On May 26, 1900, the United States Congress appropriated $450,000 in order to establish a communications system to connect the many isolated and widely separated U.S. Army outposts and civilian Gold Rush camps in Alaska by telegraph.

Along with Captain George C. Brunnell, Lieutenant Mitchell oversaw the construction of what became known as the Washington-Alaska Military Cable and Telegraph System (WAMCATS).

In 1902 Lt. Billy Mitchell, U.S. Army Signal Corps, was sent to the territory of Alaska to construct a telegraph line linking Valdez and Nome to the United States.

In 1946 Mitchell was awarded posthumously a special non-combat Medal of Honor by Congress for outstanding pioneer service and foresight in field of American Military Aviation.The climate of the Chugach Mountains is strongly influenced by its location close to Prince William Sound and especially the Gulf of Alaska.

[10] Over thousands of years, this snow has accumulated to form glaciers on Mount Billy Mitchell, especially on its north face, which is its leeward side.