Anchorage Daily News

KARLUK

POPULATION: 27

LOCATION: On the west coast of Kodiak Island, on the Karluk River, 90 air miles southwest of Kodiak and 300 miles southwest of Anchorage.

DESCRIPTION: An Alutiiq (Russian-Aleut) village, where more than 96 percent of the population is wholly or partly Alaska Native and a fishing and subsistence lifestyle prevails. Villagers harvest salmon, trout, ducks, seals and deer. Fish processing is the primary livelihood. Karluk, Larsen Bay and Old Harbor village corporations share ownership of Kodiak Salmon Packers Inc. At the time of the 2000 U.S. Census, 11 of the 24 homes in the village were occupied only seasonally.

HISTORY: The mouth of the Karluk River is thought to have been populated for more than 7,000 years. Russian hunters built a trading post in 1786 when the village was located on both sides of the river, near Karluk Lagoon. Between 1790 and 1850, tanneries, salteries and canneries were established. By 1800, Karluk was known for the largest cannery and the greatest salmon stream in the world. A post office was built in 1892 and more canneries in the early 1900s. Overfishing, however, forced the canneries to close in the late 1930s. A severe storm in 1978 forced the community to relocate to its present site, upstream on the south side of the lagoon.

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