Alaska Revisited
Let me be clear—I visit to see my grandchildren. That said, I also visit because Alaska is where I find more of God's beauty than anywhere else. I cannot imagine so much grandeur and majesty as a result of unplanned chaos, of accidental randomness. It has to be the result of an infinitely grand plan.
I will try to break it down for you. First and foremost are the mountains. These are not just old and tired lumps of greenery; they are robust, filled with boulders and slides of rock and rivulets and torrents of snow melt. They are capped eternally with snow. They fill the eyes beyond the capacity of the eye to take them in.
You never realize it (until you are in the air over them) how limited your perspective of the mountains is. From the air you can truly see them, like marching white-covered dragon's teeth, clear to the distant horizon. The glaciers flow mightily in turgid majesty between and around the peaks, creating mountain lakes and piles of debris from their millennial retreat and advance. From the ground and from civilization all you can see are the foothills, the steps to the castle of His majesty, where He has created a show of mountainous abundance that most people will never see.
Another aspect of Alaska that slowly rises to a conscious level is the permanence of nature and the transience of man. One example is the Great Alaskan Earthquake of 1964, which measured 9.2 on the Richter scale—an earthquake of unimaginable proportions. Here is what the USGS had to say about it:
"This great earthquake and ensuing tsunami took 125 lives (tsunami 110, earthquake 15), and caused about $311 million in property loss. Earthquake effects were heavy in many towns, including Anchorage, Chitina, Glennallen, Homer, Hope, Kasilof, Kenai, Kodiak, Moose Pass, Portage, Seldovia, Seward, Sterling, Valdez, Wasilla, and Whittier.
Anchorage, about 120 kilometers northwest of the epicenter, sustained the most severe damage to property. About 30 blocks of dwellings and commercial buildings were damaged or destroyed in the downtown area. The J.C. Penny Company building was damaged beyond repair; the Four Seasons apartment building, a new six-story structure, collapsed; and many other multistory buildings were damaged heavily. The schools in Anchorage were almost devastated. The Government Hill Grade School, sitting astride a huge landslide, was almost a total loss. Anchorage High School and Denali Grade School were damaged severely. Duration of the shock was estimated at 3 minutes.
Landslides in Anchorage caused heavy damage. Huge slides occurred in the downtown business section, at Government Hill, and at Turnagain Heights. The largest and most devastating landslide occurred at Turnagain Heights. An area of about 130 acres was devasted by displacements that broke the ground into many deranged blocks that were collapsed and tilted at all angles. This slide destroyed about 75 private houses. Water mains and gas, sewer, telephone, and electrical systems were disrupted throughout the area.
The earthquake was accompanied by vertical displacement over an area of about 520,00 square kilometers. The major area of uplift trended northeast from southern Kodiak Island to Price William Sound and trended east-west to the east of the sound. Vertical displacements ranged from about 11.5 meters of uplift to 2.3 meters of subsidence relative to sea level. Off the southwest end of Montague Island, there was absolute vertical displacement of about 13 - 15 meters. Uplift also occurred along the extreme southeast coast of Kodiak Island, Sitkalidak Island, and over part or all of Sitkinak Island. This zone of subsidence covered about 285,000 square kilometers, including the north and west parts of Prince William Sound, the west part of the Chugach Mountains, most of Kenai Peninsula, and almost all the Kodiak Island group.
This shock generated a tsunami that devasted many towns along the Gulf of Alaska, and left serious damage at Alberni and Port Alberni, Canada, along the West Coast of the United States (15 killed), and in Hawaii. The maximum wave height recorded was 67 meters at Valdez Inlet. Seiche action in rivers, lakes, bayous, and protected harbors and waterways along the Gulf Coast of Louisiana and Texas caused minor damage. It was also recorded on tide gages in Cuba and Puerto Rico.
This great earthquake was felt over a large area of Alaska and in parts of western Yukon Territory and British Columbia, Canada."
The entire town of Valdez was virtually destroyed. It was rebuilt in a more secure location afterwards. Little evidence remains of the devastation, until you notice the size and age of the trees where old Valdez once stood. None are older than 38 years of age. The picture below shows the damage to large trees that once stood there, damage done by the tsunami.
The next picture I call "Alaska dreamtime." This was an abandoned property next to the B & B I stayed at. Many people come to Alaska with a dream, but are ill-equipped to deal with the harsh reality of Alaska.
Finally, an Alaskan endeavor of a more permanent nature was the Kennecott copper mine. It was begun at the turn of the century, mining copper ore that was 40 to 60% pure copper (copper mines in Chile today, by comparison, run about 2% pure).
The town of Kennicott began to grow quickly until there were 300 people in the mill camp with 200 - 300 miners up in the mines about 3 miles away. A hospital, a store, grade school, dental office, dairy, and bunkhouses were built along with other buildings needed for the mines' operations. A recreation hall was provided which served the residents with a variety of entertainment. There were town dances, Christmas festivities, winter basketball games, picture shows, an ice-skating rink, ball field, and a tennis court to name a few! Kennicott was a company town with a reputation as being very proper and containing strict conduct rules. Meanwhile, down the hill about 5 miles another town was being born. McCarthy, which was originally called Shushana Junction but later renamed, was also growing into quite a miners' and railroaders' town. Restaurants, pool halls, hotels, saloons, two newspapers, a dress shop, a photography shop, garage and auto repair shop, shoe shop, hardware store, and others sprung up. They provided services to more than 800 people in the area.
Because the Kennecott Copper Corporation couldn't compete with the falling prices of copper, they officially closed down the mines in 1938. Train service was also discontinued. November of the same year the last train left Kennicott for Cordova taking most of the remaining people. A few years later the Company did an amazing thing! They voluntarily gave the CR & NW right-of-way to the federal government in 1941. It was given for the purpose of creating a public highway a gift to the people of Alaska. Today, Kennicott and McCarthy are privately owned. They are surrounded by the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve which was established in 1980. The area has about 35 year-round residents with more arriving for the summer tourist season.
I intend to revisit and revisit Alaska, even realizing that I, too, am just another transient. But there is a lot to be said for surrounding oneself with permanent majesty.
© Phil Hodgkins 2002
