Old Quonset Huts and other Long Island, AK General Tips

Favorite Thing: Long Island has lot's of World War II era Quonset huts that are in various states of decay. Some are good enough to be used as temporary shelter....others are flattened from falling trees. Some of the ones that have been flattened by the falling trees still have the trees on them and some of them have the shape of being smashed by falling trees but these may have been flattened 50 years ago and the tree that smashed them have since rotted away...those are very interesting to see. As you can still see the root wads near the buildings but the tree is long gone....claimed by the earth.
The Quonset Hut is a World War II design that is based on British Nissen hut, a semicylindrical steel hut, named for it's designer Captain Nissen. It has a few modifications. The name Quonset comes from Quonset Point, Rhode Island This is where the first of these new huts were being produced. It had insulation, pressed-wood interior, could be erected on concrete, on pilings, or on the ground with a wood floor. The wood ends had a door and two windows. The first units were 16 by 36 feet but soon they made them in 20 x 40 foot and 20 x 56 foot models. They also made a 40 x 100 foot warehouse and other sizes. Apparantely there were about 170,000 of these produced for use by the military.There are still many of the these Quonset Huts around Alaska that are privately owned and modified as homes.


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Favorite Thing: On the Northern end of Long Island (Fort Tidball) there are about 70 structures in the form of Concrete Bunkers and Quonset Huts as told to me from my friend that has spent quite a bit more time exploring the area than I have. There are also more on other parts of the island. As we hiked around we could get a sense of what life might have been like here during World War II. The threat of the Japanese invasion probably was in the minds of most men as they had made their way into the Aluetian Islands. They were always on the lookout for enemy Submarines, Ships and Planes.


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Favorite Thing: Slowly but surely time is erasing the signs of life in Long Island...surely some of the buildings could last much longer unless the goverment goes and knocks them down but for some of the buildings Mother Nature is doing a good job to cover up what man has built. The Super thick Green Moss is great camoflauge!!


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Favorite Thing: This is the only pane of glass that I noticed out that remained unbroken out of the many buildings that I checked out...I'm sure there were others but I didn't notice them. This window would be about 60 years old. It's not very clear anymore...


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Favorite Thing: From this angle you can see how the weight of time is buckling the walls of the quonset hut. But for 60 years they have pretty much stood the test of time.


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Favorite Thing: These piles of fencing rings used to be stored in wooden boxes...Well the wooden boxes have long since rotted away and the fencing rings are just in huge piles now. They would be screwed into the ground every 10-15 feet then have wire strung between them. It will take another couple hundred years for the rings to rust away...


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Favorite Thing: There are several buildings similar to this...showing very little life....These must've been flattened by falling trees long ago. We don't have termites here in this area.


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Favorite Thing: Here you can see the beautiful view out over Vera Bay. It is a very rugged area so you can see you don't want to be in a small skiff or a boat without having some knowledge of the local rocks...every year boats sink in these areas.


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Favorite Thing: Here you can see that there has been some major erosion....The land on the left and the land on the right were connected by road at one time!! Now you can only see the two roads on each side and no road in the middle!! This is what 60 years of exposure to the Gulf of Alaska and wind can do!!


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Favorite Thing: Here is a shot of the end of the day with the sun going down through the trees. The Island is all forested with Spruce trees except a couple of the bluffs that don't have any trees at all. If you enlarge the photo you can see Mother Natures lush carpet of green moss. There are plenty of old "roads" and deer trails to find your way around. It would be difficult to get lost here unless you get lost easy!!! haha the island is about 5-6 miles long but only a mile wide at the widest point.


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