POPULATION: 17 (2006)
LOCATION: On the northwest coast of the Alaska Peninsula, 16 miles up the Ugashik River.
DESCRIPTION: A traditional, seasonal-use site of the Alutiiq where more than 80 percent of the population is wholly or partly Alaska Native. But few people live in Ugashik year-round. Some of the village's people live in nearby Pilot Point, on the coast. Tribal members live throughout Alaska, California and Washington. Commercial fishing and fish processing are the basis of Ugashik's economy, and subsistence activities sustain residents, with salmon, trout, grayling, moose, caribou and bear providing staples. The village has no public facilities. During the 2000 U.S. census, 26 of 35 housing units were used only seasonally.
HISTORY: Yup'ik Eskimos and Aleuts jointly occupied the area historically. This Aleut village was first recorded in 1880 as "Oogashik." In the 1890s, the Red Salmon Co. developed a cannery, and Ugashik became one of the largest villages in the region. The 1919 flu epidemic decimated the population. The cannery has continued to operate under various owners. The Briggs Way Cannery opened in 1963.
