Kenai Fjords A Stern and Rock-Bound Coast: Historic Resource Study

World War II Activities in Resurrection Bay

In order to protect Seward and the Alaska Railroad yards, the U.S. Army established outposts and bases on many of the islands and headlands of Resurrection Bay. Recognizing the bay's strategic importance, the military reserved most of the bay's islands and headlands during the summer of 1941; later in the war, it reserved thousands of additional acres overlooking the bay. Facilities, consisting of gun batteries, searchlights, communications sites, and supporting facilities, were constructed at many sites in and around the bay; many were built under the most trying of circumstances. Sites were reserved, and facilities built, on both sides of the bay and as far east as Chamberlain Point, overlooking Day Harbor. Because the focus of this study is the Kenai Fjords area, primary attention will be limited to the reservations and facilities that were located either on Resurrection Bay's west side or on islands within the bay.

Shortly after troops moved north to establish Fort Raymond, Army officials decided to move men and armaments to strategic points south of town. Caines Head, eight miles south of Seward, was the first site chosen because of its commanding position overlooking Resurrection Bay. A quick survey of proposed camp sites and road rights-of-way took place in July 1941, and on the last day of the month, troops from the 250^th Coast Artillery moved from Seward to South Beach (also known as Minneapolis Beach) along with 155mm guns, ammunition, and supplies. The South Beach Cantonment of Fort Raymond was in operation. A road, intended to go from South Beach to North Beach, was already under construction by this time. But plans quickly changed; new plans called for all resources to be devoted to the construction of a gun battery at Rocky Point, a mile southwest of South Beach. The overwhelming demands for war materials brought many delays, so for the next several months, construction of the Rocky Point gun battery and the South Beach camp buildings fully occupied the soldiers. [25]

Meanwhile, the military moved to reserve the more strategic headlands and islands surrounding the bay. On August 29, 1941, the General Land Office withdrew seven area sites "for the use of the War Department for military purposes." The sites, and the approximate acreage reserved, included:

The military, as it turned out, used only the first four sites for defensive purposes; it bypassed Renard, Hive, and Cheval islands. [26]

In February 1942, the military authorized the construction of two six-inch batteries for the Seward harbor defense network. A locally appointed Harbor Defense Board recommended that the batteries be installed on Rugged Island and Aialik Cape. The latter point, at the south end of Aialik Peninsula, had not been withdrawn by the GLO the previous summer. Some authorities advocated the idea of a Cape Aialik battery, but others apparently did not, and by May 1942, the proposed battery site had been moved from Aialik Cape to Caines Head. Construction on the battery at the highest point on Caines Head began on July 20, 1942, while work at the southern tip of Rugged Island commenced on August 1. The Caines Head battery became known as Battery No. 293; the Rugged Island site became known as Battery No. 294.. [27]

In November 1942, Fort Raymond's commanding officer was ordered to construct two four-gun anti-motor torpedo boat (AMTB) batteries. By the following February, authorities had decided that the batteries would be constructed at Lowell Point and at the mouth of Fourth of July Creek. Both sites were at the northern end of Resurrection Bay; neither site had been withdrawn by the GLO in August 1941. The Lowell Point battery was completed as scheduled, but at Fourth of July Creek, a mobile gun base was operated on a temporary base but quickly abandoned.. [28]

During the construction of the Rugged Island and Caines Head batteries, the military decided to diversify the functions of both sites. Caines Head, for example, was chosen as the site for a joint Army-Navy Harbor Entrance Control Post (HECP) in November 1941. This post was necessary to coordinate and control shipping entering and leaving Resurrection Bay. The station, located in a temporary building, was ready for operation in August 1942. This post was later moved to a 37' x 83' concrete building at Patsy Point, at the southern tip of Rugged Island near Battery 294; in the same building, the military located a Harbor Defense Command Post. In addition, both the Caines Head and Rugged Island batteries were equipped with Radar Surface Craft Protector Units, which supplied advance intelligence to both the HECP and to the Fort Raymond Headquarters. South Beach (Caines Head) had sufficient barracks and mess facilities for 250 men, while the Rugged Island post had facilities to support an 88-man contingent. In recognition of these multiple functions, the Caines Head site was officially designated Fort McGilvray on March 25, 1943; that same day, the Rugged Island installation was designated Fort Bulkley.. [29] Construction at both posts continued for another year.

Military personnel occupied many other sites in and around Resurrection Bay. Searchlights were installed at Topeka Point (just north of Humpy Cove), Chamberlain Point (just south of Safety Cove, in Day Harbor), Carol Cove (on the northeast side of Rugged Island), Alma Point (on the northwest end of Rugged Island), Barwell Island, the east end of Thumb Cove, Caines Head, and Rocky Point. Radio stations were also widely distributed: sites included South Beach (Caines Head), Lowell Point, Barwell Island, Alma Point (Rugged Island), and Battery 294 (Rugged Island). A dock was constructed at North Beach (Caines Head), and barge-landing facilities were installed at Marys Bay (Rugged Island) and Topeka Point. To facilitate telephone communications, a submarine cable linked South Beach with Topeka Point and Topeka Point with Chamberlain Point; other cables connected South Beach to Rugged and Barwell islands.. [30]

The 250^th Coast Artillery, recently arrived from a camp near Watsonville, California, was assigned to construct and operate the various installations south of Seward. They were the sole unit in the area from the summer of 1941 to December 1942, when the 267^th Coast Artillery arrived at Fort Raymond. Soldiers of the 267^th were soon deployed to various Resurrection Bay locations, and by October 1943 they were the sole occupants of the various remote posts. [31]

The soldiers stationed south of Seward witnessed few incidents of real or perceived enemy activity. In late March 1943, the Rugged Island Observation Post reported an unidentified submarine 15 miles off the island. The Navy, in response, spotted the same submarine 30 miles off the island and "that necessary action was taken." Six months later, a submarine periscope was reportedly seen in Day Harbor.. [32] The only other known "enemy action" took place when local fox farmer Pete Sather headed into the bay without signaling. Military authorities had told him to identify himself but he apparently forgot, and he was soon surprised to see artillery shells being lobbed his way. Soldiers put a searchlight on him and boarded his boat; Sather, however, was indignant over the incident. He figured that because he was carrying the mail, he should have been ensured a safe, unhindered passage.. [33]

By the spring of 1944, the various Resurrection Bay military facilities were largely finished; the Rugged Island installation was 90 percent complete, and the Caines Head facility was 99 percent complete.. [34] On March 25, however, troops were ordered to dismantle all of Seward's harbor defenses. All construction work stopped, and the military began removing the equipment it had so painstakingly placed at Caines Head, Rugged Island, and the other area sites. The dismantling process took several months; during that time, the two big six-inch guns were shipped to locations in South Dakota and southern California. By August 28, 1944, most of the existing troop complement had left the area and headed south. The once-bustling military sites were now abandoned.. [35]

After the war, government officials moved to make the islands in the harbor defense network available to the public. On November 6, 1945, the military declared the land surplus, and on November 28 it was assigned to the Department of the Interior. Interior officials initially moved to return Renard, Hive, and Cheval islands to the public domain; all had been included in the August 1941 withdrawal but had not been subject to military improvements. These islands were returned to the General Land Office by July 9, 1946, but it took more than eighteen additional months for a public land order to be signed that formally revoked the August 1941 military withdrawal for these islands.. [36]

The War Assets Administration (WAA), given the task of evaluating the defense network "betterments" (improvements) at the other Resurrection Bay sites, noted that they had an acquisition cost of $3,424,632. The vast majority of the improvements, however, had no alternative uses; in April 1946, therefore, the WAA declared that the improvements had a "fair value" of $25,000. On August 22, 1946, Bureau of Land Management staff visited the site. The agency noted that the improvements were "comprised mostly of T-buildings, Quonset and Butler huts, and at one point a report from the custodian shows an 80 per cent loss of buildings caused by their collapse from the weight of heavy snow." A month later, Interior Department personnel made a Survey for Disposal of Surplus Property at three locations along the bay's western side; they noted 16 buildings and a small dam at South Beach, 5 buildings at Rocky Point, and 2 huts, a dock and a warehouse at North Beach.. [37]

These lands were no longer valuable to the military, so officials moved to transfer them back to civilian control. In September and October 1946, Barwell Island and Topeka Point, respectively, were abandoned. In September 1947, representatives of WAA and BLM tentatively concluded that the remainder of the harbor defense network should either be abandoned or donated to the Department of the Interior. They reached this conclusion because no one had shown an interest in using the property and because none of the remaining improvements had commercial value for use at an off-site location. On October 29, the WAA authorized the BLM to abandon all structures and improvements at Rocky Point, South Beach, North Beach, and Rugged Island and to return all lands covered by the August 1941 executive order to the public domain. The public land order that carried out the WAA's decision, however, was not issued until 1962. By that time, the new State of Alaska had already shown an interest in acquiring these lands, so the land order that returned the parcels to the public domain specified that the state had first selection rights. The state, in fact, moved to acquire land surrounding Caines Head. It also made claims to most of the other parcels containing Harbor Defense installations. Some of those parcels have been transferred to state control, but others have remained under federal jurisdiction.. [38]

In April 1962, the State of Alaska filed for a 13,800-acre parcel containing Caines Head. In May 1964, it received a patent to the North Beach, South Beach, and Rocky Point sites; that same year, the BLM tentatively approved the state's application for the remainder of the parcel.. [39] In 1971, the Alaska Division of Parks (which had been created just a year earlier) selected some 1,800 acres and established Caines Head State Recreation Area. Three years later, more than 4,000 acres was added to the park; its new area was 5,961 acres. No recreational development, however, took place at the site until the mid-1980s. Since that time, rangers and volunteers have constructed trails, built a public use cabin and ranger station, interviewed veterans who served there, and conducted initial interpretation efforts.. [40]

The rest of the harbor defense network, returned to the public domain in 1962, has been ignored in recent years. Aside from the Caines Head area, no organized efforts have been made to either protect or interpret what remains of the World War II-era improvements.. [41]