Abandoned 
Overview
The town that sank
Portage stood at the head of Turnagain Arm, where the road and the Alaska Railroad to the Kenai Peninsula meet the valley that leads to Portage Glacier and Whittier. Wikipedia puts it about 47 miles southeast of downtown Anchorage, CoastView about 41 miles south of Anchorage. It was never large. The census counted it only twice: 34 people in 1950 and 71 in 1960. CoastView gives 20 buildings and a population of 100 in the early 1960s.
On March 27, 1964, the Good Friday earthquake shook the soft ground at the head of the Arm, and it sank. Wikipedia and the Alaska Railroad put the drop at about six feet and CoastView at about eight; alaska.org's pages say six to ten and five to nine. Most of Portage was left below the high-tide line, and the town was abandoned. Salt water reached the roots of the spruce around it and killed them. Undated travel guides say their gray trunks still stand along the highway as the ghost forest.
What is left, by the accounts we found, is a few ruined buildings in the grass and the dead trees. Today the place is a junction: the Seward Highway, the Alaska Railroad's Portage stop and the turnoff for Portage Valley and the Whittier tunnel. The newest dated report on the ruins is a visit video posted in June 2026, which sees little from the road. This page shows what is known and what is missing.
Timeline
What we know
- Portage appears in the U.S. census for the first time, as an unincorporated village at the head of Turnagain Arm.
- It is counted again in the census, its last.
- The Good Friday earthquake drops the ground at Portage. Wikipedia and the Alaska Railroad give about six feet, CoastView about eight; two alaska.org pages give six to ten and five to nine. Most of the town ends up below the high-tide line.
- The town is abandoned. Salt water kills the spruce around it, leaving the ghost forest. A rescue of the railroad bridge over Twentymile Creek helps keep the line open in the days after the quake.
- The townsite becomes part of the Municipality of Anchorage when the city and borough merge.
- A highway and railroad junction: the Seward Highway, the Alaska Railroad and the road to Portage Valley and the Whittier tunnel meet here.
Site map
Where the town stood
Alaska.org describes an abandoned horse stable and a cabin standing in the grassy wetland, visible from the road. The ghost forest it describes lines the Seward Highway toward Girdwood. Neither description is dated. CoastView's September 2024 article lists the ruins of a few buildings, abandoned vehicles and the ghost forest. The newest photos on this page, from January 2011 and one of them taken from the highway, show collapsed ruins and the gray trunks of dead spruce in a frozen marsh. A visit video posted in June 2026, the newest dated report, looks over the marsh from the highway on a rainy day. The narrator points out two old houses in the swamp, says he could barely see anything, and calls the town mostly gone.
In the historic maps below, the sheet catalogued as 1951 labels the spot "Portage (Site)", between the highway and the railroad junction, with tidal flats to the west and the Lower Engineers Camp by Portage Creek to the south. The 1984 sheet maps mud and sand flats and the mean high-water line right up to the road, and the 1994 sheet shows the Seward Highway Scenic Byway, Moose Flats and marsh around the Portage label. Today's topo has only the highway and the railroad crossing the flats, and the aerial view shows them beside the marsh, with a pullout at the north end.
- Two old houses in the swamp, seen from the highway (video posted June 2026)
- Ruins of a few buildings and abandoned vehicles (CoastView, September 2024)
- Ghost forest of dead spruce
- Highway and railroad junction
Historic maps
Portage on USGS maps, 1951–1994
Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.
Map & directions
Getting there
Portage is on the Seward Highway at the head of Turnagain Arm. Girdwood is 10 miles back toward Anchorage, and downtown Anchorage about an hour. Both routes end on the highway beside the townsite. We don't know of a marked pullout for the ruins, and a visit video posted in June 2026 found a barricaded pull-off near the townsite with a sign its narrator reads as private property. Stop only where it is safe and legal.
Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.
- From Girdwood, take Main Street to the Seward Highway (AK 1).0.2 mi
- Turn left and follow the Seward Highway along Turnagain Arm to the Portage flats.9.9 mi
- From downtown Anchorage, take West 4th Avenue and Gambell Street south.2.2 mi
- Continue on the Seward Highway (AK 1) along Turnagain Arm, past Girdwood, to the Portage flats.45.9 mi
Road and safety notes
- Alaska.org warns that the Turnagain Arm mudflats are extremely dangerous: fast incoming tides can liquefy the silt, and people have been trapped and drowned. Don't walk out from the bank.
- The ruins are in wetland beside the highway. A 1996 federal land order puts about 680 acres at Portage in the Chugach National Forest, but we haven't verified who owns the ruins or whether there is any legal access on foot. A visit video posted in June 2026 found a barricaded pull-off near the townsite with a sign its narrator reads as private property, no trespassing.
- The Forest Service's Begich, Boggs Visitor Center up Portage Valley warns of a potential landslide into Portage Lake, about 2 miles from the center, that could cause a tsunami there. It advises extra caution during and right after heavy rain.
- The routes are computed from OpenStreetMap and haven't been driven by us. We have no dated source on road conditions.
Photos
Portage in photos
Visitor reports
Been to Portage?
Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.
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Nearby
Other sites near Portage
Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Alaska index.
Sources
Sources and credits
- Wikipedia, "Portage, Anchorage, Alaska", retrieved October 2026: coordinates, distance from Anchorage, the six-foot drop, the remains and ghost forest, the junction, the 1950 and 1960 census and the 1975 annexation.
- alaska.org, "Old Portage Townsite: Victim of the 1964 Earthquake", undated, read October 2026: the six-to-ten-foot drop, the Twentymile Creek railroad bridge, the stable and cabin seen from the road.
- CoastView, "Portage, Turnagain Arm", September 14, 2024: 41 miles south of Anchorage, 20 buildings and a population of 100 in the early 1960s, about 8 feet of subsidence, and the ruins, abandoned vehicles and ghost forest it describes.
- Bureau of Land Management, "Public Land Order 7187; Revocation of Public Land Order No. 835; Alaska", Federal Register, March 14, 1996: 679.79 acres withdrawn for townsite and classification purposes at Portage, transferred to the Forest Service by Public Law 102-415 on October 14, 1992, and subject to the Chugach National Forest reservation.
- Dave Explores, "I Found an Alaska Ghost Town That's Still Sinking", YouTube, posted June 28, 2026 (filming date not given): the drive past the townsite in the rain, two old houses the narrator points out in the swamp, a barricaded pull-off the narrator reads as posted private property, no trespassing, and his view that the town is mostly gone. Checked against its captions and storyboard frames; the sign is not legible at that resolution.
- alaska.org, "Ghost Forest", undated, read October 2026: the ghost forest, the five-to-nine-foot drop, ruins in the water and the mudflat warning.
- Alaska Railroad, "Portage", undated, read October 2026: the settlement destroyed in 1964, the decaying cabins and ghost forest, and the Glacier Discovery Train's stops.
- USDA Forest Service, Chugach National Forest, "Begich, Boggs Visitor Center", read October 22, 2026: the Portage Valley landslide alert.
- Photos: Wikimedia Commons, credited below each one. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026. Not field-checked.
Photo and map credits
- Dead spruce and a fallen roof in the marsh beside the Seward Highway, January 2011: Beeblebrox, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Collapsed ruins in the frozen marsh, January 2011: Beeblebrox, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
- The townsite from the air after the 1964 earthquake, flooded at high tide: Unknown author, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
- Area base map, topo and aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).
- Historic maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain): Seward D-6 1951, 1:63,360; Seward D-6 SE 1984, 1:25,000; Seward D-6 1994, 1:63,360.