 At the time Rampart Dam was being considered , Alaska as a whole , and Interior Alaska in particular , was sparsely settled . The 1960 United States Census recorded just 226 @,@ 127 people as residents of Alaska , making it the least @-@ populated state in the United States at that time . Interior Alaska contained about 28 @,@ 000 residents , and promoters suggested that the dam 's benefits would vastly outweigh the costs to the few residents who would be displaced . An unnamed Gruening staffer once said the area to be flooded by the dam was worthless , containing " not more than ten flush toilets . Search the whole world and it would be difficult to find an equivalent area with so little to be lost through flooding . " In a 1963 letter responding to a Sports Illustrated article about the dam , Gruening wrote , 
