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Sie tlk > cole a Os as Bie fe Aa ere vemafan sas Reeoe ait ob Segui ico a Sy i eed Fant ai, nee April, 1919 two hills dip to meet each other. Arriving there we find that just around the corner stretches a similar vista down a mirror lane of clear, green water. This is a summer picture, however. In winter there often is no picture at all; for an absolutely opaque screen of snow shuts off the sight of water, land, and everything more than three or four feet away, and the density of it deadens the echo of the fog horn so that the ship must simply feel its way along. Even with the most care- ful navigation many vessels: might have gone ashore in this channel, if there was any shore to get on. The hills fall away so abruptly into the © water, however, that the channel is deep up to their very edge: Again, there are no small islands, and no submerged treefs or rocks have been discovered in the entire channel. Still another danger must be considered by the navigator of this narrow passage in the fall and winter; for when a stiff wind blows against the incoming tide the waters, so green and glassy in summer, are white on the crests and black in the troughs of the heavy seas, and the wise mariner does not enter the channel until the storm has blown over. The lights and fog sig- nals in this narrow passage are few. Dixon’s Entrance is Often Rough Passing out of Greenville channel, the vessel enters a basin from which one can look out through a_ wide channel between Prince of Wales is- land and Queen Charlotte islands to the open sea. In crossing this chan- nel, called Dixon’s entrance, the water is often made quite choppy by the tide rips, in spite of the small islands protecting the passage. The town of Prince Rupert, the western terminal of the Grand Trunk Pacific railroad, is situated in a well protected harbor opposite Dixon’s entrance, and _ the international boundary line is just to the north of it. Soon after entering Alaskan waters we come into the zone where danger- 6 Bes» BD ALASKA bKagmmy; Bian Carra/ Pe PSI rSUSICQU wiZTahcu Harbor Ie sana” aE Baranotid JA 9/87 sland y A Br gl F 15/0770 f Herch/can C, ne Pe. a —< ‘ Gy MW eince “<\\ Rupert Pitt a y 1slarya yeenville i narre/ 140 LZ Woe & Wi Queer Cnariotter JOUTIA~ KS v/GWNT0) INSIDE PASSAGE TO ALASKA ous pinnacle rocks have been found to be more numerous than in any other part of the Inside passage. Scattered through the channel small islands rise, sometimes only a few feet above the water, their sides of solid gray or red rock dropping away. per- pendicularly benéath the surface. The shore line of the channel is similar, and those who are familiar with such. a glacial formation know that the RD Ne SN Tae aoe ae eat MARINE REVIEW 7 203 same upward jutting rocks probably rise from the floor of the channel it- self. Many wrecks in this vicinity have testified to the correctness of the theory. It is in this district that the tallest pinnacle rock yet discovered has been found. This is called the Washington monument, and it more than makes good its claim to this name by rising 650 feet from the bottom of the chan- nel to within 17 feet of the surface. It is located just off the main channel at the entrance to Thorne arm, the first of the long inlets reaching up into Revillagigedo island.. From here until the vessel passes Ketchican’ it threads the rock-infested waters of Tongass narrows. These waters might well be likened to a spider’s web; for they lie smooth as a lake of glass, mirroring in their calm depths the thickly strewn green islands, while beneath this beautiful surface lurks the trap of the pinnacle rock ready to stab the unsuspecting ship. Channel! is Marked by Blinker Lights Government experts have, however, developed a means of warning ships of these dangers, which is sufficiently inexpensive in operation to offer a practical solution to the problem of protecting ships from the _ thickly sprinkled menace of the pinnacle rock. And it is in this district where the danger is so pronounced that the warning signals are used in such numbers as to direct attention to them. At every jutting point of the islands that border the channel, a small box-like concrete structure holds a light that flashes at regular intervals, and out in the channel itself iron buoys with similar lights. mark the course to be taken. These. are so thick that there are places where the ship cannot vary its course more than 10 feet on either side. Besides these “blinker” lights, there are in this chan- nel spar buoys and post lanterns, which latter are usually steady burn- ing oil lights. For the “blinker” light, the fuel