POPULATION: 88 (2006)
LOCATION: In Interior Alaska on the Anvik River, west of the Yukon River, 34 miles north of Holy Cross.
DESCRIPTION: A community that's more than 90 percent Alaska Native and where subsistence is actively pursued by the local Ingalik Athabascan Indians. Many families travel to fish camps in summer; 14 residents hold commercial permits. Subsistence foods include salmon, moose, black bear and small game. Anvik offers few year-round wage-earning positions. During the 2000 U.S. Census, 29 residents were employed, median household income was $21,250 and 44 percent of residents were living below the official U.S. poverty level. Several residents trap or make handicrafts, and many families engage in home gardening. There is one school, attended by about 25 students.
HISTORY: Anvik has historically been an Ingalik village, known variously as American Station, Anvic, Anvick, Anvig, Anvig Station and Anwig. The Russian Glazanov reported it having 100 people in 1834. Originally it was on other side of the river, to the northeast. Residents gradually moved to the present site with the establishment of an Episcopal mission and school in 1887. A post office opened in 1897. After the flu epidemic of 1918-19 and another in 1927, many orphans became wards of the mission. Some children came from as far away as Fort Yukon.
