Prince Rupert, Canada

 

Photo stop on our trolley tour

We did a trolley tour of Prince Rupert which proved quite entertaining. Our guide was a great storyteller. The town has had numerous boom and bust cycles. This is the western most, ice free port in Canada, the closest to Asia. In the early 1900s it was a logical port for the end of the Canadian Railroad, since Asian goods could reach the interior much faster from here than using the Panama Canal. Unfortunately, the major financiers for this project died on the Titanic.

Last train station and the port

Forestry became the major industry during both world wars providing spruce for airplanes and housing. The US stationed 2000 soldiers here during World War II, part of the defense against a Japanese invasion. Today, fishing and tourism are the major industries, but a $3 billion port is about to be built here, resurrecting the railroad vision.

Fishing is still king

While I struggled with the many days of fog in the Bering Sea, we’ve had excellent weather, none of our excursions (except Nome) have been spoiled by rain. We saw a lot of eagles, harbor seals, and whales. The landscape of Alaska is gorgeous with numerous glaciers, huge forests, snow covered mountains, and waterfalls. We also went to many ports that are rarely visited, each with its own story. We spent almost every night with Ray, Sue, and Carol drinking Smoky Old Fashions, wine, and Manhattans.  Often joined by our trivia partners Chris and Tracy.  If we had only won trivia at least once. Overall, a great cruise!

Wrangle, Alaska

 

Wrangle today has a population of 2000, but its population has changed both up and down since being founded in the 1830s by the Russians.

The Bear Tribal House

We visited a tribal house, which was rebuilt in 1940. Because of rot only about 7% of the previous house remains, the roof pillars. The Bear house was a family house of 60 to 80 people in the Tlingit tribe. These houses are hand built of and use tongue and groove construction, so they can be moved and rebuilt. It takes about 20,000 adze strokes to build one sideboard from a cedar tree. Each of the house posts tells a tribal story, but only tribe members know the story. In traditional culture a child is taught their trade by their aunt or uncle, weaving, hunting, carver, etc.

Interior with 2 house posts

The major industries have changed over time: fur, supplying gold seekers, lumber, and fishing. Wolf, sea otter, wolverine furs.

Killer Whale Petroglyph

The most interesting stop was Petroglyph Beach. Over 60 different petroglyphs are visible here. We don’t know how old they are, 200 years to 9000 years is possible. Many have designs that are traditional Tlinkit symbols. But there are also spirals, which aren’t traditional. Today was the warmest day of the cruise: 60 degrees with lots of sun.

Spiral and Cedar Bark Petroglyph

Endicott Arm

Endicott Arm

 Endicott Arm is a 30 miles long fjord ending in the Daws glacier surrounded by 7000-foot peaks. We entered the fjord at 7:30 and passed two cruise ships as we made our way to the glacier, arriving about 10:00AM. 

Approaching Daws Glacier

We started in rain, got some sunshine, and left with fog and clouds. This is the last of our tide water glaciers. Daw glacier is 20 miles long, and 360 feet high.

Daws Glacier