Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-11-24
that day than he had been able to discover froul
ground observations there over . period Of 10
years"

that day than he had been able to discover frouI
ground observations there over Q period Of 10
years"
A SIDE from their great Importance for map.
ping purposes the amphibian planes have
been Of considerable value as emergency modes
Of travel for high-ranking officers Of the various
Government bureaus, and occasionally for Ger.
tain commercial interests Of Alaska.
For instance, on q recent occasion a plane
made flight from Juneau to Petersburg and
return, at the request Of Maj. Elliott, president
Of the Alaska Road Commission, with Mai.
Gillette Corps OF Engineers, u. S. A.. as pas
senger. Maj. Gillette is chief engineer for the
road commission and his visit to Petersburg
was for the purpose of inspecting strategic
dredging operations In Wrangell NarrowS.
few days later a letter of thanks was re.
cetved by the detachment from Mai Elliott
expressing the conviction that the aerial sur.
vey had enabled the commission to settle ina
mediately a question of great importance CON-
nected with the dredging maneuverS :.
Some days afterward, at the request of thu
Forest Service; flight was made over Admir-.
atty Island and the Speel River district, with
Robert A. KinEie as passenger.
Kinzie is the chief consulting engineer for
certain pulp and paper interests planning to
build large paper mills in Southeastern Alaska
with an investment running into millions Of
dollars. For this first time Mr.. Kinzie was able
to get bird's-eye view of the timber conceS-
SAotlS UeIonBAnS 70 MS employers, WHICH are
estimated as sufficient to supply their mills
with pulp timber for at least so years.
A flight began early this FAN is believed to
be one Of the most important during the entire
three years of operations Two ships made
mapping tours over Kruzof and Chichagof
Islands, while another plane made a 6-hour
and 45-minute fight along the mainland to
the northwest of Mount Fairweather. This was
the largest single flight made by any plane in .
the detachment.
The same afternoon q formation fight car
rying Dr. p S. Smith and B. d. Stewart, exc,
ecutive officers of the Geological Survey, as
passengers, was made over Taku Glacier and
back again.
TPON the return from this expedition a rec
ord was established by the tender Cannot
1t is believed, in hosting the four planes aboard
the dock although no special attempt was made
to speed up operations. Thirteen minutes from
the time the first plane of the formation touched
water, the plane landed on the dock. The
Gannets hosting gear was designed for re.
liability rather than for speed, that the fact.
that it worked so speedily indicates the EN-.
cheney Of her officers and crew.
At the close Of the trip to Taku Glacier.
DR.. Smith, In letter to Comdr. Radford, ofis
Ger in charge, said: 81 want to record my adj
miration of the work the Alaskan aerial SUR
vey has accomplished and the valuable con.
tribution you have made to the development
Of the north country.
I'VE Of the Geological Survey recognize the
immense value Of the photographs you are
Investigations and now realize the effective
ness Of the atrplane as q means of transporta~'
ton and observation for the geologiSt and enc
eineer." e.e
downright. 1920
'f'.Nf'tt - .NNfy . .s-fI N..HSt''. =. ttf.e