Photo by Sarah Swartz
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CITY OF EGEGIK
(Population 76)
(Pronounced
EE-guh-gick.) Egegik is located on the south bank of the Egegik River
on the Alaska Peninsula, 40 miles southwest of King Salmon and 326 air
miles southwest of Anchorage. The community is accessible by air and
water. A city-owned 5,600’ long by 100’ wide lighted gravel runway with
crosswind airstrip is located 2 miles northwest of Egegik. Scheduled and
charter flight are available from King Salmon.
According
to anthropologists, settlement of the Bristol Bay region first occurred
over 600 years ago. Yup’ik Eskimos and Athabascan Indians jointly
occupied the area. Aleuts arrived in later years. The first recorded
contact by non-Natives was with Russians fur traders between 1818 and
1867. The village was reported by Russians as a fish camp called
“Igagik” (meaning “throat”) in 1876. Local people would travel each
year from Kanatak on the Gulf coast through a portage pass to Becharof
Lake. From there they would hike or kayak on to the Egegik Bay are for
the summer fish camp. In 1895 an Alaska Packers Association salmon
saltery was established at the moth of Egegik River, and a town
developed around the former fish camp. During the Influenza outbreaks
beginning in 1918, natives from other villages moved to Egegik on an
attempt to isolate themselves from the disease. During World War II, men
from Egegik were enlisted to help build the King Salmon airport, with
many subsequently serving in Dutch Harbor and elsewhere.
Today,
the economy in Egegik is based on commercial fishing and fish
processing providing seasonal employment from May to August. The
population swells by 1,000 to 2,000 fisherman and cannery workers during
the commercial fishing season. Five on shore processors are located on
the Egegik River and numerous floating processors participate in the
Egegik fishery. Local working tours of the Bristol Bay set-net fishery
are available.
The Becharof National Wildlife Refuge and
Becharof Lake are accessible from here by plane or skiff up the Egegik
River where sport fishing, hunting and wildlife are popular activities.
The Becharof Lake is the second largest Lake in Alaska and is the
nursery for the worlds second largest run of sockeye salmon.
Lodges, Inn's, B&B and Hotels located in the City of Egegik:
Becharof Lodge dba Becherof Lodge and Outfitters
Becharof Rapids Camp