Alakanuk Community
Alakanuk is located at the east entrance to Alakanuk Pass, the major southern channel of the Yukon River
Delta. It is approximately 8 miles southwest of Emmonak, 15 miles east of the Bering Sea, and
approximately 162 air miles northwest of Bethel. Alakanuk is a Yup’ik word meaning “wrong way”,
aptly applied to a village on this maze of watercourses.
George H. Putnam of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey first reported the village in 1899.
Historically, the people of this village have always depended on subsistence activities as a way of life.
The advent of the Russians to the Yukon Delta in the 1830’s, and later the Americans, has not changed this
significantly. A post office was established at the site in 1946. Alakanuk is probably the “longest” village
on the Lower Yukon; development stretches for approximately three miles along Alakanuk Slough.
Approximate population 675.
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