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Koyukuk
Koyukuk is located on the Yukon River near
the mouth of the Koyukuk River, 30 miles west of Galena and 290 air
miles west of Fairbanks. It lies adjacent to the Koyukuk National
Wildlife Refuge and the Innoko National Wildlife Refuge. It lies at
approximately 64° 53' N Latitude, 157° 42' W Longitude (Sec. 17, T007S,
R006E, Kateel River Meridian). The community is located in the Nulato
Recording District. The area encompasses 6 sq. miles of land and 0 sq.
miles of water.
 The
Koyukon Athabascans traditionally had spring, summer, fall, and winter
camps, and moved as the wild game migrated. There were 12 summer fish
camps located on the Yukon River between the Koyukuk River and the
Nowitna River. Friendships and trading between the Koyukon and Inupiat
Eskimos of the Kobuk area has occurred for generations. A Russian
trading post was established at nearby Nulato in 1838. A smallpox
epidemic, the first of several major epidemics, struck the Koyukon in
1839. A military telegraph line was constructed along the north side of
the Yukon around 1867, and Koyukuk became the site of a telegraph
station. A trading post opened around 1880, just before the gold rush of
1884-85. The population of Koyukuk at this time was approximately 150.
Missionary activity was intense along
the Yukon, and a Roman Catholic Mission and school opened downriver in
Nulato in 1887. A post office operated from 1898 to 1900. Steamboats on
the Yukon, which supplied gold prospectors, peaked in 1900 with 46 boats
in operation. A measles epidemic and food shortages during 1900
tragically reduced the Native population by one-third. Gold seekers left
the Yukon after 1906, but other mining activity, such as the Galena lead
mines, began operating in 1919. The first school was constructed in
1939. After the school was built, families began to live at Koyukuk
year-round.
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