| Show ap around with the nt NEA a one in a series of articles by albert W epperson who recently returned from a trip with the national editorial association to alaska alter after leaving cordova in fit ald morning borning of june 11 our ship cruls through prince Willi william ant pd ed on fiobo and by bv mid afternoon we the alie beautiful Coulm bla glacier this body of lee ice Is the larest and most spectacular of all Klac glaciers lers that can be approached by ship hip blue white in color as was the alie mendenhall glacier at juneau the size of the colu is beyond I 1 ond description our skipper shipper drew the aleutian up alongside thel the towering mountain of ice to sha show us how bow vibrations from the shil ships whistle would break oft off chunks of 1 ice we were disappointed how ever because try after try on the whistle cord failed to dislodge the anticipated huge bergs the bay L ay however was tilled filled with aminat lee ice bergs and as our ship sall sailed out to more open waters we could I 1 valdez alaska gateway to the interior of the territory hear bear the churning of the file propellers as they struck the blocks of ice and then on up the sound when we arrived about 5 pm this day at valdez a city of persons 1356 nautical miles from se seattle ittle valdez Is the gateway to the interior of alaska the first point on the be seaboard aboard where a highway con connects the interior with ocean go 90 ing vessels when the spanish explorer lt fidalgo dalgo sailed into anto the beautiful mountain locked harbor he be named rt ft puerto de valdes first settled le s a tent town in the early gold ph ush days and called oal leidl copper city te be name was changed to valdez y a mass meeting of citizens in 1898 valdez became a great gold rush ity tor for the same reason that it emmins a vitally important link n the transportation field today surly aly prospectors had made their ay Y to the interior from haines across chilkott chilkoot Chil koot hoot pass which necessitated crossing canadian territory and the payment ot of toll to that country the trail from valdez at the head of a year round harbor provided a shorter and much more direct klinect route to the interior entirely 1 y within italin It llin the bounds of united states territory its history is is a tin thi tiling liling story ot of mining railroading highway building and freighting via the ardson highway which lias has its terminus here all of interior alaska Is accessible and present activities center largely around the transportation business as thousands ot of tons of freight ps pass thru I 1 the port and over the highway in huge trucks no newspaper is published in valdez but we did see the method ef ct informing the people of the city secured on the corner of a building in ill the center of town is a glass case about three feet square where legal notices notice lost and found notices of meetings arid add other advertisements are tacked up we also saw naw a pair of glasses and a few other trinkets that had been found placed in the valdez newspaper we ve round found that valdez though small had good stores and the weather was tine fine the lay day 0 of f our visit residents claim that the temperature rarely goes below zero in winter and that there Is just enough rain for the growing of fine berries and vegetables to leave at pm our ship did not kuepart until about 10 that evening due to the huge cargo to be unloaded another factor which caused the delay we were told lold was a regulation of the long shor emens union which requires rest periods at regular intervals but we vo were merrily on our way late that evening with seward our next stop which because of the valdez delay would not be reached until 9 am am on june 12 to be continued 1 clumbia glacier skippers whistle failed to dislodge ice |
