Mitkof Island is an island in the Alexander Archipelago

Alexander Archipelago

The Alexander Archipelago is a long archipelago, or group of islands, of North America off the southeastern coast of Alaska. It contains about 1,100 islands, which are the tops of the submerged coastal mountains that rise steeply from the Pacific Ocean. Deep channels and fjords separate the...

 in southeast 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...

, at 56°35′54"N 132°48′33"W. between Kupreanof Island

Kupreanof Island

Kupreanof Island is an island in the Alexander Archipelago in southeastern Alaska. The island is long and wide with a total land area is , making it the 13th largest island in the United States and the 170th largest island in the world. The Lindenberg Peninsula, on the southeast side of the...

 to the west and the Alaska mainland to the east. It is about 16 km (9.9 mi) wide and 28 km (17.4 mi) long with a land area of 539.7 km² (208.4 sq mi), making it the 30th largest island in the United States.

The island is relatively flat with numerous muskeg

Muskeg

Muskeg is an acidic soil type common in Arctic and boreal areas, although it is found in other northern climates as well. Muskeg is approximately synonymous with bogland but muskeg is the standard term in Western Canada and Alaska, while 'bog' is common elsewhere. The term is of Cree origin, maskek...

s. The highest point is Crystal Mountain (3,317 feet).

The city of Petersburg

Petersburg, Alaska

Petersburg is a city in Petersburg Census Area, Alaska, in the United States. According to 2009 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 2,824 full time residents.- History :...

 is on the north end of the island. The total population of the island was 3,364 at the 2000 census

United States Census, 2000

The Twenty-second United States Census, known as Census 2000 and conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2% over the 248,709,873 persons enumerated during the 1990 Census...

, almost all of it in the city of Petersburg.

The Wrangell Narrows

Wrangell Narrows

The Wrangell Narrows is a winding, 35-km-long channel between Mitkof Island and Kupreanof Island in the Alexander Archipelago in Southeast Alaska. The Wrangell Narrows is one of the six Listed narrows in Southeast Alaska. There are about 60 lights and buoys to mark it because of its winding nature...

, one of the six Listed Narrows of Southeast Alaska, runs from the south to the north end of Mitkof Island. Bordered by Mitkof Island on one side, and Kuprenof and Woewodski Island

Woewodski Island

Woewodski Island is an island in the Alexander Archipelago of Southeast Alaska, U.S.A. It is separated from Kupreanof Island to the west by Duncan Canal, and Mitkof Island to the east by the Wrangell Narrows. It is named after Captain Lieutenant Stepan Vasilivich Woewodski, who was chief director...

s on the other, the Wrangell Narrows creates the only navigable 'Inside Passage

Inside Passage

The Inside Passage is a coastal route for oceangoing vessels along a network of passages which weave through the islands on the Pacific coast of North America. The route extends from southeastern Alaska, in the United States, through western British Columbia, in Canada, to northwestern Washington...

' at this latitude. Because of its shallow depths, the largest cruise ships do not pass through these narrows. Spirit Creek is the southern most stream on the island in the Wrangell Narrows, just two miles from where the narrows opens onto Sumner Strait

Sumner Strait

Sumner Strait is a strait in the Alexander Archipelago in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is about long and wide, extending from the mouth of the Stikine River to Iphigenia Bay on the Gulf of Alaska, separating Mitkof Island, Kupreanof Island, and Kuiu Island on the north...

.

The first Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

an to sight the island was James Johnstone

James Johnstone (explorer)

James Johnstone was a British naval officer and explorer. He is noted for having served as sailing master of the armed tender HMS Chatham and later acting lieutenant during George Vancouver’s 1791-95 expedition to the Pacific Northwest...

, one of George Vancouver

George Vancouver

Captain George Vancouver RN was an English officer of the British Royal Navy, best known for his 1791-95 expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern Pacific Coast regions, including the coasts of contemporary Alaska, British Columbia, Washington and Oregon...

's officers during his 1791-95 expedition

Vancouver Expedition

The Vancouver Expedition was a four-and-a-half-year voyage of exploration and diplomacy, commanded by Captain George Vancouver. The expedition circumnavigated the globe, touched five continents and changed the course of history for the indigenous nations and several European empires and their...

, in 1793. The island is shown as separate from Kupreanof Island in a 1844 Russian chart, while the name was published in 1848 on a Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n Hydrographic Department chart as "Os(trov) Mitkova" for a Captain Mitkov.