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Togiak
Togiak is located at the head of Togiak
Bay, 67 miles west of Dillingham. It lies in Togiak National Wildlife
Refuge, and is the gateway to Walrus Island Game Sanctuary. It lies at
approximately 59° 04' N Latitude, 160° 24' W Longitude (Sec. 12, T013S,
R067W, Seward Meridian). The community is located in the Bristol Bay
Recording District. The area encompasses 45 sq. miles of land and 127
sq. miles of water.
 In
1880, "Old Togiak," or "Togiagamute," was located across the Bay, and
had a population of 276. Heavy winter snowfalls made wood-gathering
difficult at Old Togiak, so gradually people settled at a new site on
the opposite shore, where the task was easier. Many residents of the
Yukon-Kuskokwim region migrated south to the Togiak area after the
devastating influenza epidemic in 1918-19. A school was established in
an old church in 1950. A school building and a National Guard Armory
were constructed in 1959. Togiak was flooded in 1964, and many fish
racks and stores of gas, fuel oil and stove oil were destroyed. Three or
four households left Togiak after the flood and developed the village of
Twin Hills upriver.
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