Anchorage Daily News

DILLINGHAM

POPULATION: 2,405

LOCATION: At the extreme northern end of Nushagak Bay in northern Bristol Bay, at the confluence of the Wood and Nushagak rivers, 327 miles southwest of Anchorage.

DESCRIPTION: Traditionally a Yup'ik Eskimo area with Russian influences, Dillingham is now home to a highly mixed population of non-Natives and Natives and is the economic, transportation and public-service hub for western Bristol Bay. The outstanding commercial fishing opportunities in the area are the focus of the local culture. Commercial fishing, fish processing, cold storage and support of the fishing industry are the primary activities. In spring and summer, the population doubles.

HISTORY: The area around Dillingham was inhabited by both Eskimos and Athabascans and became a trade center when Russians erected the Alexandrovski Redoubt in 1818. Local Native groups and Natives from the Kuskokwim Region, the Alaska Peninsula and Cook Inlet mixed together as they came to visit or live at the post. The community was known as Nushagak by 1837, when a Russian Orthodox mission was established. In 1884 the Arctic Packing Co. constructed the first salmon cannery in the Bristol Bay region, east of the modern-day city.

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