DUTCH HARBOUR: KEYSTONE IN ARCTIC CIRCLE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 05, Issue 84, 29 July 1942, Page 6

DUTCH HARBOUR: KEYSTONE IN ARCTIC CIRCLE

Dutch Harbour is situated on tiny Amaknak Island in a deep inlet of the northern shore of much larger Unalaska Island, one of the long" chain of Aleutians which string' out in a sweeping arc toward- Japan. It is about 2835 air miles from Tokio on the Southwest, and 2.'?!.") miles from San Francisco on the Southeast. It thus forms the apex for a roughly triangular line which might be drawn on the map between the three points. From Seattle. Wash., to Dutch Harbour is about 1900 air miles. The United States lias been build-, ing fortifications there, since 19-iO. Their extent has been kept secret. Dutch Harbour, which until recently was onlj r a village with a trading post, a fuel oil depot, and a naval radio station; received its r.iurie because, of the tradition thai: a Dulch ship first entered is bay. a bul!e!i:; from the National CJeographi;• . Society points out. Russian rsavigalors. however, early came this way. They knew the then-busy fur-seal i; Sμ centre by its native Eskimo name of Udakta. Later, the. harbour became a wa\" station for vessel making for the gold rush regions of the, Yukon and Nome, Alaska. Dutch Harbour is l?i miles- long by half a mile in width, "Water is deep near the. shores and in most parts of the harbour: violent gales occasionally sweep these Maters. when mariners are warned to look. out for willowaws, sudden gusts of cold land air, common along mountainous coasts of high latitudes.