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Seward—Kenai Lake Highway, Mile 14
Bureau of Public Roads Department Carries
On Considerable Amount of Construction the
Past Year In Seward and the Third Division
Large Sum Is Expended for Net-Work of Roads which
will Be the Largest In Territory—Of Tremendous
Importance To the Town of Seward
WORK TO BE CONTINUED NEXT SEASON
Bridge Construction Going Forward This Winter—the
Moose Pass Road will Open District Rich
in Potential Wealth.
« The work accomplished during the past field season of 1925 by the Sew
ard office of the Bureau of Public Roads, U. S. Department of Agriculture,
the expenditures made, with a brief history of all projects controlled through
this division, will no doubt amaze the majority of the Prosperity Edition
readers in a perusal of the following article.
*
At various times during the past season progress of the work has been ,
published but it is the summary of the total work which reveals the gigan
tic task which confronted the engineers and road builders. A sum ruunning
into the hundreds ot thousands ot doi
lars will have been expended at the
completion of the projects now under
construction. The roads all traverse
mineral areas, assisting materially in
their development, also agricultural
and forest districts.
The Seward Division is composed of
the following projects:
Cordova-Eyak sections, one and two.
Katalla-Chilkat.
Seward-Kenai lake sections, one, two
and three.
Seward-Kenai reconstruction.
Quartz Creek-Russian River.
Railroad-Sunrise, sections one, two,
and three.
Hope-Palmer Creek.
These seven projects are all control
led thru the Seward office and com
prise what is known as the Seward Di
| vision.
Seward-Kenai Lake Highway.
On account of the Glacier Stream at
Mile 5, it was decided in 1924 to re
! construct the road from 3 1-2 to 5 mile, i
A location was run out crossing the
Alaska Railroad at Mile 3 1-4, thru the
McPherson homestead on a 3500 foot
tangent to the hill and following it to j
the Mile 5 gravel pit. This work was
approved by Secretary of Agriculture j
in May, 1925, and bids were called for !
in June. The contract was let to Siems 1
& Carlson, contractors of Spokane, i
Wash. The engineers estimate being s
$65,000.00.
This work consisted of clearing, !
Mile 23.5, RaiJroad—Sunrise Showing New Road Under Construction
grubbing,.grading, bridges, culverts,
and surfacing. The surfacing was made
with a two-course gravel surface 12
feet wide. The base course being six
inches thick screened gravel that
would pass thru a screen 1 1-2 inches
and the top course of four inches that
would pass thru a 3-4 inch screen.
Work was started in July of this year
and was completed this November.
Maintenance on this Highway was
started June first with three White
trucks, one Weir grader and fifteen
men. The first work done was clean
ing out slides and ditches with special
attention being given to drainage. Af
ter this was done, redressing or what
is more commonly known as hauling
gravel was started, and about five
miles of the road was surfaced. The
bridges across the Resurrection River
were planked to give a more even rid
ing surface. From Mile 2 to Mile 3
1-4 the road has been widened with
gravel to the Bureau of Public Roads
standard for this Highway. A total
expenditure of $9,000.00 was made
for this maintenance.
Quartz creek-Russian river mainte
nance work was started in June by
five men living at Coopers Landing on
the Kenai River. *The work consist
ed of cleaning out slides, ditches and
also surfacing in the places that were
soft. This road is seven miles long
with six miles of sled road from Rus
sian River to Gene Lake. The seven
miles were built by the Bureau in
1920 and 1921. An expenditure of $1,
000 was made.
Hope district maintenance work was
carried on all season with five men
and one Ford truck from the Moose
Pass station to Mile 15. The principal
work was cleaning slides and redress
ing. An expenditure of $3,500 was
made on this section.
From Mile 15 to Mile 20, 12 men
P
Mile 26, Railroad—Sunrise, Frenchy Creek. Hauling Supplies Over Old Road
the fact that the first ten miles of the
Moose Pass end of the route was tak
en over from the Alaska Road Com
mission and rehabilitated.
Construction of the new road is
designed to facilitate reopening some
of these workings. The hills there
abouts are full of gold quartz and next
year at least one such mine will be
in operation. The Canyon Creek De
velopment Company has spent $300,
000 in improving its property with the
most modern mining devices and
plans to spend another $150,000 before
work is commenced next spring on a
big scale.
The road crosses slides, swamps,
and washouts. On the side of a moun
tain it skirts the steep gravel chutes
left by placer operations. Another
item is the muskeg, four and five feet
in depth, spongy moss that either has
to be dug out or filled over. Cordu
roy is never used.
Nearly every quarter of a mile a
new formation is discovered. At one
TT-r
Railroad—Sunrise Project, Showing New Road Mile 23
were engaged in reconstructing th&t
section all season. The work was done
with two Ford trucks, one five-ton Holt
tractor and one No. 8 King grader.
The work was completed October 1,
1925, making it possible to drive from
Moose Pass to Mile 20 with a car. An
expenditure of $10,000 was made on
this section.
From Mile 20 to Mile 29, a new road
was constructed. Work on this sec
tion was started in Auguest and 80
men were engaged on the construc
tion. It wras completed this year. The
approved estimate for this work was
$135,000. The standard of construc
tion for this section is what is called
by the Bureau of Public Roads, a six
foot standard. This means ten feet
in thru cuts, eleven feet on side hills
and twelve feet in fills. There will be
260 lineal feet of frame bent bridges
and one 70 foot truss bridge. These
will be constructed this winter.
Work on the Hope-Palmer Creek
road, which starts at Hope, Alaska
and runs up Resurrection Creek val
ley for four miles to Palmer Creek
and from there up the Palmer creek
for eight miles ending near the Alas
ka Minerals Company’s mine, was
done with -five men, one Weir grader
and four dump wagons. The road is
in good shape, the mining company
having hauled all their supplies by
truck. A total expenditure of $4,000
dollars was made.
The total distance between Sunrise
the first of the old mine towns, and
the railroad, is 37 miles, of which dis
tance 20 had been completed up to
1925. Next year another nine miles
re slated for construction. When the
oject is completed to Hope, plus
12 miles at present constructed
lie Alaska Minerals Company,
and total will be 58 miles,
-tLting the longest highway Un
ix n by the Bureau of Public
in Alaska. Whereas $67,000
i-o.it on the first 20 miles, $135,
hus been alotted for the 1925
k. However, this is explained by
f
point the men uncovered a bed of
cement gravel and hardpan which
had to be shot out. This came from
an old glacier bed. At another point
there was glacially deposited clay,
which is difficult to handle, as it
flattens out. Two bachelor beavers
in Jerome Lake provided another pro
blem, building dams which flooded the
road and persistently rebuilding each
time their work, was dynamited.
The Girdwood-Crow Creek project
starts on the railroad and ends near
the Girdwood Mining Company. This
road was surfaced this year and about
one-half mile of the old road on the
upper end brushed out and graded up.
This work was carried on all season
with six men and one detractor and
four dump wagons. The project is
seven miles long and a total expendi
ture of §6,000 was made.
Maintenance work was accomplish
ed all season on the Cordova-Eyak
Lake project on the six miles con
structed in 1920, 1921 and 1922. Clean
ing ditches and redressing being the
main items of work. An expenditure
of §3,000 was made. From the Terri
torial Fish Hatchery at the end of the
old road to Power Creek, a distance of
one mile, a new road has been built
this year. The contract was let to
the Alaska Transfer Company of Cor
dova for §11,000 in May for the con
struuction of this section. They em
ployed 12 men and two teams until
about the middle of August, complet
ing their contract at that time.
At Katalla the work was done dur
ing the season by two men. The work
consisting of clearing slides, brushing
and redecking the old bridges. An ex
penditure of §1200 was made.
Mount LaGorce, named in honor of
John Oliver LaGorce, vice president
of the National Geographic Society
is an imposing peak rising to a
height of 3,315 feet just within the
limits of the Katmai National Mon
ument, and overlooking Iliuk Arm to
the North and Lake Grosvenor to
the East.
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Hope Palmer Creek, Mile 5, Fordson Hauling Surfacing