Business View Magazine | March 2019

157 T he Port of Valdez is located at the head of a deep fjord in Prince Wil- liam Sound in southern Alaska that reaches 11 miles inland. It is the United States' farthest north, ice-free port with the best access to Alaska's interior, as well as to the Pacific Northwest, Northern Canada, and Pacific Rim trade routes. On the northern side of the bay sits the City of Valdez’ docks and waterfront facilities, including its Container and Grain terminals, its recreational and com- mercial boat harbors, and the John Thomas Kelsey Cruise Ship Terminal. South, across the bay, is the 1,000-acre, Valdez Marine terminal, owned by Alyeska Pipeline Service Company and located at the southern terminus of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS), which begins 800 miles north in Prudhoe Bay. The area around these two marine facilities was once populated by Alaska Native tribes who used it for fishing, and trading copper, jade, hides, and other furs. It was further ex- plored and exploited, in turn, by English, Span- ish, and Russian trappers and traders. Few people lived in the Valdez area until the winter of 1897-98 when gold-seekers came to Valdez to follow the "All-American Route" over the Valdez Glacier into the interior. Unfortunately for the hapless miners, the route was a scam, invented by unscrupulous steamship compa-