Anchorage Daily News

PILOT POINT

POPULATION: 66 (2006)

LOCATION: On the northern coast of the Alaska Peninsula, 368 air miles southwest of Anchorage.

DESCRIPTION: A community with a history of ethnic diversity and a fishing and subsistence lifestyle. Many residents are of Alutiiq and Yup'ik ancestry. Most cash income derives from commercial salmon fishing; up to 700 commercial boats are fishing in the district by mid-July. There is one school, attended by roughly 20 students. During the 2000 U.S. census, 48 residents were employed, median household income was $41,250 and nearly 21 percent of the population was living below the official U.S. poverty level.

HISTORY: The community developed around a fish-salting plant established in 1889. At that time, it was called Pilot Station after the pilots stationed there who guided boats upriver to a large cannery at Ugashik. In 1892, Charles Nelson opened a saltery; by 1918 it developed into a three-line cannery. People of many nationalities came to work in the canneries: Italians, Chinese and northern Europeans. A post office was established in 1933, and the name was changed to Pilot Point at that time. The deterioration of the harbor forced the cannery to close in 1958.

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