Kuiu Island is an island in the

Alexander Archipelago The Alexander Archipelago (russian: Архипелаг Александра) is a long archipelago (group of islands) in North America lying off the southeastern coast of Alaska. It contains about 1,100 islands, the tops of submerged coastal m ...

in southeastern

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., ...

. It lies between

Kupreanof Island Kupreanof Island (russian: Остров Купреянова) is an island in the Alexander Archipelago in southeastern Alaska. The island is long and wide with a total land area is , making it the 13th largest island in the United States and t ...

, to its east, and

Baranof Island Baranof Island is an island in the northern Alexander Archipelago in the Alaska Panhandle, in Alaska. The name Baranof was given in 1805 by Imperial Russian Navy captain Yuri Lisyansky, U. F. Lisianski to honor Alexander Andreyevich Baranov. It ...

, to its west. The island is long, and wide. It is nearly cut in two by Affleck Canal. It has of land area, making it the 15th largest island in the United States. The entire island is part of

Tongass National Forest The Tongass National Forest () in Southeast Alaska is the largest U.S. National Forest at . Most of its area is temperate rain forest and is remote enough to be home to many species of endangered and rare flora and fauna. The Tongass, which i ...

. The population was 10 persons at the 2000 census. It is separated from Baranof Island by

Chatham Strait Chatham Strait, or Shee ya xhaak in the Tlingit language, is a narrow passage of the Alexander Archipelago in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of Alaska. It separates Chichagof Island and Baranof Island to its west from Admiralty Island ...

. The

Cape Decision Light Cape Decision is a lighthouse located on Kuiu Island adjacent to Sumner Strait in Southeast Alaska. History The first attempt to light these waters was an acetylene lantern placed on the Spanish Islands, just off the southern end of Kuiu Islan ...

is located on Kuiu Island. Also on the island are the Kuiu Wilderness and the Tebenkof Bay Wilderness areas.

History

The island was first charted by

Joseph Whidbey Joseph Whidbey FRS (1757 – 9 October 1833) was a member of the Royal Navy who served on the Vancouver Expedition 1791–95, and later achieved renown as a naval engineer. He is notable for having been the first European to discover and char ...

and James Johnstone, two of

George Vancouver Captain George Vancouver (22 June 1757 – 10 May 1798) was a British Royal Navy officer best known for his 1791–1795 expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern Pacific Coast regions, including the coasts of what a ...

's men during his 1791-95 expedition, in 1793–94. The latter, Johnstone, proved its insularity.

References

Image gallery

Sources

Kuiu Island: Blocks 1054 thru 1061 and 1071 thru 1072, Census Tract 1, Wrangell-Petersburg Census Area, Alaska
United States Census Bureau {{authority control Islands of the Alexander Archipelago Islands of Prince of Wales–Hyder Census Area, Alaska Islands of Alaska