Although the City of Ketchikan had managed to acquire sufficient funds from the State to perform the preliminary and feasibility studies for the project, there was no guarantee that the State would provide further funding for the project.  To complicate matters further, although the Governor and the Republicans, who had the majority in the Alaska Senate, supported a policy of the State investing in Hydroelectric Projects in Alaska; the Democratic Party, who had the majority in the Alaska House of Representatives had adopted a position that they would not support the State of Alaska assuming the financial costs associated with the construction of hydroelectric projects in the State.  Consequently, the question facing the City of Ketchikan, its City Council, and myself was whether to abandon the project or make the effort to continue moving it forward in the hopes that the House Democrats could, in time, be persuaded to change their position and fund the project.  Moving forward under these circumstances would require the City to accept the risks associated with borrowing several million dollars on its own for the following year.

It was at this time that God intervened to let me know that the funds needed to complete the project would not be a problem.  In a vision at night, God showed me a room full of money and that I would walk in and take all the money needed to complete the Swan Lake Hydroelectric Project.  I understood that the “room full of money” was the State of Alaska and that they would fund the project.  With that knowledge in hand, my role together with support of a few other like-minded individuals who were supportive of the Swan Lake Hydroelectric Project became one of doing everything possible to persuade both the Public and the City Council to agree to borrow the millions of dollars in funds needed to continue moving forward with the project.  We succeeded and the decision was made to continue moving forward; that is to sign a note for millions of dollars to put toward the project even though there was no guarantee the City would be able to complete the project.  This was a huge financial risk for the City.

Not long after that I discussed the project with Representative Oral Freeman, a leading House Democrat representing Ketchikan and with whom I occasionally interacted, and told him about the vision.  I remember his comment at the time; it was something on the order of “Arnold, I don’t know what you’ve been smoking”.  Despite his disbelief, I knew that something was going to change and, shortly thereafter, change it did; almost overnight.  A House Democrat, Representative Ernie Haugen, believed very strongly in a position that the State of Alaska should fund a number of hydroelectric projects in the State of Alaska in order to reduce the State’s dependence on fossil fuel electrical generation and the costs associated with fossil fuel generation.  Representative Haugen, being unable to secure any agreement through the Democratic Party for funding the hydroelectric projects, switched his party affiliation to the Republican party.  This gave the Republicans the majority in the Alaska House of Representatives and with it, the control of the House of Representatives. With the Republicans now in control of the House of Representatives, the Senate, and holding the Governorship; funding for the Swan Lake Hydroelectric Project was now assured.

Overnight, the State of Alaska became a room full of money for the City of Ketchikan to use for financing the engineering design and the construction of the Swan Lake Hydroelectric Project.  The project was funded; coming in on budget at $95,000,000 and completed on schedule in 1983.  It was not long after the operational date of the Swan Lake Hydroelectric Project that my work came to a close at Ketchikan Public Utilities.  In 1984, I found myself working for the Green Mountain Power Corporation headquartered in Burlington, Vermont.  Shortly after taking this new position, our fourth child, Caleb, was born and that leads us to the next page: “29 – God Intervenes: the doctors said Caleb would not live through the night!”