Port Wakefield is a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

in 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 so ...

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 ...

. It is located on the northeast coast of Raspberry Island in the

Kodiak Archipelago The Kodiak Archipelago () is an archipelago (group of islands) south of the main land-mass of the state of Alaska (United States), about by air south-west of Anchorage in the Gulf of Alaska. The largest island in the archipelago is Kodiak Islan ...

, along the western shores of the

Gulf of Alaska The Gulf of Alaska ( Tlingit: ''Yéil T'ooch’'') is an arm of the Pacific Ocean defined by the curve of the southern coast of Alaska, stretching from the Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak Island in the west to the Alexander Archipelago in the ...

. The community was established in the 1930s by Lee Howard Wakefield as a herring reduction plant after he relocated the family's salmon cannery business, Apex Fish Company, from

Anacortes Anacortes ( ) is a city in Skagit County, Washington, United States. The name "Anacortes" is an adaptation of the name of Anne Curtis Bowman, who was the wife of early Fidalgo Island settler Amos Bowman.Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

and renamed the company Wakefield Fisheries. Lee's sons Howard, Lavern and Lowell began fishing for and processing experimentally for king crab in 1939. Lowell Wakefield, who is regarded as the founder of the Alaskan king crab industry, introduced flash frozen cooked king crab, partly because of declining herring stocks in surrounding waters. As well as the processing plant and cold storage, cedar log houses and a schoolhouse were added to the existing village for the workers and their families, with a population of approximately 100. Port Wakefield suffered badly in the

1964 Alaska earthquake The 1964 Alaska earthquake, also known as the Great Alaska earthquake and Good Friday earthquake, occurred at 5:36 PM Alaska Standard Time, AKST on Good Friday, March 27, 1964.

and

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from , ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and underwater explosions (including detonations, ...

, when Raspberry Island subsided by as much as six feet. This was the most powerful recorded earthquake in North American history, and the third most powerful ever measured by seismograph; with a moment magnitude of 9.2 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (''Extreme''). The town was not destroyed, but the cannery and community were no longer viable. The land was eventually purchased and is now used for tourism, as wilderness lodges. The crab plant was relocated to Port Lions on

Kodiak Island Kodiak Island (, ) is a large island on the south coast of the U.S. state of Alaska, separated from the Alaska mainland by the Shelikof Strait. The largest island in the Kodiak Archipelago, Kodiak Island is the second largest island in the Un ...

, in a much more accessible location, with a good dock and harbor facilities. The plant was connected to Port Lions by a long causeway and a new road. Some of the cedar log houses were moved on barges from Port Wakefield to Port Lions, where they still stand. However, the plant burnt down and has not been rebuilt.

References

External links

* , a 1965 short film produced and hosted by Lowell Thomas, Jr. and commissioned by Wakefield Fisheries, which in part depicts life at Port Wakefield prior to the earthquake Geography of Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska Ghost towns in Alaska Kodiak Archipelago Populated places established in the 1930s 1964 disestablishments in Alaska Populated places disestablished in 1964 Natural disaster ghost towns {{KodiakIslandAK-geo-stub