Current Population: 724 (2007 DCCED Certified Population)
Unalakleet is located on Norton Sound at the mouth of the Unalakleet River, 148 miles southeast of Nome and 395 miles northwest of Anchorage. Unalakleet is located in the Cape Nome Recording District. The area encompasses 2.9 sq. miles of land and 2.3 sq. miles of water. Unalakleet has a subarctic climate with considerable maritime influences when Norton Sound is ice-free, usually from May to October. Winters are cold and dry. Average summer temperatures range 47 to 62; winter temperatures average -4 to 11. Extremes have been measured from -50 to 87. Precipitation averages 14 inches annually, with 41 inches of snow.
Archaeologists have dated house remnants along the beach ridge from 200 B.C. to 300 A.D. The name Unalakleet means "from the southern side." Unalakleet has long been a major trade center as the terminus for the Kaltag Portage, an important winter travel route connecting to the Yukon River. Indians on the upper river were considered "professional" traders who had a monopoly on the Indian-Eskimo trade across the Kaltag Portage. The Russian-American Company built a post here in the 1830s. In 1898, reindeer herders from Lapland were brought to Unalakleet to establish sound herding practices. In 1901, the Army Signal Corps built over 605 miles of telegraph line from St. Michael to Unalakleet, over the Portage to Kaltag and Fort Gibbon. The City was incorporated in 1974.
The
information provided on this page was obtained from:
The
Alaska Department of Community and Economic Development, Community Database Online |
