THE- KUSKO TIMES
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Owner and Editor.
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Entered as secona-class matter Au
igust 29th, 1923, at the postoffice a
Tokotna, Alaska, under the Act o
March 3, 1879.
’.Takotna, Alaska, September 2fi, 1931
’WHAT IS THE EXACT
HEIGHT OF MT. McKIM.EY.
(Duke E. Stubbs, former wel
Iknown oldtimer of Interior Alaska
■particularly at Iditarod and in th'
’Lower Kuskokwim section, sends Thi
•Kusko Times the following concern
iing the height of Mount McKinley.)
Now that observers have crossei
(over Bulshaia Gora, now called Mt
McKinley, it -has revived an old dis
tcussion on two points:
1. Was Mt. McKinley scaled ii
iformer years? and
2. What if- its probable height?
As to the first question the observ
u>rs report seeing no monuments
:stakes or filling stations.
As to height: Many years ago old
ttimers und others called its heigh
-.23,000 feet. This elevation was gen
•erally believed to have been found b;
(the early Russians, who were makinj
imaps of that region.
Later, and about the years 1906 o:
1907, a rumor gained currency tha
jsomeone out of uncharted space hat
found the height of the Big Hill ti
Pacific
International
Airways
Fly in comfort t- all points in
A1 -ka in onr four-passenger
cabin plane. Large baggage
compartment separate from the
'Cabin. Equipment for water
landings.
• fSig’ -seeing trip ■■ any tim \
$5.00 pe- jasscn^jr.
For Hates to Ak:ha Points
WIRE
Rohdrt H. Romig >
AGENT
Anchorage, Alaska
be 20,461 feet. The modesty of the
author, •who was apparently on a ship
at sea, seemed to be the only reason
for not attaching a few inches to his |
answer.
The use of these uncertain figures
is misleading, indicates an accuracy |
that did not exist, and a reflection on
the intelligence of the observer.
Ti.t height of 20,310 feet was in
use around 1900 or 1910, and 2C.300
feet has been used in some govern
ment and other publications since.
Tables for curvature and refraction
corrections have only been worked
out by the government for -distances
of 66 miles. (Corrections to be added
for this distance is 2,600 feet,) The
early observations were made from
either Valdez, coast points or at sea,
and distant from Mt. McKinley 100
to 200 miles or more. Readings on
points more than 66 miles are frown- |
ed on by the government as of no
merit.
The official figures and data .relat- '
ing to the recent flight across the Big .
Hill are retained by the weather bu- j
reau and will not be released until j
next -Octoher. i
1 The plane crossing Mt. McKinley j
’ carried attached to a wing an altitude j
recording instrument called a baro- j
'! graph. Since some have expressed a j
childlike faith in the uncorrected re- j
! corded figures indicated by the baro-j
, graph, I would like to quote a few '
^ | facts from government and other
• sources on the means of determining
elevations. 1
The instruments most used for de
termining elevations, the results
being mostly rough estimates, are
variously called the aneroid barome
ter, weather glass, .altimeter, baro
■ graph, etc.
I The construction of all consists es
j sentially of a corrugated metal box,
: j partly exhausted of air. This box ex
'! pands and •contracts with changes in
atmospheric pressure. This movement
' • is greatly multiplied through a lever
' and chain to an index pointer moving
‘ ‘ over a scale on the face of the jnstru
; ment.
These are instruments for weigh
* I ing atmospheric pressure, which at
'1 any point is constantly changing. Al
I titude has no bearing on the reading
1 of the needle. That is, the elevation j
I of the same place as indicated by the j
| barometer at two different times may j
change as much as 2,000 feet. Ba- j
rometer readings taken at same hour
at two different places may be exast
ly the same and yet elevations of the
two places be quite different.
A rurrent time card on the Alaska
Railroad gives Nenana 80 feet lower,
and distant 59 miles from Fairbanks.
Barometer readings taken during
j time of flight and at same hour at
. both places gives Nenana 250 feet
higher than Fairbanks, or adding dif
ference for direct leveling, 330 feet
higher. At the same hour barometer
readings at Anchorage and Fairbanks
• makes Anchorage 895 feet higher.
The same time card gives Anchorage
: as 140 feet lower. The three points
named above are the only ones in In-*
terior Alaska where a check can be
made on barometer readings.
Since no barometer is located near
Mt. McKinley, there if no .reliable
way to check the reading of a baro
graph carried by a plane over the
mountain.
■ The nearest points at which any
FIRE INSURANCE
You should carry a liberal amount of fire insurance,
for the sake of your credit and your peace of mind.
Needless to say this insuaance should be of the very
highest quality.
That’s the Kind Written By
Alaska Insurance Agency
FAIRBANKS, ALASKA
Iaaair« «rf Kusko Times.
attempt at a check could be made are:
Fairbanks,' N. E., 160 miles; Nenana
N. E., 120 miles; Anchorage, S., 135
miles; McGrath, W., 155 miles; Hit.
arod, S. W., 215 miles; Ruby, N. W.,j
195 miles.
Of these points at time of flight,
Fairbanks had highest thermometer
and lowest barometer readings, Idit-1
arol much the highest barometer and
lowest thermometer, Anchorage next.
All points were cloudy except Ruby
and Ilitarod, indicating .further
change in the pressure that day. A
thermometer attached to a wing of
the plane read 10 below zero at top
of mountain, 59 above at -Fairbanks,;
and 40 above at Iditarod.
All the above points are too dis- 1
tant to be helpful in correcting the
barometer realing taken in flight.
Other corrections for humidity, tem
perature (which is often a large
amount), wind, lag of needle, etc.,
are usually applied when some sort
of accuracy is aimed at.
The accounts of ascertaining accu- ’
lately the measuremnts of high
mountains by means of an aneroid
barometer will be believed by those
only who are ignorant of the subject.
In 1924 a government survey party
carried a network of lines by trian
gulation a short distance north of
.Broal Pass and along the Alaska
Railroad, using levels established by i
first->order leveling in 1922. It was
their unofficial opinion that the early
estimate of Mt. McKinley’s height of
24,000 feet was too low.
ram other sources and many ob
servations the height of Mt. McKin
ley is believed to be between 25,000
and 26,000 feet above sea level.
The results of the first-order level
ing in 1922 anl levels established by
railroad engineers differ, and the
cause is probably due to the fact that
no sea level had been established at
the time the railroad work was start
ed and an arbitrary sea level was
user, and later was found in error. j
D. E. STUBBS,
McKinley Park, Alaska, j
INTERESTING NOTES.
The British commonwealth of na
tions covers about one-fourth of the
habitable .area of the world.
In parts of Mexico, large harmless
snakes of the python type are kept
to catch mice, as we keep house
The 30-acre rosarium at Sanger
hausen, Germany, contains more than
350,000 rose bushes, comprising 9,000
varieties.
Cuba has just completed the con
struction of a new 700-mile highway
at the cost of 00,000,000.
More than five billion eigarets were
consumed in Canada during 1930.
McGrath
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