Anchorage Daily News

False Pass

POPULATION: 46 (2007)

LOCATION: On the eastern shore of Unimak Island on a strait linking the Gulf of Alaska to the Bering Sea, 646 air miles southwest of Anchorage.

DESCRIPTION: A community where about 65 percent of the population is wholly or partly Alaska Native, primarily Unangan. False Pass was so named because the shallow Bering Sea side of the strait cannot accommodate large vessels. It's a key refueling stop for Bristol Bay and Bering Sea fishing fleets. Commercial salmon fishing, fish processing and subsistence activities are mainstays of the lifestyle and economy. Residents use salmon, halibut, geese, caribou, seals and wild cattle on Sanak Island. Levies include a 2 percent sales tax and a 2 percent raw fish tax collected by both city and borough. The one school is attended by about a dozen students.

HISTORY: The area was settled by a homesteader in the early 1900s and grew with the establishment in 1917 of a cannery, which drew Natives from nearby communities. The post office came in 1921. The cannery operated almost continuously until a fire destroyed it in 1984.

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