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![]() The Gold Rush of 1898
Valdez and the Gold Rush "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. By August most of
the 4,000 or more goldrushers knew - they had been conned. But was it
worth it? No, for those who died. Yes, for the many who found the greatest
adventure of their lives. They returned home to tell others about Valdez's
mountainous beauty and awe-inspiring glaciers. They told stories of their
thrilling experiences rafting wild rivers, encountering bears, catching
fish and hiking wilderness trails. And yes, for those who succumbed to
the lure and challenge of building the first ice-free trail between coastal
and interior Alaska. Today, this is the route of the Richardson Highway
and the TransAlaska Pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez. And yes, again,
for those who were so intrigued by this majestic wonderland they stayed
to build the town of Valdez and Alaska. Nancy Lethcoe |
© Copyright 1997-98 Valdez Convention and Visitor's Bureau. This page was created by ![]() Last built on 9/28/98; 4:03:39 PM with Frontier on a Macintosh. |