7-13-2014 Seward Museum and Exit Glacier

Post 7-12-2014 Seward Museum and Exit Glacier

After driving out to the Exit Glacier at the Chugash National Park and being a bit disappointed because the glacier was just too far to walk for us to get there, we did spend some time reading about how it had receded over the years. Apparently it is receding around 100 feet per year and no reason other than the warm weather causes it. Odd that there are some glaciers in Alaska that are actually growing each year.  It was also interesting to learn how it got it's name.  In the early 40's the Harding Ice Field had become a place for adventurers to cross.  It covers 700 sq miles and has over 30 glaciers coming from it.  This glacier had become the best way for them to leave the ice field, and they called it the exit and the name stuck.  The ice field was named after President Harding in honor of his visit to Alaska in 1923.

                                                           The Exit Glacier

                We arrived at the Exit Glacier Ranger Station as they were opening up.

We decided to drive around and take pictures of all the murals we saw on the buildings. There is a walking tour for them but we passed that up. The museum was our next excursion. It is  one big room with a library upstairs. As we were looking, we saw the real story about “Alaska Nellie”. the person we met in the Boggs Visitors Center in Portage  was an actress who was portraying her part, and I must say she was good at it. “Alaska Nellie” was  a real person born in 1873 and eventually moved to Alaska. She was in the Naval Aid Auxiliary in WWII. We plan to locate  the community of Lawing on our way back up the peninsula and find her museum.

Alaska Nellie's Gold Necklace

Alaska Nellie Lawing

                                       Seward calls itself the "Mural Capital of Alaska"

                            Waterfall in the city


                                            Electric Car
The museum had the normal artifacts about the city. Seward was founded  by the Alaska Central Railroad Company as a terminus of a proposed railroad to the interior of Alaska on August 23, 1903. It was named after William H. Seward who served as Secretary of State under Abe Lincoln.

Seward is the original home (Mile 0) of the Iditarod Trail. It was established to deliver goods  and mail to the interior of Alaska and it is home of the first Iditarod Contest . The "race" was part of the celebration of the Alaska statehood and was inspired by an event in 1925.  There was a diphtheria epidemic in Nome and the medicine was in Seward. The dog sled mail deliverers raced around the clock to get the medicine to Nome.  The contest was later moved to Anchorage (publicity) and Wasilla (offical).

This statue is dedicated to the first Iditarod which went from Seward to Nome with medicine for the epidemic.  Personal note:  Boomer ran around the base about three times and happened to look up.  He got so excited, he could see the dog.

                                            

The museum presented a movie about the 1964 earthquake with raw footage and the reaction of some of the people. It was interesting yet scary as they didn’t know what was happening and the Tsunami was also devastating and unexpected.  Seward was hit with a 40ft tidal wave.
I am so happy I’ve not been in one but I did feel the one that struck in Virginia a several years ago.

Tomorrow, we will head toward Soldotna.

Our front yard where we parked overnight-Resurrection River 

It's true, there are many highway turnouts and unless there are "no overnight parking" signs, you can feel free to stop for the night, or in our case, a couple of nights.