Kodiak Island
Encyclopedia
Kodiak Island is a large island on the south coast of the U.S. state
of Alaska
, separated from the Alaska mainland by the Shelikof Strait
. The largest island in the Kodiak Archipelago
, Kodiak Island is the second largest island in the United States and the 80th largest island in the world, with an area of 9311.24 km² (3,595.1 sq mi). It is 160 km (100 miles) long and in width ranges from 16 to 96 km (10 to 60 miles). Kodiak Island is the namesake for Kodiak Seamount
, which lies off the coast at the Aleutian Trench
. The largest community on the island is the city of Kodiak, Alaska
.
Kodiak Island is mountainous and heavily forested in the north and east, but fairly treeless on the south. The island has many deep, ice-free bays
that provide sheltered anchorages for boats. The southwestern two-thirds of the island, like much of the Kodiak Archipelago, is part of Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge
.
Kodiak Island is part of the Kodiak Island Borough and Kodiak Archipelago
of Alaska. The town of Kodiak
is one of seven communities on Kodiak Island and is the island's main city. All commercial transportation between the island and the outside world goes through this city either via ferryboat or airline. Other settlements include the villages of Akhiok
, Old Harbor
, Karluk
, Larsen Bay
, Port Lions
, and an unorganized community near Cape Chiniak. The village of Ouzinkie
on nearby Spruce Island
is also part of the island community. Kodiak is also home to the largest U.S. Coast Guard
base, which includes Integrated Support Command Kodiak
, Air Station Kodiak, Communications Station Kodiak, and Aids to Navigation Station Kodiak.
The Kodiak Bear
and the king crab
are native to the island. The fishing industry
is the most important economic activity on the island; fisheries
include Pacific salmon, Pacific halibut
, and crab
. The Karluk River
is famous for its salmon run. Logging, ranching, numerous canneries, and some copper mining are also prevalent.
An antenna farm
at the summit of Pillar Mountain above the city of Kodiak provides primary communications to and from the island.
Kodiak is the ancestral land of the Sugpiaq, an Alutiiq
nation of Alaska Natives
. The original inhabitants subsisted by hunting, fishing, farming, and gathering. The first outsiders to settle on the island were Russian explorers under Grigory Shelekhov, who founded a Russian settlement
on Kodiak Island at Three Saints Bay
near the present-day village of Old Harbor in 1784. Following the 1867 Alaska purchase
the island became part of the United States
; Americans settled there and engaged in hunting and fox farming.
The Koniaga had been studied by European explorers, who marveled at their practice of male concubinage: "A Kodiak mother will select her handsomest and most promising boy, and dress and rear him as a girl, teaching him only domestic duties, keeping him at women's work, associating him with women and girls, in order to render his effeminacy complete. Arriving at the age of ten or fifteen years, he is married to some wealthy man who regards such a companion as a great acquisition. These male concubines are called Achnutschik or Schopans'" (Richard Francis Burton
in his Terminal Essay, after Holmberg
, Langsdorff, Joseph Billings
, Choris, Yuri Lisiansky and Marchand
)
Kodiak Island was explored in 1763 by Russian fur trader Stephan Glotov. The island was the location of the first permanent Russian settlement in Alaska, founded by Grigory Shelikhov
, a fur trader, on Three Saints Bay
in 1784. The settlement was moved to the site of present-day Kodiak
in 1792 and became the center of Russian fur trading.
is a volcano 100 miles (160.9 km) northwest of Kodiak Island that erupted in 1912: the largest eruption in the 20th century. Life on Kodiak Island was immobilized during the 60-hour eruption. Darkness and suffocating conditions caused by the falling ash
and sulfur dioxide
gas rendered villagers helpless . Among Kodiak's 500 inhabitants, sore eyes and respiratory problems were widespread. Water became undrinkable. Radio communications were disrupted and visibility was nil. Roofs in the village collapsed under the weight of more than a foot of ash. Buildings were destroyed as avalanches of ash rushed down from nearby hillsides.
On June 9 Kodiak villagers saw the first clear, ash-free skies in three days, but their environment had changed fundamentally. Wildlife on Kodiak Island was decimated by ash and acid rain from the eruption. Bear
s and other large animals were blinded by thick ash and many starved to death because large numbers of plants and small animals were smothered in the eruption. Birds blinded and coated by volcanic ash fell to the ground. Even the region's prolific mosquito
es were exterminated. Aquatic organisms in the region perished in the ash-clogged waters. Salmon
, in all stages of life, were destroyed by the eruption and its aftereffects. From 1915 to 1919, southwestern Alaska's salmon-fishing industry was devastated.
The island was also hit by the 1964 Good Friday Earthquake
and tsunami, which destroyed much of the waterfront, business district, and several villages.
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
, separated from the Alaska mainland by the Shelikof Strait
Shelikof Strait
Shelikof Strait is a strait on the southwestern coast of the U.S. state of Alaska between the Alaska mainland to the west and Kodiak and Afognak islands to the east....
. The largest island in the Kodiak Archipelago
Kodiak Archipelago
The Kodiak Archipelago is an archipelago, or group of islands, south of main land mass of the state of Alaska , about by air south of Anchorage in the Gulf of Alaska. The largest island in the archipelago is Kodiak Island, the second largest island in the United States...
, Kodiak Island is the second largest island in the United States and the 80th largest island in the world, with an area of 9311.24 km² (3,595.1 sq mi). It is 160 km (100 miles) long and in width ranges from 16 to 96 km (10 to 60 miles). Kodiak Island is the namesake for Kodiak Seamount
Kodiak Seamount
Kodiak Seamount is the oldest seamount in the Kodiak-Bowie Seamount chain, with an estimated age of 24 million years. It lies at the northernmost end of the chain and its flat-topped summit is strewn with fault lines...
, which lies off the coast at the Aleutian Trench
Aleutian Trench
The Aleutian Trench is a subduction zone and oceanic trench which runs along the southern coastline of Alaska and the adjacent waters of northeastern Siberia off the coast of Kamchatka Peninsula. It is classified as a "marginal trench" in the east as it runs along the margin of the continent, and...
. The largest community on the island is the city of Kodiak, Alaska
Kodiak, Alaska
Kodiak is one of 7 communities and the main city on Kodiak Island, Kodiak Island Borough, in the U.S. state of Alaska. All commercial transportation between the entire island and the outside world goes through this city either via ferryboat or airline...
.
Kodiak Island is mountainous and heavily forested in the north and east, but fairly treeless on the south. The island has many deep, ice-free bays
Headlands and bays
Headlands and bays are two related features of the coastal environment.- Geology and geography :Headlands and bays are often found on the same coastline. A bay is surrounded by land on three sides, whereas a headland is surrounded by water on three sides. Headlands are characterized by high,...
that provide sheltered anchorages for boats. The southwestern two-thirds of the island, like much of the Kodiak Archipelago, is part of Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge
Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge
The Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge is a United States National Wildlife Refuge in the Kodiak Archipelago in southwestern Alaska, United States....
.
Kodiak Island is part of the Kodiak Island Borough and Kodiak Archipelago
Kodiak Archipelago
The Kodiak Archipelago is an archipelago, or group of islands, south of main land mass of the state of Alaska , about by air south of Anchorage in the Gulf of Alaska. The largest island in the archipelago is Kodiak Island, the second largest island in the United States...
of Alaska. The town of Kodiak
Kodiak, Alaska
Kodiak is one of 7 communities and the main city on Kodiak Island, Kodiak Island Borough, in the U.S. state of Alaska. All commercial transportation between the entire island and the outside world goes through this city either via ferryboat or airline...
is one of seven communities on Kodiak Island and is the island's main city. All commercial transportation between the island and the outside world goes through this city either via ferryboat or airline. Other settlements include the villages of Akhiok
Akhiok, Alaska
Akhiok is a 2nd class city in Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska, United States. Akhiok is Kodiak's southernmost village. The population was 80 at the 2000 census. Akhiok, which does not have a post office, is a rural location in postal code 99615 which belongs to Kodiak...
, Old Harbor
Old Harbor, Alaska
Old Harbor is a city in Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 237.-Geography:...
, Karluk
Karluk, Alaska
Karluk is a census-designated place in Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska, United States. The population was 27 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Karluk is located at...
, Larsen Bay
Larsen Bay, Alaska
Larsen Bay is a city in Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 115.-Geography:Larsen Bay is located at ....
, Port Lions
Port Lions, Alaska
Port Lions is a city located on Kodiak Island in the Kodiak Island Borough of the U.S. state of Alaska. As of the 2000 census, the population of the city was 256....
, and an unorganized community near Cape Chiniak. The village of Ouzinkie
Ouzinkie, Alaska
Ouzinkie, pronounced , is a city on Spruce Island in Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 225.-Geography:Ouzinkie is located at ....
on nearby Spruce Island
Spruce Island (Alaska)
Spruce Island is an island in the Kodiak Archipelago of the Gulf of Alaska in the state of Alaska, USA. It lies just off the northeast corner of Kodiak Island, across the Narrow Strait...
is also part of the island community. Kodiak is also home to the largest U.S. Coast Guard
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...
base, which includes Integrated Support Command Kodiak
Integrated Support Command Kodiak
Base Support Unit Kodiak is the host command for a large shore installation of the United States Coast Guard, located in Kodiak, Alaska. The largest tenant unit on the base is Air Station Kodiak. It is also the home port for several cutters...
, Air Station Kodiak, Communications Station Kodiak, and Aids to Navigation Station Kodiak.
The Kodiak Bear
Kodiak Bear
The Kodiak bear , also known as the Kodiak brown bear or the Alaskan grizzly bear or American brown bear, occupies the islands of the Kodiak Archipelago in South-Western Alaska. Its name in the Alutiiq language is Taquka-aq. It is the largest subspecies of brown bear.- Taxonomy :Taxonomist C.H...
and the king crab
King crab
King crabs, also called stone crabs, are a superfamily of crab-like decapod crustaceans chiefly found in cold seas. Because of their large size and the taste of their meat, many species are widely caught and sold as food, the most common being the red king crab, Paralithodes camtschaticus.King...
are native to the island. The fishing industry
Fishing industry
The fishing industry includes any industry or activity concerned with taking, culturing, processing, preserving, storing, transporting, marketing or selling fish or fish products....
is the most important economic activity on the island; fisheries
Fishery
Generally, a fishery is an entity engaged in raising or harvesting fish which is determined by some authority to be a fishery. According to the FAO, a fishery is typically defined in terms of the "people involved, species or type of fish, area of water or seabed, method of fishing, class of boats,...
include Pacific salmon, Pacific halibut
Pacific halibut
The Pacific halibut is found on the continental shelf of the North Pacific Ocean and Bering sea. They are demersal, living on or near the bottom. The halibut is among the largest teleost fish in the world. Halibut are strong swimmers and are able to migrate long distances...
, and crab
Crab
True crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" , or where the reduced abdomen is entirely hidden under the thorax...
. The Karluk River
Karluk River
The Karluk River is located on the southwest end of Kodiak Island in Alaska.The Karluk River is long. The upper of the river are within the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge. The river provides excellent opportunities for fishing, hunting, hiking, wildlife viewing, and other wilderness activities....
is famous for its salmon run. Logging, ranching, numerous canneries, and some copper mining are also prevalent.
An antenna farm
Antenna farm
Antenna farm or satellite dish farm or just dish farm are terms used to describe an area dedicated to television or radio telecommunications transmitting or receiving antenna equipment, such as C, Ku or Ka band satellite dish antennas, UHF/VHF/AM/FM transmitter towers or mobile cell towers.In...
at the summit of Pillar Mountain above the city of Kodiak provides primary communications to and from the island.
History
Alutiiq
The Alutiiq , also called Pacific Yupik or Sugpiaq, are a southern coastal people of the Native peoples of Alaska. Their language is called Sugstun, and it is one of Eskimo languages, belonging to the Yup’ik branch of these languages. They are not to be confused with the Aleuts, who live further...
nation of Alaska Natives
Alaska Natives
Alaska Natives are the indigenous peoples of Alaska. They include: Aleut, Inuit, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Eyak, and a number of Northern Athabaskan cultures.-History:In 1912 the Alaska Native Brotherhood was founded...
. The original inhabitants subsisted by hunting, fishing, farming, and gathering. The first outsiders to settle on the island were Russian explorers under Grigory Shelekhov, who founded a Russian settlement
Russian Alaska
Russian America was the name of Russian colonial possessions in the Americas from 1733 to 1867 that today is the U.S. state of Alaska and settlements farther south in California and Hawaii...
on Kodiak Island at Three Saints Bay
Three Saints Bay, Alaska
Three Saints Bay is a -long inlet on the southeast side of Kodiak Island in southern Alaska, North of Sitkalidak Strait. It is southwest of Kodiak....
near the present-day village of Old Harbor in 1784. Following the 1867 Alaska purchase
Alaska purchase
The Alaska Purchase was the acquisition of the Alaska territory by the United States from Russia in 1867 by a treaty ratified by the Senate. The purchase, made at the initiative of United States Secretary of State William H. Seward, gained of new United States territory...
the island became part of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
; Americans settled there and engaged in hunting and fox farming.
The Koniaga had been studied by European explorers, who marveled at their practice of male concubinage: "A Kodiak mother will select her handsomest and most promising boy, and dress and rear him as a girl, teaching him only domestic duties, keeping him at women's work, associating him with women and girls, in order to render his effeminacy complete. Arriving at the age of ten or fifteen years, he is married to some wealthy man who regards such a companion as a great acquisition. These male concubines are called Achnutschik or Schopans'" (Richard Francis Burton
Richard Francis Burton
Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton KCMG FRGS was a British geographer, explorer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, cartographer, ethnologist, spy, linguist, poet, fencer and diplomat. He was known for his travels and explorations within Asia, Africa and the Americas as well as his...
in his Terminal Essay, after Holmberg
Holmberg
Holmberg is primarily a Scandinavian surname formed from the words holm meaning islet and berg meaning mountain. It is a relatively common name, at least in Sweden, which has to do with the fact that many Swedish place names contain the suffixes -holm, -holmen or -berg, -berga, -berget.Holmberg may...
, Langsdorff, Joseph Billings
Joseph Billings
Joseph Billings was an English navigator and explorer who spent the most significant part of his life in Russian service.In 1785, the Russian government of Catherine II commissioned a new expedition in search for the Northeast Passage, led by English officer Joseph Billings, who had previously...
, Choris, Yuri Lisiansky and Marchand
Marchand
Marchand is a frequent surname in France and in Quebec .The surname may refer to:* Albert Gallatin Marchand , Democratic member of the U.S...
)
Grigory Shelikhov
Grigory Ivanovich Shelekhov Grigory Ivanovich Shelekhov Grigory Ivanovich Shelekhov (Григорий Иванович Шелехов in Russian; (1747–July 20, 1795 (July 31, 1795 N.S.)) was a Russian seafarer and merchant born in Rylsk....
, a fur trader, on Three Saints Bay
Three Saints Bay, Alaska
Three Saints Bay is a -long inlet on the southeast side of Kodiak Island in southern Alaska, North of Sitkalidak Strait. It is southwest of Kodiak....
in 1784. The settlement was moved to the site of present-day Kodiak
Kodiak, Alaska
Kodiak is one of 7 communities and the main city on Kodiak Island, Kodiak Island Borough, in the U.S. state of Alaska. All commercial transportation between the entire island and the outside world goes through this city either via ferryboat or airline...
in 1792 and became the center of Russian fur trading.
Effects of Novarupta eruption
NovaruptaNovarupta
Novarupta, meaning "new eruption", is a volcano located on the Alaska Peninsula in Katmai National Park and Preserve, about southwest of Anchorage. Formed in 1912 during the largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century, Novarupta released 30 times the volume of magma as the 1980 eruption of...
is a volcano 100 miles (160.9 km) northwest of Kodiak Island that erupted in 1912: the largest eruption in the 20th century. Life on Kodiak Island was immobilized during the 60-hour eruption. Darkness and suffocating conditions caused by the falling ash
Tephra
200px|thumb|right|Tephra horizons in south-central [[Iceland]]. The thick and light coloured layer at center of the photo is [[rhyolitic]] tephra from [[Hekla]]....
and sulfur dioxide
Sulfur dioxide
Sulfur dioxide is the chemical compound with the formula . It is released by volcanoes and in various industrial processes. Since coal and petroleum often contain sulfur compounds, their combustion generates sulfur dioxide unless the sulfur compounds are removed before burning the fuel...
gas rendered villagers helpless . Among Kodiak's 500 inhabitants, sore eyes and respiratory problems were widespread. Water became undrinkable. Radio communications were disrupted and visibility was nil. Roofs in the village collapsed under the weight of more than a foot of ash. Buildings were destroyed as avalanches of ash rushed down from nearby hillsides.
On June 9 Kodiak villagers saw the first clear, ash-free skies in three days, but their environment had changed fundamentally. Wildlife on Kodiak Island was decimated by ash and acid rain from the eruption. Bear
Bear
Bears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives. Although there are only eight living species of bear, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern...
s and other large animals were blinded by thick ash and many starved to death because large numbers of plants and small animals were smothered in the eruption. Birds blinded and coated by volcanic ash fell to the ground. Even the region's prolific mosquito
Mosquito
Mosquitoes are members of a family of nematocerid flies: the Culicidae . The word Mosquito is from the Spanish and Portuguese for little fly...
es were exterminated. Aquatic organisms in the region perished in the ash-clogged waters. Salmon
Salmon
Salmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true...
, in all stages of life, were destroyed by the eruption and its aftereffects. From 1915 to 1919, southwestern Alaska's salmon-fishing industry was devastated.
The island was also hit by the 1964 Good Friday Earthquake
Good Friday Earthquake
The 1964 Alaska earthquake, also known as the Great Alaskan Earthquake, the Portage Earthquake and the Good Friday Earthquake, was a megathrust earthquake that began at 5:36 P.M. AST on Good Friday, March 27, 1964...
and tsunami, which destroyed much of the waterfront, business district, and several villages.
Publications related to Kodiak Island Fishing
- Kodiak management area salmon daily and cumulative escapement counts for river systems with fish weirs, 1997-2006, and peak indexed escapement counts, 2006 / by Iris O. Caldentey. Hosted by Alaska State Publications Program.