Anchorage Times (AK); Business-Financial; July 29, 1976
One of Alaska’s few experts on permafrost, and an internationally recognized soil foundations engineer – Erwin “Irv” Long of the Alaska District, Corps of Engineers – retired this month after 28 years of Federal Service.
Among his patented inventions relating to construction in permafrost areas is the Long Thermo – pile, a device which as been used to stabilize several structures built by the Corps in Alaska.
Long, a registered professional engineer, has been chief of the District’s Foundations and Materials Branch since l971. Among the difficult projects he has worked on were the erosion control program at Galena on the Yukon, and the Chena River Lakes Flood Control Project at Fairbanks. Following the 1964 earthquake, Long played a key role in soils analysis and in helping plan reconstruction during the disaster recovery period.
Irv plans to remain in the Anchorage area with his wife, Gloria, and their four children. He looks forward especially to continuing his hiking and mountain climbing hobby of many years, and to his new favorite pastime, soaring. He contemplates buying a motor-powered German sail plane.
Born in 1920 in Forest Lake, Minnesota, he is the son of Lloyd L. Long of Newport, Minnesota.