Finally Home?/Valdez, AK Part 1 (7/9/2017)

Day 26
1964, the Plan: Chicago, IL to Terrace Park, OH.
1964, the Actuality: On Tuesday, August 11, hopefully the Explorer Scouts made it home.

We will leave the Explorer Scouts and continue exploring Alaska.

Sunday, July 9, 2017
We left the B&B to take the few miles back to Richardson Highway/AK-4 towards the south.

Again those clouds in the valleys, but today the sky is blue!

Across the middle of the photo is the barely seen
Alyeska Pipeline (from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez)

A cloud-capped mountain

At Mile 47.8, a log cabin at a rest area

Inside that log cabin

Billy Mitchell (the mountain with the clouds on it)
was named for Lt William "Billy" Mitchell

In 1903, Lt Billy Mitchell was a member of the United States Army Signal Corps that completed the trans-Alaska telegraph line connecting all the military posts in the territory. He prophesied that "he who holds Alaska will hold the world as far as defending the North American continent." He learned to fly in 1916, and commanded the American air combat units in France during World War I. After the war he was a strong proponent of the use of military airplanes and urged the establishment of an air force separate from the Army and Navy. His ideas were not well accepted, and friction with his superiors led to a demotion and court martial. Mitchell resigned, but continued to argue the importance of air power, and is now considered the "Father of the modern United States Air Force."

Looking into the Devil's Elbow gorge
of the Tsaina River deep below

Worthington Glacier ahead

Getting even closer to Worthington Glacier

Attempting to zoom in on the blue spot;
glaciers are so often covered with snow and debris
that you miss seeing the ice-blue, well, ice!

View west at switchback after Thompson Pass

Snow poles along the road guide snow plows in the winter

Dead tree floating down the Lowe River;
the highway used to go through the tunnel seen towards the left

Old Railroad Tunnel was hand cut when
several companies competed for a railroad
route from copper country to the coast; this one
was never finished as the route to Cordova won (KSS)

Bridal Veil Falls (KSS)

Horsetail Falls

The foundation of the post office of Old Valdez

Valdez, AK was named in 1790 by a Spanish explorer. A town was developed in 1898 as a scam to  lure gold prospectors to use the Valdez Glacier Trail. The trail was longer and steeper than the one from Skagway, and many died. After construction of the Richardson Highway in 1899, Valdez flourished due to its ice-free port.
The 1964 Good Friday Earthquake caused an underwater landslide, resulting in a chunk of the city to break off and sink into the sea. The remaining area of the city was declared unstable, and over three years, the town was relocated four miles away.

Old Valdez is being reclaimed by nature

Crooked Creek Falls

A massive burl on a tree trunk (KSS)

We arrived in (New) Valdez, which is rather spread out. First a visit to the Valdez Museum.

Outside the Valdez Museum is lifeboat #4 from the Prinsendam (KSS)

In 1980, Holland America's ship Prinsendam had left Ketchikan to head to Valdez and then eventually to Asia. A fire started in the engine room and as it was not adequately responding to fire-fighting efforts, the passengers were alerted. They boarded the lifeboats, but were hundreds of miles from help. Fortunately a supertanker and private boats came to pick up the passengers,as the Prinsendam sank. No life was lost.

Fresnel lens from the Cape Hinchinbrook
Lighthouse; the lens was replaced
in 1967 by an aero beacon

Ahrens Steamer Fire Engine (1907)

Alutiiq Hunting Visor (2012, by Peter Lind, Jr);
this would be worn while hunting marine mammals
and served to protect the face from sun and rain,
as well as to camouflage the hunter as he sat in his kayak

Pinzon bar from the Pinzon Bar in the original city of Valdez

This "Northern Pacific Fur Fish" was a feature at the
Valdez Hotel Gift Shop in the 1950s and 1960s

The first ceremonial barrel of oil filled from the
Alyeska Pipeline that extends 800 miles from
Prudhoe Bay to Valdez, was pumped 7/28/1977

The very first barrel of oil from Prudhoe Bay was actually brought
by a sled dog team on 4/13/1975, and the museum has a vial of that oil

Whispering Giant (1981, by Peter Toth), one of
a series of carvings in a project to place one in
each state, with features of the area's Native people
(a Roadside America attraction)

Carving of a bear that has been attributed to Peter Toth,
and is supposed to be one of two carvings

The Maxine & Jesse Whitney Museum at the Prince William Sound College

The Maxine & Jesse Whitney Museum (no photographs and admission fee by donation) was filled with Native Alaskan artifacts and Alaskan wildlife taxidermy, collected by Maxine in her travels around the state, ostensibly purchasing items from the Natives for her gift shop.

Dolls by Ethel Washington of the Iñupiaq

Day 26 continues...