4 MISC. PUBLICATION 195, U.S. DEPT. OF AGKICULTURE 



The main drainage of the island is provided by 35 to 40 streams 

 originating along the axis of the principal mountain range. These 

 streams are 25 to 75 feet wide and 1 to 2 feet deep at their tidewater 

 outlets. They range in length from about 4 to 12 miles. Innu- 

 merable smaller streams drain directly into tidewater. 



CLIMATE 



The average annual precipitation at Juneau is 83 inches, but on 

 Admiralty Island fragmentary records indicate that at tidewater 

 elevation it is probably about 50 to 55 inches. This is well distrib- 

 uted throughout the year. Overcast skies with mist or rain are 

 usual, and as much as 2 weeks consecutively of clear weather is excep- 

 tional. May and June are normally the driest months. The pre- 

 vailing winds are southerly, and the wide waterways surrounding 

 the island are subject at all seasons to storms that drive large motor 

 launches to shelter. Such storms, however, are not sufficiently fre- 

 quent to interfere seriously with launch transportation. 



Near tidewater the snow depth is 1 to 3 feet in a normal winter, 

 but warm rains may melt off all the snow a number of times during 

 the season. With progress inland from tidewater and increase in 

 elevation, the depth increases rapidly, so that the greater part of the 

 island is under a heavy blanket of snow from the middle of Decem- 

 ber to the first of May. 



HUMAN POPULATION 



The total year-long population of southeastern Alaska in 1930 

 was 19,304, of which 13,314 were whites and 5,990 Indians. The 

 Indian village of Angoon, on the shores of Chatham Strait, with a 

 population of 320, is the only town on Admiralty Island. Funter 

 Bay on the north end of the island is the next most important com- 

 munity center, with one gold-mining property employing 15 men, 

 another smaller mine, a large cannery, and several individual homes. 

 There are also some isolated residents, such as miners, homesteaders, 

 home-site occupants, cannery watchmen, and lighthouse keepers. 

 The total year-long population is approximately 365. In addition, 

 about 10 persons occupy fur farms on small islands in the bays 

 indenting the shore line. In the summer the population is mate- 

 rially greater because of the influx of salmon-cannery workers, fish 

 trollers encamped on the beaches, fish seiners on boats using the bays 

 for night anchorages, fish-trap watchmen, stream watchmen for the 

 Bureau of Fisheries, sport fishermen, prospectors, miners, and others. 

 This purely seasonal population is estimated at 600 at the peak of 

 the cannery activities. During the middle of the summer, when the 

 bears are on the salmon streams, the island population, including 

 both year-long and seasonal residents, reaches 1,000. Figure 1 shows 

 the principal centers of human activity. The amount of patented 

 land on Admiralty Island is inconsequential. 



ROADS AND TRAILS 



The island has no roads. Not more than 10 miles of good trail 

 have been constructed by mining companies on the Mansfield Penin- 

 sula section in the north, while 3 miles of fair trail lead out of 



