The History of Valdez (06-29-14)

Exxon Valdez

Valdez- pronounced Valdeez, as in the “ Exxon Valdez” is, in fact, the place where the Exxon Valdez ran aground in 1989. So, right off the bat, most of us have heard of this small town. 
There are two good museums here and we went to them both. It was interesting hearing about the Exxon Valdez disaster from people who live here.  Here’s the synopsis of the tanker story:


  (By the way- quite a few of my pictures will look hazy- not quite clear.  That’s because it’s either foggy or drizzling most of the time)

Valdez is the terminus for the famous Alaskan Pipeline. This 48” diameter pipe pushes millions of gallons of  crude oil through it, from the far reaches of the oilfields to the small town of Valdez.  Valdez has the distinction of being the northernmost ice free deep port in North America, so tankers can come in and out of here all year long.

  On  March 24, 1989, the Exxon Valdez was one of the tankers in the harbor.  The captain, Joseph Hazelwood, motored the tanker out of port and was dodging glacier ice. He changed heading to avoid it, set the auto pilot, and called his 3rd mate to the bridge.



The 3rd mate was told to dodge the ice, then disengage the auto pilot and change the heading to avoid the reef. The captain went below.  The officer followed orders, but he forgot to disengage the auto pilot.  By the time he realized that the ship had not responded and changed course, it was too late.  They hit the reef.  

11 million gallons of crude oil spilled into Prince William Sound, and pandemonium ensued.   Unable to contain the spill (only 10% was ever recovered) due to inadequate equipment and bad weather, the oil spread. The population of Valdez jumped from 3600 to 12,000 as hundreds of oil containment workers, and animal rescue volunteers poured into town.

500,000 sea birds died.  At least 22 Killer Whales died. 250 Bald Eagles died.  And thousands of sea otters and seals died.

25 years after the accident, you wouldn’t know, on the surface, that it had ever happened.  The sea life seems to be thriving.  But underneath, of course there has been an effect.  There is still oil on some of the shoreline.

A lot was learned during the clean up of the Exxon Valdez- in fact, so  much was learned about it that Tom Colby from the Alaska Tanker Company said in 2009- “100% prevention is today’s goal because response levels, no  matter how quick, or what percentages of oil recovered, will never be good enough for the environment or a community dealing with the consequences of a spill”.

Well, that’s more than I planned on writing about that……

If you’re still awake, here’s more interesting history:

Earthquake!

Valdez was established in the late 1800s, in response to the Klondike gold rush. Many prospectors came through here on their way to strike it rich. A town slowly developed in the area that was easiest for the boats to come ashore.  It seemed to make sense at the time.  Why build a town away from the path the prospectors would take? 





In the end, though, it was a really bad idea. The town of Valdez was built on top of glacier silt and debris. Having nothing very solid under the buildings led to disaster.

On March 27, 1964, Valdez experienced the largest earthquake ever recorded in North America (it still holds that record).  At 9.2 on the Richter Scale, the earthquake lasted almost 5 minutes.  Residents say the earth didn’t shake- it rolled- like a wave. The soil gave way and all of the town docks, and some of the waterfront buildings fell into the water.

The landslide caused a tidal wave that infiltrated most of the town.  All the water mains broke.  Buildings fell. 28 people died.  When everything was quiet, the land had shifted sideways and had sunk 9 feet.

That 9 feet was important because it meant that the tides would now intrude much further into the town. The decision was made that there was no choice-the town of Valdez would have to move.

  Local businessman Owen Meals donated nearby land for the relocation of the town, and within 3 years of the earthquake, the town had been physically moved. The museum has dioramas showing exactly how the old town was laid out. 





Once the process was complete, the Old Town was demolished and has now returned to wilderness.

Valdez Today (06-30-14)

The only road in and out of Valdez is Thompson Pass.  On our way into town, we slowed down and enjoyed the view.  Wellington Glacier is one of the main attractions along the roadway. 

Thompson Pass is a slight gap in very huge mountains, so a road was built through it to reach Valdez. Not that the Pass is a balmy drive in the Bahamas-Valdez is the snow capital of Alaska-its one of the snowiest spots in North America. Record snow fall amounts for Thompson Pass  include 974 inches for the 1952-53 season, when it snowed 298 inches (24 feet) in the month of February alone.

One of our first stops was the Elks lodge- its getting to be a habit! The bartender told us about a short trail that goes up a small hill in the middle of town.  We checked it out on our way home and had quite a view.

The following day was our all day excursion to Meares Glacier. The boat we were on had very comfortable seating, both inside and out.  They served us a nice lunch and the captain did a great job of narrating during the day.






Anytime there was wildlife to see, he stopped the boat.  We saw humpback whales 4 times, and each time we watched them for quite a while.

Just the views made this trip worth it, but we also saw harbor seals, sea lions, sea otters, porpoises, eagles, and humpback whales.  The only thing we didn't see was killer whales.

Meares Glacier itself was pretty impressive with a sheer front that stands about 200 feet tall. There wasn’t as much glacier ice as we had seen at Sawyer glacier, so we actually got closer.









On the way home we passed right by the RV park we are staying in.  We had paid a little extra to have a waterfront site.  Our camper is the one on the left.

One night I looked out the window and watched a porcupine walk down the beach right behind our rig.

With rain falling from the sky, we ditched the idea of any hiking in Valdez, but we did go over to the fish hatchery.  It was actually closed due to heavy bear activity, but we never got to see a bear. We saw dozens of Bald Eagles though.

We watched the sea lions come in close to shore to chase the salmon.

The salmon would literally jump out of the water trying to escape the sea lions, but they weren't always successful.

Once he caught something, the sea lion would head back out to deeper water.

Pretty soon it was a free-for-all as the birds tried to steal the fish from the sea lion.  We had a really great time watching for a while, even though we had to have the umbrella to protect the camera.

We drove by again on our way out of town but the tide was out so the show wasn't happening. Just a bunch of eagles sitting on the mud flats.