 In planning the dam project , engineers anticipated that building the dam would flood nine Alaska Native villages , forcing the relocation of an estimated 1 @,@ 500 people . Although some of the affected villagers felt the increased job opportunities would outweigh the forced move , most objected to the potential loss of the region 's history . Among the affected villages was Fort Yukon , which is the oldest English @-@ speaking settlement in Alaska . In 1964 , several groups of Native dam opponents in the Yukon Flats came together to form an organization called Gwitchya Gwitchin Ginkhye , which lobbied against the project . The Tundra Times , an Alaska newspaper devoted to Native issues , also came out strongly in opposition to the project , saying that all but one village from the head of the proposed reservoir to the mouth of the Yukon River were against the dam . Don Young , Alaska 's representative to the U.S. House of Representatives , was elected to the Alaska Legislature in 1964 from Fort Yukon on a platform of opposition to Rampart Dam . 
