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Katalla (pronounced ''KA-tell-ah'') is a
Katalla is located within the
Katalla was at the center of the now-abandoned Katalla
Katalla and Controller Bay Alaska Project
{{Chugach Census Area, Alaska Geography of Chugach Census Area, Alaska Ghost towns in Alaska Ghost towns in the United States Ghost towns in North America Towns in the United States
ghost town
Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to:
* Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned
Film and television
* Ghost Town (1936 film), ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser
* Ghost Town (1956 film), ''Ghost Town'' ...
in the Valdez-Cordova Census Area in the U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...
of Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
, southeast of Cordova. The name of this town was sometimes spelled Catalla. It is now abandoned.
Geography
Katalla is located within the Chugach National Forest
The Chugach National Forest is a United States National Forest in south central Alaska. Covering portions of Prince William Sound, the Kenai Peninsula and the Copper River Delta, it was formed in 1907 from part of a larger forest reserve. The Ch ...
near Controller Bay and the Bering River.
History
Katalla was at the center of the now-abandoned Katalla oil field
A petroleum reservoir or oil and gas reservoir is a subsurface accumulation of hydrocarbons contained in porous or fractured rock formations.
Such reservoirs form when kerogen (ancient plant matter) is created in surrounding rock by the presence ...
. This was the first discovery of commercial quantities of oil in Alaska (1902). The town reportedly had a population of 5,000 in 1907-1908.
This was the result of the announcement that the Copper River and Northwestern Railway
The Copper River and Northwestern Railway (CR&NW) consisted of two rail lines, the Copper River line and the Northwestern line. Michael James Heney had secured the right-of-way up the Copper River in 1904. He started building the railway from Co ...
(CR&NW) was going to use the town's location as its access to the Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
and the Bering River
Bering may refer to:
* Vitus Bering (1681–1741), Danish-born navigator in the service of the Russian Navy
* Maritime features of Alaska/Siberia region:
** Bering Sea, body of water in the North Pacific Ocean
** Bering Strait, sea strait between ...
coal fields. Violent storms in the fall of 1907 destroyed the jetty being built and it was decided to move the railroad's terminus to nearby Cordova.
The famous "ship of gold" ''SS Portland'', ran aground and sank at Katalla in November 1910, during one of these autumn storms. The town's population continued to depend on the small oil field for income until December 25, 1933 when fire damaged its refinery and operations ceased. The town's post office closed in 1943 and the town site was abandoned.
The oil and gas extraction rights for the Katalla area were granted to the Chugach Alaska Corporation
Chugach Alaska Corporation, or CAC, is one of thirteen Alaska Native Regional Corporations created under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 (ANCSA) in settlement of aboriginal land claims. Chugach Alaska Corporation was incorporated ...
by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act
The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) was signed into law by President Richard Nixon on December 18, 1971, constituting at the time the largest land claims settlement in United States history. ANCSA was intended to resolve long-standing i ...
. Before that, however, at least some of the rights to the field were owned by the California-Mexican-Alaska Holding Company, which dissolved and sold its assets to the Alaska Coal, Oil & By-Products Company in 1929.
A Korean coal mining consortium resurrected potential interest in Katalla after they did coal exploration in the Bering River coal fields in the early 1980s. Interest waned as the coal reserves did not appear economically viable, and a haul route to Katalla would by necessity have to cross areas subject to slope instability and periodic glacial dam outbursts from Bering Lake.
Demographics
Katalla first appeared on the 1910 U.S. Census as an unincorporated village. It continued to report until 1940, after which it was abandoned.References
Further reading
* Jessup, David Eric. "The Rise and Fall of Katalla: 'The Coming Metropolis of Alaska'," '' Alaska History'', Vol. 20, No. 1, Spring 2005.External links
Katalla and Controller Bay Alaska Project
{{Chugach Census Area, Alaska Geography of Chugach Census Area, Alaska Ghost towns in Alaska Ghost towns in the United States Ghost towns in North America Towns in the United States