Seward daily gateway., 1925-07-02
SURVEYING OF ALASKA FIELD
 IS DESCRIBED
MEMBER OF LAST SEASONS PARTY IN cANTWELL RE-
 GiCN TELLS ACTIVITIES

The exact nature of the work car ried on by the many government sur vey parties which are constantly il the Alaska field is more or less a mys tery to the average layman. It is sait that such and such party is in tn, district to carry on this and that kin( of work. A visit to one of the camp. for any length of time would surprise the average person, not only in the aC curacy of the work but in the adven lures and romance connected with the various activities among the valleys and mountains. Camping for days al time on top of the highest peak ill the district in which the party may be working, the signalman's work be gins at night when he flashes with lamps his location, or talks in the Morse code with other members of the party, camped on top of another peak, miles distant His chief duties during the day is to pack up wood and supplies for generally he is away above timber line. Often there is ample time to go on a hunt high in the hills. This opportunity is always taken to break the monotony of the lonely station.
 The detailed description which fol- lows will give the reader who is in terested in this sort of thing fairly good idea of the scientific nature of triangulation as carried on by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey.
 Triangulation is an accurate deter imitation of the distance and direction between the various permanently marked points of a survey scheme laid out on the surface of the earth to cover a certain area without the actual measurement of the various lines by chain or tape. Triangulation is skeleton survey and serves to coordinate and adjust the local sur veys within it's area, and to connect them in their proper relation with the remainder of the surveyed portions of the country.
 It is done by measuring with great accuracy the distance between two survey stations and also measuring at each station the angles between the adjacent stations of the survey scheme when by trigonometry the distances between all the stations may be com puted. If the latitude and longitude of one station are known and the di- rection to other stations either known or measured, the latitude and longi- ture of each station may be comput- ed in turn.
 The direction of the line joining the first two stations or the azimuth of the line as it is commonly called is found by observations on Polaris, the North star. Similar observations to check the directions are made at va AOoS pO41CS tl4C NOIh pl cSSCS.
 In measuring the angles between stations, some of which may be as much as one hundred or one hundred and fifty miles from the observer it is necessary to use lights at the vari- ous stations, each managed by a light keeper whose business it is to keep the light directed toward the obsery- CTS station. These lights are cleo tric lamps with parabolic mirrors for directing the light toward the observ- or. Dry cells are used for this pur- pose. The lights are also used for signaling purposes the continental Morse code being used in the work.
 The stations are marked usually by a small brass disc, cemented in a hole in rock ledge or in the top of con- crete monument, while reference marks are set at various distances from the station marks to assist in finding the stations. A description of each station with it's latitude and longitude and it's distance and direc- tion from various other stations, is published by the coast and geodetic survey as soon as practicable after the completion of the field work and will be furnished to persons desiring them.
 Triangulation, besides connecting the various large public surveys thru out the country, is directly beneficial to many people in the territory thru which it is extended by it's connec- tions with the local land surveys and the geological surveys The stone or concrete posts set in the course of the work bears the same relation to triangulation as the blazed trees and