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Bruce L. Oliver
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Travel n Cruise News website Bruce Oliver - Enfield, CT
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Fairbanks, AlaskaAug-Sept, 2002Fairbanks, AlaskaRiding the Alaskan Rail Road from Denali to Fairbanks
The first night in Fairbanks I saw the Aurora Borealis. What a beautiful event - I stood outside for almost 3 hours watching the lights in the sky. For more information on Northern Lights refer to the following inserted page from the University of Alaska.
The Trans-Alaskan Pipeline - Mile 450On March 13, 1968, The Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO) and Humble Oil and Refining Company (now Exxon Company, U.S.A.) announced that they had found a major oil supply in the northern part of the State of Alaska. The Prudhoe Bay well was a success. Within a couple of months, it was determined that a 800.302 mile pipeline would be the best way to transport the oil to Prince William Sound and the southern coast of Alaska. Over the next six years the work would take them to elevations as high as 4,739 feet and cover 16.3 square miles of the state's terraine. To build a safe and reliable pipeline they would have to consider ambient temperatures between -80 degrees F and 95 degrees F. They would also factor the plants and wildlife that might be affected into their calculations. Since it started operation the pipeline has delivered an maximum average daily throughput of 2.136 million bbl., avg. with 11 pump stations operating. THIS SECTION STILL NEEDS TO BE FINISHED
Cost—Approximately $8 billion for construction of entire system, including Terminal and pump stations, at conclusion of initial construction period in 1977. Does not include interest on capital investment, or capital construction after 1977.
PIGS IN THE PIPELINE (sign next to the exhibit)
Large Animal Research Station
The University of Alaska Museum
Dinosaurs of Alaska
The dinosaur hunting grounds along the Coville River represent the richest accumulation of bones to be found in the Arctic. Work since 1985 is produced over 4000 bones and teeth. These fossils represent that we six different families of dinosaurs. The most common form is a herbivorous, non-crested, hadrosaur (duckbill) named Edmontosaurus. The usual ceratopsian (horned) dinosaur, Pachyrhinosaurus, has also been found along the Coville river near Ocean Point. In addition, at least three families of theropods, or carnivorous dinosaurs, are represented by teeth and rear skull and vertebrae fragments. These bipedal, carnivores (Albertosaurus, Troodon, and Saurornitholestes) were swift in intelligent must have been the common predators and scavengers of the duct bills and horned dinosaurs."
BLUE BABE STEPPE BISON (Bison priscus) - Pearl Creek - Donor: Walter and Ruth Roman and sons; Dan Egan
"This is a re-constructed carcass of a male Alaskan steppe bison which was found in the summer of 1979 by Walter and Ruth Roman and sons at their placer mine near Fairbanks. The excavation was conducted by a professor at the Institute of Arctic biology, University of Alaska. This specimen has a blue skull or over the entire carcass. This resulted when the phosphorus in the animal tissue reacted with the iron in the soil to produce mineral coating of vivianite, which became a brilliant blue when it was exposed to air. Hence, this steppe bison was nicknamed Blue Babe, after Paul Bunyan's giant blue ox. The steppe bison is one of the several extinct large mammals that Roman interior Alaska during the Wisconsinan glacial period 100,000 to 10,000 years ago. The same species has been found across Eurasia to Spain and France, were bison drawings were made on the cave walls by Paleolithic artists. This steppe bison died about 36,000 years ago. It's under fur and the remains of summer fat reveal that it died in early winter. Claw marks on the rear of carcass and to punctures in the skin indicate that the bison was probably killed by one of its predators."
Discovery River Tour
A Bush Pilot can land on a dime.
Houses, houses and more houses. Each with a boat and/or plane for transportation.
Sled dogs consume tons of salmon each year and it all has to be caught and preserved for the winter months.
What a nice ride is everyone's comment......
We also visited a native village and learned about their culture first hand. Jessie Butcher (Iditarod Jr. Champion and daughter of Susan Butcher) commanded the sled team that raced around the village in front of the ship.
May I extend special thanks to Susan Motter for the book and for the historic pictures of Fairbanks that will appear on this page.
Susan Motter and Jo Scott greet the group.
I love the art in their home. I'm not surprised that they have some of the best that is available in Alaska. Jo played the piano as we waited for our cooks to finish grilling the salmon and putting the finishing touches on our salad and home cooked meal.
Our table enjoyed the home grown vegetables and grilled salmon with a bottle of wine. Best salmon that I've had in a long time.
Time to visit and congratulate people with anniversaries and birthdays.
Shots of the Scotts yard and home.
Fairbanks International Airport: This is the room where Pope John Paul met with President Reagan on May 2, 1984.
Definition—Any rock or
soil material that has rema
Cold permafrost- Remains below 30 degrees F, and which may be as low as 100 F as on the North Slope; tolerates introduction of considerable heat with-out thawing. Ice-rich—20% to 50% visible ice. Thaw-stable—Permafrost in bedrock, in well drained, coarse-grained sediments such as glacial outwash gravel, and in many sand and gravel mixtures. Subsidence or settlement when thawed is minor, foundation remains essentially sound. Thaw-unstable—Poorly drained, fine grained soils, especially silts and clays. Such soils generally contain large amounts of ice. The result of thawing can be loss of strength, excessive settlement and soil containing so much moisture that it flows. Warm permafrost—Remains just below 32~ F. The addition of very little
additional heat may induce thawing. Depth along pipeline route—From a few inches to
2,230 ft. approx. Location, definitions: Continuous Zone—Permafrost is found almost everywhere in the zone, as
the name implies. Includes all of the North Slope and most of Western
Alaska. Pipeline, affected areas- Approximately 75% of
the line passes through permafrost terrain. The line traverses the
continuous zone on the North Slope and through the Brooks Range; it then
encounters the discontinuous and sporadic zones and passes through areas of no
permafrost in the immediate vicinity of Valdez. Problems — Frost-heaving—When the active layer freezes, ice forms, pushing the
ground surface upward. Design solutions—The pipeline design is based primarily on the soil conditions encountered along the right-of-way. There are three principal design modes. Above-ground pipeline- Where thaw-unstable permafrost was encountered,
problems associated with melting permafrost were avoided by placing the pipeline
above ground on an elevated support system. VSMs (pilings) used to support the
line were designed to resist frost-jacking forces. To allow animals to
cross, twenty-three sections were conventionally buried line-wide, each about
200 feet long. (Pages 78-81)
©1994-2010 Bruce L Oliver, Enfield, CT News
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I appreciate you as a client and a friend. I appreciate your business, your loyalty, trust and your referrals. It is my goal to provide the very best counsel, advice and service possible for your travel needs. If I may ever be of assistance to you, a relative, friend or co-worker please don’t hesitate to call me. I look forward to the opportunity to serve you.™ |
Bruce has travel photographer press credentials from the National Press Association and the ITWPA. Bruce Oliver is known as an internet consultant, Business Development Info, Virtual Tour Travel Photographer and World Traveler. He is listed as a Biographee in MARQUIS: Who's Who in America and Who's Who in American Education. Visit other sites listed here: WAH BDI
This page is dedicated to: Robert A. Oliver - 1963 to 1999
my brother, friend and traveling companion
This Travelring site owned by Bruce_Oliver@msn.com. |
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to safely return these currents back to the earth, reducing the risk of damage
to the pipeline. 
RETIRED PIG
(sign next to the exhibit)
The muskoxen,
reindeer, and caribou are survivors from the last ice age
.
The shaggy muskox lived alongside the mammoth and today lives on the most
northerly land masses in Alaska. The restless caribou maintain their year-long
migrations across the circumpolar North. Most species have made unique and
fascinating adaptations enabling a long, shared existence in one of the most
extreme environments on earth. The research station is dedicated to better
understanding the biology of these animals and in making its knowledge available
for research management and in education. By maintaining colonies of muskoxen
and barren ground caribou, unique opportunities are afforded to scientists and
students from all the world.
"
The
record of dinosaurs Alaska spans approximately 65 million years from the Late
Jurassic to the Late Cretaceous. The Late Cretaceous rocks (83 to 68 million
years ago) contained the most abundant and diverse record of dinosaurs thus far
documented. The great balk of this Cretaceous record is found on Alaska's
northern slope from Umiat to Ocean Point on the Coville River. Dinosaur fossil
czar known from Northwestern, Southwestern, and South Central Alaska although a
single partial skull of the ankylosaur (armored dinosaur), Edmontonia, has been
described in the Central Talkeetna Mountains of South Central Alaska.
Susan Butcher (Iditarod
Champion) talks to us about the challenges that one encounters trying to train
and take care of 100-150 sled dogs that have more energy than 10 people.
They truly love what they do.
ined below 32 degrees F continuously for two or more
years. The two-year minimum stipulation is meant to exclude from the
definition the overlying ground surface layer which freezes every winter and
thaws every summer (called the “active layer" or "seasonal frost").
