Native Influence
The Valdez Trail and surrounding areas were controlled by the Chugach Eskimo and other various Athapaskan tribes. The paths created by the Natives followed river valleys and other naturally made passages. The trails were mostly used as a trade network.
Russian Exploration
The Russians had attempted to explore the area before 1805. The first recorded Russian in the Area was Leontii Nagaev and he discovered the Mouth of the Copper River. Another Explorer in 1798, Seymen Potochkin traveled the Copper river inland and recored a cenus of the Natives living in the Ahtna Village. However, all Russian attempts to explore interior Alaksa ceased in 1805 when the Tlinget tribe destroyed the Russian Colony at Yakutat.
About a decade later Russian Exploration picked up again and Afanasii Klimovskii was sent to explore the area. He traveled deeper than anyone before him and made it to the Gakona River. He and his party established a trading post which they named Copper Fort. The trading post lasted off and on for the next forty years.
About a decade later Russian Exploration picked up again and Afanasii Klimovskii was sent to explore the area. He traveled deeper than anyone before him and made it to the Gakona River. He and his party established a trading post which they named Copper Fort. The trading post lasted off and on for the next forty years.
The United States
When President Andrew Johnson purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867 exploration of Alaska’s interior abruptly stopped. The Valdez corridor laid untouched for the next 15 years. However, when gold was discovered in present-day Juneau and British Columbia’s Cassiar region prompted prospectors to explore farther north and interior Alaska’s prospects. Prospectors entered Interior Alaska mostly by the way of the Yukon River, Cook Inlet, and Prince William Sound.
The exploration that the miners underwent frightened the American Government because they didn’t want the miners mistreating and conflicting with the natives in the region. For this reason, the American government sent multiple military expeditions to explore and to reconnoiter the area. One such expedition commanded by Lt. William R. Abercrombie located the Valdez glacier to be an alternative overland route to Alaska’s interior after strong Rapids at the mouth of the Copper River stopped him from going any further. There were other expeditions following Abercrombie’s that added more pieces to the Valdez Corridor. Lt. Henry T. Allen ascended the Copper River and discovered the route across the Alaska Range and descended into the Tanana River Valley. E. Hazard Wells discovered much of the Eagle City branch of the Valdez Trail. Gold Discoveries continued in Alaska and British Columbia and sparked an international gold rush in 1886. Thousands of men and women flocked to the area. Most of the stampeders were unprepared and soon rumors of deprivation reached Washington D.C. The U.S. Army sent Cpt. Patrick H. Ray and Lt. Wilds P. Richardson to provide provisions. While in Alaska, Ray heard the demands for an “All-American Route” so miners would not have to deal with foreign policies. Ray demanded the construction of a government trail that led to the Yukon River Basin. Abercrombie's dangerous trail seemed to be the only path that prospectors could find when they stormed Port Valdez. Most that attempted the trail suffered from starvation, disease, and exposure to the elements. In the spring of 1898, Abercrombie was sent back to Port Valdez to locate a safer way. During his exploration, he discovered multiple old, unused native trails that were eventually utilized and incorporated into the Valdez trail. The army also sent Cpt. Edward F. Cullen on an expedition to explore the area. Cullen’s expedition created a path from the Cook Inlet to the Copper River basin. Lt. Joseph C. Castner discovered a trail that was unpopular at first but soon became a path well worn. Castner’s path was included in the Fairbanks fork of the Valdez trail. In 1899, Abercrombie and his men used hand tools and paved a 93-mile trail that was wide enough for a packhorse and nothing else. Prospectors and stampeders loved and took to the shorter safer path. Inspired by such traffic, construction of the trail continued until 1901 where it stretched from Valdez to Eagle City. |
Today visitors can explore the Valdez Trail themselves thanks to the National Park Service.