Discover Valdez: History

A BRIEF HISTORY OF ALASKA OIL EXPLORATION & PIPELINE DEVELOPMENT

The presence of crude oil on Alaska's North Slope was suspected for more than a century. In 1968, Atlantic Richfield Company and Humble Oil (now Exxon) confirmed the presence of a vast oil field at Prudhoe Bay. Within a year, plans were under way for a pipeline.

On Good Friday, March 27, 1964, the largest earthquake ever to hit North America struck Alaska. It was the second largest earthquake ever recorded, second only to Chile in 1960, which experienced a quake of 9.5 Moment Magnitude (Mw). The epicenter of this awesome quake was a mere 45 miles west of Valdez and 14 miles under the earth's crust. Initial shocks lasting over five minutes affected nearly all of the coastal communities of Alaska.

On Good Friday, March 24, 1989, 25 years after the 1964 Good Friday Earthquake, the Exxon Valdez oil tanker ran aground at Bligh Reef. The vessel spilled 10.8 million gallons of unrefined Alaskan crude oil into Prince William Sound, causing the largest oil spill in North American history.

 No crude oil actually made it into the Port of Valdez, as Bligh Reef is about 25 miles south of the Port. However, winds and tides moved the floating crude oil further south into the Sound and onto beaches. Oil covered over 1200 miles of rocky beaches — the task of cleaning it up was a big one.

When driving into Valdez, you will pass through Keystone Canyon. It is a place of spectacular waterfalls, magnificent geology and fascinating history. Keystone Canyon is located at miles 14 through 17 on the Richardson Highway.

W.R. Abercrombie, a Lieutenant in the US Army, was sent to Valdez with orders to find or build a road connecting Valdez to the interior of Alaska.

After many searches, in 1898 he found an old native trail that began in Keystone Canyon. By 1909 the trail was widened and ran from Valdez to Eagle and was called the Military or Valdez Trail.

Part of Valdez's heritage is located 7 miles up beautiful Mineral Creek Canyon. Established as a result of gold fever, the same fever that gave birth to the town of Valdez, the Stamp Mill stands a tribute to the efforts of early miners to strike it rich.

The Stamp Mill then and now is state owned, but it was built by W.L. Smith during the summer and winter of 1913. It took a total of two men to work the stamp mill at all times.

"Gold in Alaska!" "Valdez Glacier — Best Trail!" So rang the headlines in 1897-1898.

Steamship companies promoted the Valdez Glacier Trail, praising it as the only All-American trail to Alaska's interior. The Copper River, they said, was on American soil. Prospectors were bound to find even more gold there than in the Klondike.

It was one of the greatest hoaxes in Alaska's history. The prospectors arrived to find a glacier trail twice as long and steep as reported. With frontier grit, they set about hand sledding more than a 1000 pounds of supplies over the glacier, building boats, rafting the Klutina River's Hell's Gate rapids, and prospecting unnamed creeks.

Mrs. Dowling, Mrs. Anne Barrett, Miss Lillian Moore — these women and 60 others joined the Valdez Gold Rush.  Some were married, some were adventuresome unmarried women. They were all looking for something more exciting than church socials and tea parties.

The history of Valdez can be traced back to the establishment of Fort Liscum, which operated from 1900-1923, was located three miles from the head of Valdez Bay on the south shore.

ARCHIVE REPORT
from The Valdez Miner, July 9, 1927

Whatever doubt may have existed as to the nature of the disturbance which occurred in Craig basin, about 15 miles from valdez, last January [1927], was set to rest last week when John DeHart and Peter Mass visited the scene, and returned with a series of photographs, 30 in number, taken by Mr. Maas, who is an expert photographer, which demonstrates that the theory of a huge landslide is erroneous.