Fort Liscum Fort Liscum was a United States Army post in the Alaska Territory on the south shore of Valdez Bay , across from the modern site of Valdez , Alaska . It operated from 1900 to 1922 . History . In 1899 , Captain William R . Abercrombie designated a site for a military reservation at Port Valdez . Port Valdez was the trail head for the Valdez - Eagle Trail to Fort Egbert , near Eagle , Alaska . Abercrombie selected 650 acres on the south side of the bay near a point known as Ludington ' s Landing . The site was chosen for its deep anchorage , a nearby mountain stream providing a continuous supply of fresh water , and a location , in Abercrombie ' s words , " just far enough from the head of Port Valdez to be beyond the influences of the whisky element to be found in frontier towns . " The head of Port Valdez was the original site of Valdez , Alaska , which , as the start of the " All - American Route " to the Klondike , attracted a steady stream of prospectors . Construction and operation . In May 1900 , 100 soldiers arrived to establish the post and begin construction . The completed installation numbered 37 buildings , including two - story quarters for officers and civilians , a hospital , a stable , and a bakery . A U . S . War Department report described the facility as " well constructed " and easily supplied , but lamented the " unfortunate " location , where northern exposure and shadows cast by the overlooking mountains ensured that winter snow would not melt until June . On September 6 , 1900 , the post was named Fort Liscum in honor of Colonel Emerson H . Liscum , who had died July 13 , 1900 in Tianjin , China leading the U . S . Army ' s 9th Infantry Regiment as part of the Eight - Nation Alliance to put down the Boxer Rebellion . The 9th Infantry Regiment was later stationed at the fort . On August 24 , 1902 , the Washington - Alaska Military Cable and Telegraph System ( WAMCATS ) connected Fort Liscum with Fort Egbert . In 1903 , Captain Eugene T . Wilson , commander at Fort Liscum , reported that the 1901 law banning the sale of alcohol on army bases was having an adverse effect on his command . " The object of a company commander , " wrote Wilson , " is to promote temperance , to make his men sober , and keep them in good physical and moral health . I cannot do it now when Tom , Dick and Harry are calling to them to leave the garrison and get drunk . " In 1914 , soldiers from Fort Liscum helped to construct a dike around the town Valdez , which had been subject to annual floods due to seasonal runoff from the Valdez Glacier . Fort Liscum was closed in 1922 , one of many military facilities closed in the years following World War I . The population of Valdez , which had peaked at 7 , 000 during the gold rush years , fell below 500 people after the Army departed . Legacy . In 1925 , the land was transferred to the Dept . of Interior , which sold a number of the buildings for relocation . In 1929 , the land was claimed as a homestead by Andrew and Oma Belle Day , who renamed it Dayville , opening a cannery and a sawmill on the site . The Trans - Alaska Pipeline marine terminal , which commenced operation in 1977 , was built on land that had been reserved for Fort Liscum . A field gun from Fort Liscum is displayed in the Valdez Museum .