The years between the World Wars saw a dramatic rise in tourism during the 20s, a sharp decline during the depression, and a vigorous recovery leading up to World War II. Several World War I trends continued: a shift in mode of travel from horseback or sledge to automobile, railway, and plane; a growing popularity in "package" tours; a continuing interest in the area by out-of-state owned tourism companies; a rise in more locally owned tourism businesses; and an increase in tourism promotional efforts sponsored by local newspapers, organizations and businesses. For the first time, the federal government helped promote tourism through a presidential visit and advertising by the Chugach National Forest. Following the depression, supporters of the tourism industry realized that tourism development required more than just marketing: the product, that is the visitor's experience, had to be good. City businesses supported conservation efforts as a means of attracting tourists.
Tourism to Valdez declined abruptly when the Richardson Highway closed from 1918 to 1921. When the Richardson Highway reopened in 1921, the Alaska Steamship Company teamed up with the Alaska Railroad and Alaskan-owned motorcoach companies to offer a circular tour known as "The Golden Belt Tour." One group of steamship tourists disembarked at Seward to take the railroad to Fairbanks, while the second group was let off in Valdez to travel the Richardson Highway to Fairbanks. The groups would then cross paths in Fairbanks, each returning by the other's route. A 1922, illustrated booklet, ALASKA: The Richardson Highway-Valdez to Fairbanks, promoted the route's history, scenic attractions and roadhouses.
In 1923, President Warren G. Harding visited Alaska with an entourage of 85 persons including his wife and several other ladies. The President came to formally open the Alaska Railroad, but while in Alaska he visited Valdez driving out the Richardson Highway to see famed Keystone Canyon. While in Cordova, he visited Miles and Childs Glaciers on the Copper River and Northwestern Railway. Publicity from the presidential visit increased interest in the Sound as a tourist destination.
Alaskan entrepreneurs often cooperated with out-of-state tourism companies. The Richardson Highway Transportation Co. owned by Robert Sheldon, George Hazelet and J.L. Galen purchased a fleet of motorcars to service steamship passengers. They operated tours between Valdez and Chitina or Fairbanks.
During the 1920s, a lively tourism industry developed. Combined highway/railway tours allowed visitors to travel from Valdez to Cordova or Seward where they were reunited with their ship. Valdez Museum and Historical Archives.
Although the trips superficially resembled modern cruiseship/motorcoach package tours, they were more like modern adventure tourism. Valdez resident Robert Kelsey recalls the years his mother found summer employment driving one of the Studebaker busses to Chitina. He reports that parts of the road up Thompson Pass were so steep, she would stop and ask tourists to get off the bus. Guests then walked until the road leveled and they could ride again.
Local businessmen in Cordova and Valdez offered visitors several attractive day trips. For $10, steamship passengers could take the train round trip from Cordova to Childs and Miles glaciers. In 1923, a trail was constructed to the top of Mt. Eyak. Charter boats in Valdez offered visitors trips to Columbia Glacier, one of the Sound's major scenic attractions; summer steamers also stopped at the glacier to watch calving icebergs. Day-trips out of Valdez included a drive out to Keystone Canyon with a picnic at the campground in front of Bridal Veil Falls.
Tourists came from around the world. Analysis of the Chugach National Forest's 1924 guest register at Mt. Eyak showed that visitors were from 25 states, two provinces of Canada, the Canal Zone, and six foreign countries.
During the hard-times of the 1930s, tourism dropped precipitously. The Valdez Transportation Co. stopped advertising its Keystone Canyon/Copper River tours promoting instead the availability of rental cars for trips along the highway. It was 1936 before the George Edgecumbe, proprietor of Alaska Motor Stages, offered "The Scenic Short Route to Fairbanks via Valdez."
Hal Selby, the editor of The Valdez Miner, was a strong supporter of tourism. His editorials constantly reminded citizens of the value of tourism to the economy of this town of less than 500 residents: "There is no doubt that Alaska will see one of the best seasons it has experienced this year of 1938. More tourists are expected and this will mean more money for our hotels, restaurants and business houses (3/11/38)."
Bradford Washburn, a mountaineer and mapping expert, was impressed with the area's tourism potential. He predicted in an interview with The Valdez Miner that the area would some day become a world class ski center while warning that "Valdez should make an effort to paint up and tidy up the town before the tourist season (TVM, 5/20/1938)."
In April 1938, the tourism industry received a shock. E.T. Stannard, president of the Kennecott Copper Corporation, announced the October closing of the Kennecott Copper Mines. Closing of the CR&NW Railway had a major effect on tourism in both Cordova and Valdez as well as for the roadhouses and towns along the popular Cordova-Chitina-Valdez circle route.
Valdez considered new ways to attract and entertain visitors by building a museum and by protecting wildlife viewing. The American Legion Hall housed the Joe Bourke Museum. Joe Bourke, who arrived in 1898 as a goldrusher, lived in Valdez until his death in the 1930s. Bourke left a large collection of historic artifacts to the town. His collection forms the core of the current Valdez Museum.
The Valdez Chamber of Commerce and editor of The Valdez Miner realized the importance of wildlife viewing to Alaska's tourist economy: "The sight of the animals and birds is worth more to the tourist than all the game killed (TVM, 3/29/40)." In 1936, fish and game regulations prohibited hunting within one half mile of the highway through Keystone Canyon. Mountain goats, moose and ptarmigan could be seen from the highway. The prohibition on hunting within 1/2 mile of the highway was extended to all roads in southcentral Alaska in 1942.
As wartime restrictions on travel limited excursions to Europe, Valdez promoted trips from Valdez to Fairbanks by motorcoach or plane. Passenger fares were reduced to $10 one way. The following selection from a full-page advertisement that ran weekly in The Valdez Miner extols the beauty of the Richardson Highway:
The Richardson Highway . . . traverses the famous Keystone Canyon, 13 miles from Valdez, whose grandeur and scenic beauty are rarely excelled anywhere in the world. . . . Nor are the beauties of this route to the Interior confined to Keystone Canyon. Climbing the easy grades beyond to the summit of Thompson Pass, there is unfolded to the view a vast panorama of jagged, snow clad peaks interspersed with narrow valleys clothed with almost tropical verdure. . . . Mountain and glacier, plain and forest, rippling brooks and mighty rivers, some as clear and sparkling as the diamond, others gray or brown with the silt which the mighty glaciers at their heads have ground from their rocky beds. Verily, no trip in all Alaska, nor in all the world offers more to the tourist than this trip from Valdez to Fairbanks over the Richardson Highway (TVM, 9/6/40).
When the federal government acquired the CR&NW railway roadbed in 1941, the Chugach National Forest Service promised to pave the first 13 miles to the airport. Some Cordovans looked to the future and hoped that the federal government would soon pave the entire roadbed giving Cordova a highway to the interior:
The prediction has been made that tourists, before long, will be making Cordova a principal stop again, to go to Mile 51 and view the scenic marvels of that section-Miles and Childs glaciers. The prediction even goes so far as to hint that before many years the tourists will be making the Copper river-interior swing, as they did when the railroad was in operation." (TVN, 7/25/41).