Woody Island (Alaska)
Encyclopedia
Woody Island is located in Chiniak Bay, 2.6 miles (4.2 km) east of Kodiak
, Alaska
. It was originally settled by the native Alutiiq people who called themselves Tangirnarmiut, "the people of Tangirnaq." They inhabited and used Woody Island for thousands of years. The Russians established an agricultural colony on Woody Island in 1792. It was officially designated Wood Island in 1894 by the US Post Office and was the primary coastal settlement for commerce and trade for many years. The first road in Alaska was built on Woody Island. Aside from the Aleut presence, the island has gone through four periods of occupation by non-natives, and is largely unoccupied today. The island is approximately 2.8 miles long from north to south and 1.8 miles wide and 13 miles in circumference.
Russian naval officer Gavriil Davydov observed an Aleut winter ceremony on Woody Island in 1802. He wrote:
In 1805 a village on the east side of Woody Island was inhabited by 54 Alutiiq people. A smallbox epidemic struck the region in 1837 and the Russians forcefully amalgamated the survivors into seven villages, among them a village on Woody Island.
operated an ice company on the island beginning in 1852. They dammed Lake Tanignak, increasing its depth substantially. They cut and shipped ice south to California. The company brought in the first iron rails to haul ice and horses to power a horse-powered saw which cut the ice into blocks. A sawmill was built to produce not lumber, but sawdust that was used to insulate the ice for shipment south. The first road built in Alaska was graded around the island to allow the horses to be exercised. In 1867 the company was renamed the Kodiak Ice Co.
For much of the late half of the 19th century, many of the Aluttiq people on Woody Island were enslaved by the Russians to work for the ice harvesting companies during the winter. Conscripted by the Russians, they hunted sea otter
s and fur seal
s during the summer for their highly prized fur. In 1872 a Russian Orthodox Church was built on Woody Island. The church exerted a strong influence over the native population, replacing in many instances native ceremonies and observances with church-centered activities.
The sea otter and fur seal populations declined rapidly in the latter half of the 19th century due to over-harvesting, with about 100,000 sea otters and a correspondingly high number of fur seals being taken each year. By 1911 only about 2000 sea otters remained in 13 small remnant populations, making hunting unprofitable. Commercial taking of sea otters and fur seals were prohibited by the Fur Seal Treaty
. The Aleuts were permitted to hunt them for subsistence purposes only.
In 1886, the Island was the commercial center for the Kodiak area. Services included the ice harvesting operation, a boat yard, a grist mill, the Alaska Commercial Company (formerly the Russian-American Company) wharf, and the only roads in Alaska connecting these facilities. The North American Commercial Company, a fur trading enterprise, established a presence there in 1891, including a store.
built a wireless
station on the island in 1911. It included two large masts 225 feet (68.6 m) tall. During the eruption of the Novarupta
volcano on the Alaska Peninsula
in 1912, over 18 inches (45.7 cm) of ash was deposited on the island. Everyone but the watchman evacuated to Kodiak. During the ash fall, lightning struck one of the antenna which started a fire that burned most of the wireless station. Harry Martin, a survivor of the volcanic eruption, told U.S. Navy radioman Bart Phelps about the experience in 1924:
The wireless station was rebuilt and updated in 1914. The wireless station was decommissioned on February 28, 1931, and shortly thereafter the Federal government allowed the Territory of Alaska to use the remaining buildings for the Longwood School.
After the mission and orphanage was relocated to the mainland, the entire island's population declined rapidly. The Longwood School enrollment dropped from 71 in 1937 to 20 in 1939, and the school was permanently closed. Many of the natives moved to Kodiak where they were less dependent on subsistence living and could find jobs.
built the Kadiak Naval Air Station including a runway, flight service station, remote air ground, remote transmitter, low frequency range beacon, and VHF link terminal facilities. These gathered and relayed weather and other aeronautical data to pilots. During World War II up to forty technicians and their families lived on the island. They maintained the teletypes, transmitters, and radio receivers essential to supporting military and civilian aircraft operating in the North Pacific.
In 1951 or 1952 the Russian Orthodox Church building, which had been abandoned for many years, was torn down. Former Navy facilities were converted to apartments and a school was built on in 1951 for the small community. The facility was automated in the early 1970s and the majority of the remaining FAA complex burned in 1979.
Kodiak, Alaska
Kodiak is one of 7 communities and the main city on Kodiak Island, Kodiak Island Borough, in the U.S. state of Alaska. All commercial transportation between the entire island and the outside world goes through this city either via ferryboat or airline...
, Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
. It was originally settled by the native Alutiiq people who called themselves Tangirnarmiut, "the people of Tangirnaq." They inhabited and used Woody Island for thousands of years. The Russians established an agricultural colony on Woody Island in 1792. It was officially designated Wood Island in 1894 by the US Post Office and was the primary coastal settlement for commerce and trade for many years. The first road in Alaska was built on Woody Island. Aside from the Aleut presence, the island has gone through four periods of occupation by non-natives, and is largely unoccupied today. The island is approximately 2.8 miles long from north to south and 1.8 miles wide and 13 miles in circumference.
Aleut settlement
The Alutiiq people used the island for "whaling, fishing, wood-working, sweat-baths, extensive trade," and build "large multi-roomed houses, and large villages with complex social ranking." When the Russians arrived in the 18th century, the native people were initially successful in driving them off. There followed a short period of accommodation and trade, after which the Russians engaged in brutal subjugation of the people, resulting in "epidemics, forced relocations, and extermination of those who resisted."Russian naval officer Gavriil Davydov observed an Aleut winter ceremony on Woody Island in 1802. He wrote:
In 1805 a village on the east side of Woody Island was inhabited by 54 Alutiiq people. A smallbox epidemic struck the region in 1837 and the Russians forcefully amalgamated the survivors into seven villages, among them a village on Woody Island.
Industry and commerce
The Russian American Commercial CompanyRussian-American Company
The Russian-American Company was a state-sponsored chartered company formed largely on the basis of the so-called Shelekhov-Golikov Company of Grigory Shelekhov and Ivan Larionovich Golikov The Russian-American Company (officially: Under His Imperial Majesty's Highest Protection (patronage)...
operated an ice company on the island beginning in 1852. They dammed Lake Tanignak, increasing its depth substantially. They cut and shipped ice south to California. The company brought in the first iron rails to haul ice and horses to power a horse-powered saw which cut the ice into blocks. A sawmill was built to produce not lumber, but sawdust that was used to insulate the ice for shipment south. The first road built in Alaska was graded around the island to allow the horses to be exercised. In 1867 the company was renamed the Kodiak Ice Co.
For much of the late half of the 19th century, many of the Aluttiq people on Woody Island were enslaved by the Russians to work for the ice harvesting companies during the winter. Conscripted by the Russians, they hunted sea otter
Sea Otter
The sea otter is a marine mammal native to the coasts of the northern and eastern North Pacific Ocean. Adult sea otters typically weigh between 14 and 45 kg , making them the heaviest members of the weasel family, but among the smallest marine mammals...
s and fur seal
Fur seal
Fur seals are any of nine species of pinnipeds in the Otariidae family. One species, the northern fur seal inhabits the North Pacific, while seven species in the Arctocephalus genus are found primarily in the Southern hemisphere...
s during the summer for their highly prized fur. In 1872 a Russian Orthodox Church was built on Woody Island. The church exerted a strong influence over the native population, replacing in many instances native ceremonies and observances with church-centered activities.
The sea otter and fur seal populations declined rapidly in the latter half of the 19th century due to over-harvesting, with about 100,000 sea otters and a correspondingly high number of fur seals being taken each year. By 1911 only about 2000 sea otters remained in 13 small remnant populations, making hunting unprofitable. Commercial taking of sea otters and fur seals were prohibited by the Fur Seal Treaty
North Pacific Fur Seal Convention of 1911
The North Pacific Fur Seal Convention of 1911, formally known as the Convention between the United States and Other Powers Providing for the Preservation and Protection of Fur Seals, was an international treaty signed on July 7, 1911 designed to manage the commercial harvest of fur bearing mammals ...
. The Aleuts were permitted to hunt them for subsistence purposes only.
In 1886, the Island was the commercial center for the Kodiak area. Services included the ice harvesting operation, a boat yard, a grist mill, the Alaska Commercial Company (formerly the Russian-American Company) wharf, and the only roads in Alaska connecting these facilities. The North American Commercial Company, a fur trading enterprise, established a presence there in 1891, including a store.
Religious usage
Ernest and Ida Roscoe built a Baptist Mission and orphanage on Woody Island in 1893. Over the next twenty years, the mission added a girls' quarters, boys' dormitory, office building, barn, carpenter shop, cannery, silo, and dining room. The mission provided homes for Aleut children who had lost their parents, but the Baptist missionaries sometimes brought children to the orphanage, even against their parents’ will. The main building burned down in 1925, was rebuilt, and burned again in 1937. The mission was then relocated to Kodiak on the mainland where a greater variety of services were more readily available.U.S. Navy wireless station
The United States NavyUnited States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
built a wireless
Wireless
Wireless telecommunications is the transfer of information between two or more points that are not physically connected. Distances can be short, such as a few meters for television remote control, or as far as thousands or even millions of kilometers for deep-space radio communications...
station on the island in 1911. It included two large masts 225 feet (68.6 m) tall. During the eruption of the Novarupta
Novarupta
Novarupta, meaning "new eruption", is a volcano located on the Alaska Peninsula in Katmai National Park and Preserve, about southwest of Anchorage. Formed in 1912 during the largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century, Novarupta released 30 times the volume of magma as the 1980 eruption of...
volcano on the Alaska Peninsula
Alaska Peninsula
The Alaska Peninsula is a peninsula extending about to the southwest from the mainland of Alaska and ending in the Aleutian Islands. The peninsula separates the Pacific Ocean from Bristol Bay, an arm of the Bering Sea....
in 1912, over 18 inches (45.7 cm) of ash was deposited on the island. Everyone but the watchman evacuated to Kodiak. During the ash fall, lightning struck one of the antenna which started a fire that burned most of the wireless station. Harry Martin, a survivor of the volcanic eruption, told U.S. Navy radioman Bart Phelps about the experience in 1924:
The wireless station was rebuilt and updated in 1914. The wireless station was decommissioned on February 28, 1931, and shortly thereafter the Federal government allowed the Territory of Alaska to use the remaining buildings for the Longwood School.
After the mission and orphanage was relocated to the mainland, the entire island's population declined rapidly. The Longwood School enrollment dropped from 71 in 1937 to 20 in 1939, and the school was permanently closed. Many of the natives moved to Kodiak where they were less dependent on subsistence living and could find jobs.
Air station built
In 1941, the Civil Aeronautics AdministrationFederal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration is the national aviation authority of the United States. An agency of the United States Department of Transportation, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...
built the Kadiak Naval Air Station including a runway, flight service station, remote air ground, remote transmitter, low frequency range beacon, and VHF link terminal facilities. These gathered and relayed weather and other aeronautical data to pilots. During World War II up to forty technicians and their families lived on the island. They maintained the teletypes, transmitters, and radio receivers essential to supporting military and civilian aircraft operating in the North Pacific.
In 1951 or 1952 the Russian Orthodox Church building, which had been abandoned for many years, was torn down. Former Navy facilities were converted to apartments and a school was built on in 1951 for the small community. The facility was automated in the early 1970s and the majority of the remaining FAA complex burned in 1979.