Electrical Power for Valdez and the Copper River Basin-1981

The closest site investigated by De Laguna to the Valdez area was GalenaBiiY. It was reportedly a fish camp. There '/Jere two semi-subterraneanhouses which have since washed away. The only trace of early occupationwas a 2-foot layer of humus and fire cracked rock at a sand beach. Aspitting adz, a broken pestle and an unfinished hunting lamp came from abank near tl'lO existing cabins.A cultural resou~ce survey conducted in connection with the proposedright-of-way for the Alyeska pipeline checked out the area being clearedfor storage tanks. This area is located just south of the remainingbuildings of old Fort Liscum which is in the affected area of AllisonCreek hydropower project. Th e 0 pi ni on was t he a rea conta i ned 1 itt 1 epromise of archeological value (Workman 1970).Historical SettingThe Spaniards are credited with the initial discovery of Valdez Bay byDon Salvador Fidalgo in 1790. He named the bay for a fellow navalofficer Antonio Valdes y Basan. In 1884, Captain William RalphAbercrombie of the U~S. Army surveyed a portage route from the interiorto Port Va 1 del;Around 1889, the early beginnings of what 10 years 1 ater was to be abooming stamped town began to make an appearance at Port Valdez. Earlyminers came to seek routes leading to their fortune in mineral wealth.The discovery of gold in the interior established Valdez as one of thethree Alaskan routes to the gold fields. There was prospecting donearound Valdez, also. The streamer and transport companies were making afortune bringing men to the port towns (Wartan 1972).Captain Abercrombie was responsible for establishing a military road toFort Egbert in Eagle, exploring the Copper River valley and maintainingsome order in Valdez. Fort Liscom, across the east end of Port Valdez"'Ias established for this purpose in 1900. Company C, 7th Infantrya r r i ve d tog a r r i son For t Lis com 0 nAp r i 1 29 , 19 00 . ( Arm yin A 1 ask a1972). Fort: Liscom was also the base of operations for the WashingtonDC-Alaska military cable and telegraph system connecting Alaska to thelower 48 via Canada.The follol'ling is taken from a report written by C.I"1. Brown for the Stateof Alaska, Department of Natural Resources, 1975.Of the 1,600 acres which comprised the Fort Liscum military reservation(reduced to 660 acres in 1903) the post buildings occupied only a fewacres. The buildings were located closely to one another, with plankwalks linking most. Officers' quarters were arranged in a row, formingthe western boundary of tIle parade ground. The barracks, gymnasium, postexchange, hospital, and guardhouse formed the eastern and southernboundaries of the parade ground. Large structures, such as the hospitaland barracks, were located some distance from the shore, while smallerhuildings such as the sheds and storehouses, were placed nearer to theF-2