Seward daily gateway., 1925-12-17

5
 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 To- cation of all fishing banks by this work is extremely important and of commercial value.
 The work of this service in vest 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 can 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 bureaus es- innate. The completion of this job exactly on time is particularly grat- flying because new vessels were en- 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 continual 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.
 Tn c4o To 1Jx 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 trfangulation for the con- trol of this and next years 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 Gambler Bay and the east shore of the entrance to Chat ham Strait as far as Port Malmes- 1 bury, together with several small arms on both the east and west sides of the strait.
 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 Bay and the approaches to this and 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 was nedeed to permit the eco- homie 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 o1 first-order triangulation in the State of Washington with that in British Columbia and Alaska First-ordel work was executed in Alaska anG 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