get here ourselves.
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| Wagon train at Thompson Pass |
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Sleigh travel from Valdez to Fairbanks could be had for about $125 in the day. Passengers were given
fur coats and foot warmers to ease their discomfort in the cold |
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| Actual wagon used on the trail on exhibit at the Valdez museum |
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Sleighs and wagons didn't go very far each day, and stopped at a series of Roadhouses all along the
way for meals, bed, and (sometimes) a bath! |
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The roadhouses were numerous but unfortunately gone now, or we would've loved to visit as
we found this roadhouse idea very appealing! |
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Wortman's Roadhouse at mile 19 from Valdez
The roadhouses were all quite unique |
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| Some of them had gardens to supplement meals for their patrons |
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| Here's one made of stone--look inviting? |
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Shortly after the automobile was invented Alaskans demanded the wagon road be
upgraded to accomodate them |
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| And so they did...sort of |
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| Automobile cresting Thompson's Pass |
We also enjoyed hiking parts of the earliest (1901) route, called the “Goat Trail”, and marveling at what it took to even find this route through the wilderness!
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| Region called Keystone Canyon where we took our hike on the "Goat Trail" |
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Parts of the trail were so steep they provided ropes to help hikers up and down them.
A historical placard here said that in 1900, the horse you were riding would likely assume a seated position
at this point and slide down on his butt with you on his back! |
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| Steep, beautiful country |
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| Here it is then... |
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| ...And now! |
An unintended consequence of Valdez's gold-rush beginnings was the degree of devastation the town suffered in the March, 1964 earthquake. The site for this town was originally selected based strictly on the fact that it was the closest that stampeders could get to the Valdez glacier. As a result, it was built on thick but loose and water-logged glacial deposits.
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Aerial photograph taken prior to the 1964 earthquake showing Old Valdez at the mouth of the runoff from
Valdez Glacier at right--not looking real secure! |
When the earthquake—the strongest ever recorded in North America, measuring 9.2 on the Richter scale and centered in Prince William Sound—hit south central Alaska, Valdez took it on the chin! There ensued a series of massive local waves in the unstable land base, underwater landslides if you will. The sea swept over and engulfed the Valdez wharf, taking 33 people with it. The shaking lasted nearly five minutes and when it was over, the waterfront was completed destroyed and the town severely damaged.
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| The 1964 quake caused great chasms to open in the earth |
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| Drawing shows the complete loss of Valdez wharf |
The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers determined the town needed to be relocated to avoid future destruction from seismic activity. Within two years, the industrious people built a “New Valdez” four miles from the “Old Valdez”—on solid bedrock. Valdez has done a wonderful job of preserving the memory of all these events and effects on peoples’ lives. We visited both a museum and the actual site of the former “Valdez”, and found it a very sobering experience.
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| Remembering Old Valdez Museum |
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| Little dioramas of Old Valdez lost in the earthquake |
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| Touching detail of neighborhoods...gone |
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| Photos of home lost in the earthquake at Old Valdez and replacements in New Valdez |
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| In addition to the museum we visited the actual old townsite with rainy weather completing the somber scene! |
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| Brand new Valdez Post Office in 1962 |
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| Two years later, only the foundation left! |
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| Nothing left of Old Valdez... |
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| But the memories of a time before the earthquake hit |
So, if you haven’t had enough amazing history of Valdez yet, let me remind you this is also the site of the Exxon Valdez oilspill, also recalled and documented in a local museum. Valdez was chosen as the terminus for the 800 mile Trans-Alaska Pipeline (described in previous blog entries) because it happens to be the northernmost ice-free port in the United States, and the pipeline, needless to say, has brought prosperity and jobs to the community. On March of 1989, however, another stroke of bad luck hit the town when the Exxon Valdez ran aground just a few hours after leaving the pipeline terminal and dumped 11 million gallons of crude oil into Prince William Sound. Most of us recall vividly the news media photographs of sea otters and other marine life mired in oil, the mucked up beaches, the greasy film floating on the water—or wait a minute, was that the Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010? In both cases, the clean-up continues and in both cases, things will never be the same. And in both cases we have to ask—what will it take to wean humanity off of “poison petroleum"??
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| Museum exhibit on the Exxon Valdez oil spill |
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| The ill-fated ship |
Hmmm, let's change the subject. FISHING! Yes, fishing will take our minds off of spilled oil and help us overcome our grief! And indeed, we enjoyed some great FISHING in Valdez! We had been asking folks we met along our journey about fishing in various ports we planned to visit and we kept hearing that Valdez was famous for silver (coho) salmon fishing, “but they haven’t come in yet”. Our mouths would water in anticipation! Then we started to hear, “Something’s wrong. It’s late August and the silvers still aren’t coming in.” Meanwhile, we are watching our supply of Juneau pink salmon dwindle in the freezer and our blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids reach critically low levels—there is only so much ground flaxseed a person can eat!! Ah, but we worried for nothing! Right on time, the silvers came in! HURRAH! It was almost like a switch got flipped such that it took us all day to catch two on our first day of fishing, but then just 90 minutes to catch ten on the second!
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| Beautiful Valdez Harbor. Fishing is a major industry in Valdez |
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| Our fishing spot on the beach--pretty idyllic, eh? |
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| Peggy proudly poses with day #1 catch |
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| The catch mounting up quickly on day #2! |
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| Bernie with our catch from day #2--ultimately 18 pounds all cleaned and filleted |
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| Security in the freezer |
Lily the camper's freezer is full now, we’ve had our fun, and we are prepared to go on with our journey with great memories of our visit to the Prince William Sound. Northward we go now, away from the ocean, back into the interior of Alaska to view some of the tallest mountains on the continent! It would seem that we need to be moving along for another reason—fall is coming. We can see it from leaves scattered on the hiking trails, the golden colors of sedges and grasses, the migration of trumpeter swans and the white patches of feathers beginning to appear on the breasts of the ptarmigans! It is fun to begin to see the change of seasons so far north in Alaska!
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| No doubt about it, fall has arrived! |
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| Fully 70% of trumpeter swans migrate through Alaska in spring and fall |
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| Ptarmigan getting his white winter bib! Time for us to fly!! |
