Anchorage Daily News

CHEVAK

POPULATION: 908 (2006 estimate)

LOCATION: On the north bank of the Niglikfak River, 17 miles east of Hooper Bay in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.

DESCRIPTION: A Cup'ik Eskimo village where almost 96 percent of residents are wholly or partly Alaska Native and commercial fishing and subsistence harvest of salmon, seal, walrus, clams and waterfowl are critical to the culture. Employment is highest in summer (construction projects and BLM fire fighting) and declines to a few full-time jobs in winter. During the 2000 U.S. census, 231 residents were employed, median household income was $26,875, per capita income was $7,550 and more than 29 percent of residents were living below the official U.S. poverty level. The school has about 350 students.

HISTORY: Eskimos have lived here for thousands of years. Chevak is also known as New Chevak because residents once lived in another Chevak before 1950. "Old" Chevak, on the north bank of the Keoklevik River, 9 miles east of Hooper Bay, was abandoned because of flooding from high storm tides. The new site was first reported by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1948. A post office was set up in 1951, the city government incorporated in 1967. Chevak today is a second-class city that charges a 3 percent sales tax.

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