Sand Point, Alaska
| Sand Point, Alaska | |
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| City | |
Sand Point from the air
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 Sand Point, Alaska
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| Coordinates: 55°20′12″N 160°29′36″W / 55.33667°N 160.49333°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Alaska |
| Borough | Aleutians East |
| Incorporated | September 1, 1966 |
| Government | |
| • Type | Mayor/Council |
| • Mayor | Glen Gardner, Jr. |
| • State senator | Lyman Hoffman (D) |
| • State rep. | Bryce Edgmon (D) |
| Area | |
| • Total | 28.9 sq mi (75.0 km2) |
| • Land | 7.8 sq mi (20.2 km2) |
| • Water | 21.1 sq mi (54.8 km2) |
| Elevation | 39 ft (12 m) |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 976 |
| • Density | 122.1/sq mi (47.1/km2) |
| Time zone | Alaska (AKST) (UTC-9) |
| • Summer (DST) | AKDT (UTC-8) |
| ZIP code | 99661 |
| Area code | 907 |
| FIPS code | 02-67020 |
| Website | sandpointak.com |
Sand Point, also known as Qagun Tayagungin, is a city in Aleutians East Borough, Alaska, United States. At the 2010 census the population was 976. It is on northwestern Popof Island, one of the Shumagin Islands, off the Alaska Peninsula. It is the borough seat of Aleutians East Borough, and is near the entrance to the Bering Sea.
The Aleutians East Borough School District is in Southwestern Alaska along the Alaska Peninsula and Aleutian Chain The District was formed in 1988 from smaller districts that consolidated and formed a Borough with taxing authority. The Borough and District boundaries are the same, and stretch over approximately 15,000 square miles (39,000 km2) of roadless, mostly treeless tundra, from the middle of the Alaska Peninsula to the north and east, going southwest out to Akutan just east of Dutch Harbor.
Sand Point was founded by a San Francisco fishing company in 1898 as a cod fishing station and trading post. Aleuts and Scandinavians were among the early residents. Gold mining was briefly a part of the economy during the early 1900s. Fishing remains an important industry, as Sand Point is home to one of the largest fishing fleets in the Aleutian Chain.
Almost half the inhabitants are of Aleut descent - mainly from the Qagan Tayagungin tribe, and support themselves by fishing and fish processing. There is a cold storage and fish-processing plant owned and operated by Trident Seafoods and Peter Pan has a support facility. There is an airport with a 5,200 feet (1,600 m) paved runway and daily flights (weather permitting) to Anchorage, 575 nautical miles (1,100 km) to the northeast.
The town is above the treeline, and there is a small herd of 120 bison (first introduced in the 1930s) which provides some meat for the island's inhabitants. It is notorious for the high winds caused by the meeting of cold air flows from the Bering Sea with the warm air over the Japan Current. It has a maritime climate, with temperature averages ranging from −9 to 76 °F (−23 to 24 °C), an average snowfall of 52 inches (130 cm) and an average rainfall of 33 inches (84 cm).
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