who held uranium claims for many years on Bokan Mountain. Transportation Roads A road system, which taxpayers paid for in credits to logging contractors, was built on the island. However, many of these roads are now being decommissioned as unnecessary in the post-clearcutting era. Only a small percentage of this road system is paved, currently no further than the Whale Pass turn-off. The gravel roads cost between 150,000 and 500,000 per mile in today's dollars. Point Baker and Port Protection chose in 1974 not to be connected to the road system. There is now a newly designated state "scenic highway" - the Prince of Wales Island road system. The highway reaches almost every community on Prince of Wales. Cargo A few companies provide scheduled barge service from Pacific coast ports to southeastern Alaskan ports, including those on Prince of Wales island, primarily Craig and Thorne Bay. Public ferry Alaska Marine Highway System Historically, the Alaska Marine Highway (AMHS) intermittently served the port of Hollis, until the Inter-Island Ferry Authority began regular scheduled service. Inter-Island Ferry Authority The Inter-Island Ferry Authority (IFA) provides daily service on a three-hour, 36-mile route between Prince of Wales Island and Ketchikan. The idea of starting a shuttle ferry service was discussed among communities of Klawock, Craig, Thorne Bay, Coffman Cove on the Prince of Wales Island as well as Petersburg and Wrangell in 1997, which would serve on regular timetable. Budget was fixed with the Alaska Congressional delegation as the state Department of Transportation supported the plan to be organized under the Municipal Port Authority Act of Alaska in 1998, and two vessels introduced between 2002 and 2006 have expanded routes from Hollis–Ketchikan to serve north by Clark Bay. It ferries more than 50,000 passengers and 12,000 vehicles between Hollis and Ketchikan annually. The system is more than a form of transportation - it is an economic engine for southern Southeast Alaska, generating jobs, commerce, and tourism - while also increasing community well-being. In 2015, the IFA brought 3,000 tourists to Prince of Wales Island, where they spent more than $10 million on hotels, fishing expeditions, and dining - generating hundreds of summer jobs across the island. It provides a means for the seafood industry to move millions of pounds of high-quality, high-value fresh and live seafood to market, creating hundreds more jobs. It provides access to health care for a thousand island residents who