Valdez is a prosperous city of 4,450 that serves as not only a terminal for oil tankers but also a recreation centre for sport-fishing kayaking, flight-seeing, river rafting, hiking, winter sports, wildlife viewing, and boat tours of the sumptuous eastern end of Prince William Sound.

Valdez Museum is a well-organized facility that does a fine job of displaying its mix of Native, gold rush, early settlement, and oil industry artefacts.

A few kilometres out of town, at the airport complex, the superb Maxine & Jesse Whitney Museum said to be the largest private collection of Native art and artefacts in Alaska, plus trophy-class mounts of Alaska’s large mammals. The pieces are elaborate and reward close inspection.