Mount Billy Mitchell is a prominent peak located in the

Chugach Mountains The Chugach Mountains of southern Alaska are the northernmost of the several mountain ranges that make up the Pacific Coast Ranges of the western edge of North America. The range is about long and wide, and extends from the Knik and Turnagai ...

, east of Valdez and west of the Copper River in the U.S. state of

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...

. This mountain forms a prominent and easily visible landmark between mile markers 43 and 51 of the

Richardson Highway The Richardson Highway is a highway in the U.S. state of Alaska, running 368 miles (562 km) and connecting Valdez to Fairbanks. It is marked as Alaska Route 4 from Valdez to Delta Junction and as Alaska Route 2 from there to Fairbanks. I ...

, as the highway passes just to its west between Tonsina and the Thompson Pass (see photograph). Mount Billy Mitchell was named for William "Billy" Mitchell (18791936), a

brigadier general Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

of the

United States Army Air Service The United States Army Air Service (USAAS)Craven and Cate Vol. 1, p. 9 (also known as the ''"Air Service"'', ''"U.S. Air Service"'' and before its legislative establishment in 1920, the ''"Air Service, United States Army"'') was the aerial war ...

who is often referred to as the "father of the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...

Naming

In response to the Klondike Gold Rush, the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

established numerous military outposts throughout the

District of Alaska The District of Alaska was the federal government’s designation for Alaska from May 17, 1884 to August 24, 1912, when it became Alaska Territory. Previously (1867–1884) it had been known as the Department of Alaska, a military designation ...

. As a lieutenant in the

United States Army Signal Corps The United States Army Signal Corps (USASC) is a branch of the United States Army that creates and manages communications and information systems for the command and control of combined arms forces. It was established in 1860, the brainchild of Ma ...

, Mitchell was stationed in Alaska at that time. On May 26, 1900, the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

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 A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New ...

camps in Alaska by

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...

. 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 Southcentral Alaska (russian: Юго-Центральная Аляска) is the portion of the U.S. state of Alaska consisting of the shorelines and uplands of the central Gulf of Alaska. Most of the population of the state lives in this reg ...

Fort Egbert Fort Egbert was a U.S. Army base in Eagle, Alaska. It operated from 1899 to 1911. History Fort Egbert was established in 1899, during the Klondike Gold Rush, as U.S. Army headquarters in the District of Alaska. It was named by U.S. President Wil ...

Eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, j ...

on the Canada–United States border to Fort St. Michael to Nome on the

Seward Peninsula The Seward Peninsula is a large peninsula on the western coast of the U.S. state of Alaska whose westernmost point is Cape Prince of Wales. The peninsula projects about into the Bering Sea between Norton Sound, the Bering Strait, the Chukchi ...

, 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 of overland telegraph cable, over of submarine communications cable, and a

wireless telegraphy Wireless telegraphy or radiotelegraphy is transmission of text messages by radio waves, analogous to electrical telegraphy using cables. Before about 1910, the term ''wireless telegraphy'' was also used for other experimental technologies for ...

system crossing the

Norton Sound Norton Sound (russian: Нортон-Саунд) is an inlet of the Bering Sea on the western coast of the U.S. state of Alaska, south of the Seward Peninsula. It is about 240 km (150 mi) long and 200 km (125 mi) wide. The Yukon ...

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. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

in the contiguous United States. Among the greatest logistical and technological achievements of its day, the WAMCATS included the first successful long-distance

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...

operation in the world. A

historical marker A commemorative plaque, or simply plaque, or in other places referred to as a historical marker, historic marker, or historic plaque, is a plate of metal, ceramic, stone, wood, or other material, typically attached to a wall, stone, or other ...

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 Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities (DOT&PF) is a department within the government of Alaska. Its headquarters are in Alaska's capital city, Juneau. The mission of Alaska DOT&PF is to "''Keep Alaska Moving through service ...

, the text reads (see photograph):

Glaciers

The climate of the Chugach Mountains is strongly influenced by its location close to

Prince William Sound Prince William Sound ( Sugpiaq: ''Suungaaciq'') is a sound of the Gulf of Alaska on the south coast of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is located on the east side of the Kenai Peninsula. Its largest port is Valdez, at the southern terminus of the T ...

and especially the

Gulf of Alaska The Gulf of Alaska (Tlingit: ''Yéil T'ooch’'') is an arm of the Pacific Ocean defined by the curve of the southern coast of Alaska, stretching from the Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak Island in the west to the Alexander Archipelago in the east ...

. The Gulf of Alaska generates powerful

winter storm A winter storm is an event in which wind coincides with varieties of precipitation that only occur at freezing temperatures, such as snow, mixed snow and rain, or freezing rain. In temperate continental climates, these storms are not necessa ...

s 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 —than in any other location in the United States. Over thousands of years, this snow has accumulated to form

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as ...

s 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), the rate of

ablation Ablation ( la, ablatio – removal) is removal or destruction of something from an object by vaporization, chipping, erosive processes or by other means. Examples of ablative materials are described below, and include spacecraft material for a ...

has exceeded the rate of accumulation over the past few decades. Because of this, Mount Billy Mitchell's glaciers have retreated significantly in recent years.

Notes

{{Reflist, refs= {{cite journal, last=Jessup, first=DE , title=Connecting Alaska: The Washington-Alaska Military Cable and Telegraph System (abstract) , journal=The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era , volume=6, issue=4, pages=385–408, year=2007, issn=1943-3557, doi=10.1017/S1537781400002218 , s2cid=162709568 , url=http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=7879537 {{cite web , author = National Climatic Data Center , author-link = National Climatic Data Center , title = Comparative Climate Data for the United States through 2018 , pages = 47–54 , publisher =

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...

, location = Asheville, North Carolina , year = 2018 , url = https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/attachments/CCD-2018.pdf , access-date = 2020-01-06

Naming

Glaciers

See also

Notes

Further reading