Pelican, Alaska

How Pelican is governed

Form of government not yet listed.

0 of 14 positions listed. Gray dashed boxes are placeholders waiting for a name.

• Mayor

  Executive

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  The city's chief elected official. Presides over the executive branch, proposes the budget and represents the city.

  • City Manager / Administrator

    Executive

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    The professional administrator who runs day-to-day operations (in some cities appointed by the council instead of the mayor).

    • Police Chief

      Administration & departments

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      Leads the police department.

    • Fire Chief

      Administration & departments

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      Leads the fire and emergency services department.

    • Public Works Director

      Administration & departments

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      Streets, water, sewer, and city buildings.

    • Finance Director

      Administration & departments

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      The budget, taxes, and city accounts.

    • Planning & Zoning Director

      Administration & departments

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      Land use, zoning, building permits.

    • Parks & Recreation Director

      Administration & departments

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      Parks, programs, and public facilities.

• City Council

  Legislative

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  The elected body that passes ordinances, sets the tax rate and approves the budget.

  • City Clerk

    Administration & departments

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    Keeps the official records, runs meeting agendas and, often, local elections.

  • City Attorney

    Administration & departments

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    The city's lawyer; advises officials and prosecutes ordinance violations.

  • Boards & Commissions

    Legislative

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    Citizen advisory bodies, such as planning, zoning appeals and library boards.

• Municipal Court

  Judicial

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  Hears traffic, ordinance and other minor cases.

  • Municipal Judge

    Judicial

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    Presides over the municipal court.

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Population over time

From 88 in 2010 to 98 in 2020 (+11.4%).

History

Shipwreck

According to legend, many years ago when Russian ships roamed Alaska waters, one foundered in the uncharted waters of Cross Sound. Survivors rowed their lifeboat up an inlet that would later be known as Lisianski. In a sheltered cove, they founded a settlement. They cleared and planted gardens, trapped, and hunted game. The story goes that a shipyard was built and a ship constructed, which allowed them to return to their homeland.

When the Russian settlement died, the land again reverted to wilderness. Early hunters and trappers noticed the clearing in the woods and found iron and copper tools along with sunken graves. They named the abandoned settlement "Sunnyside".

The Lisianski Inlet Lodge is located on the site of the old Russian settlement at Sunnyside, and the owners can attest to there being "mounds" nearby in the trees that may be burial sites and finding tools in the ground.

In the late 1970s, Paul Corbin found what appears to be a spike from a Russian ship while digging a garbage pit a few hundred yards behind the Lodge. A few years later Denny Corbin found a pair of eyeglasses while digging to enforce a coffer dam in the woods behind the lodge. The eyeglasses had gold rims, blue glass, and diamond-shaped pieces of jade in each corner.

Mining exploration

By 1938 the Lisianski Inlet had become home to gold miners. Hjalmar Mork, Jack Ronning and the older of the Mork family boys operated the Mork mine, called the Goldwin Prospect.

Besides the Mork mine, there was a gold mine called the Apex, founded earlier, which can be found across the inlet from Sunnyside. The Apex-El Nido mine produced 18,000 ounces of gold. Jack Koby was developing a mine called Lucky Strike up towards the head of the inlet, and another mine was being worked at its mouth. This is the Lisianski Inlet Kalle (Charley) Raatikainen found when he started looking for a place to build a town.

1938–1941 fish processing and storage development

Raatikainen was an Alaskan pioneer and fish buyer when fish made people wealthy. During the fishing season, he would hardly sleep, as he bought fish and ran them from the fishing grounds to Sitka. Raatikainen would leave Deer Harbor when the last troller had unloaded for the night. He would arrive in Sitka around three in the morning awaken the crew, unload, pick up groceries and arrive back on the fishing grounds by noon. Hoping to give better and faster service to the fishermen and buyers, he began looking for a place to build a cold storage plant close to the fishing grounds.

Location and pilings

Raatikainen went to his friend Hjalmar Mork and told him what he was looking for. On August 2, 1938, Hjalmar took him to a place up the inlet near his mine and suggested the location. Raatikainen found a harbor with deep water, land, and a large lake with a waterfall. Located between Juneau and Sitka, the site had everything he was looking for.

Raatikainen organized a corporation and brought in a crew to start the building. On September 26, 1938, his boat the Pelican brought in Bob DeArmond as timekeeper and storekeeper, Eli Rapich as cook's helper, and another cook known as Slim. Others may have been Don White and Gust Savela. A. P. "Coho" Walder and his wife Martha arrived with their troller and Raatikainen had one or two others with him when he brought in his fish scows. One scow was put on the beach and became the mess house with worker quarters in the upper section. The other scow was anchored out and connected to the beach by a floating walkway. It served as a warehouse as well as living quarters for workers. The town site became known as Pelican City. Why is not known, but probably not to confuse it with Raatikainen's boat the Pelican.

Joe and Jim Paddock came with their pile-driving equipment. They used their donkey engine on the pile driver to clear timber from the cold storage site. Hjalmer Mork and Jack Ronning moved their air compressor and jackhammers up from their mine to clear rock from the cold storage site.

Building supplies

The steam schooner the SS Tongass arrived and dropped overboard tons of lumber and pilings in front of the town, despite Raatikainen's lack of funds. DeArmond was the one who had to request that the captain of the Tongass defer the payment. A sawmill and other supplies were loaded on rafts and dragged ashore. The SS Tongass would be the only steamer into Pelican for the next few years with supplies but not regularly.

The first building erected ashore had a dual purpose. It housed a Finnish steam bath on one side and on the other a store and offices for the new corporation. During this time, Pelican was often referred to as "Finn Town". The town started looking like a town when the Paddocks and Raatikainen built homes. Arthur Silverman arrived from Sitka with lumber, beer, and a license to operate a beer parlor and soon was open for business.

The expense of building a cold storage, acquiring diesel engines, and building a water and electric system left the company short of money. Raatikainen went to Seattle and raised money, but it was never enough. The town continued to grow because the depression left little winter work elsewhere. Fishermen and others were willing to take food, tobacco, and stock in the company for their work.

Fire and general expansion

There was a major setback when the bathhouse caught fire and the only available fire equipment was a few buckets of salt water brought up from the beach. The bath/store building was quickly replaced and would later become home to Pelican's first school. One of the first major construction sites was a two-story multipurpose building. On the first floor a kitchen and mess hall occupied one end with the office, store and later the post office on the other side. The upper floor was used for a bunkhouse. This building's second floor is still used as a bunkhouse.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Other cities in Alaska

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• Fairbanks 32,515
• Juneau 32,255
• Wasilla 9,054
• Sitka 8,458
• Ketchikan 8,192
• Kenai 7,424
• Bethel 6,325

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