This report has been prepared in response to a request dated April 22, 1966, from the General Manager of The Alaska Railroad to the Director, U.S. Geological Survey, for an evaluation of the propriety of continued industrial expansion on land contained within The Alaska Railroad Terminal Reserve and nearby. It is based on field examination June 8-12, 1966, in company with Messrs. E. B. Eckel and E. G. Dobrovolny, field work September 19-October 3, 1966, and May 1-June 4, 1967, on discussions with the staff of The Alaska Railroad, my colleagues, and Professor H. B. Seed of the University of California, and on review of published and unpublished material pertinent to the area and its problems.
During the fall of 1966 a detailed topographic map of the port area was prepared for The Alaska Railroad by Jay Whiteford and Associates. During late 1966 and early 1967 a drilling, sampling and soils testing program in an area of immediate interest along Boring Lines 1 and 2 was made by Adams, Corthell, Lee, Wince, and Associates (ACLW), a consultant engineering firm, under contract to The Alaska Railroad. Most of the basic data used in this report for stability analyses, such as the geometry of the ground surface and the physical properties of the materials, was derived from the Whiteford map and the ACLW investigations.
