Cook then sailed back to retrieve Bligh, and before leaving he sent James King ashore with a Union Jack to claim the region for King George III. Described by George Vancouver as being in a "foul mood", Cook called the arm "River Turnagain". Cook sailed south to scout the other arm, but was unable to sail down it against the strong tides and ran aground on a sandbar while trying to get back out, and had to wait for high tide. He sent William Bligh in a boat to scout the north arm, where he met with some local Natives who told him the arm only led to two rivers, called the Knik and Matanuska Rivers. Under a bluff near the mouth of Ship Creek, Cook anchored his ship, HMS Resolution, and had his first encounter with the local Natives as two men approached in kayaks, beckoning them ashore. Upon first sighting the inlet, and the mountains surrounding it on all sides, Cook planned to pass it by, but at the urging of John Gore and many others of his crew, he decided to explore the area in order to assuage his men.įor a period of ten days, Cook made an extensive survey of the inlet, which at its head split into two arms. On a mission to find the legendary Northwest Passage, Cook was under orders to avoid any obvious rivers or inlets. When Captain James Cook mapped the area in May of 1778, the Chugach people had already abandoned it. The Dena'ina learned to make and use kayaks from the Chugach, suggesting that for a time both peoples shared the area. In the winter they would build temporary structures near junction points along common trading routes, and traded with other tribes from areas nearby. In the fall they would carry these to higher ground where they would hunt moose, Dall sheep, and mountain goats, and late fall was reserved for berry picking. In summer they tended to fish along coastal streams and rivers, living in portable, dome-shaped tents constructed out of local willow or birch branches and covered with animal skins. Like their Apache cousins, the Dena'ina were a nomadic people, who had no permanent settlements but instead migrated throughout the area following the seasonal resources. The Chugach Alutiiq likely inhabited the area from the first century until sometime between 5 AD, when tribes of Dena'ina Athabaskans moved into the area from the interior of the state. This occupation occurred in three separate waves, with the second occurring roughly 4000 years ago, and the last around 2000 years ago. The community rapidly rebuilt, and has since emerged as a major American city.Īccording to archaeological evidence discovered at Beluga Point along the Turnagain Arm, just south of modern-day Anchorage, the Cook Inlet had been inhabited, at least seasonally, by Alutiiq Eskimos beginning between 50 years ago. The 1964 Alaska earthquake outright destroyed or caused significant damage to most of the Anchorage neighborhoods adjacent to Knik Arm, including its downtown. Largely due to the military presence and resource development activities throughout Alaska, Anchorage has enjoyed significant boosts to its population and economic base from 1940 to the present. The strategic location of Alaska, which led to a massive buildup of military facilities throughout Alaska during the years of World War II, changed that. Anchorage was mostly a company town for the Alaska Railroad for its first several decades of existence. Anchorage was originally settled as a tent city near the mouth of Ship Creek in 1915, and a planned townsite was platted alongside the bluff to the south. Survey parties visited the area in 1914 and researched possible routes for the rails and options for siting the new town. The decision was made to develop a site near Ship Creek on Cook Inlet. After congress approved the completion of the Alaska Railroad from Seward to Fairbanks in 1914, it was decided that a new town should be built as a port and rail hub along the route.
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