Пеликан, Аляска: История и Население

Pelican is a city in the northwestern part of Chichagof Island in Hoonah Angoon Census Area in the U. S. state of Alaska. As of the 2010 census, the population of the city was 88, down from 163 at the 2000 census. As of the newest 2020 census, Pelican has a total population of 98 people.

Pelican is located on the east side of Lisianski Inlet, a body of water that opens into Lisianski Strait and Cross Sound, on Chichagof Island at coordinates (57.958431, 136.224069). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which are land and , or 16.25%, are water.

Pelican first appeared on the 1940 U. S. Census as the unincorporated village of "Pelican City." It formally incorporated in 1943. It continued to return as "Pelican City" in 1950 & 1960 on census records. In 1970, onwards, it had returned simply as "Pelican." As of the census of 2000, there were 163 people, 70 households, and 41 families residing in the city. The population density was There were 94 housing units at an average density of The racial makeup of the city was 72.39% White, 21.47% Native American, 1.23% Asian, 0.61% from other races, and 4.29% from two or more races. 0.61% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. There were 70 households, out of which 30.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.4% were married couples living together, 5.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.4% were non families. 28.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.30 and the average family size was 2.78. In the city, the population was spread out, with 24.5% under the age of 18, 3.1% from 18 to 24, 28.2% from 25 to 44, 34.4% from 45 to 64, and 9.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 143.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 146.0 males. The median income for a household in the city was $48,750, and the median income for a family was $57,083. Males had a median income of $50,500 versus $3,750 for females. The per capita income for the city was $29,347. None of the families and 4.7% of the population were living below the poverty line.

According to legend, many years ago when Russian ships roamed Alaska waters, one foundered in the uncharted waters of Cross Sound. Survivors rowed their lifeboat up an inlet that would later be known as Lisianski. In a sheltered cove, they founded a settlement. They cleared and planted gardens, trapped, and hunted game. The story goes that a shipyard was built and a ship constructed, which allowed them to return to their homeland. When the Russian settlement died, the land again reverted to wilderness. Early hunters and trappers noticed the clearing in the woods and found iron and copper tools along with sunken graves. They named the abandoned settlement "Sunnyside". The Lisianski Inlet Lodge is located on the site of the old Russian settlement at Sunnyside, and the owners can attest to there being "mounds" nearby in the trees that may be burial sites and finding tools in the ground. In the late 1970s, Paul Corbin found what appears to be a spike from a Russian ship while digging a garbage pit a few hundred yards behind the Lodge. A few years later Denny Corbin found a pair of eyeglasses while digging to enforce a coffer dam in the woods behind the lodge. The eyeglasses had gold rims, blue glass, and diamond shaped pieces of jade in each corner.

By 1938 the Lisianski Inlet had become home to gold miners. Hjalmar Mork, Jack Ronning and the older of the Mork family boys operated the Mork mine, called the Goldwin Prospect. Besides the Mork mine, there was a gold mine called the Apex, founded earlier, which can be found across the inlet from Sunnyside. The Apex El Nido mine produced 18,000 ounces of gold. Jack Koby was developing a mine called Lucky Strike up towards the head of the inlet, and another mine was being worked at its mouth. This is the Lisianski Inlet Kalle (Charley) Raatikainen found when he started looking for a place to build a town.

Raatikainen was an Alaskan pioneer and fish buyer when fish made people wealthy. During the fishing season, he would hardly sleep, as he bought fish and ran them from the fishing grounds to Sitka. Raatikainen would leave Deer Harbor when the last troller had unloaded for the night. He would arrive in Sitka around three in the morning awaken the crew, unload, pick up groceries and arrive back on the fishing grounds by noon. Hoping to give better and faster service to the fishermen and buyers, he began looking for a place to build a cold storage plant close to the fishing grounds.

Raatikainen went to his friend Hjalmar Mork and told him what he was looking for. On August 2, 1938, Hjalmar took him to a place up the inlet near his mine and suggested the location. However, by 2016, a new fish processing business, Yakobi Fisheries, had begun to operate in Pelican.

Pelican School District is the school district of the city.