SURVEYING OF
ALASKA FIELD
IS DESCRIBED
MEMBER OF LAST SEASON’S
PARTY IN CANTWELL RE
GION TELLS ACTIVITIES
The exact nature of the work car
ried on by the many government sur
vey parties which are constantly in
the Alaska field is more or less a mys
tery to the average layman. It is said
that such and such party is in the
district to carry on this and that kind
of work. A visit to one of the camps
for any length of time would surprise
the average person, not only in the ac
curacy of the work but in the adven
tures and romance connected with the
various activities among the valleys
and mountains. Camping for days at
a time on top of the highest peak in
the district in which the party may
be working, the signalman’s work be
gins at night when he flashes with
lamps his location, or talks in the
Morse code with other members of
the party, camped on top of another
peak, miles distant. His chief duties
during the day is to pack up wood
and supplies for generally he is away
above timber line. Often there is
ample time to go on a hunt high in
the hills. This opportunity is always
taken to break the monotony of the
lonely station.
The detailed description which fol
lows will give the reader who is in
terested in this sort of thing a fairly
good idea of the scientific nature of
triangulation as carried on by the
United States Coast and Geodetic
Survey.
Triangulation is an accurate deter
mination of the distance and direction
between the various permanently
marked points of a survey scheme
laid out on the surface of the earth
to cover a certain area without the
actual measurement of the various
lines by chain or tape. Triangulation
is a skeleton survey and serves to
co-ordinate and adjust the local sur
veys within its area, and to connect
them in their proper relation with the
remainder of the surveyed portions
of the country.
It is done by measuring with great
accuracy the distance between two
survey stations and also measuring
at each station the angles between the
adjacent stations of the survey scheme
when by trigonometry the distances
between all the stations may be com
puted. If the latitude and longitude
of one station are known and the di
rection to other stations either known
or measured, the latitude and longi
ture of each station may be comput- j
ed in turn.
The direction of the line joining the j
first two stations or the azimuth of I
the line as it is commonly called, is |
found by observations on Polaris, the j
North star. Similar observations to !
check the directions are made at va-1
rious points as the work progresses. !
In measuring the angles between
stations, some of which may be as
much as one hundred or one hundred
and fifty miles from the observer, it
is necessary to use lights at the vari
ous stations, each managed by a light
keeper whose business it is to keep
the light directed toward the observ
ers’ station. These lights are elec
tric lamps with parabolic mirrors for
directing the light toward the observ
or. Dry cells are used for this pur
pose. The lights are also used for
signaling purposes the continental
Morse code being used in the work.
The stations are marked usually by
a small brass disc, cemented in a hole
in a rock ledge or in the top of a con
crete monument, while reference
marks are set at various distances
from the station marks to assist in
finding the stations. A description of
each station with its latitude and
longitude and its distance and direc
tion from various other stations, is
published by the coast and geodetic
survey as soon as practicable after
the completion of the field work and
will be furnished to persons desiring
them.
Triangulation, besides connecting
the various large public surveys thru
out the country, is directly beneficial
to many people in the territory thru
which it is extended by its connec
tions with the local land surveys and
the geological surveys. The stone or
concrete posts set in the course of
the work bears the same relation to
triangulation as the blazed trees and
corner posts bear to the ordinary land
survey. The word geodetic refers to
the various operations and investiga
tions in which the curvature of the
earth’s surface is taken into account,
instead of treating the surface as a
plane as is the case in -ordinary sur
veying.
As a basis for the determination of
geographic positions to be furnished
to state and territorial surveys and
serve in the accurate location of na
tional, state and county boundaries,
and as a foundation for other govern
ment surveys and for map makers and
surveyors, the latitude and longitude
of a network of points over the entire
country must be determined together
with the distances and directions be
tween them. This the Coast and Geo
detic Survey does by extending its
primary, precise triangulation into all
parts of the country as rapidly as fa
cilities are provided. Connected with
this are other geodetic operations,
such as star observations for latitude,
longitude and azimuth.
BROOKLYN BRIDGE
EARNS GOOD PROFITS
FOR NEW YORK CITY
NEW YORK, June 30. (IP)—Brook
lyn Bridge is a shrewd landlord. Its
eye to advancing values of business
property is shown by the announce
ment that it will increase its rents
some 25 per cent as present leases
expire. Commissioner Mills of the
Department of Plant and Structures,
as its fiscal agent, started the boost
recently when he raised the first
two tenants from $S,000 to $10,000
a year.
Brooklyn Bridge as a business
building has been more or less a
novelty for all its 40 years. This,
the oldest of the four East River
spans, has been more commonly re
garded in the ipublic mind as a great
transporting institution, content to
bear upon its patient back the daily
thousands, riding and afoot, who
come and go between Manhattan and
Brooklyn.
Yet the same causeway of which
the city is so pround, is also a 'roof
to a considerable business popula
tion. Chief Engineer Edward A.
Byrne says it shelters 51 business
houses within its lofty arches; 44 on
the Manhattan side, and seven in
Brooklyn. Six of the firms have
been tenants for more than a quar
ter century. Collectively, they con
tribute to an annual rent roll am
ounting to $72,619.92.
The “twenty-five-year” club in
cludes The New York World, The
New York Evening Journal, each
maintaining departments in the
bridge structure, and the “Brook
lyn Freezer.” This concern, the
Brooklyn Bridge Cold Storage &.
Freezing Co., is one of the sizeable
cold storage and packing adjuncts
of Fulton Fish Market. Later ten
ants number firms active in the ad
joining leather “swamp.”
'The bridge is a good moneymaker
EU.15 EALL-CHILl fllLl.
ELLIS BALL
CHILI MILL
The mill that takes the pros
pector off the labor market.
Cheaper than an trastra, more
efficient than a stamp mill.
MADE IN SIZES FROM
TWO TO FIFTY TONS
DAILY CAPACITY
Priced $150 to $1989
Investigate the Ellis Mill First
NELS HAGEN
ALASKA AGENT*
P. O. Box 1105
SEWARD, ALASKA
in other directions as well. Its sur
face cars, charging a nickel a round
trip, and elevated cars charging a
dime, together produce a gross in
come for the city of almost $140,
000. Seven stands where passing
crowds regale themselves with fruit,
candy and soft drinks pay about
$80,000 for concessions. Other sour
ces of income bring the total yearly
receipts from the bridge to $307,
652.45. This is deemed all velvet,
■because the bridge was built primar
ily as a transportation link.
SWEDES BENEFIT GREATLY
FROM COOPERATIVE BUYING
STOCKHOLM, June 30. (£>)—The
daily wants of two thirds of Swed
en’s population are now supplied
thru cooperative organizations, ac
cording to a recently completed in
vestigation by the government Board
ol Social Inquiry. To the Consu
mers Cooperative Society no fewer
than 243,451 persons belong, or 17
•per cent of the entire population,
CUMMINS
OIL ENGINES
FULL Deisel Engine working
at fuel pressure of only 20
to 30 pounds. No wires or
electrical apparatus, no heating device,
no high pressure Ignition, no tricky
valves, no inaccessible parts, and no
carbon trouble. Amazingly low cost
of operation from any free flowing oil.
12 TO 75 HORSEPOWER
Prices for complete outfits, including
shafting, air starter and propeller, f
o. b. Seattle,
12 1-2 h. p. ...„...$1150.00
25 h. p, —..2200.00
37 1-2 h. p. __ 3150.00
60 h. p-- 4300.00
75 h. p. - 6100.00
C. W. SNOOK, Agt.
UNGA, ALASKA
I
'but as each member represents a |
family, the total number of profit
sharing customers Is easily four
times that figure. Two-thirds of the
membership is made up of wage
earners and the rest of small farm
ers, artisans and minor officials. The
net profits for last year were $370,
329 ol which 15 per cent was add
ed to the capital reserve. In 1909
the membership was but 65,500 and
the number of branches has grown ni
lo years from 376 to 880.
in addition to retail stores these
cooperative organizations run baker
ies, breweries, meat and sausage
plants, shoe repair shops, dairies,
coffee roasting mills, and one branch
has a farm of its own. They also
conduct savaings banks and an in
surance business. <t
Tiie largest wholesale busiess in
food stuffs in Sweden is now con
ducted by the Cooperative Whole
sale Society, which also runs a flour
mill, a margarine factory and a chem
ical factory. It also has a savings
bank department with over 39,000
depositors. For selling agricultural
products there are in Sweden about
650 cooperative dairies, whose prin
cipal output is butter, and about 30
cooperative slaughter houses, wb&p
butcher hogs and cattle delivered vy
members.
A special dance will be given at
the Odd Fellows hall tomorrow
night, the night before the big cele
bration.
THEY ALL COME BACK
or want to, at least. And that’s why your
sourdough friend in the States gets so
hungry for news from Alaska.
Here is Your Opportunity
to get unusual value. Send us your check
TODAY. This offer holds good for a limited
time only.
SEWARD WEEKLY GATEW AY, one year $3.00
The NEW PATHFINDER OF ALASKA,
monthly, regular price - $3.00
OUR SPECIAL COMBINATION OFFER
Both publications one year for - - - $3.00
(Sent to separate addresses, if you wish)
The Weekly Gateway
SEWARD, ALASKA
A Glorious Fourth for
The Gateway
Ihis Fourth of July is one of the best The Gateway
has yet enjoyed, owing to the liberality of those who made
this edition possible. We venture to say that few papers
in Alaska can show a greater improvement during the
past year, than The Daily Gateway. Our Associated
Press service covers the entire world and our subscrip
tion list is keeping close touch with the press service. The
Gateway is the best advertising medium for Southwest
ern Alaska—in fact it is the only advertising mediumlfor
the great district west of here.
Seward is to be congratulated upon the success of its
home paper, and the patronage received shows that our
people appreciate a good paper.
We Thank You
By the way, our list of legal blanks has been added
to greatly, and as these blanks are drawn up by Alaskan
attorneys for Alaska, they are peculiarly valuable to our
many patrons.
jt