THE NORTHERN ENGINEER applied science & technology in the north

THE NORTHERN ENGINEER

Volume 13, Number 2 Summer 1981

Editor TABLE OF CONTENTS Carla Helfferich North Slope Gas- A Better Approach? Editorial Advisor Michael J. Economides ...... 4 Lee Leonard The Board of Road Commissioners Associate Editor Claus-M. Naske ...... 9 Barbara Matthews An Arctic Research Ship- The Preliminary Design Subscription Manager /Typesetting Robert Elsner and Jonathan Leiby ...... 22 Teri Lucara Small-Scale Waste Oil Incinerators Finance Officer Frank Abegg ...... 30 Neta Stilkey Wartsila Activities: New Vessels, New Facilities ...... 37

Editorial Board Meetings, Notes, Publications, Letters ...... 38

John Bates Deputy Commissioner, DOTPF Juneau Joseph M. Colonel! Woodward-Clyde Consultants Anchorage Mark Fryer COVER Consulting Engineers Anchorage In honor of the two icebreaker articles in this issue, the cover presents a portrait Paul Goodwin of the Soviet nuclear-powered icebreaker Lenin in annual sea ice. (From the book Variance Corporation The Two Poles by Gennady Koposov; print courtesy of William Sackinger.) Anchorage Keith B. Mather Vice Chancellor for Research, UAF Janet Matheson Architect THE NORTHERN ENGINEER is a quarterly publication of the Geophysical Fairbanks Institute, University of Alaska - Dr. Juan G. Roederer, Director. It focuses on engin­ John M. Miller eering practice and technological developments in cold regions, but in the broadest Geophysical Institute, UAF sense. We will consider articles stemming from the physical, biological and behavioral Elbert F. Rice sciences, also views and comments having a social or political thrust, so long as the Civil Engineering, UAF viewpoint relates to technical problems of northern habitation, commerce, develop­ Tunis Wentink, Jr. ment or the environment. Contributions from other polar nations are welcome. We Geophysical Institute, UAF are pleased to include book reviews on appropriate subjects, and announcements of John Zarling forthcoming meetings of interest to northern communities. "Letters to the Editor" Mechanical Engineering, UAF will be published if of general interest; these should not ·exceed 300 words. Subscrip­ tion rates for THE NORTHERN ENGINEER are $10 for one year, $15 for two years, and $35 for five years. Some back issues are available for $2.50 each. Address all correspondence to THE EDITOR, THE NORTHERN ENGINEER, GEOPHYSICAL INSTITUTE, UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA, FAIRBANKS, ALASKA 99701, U.S.A. (ISSN 0029-3083) The Universj.ty of Alaska is an EO/AA employer and educational institution.

The Northern Engineer, Vol. 13, No.2 3 by Michael J. Economides

NORTH SLOPE GAS­ A BETTER APPROACHl

INTRODUCTION of maximum production from the reser­ voir. Production from primary recovery Alaska's North Slope natural gas is expected to decline soon, although could provide a major boost to national secondary recovery (waterflooding) is energy needs. Although natural gas is expected to pick up the slack. one of the most efficient and cleanest Presently, the gas-oil ratio (GOR) forms of energy, it poses cumbersome at Prudhoe Bay is 900 standard cubic feet problems of transportation. The remote· per barrel. The overall gas-oil ratio is ness of the North Slope reservoirs from 2700 scf/bbl based on recoverable re­ the energy-hungry markets to the south serves. Hence, one would expect a sizable and the high construction costs in Alas­ increase in the amount of gas produced ka further complicate the picture. at Prudhoe both because of the decline In the political climate of the 1970s, in pressure and the "sweep" due to the following the Arab oil embargo and anticipated waterflood. Project Independence, no cost was too At present the gas is reinjected into great to pay for utilizing the United 9 States' own resources. Offshore drilling the reservoir at the rate of 1.2 x 10 scf and exploration in remote and harsh per day, while some of the available gas areas of the U.S. became common char­ is used as fuel for the operation of the acteristics of the petroleum scene. The field and some of the pumping stations. development at Prudhoe Bay, the trans For reasons explained below, the rein­ Alaska pipeline, and the Valdez termi­ jection practice will have to be termi­ nal tapped the vast reserves discovered on nated within three to four years. The the Slope. A natural gas pipeline was issue is what to do with the available gas considered an obvious followup to when that happens. complete the reservoir exploitation. In There are three options that appear the past few years, however, other to be technically feasible: 1) transporting options for utilizing North Slope natural the natural gas via a pipeline connecting gas have been suggested. Alaska with Canadian and Lower 48 lo­ The Prudhoe Bay field is a giant cations; 2) flaring, which will become petroleum reservoir, the largest ever dis­ necessary if no means of useful disposal covered in North America. Recoverable are implemented; and 3) converting the reserves for this field have been estima­ natural gas at Prudhoe Bay to other liq­ ted at 26 x 1012 cubic feet (scf) of gas uid compounds that could be transported 1 and 9.7 x 109 barrels (bbl) of oil. The via the under-utilized trans Alaska pipe­ 6 present production is 1.5 X 10 barrels line. The desirability or lack thereof of per day and is expected to remain at the three options will be discussed in roughly this level, which represents that this article.

Michael J. Economides holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in chemical engineering (Univer­ sity ofKansas) and a Ph.D. in petroleum engineering (University ofCalifornia, Berkeley, and Stanford University). He has industrial experience as a process chemical engineer and a petroleum reservoir engineer, and is an Assistant Professor ofPetroleum Engineer­ ing at the University ofAlaska, Fairbanks.

The Northern Engineer, Vol. 13, No.2 4 GAS REINJECTION production. The temperature remains the point that the gas-oil contact falls The cessation of gas reinjection be­ largely constant, so most reservoir deple­ below the level of the well completions. comes necessary at some point in the life tion calculations are made assuming iso­ This phenomenon is often called "gas of any petroleum reservoir because of the thermal conditions. coning". fundamental behavior of oilfield fluids. A successful oil well is one that is The production of natural gas from a Liquid oil, natural gas and water are completed in the oil zone. Figure 1 typical oil reservoir is expected to in­ the fluids found in a petroleum reservoir. demonstrates a reservoir with the three crease in relation to the production of The nomenclature of these substances, if distinct zones and with wells completed liquid. More precisely, the gas-oil ratio not scientifically exact, is at least descrip­ in the oil zone. A well represents a pres­ (GO R) increases as the reservoir pres­ tive for the temperatures and pressures sure "sink", and hence a pressure gradient sure decreases. found in typical reservoirs. is created. This gradient forces the fluid At early stages in the life of a res­ Due to "gravity segregation" and the through the reservoir, up the wellbore ervoir, the gas is reinjected with power­ hydraulic pressure gradient, gas inhabits and to the surface. ful compressors into the ground, through the upper strata of the reservoir, oil the Production from the pore spaces wells appropriately called injectors. If middle and water the bottom, as one results in voidage and pressure depletion. the only purpose was pressure mainte­ would expect. Hence, there exists a gas­ This in turn causes an expansion of the nance, a good injection design would oil contact and an oil-water contact; a gas cap. Because of the pressure reduc­ complete the wells in the gas cap. An ex­ phenomenon called capillary pressure tion, gas comes out of solution or, more panding gas cap at sufficiently high "fuzzies" the contacts. Water inhabits precisely, the oil undergoes an isothermal pressure can sustain the underlying oil the entire reservoir at a minimum, "ir­ distillation. Hence, gas can be produced zone at a high enough pressure to over­ reducible", water saturation. either because the reservoir pressure is come the hydraulic head in the wellbore The phase of a fluid in a reservoir reduced below the "bubble point" pres­ and thus permit the oil to reach the sur­ will change as pressure declines due to sure, or because the gas cap expands to face without artificial lift (such as pump­ ing units). A more sophisticated use of pro­ duced solution gas is gasflood. Carefully EXPLORATION selected patterns (known because of the WELL relative well numbers and configuration as "5-spot", "7-spot", "line drive", etc.) are used to inject gas to displace oil PRODUCING towards adjoining producers. Thus, pres­ WELLS sure-depleted reservoirs are offered a "helping hand". An ideal type of displacement is called "piston-like"; the nomenclature is self explanatory. However, a reservoir fluid property known as relative perme­ ability allows gas to "finger" through the passageways or "override". Gas, then, short-circuits the process and eventually WATER creates a swift path between injectors and producers. Thus, much energy is expend­ ed to re-produce recently produced and Figure 1. Reservoir configuration showing gas, oil and water zones and contacts. injected gas without the benefit of oil Note successful completions in the oil zone. production.

The Northern Engineer, Vol. 13, No.2 5 The simultaneous gas cap expansion 140°F, they would vaporize. Therefore a The Journal stated that the cost of and the associated gas coning would new natural gas liquids pipeline would be the ANGTS is estimated now at $35 to greatly increase the GOR. An uneconom­ necessary. The NGL pipeline would serve $40 billion. This translates into a price ical remedy would be to lower the com­ as the feed to the contemplated petro­ for gas delivered in Chicago of $15 per pletion level by redrilling the production chemical industry. million scf. The present wellhead price in wells. The underlying water zone poses Table 1 depicts the composition of the Lower 48 is $1.55 for that amount of another undesirable component. the natural gas from the three batteries gas, with delivered prices of $2.53 and It thus becomes obvious that gas of separators at Prudhoe Bay. As can be $4.20 to industrial users and households injection has technological, economic and seen, the carbon dioxide concentration is respectively. physical time limitations. The economic high. A natural gas pipeline connected to For these reasons, The Wall Street and physical lim it of gas injection at a gas conditioning plant would result in Journal article characterized the project as "economically suicidal" and concluded Prudhoe Bay is expected around the the release of massive quantities of C02 middle of the decade. Gas will then no into the atmosphere. This carbon dioxide with: "eventually someone will figure out longer be reinjected because it will ad­ possibly could be used in an enhanced oil some economic use for the Prudhoe Bay versely affect the reservoir production. recovery process, if its feasibility is dem­ gas, and the ANGTS piReline will be for­ onstrated for the Prudhoe Bay reservoir. gotten as a bad dream. ,A THE PIPELINE POSSIBILITY The option of constructing a natural FLARING gas pipeline involves then a gas condition­ Pipelines are almost invariably one­ ing plant to separate mostly methane Since the reservoir constraints will phase carriers. Boosting equipment (such from NGL, another pipeline to transport dictate a stop to the reinjection of natural as pumps or compressors) are rarely de­ the NGL and a major problem in dispos­ gas and since the ANGTS appears to be signed to handle two-phase flow. Irre­ ing of large quantities of carbon dioxide. economically unfeasible, flaring the gas versible damage to the hardware may The C0 can be used beneficially in an becomes an ominous possibility. Flaring occur if the wrong phase is injected or 2 enhanced oil recovery process but it can of natural gas has been a trademark of the allowed to form in a pipeline. also pose a critical environmental issue if Middle Eastern oil fields and widespread A pipeline carrying a number of reservoir injection was not deemed ap­ publicity has been afforded the sensa­ components with wide-ranging boiling propriate. tional quantities of gas burned in this way points will have a wide margin between in Saudi Arabia. Yet the same route may In 1977 the Carter administration en­ the bubble point (pressure above which be followed in Alaska if no alternative dorsed the Alaska Natural Gas Transpor­ only the liquid phase exists) and dew methods of disposal are found. Flaring is tation System (ANGTS) which would point (below which only the gaseous a non-fruitful and yet potentially un­ require building a 4800-mile long, mostly phase exists). In order to transport the avoidable means of coping with the 48-inch diameter pipeline to bring the mixture as a gas, the pressure must be gas. maintained below the dew point. A very gas to markets in the lower 48 states. The large pipeline or several pipelines would initial cost estimate of the project was set THE METHANOL OPTION at $10 billion. The start-up of the pipe­ be needed, since the volume of the fluid In 1979 Marsden5 proposed the line has been moved backwards several would be greatly expanded. The building chemical conversion of North Slope natu­ times since then; in 1979 the Oil and Gas costs would expand accordingly. ral gas to methanol at Prudhoe Bay, with Joumal2 suggested that the pipeline Alternatively, the fluid could be this methanol then being pumped in the would not be built until 1984. transported as a liquid but at a much surplus-capacity trans Alaska pipeline to 3 higher pressure (above the bubble point). James analyzed the various econom­ Valdez_ Methanol would then be sepa­ Massive quantities of gas would be ic parameters in 1979 and suggested that rated in a standard refinery for subse­ needed to fill the line initially. The sub­ private financing of the gas pipeline quent use. sequent pumping costs would be very seemed unlikely. In March of 1981 The Marsden 5 forcefully suggested the large since the high pressures must be Wall Street Journaf supported the con­ construction of prefabricated modular maintained to avoid "vapor locks" on the tention that the pipeline would not be methanol production plants to be trans­ pumping units. constructed at all. ported on barges from industrialized areas Separation of the "light ends" (largely methane) from the "heavier ends" (primarily ethane, with smaller TABLE 1 quantities of propane and butane) be­ Composition of Prudhoe Bay Natural Gas 1 comes imperative. The light ends are then transported in a gas pipeline while Mole Percent 1st Separator 2nd Separator 3rd Separator the heavy ends, known as natural gas 15.3 18.8 12.9 liquids (NGL). are transported as such. 0.8 0.2 The NGL are unlikely candidates for 73.9 55.7 24.0 the existing trans Alaska pipeline, since at 10.0 25.4 63.0 its present operating temperature of

6 The Northern Engineer, Vol. 13, No. 2 Figure 2. Model of barge-mounted methanol production train. (Photo courtesy of Litton Industries.) to the Arctic. A model of a proposed methanol requires 108 set/day of gas. be noted that a pipeline much smaller plant is shown in Figure 2. Since con· With the present gas production at Prud­ than that proposed for ANGTS will struction costs at Prudhoe are several hoe there will be a need for 14 such have to be built to carry the natural gas times those elsewhere, the transporta· trains. The small increment of 3000 tons liquids from Prudhoe Bay to the site of tion of completed plants from remote per day is attractive since new units can whatever petrochemical industry there sites is economically attractive. The be added gradually as the gas production may be in the state, if that industry is to same method has been used for many of increases. This is in contrast to a gas be developed. the living and working quarters on the pipeline, where a large pipeline may be Slope. grossly underutilized at first and then METHANOL PRODUCTION Ostby and Marsden6 presented the reach full capacity several years later­ Methanol usually is produced by a technical dimensions of gas to methanol and thereafter a new, initially under­ two-step process: first, conversion of the conversion in offshore gas fields while utilized pipeline would be needed. The methane into a more convenient-to-use Ostby and Nystad 7 presented an econom· ability to increase incrementally and collection of reactants referred to as ic and technical feasibility study for a smoothly is a major advantage of the synthesis gas, and then the controlled re­ 1000-tons/day methanol plant in the modular methanol-producing units. Fur­ combination of the elements of the gas North Sea. Modular plants have made thermore, the initial "fillup" of the into methanol. Both steps require high developing remote offshore gas commer­ ANGTS pipeline would require very large levels of quality control to ensure the cially feasible: Huebel and Skeds8 dealt quantities of natural gas to be accumula­ purity of the products and to minimize with the subject in general and concluded ted at Prudhoe Bay and compressed at the conversion of useful products into that the concept was favorable; Jackson9 appropriately high pressures. Interim undesirable by-products that would re­ dealt with the extensive use of floating storage facilities do not exist there, quire separate handling. When effective methanol plants to develop remote off­ however, nor would they be economi­ controls are used, however, conversion shore gas reserves. cally attractive. efficiencies can exceed 15% per pass A "train" of three 1000-tons/day The suggested methanol production during the recombination phase; recircu· units on a single barge is the optimum at Prudhoe would amount to less than the lation resul.ts in near total conversion. design, according to industry experts. 5 excess capacity of the existing oil pipe­ • Purities of typically 99.9% are realizable The production of 3000 tons/day of line (2 x laO barrels per day). It should with only one distillation step (separation

The Northern Engineer, Vol. 13, No.2 7 from water). A typical flow diagram for methanol production is shown in Fig­ MAKE-UP GAS ure 3. The production of methanol from CONVERTER natural gas is therefore feasible, in fact rather easy, from a technological view­ point. The excess carbon dioxide present TO STACK at Prudhoe is beneficial here, since it can be converted with the excess hydrogen into more methanol. This is in contrast to the ANGTS pipeline option, where the presence of co may become environ­ 2 mentally hazardous. The conversion process is a heavy energy user, with 30% to 40% of the en­ ergy in the starting material lost in the Figure 3. Schematic flow diagram for medium-pressure methanol synthesis. process.5 The penalty is necessary to con­ vert difficult-to-transport gas to easily tant; the emergence of unleaded gasoline 2Anon. 1979. Alaska gas line start-up transportable Iiqu id. The conversion to is a response to adverse effects of leaded slips to late 1984. The Oil and Gas J. methanol is called "chemical liquifica­ gasoline.) Gasohol could be a valuable ad­ March 5, p. 78. tion", while the conversion to liquified dition to the fuel mix in transportation. 3James, R.D. 1979. Alaskan gas pipeline natural gas (LNG) is called "physical seems in deep trouble for lack of financ­ liquification". That process is also a high CONCLUSIONS ing. The Wall Street Journal, May 23, energy user because of the high compres­ Most industry analysts believe that sion requirements. private financing for the ANGTS is not p. 1. feasible. Government financing may take 4Anon. 1981. Angst over ANGTS. The METHANOL AND ITS USES place, but for such a project that would Wall Street Journal, March 24. Methanol is the simplest alcohol. It be nothing less than a gargantuan fiscal is liquid at standard conditions, boiling at leviathan. 5Marsden, S.S., Jr. 1979. A proposal for a temperature of 65°C (149°F). Of more The case has been aptly made that transportation of Prudhoe Bay gas to significance is the fact that methanol is the methanol conversion option is infi­ market. Paper SPE 8296, presented at totally miscible with crude oil, lending it­ nitely more desirable from both the total the SPE-AIME 54th Annual Fall Tech­ self well to transportation with crude oil. and incremental economic viewpoint. If nical Conference, Las Vegas, Sept. 23­ It is slightly corrosive and moderately the methanol option were implemented, 26, 1979. toxic. It is a poison when ingested, but a 3000-tons/day plant on a barge could 6ostby, M. and S.S. Marsden, Jr. 1977. spills are a lot less dangerous and less be delivered for $300 million. A two to Gas-to-methanol conversion proposed lingering than those of crude oil, since three year period from ordering to deliv­ for off-shore gas fields. The Oil and methanol has a high flash point. ery is estimated. Hence the total cost for Major uses for methanol are (a) as a 14 such units is $4.2 billion, an order of Gas J. Nov. 7, pp. 83-87. feedstock to the petrochemical industry magnitude less than the cost of ANGTS. 7ostby, M. and A.N. Nystad. 1978. Tech­ and (b) as a fuel. Example products Environmental considerations also favor nical/economical feasibility study for a formed by methanol reactions are formal­ the methanol option. floating 1000 M tons/day methanol dehyde and acetic acid. If the giant Prudhoe Bay reservoir is plant in the North Sea. Paper SPE 7401, Methanol utilization as an energy re­ to produce efficiently, the decision to use presented at the SPE-AIME 53rd Annu­ source can be large and varied. It can be the methanol option must be made soon. al Fall Technical Conference, Houston, used as a direct fuel in specially retro­ Time is of critical importance. Oct. 1-3, 1978. fitted engines. The efficiency and pollu­ ACKNOWLEDGMENT tion levels have been about the same as 8Huebel, R.R. and J.M. Skeds. 1979. those of diesel or gasoline engines. The author thanks the Alaska Energy Modular plants make remote offshore A wider use of methanol can be in Center for partially financing this study. gas commercial. The Oil and Gas J. the form of gasohol. A 1 0% blend of The Center neither espouses nor rejects April 30, p. 216. methanol in gasoline has been used ef­ the conclusions presented here. 9Jackson, R.G. 1979. The use of a float­ fectively in automobiles with little or no REFERENCES ing methanol plant to develop remote retrofitting. The blending octane value 1 offshore gas reserves. Paper 3-4 In: (BOY) of methanol is exceptionally high Rickwood, F.K. 1970. The Prudhoe Bay Proceedings, Second Int. Sym. Alcohol (120 to 130). Its use will reduce the need field. In: Proceedings, Geol. Seminar on Fuel Tech., Wolfsburg, Fed. Rep. Ger­ for leaded gasoline. (Tetraethyl lead has the North Slope of Alaska. U.S. Geol. many, Nov. 21-23, 1979. + been cited repeatedly as a major poilu- Survey, Menlo Park, CA. The Northern Engineer, Vol. 13, No.2 8 by Claus-M. Naske

THE BOARD OF ROAD COMMISSIONERS

he great Klondike gold rush lured thousands of people to Alaska and the Yukon; it also convinced the United States government that the Alaska Territory was in need of investigating - and governing. Federal bureaus, some new to the north, Tbegan work to fill the gaps in knowledge about the region and to disseminate the information available in their respective fields. For example, the Bureau of Naviga­ tion published a circular on navigational conditions on the Yukon and Porcupine rivers; the Labor Department issued bulletins on opportunities, prices, and problems of capital and labor in the gold fields; and the Department of Agriculture dispatched investigators to evaluate agricultural possibilities in the north. 1 Congress reacted to the gold rush by passing legislation, and by 1900 had established criminal and civil codes as well as the first tax system for the Territory. Inspired by all the activity, the United States Senate appointed a subcommittee of its Committee on Territories to journey to Alaska in 1903 and make a "thorough investigation of existing conditions, her resources and her needs, with the purpose to ascertain and report what, if any, legislation is required for that district."2

THE SENATORS' TOUR

The four senators assigned to the sub­ ments and army forts. At St. Michael committee met in Seattle and sailed for the U.S. Revenue Marine Service cutter Alaska on June 28. They cruised through McCulloch took the senatorial party the Inland Passage to the head of Lynn aboard, and they visited Nome, St. Paul Canal, stopping in the Pribilof at various settle­ Islands, Dutch ments along the Harbor,and Una­ way. They went laska, and then over the White passed through Pass to Lake Le­ the Aleutian Is­ barge, the Lewes lands into the River, and along the upper Yukon North Pacific. They continued to Dawson City, their journey a­ where they vis­ long Alaska's ited the gold Sitka, early 1900s. (Photo courtesy of the Frank southern coast, fields and exam- Barr Collection, U. of A. Archives, Fairbanks.) stopping at Kar­ ined the Yukon Territory's form of luk, Kodiak, Valdez, Sitka, and at Juneau government. From Dawson the group for a second time. continued downstream all the way to Throughout their extensive journey, St. Michael, stopping at various settle- the senators held hearings and took test­

Claus-M. Naske is Professor of History at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. He is presently working on a book of the history ofFairbanks.

The Northern Engineer, Vol. 13, No.2 9 needs of the various districts. Miners and trading companies had built many trails and bridges by subscription, each contributing as much as they could afford, but each fall the winter trails had to be reconstructed, and each spring the sum­ mer trails and bridges had to be rebuilt. Spring explained that there was "no in­ Chena, 1905. (Photo courtesy of the Wilson F. Erskine Collection, University of Alaska telligent supervision of the work, there is Archives, Fairbanks.) no engineering skill."3 imony from 61 witnesses in 11 settle­ from there to the head of steamboat ments and towns. The witnesses were navigation at Chena at the confluence of Wickersham's Views concerned with a wide variety of sub­ the Chena and Tanana Rivers, a distance Federal Judge James Wickersham sup­ jects, ranging from agriculture to bound­ of about 520 miles. He related that a ported the contention of many witnesses ary questions, coal and copper deposits, wagon road from Tanana Crossing to that the cost of getting provisions from the necessity for an elected delegate to Copper Center, 165 miles, would be the navigable streams, particularly the Congress, fish hatcheries, freight rates, easier to construct because the country Yukon, was so high as to be almost pro­ game laws, the insane, the need for light­ was not as rugged as along the Tanana or hibitive. He explained that the develop­ houses and better mail service, surveys near Eagle. It would be as expensive as ment of large areas of low-grade mining and taxes, the need for a territorial the others because materials would have ground around Nome had been made pos­ government and for better transportation. to be transported across the difficult sible only by competitive, cheap ocean Numerous individuals addressed the lack coastal mountains. A continuation of the transportation. Goods and supplies were of roads and trails. route from Copper Center to Valdez, al­ landed almost as cheaply as they could be though only 103 miles long, would be bought in Seattle, Portland, or San Fran­ Testimonies difficult to build because of the moun­ cisco. Supplies destined for the areas along William Daily of Ketchikan told ~he tainous character of the country. Although the Yukon, however, either came down senators that he represented the Unuk very crude, the military trail already the river via Skagway and Dawson or up­ Mining, Smelting, and Transportation existing between the two settlements river from St. Michael. Miners had to wait Company of Danville, Illinois. The com­ made possible the trans(Jortation of sup­ until winter to transport their goods on pany's mines were located 42 miles from plies with pack animals.3 This trail con­ dogsleds from distribution points on the the mouth of the Unuk River. Daily told nected with another one and led to Tanana Yukon and its tributaries to the mines. the group that his company was construct­ Crossing. Supplies destined for miners working at ing a wagon road to its mines at an esti­ Abraham Spring of Fairbanks pointed Coldfoot on the Koyukuk landed at mated expense of $50,000. Daily reminded out that roads and trails ranked next in Bettles for $135 per ton. From Bettles, the senators that the Canadian government need only to a oomprehensive mining supplies had to be forwarded to Coldfoot built roads into territories to aid economic code. The lack of good trai-ls and wagon in the summer by a scow pulled by horses development, but no similar provisions roads made mining very expensive. Only walking along the riverbank or, even more were made in Alaska.3 Congress could appropriate the sums nec­ laboriously, by poling boats, and in the At Eagle on the Yukon River, the sen­ essary to construct the wagon roads con­ winter on dogsleds. This added $200 a ators called on Lieutenant William necting Alaska's principal settlements, ton to freight costs, making the total "Billy" Mitchell of the U.S. Signal Corps, though miners themselves could build the $335 per ton at Coldfoot. Thus, the then in charge of building part of the feeder roads. Spring suggested that miners freight on a 50-pound sack of flour de­ Alaska telegraph system, to testify on be permitted to perform road work an­ livered at Bettles came to $3.37'12. Trans­ territorial conditions and needs. Mitchell nually in lieu of the required assessment porting the same sack to Coldfoot cost an told the senators that it would cost more labor on claims and that the whole system additional $5.00 or a total of $8.37Y... The than $2 million to construct a fair wagon of road building should be under the 50-pound sack of flour eventually retailed road from Eagle to Tanana Crossing and direction of commissioners who knew the for well over $1 0.00.

10 The Northern Engineer, Vol. 13, No.2 ... building Alaska's first roads meant breaking trails in Washington ...

Wickersham told the senators that to permanent roads, trails, and bridges be­ as machinery so large as to require the develop interior Alaska's mining potential, tween Nome and settlements in the in­ use of six to 12 horses. 2 the following wagon roads were essential: terior and on the coast, and recommended 1) a road from Valdez across to Eagle that the trails and roads be provided with Recommendations City by way of the Fortymile River; guideboards or stakes of sufficient height 3 The subcommitte recommended that 2) a branch road from Tanana Cross­ to be readily visible above the snow line. the government construct a system of ing, north along the Tanana River to transportation routes and that the basis Fairbanks and thence across to THE SENATORS' REPORT for such a system should be a well-built Rampart; By the time the senators returned to wagon road connecting the Pacific Ocean 3) a branch road from Circle City on Seattle on August 26, 1903, they had at Valdez with Eagle on the Yukon River, the Yukon to Fairbanks; covered a distance of 6600 miles, but a distance of approximately 400 miles. 4) a continuation of the Tanana Valley only 111 of those miles were on land.2 The road should follow the general lines road to Coldfoot on the Koyukuk; They had been awed by Alaska's vastness of the existing military trail, which Captain and and surprised at the lack of transportation Abercrombie and his men had built in 5) branch roads from these main trunk facilities. "Outside the few and scattered 1899 - 1900, and the recently-completed lines to the various mining centers. settlements called towns, which are military telegraph line. The committee When asked what institutional framework found in different parts of Alaska proper, explained that Valdez was the finest was needed for road building, Wickersham and most of which are but the centers northern harbor on the Pacific Coast, suggested that a three-member road com­ of mining interests," they commented open and ice free throughout the year, a mission be appointed in each of Alaska's in a report to their colleagues, "there is natural gateway to the interior and a three judicial districts with the territorial not to be found a single public wagon key to its economic devel.opment. Eagle, governor serving as an ex officio member road over which vehicles can be drawn once conne~ted by a road, should become of each commission. The chief executive summer or winter." It was true. the distributing point for American goods was the right person for the job, Wicker­ The senators observed that Alaska's to most ot' the vast Yuko~ basin. Most sham suggested, for he received a good development depended "more upon the important, the committee believed that a salary and had very little to do. The con­ improvement of transportation facilities system of wagon roads and trails would struction should be financed by the than upon any other one instrumentali­ allow miners to use modern heavy machin­ monies raised in each division from license ty." The federal government had done ery in extracting minerals, induce immi­ fees paid outside of incorporated towns.3 nothing to construct a transportation gration, and even result in a permanent In addition to much testimony by in­ system. "It has neither built roads nor population "wedded to the soil." In con­ dividual witnesses favoring the construc­ provided other means of transportation," clusion, subcommittee members stated tion of roads and trails, two communi­ the senators stated, "and the hardy and that it was "as much of a duty to build ties also submitted formal resolutions to adventurous who have sought the wealth the road (between Valdez and Eagle) and the senators. The citizens of Eagle regarded hidden in the valley of the Yukon, the secure the American interests of the dis­ the lack of roads and trails as the main Koyukuk, and Seward Peninsula have trict to the United States as it Was to build drawback to development of the country. done so amidst difficulties that can only the first Pacific railroad to connect the The construction of roads and trails be understood by those who have made a Pacific Coast with the territory east of would encourage the mining industry; study of the situation." The senators con­ the Rocky Mountains." To finance such furnish routes for the Postal Department trasted federal inactivity with Canadian road construction, the senators suggested and decrease the cost of mail delivery; achievements in the Yukon Territory_ Be­ that the taxes on salmon fisheries be in­ save the judiciary thousands of dollars tween 1898 and 1903, the Canadian creased and that, together with already annually in traveling fees and reduce per government had spent $1,025,000 to con­ available revenues, these monies would diem expenses of marshals, witnesses, struct and maintain 850 miles of wagon "constitute an annual fund which, if and jurors; and save the War Department roads and winter trails leading to the wisely used, will result in a grand advance thousands of dollars in freight costs. Nome camps from Dawson. Some 225 miles of in Alaska's development and wealth.''2 citizens urged Congress to make liberal the total had been thoroughly constructed The subcommittee distributed its re­ appropriations for the construction of and carried the heaviest of freight, such port to the full Senate on January 12,

11 ...... The Northern Engineer, Vol. 13, No, 2 ------­ 1904, and on the 15th a deluge of Alaska THE BOARD BEGINS The War Department directed the new bills descended upon both houses. Most Knute Nelson, U.S. Senator from board to meet at Skagway on May 15, of these measures were referred to the Minnesota since 1895 and the subcom­ 1905. On the way to Skagway from Committees on Territories, and those mittee member most actively involved Seattle, Richardson and Pillsbury stopped bodies held extensive hearings in an at­ with Alaska legislation since the visit at Ketchikan and Juneau, where Orchard tempt to coordinate the different parts north, introduced a measure in 1904 met the two, and then at Haines. The of the Alaska program. An appropriation reapportioning the money received for all men made a preliminary inquiry into the to conduct a preliminary survey of a licenses issued outside of the towns. road needs of southeastern Alaska. They wagon road from Valdez to Fort Egbert It designated such fees the "Alaska Fund" soon found that citizens in the region were at Eagle and for a military trail between and gave five percent to the Secretary of concerned about the expenditure of the Yukon River and Coldfoot was the Interior for the care of the insane, monies from the Alaska Fund, preferring quickly passed. The Secretary of War 25 percent to elected school boards to have these spent in the region in which was to make all the necessary arrange­ under the superintendency of the terri­ they were collected. Richardson pointed ments. torial governor for the education of white out that "on account of the somewhat Thereupon, the War Department ap­ children, and the remaining 70 percent exceptional status of the courts in Alaska, pointed J.M. Clapp, an assistant engineer to the Secretary of War for road construc­ embracing as it does, certain extra execu­ in the Seattle office of the Corps of tion. Roads were to be built under the tive and administrative functions, a Engineers, to head the survey parties. direction of a board of road commis­ sort of sentiment of territorial division Clapp assigned four of these parties, with sioners composed of an engineer officer has grown up in the minds of many of the a total of 48 men, to the Valdez - Fort Eg­ of the U.S. Army, to be appointed by the people." The board president decided to bert survey, each to cover approximately Secretary of War, and two other officers ignore these divisions and instead try to accomplish what was best for all of 100 miles of the proposed wagon road. drawn from troops stationed in Alaska. 6 The first two parties sailed from Seattle The board was empowered, Alaska. on May 31, 1904 for Skagway. From there During the summer of 1905 board upon their own motion or upon petition, members traveled widely. Richardson they went via the White Pass and upper to locate, layout, construct, and maintain Yukon to Fort Egbert. The remaining went down the Yukon River via the White wagon roads and pack trails from any Pass, visiting Eagle, Circle, and Rampart. two, with 25 packhorses, left Seattle on point on the navigable waters ... to any He went up the Tanana River to Fairbanks June 1, 1904 for Valdez to begin their town, camps or settlements . .. , ifin their work at that end. On August 14, 1904 judgement such roads or trails are needed and from there to St. Michael, Nome, the four parties had completed the 430­ and will be of permanent value for the the Ophir Creek (Council City) districts, mile survey, and Clapp estimated that it development of the district. and other parts of the Seward Peninsula. would cost $3500 per mile or approxi­ Orchard inspected the Valdez Trail and The board was not to build roads or trails mately $1.5 million for building the wagon determined what improvements were to transitory settlements. Any work worth road from Valdez to Fort Egbert.4 necessary. Pillsbury examined a section of more than $5000 was to be let for bid a road from Whitehorse to Yukon Cross­ Clapp had appointed Oscar A. Piper and awarded to the lowest bidder, but if ing in the Yukon Territory; he went to and two assistants to survey the Yukon - all bids were deemed too high, the board Ketchikan and ordered a survey for a Coldfoot route. Piper, his men, and his possessed the power to perform the re­ road across a short portage of four miles pack animals went downstream on the quired work by buying the necessary on Prince of Wales Island from Chol­ steamer John Cudahy and on June 21 materials and hiring the required men. mondely Sound to Hetta Inlet; he also landed opposite Fort Hamlin, an aban­ The board also was responsible for the ordered a survey for a road from Haines doned Alaska Commercial Company maintenance of this transportation net­ Mission up the Chilkat and Klehini work.5·6 trading post, 40 miles northeast of Ram­ Rivers toward the international boundary. part. After cutting trail for a couple of President Theodore Roosevelt signed Deciding that was not enough for one days, the party left the Yukon on June 24, the legislation creating the Board of Road short season, Pillsbury then went to surveyed in a northwesterly direction, Commissioners for Alaska-on January 27, Valdez in September and crossed Big and reached Coldfoot on July 12. The 1905, and in March, at the President's re­ Delta Pass into the interior, the proposed party concluded its field work on Au­ quest, the Secretary of War designated route of the new trail from the coast. gust 14. Piper found about 80 well­ Major Wilds Preston Richardson of the From Fairbanks he went downriver to built cabins at Coldfoot, most of them 9th Infantry president of the Board and St. Michael and Nome and left Alaska deserted for the mining season. He es­ filled the remaining two positions with the by ocean steamer late in the fall.6 timated that Coldfoot had a winter appointments of Lieutenants George B. population of about 60 souls, and the Pillsbury and Samuel C. Orchard. Richard­ RICHARDSON'S RECOMMENDATIONS 1 whole Koyukuk Valley a population of son, then 44 years of age, was already an Richardson estimated that the new approximately 300 miners. He calculated old Alaska hand. He had received orders town of Fairbanks had a population of that it would cost about $6000 to build a in August 1897 to serve in Alaska, where, approximately 3000, with another 5000 126-mile trail sufficient to meet the cur­ except for a few brief details elsewhere, working claims on creeks in the vicinity. 4 rent needs of the miners. he was to remain for 20 years. The Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce

12 The Northern Engineer, Vol. 13, No.2 appealed to Richardson to have about 16 miles across to the val­ a wagon road constructed be­ ley of the upper Nome River; tween the camp and adjacent the Solomon River Railroad mines, for with spring breakup, from the mouth of the Solomon the two stage Jines had been up to the mouth of the East Fork, forced to suspend operations approximately 14 miles; and the because the trails had become Council City and Ophir Creek nearly impassable. Railroad, running from Council The town could now only be to claim No. 15 Ophir, approxi­ reached on foot, and it was mately eight miles. There were a not uncommon to see miners few stagecoaches and numerous come in here (Fairbanks) late gasoline boats and "horse boats," in the evening, almost exhausted, five-ton scows pulled by horses with their clothing tom and walking along the banks of the draggled in the mud, after a creeks where safe footing could trip of some thirty miles over be found or in the stream when a trail from six inches to two it was not too deep. When all feet deep in mud, and from else failed, men poled the scows forcing their way through the brush and timber to avoid some upriver. Residents of Nome pe­ ofthe worst places. 6 titioned the board to survey and construct a road leading direct­ Richardson quickly concluded ly into the heart of the peninsula, that Chester W. Purington's 1895 a distance of about 175 miles. observations on road building in Although the road was too ex­ the subarctic had been correct. pensive to construct all at once, Purington remarked that Richardson believed that short Government wagon road above Keystone Falls, Valdez­ a serious detriment to the making sections should be built where Fairbanks Trail. (Photo courtesy John Zug Scrapbook, U. of A. ofa road in Alaska is the thawing most needed as funds permitted.6 Archives, Fairbanks.) of the ground beneath the moss. Richardson proposed to the It has been the universal experience that Major Richardson was particularly con­ War Department the construction of wherever the moss is cut into, thawing cerned with the development of interior about 300 miles of roads and approxi­ immediately commences, and the trail and northwest Alaska. This necessitated mately 1200 miles of trails, all urgently which was passable becomes a filthy, the speedy development of the Valdez­ needed to further economic develop­ slimy mass of mud, roots, and broken Fairbanks route, consisting of three sepa­ ment. He estimated that it would cost stone, a difficult route for men on rate trails. The first, from Valdez to Cop­ about $2500 to $3000 per mile of road foot, a slow and tiresome road for loaded and approximately $250 per mile of trail. animals, and an impassable obstacle to per Center, essentially followed the mili­ any sort of vehicle. In regions further tary trail Abercrombie had built earlier; The Alaska Fund was totally inadequate South under temperate conditions, trails the second led up the Tanana River from and Richardson suggested that Congress frequently are developed into fair wagon Fairbanks; and the third connected these appropriate $1 million outright. "Such roads by much usage. Such development two from Copper Center to the mouth an expenditure at this time," he argued, can never take place in any part of the of the Delta River or to Isabel Pass. "would be of immense benefit to the Northwest. He reported that some work had already country in the way of increased pro­ Purington recommended that in sections been accomplished on trails 4, 5, and 6, duction and the opening up of new with poor drainage the moss be left in­ consisting primarily of repairs and im­ fields." With such an appropriation, tact, even be added to by material taken provements, such as replacing approxi­ the board could purchase its own ani­ from the side ditches, and then be cor­ mately 3032 feet of worn-out corduroy mals, tools, and equipment and organize duroyed with heavy brush or poles. On with stone ballast and building numerous its work on the most economical basis. top of this a covering of gravel would add small bridges over dangerous crossings. He The board had overexpended its $28,000 insulation.6 proposed that the challenging Tanana budget by $1,786.61, he explained, On Richardson's recommendation, the River be crossed just above the mouth of made necessary by building a permanent board then spent a total of $7851 in the the Delta River. organization .6 Fairbanks area, building a six-mile road Richardson arrived in the Nome dis­ The board could look back on a pro­ from Gilmore to Summit, designated as trict on August 22 to survey conditions ductive first year. It had directed various route No. 7, and a trunk road from Sum­ and assess needs. He described existing reconnaissances and surveys, undertaken mit to the mines on Cleary Creek. The forms of transportation, which consisted some repairs and improvements, and Board of Road Commissioners for Alaska of a few narrow-gauge railroads- the Wild built short stretches of road from Haines wntracted the work since it had no em­ Goose route, or the Nome Arctic Railway, up the Chilkat River to the Indian villages ployees of its own.6 which crossed Anvil Creek and extended of the Chilkat Valley, as well as similar

rhe Northern Engineer, Vol. 13, No.2 13 projects i"n the Fairbanks and Nome dis­ tricts. However, the three men agreed that the monies accruing to the Alaska Fund and available for rbad construction were wholly inadequate to meet even the most immediate and pressing transportation needs of the territory. Furthermore, the monies from this fund varied and were received at irregular intervals, making it almost impossible to plan ahead and commit funds for long-range projects. The members of the board were united in their opinion that the law which had created the Board of Road Commission­ ers for Alaska needed to be amended. In November 1905 the army called Major Richardson to Washington to give a per­ sonal report and spell out needed changes. In early 1906 Congress amended the legislation, regularizing the collection of license monies and raising the cost of Bridging a stream near Valdez, on the Valdez-Fairbanks wagon road. {Photo courtesy roadwork which could be performed John Zug Scrapbook, U. of A. Archives, Fairbanks.) by government forces from $5000 to The hazards of early travel. {Photo courtesy John Zug Scrapbook, U. of A. Archives, $20,000_7 Congress also made a direct Fairbanks.) appropriation of $150,000, to be ex­ pended at the direction of the board, rather than the $1 million Richardson had first proposed.

ACCOUNTING PROCEDURES

To carry out the necessary work over such a vast territory, properly supervise it, and protect expenditures, the board gave much thought to the organization of the office and to the transfer of funds and methods of payment. It divided Alaska into districts, with suboffices and with a civil engineer as superintendent in charge of each district. These superinten­ dents were to act as disbursing agents for the board. After the board had laid out the work, the engineer officer became re­ sponsible for seeing it carried out. For that reason he was in charge of the or­ board had suitable checkbooks printed each month {or more often if desired) for ganization of all working parties and for and distributed. The superintendents amounts paid out, paying a negotiated rate their immediate direction in the field, as were to keep receipts and make a careful of exchange varying from one-fourth to far as possible and. consistent with the accounting. Since there were no banks in one-half of one percent. responsibilities of the other board mem­ some areas where work was performed, it With the procedural framework in bers. The disbursing officer, for similar soon became necessary to extend this place, the board accepted a 1906 budget reasons, had great freedom in supervising system to some kind of arrangement with of $230,500, an eightfold increase over all office details relating in any wav to his commercial or trading companies. This the initial appropriation for the previous responsibility .of accounting for funds, was done by entering into a written agree­ year. Of the total, $80,500 accrued from property, and records. 8 ment with such companies to furnish the ·Alaska Fund. Congress also appropri­ In order to pay for labor and supplies supplies and pay the laborers. Eventually, ated an extra $35,000 for a reconnaissance at distant points, the board made agree­ the board established a system of pay­ and preliminary survey for a 600-mile ments with local banks to cash checks ment on the overdraft principle. It reim­ mail and pack trail from the navigable drawn by the various superintendents. The bursed the bank or commercial company waters of the Tanana River near Fairbanks

14 The Northern Engineer, Vol. 13, No. :2 to the vicinity of Council City on the Seward Peninsula. The board 9hired civil engineer J.l. McPherson, who selected a feasible Specifically, that season the board accomplished the following route. location surveys: THE WORK BEGINS Place The Board of Road Commissioners for Alaska was not idle District ·Distance during the winter of 1905-06. It shipped rations, forage for Gulkana to Donleys Valdez animals, and tools from Valdez and Fairbanks and distributed 121 miles Fairbanks to Donleys Fairbanks them in caches along the trail; constructed a bridge across the 127 miles Delta to Banner Fairbanks Tazlina River; made a reconnaissance of part of the route from 13 miles Donleys to Banner Fairbanks Fairbanks to Rampart; and flagged 247 miles of exposed trails Fortymile to Eagle 51 miles Fairbanks on the Seward Peninsula. The board used two assistants and a 57 miles Rampart to Glenn Fairbanks seven-dog team for flagging - red flags placed 50 to 150 feet Hope to Sunrise 30 miles S.W. Alaska apart (depending on the terrain) to make winter travel less Preliminary survey 39 miles Fairbanks hazardous by marking the trail. Another 40 miles of road had Tolovana-Glenn 18 miles Fairbanks been improved, 285 miles of new trail had been cut, and another Sundry surveys unknown Seward Peninsula 200 miles already in use had been upgraded. Additionally, the 19 miles board had located and surveyed another thousand miles of roads and trails. 9 475 miles It constructed and marked the following mileages: The board accepted $7,366.50 collected by Nome citizens to enable construction of a road from that town to the so-called Wagon road ...... 46.5 miles second beach line, about three miles back from the coastline. Roads maintained and improved ...... 40.0 miles That, together with what the board was able to spend, built Sled trails -full width for double sleds ...... 181.0 miles "a veritable boulevard, 22 feet between ditches, over which Trails- cleared half width ...... 81.0 miles thousands of tons have been transported" where formerly only Winter trails flagged ...... 247.0 miles the lightest wheeled traffic was possible. 9 Bridge over the Tazlina River Maintenance of the Bonanza Ferry9

Early in the construction season the board decided to purchase its own horses rather than to pay the high price of hire. Team rentals at Nome, Fairbanks, and Rampart cost between $15 and $18 per day. At that price, the board reasoned, it paid monthly what it would cost to buy a team outright. And if funds per­ mitted in 1907, it intended to purchase its own animals for all projects. 9

In 1906 the board began to work close­ ly with the Signal Corps. Wherever prac­ tical, the Corps changed the route of tele­ Bonanza River Ferry. (Photo courtesy of the Pope Collection,U. of A. Archives, Fairbanks.) graph lines, following the location of per­ Portion of Road Commission Camp at Saina River Bridge. (Photo courtesy of John Zug manenttrails to facilitate line maintenance. Scrapbook, U. of A. Archives, Fairbanks.) For example, it changed the course of the line to follow the cut-off section from Gulkana to the mouth of the Delta River and modified the line between Fairbanks and Rampart and the one from Kaltag to Unalakleet.9

By the end of 1906 the board had given form and structure to its organiza­ tion and had become an important feder­ al agency. Major Richardson, as presi­ dent of the board, had gained considerable influence in Alaska; the agency he directed had begun to provide northerners with the basic framework of a transportation system, and he also controlled a sizable payroll. Northern Engineer, Vol. 13, No.2

15 The board's work quickly produced the through mail route from Valdez to from $2.50 to $5 per day. Board was numerous economic benefits. For ex­ the Seward Peninsula." The board wel­ provided, and subsistence costs ranged ample, in the Fairbanks district it had comed petitions for projects but requested from slightly more than $0.50 per day in built a road 4.07 miles long, costing that each be accompanied by the best southeastern Alaska to $3 per day in the $2439 per mile, connecting Summit to information available, such as character interior. The higher expenses reflect the Cleary. Some 5000 tons of freight moved of the route desired, tonnage to be trans­ inadequate transportation system: south­ over this segment at a reduction of $1 0 ported, number of people to be benefited, eastern Alaska, for example, could rely per ton, saving the Cleary miners $50,000. the probable permanence of the commun­ on competitive and cheap ocean freight A parallel road from Summit to the mines ity, and the approximate cost of the de­ rates. Similarly, wages differed signifi­ of Fairbanks Creek, 9.22 miles in length sired undertaking. But the board also cantly, again reflecting the cost of living and costing $1300 per mile, had reduced reminded its constituents of Alaska's in the differing regions. Superintendents, freight rates by $20 per ton. The Fair· vast size and that it would take years be­ locating engineers, foremen, and assistant banks Creek miners had saved an estimated fore all regions requiring aid could even foremen received anywhere from $150 $40,000 on transportation of their sup­ be examined. Actual construction work per month to $10 or more per day. The plies.10 had to wait for these preliminary recon­ cost of hiring work animals also varied Improvements in the overland mail naissances. Finally, the board encouraged greatly, ranging from $10 per day for a trail had provided speedier deliveries. In monetary contributions from communi­ four-horse team including feed to $13 per 1906 the first winter mail arrived in Nome ties in order to stretch funds. 11 day for a single horse without feed. Given on December 5, taking only 49 days from these circumstances and the added diver­ In his report to the Secretary of War, Seattle. The previous year it had not ar· sity in climatic, timber, and soil condi· board president Richardson differentiated rived until December 29, and the year be· tions, mileage costs of construction among three different types of construc­ fore that not until December 31. This ranged from a low of $100 to a high of tion used. Wagon roads had to accommo­ time saving was greatly appreciated by several thousands of dollars per mile. And date year-round traffic of considerable the citizens of Nome and the Seward although considerable economy had been tonnage. Therefore, they had to be located Peninsula. Between November and April, achieved with the purchase of four road with suitable grades and be crowned, mail and passenger stages left Valdez and machines for ditching and sidehill grad­ ditched, and drained and corduroyed or Fairbanks weekly. It usually took nine ing, each drawn by a team of six to eight planked where necessary. Winter sled days to reach Fairbanks and eight going roads had to meet the requirements of horses, it still cost an average of approxi· back to Valdez; the stage company set a winter travel only, so no crowning, mately $2200 for each mile of wagon record for the 1906 - 07 winter season of road built. Winter sled roads cost $250 11 12 ditching, or draining was necessary nor 11 six days, 10 hours, and 10 minutes. • was extensive corduroying required. They and ppck trails $100 per mile. Back in Washington, Richardson's lob­ did have to be wide enough through tim­ Richardson continued to lobby success­ bying efforts with Congress paid off bered areas and sidehill cuts to permit fully for special congressional appropria­ handsomely when it allotted $250,000 the passage of double teams, however. tions. For the next fourfiscal years (1908­ for his Alaskan projects for the 1907 In addition, winter sled roads had to have 1911 ), Congress provided $244,857.18, fiscal year. Together with $90,000 from the proper grade for fairly heavy loads, $236,674.97,$237,498.50, and $100,000. the Alaska Fund, the board disposed of Together with monies from the Alaska 11 and most of the tree stumps and surface a record budget of $340,000. inequalities had to be removed to provide Fund, this gave the board total budgets Unfortunately, requests for road and ranging from $365,269.90 (1908) to a fairly even surface. Some stretches of 13 trail construction from all sections of winter sled roads had been so well built, $266,777.95 (1911 ). Alaska poured into board headquarters in fact, that they even permitted light ACCOMPLISHMENTS "so far in excess of the abilities of the wheeled traffic in summer. Lastly, dog board to meet, with the funds available team and pack trails were the least ex­ In 1911 the board or likely to become available in the near pensive to build. They differed from win­ total of 759 miles of wagon roads, future," that board members thought it ter sled roads in that they were narrower miles of winter sled roads, and 576 mi of pack trails had been built. Add•·t •nr.,•~<• wise to issue a circular explaining to and had steeper grades and more surface Alaskans their policies and limitations. unevenness. By 1907 the board had com­ In its circular, the board drew a distinction pleted, in 41 locations scattered about the hundred miles of winter trails over between monies accruing from the Alaska Territory, about 166 miles of wagon road; less and exposed sections of the te Fund and special congressional appropria· 384 miles of winter sled road; 242 miles tions for the "construction and mainte­ of dog sled and pack trail; 382 miles of ers during storms. It also had conti nance of military and post roads, bridges, flagged winter trail; and had built three its program of constructing bridges a and trails." The board had decided to river bridges and installed three ferries. use monies from the Fund mainly for called attention to its wagon roads an local improvements and from Congress The board had to cope with wide explained that this designation had for "the location and construction of variations in construction costs in various main trunk lines of communication regions of Alaska. During the 1907 season, through the territory, and especially for example, the cost of labor had ranged standards of those found in the

16 The Northern Engineer, Vol. 13, No. ,... ,.... ,... ,..

IS't ,..,.. ,...

Alaska's road and trail system by the time of Richardson's departure (after an original from the Annual Report of the Board of Road Commissioners for Alaska, 1917; courtesy of the University of Alaska Archives, Fairbanks). ous United States. Alaska's wagon roads, because of the substantial financial as­ Alaska's interior, principally Fairbanks the board explained, were designed to sistance local residents had rendered. and the Tanana Valley, had a total popu­ be good country roads capable of accom­ Back in 1904 Congress had passed lation of 13,064. The board members modating year-round traffic of consider­ legislation that required all able-bodied agreed that it was of the utmost im­ able tonnage. They had been located with Alaska males between the ages of 18 and portance to connect this thriving mining appropriate grades, been crowned, ditched, 50 who resided outside incorporated district with the coast at Valdez. Construc­ ined, and corduroyed or planked where towns either to work two days each year tion of the Valdez- Fairbanks wagon road . Wherever soil quality permitted, on the public roads, to furnish a sub­ would continue on a priority basis. Al­ stitute, or to pay $8. Gradually, the ready more than half the total wagon n areas with poor soil conditions, the court commissioners had made the law road mileage in the territor"{ had been rd had put down a light corduroy of effective, and by 1911 it had yielded constructed along this route. A branch II spruce trees covered with several the equivalent of approximately $100,000 had been added by building some 90 miles 9f earth. In fact, most of the wagon in labor and money payments. In fact, inland at Willow Creek and from there to consisted merely of earth roads roads were in such good shape in the Chitina on the Copper River and North­ therefore rutted badly. While the Fairbanks m-ining district in the summer western Railroad, which connected with rd had worked in most sections of months that automobiles carried both Cordova. In short, th~ board could point territory, it had constructed the passengers ano freight between the town to substantial accomplishments in 1911. 14 system of local roads in the Fair­ and the creeks. Its system of wagon roads, winter sled ks and Nome mining districts, in part By 1910 census records showed that roads, and pack trails had reduced the

he Northern Engineer, Vol. 13, No.2 17 tures of approximately $1,600,000. The expense of moving freight, made possible animosity continued, sometimes spectac­ board was not allowed to submit an es­ speedy and regular mail service to interior ularly, until Richardson left Alaska (see timate for funds to meet such demands and northwestern Alaska, and increased box, p. 20). the safety of travel in general.14,15 Between pressure from Delegate Wick­ unless allowed by a new law to do so. In ersham and the court-martialling of his past years the appropriations supple­ menting the Alaska Fund had been carried POLITICAL PASSIONS disbursing officer, the years 1911 and 1912 had been difficult ones for Richard­ as a charge against the support of the Major Richardson was an ambitious son. His 1912 annual report was brief. He army, but now they became limited to and capable man. In order to gain success explained that the Board of Road Com­ only such sums as absolutely necessary and prestige in his profession as a mili­ missioners for Alaska had expanded its to maintain and repair the existing tary engineer on the frontier, he had 4 work continuously and had included new military and post roads.2 needed to build his own organization and projects each year, some in remote sec­ substantially increase the size of the By June 30 the board had spent tions and not on established mail routes. budget. This, he probably reasoned, would $317,303.72 of the total $317,646.59 And although Congress had appropriated give him the flexibility to build a trans­ available and had built 18 additional miles $125,000 for the work, the money did portation system in the north which, in of wagon roads, 52 miles of winter sled not become available until late August of turn, would enhance his career. roads, and 32 miles of trails. The board that year. Fortunately for the continua- It did. In time, Richardson was called had also allotted $5000 to begin construc­ upon by members of the executive and tion of an approximately 80-mile winter legislative branches of the federal estab­ trail from Fairbanks to Chen a Hot Springs lishment for advice on many matters and staked about 450 miles of trails for affecting the north. Beginning in 1905, winter travel only. In addition, the board at the end of the construction season each undertook the following important new year the War Department recalled him to projects during the season: 3.1 miles of Washington, where he served in various wagon roads from Juneau to Sheep Creek; capacities between November and April. 5 miles from Douglas to Gastineau Chan­ In the course of his work Richardson nel; a 1 0-mile extension from Circle City came into contact with many influential to Central House; 29 miles of sled roads from Ruby to long Creek; and a 12-mile lawmakers and bureaucrats, and over the years he developed friends in high extension from Moose Pass to the Kenai Peninsula.24 offices.

By this time he also had developed at THE FIGHT FOR HOME RULE least one significant enemy. James Wickersham had been elected as Alaska's The period was an eventful one for delegate to Congress, taking his seat in Major Richardson. (Photo courtesy of the Delegate Wickersham as well. In hearings the House of Representatives in March Historical Photograph Collection, U. of A. held in 1910 on the Beveridge bill, which 1909. One of his campaign promises had Archives, Fairbanks.) embodied President Taft's plan for gov­ been to win legislation permitting Alaska erning Alaska, it had soon become evi­ some home rule, including having its tion of the board's work, the governor dent that there was strong opposition to own legislature. Unfortunately for that of Alaska had transferred $80,000 for the measure. After some political maneu plan, President Taft believed that an ap­ roads from the accumulated reserve of vering the administration had abandoned pointed commission, similar to the one the school portion of the Alaska Fund. its proposal, defeated in no small pa with which he had served as governor This, together with the usual receipts by Wickersham's skillful use of the general of the Philippines, was the best from the Alaska Fund, allowed construc­ servation issue to obtain support 24 way to rule Alaska. Numerous federal tion to go forward. Alaska home rule. He pointed out bureaucrats, lobbyists for corporations Unfortunately, however, the 1912 the resources of Alaska should be with financial interests in the territory, construction season was poor because ex­ for the benefit of the entire co and the governor and an ex-governor of cessive rains damaged the Fairbanks­ yet so far the territory had been exp Alaska supported the President's scheme; Valdez wagon road considerably, especial­ by a few large, absentee-controlled. so did Major Richardson. Wickersham ly the stretch along the Tanana and Delta porations, such as the monopolies attacked the plan and its supporters Rivers. The Copper River and North­ harvested the fur seals and salmon vehemently, and though they had been western Railroad, the only other outlet mined the copper deposits. Home r acquainted for years, he was annoyed to the ocean, had been damaged severely Wickersham asserted, would allow prope 25 particularly with Richardson, whom he and had been forced to suspend traffic utilization of Alaska's wealth. believed to have played a major role in for several weeks. Richardson reiterated Wickersham's home-rule scheme ga· drafting the offending legislation. It was that the board had petitions for road substantial support in 1911 from th not long before the delegate and the construction in its files which, conserva­ legislatures and commercial major became implacable enemies. Their tively estimated, would require expendi­

The Northern Engineer, Vol. 13, No. 18 of Washington and Oregon. The senators each road commissioner could appoint submit estimates for the construction of and representatives from those states two assistants as inspectors, the legislature essential road work. Within each road were instructed to vote for Alaska home made no provisions for their compensa­ district it created a divisional board, con­ rule. Democratic presidential aspirants, tion. To pay for the work, the lawmakers sisting of an elected chairman (receiving such as Woodrow Wilson, Oscar Under­ approJJriated 75 percent of forest rev­ an annual salary of $2000) and two other wood, and William Jennings Bryant, were enues.27 members to be appointed by the terri­ pledged to support the home-rule plank torial board (receiving expenses when of their party_ In this favorable atmos­ working). Each divisional board was re­ phere, hearings on Wickersham's home-rule quired to submit an annual report to the bill began in the spring of 1911 before the territorial board. The legislature also ap­ House Committee on Territories, and by propriated $400,000 for the biennium, late summer the passage of the Wicker­ to be equally divided among the four sham measure seemed reasonably assured. road districts. 28 The work of the terri­ In a special message to Congress on torial legislature in the transportation field February 2, 1912, President Taft urged indicated that it would soon develop some Congress to enact legislation which would sort of relationship with the Board of help Alaska develop its resources. On Road Commissioners for Alaska. April 24 the House unanimously passed Wickersham's elective legislative assembly THE BOARD REVIEWS ITS WORK bill, and three months later the Senate While the Alaska railroad boom en­ passed the delegate's measure in essentially gaged the attentions of northern residents the form he had drafted. On August 24 during the middle of the decade (TNE the President signed the Wickersham Vol. 12, No. 2), the Board of Road Com­ measure into law. This Organic Act of missioners for Alaska continued its con­ 1912 gave Alaska a senate of eight mem­ struction and maintenance work but also bers and a house of 16 to be chosen took the time to assess the work it had equally from the four judicial divisions. accomplished between 1905 and 1913. Although limited in powers, the legisla­ Congress had appropriated $1 ,375,000 ture could nevertheless deal effectively for the "construction and maintenance 2 with a wide variety of matters. 5 of military and post roads, bridges, and trails" in Alaska, and the Alaska Fund TERRITORIAL ROAD LAWS had yielded $1,160,829.62 in that time The first territorial legislature met in span, for a total of $2,535,829.62 from Juneau early in 1913 and, among other both sources. With those funds, the board matters, it dealt with road construction. had constructed and maintained the fol­ It repealed the road-tax law which had lowing mileage of roads and trails: wagon required two days' labor on public roads, 862 miles; winter sled roads, 617 roads or the payment of $8, in its stead miles; and trails, 2167 miles. The cost enacting a flat tax of $4 inside as well as per mile, including maintenance and all de incorporated towns. A substantial expenditures by the board, had amounted of work had been accomplished to: wagon roads, $2489.68; winter sled local projects under the 1904 road roads, $278.80; and trails, $90.44. Also, law, but there never had been any at different times since 1905, the towns rdination between projects nor plan­ of Fairbanks, Nome, Cordova, and some ing of any kind. In some districts, of the large mining companies had made uperintendents of the Board of Road cash donations of approximately $20,000 Judge Wick!lrsham. (Photo courtesy of to aid the board's work.8 issioners for Alaska had supervised the Mary Whalen Collection, U. of A. During its eight years of existence, the work, although never formally charged Archives, Fairbanks.) the authority or responsibility for board had accomplished much, although andling it. 26 the mileage constructed so far constituted In 1917 the territorial legislature ap­ In 1915 the territorial legislature only the very beginning of a proper propriated $20,000 for shelter cabins, to transportation system for Alaska. The districts that corresponded be expended under the general supervision divisions and provided for board considered the419-mile-longwagon of the governor of Alaska by the road road from Valdez to Fairbanks, including elected road commissioner for each commissioners, who were to receive five ict. Each commissioner was to re­ the Willow Creek-Chitina branch, to be percent of this fund for their services. It its most important achievement so far. ·ve as compensation five percent of also created the Territorial Board of II money expended by him. And although With an average expenditure of about Road Commissioners and instructed it to $1500 per mile, the board thought it

Northern Engineer, Vol. 13, No.2 19 Clashes and A Court Martial

mittee of the Senate about his connec­ "embezzlement of $17,000 that you paid tion with those bills and said that only into the Alaska Road Fund" and com­ his position as a Major in the Army, and pared the territory's road-building efforts my position as a Delegate in Congress, unfavorably to those in Canada, where the 17 protected me." Richardson's response "road business... wasn't ruled by incom­ accused the delegate of making statements petency as it is here:·20 In February "wholly false as to fact, malignant in 1912, the court martial declared Orchard motive, and unwarranted ..."The Secre­ guilty of having embezzled $16,731.28 tary of War rejected Wickersham's com­ and sentenced him to be dismissed from plaints; Wickersham immediately fired off the army, fined an amount equal to the another list of allegations to the Secretary, embezzled funds, and imprisoned for five keeping up a steady barrage of accusa­ years at hard labor. Orchard protested tions against Richardson in letters to con­ his innocence still, and wrote his father stituents and in public speeches. Richard­ that "Richardson has brought all the son responded as best he could, with a let­ influence possible to bear to keep me here Lt. Sam Orchard. (Photo courtesy of the ter to the Fairbanks newspaper: "His out­ (in Leavenworth prison) until he leaves Francis Pope Collection, U. of A. Archives, rageous assault upon me was unjustified Alaska..." 21 Fairbanks.) by any single act of mine, official or per­ Even before the court martial verdict The conflict between Richardson and sonal, toward himself or the people of was in, the War Department had notified Wickersham seems to have been fueled Alaska. It was as unexpected as it was Richardson that, because of a new policy by many things. Richardson was not only vindictive and malevolent and it is now to reassign officers who had been on a West Point graduate but also a former continued ... with no restraint of moral special duty for four or more years, he instructor at the military academy, with responsibility, respect for the truth, or would be relieved of his duties by Novem­ a service record in frontier ~arrisons even sentiment of common decency."18 ber 1912. Mortified, Richardson explained before he came to Alaska.1 His commit· Into this public acrimony fell the case to his superiors that his relief "would ment was to the Army. Wickersham, a of Lt. Samuel Chandler Orchard, disburs­ naturally give rise to conclusions in cer­ federal judge before he became Congres· ing officer for the Board of Road Com­ tain quarters as to the integrity of my sional delegate, had a keen commitment missioners since its inception. In the sum­ work ... unjustified by the facts, and to Alaska as he envisioned it - an Alaska mer of 1911, Wickersham heard from his which constitute a grave reflection upon in which the military and its officers constituents that local rumor accused me professionally." Wickersham in par­ might play a useful, but not leading, role. Orchard of embezzling Board funds. He ticular had seized upon the Board's im­ The view from Washington was closer to quickly carried the report to the War perfections "to bolster up in part an un­ Richardson's perspective: as perceived Department, where he learned that an warranted and malevolent attack, for there, the military's mission required official investigation was already under­ political purposes, ... aimed directly at improving transportation and communi­ way. Before long, the army convened a myself, but indirectly and persistent since, cation in the territory, just as once it had general court martial to try Orchard. in the effort to discredit the War Depart­ been charged with Alaska's exploration. This development must have come as ment and Administration generally in the 22 Possibly Taft's plan for governing Alaska an acute embarrassment to Richardson, Territory.'' Richardson managed to merely brought an inevitable disagree· who had rated his subordinate highly. convince President Taft to intervene on ment into the open. His 1910 efficiency report on Orchard, his behalf. The President directed his By early 1910 Wickersham was com­ for example, noted that the lieutenant Secretary of War to exclude Richardson plaining to the Secretary of War that was qualified for his position, should be from the new rotation policy, because Richardson had "arrogated to himself. entrusted with important duties, and had " ... it is to the advantage of the country, the duty of controlling general legisla· performed his responsibilities as disbursing especially of Alaska ... to have him on tion for Alaska in a way which I decided· officer well. To make matters worse, duty in that new territory with which ly resent" and that after they had ex­ Orchard told friends that all his troubles he is familiar from one end to the oth­ 23 changed sharp words at a Congressional had arisen because Richardson had er ... " By the slimmest of margins, hearing, he met Richardson in the corri· "turned against him and that it was due Richardson had weathered the Orchard 1 dor and "in an angry tone he threatened to politics:· 9 Wickersham made sure scandal, Washington policies, and Wicker­ me for what I had said before the Com­ that Alaskans knew about Orchard's sham's attacks.

20 The Northern Engineer, Vol. 13, No. could be improved to the standards of a floods. The Alaska Fund had yielded had made this ruling because the special fair automobile road. In fact, during the $170,688.37. There just had not been congressional funds for Alaskan road late summer of 1913, the board had sent enough money to construct much addi­ work had always been charged against the a three-quarter ton field truck "of the type tional road and trail mileage since nearly general financial support of the army. 30 being experimented with by the Quarter­ all of the funds were required for repair­ Richardson soon enough heard of the master and Medical Corps of the Army" ing and maintaining the existing system. delegate's allegations. On November 25, on a round trip from Valdez to Fairbanks. In fact, board president Richardson 1913 he had submitted a special report The vehicle left Valdez on July 28 and cautioned that "this will become practical­ on the needs for work in Alaska to the returned on August 19, after having made ly a fixed condition from year to year, War Department and accompanied it with a side trip to Chitina. The truck had with the amount of mileage now required a request for a supplemental appropria­ covered 922 miles, making about 50 miles to be maintained unless some provision tion for $750,000. He had not been per day. In some instances, the truck had shall be made for increasing the fund to encouraged by the department, but to be helped through soft spots on steep take care of new projects:·2 told Alaskans during the summer of grades, but overall the trip had been suc­ 1914 that he still hoped Congress would cessful.8 RICHARDSON VS. WICKERSHAM ­ consider the request favorably. That had The board also had prepared an THE FINAL ROUND not happened. Calling him a liar and estimate of what it would cost to complete claiming the board was under the control a system of roads and trails for Alaska Communities throughout Alaska pre­ of the Northern Commercial Company that would meet traffic needs 10 years sented meritorious projects to the board was totally unjustified, Richardson stated, in the future, namely: every year for which there just were and indeed it was Wickersham who Maintenance of not any funds. Fairbanks, for example, is a purposeful and malignant liar himself present roads $1,250,000 had unsuccessfully petitioned the board and depends upon his position as a mem­ to build a bridge across the Chena River, ber of Congress to escape the just results Completion of projects which divided the city. It then had con· of any defamatory attack he may choose already started and main­ tacted the Secretary of War and asked for to make. His entire letter is without justi­ tenance after completion $1,420,000 help. Delegate Wickersham also was in­ fication in any existing facts and is per­ Projects approved but formed of the request. The delegate haps what one might expect from a scur­ unconstructed $2,780,000 quickly fixed the blame for unaccom­ rilous, political blatherskite, permanently afflicted with about every phase of men­ plished work. It was simple: Richardson Projects not yet of importance tal perversion and a complete moral just did not ask for enough money in but will become so as other idiocy. 31 roads are constructed $1,800,000 his annual budget presentations. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 1916, Richard­ It was Wickersham's turn to be out­ TOTAL $7,250,000 son, through the War Department, had raged. After persecuting Richardson for requested a mere $125,000. "Instead of years, he now found the latter's remarks Additionally, the board considered the asking for $750,000 as Richardson has "so ungentlemanly and abusive in its matter of railroad construction but con­ always talked to you about," Wickersham character as not to deserve reply ..." But cluded that Alaska needed wagon roads stated, reply he did, and in great detail at that. first. While disavowing any intent to dis­ Basically, Wickersham's complaint was he only asked for a piddling amount, and courage railroad construction, the board that Richardson seemingly never had then he comes to Alaska and lies to you nevertheless pointed out that people by saying that he cannot get the a very clear conception of the duties of after several years of careful observation appropriation he asks for. The truth is the delegate from Alaska whose rights and study of the land transportation con­ that he makes no effort to secure any ap­ you have always treated as of minor im­ ditions and of the natural inducements to propriation except merely to keep the portance, while you have always magni­ development and settlement which exist, work going from year to year and to fied those of your own position and as­ (the board) is convinced that no rapid or keep up his commission. He does not sumed to extend them to cover those of general development will follow the con­ want to build the bridge across the slough a representative in Congress. It is often struction of trunk lines of railroad into at Fairbanks and never will build it until difficult to tell from your acts whether the interior unless preceded or accom­ the Northern Commercial Company tells you or the delegate is the representative panied by the construction of numerous him to. You know and I know and every­ from Alaska. wagon roads and trails as feeders, and body else knows that Richardson and his even then the development will be slow. 8 Road Commission is under the control Wickersham lengthily lectured Richard­ of the Northern Commercial Company . .. son on differences between their respec­ In 1914 the board reported that tive duties and prerogatives. What partic­ Congress had appropriated $155,000 but Wickersham did not mention that since ularly bothered the delegate was that that $54,787.83 had been spent to build 1913 the Board of Road Commissioners Richardson always spent winters in a dike around Valdez in order to protect for Alaska was authorized only to submit Washington and was on good terms with the terminals and buildings of the military estimates necessary to maintain the exist­ cable and telegraph system from glacial ing road system. The War Department (Continued on page 35.)

The Northern Engineer, Vol. 13, No.2 21 by Robert Elsner and Jonathan Leiby AN ARCTIC RESEARCH SHIP

Outboard profile of ice-strengthened polar research vessel. (Illustrations courtesy of the authors.)

INTRODUCTION and inconsistent. The Eltanin represented a successful dedication to Antarctic The human urge to understand the oceanography; this vessel made possible polar marine regions of the world has the first circumpolar studies of all aspects been increasing rapidly for two general of the Southern Ocean, the most compre­ reasons: scientific curiosity and resource hensive since the British Discovery exped­ SCIENTIFIC STORES & LABORATORY exploitation. The intellectual interest itions of some 50 years ago. However, accompanied by the inseparable and Eltanin was transferred to Argentina in FUEL OIL demanding pragmatic requirement to find 1974 and later retired from service, and and use the food and energy resources much of the scientific initiative and en­ with which these regions are endowed is thusiasm the ship's work generated seems not new; New England whaleships and to have departed with the ship. partly in areas dominated by seasonal scientific exploratory vessels shared the Our efforts in the Arctic have been sea ice, and both have been handicapped waters of both polar seas for their dif­ characterized by steadily growing scien­ by the lack of available ice-working , ferent purposes a century and more ago. tific interest and occasional bursts of acti­ research ships. To this mix we have now added the vity. The current Outer Continental Shelf Our national fleet is strikingly defi­ recognition that it is vital to protect the program, a series of studies preparatory cient with respect to ice capability, es­ global environment from deterioration, to offshore Alaska petroleum develop­ pecially when compared with other coun­ and the partial understanding of how im­ ment, and PROBES, a study directed tries such as Canada and the Soviet Union. portant these marine regions are to that toward an understanding of the unusually U.S. Coast Guard icebreakers are com­ whole environment. high productivity of the Bering Sea shelf, mitted primarily to other missions, and The United States' commitment to are examples of recent major scientific even when researchers can use them, polar marine science has been variable activities. Both have been conducted they are unsuited for many scientific

Robert Elsner is a Professor of Marine Science, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, and Jonathan Leiby is Staff Naval Architect, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

22 The Northern Engineer, Vol. 13, No.2 HE PRELIMINARY DESIGN

purposes. The need for research plat· United States, the first task was to ex­ THE PRESENT DESIGN forms capable of operating in seasonal amine the extent and nature of the need The design priorities established were sea ice and high latitude open ocean con­ U.S. scientists had for a ship able to oper­ (1) safety, simplicity, and reliability; (2) ditions is now widely appreciated. Though ate in extreme high-latitude seas. seakeeping and ice-worthiness; (3) range, modern solutions to investigating polar The actual requirements of the U.S. endurance and speed; and (4) arrange­ marine problems can include the technol­ oceanographic community in terms of ment and scientific capability. At first ogy of satellite imagery, long-range air­ polar geographical regions, environmental it seemed that these priorities would call craft, submarines, drifting ice stations and capability and scientific needs were for different ships for arctic and Antarctic remote sensing, much of the important established in several ways. A national operations, and the first conceptual de­ research required can be accomplished advisory board whose members included sign proposal was for two separate ves­ most effectively and economical­ polar marine scientists and marine opera­ sels. However, it became increasingly ly from an ice-strengthened, tors in the academic fleet served as ad­ clear that the regions of greatest scientific stable research ship. visors and consultants to the project. A interest and potential were in the seasonal sea ice and the nearby high latitude open oceans, so an ice-strengthened ship rather than a true icebreaker was called for. Fur­ ther study and the need to meet Canadian requirements led to the choice of one Inboard profile. vessel for both polar regions. The present design meets the requirements for Cana­ dian Arctic Class 2 and also the American Bureau of Shipping ice classification of 1 AA. (Ice-worthiness ratings are calcu­ lated by weighing a complex of factors from hull plate thickness to shaft horse­ power; accurate definition of the various ratings is far beyond the scope of this CREW article. As a rule of thumb, the Canadian class number is approximately equal to the thickness in feet of the level fresh sea ice through which the ship can proceed continuously. The U.S. Coast Guard icebreakers Polar Sea and Polar BACKGROUND questionnaire was developed and circu­ Star would be rated Class 6.) The project to provide a design for a lated to marine scientists, with good re­ The PRV specifications require that national polar research vessel originated sponse. The topic was discussed at several the ship will be able to run at three with the University National Oceano­ meetings and reports were prepared to knots through level ice 1.5 feet thick graphic Laboratory Systems (UNOLS), an further the process. and broken floes that are three feet advisory group for the National Science By 1977 a conceptual design for the thick; in ramming mode it should be Foundation responsible for research ship polar research vessel had been prepared. able to attack ice pressure ridges seven support and operations; the NSF is the This design was an exemplification of feet thick. The vessel is intended to federal agency which owns many of the conventional ice-worthy ship design plus operate in the seasonal sea ice at both research vessels in the nation, though the requests of the oceanographic com­ poles for two to twelve months per they may be assigned to different insti­ munity. It was intended to permit diffi­ year. tutions for years at a time. Though it cult questioning and rigorous testing of Overall size has been dictated by the was acknowledged that other nations of the design ideas generated to that point. requirements of maintaining stability the world having commitments to polar The testing process led to the present when two compartments are flooded and science were in general better equipped design, which we consider a preliminary for power, endurance, and scientific with suitable research vessels than is the one. capabilities. The vessel wil! be 247' long

The Northern Engineer, Vol. 13, No.2 23 was the vulnerability of the rudders to ice damage, especially when backing. A single centerline propeller/rudder com­ bination would be better protected, but the redundancy offered by the twin screw/twin rudder arrangement seemed essential for reliable operation in remote areas. International operators and builders of icebreaking vessels were using the two­ and-two arrangement, with varying degrees of success. The majority seemed to be­ lieve that with extra-strength construc­ tion, the configuration was adequately reliable. Nonetheless, the concerns seemed sufficiently justified so the propeller­ rudder configuration was a design feature marked for special attention and testing during the next phase. Ice model tests conducted in the ARCTEC scale basin during January 1979 showed that the critics were partially right. The surface-piercing rudder ice horns, protective structures mounted Number of. operating months for icebreaker - Alaska (from an ARCTEC original). above the movable rudder vanes, tended­ to trap ice. In broken ice, an ice jam (225' on the waterline), 48' wide, and ensuing icing can build up on decks and formed that extended from the water­ will draw 17'. It will be subdivided by superstructures to a dangerous extent. line to the keel; in level ice, the ice horns seven watertight bulkheads extending to With that danger in mind, the PRV design lodged in floes and prevented effective the main deck and two extending to the minimizes superstructure appendages to backing. upper deck. Displacement is 3000 long reduce the areas on which icing can accu­ Further testing showed that rather tons (1 long ton = 2240 lbs). The engines mulate. Calculations established that the than abandoning twin screws/twin rud­ will develop 5200 SHP; top speed for the ship as designed will maintain adequate ders, the best fix was to alter the lines of PRV will be 16 knots, and maximum stability even with double the amount of range will be 20,000 miles (37,000 km) icing expected and the fuel oil mostly 01 Deck at 13 knots. The vessel will have a crew consumed (a condition of least stability). of 24 and will carry 20 to 26 scientists. Main Deck PROPULSION AND STEERING SAFETY AND STABILITY Though a first impression might be Computer studies by the Massachusetts that an icebreaker is most susceptible to Institute of Technology show that the damage at its bow, since that is where the design overall has very good seakeeping most spectacular action takes place, the ship's greatest point of vulnerability 10 9 8 7 behavior - that is, it will be able to per­ ORIGINAL AFTERBODY LINES form as the relatively stable platform is aft - with the propeller, shaft, and required. The design calls for bilge keels rudder. and an anti-roll tank, because without them the ship would roll to an unac­ Rudders 01 Deck ceptable extent. A comparison made The conceptual design called for a Main Deck with five other U.S. research vessels in­ twin screw, twin rudder configuration dicated that at low speeds, when most because of the great maneuverability this oceanographic equipment is deployed arrangement offers. With one propeller, and research personnel are most likely to the turning circle is equivalent to 2Y, ­ be working on deck, the polar research 3 ship lengths; with two propellers and vessel will have excellent comparative sea­ two rudders operating in the water stream 10 9 8 7 keeping performance. from the turning screws, plus a bow REVISED AFTERBODY LINES A hazard for any vessel operating in thruster, a ship can turn in its own length. high latitude oceans during the cold sea­ During review of the conceptual design, Comparison of original and revised after­ son is caused by freezing sea spray. The one of the frequently-expressed concerns body lines.

24 The Northern Engineer, Vol. 13, No.2 the whole stern and steering apparatus. The major requirement was to locate the rudders and rudder ice horns below the design waterline, at a depth greater than the 1.5 ft ice thickness design level. This meant easing the buttock angles, ex­ tending the waterline farther aft, and re­ ducing the size of the rudders and ice horns slightly. The after edges of the ice horns were faired into the hull· so ice pieces would be deflected rather than trapped. The aim of all changes was that ice should flow freely beneath the hull whether the ship was going ahead or astern. Underwater movies in the model basin showed that the changes achieved that Hull lines of ice-strengthened polar research vessel. aim. The new stern shape broke ice by even though this class has the capacity to flexure before it touched the rudder much as possible, as described above. operate in continuous ice 2.8 ft thick. horns when the vessel was backing. In Controllable pitch propellers circumvent Thus ice chunks can be wedged between ice that was already broken, when the much of the difficulty. These propellers the hull and the propellers, where they model was going astern the ice was dis­ eliminate the need to stop a shaft during are physically milled by the propeller placed downwards and to the sides and power reversals; they also place the sys­ tips. The polar research vessel will have a was not trapped. tem in the best possible position to resist propeller tip to hull clearance of 2.5 stalling, because of the kinetic energy feet. Also, though the Wind class ice­ Propellers stored in the constantly rotating masses breakers are designed to operate in thicker of the propulsion system. It was believed The afterbody alterations did not af­ ice and draw nearly ten feet more than that the geared diesel/controllable pitch fect propeller placement. During the con­ the PRV, the PRV will have a design depth propeller system would prevent damage ceptual design phase it had been recog­ for the propeller tips of eight feet below when the ship operated in ice-covered nized that past twin-screw applications the water surface, the same as the Coast waters. This was the design subjected had been vulnerable to ice damage be­ Guard craft. to testing with a dynamic simulation cause of insufficient clearance between Stalling has been the most frequent model during the next phase. propeller tips and the hull and too shal­ cause of damage to icebreaker propul­ low submergence of the propeller tips sion systems. If a propeller jams in Propulsion beneath the water surface. On the U.S. the ice, it can stall the shaft and even Once again, the tests showed that Coast Guard's Wind class icebreakers, engine, with undesirable mechanical con­ the conceptual design would not meet for example, the propeller tip to hull sequences. Even if that does not occur, if expectations. The problem was not with clearance is on the order of 13 inches, the ship is still moving while the propeller the controllable pitch propellers, however; is stalled, the blades may expose 34000 it was with the diesel engine, which was their weakest section to col­ Smooth Water shown to possess unfavorable torque­ lision with the ice, and broken 16.5ft. Draft speed characteristics for icebreaker ship Displacement =2800 Tons blades are a likely result. When operations. 200 an icebreaker is ramming into The model consisted of several differ­ thick ice, it must reverse fre­ 180 ential equations which described the com­ quently and often quickly. Pow­ 160 plete propulsion system, from the bridge er reversals require that fixed­ controller to the translational movement ~140 pitch propellers be stopped 0 of the ship. These equations were solved ~120 briefly, and this intentional ILl on a digital computer that provided time ~100 stopping of the shaft can have <1: responses of key variables in both tabular 0: the same effect as unintentional => and graphic form. The case studies made 0 stalling if the ship is moving z showed that the system would be mar­ ILl forward when the power is ginally satisfactory at best, so the ship reversed. could be expected to suffer frequent Designers have pursued sev­ propeller or shaft damage during its eral courses of action to elim­ working lifetime. Unfortunately for those inate the stalling problem, in­ who would rather blame the model cluding placing the propellers than the design, the simulation approach Range and endurance of the polar research vessel. so as to avoid ice contact as had been .verified in other vessels, where

The Northern Engineer, Vol. 13, No.2 25 the model had correlated very well with essary to produce the required torque propellers in fixed ducts or nozzles. That technique has been successfully used for full-scale trials. at reduced rotational speed. In practice, the constant power operation of the several years to produce more propulsive Icebreaker designers have realized for motor is carried only to the point where power in tugboats and supply boats. some time that diesel engines' torque­ the torque developed is necessary to Recent experience in Canada, Germany, speed characteristics made them far from overcome the ice load. and Scandinavia indicates that it might be ideal, but their superior fuel economy the simplest and least expensive way to The simulation was altered to represent made them hard to dismiss. The next provide added power and protection in the approximate performance of a diesel­ step was to consider changes in the trans· ice-working ships. mission system to find some way to con· electric propulsion system. Computer vert the torque-speed characteristics into runs showed that even under the worst PRICES AND PROSPECTS ones more favorable when reflected in possible loading conditions, with the pro­ After the final changes demanded propeller speed. pellers cutting through ice equal to the by the various tests and investigations full length of the blades, the shaft did not Diesel-electric propulsion systems have were made on the design and equipment stall. The investigation also showed that the necessary rate of response to allow list for the PRV, the cost estimates were the controllable pitch propellers were for rapid changes in the propeller speed drawn up. As of January 1980, the still desirable, because they obviated the without causing the engine to lose power construction cost was calculated to be need to stop shafts during power reversals or the system to go unstable. The char­ slightly more than $21 million, including and permitted taking constant advantage acteristics of the diesel-electric pro­ $3 million for navigational and oceano­ of all the installed power to prevent pulsion systems allow for maintaining graphic equipment. Annual operating shaft stalling. high torque at low engine revolutions. costs, again based on early 1 980 figures, The motor and the circuitry must be The preliminary report on the pro­ would be around $3.3 million. greatly oversized in order to withstand pulsion simulation tests is being re­ What sort of return could be expected the large armature circuit currents nee­ viewed by U.S. and foreign designers of for such a substantial investment? As the polar ships. An al· table accompanying this article shows, ternative propul­ the vessel will not lift the United States ~70 into contention for having the best arctic Rated Power= 1950 BHP sion system which 160 is receiving atten­ research fleet; we would need many more Rated Speed=900 RPM tion is the concept such ships if the aim were to improve ~50 Rated Torque=11,379ft-lb of mounting the national prestige. But the goal actually

140 Left: Torque-speed characteristics of proposed diesel engine '130 (900 rpm rating). w120 Below: Torque-speed characteristics of electric motor assumed ::> for base study. ~110 0 Rated t--100 110% MFGR's 500 c Load Limit ,I w 90 ti I 0::: 80 ~400 II 0 ..... I ------,.4664 z 70 ~ 350 w t­ ' (.) I 60 ~ o300 ' 0::: , LLl ' w a.. I ' ' a.. 50 0::: I I ~ ' a:: ' ...... ol / ' ...... LOI ~ 1-200 40 ~~ , Line of operating z ...... LLl ...... 30 -o 1 1 conditions imposed by (..) I ~~ load control governor a:: Q.( I 20 :V during steady state ~ 100 RaTed ~ conditions. ~0 1 -I QL-~~~~~--~~--~~~~ 00 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 PERCENT RATED ENGINE SPEED PERCENT RATED SPEED

The Northern Engineer, Vol. 13, No. 2 26 ~0,000 5500 5219 SHP Maximum Continuous SHP 80,000 ------­ Smooth Water 16.5 ft. Draft ~ 70,000 Displacement=2800Tons t­ 0:: 4000 ~ 60,000 w a:: I ~ 3500 a.. t- 50,000 w Clz ~ 3000 0 :40,000 :r: u I­ z ~ 2000 ~ 30,000 :r: (/) (/) (/) w 20,000 a::

10,000

4 6 8 10 12 14 SPEED (knots) Prediction of full-scale icebreaking performance. Speed vs. power, polar research vessel.

has been to improve the quality and cial activities in the USA, Canada, United and crew of the NOAA fleet and of U.S. quantity of knowledge available about Kingdom, Norway, Federal Republic of and Canadian icebreakers and numerous the polar seas and coasts, and for that Germany, Sweden, Finland and USSR faculty and staff members of the Uni­ purpose - with its attendant improve­ contributed useful information from their versity of Alaska participated in useful ment in understanding of the resources experience. Members of a national ad­ discussions of the project. and problems in those regions - an in­ visory group were: Peter Branson, Joe John Dermody was a major partici­ vestment in the polar research vessel Greager, R.P. Dinsmore, S.Z. EI-Sayed, pant in the early part of the design work. could provide prodigious returns. Theodore D. Foster, John J. Goering, Major subcontractors for engineering Donald W. Hood, Stephen Neshyba, and design were Arctec, Inc., Columbia, ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Richard B. Tripp and Kenneth R. Turner. Maryland, and John W. Gilbert Associ­ The design effort was supported by Many others gave support and advice: ates, Inc., Boston, Massachusetts. Addi­ the National Science Foundation, Office James Faughn, Dolly Dieter, Arnoldus tional work was performed by the Mass­ of Oceanographic Facilities and Support, Blix, John P. Doyle, Francis Fay, John achusetts Institute of Technology, De­ and Division of Polar Programs. Burns, John Kelley, Gunter Weller, and partment of Ocean Engineering, and Numerous individuals associated with the late P.F. Scholander, Laurence Irving Stevens Institute of Technology, David­ polar scientific, operational and commer- and Mary Alice McWhinnie. Officers son Laboratory, Hoboken, New Jersey.

Overleaf" the comprehensive tabulation of ice-worthy research ships of the world. First compiled by author Elsner in 1971, the table has been updated several times since, most recently in 1980. Not included are so-called ice-strengthened ships, such as the R!V Alpha Helix, presently assigned to the University of Alaska; these vessels are designed to operate to the edge of sea ice, and are incapable of proceeding safely through it unaided. Information is still incomplete for many countries, including the USSR (which alone accounts for approximately a third of the 120-vessel world inventory of icebreakers in service and on order). Poland has modern ice-worthy trawlers, and at least one research vessel used in exploratory investigations of Antarctic krill. Also not listed are the Swedish working icebreakers, one of which (Ymer) performed a scientific voyage in the Arctic during 1980. Australia is planning a research ship specifically for Antarctic work, and Canada has plans for a "Polar 10" icebreaker of 150,000 shaft horsepower. Wartsila of Finland is the primary supplier of icebreakers to the world; it has provided at least one-half of the entire tonnage built in this category since 1945.

The Northern Engineer, Vol. 13, No.2 27 ICE-WORTHY RESEARCH SHIPS OF THE WORLD Including Icebreakers (I B) of Limited Scientific Capability and Availability

Year Length Displacement Built Name (loa, feet) (tons) SHP Remarks

Argentina 1952 General San Martin 280 IB 1979 Almirante Irizar 386 12,000 16,200 IB 1979 Puerto Deseado 250 Canada 1956 Baffin 285 4,200 R 1958 A. T. Cameron 177 F 1962 G.B. Reed 177 F 1963 Narwhal 251 2,220 s 1963 Hudson 296 4,660 R 1965 Endeavour 207 R 1967 Dawson 196 R 1967 Parizeau 199 R 1954 Labrador 269 5,300 IB 1960 John A. McDonald 290 9,000 15,000 IB 1968 Louis St. Laurent 345 24,000 1978 Pierre Radisson 320 8,300 13,600 struction). Franklin 320 8,300 IB "R" Class. 300 7,700

Denmark

Federal Republic of Germany

1953 Aranda

scientific work•.. /~~r~~~e 1961 .Antarctic resupply.~na 1972 Japan 1965 9,000 12,000 (N.ew research icebreakef planned.) Norway 1958 Johan Hjort 172 F 1960 H. U. Sverdrup ..•1·27 F 1951/77 Polaris 175 Available for charter as research 1968 Kvitbj¢rn J35 vessels. G.C. Rieber & Co., 1970 Kvitungen 135 .•Bergen, Norway. 214 foot 1971 Carino* 145 shlp.planned. 1974 Arctic Explorer* 162 2,500 *Canadi

The Northern Engineer, Vol. 13, No.2 28 USA 1968 Hero 125 640 760 NSF antarctic wooden trawler- research vessel. 1943 Westwind 269 5,300 10,000 IB, refurbished 1974, 1975. 1945 Northwind 269 5,300 10,000 De-commission in 1980s. 1954 Glacier 309 8,700 16,900 IB 1975 Polar Star 399 12,000 18,000 IB 1977 Polar Sea 399 12,000 60,000 USSR 1952 Polyarnik 126 R 1954 OB 426 R 1956 Pervenets 128 R 1956 Okeanograf 128 R 1956 Aysberg 225 R 1957 335 R 1958 132 s 280 F 408 6,900 R 221 s 407 R v 6,900 R R s

1978 Otto Schmidt , ,~-'\ 1978 Rudol'fSamoylovich Major Modern lceQteakells: i ~'-~ / \ /:/ 19~~~~ n"''"'H•ra 10,500 1~ Kapita'n Voronin 10,500 t 19~ Kapitah'M,elekhov 273 10,500 44':000 ~ 1\J'' -,, 19,69 Lenin ! " 440 16,000 I 1!iso Moskva ''":::~,,~ 401 12,840 22,000 1961 Leningrad 401 12,840 22,000 1965 Kiev 401 12,840 22,000 ·~68 Murmai:zsk 401 12,840 22,000 1900 Vladivqstok 401 12,840 22,000 1974 Yermak 442 20,240 36,000 1975 Arktik~, 492 23,400 75,000 N, August 1977 voyage to North Pole. 1975 Admiral Makarov 442 20,240 36,000 1976 Krasin 442 20,240 36,000 1976 Kapitan A. Radzhabov 183 2,045 5,350 (and two sister ships) "harbor icebreakers" 1977 Sibir 492 23,400 75,000 N 1977 Kapitan Sorokin 433 14,900 22,000 1978 Kapitan Nikolayev 433 14,900 22,000

ABBREVIATIONS: R- dedicated research vessel; F- fisheries research; S- survey vessel; IB- icebreaker, limited scientific capability or availability; ARRI -Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, Leningrad; and N -nuclear powered. +

The Northern Engineer, Vol. 13, No.2 29 by Frank Abegg

S~nall-Scale Waste Oil Incinerators

INTRODUCTION Waste oil poses a significant environ­ mental problem in rural Alaska. Careful management of the fragile environment is difficult without adequate means to ·dispose of waste oil from crankcases of vehicles, generators and other machinery. Commercially available incinerators do not meet the requirements for bush ap­ 'plication, where a waste-oil incinerator capable of being transported in small aircraft is needed. The U:S. Environmen­ .tal Protection Agency agreed that the Burner # 1- operating in a barrel stove. problem needed· investigation, and the work reported here was performed for The burner is installed on a barrel stove their contract order(# B1376NTSA). and simple operation. Neither unit should be left to operate unattended, due to made from a standard 55-gallon steel This article details the design and op­ the varying characteristics of the fuel drum. The unit's oil nozzle uses com­ eration of two waste oil incinerators. One and to their simple fuel handling systems. pressed air to atomize the dense waste unit is capable of burning· up to 1.0 Routine attention will be required during oil for combustion. The amount of fuel gallon/hour and the other may burn up operation. burned depends on the air pressure at to 10 gal/hr of waste oil products. The The waste oil used to test both burners the nozzle, which can be adjusted by a small burner is designed to be used for was collected from various sources in regulator mounted at the rear of the space heating of residential or work­ Fairbanks. It is a mixture of all known burner. A fuel control valve tunes the oil shop areas, whereas the larger burner types; more than half of it was used flow for a proper flame pattern at the can be used at a collection center as an vehicle motor oil, about a third machinery nozzle. Approximate total cost of the incinerator to dispose of large quantities lubricants, and the remainder aircraft unit is $515 (Fairbanks, Alaska 1980). of waste oil. lube oils, solvents, and automotive The incinerators discussed in this A very small amount of compressed rear-end grease and transmission fluids. report may serve as an approved means air is required to operate the burner, Approximate grade of the mixture was of disposing ot waste oil at its source. ranging between 0.1 and 0.3 standard between an SAE 20 and SAE 30 weight The burners are designed for easy air cubic feet per minute (scfm). Any small for viscosity and flow characteristics. transport, being constructed of light­ portable shop compressor with a storage weight materials and made for easy as­ tank can easily provide this amount. A BURNER# 1 sembly .. Both units utilize common typical Y, horsepower compressor with materials available throughout Alaska .and This unit operates on gravity-fed a tank capable of 1.5 scfm at 40 pounds have been designed for a reasonably safe waste oil from an elevated supply tank. per square inch pressure (100 psi max),

Frank Abegg Ill is a Registered Engineer, State of Alaska, and a Power Plant Engineer with the Fairbanks Municipal Utilities Sys­ tem since 1971. He works with both coal-fired and oil-fired power generation equipment and has experimented with waste oil heaters for home use, using one to heat part of his home for the past five years. He has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Bradley Univer­ sity, an M.S. in Engineering Management from the University ofAlaska, and is Chainnan of the local Pollution Control Commission.

30 The Northern Engineer, Vol. 13, No.2 consuming 800 watts of 11 0-volt AC, used, the oil supply line just in front of rich, and there may be carbon buildup in is adequate. The unit's storage tank allows the manual oil control valve should be the burner can. If too much air pressure is it to cycle efficiently and maintain con­ heated for approximately one minute. used for a given flow setting, the flame tinuous operation without overheating If the temperature is extremely cold or will tend to surge and may go out. This the compressor head. if extra-high viscosity oil is to be burned, burner is designed to work well on from The burner is started using a standard an insulated storage tank is needed and 5 to 50 psi air pressure, depending on propane bottle torch, which the operator more preheating may be required. the size of flame desired. aims into the side air ports of the burner As the oil heats up in the supply line, Following the manufacturer's instruc­ flame chamber. With the torch lit, the air it will flow faster and the oil flow valve tions for barrel-burner assembly did not pressure to the burner nozzle is adjusted should be closed enough to obtain a produce satisfactory performance, and to 30-40 psi and the oil control valve bright and steady flame. Once the stove alterations were made accordingly. The slowly opened until ignition occurs. The reaches its operating temperature, this oil burner was mounted onto the barrel oil control valve must be adjusted so suf­ flow setting should remain fairly constant. stove door, which positions it near the ficient oil is supplied to the nozzle to barrel's center. Firebrick also lines the keep a steady flame. Too much oil will When the stove reaches its operating bottom of the barrel to radiate heat up­ cause the burner to smoke and the used temperature, the air pressure should be ward into the flame and help atomize the oil will also drip from the end of the noz­ reduced to about 1 0 to 20 pounds or oil spray for improved combustion. Also, zle instead of being entirely vaporized. less and the draft control closed. This an adjustable air intake on the stove door Once a steady flame is achieved, the causes more suction through the burner has been modified to introduce pre­ burner will continue to ignite the waste can. The more draft or suction, the less heated over-fire air at the outlet of the oil without the propane torch. air pressure needed. But the stove must burner to provide additional combustion The manufacturer's instructions state be hot before the draft is completely air and turbulence at the higher burning that any suitable tank or barrel may be closed or this suction will pull the flame rates. These changes improve combustion used for an oil supply tank. The tank may down out of the burner can and extinguish efficiency and reduce smoke conditions be located outside the building with a it. over the burner's full range of operation. pipe of at least one-inch diameter leading The air pressure regulator should into the filter inside the building. The always be set for the amount of heat Tests were run on the new stov·e design outlet of the tank must be raised suffi­ desired. If more heat is desired, more air to verify actual combustion performance, ciently above the burner to give the needed pressure will be required to give a smooth, using a Dwyer Model 11 00 Portable Com­ head pressure (gravity feed). even spray pattern. If too little air pres­ bustion Analyzer; results are summarized If the ambient temperature is below sure is used, the oil will not be broken up in Table I. The stove is capable of burning freezing or if high viscosity oil is being well enough, the resulting flame will be between 0.3 and 0.9 gal/hr of waste oil

TABLE I Burner # 1 Combustion Data Nozzle Oil Use (-.05" W.G.f Draft at Stack) Burner Over-fire Net Heat Air- psi Temp. (°F) gal/hr *Smoke# %C02 Efficiency Damper Position Output- BTU/hr 20 0.33 6 660 64% %open 29,570 30 0.48 1 6.5 700 65% Y. open 43,680 40 0.65 2 8 770 66% %open 60,060 50 0.73 2 10 850 68% %open 69,496 60 0.82 3 12 900 68% full open 78,064 70 0.92 4 13 940 69% full open 90,800

*The smoke number is assessed on the Bachrach scale of 1 to 10, wherein a standardized test produces at 1 a barely perceptible trace on filter paper, at 10 an opaque black smear. A smoke number of 6 is the maximum permitted for a gravity-feed space heater. f W.G. ="Water Gauge", in reference to a standard scale (related to water movement in a device partially evacuated by the draft to be measured).

The Northern Engineer, Vol. 13, No.2 31 efficiently with no visible smoke emis­ sions. Operation showed C02 levels be­ tween 6% and 13% at the stack, indica­ ting good fuel-air mixing at a minimum excess air ratio of 30%. Burner heating efficiencies range from 64% up, as meas­ ured by a Dwyer test kit monograph, which is nearly equivalent to a conven­ tional residential fuel oil-fired furnace. In Fairbanks, Alaska, an average home requires about 30 BTU of heating per square foot {tt2) of floor space to meet the winter's maximum heating demand {-50°F outside and maintaining +70°F inside). Burner # 1 could satisfy the heating requirements of a 3000 ft2 home or easily provide supplemental heating in small buildings such as workshops. The burner should not be operated unattended primarily because of the foul­ ing characteristic of used oils. If the flame Close-up view of Burner# 1. goes out, the burner nozzle continues to spray oil into the barrel. This is a haz­ The flame detector is mounted onto the bustion chamber. The barrels are separate ardous condition which could result in barrel so it can detect the light of the and stackable using guides that are brazed an explosion, should the accumulated burner's flame. The controller reset along the barrel bottom rim to keep the oil re-ignite. So the final stove design allows the stove sufficient time after rims aligned and the stack straight. If calls for a flame detector and automatic flameout to vent the hot gases inside the the incinerator does not need to be port­ oil shutoff valve system to be installed barrel before re-ignition. This detection able, the barrels can be permanently for protection. These systems are com­ system is recommended for all instal­ joined. The burner is installed at the bot­ mon to all approved fuel-oil fired furnaces. lations, since waste oil is variable in vis­ tom side of the first barrel through a 6" Parts used for this safety system cost ap­ cosity and tends to foul control valves diameter air intake port. The burner is proximately $125 {Fairbanks, Alaska and cause flameouts. It was noted during constructed· from a standard model used 1980). The system supervises the burner's performance tests that oil flow to the on any residential oil-fired furnace operation and will prevent flooding of nozzle always declined over a period of {typical fuel range of 1-2 gal/hr). How­ the combustion chamber if the flame goes time, even with the air pressure constant ever, its fuel nozzle is replaced with a out. With the system installed, the burner at the nozzle. This required the control "Sonic Nozzle" designed to atomize is operated as follows: valve to be adjusted periodically to avoid waste oil. Approximate cost of materials flameouts. Apparently, the small foreign is $1025 {Fairbanks, Alaska 1980). Startup Procedure particles in the used oil were bridging at 1) The lighted torch is placed near the control valve seat and restricting the Operation the burner as before, air and oil gravity-fed oil supply. For this reason, adjusted as normal and flame de­ the oil line should be run through a felt­ This burner operates similar to a stand­ tector reset button pushed to open type oil filter to trap most of these con­ ard fuel oil burner; it has an electric oil shutoff valve. taminants and improve the burner's squirrel cage fan and high-pressure oil 2) The oil shutoff valve will remain reliability. pump for combustion, using a high voltage open for about 45 seconds or stay transformer and spaced igniters at the open once the detector senses flame nozzle. The main difference is that its at the burner. BURNER #2 nozzle uses air pressure at the tip to 3) As long as flame is present, the atomize the heavier used oils to a fine detector will keep the fuel oil This unit has been designed to dispose mist that can be ignited by the arc from shutoff valve energized and open. of large quantities of waste oil {up to the burner's igniters. 4) If the flame goes out, the detector 10 gal/hr) with little effort made to util­ The size of the stack and air intake will de-energize the fuel oil solenoid ize the fuel's heat release. The incinerator areas are designed to provide sufficient valve within 45 seconds and oil will is composed of standard 55-gallon steel draft and over-fire air mixing or turbulence stop flowing to the nozzle. drums mounted vertically to form a to promote complete combustion and 5) The controller limit switch must smokestack. The bottom two barrels acceptable limits to visible emissions. The be reset manually to reopen the are lined with an insulating castable bottom barrel has a smoke collar at its fuel oil solenoid valve. refractory, forming the unit's com­ top, which reduces the inside outlet to

32 The Northern Engineer, Vol. 13, No.2 a 19" diameter. This 2"-wide ring aids combustion by stabilizing air flow at TABLE II ignition and helps to funnel the exhaust Burner # 2 Combustion Data gases toward the center of the stack as they travel upward. The ring compresses Nozzle Pressure Oil Use StackConditions(at -.15" W.G. Draft) the gases to increase velocity and tur­ Air Oil galfhr Smoke# %C02 bulence at the location where over-fire air is injected. Four over-fire air ports 25 4 2.0 0 3 (2" x 5") are spaced equally around the 25 5 4.0 1 6 bottom edge of the second barrel, just 25 8 8.0 2 12 above the smoke collar. As the burner 40 10 6.0 2 10 increases its fuel burning rate, the incin­ 40 12 8.0 2 11 erator's stack temperature goes up and 40 16 10.0 3 12 the resulting draft increases. This draft 40 18 12.0 5 13 differential pressure naturally encourages primary and over-fire air into the gas stream. Initial testing of the burner showed er is not designed to provide sufficient must be at least 50°F to atomize proper­ that additional primary air was needed air from its fan to burn 10 gal/hr. ly; colder oil will not ignite with the at the burner inlet for complete combus­ The inlet fuel filter was not adequate electric arc in the burner. tion at 10 gal/hr, so the burner was shifted for the 10 gal/hr continuous flow; the fil­ The accompanying graph shows the in­ outward to allow more air to enter around ter was increased in size to a General cinerator's oil burning rate vs. nozzle the burner throat. The best position is model # 2A-200A, which is similar in pressure. The flames begin entering with the burner throat end flush with construction but rated over 30 gal/hr for the second barrel when it is fired over the barrel's side. A small residential burn- # 2 fuel oil. With this filter, the pump 6 gal/hr. Smoke conditions never exceed could deliver the 10 gal/hr 20% opacity; the present Alaska standard flow rate under pressure. for commercial incinerators is 30%. In­ Burner # 2 set up for use. Table II gives the final side stack temperatures exceed 1000°F. test results on the in­ which require the barrels to be lined with cinerator. The air pressure the castable refractory to protect the to the nozzle changes the barrel metal from overheating and also to burner's range of opera­ reduce radiant heating near the burner. tion. It needs at least 20 Otherwise the barrel life will be marginal psi to atomize the oil and the burner motor will operate at effectively and 40 psi to overload temperatures and fail quickly. attain 10 gal/hr at good The burner can also operate outside combustion. A disadvan­ the incinerator combustion chamber. The tage is that the oil supply flame is stable and will maintain ignition

Fuel use curve of Burner # 2.

12 ,,."• _10 ,." .... .r::. ,,.,.,." ...... 8 /. ,• 0 / psi (air) 01 / /@ 40 / w 6 / •" CJ') I :::> I 4 _.J ,•@ 25 psi (air) w I :::> 1.1.. 2 ' 00 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 NOZZLE OIL PRESSURE

The Northern Engineer, Vol. 13, No.2 33 without the firebrick or draft from a combustion chamber, so it would be suitable as an ignition source for a commercial refuse incinerator in remote Alaskan communities, where approved land fills are not available. Burner # 2's ability of self-ignition of the waste oil is a real advan­ tage over Burner # 1. It can be set up for intermittent service to satisfy a temperature demand or control device, such as in a commercial refuse incinerator. Standard flame detector systems on the burner provide adequate safety for flameouts; however, with constant ignition from the electric igniters, the possibility of a flameout is remote com­ pared to Burner# 1's operation. In summary, Burner# 2 can provide a safe and simple means for disposing of waste oil at its source quickly and effectively. The unit is designed for quick setup and minimal maintenance, using parts that are easily obtainable in Alaska and are familiar to anyone who has worked with standard fuel oil-fired furnaces.

BEYOND DISPOSAL In Europe, waste oil has been utilized as a reliable source of heat, both residentially and commercially, for the past ten years. Some countries have nation-wide waste oil distribution systems and a full range of furnaces available to burn waste oil safely. The results of my experiments prove how simple and easy waste oil is to burn. It is a resource which should be more studied- and more used.

BIBLIOGRAPHY 1 Allen, J.J. and G.H. Auth. 1951. Fuels and Combustion Handbook. McGraw-Hill. 2Smith, W.S. 1962. Emissions from Fuel Oil Combustion. Public Health Service Publication # 999-AP-2, U.S. Dept. of Health, Edu· cation & Welfare. Burner # 2 in operation. Notice absence of smoke at top of burner. * * * * * * Author Abegg is willing to help readers with the details of waste oil burners to the extent his experiments have given him information. We will forward to him correspondence received here in our office. +

FUEL SPRAY PATTERN______...

ATOMIZING AIR _____.

Interior view of "Sonic Nozzle": Resonator cup forms a shock wave that breaks up the fuel entering.

34 The Northern Engineer, Vol. 13, No.2 ROAD aJMMISSIONERS (Continued fram page 21.) and continue work on the Ruby-Long and his domination, and I intend to see Creek Road (see map). The two antag­ that it is done be the consequences good 34 many members of Congress and the ex­ onists appeared before the House Com­ or bad to me:• ecutive branch. Wickersham furthermore mittee on Military Affairs on April 11, Much to the delegate's chagrin, how­ was convinced that Richardson had 1916 and asked for the extra money. ever, the Senate restored the $500,000 always lobbied "in opposition to his (the Wickersham argued that it was high time and, even worse, the War Department delegate's) efforts to procure better legis­ for the board to finish its work in Alaska, promoted Richardson to the rank of brig· lation for Alaska, and both in Alaska and while Richardson maintained that the adier general in the National Army. But Washington you have threatened, abused, army, which had done much of the much to Wickersham's delight, the new cursed, and otherwise harassed and im­ pioneer work in opening American general resigned as president of the Board peded him in the performance of his frontiers, was doing the same thing in of Road Commissioners for Alaska on duty." Wickersham recounted a long Alaska. Committee members listened December 29, 1917 and left Alaska list of grievances, real or imagined, which attentively but did not make any prom­ shortly thereafter to assume command of he harbored against Richardson, including ises.33 the 78th Infantry Brigade, 39th Division, meddling in Alaska local politics, favori­ then at Camp Beauregard, Louisiana, but A year later, Wickersham had changed tism toward the Northern Commercial destined to see fighting in France. his mind about the requested supple­ Company and various other large econ­ mental aP,propriation and noted that he omic interests, and incompetency in had been "working up an assault on the building roads and trails, bridges, and AFTERWORD appropriation carried in the Military Ap­ ferries. In conclusion, Wickersham re­ The board's work as the federal agency minded Richardson that it was the dele­ propriation Bill of $500,000 for the responsible for road and trail construc­ gate's right and duty to protect the in­ Alaska Board of Road Commission­ tion and maintenance in Alaska continued terests of Alaskans ers ..." He did not want to go on record as opposing the money, so he asked a for many years after Richardson's de­ from your viciously incompetent mis­ colleague from Ohio to make the point of parture. The Board of Road Commis­ management of the road fund, and if order against the item. "I intend to put sioners for Alaska became the Alaska you think you can prevent it by threats every obstacle in the way of the Board Road Commission during the 1920s. and profanity you are greatly mistaken. If and hope finally to drive it out of exist­ Still operating under the War Depart­ you could be taught to appreciate your ence. I feel fully justified in doing it for ment in that period, it also obtained its position, ... to give more attention to it seems the only way to protect the first automotive equipment - military the building of roads ... and less to poli­ 'Alaska Fund' and prevent the Board surplus from World War I. Heavy con­ tics, to use less liquor and more temperate from wasting it also." The next day his struction equipment gradually replaced language ... to let your road work out hand labor and horse-drawn wagons; by by bids to contractors and draw your colleague, as agreed, raised the point of 1932 the Commission had abandoned checks on a government depository, to order that the money was not authorized compel your foremen to work more and by any previous law. The Speaker of the work on the system of trails and sled play poker and pangingi less - then you House sustained the objection, "and out roads and instead was building airfields. might get to the point where the people went the $500,000 appropriation for the In that year the Alaska Road Commis­ would have some confidence in you and support of Colonel Richardson's wagon sion came under civilian control, when a 32 less disgust at your failure. road work in Alaska." Wickersham recalled federal reorganization moved it .into the that he "sat quietly in my seat and heard Department of the Interior. During the Doubtless, Wickersham disliked Rich· the fight without saying a word. The 27 years when the agency operated under ardson so intensely because he saw in Congressional Record of this date con­ the military, from 1905 to 1932, Alaska him a competitor for power and influence, tains the record of the beginning of the had gained an elaborate system of trails and he did not forgive him for having end of the Alaska Board of Road Com­ and sled roads totaling more than 10,000 championed President Taft's scheme for a missioners - a proper end." On Febru­ miles, but less than 500 miles of low­ military government for the territory. In ary 25 the delegate noted that Richardson standard roads. addition, the colonel had a power base in had been busy telegraphing friends in Richardson did not live to see the end Alaska through his control of a sizable Alaska, telling them that "I killed hisap­ of military control over Alaska's roads payroll. The delegate, rightly or wrongly, propriation and I am getting telegrams and trails. After he left the Board of Road was convinced that Richardson used his urging appropriation." Wickersham con­ Commissioners, his career had taken him territorial powers and influence to hurt tacted his Alaskan friends and told them from France to the command of the A­ him politically. The colonel was convinced to look at the Congressional Record, merican forces at Murmansk, Siberia, and that Wickersham was out to wreck his which proved that he had not objected earned him the Distinguished Service military career. to the appropriation. Privately, he re­ Medal. He retired in 1920 and died at Early in 1916, Richardson again re­ marked that "It is necessary to the free­ Walter Reed Hospital in Washington nine quested a supplemental appropriation of dom and development of Alaska that years later at the age of 68_16 $500,000 for 1917 in order to finish the this appropriation be fully and finally Any pleasure Wickersham may have Valdez-Chitina-Fairbanks military road beaten, so we may be rid of Richardson felt in the Road Commission transfer

The Northern Engineer, Vol. 13, No.2 35 must have been blunted by his defeat Roads, Bridges, and Trails, Alaska. General Correspondence;Adjutant Gen­ in the 1932 elections. In 1938, a year 1906. GPO, Washington. eral's Office, R.G. 94, N.A. before his own death, the ex-delegate 10 Road Building in Alaska. 1907. Alaska­ 23 published Old Yukon. In the book, PresidenttoSecretary of War, March 25, Yukon Magazine. March, pp. 20-21. he paid tribute to his former adversary: 1912. File: Richardson, Wilds P., Gen­ 11 ". . . the Richardson Highway, from Report of the Board of Road Commis­ eral Correspondence; Adjutant Gener­ al's Office, R.G. 94, N.A. Valdez to Fairbanks, is a fitting monu­ sioners for Alaska to the Secretary of 24 ment to the first great road-builder in War, 1907. In: Annual Reports, War war Department. 1912. Report of the Alaska, General Wilds P. Richardson.'.35 Department, Fiscal Year Ended June Board of Road Commissioners for 30, 1907. GPO, Washington. Alaska, 1912. GPO, Washington. 12 Ed. S. Orr and Company's Stage Line. 25 REFERENCES Naske, Claus-M. 1973. An Interpreta­ 1909. Alaska-Yukon Magazine. June, tive History of Alaskan Statehood. p. 190. Alaska Northwest Publishing Co., An­ 1 1 Sherwood, Morgan B. 1956. Explora­ 3u.s. Department of the Interior, Of­ chorage. p. 4. tion of Alaska, 1865-1900. Yale fice of Territories, Alaska Road Com­ 2633 Stat: 391. Session Laws of Alaska. University Press, New Haven and mission. 1956. Annual Report for the 1913. Chap. 3, April 5. London.pp. 152-153. Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1956. 27session Laws of Alaska. 1915. Chap. 27, 2 Juneau, Alaska: August 31, 1956, u.s. Congress, Senate, 58th Congress, p.43. April 28. 28 2nd Session, Special Report 282.1904. 14charles, Sidney. 1911. Progress of Road session Laws of Alaska. 1917. Chap. Conditions in Alaska. Report of Sub­ Building in Alaska. Alaska-Yukon 17, April 30; Chap. 36, May 3; Chap. committee on Territories. Government Magazine. January, pp. 38-40. 35, May 3. Printing Office, Washington, D.C. p. 1. 29 15Rogers, George W. and Richard A. war Department. 1914. Report of the 3U.S. Congress, Senate, 58 C, 2 S, Sp. Cooley. 1963. Alaska's Population and Board of Road Commissioners for Alaska, 1914. GPO, Washington. p. 5. Rpt. 282, Part 2. 1904. Conditions in Economy: Regional Growth, Develop­ ment, and Future Outlook. Vol. II, Alaska, Hearings before Subcommittee 30wickersham to Wallace Cathcart, De­ Statistical Handbook. University of of Committee on Territories Ap­ cember 21, 1914. File: Richardson, Alaska, Institute of Business, Economic pointed to Investigate Conditions in Wilds P., General Correspondence; and Government Research, College, Alaska. GPO, Washington. Adjutant General's Office, R .G. 94, Alaska. p. 28. 4 N.A. u.s. Congress, House, 58 C, 3 S, House 16Malone, Dumas, ed. 1935. Dictionary Doc. 192. 1904. Wagon Road from 3 1wickersham to Wallace Cathcart, June of American Biography, Vol. 15. Valdez to Fort Egbert, Alaska, and 23, 1915. File: Richardson, Wilds P., Charles Scribner's Sons. p. 576. General Correspondence, Adjutant Gen­ Military Trail between Yukon River 17 and Coldfoot, Alaska. GPO, Washing­ wickersham to Secretary of War J. M. eral's Office, R.G. 94, N.A. Dickinson, January 2, 1910. File: ton. 32 Richardson, Wilds P., General Cor­ wickersham to Richardson, July 29, 5 Nichols, Jeannette P. 1963. Alaska: A respondence; Adjutant General's Of­ 1915. File: Richardson, Wilds P., Gen­ History of Its Administration, Ex­ fice, R.G. 94, N.A. eral Correspondence, Adjutant Gener­ ploitation, and Industrial Development 18Richardson to Fairbanks Daily Times, al's Office, R.G. 94, N.A. During Its First Half Century Under August 7, 1910. File: Richardson, 33U.S. Congress, House, 64 C, 1 S. 1916. the Rule of the United States. Russell Wilds P. General Correspondence; Roads and Trails in Alaska. Extracts and Russell, Inc. New York. pp. 231­ Adjutant General's Office, R.G. 94, from Hearings before the Committee 233. N.A. on Military Affairs on the Bill Making 6 Report of the Board of Road Commis­ 19Richardson to Adjutant General, Oc­ Appropriations for the Support of the sioners for Alaska for the Season of tober 23, 1911. File: Orchard, Samuel Army for the Fiscal Year 1917, State­ 1905. November 1, 1905. C., General Correspondence; Adjutant ments of James Wickersham and Colo­ General's Office, R.G. 94, N.A. nel W.P. Richardson. GPO, Washington. 734 Stat. 192. (U.S. Statutes at large, 20 pp. 3-16. Vol. 34, p. 192.) The Daily Alaska Dispatch, Decem­ ber 23, 1911. 34 8 James Wickersham Diary, February 20­ war Department. 1914. Report of the 21orchard, Sam C. to John Orchard, 22, 25, 26, 1917. Fairbanks: University Board of Road Commissioners for July 14, 1912. File: Orchard, Samuel of Alaska Archives. Alaska, 1913. GPO, Washington. C., General Correspondence; Adjutant 35wickersham, James. 1938. Old Yukon: 9Board of Road Commissioners. 1907. General's Office, R.G. 94, N.A. Tales -Trails -arid Trials. Washington Report Upon the Construction and 22 Richardson to Adjutant General, Febru­ Law Book Co., Washington, D.C. Maintenance of Military and Post ary 9, 1912. File: Richardson, Wilds P., p.474. •

36 The Northern Engineer, Vol. 13, No.2 Wartsila Activities: NEW VESSELS, NEW FACILITIES

The unique problems of transporting goods over northern waters have stimulated develop­ ment of special shallow-draft icebreakers, air-cushion vehicles, and a new icebreaking laboratory at Wartsila Helsinki Shipyard in Finland.

Shallow-draft Icebreakers Seven new icebreakers have been ordered by the Soviet Union from Wartsila for delivery in 1983-84. Their draft of 2.5 meters makes them technically unique, since only a few years ago it was thought impossible to design an icebreaker requiring so little water under its keel. Develop­ The vessels will be equipped with diesel-electric machinery, ment work on this type of vessel has been underway for more with the primary power being supplied by three diesel engines than three years; its feasibility has now been established by each developing 1605 kW (2180 horsepower). These engines model tests carried out at the Wartsila icebreaking laboratory drive AC generators supplying four 950 kW (1292 hp) DC and by full-scale tests with the river icebreaker Kapitan Chech­ propelling motors over thyristor rectifiers. Main particulars kin, carried out in Siberia at -50°C. The new icebreakers are are: length max. 76.8 m; breadth max. 16.6 m; draught 2.5 m; destined for service under similar conditions on Siberian rivers. and shaft output 3800 kW (5170 hp). Air-cushion Vehicles Nine air-cushion vehicles, representing a new line of production for Wartsila, have also ji been ordered by the USSR. Slated for delivery i in 1982 and 1983, the ACVs wi II be used as r cargo transfer vehicles, lightering freight ; ashore in areas lacking harbor facilities and •'f with shallow coastal waters and difficult '1 ' ice conditions. They are intended to be used ' i with the multipurpose icebreakers the Soviet Union ordered previously from Finnish yards (TNE Vol. 12, No. 3). Technical particulars of the new air-cushion vehicles are: length max. 20.7 m; breadth max. 9.9 m; hovering height 0.6 m; power output (diesel engines of Soviet make) 590 kW; and loading capacity 38 tons.

Illustrations and information courtesy of WartsiUi Helsinki Shipyard.

The Northern Engineer, Vol. 13, No.2 Wartsilii presently has another air-cushion vehicle under construction. This vessel is a ferry, ordered last year by the Finnish Board of Roads and Water­ ways, intended to operate during the winter in the southwestern archipelago of Finland where sea lane channels in the ice cause difficulties. (Readers interested in reading more about the use of air-cushion vehicles for lightering might want to review Bob Thomas' article in TNE Vol. 11, No.2.) lcebreaking Laboratory The icebreaking laboratory in Helsinki, scheduled to begin operation in 1983, was designed for investi­ gating the icebreaking performance of ships and other structures by using scale models operating in simulated ice fields. Nucleus of the new laboratory is a towing basin with a total length of 79 m, breadth of 6.5 m and water depth of 2.3 m, making it the biggest of its kind in of -60°C will be built for testing materials and equipment the world. The new basin allows testing of models up to 14 m under extreme environmental conditions. Space has been re­ long and 3 m wide. It is intended primarily for ships and float­ served for possible lengthening of the test basin and for building ing structures, but testing of other structures such as lighthouses additional test facilities for arctic research. and locks is also possible. The new laboratory will replace Wartsilii's present icebreak­ One new ice field can be produced per day, and all natural ing model basin which has been in service since 1969 (TNE ice conditions can be simulated. During the freezing process, Vol. 5, No. 2). The services of the new icebreaking model the minimum temperature in the test basin room is -37°C. basin will be available in Canada through Saint John Shipbuild­ Furthermore, a cold room with minimum freezing temperature ing and Dry Dock Co. Ltd. and Canfin Arctic Consultants Ltd. +

MEETINGS Freezing. The "ground freezing" in this 13 - 15. The organizers state that this one instance is specifically artificial freezing will be even more comprehensive than its The first bulletin has been published of ground to stabilize earth materials and predecessors: "From rural experimenters for the Fourth International Conference control ground water seepage. The Sym­ to government planners, this year's con­ on Permafrost, a meeting noted here in an posium will be held June 22- 24, 1982, ference will offer something for everyone earlier issue. We bring it to your attention at the USA CRREL facility in Hanover, involved in alternative energy technology again - even though the Conference will New Hampshire. and policy." They would like to hear not take place until July 1983 - because Provisional program topics include from anyone interested in presenting a the recently-issued bulletin contains a Thermal Properties and Processes in Earth paper or an exhibit; organizing a forum or planning questionnaire to guide the organ­ Materials, Mechanical Properties and holding (or attending) a professional izers in scheduling field trips and filling Processes in Earth Materials, Engineering training session; or helping out in any program sessions. So if you plan (or even Design, and Case Histories; authors sub­ other way - and they would like to hear hope) to attend the Conference, you mitting case histories should be aware as soon as possible, please. Send word to, should fill out and send in that question­ that the organizers are particularly inter­ or ask for information from, the Confer­ naire to make your interests known. That ested in discussions of difficulties encoun­ ence Steering Committee, Alternative means if you have not yet received a copy tered. Abstracts should be submitted by Energy Resource Center, 1069 West 6th of the first bulletin, you will need to re­ September 1 of this year; completed Avenue, Anchorage, Alaska 99501. quest one: write to Dr. William Sackinger, papers are due by February 1, 1982, to * * * * Permafrost Conference, Geophysical In­ ISGF 82, USA CRREL, P.O. Box 282, stitute, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755. That is Managing Energy Through Energy Alaska 99701. also the address to write for further infor­ Storage is the title and the theme of an mation about the Symposium; the phone international conference sheduled for Oc­ * * * * number is (603) 643- 3200. tober 19- 21, 1981, at the Seattle Marri­ The U.S. Army Cold Regions Re­ * * * * ott in Seattle, Washington. search and Engineering Laboratory, the This gathering will feature paper pre­ Army Research Office, and the State of The 3rd Alaska Alternative Energy sentations, case studies, films, and a gen­ Alaska together are sponsoring the Third Conference has been scheduled for An­ eral review of the state of knowledge on International Symposium on Ground chorage Community College on November seasonal thermal and compressed air

38 The Northern Engineer, Vol. 13, No.2 energy storage (STES/CAES). The organ· The Conference theme is Beyond Whistle­ neers, will be held September 13-15 at izers promise a program of more than 60 Blowing: Defining Engineers' Responsibil­ the Dallas Sheraton Hotel, Dallas, Texas. presentations, representing the latest ac­ ities. Philosophers, academic engineers, The workshop is intended to be tivities in research, development, demon­ and scholars in other fields will join with "comprehensive and instructive", accord­ stration and operational experience in practicing engineers in sessions featuring ing to the announcement received here. It STES and CAES. Major research in the both formal papers and case studies. The will cover arctic engineering techniques, United States and important projects in topics to be considered include Responsi­ engineering management, and environ­ many parts of Europe and Asia will be bility in Organizations, Regulating Tech­ mental/geotechnical factors relating to included. nology, Designing for Safety, Technolog­ some of the most challenging and largest For a complete brochure and confer­ ical Decision Making, Cost/Benefit Analy­ oil and gas production projects in exist­ ence information, write MCC Associates, sis, and The Role of Engineers in the ence and planned for the North Slope of Inc., 8534 Second Avenue, Suite 400, Political Process. Alaska, both on- and offshore. Si!Per Spring, Maryland 20910; phone All inquiries regarding the program Four half-day technical sessions will (301) 589-8130. or registration should be directed to the be held: Civil Structural Considerations; Director of the Conference, Dr. Vivian Planned North Slope Projects; Piping; * * * * Wei!, Center for the Study of Ethics in Trans Alaska Pipeline Operating and With the support of a grant from the the Professions, !IT Center, Chicago, Maintenance Problems. National Science Foundation, the Center Illinois; phone (312) 567-3472. Information on registration, special for the Study of Ethics in the Professions activities and complete technical pro­ * * * * at Illinois Institute of Technology will gram details is available from: Frank host the Second National Conference on Arctic Design Criteria, a workshop Demarest, Arctic Workshop, P.O. Box Ethics in Engineering, to be held at the sponsored by the Petroleum Division, 59489, Dallas, Texas 75229; phone Palmer House in Chicago on October 2-3. American Society of Mechanical Engi· (214) 247- 1747.

LETTERS

A better view of the mountains We apologize for misreading the International Mountain Society's brochure, and thus misrepresenting its new journal, Dear Editor: and trust Ms. Ives 'letter will serve to set the record siraight. Thank you very much for publishing (Spring '81) the in­ formation about the new journal Mountain Research and Devel­ opment which the International Mountain Society is co-pub­ lishing with United Nations University. Delayed thanks However, Mountain Research and Development does not aim to "stress clear advocacy positions in its contents" as is Dear Editor: suggested in the announcement. The editorial policy is to en­ Relative to our article "Environmental Noise Studies in dorse neither a conservationist nor a resource development the Arctic" (Vol. 13, No. 1), regrettably we did not forward the viewpoint, but to follow that difficult middle of the road prag­ acknowledgements which had been prepared as a separate page matism. The aims of the International Mountain Society are to of the manuscript. Furthermore, we neglected to discover this strive for a better balance among mountain environment, devel­ omission in a review of the galley proof. With all due respect to opment of resources, and the well-being of mountain peoples. the sponsors, we want to say that the training and research pro­ Included in the inaugural issue of the journal is a paper on grams reported in the article were supported by the Alaska environmental conflict management. Eskimo Whaling Commission, lnupiat Community of the Arctic To maintain this realistic balance we do need participa­ Slope, and the North Slope Borough. The motivation, enthusi­ tion from those who regard themselves as 'developers' as well as asm, and assistance of the students considerably aided the work. those who are labelled 'conservationists'. We hope readers of The authors are especially indebted for the encouragement and The Northern Engineer will help to establish and preserve this assistance provided by the late Honorable Eben Hopson, former balance. We welcome papers and short contributions, especially Mayor, NSB; the Honorable Jacob Adams, Mayor, NSB; Miss ones describing practical applications of research and new tech­ Marie Adams, Executive Secretary, AEWC; and Mr. Ray Dro­ niques which would be relevant in the 'developing' areas of nenburg, Field Program Coordinator, AEWC. the world. Pauline lves William C. Cummings International Mountain William T. Ellison Society D. Van Holliday Boulder, Colorado The authors.

The Northern Engineer, Vol. 13, No.2 39 * * * * Alaska's Institute of Water Resources in­ any organism feeding upon it acquires an Though it will not emphasize north­ dicates that the aquatic fauna on Alaska's apparent radiocarbon age proportional to ern concerns, the International Symposi­ North Slope runs partly on fossil fuel. the peat source for its food. Thus Schell um on Bearing Capacity of Roads and According to Dr. Don Schell, peat is and his colleagues were able to determine, Airfields will inevitably consider them: the fuel that provides the vital subsidy. for example, that Colville River grayling the host country is Norway, and the Sym­ The peat has been accumulating since the der'ive a third of their winter food energy posium sponsors are the Public Roads last glaciers receded from the Slope about from the peat-based food chain. The top Administration (Oslo). The Norwegian In­ 12,000 years ago, permitting tundra veg­ fossil-fuel consumer in their study was an etation - the source of the peat - to stitute of Technology (Trondheim). and oldsquaw duck that contained 64% peat­ the Civil Aviation Administration (Oslo). return. Most of the peat is a solidly­ source carbon in its tissues. frozen part of the permafrost, but on The Symposium will be held in Trond­ shorelines moving water washes lumps of heim on June 23- 25, 1982. * * * * it loose. Once in the water, the thawed Prospective authors and participants and dispersed organic matter provides are requested to write to the Internation­Words: Last issue we were called to al Symposium on Bearing Capacity of food for bacteria, which provide food for task by a reader for inconsistent number­ Roads and Airfields, c/o Director ofStud­microscopic animals, which are in turn ing systems, but we also on occasion have eaten by insect larvae and crustaceans - ies, The Norwegian Institute of Technol­been twitted about uneven terms in the and so on up the food chain. That chain ogy, N - 7034 Trondheim - NTH, Nor­non-numerical sense. That big tube run­ would not have much of a basis in the way as soon as possible. ning across this state, for example; once winter without the subsidy the peat upon a time it appeared in these pages as provides. the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, abbreviated NOTED Because the peat is several thousand TAPS. Then, following our colleagues in years old, standard radiocarbon dating more high-powered publishing endeavors Do ducks burn oil? Not quite, but techniques can be used to assay how much (i.e., newspaper journalists), we began us­ work by a researcher at the University of a given animal has depended on the peat: ing the more understated trans-Alaska

Puttt'ng more on ice man's Association probably did not and so dropped this infor­ mation. The military origin of your table is suggested by the Editor (or, since this is a direct reply to Doug Campbell's letter entry for a group in single file. This type of information would in the Spring '81 issue) Dear Doug: not be of much importance for civilians but would be very im­ I was very interested in the Lumberman's Safety Associ­ portant to a platoon leader or company commander. ation ice thickness table you sent. The table illustrates the A clue to the age of the table is given by the "snow­ reason I wrote my Guide for Operating Cars and Light Trucks mobile" grouped with the two-ton car. This snowmobile is not on a Floating Ice Sheet, which had ice fishermen and other your handy Bombardier Olympique or flashy Arctic Cat ­ over-wintering birds in mind. (Unlike New York, where the instead it is a substantial vehicle with about the same weight and birds go to Florida when the ponds freeze, our birds go to size as the car. A further clue to the age of the table is the clas­ Hawaii when they want to melt the snowballs out from be­ sification of a truck weighing eight tons as a "Heavy truck". tween their toes.) The public does need better ice thickness Canadian involvement is indicated by the adjustment of information. the ice thickness for the "white" or slush ice, while the fact A fair amount of information about the Lumberman's that it is garbled indicates that the Lumberman's Association table can be developed from internal evidence. I judge that the did not understand it. Certain (but not all) Russians felt that original source was a Russian military ice-thickness table devel­ the "white" ice on the top of an ice sheet was weaker than the oped during or just after World War II - close to 40 years ago. "blue" ice that makes up the lower levels of the ice sheet, and A number of such tables were translated into English during the the supposed weakness of the "white" ice could be compen­ 1950s, and the Canadians undoubtedly picked it up at that sated for by using only half its thickness in calculating the ice time. Finally, it was botched up by someone working for the strength. For example, if a nine-inch ice sheet is made up of Lumberman's Association who might have had a great deal of five inches of "blue" ice and four of "white", the equivalent practical experience with ice but who was not too knowledge­ ice thickness would be 5 + 4/2 = 7 inches. This approach was able about its basic behavior. probably never generally accepted in Russia, but it was included The Russian origin of the table may be deduced from its in some translations of Russian ice studies during the 1950s. similarity to other Russian tables of the same type dating from Canadian ice workers picked it up, adopted it, and have subse­ the war. I have such a table showing that a soldier requires 5 em quently included it in numerous publications. It seems to have of ice to support him and infantry in single column requires achieved immortality and the approximate status of revealed 7 em. However, my table also shows that individuals should be truth in Canada although it is based on too many fallacies to separated five meters and infantry in column should be sepa­ have become generally popular. rated by seven meters. The Canadian government people would If you have trouble finding "clear blue ice", forget the have recognized the significance of the spacing but the Lumber- aesthetics and take a sample of ice out of the ice sheet. The

40 The Northern Engineer, Vol. 13, No.2 pipeline. Finally, deciding that the owners has a coastline that can be Arctic (if the PUBLICATIONS ought to know what it was called, we be­ author means that ocean specifically, as gan following the style of Alyeska Pipe­ in Atlantic or Pacific) or arctic (if far Kindling is the informal, informative line Service Company press releases and northern waters in more general ways are - and free - newsletter of the Energy Al­ took out the hyphen. Grammatically it what's being discussed- the Chukchi Sea ternatives Program at the School of Ag­ might be trans-Alaska, but if the owner has an arctic coast too). The other polar riculture and Land Resources Management companies want to call it trans Alaska, we zone is easier, because Antarctica is a con­ here at the UAF. The copy received here shall honor their prerogative. tinent. Thus there can be only Antarctic had a two-page article on zeolites (TNE A term that can't be made consistent vegetation, however skimpy, and Antarc­ Vol. 11, No. 2); a book review for How by consulting a press release is that which tic coastlines. . .but recently antarctic to be Your Own Power Company, which describes the zone beginning a few de­ weather conditions have been reported in touts using the family vehicle for house grees north of Fairbanks: by convention the South Atlantic Ocean, or perhaps it power; and several short reports on inter­ it's the Arctic, where the ground is cov­ was the south Atlantic. ior Alaska alternative energy projects ered with low arctic vegetation until you As you see, even if English units go and publications. The local emphasis come to the Arctic Ocean. The Arctic extinct, we'll find a way to be inconsistent means the newsletter will be most perti­ Ocean is an editorial nuisance, because it as long as we use the English language. nent to the interests of interior Alaska

lower ice will appear transparent, while any slush ice will ap­ Toman can write about cars. (Not that I don't think that the pear white or opaque. The transparent ice sometimes looks auto industry is a blind alley we have wasted 80 years on. But vaguely blue, but if you consider "clear" and "blue" separately, rather, since it is an overly developed discipline, it's easy to be you may have better luck in finding ice to meet your ideas. empirical in 'improving' it. Therefore, "philosophy" is embed­ My overall reaction to your table, Doug, is that it is a lot ded in why Toman is alert enough to have the hands and brains better than no guidance. The ice thicknesses you are apt to use, that make sense; and why a technical periodical is willing to two inches for one person and l'/2 - 8 inches for a car or light publish him - though I notice that he couldn't get published in truck, are reasonable values though slightly conservative. The the Society of Automotive Engineers' journals.) "adjustment" for slush ice disturbs me somewhat, but its net But, in the housing industry, we (many of us) are at the effect is to talk you into requiring additional ice that may not beginning of the process of developing a new technique, a revo­ be needed - and few accidents happen to i~e fishermen who lutionized industry. I like to think that is why we have to talk drive on ice that is too thick. about the "bigger" issues, the more abstract ideas, so much. Of Phil Johnson course, there is a cultural trend, a habit, an iconoclastic and Fairbanks preachy style that clogs up (and sometimes enlivens) the works. The reasons why the convective loop technique is "not Phil mentioned also that he would like to have copies of respectable" with the solar establishment make a challenging different ice thickness guides. If you send us a spare copy of question - one that caught me by surprise. Maybe inertia; may­ yours, we 71 forward it to him - trusting we won't need a truck be prior commitment (vested interest). We need all the help we to haul them. (Canadian readers are requested kindly to send no can get; help, not disdain. Thanks. letter bombs, no matter how aggravating the foregoing letter may have been.) Who knows - maybe you too have been guided Jim Berk by Soviet World War II surplus information. Solar Clime Designs Stanford, California

Once more around the convection loop No disdain here, Jim; the north needs breakthroughs in Editor: housing design. Wish you used bylines in your reviews. I feel uncomfort­ This writer, by the way, is Helfferich, who is the usual able addressing a function like "Subscription Dept.", rather source of unsigned reviews, editorial remarks and italic com­ than a person Iike "Jane Doe". But when it comes to articles or ments dropped in front of. into, or after other people's words. reviews, where we are talking about the writer's function and Matthews is the usual source of the blue pencil marks that keep abstract ideas, I feel downright crippled in addressing "Editor" those remarks clean, correct, and comprehensible. For TNE, rather than "Helfferich" or "Matthews". Grumble, grumble. the editorial "We" isn't a formality, it's a fact. I really got a charge out of your Fall '80 coverage. (Is As far as liveliness goes - the people who read your there a theory that because it's so blasted cold up there that Convection Loops newsletter know that what you publish isn't you Alaskans have to hop around and be lively?) I laughed out exactly placid gray literature either. However, we admit that loud when I read about "preaching ... around the edge of the north of 6rP a certain amount ofquickness helps one evade the equations ... "! hazards like cold, grizzly bears, and tax collectors - but there is I wish we were at a point in human shelter as we are in no truth to the rumor that the new Alaska license plates bear transport so that I could write about housing the way that Fred the motto, "Live Fast or Die·:

The Northern Engineer, Vol. 13, No.2 41 readers, but the general how-they-did-it report. That it does, and very well. The * * * * notes on homespun technology and the Pothole Primer is also entertainingly writ­ Elsewhere in this issue is an announce­ publications mentioned could be useful ten and illustrated; which means that not ment for the Second National Confer­ anywhere. To receive Kindling, send your only is the intended audience of adminis­ ence on Ethics in Engineering, provided name and address to Energy Alternatives, trators likely to read it, but they can by the same group who now has issued School ofAgriculture and Land Resources pass it along to inform - and perhaps gar­ a publication on an earlier gathering: Management, University of Alaska, Fair­ ner some support from mayors and tax­ Report of the Workshops on Ethical banks, AK 99701. payers. Though the 24-page pamphlet Issues in Engineering. According to the is not intended for engineers, it makes a preface by editor Vivian Weil, the Re­ * * * * very good model for any engineer who port "contains summaries ... of all the A fair number of northerners are in­ must write something to be understood presentations and some of the discussions. volved with Ocean Science and Engineer­ and used by non-technical readers. Neither speakers nor discussants may en­ ing, a journal formerly published as The Primer was developed at a work­ tirely agree with the editor's interpreta­ Marine Science Communications: the As­ shop sponsored by USA CR R E L and the tion of their remarks." sociate Editor for Ocean Science is at the Asphalt Institute in September 1980. Neither may other engineers, for the University of Alaska, the Associate Edi­ Robert A. Eaton of CRREL and Robert Report is thought-provoking and unlike tor for Ocean Engineering is at The Nor­ H. Joubert of the Asphalt Institute (New any other publication from an engineer­ wegian Institute of Technology, and England states) compiled the publication. ing meeting. The emphasis at the Work­ Scandinavians and Alaskans dot the edi­ Copies may be obtained from CRREL, shops was on helping participants pre­ torial advisory board. The brochure an­ Box 282, Hanover, NH 03755. pare to teach engineering ethics, but the formal sessions concentrated not on nouncing the name change presented the * * * * table of contents for the current issue, ethics courses but on moral issues con­ which indicates that the northerners are Another mailing list worth joining for fronting and involving engineers. That not parochial in their editorial tastes: The alternative energy information is that of approach committed the participants to titles were The effects of shear on vortex the Department of Transportation Re­ begin with descriptions of what engineer­ shedding patterns in high Reynolds num­ search Section (Attn: Barbara Trego, ing is, who engineers are, considering ber flow: an experimental study; A sensi­ 2301 Peger Road, Fairbanks, AK 99701). both perceptions and misperceptions held tive turbidity controller for phytoplankton DOTPF Research has several useful re­ inside and outside of the profession. This suspensions applied to bioaccumulation ports in preparation, such as An Alaskan effort connected to case studies and to studies of mussels; Perspective on the im­ Greenhouse Manual and the Solar Design devising courses to help engineers cope portance of the oceanic particulate flux Manual for Alaska, and some already with ethical problems. The reader receives in the global carbon cycle; and Localized published, including the second edition a compressed version of what was said, corrosion of aluminum alloys for OTEC of Alaska Wind Power User's Manual. and also often of who was saying it, how heat exchangers. it was said, and the writer's opinion of * * * * Subscriptions for a four-issue volume all these factors: "The image which are $40 for individuals, $80 for institu­ Not quite in the same league - and Dockendorff conveyed mirrored the set tions, with additional postage charges definitely not at the same cost- is the as of traits which are commonly associated for non-U.S. subscribers. Order from the yet unnamed newsletter of Alaskans for with engineering students and fostered publisher, Marcel Dekker Journals, P.O. Alternative Energy. This group describes in engineering schools. He was unemotion­ Box 11305, Church Street Station, New itself as "a statewide membership advocacy al and dry in his delivery and focused York, NY 10249. organization dedicated to the develop­ on a narrow, technical area ... He sup­ * * * * ment of energy conservation and decen­ plied participants first hand acquaintance tralized approaches to energy production with a prevalent attitude which, though Highly unusual: Inside the plain brown in Alaska." The newsletter is AEE's of­ well-intentioned, is far too simple and envelope from the Cold Regions Research ficial publication; the first issue promises partial for the complex and vexing prob­ and Engineering Laboratory was a report that it will be published bimonthly during lems engineers confront." with the CRREL symbol and a cartoon the legislative session and monthly during At 65 pages, the book is a provocative on the cover ... A cartoon? From CRREL? the rest of the year. Subscription rates are sketch by a candid and thoughtful writer Pothole Primer, subtitled A public $15/yr for individual subscriptions, $30 of what must have been a very lively administrator's guide to understanding for businesses or institutions. (Incidental­ meeting. It could provide splendid fuel and managing the pothole problem, ly, these are the AEE membership rates for discussion -and dispute -among en­ "gives general information on the causes as well, and membership includes a sub­ gineers. We recommend you write Dr. of potholes, preventive maintenance pro­ scription to the newsletter.) Address Vivian Wei/, Center for the Study of grams, and basic patching procedures" in queries or send checks to Alaskans for Ethics in the Professions, Illinois Institute non-technical terms, according to the ex­ Alternative Energy, 536 Bonanza, An­ of Technology, Chicago, IL 60616 to planatory press release accompanying the chorage, AK 99502. request a copy. +

42 The Northern Engineer, Vol. 13, No.2

THE Non Profit NORTHERN Organization U.S. Postage PAID ENGINEER Permit No. 2 Fairbanks, Alaska 99701 GEOPHYSICAL INSTITUTE of the UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA Fairbanks, Alaska 99701

Address Correction Requested