Ohagamiut ( esu, Urr’agmiut) is an
abandoned village
An abandoned village is a village that has, for some reason, been deserted. In many countries, and throughout history, thousands of villages have been deserted for a variety of causes. Abandonment of villages is often related to epidemic, f ...
along the
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 ...
in the
Bethel Census Area of the southwestern part of the
U.S. state 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., ...
, located between
Crow Village and
Kalskag. It was abandoned in the 1940s as residents relocated to Kalskag,
Aniak,
Bethel
Bethel ( he, בֵּית אֵל, translit=Bēṯ 'Ēl, "House of El" or "House of God",Bleeker and Widegren, 1988, p. 257. also transliterated ''Beth El'', ''Beth-El'', ''Beit El''; el, Βαιθήλ; la, Bethel) was an ancient Israelite sanct ...
and other towns. The village site is located just 3 miles east of
Upper Kalskag.
Ohagamiut is sometimes confused with another Yup'ik village on the
Yukon River
The Yukon River (Gwichʼin language, Gwich'in: ''Ųųg Han'' or ''Yuk Han'', Central Alaskan Yup'ik language, Yup'ik: ''Kuigpak'', Inupiaq language, Inupiaq: ''Kuukpak'', Deg Xinag language, Deg Xinag: ''Yeqin'', Hän language, Hän: ''Tth'echù' ...
called
Ohogamiut, which is presently an Alaska Native Village Statistical Area (ANVSA).
History
Ohagamiut has also been called ''Okhogamute''. The first reference to the village comes from
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
n explorers who traveled down the Kuskokwim River in 1818. The first Roman Catholic
mission in western Alaska was established at Ohagamiut in 1892. The first census of Alaska completed in 1884 by
Ivan Petrof
Ivan Petrof (1842? - 1896) (commonly spelled "Petroff" in sources) was a Russian-born soldier, writer, and translator who for many years was regarded as a major authority on Alaska. According to historian Terrence Cole, Petrof "holds the distinc ...
showed Okhogamute having a population of 130.
Demographics
Ohagamiut first reported on the 1880 U.S. Census as the unincorporated Yup'ik village of "Okhogamute", with 130 residents (127 Inuit and 3 Creole (Mixed Russian and Native)). It returned in 1890 as "Oh-hagamiut", with 36 residents (all Native). It last appeared on the 1920 census as "Ohagamute", with 92 residents. Although it never appeared on the census again, it would later appear on maps as "Oknagamut."
Notes
Geography of Bethel Census Area, Alaska
Ghost towns in Alaska
Ghost towns in the United States
Ghost towns in North America
Towns in the United States
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