The first oil flowed into the Alyeska pipeline on June 20th, 1977 and began it’s 800-mile journey through a 48-inch wide pipe from Prudhoe Bay to the port of Valdez at 4 miles an hour.

In the Port of Valdez, a 1,000-acre facility, across the bay from the city of Valdez, the S.S. ARCO Juneau waited as the oil reached the facility’s holding tanks on July 28th, 1977.

On July 31st, oil began pumping into the ARCO Juneau at 500 gallons a minute. By August 1st, the ship was loaded and at 7 PM the giant, 1883-foot ship set sail for the Atlantic-Richfield Company’s refinery in Cherry Point.

85 hours and 1,315 miles later Capt. Emery A. McGowen and the ARCO Juneau arrived in Cherry Point with the first 34,836,228 gallons of Alaskan oil.

  1977, alyeska, arco juneau, august 1, cherry point, history, oil, valdez