We have spent a lazy day in Valdez watching the fishermen head out and ferry and barge traffic come and go.
The ferry below is the MV Aurora that we will board Monday AM for a siz hour sailing to Whittier on the Kenai Peninsula.
We visited two local museums depicting Valdez from its start in the late 1800’s through the earthquake of 1964, the building of the Trans Alaska Pipeline that terminates here, and Valdez today that maintains its status as an integral part of the SE Alaska economy. The weather here started out cloudy and drizzly, broke up in mid-afternoon to sunlight trying to break through the overcast and then back to drizzle and fog this evening.
Valdez started out as many other communities here in SE Alaska at the end of the 1800s as a jumping off point for the miners heading into Copper Center and on to the Yukon. After making camp here they had to climb over the Valdez Glacier with their provisions, build boats, and navigate up the Copper River. Several of these early pioneers settled here and formed the permanent settlement that became Valdez. Valdez boasts being Mile “0” of the first major highway in Alaska, the Richardson Highway, which stretches from here to Fairbanks. The road insured Valdez’s future as did the building of the Trans Alaska Pipeline that terminates here with a large loading facility for oceangoing tankers. It was a good day to take it easy and we started by driving southeast two miles to the original location of Valdez until the earthquake of 1964. On March 27, 1964 an 8.6 earthquake struck SE Alaska, Yukon, and NW British Columbia. The violent shock waves literally destroyed Valdez that was located on top of 300 feet of sand and sediment. The town sank 35 feet as the shock hit and the Tsunamis that followed emptied the bay before hitting Prince William Sound with 35 foot tidal waves. The devastation was so complete that the decision was made to move the town two miles further down the Sound to firmer ground.
The new Valdez was planned out in advance and includes a beautiful small boat harbor, ferry docks right in town, and a container port just to the SE of Valdez. While the town loses the quaintness of its past it is nevertheless a vibrant commercial fishing, petroleum, and tourism center here on the SE coast.
We also drove around the end of the bay to the Trans Alaska Pipeline Terminal that is located directly across the water from the campground. The locals tell us that 2 steering tugs left this morning to guide a supertanker into the Sound this evening so we are hoping to witness its arrival later tonight. In the meantime we went back across the street to Peter Pan Seafoods to pick up more Copper River Salmon and a couple of pounds of halibut cheeks. The freezer is filling up fast!
One of the local tour boat operators offers a free one hour cruise at 8:00AM on Sundays. We may join them and then visit the one remaining museum we haven’t seen. Another relaxing day!
We have spent a lazy day in Valdez watching the fishermen head out and ferry and barge traffic come and go.
