Students document net sheds for Library of Congress

Structures are focus of land-surveying program in harbor

Susan Schell

of the Gateway

Four students and a teacher from Bates Technical College in Tacoma got their feet wet on a special project in Gig Harbor last week.

They were contracted to lend a hand during the course of their land-surveying program to take data on three of the area’s historic net sheds — the Tarabochia, Stanich and Puratich sheds.

Seventeen sheds were documented with the help of the national parks service through a grant from Washington’s Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation.

“They contracted us to do the surveys, so this gave our students a chance to do something hands-on,” instructor Rich Lang said. “We spent three days documenting the sheds. We’re taking the angle and distance measurements of the sheds to get a 3-D model so they can map the buildings for historical purposes.”

“I’m looking forward to entering the data into the computer, connecting the dots and seeing what we have,” said student Paul Burke.

The data collected will become a part of the Library of Congress’ archives and can be accessed through the national park service’s Web site, “Built in America.”

Reporter Susan Schell can be reached at 253-853-9240 or by e-mail at susan.schell@gateline.com.