Mount Billy Mitchell (Chugach Mountains)

Naming

In response to the Klondike Gold Rush, the United States Army established numerous military outposts throughout the District of Alaska. As a lieutenant in the United States Army Signal Corps, Mitchell was stationed in Alaska at that time. On May 26, 1900, the United States Congress appropriated $450,000 in order to establish a communications system to connect the many isolated and widely separated U.S. Army outposts and civilian Gold Rush camps in Alaska by telegraph. Along with Captain George C. Brunnell, Lieutenant Mitchell oversaw the construction of what became known as the Washington-Alaska Military Cable and Telegraph System (WAMCATS).

Construction of the WAMCATS system began in the summer of 1900. Stretching from Fort Liscum at Valdez in Southcentral Alaska to Fort Egbert at Eagle on the Canada–United States border to Fort St. Michael to Nome on the Seward Peninsula, construction crews completed the final overland connection south of Fairbanks on June 27, 1903. By the time WAMCATS was fully operational in 1904, the system included almost 1400 mi of overland telegraph cable, over 2000 mi of submarine communications cable, and a 107 mi wireless telegraphy system crossing the Norton Sound to Nome. This telegraph line was the first to link American outposts in Eagle, Valdez and Nome with each other as well as to Washington, D.C. in the contiguous United States. Among the greatest logistical and technological achievements of its day, the WAMCATS included the first successful long-distance radio operation in the world.

A historical marker is located at a roadside highway turnout just north of where the Richardson Highway crosses the Tiekel River. Placed by the Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities, the text reads (see photograph):

Glaciers

The climate of the Chugach Mountains is strongly influenced by its location close to Prince William Sound and especially the Gulf of Alaska. The Gulf of Alaska generates powerful winter storms which drive heavy precipitation northwards into southern and Southcentral Alaska, including the Chugach Mountains. More snow falls in the vicinity of Valdez—an average annual snowfall of 279 in—than in any other location in the United States. Over thousands of years, this snow has accumulated to form glaciers on Mount Billy Mitchell, especially on its north face, which is its leeward side. Despite this long-term glaciation and even in the face of continuing heavy snowfall (the winter of 2011-2012 saw record snowfall in this area),{{cite journal

Notes

References

1. {{cite peakbagger
2. {{cite gnis
3. Ott, WJ. (2006). "Maj Gen William "Billy" Mitchell: a pyrrhic promotion". [[Air and Space Power Journal]].
4. Byrd, M. (2008-09-19). "The father of the U.S. Air Force". [[Francis E. Warren Air Force Base]].
5. Jones, ML. (2010-01-28). "William 'Billy' Mitchell -- 'The father of the United States Air Force' once lived on Fort Sam". United States Army.
6. (2003). "Eagle-Fort Egbert:a remnant of the past". United States Bureau of Land Management.
7. 59th Signal Battalion. (2012-04-18). "59th Signal Battalion: History". United States Army Alaska (USARAK).
8. Worldatlas.com. (2012). "Gulf of Alaska". Graphic Maps.
9. Earth Science World. (2012). "Mount Billy Mitchell:glaciers". [[American Geosciences Institute]].
10. Molnia, BF. (2003). "Alaskan Glaciers". [[United States Geological Survey]], [[United States Department of the Interior]].