GEOLOGICAL SURVEY CIRCULAR 169

SUMMARY OF GROUND-WATER DEVELOPMENT IN· ALASKA, 1950

By D. J. Cederstrom ... · ' ' UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Oscar L. Chapman, Secretary

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY W. E. Wrather, Director

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY CffiCULAR 169

SUMMARY OF GROUND-WATER DEVELOPMENT IN ALASKA, 1950

By D. J. Cederstrom

Washington, D. C., 1952

Free on application to the Geolofr{cal Survey, Washington 25, D. C.

CONTENTS

Page Page

Abstract •••••••••••••• , ••• " ••••••••••• 1 Descr~~ption of areas--Continued Introduction•••••••••••••••••••••••••• 1 Upper Cook Inlet--Continued Purpose •••••••••••••••••• ·• ••••••• 1 Talkeetna.. • • • • • • • • •. • • • • • • • • • 23 Area and scope ••••••••••••••••••• 1 CurrY•••••••••••••••••••••••• 23 Acknowled'gments •••••••••••••••••• 1 Gopper River basin...... 23 Climate ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 2 Gulkana•••••••••••••••••••••• 24 Occurrence of ground water •••••••••••• 3 Glenn Allen...... 24 General conditions ••••••••••••••• 3 ~~anana Valley...... 24 Glacial flour•••••••••••••••••••• 3 Manley Hot Springs...... 28 Pe:rrna.frost ••••••••••••••••••••••• 3 Minto•••••••••••••••••••••••• 26 Description of areas •••••••••••••••••• 4 Nenana••••••••••••••••••••••• 26 Southeastern Alaska •••••••••••••• 4 Fairbanks area...... 27 Revillagigedo Island •••••••• 5 Big Delta...... 27 Ketchikan •••••••••••••• 5 Jo1:mson River.... • • • • • • • • • • • • 27 Mountain Point ••••••••• 5 Dot Lake...... 28 Wacker ••••••••••••••••• 5 Tanacross...... 28 Whipple Creek •••••••••• 5 Tanana Bridge...... 28 Prince of Wales Island •••••• 6 Northway••••···~··••••••••••• 28 Hydaburg ••••••••••••••• 6 International boundary...... 28 Craig •••••••••••••••••• 6 ltuskokwim Valley...... • • • • 28 Klawak ••••••••••••••••• 9 Lake Minchumina•••••••••••••• 28 Wrangell Island ••••••••••••• 9 McGrath•••••••••••••••••••••• 28 Wrangell ••••••••••••••• 9 Farewell...... 29 Mitkof Island••••••••••••••• 10 Aniak•••••••••••••••••••••••• 29 Petersburg ••••••••••••• 10 Bethel••••••••••••••••••••••• 29 Kupreanof Island •••••••••••• 10 Bristol BaY••••••••••••••••••••••• 30 Kake •••••••••.•••••••••• 10 Naknek..... • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 3.0 Baranof Island •••••••••••••• 11 Snag Point (Dillingham Sitka•••••••••••••••••• 11 P. o.)•••••••••••••••••••••• 30 James Bay •••••••••••••• 11 Clarks Point••••••••••••••••• 31 Chichagof Island •••••••••••• 11 Dillingham and Kanakanak Hoonah••••••••••••••••• 11 (Kanakanak P.o.) •••••••••••• 31 Juneau Area ••••••••••••••••• 12 "Yukon ValleY•••••••••••••••••••••• 31 Auke Bay ••••••••••••••• 12 Circle Hot Springs •••••• ~ •••• 31 Fritz Cove ••••••••••••• 13 Tanana••••••••••••••••••••••• 31 Tee Harbor ••••••••••••• 13 'Ruby ••••••••••••••••••••••••• 31 Lynn Canal•••••••••••••••••• 1~ Galena••••••••••••••••••••••• 31 Haines••••••••••••••••• 13 Anvik•••••••••••••••••••••••• 32 Skagway •••••••••••••••• 14 Holy Cross••••••••••••••••••• 32 Gulf of Alaska region •••••••••••• 4.5 Hughes ••••••••••••••••••••••• 32 Yukatat ••••••••••••••••••••• 15 Marshall ••••••••••••••• • •'•... 32 Cordova ••••••••••••••••••••• 16 Norton Sound•••••••••••••••••••••• 32 Valdez•••••••••••••••••••v•• 16 St. Michael•••••••••••••••••• 32 Kenai Peninsula •••••••••••••••••• 17 Unalakleet••••••••••••••••••• 33 Seward•••••••••••••••••••••• 17. Seward Peninsula ••••,...... 33 Moose Pass•••••••••••••••••• 18 Nome •••••••••••••••••••••••••• 33 Homer ••••••••••••••••••••• • • • 18 Teller••••••••••••··~··••••••• 34 Kenai ••••••••••••••••••••••• 19 Arctic Coast•••••••••••••••••••••• 34 Upper Cook Inlet••••••••••••••••• 1~ Kotzebue••••••••••••••••••••• 34 Anchorage and vicinity •••••• 20 Point Hope ••••••••••••••••••• 36 Matanuska Valley agricul- 21 Summary of ground-water development tural area••••••••••••••••• 21 in Alaska••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 36 Palmer••••••••••••••••• 22 References cited ••••••••••.•••••• •...... 37 Wasilla •••••••••••••••• 23

ILLUSTRATION Plate 1. Map of Alaska showing localities of ground-water developments • •••• • • • • • Inside back cover

TABLES

Table 1. Climatological data at selected Alaskan stations•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 2 2. Chemical analyses of water from selected wells and springs in Alaska 8 iii

INTRODUCTION

SUMMARY OF GROUND-WATER DEVELOPMENT IN ALASKA, 1950

ABSTRACT Area and scope This report discusses present and possi­ Systematic ground-water studies in ble future ground-water developments in a Alaska were begun by the Geological Survey in number of localities throughout the Territory July 1947 and have been'continued since that of Alaska. Substantial development of ground­ time. As part of this study, and to some water supplies is found only in Anchorage, extent in close cooperation with the Alaska Palmer, and Fairbanks. Elsewhere few wells Department of Health, the writer has visited are present and possibilities of ground-water and discussed water-supply problems on the .development have been almost entirely unex­ ground in the larger communities in south­ plored. Large quantities of ground water of eastern Alaska, along the Gulf of Alaska, in good to poor quality are available in exten­ the Kenai Peninsula, and in the Anchorage­ sive areas of intermontane sandy fill and Matanuska Valley area. In the latter area and sandy glacial deposits. Nothing specific is in the Fairbanks area detailed ground~water known of possible yields in hard-rock areas, studies have been made by the Ground Water or in rocks of any kind in southeastern Alaska. Branch of the Water Resources Division. Very Permafrost is a factor to be dealt with in few data on the Copper River basin and the the development of ground-water supplies in Upper Tanana Valley have been obtained. The many northerly localities. Much remains to literature has afforded a few facts about the be learned about the occurrence of ground hot springs at Circle and Manley. Scattered water throughout the Territory, particularly meager data have been collected on the Yukon with reference to the needs of growing commu­ Valley proper. Somewhat fuller information nities, military establishments, and some was obtained during visits to McGrath, Aniak, areas of potential indu~trial activity. and Bethel on the Kuskokwim River where more wells exis_t or drilling of wells has been attempted. Data on the few wells existing at INTRODUCTION Nome and Kotzebue are available. Purpose The data for the localities and areas mentioned provide, for many places, a reason­ The purpose of this report is to present able basis from which conclusions may be the information available on the ground-water drawn regarding the occurrence of ground resources of Alaska. The development of well­ water. For many other places, however, data water supplies in Alaska is still in the are extremely meager or lacking entirely, and -preliminary stage and in only three places-­ tentative conclusions made regarding ground­ Anchorage, Palmer, and Fairbanks--nave wells water potentials in such places are developed been constructed to an extent comparable to by comparison with other places in Alaska or that in the majority of communities in the the continental United States. The areal continental United States. A few references descriptions generally mention the geology to springs and wells in Alaska are present in only to the extent of delimiting areas of hard the literature, and recently records of wells rock and unconsolidated sediments, with sugges­ in Fairbanks, Palmer, and Anchorage have been tions as to the origin of the unconsolidated collected by the United States Geological sediments and their susceptibility to develop­ Survey. No discussion of ground-water develop­ ment by water wells. It is believed, however, ment in Alaska as a whole exists. It is the that by evaluating factors as to order of purpose of this report, therefore, to present magnitude it should be possible to decide, at a broad, general picture of ground-water least, at specific locations, whether ground­ conditions and to mention significant well water exploration is warranted. installations to the extent that these are known, in order that same over-all idea of the potentialities and existing developments Acknowledgments may be available to interested persons. The writer wishes to express appreciation This report is not a complete inventory to A. J. Alter, director of the Division of of all existing wells in Alaska but, consider­ Sanitation and hngineering, .Alaska Department ing the very few ~ater-producing wells in the of Health, for his active interest in ground­ Territory outside the three are!ls mentioned,. water studies in the Territory and for the the data are thought to be sufficient to be facilities provided from time to time by representative. personnel of his department. This work wss done under the supervision The office of the District Engineer,. of A. N. Sayre, chief, Ground Water Branch, Corps of Engineers, at Fort Richardson, Alaska, Water Resources Division, u. S. Geological furnished the writer records on wells in the Survey. Anchorage area and elsewhere. Records of 1 SUMMARY OF GROUND-WATER DEVELOPMENT IN ALASKA, 1950

wells at air stations o~ the Civil Aeronau­ CLIMATE: tics Authority throughout the Territory have been extremely use~ul. Victor Rivers o~ the No water-supply development in Alaska Victor Rivers Engineering Co. o~ Anchorage should be contemplated without taking climate, made available records o~ wells in the particularly temperature, into consideration. Anchorage area. Not only should the e~~ect o~ long months o~ bitter cold be considered in relation to well The many citizens in communities visited, installation, lakes, streams. and distribu7 and drillers in Fairbanks, Palmer, and tion lines, but the insulating e~~ect o~ snow Anchorage, ~rnished in~ormation ~reely and cover should also be taken into account. are hereby thanked ~or their interest and Conversely, the mildness o~ southeastern e~~orts. Alaska as compared with most o~ the·States in the northern United States should be ~lly Data ~rom a report by Charles Turnbull, recognized. sanitarian, Fairbanks District, Alaska Depart­ ment o~ Health, on the Yukon River and many The table given below was compiled ~rom miscellfUleous data provided by L. Morley, Weather Bureau data. senior sanitarian, Anchorage District, have been incorporated in this report. Table 1.--Climatological data at selected Alaskan stations

Metrn. Period in which Mean Coldest Mean annual 1950 annual mean monthly temp- temperature month precipitation snow~all teml erature is below 0~ coldest month (inches) (inches) (F. ~reezing (F) Ketchikan 45.4 (b) 33.1 Dec. 150.98 --- Craig 45.3 (b) 36.4 Dec. 110.64 -- - Wrangell 43.8 Dec. to Jan. 30.1 Jan. 74.15 117.8 Petersburg 42.6 Dec. to Feb. 30.6 Jan. 107.51 106.4 Sitka 43.9 (.b) 32.9 Jan. 88.91 43.6 Angoon 40.9 Dec. to Feb. 28.4 Feb. 49.42 111.1 Juneau 42.2 Dec. to Feb. 26.7 Feb. 83.72 a 92.1 Haines 41.4 Nov. to Feb. 26.4 Jan. 57.14 . -- Yakutat 40.3 Dec. to Feb. 29 .o Jan. 133.97 140.8 Cordova 38.2 Nov. to Mar. 14.8 Dec. 95.49 72.7 Valdez 35.8 Nov. to Mar. 19.3 Dec. 60.73 124.1 Homer 37.7 Nov. to Mar. 23.8 Dec. 29.03 26.6 Kenai 33.4 Nov. to Apr. 1L7 Jan. 18.69 47.7 Anchorage 35.0 Nov. to Mar. 11.6 Jan. 14.55 48.3 Matanuska Valley 35.2 Nov to Mar. 13.6 Dec. 15.70 31.8 Talkeetna 33.5 Nov. to Mar. 9.5 Jan. 30.48 88.6 Fairbanks 26.1 Oct. to Apr. -10.7 Jan. 11.90 81.2 Nenana 27.1 Oct. to Apr. -7.5 Jan. 11.35 37.7 Galena 23.0 Oct. to Apr. -11.0 Jan. 13.87 42.9 Kotzebue 20.3 Oct. to Apr. -7.7 Jan. 7.56 33.3 Nome 25.9 Oct. to Apr. 3.4 Jan. 17.26 81.8 Unalakleet 26.8 Oct. to Apr. -3.4 M$\r. 13.44 29.1 McGrath 25.5 Oct. to Apr. -7.9 Dec. 19.57 65.6 Aniak 28.3 Nov. to Apr. -.3 Dec. 20.53 26.8 Bethel 29.6 Oct. to Apr. 5.8 Dec. 18.24 35.4 Platinum 32.2 Nov. to Apr. ('? 10.0 Dec. 19.0 29.5 a Juneau Airport. b Mean monthly temperature above ~reezing.

In coastal areas in southeastern Alaska mean temperature ~or the December-February the weather is mild, but precipitation, mostly oeriod is below ~reezing. Sitka has almost as rai.n, is high. Although in some communi­ 89 in. o~ precipitation, Angoon about 49 in. ties there is no month in which the average monthly temperature is below ~reezing, tem­ Farther up the coast as at Cordova and peratures below ~reezing and precipitation in Valdez, the average annuai temperature is the ~arm o~ snow are common in winter. Such lower and the period o~ ~reezing is longer, ~reezing temperatures as occur in Ketchikan including November and March. The total in southeastern Alaska will be more detrimen­ precipitation is not much less but more o~ it tal in ~reezing water-supply installations occurs as snow. than in Petersburg, just to the north, which is slightly colder but where a heavier protec­ Kenai and Anchorage have cold winters tive snow cover normally exists. with an average monthly temperature o~ about 12 F in the coldest month. Here, away ~rom Sitka and Angoon make an inte.resting the open ocean, precipitation is much less comparison. Sitka, on the western shore o~ (about 15 in. annually at Anchorage) although Barano~ Island, is warmed by the Japanese the snow cover is still ~airly heavy. current and has little ~reezing weather, 'whereas at Angoon, in about the same latitude North and· west o~ the Alaska Range the but ~arther east, on Admiralty Island, the average annual'temperature is almost every- 2 CLIMATE where below 32 F and permafrost is present streams to the surrounding aquifer is probab­ in the ground. In the interior localities ly greatly inhibited by the presence of this and on the Arctic Ocean (as at Fairbanks and flour. In southeastern Alaska this factor is Kotzebue) the average temperature in the cold­ probably negligible because rainfall is high est month is as low aa -10 F, whereas adjacent and the adjacent water table is higher than to the Bering Sea (as at Platinum and Bethel) the streams, so that ground water is almost the average temperature in the coldest month invariably migrating from the ground to the is as high as 5 F to 10 F. In the interior stream. However, in the Anchorage area and localities the precipitation is low, about 12 on the northern flank of the Alaska Range-­ in., and the country may be considered semi­ areas where rainfall is moderate or low, the arid. Along the Bering Sea at Nome the total presence of glacial flour may be of great precipitation is about 17 in. and on the importance. In these areas of lower rainfall Arctic Ocean at Kotzebue it is less than 8 in. large withdrawals from the ground must be re­ plenished by percolation of water from rela­ tively long distances underground or by re­ OCCURRENCE OF GROUND WATER charge from local streams, originating in adjacent mountains. Where the streams are General conditions loaded with glacial flour, recharge by the streams will be considerably less than if the Ground water--water in the zone of streams were clear, and in some places this saturatio~--occurs in voids such as cavities, factor may make the difference between a joints and other fractures, and pore spaces possible large water-supply development and a in various types of rock and saturates the small one. ground up to a variable level known as the water table. The earth just above the water Permafrost table is more or less moistened by water drawn up from the zone of saturation by Large areas in Alaska are underlain by molecular attraction (capillarity) and is perennially frozen ground ranging widely in known as the capillary fringe. In clean distribution and thickness. To the north the gravels the fringe may be practically absent, permafrost zone tends to be thick and contin­ but in silt or ~ay loam it may be as much as uous but to the south it thins and becomes 8 ft thick. more and more discontinuous and finally is absent. The zone of aeration (the zone between the land surface and the zone of saturation) Permafrost is an important consideration between the capillary fringe and the belt of in dealing with development of ground water soil moisture contains very little water. from alluvial deposits. Except where very At and near the surface the earth generally thick and continuously distributed it does not contains a somewhat greater amount of water, preclude the acquisition of ground-water and this zone is known as the belt of soil supplies, for in many places within the perma­ frost zone ground water may be obtained from moisture. unfrozen ground beneath the permafrost .or in Where the zone of saturation lies at the thawed areas between areas of frozen ground. surface, the zone of aeration is absent. Throughout the area north and west of the Alaska Range, permafrost is generally present Some of the water falling upon the earth in thickness great enough to be considered a percolates into the ground and accumulates in real factor and its habit should be appreciated the zone of saturation. From the place where when well sites are chosen. Thicknesses of as it reaches the water table the ground water much as 200 ft are present beneath the valley tends to move toward lo·wer altitudes. It may flats in the vicinity of Fairbanks but the continue to move underground until it reaches 'permafrost is by no means continuous. In the the sea, discharge as springs at the surface vicinity of major streams and rivers perma­ and contribute to the flow of streams, be frost is ordinarily absent, particularly on intercepted by wells, evaporated, or trans­ the "slip-off" side of a stream meander, but pired by vegetation. frozen ground may be close beneath the surface ,near a steep "cut-bank." However, here, and In some places permeable beds sloping to some degree elsewhere near the stream, the away from areas of high ground are overlain permafrost may be thin, or at least consider­ at lower altitudes by impermeable capping ably thinner than the maximum. In still fewer beds such as clay. Here water entering the places half a mile or more distant from the permeable beds at higher altitudes moves down stream, permafrost is also absent, apparently dip but cannot readily migrate upward or escape in swales marking recently abandoned stream from beneath the confining layer. This water channels. is under hydraulic pressure and said to be In the Yukon Flats above Rampart along artesian water. It will rise in tightly cased the Koyukuk and in the Selawik-Kobuk-Noatak wells above the top of the layer, and, where drainage area, permafrost may be expected to the land is low, the well may flow. be more continuous near major streams, and it will extend to greater depths and may indeed eliminate large alluvial areas as sources of Glacial flour water supply, either because its thickness is such as to require wells 200 to 400 ft A significant factor in Alaskan hydrology .deep or because the alluvium is frozen all the is the influence of glacial flour. In much .way down to bedrock. of Alaska south of the Yukon many streams carry glacial rock flour in suspension, in North of the Brooks Range permafrost ex­ quantities ranging from small to great. In tends many hundreds of feet below the surface most places the movement of water from these and development oi' ground-water supplies 3 SUMMARY OF GROUND-WATER DEVELOPMENT IN ALASKA, 1950

probably is impractical, except possibly in glacial, fluviatile, or glaciofluvial sedi­ the vicinity of the Colville River. ments of Pleistocene and Recent age in the valley floors and in most places miles distant Drilling in permafrost by the cable-tool from the contiguous mountain ranges. In a method generally requires no special tech­ few places narrow stream-bed or glacial de­ niques; in fact, frozen sand and silt stands posits at higher altitudes within the mountains well in contrast to the sa~e material where or foothills will be considered for·well devel­ thawed. It may be necessary that casing opment. Sand spits and sandy beaches along follow the hole, however, in order to shut off the sea will offer possibilities of furnish­ thawed running sand or silt as soon as it is ing small supplies in some places. penetrated and to prevent undue caving as the hole becomes warm during drilling operations. Within this somewhat oversimplified Freezing of the casing to the walls during framework of possible ground-water environ­ the course of drilling generally will not ments are a myriad of geologic and hydrologic occur except where the permafrost is very conditions which must be understood before thick (and therefore several degrees below ground-water developments are contemplated. freezing temperature) or when the job is Many of these features will be elaborated interrupted by periods of idleness. upon in the more detailed descriptions of areas considered below. A productive well obtaining water from beneath the permafrost will not freeze if the well is pumped regularly. In periods of Southeastern Alaska idleness ice will collect on the inside of the casing and eventually plug it entirely. Southeastern Alaska extends as a narrow When this happens, introduction of hot water, strip along the Pacific Ocean from a point a steam, or even plain salt may be necessary to short distance northwest of Yakutat, where it thaw out the well. joins the "Interior," southeastward for about 500 miles to a little south of Ketchikan where Thicknesses of permafrost greater than the Canadian boundary runs approximately east 150 ft have been successfully penetrated by and west. Prince Rupert, British Columbia, 2-inch-diameter driven wells using a cone­ lies a short distance to the south. shaped drive head, above which are !-inch perforations, and through which a l-inch thaw The area is made up of a coastal strip line projects as much as 18 in. The thaw line adjoining Canada, several large outlying delivers water at a temperature of 33 F to islands, and thousands of smaller islands. 40 F, which melts out sufficient area to per­ Most of the islands are in the southern two­ mit the intermittent driving of the 2-inch thirds of the strip and, with similar Canadian pipe. At shallow depths a skilled driller islands down the coast, enclose the well can make 30 to 40 ft in a day but below 80 to known "Inside Passage" waterway from Seattle 100 ft driving is muCh slower and as little as to Juneau and Skagway. The larger outer 1 or 2 ft a day may be driven. islands in Alaskan waters, beginning at the north, are Chichagof Island {west of Juneau), Shallow wells dug in the surficial and Baranof Island (on which Sitka is situated), generally highly organic material above the and Prince of Wales Island. Admiralty Island permafrost do supply a small amount of poor­ lies southwest of Juneau, between the Chicha­ tasting water but these wells decrease great­ gof and Baranof Islands and the mainland. In ly in yield or freeze in the winter. In some the extreme southwest, as noted, Prince of places permafrost has receded 10 ft or more Wales Island is the large outer island, and because. of construction of buildings or Revillagigedo Island, on which Ketchikan is stripping of the insulating ground cover and situated, is the third of the large inner in such places where the ground is sandy islands. moderate year-round supplies have been obtain­ ed. Southeastern Alaska may be thought of as a rugged hard-rock region of high relief con­ sisting of many large and small islands and a DESCRIPTION OF AREAS typically indented coast-line area. The rocks range widely in composition and consist of To characterize the geology and topography igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary types of an area one-fifth the size of the conti­ ranging in age from Paleozoic to Tertiary nental United States in a relatively few (Buddington and Chapin, 1929, pl. 1). paragraphs is an ambitious task and as such will not be attempted here. Instead, certain It is important to note that in south­ gross features will be pointed out which eastern Alaska unconsoli.C:.ated stream and conve~r the general background necessary to an glacial deposits are very sparsely distribu­ appreciation of ground-water-supply condi­ ted. Southeastern Alaska is a typical tions. drowned se.acoast, and stream-bed deposits, glacial-outwash plains, and many of the long Water supplies in Alaska will be sought valleys characteristic of a region strongly ir:. (a) rugged hard-rock ranges of high re­ dissected by streams and further deepened by lief or (b) in broad intermontane valleys glacial erosion now lie below sea level. filled with young unconsolidated sediments. Thus many ground-water developments in south­ The hard-rock areas where, in time, develop­ easter:Q Alaska will necessarily depend on ments will take place are almost entirely in obtaining water from one of a variety of hard southeastern Alaska and perhaps in some places rocks and, in general, low yields may be ex­ in the Aleutian chain. Almost everywhere pected. Further, encroaChment of sea water else water will be sought in unconsolidated commonly may bea problem. Unconsolidated 4 OCCURRENCE OF GROUND WATER

sediments are not entirely lacking, however, now believed that shortages will result with as for example the outwash plain of the moderate increases in population. Further, Mendenhall Glacier near Juneau and, rather several outlying homes that are definitely a rarely, deposits along stream beds traversing part of the Mountain Point community are not gently sloping land. It is thought that supplied from this source because of the ex­ these should be explored first wherever pense of installing a long pipeline to these possible because hard-rock wells, in general, homes. have rather low yields and results of drilling them are unpredictable. In the type of rock present, drilled wells will obtain water from random fissures In many places in southeastern Alaska in the rock, but nothing indicates that yields wave-cut benches occur, those from 30 to 100 will be large. On the other hand, if the cost ft above sea level being well developedso far of increasing the surface-water supply is as the writer has observed. These .are mantled great, it would be worth while to consider by reworked glacial till in places and in obtaining the moderate amounts of water fewer places the terraces are made up in part needed from wells. Because no additional of reworked till. Such material may be suit­ stream supplies are readily available, it is able for small ground-water developments in believed that a separate supply for the now some places. 11 detached11 southwest end of the community might be most economically provided by wells, At Skagway the canyon is floored by assuming that moderate yields are obtainable. alluvial deposits of apparently high perme­ ability, and unconsolidated sediments of Quaternary age are present at Haines. How­ Wacker ever, these occurrences should be thought of as somewhat exceptional when the province as Wacker Cove lies along the shore 5 miles a whole is evaluated. northwest of Ketchikan. Although only a few homes are located there now, it may be the site of a large pulp mill in the near future. Revillagigedo Island The mill would provide its own water and hydroelectric power from somewhat distant Ketchikan ~ streams. Ketchikan lies on Revillagigedo Island along Tongass Narrows, east of Prince of Wales Whipple Creek Island. It is the southernmost major Alaskan community and is an active, thriving communi­ The Whipple Creek area B,es along the ty, having in 1948 a population of 6,000. coast 8 miles northwest of Ketchikan and 3 The main industries are fishing and lumbering. miles northwest of Wacker. It was visited briefly on December 2, 1948. This area is The city of Ketchikan is located in part now uninhabited except for a few cabins along along a very narrow, low terrace on the sea the shore and a Civil Aeronautics Authority and, as at Juneau, increases in population station at the far end. However, land was through the years have led to location of then in the process of being released for homes on the high slopes above the business homesteading. area. The city obtains its water supply.(and hydroelectric power) from a series of mountain The area, acco~ding to plans, is laid lakes to the southeast. There was no water­ out in four tiers of plots along the coast. supply problem there at the time of the The first tier will be cliffy beach-front writer's visit in the fall of 1948. plots; the other tiers will be on ground rising gradually from less than 50 to about 100 ft above sea level. Beyond the homestead Mountain Point area the ground continues to rise gradually to the base of low rounded mountains more Mountain Point lies along a rocky coast than a mile away. Whipple Creek traverses 10 miles southeast of Ketchikan and is a the southeast portion of the area. In con­ community of about 125 persons. Near the trast to many streams in southeastern Alaska, center of the community, homes are concentra­ this stream has a low grade and is flanked by ted along a small flat area about 100 ft above "gravel" bars in places. sea level, but elsewhere small homes are found along the beach or clinging to the precipitous Geology.--The area is underlain by hard hillsides. rock on which a few inches of alluvium is present. The bedrock adjacent to Whipple The community is a growing residential Creek is volcanic greenstone of Jurassic or area and is connected with Ketchikan by high­ Cretaceous age, and farther up the coast the way. rock .is slate with interlayered sandstone of Triassic age (Buddington and Chapin, 1929, Geology.--The area is under;ain by hard pl. 2). rock with little, if any, alluvial cover. The bedrock is classed as greenstone volcanics Water supply.--When a community is es­ of Jurassic or Cretaceous age (Buddington and tablished and incorporated it may prove most Chapin, 1929, pl. 2). logical to dam Whipple Creek and use it as a source of supply. However, during the forma­ Water supply.--The greater part of the tive years as settlement progresses, most re­ community is served by a small reservoir sidents will be without a water supply unless built on a creek above the village. It is individual wells are constructed. Individual

5 SUMN.ARY OF GROUND-WATER DEVELOPMENT IN ALASKA, 1950

well supplies will furnish. only a partial The writer visited Hydaburg on December 6 answer to the problem, because private sewage and 7, 1948. The reservoir from which the disposal by cesspools in hard rissured rock town obtains its water supply was visited will almost certainly lead to local contamina­ with Floyd Russel, the school principal, and tion of the ground-water supply. Mr. Grant, acting for Mayor Charles. No simple and inexpensive solution ap­ Topography.--The village is on a rock-cut pears ror the water-supply problem there. bench at the root of a mountain and extends The best solution might be ror sma~l groups northwest-southeast along the shore. At the or residents to drill wells on higher ground northwest end of the village the bench widens, to furnish water to homes on lower ground. and rolling ground, probably less than 100 To avoid polluting the ground-water supply ft above sea level, extends inland a mile or the residents high on the slope would have to so. A large stream flows out of the hills, install pipe lines to lead their sewage orr crosses this area of low ground, and dis­ at least several hundred feet down slope. charges through the village proper. Even this plan has its impractical aspect because the nature or the ground is such that Geology.--The rock cropping out in the burying both water and sewer pipes surricient­ village is black limestone. Along the trail ly to prevent rreezing would be very expen­ to the dam an alluvial cover is present in sive, even though the climate there is rather which limestone fragments were noted. As mild. the dam is approached the ground rises sharply above the bench land and the dam itself is The most likely eventual solution, utili­ set in granite. The Hydaburg area is under­ zation of Whipple Creek, would be unfavorable lain by rocks of Devonian age, largely to the extent that gravity feed probably graywacke, conglomerate, slate, limestone, and would not be possible because the stream flows associated volcanics (Buddington and Chapin, · through low ground. The sanitary quality or 1929, pl. 1). the water could be improved by drawing the water from wells in sandy beds adjacent to Water supply.--The town is supplied by the creek. Percolation of the stream water water from a reservoir with a wooden dam, through the sandy beds to the wells should do about 9,300 ft distant. Wood-stave pipes much to clear up the contamination that un­ bring the water from the dam to the village doubtedly will result rrom settlement in the distribution system. The supply has been watershed. ample but difficulties with low pressure have been experienced, in large part owing to the When the pulp mill is establisped, it is wasting of water to prevent poorly buried logical to expect that many of the mill work­ distribution lines from freezing. Air locks ers will immediately take up available land in the main line from the dam may have also in the Whipple Creek a~ea and the water-supply contributed to the dirficulty. (and sewage-disposal) problem will become acute shortly thereafter. Town ofricials have considered raising the dam 8 ft, and developing small amounts of hydroelectric power. Stream-rlow measure­ Prince of Wales Island ments would be necessary to indicate the desirability or this action. Prince of Wales Island, on which Hydaburg, Craig, and Klawak are situated, is the large According to A. Baker, district sanitarian southernmost outer island in southeastern of the Alaska Department of Health, the water Alaska, west of Ketchikan. It extends rrom supply is contaminated from time to time and the L1ternational boundary (which runs east­ requires chlorination. west) northward for a distance of about 120 miles. On the east is Clarence Strait, one Water-supply problems at Hydaburg appear of the dominant north-south waterways of the to be those or distribution. Improvement of Inside Passage. On the west a few small existing facilities is needed rather than a islands lie between Prince of Wales Island source of additional water. and the Pacific Ocean. Craig Hydaburg Craig lies about 25 miles north-northwest Hydaburg is on the southwestern side of of Hydaburg, on an island at the western side Prince of Wales Island, about 30 miles nortb of Prince of Wales Island. A group of very of the international bvundary, east of the small islands lie between Craig and the Pacific small Sukkwan Island from which it is separat­ Ocean. ed by the Sukkwan Narrows. It is an Indian fishing village having about 400 inhabitants. Craig is also a fishing village, having Many small power boats are owned by local about 500 inhabitants, many or whom are na­ inhabitants. A community-owned cannery, tives. A large cannery at Craig owned by recently destroyed by fire, is now being re­ Libby, McNeil and Libby employs a rew local built. A modern school is maintained in the laborers. Several power rishing boats are village by the Alaska Native SerVice. owned by local residents and a small sawmill is in operation. A modern school is main­ The town is served by one airline which tained by the Territory or Alaska. calls daily, weather permitting, using two­ or one-engine seaplanes. Mail-boat service The town is served by one airline which is less frequent. calls daily, weather pennitting. Mail-boat se.rvice is less frequent. 6 SOUTHEASTERN ALASKA

The writer visited Craig on December 3 the town at all times. Little opportunity and 4, 1948. exists for increasing the dam storage or capturing additional water from other surface Topography.--The village is on an island sources. about 2,300 ft long extending east-west. Throughout most of its length the island is The flow from the spring used by Libby, about 1,600 ft wide, but a narrow area near McNeil and Libby is piped to the cannery. the east end is only 800 ft wide. The island The flow at the cannery on December 4, 1948, rises gradually to a height of 150 ft above was about 50 gpm; another 100 gpm was over­ sea level a little'west of the center. flowing at the spring. This water is used about 3 months each year, in conjunction with Immediately east of Craig is another but an additional small supply from a stream. An smaller island that separates Craig from the analysis of the spring water is given in "mainland" (Prince of Wales Island}. table 2. North of the point at which· the road from The town is now planning to install an Craig touches the mainland a low wave-cut elevated storage tank to alleviate its present terrace is developed to a small degree; south shortage and hopes also to pump from the can­ of this point the terrace extends for several nery line at night in summer, when the cannery hundred feet. normally is not operating. Geology.--Not much could be learned about Estimating a need of 100 gpd per person. the geology of the area, owing to the snow the town's requirements are, then, about cover. No rock outcrops were seen on Craig 50,000 gpd or about 40 gpm, or approximately Island. (The island was mapped as Mississip­ the minimum amount now available. Erection pian limestone, according to Buddington and of a storage tank, now being considered by Chapin, pl. 1, but the float (loose rock) the town, may alleviate much of the present appeared to be of volcanic origin. On the difficulty, but burying the mains properly to mainland, rock outcrops were not found near eliminate the necessity of bleeding them in the dam, but to the south, along the beach cold weather will also be necessary to insure trail to the spring used by the cannery, the sufficient water at all times. rocks were largely felsite and volcanic breccia. The spring, located about half a It was the consensus, however, that the mile up the slope, issues from a limestone amount of water available is too close to the bed. This area is mapped as Devonian sedi­ minimum requirements for safety and comfort, mentary rocks and associated volcanics. and a moderate increase in supply is most de­ sirable. Water supply.--The town is supplied with water from a wood-dammed reservoir located No additional streams or springs are on the mainland mountainside. ·The reservoir available near Craig. According to Victor is 3,000 ft from the village, at a reported Rivers, the capacity of the present reservoir altitude of 478 ft above sea level. Where could not be increased except at considerable the 8-inch line is. bled to prevent freezing expense.· Further, it seems unlikely that an at night the flow was estimated to be 50 gpm. increase in storage would be helpful, as the It was said that in the rainiest season the total flow of the stream is used for months flow may be three times as great, but the at a time. quantity of water is not sufficient to sup~~Y

7 Table 2.-- Chemical analyses of water from selected wells and springs in Alaska Analyses by Geological Survey._ Results expressed in parts per million

Cal- Mag- So- Po- Sul- Chlo- Fluo- Ni- Dis- Well Depth Silica II'on CiUJ:Il ne- dium tas Bicar- lia.rdness Date no. Owner Location (feet) (Si02) (Fe) fate ride ride trate solved collected (ca) sium (Na) sium. bonate (S04) (Cl) (F) (N0 ) solids as Caco3 (Mg) (K) (HCO~) 3 1 Klawak Spring 7.9 0.47 56 4.1 6.2 188 7.7 5.0 0.:3 0.2 180 157 Dec. 2,1948 2 Libby McNiel Craig Spring 4.5 .01 28 :3.1 6.7 96 7.1 7.2 .4 .o 104 8:3 Dec. 4,1948 & Libby :3 L. Wythe Homer 11:3 6.6 .:31 4.8 1.9 405 897 :3.0 114 .4 .7 979 20 Dec. 1,1948 4 Chamberlain Homer 115 :31 .70 55 14 56 :356 :3.5 14 .2 .5 :350 194 Dec. 1,1948 and Watson 5 (Martin sub- Anchorage 126 16 a 0.1 ...... 5.:3 210 2 2 .2 .2 ... 166 Sept. 9,1950 division) 6 R. Atwood Anchorage 150 4.8 .0:3 22 :37 674 188 :381 795 .2 .7 2,010 207 Aug. 12,1949 7 Huntley Palmer 79 7.0 .02 41 4.6 5.5 102 40 5.0 o.o 1.6 155 122 Aug. 29,1949 8 P. Lester Palmer :37 16 .06 75 20 :3.4 266 :35 42 .01 :35 :388 490 Aug. 26,1949 9 Town Palmer Spring 1:3 .19 42 5.6 2.9 ., 1.:3 150 6.2 1.8 .l 2.0 149 128 July 25,1949 10 A.R.R. Wasilla 21 15 .02 27 5.1 5.5 94 7.6 5.2 ... 9.9 122 88 Aug. :31,1949 ll F. Churchill Chickaloon -- 17 7.15 59 24 49 376 :3.1 28 .2 .4 :366 246 Sept.26,1949 12 A.R.R. Glenn Allen 20:3 40 .:32 ...... :304 1 6:3 :3.4 ... 276 July 19,1950 1:3 CAA Gulkana 29:3 42 .86 ... .. 266 28 2:30 .:3 4.6 465 July 19,1950 14 Resort Manley Spring 59 b .so 9.1 .9 121 l 8.2 86 48 120 ... 417 26 Aug. 5,1915 15 St. Marks Nenana 16 28 9.2 84 25 8.7 :370 14 8 .2 2.:3 :352 :312 May 5,1948 49 6.9 206 17 2 16 Rank Fairbanks 175 28 a 8.1 1:3 .4 .6 218 176 Aug. 201 1947 11 248 :31 17 M. Agbaba 19 16 a .04 73 16 16 18 30:3 248 Aug. 20 1 1947 18 U-Drive-It 52 21! a 2.2 61 14 12 240 25 8 .a .9 264 210 Aug. 20,1947 19 w. Tilman lOB 24 a 47 8:3 18 15 304 :32 21 .2 .a :345 281 Aug. 20,1947 20 Army Parma- Q) frost Station 112 45 a 16.0 134 73 59 908 2.7 8 1.2 .9 771 210 Aug. 20,1947 12 144 196 21 Road USGS :3 McGrath 101 27 .07 59 :37 1.0 .6 .9 404 299 Sept. 2 1 1948 22 Road USGS 3 McGrath 140 21 .07 122 65 17 240 378 12 .7 .6 735 572 Sept. 7,1948 2:3 Buffalo Lodge Big Delta 117 9.1 .27 94 i30 2 l,.l 106 July 18,1950 24 Airfield Big Delta 200 9.0 .03 41 8.7 6.4 127 40 4.0 ...·" 2.0 174 1:38 July 14,1949 25 CAA McGrath 250 :33 11.0 64 61 1,340 2.5 4.0 .4 410 Aug. 16,1948 26 T. Glazier McGrath 28 15 1.9 120 20 62 578 30 6.5 .2 2.2 541 382 Aug. 16,1948 27 A.N.s. Hosp. Kanakanakc 64 7.2 5.0 13.0 3.6- 1.6 65 3.2 10.5 17.7 71.6 47 July 12, 1940 _28 Circle~ Upper 89 .02 21 l.O 258 172 97 248 10 ... 809 56 July 18,1949 spring 29 Circle9 Cold 18 ...... 7.6 16 2.3 5.2 1.0 1.0 ... 10 July 18,1949 spring 30 N.c. co. Tanana 50 23 2.7 116 33 9.4 1 2.4 387 7.8 69 ... 1.5 458 425 July 19,1915 31 Mission Anvik 72 5.0 128 38 25 10 456 4.3 78 ... tr. 553 476 Aug. 21,1915 :32 Submarine camp Nomec 38 68.4 2.0 ·197 254 1,850 293 320 :3,605 ...... 7,320 1,540 July 8,1940 33 u.s.G.s. Kotzebue 82 9.7 68 640 3890 14,100 1,770 1,610 26,200 ...... 45,:300 9,370 Aug. 15,1949 :34 u.s.G.s. Kotzebue 273 51 ... 184 48 3,490 1,800 9.0 _5_.670 ...... 10,600 1,890 Aug. 29,1949 -- a Estimate. b Includes aluminum. c Analysis by Alaska Dept. of Health. d pH 7.3. e pH 5.9. SOUTHEASTERN ALASKA

Test drilling on the maipland on the low Such action may well be the answer to bench along the road (and pipe line from the the present ~roblem. However, the present dam) might establish the availability of ground system cost 132,000 in 1936. A new dam even water in that area. Moderate supplies may be more distant in the forested mountains, plus available and amenable to development with- the cost of replacing and adding to the now out danger of salt-water contamination. old wood-stave line to care for the addition­ Additional supplies, if needed, might be al pressure, might make this plan prohibitive­ developed back from the shore east of the ly expensive. The de~elopment of hydroelec­ road. tric power in connection with the proposed dam has not been considered, nor are data Smaller amounts of water might be avail­ available for such consideration. able from a well or wells drilled on the island, but it probably would not be economi­ Ground-water supplies may be readily cal to develop water there, inasmuch as the available on the mainland a short distance pipeline is already laid to the mainland, from the island. Limestone lenses may be where the salt-water problem would be less present that might yield copious supplies of important or even negligible. water. However, if ground water is consider­ ed, the cost of a well, an elevated tank, a . Klawak pump, and the cost of operation must be taken into account. Klawak lies about 10 miles north-north­ east of Craig. Like Craig it is situated on an islet, which is slightly less than a mile Wrangell Island long and slightly more than a quarter of a mile wide. It is an Indian fishing village Wrangell of about 400 inhabitants. Many power fishing boats are owned by local citizens and a cannery Wrangell lies on the northern end of is also owned locally. The citizens are de­ Wrangell Island, an island of intermediate sirous of building a cooperative cold-storag~ size lying close to the mainland east of the plant. north end of Prince of Wales Island •. Wrangell is at the north end of Eastern Passage and Klawak was visited on December 2 1 1948. about 10 miles south of the mouth of the The reservoir from which the water supply is Stikine River. obtained could not be reached because of heavy snow cover, but facts pertaining to the system Wrangell is a fishing village of about were obtained from Mayor w. Peratrovitch and 1,200 inhabitants, of whom about 500 are na­ members of the town council. tives. A large sawmill, not now being opera­ ted, is situated there. A shrimp cannery is Topogratihy.--The islet on which Klawak in operation during the summer months and is located rises to an altitude of 265 ft on many small power fishing boats are owned the south end and to 202 ft near the north locally. Wrangell is a port of call for some end. At its north end it is separated from steamships. Tourists, who come to view the the mainland by a narrow bench which is sub­ totems and decorated council house, provide merged at high tide. The mainland is low at some local income. the water's edge but rises gently to mountain­ ous terrain. There appears to be an exten­ In company with Victor Rivers and A. sive but incompletely developed bench less Baker, the writer visited Wrangell on December than 100 ft in altitude. 9, 1948. The reservoir from which the town water supply is obtained was visited with Geology.--The village is underlain by Mayor George Gunderson, maintenanceman Frank gray fossiliferous limestone. A few small Zepp, Lee Ellis, and M. M. Custard. springs issue from limestone at an altitude of about 35 ft above high tide (Table 2). Topography.--Wrangell is on a low bench The bench connecting the mainland and the along the western shore of the northern point island is underlain by volcanic rocks. of the island. Behind the town the ground rises to a muskeg-covered terrace perhaps 100 Water supply.--The town is supplied with ft above sea level. This higher terrace is water from a res.ervoir on a mountain slope 2 or 3 miles wide and constitutes all the nearly 3 miles to the southeast. The supply northern end of the island except for an iso­ is ample for present uses, although in winter, lated mountain which rises to an altitude of when lines are bled to prevent freezing, 457 ft and forms the northernmost tip of the residents on higher ground are commonly with­ island. Less than 2 miles to the south and out water. This difficulty could be remedied east the main mountain mass rises to an alti­ by burying distribution lines properly. How­ tude or· 832 ft above sea level. ever, the supply is not sufficient to support the proposed cold-storage plant; further, at Geology.--The rocks along the beach at times of peak operation of the present cannery, the north end of town are black slate. The low water pressure is experienced by consumers. entire northern area is underlain by "phyllite, An analysis of the water is given in table 2. quartz phyllite, foliated quartzite, argil­ laceous and micaceous phyllite, and locally Local citizens seem agreed that the slate" that is "probably Ordovician to present dam was located too low and that a Jurassic or later" in age (Buddington and dam to replace the present one should be built Chapin, pl. 2). in a clean rock basin about 1,000 ft upstream from the present dam. Greater pressure and a Water supply.--The Wrangell water supply more ample supply, free of silt and organic is obtained from a reservoir on the mountain discoloration, is said to be certain if this slope 3,500 ft east of town at an altitude is done. of 335 ft above sea level. The supply is not 9 SUMMAllY OF GROUND-WATER DEVELOPMENT IN ALASKA, 1950

quite adequate. In the winter, when stream cently incr~ased by installing a second main flow is at a minimum and distribution lines from the dam. The pressure is kept low to are bled to pPevent freezing, homes on high­ prevent strain on the old distribution system. er ground are without water. During the time The water is discharged into two tanka on high the cannery is in operation, low pressures in ground back of town. the distribution lines are also common. It is likely that some relief from the Kupreanof Island present difficulties might be obtained by protecting the distribution lines from freez­ Kake ing and by installin~ a large capacity tank in town, but even so, the supply would be in­ Kake lies on the northwest end of Kupreanof adequate if the sawmill, now in the hands of Island just off Frederick Sound. It is a receiver, were to resume operations. approximately midway between Petersburg to According to local authorities, the cost of the east and Sitka to the west. It is an appreciably increasing the capacity of the Indian fishing village and has a population reservoir would be t5o,ooo to t9o,ooo. Ob­ of about 400. Many small power boats are viously, it would be desirable to ascertain owned by local residents. In addition, about if ground-water supplies might be obtained a mile to the southeast of the village, close to the town at lower cost. Seattle interests operate a large cannery in the summer months. A modern school is main­ The writer believes that the muskeg­ tained by the Alaskan Native Service. covered higher terrace immediately in back (east} of town might be profitably explored. Kake was visited on December 12, 1948. Some roads approach or enter this area, and The small dam, the town reservoir, and the reaching possible drilling sites may not be separate cannery supply were visited with difficult. The rock types, so far as water­ Mr. Bell and others. · bearing characteristics are concerned, range from poor phyllitic rocks to muCh more favor­ Topography.--The village is on a small able quartzitic types. Exploration would, of wave-cut bench about 20 ft above mean tide necessity, seek out areas of favorable rocks level. The cliffs back of the village rise before holes are continued to depths of more sharply to an altitude of perhaps 100 ft, and than 40 or 50 ft. at that level another bench is developed over a large area. Mitkof Island Geology.--The rocks exposed along the beach are largely crystalline limestone. The Petersburg area is underlaln by rocks of Devonian age, predominantly graywacke and associated tuffs. Petersburg is situated on the north tip of Mitkof Island, east of Kupreanof Island and Water supply.--The town supply is obtained just west of the mainland across Frederick from a small reservoir on a very small stream Sound. flowing in an alluvial valley just northeast of the village. The supply is inadequate, the Petersburg is a thriving community of pressure head is low, and the water available about 1,350 inhabitants, of whom about 400 is unsatisfactory because of high color. The are natives and the others are largely of topography is such and the stream so small Scandinavian extraction. Six canneries are that little would be gained by attempting to situated there and many fishing boats are increase the height of the dam. owned locally. The town is a port of call for some of the larger steamships. The cannery supply is obtained from a stream dammed in a rock-cut gorge high in the Petersburg was visited on December 11, hills southeast of town. This stream is 1948. Mr. Desartes, in charge of the water­ adequate to supply the cannery at full opera­ works, was contacted and the local situation tion. At nights, when operations are suspend­ was discussed. ed or at a minimum, the excess water from the dam is brought down to a small hydroelectric Topography.--The community lies on the plant and sufficient power is generated to west shore of the nort~ern tip of the island, supply the lighting system of the cannery. on a very low, narrow bench. Behind the The system is actually in use about 2 months town the land rises gently to a somewhat high­ each year. er broad terrace of considerable extent, which in turn rises gradually to the foot of the It is possible that a satisfactory solu­ mountains about 2~ to 3 miles to the south. tion to the present problems at Kake could be reached by arranging with the cannery inter­ yeology.--Heavy snow cover prevented ests to obtain a part of the water from the observation of any rock outcrops. However, cannery system. However, other possible the Petersburg area is underlain by "gray­ sources of supply may be explored. wacke, dark-gray slate, and conglomerate with some intercalated beds of tuff, thin layers Small supplies of ground water might be of limestone, and small ll'Ylestone lentils," obtained at the foot of the cliff tmmediately of Jurassic or Cretaceous age (Buddington and behind the village or at the mouth of the Chapin, 1929, pl. 2). small valley in which the v~llage dam is lo­ cated. There would be distinct danger of Water supply.--Petersburg has an ample salt-water contamination at those sites, and supply of water obtained from the mountains wells developed there would have to be pumped to the south. The available supply was re- at various rates to establish the highest rate 10 SOUTHEASTERN ALASKA of discharge possible without contamination. Geology.--The area is underlain entirely It seems more likely that better results would by dark compact graywacke, so far as could be be obtained by drilling on the high ground in observed, and the level land and gentle slopes back of the village. A road probably could be are mantled by a fairly thick alluvium, in cut past the village dam to the higher muskeg part a talus-type material consisting of angu­ flat to permit entry of a drill rig. On the lar boulders in a sandy-clay matrix. Common­ high terrace the water level probably would be ly, at least 8 to 10 ft of volcanic ash over­ reasonably close to the surface and, with a lies bedrock. It is apparent that the uncon­ moderate lift, the water could be delivered solidated material is generally more than 4 to a tank at the surface, which in turn would ft thick, as no difficulties were encountered supply water under ample head to the consumers in burying water and sewage lines to that in the village below. depth. On one rather steep slope more than 18ft of alluvium is present. Baranof Island Water supply.--The largest part of the municipal supply is obtained by gravity feed Sitka from Cascade Creek, about 3 miles northwest of town. A secondary supply is obtained from Sitka lies on the west coast of Baranof the Indian River. Water from this source is Island on the Gulf of Alaska and is about 100 pumped into a 500,000-gal elevated tank. miles west of Petersburg and on equal distance south-southwest of Juneau. The system furnishes sufficient water for the city and Japonski Island, but in the early The city of Sitka, founded by the Russians, summer months the reserve is very low; near­ has a population of about 2,300. Another shortages have also occurred in cold periods 1,000 persons dwell on Japonski Island (Mount when lines were bled by consumers to prevent Edgecumbe) across a narrow strait. freezing. Fishing is a major industry but the Although the present supply is adequate, school and hospital of the Alaskan Native additional water probably will be needed if Service on Japonski Island and the Pioneers the proposed pulp mill is located near Sitka. Home and the Presbyterian Sheldon Jackson The thought thus far has been that, after Jun~or College at Sitka also are of importance increasing the size of the reservoir on in the local economy. One large sawmill is Cascade Creek, an additional supply of about situated in Sitka, and tourists call in the 120,000 gpd might be provided by bringing in summer months. water from Blue Lake, 6 miles distant, at an estimated cost of $250,000. Expansion of industrial activity is fore­ seen in the proposed erection of a large pulp It is the writer's opinion that the feasi­ mill at Blue Lake, 6 miles east. An addition­ bility of obtaining ground water might be al 400 families will be brought into Sitka if profitably investigated. The quantity of this project materializes. water needed, only about 100 gpm, might be ob­ tained from one to three wells of moderate The city is served by daily flights depth sunk into bedrock in the flat area back (weather permitting) by small amphibian planes of town, at a fraction of the cost of develop­ to Juneau and to Kake and Petersburg. Sitka ing the Blue Lake supply. It is also possible is a regular port of oall for steamers plying that a good supply might be obtained from a the run between Seattle and southeastern well sunk in the bed or on the banks of Indian Alaskan ports. River if any appreciable thickness of sandy fill is present. The city was visited on January 27-28, 1949. Dr. Charteras, Mayor of Sitka, and James Bay Mr. Calvin, town clerk, were contacted, and additional information pertaining to the city James Bay community lies along the coast water supply was obtained from Vincent east of Sitka and consists of about 20 ho;nes Beauchamp, manager of public utilities. along a low rocky beach. Some of these homes are without water, a few use springs, and two The business center of the city is on have dug wells. Fairly high on the slope Sitka Harbor but the town extends about 1 E. Hodges has a well dug in fill to a depth of mile to the east along Crescent Bay and ll 18 ft. The depth to water in the well is 9 miles to the northwest along Sitka Channel ft below the surface. The water is ·clear and and back from the coast about a quarter of a fairly soft and the well furnishes an ample mile. Most of the population, however, is supply to the electric pump supplying the resi­ concentrated within a half-mile radius of the dence. harbor docks. It seems likely that most people in the Topography.--The ground rises gently from area can obtain water from similar dug wells, the sea to a marine-cut terrace about 50 ft but in a few places bedrock will be encounter­ above sea level. This terrace is of consider­ ed and completion of a dug well in such places able extent, and the base of the mountains is will be difficult. nearly a mile from the coast. Some of this area is settled, but much of the low land out­ side the city li~its remains a muskeg swamp. Chichagof Island At the eastern end of the corporate limits the terrace is crossed by the Indian.River. Hoonah Swan Lake, about half a mile long, is near the centar of the corporate limits. Hoonah lies on Icy Strait on the eastern

11 SUMMARY OF GROUND WATER DEVELOPMENT IN ALASKA, 1950

shore of Chichagof Island, about 40 miles Geology.--The area is underlain by slate west-southwest of Juneau. The community con­ and metamorphosed breccia of Mesozoic age, sists of about 500 natives. Fishing is the and Quaternary sediments have been deposited only occupation, and a large privately-owned upon these older rocks. The unconsolidated cannery is about 2 miles west of the village. material that makes the low terrace on which the Auke Bay community stands appears to be l'he island is a 0 flag stop" on the Juneau­ fill that was somewhat reworked by marine Sitka air route. In addition the town is water during a higher stand of the sea. served by mail boat and occasional freight Similar material extending to a higher alti­ vessels. Hoonah was visited on January tude is exposed about half a mile west of the 30-31, 1949. The beach area south of Hoonah community and is seen to be a mixture in which was visited with GeorgeMartin. A recent 6- clay (glacial flour) is present throughout a foot fall of snow prevented a detailed inspec­ mass composed predominantly of subangular tion of the terrane. fragments of small gravel. This material probably occurs at a veneer on marine cut­ Topography.--The village lies along a ruck benches except where preexisting valleys narrow beach on the sea~ About half a mile have been filled to the bench level. Well­ to the south the beach widens and an appreci­ sorted stream deposits appear to be absent able area of low ground is present, but to the immediately along the shore of Auke Bay but north the beach narrows and cliffs rise from are almost certainly present in the flats the sea. north of Auke Lake along Lake Creek. A large area of outwash-plain deposits at the foot of Geology.--The rocks exposed along the Mendenhall Glacier is present more than a beach north and south of the village are dark mile east of Auke Lake. thin-bedded Paleozoic limestone and volcanics (Buddington and Chapin, 1929, pl. 1). These deposits are mentioned here be­ cause a well located near the mouth of Duck Water supply.--The village is supplied Creek and now operated by the Civil Aeronau­ by water from a reservoir about 1 mile dis­ tics Administration is sunk in these deposits. tant. The supply is generally adequate, The well, which is 4 in. in diameter and 80 according to Mayor Harry Douglas, except for ft deep, yields about 15 gpm to a centrifugal short periods in the dry summer or in the cold­ pump. The water has a temperature of 49 F. est part of the winter when water is wasted to prevent freezing. Construction of another, No outwash-plain deposits are present higher dam, at a cost of more than $30,000, in the immediate vicinity of Auke Bay. has been contemplated. Ground water.--The likelihood of develop­ As the area is underlain by limestone, ing moderate ground-water supplies along the it seems likely that moderate supplies of shores of Auke Bay does not seem gogd. Wells ground water might be easily available at penetrating slaty bedrock there might have relatively small cost. However, although a poor yields in relation to the cost of con­ well might be located successfully on ground struction. At the head of the bay, the marine somewhat higher than the village where the bench extends somewhat inland. There the un­ beach widens to the south, it would be neces­ consolidated cover material may be considered sary that the pipe line be fed from a tank as a possible source of ground water. How­ rather than directly from the pump. This ever, it is not certain that more than a thin cost must be considered if a supplemental veneer of cover material is present, or, if ground-water supply is contemplated. present, that it is reasonably permeable. Test drilling will be necessary before either of these factors can be evaluated. Juneau area The metamorphosed breccia between Auke Auke Bay Bay and Auke Lake might yield moderate amounts of water to drilled wells. Yields should be The Auke Bay community, which may be comparable to those obtained by drilling in considered a suburb of Juneau, consists of well-jointed granite--that is, from a few to about 25 dwellings and stores lying along the a few tens of gallons per minute. north shore of Auke Bay 1.4 miles northwest of Juneau airfield. The area is shown on the The low ground north of Auke Lake, adja­ U. S. Geological Survey topographic map, cent to Lake Creek, offers the best possibi­ "Juneau, Alaska-Canada," edition of 1951. lities for obtaining moderately large supplies of ground water in the Auke Bay area. Auke Topography.--The settled area lies along Lake is a deep rock basin formed by scour of the northeastern bank of Auke Bay, in part on an ice tongue extending westward from the a narrow marine-cut bench about 40 ft above formerly longer Mendenhall Glacier. The sea level. Behind this partially developed basin itself formerly was larger than it is at bench the mountain mass rises rather steeply, present and has since been partially filled and in one place it attains an altitude of by deltaic alluvial deposits laid down at the about 1,000 ft. Immediately to the west, in mouth of Lake Creek. These deoosits should the Auke Bay recreation area, the bench dis­ be fairly well sorted and very permeable. appears and the road clings to the base of a Although the alluvial area is not large, with­ precipitous mountain slope. To the east a drawal of water from the sedi~ents should not narrow rock ridge extending north and south result in depletion because of recharge from separates Auke Lake from the Bay. Auke Lake local heavy rainfall. Infiltration from Lake is half a mile· wide and three•quarters of a Creek may also occur if the lake bottom is mile lone• It is fed from Lake Creek on the not sealed by rock flour. north and discharges into Auke Bay on the southeast. 12 SOUTHEASTERN ALASKA

Fritz Cove Geology.--The relativ~ly flat, low-lying ground between the high hard-rock ridges is Fritz Cove Road lies on the west side underlain by alluvial material, of tmknown of the Mendenhall Peninsula, extending south­ thickness. This material may be largely ward from the head of Auke Bay. The penin­ marine sand filling an old channel between sula is a fairly symmetrical ridge, only the two ridges• On the other hand, if at the slightly modified by remnants of a low marine­ time of the 40-foot stand of the sea the low cut terrace on the seaward side. Bedrock ground at the south end of the cove was not a there is metamorphosed breccia. Alluvial de­ through channel but waR a topographic low posits are very sparingly present along the only intermittently inundated by the sea, low terrace. then the present unconsolidated material represents old glacial till and debris that Small to moderate ground-water supplies probably were only slightly reworked at that probably could be obtained from drilled wells time. located on high ground back from the sea. However, domestic supplies might also be Undeveloped supplies.--The low-lying obtained from individually dug wells sunk into ground in back of the community is the logical bedrock. area to explore for water supplies. It seems possible that a properly constructed and pro­ In this region of heavy rainfall these tected dug well might yield enough water for would be every reason to believe that very present needs. Small-diameter driven or shallow wells sunk along the bay, on. the beach jetted wells might be successful if the itself, would tap fresh water floating on material present is well sorted and if bedrock salt water. The water level in such wells or boulders do not prevent such construction. would be slightly higher than sea level. How­ If very sandy deposits are found, it will be ever, when it is considered that the tide difficult to dig a well and driving or jetting range is usually more than 10 ft and tides in may be necessary. If bedrock everywhere lies excess of 20 ft are not rare, it is seen that close to the surface or if boulders are par­ wells on the beach would necessarily be a ticularly troublesome, drilling may be the minimum of 20 ft deep in order that water be only method by which an adequate water supply present in the well at all times. Tpus there may be obtained. would be difficulty in insuring that water taken from the well would skim only the fresh water. Further, with such large continual Lynn Canal movement of the tides, it seems very likely that the fresh-water layer might be mixed with Haines salt water. Haines lies on a southeast-trending It is believed, therefore, that in this peninsula about 4 miles wide between Chilkoot area dug wells should be located at somewhat and Chilkat Inlets, whiCh merge to become the higher altitudes back from the sea. These Lynn Canal. It is about 75 miles north-north­ wells will encounter bedrock in many places west of Juneau. The town has a population of a short distance below the surface but should about 300 but there are also 50 people be continued at least several feet below the (estimated) at the nearby Chilkoot Barracks, water table, even though hard rock is encoun­ a former Army post built in 1904 but now tered. On gently sloping ground, water may privately owned. lie fairly close to the surface, but on steep slopes or on strongly dissected ground the Haines is the southern terminus of the depth to water will be greater. However, the Haines Highway or Haines "cut-off" which runs water level in such wells may vary only a northwestward and connects with the Alaska little with the rise and fall of the tides and Highway west of Whitehorse at mile 960. there may be no problem of salt-water contami­ Although Haines has an ice-free harbor all nation. winter, the highway has not yet been kept open during the winter and there is very Tee Harbor little winter activity. The Tee Harbor community lies at the Haines is served daily. by small amphibian south end of an inlet from Favorite Channel, planes and in the summer months is visited by as shown on the Juneau, Alaska-Canada map. steamers. An automobile~ferry service has It consists of about a dozen dwellings and a been established connecting Haines with Tee public school. The area is of more impor­ Harbor. The ferry operates only when the tance than its size would indicate, because highway is open. docks are being built for the unloading of waterborne freight for Juneau. By utilizing Haines was visited on February 1 and 2, Tee Harbor and 20 miles of highway to town, 1949. Mayor Ira Powell was contacted and, more than a day's shipping time is saved. on the evening of February 1, local water­ The growth of the little community therefore supply problems were discussed with the town seems assured. council. Topop-raphy.--The community lies on rather Topography and geology.--Haines and low ground at the south head of a long, narrow Chilkoot Barracks lie on relatively low ground cove. On the east the mountain slope rises that forms a waist of about 4 sq mi on the precipitously and on the west the ground peninsula between low mountains. The mountains rises less steeply to an altitude of 150 ft are largely of granitic rock but the origin or more. To the south is a tract of more or of the unconsolidated material forming the less level heavily forested land which appears low ground is uncertain, although presumably to have been built up during a 40-foot stand it is glacial. of the sea. 13 SUMMARY OF GROUND-WATER DEVEL·OPMENT IN ALASKA, 1950

Surface-water supply.--The village is On the morning of February 6, 1949, with supplied by pipeline from a small creek on Mayor Powell and Mr. McGee, the 3-foot snow the mountain to the south. Shortages are cover was cleared off and it was found that common and an additional supply of water is the 512-foot well still flowed. Shortly after needed. Extra water has been obtained at the writer left Haines that afternoon, the times from the Chilkoot Barracks system, well was tested briefly with the fire-fighting but continuation of this practice is not con­ apparatus and, as nearly as could be deter­ sidered desirable by the Haines community. mined, yielded a minimum of 5 gpm with 18 ft of drawdown. Arrangements were being made to Extension of the present pipeline for test the well accurately for a longer pe~iod 2,000 ft would make possible bringing in a new with a smaller-capacity pump. surface-water supply. However, this would be somewhat expensive, considering the small It appears that a turbine pump with amount of additional water needed. about 100 ft of column might furnish enough water, 20 gpm or more, to supply the present Use of a tarn lake, high in a cirque needs of the town. Although this might be an basin on Ripinsky Mountain across the Chilkoot inefficient well, in comparison with one of River, already developed by the Army, might greater yield, very little capital outlay be considered. However, 1 7/8 mile of special would be needed. Later a shallower well of pipe would have to be laid and maintained higher yield might be constructed, or the well across the shifting sands of the Chilkoot at the barracks might be put into service if River. Such a project obviously would be pro­ it proves to yield fresh water. hibitively expensive. Skagway Ground-water supplies.--Several wells have been constructed at Haines, with the Skagway lies near the head of Taiya following results, so far as could be deter­ Inlet, about 90 miles north-northwest of mined from local sources: Juneau and 20 miles northeast of Haines. It is the terminus of the '.'fui te Pass and Yukon At Mayor Powell's home, near the business Railroad, which connects with the Alaska High­ section, a dug well 40 (?} ft deep was con­ way at Whitehorse in Yukon Territory at the verted into a cased well. This well flows head of navigation on the Yukon River system. now and is said to have yielded 15 gpm to a suction pump. Although Skagway had a population of 35,000 in the early part of the century, in At the old barracks just north of town 1948 it had only 700 inhabitants and is remi­ (not Chilkoot Barracks}, a well was drilled niscent of a western ghost town. by contractors for the Army to a depth of about 80 ft. It is reported to have yielded Skagway is served daily by small amphi­ 150 gpm in a short pumping test made by air bious planes and is a port of call for some lift.l The water was said to be salty but ocean vessels. local -residents doubt that this report is true. The depth to water in the well was The city was visited on February 2 and 3, about 10 ft. 1949, and the data presented here were ob­ tained from Mayor Pat Carrol. Bitter cold On the higher slope northeast of town, and high wind prevented more than a cursory a well was drilled to a reported depth of 512 inspection of the area. ft. The well now yields about 5 gpm of fresh water, by natural flow, and yielded about 30 Topography and geology.--Skagway lies at gpm to an air-lift pump. It is reported that the mouth of a flat-floored canyon which is bedrock was not encountered in this well and less than a mile wide at the water's edge. that four distinct water-bearing horizons The canyon floor is made up of alluvium, were penetrated. The only apparent reason seemingly deltaic glacial-outwash sand and for drillinW to the depth indicated appears gravel. The rocks forming the canyon walls to be that 1 it was good drilling." are largely granodiorite.

During the co~rse of discussion with the Water supply.--Skagway purchases its council members, the question of the feasi­ water at wholesale rates from the Skagway bility of utilizing the last-mentioned well Public Service Co. and distributes it at re­ was considered, particularly because the total tail rates to the consumers. Electric power present needs of the community amount to is also purchased on the same basis. The only 20 gpmc Further, it was pointed out water for both direct consumption and power that a 100,000-gallon ('l} tank is located on generation is obtained from Lower Dewey, the mountainside above the well and a 4-inch Upper Dewey, and Icy Lakes, high on the moun­ pipeline runs past the well to the tank. tain above Skagway. The supply is small; Negotiations for the acquisition of these during the winter there is not sufficient facilities by the town are now being carried water to ~atisfy both water and power needs, on. and power is generated by diesel engines for long periods. 1 Assuming two-thirds submergence of In the winter the water delivered is so the air line below pumping level and a water cold that slush ice or frazzle ice tends to level 10 feet below the surface, the maximum form in the distribution lines, and in the drawdown would be about 23 feet. winter of 1946-47 the city spent t5,000 in introducing steam, generated by a locomotive, into the lines to prevent freezing.

14 GULF OF ALASKA REGION

In addition to the municipal supply, water"), and to water from most streams carry­ several residents have private (ground-water) ing rock flour in suspension. supplies. Most or the wells range rrom 16 to 30 rt in depth and are li in. in diameter. The water level is 4i rt below the surrace in Yakutat the center or town. Further evidence as to the permeability or the alluvial material is Yakutat is about 5 miles east of the the report that the river loses volume appre­ Pacific Ocean on the south shore of Yakutat ciably as it enters town, and elsewhere several Bay and about 215 miles northwest of Juneau. large springs issue rrom the gravels• One or The village has about 200 inhabitants, almost these springs, at the railroad shops, is used all native. Fishing is the only industry. A as an emergency supply. cannery owned by Libby, McNeil and Libby is situated at one end of the village. It would appear to the writer that the problem or winter water shortage and slush- The large Yakutat airfield is located ice rormation could be eliminated by construct­ near the coast. Pacific Northern Airlines ing (probably very economically) one or two planes stop at the field on the Juneau­ wells. A deep well would yield slighter warm­ AnChorage run. Some Civil Aeronautics Autho­ er water than a shallower one but, in any rity and Weather Bureau personnel live in the event, the temperature probably would be about area, either at the field or near the village. 40 F (the mean annual air temperature at Haines is 40.9 F). A deep well probably would Yakutat was visited on February 5 and 6, also have a slightly higher head than a shal­ 1949. Mayor Joe Mallotte furnished data on lower well, making ror slightly more economi­ the village water supply and Paul Griffith cal pumping. Chilling or the water could be of the Civil Aeronautics Authority's main­ inhibited by proper design and size of stor­ tainence department gave information on wells age tank; it might be desirable to consider at the air station. the practicability of a completely housed surface pressure tank. Topography and geology.--Yakutat lies on a low coastal plain which rises gently from the sea to the Barbizon Mountains, about 25 Gulf of Alaska Region miles distant. The more distant peaks of the St. Elias Range may be easily seen from Topography and geology.--The mountainous Yakutat in clear weather. The coastal-plain area bordering the Gulr of Alaska and extend­ sediments are covered by a thick mantle of ing from Mount Fairweather to Prince William glacial-outwash deposits. The adjacent Sound may be characterized, for the purpose mountainous area is heavily glaciated now and of this report, as a region of high, heavily the fringing coastal plain probably was once glaciated mountains, many of whose peaks covered by ice to the same extent that the attain altitudes greater than 10,500 ft. Here area immediately to the northwest is now the great Malaspina and Bering Glaciers and covered by the enormous Malaspina Glaciers. many lesser glaciers are present. Along the sea a discontinuous lowland apron of alluvium The area in which the airfield is situated occurs, as glacial outwash and moraines. The is a monotonous muskeg flat, but the village, largest development of these deposits in this 4 miles to the east, is on a cliff rising province is at Kakutat (Tarr and Butler, 1909, steeply from the waters edge. pl. 36), and Yakataga. Water supply.--Three wells furnish the The high mountains are composed largely water supply at the airfield. One was dug to of igneous and metamorphic rocks, but between a depth of 18 ft; two are driven wells 14 and the alluvial apron and the higher mountains 18 ft deep, respectively. The depth to water is a belt of highly folded and faulted sand­ is about 6 ft in the summer and 8 ft in the stones and shales of Tertiary age. winter. Each well will yield up to 80 gpm with continuous pumping. Pits 15 ft in dia­ Ground water.--The great outwash-plain meter and 12 ft deep have yielded as much as deposits should yield easily many millions of 200 gpm. The water is soft and slightly gallons of water a day to wells, and even corrosive. where the outwash deposits are of small areal extent it is likely that hundreds of gallons At the Civil Aeronautics Authority quarters of water a minute should be obtained without on a high cliff near the village, a well 85 difficulty. Morainal deposits may have rather ft deep supplies eight families and a utility poor yields, but in places drilling through building. The depth to water in the well is such beds to outwash-plain material below may about 60 ft. The water is corrosive. be practical. Clayey-till deposits may occur and will yield very little water. In the village of Yakutat, Mayor Mallotte has a dug well 18 ft deep on the hillside. Beneath the glacial apron Tertiary sand­ The depth to water is 162 ft. Water is ob­ stones might prove to be water-bearing in tained from a silt bed below what may be places. However, it is not possible to glacial till. The yield of the well is less evaluate their hydrologic qualities at present, than 5 gpm. Elsewhere, people carry water and maximum attention should be given the from springs, seeps, or small brooks. shallower outwash material if large quantities .pf water should be desired. The village of Yakutat, recently changed in status from a group di~ected by the Alaskan The quality of water from outwash gravels Native Service to an independent town, is will generally be excellent and preferable to facing a problem in attempting to provide water .from surface ponds and lakes, which modern services. The village is built on a generally contain much organic matter {"muskeg hillside; gravity feed from surface lakes on 15 SUMMARY OF GROUND-WATER DEVELOPMENT IN ALASKA, 1950 high ground, if sufficient in quantity, would canneries also will be supplied with water require hundreds if not thousands of feet of during the summer of 1949 and, according to pipe between the lakes and the village and Mayor Rothwell, a demand will be created would deliver inferior (muskeg) water to only equivalent to that for at least 4,000 people. a part of the inhabitants, unless an elevated It is the opinion of Mayor Rothwell that much storage tank or pressure tank were used. At if not all of the additional water needed can present there is no electric power in the be obtained by repairing the leaks in the village, although a power supply is planned. dam and by increasing the height of the dam Mayor Mallette's suggestion, that the first several feet. Further increases in the total step might be to dig several wells and estab­ supply might be obtained by developing the lish several water points from which people so-called railroad reservoir li miles from could carry water, seems logical. Later, it town on the north side of Eyak Lake. Pumping might be found that shallow wells dug or directly from Eyak Lake has also been contem­ drilled either on the hillside or on the higb plated. ground above the village might yield sufficient water to supply the village as a whole and It seems likely that fairly shallow wells permit the establishMent of a municipal of large yield might be constructed in the distribution system. low land between Eyak Lake and the city of Cordova. Although the alluvial area is rela­ tively small, perhaps less than a quarter of Cordova a mile wide and about as long, the underground reservoir would be constantly replenished by Cordova lies on Orca Inlet, which opens the water from the lake. The lake level is southward into the Gulf of Alaska. The town said to be more than 10 ft higher than the itself is on the east shore of the inlet and high-tide level, and danger from salt-water occupies the steeply sloping ground facing contamination probably would be negligible. the sea. Cordova is 145 miles east-southeast Inexpensive shallow test drilling might be of Anchorage. necessary to locate the most permeable ground in order that producing wells could be con­

Cordova has a population of about 1 1 400. structed with maxi~um efficiency. Such a It is a fishing town and has two large and supply would eliminate the long pipeline five small canneries and two cold-storage necessary in developing the railroad-reservoir plants. It was the terminus of the now supply, and the water obtained would be of abandoned Copper River and Northwestern Rail­ better sanitary quality than that pumped road serving the Kennecott mines. The town directly from the lake. has air serv1ce three times a week to Valdez. Pacific Northern Airlines, on the Juneau­ Anchorage run, affords daily travel in both Valdez directions. Oceangoing vessels stop regular­ ly at Cordova. Valdez lies at the head of Port Valdez, an arm of Prince William Sound, and is said Cordova was visited briefly on February to be the "farthest north ice-free harbor in 11, 1949. Mayor Ira Rothwell was contacted Alaska." However, the Richardson Highway and the existing water-supply system was connecting Valdez with interior Alaska usual­ discussed. ly has not been kept open in the winter and Valdez, like Haines, is active as a port only Topography and geology.--Cordova is in the warmer months. The winter of 1949-50 built along a steep rock slope facing the private interests kept the southern part of sea as shown on the U. s. Geological Survey the Richardson Highway open and trucking to map," Cordova, Alaska," edition of 1951. The Fairbanks and Anchorage continued all winter. rock cropping out in the immediate vicinity Fishing is important in the local economy and is graywacke. To the east the mountain slope, is supplemented by a cold-storage plant. which rises precipitously in back of town, There has been a little gold mining in the is broken by a wide gap beyond which is Eyak area. Valdez has a population of more than Lake. The lake occupies a long, narrow rock­ 500. cut valley threading the mountains, in which local glacial scour is evident. Eyak Lake The town was visited on February 7, 1949. was formed when the mouth of the valley was Mayor c. G. Stith was contacted, and during dammed by a deposit of glacial sediments, the evening the local problems were discussed probably morainal material, lying in the moun­ with members of the town council. tain gap just east of the town. During stages of maximum glacial melting, it is likely that Topography and geology.--Valdez fronts one or more channels were cut in this moraine the sea on a gently sloping canyon floor ex­ and subsequently were filled with permeable tending back to the foot of the Valdez Glacier water-laid sand and gravel. 4 miles distant, as shown on~the u. s. Geolo­ gical Survey topographic map, "Valdez and Water supply.--The city obtains its vicinity," edition of 1930. This area is an water from the Alaska Public Utilities Co., outwash plain, probably marine-laid in part, a private concern. Water is piped from a and is underlain by gravel, silt, and minor reservoir on the mountain east of town, about clay beds. The town site is subject to flood­ a mile distant. The supply is generally ample ing from meltwaters of the glacier, and a except in the winter, but on rare occasions dike has been built around the town to elimi­ there has been only enough water to supply nate this hazard. the consumers for about 2 hr each day. Water supply.--Priv~tely owned li-in. Although about 1,400 persons are served driven wells ranging from 20 to 30 ft in depth at present, it is planned that the two large supply the residents with water. The depth 16 KENAI PENINSULA to water is about 4 ft below the surface in bearing beda. In the ,western lowland the the center of town. In addition there are occurrence of well-sorted coarse sand is more nine 6-inch wells about 27 ft deep at various aporadic; outwash plains are not everywhere places in town that are used for fire pro­ present and must be sought in areaa between tection. The 6-inch wells are cased with low, hummocky till plains and morainal ridges. steel pipes, the ends of wnich were tapered In aome places. stratified beds within or be­ by cutting, bending, and welding. The casings low the till sheet must be sought by test were then perforated and finally were driven drilling, but such beds may be less prolific into the ground by a pile driver. Three than thick coarse gravelly outwash-plain de­ wells supply as much as 500 gpm to a centri­ poaita at the surface. fugal pump under continuous operating condi­ tions. The Tertiary ahale and sand beds beneath the glacial depoaits may yield water to wells The water obtained in the town is fairly but nothing is known of the hydrologic charac­ soft and free of iron. A well at an abandoned teristics of these deposits at present. Army installation across the creek just north Although sand and poorly cemented sandstone of town is reported to have furnished.dis­ are present, their permeability may be low or colored water high in iron or organic materia·l. water from them may not be of good quality. The temperature of the ground water at Valdez Here, too, test drilling would be desirable, is reported to be 37 F. considering the relative importance of the area as compared to many other areas .of .Alaska. It seems obvious that a municipal supply could be obtained easily and economically by Development.--Seward and Whittier, on utilizing one of the existing fire-protection the mountain side of the peninsula, are wells. In consideration of sanitary condi­ important communities as ports of entry and tions, however, it probably would be better probably will continue to be so. On the low­ to drill a well at the east (higher) end of land bordering Cook Inlet the economy of town. It might also be desirable to attempt several communities is based now on the fish­ to develop water from a somewhat greater ing industry. However, farming may become of depth than 27 ft, with the expectation of major importance on the Kenai lowland. Some obtaining purer, slightly warmer water. The land ia suitable for the raising of crops and static water level in such a well should be a great deal of land is.more or less suited slightly higher than that in a shallow well. to the grazing of cattle. Likewise, the low­ land is underlain by deposits of low-grade coal which eventually may be exploited. The Kenai Peninsula peninsula as a whole attracts some sportsmen and vacationers and effort is being made to The Kenai Peninsula lies between Prince increase the tourist business. Hence it William Sound and the Gulf of Alaska on the appears that the future of the Kenai Peninsula· east and Cook Inlet on the west, and extends is firmly founded. northward to a line drawn through Whittier on the east and Turnagain Arm on the west. Seward Topography.--The rugged Kenai Mountains, having a general altitude of 3,000 to 5,000 Seward lies on the east side of the Kenai ft in which are many existing glaciers, lie Peninsula, just off the Gulf of Alaaka and 80 along the eastern side of the peninsula and miles south of Anchorage. make up almost half the area. Gn the west is a broad lowland belt generally 50 to 200 ft Seward, having a population of about above sea level, although rising to as much 1,000, is a seaport having three docks. A as 2,000 ft in some places. large part of the goods for interior Alaaka is unloaded at Seward and carried northward Geology.--The mountains are made up of by rail. Fiahing is also a primary industry hi;Ylly folded schist, slate, and graywacke and a cannery and cold-storage plant are and lesser volcanic rocks of Paleozoic and situated in the town. The lumber mills also Mesozoic age, whereas the western lowland is add to the economy of the area, as· does the made up of gently folded slightly consolida­ Territorial Seward Sanitorium, which has a ted sand and clay and many lignite beds, total of 225 patients and personnel. apparently of Eocene age {Martin and others, 1915, pp. 33-36). In addition to .the facilities offered by the large ateamships an~ the Alaska Railroad, The lowland received glacial denosits the area haa daily a:i,r service offered by the from local Kenai Mountain glaciers and from a Christiansen Air Service, connecting Seward composite glacier originating in the upper and Anchorage. Cook Inlet-Susi tna basin, and to a larE:e' extent it is now underlain by a thick baaal Seward was visited briefly on February 17, sheet of till interstratified with local beds 1949. The facts presented here were obtained of water-laid sands and gravels upon wrich in large part from Mayor John Lanier and local moraines and s.mall outwaah plains are Hedley Davia, owner of the Seward water sys­ developed. tem. Ground water.--The glacial-outwash plains Topography and geology.--Seward lies on developed on the Kenai Peninaula should yield a small alluvial shelf projecting into the moderate to large quantities of water fro~ sea from the west wall. of a deep, wide can­ place to place. Within the mountainous area yon. The rock-walled bay is protected by the deeper and wider U-shaped valleys. and small steep-walled islands across the harbor canyons mouths. should contain prolific water- entrance. A short distance north of Seward 17 SUMMARY OF GROUND-WATER DEVELOPMENT IN ALASKA, 1950 the canyon mouth is completely rilled with in that order. One or these wells supplies stream-laid alluvium or glacial origin. a country school having an enrollment of 16 pupils. Water supply.--The city is supplied rrom springs that issue rrom "boulder rormations" Robert and Edward Estes have a 16-inch on the steep mountainside high above the pipeline leading up to a dam 175 ft above the alluvial floor. At the Mount Marathon spring village (a distance of 750ft). The pipe are three tanks having a total capacity of brings water to their store and to a small 25,000 gal, at Jap Creek are two tanks having hydroelectric plant. Water shortages occur a capacity of 1,000 gal, and between these is from time to time, and it is planned to in­ an unnamed spring and a tank having a storage crease the capacity of the reservoir to a capacity of 10,000 gal. maximum of 14 million gallons. Ground water is not developed within the Developing a municipal supply at Moose city limits of Seward. However, at the Seward Pass should present no difficulties. Arrange­ Sanitorium, where the alluvium is spread com­ ments might be made with the Messrs. Estes pletely across the canyon, are three 8-inch to provide water under pressure, or a ground­ wells that are used as a stand-by supply. water supply could be obtained economically There are two 25,000 gal storage tanks at the from shallow wells almost anywhere along the hospital also. The capacities of the wells road leading through the village. Proper are not known, but is reported by Mr. Davis protection of distribution lines against that one of them will furnish sufficient water freezing, by burial in the unconsolidated to supply the entire hospital (a minimum of alluvium, should not be difficult. 16 gpm). It is the writer's opinion that these wells probably have very high potential yields, as they are developed in material of Homer apparently high permeability similar to that at Valdez. Homer lies on the north shore of Kachemak Bay near the southwest end of the Kenai At the former Alaska Communication System Peninsula. Kachemak Bay leads out into Cook radio station nearby, on land now occupied by Inlet. The town is 125 miles south-southwest a Mr. Bland, a 2i-inch well was driven more of Anchorage. than 20 yr ago. This well flows about 20 gpm at a.height of 2i ft above the land surface. Homer has a population of 450, mostly If a large additional supply of water were white. Fishing is the major industry, and a needed in the Seward area, it would seem like­ cannery and cold-storage plant are located on ly that it might be available economically the spit below town. Several gardens produce from shallow wells drilled on the broad valley food for local consumption, and the area is floor ju'st northeast of town. being homesteaded with the expectation that the opening of the highway connecting Homer with Seward and Anchorage will provide a market Moose Pass for vegetables, beef, dairy, and chicken pro­ ducts. A dock, to be built so.on by the Alaska Moose Pass lies on the west bank of Road Commission, will make possible direct Moose Lake, which occupies one of a series of water-borne freight shipments from the States long, relatively narrow canyons extending and to and from Anchorage. Kachemak Bay is northward from Seward through the Kenai Moun­ ice-free all winter. tains. The village is 25 miles north of Seward on the Alaska Railroad and the new The area has air service three times a Seward-Kenai highway. Eventually the high­ week by the Pacific Northwest Airlines and way will be extended to Anchorage. service twice a week by the Alaska Airlines. Both lines originate at Anchorage. The villa6e has a population of about 90. The working of small individual gold mines in Homer was visited on February 15, 1949. the immediate area provides the local source Several individuals gave information on the of income. local water supplies, particularly Leroy Wythe. Topography and geology.--Moose Pass lies Topography and geology.--The town lies on a'narrow sloping shelf of glacial deposits, on sloping ground that rises from the sea to probably in part water-laid deposits formed the lowland plain, which is about 1,200 ft along the edge of an ice mass or at a higher above sea level, as shown on u. S. Geological stand of the lake in glacial times. The shelf Survey topographic Illllp "Seldovia (C-4}, is about 10 to 20 rt above the level of the Alaska," edition of 1949, and "Seldovia (C-5), lake and terminates against steep canyon Alaska," edition of 1951. The surficial walls. material is largely silty clay of Quaternary age; a short distance west of Homer, Tertiary Moose Pass was visited briefly on coal-bearing strata crop out. The coal beds February 17, 1949. Information presented were encountered a few feet above sea level here was given by a group of citizens at that in Leroy Wythe's well. Low-rank coal has been time. mined near Homer and, at present, much fuel for local consumption is obtained from the Water supply.--There are about 20 driven beach, where coal from submarine outcrops is wells in Moose Pass, li in. in diameter, thrown up with each tide. ranging in depth from 10 to 16 ft. The depth to water in these wells is 5 to 10 ft below Water supoly.--The town at present is the land surface, depending on the location. poorly supplied with water. Two individuals The ~ells penetrate clay, sand, and pea gravel, have recently completed deep wells success-

18 UPPE~ COOK INLET fully. Three establishments, the school, the operation. There are three small lumber station of the Civil Aeronautics Authority, mills in Kecnai. and the Heady Hotel, have small-diameter pipelines leading to springs on the hillside. Kenai was visited on February 15, 1949. At the time of the writer's visit these were H. Thornton and several other leading citi­ frozen up. Elsewhere the people obtain water zens were contacted and the local water-supply of very poor quality from small springs in problems were discl'ssed. the muskeg or from small brooks on the hill­ side. Topography.--Kenai lies on the edge of the broad lowland extending from the base of Leroy Wythe recently had drilled a 6-inch the Kenai Mountains westward to Cook Inlet. well 113 ft deep. "Blue clay" was penetrated The village itself is near the edge of the to a depth of 106 ft. A water-bearing sand 1 cliff overlooking Cook Inlet, at an altitude ft thick lay between this and the underlying of about 100 ft above sea level. coal beds. The depth to water in the well was 40 ft below the surface. The yield of Water supply.--Kenai is supplied by dug the well is not known. An analysis of this or driven wells, most of which range from 18 water (table 2) shows that it is a soft to 30 ft in depth. The water-bearing material sodium-bicarbonate water containing 114 ppm is a moderately fine-grained dark sand of a of chloride. local outwash plain (Karlstrom, 1950). The driven wells are 1! or ll in. in diameter and At the Chamberlain and Watson store on are equipped with drive-point strainers. One the slope below Wythe's well, another well dug well on higher ground is 60 ft deep, and was completed at 115 ft. The log and yield in a few places on low ground wells as shallow are not known. The depth to water is 35 ft. as 7 ft provide water for a household. The This well yields water with a much lower water obtained is soft or only moderately mineral content than Wythe's well. It is, hard and does not contain iron. Salt water however, a hard calcium-bicarbonate water in is reported in a few wells near the shore. which chloride is negligible (table 2). As the water levels in the wells are above sea level, the salt water probably has not Fluoride is present in small amount in encroached from the sea but is present in the the water from both wells, 0.4 ppm in Wythe's sediments near the shore under natural condi­ well and 0.2 ppm in the Chamberlain and Watson tions. well. Such small quantities of fluoride are considered harmless; larger quantities up to A cannery at Kenai obtains its entire 1.0 ppm are desirable in drinking water for supply from two dug wells 10 by 11 ft across children as an inhibitor of tooth decay. and 21 ft deep. At the Civil Aeronautics Authority station, a 4-inch well was drilled Undeveloped supolies.--Two springs high to a depth of 187 ft with no apparent change on the hillside are reported to have a flow in lithology; the water is said to have become sufficient to supply the present needs of the saltier with depth. The station is now sup­ town if moderate storage is provided. How­ plied with water from a dug well 23 ft deep, ever, the quality of the water is said to be which yields a maximum of 10 gpm. only fair, protection from contamination may be difficult, some trouble from freezing and The nearest surface-water supply is a silting may be expected, and a long pipeline muskeg lake 8 miles distant. It seems likely will be necessary. that ample water could be obtained for a town supply from a dug well located in some place It is possible that a supply sufficient protected from pollution. Whether a larger for the needs of the community can be develop­ supply of fresh water is available from some ed from drilled wells of moderate depth. It coarser stratum at de'pth can be determined seems unlikely that the yields of the present only by test drilling. wells are gr~at enough to meet more than minimum requirements. The water-bearing bed tapped by the present wells is a thin sand and Upper Cook Inlet may not be sufficiently extensive laterally to support a continued moderate demand. Upper Cook Inlet may be used to desig­ nate the basinal area at the head of Cook In­ let and drained in largest part by the Kenai Susitna River and the Matanuska River and their tributaries. It consis.ts essentially Kenai, overlooking Cook Inlet on the west of a broad, low area rimmed by the Chugach shore of the Kenai Peninsula, lies 64 miles and Talkeetna Mountains on the east and the southwest of Anchorage. The village is served Alaska Range on the north and west. bJ'- Alaska Airlines and Pacific Northern Air­ lines, which make three stops a week. Alaska The lofty mountain ranges are made up Airlines flights terminate at Anchorage and of a complex variety of older rocks, but no Bethel, and Pacific Northern flights terminate attempt will be made here to describe them. at Anchorage and Kodf-ak. The Alaska Road Commission completed a road in 1948 connect­ In the Pleistocene epoch the individual ing Kenai and Seward; a branch from that road glaciers of the mountain ranges coalesced as is to be constructed to connect with Anchorage. they moved outward and southward down Cook Inlet and deposited alluvial material in their Kenai has a population of 500 in summer advance. In its erratic retreat, and pa~ti­ and 250 in winter. · Fishing is the major in­ cularly as the composite glacier tended to dustry and, in the summer of 1948, two land separate into individual components, other canneries and one floating c~nery were in types of deposits were formed. The deposits 19 SUMMARY OF GROUND-WATER DEVELOPMENT IN ALASKA, 1950

directly or closely related to the movement nonscheduled flights are made from Anchorage and melting of ice were later modified in to the States. The Alaska Railroad passes many places by streams, which continue to through Anchorage en route from Seward to flow today (Capps, 1935, pp. 77-78). Fairbanks. The Glenn Highway connects with the Alaska Highway via the Tok Cutoff (now Tertiary sediments crop out in places part of the Glenn Highway) and with the port along the edges of the alluvial basin but in of Valdez and Fairbanks via the RiChardson the central part of the basin the sediments, Highway. if present, may have been greatly thinned by erosion or even removed entirely, and Pleisto­ Fort RiChardson and the Elmendorf Air cene and Recent sediments may lie directly Force Base are just northeast of Anchorage. on older hard rock. Large-scale construction at these bases under way at present and to be for several years is A recently completed map of the uncon­ extremely important to the economy of Anchorage. solidated sediments in the Anchorage and Knik

quadrangles (Dobrovolny, 1950 1 pl. 1) affords Anchorage is supplied at present by an excellent picture of the main geologic water pumped from Ship Creek, near the mouth elements pre.sent in the area· a:nd the problems of that stream within the city limits. This involved in their interpretation. supply is essentially small and inadequate, and consideration is now being given to a plan For a ground-water study, perhaps the to bring water in by pipeline from a reservoir most significant feature is the outwash plain on upper Ship Creek. Only parts of the great­ extending from the mouth of Eagle River canyon er Anchorage area are now served by city southwestward across the area in which Elmen­ water (and sewers), and considering the low dorf Field, Anchorage, and outlying communi­ density of population and distances· involved, ties are located. South of Anchorage the sand it may not be economically feasible to serve and gravel of this outwash plain grades into some outlying areas in the immediate future. (or abuts ?) finer sands forming muCh of the At present many rela. tively shallow dug or high ground. drilled wells serve a fairly large part of the homes in outlying districts. The low hills adjacent to the Chugach Mountains are shown to be largely impermeable Large water demands will be made by power glacial till, but west of these till hills plants which use water for cooling, if those lies a narrow belt of coarse sediments suc­ now planned are constructed. Many housing ceeded by a wider belt of finer sands. North projects are now in abeyance, pending acqui­ of the outwash plain lies a fairly narrow sition of approved water supplies of any kind. east-west belt of till forming the hills seen north of Elmendorf Field. Along the sea and The water-supply problems of the area in the estuaries of Chester Creek and Ship will be further increased by the building of Creek blue marine clay crops out. ,. This clay a 400-bed hospital by the Alaska Native is overlapped by or interfi~gers with the Service and construction of the International outwash-plain sand and gravel. Airport at Lake Spenard, just south of Anchorage, and by the opening.of the highway In the Eagle Bay area a fairly broad to the south establishing road connection pitted outwash plain is developed north of with the communities in the Kenai Peninsula. the east-west till belt. This may be contem­ Construction of the Eklutna dam and power poraneous in age with the Anchorage outwash plant between Anchorage and Palmer will pro­ plain, but certainly .the sediments here were mote the economic growth of the area to some derived from a glacier originating to the extent. north or northwest, whereas the Anchorage plain originated from a glacier in Eagle It would appear that ground-water supplies, Canyon. The east-west til.l belt may well rep­ if obtainable in quantity, might fit into the resent a lateral moraine developed along the over-all water-supply picture as follows: ice tongue extending from the north or north­ (1) serve areas outside the immediate network east and encroaching upon the Anchorage plain. of distribution lines, (2) be tied into present and future distribution lines now carrying surface water to alleviate condit:l.o::1s in low­ Anchorage and vicinity pressure spots (3) serve as emergency supplies everywhere. Anchorage lies on the south shore of Knik Arm, which e~pties southwestward into Data supplied by John McAnerney of the Cook Inlet. It is probably the fastest-grow­ Corps of Engineers office at Fort Richardson ing area in Alaska. The population of the are most helpful in obtaining a three-dimen­ greater Anchorage area was about 31,000 in sional picture of the geological formations 1949. It is a major air terminal. Northwest and in making generalizations regarding ground­ Airlines planes enter Alaska here.from St. water supplies. A summary of the more signi­ Paul and Seattle and from the Orient. Pacific ficant data in the immediate vicinity of Northern Airlines connects Anchorage and Juneau, Anchorage is as follows: . and other runs terminate at Kodiak and Naknek with intermediate stops at Homer; Alaska At Mountain View, 2i miles east-northeast Airlines flies to Fairbanks in the interior, of Anchorage, a well drilled in 1943 to a to Nome via McGrath and Unalakleet, and.to depth of 154 ·ft in the outwash plain is re­ Bethel via Kenai, Homer,·andN~knek; Northern ported to have had a flow of 104 gpm. Another Consolidated .1\.irlines has a weekly flight from well, 51 ft deep, yields 35 gpm to a pump. Anchorage to McGrath, villages along the. lower In ·this well '1gravel, with some dirt" was Kuskokwim, and Be.thel. Chirstiansen Air penetrated between 28 and 39 ft and "gravel Service has flights~.to Seward. In addition,· and water" between 39 and 54 ft. A third 20 UPPER COOK INLET

well here~ 44 ft deep, yields 30 gpm. "Sand penetrated fine sandy material almost all the and water were penetrated between 33 and 44 way down, described as quicksand and glacial ft. silt. The well obtains 25 gpm from a bed of coarse sand and gravel between 151 and 162 "Test well 1, Air Depot," which is about ft. However, a well at the Campbell Point ll miles northwest of Mountain View at an Civil Aeronautfcs Author! ty sta'tion, 2 miles altitude of about 200 ft, penetrated "mud" west of Lake Spenar~, penetrated mostly sandy between 30 and 130 ft, gravel between 130 and material down to 200 ft. "Sand with seams of 185ft, sand between 185.and 190ft, "mud" coal11 was penetrated between 67 and 99 ft, between 190 and 203 ft, and gravel from 203 silty material from 99 to 146 ft, gravel from to 228 ft. The water level is given as 154 146 to 150 ft, "gravel and mud" from 150 to ft and yield as 85 gpm. 190 ft, and water-bearing gravel from 190 to 200 ft. The water level there is 117 ft In a 314-foot well 2l miles north-north­ below the surface, or near sea level. The west of Mountain View and immediately adjacent well yields 29 gpm. to the east-west till belt, altitude about 200 ft above sea level, 11 mud 11 or 11 blue shale" The deeper material in the Civil Aero­ was encountered between 10 and 19 ft, ?0 and nautics Authority well is certainly similar to 85 ft, and 127 and 191 ft. Sand was penetra­ the coarse elements present in wells in the ted between 85 and 127 ft and 200 and 218 ft, outwash plain at Elmendorf Field. and fine sand between 225 and 300 ft. Gravel was present between 19 and 70 ft, 191 and 200 Very little information is on hartd re­ ft, 218 and 225 ft, and 300 and 314 ft. The garding the character at depth and the yield is given as 80 gpm. hydrologic characteristics of the gravel belt marked by the gravel quarries south of Presumably these wells are cased to the Merrill Field and south of the International bottom of the hole and water enters the well Airport, although it is believed that the through large slots or holes in the lower few beds there w.tll yield prolific water supplies. feet of casing. {Installation of sand screens and subsequent development of wells to maxi­ The gravelly alluvial fan that has formed mum yield is not yet practiced in Alaska.) at the point where the south fork of Campbell If this is true, then much more water should Creek leaves its narrow mountain gorge and be available from wells in such sediments if extends out upon the glacial gravel zone, constructed with sand screens opposite all attaining a maximum width of 1 3/4 miles, may water-bearing formation. In the 314-foot well be too thin to yield large quantities of described above, 80 gpm was obtained from the water. gravel between 300 and 314ft. Between depths of 191 and 300 ft is 16 ft more of gravel and The quality of the better ground water 18 ft of sand which might have been developed. in the Anchorage area shown by the analysis Some shallower beds in this hole might also for one well 126 ft deep in the Martin have been developed, if the static water level subdivision {table 2). The water is moderate­ was relatively high. ly hard but low in iron. The Atwood well, 150 ft deep, yields brackish water. The most interesting fact to be gained here is that outwash-plain deposits are more than 300 ft thick and extend more than 100 The Matanuska Valley Agricultural Area ft below sea level in the vicinity of Anchorage. The Matanuska Valley agricultural area Available data show that the water level is a lowland lying along the north shore of ranged considerably in wells in the Fort Knik Arm off Cook Inlet. Richardson area. The water level in one well near the west end of the airfield runway is Palmer, having a population of 576, only 46 {?) ft above sea level, whereas the lies on the north side of the Matanuska River deep well at Mountain View has a strong and 50 miles northeast of Anchorage. Wasilla, flow at 200 {?) ft above sea level. A 261- having a population of about 100, is 10 miles foot well at Fish Camp on the cliff above west of Palmer. Knik Arm in the outwash plain north of the till belt, 3 miles north of the field, flows In 1948 there was 8,500 acres of cleared at an elevation of about 60 ft above sea level. land in the Valley as a whole. Farm income is generally supplemented by work in other A 333-foot well, in the till belt just occupations. Three or four sawmills and one northwest of Elmendorf Field, penetrated very cement-block plant are situated near Palmer. little permeable material. Water-bearing sand and gravel was found between 105 and 110 Palmer is on the Alaska Railroad and has ft and sand and pea gravel between 330 and daily bus service to Anchorage and less fre­ 333 ft. '!'he only other material worthy of quent connections with other points on the note is 107 ft of sand and silt between 110 Glenn Highway. and 217ft, which may (or may not) have been too fine to screen. More gravel was penetra­ Topography.--The valley area consists in ted in the upper zone in a nearby well drill­ large part of a broad terrace and rolling ed to a depth of 116 ft; "gravel and sand11 upland adjacent to Knik Arm. The flat terrace and ·•gravel and silt" are reported between surface is perhaps 100 ft higher than the 80 and 116 ft. Matanuska River and the upland somewhat high­ er still. The valley area is overlooked by In the vicinity of the Lake Spenard the towering Chugach Mountains, 8 miles to the International Airport the sediments are finer­ south, and by the Talkeetna Mountains, 9 miles grained. A well at Hood Lake, 162 ft deep, to the north. These ranges converge a few 21 SUMMARY OF GROUND-WATER DEVELOPMENT IN ALASKA, 1950 miles northeast of Palmer. To the west the Small flat terraces underlain by gravel, valley floor merges with the vast terrace which lie higher than the broad river terraces, bordering Knik Arm and Cook Inlet upon which should be explored close to the uphill slope are Anchorage, Kenai, and Homer. against which they rest in order to achieve minimum depth and highest water level. Geology.--According to a report on the area being prepared by Frank w. Traine~, the area is underlain by three dominant forma­ Palmer tions; the gravelly beds underlying the broad, relatively low river terraces; glacial-out­ Palmer is supplied at present with water wash stream-bed deposits, forming longitudinal from Brazil Spring, 3! miles northwest of valleys and higher narrow terraces of small town, through an 8-inch pipeline. Water extent, and as a thin cover on areas under­ flows from the source by gravity. This supply lain by till; and till, commonly formin~ was recently increased by developing addition­ ridges and hills ht't underlying some lower al springs in the same area. rolling ground and present at an unknown depth beneath much of, if not all, the glacial sandy In November 1950, after an abnormally deposits. In much of the area the surface dry summer, the flow of the main springs de­ is underlain by a few feet of Recent wind­ creased to about 150 gpm from a normal yield blown silt. Bedrock crops out in the vicini­ of about 225 gpm. It is the feeling now of ty of Palmer and may be close to the surface Palmer residents that a supply of as much as in some other places. 500 gpm is desirable, if not absolutely necessary. Further, the spring supply was Ground-water supply.--Considering the recently declared unsafe by the Alaska Depart­ agricultural area as a whole, studies to date ment of Health. show that water is generally available from the gravelly sand forming the low, broad It seems likely that a safe municipal terraces flanking the major streams. The supply can be obtained from wells in several depth to water is greatest close to the high places, but the most desirable place from the river banks. Wells should be located on low point of view of amount of water available; ground and back from the river for least depth cost of lift to surface, and pipeline, can­ and shallowest water level. The depths of not be determined until test drilling has wells are as much as 150 ft. It seems likely been done and the results interpreted. that several hundred gallons a minute may be available from properly located screened wells Analyses of water from three wells are on the river terraces. In a few places, given in table 2. The water is moderately notably in and around the town of Palmer, bed­ to very hard but is otherwise of good chemi­ rock or till lies at no great distance below cal quality. the surface, and in such areas the terrace deposits are not productive. Wasilla Elsewhere the area is underlain by various combinations of iwpermeable till and Wasilla, having a population of about restricted stream-laid deposits. Speaking 100, lies 10 miles west of Palmer. The town generally, till forms ridge~ or underlies is a farming community but no real production gravel-capped ridges and some of the higher has been attained yet, although much of the gravel terraces, although in the Pittman-Little area is actively homesteaded. The town is Susitna area it forms low rolling ground. on the Alaska Railroad and is connected by Between the till ridges, narrow, long valleys highway with Palmer. The bus ser\Ting Palmer filled with glacial outwash to varying thick­ and Anchorage also serves Wasilla. nesses offer many opportunities for the development of small to moderately large Wasilla lies on an area of rolling ground, supplies of ground water from the shallow consisting of till ridges and intervening wells in whleh the water level is within valleys filled with glacial outwash. suction lift. In some longitudinal valleys it may be possible to develop, for a time, In the village, water for home consump- · greater volumes of water than can be sustained tion is obtained from dug wells, 25 ft or for a long time because the gravelly storage less in depth. A school which has an enroll­ area is essentially small and the underground ment of about 100 pupils and is equipped with percolation from adjacent areas is inhibited mode.rn sanitary facilities, including showers, or entirely shut off by the parallel ridges obtains its water from one such well. The of till. shallow wells obtain water from outwash sand Where till occurs beneath the gravel, and gravel overlying glacial till of low small water supplies are easily available permeability. where the water table is above the till. Where till lies near the surface and the water A safer and larger water supply for the table is below the top of the till, it would village might be obtained from drilled wells be desirable to seek other nearby sites, if of moderate depth if gravel beds underlie the at all possible, where the till lies deeper till sheet as in the Knik area, but there is and water can be developed from the overlying no evidence at hand yet to show whether such gravel. conditions exist. In consideration of the low water temperature and attendant freezing and Where a well must be constructed in the cost of pipeline, it may be more practi­ till, it may be necessary to drill deeply for cal to attempt to develop a municipal supply only meager supplies of water. here from wells, even from SP~llow wells if

22 COPPER RIVER BASIN

the area around them is protected ~rom According to John E. Kerr, o~ the Geolo­ pollution, rather than to consider utiliza­ gical Survey, who visited Curry August 9-10, tion o~ water ~rom Wasilla Lake, less than a 1950, the alluvial apron upon which the mile ~rom the village. settlement is located is composed largely o~ poorly sorted ~luviatile gravel. A thin layer of "hardpan" (limonite-cemented sand or Talkeetna gravel ~) is present at 18 ~t and a "clay" stratum at 25 ~t. Whether impermeable till Talkeetna lies on the east bank o~ the or sorted permeable material is present at Susitna River, 76 miles north and slightly greater depth is not known. west o~ Anchorage. The village has a popula­ tion o~ 90 1 o~ which only a ~ew are natives. A dug well 28 ~t deep, south o~ the ho­ The community is supported by gold mining in tel, has been in use for some years but became the surrounding area. contaminated with oil in 1948.

Talkeetna is on the Alaska Railroad and A new well was dug to a depth o~ 25 ~t has river-boat service in the summer months. in 1949. This well is north o~ the hotel. Alaska Airlines planes stop at Talkeetna on It produced 200 to 300 gpm until the winter the Anchorage-Fairbanks run when service is freeze-up, a~ter which a supplemental supply requested. was taken from the Susitna River. Water ~rom Dead Horse Creek also has been used, and im­ The village was brie~ly visited on provements in the supply line ~rom this source February 18 and 19 and about six o~ the were made in 1950. local citizens were contacted. It would appear that muCh might be gained Topography and geology.--Talkeetna lies here by drilling exploratory holes in the on the low, level flood plain of the Susitna vicinity o~ the hotel to determine whether River. The base o~ the Talkeetna Mountains permeable beds exist at a depth somewhat lies about 5 miles to the east and the base greater than 30 ~t. Water may be present in o~ the Alaska Range lies more than 20 miles quantity and under artesian head, either from to the west-northwest. The village is under­ sandy beds beneath the clay or ~rom ~ractures lain by silt, sand, and gravel beds to an slaty bedrock. unknown depth. Water supply.--There are about 35 wells Copper River basin in Talkeetna, nearly all.o~ them driven, 1\ or li in. in diameter, ranging in depth ~rom Topography.--The Copper River basin lies 12 to 22 ft. These obtain water ~rom gravel just north of the coastal mountains overlook­ beds. The depth to water below the surface ing Prince William Sound and the Gulf o~ is about 5 ~t in the summer and a maximum o~ Alaska. It is completely enclosed by high 12 ~t in the winter. mountains; the Chugach Mountains and Waxell Ridge on the south, the Talkeetnas on the G. Weat.herell has a well which was sunk west, outliers of the Alaska Range on the 4 ~t below the water level and ~rom which 40 north, and the Wrangells on the east. The gprn was pumped by suction for a period o~ 6 basin itself consists of a broad intermontane hr. valley deeply dissected by the Copper River and its tributaries. The outlet o~ the basin At the Civil Aeronautics Authority station to the Gul~ o~ Alaska is through a steep-sided a 4-inch drilled well, 35 ~t deep, supplies rock gorge cut through the coastal mountains. 20 persons. Development.--There is at present very The water obtained ~rom the wells is said little economic development o~ the Copper to be so~t and very slightly corrosive. The River basin, although when the Kennecott nearest good source of surface water is a copper mines were in operation it was the one lake 3 miles away. most important mineral-producing areas in Alaska. The mines are on the south flank o~ It would appear that a municipal supply the Wrangell Mountains and were connected by o~ water o~ good quality might be obtained a railroad with Cordova. At present a few economically from shallow drilled wells. individuals mine a little gold in the area. However, with regard to possible contamination, The basin is potentially important in that .shallow wells should be located outside the several highways traverse the area; the Glenn village, or a deeper, properly constructed Highway enters ~rom Anchorage and joins the well might be located inside the village. Fairbanks-to-Valdez Richardson Highway. Another through highway branches o~f the Richardson to join the Alaska Highway at Tok. Curry Spur highways reach Chitina on the abandoned Copper River Railroad and Nabesna on the north Curry is on the Alaska Railroad on the ~lank of the Wrangells. south ~lank of the Alaska Range. It lies upon a narrow alluvial plain along the Susit­ Geology.--The high mountain ranges, na River which ~or.ms an apron extending out bearing many large glaciers, are made up o~ ~rom hard-rock hills to the east. a great variety o~ older rocks; these include (in the Wrangells) Recent volcanics. Mount The village consists almost entirely o~ Wrangell continues to emit a oiume o~ vapor. Alaska Railroad ~acilities--namely, a hotel, Tertiary (Eocene~) conglomerate, clay, thin small shops, and water tank. coal seams, sand and gravel, in places strong-

23 SUMMARY OF GROUND-WATER DEVELOPMENT IN ALASKA, 1950

ly tilted, are exposed in a few places (Moffit, should contain fresh water by reason of great­ 1912, p. 35). er circulation through them. The most obviously important beds for a water supply are the alluvial deposits filling Glenn Allen the basin proper. Presumably the area was at first covered by a till sheet during the At the Alaska Road Commission camp at period of maximum Quaternary glaciation. Glenn Allen, 15 miles south-southwest of With the retreat of the ice this till sheet Gulkana, two wells, respectively 180 and 203 was eroded and reworked in places and covered ft deep, yield a hard calcium bicarbonate by vast outwash-plain deposits, in which water containing, respectively, 32 and 63 ppm local till sheets are interstratified. The chloride. A 321-foot well at Gatewood Lodge, outwash-plain sands and gravels ·occur as Glenn Allen (drilled in 1951), yielded water stream and lake-bed deposits (Moffit, 1912, containing 2 400 ppm Chloride. PP• 39-45). 1

Tanana Valley Gulkana The Tanana River, a tributary to the At the Civil Aeronautics Authority Yukon, flows northwestward from the inter­ · station at Gulkana, which is on high, level national boundary along or near the route of ground about· 400 ft above the canyon of the the Alaska Highway through Big Delta to Fair­ Copper River, a well was sunk to a depth of banks and beyond through Nenana to Tanana. 443 ft in 1945. In its upper portion it occupies a valley that is alternately broad and narrow, but Blue clay was· penetrated from the sur­ beyond Big Delta the valley widens greatly face to a depth of 280 ft, interrupted only and at Fairbanks the silt-laden river flows by a 6-foot gravel stratum at 99 to 105 ft. across a muskeg flat about 75 miles wide. From 280 to 328 ft sand and some gravel was penetrated, below which clay continued to 416 Development.--Fairbanks, the northern ft. The 27 ft of sediment from 416 to 443 ft terminus of the Alaska Railroad, is the cen­ was sand and gravel. Permanently frozen ground ter of activity of interior Alaska. The was penetrated between 24 and 32 ft below the Richardson Highway to Valdez joins the Alaska surface. Highway at Big Delta. The Richardson also joins the Glenn Highway leading to Anchorage. It is difficult to interpret this log, The Steese Highway joins Circle, on the Yukon, but it seems likely that the considerable and Fairbanks. Scheduled airlines connect thicknesses of blue clay represents clayey to Fairbanks with Nome, Bethel, Anchorage, and silty lake beds and that the intervening Juneau and points in the States; and bush sandy and gravelly beds are stream-laid de­ pilots fly to intermediate Alaskan communities. posits for.med when the lake filled and its floor approached the local base level, or Industrial development is based largely when a temporary lake dam broke and allowed on large-scale gold dredging near Fairbanks, heavily laden glacial streams to wash o~er the at Manley Hot Springs, and at Livengood. old lake floor. Several small mines are operated by indivi­ duals in many widely scattered localities. Water obtained from a depth of 443 ft Coal is mined at Healy in the Alaska Range stood about 220 ft below the surface and is just south of the Tanana Valley proper. described as "salty." The well was later plugged below 292 ft and water obtained from The more recent development of military sand and gravel from 280 to 287 ft. This bases at Ladd Air Force Base and Eielson Air water also was rather highly mineralized Force Base near Fairbanks and the field at (table 2), having 200 ppm of chloride and a Big Delta have had a very great effect on the total hardness of 420 ppm, of which 76 ppm economy of the area. Some farming is carried is noncarbonate hardness. on and some large crops have been grown profitably in the Fairbanks area in past The chemical character of this water is years •. The University of Alaska is situated unexpected and may reflect any one of several at College, 6 miles west of Fairbanks. things; the lake waters in which the sediments were formed were slightly saline owing to high Topography.--The floor of the Tanana evaporation at the time; the area was inun­ Valley is a broad, level flood plain across dated by marine waters, the residuum of which which the braided stream has migrated back has not been flushed out; or, as a consequence and forth. Slight relief is provided by the of poor seaward drainage of deeper sediments old meander-scar patterns and, more rarely, in the basin as a whole, ground water has by low rounded hard-rock hills that rise tended to become more concentrated in mineral above the sodden flats. In the upper por­ content as transpiration and evaporation re­ tion the valley is more diverse, ranging move ground water from the basin, muCh as from narrow rock-cut channels to broader low­ si~ilar water originates in desert regions. land areas flanked by mountains a few miles distant. Several major stream valleys enter Although it appears that ground water of the Tanana Valley at grade and their relative­ good quality may not be available from deep ly wide, level valley floors may be considered sediments in this area, it is likely that extensions of the Tanana Valley into the ad­ along the fringes of the basin the prospects jacent mountainous areas. Alluvial terraces will be better. Where water-laid sediments several hundred feet higher than the present are present they will tend to be coarser, Tanana Valley floor are well developed in being closer to the mountains, and they places, particularly adjacent to the north

24 TANANA VALLEY

slope of the Alaska Range. A feature of the Speaking of the Tanana Valley in the Tanana River is that, throughout its course, larger sense--that is, including the tribu­ it tends to impinge upon its right bank. As tary stream valleys and adjacent mountain a result steep hard-rock cliffs are developed slopes, ground water occurs in the following in places along that bank, whereas the moun­ ways: (1) in sand and gravel beneath the tain slopes of the south bank, except where flat valley floors of the main stream and its the river flows through rock-cut channels, major tributaries, (2) in sand and gravel approach and merge with the valley floor much lying beneath the silt cover on the mountain­ more gradually. sides, and (3) in the weathered upper part and in deeper fissures within the bedrock. Geology.--The Pleistocene and Recent history of the Tanana Valley (and the Yukon Data on several hundred wells on the as well) differs significantly from that of flats in and adjacent to Fairbanks are at areas thus far discussed, in that this area hand as a result of Geological Survey studies was not glaciated in Quaternary time, except in the area, and enough data are available to for insignificant local Alpine glaciation. characterize the occurrence of ground water On the other hand, the Alaska Range to the on the mountain slopes, largely as a result south was heavily glaciated and glacial sedi­ of test drilling by the Survey. ments were carried northward by streams into the Tanana Valley. Speaking generally_, a million gallons per day per well should be available from 6- Mertle (1937, pp. 186-189) gives the se­ to 8-inch wells 50 to 150 ft deep on the quence of events much as follows: During the Tanana River flats downstream from Big Delta. glacial epoch the Tanana handled and sorted a Yields of this magnitude have been obtained tremendous volume of debris. The volume of from several wells in the Fairbanks area. material dumped into the Tanana Valley by the The existing wells penetrate highly permeable streams issuing from the Alaska Range is gravel, which yield copious supplies of water thought to have caused the Tanana to move with little or no development. A trans­ northward to essentially its present position. missibility of about 600,000 gpd per ft, In its northward movement the river built a high value, has been comouted_from up the vast alluvial plains that now lie south pumping tests in the area. It is the writer's of the river. Tributary streams from the opinion that, in addition to the clean gravels, north began to deposit their sedi~ent on their less-well-sorted coarse materials might be own valleys as the Tanana floor was built up. made to produce significant amounts of water Coarse material was deposited upstream and by utilization of strainers and proper methods silt in their lower courses. Many of the of development, and that the total amount of richest gold placers of the region are found water available per large-diameter well might in the earliest Pleistocene deposits. be considerably higher than that now obtained. However, in consideration of the high yield After the deposition of the older Quater­ of more easily constructed wells, in many nary gravel, black silt having a high ve~etal places less than 100 ft deep, and of the rapid content, generally referred to as "muck, recharge of the strata from nearby streams, began to accumulate. The muck ranges in it may be that the cost of several wells lo­ thickness from a few feet to more than 100 ft cated 100 ft or more apart, tapping the same and is widely distributed upon the mountain clean gravel bed, would be less than that of slopes, in places up to an elevation of at one large well. least 1,200 ft. The origin of these deposits is not understood at present. Part of these Drilling wells by the cable-tool method sediments may have been wind deposited, but generally presents no difficulties; in fact, the presence of fresh-water mollusks and frozen sand and silt stand well during diatoms suggests a lacustrine origin for an­ drilling, making progress easier than in un­ other part. frozen ground. When wells are discharged regularly no difficulty with freezing is Much of the ground in the Tanana Valley experienced. is permanently frozen. The frozen areas generally have the form of wedges that thin Several hundred small-diameter domestic toward the major streams and thicken away wells ranging in depth from 15 to 200 ft, are from them. Narrow areas of thawed ground in use in the Fairbanks area. These obtain are common beneath recently abandoned stream water from thawed ground either in areas free channels. New ground on the slip-off side of from permafrost or, in permafrost areas, from stream meanders is not frozen whereas on the above or below the permafrost zone. cut-bank side of a meander permafrost is present close to the bank. Nearly all the These wells are constructed by driving a flat valley floor and north-facing mountain 2-inch pipe with a drive point, and with slopes are underlain by permafrost, but the perforations above the drive point, through frozen ground thins upward on low mountain which a l-inch thaw line projects. Initial slopes that fact south or southeast. Frozen progress is made by washing with the thaw ground may continue to the mountain top on line 2 or 3 ft in advance of the drive point, the north-facing slopes. after Which the 2-inch pipe is driven down. In many places wells up to 60 ft deep have Ground water.--Considerable quantities been driven in a day or two, but elsewhere of ground water are available in the Tanana progress may be slow. Deeper wells may pro­ Valley but in many places the water is high gress much more slowly and at times only a in iron or organic matter or both. The common few feet may be gained in a day. presence of permafrost presents unusual pro.blems in the development of ground water, The small-diameter wells passing through but these problems are disposed of readily. permafrost will freeze solid if not used 25 SUDARY OF GROUND-WATER DEVELOPMENT IN ALASKA, 1950

regularly, and even then some wells tend to local topography and may be more than 60 ~t ~reeze. Freezing appears to occur as commonly in places, but lower down on the same slopes in July as any other month. Frozen wells may the depth to water may be only a ~ew ~eet. be thawed with salt or they may be steamed Where ~rozen silt acts as a capping, artesian out. The latter process thaws the walls conditions may exist and wells may ~low at appreciably and the well stays thawed longer. the sur~ace. Many householders have a device so constru~ ted that excess hot water ~rom hot-water tanks can be run into the well as available. This Manley Hot Springs action is- su~~1c1ent to ~orestall ~reezing. According to C. H. Turnbull (1949) of The quality o.:i.' ground water available in the Alaska Department o~ Health, there are the Tanana ~lata is generally not o~ the best two drilled wells in this community, respec­ (table 2). Commonly well water has a high tively 75 and 40 ft deep, sunk in gravel, content o~ iron or organic matter and tastes both o~ which yield hard water. Permafrost strongly, stains badly, and is undesirable ~or is present at 3 to 12 ~t and 42 to 54 ~t, some uses such as laundering. Many house­ respectively, below the surface. holders have small water-treatment devices, which generally operate success~ully. Most o~ ~he inhabitants carry water in buck.ets from he "Cold Spring," a small stream Very shallow wells generally obtain water ~ed by numero s small springs, a few of which o~ good quality, but some deeper wells like­ are hot. Con !deration is being given to wise yield excellent water. However, some piping water rom the Hot Springs to town. deep wells apparently tap clean sandy lenses which, when depleted o~ clear good water, Accordin8 to G. A. Waring (1917, pp. allow water ~rom surrounding material to ~low 60-62), the Hdt Springs were developed in 1906. into the well, and the quality o~ water dis­ and a hotel, qairy, poultry and vegetable charged becomes poorer. Likewise, some wells farm were con~tructed nearby. The Hot Spri. ngs, initially yielding very poor water have im­ water ~rom wh ch is still used for a commer­ proved in quality with time. cial bath res rt, have temperatures o~ 125 F and 136 F and ~lows of 110 and 35 gpm, respec-

It appears that, where large quantities tively. 1 o~ water are needed, it is fruitless to search ~or £Ood water in a limited area on the flats. Analysis~shows the soft sadie water to The quality o~ water obtained in any one have a total ineralization o~ 417 ppm. place will tend gradually to change to an Chloride and ul~ate are relatively high as average quality characteristic o~ that locali­ compared with calcium and magnesium. ty as a whole.

The ~oregoing remarks apply to the down­ Minto stream, broad portion o~ the Tanana Valley. The upstream portions o~ the valley undoubted­ According to Mr. Turnbull, the onl.y well ly dif~er in several important respects: the in this tiny community is a dug well near sandy sediments may be expected to be coarser the river. In an attempt to obtain water and less well sorted, owing to the proximity ~or the school, a well was driven to a depth o~ the mountain masses; glacial till yielding o~ 60 ft in perma~rost but did not reach very little water might be encountered at thawed ground. River water and melted ice depth in some places along the south side o~ and snow are used ~or water supply. the narrow valley; and bedrock may be near the sur~ace in many places. However, the quality o~ the water may be appreciably better Nenana throughout. Conditions are probably ~avorable ~or moder~te water supplies, but not as ~aver­ Nenana lies on the south bank o~ the able as on the broad valley ~loor downstream. Tanana River just east of its junction with the Nenana River, whic,h flows northward out Water is available ~rom high terrace of the Alaska Range. Nenana is 47 miles deposits adjacent to the low valley ~lata southwest of Fairbanks. along the north slope o~ the Alaska Range but, owing to the proximity o~ the mountains, Nenana has a population of 350 to 500. large boulders are commonly encountered and As it is an important transshipment point, the depth to water ~rom the sur~ace is great. the railroad and river boats ~ur.nish employ­ Apparently several hundred gallons a minute, ment for most o~ the inhabitants, other than 1~ not more, may be obtained per w~ll. those engaged in trade or miscellaneous services. The rocks ~orming the mountain slopes on the north side of the Tanana Valley will The town has no highway connection with yield some water to wells in most places. other Alaska towns but is on the Alaska Rail­ Per.mairost is thin or absent on the higher road and has river connection with the south-~acing slopes. The low mountains are Yukon, an arterial path o~ travel in Alaska. covered largely with brown silt or, in minor valleys, with black mucky silt. In places Nenana was visited on February 18, 1949. coarse sandy beds are present beneath the During that evening a meeting was held with silty cover and will yield supplies ranging members of the town council and local problems ~rom a ~ew to perhaps more than 100 gpm. were discussed. Elsewhere the upper decayed part o~ the bed­ rock will yield at least a ~ew gallons a Topography and geology.--Nenana lies on minute. The depth to water depends on the the level ~lood plain o~ the Tanana River and 26 TANANA. VALLEY is underlain by silt, sand, and gravel to an other than a cistern, but it should be possi­ unknown depth. The town lies within the in­ ble to obtain at least minimum amounts of fluence of an active meander in the river and ground water without great difficulty. The even now the ground is being slowly eroded possibility of developing enough water for away. More important, the meanders tend to irrigation is poor in most places, but in a cause the pile-up of ice with the spring few places it should be possible to develop' break-up, and thus contribute to flooding of sufficient water for limited irrigation. the town. The Fairbanks Explo~ation Co., on Garden North of Nenana the Tanana River is cut­ Island immediately north of Fairbanks, has ting against the hills that e~tend from made many efforts to develop clear water in Ne~na eastward toward Fairbanks. 'large quantities for cooling generators. A well 136 ft deep i~ reported to have yielded Water supply.--Two wells at the railroad 3,400 gpm with 6 tt of drawdown. Another yards, about 6 ft square and 35 ft deep, 106 ft deep yielded 2,900 gpm with 9.8 ft of fUrnish water for locomotives and for a few drawdqwn. At present water is obtained from business establishments. The water level in three wells about 90 ft deep each, yielding these wells is a m1ni~um of 7 ft below the 2,400 to 2,800 gpm with 8 to 14 ft of draw­ surface in the summer and 12 ft in the winter. down. A dug well 40 ft deep, 75 ft long, and Together they yield about 600 gpm by auction 60 ft wide produced about 1,800 gpm when 11ft. first completed but now yields about 800 gpm with 11 ft of drawdown. A total of about Several homes have small-diameter driven 6,000 gpm is pumped more·or less continuously wells. The water obtained from wells is said in the warmer months. to be hard and to contain some iron. Copper heating coila may plug up with lime in 3 to 5 At Ladd Field, near Fairbanks, several weeks. On the other hand, reasonably soft, wells 6 to 8 in. in diameter yield more than iron-free water is available in some places. 500 gpm; these and a few wells of smaller yield furnish the base with water. At Eielson Apparently, a municipal supply adequate Air Force Base a few wells of larger yield in quantity may be obtained from wells any­ have been constructed. where but, as in Fairbanks, water of good quality may be difficult to obtain. Whether a soft, iron-free supply can be obtained Big Delta which will remain iron-free with continued pumping is yet to be established. Each well A well drilled along the oil pipeline 1 ends in a sand or gravel lens of limited ex• at mile 1,449.8 penetrated frozen material tent; as the water in the lens is depleted, from the surface to a depth of 44 ft and water from adjacent lenses moves in and thawed ground to 75 ft. The material pene­ eventually a water of average (poor) quality trated was sand and gravel. The hole was is obtained. Thus, as in Fairbanks, ground abandoned in a clayey stratum at 75 ft. A water of poor quality tends to improve some­ second hole was drilled through frozen material, what in quality with continued pumping, where­ largely gravel, and into what was said to be as water of good quality tends to become frozen schist at 42 ft. This hole was aban­ inferior. doned at 68 ft. Permafrost is present in the area, but At Triangle Inn, a 4-inch well 118 ft not immediately adjacent to the river at the deep obtains a few gallons of water a minute. town of Nenana. The depth to water is 90 ft. At the Air Force Base on a higher terrace Fairbanks area south of the river, several wells 190 to 240 feet obtain 25 to 40 gpm with 3 or 4 ft of Generalizations regarding the Tanana drawdown from gravelly sands. The depth to Valley, based upon data acquired in the Fair­ water is about 180 ft below the surface. In banks area, have been given previously, and one well, the driller's log reports "big rocks" hence only a little more need be said at this from 40 to 70 ft and from 120 to 148 ft below point. It is apparent that, so far as the the surface. city is concerned, the inherent difficulties lie in the treatment of the water obtained The temperature of the water is reported and its subsequent distribution, rather than to be 40 F. in the quantities available. Fairbanks is supplied at present largely Johnson River by several hundred small-diameter individually owned driven wells. The Northern Commercial At the camp on the flat bench above the Co. furnishes a part of the city with water river along the Alaska Highway the Alaska from a large-diameter dug well 90 ft deep and Road Commission has a well 96 ft deep in from a gallery driven out under the Chana which the depth t.o water is 75 ft. It is said ~ver. Steam heat is also delivered during to penetrate all gravel. the winter, thus preventing freezing of the line; during the warmer months the water At mile 1,409.5, whiah is in the immediate service is extended via small-diameter lines vicinity of Johnson River, the Corps of laid on the surface. Engineers drilled a well at the oil pipeline Most farms on the low mountain slopes ~. s. Army, Corps of Engineers, Whitehorse, north of Fairbanks do not have a water supply Yukon Territory, Canada, personal communication, August 5, 1948~ 27 SUMMARY OF GROUND-WATER DEVELOPMENT IN ALASKA, 1950

station. It penetrated coarse gravelly sediments were coarser and gravel appeared at material to a depth of 94 ft, a layer of clay 111 ft, but apparently it was necessary to go and boulders (till ?) from 94 to 104 ft, to 237 ft to obtain a sand-free gravel for "clean washed gravel" from 104 to 130 ft, open-hole development. Gravel and coarse "clean washed flat rocks with an abundance of sand is reported between 210 and 237 ft. The water" from 130 to 135 ft, and clay from 135 well was pumped for 8! hr at 30 gpm. The to 137 ft. All the material penetrated was water level is about 16 ft below the surface. thawed. The depth to water was 104 ft below the surface. Interns tional bo nndary Dot Lake At mile 1,249.7 on the Alaska Highway, which is near the international boundary, a At mile 1,370.5 on the highway, which is well 203 ft deep penetrated only thawed ground. 3 miles west of Dot Lake, the Corps of The material encountered was described as Engineers drilled a well at the petroleum sand. and "fine rocks"; the well was pumped at pipeline station. The well encountered 20 ft a depth·of 135 ft and again at 203 ft but of frozen gravel and silt, below which thawed both ti~es sand ran up the casing and the hole gravel and sand extended to 128i ft. The was finally abandoned. water level was 64i ft below the surface. Kuskokwim Valley Tanacross The Kuskokwim Valley extends from the At the old airfield at Tanacross one 6- area near Lake Minchumina, which is 150 miles inch well 43 ft deep penetrated 6 ft of silt southwest of Fairbanks, southwestward to and gravel and 37 ft of sand and gravel, all Kuskokwim Bay opening on the Bering Sea, a thawed. The depth to water was 3li ft. The straight-line· distance of about 400 miles. well is reported to have yielded 30 gpm with The valley is sparsely developed, and the 1 ft of drawdown after 6 hr of pumping. The economy is based largely on gold, platinum, temperature is reported to have been 36i F. and (formerly) quicksilver mining. Many indi­ A second well had almost identical character­ viduals, particularly the natives, in the istics. The total hardness of water obtained several tiny villages work at canneries is reported to be 162 and 129 ppm, respective­ along the coast in the summer. ly. The Kuskokwim River flows through a broad alluvium-filled valley above McGrath. Tanana Bridge From McGrath to Aniak it flows through a narrow rock gorge, but below Aniak it flows At mile 1,330.1 along the pipeline the across the vast soggY, delta formed in the Corps of Engineers drilled a well to a depth lower reaches of the Kuskokwim and Yukon Rivers. of 45 ft. The depth to water was 9 ft below the surface. Lake Minchumina Northway The settlement at Lake Minchumina con­ sists of a Civil Aeronautics Authority sta­ One of the two wells drilled for the tion and field on the air route from Fairbanks Corps of Engineers along the pipeline at mile to McGrath and Fairbanks to Nome. The area 1,288 on the north side of the Tanana Valley is low and characterized by muskeg flats and encountered "decomposed and hard granite-­ lakes. slanting formation" at a depth of 115 ft. The other encountered "hard granite" at 177 A well drilled at Minchumina penetrated ft. The alluvial material above was frozen clayey gravel, largely, to a depth of 48 ft, silt and sand in each place. Only a little where 4 ft of water-bearing gravel was pene­ water was obtained from the first well from trated. At 52 ft the drill reached bedrock. bedrock and presumably a somewhat better yield was obtain.ed from rock in the second well. The water obtained is said to be of fair quality but has a high iron content. At the Northway field, south of the Alaska Highway and far out into the broad valley, a well drilled for the Army encounter­ McGrath ed 25 ft of frozen muck and 65 ft of frozen sand and silt containing lenses of clear ice. McGrath is a community of about 100 in­ The thawed material below 90 ft has largelr, habitants, most of whom are white. It is sand and gravel; a "coarse gravel and sand' situated on a low slip-off slope of the river between 227 and 246 ft was developed in the on the southeast flank of the Kuskokwim well. The depth to water is 7 ft. The well Mountains. It is important as a trading cen­ is reported to have yielded 30 gpm with no ter for small mines in the adjacent area and observable drawdown. as an intermediate stop on the Anchorage-Nome flights. SCheduled planes on the Fairbanks­ A well drilled for·the Ciyil Aeronautics Bethel run likewise stop at McGrath. Some Authority at Northway similarly encountered hunting and trapning are done locally by na­ fine silty and mucky sediments in the upper tives. part of the hole (frozen to a depth of only 46ft). Below a depth of about 100ft the Information on ground water at McGrath 28 KOSKOKW!M VALLEY was obtained largely from Arthur Flat of the is gained from work in placer camps and Alaska Native Service. fisheries, some distance from Aniak, and in hunting and trapping locally. Some lumber is At the Civil Aeronautics Authority sta­ produced at Aniak. The town is served by tion a well was drilled to a depth of 262 ft. river boats in.the summer. Northern Conso­ Sand and silt, for the most part, was pene­ lidated Airlines furnishes service three trated to a depth of 230 ft. This was not times a week from Fairbanks to Bethel. developed, presumably because of difficulty of holding out the fine-grained material with­ A stop-over was made at Aniak on February out a screen, and drilling was continued into 26, 1949. The data given below were obtained underlying gray slate to a total depth of 262 from Sam Voich and other citizens. ft. Casing, the lower 12 ft of which was per­ forated, was set at 242 ft. The water level Topography and geology.--The village lies in this well was about 20 ft below the surface. on the flood plain of the Kuskokwim River. The maximum yield is not known; the pump in­ The material near the surface is coarse sand. stalled is reported to furnish more than 6~ Permafrost is not present in these recently gpm. The water appears to have a high iron formed deposits. content. Water supply.--There are about 13 small­ A dozen or so driven domestic wells have diameter driven wells in town, ranging in been constructed at McGrath; these develop depth from 35 to 60 ft. The largest producer gravelly sediments encountered at 10 to 35 ft is the well at the school, which is 60 ft beneath overlying silty material. Ample water deep. A jet pump provides water for about 32 for a small roadhouse is obtained from such a pupils. The school has modern sanitary lt-inch driven well by means of a small suc­ facilities. tion pump. The water obtained from these wells generally contains a little iron. The depth to water in the wells varies with the river level and is as little as 15 It is interesting to note that, where ft below the surface in the summer and as much pet~nently frozen ground has not been en­ as 28 ft below the surface in the winter. countered, these driven wells have generally been put down in 1~ to 3 hr. Permafrost is The water obtained has an excellent generally absent near the river but, as in taste, is slightly hard, and has only a trace Fairbanks, appears some distance away as a of iron. thin wedge and thickens with distance from the river. Bethel Farewell Bethel lies on the lower Kuskokwim, 50 miles from the mouth of the river on Kuskokwim Farewell is an emergency landing field Bay. It is 400 miles west of Anchorage. on the west flank of the Alaska Range at the west end of Rainy Pass, through which planes The village has a population of about fly on the Anchorage-McGrath-Nome run. 325, about 300 of whom are Eskimos. Subsis­ tence is gained by work in the canneries in A well drilled here at the Civil Aero­ the summer, fishing, and trapping. Some indi­ nautics Authority station encountered "bould­ viduals are employed at the Alaska Native ers, gravel, and frost 11 to a depth of 125 ft, Service hospital a mile south of town. below which "sand and clay11 extep.ded to 292 ft. The available log does not indicate the The village is at the head ~f navigation composition of the deeper material but, for ocean-going vessels and is a point of according to Earl Young, who drilled the transshipment for goods destined up river. well, water was obtained from a boulder forma­ Alaska Airlines makes two flights weekly from tion, presumably extending from 292 to 348 ft. Anchorage via Naknek, and Northern Consoli­ dated has three flights weekly from Fairbanks The depth to water was 338 ft, according via McGrath. to Earl Young. This is rather surprising, because it might be expected that water would Topography.--The village lies on a broad, occur under artesian head. Presumably the low flood plain on the north bank of the overlying clayey beds are breached at a lower Kuskokwim delta. The Civil Aeronautics altitude. Possibly ground water may occur Authority airfield lies on a similar low flood under artesian head in adjacent, less deeply plain on the south bank of the river opposite dissected, areas. the village. Geologv.--The region is underlain by silt Aniak and fine sand. The nearest hard-rock hills are 65 miles to the north on the Yukon and Aniak lies on the south bank of the at the base of the Kilbuck Mountains 50 miles Kuskokwim River about 135 miles from the to the southeast. The area has long been mouth of that river. It is on the west flank receiving sedimentary material that has been of the Kuskokwim Mountains and at the head of transported a long distance and consequently the vast Yukon-Kuskokwim delta. Aniak is is fine in texture. In part much of this 325 miles west of Anchorage, 270 miles south­ fine material may be wind-blown. However, at east of Nome, and 95 miles northeast of Bethel. some past stage of erosional history the valley was considerably narrower, the hard-rock hills Aniak has a population of about 200, a were closer, and coarser material was deposit­ large part of whom are Eskimos. Subsistence ed. Hence it is expected that coarse sands

29 SUMMARY OF GROUND-WATER DEVEIDPMENT . IN ~LASKA, 1950 and perhaps gravel will be encountered at and the Kilbuck Mountains on the northwest. depth. It was an area of glacial scour when ice tongues extended from both the ranges toward A well recently drilled by the Civil Bristol Bay. In later stages there was much Aeronautics Authority penetrated fine silt at glaciofluvial deposition as the glaciers the surface, fine sand from 20 to 109 ft, and retreated. It seems likely that considerable medium (?) sand from 109 to 197 ft. A few thicknesses of outwash material are present pea-sized pebbles were mixed with the finer here and that prolific water-bearing beds material from place to place and a little are common. clay is reported at 117 ft, 135 ft, and 165 ft. It seemed likely that this well could be Naknek and Dillingham are the two major developed and rut into use by installing a towns. A few canneries are located along suitable screen. It was subsequently report­ and near the bay but activity here is almost ed that this was done successfully by forcing entirely seasonal. a drive-point strainer on a 4-inch pipe below the bottom of· the 6-inch hole. Naknek The village of Bethel is underlain by permafrost. A hole at the hospita~ drilled Logs of wells at Naknek provided by to a depth of 165 ft (100 ? ft below sea level) John McAnerney, geologist, Corps of Engineers, was still in frozen ground when it was aban­ Alaska District, at Anchorage, make possible doned. The whole village of Bethel is on a broad characterization of the area. frozen ground but, at the Civil Aeronautics Authority field across the river, on the in­ Naknek lies on the east shore of Kvichak side of a meander loop, only a foot or two of Bay off Bristol Bay on the north flank of the permafrost is present at a depth of 15 ft. Aleutian Range. It is west-northwest of The ground there has been recently formed and Mount Katmai. permafrost has had little opportunity to de­ velop. Naknek well no. 2 penetrated "water sand" between 30 and 36 ft, "glacial silt and gravel" The Bethel town site is subject to flood­ from 65 to 103 ft, "water sand11 from 103 to ing and is being eroded actively by the 105 ft, "quicksand and gravel" from 105 to 145 river. ft, "water sand" from 145 to 148 ft, and "quicksand and gravel" from 148 to 168 ft. Water supply.--The residents use river The well furnished 100 gpm. It may be presumed water or river ic~ purchased from a private that, if sand screens were installed in such supplier. The larger purchasers pay about a Lole opposite the better materials, a much t5.00 per 1,000 gal. The hospital has a pipe­ greater yield might be obtained. line from the river which operates fairly well in the summer but is costly and cumbersome to Naknek well no. 1, 8 in. in diameter, operate in the winter. Further, the quality obtained 155 gpm from coarse white sand of the river water obtained is inferior in penetrated at a depth of 97 ft. that it has a poor taste and generally con­ tains some colloidal glacial flour that is not The "Rapids well" at Naknek penetrated filterable. Drinking water for the hospital "gravel" between 35 and 90 ft, and "water is derived from a winter ice supply. gravel" between 171 and 176 ft. Most of the other material penetrated appears to have been At the Civil Aeronautics Authority sta­ fine in texture. The well, 6 in. in diameter, tion shallow ground water high in iron con­ yields 20 gpm. tent is available, but at Bethel, underlain by permafrost, shallow water cannot be obtain­ At the Alaska Communications System ed and septic tanks, lacking drainage facili­ station (at the airfield ?) pea gravel was ties, simply fill, overflow, ~nd freeze. penetrated between 34 and 47 ft and "quick­ sand and water" between 57 and 69 ft. It is obvious that Bethel needs a water supoly for both town and hospital. A river­ If sediments underlying the town of water source is impractical because of the Naknek are similar to those described above, poor physical, chemical, and bacteriological there is little doubt that a municipal supply quality, and because of the added cost of pre­ could be obtained easily from.wells. venting freezing. Unfrozen water-bearing coarser sands un­ Snag Point (Dillingham P. 0.) doubtedly lie below the fine sands penetrated in the first 120 ft at Bethel, but where Snag Point is a community of about 100 these are can be determined only by test persons, mostly natives, and is the trading drilling. However, considering the location center for the several small communities and of Bethel in the permafrost belt, it seems canneries in the Nushagak Bay area. It is likely that in most places permafrost would less than 10 miles nortbeast of Dillingham not extend so deep as to in-clude all zones of and 55 miles west-northwest of Naknek. Accord­ relatively coarse sediments. ing to Mertle (1938, p. 70) an 8- to 6-ineh well was sunk for the Alaska Portland Packers Association to a depth of 213 ft, where fine Bristol Bay gravel and black sand were penetrated. The well was located at an elevation of 60 ft and The lowland area facing Bristol Bay, in a "strong flow of fine clear water" was ob­ the broad valley of the Nushagak River, lies tained that rose to within 15 ft of the sur­ between the Aleutian Range to the southeast fact. The well filled with sand and was finally abandoned. 30 BRISTOL BAY

Clarks Point

Clarks Point is a native community of water containing 95 ppm of sulfate and 248 about 25 persons and the location of a can­ ppm of chloride. It is of particular interest nery. It is about 20 miles south of Dilling­ to note that the water contains 10 ppm of ham, but on the east shore of Nushagak Bay. fluoride, a content much too high for drink­ A well was drilled here for the Columbia ing water. Continued use by young Children, River Packers Association to a depth of 186 will result in permanent mottling of tooth ft (Mertle, 1938, p. 71). Some brown, dis­ enamel. colored water was obtained from the gravel at 175 ft, the depth to which ice (permafrost ?) was reported. No other details are avail- Tanana able. Tanana lies on the north bank of the Yukon, just below its junction with the Tanana Dillingham and Kanakanak (Kanakanak P. O.) River. It is 132 miles west-northwest of Fairbanks. Tanana has a small native popula­ A well exists at the Alaska Native Ser­ tion, and fishing and hunting are the primary vice hospital at Kanakanak but no records occupations. of wells are available at Dillingham, nearby. The well at Kanakanak is 64 ft deep and, The village is served by river boats in according to an analysis made by the Alaska the summer. Northern Consolidated Airlines Department of Health, the water is fairly furnishes service three times a week. soft, is high in iron content, and has only 10 ppm of chloride. Topography and geology.--The village and Civil Aeronautics Authority field lie on the flood plain of the Yukon River. Immediately Yukon Valley west of the field (downstreHm} the flood plain terminates against a gentle slope underlain In the summer of 1949 Charles Turnbull by hard rock. of the Alaska Department of Health made a . sanitary survey covering the Yukon from Water supply.--At the Northern Commercial Rampart to Holy Cross, as well as a few Co. a 50-foot well drilled into bedrock is adjacent areae. The following facts are taken said to yield 52 gpm. The water is hard. from his report. According to Waring (1917, p. 87) water The small Yukon River communities consist from the same (?) well has a total hardness mostly of Indians except for a few traders of 415 pp~, largely carbonate hardness. The and Civil Aeronautics Authority or other iron content is 2.7 p~m. However, two other governmental personnel. Along the lower wells near the river J-ield 11 good"· (iron-free reaches of the river, however, the Eskimo ?) water. population becomes significant. There is little economic development other than that The Alaska Native Service hospital and connected with small-scale gold-mining opera­ school both obtain water from dug well·s about tions. The natives do some trapping and fish­ 30 ft deep. ing. With the exceptions noted below, Rampart, Ruby Tanana, Kokrines, Ruby, Galena, Koyukuk Station, Nulato, Kaltag, Anvik, and Holy Ruby, on the high bluff on the south Cross on the Yukon, Hughes and Allakaket on side of the Yukon River was once supplied in the Koyukuk, and Hologachaket and Shageluk on the summer months by water piped from a spring the Innoko River (entering the Yukon at Holy just south of the village. The distribution Cross) obtain their water supply from cisterns, lines have since been torn up. from the river, or from melted ice and snow. It seems likely that in many of these communi­ ties inexpensive drive-point wells might be Galena driven to gravels at no great depth to fur­ nish a stable, easily ~vailable, safe water Galena lies on a meander on the north supply. Where permafrost underlies the bank of the Yukon River. It is 273 miles villages, the problem is obviously more diffi­ west of Fairbanks and 254 miles east of Nome. cult. The native village of Galena has about 100 (?) inhabitants Who subsist by fishing and trap­ ping. The Army field, a ferry station former­ Circle Hot Springs ly used by the flussians in taking planes from Fairbanks to Siberia, is located r1earby. Waring (1917, pp. 51-53) described the hot springs at Circle on the Yukon. The Water can be obtained from shallow wells adjacent land was first homesteaded in 1909 in the village, but the quality of water is and later developed as a resort, the water bad and the villagers prefer to carry water being used for baths, for irrigating vege­ from the Yukon River. tables, and for domestic use. The total flow is about 340 gpm and the temperature of the There are drilled wells at the Army base water in the bathhouse is 110 F. having a maximum depth of 235 ft. The supply is ample but the water is hard and contains Samples collected in 1949 show that the much iron. It is disagreeable in taste, and upper large spring yields a fairly soft sodic water for drinking purposes is provided from steam condensate. 31 SUMMARY OF GROUND-WA'l'ER DEVELOPMENT IN ALASKA, 1950

Anvik According to Mr. Turnbull, "a driven operate its freighting service between St. well was located in front of the Mission Michael and Marshall on the Yukon River, but which was used until this past year (1948"), the major seasonal employment is in the when the missionary-in-charge had it removed. Bristol Bay canneries. A few of the native~ This water was hard." are engaged in herding reindeer and all hunt, fish, and trap to some extent. According to Waring's published analyses (1917, p. 97) this water was similar to but The village has weekly seaplane airmail slightly hard:er than the hard well water from service. Bush pilots utilize the sandy beach. Tanana and contained 5.0 ppm of iron. About four times each summer, steamships of the Alaska Steamship line stop at St. Michael, and tugs of the Northern Commerical Co. unload Holy Cross more frequently. A well 100 ft deep at Holy Cross mission St. Michael was visited briefly on penetrates bedrock and, used in conjunction September 1, 1949, by John E. Kerr. Paul with a 4,000-gallon tank, fUrnishes water Ivanoff, school teacher, provided the informa­ for the mission and two domiciles. Another tion presented here. well, 30 ft deep, also penetrating bedrock, is no longer used. St. Michael, founded by the Russians during the 1860's, flourished as the leading The villagers use river water in both port of Alaska as a transfer point for State­ winter and summer. side cargo consigned to the interior. From here steamboats plied the Yukon River as far inland as Dawson, Yukon Territory, a distance Hughes of more than 1,300 miles. St. Michael ceased to fUnction as the supply point for interior At Hughes on the Koyukuk River, the Alaska upon the completion of the Alaska trader obtains a supply of excellent water Railroad in 1923. At that time St. Michael from a driven well 13 ft deep. had an esti~ated population of 7,000. U. s. Army troops were garrisoned in St. Michael until 1925. Marshall ~opography and geology.--The seaward or Marshall lies on the lower Yukon about west-facing beach at St. Michael is sandy, 150 miles from its mouth. It has a popula­ whereas the protected or east-facing beach, tion of about 150, most of whom are Eskimos. is strewn with large blocks of disintegrating Some gold dredging is done in the vicinity and basalt. The town is built on the east-facing during summer months many natives work in the beach on a bluff about 30 ft above sea level. Bristol Bay canneries. Much of the island near the village is under­ lain by a very black silty, mucky deposit According to John E. Kerr of the Geolo­ perhaps 20 ft in thickness. Permafrost occurs gical Survey, who visited Marshall in the on the island at a depth of about 3i ft and summer of 1949, chloritic and andesitic rocks, is known to extend to a depth of at least 6 and tuffs crop out. at the surface on the ft. Beneath the thin alluvial cover lies higher ground back from the river. Near basaltic lava, which is vesicular in places. river level a little fine- to medium-grained It is thought that this lava is of Recent age. sandy alluvium overlies bedrock. Water supply.--The chief sources of pot­ Two dug wells are in use in Marshall. able water at St. Michael are rain water They are near the river. One obtains water during the summer and ice during the winter. fro~ fractured tuff, the other from andesite. However, on the mainland, about 2 miles from the town, a large spring issues from the It seems likely that properly constructed beach. This spring is used as a source of and protected dug wells on low ground might water by the tugs and steamships that visit provide a reasonable amount of water safer St. Michael. During high tide the mouth of than that used at present. Wells drilled into the spring is inundated; during this period bedrock here might have small yields, but water is taken by boats while standing about still sufficient for most purposes. 600 ft off the high-tide shore line in 10 ft of water. The spring flows in such volume that mixing of fresh and salt water is essen­ Norton Sound tially nil. St. Michael Another, more important, source of water is Johnsons Lake, on the island itself and St. Michael is on the northeast end of an about three-quarters of a mile distant, be­ island in Norton Sound, immediately adjacent tween the sea and the town. This lake measures to the mainland. It is about 50 miles north­ approximately 500 by 600 ft and is about 12 east of the North Fork mouth of the Yukon and ft deep. While troops were garrisoned at St. 125 miles southeast of Nome. Michael, the Army installed (above ground} a 3-inch. galvanized pipeline from the lake to The village of St. Michael has a popula­ the town. It is estimated that the daily tion of 153, including one white man. The consumption was in exce3s of 500,000 gal. Northern Commercial Co. employs many of the After the Army abandoned St. Michael, this natives for the greater part of the summer to water system was for a time maintained by the

32 NORTON SOUND

Alaska Commercial Co. and the Northern Naviga­ in these wells is about 8 ft. According to tion Co. and the 3-inch line is reported to Mr. Ryan, one of these wells yields a mini­ be usable at present. There is also, in mum of 10 gpm with 20ft of drawdown. The apparently good working order, a 10,000-gallon water-bearing formation is yellow fine- to storage tank in the gymnasium that was erected medium-grained sand. The water is soft and by the Army. contains no iron but is slightly corrosive. Its slight saltiness may be due to salt spray No well of any type has,ever been con­ from the ocean rather than to salt-water in­ structed at St. Michael, but it is reasonable trusion induced by pumping. to expect that a drilled well would yield water in anpreciable quantities from the under­ Most of the water used by the villagers lying basalt. is obtained from small creeks nearby or from a spring 5 miles distant. The surficial material on the island is a silt or a silty muck about 20 ft thick. A Moderate quantities of water, less liable part of this (at least 6 ft) is rendered to pollution than the present supply, might impermeable by permafrost and the remainder be obtained just north of the village from probably would not constitute an aquifer. rather shallow wells, but to develop larger quantities would require exploration near the If tre basalt near Johnsons Lake is hard-rock hills. Water developed there might vesicular it should be a good conduit and be small in quantity, however, and would re­ most wells drilled into bedrock near this quire an expensive pipeline and maintainence lake would be successful. Shallow wells if the water were to be used at the present drilled at other locations on the island village site. probably would be successful if they also were fed by continuous or connecting vesicles of the basalt. Seward Peninsula Nome Unalakleet Nome lies on the south side of the Unalakleet lies on the east shore of Seward Peninsula on the Bering Sea. It is Norton Sound on a bay-mouth bar at the south 545 miles west-northwest of Anchorage and 135 of the Unalakleet River. It is 147 miles miles southeast of the international boundary, east-southeast of Nome. The town has a popu­ at the Diomede Islands. Nome has a popula­ lation of more than 400, almost all being tion of about 1,500, of which many are native. Eskimos. For a living the residents hunt and In largest part, Nome owes its economic life fish, and work in the placer mines near the to the placer-gold mines in the area. head of Norton Bay. Ocean vessels make Nome a regular port The area is served by small boats in the of call in the warmer months. The city is summer months. Unalakleet is a stop on the served by Alaska Airlines, which has four Alaska Airlines, which makes four flights a flights weekly from Anchorage via McGrath and week from AnChorage to Nome. Unalakleet, and by Pan American Airways which has two flights weekly from Fairbanks. Unalakleet was visited on February 26, 1949. Mr. Warbelow, Alaska Native Service Topography and geology.--Nome lies on a teacher, Frank Ryan, postmaster, and Mr. long, even coastal plain along the open sea. Roseneau of the Civil Aenonautics Authority The ground rises very gradually to the low were contacted and the local water-supply mountains a few miles north of the city. This facilities were discussed. long slope is underlain by Quaternary allu­ vial deposits in which the placer gold occurs Topography and geology.--The village (Smith, 1910, pl. 2). lies on a sand bar built across the estuary of the Unalakleet River, a relatively small Water supply.--Most of the city is stream lying in a broad valley extending supplied by water hauled from the Bourbon northeastward to the Yukon. The Yukon may Spring well, developed in alluvial gravels have discharged into the ocean through this about half a mile north of the city limits. channel at one time. The sand bar on which This well is about 20 ft deep and yields the village is situated is about 20 ft above about 90 gpm with 5 ft of drawdown. The sea level and projects southward about 1~ water is hard but free of iron. During the mi from a submountainous area. The bar is summer water of an excellent quality is about a quarter of a mile wide. East of this supplied by the United States Smelting and bar is a swampy estuary. South of the village Refining Co. by pipeline from Moonlight of the Unalakleet River finds its way to the Springs, about 3 miles north of town at the sea. foot of the mountains. A few other shallow wells in the alluvium supply the hospital and The bar is known to be sandy and probab­ residences on the north side of town overlook­ ly contains gravel. The fill in back of the ing Dry Creek. Nearer the shore, the presence bar may be made up largely of clayey or fine of permafrost has been a deterrent in the sandy sediments, but these may overlie coarser construction of wells, and along the water material brought down by the Unalakleet (or front driven wells, which encounter bedrock Yukon) before the bar was formed. at a depth of 40 (1) ft, have proved to yield brackish water. Water supply.--At the mission and at the schoolhouse are two wells, partly dug, partly There is a well at Submarine Camp, about .driven, about 30 ft deep. The depth to water 2 miles up (west) Snake River on the south

33 SUMMARY OF GROUND-WATER DEVELOPMENT IN ALASKA, 1950 bank and almost a mile inland from the sea. It is the opinion of the local residents, This drilled well passes through the alluvium shared by the writer, that, because the lagoon at about 30 ft and water is developed from is 4 ft higher than the bay (held at that bedrock below that depth. The well flows level by the gates at its outlet) and beca~se about half a gallon a minute at the surface. the spit is made up entirely of gravel, the The chloride content of this water is about ground water at Teller is lagoon water drain­ 3,600 ppm (table 2). ing toward the bay. It seems that here, as in Palmer, brack­ Water for drinking is taken from the ish water is trapped in the bedrock fissures; spring at the lake in summer and from ice on natural seaward percolation of fresh water the lake in winter. Cisterns also are used from the hills has not been sufficient to in summer. flush out the salt water that ha1 entered the formation at some previous higher stand of the Although ground water is available be­ sea. neath the village, the probability of sanitary pollution and salt-water contamination is such The alluvium of the plain on which Nome that this source is considered undesirable is built is not very permeable and much of it for a municipal supoly. It is the writer's is frozen to bedrock. However, it seems opinion that ground water could be sought on apparent that, if a municipal supply were to the ridge west of the village, across the be developed, a properly constructed well in narrow lagoon. There permafrost is present, the younger, highly permeable unfrozen allu­ but it may not be very thick. The hill is vium in the bed of nearby Dry Creek should mantled with old beach deposits that may yield an ample supply of water. The distribu­ extend below the pennafrost, and the acqui­ tion of such a supply during the cold months sition of a small community supply may not through pipes laid in permafrost would present be difficult. A short pipeline, about 550 an engineering and economic problem, however, ft long, might be all that is necessary to requiring real effort in its solution. bring the water to the village. It would be possible to bring water from Teller the spring at the head of the lake, but the expense involved might make such a plan Teller lies on a narrow spit that extends impractical. A pipeline laid beneath the lake nortpward, separating Grantly Harbor on the and lagoon (the lagoon level might be lowered east from Port Clarence on the west. Port temporarily to permit ditching below freezing Clarence is partially separated from the level) might eliminate the freezing problem Bering Sea by the long, curving spit on which entirely, but the length of the pipeline, Point Spencer is situated. Teller is 62 about 3 miles, would still make the project miles north-northwest of Nome and 83 miles expensive. east-southeast of the international boundary at the Diomede Islands. Arctic Coast Teller has a populati0n of 125, almost all Eskimos. Some of the villagers find work Kotzebue in the nearby tin mines, some fish for seal or salmon, and some trap. Much ivory carving Kotzebue lies at the northwest tip of is done. Baldwin Peninsula, about 32 miles north of the Arctic Circle and 183 miles northeast of The village is served by boat service Nome. Hotham Inlet,.a bay receiving the drain­ from Nome. age from two major rivers, the Noatak and the Kobuk, as well as the smaller Selawik River, Teller was visited on February 25, 1949. lies to the east of Kotzebue. Kotzebue Sound on the west opens directly into the Chukchi Topography and geology.--Teller lies on Sea. Kotzebue itself is on a narrow spit, a very narrow gravel spit extending northward about half a mile wide, and is separated from into Grantly Harbor; to the east is open water the main mass of the Baldwin Peninsula to the and on the west is a narrow, shallow fresh­ east by a lagoon. water lagoon separating the Teller spit from the larger spit of which it is a part. The There are about 525 people at Kotzebue, lagoon extends back (south) to a spring-fed including the hospital personnel and patients. lake and is generally fresh. A dam at the Of this total, about 75 persons are white, the outlet of the lagoon maintains the lagoon remainder being Eskimos. Kotzebue is an level about 4 ft above sea level. However, important center of Arctic activity; mail is the lagoon and, in fact, the whole village of dispatched in several directions (one route Teller is subject to recurrent flooding and served by dog team in winter); supplies are salt-water inundation. furnished for towns along the Arctic Coast and up the three rivers draining into Hotham ~-~.--There are several dug Inlet. Many find work in the four major wells and one driven well in Teller. The placer gold fields in the outlying country. 2-inch driven well at the school is about 20 Others fish, hunt seal, walrus, and polar ft deep; the depth to water below the ground bear, or trap land animals. Considerable surface is about 12 f~. A dug well at the ivory carving is done in the area. Under Teller Commercial Co. has a similar depth and care of the Federal Government, a herd of water level. Th~ water is not used for drink­ 1 1 600 reindeer are grazed within 100 miles of ing because of sanitary considerations and Kotzebue. The village is also a medical because it has. been salty since a marine center by virtue. of the Alaska Native Service inundation some years ago. hospital of 20 beds, to wrich a 24-bed

34 ARCTIC COAST

tuberculosis unit is about to be added. The much as 8 or 10 ft, overnight. This is in­ importance of Kotzebue as a trading center is terpreted to indicate that in the very early seen in the fact that during the summer as spring the downward progress of winter frost many as 1,000 Eskimos from distant villages has reversed, a percolation channel is even­ are camped on the beach. tually opened by thawing, and confined water-­ under pressure between the winter frost and The area is served by one or two visits permafrost--literally gushes into the well. eaCh summer by a commercial steam vessel, by two visits per summer by an Alaska Native The concept of winter water under pressure Service vessel, and by boat service twice a is borne out by an incident related by Arthur month to Nome in the June-September period. Flat of the Alaska Native Service. A few years ago a native family erected a sod house Topography and geology.--Kotzebue lies on the flat tundra in back of the village but on a narrow finger or spit on the northwest was forced to move in midwinter When water end· of the Baldwin Peninsula. The area, in­ came up through the floor and flooded them cluding the whole north end of the peninsula, out. The thawed surface under the dwelling is flat and rises to not more than 30 or 40 acted as a vertical conduit for water other­ ft above sea level. The peninsula as a whole wise trapped between winter frost and perma­ appears to be ~ remnant of a once more exten­ frost. sive coastal plain now dissected by erosion. The spit on which the village is situated is The occurrence is a parallel with the probably composed of sand and gravel recently icing of a domicile shown in "Permafrost or thrown up by the sea but somewhat older permanently frozen ground and related engineer­ coastal-plain deposits lie at shallow depth ing problems" (Muller, 1945, fig. 41). Local­ beneath the Recent sandy sediments. ly free water is trapped between the perma­ frost and winter frost. The winter frost Water supply.-- During the long winters tends to grow downward and in places winter about 90 percent of the water used by the frost merges with the permafrost and free villagers is melted snow and ice. All the water is forced away laterally. In places drinking water is obtained in that way. In the free water becomes "pocketed," and if it the summer some water is caught in cisterns does not freeze, being under pressure it may and a little is obtained from the dug bulge up the surface to form frost mounds, wells in the village, but most of the water such as those observed in the valley of the is brought in by dog team from nearby small Noatak River to the north. Where the winter creeks. frost seal is thawed, as in the case of the Kotzebue dwelling mentioned, water is forced The Civil Aeronautics Authority station upward. In early spring, Channels to these has a well 35 ft deep, but it is subject to trapped pockets thaw out and wells fill rapid­ freezing from September to April. The water ly. in this well is said to be hard in the summer but soft in the winter. 'Deep test drilling.--In the summers of 1949-50 a test hole was drilled near the The hospital has a dug well 30 ft deep Alaska Native Service hospital to determine under the building which occupies a recently the presence or absence of fresh water at thawed area in the permafrost. The depth to depth. Although beset with many mechanical water is about 10 ft below the surface. This and other difficulties, a eased 6-inCh hole well was pumped at a rate of 200 gpm for 24 was finally drilled to a depth of 325 ft. hr, during which time the water level declined 3 ft in the first hour and 1~ in. farther in The results of drilling may be summarized the next 23 hr. This would indicate that as follows: Gravel extended to a depth of 23 much more water was discharged than the amount ft, below which blue mud extended to 79 ft. available from a small thawed area under the Between 79 and 83 ft thawed gravel was en­ hospital, and it would appear that water per­ countered from which salt water was obtained. colated into the area from a thawed zone Between 83 and 238 ft the section penetrated between the winter frost and t~ permafrost. was largely frozen blue clay or mud, becoming increasingly sandy and bouldery with depth. Water from the hospital well is excessive­ At 238 ft a pool of gas under high pressure ly hard but does not appear to contain much was encountered that lifted the heavy string iron. However, the hardness is such that hot­ of drill tools several feet in the air, water lines become clogged with li~e in less showered the immediate area with mud particles, than a month and a softener has been installed. and continued to emit gas at decreastng Condensate from the steam radiators is used pressure for more than 24 hr. The thawed for drinking. ground below 238 ft graded into brown silt that continued to 325 ft without change. Shallow-well installations thaw a small The thawed silt was saturated with salty area of permanently frozen ground extending water. out from the well and perhaps beyond the heated buildings in which they are located. It appears, then, that circulation of These thawed areas are fed from the water water from highland areas to the east and lying above the permafrost, and continuous re­ north has been insufficient to flush out the Charge occurs in the summer months. However, salt water with which the sediments were in the colder months the recharge is smaller saturated, and deep drilli~g wou+d tap only as winter frost descends and narrows the zone saltier water. For this and other reasons, of free water, and the water levels in the the well was discontinued_at 325ft. wells decline. However, early in the spring the water level rises sharply, perhaps as

35 SUMMARY OF GROUND-WATER DEVELOPMENT IN ALASKA, 1950

Ground water above permafrost.--It seems A dug well 3 ft deep along the gravelly possible that something might be done to beach, away from usual sources of contamina­ acquire a shallow water supply free from con­ tion, supplies a little drinking water in the tamination of the various kinds commonly warmer months. A somewhat deeper dug well on present. higher ground at the school yields a dis­ colored "tundra" water. An extension of the present shallow-well systems in a protected area might be made on Considering the latitude and prevalence a large scale, but without special measures of permafrost, it seems unlikely that much such wells would have very low yields in the can be done here to increase the ground-water winter. supply. However, the schoolhouse well might be developed to supply more water than at The writer believes an installation present for some domestic uses. embodying the following steps would be well worth trying. SUMMARY OF GROUND WATER DEVELOPMENT 1. A 3ection of tundra at least 100 by IN ALASKA 200 ft, but preferably larger, be stripped of its heavy moss cover in order that melt­ Ground-water supplies have been exploited ing of the upper part of the permafrost may to a minimum extent, or have not been exploit­ occur by natural means in the summer. edat all, in most places in Alaska. Excep­ tions to the generalization exist, however, 2. Natural melting be augmented by Fairbanks and Palmer being the most outstand­ pumping water onto the stripped area frnm ing. In nearly all other areas, available nearby warm ponds (the summer temperatu1 a in supplies have not been fully exploited or these ponds is in excess of 80 Fat times). oxplored for many reasons, most of them per-. fc:ctly adequate. The most important reasons 3. Natural melting may be promoted by wlq well-water supplies have not been develop­ excavating the stripped area to the water ed are: table, for water or saturated sand will trans­ mit (absorb) heat rapidly, in comparison to 1. Lack of facilities for drilling dry ground (Muller, 1945, p. 24). wells. This factor may be considered in two ways-- (a) physical absence of materials, 4. Melting may be promoted also by pump­ equipment, and skilled drillers in most ing out of the area intermittently from localities or (b) high cost of transporting several wells dug in the stripped area, there­ personnel and equipment. In some places the by insuring thorough circulation and effective nearest source of any facilities may be· hund­ action of the warm water above the permafrost. reds of miles distant; transportation of ma­ terial and personnel to a specific site may 5. With the advent of colder weather the be difficult, time consuming, and exorbitantly stripped area would have to be protected, as expensive, relative to the value of a modest the heat transmissibility of frozen ground is well installation. Lastly, (c) even where great (Muller, 1945, p. 53). Dry gravel fill well-construction facilities exist, certain should be added to bring the bottom of the types of installation are too. expensive for excavation a foot or two above the water most individuals to consider. A number of level. In any event an adequate snow cover wells 60 to 100 ft in depth have been drilled should be promoted by constructing snow in Anchorage. The cost of such a well cannot fences or by other means. be met by all individuals desiring wells, and probably very few people could afford wells 6. Pumping in the fall When no recharge of significantly greater depth even if they is taking place will lower the water table wished to have them. In Fairbanks, on the and hence lessen the possible thickness of other hand, relatively cheap driven wells frozen saturated ground resulting from winter's can be installed and there are hundreds in a frost, thereby lowering heat losses somewhat. small area. 7. Lateral migration from adjacent 2. Lack of knowle::1ge of good potentials. areas should occur through at least a few In a few localities where shortages exist or restricted channels along the perimeter of are imminent, the possibility of acquiring the stripped area all winter long if free additional supplies of water from the ground water occurs generally between the perma­ at practical cost have not been considered frost and winter frost, as suggested above. because of an almost complete lack of know­ The extent that such recharge occurs will ledge of water wells and their characteristic determine the extent to which this plan would yields. This situation is more typical in be successful as a moderate source of supply southeastern AlaSka than elsewhere in the in the January-March period. Territory. Another phase of this same factor is the Point Hope lack of definite guides to well characteris­ tics in many areas where the value of ground Point Hope is a sand snit extending west­ water is appreciated. Most individuals cannot ward into the Chukchi Sea of the Arctic Ocean, and many small communities cannot or will not about 155 miles northwest of Kotzebue. It is risk the cost of exploration and, as an alter­ native village of perhaps 100 inhabitants native, they develop existing, certain who live by fishing and hunting. surface-water supplies even though these

36 REFERENCES CITED supplies are not considered particularly Elsewhere in areas of discontinuous desirable. permafrost. e,mple water may be. avai la~le from chea;:-1 sballt>W wells in thawed areas but the 3. Lack of knowledge of well-drilling difficulty ab.d expense of matntaining thawed techniques, particularly the use of screens pipelines in permanently frozen ~round or in fine sands, either as drive-point screens ground subjected to deep winter ·}'r.ost (where on small-diameter wells or larger-diameter lines cannot be readily buried to a proper tubular screens in deep drilled wells. depth) are pro hibit iva. Conside:l"e.'ti'on must There are undoubtedly many small villages also be given to the freezing of th~· wells along the Yukon River where cheap home-made themselves and the freezing of small-diameter wells could be completed by using screens lines extending from the mains to the con­ where coarse sand and gravel are lacking. In sumer. other areas, such as Palmer and Anchorage, larger supplies could be developed from 6. Tradition.--Many individuals have existing drilled wells by utilizing modern lived in Alaska all their lives or for many screens. years, getting along as best they could on small, inadequate supplies of water. The 4. Gravity-fed surface-water suppltes .-­ urge to acquire ample supplies of water is Stream supplies have been utilized in many probably not as great here as in areas where places to good advantage. Elsewhere, gravity muCh ,of the population regards an essentially supplies have been developed at fairly high limitless supply of water as an absolute cost and have obtained small, undependable necessity. quantities of water of poor sanitary quality. It seems obvious that in some places the de­ Evaluating these factors, it seems likely sirability of naturally filtered and. protected that ground-water developments are as meager ground-water supplies, the cost of pumping as they are largely because of the expense of which is moderate, should be considered mo~e obtaining, or nonavailability of, facilities. closely before tens and even hundreds of to conetruct wells and because of expense of thousands of dollars are committed to long maintaining distribution lines in a cold pipeline installations obtaining water from climat~, Lack of appreciation of ground­ distant streams. water potentials or lack of knowledge of data in speattic localities has been a large fac­ 5. Frost and [email protected]'I'Qst .--In the faJ' tor in ~any areas. Lack of knowledge regard­ north ground-water supplt~~ may be unavail•ble ing spteific localities will continue to be because permafrost extenq~ from the surf~oe. an impo~tant economic factor in the develop­ to great depths. More c~only, in the more ment ot ground-water supplies, and it settled northerly areas, permafrost may be will bt alleviated in part as drilling by less than 200 ft thick but may extend to private, municipal, and governmental agencies within inChes of the surface, and here ~ela­ is dono tvom time to time in various locali­ tively shallow cheaply constructed well~ cannot ties·. be used, though ample water may be available from moderate depth. REFERENCES CITED Moffit, F, H., 1912, HeadwateTs of Gulkana and Sus1tna Rivers, with account of the Buddington, A. F., and Chapin, Theodore, 1929, Valdez Creek and Chistochina placer dis­ Geology and mineral deposits of south­ triota: u.s. Geol. Survey Bull. 498. eastern Alaska: U. s. Gaol. Survey aull. 8oo. Muller, s. w., 1945, Permafrost or permanent­ ly fro zen ground and related engineer"1ng Capps, s. R., 1935, The southern Alaska Range: problems: U •. S. Army, Corps of Engineers, U,;; S. Geol. Survey Bull. 862. St~ategic Engineering Study 62: Dobrovolny, Ernest, and Miller, R. ])., 1950, Smith, P. s., 1910, Geology and mineral re­ Descriptive geology of Anchorage and sources of the Solomon and Casadepaga vicinity, Alaska; a preliminary report: quadrangles, Seward Peninsula, Alaska: u. s. Geol. Survey open.file rapt, U, s. Geol. Survey Bull. 433. Karlstrom, T. N. v., 1950, PreliminaFy geolo­ Smith, P. s., and Martie, J. B., Jr., 1930, gic map of lowlands, AnChorage area, Geology and mineral resources of north­ Alaska: u. s. Gaol. Survey open-file rapt. weltern Alaska: u. s. Geol. Survey Bull. 8lf). Knopf, Adolph, 1912, The Eagle Rive~ region, southeastern Alaska: U. s. Geol. Survey Tarr, R. s., and Butler, B. s., 1909, The Bull. 502. Yakutat Bay region, Alaska: u. s. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 64. MartinL G. c., Johnson, B. L., and Grant, u. ~., 1915, Geology and mineral resources Trainep, F. w., 1952, Geology and ground­ of Kenai Peninsula, Alaska: u. s. Geol. water resources of the Matanuska Valley Survey Bull. 587. agrioultural area: u. S. Gaol. Survey (in preparation). Jlertie, J. B., Jr., 1937, The Yukon-Tanana region, Alaska: u. s. Gaol. Survey Bull. Turnbull, c. H., 1949, Field trip report: 872. Alaska Dept. Health (processed memoran­ dum). Mertle, J. B., .Jr., 19~8, The Nushagak dis­ trict, .Alaska: U. s. Geol. Survey Bull. Waring, G. A., .1917, Mineral spring~ of 903. Alaska: u. s. Geol. Survoy Water-Supply Paper 418. 37