7/15/19 - Day 17 - A Snippet of Valdez History...

Valdez too was a town that dramatically expanded during the gold rush of 1898.  Hopeful miners were lured to this place with tales of huge gold nuggets and the closest access to them.  They came to this bay which is almost completely surrounded by the gigantic Chugach Mountains and then had to climb over the Valdez glacier with all of their gear! Many were disappointed, many did not make it.

A second dramatic event in Valdez history occurred in 1964 when a 9.2 earthquake hit. The town had been built by the miners who wanted the closest access to the glacier they had to climb. This happened to be on glacial morraine (layers of rounded gravel). During the quake the ground liquified and part of it rolled into the deep bay. This destroyed the waterfront and many of the buildings. They had to actually move the town to a new location that is on more stable ground.
My parents and I visited the town six years after this quake. By that time they were prepping for the building of the Alyeska Pipeline. There were huge piles of large pipe stacked on the backside of the town.

The most recent large event occurred in 1989 when the Exon Valdez ran aground on a reef in Prince William Sound. That event most of you will remember leaked millions of gallons of crude oil into the pristine sound. This was the same sound we had been touring a small portion of yesterday.
Oil tankers at the base of the Chugach Mountains.

As you may have guessed,  we went through a couple of the Valdez museums today before we left. Our conclusion was that life's lessons are not always easy and often come at extreme cost.

This was one of several sea lions feasting on Pink Salmon.
I didn't upload the gory photos with bits of fish flying.

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