Napaimute ( esu, Napamiut) is an

unincorporated Unincorporated may refer to: * Unincorporated area, land not governed by a local municipality * Unincorporated entity, a type of organization * Unincorporated territories of the United States, territories under U.S. jurisdiction, to which Congress ...

Alaska Native Alaska Natives (also known as Alaskan Natives, Native Alaskans, Indigenous Alaskans, Aboriginal Alaskans or First Alaskans) are the indigenous peoples of Alaska and include Iñupiat, Yupik, Aleut, Eyak, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and a numbe ...

village located in the

Bethel Census Area Bethel Census Area is a census area in the U.S. state of Alaska. As of the 2020 census, the population is 18,666, up from 17,013 in 2010. It is part of the unorganized borough and therefore has no borough seat. Its largest community is the ci ...

of 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 ...

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 is classified as an Alaskan Native Village Statistical Area. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, it has a population of 2. This is up from a population of zero in 2000.

History

Englishman George Hoffman established a trading post at the location of present-day Napaimute in 1906. The village that formed around the trading post was called Hoffman's. The middle Kuskokwim Valley was seeing and influx of gold prospectors at that time and Hoffman's became an important supply and trade center. George Hoffman would soon relocated to Georgetown, and the name of the village was changed to Napaimute. In

Yup'ik language The Yup'ik or Yupiaq (sg & pl) and Yupiit or Yupiat (pl), also Central Alaskan Yup'ik, Central Yup'ik, Alaskan Yup'ik ( own name ''Yup'ik'' sg ''Yupiik'' dual ''Yupiit'' pl; russian: Юпики центральной Аляски), are an I ...

, the word Napaimute translates to "forest people". The first territorial school along the Kuskokwim River was built in 1920 at Napaimute. By 1930, the US census was reporting a Napaimute population of 111, however, the population then began to decline, and by 1969, the village's last permanent resident had left the village. With the passage of 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 ...

in 1971, a village corporation called Napaimute Limited was formed and in 1975, one of its members established permanent residency at the village. the village council was able to receive federal recognition as an

Alaska Native Tribe This list of Alaska Native tribal entities names the federally recognized tribes in the state of Alaska. The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 explains how these Alaska Native villages came to be tracked this way. This version was upda ...

in 1994, which enabled it to start receiving funding from the

Bureau of Indian Affairs The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States federal agency within the Department of the Interior. It is responsible for implementing federal laws and policies related to American Indians and A ...

. Current efforts to revitalize the community are evident by the set up of a sawmill in 2001, tribal operations in 2002, and an airport feasibility study launched in 2004.

Geography

Georgetown is located at on the north bank of the upper

Kuskokwim River The Kuskokwim River or Kusko River (Yup'ik: ''Kusquqvak''; Deg Xinag: ''Digenegh''; Upper Kuskokwim: ''Dichinanek' ''; russian: Кускоквим (''Kuskokvim'')) is a river, long, in Southwest Alaska in the United States. It is the ninth la ...

28 miles east of Aniak in the Kilbuck-Kuskokwim mountains. Napaimute is accessible by boat, or snowmobile (winter).

Demographics

Napaimute first appeared on the 1880 U.S. Census as an unincorporated

Tinneh The Alaskan Athabascans, Alaskan Athabascans, Alaskan AthapascansWilliam Simeone, ''A History of Alaskan Athapaskans'', 1982, Alaska Historical Commission or Dena (russian: атабаски Аляски, атапаски Аляски) are Alaska ...

village of 60 residents (all Tinneh). In 1890, it returned as "Napaimiut" (all 23 residents were Native).http://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/1890a_v8-01.pdf It did not return again until 1930, this time as "Napaimut." In 1940, it returned as "Napamiute." In 1950, it returned under its 1890 census name, "Napaimiut." It did not return again until 1980, when it returned as its original 1880 name and spelling, Napaimute. It was classified as an unincorporated Alaskan Native Village Statistical Area (ANVSA) in each successive census.

References

External links

Native Village of Napaimute
{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Alaska Unincorporated communities in Bethel Census Area, Alaska Unincorporated communities in Unorganized Borough, Alaska