The Saint Paul globe., 1904-08-08
LOCATES LARGEST
COALING STATION
Lieut.. Commander Sherman
Describes His Operations
at Kiska Island
Globe Special Washington Service

1417 G Street
WASHINGTON, D. G., Aug. The
progress of the work of establishing
naval coaling station on Kiska island, In
the Aleutian chain, has been reported to
the navy department in letter from
Lieutenant Commander F. HI. Sherman
commanding the gunboat Petrol. According
to the department plans, Kiska island
which is about 800 miles west of Dutch
Harbor, Alaska, and about midway be-
tween Seattle and the Asiatic coast, will
be the site of the largest coaling station
on the Pacific.
The date of Commander Sherman's re-
port is June %. Even at that time good
progress had been made in the prelimi-
nary work and the outlook was promising.
The landing of supplies and building ma
without incident. and the weather up to
the time the letter was written had been
favorable.
Kiska has characteristics similar to the
coast of Scotland, so far as topography
and climate are concerned. Fogs are
frequent but the climate, although damp
at most seasons. is far from being un-
healthful. The report from the Petrel's
commander says that the engineering
features of the work were Immediately
placed in the hands of Civil Engineer
Portable Houses Used
A large quantity of supplies and ma
terials was landed from the collier Sat
urn, which accompanied the Petrol on
the expedition. These included several
knock down" or portable houses. one of
which was to be used as a tool shop and
another as quarters for the tide-observers
who accompanied the expedition. There
was also a pile driver and scow. The pile
driver was constructed at the Washington
navy yard last winter and shipped In sec
tions.
Under the direction of the engineer in
charge a tide gauge was erected soon
after the arrival of the expedition, for it
is proposed to take accurate measure
ments of the tides and currents and ev-
cry physical feature of the locality. AS
early as the last week in June base line
had been measured and some important
photographic work had been done. Com
mander Sherman added that this part of
the work, as well as that OF the harbor
soundings, would be. greatly facilitated
upon the arrival of the coast survey yes
sells Patterson and Macarthur. 1t is pro
posed to complete the soundings and the
topographic surveys of the shore this sea-
son and to publish detailed chart OF
Kiska island and the immediate neigh
borhood.
When the PetrePs expedition reached
Kiska the island was nearly covered with
snow, but this disappeared rapidly, except
on the high mountains. The harbor where
.
station has southern exposure, and the
land for some distance back from the
shore line is comparatively smooth. The
snow disappeared from that part of the
neighborhood earlier than anywhere else
and before June % the men of the expe-
6ition had planted some small gardens
The officers believe that a considerable
quantity of fresh vegetables will be raised
for the use of the expedition The loca-
tion of Kiska is such that the season
there is perceptibly earlier than at other
points in the Aleutian islands.
Considering Water Supply
The question of a water supply for the
coaling station was under investigation at
the time Commander Sherman wrote his
report 1t was found that pure water
could be obtained in a suitable quantity
not far from the harbOr, and a site for a
reservoir is now under detailed examina-
tion. 1t is proposed to obtain such a
quantity of fresh water, and with such
facilities for handling it as will make it
possible to supply ships with water as
we'll as with coal at this station.
According to Commander Sherman's let
ter the building of wharf has already
been begun. The pile driver will be used
for driving number of piles in different
parts of the harber near the shore to de-
termine the character of the bottom. Al
though there is good natural harbor at
KiSka, 1T will abe necessary to do some
dredging in the vicinity of the proposed
wharves, so that hawai- vessels of the
deepest draught may coal from the shore.
The dredging will probably not be begun
until next season, and will be done under
contract with private companies.
UTnlfn III fIcr~I