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Mekoryuk
Mekoryuk is at the mouth of Shoal Bay on
the north shore of Nunivak Island in the Bering Sea. The Island lies 30
miles off the coast. It is 149 air miles west of Bethel and 553 miles
west of Anchorage. Mekoryuk is part of the Yukon Delta National Wildlife
Refuge. It lies at approximately 60° 23' N Latitude, 166° 11' W
Longitude (Sec. 31, T004N, R097W, Seward Meridian). The community is
located in the Cape Nome Recording District. The area encompasses 7 sq.
miles of land and 0 sq. miles of water.
 Nunivak
Island has been inhabited for 2,000 years by the Nuniwarmiut people, or
Cup'ik (Choop'ik) Eskimos. The first outside contact was in 1821 by the
Russian American Company, who recorded 400 people living in 16 villages
on the Island. A summer camp called "Koot" was noted at the current site
of Mekoryuk in 1874. In 1891, Ivan Petroff found 702 Eskimos in 9
villages, including 117 people at "Koot." An epidemic in 1900 decimated
the population, leaving only four surviving families in the village. In
the 1930s, the Evangelical Covenant Church was built by an Eskimo
missionary, followed by a BIA school in 1939. People moved to the
village from other areas of the Island to be near the school.
Reindeer were introduced for commercial
purposes in 1920 by an Eskimo-Russian trader. The operation was
purchased by the BIA in the 1940s and a slaughterhouse was constructed
in 1945. The reindeer were crossed with caribou from Denali Park; the
resulting animals are larger and harder to handle than other reindeer in
the state.
In 1934, 34 musk-ox from Greenland were
transferred to the Island in an effort to save the species from
extinction. Today, the musk-ox herd numbers around 500, and calves from
this herd have been relocated and introduced to other areas of Alaska. A
post office was opened in 1940. In the 1940s, the women lived in
semi-subterranean sod houses and the men stayed at one or more "kasigi",
or men's community houses. At that time, traditional ceremonies and
religious beliefs were still practiced. The 50s and 60s brought
considerable change. An airstrip was built in 1957, and the Territorial
Guard was formed. Men went to Fort Richardson near Anchorage for
training. By this time, Mekoryuk was the only permanent community on the
Island. During this time, many families moved to Bethel to be near the
high school, returning during late Spring for fishing and sea mammal
hunting. A high school was constructed in 1978.
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