Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1916-01-16

into deep water, at the side or it NAV have
come IN between two soundings and have
been missed altogether.
1t is interesting to see how the wire drag
works. The chief boat has windlass oper-
ated by the engine About this windlass is
the telephone wire which is to be let down
and stretched across between the boats far
below the depths at which ships sail This
wire is several miles in length, and it is run
out according to the width of the channel
which is to be tested The wire used here IS
stretched across channel up to two miles
IN width. The horizontal dragging wire is
supported by vertical wires which fall from
large buoys, and it is held at the proper
depths by sinkers and floats. The buovs
are really galvanized iron buckets of per-
haps 10 gallons capacity The buckets are
sealed, and, being full of air, they float while
supporting the weight of the wire beneath.
The floats are of cedar. They look like the
rollingpins with which bread is made They
hang to the wire and aid in keeping it at the
right level
1t takes boats of about 40 horsepower to
move this submerged wire through the sea.
the average speed of the drag being about
mile and half per hour Notwithstanding
this, as many as IS shoal spots and rocks are
sometimes found in one day.
When the drag strikes a rock the place is
marked and another surveying party devel-
ops the area about it. A buoy or float of
some kind is then anchored there to show
the danger and new record is made on the
chart
Up to the present between one-third and
one-half of the main channels of southeast
ern Alaska have been explored by the wire
drag. The work will be prosecuted steadily
and as fast as the appropriations by congress
will warrant.
Most OF the vessels in the coast survey
service in Alaska are only fit for the scrap
heap Secretary Redheld has rightly called
them "unseaworthy old tubs" They are
without wireless equipment deficient in
modern appliances, and some are so poor
that they can be safely used only in protect
ed waters. The Macarthur, to which have
referred, is over 40 years old She has been
nicknamed the Chinese Shoe" on account
OF her shape. She is only 20 feet wide and
120 feet long, and her speed is about seven
miles an hour. She has to use a steam
launch for her surveying work, but it is so
fral that she cannot hoist it on board
The Gedney and the Endeavor are in the
same class with the Macarthur. They have
no electricity and no condensing and refrig-
Grating plants. The accommodations for
the men and officers are bad The Endeavor
was used in the civil war as a Confederate
= 4
1875 on the Atlantic coast and she came
around South America to Alaska IS years
ago. She is 40 feet long and "a feet wide.
She is now charting the waters about the
Prince of Wales island
The Patterson, which aided in rescuing
the wrecked steamer Tahoma, is making
surveys in the neighborhood of the Shuma-
gin islands, and the Yukon is the ship Of
which wrote as surveying the Kuskokwim
river She was built in Nome by Captain
Pratt Is years ago, and was used in survey
ing the Yukon. She has also surveyed about
Kodiak island and Cook inlet
The Taku, which was originally built to
be used in making surveys at the mouth of
the Yukon is now laid up in Prince William
sound as she is too small to make the trip
farther south She is only Is feet long. Her
captain is G.. T. Rude, who has been long ia
Alaska. The captain of the Yukon is R. R.
Lukens.
AS to the wire drag parties there are two
of them. One is under Captain Daniels.
whose boat, the Equator, have described.
The other party is commanded by Captain
l.. o. Colbert, who has the King and
Wing, power boat that rescued the sur
Il Il. 4. L. l.