The Cape D Construction Camp
"When taking the census at various lightstations in SE Alaska I was unable to land at Cape Decision where the US lighthouse Service is building a large Lightstation. I delegated Michael Harris, Foreman, to take the enumeration and this is a copy of his report."
The Cape D construction crew lived in a camp which was constructed on the site of our current 'tent city' campground. Visitors to the lighthouse can still find overgrown remains of the old camp which included three "camp houses" and an office.
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Evidently the government will find you -- even in 1929 at a remote construction camp on Kuiu Island. That October, the US Dept of Commerce-Bureau of the Census set out to count the population of Alaska. Construction was well underway at Cape Decision Light Station. Presumably, the October weather prohibited the census officer from landing at the construction camp, and the site foreman, Michael Harris, was tasked with documenting the residents. This fascinating document, unearthed from the national archives, gives a glimpse into the rugged and hard working individuals that were the first to build structures and community at Cape Decision. According to this official record, it was 15 Men and 1 woman who occupied the camp on October 19th, 1929. The team included carpenters born in Scotland, Sweden, Germany, Norway and French-Canada. There was a Swedish blacksmith and a Norwegian sailor. A Danish miner and a young man from Montana joined 6 others who were employed doing heavy labor. Of those was Fritz Blandov, a 63 year old German man and William, his 20 year old half Native son. Anna Midbust, a nurse from Norway, had the job of keeping everyone fed. She was also the only woman on site. |