Woody Island (Alaska)
| Native name: Tangirnaq | |
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U.S. Navy wireless station, Woody Island, 1915
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| Geography | |
| Location | Pacific Ocean |
| Coordinates | 57°47′N 152°20′W / 57.783°N 152.333°WCoordinates: 57°47′N 152°20′W / 57.783°N 152.333°W |
| Archipelago | Kodiak Archipelago |
| Major islands | Kodiak |
| Area | 5.04 sq mi (13.1 km2) |
| Highest elevation | 160 ft (49 m) |
| Highest point | Highest Point |
| Administration | |
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United States
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| State | Alaska |
| Borough | Kodiak Island |
| Demographics | |
| Population | 2 (2010) |
Woody Island is located in Chiniak Bay, 2.6 miles (4.2 km) east of Kodiak, Alaska. It was originally settled by the native Alutiiq people who called themselves Tangirnarmiut, "the people of Tangirnaq." They inhabited and used Woody Island for thousands of years. The Russians established an agricultural colony on Woody Island in 1792. It was officially designated Wood Island in 1894 by the US Post Office and was the primary coastal settlement for commerce and trade for many years. The first road in Alaska was built on Woody Island. Aside from the Aleut presence, the island has gone through four periods of occupation by non-natives, and is largely unoccupied today. The island is approximately 2.8 miles long from north to south and 1.8 miles wide and 13 miles in circumference. Sites of archaeological importance on the island were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.
The Alutiiq people used the island for "whaling, fishing, wood-working, sweat-baths, extensive trade," and build "large multi-roomed houses, and large villages with complex social ranking." When the Russians arrived in the 18th century, the native people were initially successful in driving them off. There followed a short period of accommodation and trade, after which the Russians engaged in brutal subjugation of the people, resulting in "epidemics, forced relocations, and extermination of those who resisted."
Russian naval officer Gavriil Davydov observed an Aleut winter ceremony on Woody Island in 1802. He wrote:
In 1805 a village on the east side of Woody Island was inhabited by 54 Alutiiq people. A smallbox epidemic struck the region in 1837 and the Russians forcefully amalgamated the survivors into seven villages, among them a village on Woody Island.
The Russian American Commercial Company operated an ice company on the island beginning in 1852. They dammed Lake Tanignak, increasing its depth substantially. They cut and shipped ice south to California. The company brought in the first iron rails to haul ice and horses to power a horse-powered saw which cut the ice into blocks. A sawmill was built to produce not lumber, but sawdust that was used to insulate the ice for shipment south. The first road built in Alaska was graded around the island to allow the horses to be exercised. In 1867 the company was renamed the Kodiak Ice Co.
For much of the late half of the 19th century, many of the Aluttiq people on Woody Island were enslaved by the Russians to work for the ice harvesting companies during the winter. Conscripted by the Russians, they hunted sea otters and fur seals during the summer for their highly prized fur. In 1872 a Russian Orthodox Church was built on Woody Island. The church exerted a strong influence over the native population, replacing in many instances native ceremonies and observances with church-centered activities.
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Wikipedia