108 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



ALASKAN SERVICE. 



An organized unit of the Weather Bureau has been in operation in 

 Alaska since 1916, with headquarters in Juneau. A large part of the 

 activities have been devoted to the securing of records from all 

 accessible portions of the Territory for climatological purposes and 

 the maintenance of stations for the taking and telegraphing of 

 observations for forecasting requirements in the States. "^Twice-daily 

 observations are obtained from 11 stations with a gratifying degree 

 of regularity by means of radio, telegraph, and cable (in most cases a 

 combination of the three). The active and cordial cooperation of 

 the Signal Corps of the Army and the OiRce of Communications of 

 the Navy was essential to the success of this service. These reports 

 are of inestimable value in the general forecast work of the bureau, 

 especially in the issuing of storm warnings for the Pacific coast and 

 cold-wave warnings for the Middle and Western States. 



It is estimated that the value of perishable products saved as the 

 result of cold-wave warnings issued last winter for the Chicago 

 district alone exceeded $10,000,000, although the winter was not an 

 unusually severe one. The district forecaster, in commenting on these 

 estimates, stated that it would have been impossible to issue these 

 warnings so timely and accurately if no reports from Alaska had 

 been available. The estimates were for the Chicago district alone. 

 Many other commercial districts in which the Alaskan observations 

 were an equal factor in issuing cold-wave warnings therefor were 

 similarly benefited. This is cited to indicate the tremendous economic 

 value that the service maintained by the Weather Bureau in Alaska 

 is to the commercial and marine interests of the United States. 



During the past years daily forecasts have been made only for the 

 Juneau district of southeast Alaska. The Government railroad from 

 Seward, on the Pacific coast, to Fairbanks, in the Yukon Valley, a 

 distance of 470 miles, was completed during the past year. This 

 railroad furnishes easy travel and accessibility to the most extensive 

 and richest agricultural region in the Territory, and its completion 

 created a demand for a forecast service. Such service was begun 

 on January 2, 1923. The forecasts, made in the early forenoon 

 each day, Sundays excepted, are cabled from Juneau to Seward, and 

 are distributed by telegraph along the railroad. They are also 

 further distributed by telephone and by publication in newspapers 

 published at Anchorage and Fairbanks. The forecasts cover a period 

 of 36 hours in advance and are for the Matanuska-Susitna and 

 Tanana Valleys and contiguous coasts and the regions traversed by 

 the Government railroad. Officials of the railroad stated that the 

 forecasts during the winter months were of much assistance in keep- 

 ing the road open and in the making of preparartions for removing 

 snowdrifts from deep cuts. 



An incidental part of this forecast service was the establishing of 

 reporting meteorological stations at Fairbanks, Anchorage, and Mc- 

 Kmley Park, and the transferring to Cordova of the station formerly 

 located at Valdez. One of these stations, McKinley Park, is located 

 in the Mount McKinley National Park, the eastern border of which 

 extends for ^0 miles along the railroad. The park contains the 

 highest mo\ tain peak in North America, abounds in magnificent 

 scenery, an ' ^s likely to be one of the gi^eat attractions to tourists 



