The Strangest Town in Alaska : The History of Whittier, Alaska and the Portage Valley

by Alan Taylor

Picture Whittier, Alaska... - A city barely 50 years old that had no road access for its first 50 years.
- A city where 90% of the population lives in a single building.
- A city of stark contrast, drab concrete buildings nestled within the beauty of Prince William Sound.
- A city built to house 30,000 (in an emergency) in two of the largest structures in Alaska, yet only 300 people live there now. Whittier sits at a fascinating historical crossroads, traveled for hundreds of years by natives, traders, explorers, gold rushers, the U.S. military, and now visitors from all over the world. The area surrounding Whittier and Portage pass had significant roles in the expansion of Russian America, the Alaskan Gold Rush, World War II, and the Great Alaskan Earthquake of 1964. The Strangest Town in Alaska chronicles the events that shaped Whittier and Portage Valley, and looks ahead toward new events that hold great promise, including a unique road system that has only now opened the doors to Whittier.

Genres: History

115 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2000

About the author

Alan Shaw Taylor is a historian specializing in early American history. He is the author of a number of books about colonial America, the American Revolution, and the Early American Republic. He has won a Pulitzer Prize and the Bancroft Prize for his work.

Taylor graduated from Colby College, in Waterville, Maine, in 1977 and earned his Ph.D. from Brandeis University in 1986. Currently a professor of history at the University of California, Davis, he will join the faculty of the Corcoran Department of History at the University of Virginia in 2014.

Reviews

[Adam Orford · Rating 4 out of 5]

This weird and wonderful little book is available for sale in the grocery store in Whittier next to the kerosene. Written by a successful author but full of small typos and weird phrasing, it’s a labor of love that tells the surprisingly engaging story of the gritty outpost at the confluence of a deepwater channel and a land crossing to Anchorage.

[Shelby · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a resident of Whittier, it’s intriguing to read the history of this beautiful place. The author successfully shares the local history while explaining how events on the world stage affected the town. There are many small grammatical errors, though not enough to detract from the book’s readability. The pictures are fantastic aids to the storytelling.

If you want to learn about the history of Whittier - up till 2000, a year before the tunnel opened to vehicular traffic and changed Whittier forever - this is a solid choice.