Square Rock is a marble pillar formed from an eroding sea stack, about 200 feet (60 m) offshore from the eastern end of Bluff Cliffs on the south coast of the Seward Peninsula in Norton Sound, roughly 50 miles (80 km) east of Nome and 18 miles (29 km) west of Golovin, Alaska. The US Coast and Geodetic Survey first reported the local name around 1940. Much of the Seward Peninsula is built on Early Paleozoic—and possibly older—limestone and slate, with marble and schist of similar age bordering its southeast. Marble forms when sedimentary carbonate rocks, most commonly limestone or dolomite, undergo metamorphism, recrystallizing the original mineral grains into an interlocking mosaic. Pure white marble results from the metamorphism of exceptionally pure limestone or dolomite, whereas the characteristic swirls and veins in colored varieties arise from impurities such as clay, silt, sand, iron oxides, or chert. Green hues often stem from serpentine, which forms in magnesium-rich limestone or dolomite with silica impurities. These impurities mobilize and recrystallize under intense pressure and heat. The region’s highlands and coastal bluffs are typically underlain by marble that supports scant vegetation, while the lowlands are dominated by schist, largely hidden beneath tundra. Along the coast, marble crops out and dips northward beneath the schist, influencing local drainage patterns. Gold-bearing creeks on the south coast drain alluvial basins containing both rock types, which has led to placer deposits and lode formations. At Bluff Cliffs, between Daniels Creek to the west and Koyana Creek to the east, a pale-gray to white, coarse, crystalline marble forms rounded ridges, with gray marble reaching thicknesses of 0.5–1.5 miles (1–2 km). Gold lodes and placers in the area are commonly found near the marble–schist contact zone, underscoring the region’s complex geological history and its ongoing economic significance.
Evidence of Norton Sound’s earliest inhabitants was discovered at the ancient settlement Iyatayet at Cape Denbigh, about 64 miles (103 km) east-southeast of Bluff Cliffs. These people, linked to the Paleo-Arctic Tradition, lived during a warm period in Alaska more than 8,000—and perhaps as long as 12,000—years ago. Between 7,000 and 4,500 years ago, the Northern Archaic Tradition replaced the Paleo-Arctic Tradition across interior and coastal Alaska and Canada’s Yukon Territory. Its hallmark was large, chipped, side‐notched stone points. Then, between 4,000 and 3,000 years ago, the Arctic Small Tool Tradition emerged, distinguished by small, finely chipped implements—end blades, sideblades, microblades, knives, and adzes with polished edges. In western Alaska, the Norton Tradition succeeded the Alaska Small Tool Tradition between 3,000 and 1,000 years ago. While continuing to use flake‐stone tools, the Norton people adopted a more marine‐oriented approach, exploiting both land and sea. They hunted caribou, small mammals, and large sea mammals, and fished for salmon. Their permanent villages—marked by substantial dwellings—were supplemented by seasonal camps. Around 1000 AD, Norton inhabitants on Saint Lawrence and other Bering Strait islands developed a fully maritime culture known as the Thule Tradition, ancestral to today’s Iñupiat. This culture expanded eastward from coastal Alaska across northern Canada, reaching Greenland by the 13th century. The Thule are noted for slate knives, umiaks, seal‐skin floats, and toggling harpoons, subsisting mainly on marine mammals such as walruses and whales. European contact intensified in the 18th century, followed by American involvement after the Alaska Purchase in 1867. Placer gold deposits may have been discovered on the Seward Peninsula as early as 1865–66 during a survey for the Western Union Telegraph Expedition. Major finds near Nome in 1899 and a rich gold beach at Daniels Creek in the winter of 1899–1900 yielded 70,000–75,000 ounces of placer gold by 1920. The mining camp of Bluff at Daniels Creek’s mouth was abandoned around 1919, likely due to an influenza epidemic.
The Bluff Cliffs extend east from the mouth of Daniels Creek for about 4 miles (6 km) along the coast and host one of Norton Sound’s largest seabird colonies. Reputedly, the Bluff Cliffs colony is the most continuously studied in Alaska; research began in 1975 and monitoring has occurred nearly every year since. These colonies form the largest congregation of cliff‐nesting seabirds on western mainland Alaska outside Bristol Bay, some 370 miles (600 km) to the south. The site comprises five adjacent colonies sharing common feeding areas. The Bluff Cliffs colony is the largest, with about 125,000 nesting seabirds, followed by the Square Rock colony; the other three are much smaller. Common murres dominate the population, while about 10,000 thick-billed murres inhabit Square Rock and nearby cliffs. Black-legged kittiwakes also occur in significant numbers. In dense colonies, common murres breed in physical contact. They build no nests; their single egg is incubated on a bare rock ledge, hatching after about 30 days. About 20 days later, the chick leaves the ledge. Though initially flightless, it glides over water and can dive as soon as it lands. Common murres are pursuit divers that forage underwater using their wings. They feed mainly on small schooling fish such as polar cod, capelin, sand lances, sprats, and sand eels, and may forage up to 60 miles (100 km) from their breeding grounds. Globally, common murres may number as many as 7.3 million breeding pairs, although a massive die-off occurred in the northeast Pacific in 2016. Read more here and here. Explore more of Square Rock and the Bluff Cliffs here:
Pacific Biological Laboratories is a small, unpainted, two-story wood-frame building toward the northwest end of Cannery Row that served as a biological supply company operated by Edward F. Ricketts from 1937 to 1948, on property now sandwiched between the Monterey Bay Aquarium and the Intercontinental Hotel in Monterey, California. The firm sold preserved animals—mostly marine specimens—and prepared microscope slides for schools, museums and research institutions. Specimens, primarily gathered from Monterey Bay, underscored the region’s diverse marine life thriving along rocky intertidal reefs. Its operations reflected the era’s growing scientific interest in marine biology and ocean exploration. The rocky shore comprises porphyritic granodiorite, the fundamental rock of the Monterey Peninsula. This rock crops out in shades ranging from light gray to moderate pink and features orthoclase crystals measuring 1–4 inches (3–10 cm). Radiometric dating places its formation in the Late Cretaceous—approximately 79.5 million years ago. This rugged geology supports diverse ecosystems and contributes to the bay’s ecological richness. Massive granite is cut by pegmatite dikes—typically about 4 inches (10 cm) wide and composed of coarse-grained quartz and feldspar. Weathering erodes the granite between these resilient dikes, creating a rugged surface marked by large boulders and rocky islands that rise above the water. The granite bedrock intruded by dikes not only produces striking landscapes but also influences local coastal processes, providing ample substrate for benthic organisms and varied animal habitats. Monterey Canyon, beginning off Moss Landing in central Monterey Bay, extends 249 miles (401 km) to a depth of 11,800 feet (3,600 m), ranking among the world’s largest underwater canyons. The canyon delivers nutrient-rich water that upwells near shore, sustaining a food chain of marine mammals, fish, sharks, mollusks (including abalone and squid), birds, turtles, benthic invertebrates and seaweeds. Kelp forests flourish in the present-day Edward F. Ricketts State Marine Conservation Area, further enriching the marine environment. This dynamic interplay of geology and oceanography shapes Monterey Bay’s rich natural heritage.
Pacific Biological Laboratories was founded in 1923 by Ed Ricketts and his college roommate, Albert E. Galigher. Galigher soon moved to Berkeley, while Ricketts incorporated the firm in 1924 with six additional shareholders. In 1928, the lab relocated after its original building was slated for demolition. Its new waterfront premises comprised a three‐room house, a cement‐floored shed and cement tanks for specimen storage. In 1929, it published its first catalog with the University Apparatus Company of Berkeley. Across Ocean View Avenue, Flora Wood’s Lone Star Restaurant and the nearby La Ida Cafe neighbored the Wing Chong Market, owned by Chinese entrepreneur Won Yee. In 1936, a fire at the adjacent Del Mar Cannery destroyed the lab and most of Ricketts’s belongings. The firm then sold the northwest half of its property to Won Yee to finance reconstruction and resume operations. The rebuilt, rectangular lab opened in 1937. It rests on a concrete slab and features board-and-batten walls except along its Cannery Row facade. The ground floor interior consisted of the garage entry, a specimen preparation area with two open spaces separated by a wood partition. To the rear of the lab, on a cement deck, are two concrete specimen holding tanks that were in place when Ricketts first purchased the property from Vicente Rodriguez in 1928. They had been used as part of a fish salting operation before Ricketts employed them to store dogfish and other marine specimens. In 1949, a year after Ricketts’s death, local grocer Yock Yee purchased the building. High school teacher and jazz enthusiast Harlan Watkins later rented it before acquiring it in 1956. Two years later, after Watkins moved to Europe, friends—including Frank Wright, Ed Haber, Joe Turner, Fred Fry and Ed Larsh—bought the building under its historic name for use as a men’s social club. Prominent Monterey artists and writers frequented the club until the City of Monterey acquired the building in 1993, when the Cannery Row Foundation restored it.
Edward Ricketts was born in Chicago in 1897. After a public school education, he joined the army during World War I. In 1919, following his discharge, he attended the University of Chicago, where he encountered ocean sciences under the guidance of early ecologist Warder Clyde Allee. Allee’s theory of universal social behavior—arguing that animals behave differently in groups than individually—influenced Ricketts’s ideas on the interdependence of organisms and physical phenomena. These concepts later underpinned his pioneering study of intertidal habitats along the Pacific Coast. Ricketts married Anna ‘Nan’ Barbara Maker in 1922 and, with their first child, moved from Chicago to the Monterey Peninsula in 1923. There, he and his former schoolmate, Albert E. Galigher, founded Pacific Biological Laboratories. Ricketts maintained extensive correspondence with the scientific community, and his broad knowledge of marine life earned him the nickname ‘Doc,’ as many assumed he held advanced degrees. He authored the ecological classic Between Pacific Tides, published in 1939, which remains a seminal work on intertidal ecology. His deep understanding of marine ecosystems not only advanced scientific inquiry but also inspired writer John Steinbeck. Steinbeck immortalized him in several novels, including Cannery Row, Sweet Thursday, Burning Bright, In Dubious Battle, The Grapes of Wrath, and The Moon is Down. The two also collaborated on Sea of Cortez, republished in 1951 as The Log from the Sea of Cortez. In 1948, they planned an expedition to British Columbia to study marine life north toward Alaska. A week before the planned journey, while driving across railroad tracks on his way to dinner, Ricketts was struck by a passenger train and died three days later. His legacy endures in both scientific literature and popular culture. Ricketts’s work bridged the gap between scientific research and public understanding, influencing generations of biologists and naturalists. His integrated approach combined field observation with meticulous documentation, offering fresh insights into the complex relationships among marine species and their environment. Read more here and here. Explore more of Pacific Biological Laboratories and Cannery Row here: