Fritz Cove Explained

Fritz Cove
Pushpin Map:	Alaska
Location:	Stephens Passage, Juneau, Alaska
Coords:	58.3281°N -134.6417°W
Rivers:	Cove Creek, Elevenmile Creek, Fish Creek
Countries:	United States
Max-Depth:	30fathom
Islands:	Spuhn Island

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 8miles 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 8fathom30fathom.^[12]

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]

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.

Notes and References

1. 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.
2. [Goldschmidt, Walter R.]
3. Muir, John; Engberg, Robert (ed.); and Merrell, Bruce (ed.) Letters from Alaska. University of Wisconsin Press: Madison, Wisconsin, 1993.
4. Annual Report of the Hydrographic Office for the Fiscal Year 1924. Government Printing Office: Washington, 1924.
5. http://alaskaweb.org/military/jamestown1880-81.html U.S.S. Jamestown Warship and Her Personnel, 1880 and 1881
6. http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/f?p=gnispq:3:::NO::P3_FID:1402419 USGS GNIS Feature Detail Report: Fritz Cove
7. Web site: Trek through 'the flats' reveals beauty of wetlands . Pursell, Jenny . July 11, 2004 . . December 11, 2010.
8. http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/f?p=gnispq:3:::NO::P3_FID:1400740 USGS GNIS Feature Detail Report: Cove Creek
9. http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/f?p=gnispq:3:::NO::P3_FID:1401785 USGS GNIS Feature Detail Report: Elevenmile Creek
10. http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/f?p=gnispq:3:::NO::P3_FID:1402082 USGS GNIS Feature Detail Report: Fish Creek
11. http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/f?p=gnispq:3:::NO::P3_FID:1410068 USGS GNIS Feature Detail Report: Spuhn Island
12. U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. Table of Depths for Channels and Harbors, p. 117. Government Printing Office: Washington, 1913.
13. 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.
14. Stone, Robert P. Web site: "Mass Molting of Tanner Crabs Chionoecetes bairdi in a Southeast Alaska Estuary" .   Alaska Fishery Research Bulletin, Volume 6, No. 1. Summer 1999. Accessed July 23, 2010.
15. Web site: A fisherman's Elegy . Wallace, Brian . October 5, 2008 . . July 23, 2010.
16. Web site: Shells litter Douglas Island beach as Tanner crabs molt en masse . Golden, Kate . April 13, 2008 . . December 11, 2010.
17. Web site: On the Trails: Kingfishers, Dollies, crows can be found on Fish Creek Trail . Willson, Mary F. . February 19, 2006 . . December 11, 2010.