Electrical Power for Valdez and the Copper River Basin-1981

story buildings. At higher points the results were not satisfactory. By1913, Ilydroelectric dams with an aggregate rated capacity of 700 horsepowerwere operating in Solomon Gulch, providing electricity for lights,heat, etc. for the post. (U.S. Geological Survey 1914: 78).For several years after Fort Liscum was abandoned in 1922, the postbuildinqs remained vacant and unused. In 1925, however, President CalvinCoolidge ordered (No. 4131) the Fort Liscum military reservation placedunder the control of the Secretary of the Interior. Several privatecitizens then applied for permission to acquire the buildings. In July1925, the Reverend T. Lavrischeff, Rector of Russian-Greek OrthodoxMission in Prince William Sound, requested the removal of any two buildingsat Fort Liscum, to Cordova where he intended to establish a "templeand church house (Lavrischeff 1925). The appl ication was denied. Theremust have been numerous requests to obtain the post buildings, for in1926 the district General Land Office was instructed to send an inspectorto Fort Liscum and appraise the improvements. In the meant-ime, tIleAlaska Road Commission was permitted to salvage several of the postbuildings (Nos. 20 and 30). (General Land Office, February 26, 1926)In early 1928 the General Land Office submitted an appraisal of the FortLiscum military reservation at $2.50 per acre. Each post building wasappraised separately, the inspector arriving at values considerably lessthan the original cost of tIle buildings--reportedly because the woodfoundations of most structures were in poor condition and because theroofs of some structures had collapsed. In any case, the reservation,buildings, and miscellaneous objects were valued at $2,288. (GeneralLand Office, January 9, 1928) Shortly thereafter, on October 2, 1928,the Alaska Road Commission received permission to salvage all buildingson the reservations. A special survey (U.S. Survey No. 1746) was made ofthe military reservation, with the Interior Department accepting the platon March 11, 1929. (General Land Office, February 8, 1934)The Alaska Road Commission moved a number of the post buildings to othersites; it also sold various buildinCjs to private citizens, who in turnsalvaged the structures. One of these individuals, A.S. Day, applied fora homestead on the mi 1 itary reservation, and converted several formerpost buildings for use as a residence and salmon-canning operations. Inthe mid-1Q30's, the Interior Department cancelled U.S. Survey 1746 andDay acquired a patent to his homestead, 160 acres of USS 1746. Daysubsequently applied for permisstion to purchase an additional number ofbuildings. Referrinq to Day's application, a special agent to theDistrict Land Office reported: "the Alaska Road Commission at Valdezstated that during the time the buildings were in their possession, theyhad removed everything they considered to have any salvage value, andthat what remained on the ground was not worth transporting to any otherplace, and tlley as well stated that had not Mr. Day been right at FortLiscum, no other person in all probability would ever have offered $1 forwhat rem2ined." (General Land OffiCe, December 7, 1937) On December 7,1937, 11 buildings, the dock, water pipes, telegraph poles, etc. weresold to Day for $500.F-4