Fort McGilvray was a

United States military The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...

fortification located on Caines Head, a cliff 650 feet above

Resurrection Bay Resurrection Bay, also known as Blying Sound, and Harding Gateway in its outer reaches, is a fjord on the Kenai Peninsula of Alaska, United States. Its main settlement is Seward, located at the head of the bay. The bay received its name from Al ...

south of

Seward, Alaska Seward (Alutiiq: ; Dena'ina: ''Tl'ubugh'') is an incorporated home rule city in Alaska, United States. Located on Resurrection Bay, a fjord of the Gulf of Alaska on the Kenai Peninsula, Seward is situated on Alaska's southern coast, approxima ...

. The

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

established a series of defensive positions along the coast of the bay during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

to defend Seward against a possible

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

invasion. The bay was a strategically important location, as it remained ice-free throughout the year, and Seward served as the southern terminus of the

Alaska Railroad Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

, an important route for transporting civilian and military supplies throughout the territory. Defense of the bay prior to the war consisted of four mobile 155-mm guns. The earliest constructions at Caines Head and South Beach along the bay were started on July 31, 1941. With the U.S. entry in the war, permanent mounts for the guns were constructed at Rocky Point, south of the site of Fort McGilvray. Plans were approved for three new batteries, two 6-inch batteries, one 90-mm gun, and numerous fire control and searchlight positions. Construction was hindered by the difficult terrain and winter season. By the end of 1943, the battery at Lowell Point just south of Seward was completed and manned by troops. Located near the fort at South Beach were utility buildings and barracks to house the 500 soldiers that supported the area's defences. In March 1943, the installations atop Caines Head were named McGilvray after an Army officer who commanded Fort Kenay to the north in 1869. After American and Canadian forces reclaimed Attu and

Kiska Kiska ( ale, Qisxa, russian: Кыска) is one of the Rat Islands, a group of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. It is about long and varies in width from . It is part of Aleutian Islands Wilderness and as such, special permission is required ...

islands in the Aleutian Islands Campaign between May and August 1943, the Alaskan Department ordered the installations dismantled in March 1944. Many of the constructions were not yet fully completed. The guns were disassembled and shipped to locations in

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...

and

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

and the buildings were abandoned. In 1971, the Alaska Division of Parks was established to control recreational land. The

Caines Head State Recreation Area Caines Head State Recreation Area is a recreational area encompassing the Caines Head cape in Resurrection Bay, Alaska. The area is located in the Kenai Peninsula Borough, south of the city of Seward. A popular tourist destination, Caines Hea ...

was established with 1800 acres. In 1974 it was expanded by an additional 4000 acres. The first work in clearing the abandoned military roads began in 1984. When workers reached the fort's site at the top of Caines Head they discovered the concrete buildings well-intact, with functioning doors and windows. Military and engineering experts consider it one of the most well-preserved sites in Alaska. The site was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 2022.

References

Notes

{{coord, 59, 59, 12, N, 149, 23, 25, W, region:US, display=title Installations of the United States Army in Alaska Government buildings completed in 1941 Infrastructure completed in 1941 Buildings and structures in Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska McGilvray World War II sites in the United States National Register of Historic Places in Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska