Anchorage Daily News

POPULATION: 1,060 (2006)

LOCATION: Covering about 500 square miles in Southwest Alaska, at the upper eastern end of Bristol Bay.

DESCRIPTION: A group of communities where, overall, about 45 percent of the population is Alaska Native or part Native and whose economic mainstays are commercial fishing, processing, government jobs and transportation services. Naknek and South Naknek depend on fishing and processing, while King Salmon residents work for the government and air taxis. The borough population increases by several thousand during red salmon season. King Salmon is a departure point for adjacent Katmai National Park and Preserve, Brooks Camp and various fishing and hunting sites. More than one-third of the 979 homes are used only seasonally. The borough has three schools, attended by about 240 students.

HISTORY: The region was first settled by Athabascan Indians, Central Yup'ik Eskimos and Sugpiaq (Aleut-Russian) Eskimos. Hunting and fishing camps along the Naknek River date from 3,000 to 4,000 B.C. In 1818, the first Russian traders arrived. Two years later, the first Russian settlement was established, and in 1841 the Russian Orthodox Mission was built at Nushagak. The Russians explored and maintained dominance of the area until the U.S. purchase of Alaska in 1867. U.S. interests were directed primarily at the fur and fisheries potential of the region. In 1883, the first salmon cannery in Bristol Bay was opened. During World War II, King Salmon Air Force Base was developed. The Bristol Bay Borough was incorporated as the state's first borough in 1962.

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