Anchorage Daily News

SAND POINT

POPULATION: 890 (2006)

LOCATION: On Humboldt Harbor on Popof Island, off the Alaska Peninsula, 570 air miles from Anchorage.

DESCRIPTION: A self-sufficient, progressive community with commercial fishing activities at the heart of the local culture. It is home to the largest fishing fleet in the Aleutian Chain and several major fish-processing and storage operators. Nearly half the population is wholly or partly Alaska Native and participates in subsistence consumption of fish and caribou. A large transient population arrives seasonally for fishing and cannery work. The state provides sub-regional services through public safety, fish and game and the court system. There are two schools attended by about 110 students.

HISTORY: Sand Point was founded in 1898 by a San Francisco fishing company as a trading post and cod-fishing station. Aleuts from surrounding villages and Scandinavian fishermen were the first residents. Sand Point served as a repair and supply center for gold mining during the early 1900s, but fish processing became the dominant activity in the 1930s. The St. Nicholas Chapel, a Russian Orthodox church, was built in 1933 and is now on the National Register of Historical Places. Aleutian Cold Storage built a halibut plant in 1946. The city government was incorporated in 1966.

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