Kodiak Alaska Military History

Introduction

Buskin Hill and Artillery Hill are part of the Fort Greely Headquarters located between the mouth of the Buskin River and Deadman's Curve. Buskin Hill is now partly within the Buskin River State Recreation Site. One popular hiking entrance is near the south end of Boy Scout Lake (Lake Margaret). There are remains of Quonset huts, but none standing. There are 155mm gun mounts on Buskin Hill. There are two ammunition bunkers close to the gun mounts. The bunkers have welded shut doors. Artillery Hill, closer to Dead Man's Curve and Kodiak, has the Harbor Defense Command Post.

Click on a thumbnail to see a larger version. Text and web page design by Joe Stevens

The pictures

	1 - This is a wooden building that was partially below grade.
	2 - Typical of the Quonset remains.
	3 - There are objects that may be left by post WWII squatters.
	4 - The privy could be a squatters improvement of an original.
	5 - This is a very heavy galvanized Armco magazine.

Two Panama Gun Mounts

	6 - The outer ring has a railroad track imbedded in concrete and a gear rack. Also see our Panama gun mount page.
	7 - The gun mounts are heavily overgrown and easily missed.
	8 - It is very hard to photograph the two gun mounts because of the overgrowth.
	9 - The center of the gun mounts is identical to three visible on Pillar Mountain as well as other sites.
	10 - The inside of the outer concrete circle has a gear rack.

Panama Gun Mounts updated 2 April 2015

Harbor Defense map of this site 1945

Gun mounts 3 and 4 were not visited this trip.

	- Looking up the gully between guns 2 and 3 from the beach. There was a road once upon a time and it's easily hiked.
	- Gun mount No 1
	- Gun mount No 2
	- Shelter remains by gun mount No 2
	- Magazine closest to gun mount No 1. Number A1738 on wall.
	- Magazine closest to gun mount No 1. Number A1738 on wall.
	- Magazine closest to gun mount No 1. Inside. It's welded up so you can only see in through a small hole.

Aerial image from 1951 of the 155mm gun battery.

Aerial image from 2013 of the 155mm gun battery.

Above images from Kodiak Island Borough aerial photos as early as 1951 (Use the LAYERS icon on the upper right.)

As of 2006 October 15 the HDCP still has it's A1647 number plate and pretty well looks the same as it did in 2000. The two azimuth instrument pedestals located adjacent in the undergrowth were removed to the museum on this date. The number A1647 is listed in the 1964 navy building list.

Gun Mount near HDCP

Approximately 800 feet north of the HDCP there is a gun mount. Lt. Col. B.W. Boyes Diary of the 2nd Battalion (Reinforced) 250th Coastal Artillery, 1942, refers to a provisional Naval 6-inch gun on Artillery Hill. There is a six foot square steel plate in the center of a twenty foot diameter round concrete pad. A small portion of the corners of the plate are cut off at a 45 degree angle. In the center of the two-inch thick steel plate, there is a two-foot diameter hole. The hole is only in the steel and not in the concrete. There is a small space between the plate and the concrete below and this space is partially filled with wood. There are many inch and three-quarter diameter threaded studs sticking up from the steel plate. The photo was taken 2000 August 4 with part of the overburden removed.

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