Kruzof Island (russian: остров Крузов) 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., ...

at . It is about west of

Sitka russian: Ситка , native_name_lang = tli , settlement_type = Consolidated city-borough , image_skyline = File:Sitka 84 Elev 135.jpg , image_caption = Downtown Sitka in 1984 , image_size ...

, and is part of the City and Borough of Sitka. It was named in 1805 by Captain U.T. Lisianski as Crooze Island, after a Russian Admiral. It hosts the region's only volcano, Mount Edgecumbe. In 1849, Captain Tebenkov recorded the Tlingit name for the island as being Tlikh.

Naming history

Before being named by Lisianski, it was called San Jacinto after its highest point, Mount Edgecumbe, was named Montaña de San Jacinto by Don Juan de la Bodega y Quadra in 1775. La Pérouse referred to that name by calling the island St. Hyacinthe. Captain

Nathaniel Portlock Nathaniel Portlock (c. 1748 – 12 September 1817) was a British ship's captain, maritime fur trader, and author. He entered the Royal Navy in 1772 as an able seaman, serving in . In 1776 he joined as master's mate and served on the third Pac ...

named the island Pitt Island in 1787. Early Russian traders called it Sitka Island. In 1849, Constantin Grewingk called the island Edgecumbe. It later became known as Kruzow Island before finally becoming Kruzof Island.alaskashipwreck.com Alaska Shipwrecks (W)
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Geography

The island is long and wide with a land area of , making it the 41st largest island in the United States. The island is formed in part by Mount Edgecumbe, a small, dormant

stratovolcano A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a conical volcano built up by many layers (strata) of hardened lava and tephra. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with a summit crater and per ...

, and several volcanic cones and collapsed cones that make up its

volcanic field A volcanic field is an area of Earth's crust that is prone to localized volcanic activity. The type and number of volcanoes required to be called a "field" is not well-defined. Volcanic fields usually consist of clusters of up to 100 volcanoes ...

Human importance

Kruzof Island does not have a permanent resident population. There is a maintained trail leading from Fred's Creek cabin, a

United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...

cabin on the inside coast, to the summit of Mount Edgecumbe, as well as several trails across the island. In January 1813 the Russian exploration ship ''Neva'' wrecked just off the island. The survivors made it to shore and established a camp where they subsisted until rescued about a month later. The site of the wreck, and also the survival camp has since been found. Kalinin Bay, on the northern shore of the island, provided the name for the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

escort aircraft carrier . From the 1950s through the 1970s, forests on Kruzof Island were the source for

clearcut Clearcutting, clearfelling or clearcut logging is a forestry/logging practice in which most or all trees in an area are uniformly cut down. Along with shelterwood and seed tree harvests, it is used by foresters to create certain types of forest ...

timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...

extraction.

References

{{authority control Islands of the Alexander Archipelago Islands of Sitka, Alaska Uninhabited islands of Alaska Islands of Alaska