Prince of Wales Island (Alaska)
- For other islands named after the Prince of Wales, see Prince of Wales Island.
Prince of Wales Island is one of the islands of the Alexander Archipelago in the Alaska Panhandle. It is the fourth-largest island in the United States (after Hawaii, Kodiak Island, and Puerto Rico) and the 97th-largest island in the world.
| Prince of Wales | |
| Prince of Wales Archipelago | |
| Island | |
 Prince of Wales Island (Alaska)
|
|
| Country | USA |
|---|---|
| State | Alaska |
| Borough | The Unorganized Borough |
| Census Area | Prince of Wales-Hyder (CA) |
| Borders on | Ketchikan Gateway |
| Elevation | 0 m (0 ft) [1] |
| Coordinates | 55°37′55″N 132°54′27″W / 55.63194°N 132.9075°W [1] |
| Highest point | |
| - location | Copper Mountain (Alaska) |
| - elevation | 3,760 ft (1,146 m) |
| Lowest point | |
| - elevation | 0 ft (0 m) |
| Length | 135 mi (217 km) |
| Width | 45 mi (72 km) |
| Area | 2,577 sq mi (6,674 km2) |
| Timezone | AKST (UTC-9) |
| - summer (DST) | AKDT (UTC-8) |
| ZIP code | 99901 ... 99950 |
| Area code | +1 907 |
| USGS GNIS | 1424651 |
| Topo map | USGS Alaska |
| [1] | |
Contents |
[edit] Geography and ecology
The island is 135 miles (217 km) long, 45 miles (72 km) wide and has an area of 2,577 sq mi (6,674 km2), about 1/10 the size of Ireland and slightly larger than the state of Delaware. Approximately 6,000 people live on the island. Craig is the largest community; founded as a saltery in the early 20th century, it has a population of 1,000. Some 750 people live in Klawock, a long-established village that grew with the fishing industry. Hollis was a boom and bust mining town from 1900 to about 1915; abandoned, it was re-established as a logging camp in the '50s, and now has a population of 100. Hollis is where the ferry terminal is located,[2] one hour drive from Craig and a three-hour trip to Ketchikan.
Mountain peaks, all but the tallest of which were buried by Pleistocene glaciation, reach over 3,000 feet (914 m). Fjords, steep-sided mountains, and dense forests characterize the island. Extensive tracts of limestone include karst features such as El Capitan Pit, at 598.3 feet (182.4 m) the deepest vertical shaft in the United States.
Moist, maritime conditions dominate the weather.
The Tongass National Forest covers most of the island. Within the forest and on the island are the Karta River Wilderness and the South Prince of Wales Wilderness. The Prince of Wales flying squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus griseifrons) is found nowhere else.[3]
The island is in the Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area.
[edit] History
Prince of Wales Island is the homeland of the Kaigani Haida people. Kaigani is a mispronunciation of the Tlingit word x'aax' aani which translates to "crabapple country". The Tlingit name for the island is Taan, meaning “sea lion”. The island is traditional Tlingit territory with the Haida moving into the area in the late 18th century and the abandoned Haida villages actually being Tlingit in name.[citation needed]
In 1741, Aleksei Chirikov, commanding a ship on Vitus Bering's second voyage of exploration out of Kamchatka, made the first European landfall on the northwest coast of North America at Baker Island on the west coast of Prince of Wales Island. It was not until 1775 that a Spanish expedition reached Prince of Wales Island and claimed it for Spain. A British expedition in 1778, under Captain James Cook, accurately mapped much of the coast of Alaska, including parts of Prince of Wales Island. Comte de La Perouse led a French expedition to the area in 1786.[4]
Mining of gold, copper, and other metals on the island began in the late 19th century. Gold production came from underground lode mines exploiting: gold-bearing quartz veins in metamorphic rocks (such as the Gold Standard, Sea Level, Dawson, Golden Fleece and Goldstream mines); skarns (at the Jumbo and Kassan Peninsula copper-gold mines); zoned mafic-ultramafic plutons, as at the Salt Chuck silver-gold-copper-PGE mine; and VMS deposits such as Niblack. Uranium was mined at Bokan Mountain in the 1950s and 1970s.[5][6]
[edit] Economy
[edit] Logging
Logging has historically been a mainstay of the collective Prince of Wales economy, however recently there has been a decline in the industry leaving only a few small-scale sawmills operating. In 1975, the Point Baker Association and other citizens sued the United States Forest Service to prevent logging 400,000 acres (160,000 hectares) on the northern portion of the island.[citation needed]
In December 1975, Judge von der Heydt issued a ruling enjoining clearcutting. In March 1976, the United States Congress responded to the suit by passing the National Forest Management Act which removed the injunction. Subsequently half of the marketable timber was cut on the north end of the island.[citation needed]
In 2010, Senators Lisa Murkowski and Mark Begich introduced a bill to privatize stands of old growth forests on the island.[7]
[edit] Tourism
Recently, tourism, including sport fishing, has become a more important part in Prince of Wales' economy. Tourism has increased in part due to the easier accessibility to Prince of Wales Island by the new Inter-Island Ferry Authority.
[edit] Fishing
Commercial fishing provides the foundation of the economy for numerous towns on the island including Craig, Klawock, Hydaburg, Port Protection and Point Baker. During the summer, trollers and seiners both fish for all five species of Pacific salmon. Longliners bring up halibut and black cod. Dungeness crab and shrimp seasons are open throughout the year. During the winter there are dive fisheries for geoducks, sea cucumbers, and sea urchins.
[edit] Government
Since Prince of Wales Island is almost entirely made up of federal land, the two ranger districts (Craig and Thorne Bay) on the island provide employment for a number of residents.
[edit] Mining
Mineral exploration continues at many projects on Prince of Wales Island. The only producing uranium mine in the entire state of Alaska is located on the island, the Ross-Adams mine in Kendrick Bay. Current remediation projects have been reported in local media, and continued exploration of Rare Earth Metals continue in the region. Bokan Mountain has been rated by the Technology Metals report as a location (tied with Canada's Strange Lake containing the third highest of “relative” quantity of individual critical rare earth oxides, a way of comparing rare earth mine reserves.[8]
[edit] Transportation
[edit] Roads
A road system, much of it originally created by the logging industry, spans much of the island and an increasing amount of it is becoming paved. Only a number of communities on the northern tip of the island are without road access to other Prince of Wales communities. There is now a newly-designated state "scenic highway" - the 500-kilometer (310 mi) Prince of Wales Island road system. The highway reaches almost every community on Prince of Wales.
[edit] Cargo
A few companies provide scheduled barge service from Pacific coast ports to southeastern Alaskan ports, including those on Prince of Wales island (primarily Craig).
[edit] Public ferry
[edit] Alaska Marine Highway System
Historically, the Alaska Marine Highway (AMHS) intermittently served the port of Hollis, until the Inter-Island Ferry Authority began regular scheduled service.
[edit] Inter-Island Ferry Authority
After little AMHS service, the communities of Prince of Wales Island banded together to create their own ferry service, the Inter-Island Ferry Authority which has two Prince of Wales Island-dedicated vessels in its fleet, currently with year-round daily service between Hollis and Ketchikan. There was summer service between Coffman Cove, Wrangell and Petersburg (via Wrangell); and indirect service via connections with the Alaska Marine Highway to many Alaskan ports, Prince Rupert, British Columbia, and Bellingham, Washington which was cancelled due to low ridership and lack of funding.
[edit] Airports
Klawock Airport (IATA: KLW, ICAO: PAKW, FAA LID: AKW) is the only airport on Prince of Wales island. Three commercial airlines in Ketchikan provide scheduled service to Prince of Wales island. Air taxi or chartered flights are also available from them and other airlines.
[edit] Seaplane bases
| FAA | IATA | ICAO | Seaplane Base [9] |
|---|---|---|---|
| KCC | Coffman Cove | ||
| CGA | Craig | ||
| HYL | Hollis | ||
| HYG | PAHY | Hydaburg | |
| KXA | Kasaan | ||
| AQC | PAQC | Klawock | |
| KPB | Point Baker | ||
| 19P | Port Protection | ||
| KTB | Thorne Bay | ||
| KWF | Waterfall |
[edit] Scheduled airlines
| Airline | Hub(s) | Prince of Wales Island Airports |
|---|---|---|
| Island Air Express | Klawock | Ketchikan Daily Scheduled Service from Klawock to Ketchikan |
| Pacific Airways, Inc | Ketchikan | Craig, Hollis, Klawock, Thorne Bay [10] |
| Promech Air | Ketchikan | Craig, Hollis, Klawock [11] |
| Taquan Air | Ketchikan | Coffman Cove, Craig, Edna Bay, Hollis, Hydaburg, Naukati Bay, Point Baker, Port Protection, Thorne Bay, Whale Pass [12] |
[edit] Communities
[edit] Notable ex-residents
- Holly Madison, American model and Hugh Hefner's former girlfriend.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c "Prince of Wales Island". Geographic Names Information System, U.S. Geological Survey. http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/f?p=gnispq:3:::NO::P3_FID:1424651. Retrieved 2009-05-03.
- ^ "Tongass National Forest - Prince of Wales Island". GORP.com. May 25, 2011. http://www.gorp.com/parks-guide/travel-ta-tongass-national-forest-sidwcmdev_065664.html. Retrieved July 14, 2011.
- ^ Bidlack, Allison L.; Cook, Joseph A. (2001). Reduced genetic variation in insular northern flying squirrels(Glaucomys sabrinus) along the North Pacific Coast. The Zoological Society of London. pp. 283–290. doi:10.1017/S1367943001008885.
- ^ "Exploration and Settlement on the Alaskan Coast". Harriman: History of Exploration. pbs.org. 2011. http://www.pbs.org/harriman/1899/exploration.html. Retrieved July 14, 2011.
- ^ http://ardf.wr.usgs.gov/ardf_data/DixonEntrance.pdf
- ^ http://www.ucoreuranium.com/bokan.asp
- ^ Berry-Frick, Anissa (March 25, 2010). "Murkowski should try harder to listen". Juneau Empire (Juneau, Alaska). http://juneauempire.com/stories/032510/let_596108188.shtml. Retrieved July 14, 2011.
- ^ Areddy, James T. (2011-08-17). "A Timeline For Eroding China’s Rare Earth e reserves. Chokehold". Wall Street Journal. http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2011/08/17/a-timeline-for-eroding-china%E2%80%99s-rare-earth-chokehold/?mod=WSJ_markets_stocks. Retrieved 2011-08-17.
- ^ "Location Identifiers". Federal Aviation Administration. http://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/atpubs/LID/LIDHME.htm.
- ^ "Pacific Airways, Inc". Pacific Airways, Inc. http://www.flypacificairways.com/.
- ^ "Promech Air". Promech Air. http://www.promechair.com/.
- ^ "Taquan Air". Taquan Air. http://www.taquanair.com/.
[edit] General references
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