Old Portage, AK

On our drive to Seward along the Seward Highway, just past Girdwood, I spotted something on the side of the road. As a photographer, and a person, I ADORE abandoned, falling down buildings. They have so much HISTORY.

And I apparently spotted the proverbial gem mine. There were two falling down buildings in a frozen marsh along the side of the road. I was initially content to take pictures from the roadside, but WS was more adventurous and ventured out on the ice. THANK GOODNESS she did. The pictures we got were INVALUABLE. There were two buildings, and next to one of the buildings was an old rusted out truck.

I kept having this feeling that there was so much more to this place, so I remembered the mile marker and resolved to look it up when I got home. And what a history and story did I find.

What we discovered were the remains of the town of Portage, which was ruined and abandoned after the great 1964 earthquake. That earthquake among other things dropped the town of Portage down 6-10 feet and killed several trees at their roots from the salt water. These ruins have been standing for 47 years.

To read more, check out these wikipedia articles on the earthquake and the town.

Here's just a sample of the photos I took - here's the complete set: