8/26/2009 Valdez, Alaska

Valdez has two museums and we managed to see two of them. One, called The Old Valdez Museum, highlighted displays, under glass, of how Valdez was laid out prior to the earthquake. That really didn't hold much interest for us. There was an old Wurlitzer jukebox, some old books, some Army equipment, just nothing that really held our attention, except for the film we watched on the Good Friday earthquake. It was 34 minutes long and had actual movie footage of the land rolling during the quake taken by a town resident. How frightening that day had to be. The film also had snippets of conversation with people who still live in Valdez and were kids or young adults back in 64'. That was very interesting, to hear their details of that day.

The other museum, The Valdez Museum, held things like the firefighting equipment I put in yesterday's post, memorabilia from Alaska's acceptance into the Union, more about the earthquake, Pipeline info and so much more.

This boat, the Perry, sits outside the museum.

Also out front is a display for a pig. Not an oink-oink kind of pig. Actually, its real name is "scraper pig".

These devices are used to remove wax deposits from inside the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. Did you know wax is a natural component of crude oil? I didn't know that. Anyway, its put inside the 48" mainline pipe and it flows along with the crude oil at 6 mph. Its removed further on down the line. There are also "Smart pigs" which do the same thing but also collect information about the pipe such as deformities and corrosion.

Do you know what this is? If you think you do, leave me a comment with your guess.

Bob and I thought this was a pretty good way to catch some fish!

The above is a model of a Fish Wheel. This floats a few feet offshore on a salmon spawning river. The current pushes the paddles and net baskets and turns the wheel. Migrating salmon cannot see the wheel in the milky colored water and are scooped up by the net baskets. As the baskets rotate out of the water the salmon fall on to chutes at the center of the wheel and then slide into a catch box. A fish wheel catches can run as high as 300 salmon an hour! These have been used for several generations and are still used today.

There was a large display about the building of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline.

The 800 mile long pipeline carries crude oil from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez. The 48 inch diameter pipe crosses three rugged mountain ranges as well as immense forest, rivers and plains.

The largest output of oil was recorded on January 14, 1988. The output that day was a whopping 362,000,000 barrels. Currently, oil output averages about one million barrels per day.

You can't be in Valdez and not think about the oil spill Ironically, it happened on Good Friday (I bet Alaskan's hold their collective breath all day on Good Friday every year)

On March 23, 1989, the oil tanker Exxon Valdez left the Valdez Marine Terminal bound for California with full load of oil, approximately 53 million gallons. The ship captain was granted permission to change course to avoid icebergs and he gave the orders to the Third Mate. For reasons unknown, the ship was never put back on the proper course. Three hours later she ran aground spilling at least 11 million gallons of crude oil into Prince William Sound. It was the largest oil spill in US waters.

There was something I forgot to tell you about in yesterday's post. A credit card machine was found in 2004 partially buried in mud at the former site of the Valdez dock. (The dock was destroyed in the earthquake) Although the machine is corroded from 40 years of immersion in salt water, the plastic credit card that was found still in the machine amazingly remains in perfect condition. (That should all make us think twice about throwing plastic away to be buried in a landfill!)

Now here's another thing I didn't know about! This just about floored me! I'm so glad we came to this museum.

Since we've been in Alaska I've seen things I have never seen before. A halibut. I had never seen a halibut before because they aren't in the waters of the Atlantic off the Delaware coast. A ling cod, never saw one of those either. Quite frankly I wouldn't care if I ever saw one of those again because they are such an ugly fish.

Another fish I have never seen in person is a North Pacific Fur Fish. I had not even heard about this fish before. Evidently this fish is a rare sight in the waters of the Prince William Sound. Its fur coat, yes, you read that right, its fur coat, is an adaptation to the frigid glacial waters of the area. The picture below is one of only a few ever caught.

I wish the pictures were better but I think you can see it ok.

The Northern Pacific Fur Fish was a popular tourist attraction in the late 1950s and early 1960s. This original Fur Fish hung for years in the Valdez Hotel Gift Shop before being moved to the museum.

New information just in suggests that the Fur Fish is still alive! It has gone through further adaptation since this specimen was caught. It is rumored that one caught recently was not fur covered, but instead covered with Gore-Tex with a Thinsulate liner!

After the museum we went down to the docks and passed this Peter Toth carving on the way. It is one of his "Whispering Giants". Bob and I are familiar with these carvings because we have one in Delaware. Actually, every state has one, but we've seen ours.

This stands 30 ft tall, is made out of Sitka Spruce, weighs, 85,000 pounds and was completed in October, 1981. It is number #40 in his series.

Down at the docks, this was our view at the waterfront.

The boarding area of the passenger tour ships that come into Valdez quite frequently.

Lots of fisherman were out today. I wonder if they know what bait the Fur fish is biting on today. ;-)

From the docks we went to the salmon spawning ponds. These ponds are where the salmon who were born here several years ago come back to mate and.....

.....and ultimately die.

We hope you enjoyed Valdez, we certainly did!