Port Alexander, Alaska

How Port Alexander is governed

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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 52 in 2010 to 78 in 2020 (+50.0%).

History

Before the fishing boom (Pre-1913)

There is no written record of a permanent Tlingit settlement at Port Alexander. One translation of its Tlingit name, Haa Léelk'w Hás Aaní Saax'ú, is "Village beside Shee [Baranof Island]" which hints that it was some sort of dwelling place. The fact that there were native structures there in 1794 suggests that the Tlingit used the area in the pre-contact era in some capacity, perhaps as a summer fish camp.

George Vancouver anchored HMS Discovery and HMS Chatham in or near Ship Cove, a small bay on the southeast shore of Port Conclusion, on August 1, 1794. He sent two survey parties to explore northward in open boats while repairs were made on his ships. Ship Cove is only 1/4 mile from the inner harbor, also known as the back lagoon, of Port Alexander across a narrow neck of land. He wrote that "some of our gentlemen, who had made some excursions about the neighborhood" described reaching the site of Port Alexander. Vancouver made it clear that he did not see the site himself. He wrote:

The head of this cove [Ship Cove] approaches within the fourth of a mile of the head of another cove [Port Alexander], whose entrance on the outside [Chatham Strait] is about 2 miles to the south of the south point of this harbor [Port Conclusion]. In the entrance of that cove [Port Alexander] the depth is 7 fathoms, weeds were seen growing across it, and to the north of it is a small inlet with some rocks. The surrounding shores are generally steep and rocky, and were covered with wood nearly to the water's edge, but on the sides of the adjacent hills were some spots clear of trees, and chiefly occupied by a damp moist moorish soil, in which were several pools of water. The surface produced some berry bushes, but the fruit at this season of the year was not ripe....In the above cove [Port Alexander] on the west side were found a few deserted Indian habitations, which were the only ones that had been met with."

Vancouver's 1798 chart of southern Baranof Island shows the outline of Port Alexander.

Mikhail Dmitriyevich Tebenkov was the director of the Russian-American Company and governor of Russian America from 1845 to 1850. He was an officer in the Imperial Russian Navy and an expert surveyor and hydrographer. He produced one of the first detailed charts of Baranof Island. He is credited by one source with naming Port Alexander, speculating that he commemorated Alexander Baranof, the first governor of Russian Alaska. Tebenkov's 1849 map shows the outline of Port Alexander, but does not label it as such.

Port Alexander was visited occasionally by yachts, commercial vessels, and fishing boats in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In 1895 the 240-foot yacht Eleanor, owned by William A. Slater, stopped during an Alaskan cruise. In June 1898 Moran Brothers assembled a fleet of twelve paddlewheel steamers in Puget Sound. They sailed for St. Michael Alaska, to serve the Klondike gold rush trade on the Yukon River. The ships encountered a storm in which nine ships were reported damaged. The fleet put in to Port Alexander to make repairs on June 7 and sailed out on June 9, 1898. In January 1902 the tug Pilot and her tow anchored at Port Alexander to wait out a storm. During another storm in October 1905, the 223-foot steamship Santa Clara also used Port Alexander for refuge. Notwithstanding this history, the 1901 U.S. Coast Pilot reported that Port Alexander could "only be used by very small vessels and has an uninviting appearance."

Fishing boom (1913-1941)

Fishermen found Port Alexander advantageous. Salmon schooled in the ocean waters near Cape Ommaney prior to returning to their natal streams to spawn. At some times, this allowed for better fishing than in inside waters. The Bureau of Fisheries reported that 1913 was the first year of large scale fishing at Port Alexander. One estimate of the fishing fleet that year was 300 power boats, and 400 hand-trolling boats. In 1924, one official estimated that fishermen at Port Alexander would receive about $400,000 ($7.51 million in 2025) for their catch that summer. By 1925 the fleet was between 500 and 600 gas-powered boats.

The hundreds of boats brought more hundreds of fisherman to Port Alexander. The U.S. Forest Service estimated that the summer population was between 1,000 and 1,200. The fishermen needed food, fuel, and supplies whenever they were in town. When the fishing was good, they had money in their pockets to spend in bars, pool halls, and brothels. During Prohibition there were illegal stills in the back lagoon, and alcohol was smuggled in from Prince Rupert, British Columbia. In July 1923, four men were arrested for violations of the Alaskan Bone Dry Law, and 1,500 bottles of beer were seized at Port Alexander. A 1929 raid by Federal officers arrested seven men for prohibition violations. With the end of prohibition, legal bars opened in town. A dance hall and "beer parlor" was built in 1935.

While much of the activity at Port Alexander was seasonal, a permanent community grew up around the needs of the fishing fleet. There were several bakeries, one as early as 1916. A U. S. post office was opened in 1926. In 1928, the town included a church, six general stores, six restaurants, three bakeries, a butcher shop, two barber shops, and three pool rooms. A Petersburg dairy shipped 90 gallons of milk to Port Alexander on every mail boat. Both Standard Oil and Union Oil ran fuel depots. Elections were held. Dances were organized and movies were shown. The Harborview Hotel welcomed visitors. In May 1928, the Commerce Department granted Karl Hansen a license for a wireless telegraphy station, which connected Port Alexander to the outside for the first time.

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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