Port Wakefield, Alaska
Encyclopedia
Port Wakefield, Alaska is a ghost town
on the north-east coat of Raspberry Island (Alaska)
in the Kodiak Archipelago
located in the Gulf of Alaska
.
It was established shortly after World War II
by Lowell A. Wakefield (1909-1997) (and named in his honour), after he relocated his father, Lee Howard Wakefield's salmon cannery business, Apex Fish Company, from Anacortes, Washington, renaming it Wakefield Fisheries.
Wakefield, who is regarded as the founder of the Alaskan king crab industry, introduced the canning of king crab
, partly because of declining salmon stocks in surrounding waters.
As well as the cannery, cedar log houses and a church were built for the workers.
Port Wakefield suffered badly in the 1964 Alaska earthquake and tsunami
, when Raspberry Island subsided by as much as six feet. This was the most powerful recorded earthquake in North American history, and the third most powerful ever measured by seismograph; with a moment magnitude of 9.2 and registered 8.4 on the Richter scale. The town was not destroyed, but the cannery and community were no longer viable. The land was eventually purchased and is now used for tourism, as wilderness lodges.
The crab cannery was relocated to Port Lions on Kodiak Island
, in a much more accessible location, with a good dock and harbor facilities. The cannery was connected to Port Lions by a long causeway and a new road. Some of the cedar log houses were moved on barges from Port Wakefield to Port Lions, where they still stand. However, the cannery burnt down and has not been rebuilt since.
Ghost town
A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...
on the north-east coat of Raspberry Island (Alaska)
Raspberry Island (Alaska)
Raspberry Island is an island of the Kodiak Archipelago located in the Gulf of Alaska in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is located two miles northwest of Whale Island, and just across the mile wide Raspberry Strait from the southwestern end of Afognak. The island is separated from Kodiak Island by...
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...
located in the Gulf of Alaska
Gulf of Alaska
The Gulf of Alaska is an arm of the Pacific Ocean defined by the curve of the southern coast of Alaska, stretching from the Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak Island in the west to the Alexander Archipelago in the east, where Glacier Bay and the Inside Passage are found.The entire shoreline of the Gulf is...
.
It was established shortly after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
by Lowell A. Wakefield (1909-1997) (and named in his honour), after he relocated his father, Lee Howard Wakefield's salmon cannery business, Apex Fish Company, from Anacortes, Washington, renaming it Wakefield Fisheries.
Wakefield, who is regarded as the founder of the Alaskan king crab industry, introduced the canning of 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...
, partly because of declining salmon stocks in surrounding waters.
As well as the cannery, cedar log houses and a church were built for the workers.
Port Wakefield suffered badly in the 1964 Alaska earthquake and tsunami
Tsunami
A tsunami is a series of water waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of a body of water, typically an ocean or a large lake...
, when Raspberry Island subsided by as much as six feet. This was the most powerful recorded earthquake in North American history, and the third most powerful ever measured by seismograph; with a moment magnitude of 9.2 and registered 8.4 on the Richter scale. The town was not destroyed, but the cannery and community were no longer viable. The land was eventually purchased and is now used for tourism, as wilderness lodges.
The crab cannery was relocated to Port Lions on Kodiak Island
Kodiak Island
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...
, in a much more accessible location, with a good dock and harbor facilities. The cannery was connected to Port Lions by a long causeway and a new road. Some of the cedar log houses were moved on barges from Port Wakefield to Port Lions, where they still stand. However, the cannery burnt down and has not been rebuilt since.