NENANA BRIDGE, A. R. R.
EXTRACT FROM
ANNUAL REPORT
COAST SURVEY
PAST SEASON’S ACTIVITIES IN
ALASKA WATERS SUCCESS
FUL—PROGRESS MADE
The remarkable advance made in
hydrographic surveys in Alaska wa
ters by the U. S. Coast and Geo
detic Survey during the past fiscal
year, and the great necessity for
additional surveys, is set forth in
an advance copy of E. Lester Jones,
director in his annual report to the
Secretary of Commerce, which has
just been received from Washing
ton, D. C.
In part the report is as follows:
No section of the United States is
more dependent for its development
upon correct charts than is the Ter
ritory of Alaska, as it is entirely de
pendent upon water-horne transpor
tation. The early development of the
Territory was retarded by the wreck
ing and stranding of many steamers,
incurring much loss of life and prop
erty. The results of modern surveys
have been reflected directly by the
lack of serious accidents during the
last few years and a material re
duction in the insurance rates of
vessels plying the Alaska waters.
Alaska, like New England coast,
is strewn with rock of the pinnacle
or spire type rising out of vast
depths to near the surface of the
water. The location of these rocks
can be determined only by the use
of the wire drag. The ordinary hy
drographic method can be compared
to an aviator dropping a weight at
tached to a measuring line from his
plane as he flies over a city. It
can readily be realized that the
chances are very small for the weight
to hit the top of steeples or monu
ments, such as the Washington Mon.
ument, but if a horizontal wire were
tow'ed between two planes at a fixed
distance below the planes it would
be sure to hit these obstructions if
they protruded above the wire. Al
ready the main inside passages of
southeastern Alaska have been wire
dragged and permanently made safe
for life and property, but there are
other important channels, bays, and
harbors waiting to be dragged.
One of the most important survey
projects being carried,on in the Ter
ritory is a survey of the shore to
the 1,000-fathom curve on the out
side coast of southeastern Alaska.
THE PALACE
John Mattich, Prop.
POOL, SOFT DRINKS AND
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Furnished Rooms
Phone Main 55
CHRIS’PUCE
Cigars and Tobaccos
Soft Drinks and Candies
CARD TABLES
Phone Madison 54 -
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Next Door to Liberty Theatre
LH.3
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This work has been continued north
ward from the boundary line and has
made available many bays and har
bors which were shown on previous
charts from sketches made by very
early explorers; also as a great deal
of fishing is done in this area the lo
cation of all fishing banks by this
work is extremely important and of
commercial value.
The work of this service in west
ern Alaska has the characteristics
of exploring as well as surveying, as
this country is little known and very
inadequately charted. . The surveys
are necessary for the future develop
ment. The period during which sur
vey operations oan be carried on is
short, but full advantage has been
taken of each season.
Surveys in western Alaska, a two
year project, requested by the Navy
Department, were completed last fall
in accordance with the bureau’s es
timate. The completion of this job
exactly on time is particularly grat
ifying because new vessels were em
ployed on it, which at the time the
estimate was made had not been
tested as surveying tools, and also
because the areas surveyed are in
remote parts of the country, for
which we had little dependable data
on which to base the estimate.
Hydrography in Alaska during the
past fiscal year has been confined al
most exclusively to work on projects
which were adopted ‘two years or
more ago and has been a continua
tion of the work of the previous
year. Marked progress has been
made by all parties, due in no small
measure to continuity of work, there
by eliminating in a large measure
reconnaissance and preliminary work
which must be done before starting
each new project. The total water
area completely surveyed during the
last year was slightly more than
double the area surveyed the pre
vious with the same vessels and prac
tically the same personnel.
[ In southeastern Alaska the party
on the Surveyor extended the off
shore work northward past Sitka
Sound and nearly to Cross Sound.
Inshore hydrography and topogra
phy was carried as far as Sitka
Sound, and triangulation for the con
trol of this and next jrear's work as
far as Dixon Harbor north of Cross
Sound, except for about 30 miles be
tween Salisbury Sound and Lisianski
Strait. The party on the Explorer
wire dragged Gambier Bay and the
east shore of the entrance to Chat
ham Strait as far as Port Malmes
i bury, together with several small
i arms on both the east and west
! sides of the strait.
j In western Alaska the surveys of
! Ikatan Bay, Isanotski Strait, Pavlof
| Bay, and approaches were completed
; by the party on the Pioneer. The
| Discoverer’s party surveyed Chignik
J Bay and the approaches to this and
j to Wide and Portage Bays and ex
tended triangulation control along
the Alaska Peninsula nearly to a
junction with the old work and also
out to the Semidi and other off-lying
| islands and rocks.
All of the work accomplished in
Alaska w'as nedeed to permit the eco
nomic development of the country
and to safeguard shipping to those
regions. This last year we have
been able to meet demands better
than ever before. The fact that
the marine insurance rates for Alaska
have been recently reduced was the
best argument for having done this
work.
The cooperative projects with the
Geodetic Survey of Canada are al
most completed. The first is the in.
ternational boundary triangulatior
from Lake Superior to the Pacific
and the second is the connecting oi
first-order triangulation in the State
of Washington with that in Britisl
Columbia and Alaska. First-ordei
work was executed in Alaska anc
on the Nevada-Utah and South Da.
kota-Montana projects. Some astron.
omic work done with the aid of the
United States Naval Observatory. The
OGLE’S GARAGE
GASOLINE AND
WARM STORAGE
EXPERT MECHANICS
Phone Mad. 66.
Geological Survey cooperated in the
extension of control for the topo
graphic map of the country. The For
est Service rendered important aid
to the bureau. Reobservation from
Mount Lola-Round Top on the trans
continental arc, westward to the
coast, and thence southward to San
Diego, was completed. This is an
important contribution to seismolo
gical investigation, as was also the
running of levels from Santa Ana to
Barstow, Calif.
Some magnetic observations have
been made by survey vessels in Al
aska, but work in the interior is
needed.
Increased appropriations have per
mitted the bureau to make necessary
tide and current surveys in import
ant harbors. A number of others re
quire surveys, but for this year such
work will be confined to the narrow
passages from Dixon Entrance to
Cross Sound, Alaska, where strong
currents menace our shipping. For
the preservation of tidal planes the
bureau has releveled old bench marks
(Continued on Page Seven)
PROFESSIONAL CARDS
Dr. J. A. Baughman
Physician and Surgeon
CHRONIC DISEASES A SPECIALTY
Phone Madison 90. Seward, Alaska
W. D. Coppernoll
ATTORNEY AND COUNSELOR AT
LAW
Will Practice In All Courts of the
Territory
SEWARD, ALASKA
SEE
Curtis R. Morford
FOR FIRE INSURANCE
Dr. A. R. Roberts
DENTIST
Dental and General
X-RAY WORK
New Tecklenberg Bldg.
Phone Mad. 108 - - - Seward, Alaska
Aaron E. Rucker
ATTORNEY AT LAW
Office in Benson Building
PHONE MADISON 114
Hugh Dougherty
REAL ESTATE AND FIRE
. INSURANCE
AGENT FOR
Equitable Life Assurance
Society
TELEPHONES
Bus. Adams 152 Res., Madison 58
|-----S!
Gas Launch
KEN,4/
FISHING AND HUNTING
PARTIES CARRIED DOWN
LAKE KENAI FOR THE
DAY OR TRIP. TELE
PHONE ARRANGEMENTS
TO MILE TWENTY
Louis Bell, owner
Ice Cream
MADE DAILY
HIGH GRADE
Candies
FRAMED PICTURES, CURIOS
AND PHOTOGRAPHS
SYLVIA’S
Phone Adams 128