Saint Paul Island (Alaska)

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St Paul Island, Seal rookeries in foreground, St Paul Village in distance.

There is also a Saint Paul Island in the Indian Ocean, and a Saint Paul Island in Nova Scotia.

Saint Paul Island is one of the five Pribilof Islands, a group of four volcanic islands, part of Alaska, lying in the Bering Sea. The City of St. Paul is the only residential area on the island. The two nearest islands to Saint Paul Island are Otter Island to the southwest, and Walrus Island to the east. St. Paul Island has a land area of 104 km² (40 sq mi). St. Paul Island currently has one school (K-12, 100 students), one post office, one bar, one small store, and one church (Russian Orthodox).

1 Religion & History
2 History
3 Native Americans
4 Wind power
5 Popular culture
6 See also
7 References
8 External links

[edit] Religion & History

Map of Saint Paul Island and surrounding ocean soundings.

The native peoples of the island (Aleut tribe), who make up the vast majority of the population, are Russian Orthodox, if they consider themselves religious. In the 1700s Russians forced Aleuts from the Aleutian chain (several hundred miles south of the Pribilofs) to hunt seal for them on the Pribilof Islands. Prior to this the Pribilofs were not regularly inhabited. The Aleuts were essentially slave labor for the Russians; hunting, cleaning, preparing fur seal skins which the Russians sold for a great deal of money. The Aleuts were not taken back to their home islands, lived in inhumane conditions, were beaten, and were regulated by the Russians down to what they could eat and wear and who they could marry. When The U.S. bought Alaska, things changed very little for the Aleuts until the 1960s.

Of the five islands in the Pribilof Island chain, two are inhabited: St. Paul (around 500 people) and St. George (around 100 people). The other three islands are very small and uninhabited (enforced by law).

The Pribilofs are the breeding grounds for more than 500,000 northern fur seals and millions of sea birds, and are surrounded by one of the world's richest fishing grounds. Some of the islands residents only stay part of the year and work in the crab and boat yards. The large boats that have been fishing the Bering Sea offload their fish onto the island and workers prepare them for shipping around the world.

A dwarf variety of mammoth survived on Saint Paul Island until c. 6000 BC, which is the most recent survival of North American mammoth populations.^[1]

[edit] History

Map of Saint Paul Island village and surrounding seal breeding grounds circa 1890.

The island was discovered by Gavriil Pribylov on St. Peter and St. Paul's Day, June 12, 1788. Three years later the Russian merchant vessel John the Baptist was shipwrecked off the shore. The crew were listed as missing until 1793, when the survivors were rescued by Gerasim Izmailov.

Saints Peter and Paul Church, a Russian Orthodox church, was built on the island in 1830.

[edit] Native Americans

Saint Paul Island is the largest Aleut community in the United States, one of the U.S. government's officially recognized Native American tribal entities of Alaska. Out of a total population of 532 people, 457 of them (86 percent) are Alaska Natives.^[2]

[edit] Wind power

TDX Power's first energy generation facility was built on Saint Paul Island. Completed in 1999, the wind energy based electric and thermal cogeneration facility was widely regarded as the more technologically advanced wind energy power projects in America. The TDX Power wind/diesel hybrid facility is known for its efficiency and reduction in diesel fuel consumption. The 120-foot-tall turbine is a major point of pride for the ecologically conscious Aleut community of Saint Paul.^[3]

[edit] Popular culture

Aerial view of St. Paul Island

The island is mentioned often on the The Discovery Channel's show Deadliest Catch. St. Paul island is a place where the fishing boats in the Bering Sea can dock the boats to rest, unload, or get medical help.
The island is the scene of the Rudyard Kipling story "The White Seal" and poem "Lukannon" in The Jungle Book.
The show Deadliest Catch takes place in the waters around St. Paul Island and the island is the only location in the Bering Sea the crab boats can offload their full catches so as to return for more crab fishing.