Fritz Cove is a
bay on the northwestern coast of
Douglas Island in the
City and Borough of Juneau ,
Alaska , United States.
[1] Lying in
Stephens Passage , it is 8 miles (13 km) northwest of the city of Juneau.
Historically, Fritz Cove was used for fishing by Alaska Natives, especially the
Auke people . A summer camp named Aangoox̱a Yé was located at the mouth of Fish Creek.
[2] Scottish-American naturalist
John Muir camped at the bay on November 10, 1879.
[3]
History
The area was surveyed by the
USS Jamestown in 1880;
[4]
[5] Lieutenant F. M. Symonds named the bay after his son. The name was first published by the
United States Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1881.
[6]
Geography
Fritz Cove and
Gastineau Channel became linked in 1960 through a
United States Army Corps of Engineers effort to dredge a navigation route.
[7]
Streams flowing into Fritz Cove include
Cove Creek ,
[8]
Elevenmile Creek ,
[9] and
Fish Creek .
[10] Islands in the bay include
Spuhn Island .
[11] Depths in the bay range from 8 to 30 fathoms (15 to 55 m).
[12]
The USS Jamestown explored southeast Alaska, including Fritz Cove, in 1880 and 1881.
Dungeness crabs ,
[13]
Tanner crabs ,
[14] and
king salmon
[15] live in the cove; molting of the male Tanner crabs in the cove has been documented since the 1970s.
[16]
Scoters ,
grebes ,
mergansers , and
marbled murrelets can also be seen in the area.
[17]
References
^ U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. United States Coast Pilot: Alaska, Part I: Dixon Entrance to Yakutat Bay, Sixth Edition , p. 158. Government Printing Office: Washington, 1917.
^
Goldschmidt, Walter R. , and Haas, Theodore H. Haa Aaní, Our Land: Tlingit and Haida Land Rights and Use .
Sealaska Corporation , 1998.
^ Muir, John; Engberg, Robert (ed.); and Merrell, Bruce (ed.) Letters from Alaska . University of Wisconsin Press: Madison, Wisconsin, 1993.
^ Annual Report of the Hydrographic Office for the Fiscal Year 1924. Government Printing Office: Washington, 1924.
^
U.S.S. Jamestown Warship and Her Personnel, 1880 and 1881 . Alaska Trails to the Past. Accessed June 23, 2010.
^
USGS GNIS Feature Detail Report: Fritz Cove . Accessed July 23, 2010.
^ Pursell, Jenny (July 11, 2004).
"Trek through 'the flats' reveals beauty of wetlands" .
Juneau Empire . Retrieved December 11, 2010 .
^
USGS GNIS Feature Detail Report: Cove Creek . Accessed July 23, 2010.
^
USGS GNIS Feature Detail Report: Elevenmile Creek . Accessed July 23, 2010.
^
USGS GNIS Feature Detail Report: Fish Creek . Accessed July 23, 2010.
^
USGS GNIS Feature Detail Report: Spuhn Island . Accessed July 23, 2010.
^ U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. Table of Depths for Channels and Harbors , p. 117. Government Printing Office: Washington, 1913.
^ Stone, Robert P., and O'Clair, Charles E. "Behavior of Female Dungeness Crabs, Cancer magister , in a Glacial Southeast Alaska Estuary: Homing, Brooding-Site Fidelity, Seasonal Movements, and Habitat Use".
Journal of Crustacean Biology . May 2002.
^ Stone, Robert P.
" "Mass Molting of Tanner Crabs Chionoecetes bairdi in a Southeast Alaska Estuary" " (PDF) . (121.55 KB) Alaska Fishery Research Bulletin , Volume 6, No. 1. Summer 1999. Accessed July 23, 2010.
^ Wallace, Brian (October 5, 2008).
"A fisherman's Elegy" .
Juneau Empire . Retrieved July 23, 2010 .
^ Golden, Kate (April 13, 2008).
"Shells litter Douglas Island beach as Tanner crabs molt en masse" .
Juneau Empire . Retrieved December 11, 2010 .
^ Willson, Mary F. (February 19, 2006).
"On the Trails: Kingfishers, Dollies, crows can be found on Fish Creek Trail" .
Juneau Empire . Retrieved December 11, 2010 .
Further reading
James, Bushrod Washington . Alaska: Its Neglected Past, Its Brilliant Future . The Sunshine Publishing Company: Philadelphia, 1897.
Miller, Mike . Alaska's Southeast: Touring the Inside Passage . Morris Book Publishing. Eleventh edition, 2008.