NOTES ON THE POINT, HOPE SPI AW ASKeA: 
E. M. KINDLE 
Point Hope is a spit of gravel and shingle which extends out into 
the Arctic Ocean from the northwestern coast of Alaska, about one 
hundred and twenty-five miles north of the Arctic Circle. It marks 
the most westerly point reached by the continental shore line north of 
Kotzebue Sound. After Cape Prince of Wales it is the westernmost 
point of the continent. (See Fig.1.) Point Hope extends seaward from 
the delta of the Kukpuk River and represents the northwestern exten- 
sion of the barrier beach which curves southeastward to the cliffs at 
Cape Thompson, a distance of about thirty-five miles. ‘The spit and the 
delta deposits behind it together extend out a distance of about fifteen 
miles beyond the bed-rock area of the original shore line. Lagoons 
and barrier bars are a common feature of the northwestern coast of 
Alaska, but spits extending out into the sea are unusual and the Point 
Hope spit is unique in being the only spit along this coast line which 
projects any notable distance into the sea at right angles to the coast 
line. Point Barrow and the long bar forming Point Clarence Harbor 
are the only spits on the northwestern coast of Alaska which are com- 
parable in size with the Point Hope spit. Neither of these, however, 
shows the finger-like projection from the coast line of Point Hope, 
each of them curving toward the eastward. The natives have named 
this rather striking physiographic feature ‘“Tigara,” from its fancied 
resemblance to the index finger of the hand, which the word signifies. 
Abo -t one and three-fourths miles from its western extremity the 
Point Hope spit is joined by a bar which is only about one hundred 
yards in width at the point of junction with the spit. This bar extends 
in a northeasterly direction nearly to the mainland and forms with 
the spit a V-shaped figure inside of which are the shallow waters of 
Marryat Inlet and the delta of the Kukpuk River. 
It will be seen by reference to the map (Fig. 2) that the unconsol- 
idated beds which lie to the west of the area of bed-rock outcrops in 
the neighborhood of the mouth of Kukpuk River cover a rather exten- 
sive area. They represent in large part delta deposits and in part fore- 
1 Published by permission of the Director of the U. S. Geological Survey. 
178 
