The Cordova daily times., 1921-01-07

| portance Of selecting a site suitable for base, authorization will be sought for the construction of suit able boathouses, ways for hauling out, and wharf that can be used by the larger vessels for storing coal and | supplies needed in the field of opera 1 tion. If authorization can be secured all plans and specifications will be | prepared, site obtained, and the con- struction begun at once.
 The present plan for construction and estimated cost are as follows:
 Boathouse with suitable space for overhauling wire-drag equipment
 ways, and string facilities for 13 launches, $15,000; wharf with 2,OO0 square feet, $5,000; watchman's dwell ing, $2,5OO; total, $22,5O0
 The rapid development of Alaska along commercial lines is well illus trated by the request for surveys and for information pertaining to areas where neWy selected sites for pro. 1 posed industries have been chosen
 There are, especially in southeast
 Alaska, some of the finest water-pow, CT sites onth Pacific coast, which have attracted the attention of capital with view establishing pulp mills and other industries. The water approach
 to these sites must of necessity be surveyed, dragged, and the dangers charted. The most important of Alas. kan Water-poWer projects at this tima and one which has been developed to considerable extent. is located at Fort Snettisham. It is located in the midst of well-timbered section and surrounded by other valuable mate rial resources easily accessible. An urgent request for a more compete survey of the approaches to this i'm portant site has been received through one of the survey parties now oper- ating in it's vicinity.
 To keep more closely in touch with the needs for such surveys, it is pro- posed to establish in southeast Alas ka a permanent field station of the coast and geodetic survey. This will enable the public to obtain advance information of the navigabe waters where surveys are partially comp1et- ed or totally lacking. With a survey officer availabe at such a station small surveys and examinations can be made at once and much valuable information obtained which will en- able commercial interests to locate at points accessible to the passenger and freight steamers plying between Alas ka and United States ports.
 As the proposed operations in Alas. ka during the next year are to be taken up with increased activity, it | emphasizes the necessity of establish ing field station by which the in spector in charge can cooperate with steamship lines to insure prompt re- l ports of dangers discovered and oth- CT information affecting the coast charts.
 The question of a location for such a station is of course governed by it's | accessibility to the shipping interests and its relation to the field of survey ing operations. Situated as it is on m of kan has been selected as the most | suitable port for a field station of the survey in southeast Alaska. By req son of the fact that the shore-survey- ing season opens earlier and closes | later in this section than in others. Ketchikan is better suited for hauling out and storing the floating equip ment. It is more accessible to the market from which supplies and re- pair material will be sent for the up- keep of the launches and wire-drag ap- paratus, and if arrangements can be made by storing coal for the survey ing vessels the freight rate on such coal, supplies, etc, would be at minimum cost
 By reason of it's accessibility other government bureaus are represented at Ketchikan, notably the Bureau of lighthouses and the forest service. With the coast and geodetic survey permanently represented at that place, close cooperation with the local rep- resentatives of these bureaus could be maintained, with resulting benefit to the maritime and commercial in- terests.