Page 117 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide 2017 - Alaska

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PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND

The northernmost extent of the Gulf of Alaska, Prince William
Sound is a large bay studded with forested islands. Lying
to the east of the Kenai Range and south of the heavily
glaciated Chugach Range, the massive sound is roughly
twice the size of Massachusetts, with convoluted coasts
lined with large tidewater glaciers and sheltered waters
that harbor a rich variety of wildlife.

Home to the Eyak, Dena’ina, and other the northernmost ice-free port in North
Native peoples, the Prince William Sound America, was chosen as the site of the
area was first explored in 1778 by the marine terminal for the Trans-Alaska
British captain James Cook and by the Pipeline. Since then, oil tankers have
Spanish explorer Don Salvador Fidalgo in shared the shipping lanes with Marine
1790, both of whom were searching for Highway ferries, fishing boats, kayakers,
the elusive Northwest Passage. The first and, more recently, cruise ships calling
serious scientific study of the area was into the port of Whittier.
conducted in June 1899 by the Harriman Despite the environmental damage
Expedition, which included eminent suffered in the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill,
scientists and art ists. Much of their vast most of the sound has come back, at
collection of specimens, illustrations, and least on the surface. Although herring
photo graphs is now at the Smithsonian fisheries have never recovered, marine
Institution in Washington, DC. life is again prolific and wildlife watching
In the early decades of the 20th cruises can be very reward ing. Bird-
century, the area’s economy received watchers will enjoy the kittiwake colonies
a boost when the town of Cordova near Whittier and the migratory birds of
became the railhead for the Copper the Copper River Delta. Kayaking among
River and Northwestern Railway. In the ice floes in the bay is another popu lar
the 1970s, Valdez, by virtue of being activity, as is hiking around the glaciers.

Fisherman’s Memorial overlooking Cordova’s boat harbor
Meltwater cascading down forested slopes near Whittier, Prince William Sound

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