Aniak, Alaska
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Aniak () is a city in the Bethel Census Area in the
U.S The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. state of
Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...
. At the 2010 census the population was 501, down from 572 in 2000.


Geography

(61.578821, -159.550255). Aniak is on the south bank of the
Kuskokwim River The Kuskokwim River or Kusko River ( Yupʼik: ''Kusquqvak''; Deg Xinag: ''Digenegh''; Upper Kuskokwim: ''Dichinanekʼ''; (''Kuskokvim'')) is a river, long, in Southwest Alaska in the United States. It is the ninth largest river in the Unit ...
at the head of Aniak Slough, southwest of Russian Mission in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. It lies northeast of Bethel and west of Anchorage. According to the
United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...
, the city has a total area of , of which, of it is land and of it (25.82%) is water.


Climate

Climate is maritime in the summer and continental in winter. Temperatures range between -72 and 92 °F. Average yearly precipitation is , with snowfall of .


Demographics

Aniak first appeared on the 1940 U.S. Census as an unincorporated village. It formally incorporated in 1972. As of the census of 2000, there were 572 people, 174 households, and 133 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 203 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 25.00%
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 0.35%
Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...
or
African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 68.36% Native American, 0.52% Asian, and 5.77% from two or more races. 1.05% of the population were
Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or Latino of any race. There were 174 households, out of which 51.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.9% were married couples living together, 13.2% had a female householder with 0 husbands present, and 23.0% were non-families. 20.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 4.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.29 and the average family size was 3.74. In the city, the age distribution of the population shows 40.9% under the age of 18, 6.8% from 18 to 24, 27.3% from 25 to 44, 20.3% from 45 to 64, and 4.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 28 years. For every 100 females, there were 108.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 107.4 males. The median income for a household in the city was $41,875, and the median income for a family was $43,750. Males had a median income of $37,708 versus $34,500 for females. The
per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...
for the city was $16,550. About 11.8% of families and 14.0% of the population were below the
poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
, including 13.4% of those under age 18 and 12.5% of those age 65 or over.


History

''Aniak'' is the
Central Alaskan Yup'ik Central Alaskan Yup'ik may refer to: * Central Alaskan Yup'ik people * Central Alaskan Yup'ik language Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directio ...
name for the area around present-day Aniak. The word means "the place where it comes out" - that is, where the Aniak River flows into the Kuskokwim. The local
Yup'ik people The Yupʼik or Yupiaq (sg & pl) and Yupiit or Yupiat (pl), also Central Alaskan Yupʼik, Central Yupʼik, Alaskan Yupʼik ( own name ''Yupʼik'' sg ''Yupiik'' dual ''Yupiit'' pl; Russian: Юпики центральной Аляски), are an ...
had deserted the original village at Aniak by the early-19th century, when Russian explorers first arrived in the area. 20th-century prospectors believed that the early Russian traders discovered
gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...
in a tributary to the Kuskokwim called "Yellow River" in 1832. Many think that the Yellow River these traders referred to is the Aniak River. Russian traders did discover a mercury deposit near the
trading post A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory in European and colonial contexts, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded. Typically a trading post allows people from one geogr ...
called Kolmakov Redoubt east of Aniak in 1838. Placer gold was found by Russian traders in New York Creek east of Aniak in 1844. The Russians, however, did not engage in any significant mining activities, and it wasn't until after Washington's
purchase of Alaska The Alaska Purchase was the purchase of Alaska from the Russian Empire by the United States for a sum of $7.2 million in 1867 (equivalent to $ million in ). On May 15 of that year, the United States Senate ratified a bilateral treaty ...
in 1867 that the American prospectors began seriously investigating the potential for prospecting along the Kuskokwim river. A handful of prospecting parties began venturing into the area, however they had to travel great distances to an area where trading posts were few and far between, so the activity was limited, especially given the exposure of other late-19th century strikes in Alaska which were better served by existing infrastructure. The euphoria caused by the Klondike Gold Rush in 1897-98 would set the stage for a change however, with thousands of prospectors across the
District of Alaska The District of Alaska was the federal government’s designation for Alaska from May 17, 1884, to August 24, 1912, when it became the Territory of Alaska. Previously (1867–1884) it had been known as the Department of Alaska, a military des ...
poised to make a rush upon rumor of each potential new strike. One such rush was the Yellow River Stampede of 1900, in which many prospectors left
Nome Nome may refer to: Country subdivision * Nome (Egypt), an administrative division within ancient Egypt * Nome (Greece), the administrative division immediately below the ''peripheries of Greece'' (, pl. ) Places United States * Nome, Alaska ...
to venture into the Kuskokwim basin upon rumors that someone had found the Yellow River strike - despite the feven although the location of that strike was unknown. Finding precious little gold and experiencing substantial hardship, many of these folks would return to Nome following the difficult winter of 1901, but some stayed behind to continue their search. A 1906 gold-discovery at the head of the
Innoko River The Innoko River (; (Deg Xinag: ''Yooniq'') is a tributary of the Yukon River in the U.S. state of Alaska. It flows north from its origin south of Cloudy Mountain in the Kuskokwim Mountains and then southwest to meet the larger river across from ...
, a tributary of the
Yukon River The Yukon River is a major watercourse of northwestern North America. From its source in British Columbia, it flows through Canada's territory of Yukon (itself named after the river). The lower half of the river continues westward through the U.S ...
, caused another gold rush in 1907, with many of the prospectors choosing to access the site via the Kuskokwim River instead. Trading posts were established at the Takotna River which required riverboat service to travel the Kuskokwim river. With riverboat service now available on the Kuskokwim River, prospecting activity picked up, and some strikes started to occur in the Kuskokwim basin. Strikes were made at Crooked Creek, George River, New York Creek, and Aniak River among others. Most strikes were short-lived. However, the Kuskokwim River was now seeing an increase in river traffic that needed servicing. In 1910, a lone prospector named "Old Man" Keeler reportedly found placer gold in the Aniak River basin. In 1911, three prospectors, Harry Buhro, E. W. "Kid" Fisher, and Fred Labelle, who had been working the George River area, decided to give the Aniak River basin area a try; they discovered gold at Marvel, Fisher, and Dome creeks. These creeks feed into the Aniak River about south of Aniak. Initially prospectors would reach this site by poling up the river in boats, however that was a difficult journey due to the nature of the river. The trip would take 15 to 20 days from the Kuskokwim river. By 1913, a hydraulic plant had been installed at Marvel Creek and in 1914 construction of a cat trail began, starting south of Aniak on the mouth of the Aniak Slough and proceeding to the diggings at Marvel Creek. The cat trail was last used in the spring of 2006 by miners still working claims. This same year, Tom L. Johnson homesteaded the site of the long-abandoned Yup'ik village in the Aniak area and opened a store and post office there to service prospectors and miners in the vicinity. Willie Pete and Sam Simeon brought their Yup'ik families from Ohagamiut to Aniak. In 1936 a territorial school was opened. In anticipation of the
Lend-Lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (),3,000 Hurricanes and >4,000 other aircraft) * 28 naval vessels: ** 1 Battleship. (HMS Royal Sovereign (05), HMS Royal Sovereign) * ...
program to help supply Russia with war materials, construction of an airfield began in 1939. With the airfield in place, Aniak became the transportation hub for villages in the area including
Chuathbaluk Chuathbaluk () is a city in Bethel Census Area, Alaska, Bethel Census Area, Alaska, United States. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the population was 102, down from 118 in 2010. Geography Chuathbaluk is located at (61.575693, -1 ...
, Anvik, Kalskag, Crooked Creek, Holy Cross and others. In 1956 during the
Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
, construction of a
White Alice The White Alice Communications System (WACS, "White Alice" colloquialism, colloquially) was a United States Air Force telecommunication network with 80 radio stations constructed in Alaska during the Cold War. It used tropospheric scatter for over ...
Relay Station began bringing money, jobs, and communication capability to the area. The impact to the community from the relay station was immediate: the first telephone capable of long-distance phone calls was installed at the Aniak Lodge in 1957 and Aniak's population more than doubled from 142 in 1950 to 308 in 1960. The 2000 census places Aniak's population at 572.


Education

The
Kuspuk School District Kuspuk School District is a school district headquartered in Aniak, Alaska. In 2024 the enrollment count was 318. The district's area is similar in size to that of Maryland. See also at KTOO History On July 1, 2020, James Anderson began his ter ...
operates two schools in Aniak: Auntie Mary Nicoli Elementary School and Aniak Jr/Sr High School.


Notable residents

* Sam Phillips (Yup'ik), also known as
Crow Village Sam "Crow Village" Sam Phillips (Yup'ik, c. 1893–1974) was an Alaskan Native leader who lived in the mid-Kuskokwim River valley in Alaska. Early life Sam Phillips was born around 1893 in the old Crow Village, Alaska. Birth records in the area we ...
(ca. 1893–ca. 1974), a Yup'ik community leader was born here


References


External links


Aniak
at the Community Database Online from the Alaska Division of Community and Regional Affairs * Maps from the
Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development The Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development (DOLWD) is a department within the government of Alaska which handles most of the state's labor and workforce In macroeconomics, the workforce or labour force is the sum of people ...

20002010
{{authority control Cities in Alaska Cities in Bethel Census Area, Alaska Mining communities in Alaska Road-inaccessible communities of Alaska