A Little Valdez History!!

This area, like many others along the Alaska coast, was formed by glaciers.  The Valdez Glacier has receded to a small patch of white in the "V" of these mountains, forming the small glacial water lake at the bottom.

We spent most of the day at the Valdez Museum learning about the history.  The original natives wore clothing like this.  I hope you already had breakfast, because the parka on the right is made from seal gut, sewed together.  The one of the left is bear gut.  Sounds pretty stinky to me, but I'm pretty sure it was waterproof!!

With the Yukon Gold Rush in full swing, some of the steamship companies began to (falsely) advertise a faster, better, All-American Route to riches, over the Valdez Glacier.  The town of Valdez was soon filled with entrepreneurs selling goods for the trip.  Problem was, it was one of the most difficult ways to go.  

 Local trappers and natives had already set up business here with small log cabins like this one.

Eventually, a road of sorts was built towards the interior, along with 20+ roadhouses as rest stops along the way.  Here's one at the top of the pass.

Eventually the Richardson Highway was built ... pictures show not much more than a rocky trail over the mountains, but a road non-the-less.  This sign hangs in the museum, but if you look close at the top, I think the uppermost board has been either added or exchanged for the original.  Wonder what it said before?

Fishing became big here, with several varieties of Salmon and Halibut.  We hit the fish store and picked up local crab, halibut and canned salmon.  Dan had the crab for dinner and said it was excellent!!

As time went on, the locals set up shop with bars, restaurants and homes.  This entire bar is from the Pinzon.  More on this later.

This was a town of adventurous people, including the women.  Female pilots were pretty much unheard of.  With wooden skis strapped on their small planes, they carried people and freight to the interior, wearing outfits like this one to beat the freezing cold.

When oil became a priority, the Alaska Pipeline was built by people who didn't know it couldn't be done.  The first barrel brought about a big party!!

As the oil flows, it clogs up the pipeline, sort of like your heart pipeline.  This red unit is called a pig.  It goes from one section to another, rooting out the sludge in the line.  They even have "smart" pigs that can check the pipeline itself as it goes, looking for weak spots.  Gee ... so much like heart surgery!!

If you look at this map, the spreading area on the right is the pile of gravel and dirt left by the glacier.  What the original settlers didn't know, was that this was NOT the place to locate a town.  In 1964 when the plates shifted causing the earthquake, it also caused this entire area to liquify, resulting in severe damage to the town.  The resulting tsunami flooded the town for three days but did not "wipe out the town" as most think.  When it came time to rebuild, the City Officials decided they should move the town to the top left of the map ... on bedrock ... to prevent another disaster.  A lottery plan was devised to decide who got which parcel.  The Pinzon back bar ended up being saved and placed in the museum, along with another beautiful bar.  Some people actually moved their houses to the new site, some just built new homes.  Nothing remains of Old Town, as when everyone had moved out everything they wanted to keep, the remaining buildings were torched.  

As we drove from one side of the bay to the other, Patty saw two or three of these guys swimming around.  They are VERY shy, but I was able to get one shot.

Then we discovered the nesting spot for these Kittiwakes.  They are terribly vocal ... all vying for these nests on the edge of the bridge.  

All the nests appeared to be empty except for this one.  With Dan's help (by walking closer to her) she stood up so I could see the egg.

At the end of this road was the current location of the oil plant.  When the earthquake happened, the original tanks caught fire and burned for days, then extended to the second oil plant.  Although oil has brought lots of money to this area, it has also brought lots of heartbreak, including the Valdez oil spill.  They are trying to forget that incident now and go forward.  With all the new regulations and controls in place at this point, I hope that doesn't ever happen again.