Anchorage Daily News

TUNUNAK

POPULATION: 333 (2006)

LOCATION: In a small bay on the northeast coast of Nelson Island, 115 miles northwest of Bethel and 519 miles northwest of Anchorage.

DESCRIPTION: A traditional Yup'ik Eskimo village with an active fishing and subsistence lifestyle. About 97 percent of the population is wholly or partly Alaska Native. Employment is primarily with the school district, village corporation, stores and commercial fishing. Trapping and Native crafts also generate cash for many families, and subsistence activities are an important contributor to villagers' diets. About 50 residents hold commercial fishing permits. Residents participate in a lottery to hunt musk ox on Nelson or Nunivak islands. There is one school, attended by about 110 students.

HISTORY: Nelson Island was named in 1878 after Edward Nelson, a Smithsonian naturalist who noted six people, including one non-Native trader, living in Tununak. Jesuits opened a small chapel and school in 1889, but the villagers proved difficult to convert due to the migratory nature of the traditional culture, and because the shamans were powerful. The mission closed in 1892. In 1925 a government school was built, and a Northern Commercial Co. store was opened in 1929. The 1950s brought great changes to the islanders' lifestyle, through their involvement with the Territorial Guard, fish canneries, high school and health care treatment for tuberculosis. For many, this was their first exposure outside the community. By the 1970s, snowmobiles were replacing dog sleds, and the last qasgiq (men's community house) was abandoned. The city was incorporated in 1975, but dissolved in 1997 in favor of traditional council governance.

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