World War II
 

Aleut Relocation Camps 


in Southeast Alaska
 

Charles M. Mobley 
UNION OF SOVIET 

SOCIALIST REPUBLICS

Nikolski 

Makushin 

Atka 

1st stop Akutan: Former residents of Akutan, Kashega, and Biorka disembark 

2nd stop Unalaska: Former residents of Unalaska and Makushin disembark 

3rd stop Chernofski Harbor: Former residents of Nikolski disembark, board scow to Nikolski 

4th stop Atka: Former residents of Atka disembark 

USAT David W. Branch (December 12-19, 1945) 

Former Attu Residents 

A 

B E R I N G S E A

Nikolski

P R I B I L O F I S L A N D S

Kiska

Dutch Harbor

Unalaska

St. Paul

St. George

Attu

Atka

Miles

Biorka

Nikolski

Kashega

Makushin

Akutan

Unalaska

Atka Chernofski

Harbor

0 15 30 60 120

1st stop Akutan: Former residents of Akutan, Kashega, and Biorka disembark

2nd stop Unalaska: Former residents of Unalaska and Makushin disembark

3rd stop Chernofski Harbor: Former residents of Nikolski disembark, board scow to Nikolski

4th stop Atka: Former residents of Atka disembark

USAT David W. Branch (December 12-19, 1945)

Former Attu Residents

0 60 90 180

Kilometers

30

P A C I F I C O C E A N

41 to Japan on Osada

Maru

Late Sept. 1942

42 to Kiska on Yoku Maru

Sept. 14, 1942

21 people in Navy Planes June 15, 1942

477 people

62 people on USS Hulbert

June 12, 1942

USAT David W. Branch (April 15-17, 1945)

WW II ALEUTIAN ISLANDS RESETTLEMENT

A R 

B E R I N G S E A 

P A C I F I C 

R C T T

Miles 

Biorka Kashega 

Akutan 

Unalaska 

Chernofski 

Harbor 

0 15 30 60 120

0 60 90 180 

Kilometers 

30 

USAT David W. Branch (April 15-17, 1945) 

WW II ALEUTIAN ISLANDS RESETTLEMENT 

St. Paul 

42

P R I B I L O F I S L A N D S to Kiska on Yoku Maru 

Sept. 14, 1942 

Attu 

Nikolski 

Dutch Harbor 

Unalaska 

O C E A N 

21 people in Navy Planes June 15, 1942 

477 people 

62 people on USS Hulbert 

June 12, 1942 

St. George 

41 to Japan on Osada

Maru 

Late Sept. 1942 

Kiska 

Atka 
CANADA

O C E A N

G U L F O F A L A S K A

Kodiak

Anchorage

Fairbanks

Juneau

Wrangell

Funter Bay

Ward

Lake

Killisnoo

Burnett Inlet

Sitka

Projection NAD 1983 Albers

Base image from Circumpolar 30 Sec Shaded Relief 

compiled by USGS EROS Data Center

National Park Service 2012

0 70 210 420

Miles

140

0 140 210 420

Kilometers

70

First evacuation: St. Paul, St. George, Atka

Second evacuation: Nikolski, Chernofski, 

Akutan, Kashega, Biorka, and Makushin

Third evacuation: Unalaska

Attu Islanders captured by Japanese are taken 

to Japan for the duration of the war and were 

returned not to their village but to Atka.

First return: St. Paul and St. George

Second return: Nikolski, Chernofski, Akutan, 

Kashega, Biorka, Makushin, Unalaska and Atka

WW II ALEUT RELOCATION 

AND RESETTLEMENT

Villages and Camps

Cities and Towns

160 people to Wrangell Institute on SS Columbia

July 6-13, 1942

111 people to Wrangell Institute on SS Alaska

July 26 1942

560 people to Funter Bay on USAT Delarof June 17-24 1942

400+ people To Pribilof Islands on USAT William L. Thompson

May 4-13 1944

350 people to Aleutians on USAT David W. Branch April 15-17, 1945

US Military returns Attu residents to Atka, via Unalaska on USAT David W. Branch December 12-19, 1945

T I C 

ALASKA

CANADA

T I 

O C E A N 

G U L F O F A L A S K A 

Kodiak 

Anchorage 

Fairbanks 

Juneau 

Wrangell 

Funter Bay 

Ward 

Lake 

Killisnoo 

Burnett Inlet 

Sitka 

Projection NAD 1983 Albers 

Base image from Circumpolar 30 Sec Shaded Relief 

compiled by USGS EROS Data Center 

National Park Service 2012 

0 70 210 420 

Miles 

140 

0 140 210 420 

Kilometers 

70 

First evacuation: St. Paul, St. George, Atka 

Second evacuation: Nikolski, Chernofski, 

Akutan, Kashega, Biorka, and Makushin 

Third evacuation: Unalaska 

Attu Islanders captured by Japanese are taken 

to Japan for the duration of the war and were 

returned not to their village but to Atka. 

First return: St. Paul and St. George 

Second return: Nikolski, Chernofski, Akutan, 

Kashega, Biorka, Makushin, Unalaska and Atka 

WW II ALEUT RELOCATION 

AND RESETTLEMENT 

Villages and Camps 

Cities and Towns 

160 people to Wrangell Institute on SS Columbia 

July 6-13, 1942 

111 people to Wrangell Institute on SS Alaska 

July 26 1942 

560 people to Funter Bay on USAT Delarof June 17-24 1942 

400+ people To Pribilof Islands on USAT William L. Thompson 

May 4-13 1944 

350 people to Aleutians on USAT David W. Branch April 15-17, 1945 

US Military returns Attu residents to Atka, via Unalaska on USAT David W. Branch December 12-19, 1945 
 

 

 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska

Charles M. Mobley 

Includes bibliographical references. 

Published by the National Park Service, Alaska Region, Anchorage, 2012 

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012936031

ISBN-13: 978-0-9853948-0-6 

ISBN-10: 0985394803 

Book design and production: Dawne Sherman 

Color maps: Nicole Ferreira 

Proofreading: Solyra Sepulveda 

This project was funded by the National Park Service Affiliated Areas Program in support 

of the Aleutian World War II National Historic Area, in cooperation with the Aleutian 

Pribilof Heritage Group. 

In 1996 Congress designated the Aleutian World War II National Historic Area to 

interpret, educate, and inspire present and future generations about the history of the 

Unangan (Aleut) and the Aleutian Islands in the defense of the United States in World 

War II. In a unique arrangement, the Aleutian World War II National Historic Area 

and visitor center are owned and managed by the Ounalashka Corporation (the village 

corporation for Unalaska) and the National Park Service provides them with technical 

assistance. Through this cooperative partnership, the Unangax are the keepers of their 

history and invite the public to learn more about their past and present. 

[front cover] 

Two government-owned baidars, or traditional Aleut boats, were brought from the Pribilofs and 

used at Funter Bay. They were subsequently shared with Atkans at Killisnoo. 

Alaska State Library Butler/Dale collection PCA 306-1093 

[title Page] 

Pribilof villagers arrive at the Funter Bay cannery, June 24,1942. 

Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association Anatoly Lekanof, Jr. collection 

[Pages ii-iii] 

Map of the Aleut relocation and resettlement. Width of arrows is proportional to the number of 

evacuees transported. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

v 

Table of Contents 

Table of Contents v 

List of Figures viii 

List of Tables xiv 

Acknowledgments xv 

Chapter 1: Introduction 1 

Alaska at War 1 

Evacuation 4 

Southeast Alaska and the Internment 7 

Current Investigation 11 

Previous Investigations 14 

Organization of This Volume 16 

Chapter 2: Funter Bay Cannery 17 

Early Years 17 

World War II 28 

The Aleut Experience at Funter Bay 28 

Wartime Construction 33 

Post-War Development 33 

Current Condition 38 

Standing Buildings 39 

Building Ruins 43 

Features 48 

Aleut Cemetery 54 

Summary 55 

Chapter 3: Funter Bay Mine 57 

Early Years 57 

World War II and the Camp Experience 66 

Wartime Construction 71 

Post-War Development 73 

Current Condition 77 

Standing Buildings 77 

Building Ruins 79 

Shoreline Features 89 

Inland Mining Features 91 

Summary 93 

Table of Contents 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

Chapter 4: Killisnoo Herring Plant 95
 

Early Years 95
 

World War II and the Camp Experience 101
 

Wartime Construction 104
 

Post-War Development 104
 

Current Condition 107
 

Features on Land 109
 

Intertidal Features and Artifacts 116
 

Terrestrial Archaeological Deposits 119
 

Scavenged Artifacts 120
 

Killisnoo Cemetery 121
 

Summary 123
 

Chapter 5: Wrangell Institute 127
 

Early Years 128
 

World War II and the Camp Experience 136
 

Post-War Development 140
 

Current Condition 143
 

Summary 146
 

Chapter 6: Burnett Inlet Cannery 147
 

Early Years 147
 

World War II and the Camp Experience 149
 

Post-War Development 153
 

Current Condition 153
 

Building Ruins 154
 

Intertidal Pilings 159
 

Other Features 163
 

Artifact Scatters 165
 

Summary 166
 

Chapter 7: Ward Lake CCC Camp 169
 

Early Years 169
 

World War II and the Camp Experience 174
 

Post-War Development 178
 

Current Condition 179
 

Summary 187
 

vi 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

vii 

Table of Contents 

Chapter 8: National Historic Landmark Evaluation 189 

Significance of the Six Properties 192 

Aleut Culture Change 193 

World War II in Alaska 195 

Integrity 195 

Funter Bay Cannery 196 

Funter Bay Mine 197 

Killisnoo 198 

Wrangell Institute 198 

Burnett Inlet Cannery 199 

Ward Lake CCC Camp 200 

Summary of Integrity 200 

National Historic Landmark Eligibility 200 

Chapter 9: Afterword 203 

Bibliography 205 
 

viii 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

Figure 1. Map of Attu villagers’ journey. 2-3 

Figure 2. U.S. Army Transport (USAT) Delarof, 1943. 5 

Figure 3. Pribilof villagers onboard USAT Delarof, 1942. 7 

Figure 4. Map of southeast Alaska. 8-9 

Figure 5. Pat Roppel at Burnett Inlet cannery. 12 

Figure 6. Charles Mobley interviews Joe Giefer and Karey Cooperrider. 13 

Figure 7. Becky Saleeby talks with Joe Giefer and Sam Pekovich. 14 

Figure 8. Aerial view of Funter Bay cannery. 17 

Figure 9. Map of the Funter Bay region. 18 

Figure 10. Tlingit camp at Funter Bay, 1916. 19 

Figure 11. Thlinket Packing Company at Funter Bay, 1907. 20 

Figure 12. Map of the Funter Bay cannery, 1942. 22-23 

Figure 13. Funter Bay cannery, 1907. 24 

Figure 14. Funter Bay cannery, before 1931. 24 

Figure 15. Funter Bay cannery, mess hall, 1942-1945. 25 

Figure 16. Funter Bay cannery, view, 1942. 25 

Figure 17. Funter Bay cannery, laundry day, 1942-45. 26 

Figure 18. Funter Bay cannery, Filipino bunkhouse, 1942-1945. 26 

Figure 19. Funter Bay cannery, outhouse, 1942-1945. 27 

Figure 20 Funter Bay cannery, baidars, 1942-1945. 29 

Figure 21. Funter Bay cannery, mess hall, 1942-1945. 30 

Figure 22. Funter Bay cannery, children and water tap, 1942-1945. 30 

Figure 23. Funter Bay cannery, Chinese bunkhouse interior, 1942-1945. 31 

Figure 24. Funter Bay cannery, mail boat Estebeth, 1940s. 32 

Figure 25. Funter Bay cannery, 1962 plat. 34 

Figure 26. Funter Bay cannery, Quonset huts, 1942-1945. 35 

Figure 27. Funter Bay cannery, new chapel, 1942-1945. 35 

Figure 28. Funter Bay cannery, view, 1961. 36 

Figure 29. Funter Bay cannery, view. 38 

Figure 30. Funter Bay cannery, contemporary dwelling. 39 

Figure 31. Funter Bay cannery, watchman’s cabin. 41 

Figure 32. Funter Bay cannery, carpenter’s shop. 41 

Figure 33. Funter Bay cannery, fuel and water tanks. 42 

Figure 34. Funter Bay cannery, cabin ceiling. 42 

Figure 35. Funter Bay cannery, cabin ceiling detail. 43 

Figure 36. Funter Bay cannery, cabin. 45 

List of Figures 

(Photograph dates not indicated are 2008 for all sites 

except the Ward Lake CCC camp, for which photograph dates are 2011) 
ix 

List of Figures 

Figure 37. Funter Bay cannery, Filipino bunkhouse. 45 

Figure 38. Funter Bay cannery, Quonset huts. 46 

Figure 39. Funter Bay cannery, Aleut cabin ruins. 46 

Figure 40. Funter Bay cannery, Aleut cabin exterior detail. 47 

Figure 41. Funter Bay cannery, Aleut cabin interior detail. 47 

Figure 42. Funter Bay cannery, outhouse ruin. 48 

Figure 43. Funter Bay cannery, second outhouse ruin. 48 

Figure 44. Funter Bay cannery, boardwalk. 49 

Figure 45. Funter Bay cannery, boardwalk ruin. 49 

Figure 46. Funter Bay cannery, water tank foundation. 50 

Figure 47. Funter Bay cannery, dam. 50 

Figure 48. Funter Bay cannery, engine 51 

Figure 49. Funter Bay cannery, second engine. 51 

Figure 50. Funter Bay cannery, equipment. 52 

Figure 51. Funter Bay cannery, fuel tanks. 52 

Figure 52. Funter Bay cannery, cannery debris. 53 

Figure 53. Funter Bay cannery, coal. 53 

Figure 54. Funter Bay cannery, Aleut cemetery. 54 

Figure 55. Funter Bay cannery, Aleut cemetery. 54 

Figure 56. Funter Bay cannery, toy boat. 56 

Figure 57. Funter Bay mine, aerial view. 57 

Figure 58. Funter Bay mine, view, early 1920s. 58 

Figure 59. Map of the Funter Bay mine, 1942. 60-61 

Figure 60. Funter Bay mine, assay office, 1942-1945. 64 

Figure 61. Funter Bay mine, old cookhouse, 1942. 65 

Figure 62. Funter Bay mine, wash house. 65 

Figure 63. Funter Bay mine, building interior, 1942-1945. 66 

Figure 64. Funter Bay mine, outhouse, 1942-1945. 66 

Figure 65. Funter Bay mine, federal agents, Rado Pekovich, 1942-1945. 67 

Figure 66. Funter Bay mine, view from water, 1942-1945. 69 

Figure 67. Funter Bay mine, chapel, 1944-1945. 70 

Figure 68. Funter Bay mine, chapel, 1942-1945. 70 

Figure 69. Funter Bay mine, new bunkhouse, 1942-1945. 72 

Figure 70. Funter Bay mine, new washhouse, 1942-1945. 72 

Figure 71. Funter Bay mine, dwelling, 1942-1945. 72 

Figure 72. Map of the Funter Bay mine, based on 1970 survey. 74-75 

Figure 73. Funter Bay mine, metal utility shed. 74 

Figure 74. Funter Bay mine, sheds. 75 

Figure 75. Funter Bay mine, dwelling. 78 

Figure 76. Funter Bay mine, dwelling. 78 
 

x 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

Figure 77. Funter Bay mine, bunkhouse and shop. 80 

Figure 78. Funter Bay mine, bunkhouse. 80 

Figure 79. Funter Bay mine, shop exterior. 81 

Figure 80. Funter Bay mine, shop interior. 81 

Figure 81. Funter Bay mine, mill exterior. 82 

Figure 82. Funter Bay mine, mill exterior. 82 

Figure 83. Funter Bay mine, mill interior, electrical switchboard. 82 

Figure 84. Funter Bay mine, Building A, exterior. 83 

Figure 85. Funter Bay mine, Building J, exterior. 83 

Figure 86. Funter Bay mine, Building A, interior. 84 

Figure 87. Funter Bay mine, Building N, exterior. 84 

Figure 88. Funter Bay mine, Building B, exterior. 85 

Figure 89. Funter Bay mine, Building B, interior. 85 

Figure 90. Funter Bay mine, 1920 Treadwell mine receipt, Building B. 86 

Figure 91. Funter Bay mine, 1938 calendar, Building B. 86 

Figure 92. Funter Bay mine, Buildings C and D, exterior. 87 

Figure 93. Funter Bay mine, Building G, exterior. 87 

Figure 94. Funter Bay mine, Building G, interior. 88 

Figure 95. Funter Bay mine, Building U ruin. 88 

Figure 96. Funter Bay mine, Quonset hut. 89 

Figure 97. Funter Bay mine, view. 90 

Figure 98. Funter Bay mine, aerial tram station. 90 

Figure 99. Funter Bay mine, steam engine near mine workings. 91 

Figure 100. Funter Bay mine, Pelton wheel near mine workings. 92 

Figure 101. Funter Bay mine, ruins and artifacts at mine adits. 92 

Figure 102. Killisnoo, view. 95 

Figure 103. Map of Killisnoo area. 96 

Figure 104. Killisnoo industrial dock area, 1890s-1926. 97 

Figure 105. Killisnoo community area, 1890s-1926. 97 

Figure 106. Map of Killisnoo (USS 5), 1891. 98 

Figure 107. Map of Killisnoo (USS 5), inset, 1891. 99 

Figure 108. Killisnoo, Atka villagers on wharf, 1942-1945. 102 

Figure 109. Killisnoo, Atka villagers in baidar, 1942-1945. 102 

Figure 110. Killisnoo, Atka villagers in baidar, 1942-1945. 103 

Figure 111. Killisnoo, Constantine Golley, 1942-1945. 104 

Figure 112. Killisnoo, Atka villagers’ departure, 1945. 105 

Figure 113. Killisnoo, Atka villagers’ departure, 1945. 105 

Figure 114. Killisnoo, children, 1942-1945. 106 

Figure 115. Killisnoo, villagers pose for departure, 1945. 107 

Figure 116. Killisnoo, Tom Aubertine. 109 
 

xi 

List of Figures 

Figure 117. Killisnoo, view. 110 

Figure 118. Killisnoo, view. 110 

Figure 119. Killisnoo, view. 110 

Figure 120. Map of Killisnoo. 111 

Figure 121. Killisnoo, Whaler’s Cove Lodge. 112 

Figure 122. Killisnoo, lodge utility building. 112 

Figure 123. Killisnoo, lodge guest house. 112 

Figure 124. Killisnoo, lodge sheds. 114 

Figure 125. Killisnoo, lodge employee quarters. 114 

Figure 126. Killisnoo, lodge view. 115 

Figure 127. Killisnoo, marine ways. 115 

Figure 128. Killisnoo, lodge reservoir. 116 

Figure 129. Killisnoo, boilers. 116 

Figure 130. Killisnoo, Tom Aubertine and boiler. 117 

Figure 131. Killisnoo, steam engine. 117 

Figure 132. Killisnoo, view. 118 

Figure 133. Killisnoo, intertidal artifacts. 118 

Figure 134. Killisnoo, Becky Saleeby and boot fragment. 119 

Figure 135. Killisnoo, ceramic artifact. 119 

Figure 136. Killisnoo, shell and oil. 120 

Figure 137. Killisnoo, guns. 121 

Figure 138. Killisnoo, saws. 122 

Figure 139. Killisnoo, saws. 122 

Figure 140. Killisnoo, bottles. 123 

Figure 141. Killisnoo, cemetery, view. 124 

Figure 142. Killisnoo, cemetery, Chinese grave house detail. 124 

Figure 143. Killisnoo, cemetery, Tlingit formline design. 125 

Figure 144. Killisnoo, cemetery, Aleut graves. 125 

Figure 145. Killisnoo, cemetery, Aleut grave marker. 126 

Figure 146. Killisnoo, cemetery, Aleut grave marker. 126 

Figure 147. Wrangell Institute, aerial view. 127 

Figure 148. Map of Wrangell and Burnett Inlet region. 128 

Figure 149. Wrangell Institute, view, 1938. 129 

Figure 150. Map of Wrangell Institute campus, 1975. 131 

Figure 151. Wrangell Institute, faculty housing, 1944. 132 

Figure 152. Wrangell Institute, medical clinic, 1944. 132 

Figure 153. Wrangell Institute, four-car garage, 1944. 133 

Figure 154. Wrangell Institute, four-car garage, 1944. 134 

Figure 155. Wrangell Institute, CCC log cabin, 1944. 134 

Figure 156. Wrangell Institute, CCC log cabins, 1944. 135 
 

 

xii 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

Figure 157. Wrangell Institute, boathouse, 1944. 135 

Figure 158. Wrangell Institute, boathouse, 1944. 136 

Figure 159. Wrangell Institute, boat Institute 3. 136 

Figure 160. Wrangell Institute, fuel storage tank, 1944. 137 

Figure 161. Wrangell Institute, fish-cleaning station, 1944. 137 

Figure 162. Wrangell Institute, smokehouse, 1944. 138 

Figure 163. Wrangell Institute, erecting tents for Aleut evacuees, 1942. 138 

Figure 164. Wrangell Institute, tent city on campus, 1942. 139 

Figure 165. Wrangell Institute, Eva Borenin, Evdokia (Eva) Borenin, 1942. 139 

Figure 166. Wrangell Institute, campus view, probably early 1960s. 141 

Figure 167. Wrangell Institute, dock, 1961. 141 

Figure 168. Wrangell Institute, aerial view, 1966. 143 

Figure 169. Wrangell Institute, contaminated soil. 144 

Figure 170. Wrangell Institute, view. 144 

Figure 171. Wrangell Institute, boathouse. 144 

Figure 172. Wrangell Institute, boathouse. 145 

Figure 173. Burnett Inlet cannery, aerial view. 147 

Figure 174. Burnett Inlet cannery, view, 1912-1940. 148 

Figure 175. Burnett Inlet cannery, bunkhouse, 1942-1945. 150 

Figure 176. Burnett Inlet cannery, new Aleut cabins, 1943. 151 

Figure 177. Burnett Inlet cannery, new Aleut chapel, 1943. 151 

Figure 178. Burnett Inlet cannery, 1943. 151 

Figure 179. Burnett Inlet cannery, aerial view. 153 

Figure 180. Burnett Inlet cannery, Becky Saleeby and stump. 154 

Figure 181. Burnett Inlet cannery, tree with cleats. 154 

Figure 182. Map of the Burnett Inlet cannery site, 2003 and 2008. 155 

Figure 183. Burnett Inlet cannery, tent platform. 156 

Figure 184. Burnett Inlet cannery, doghouse. 156 

Figure 185. Burnett Inlet cannery, Feature 2 building ruin. 158 

Figure 186. Burnett Inlet cannery, Feature 11 timbers. 158 

Figure 187. Burnett Inlet cannery, Feature 19 building ruin. 159 

Figure 188. Burnett Inlet cannery, Feature 24 building ruin. 160 

Figure 189. Burnett Inlet cannery, Features 1 and 2, piling stubs and ruin. 161 

Figure 190. Burnett Inlet cannery, plan of Features 1 and 2. 161 

Figure 191. Burnett Inlet cannery, Feature 3, piling stubs. 162 

Figure 192. Burnett Inlet cannery, Feature 7, piling stubs. 162 

Figure 193. Burnett Inlet cannery, view. 163 

Figure 194. Burnett Inlet cannery, wood-stave tank ruin. 164 

Figure 195. Burnett Inlet cannery, boiler. 164 

Figure 196. Burnett Inlet cannery, engine. 165 
 

xiii 

List of Figures 

Figure 197. Burnett Inlet cannery, vat. 165 

Figure 198. Burnett Inlet cannery, lathe. 166 

Figure 199. Burnett Inlet cannery, machinery. 166 

Figure 200. Burnett Inlet cannery, engine. 167 

Figure 201. Burnett Inlet cannery, machinery. 167 

Figure 202. Ward Lake CCC camp, view. 169 

Figure 203. Map of Ward Lake vicinity. 170 

Figure 204. Map of Ward Lake, 1935. 171 

Figure 205. Aerial view of Ward Lake recreation area, 1930s. 172 

Figure 206. Ward Lake CCC camp, shop and garage, 1936. 172 

Figure 207. Map of Ward Lake CCC camp, 1935. 173 

Figure 208. Ward Lake CCC camp, power house, probably 1930s. 174 

Figure 209. Ward Lake CCC camp, view, probably 1930s. 174 

Figure 210. Ward Lake CCC camp, soldiers in training, 1942. 175 

Figure 211. Ward Lake CCC camp, Aleut children, 1942-1945. 176 

Figure 212. Ward Lake CCC camp, Aleut children, 1942-1945. 178 

Figure 213. Ward Lake CCC camp, Eugene Wacker, McGlashan family, 1942-1945. 179 

Figure 214. Ward Lake CCC camp, map superimposition. 180 

Figure 215. Ward Lake CCC camp, view. 181 

Figure 216. Ward Lake CCC camp, concrete pedestal. 181 

Figure 217. Ward Lake CCC camp, bridge. 182 

Figure 218. Ward Lake CCC camp, boardwalk. 182 

Figure 219. Ward Lake CCC camp, rock platform. 183 

Figure 220. Ward Lake CCC camp, rock platform plan. 184 

Figure 221. Map of the Ward Lake Three C’s Campground. 184 

Figure 222. Ward Lake CCC camp, building, 1936-1945. 185 

Figure 223. Ward Lake CCC camp, two bark-stripped cedar trees. 186 

Figure 224. Ward Lake CCC camp, recently bark-stripped cedar tree. 186 

Figure 225. Ward Lake CCC camp, ore carts at old garage site. 187 

Figure 226. Ward Lake CCC camp, information kiosk. 187 

Figure 227. Aerial view of fish hatchery, Burnett Inlet. 199 

Figure 228. Pribilof villagers reconsecrate Funter Bay cemetery, 2001. 203 

Figure 229. Basket made by Mary Snigoroff at Killisnoo. 204 
xiv 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

Table 1. Features at Burnett Inlet cannery. 157 

Table 2. National Historic Landmarks in Alaska. 190-191 

Table 3. Alaska Heritage Resource Survey (AHRS) site numbers. 196 

Table 4. Integrity evaluations for WW II Aleut relocation camps. 197 

List of Tables 
 

xv 

Acknowledgments 

Many people have graciously helped with this volume through 

their words, photographs, research assistance, and goodwill. Some 

individuals’ contributions date to earlier cultural resource studies 

of Aleutian Island, Pribilof Island, and southeast Alaska places 

in the 1990s and 2000s – before the 2008-2011 research for this 

book. I’m grateful to all. Listed below, in alphabetical order without 

institutional affiliation, are people who have contributed in many 

different ways large and small. Some are now deceased. My intention 

is that this book honor the memory of those directly affected by the 

Aleut relocation to southeast Alaska during World War II. 

The maps in color were prepared by Nicole Ferreira. Proofreading 

was done by Solyra Sepulveda. Graphic design and production of 

the volume was handled by Dawne Sherman. 

Other contributors include: Tom Aubertine, Richard Burnham, 

Dennis Chapman, Tracy Churchill, Karey Cooperrider, Joan Dale,

Donna Emerson, Phil Emerson, Gina Esposito, Joe Giefer, Myra 

Gilliam, Nick L. Golodoff, Randall Gray, Bruce Greenwood, Gordon 

Harrison, Steve Henrikson, Logan Hovis, Andronik Kashavarof,

Sr., Janis Kozlowski, Faydra Lampshire, Jake Lestenkof, Victor 

Malavansky, Rachel Mason, Millie McKeown, Terenty Merculief,

Sr., Bruce Merrell, Bruce Parnham, Andrew Pekovich, Sam Pekovich, 

Richard Powers, Patricia Roppel, Robyn Russell, Becky Saleeby,

Faye Schlais, Frank W. Sharp, Jane Smith, Walter A. Soboleff, Sr.,

Richard Stokes, Wilma Stokes, Reed Stoops, Gertrude Svarney, and 

Richard Van Cleave. 

Acknowledgments 

Charles M. Mobley obtained a Ph.D. in Anthropology with specialization in 

archaeology from Southern Methodist University in 1981, and has been 

conducting cultural resource investigations in Alaska for 33 years. 
xvi 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 
 

 

 

 

 

 

1 

Introduction 

The Aleuts are an Alaska Native people 

that historically inhabited a few small 

villages in the Aleutian and Pribilof 

Islands. During World War II the 

villagers were evacuated and interned 

at six locations in southeast Alaska, 

where they endured considerable 

hardship (the villagers of Attu Island 

were interned by the enemy in Japan,

where they suffered even more hardship). The experience of the Aleut relocation during World War II has been 

told by Kirtland and Coffin (1981),

Kohlhoff (1995), and others based on 

archival research and oral history. This 

volume focuses instead on the places,

using archival material and oral history 

to supplement onsite observation and 

photography at each of the six relocation camp sites. 

Alaska at War 

On December 7, 1941, airplanes from 

Japanese Imperial Navy aircraft carriers 

attacked the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl 

Harbor, Hawaii, forcing the nation 

into a war that would last almost four 

years and affect Alaska deeply. Alaska 

was still a territory administered by a 

federal governor, and its sparse population and vast spaces created challenges 

for military planners. Though Navy 

submarine and seaplane bases had 

been authorized at Sitka, Kodiak, and 

Unalaska in 1939 (Morison 1982:30­

34), Alaska was poorly prepared to defend itself against Japanese attack. 

On June 3 and 4, 1942, Japanese 

fighter planes and bombers attacked 

the U.S. Naval base at Dutch Harbor, 

on Unalaska Island in Alaska’s Aleutian Island chain (Cloe 1991:109-135;

Thompson 1987:29). The engagement 

coincided with an epic and decisive 

four-day naval air battle between U.S.

and Japanese carrier-based planes near 

the U.S. naval base at Midway Island 

that resulted in the sinking of all four 

Japanese aircraft carriers and one U.S.

aircraft carrier (Cloe 1991:140-143).

Japanese Navy and Army troops on 

June 7 and 8 invaded the far Aleutian 

islands of Kiska – where the personnel of a U.S. Navy weather station were 

captured (Rearden 1986:18-20; Takahashi 1995:37), and Attu – whose Native villagers were detained and eventually sent to Japan for the remainder 

of the war (Figure  1). The seaplane 

tender Casco arrived at the Aleutian 

island of Atka on June 10 to service 

PBYs – the Navy’s primary amphibious aircraft – assigned to strafe and 

bomb the growing Japanese positions 

(Cloe 1991:159). When a Japanese 

observation plane found the source of 

Introduction 

[next Page] 

figure 1. 

Attu villagers were 

detained by enemy 

forces and sent 

to Japan for the 

duration of the 

war. After war’s 

end, they were 

shipped roundabout 

to Alaska and 

were not allowed 

to return to their 

village. Some Attu 

villagers resettled at 

Atka village. 

1 
P A C I F I C

B E R I N G S E A

A R C T I C

S E A

O F J A P A N

O

K H

O

T S K

S E A

E A S T C H I N A

S E A

P H I L I P P I N E S E A

KOREA

EAST INDIES

U N I O N O F S O V I E T

S O C I A L I S T R E P U B L I C S

C H I N A

PHILIPPINE 

J A P A N

MANCHURIA

BURMA

SIAMFRENCH INDO-CHINA

ISLANDS 

BORNEO

STATES

MALAY

SUMATRA

SARAWAK

DURING WW II AFTER WW II

ATTU RESIDENTS’ JOURNEY 

ATTU

Sept 14, 1942 KISKA

1 week

ATKA

Dec 19, 1945

MANILA

Oct 15-20, 1945

5 day stay

ATSUGI

AIRBASE

(Tokyo)

Sept 21, 1945

OKINAWA

3 week stay

CHITOSE

AIRBASE

(Saporro) OTARU

Sept 28, 1942-

Sept 17, 1945 Sept 20, 1945

MIDWAY ISLANDS

BURMA

2 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

P A C I F I C 

B E R I N G S E A 

A R C T I C 

S E A

O F J A P A N 

O

K H

O

T S K 

S E A 

E A S T C H I N A

S E A 

P H I L I P P I N E S E A 

KOREA 

EAST INDIES 

U N I O N O F S O V I E T 

S O C I A L I S T R E P U B L I C S 

C H I N A 

PHILIPPINE 

J A P A N 

MANCHURIA 

SIAM FRENCH INDO-CHINA 

ISLANDS 

BORNEO 

STATES 

MALAY 

SUMATRA 

SARAWAK 

DURING WW II AFTER WW II 

ATTU RESIDENTS’ JOURNEY 

ATTU 

Sept 14, 1942 KISKA 

1 week 

ATKA 

Dec 19, 1945 

MANILA 

O c t 15-20, 1945 

5 day stay 

ATSUGI 

AIRBASE 

(Tokyo) 

S ept 21, 1945 

OKINAWA 

3 week stay 

CHITOSE 

AIRBASE 

(Saporro) OTARU 

Sept 28, 1942­

Sept 17, 1945 Sept 20, 1945 

MIDWAY ISLANDS 
G U L F O F

A L A S K A

O C E A N

O C E A N

ALASKA

C A N A D A

U N I T E D

 S T A T E S 

M E X I C O

0 500 1,000 2,000

Kilometers

0 400 800 1,600

Miles

Projection WGS 1984 Web Mercator Auxiliary Sphere

Base image from World Shaded Relief Map compiled by 

ESRI ArcGIS Online and data partners

National Park Service 2012

DUTCH HARBOR,

UNALASKA

SEATTLE

Nov 20, 1945

1 month stay

TACOMA

HAWAII

SAN FRANCISCO

Nov 3, 1945

1 week stay

3 

Introduction 

G U L F O F 

A L A S K A 

O C E A N 

O C E A N 

ALASKA 

C A N A D A 

U N I T E D

 S T A T E S 

M E X I C O 

0 500 1,000 2,000 

Kilometers 

0 400 800 1,600 

Miles 

Projection WGS 1984 Web Mercator Auxiliary Sphere 

Base image from World Shaded Relief Map compiled by 

ESRI ArcGIS Online and data partners 

National Park Service 2012 

DUTCH HARBOR, 

UNALASKA 

SEATTLE 

Nov 20, 1945 

1 month stay 

TACOMA 

HAWAII 

SAN FRANCISCO 

Nov 3, 1945 

1 week stay 
4 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

their torment, enemy planes 

bombed and strafed the hastily evacuated Native village at 

Atka (Oliver 1988:xvii-xviii),

cratering the hillside (Mobley 2006:29-30). In one week 

Alaska was plunged into war. 

Evacuation 

The U.S. military knew that 

confronting the enemy in 

the Aleutians would risk civilian – particularly Native – 

lives, but the responsibilities 

for civil authority were not 

clear. Civilian evacuation had 

been discussed among various 

agencies for months (Kirtland and Coffin 1981:9-12).

Villagers on St. Paul and St.

George Islands in the Pribilof Islands were clearly the 

responsibility of the U.S. Fish 

and Wildlife Service (USFWS) as they had been for 

decades; the superintendents 

for the federal government’s 

exclusive franchise to harvest 

pelts from the northern fur 

seals that birthed their pups 

on the islands’ beaches wielded a very strong hand in the 

lives of the Pribilof Islanders 

– including whether they and 

their families were allowed to 

stay on the islands. Federal 

exposure to other Aleut villages was largely through the territorial school system – hardly 

I was born on Agattu Island on December 19, 1935....When 

Japanese came [to Attu], we went to church in the morning, 

and after that was nice calm day. No wind. We can hear all 

kinds of noise in next bay. Engines. And then maybe three, 

four young teenagers went up the hill to take a look and see 

what was going on. We were waiting for them to come back 

down, and then a plane flew over, real low. It was a Japanese 

plane. Me, I didn’t know it was Japanese or not, but it was 

very low. I could see his face when he went by. I was on my 

way down to the beach because I liked the ocean water all of 

the time....On the way down, this one person, Alec Prossoff 

– I followed him down to the beach, and he walked the beach 

towards the church and by this time we got closer to the 

church we hear some noises. Different language spoken. 

We got by the church and we heard some shooting and we 

started running. Alec was running so I thought he was trying 

to get away from me so I ran after him....He was running to 

the house, and while we’re running I could see mud flying 

in front of me. They were shooting at Alec but the bullets 

needed only one more feet to reach Alec but they didn’t. I 

could see mud popping up in front of me. I stop and look 

and then when Alec stopped he looked right where bullets 

were coming from and he started running again. So I kept 

running after him until he got to house and went under the 

house....Early in the morning an American plane goes by, 

early, early in the morning, and then I hear a lot of shooting. 

It happened a couple times....He comes in on the water and 

comes up and go over. I think he was taking pictures. And 

then I can hear a lot of shooting and Japanese running all 

over the place. When I look out my window one morning a 

Japanese – I don’t know where he was sleeping, but – he 

didn’t have no pants on! He was running for his foxhole. I 

remember he had a hole back of my house there. I saw him 

jump in there....And then the Japanese left Attu and they took 

us with them...in the cargo hold. 

Nick L. Golodoff, talking with Charles M. Mobley at 

Atka, April 17, 2005, University of Alaska H2005-05 
 

 

 

 

Introduction 

the authority to demand that villagers 

leave their homes. By May of 1942, 

however, military opinion publicly 

favored the idea that civilians were to 

be evacuated if the Japanese threatened Alaska. 

Ultimately the decision to evacuate 

Aleut villages was forced amid chaotic 

circumstances. By June 12 of 1942 the

enemy had twice attacked U.S. bases at 

Dutch Harbor by air, they were building 

naval and air bases on Kiska and Attu 

Islands in the Aleutian chain, they’d 

captured a U.S. Navy weather station 

team at Kiska and detained the villagers of Attu, and they’d just menaced 

the Native village of Atka. The Navy 

seaplane tenders USS Gillis and USS 

Hulbert were in Nazan Bay off Atka on 

the evening of June 12 when they received orders issued by Commanding 

General Simon B. Buckner to remove 

the villagers and burn the village. The 

U.S. military viewed the buildings as a 

potential asset to the enemy’s advance. 

The orders were carried out almost immediately, while villagers were mostly 

scattered at distant fish camps for 

safety from Japanese air attack, so that 

when the Natives reassembled they 

had almost no personal possessions 

(Kirtland and Coffin 1981:12-13).

They were shortly removed to the village of Nikolski by the U.S. Army 

Transport (USAT) Delarof (Figure 2). 

At St. Paul on the morning of June 

14, 1942, the USFWS agent dutifully 

logged three aircraft sightings, the arrival of a small U.S. Navy boat, and the 

brief visit of the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Onandaga. Later that day orders 

were received “to evacuate the entire 

population of St. Paul Island,” and 

on June 15 the Delarof arrived to execute that mission (Figures 2-3). On 

June 16 the vessel left the Pribilof 

Islands with the communities of St. 

George and St. Paul, along with one 

suitcase per person, the destination 

being...unknown (Figure 4). Fearing 

figure 2. 

The U.S. Army 

Transport (USAT) 

Delarof, here 

anchored off the 

Pribilof Islands 

in May of 1943, 

carried St. George, 

St. Paul, and 

Atka villagers to 

Admiralty Island in 

southeast Alaska. 

Alaska State Library Evan Hill 

collection PCA343-468 

5 
 

 

 

6 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

Nikolski. Before the ship was 

midway through its voyage, an 

agreement was reached with the 

owner of a cannery in southeast 

Alaska to house the St. George 

and St. Paul Natives there. On 

June 24, 1942, the villagers of 

St. Paul and St. George disembarked at Admiralty Island’s 

Funter Bay, where they were to 

spend most of World War II.

After the hold was cleared of 

the Pribilof villagers and their 

baggage, the Delarof departed 

Funter Bay that same day and 

motored south along the west 

side of Admiralty Island to the 

derelict herring plant at Killisnoo, near the Tlingit village of 

Angoon. There they left the 

Natives from Atka. 

The remaining Aleut villages 

were evacuated in a more orderly fashion, after military 

orders were received at the 

Dutch Harbor naval base to do 

so on June 29. The villagers of 

Nikolski, Akutan, Kashega, Biorka, and Makushin, totaling 

160 Aleuts, were transported 

to the Wrangell Institute in southeast Alaska by the Alaska Steamship 

Company’s SS Columbia and disembarked on July 13, 1942 (Kirtland 

and Coffin 1981:33-34). Aleut residents at Unalaska boarded the Alaska 

Steamship Company’s SS Alaska and 

arrived at the Wrangell Institute on 

his logbook could aid the enemy if it 

fell into the wrong hands, the USFWS 

agent began writing his daily entries in 

shorthand as the exodus through the 

war zone began. 

The Delarof stopped briefly at Unalaska to take on the residents of Atka, 

who had been forwarded there from 

In 1942, I was age 17 years old...after the church I went out 

to visit. One gunshot was shot. I took my baby and went 

out. The one shot started and then all of the shooting. It 

surrounded the village. One girl, a lady sat beside me and 

I was holding my child. The lady’s leg was shot. The bullet 

did not touch me, it just tore my clothes and they [Japanese 

military] took all of the people to the school ground and 

took the American flag down and burned it up and they put 

the other flag up. 

Parascovia Wright, Attu, in 1981 testimony 

Atka was bombed. There are bomb holes still there existing 

there from the war. There is one right behind my house. 

Five places were bombed at Atka. 

George Kudrin, Atka, in 1981 testimony 

I was only eight years old when they bombed Atka. We 

were in camp. When everybody left, we did not know – 

about five or six families were left behind. After two or three 

days, we seen five Japanese planes bomb Atka. After two 

days, I think, two American planes came to get us. We 

were the first ones to get to Dutch Harbor. 

Vera Snigaroff, Atka, in 1981 testimony 

They said we got to Dutch Harbor just in time, that the Jap 

submarine was following the transport [USAT Delarof]. We 

got there just in time and closed the [antisubmarine] gates. 

Martha Krukoff, St. Paul, in 1981 testimony 
 

 

 

7 

Introduction 

going between the ports of California 

and Washington to Army or Navy bases at Sitka, Seward, Whittier, Kodiak, 

Dutch Harbor, and beyond (Mobley 

1995:14-21; Leahy 1995:127). Alaska’s 60-year old fishing industry was 

in a slump in the 1930s, but canned 

food was needed for the war effort, so 

commercial salmon fishing continued 

(King 1995:212). Similarly, commercial logging in southeast Alaska, which 

had primarily supported regional 

sawmills and local construction, saw 

a slowdown due to shifting priorities 

and labor shortages, with a new interest in select Sitka spruce for manufacture of military aircraft (Rakestraw 

1981; Sisk 2007:4). Mining, which 

had contributed considerably to the 

economy of southeast Alaska in the 

July 26, 1942. In late August the 

smaller village communities were forwarded to the Ward Lake CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) camp north 

of Ketchikan, while the Unalaskans 

were sent to the Burnett Inlet cannery 

about 40 miles southwest of Wrangell 

(Figure 4). The Wrangell Institute resumed its normal school function, and 

the Aleuts settled into their makeshift 

quarters at five sites scattered across 

southeast Alaska. 

Southeast Alaska and the 

Internment 

Southeast Alaska in mid-1942 was a 

committed participant in Alaska’s war 

preparations. The Coast Guard station 

at Ketchikan was turned over to the 

Navy and became a busy base for ships 

figure 3. 

Pribilof villagers, 

here lining the 

railing of the USAT 

Delarof on the day 

of their departure 

(June 15, 1942), 

were evacuated 

with only a few 

hours notice and 

no idea of their 

ultimate destination. 

National Archives 80 - G206194 
C R O S S S O U N D

I C Y

S T R A I T S T E P H E N S

PA S S A

G

E

F R E D E R I 

P A C I F I C

O C E A N

C H A

T H A M

S T R A I T

ISLANDISLAND

BARANOFBARANOF

CHICHAGOF ISLAND

CHICHAGOF ISLAND

ADMIRALTY

ISLAND

ADMIRALTY

ISLAND

Angoon

Sitka

Juneau

Funter Bay Cannery

Killisnoo

Funter Bay Mine

Projection NAD 1983 Albers. Base image from Circumpolar 30 Sec Shaded Relief 

compiled by USGS EROS Data Center. National Park Service 2012

0 10 40 60

Miles

20

0 20 40 60

Kilometers

10

USAT Delarof June 17-24 1942

SS Columbia July 6-3, 1942

SS Alaska July 26, 1942

8 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

C R O S S S O U N D 

I C Y 

S T R A I T S T E P H E N S 

PA S S A

G

E 

F R E D E R I C

P A C I F I C 

O C E A N 

C H A

T H A M 

S T R A I T 

ISLANDISLAND 

BARANOFBARANOF 

CHICHAGOF ISLAND

CHICHAGOF ISLAND 

ADMIRALTY

ISLAND

ADMIRALTY

ISLAND 

Angoon 

Sitka 

Junea Juneau 

Funter Bay Cannery 

Killisnoo 

Funter Bay Mine 

Projection NAD 1983 Albers. Base image from Circumpolar 30 Sec Shaded Relief 

compiled by USGS EROS Data Center. National Park Service 2012 

0 10 40 60 

Miles 

20 

0 20 40 60 

Kilometers 

10 

USAT Delarof June 17-24 1942 

SS Columbia July 6-3, 1942 

SS Alaska July 26, 1942 

C 
S

U

M

N

E

R

S T R A I T

C L A R E N C E

S T R A I T

C S O U N D

ISLANDISLAND

REVILLAGIGEDOREVILLAGIGEDO

ISLAND

ISLAND

PRINCE

OF

WALES

PRINCE

OF

WALES

ETOLIN I. ETOLIN I.

ISLAND

ISLAND

WRANGELLWRANGELL

ISLAND

ISLAND

ZAREMBO

ZAREMBO

ISLANDISLAND

UPREANOFUPREANOF

ALASKA

A L A S K A

C A N A D A

Petersburg

Burnett 

Inlet

Ketchikan

Ward Lake

Metlakatla

Wrangell Institute

C

Introduction 

figure 4. 

Aleuts were 

evacuated by 

village and sent to 

relocation camps in 

southeast Alaska. 

Pribilof Islanders 

went to Funter 

Bay – St. Paul to 

a defunct cannery, 

and St. George to 

an unused gold 

mine. Villagers 

from Atka were 

housed at the 

derelict herring 

factory at Killisnoo, 

on Admiralty Island 

south of Funter 

Bay near the Tlingit 

village of Angoon. 

The remaining Aleut 

communities were 

temporarily housed 

in tents at the 

Wrangell Institute; 

subsequently 

Unalaskans were 

moved into an old 

burned cannery at 

Burnett Inlet while 

people from the 

smaller villagers 

were housed at the 

former CCC camp 

at Ward Lake, near 

Ketchikan. 

K

K 

S U M 

N

E

R 

S T R A I T 

C L A R E N C E 

S T R A I T 

K S O U N D 

ISLANDISLAND 

REVILLAGIGEDOREVILLAGIGEDO 

ISLAND

ISLAND 

PRINCE

OF

WALES

PRINCE

OF

WALES 

ETOLIN I. ETOLIN I. 

ISLAND

ISLAND 

WRANGELLWRANGELL 

ISLAND

ISLAND 

ZAREMBO

ZAREMBO 

ISLANDISLAND 

KUPREANOFKUPREANOF 

ALASKA 

A L A S K AA L A S K A 

C A N A D A 

Petersburg 

Burnett 

Inlet 

Ketchikan 

Ward Lake 

Metlakatla 

Wrangell Institute 

9
 
 

 

 

 

10 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

Against this backdrop, with the front 

pages of Juneau, Wrangell, Sitka, and 

Ketchikan newspapers reporting news 

of fighting in the Aleutians as well as 

the ongoing war in Europe, the arrival 

of Aleut refugees warranted short mention. The five-week Aleut encampment 

at Wrangell Institute was newsworthy 

in Wrangell at the time, and the villagers at the Ward Lake CCC camp 

near Ketchikan were written about 

regularly in the local newspaper after 

sanitation and other issues came to the 

attention of city officials. In contrast, 

the camps at Burnett Inlet, Killisnoo,

and Funter Bay were more removed 

from the scrutiny of southeast Alaska’s 

hometown journalists. While Aleuts 

struggled to survive in their new quarters (some adjusting by moving 

and assimilating into the existing workforce), the men and 

women of southeast Alaska 

were already absorbed in their 

own wartime experience and 

saw the new arrivals as just 

one of many wartime changes.

Though an entire indigenous 

Alaska culture was uprooted 

from its ancestral home and 

relocated for three years in a 

foreign environment, the event 

left little impression on most 

local residents, and it took 25 

years for history to take note of 

the villagers’ sacrifice (Kirtland 

and Coffin 1981). The places 

that Aleuts spent those three 

years had a long history before 

five decades before the war, was curtailed by decree of the federal government as an unnecessary wartime 

endeavor (Leshy 2002:26). The local 

citizenry was keenly aware of Alaska’s 

wartime status and experienced the 

effort through many restrictions on 

daily life (especially in 1942 and 1943 

when Aleutian combat was ongoing).

Outgoing mail was censored, evening 

activities were hidden behind dark 

curtains as blackouts were enforced, 

possession of a camera near military 

installations was prohibited, fuel and 

other goods were rationed, fishing 

boats were requisitioned for Navy use,

and men were encouraged to register 

for military service. 

inDians Have Been evacUateD 

froM far nortH 

Five hundred and thirty-five Aleut Indians have arrived 

safely in southeast Alaska from the Pribilof Islands 

and Atka, it has been learned in Juneau from reliable 

sources. They were transported in eight days time from 

the western war area of the Territory and arrived in the 

Chatham Straits district without possessions excepting the 

clothing they wore. 

The 450 natives evacuated from the Pribilofs are to be 

quartered at an unused cannery building at Funter Bay. 

There are empty houses and a dormitory for men at this 

locality. Eighty-five Atka people have taken living quarters 

at an abandoned saltery at Killisnoo. 

The Alaska Press (Juneau), Friday, June 26, 1942, p. 8 
 

 

 

 

 

 

11 

Introduction 

term Aleut in keeping with the historical context. 

The field reconnaissance involved 

brief visits to each of the six sites. 

Archaeologists Becky Saleeby and 

Charles M. Mobley spent a whirlwind 

six days traveling from Anchorage 

to southeast Alaska and on to five 

individual sites, logging six jet flights 

and six small plane flights in the 

process. The trip began on July 7,

2008, with a flight from Anchorage to 

Juneau, then another from Juneau to 

Angoon, with lodging in Angoon that 

night. The two were onsite at Killisnoo 

that evening and the next day, and 

conducted two taped interviews before 

returning to Juneau on the evening of 

July 8. On July 9 Mobley and Saleeby 

flew to Wrangell, visited the archives of 

the Wrangell Museum, photographed 

the site of the Wrangell Institute, and 

conducted one taped interview. The 

following day local historian Patricia 

Roppel accompanied the team on a 

flight to the west side of Etolin Island 

to investigate the cannery site at 

Burnett Inlet (Figure 5), then the two 

archaeologists returned to Juneau that 

night. On July 11 Mobley and Saleeby 

the war, and after the war their 

role in the evacuation was little 

recognized. According to Karey 

Cooperrider, a Funter Bay resident since the early 1970s, the 

local cannery’s and mine’s roles 

in the Aleut’s WW II experience 

were not common knowledge in 

the community until Aleuts began visiting in the 1990s to care 

for the cemetery. 

Current Investigation 

This volume is the product of a cooperative agreement (H9922030015) 

between the National Park Service 

(NPS) and Aleutian Pribilof Heritage Group (APHG). NPS provided 

technical guidance to APHG, who in 

turn contracted Charles M. Mobley & 

Associates to conduct the investigation. Jake Lestenkof was the APHG 

contact, while Bruce Greenwood, Janis 

Kozlowski, and Becky Saleeby administered the project for NPS. The research involved archival research, oral 

history, and field reconnaissance to assemble use histories for each of the six 

Aleut internment sites, and in particular to document their current integrity 

and potential significance collectively 

as a National Historic Landmark 

(NHL). The focus was on each site’s 

entire history, though the Aleut internment is the theme that binds the 

six properties. Currently the people of 

the Aleutian and Pribilof Islands refer to themselves using the traditional 

name “Unangan;” this volume uses the 

For myself, I did not take anything except I took apart 

my five horse Johnson and put every part I can into one 

suitcase, except for the bracket and shaft was tied out on 

the outside of a suitcase as I would make more use out of 

my motor than clothing. 

Father Michael Lestenkof, St. Paul priest, in 1981 testimony 
 

 

 

 

12 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

Methods used in field observation 

were organic to the work at hand.

Given the brief exposure to each property, photography was paramount in 

obtaining the most information about 

site integrity in a short amount of 

time. Saleeby and Mobley each kept 

notebooks and independently photographed site features. Measurements 

in the field and in this volume are in 

English units, since that system was 

used by the site inhabitants. Existing 

plans for some sites were annotated in 

the field, and several sketch maps were 

drawn. Extremely helpful were photocopies of archival photographs that 

were taken into the field. GPS coordinates were noted for selected features. 

At the Wrangell Institute time was so 

short that the taxi was kept waiting 

during the reconnaissance. 

A comprehensive oral history of the 

WW II Aleut internment experience 

was beyond the scope of this effort.

Notes were taken on conversations, 

and four interviews pertaining to specific site histories were audiotaped.

Each contributor signed a release form 

so that the original audiotape could be 

filed for public use at the University of 

Alaska’s oral history archives at Rasmuson Library in Fairbanks. At Angoon an interview was recorded with 

elder Frank Sharp discussing Killisnoo and Angoon history (H2008-17).

Also recorded was an interview with 

Richard Powers (H2008-16), the host 

and owner of Whaler’s Cove Lodge – 

flew from Juneau to Funter Bay, where 

they stayed two days. While at Funter 

Bay they visited the cannery in the 

company of lodge-owners Joe Giefer 

and Karey Cooperrider (Figure  6),

visited the mine in the company of 

long-time caretaker Sam Pekovich,

and collected oral history information.

That fieldwork was completed upon 

returning to Anchorage the evening 

of July 12. The Ward Lake CCC 

camp site was not documented until 

three years later, in 2011, by a team 

consisting of Charles M. Mobley and 

NPS anthropologist Rachel Mason.

Mobley and Mason flew to Ketchikan 

on May 3, photographed the Ward 

Lake property and conducted one 

interview the following day, and 

Mobley returned to Anchorage on 

May 5. 

figure 5. 

Local historian 

Patricia Roppel 

joined NPS 

archaeologist 

Becky Saleeby 

and Charles M. 

Mobley to document 

the Burnett Inlet 

cannery. 
 

 

 

13 

Introduction 

round-out the presentation for the six 

sites. Particularly useful are the transcripts of oral testimony made by camp 

survivors before the Commission on 

Wartime Relocation and Internment 

of Civilians in 1981. 

As with oral history, a comprehensive 

archival investigation into the WW 

II Aleut internment experience was 

beyond the scope of this investigation. Archival information was sought 

on the evolution of each site, from its 

origins as – for example – a cannery,

to its current land use. Old photographs were selected from collections 

at the Anchorage Museum of History 

and Art, Alaska State Library, University of Alaska-Fairbanks, University of 

Alaska-Anchorage, the Wrangell Museum, the Ketchikan Museum, the National Archives Alaska Pacific Region 

in Anchorage, and the Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association in Anchorage. 

the commercial facility that now occupies half of the Killisnoo site. In 

Wrangell an interview (H2008-18) 

was recorded with Richard and Wilma 

Stokes, who both witnessed the Aleut’s 

Wrangell Institute experience during 

World War II. At Funter Bay residents Joe Giefer and Karey Cooperrider were recorded discussing the 

recent history of Funter Bay 

(H2008-19). These taped interviews 

were augmented with notes made during conversations with others, such 

as Andrew Pekovich and his brother 

Sam Pekovich (Figure 7), who guided 

Mobley and Saleeby around the remains of the Funter Bay mine that 

has been in their family for over 75 

years. Notes were also made on several 

conversations with Killisnoo owner 

Tom Aubertine. Other oral history 

material – some published and some 

collected by Charles M. Mobley in decades past – has been consulted to help 

figure 6. 

Long-time Funter 

Bay residents Joe 

Giefer and Karey 

Cooperrider (left) 

were interviewed 

by Charles M. 

Mobley (right) 

about recent 

Funter Bay 

cannery history. 
 

14 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

herring reduction plant, Wrangell 

Institute, Burnett Inlet cannery, and 

Ward Lake CCC camp. All but the 

Wrangell Institute have been subjected 

to prior cultural resource investigation.

Most have had an Alaska Heritage 

Resource Survey (AHRS) number assigned to them in the statewide inventory maintained by the Alaska Office 

of History and Archaeology. 

A group of Pribilof Islanders and other 

citizens in 2001 nominated the Funter 

Bay cannery and mine to the National 

Register of Historic Places as an historic district (Zacharof 2002). Early 

the following year the Alaska Historical Commission determined the 

two properties historically significant 

at the national level through their association with the themes of military 

and government, as well as intellectual 

The goal of the project was to describe 

the six World War II Aleut relocation camps in southeast Alaska, review their historical significance as a 

group, and evaluate whether they have 

enough physical integrity to be nominated together as a National Historic 

Landmark (NHL). A related project 

involving NPS support focuses on village sites (Kashega, Makushin, Biorka) 

to which villagers were not allowed to 

return after the war (Mason 2011). A 

third related volume being prepared 

with NPS assistance is “Attu Boy” – a 

memoir by Attu-born Nick Golodoff. 

Previous Investigations 

The six southeast Alaska properties figuring in the history of the Aleut World 

War II internment are the Funter Bay 

cannery, Funter Bay mine, Killisnoo 

figure 7. 

Funter Bay mine 

caretaker Sam 

Pekovich (right), 

here talking with 

Joe Giefer and 

Becky Saleeby, 

guided the 2008 

investigation at the 

site and contributed 

oral history 

information. 
 

 

 

 

15 

Introduction 

Killisnoo was the subject of archival 

and oral history investigation in an 

anthropological study of Angoon by 

Frederica de Laguna (1960:168-175).

In 1972 U.S. Forest Service (USFS),

prepared a National Register nomination form for Killisnoo, but no determination of eligibility was made.

Sealaska Corporation (1975:604-605) 

briefly described the property as part 

of the cemetery and village site survey used to select land under Section 

14(h)(1) of the Alaska Native Claims 

Settlement Act (ANCSA) of 1971.

Small USFS-sponsored cultural resource surveys have found prehistoric 

remains elsewhere along the shores of 

Killisnoo Harbor (Fields and Davidson 1979; Moss 1981). None of these 

studies resulted in a comprehensive 

cultural resource characterization or 

site plan for Killisnoo. 

Despite the Wrangell Institute’s history as one of Alaska’s premier Native boarding schools for over 40 years,

the site has never received any cultural 

resource attention. 

USFS archaeologist David Plaskett 

briefly recorded the Burnett Inlet 

and social institutions, with a period of 

significance of 1942-1944. In a May 

8, 2002, letter to the Keeper of the National Register of Historic Places, the 

Alaska State Historic Preservation Officer or SHPO ( Judith Bittner) summarized the Historical Commission’s 

determination that “the Pribilof Aleut 

Internment Historic District is eligible 

for listing in the National Register of 

Historic Places under criterion A, with 

special criteria consideration D adequately addressed,” meaning that the 

two sites are “associated with events 

that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of 

our history” (U.S. Department 

of the Interior 1991:37), and 

that the usual policy of excluding cemeteries from National 

Register designation was considered. Objections to the National Register listing were received from local property owners Sam 

Pekovich and Delbert Carnes, and the 

two properties have not yet been entered into the National Register of 

Historic Places. Pribilof community 

members visited Funter Bay in 1999 

and 2000 to maintain the cemetery 

and help elders obtain closure on that 

part of their lives, and some fieldwork 

was done then to prepare the National 

Register nomination. Much of the research for the nomination consisted of 

oral history interviews, so the nomination form itself is a primary document

(Zacharof 2002). 

Nobody ever talked about it [Aleut relocation to Funter 

Bay]. We owned this property for several years [early 

1970s] before we even knew there was a cemetery behind 

Harold and Mary’s [Hargrave] house. So no, it was not 

talked about at all. 

Karey Cooperrider 
 

 

 

16 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

Of particular interest are the sites’

circumstances during the WW II 

Aleut internment, but each site is also 

characterized according to its pre-war 

and post-war history. Anecdotes relevant to the research are included along 

with text and illustrations to convey 

the setting as well as the experience.

The intent was to use existing archival, oral history, and onsite information, add more of one or the other as 

needed, and arrive at balanced characterizations of each of the six Aleut 

relocation sites. The Funter Bay 

cannery is the first site described 

and has an expanded context for the 

World War II period that largely 

applies to the other site chapters 

as well. A final chapter summarizes the findings and evaluates the 

properties’ significance and physical integrity with respect to National 

Historic Landmark eligibility. The 

volume concludes with an Afterword 

and Bibliography. 

cannery on Etolin Island in 1977.

Between 1999 and 2003 USFS archaeologists visited the site three times and 

prepared a site map (Smith 2003). 

The Ward Lake vicinity north of 

Ketchikan is on land managed by the 

USFS and has been subjected to over 

a dozen small cultural resource investigations by agency archaeologists 

John Autrey and Ralph Lively in the 

1980s and 1990s. Projects involving 

the Ward Lake CCC camp area used 

for Aleut housing during World 

War  II have been summarized by 

Stanford (2006). 

Organization of this Volume 

Following this Introduction is a chapter for each of the six southeast Alaska 

sites occupied by Aleut communities 

during World War II. Each chapter 

is structured similarly and examines 

the history of the particular property 

from its known origins through 2008 

(2011 in the case of Ward Lake). 
 

 

 

17 

Funter Bay Cannery 

The villagers of St. Paul spent most of 

World War II at the Thlinket Packing Company cannery at Funter Bay.

The cannery site is on a small peninsula projecting southwest into Funter 

Bay, on the Mansfield Peninsula at the 

northwest end of Admiralty Island 

(Figures 8-9). The land consists of rolling moraine deposits from sea level up 

to an elevation of almost 500’, punctuated by sheer rock cliffs occurring from 

sea level up to the Peninsula’s highest

point – Robert Barron Peak at 3475’

(Orth 1967:808). The mountain’s peak

and upper slopes are above treeline;

a thick forest of spruce and hemlock 

carpets the landscape below to the water’s edge (Figure 8). 

Early Years 

The Mansfield Peninsula is within the 

traditional territory of the Wuckitan 

clan of the Auk Tlingit (Goldschmidt 

et al. 1998:37-44), and Funter Bay had 

probably long been favored for seasonal fishing (Figure 10). In 1899 Portland banker James T. Barron organized 

the Thlinket Packing Company (Gaston 1911:88-89) and applied for 11.75 

coastal acres on the northwest end of 

Admiralty Island as a mining claim – 

the Irvington Lode. Mr. Barron was 

figure 8. 

By 2008 the forest 

had reclaimed most 

of the Funter Bay 

cannery site. Here 

looking northwest 

are the public 

floats and several 

dwellings. From left 

to right are: a small 

part of the roof to 

the watchman’s 

cabin, a private 

dwelling (in the 

clearing) where the 

power house once 

stood, a cabin at 

the former mess 

hall location, and 

a cabin where the 

China house used 

to be. At far right is 

the edge of former 

cannery caretaker 

Harold Hargrave’s 

home. 

Funter Bay Cannery 

2 
18 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

the father of Robert Barron, for whom 

the Peninsula’s highest point is named

(Orth 1967:808). It’s unlikely that the 

elder Barron had any intention of mining the claim; he completed the initial 

$1000 worth of assessment work by 

excavating a 20’x40’ hole six feet deep 

0 2 4 8 12

Miles

0 2 4 6 12

Kilometers

Projection NAD 1983 UTM Zone 8N. Base image from 60 Meter NED SE Alaska 

Elevation Relief Model compiled by NPS Alaska Regional Office, 2003. 

National Park Service 2012 

I C Y S T R A I T 

C

H

A

T

H

A

M 

S

T

R

A

I

T

Fu n te r B a y 

H a w k I n l e t 

Barlow 

Cove 

Young 

Bay 

Gastineau Channel

Auke Ba y 

S T E P H E N S 

P A S S A G E 

Funter Bay Cannery

(St. Paul) 

Funter Bay Mine

(St. George) 

ADMIRALTY

ADMIRALTY 

ISLAND

ISLAND 

DOUGLAS DOUGLAS ISLAND ISLAND 

Juneau 

CHICHAGOF CHICHAGOF ISLAND ISLAND 

figure 9. 

Map of the Funter 

Bay locality on the 

Mansfield Peninsula 

of Admiralty Island. 

See Figure 4 to 

orient map location 

in southeast Alaska. 

along the shore at what would become 

a warehouse site, and by digging a 2’ x 

2’ “water flume” from a small creek to 

a point beside the machine shop that 

would become the cannery’s powerhouse. The land was patented as U.S.

Mineral Survey 560 (Hill 1901), and 
 

 

 

 

19 

Funter Bay Cannery 

Corporation, which continued packing fish until 1930 or 1931 (Bower 

1941:134; MacDonald 1949:32). A 

fire on May 31, 1929, destroyed “the 

Oriental bunkhouses and a number 

of Indian cottages” (Pacific Fisherman 1930:64-65). This was a boom 

time for Alaska’s fisheries (Cooley 

1963:84, 102), particularly in southeast Alaska, and Chatham Strait had 

major facilities canning, salting, or 

rendering bottom fish, salmon, herring, and whale (Mobley 1994:30-31;

1999:8-18). During the 1930 season 

the Funter Bay cannery operated with 

two stationary and 19 floating fish 

traps (Bower 1931:44). Nonetheless, 

in 1931 the cannery was closed for 

what turned out to be forever, due to 

a water shortage (Colby 1941:149).

In 1941 the property was sold to the 

P.E. Harris Company – a well-known 

Barron had a cannery built at Funter 

Bay and was packing fish by 1902 

(Cobb 1922:44). That same year a U.S.

Post Office was established at the cannery (Orth 1967:357). A warehouse 

was built in 1906, and during the following year the cannery building was 

expanded to hold additional machinery 

(Figure 11), so that by 1907 the facility 

had the capacity to pack 2,500 cases of 

pink salmon a year under labels such as 

“Buster,” “Sea Rose,” “Autumn,” “Peasant,” “Thlinket,” “Tepee,” and “Arctic 

Belle” (Pacific Fisherman 1907:21).

All of the cannery’s fish came from 

five large commercial fish traps, and 

the work force consisted of Native, 

Chinese, Japanese, and EuroAmerican 

laborers (Kutchin 1906:22). 

In 1926 the Funter Bay cannery was 

sold to the Alaska Pacific Salmon 

figure 10. 

Local Tlingit Indians 

still spent time at 

Funter Bay into 

the 1900s, years 

after the cannery 

was established. 

Note flagpole, sawn 

plank cabins, and 

traditional dugout 

canoes in this 

1916 view. 

Alaska State Library C.L. Andrews 

collection PCA45-124 
 

 

 

 

20 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

Alaska fish processor from 1912 until 

1950 and the predecessor of Peter Pan 

Seafoods (MacDonald 1949:32). 

A map made in August of 1942 two 

months after the Pribilof villagers arrived shows the cannery buildings labeled with their new emergency functions (Figure 12), while a 1962 plat 

for adjacent Alaska Tidelands Survey 

147 plots most of those same pre-war 

buildings (as well as Quonset huts 

and small cabins built for the Aleut 

internment) with their original building titles from the pre-war cannery 

days (see Figure 25). So each map has 

functional building labels more appropriate for the other. The industrial 

buildings were clustered tightly near 

the south corner of the lot, where a 

rock promontory juts into deep water 

and allowed construction of a wharf to 

serve deep-draft cargo vessels (Figure 

13). The wharf connected the fronts 

of three long buildings extending out 

from shore – two large warehouses on 

the east and an even larger 80’-wide 

cannery building on the west. All 

three buildings were on pilings and 

most of their length was over the intertidal zone. A 1907 photograph shows 

a sign on the gable of the left warehouse reading “THE THLINGIT 

PACKING CO.” 

Attached behind the central warehouse was a machine shop, and across 

a decked platform behind the cannery 

was the boiler room, or power house 

(Figure 14). The power house’s west 

figure 11. 

By early August of 

1907 the Thlinket 

Packing Company 

at Funter Bay was 

processing its sixth 

annual pack of pink 

salmon. 

Alaska State Library Case & Draper 

collection PCA39-1002 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

21 

Funter Bay Cannery 

low a sign reading “FUNTER POST 

OFFICE.” During the war a small 

cabin connected to the boardwalk by 

the mess hall was used as the USFWS 

office (Figure 15), contributing to the 

social importance of the building cluster. The next nearest building to the 

mess hall was the tool headquarters,

or carpenter shop, located centrally to 

serve the entire cannery complex (Figure 16) and still standing in 2008. 

Lodging at the cannery during its 

later years of operation was of several 

types (as mentioned the Quonset huts 

and two rows of small houses plotted 

north of the property line on the 1962 

survey are of later wartime construction). The old surveys show some of 

the building locations, and the archival 

photographs show some of their architectural details (Figure 17). The superintendent’s house was a composite 

building at the west end of the main 

cannery boardwalk consisting of a central one-story block with a shed-roofed 

end protruded past the industrial complex, extending the power train to 

serve a winch for the marine railway at 

the intertidal zone. The building was

oriented so that overhead belts could 

transfer power to the cannery in one 

axis and an overhead shaft could transfer power to the machine shop in the 

other axis. Two small rectangles on the 

north side of the power house (labeled 

TANKS on the plat – see Figure 25) 

were secondary fuel tanks probably 

served by the larger wood-stave fuel 

tank at the property’s far south point.

The last building of the industrial cluster was divided into a parts room serving the whole complex, and a commissary, or store. 

The store opened onto the 

cannery’s main boardwalk 

and – together with the mess 

hall and ramp down to the 

floats – served the citizens of 

greater Funter Bay as its social center. Archival photographs allow reconstruction of 

the layout. The mess hall was 

a two-story 40’x50’ building 

almost completely encircled 

by the boardwalk, and was 

the first building encountered 

when walking up from the floats where 

smaller boats docked. At the south end 

of the west wall was the entrance to 

the dining room, below a sign reading 

“CANTEEN.” In the southeast corner 

of the building was a partitioned room 

entered through an exterior door beFunter Bay...is the best and most convenient anchorage in 

its vicinity. The bay is 2 miles long in a north-northeasterly 

direction and 3/4 mile wide at the entrance, expanding 

slightly inside. There is a small stamp mill on the southeast 

side of the bay, and some mining development has been 

done. A cannery and wharf are on the northwest side of 

the bay; this is the post office of Funter, and it has regular 

communication with Juneau. 

U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (1917:187) 
.,.~f\11'" Di -· 

I 

• 

22 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 
23 

Funter Bay Cannery 

figure 12. 

A plan of the Funter 

Bay cannery made 

in August of 1942 

shows the original 

cannery buildings 

plus tent locations 

added for St. Paul 

villagers. 

National Archives document from 

Zacharof (2002) 
24 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

figure 13. 

A 1907 view shows 

the Funter Bay 

cannery as it 

began its peak 

production years. 

Alaska State Library William Norton 

collection PCA226-411 

figure 14. 

The power house 

(center, looking 

southeast) held 

oil-fired boilers that 

provided steam 

for the retorts and 

ran the system of 

overhead axles, 

pulleys, and belts 

that operated the 

cannery’s many 

machines. 

Alaska State Library William Norton 

collection PCA226-412 

dormer, attached at the southwest corner to a cross-gabled two-story block,

and attached at the northeast corner to 

another one-story wing. Scaled from 

the survey, the building enclosed 2,220 

square feet of space excluding two 

porches. Near the superintendent’s 

house was the watchman’s house – a 

small one-story home with one northfacing gable-roofed dormer over the 
 

25 

Funter Bay Cannery 

were two large two-story bunkhouses,

each about 24’ wide and 96’ long, one 

labeled “Filipino House” (Figure 18) 

and the other “China House.” Since 

the cannery’s “Oriental bunkhouses” 

reportedly burned in 1929, the Filipino and China houses mapped in

1942 may have been built immediately 

that year or the year after to replace 

entry and another over a window. North of the 

main boardwalk 

and connected by 

a perpendicular 

boardwalk was a 

narrow bunkhouse 

or “Guest House” 

sharing a porch 

with a larger frame 

cabin (used during 

the war by Father Baranof as his residence). On the shore northeast of the 

mess hall was a two-story bunkhouse 

half on shore and half on pilings over 

the intertidal zone. Deep in the forest 

to the north was a small “old watchman’s cabin,” and 200’ to the east was 

a smaller log cabin. Set off from other buildings almost 200’ to the north 

figure 15. 

Federal authority 

over the Funter 

camps was 

administered from 

a small frame office 

building prominently 

located between the 

cannery’s store (at 

the photographer’s 

back in this wartime 

image) and mess 

hall (at center). 

Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association, 

Al Cox and Pat Pletnikoff collection 

figure 16. 

Here looking east 

are the mess hall 

at right, carpenter 

shop left of center, 

and a frame cabin 

at left. Secondgrowth trees and 

absence of the 

“USFWS Office” 

(Figure 15) date 

the view to just 

before 1942. 

Alaska State Library Vincent Soboleff 

collection PCA 01-3844 
26 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

figure 17. 

The 

superintendent’s 

house, here 

viewed towards 

the southwest from 

an upstairs west 

window of the China 

House across a sea 

of laundry during 

St. Paul villagers’ 

time there, is half 

hidden by trees in 

the background 

right of center. 

University of Alaska-Fairbanks 

Fredericka Martin collection 

91.223.272 

figure 18. 

Seen here looking 

northwest from the 

railing of the mess 

hall during the war, 

the Filipino House 

was a twin to the 

nearby China House 

immediately right of 

photo. The cannery 

water tank can be 

seen at upper right. 

University of Alaska-Fairbanks 

Fredericka Martin collection 

91-223-350 
 

 

27 

Funter Bay Cannery 

Native Cabins. Electricity to individual buildings including dwellings was 

sent through wires strung on poles,

using glass insulators near the tops.

Connecting the cannery buildings was 

a web of plank boardwalks in at least 

two widths. 

After the 1931 closing the owners 

retained an onsite caretaker who still 

served as storekeeper and postmaster.

A current landowner suggested that 

a fox-farming or more likely minkfarming operation may have been initiated around that time because of the 

amount of chickenwire discernible in 

the early 1990s. But that activity has 

not been confirmed (since the property 

was patented land no USFS Special 

Use Permit would have been needed 

for a fur-farm, so no archival USFS 

documentation would necessarily be 

expected). Chickenwire was a common item at most canneries because 

it was used for webbing in commercial fish traps. Another explanation 

for chickenwire features at the Funter 

the lost housing, because 1930 was the 

last year of operation. A boardwalk 

extending along the top of the low 

coastal bluff northeast of the China 

House went past a cabin and then a 

group of three “Native Cabins.” West 

of the cannery a boardwalk led to a 

group of five small cabins overlooking Coot Cove, off the cannery lot on 

USFS property. 

Systems serving the cannery complex 

consisted of water, sanitation, electricity, and the boardwalk. A small creek 

to the north (near the Aleut cemetery) 

was dammed with a simple timber

crib, from which water was sent via 

a 4” steel pipe to a large wood-stave 

tank located between and upslope 

from the two large bunkhouses. From 

there at least one smaller line likely ran 

along the boardwalk to the industrial 

complex, with spigots along the way.

Whether any of the original buildings 

had independent sewer/septic systems 

is unknown, but at least three outdoor 

privies were built out over the intertidal zone. One was 

attached to a storage shed immediately north of the 

mess hall, another 

served the Filipino 

and China Houses 

(Figure 19), and 

a third was located at the far 

end of the boardwalk past the three 

figure 19. 

During WW II a 

community privy 

was built over 

the beach east of 

the cannery. 

University of Alaska-Fairbanks 

Fredericka Martin collection 

91-223-279 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

28 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

cannery is that the caretaker in the 

1950s was said to have kept rabbits at 

the site in chickenwire enclosures. 

World War II 

When the U.S. entered the war in 

1942 the cannery at Funter Bay had 

not packed fish for over a decade, and 

the surrounding population attributed to “Funter” was down to about 14 

(Colby 1941:149). P.E. Harris Company – the new owner – kept on the 

company payroll only a caretaker – 

Harold Hargrave – who lived onsite 

with his wife and operated the store 

and post office. Hargrave’s first year on 

the job was 1941 (The Juneau Empire 

1999) and by that time many buildings 

had fallen into disrepair. The fish packing company was quick to recognize 

the opportunity for monthly income 

and had a lease prepared with “THE 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 

hereinafter called the Government,” at 

a rate of $60 per month, on June 16.

The deal was barely struck by the time 

the Aleuts were underway. 

On June 24, 1942, after a journey of 

more than a week, the Delarof docked 

at the cannery and disembarked 

the entire Native population of St.

George and St. Paul villages. Bedding

and food from the ship’s stores were 

discharged along with the villagers’

meager baggage. Two baidars – large 

(36’) traditional frame boats – had been 

brought as deck cargo for use at Funter 

Bay (Figure 20). The two USFWS 

employees (St. George agent Daniel 

C.R. Benson and acting St. Paul agent 

Carl M. Hoverson) and their wives,

and the two school teachers from St. 

Paul – Mr. and Mrs. Helbaum – and 

their two children, stayed at Funter 

Bay with the villagers. Other federal 

employees and their wives, including 

the two physicians – Drs. Grover and 

Berenberg – stayed on the Delarof as it 

cast off that same day and continued to 

Seattle by way of Killisnoo. 

The Aleut Experience at 

Funter Bay 

The day after they landed at the cannery, villagers from St. George were 

shifted to the mine site one mile away.

Thereafter, the two Pribilof communities shared the Funter Bay experience 

from their two respective camps, while 

the cannery – having the post office,

store, and larger dock – continued as 

the local social center (Figure 21). The 

St. Paul USFWS agent’s log entry for 

June 27 to August 2, 1942, describes the 

basic tasks that all the Aleut evacuee’s 

faced in making their wartime homes 

livable: “Entire gang during this period 

kept busy in constructing bunks, making beds from chicken wire, repairing 

walks to facilitate traffic, installing 

electric wiring in various dwellings, repairing leaking roofs, broken windows,

rotten flooring, dilapidated outhouses; several men occupied in getting 

the mess arrangements systemized. 
29 

Funter Bay Cannery 

in tents; while the agent logged the 

temperature at 10 degrees above zero 

on Christmas Eve, 1942, the men were 

still installing plasterboard walls inside 

the bunkhouses. 

Ordinary domestic tasks became 

difficult under the circumstances. 

Potable water was often in short supply 

due to freezing, poor pipes, inadequate 

flow, and contamination (Figure 22). 

Warehouses fixed so that supplies could 

be locked up....Entire area around the 

Cannery was surveyed for a possible 

water supply. Several were found but 

none met the approval of the Sanitary 

Engineer. Entire population, both 

St. George and St. Paul immunized 

by Mrs. Clara Gaddie, Indian Affairs 

Nurse....” During the first months 

after their arrival many families lived 

figure 20. 

Two governmentowned baidars, or 

traditional Aleut 

boats, were brought 

from the Pribilofs 

and used at Funter 

Bay. They were 

subsequently shared 

with Atkans at 

Killisnoo. 

Alaska State Library Butler/Dale 

collection PCA 306-1093 
30 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

familiar subsistence foods (Figure 23).

The bunkhouses and cabins were not 

intended for winter occupancy, so they 

had no insulation or heating stoves. 

Washing clothes must have been an 

ordeal (Figure 17). Food preparation 

was made more complicated by the 

lack of adequate kitchen facilities and 

figure 21. 

During World War 

II the old mess hall 

at the cannery, with 

its U.S. Post Office, 

was the social 

center of the greater 

Funter Bay area. 

University of Alaska Fairbanks 

Fredericka Martin collection 

91.223.274 

figure 22. 

The water system 

at the Funter Bay 

cannery wasn’t 

designed to support 

a large community 

through all seasons, 

and spigots were 

few. This tap was 

east of the China 

House (upper right). 

Alaska State Library Butler/Dale 

collection PCA 306.1092 
 

 

 

31 

Funter Bay Cannery 

Agency officials reporting on the poor 

living conditions had limited success 

in obtaining needed food, medicine,

and supplies. 

The two communities continued to operate under the direction of their USFWS agents at Funter Bay as they had 

at their villages. Work parties were organized, and the men were expected to 

unload supply ships that came to dock.

The USFWS’s Penguin served 

the two Funter Bay camps, as 

did the agency’s smaller vessels 

Brant, Crane, Swan, and Heron, 

and eventually their boat Scoter 

was assigned to winter at Funter 

Bay. Port calls were made by 

the USFS Ranger 6 and 7, fishing boats, fish-buying boats like 

the King Fisher, the mail boat 

Estebeth (Figure 24), and YP 

Boats (vessels in southeast Alaska’s 

fishing fleet that had been converted – often with original captains and crews – for submarine 

detection and coastal surveillance).

Sometimes a float plane would fly in 

from Juneau. Villagers took jobs with 

some of these boats, or went to Juneau 

to work, but usually between 45 and 60 

Aleut men were working at the camp 

each weekday during the first months 

During the past cold spell it has been impossible to heat 

the houses and quarters occupied by the Natives. At night 

they have huddled around the stoves and in the dining room 

getting what little sleep possible. Most of the water pipes 

are still frozen and there still is no water in the reservoir 

behind the dam. 

USFWS agent’s log for the St. Paul community at 

the Funter Bay cannery, February 12, 1943. 

figure 23. 

Dining 

accommodations at 

the Funter cannery 

were dilapidated; 

this image shows 

the interior of 

the Chinese 

bunkhouse, which 

had a functioning 

kitchen. 

University of Alaska Fairbanks 

Fredericka Martin collection 

91.223.281 
 

 

 

32 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

a protected draw east of the cannery,

near the dam built to supply water to 

the facility. Despite the hardship and 

death at the Funter Bay camps, the St.

Paul and St. George villagers resolutely 

faced them as they faced hardship and 

death in the Bering Sea. It is a tribute 

to the Aleut communities that their 

children were somewhat shielded from 

the brunt of the deprivations. Pribilof elders interviewed in the 1990s and 

2000s were children at Funter Bay, and 

most remember a successful childhood 

adapted to the new surroundings. In 

mid-October of 1942 the children of 

the Pribilofs were sent with their federal teachers and their teachers’ families to Wrangell where they attended 

classes at the Wrangell Institute. 

of the internment. Teams of as many 

as two dozen men went salmon fishing 

to feed the community, or clamming,

and hunters would sometimes bring in 

three or four deer at a time. Eventually 

a USFWS boat arrived to issue them 

hunting licenses. 

Dr. Berenberg returned to Funter Bay 

to treat his patients. There were several 

births in the camps in late 1942. People with severe dental problems went 

to Juneau for treatment. Islanders with 

tuberculosis were sent to the Juneau 

hospital, and sometimes Seattle, when 

their condition worsened. Soon the 

need for an Aleut cemetery was grimly 

acknowledged at Funter Bay, and a 

small almost-level plot was selected up 

figure 24. 

Funter Bay, 

Killisnoo, and 

other coastal 

communities in the 

area were provided 

mail, freight, and 

passenger services 

by the Estebeth, 

here viewed from 

the cannery. At far 

right is the Funter 

Bay mine’s mill. 

Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association 

(copy print, source unknown) 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

33 

Funter Bay Cannery 

Islands Association, shows a new but 

small one-story wood frame chapel,

painted white (Figure 27). 

New construction mentioned in the 

USFWS agent’s logbook also includes 

a water pipeline – probably from 

the small impoundment near the Aleut 

cemetery. Sometime after August 

of 1942 a small gable-roofed building was erected (or perhaps relocated) 

along the boardwalk near the mess 

hall as the USFWS headquarters 

(Figure 15). 

According to Zacharof (2002), one of 

the last acts by departing villagers was 

to dismantle their hastily built school,

church, and pumphouse to build shipping crates for the journey home. 

Post-War Development 

The Funter Bay cannery stayed in the 

hands of the P.E. Harris Company after 

the war ended, and Harold Hargrave 

continued on as watchman. When 

the P.E. Harris Company became 

Peter Pan Seafoods, in about 1962, 

the new company continued to hold 

the old cannery property. Hargrave 

obtained a Special Use Permit from 

the U. S. Forest Service in 1951 for a 

residence, dock, and warehouse (also 

used as a boat house and net house) on 

the far east end of the cannery complex, according to files at the National 

Archives, and he and his wife Mary 

lived at Funter Bay until 1983 when 

they moved to Juneau (The Juneau 

Empire 1999). The cannery buildings 

Wartime Construction 

The two large bunkhouses were not 

sufficient to house the entire community of St. Paul, and tents supplementing the housing arrangement weren’t 

adequate for winter conditions. The 

1942 plat shows a pair and another 

trio of tents north of the China House. 

The USFWS agent’s logs indicate construction of new “cottages”in late 1942,

likely represented on the 1962 survey by a row of three small buildings 

north of the China House, and an offset row of six small buildings north of 

the Filipino House (Figure 25). Also 

constructed during the war, probably 

in 1943, were a pair of Quonset huts 

just south of the Filipino House and 

a group of three further south (Figure 

26). Quonset huts were prefabricated 

round-roofed 16’x36’ buildings of corrugated sheet metal panels affixed to 

curved angle-iron ribs, manufactured 

by the tens of thousands for Allied 

military applications and intended to 

house “10 enlisted men or 5-7 officers” 

(Decker and Chiei 2005:14). Each of 

the two groups of Quonset huts had 

their buildings’ gable walls aligned to 

face a boardwalk. 

In keeping with their devout Russian 

Orthodox practices, the St. Paul villagers erected two large wall tents on 

a platform with plank walls to serve 

as a temporary chapel, according to a 

photograph taken by Father Michael 

Lestenkof. Yet another image from 

his collection, at the Aleutian Pribilof 
34 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

figure 25. 

When Alaska 

Tidelands Survey 

147 was platted 

in 1962 the map 

(upper image) 

captured most of 

the Funter Bay 

cannery buildings 

present during 

operation, as well 

as buildings added 

for Aleut occupancy 

during World War II. 

Lower image is an 

enlargement of the 

cannery area. 
 

35 

Funter Bay Cannery 

land as Alaska Tidelands Survey 147 

in 1962. By then the bunkhouse

along the shore immediately north of 

the mess hall was completely gone,

marked only by a “scattered piling of 

old buildings” (Figure 25). According to USFS records, in the early 

1960s while Peter Pan Seafoods was 

continued to deteriorate through the 

1950s, and by 1961 the seaward side 

of the industrial buildings was almost 

completely gone (Figure 28). 

Peter Pan Seafoods owned the cannery during the 1960s and filed for 

the adjacent intertidal and submerged 

figure 26. 

Five Quonset huts 

including these 

three were erected 

at the Funter Bay 

cannery to house 

Aleut families. 

A note with the 

image states Dora 

Dushkin’s family 

lived in the first 

Quonset, and the 

Melevedov family 

lived in the second. 

Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association, 

Fr. Michael Lestenkof collection 

figure 27. 

St. Paul villagers 

eventually built a 

small wood-frame 

chapel at the Funter 

Bay cannery. 

Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association, 

Fr. Michael Lestenkof collection 
36 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

operating a major facility at 

nearby Hawk Inlet, they attempted to evict Hargrave from 

the Funter Bay cannery because 

some of Hargrave’s improvements were on cannery property rather than USFS land as 

permitted. Apparently USFS 

was able to negotiate quick satisfaction for all parties when it 

became known, too, that some 

of the cannery’s buildings were 

actually north of the cannery’s 

lot line on USFS land. 

As part of a package sale the 

Funter Bay cannery was conveyed along with several other 

properties to the Bristol Bay 

Native Corporation in the 

1980s, which in turn sold it to 

Juneau resident Reed Stoops. 

figure 28. 

By the time historian 

Bob DeArmond 

photographed the 

Funter Bay cannery 

in 1961 the end 

of the wharf was 

mostly gone. 

Bob DeArmond photograph courtesy 

of Patricia Roppel 

Harold and Mary Hargrave, they lived over near the 

cannery. Harold had been the watchman at the cannery 

before we knew him. After that they did some salmon 

trolling...they retired from that...The wooden crosses in the 

old Russian Orthodox design...were still standing thanks 

to Mary Hargrave – I think she took care of the cemetery 

during the whole time she lived near it....Everybody in the 

bay got together quite a bit for potlucks....You picked up 

and dropped off your mail at the cannery...once a week. 

By the time we got here there was a mail plane....It was 

kind of a social event....Jim and Blanche Doyle...were the 

last caretakers before it was sold. Jim was a retired Coast 

Guard chief petty officer....That’s [watchman’s cabin] still 

there, that’s where Jim and Blanche lived. And that’s 

where the watchman before them, Scotty Todd, lived.... 

One winter Harold, and Gunnar [Ohman], and I think the 

third one was Harvey [Smith] lived in the superintendent’s 

house. 

Karey Cooperrider 
 

 

 

 

37 

Funter Bay Cannery 

The Quonset huts were still standing,

though the interior walls of beaverboard (an obsolete cellulose-panel material) were melting; some had chicken 

wire arranged by Harold Hargrave to 

keep rabbits. The small frame cabins 

built by St. Paul villagers were already 

lacking roofs in the early 1970s and 

were in poor condition. Two cliff-side 

outhouses were still readily distinguishable, one of which was divided 

into mirror halves (probably genderspecific), each of which had two or 

three seats. The pilings under the carpenter’s shop were replaced in the early 

Stoops subdivided the property in the early 1990s and together with new owners such 

as Gordon Harrison hired a 

local company to demolish 

and remove or bury most of 

the derelict cannery buildings.

A short system of public floats 

was built by the State of Alaska to replace the original cannery dock and floats. Funter 

Bay experienced a resurgence 

in private residency. 

Joe Giefer and his wife Karey 

Cooperrider were new arrivals, building a home and lodge 

east of the cannery, and in a 

2008 taped interview they described the condition of the 

cannery buildings in the early 1970s. At that time most 

of the industrial and domestic buildings were standing 

and could be cautiously entered, though their rate of deterioration was increasing. After Harold 

Hargrave disassociated with the cannery and established his adjacent 

residence, the watchman’s cabin continued as a dwelling for property caretakers – first Scotty Todd, then finally 

Jim and Blanche Doyle – so it was in 

good shape at the time. Another small 

cabin in good condition was used as 

an overflow guest house by the Doyle 

family. The superintendent’s house was 

in good shape except for the roof, and 

so the building began to disintegrate. 

I bought the [Funter Bay] cannery from Bristol Bay Native 

Corporation. Most of it was a public nuisance – a liability 

for us – so we burned and buried the cannery building. The 

bunkhouse fell down in place. I built my cabin in 1990 – the 

log cabin right at the dock. 

Reed Stoops 

I purchased property at the cannery in 1993, and built my 

house from scratch from 1994 until 1999. I have some 

photographs of the last of the power house. It had part of 

the boiler, with fire brick. Reed Stoops hired John Gitkov, a 

marine contractor with several cranes and barges. In front 

of my house all that scrap is buried, and in my backyard 

are two of the fuel tanks. The woodstave tank on the point 

was torn down by Gitkov – I’ve got a few of the timbers 

under my house. Those three machines are early vintage 

gasoline engines, about 10-20 horsepower, that drove 

overhead power trains. There’s a guy in Fairbanks that 

drives one in their annual Golden Days Parade.

 Gordon Harrison 
 

 

38 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

1990s with creosote pilings salvaged 

from the cannery ruin at Hawk Inlet. 

Current Condition 

Funter Bay now holds several dozen 

parcels of private property, many with 

dwellings occupied seasonally or yearround by individuals with 30 years or 

more of residency – 75 years in the 

case of mine-steward Sam Pekovich. 

The State’s public floats are in almost 

the same location as the original cannery floats (compare Figures 20 and 

29). According to Zacharof (2002),

the cannery’s 11.5 acres were subdivided into 13 lots, and in 2008 at least 

nine landowners had a property interest in the historic cannery site. Almost 

all of the cannery’s buildings are gone 

– either destroyed or decaying into the 

archaeological record, but many remnants are discernible. Some historic 

cannery features, as well as the Aleut 

cemetery, are on USFS land. Because 

the site investigation was brief and 

done at a high tide, few intertidal features were observed. This discussion 

of the Funter Bay cannery’s current 

condition briefly notes new construction, then goes on to describe standing 

buildings, building ruins, and non-architectural features that date to World 

War II or earlier. The site’s AHRS 

number is JUN-029. 

Three relatively modern dwellings are 

maintained on what was once U.S. 

Mineral Survey 560 (Figure 25). A 

fourth modern residence has been 

built immediately northeast of the 

cannery tract (near the trail to the 

Aleut cemetery) to replace Harold 

Hargrave’s original home that was destroyed by fire. One of the three dwellings on the former cannery property 

is Reed Stoops’ one-story cabin built 

figure 29. 

As viewed 

approaching the 

public floats, the 

Funter Bay cannery 

site is now occupied 

by four dwellings, 

of which the three 

modern examples 

are visible: Gordon 

Harrison’s cabin 

with a shed-roofed 

dormer (left) built 

in the late 1990s 

where the power 

house used to be, 

the 1990 cabin 

(center) built by 

Reed Stoops where 

the mess hall once 

stood, and Randall 

Gray’s two-story 

log cabin (right of 

center) constructed 

over the China 

House site. 
 

 

 

 

39 

Funter Bay Cannery 

cabins and a water tank enclosure – 

are standing in fair or poor shape. The 

only original dwelling still used for 

that purpose is the former watchman’s 

cabin. Prior to 1942 the watchman 

occupied a multi-roomed house at the 

west end of the main boardwalk (Figure 12), but later that dwelling was enlarged for the new superintendent, and 

the watchman moved into a smaller 

cabin immediately east (Figure 25).

In 2008 the building displayed one 

large gabled block measuring about 

14’x25’, with a small 4’x6’ shed-roofed 

block appended to the south corner 

(Figure 31). Remnants of different 

roof pitches and vertical seams in the 

siding attest to a sequence of building modifications, and comparison of 

the 1942 and 1962 plans (Figures 12,

25) indicate that a 6’ addition across 

the entire northwest elevation was 

where the old mess hall used to be. A 

two-story cabin belonging to Randall 

Gray resides where the China House 

once stood (Figures 8, 29). And the 

cannery’s former power house site is 

now occupied by Gordon Harrison’s 

one-story frame cabin and several 

small sheds all painted a bright red 

(Figure 30). Whereas the two log cabins feature milled logs of obviously recent construction, the frame cabin is a 

gabled dwelling with a shed-roofed 

dormer facing the bay, a metal roof,

and wood shingles, together giving 

the appearance of an older building 

(Figure 30). 

STANDINg BuILDINgS 

Two original cannery buildings are 

standing in good shape – the watchman’s cabin and the carpenter shop.

Three other original buildings – two 

figure 30. 

The cannery power 

house site now 

holds a cabin and 

several small sheds 

built by Gordon 

Harrison between 

1994 and 1999. 
 

 

 

40 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

building with a wide hinged 

freight door centered on the 

south gable end and about a

dozen original 6/6 double-sash 

windows penetrating the walls.

A window is centered on each 

gable. The roof is now covered 

with ribbed metal painted red,

and a large loading deck is appended to the south elevation.

The building’s dimensions are 

approximately 24’ x 60’. It’s 

construction date is unknown 

but it appears on the 1942 

map (Figure 12), on which it 

is labeled as the “TOOL HQ” 

rather than “CARP SHOP” as 

on the 1962 map (Figure 25). 

Less than 100’ northwest of the 

watchman’s cabin is a woodshed, a small water tank with a 

framed enclosure, and a cylindrical metal fuel tank (Figure 

33). The woodshed is a small 

metal-clad frame building that in the 

1970s (and perhaps still) held an old 

two-cylinder Lister diesel engine, according to local resident Joe Giefer.

The other building measures about 

8’x8’ and 12’ high, with a ribbed-metal 

shed roof. Missing and broken siding 

revealed vertical 8”x8” posts at each 

corner inside the building that support 

a water tank. The age of the building 

is unknown but Joe Giefer said that 

by the early 1970s it was unsafe to enter; old nail holes in the plain plank 

siding indicate that the boards were 

There were a lot of buildings standing when we first got 

here, but things were starting to deteriorate, and as things 

fell down and dropped into the water people who needed 

wood for one purpose or another would scavange it. We 

had the whole of one of the warehouses on the beach...[the 

wood-stave water tank] was salvaged. It had two- to threeinch redwood staves, and they made excellent decking 

for walkways and stairs. They were about six by three, 

three by six [inches]. Beautiful wood, so it was nice that 

it was used instead of just melting into the ground....The 

carpenter shop – at that time that was in the best condition. 

It’s a beautiful building. That’s still there. It’s divided down 

the center. It’s two stories. It’s probably 30’x70’, I’d say. It 

has a good 12’ ceiling and a ladder that goes upstairs. At 

the time we worked on it, early ‘90s...it needed new pilings, 

because it was sinking into the mud and the original pilings 

were falling apart. So we got new pilings from the Hawk 

Inlet cannery – we salvaged creosote pilings and put those 

in underneath. 

Joe Giefer and Karey Cooperrider 

added during the intervening years.

The building has mostly multi-pane 

windows, including 6- and 12-pane examples – the first singly and in ganged 

pairs and the last only in ganged pairs.

The roof is of corrugated metal painted 

red, and the exterior walls are of graypainted drop siding and plain planks. 

The cannery’s old carpenter shop (Figure 32) is in good shape in its original 

location on creosote pilings installed 

in the early 1990s. In replacing the 

foundation the building was probably 

elevated above its original floor level.

The building is a long wood-frame 
41 

Funter Bay Cannery 

figure 31. 

The cannery’s 

watchman’s cabin is 

an original building 

maintained as a 

private residence. 

figure 32. 

The cannery’s 

carpenter shop is 

still standing thanks 

to new pilings and 

a roof installed in 

the 1990s. 
42 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

figure 33. 

Near the 

watchman’s cabin is 

a dilapidated frame 

building enclosing 

a water tank (left), 

and a cylindrical 

metal fuel tank 

(right) matching 

two in their original 

location near the 

former power house 

(see Figure 51). 

figure 34. 

A ramshackle 

cannery cabin at the 

west edge of the 

cannery, on USFS 

land, has a ceiling 

papered with pages 

from The Saturday 

Evening Post and 

Collier’s Weekly 

magazines. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

43 

Funter Bay Cannery 

BuILDINg RuINS 

In contrast to the five standing buildings left from the cannery and internment periods are numerous features 

classed here as building ruins. The 

distinction is an arbitrary division of 

the integrity continuum; one criterion 

considered is whether a building could 

be made habitable (a term relative to 

the experience and fortitude of the potential inhabitant). The brief field investigation at the Funter Bay cannery 

allowed photography of many building ruins and correlation of some with 

the 1942 and 1962 maps. Completely 

gone by 2008 were the main cannery 

building, warehouses, power house,

machine shop, parts room, store, and 

mess hall. Remaining were remnants 

of the Filipino House from the cannery era, as well as wrecked Quonset 

once nailed to a different set of studs. 

According to Giefer, muskeg water was 

pumped into the tank from the shallow pond behind the carpenter shop 

and used by the occupants for all but 

drinking. The metal fuel tank matches 

the two in their original location near 

the former power house, and the isolated example was probably moved 

to serve the watchman’s cabin in the 

decades since cannery operation or 

Aleut internment. 

A dilapidated but standing cannery 

cabin off U.S. Mineral Survey 560 to 

the west, on USFS land, still has remnants of magazine pages papering the 

ceiling and parts of the walls (Figures 

34-35). The building is a one-story 

frame affair with many exposed interior studs, and likely represents one of 

the five cabins numbered four through 

eight at the far west end of the 1942 

map (Figure 12); the 1962 map (Figure 25) was not carried far enough west 

to include those buildings. Papering 

the cabin’s ceiling are pages from The 

Saturday Evening Post and Collier’s 

Weekly magazines, with at least one 

page dated 1919. 

Corresponding to either the centrally 

located “GUEST HOUSE” or “CABIN” plotted on the 1962 map (Figure 

25) is a small one-story frame building 

missing its windows. The cabin measures approximately 12’x20’ and has 

board-and-batten siding (Figure 36),

but was not inspected further. 

figure 35. 

The cabin papered 

in old magazines 

has pages as old 

as 1919. 
 

 

 

44 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

the latter (the westernmost example) survives in close to a 

recognizable form (Figure 37).

Visible in the twisted pile of 

lumber are walls constructed 

of 2”x4” studs covered with diagonal 1”x6” plank sheathing,

overlain by tarpaper and 1”x4”

drop siding. Window and corner trim boards are coated in 

a faded, oxidized green paint.

Pieces of corrugated metal 

roofing protrude from the pile,

as do round untreated pilings 

approximately 10” in diameter. 

Of the wartime buildings

erected at the Funter Bay cannery, the Quonset huts are easily identified by their steel metal 

frames. A group of three and 

a group of two Quonset huts 

were plotted on the 1962 map 

(Figure 25), and the remains 

of all five were found in 2008. 

The trio appear in an archival 

photograph (Figure 26), and 

were found in their original location (Figure 38). The other 

two were found in their plotted 

1962 locations (which likely 

represent their 1942 locations 

as well). None of the Quonsets 

have any corrugated metal roofing or siding left, and likely the sheets 

were salvaged by locals long ago. The 

steel frames have mostly collapsed, and 

scraps of plywood and beaverboard are 

visible among the debris. 

huts, frame cabins, and outhouses from 

the Aleut internment period. 

Of the pair of two-story bunkhouses 

from the cannery period – the China 

House and the Filipino House – only 

That [superintendent’s house] was standing, and in quite 

good shape. It looked like a lovely old turn-of-the-century 

home, with a nice front porch, and steps leading up to 

it. Wainscoting inside. Lots of books on shelves. There 

was some wallpaper in some of the rooms. It would have 

needed to be cleaned up, but it was a habitable building. 

Two-story. The roof went bad several years after we were 

here, and eventually it started to deteriorate, and it was 

torn down and moved off when the cannery was sold and 

subsequently subdivided....That larger building [mess hall] 

– on the beach to the right of the ramp and the floats as 

you go up – we always called it the superintendent’s office 

because upstairs had beautiful wainscot and little office 

rooms. Quite nice....[The China bunkhouse and Filipino 

bunkhouse] They were something. Two-story. Up on big 

pilings, both of them. And they had external stairways to the 

second floor. They were both in good shape. The China 

House seemed to be in better shape. It was divided into 

little 10’x10’ rooms upstairs. Each one had a window. And 

they had beaverboard. Probably didn’t have any insulation. 

Downstairs was all open, but upstairs was partitioned off. 

And they had one central heat [source]....The big heating 

stove in one of them was still there, when we first arrived. It 

would have been hard to keep it warm....It [old watchman’s 

cabin] was a one-room house. It had wainscoting inside. 

It was just a beautiful one-room, probably 12’x15’. And 

it wasn’t used. That wood was also salvaged while we 

were here. 

Joe Giefer and Karey Cooperrider 
 

 

45 

Funter Bay Cannery 

along the shore 500’ to the northeast 

(Figure 12). The example near the 

China House is likely the one shown 

Two sets of cabin ruins were found 

corresponding to the two rows of 

“HOUSES” built for Aleut evacuees 

in 1942-43 behind the Filipino 

and China bunkhouses (Figure 

25). A group of five buildings near 

the pair of Quonset huts are tumbling down but most still have at 

least one standing wall (Figures 

39-41). More deteriorated ruins 

of another three are located to the 

northeast. Judging from the more 

intact examples the cabins were 

constructed of 2”x4” studs, 2”x6” 

rafters, and 1”x8” plank walls and 

roofs covered with tarpaper. Traces 

of beaverboard are visible nailed to 

the interior studs and ceiling joists. 

The 1942 cannery map shows two 

outhouses: one over the intertidal 

zone reached by a boardwalk from 

the China House, and another 

figure 36. 

Centrally located 

on the cannery site 

is a small frame 

board-and-batten 

cabin from the 

cannery era. 

figure 37. 

A large two-story 

building ruin is all 

that remains of 

the cannery-era 

Filipino bunkhouse. 
 

46 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

figure 38. 

Steel frames of 

three Quonset huts 

were found where 

they were erected 

for Aleut housing 

during World War II. 

Compare with the 

almost identical 

wartime view 

(Figure 26). 

figure 39. 

A group of five 

cabins built for 

Aleut occupation 

during the war are 

now ruins, though 

several have 

at least one 

standing wall. 
47 

Funter Bay Cannery 

figure 40. 

The most intact 

Aleut cabin is 

simply constructed 

of horizontal 1”x8” 

planks covered 

with tarpaper, with 

a central door on a 

gable wall and 

few windows. 

figure 41. 

The interior walls of 

the most intact Aleut 

cabin are covered 

with beaverboard 

painted white. 
 

 

 

48 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

figure 42. 

Northeast of the 

industrial area is a 

small building ruin 

(likely an outhouse) 

hanging off the rock 

cliff overlooking the 

intertidal zone. 

figure 43. 

A second small 

building ruin near 

the first (Figure 42) 

likely represents 

another former 

outhouse built over 

the intertidal zone. 

in Figure 19. One of two 

small building ruins hanging 

off the bluff northeast of the 

industrial area in 2008 (Figures 42-43) likely represent 

the second outhouse mapped 

in 1942 – the one further to 

the northeast (Figure 12). 

Other building ruins not observed during the brief 2008 

field investigation likely remain to be found. 

FEATuRES 

The Funter Bay cannery site 

in 2008 retained evidence 

of infrastructure other than 

buildings, including boardwalks, stationary equipment,

and collections of debris. 

The central boardwalk that 

once extended from the 

floats southwest to the superintendent’s house (Figure 25) is still maintained as 

far as the former watchman’s 

cabin (Figure  31). It consists of four parallel 2”x12”

planks nailed to four-foot 

stringers (Figure 44). North 

of the superintendent’s cabin where once there was a 

boardwalk to Scow Bay, now 

there remains the brushed 

alignment and remnants 

of the stringers that once 

supported the planks (Figure 45). The 1962 map plots 
 

 

49 

Funter Bay Cannery 

a web of boardwalks serving the can­

nery complex (Figure 25), little of 

which was evident in 2008. 

The huge wood-stave oil tank once lo­

cated at the peninsula’s point (Figure 

14) and the water tank upslope from 

the two-story bunkhouses (Figure 25) 

were both demolished years ago, but 

the water tank foundation remains in 

place. It consists of about two dozen 

untreated round pilings supporting 

heavy timber stringers, which in turn 

supports a circular plank platform 

(Figure 46). Moss and small trees and 

shrubs have gained a footing on the 

rotten platform, which sags over the 

pilings in several places. 

The cannery had at least two and pos­

sibly more water sources – all inad­

equate for the cannery’s commercial 

operation. Near the carpenter shop 

the water table is high and a dark pool 

of water about 14’ across with a low 

berm around it obviously represents 

an improved source, but the dark mus­

keg water was not potable. A dam 

was also built to tap a creek at the far 

northeast edge of the 1962 cannery 

map (Figure 25, upper image), near 

the Aleut cemetery, and it was still in 

place in 2008. The modest structure 

consists of two parallel rows of small 

pilings stretching across the bottom 

of the creek, each held in place by a 

horizontal log (one upstream and an­

other downstream), with gravel fill­

ing the space between (Figure 47). 

figure 44. 

Most of the central 

boardwalk from 

the floats to the 

watchman’s house 

is still usable. 

figure 45. 

A boardwalk once 

lead north from 

the site of the 

superintendent’s 

house towards 

Scow Bay – a 

small cove to the 

northwest. 
50 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

figure 46. 

The cannery’s 

redwood-stave 

water tank was 

salvaged years 

ago, leaving the 

foundation remains 

– now in very 

poor condition. 

figure 47. 

The cannery’s 

water supply came 

from this small 

earth-and-timber 

dam located to the 

northeast, a little 

upstream from the 

Aleut cemetery. 
51 

Funter Bay Cannery 

figure 48. 

A large Fairbanks 

Morse gasoline 

engine still 

attached to its 

concrete pedestal is 

located where the 

cannery’s machine 

shop once stood. 

figure 49. 

A second large 

Fairbanks Morse 

engine – this 

one missing its 

cylinder – marks the 

former power house 

location. 
52 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

figure 50. 

Part of an engine 

assembly is still 

mounted on its 

concrete pedestal 

in the forest. 

A 2” galvanized steel pipe protrudes 

downstream from the dam face. 

The cannery’s industrial compound 

was built on pilings over a short 

reef protruding into Funter Bay, creating another feature type observed 

figure 51. 

Two large fuel oil 

tanks of about 

1000 gallons each 

are located behind 

Gordon Harrison’s 

cabin (left), 

probably in or close 

to their original 

position from the 

cannery days. 

in 2008. Circular depressions about 

12” in diameter and up to 10” deep are 

carved into the bedrock where the pilings were set beneath what would have 

been the east warehouse. 

Stationary equipment observed in 

2008 consisted of three machines, 

each a low-horsepower 

(10-20 hp range) gasoline engine affixed to a 

concrete pedestal. One 

large Fairbanks Morse 

engine sits prominently 

in a grassy clearing to 

mark the machine shop’s 

location (Figure 48). A 

second Fairbanks Morse 

engine missing its cylinder is located at the 
 

 

 

53 

Funter Bay Cannery 

former power house site 

(Figure 49). A third gasoline engine of unknown 

manufacture, also minus its 

cylinder, is located inland 

among second-growth forest 

(Figure 50). 

Several other features at the 

cannery are large but not stationary. Two cylindrical fuel 

oil tanks of about 1000 gallons each are located behind 

Gordon Harrison’s house 

(Figure 51). They may be in 

their original position (Figure 25). The tanks are identical to the one beside the enclosed little water tank near 

the old watchman’s cabin 

figure 52. 

North of the 

watchman’s cabin 

is a large pile of 

metal cannery 

debris including the 

remains of many 

strap-steel trays or 

racks used to hold 

cans for loading into 

the retorts. 

figure 53. 

Coal was used 

for domestic heat, 

as indicated by 

this small scatter 

noted in 2008 near 

the cabin with the 

magazine-papered 

interior. 
 

 

 

 

54 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

(Figure 33). A debris pile north 

of the superintendent’s house site 

contains mangled strap steel representing dozens of racks to hold 

cans in the cannery retorts (Figure 52). The cannery grounds undoubtedly hold smaller features 

like coal scatters (Figure 53) that 

escaped observation during the 

brief 2008 investigation. 

ALEuT CEMETERY 

The cemetery ( JUN-975) in 

which both St. George and St.

Paul interred their dead during 

the war is located near the cannery dam (Figure 47), northeast 

of the separate parcel on which 

former cannery caretaker Harold 

Hargrave once resided. Management of the land may have shifted 

from USFS to Alaska with the 

creation of a state marine park 

at Funter Bay (Zacharof 2002),

but the state park as mapped 

does not include the cemetery 

(Reid 1994:165), and agency officials were not able to verify the 

transfer. Twenty-three graves are 

marked on the west side of the 

creek, on a low rocky bench otherwise surrounded by the stream 

canyon’s steep sides. The surrounding forest is composed of 

second-growth spruce and hemlock. A wood arch painted white 

has been erected where the trail 

from saltwater enters the cemetery, and 18 of the graves have 

figure 54. 

The cemetery 

(JUN-975) near 

the cannery dam 

holds the graves of 

23 Pribilof villagers 

who died at 

Funter Bay. 

figure 55. 

Wooden Russian 

Orthodox crosses 

were replaced 

in 2000, and the 

originals were left 

inside the grave 

boundary. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

55 

Funter Bay Cannery 

white-painted wood Russian Orthodox crosses (Figure 54). The graves are 

roughly parallel and each has a marker 

at the end nearest the creek. Vertical 

wood plank borders that once outlined the graves (according to archival photographs) are gone and most 

of the graves are now outlined with 

rocks placed there in 2000 (Zacharof 

2002). The wood cross at the head of 

each grave is made of 2”x2” stock, to 

replace older wooden markers made of 

2”x4” stock which have been left inside 

the grave outline (Figure 55). Colorful paper-and-plastic icons have been 

affixed to the centers of most crosses, 

and at least one plastic flower arrangement was noted. Associated with five 

individual graves are stone monuments 

(of which at least one postdates WW 

II). The Aleut cemetery at Funter Bay 

is well-maintained under the remote 

circumstances. The 2000 “restoration 

followed Orthodox Church doctrine...” 

(Zacharof 2002). As part of this investigation, AHRS number JUN-975 was 

acquired for the site to distinguish it 

from the cannery property. 

Summary 

The Funter Bay cannery has been 

cleared of most old buildings and subdivided into residential lots, with some 

original cannery features intruding 

onto adjacent USFS land. Three new 

residences have been built, joining the 

only original cannery dwelling (the 

watchman’s cabin) to total four houses 

on the property. Four other cannery 

buildings remained standing in usable 

condition in 2008: the carpenter shop,

a small enclosed water tank, and two 

small frame cabins. Otherwise the cannery’s buildings are in various states of 

ruin – mostly collapsed and decaying 

into the archaeological record. 

Those building ruins included several 

that could be correlated with cannery 

maps (Figures 12, 25), such as the 

cannery’s Filipino bunkhouse. The 

twisted wrecks of five Quonset huts 

erected during the war are still visible 

in their original locations as a group of 

three and another group of two. Two 

separate alignments of rotting lumber 

represent one row of five small frame 

cabins and a second row of three, all 

built during the war for Aleut families.

Two outhouse ruins were still visible in 

2008. 

Other features observed at the Funter 

Bay cannery included the water tank 

foundation, water impoundment dam,

boardwalk alignments, piling depressions in the intertidal bedrock, debris 

piles, and coal scatters. 

The Aleut cemetery that served both 

Pribilof villages at Funter Bay is not far 

from the cannery and has been maintained by Funter Bay residents and by 

Aleut relatives who occasionally visit.

The cemetery, Quonset huts, frame 

cabin ruins, and outhouse ruins would 

appear to be the primary elements reflecting the Aleut WW II relocation 

experience at the site. 
 

 

 

 

 

56 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

Though artifacts evoking the Aleut 

experience were not observed at the 

site, in 1982 or 1983 Funter Bay resident Phil Emerson found a handmade 

wooden toy boat (Figure 56) tucked 

in the rafters of a bunkhouse being 

salvaged for material. Its details suggest an ocean-going ship. The hull is 

one piece of wood, with four separate 

pieces added to make the cabin, pilot 

house, and stack. The top of the stack 

is painted black. Small ferrous nails 

fore and aft clasp the stubs of mooring 

lines, and the starboard nail still has a 

piece of string attached. The bottom 

of the hull has a dark stain representing either faded paint or a watermark 

from use. Since the bunkhouses held 

only adult cannery workers during 

commercial operation, it is likely the 

toy was made by a St. Paul adult for a 

child during the relocation years. Perhaps it was intended to represent the 

ship that would someday return the 

villagers to their home in the Bering 

Sea. The toy is a poignant symbol of 

the Aleut experience at Funter Bay. 

figure 56. 

Funter Bay resident 

Donna Emerson 

holds a handmade 

wooden toy boat 

that likely dates to 

the Aleut relocation 

era, found in the 

early 1980s tucked 

in the rafters of the 

cannery’s China 

House as it was 

being salvaged 

for lumber. 
 

 

 

 

57 

Funter Bay Mine 

Villagers from St. George were housed 

at the shoreside camp of an old gold 

mine on Funter Bay (Figure 57). The 

Admiralty Alaska Gold Mine is a collection of old buildings including a 

mill, a road and tramway inland, two 

adits and other workings, and the seasonal homes of Sam Pekovich and 

Andrew Pekovich. The mill and mining camp are located about one mile 

from the cannery, on the southeast 

shore of Funter Bay (Figure 9). The 

mine is patented land owned by Sam 

and Andrew Pekovich and the Admiralty Alaska Gold Mining Company,

and includes old mineral claims going 

back to the late 1890s. The land near 

the coast is gently rolling and steepens 

inland to become Robert Barron Peak. 

A thick forest of hemlock and spruce,

with some cedar and fir, blankets the 

landscape (Guard 1958:6). 

Early Years 

The claims were originally staked by 

Richard G. Willoughby, a prospector and opportunist who worked his 

way north along the Pacific Coast 

in the mid-19th century, arriving in 

Wrangell by 1875 (DeArmond 1957).

Willoughby was a contemporary of 

Joe Juneau and Richard Harris – the 

figure 57. 

Historic buildings 

and building ruins 

of the Admiralty 

Alaska Gold Mine 

are visible along the 

shore of Funter Bay. 

From left to right 

are: the wash house 

ruin, the two-story 

bunkhouse, the 

shop, the roof of the 

mill (in trees right 

of center), the Sam 

Pekovich residence, 

and a modern 

prefabricated metal 

utility building. 

Funter Bay Mine 

3 
 

 

 

 

58 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

figure 58. 

Looking south from 

the dock around 

the early 1920s, the 

mill building of the 

Admiralty Alaska 

Gold Mine stands at 

far right. The twostory bunkhouse 

right of center was 

still in use in 2008, 

as was the tool 

shed immediately to 

its right. 

Alaska State Library Winter and 

Pond collection PCA 87-0394 

The first few claims that became the patented Admiralty 

Mine property were staked about 1897 by a guy named 

[Richard S.] Willoughby – the same guy that Willoughby 

Avenue in Juneau was named after – and his partner. 

The claim passed through several hands until eventually 

a guy named Hunter got it, and then my dad – W.S. 

Pekovich – got involved in 1915. My dad had immigrated 

from Yugoslavia....My father along with Henry Roden was 

one of the original incorporators shown in the Articles of 

Incorporation dated December 20th or 29th, 1919....Our 

family has had an interest in that property for over 90 years. 

We have a stock-holding company with 3300 stockholders. 

Andrew Pekovich, May 8, 2008 

historical discoverers of gold at Juneau

in 1880. He subsequently kept a cabin in Juneau on the street eventually

named for him, becoming “one of the 

best known pioneer miners in Alaska”

(New York Times 1902). Between July

of 1888 and January of 1889 Willoughby and his partner A. Ware staked ten

mineral claims on the southeast 

shore of Funter Bay (Chipperfield 1935). The territorial governor reported in 1891 that the

Funter Bay mine “has continued its usual activity” (Knapp

1891:30), but the details are

unknown. Six years later Willoughby (without his partner)

amended the claims, according

to Chipperfield (1935), and in

1902 he died while in Seattle 

(New York Times 1902). 

The Territorial Commissioner 

of Mines (Maloney 1915:12) 

reported in 1915 that “the old 
 

 

 

 

59 

Funter Bay Mine 

mill. By 1929 gold-quartz veins had 

been mined from four claims: the Tellurium, Uncle Sam, King Bee, and the 

Heckler Blanket, and three concentrate shipments were sent to the smelter at Tacoma in 1926 and 1927 (Eakin 1929:6-7). W.S. Pekovich left the 

Board of Officers to serve as General 

Manager during those years, according 

to Andrew Pekovich. 

Funter Bay mine on Admiralty Island has been reopened 

and “was operated on a profitable basis during the year.” On 

December 20th or 29th, 1919, 

Henry Roden, W.S. Pekovich,

and other citizens of the Territory of Alaska incorporated 

the Admiralty Alaska Gold 

Mining Company with control over Willoughby’s claims, 

according to documents in the 

possession of mine investor,

officer, and caretaker Andrew 

Pekovich. By then several 

owners had come and gone,

according to Pekovich – a son 

of Serbian immigrant W.S. 

Pekovich. The Admiralty Alaska Gold Mining Company was 

formed to develop the Funter 

Bay claims, and the sale of 

shares funded construction of 

a waterfront mill and support 

buildings (Figure 58), plus a 

rail line to workings including 

two adits inland at the base of 

Robert Barron Peak. In July 

of 1923 the Admiralty Alaska 

Gold Mining Company amended 

and recorded Willoughby’s ten claims 

(Chipperfield 1935). 

U.S. Geological Survey geologist A.F.

Buddington (1926:46) described the 

Funter Bay deposits as mostly goldquartz veins accompanying the Mertie 

Lode – a mineralized sulphide at about 

the 2000’ elevation and 6000’ from the 

“Uncle Dick” Willoughby, as he was commonly known, was 

reported to have been born in North Carolina or Tennessee 

and to have first gone to California in 1849. A few years 

after that he was in Kansas and was married in Missouri 

in 1854, leaving at once with his bride for California....His 

wife died during the Civil War....In 1859 or 1860 he went to 

the Fraser River and from there to Cariboo, where he was 

reported to have “cleaned up” more than $100,000 in a few 

weeks and to have “blowed” it almost as rapidly. He moved 

to the Omineca and the Cassiar and was in Wrangell in 

1875, running a dance hall. From there he went to Sitka, 

prospecting in the summers and running a saloon in town 

during the winters. In the summer of 1880 Willoughby was 

prospecting in Glacier Bay, where an island is named for 

him, at the time Juneau and Harris made their strike in 

Silver Bow Basin. He reached the new camp in December, 

1880. He mined around Gold Creek, engaged briefly in 

the hotel business and spent most of his time in the later 

years around Funter Bay. In Juneau he owned a cabin 

near the present corner of Main and Willoughby Avenue. 

Known as a practical joker and a free-wheeling story teller, 

and entertainer, Willoughby was also said to have been a 

pretty fair fiddle player and to have been much in demand 

at miners’ dances.

 DeArmond (1957) 
60 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

The 1930s were generally good years 

for mine operators, at first because 

of the Depression’s cheap labor, 

then inadvertently in 1934 because 

President Franklin D. Roosevelt made 

private ownership of gold illegal, forced 

citizens to sell to the government at 

figure 59. 

A map of the 

Admiralty Alaska 

Gold Mine’s mill 

and camp buildings 

made in August 

of 1942 (with bold 

letters added) 

shows a six-room 

building (U) built 

for St. George 

evacuees upslope 

from the original 

alignment of 

buildings. Building 

F is listed in the 

legend but was not 

originally plotted – it 

burned down soon 

after St. George 

villagers arrived. 

Building G was 

listed but not plotted 

– it was soon 

constructed at the 

tideline across from 

Building E. The 

tram and boardwalk 

alignment is 

indicated by a 

single line that 

parallels the shore 

and jogs inland at 

the corner of the 

mill (Building Q). 

The dotted line 

represents a 

domestic 

water pipe. 

$20.67 per ounce, and subsequently 

revalued it at $35 per ounce (Saleeby 2000:33-34). But the Admiralty 

Alaska Gold Mine had little if any 

production during those years. In 1935 

the company applied for a patent to 

the ten Funter Bay claims, prompting 
 

 

 

61 

Funter Bay Mine 

The lack of activity noted by 

the USFS District Ranger 

in 1935 reflected the Funter 

Bay mine’s corporate officers’

attention being focused instead on mining to the south 

at Hawk Inlet. In addition to 

being an officer for the Funter 

Bay mine, Henry Roden was 

also President of the Alaska 

Empire Gold Mining Company according to a December 12, 1932, letter submitted 

with a Hawk Inlet mine report by Juneau surveyor Frank 

A. Metcalf. That company 

was associated with the Hawk 

Inlet Gold Mining Company 

(Alaska State Library 2002).

W.S. Pekovich was also General Manager for the Alaska 

Empire operation and lived 

at Hawk Inlet with his family 

for much of the time between 

about 1932 to 1950, reports 

Andrew Pekovich, leaving

his father’s cousin Rado 

Pekovich as caretaker at the 

Funter Bay mine. Connections between the mining 

companies were strong, with 

suggestions in the archival record that claims and equipment were 

shared or exchanged (Stewart 1933:13;

Townsend 1941). Together they controlled 200 claims stretching from 

Funter Bay to Hawk Inlet (Stewart 

1933:13). 

the USFS District Ranger’s report 

(Chipperfield 1935) and leading to 

legal ownership of the land. Chipperfield described the buildings and 

workings, and their condition, and 

opined that the claims had been idle 

for the three prior years. 
 

62 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

Barron Peak, but Reed’s (1942) report 

judged the ore grades insufficient to 

warrant mining. 

A map made in August of 1942 shows 

most of the original shoreline buildings described by Chipperfield seven years earlier (Figure 59). All the 

buildings were of frame construction.

Dominating the shoreline was the 

tall mill building, measuring 40’x60’,

with its steep, conspicuous roof. A 

tram track from the upland workings 

dumped ore from a cart into 

the top of the mill to begin the 

processing system. In a typical mill of the period, the ore 

would fall onto a “grizzly” or 

grate and be sorted for feeding 

either directly into a battery of 

stamps or through a crusher 

first and then the stamps; from 

there the finely crushed ore 

would progress down through 

the mill across amalgamating 

plates and on to concentration 

tables (Sagstetter 1998:56). In 

1935 Chipperfield noted that

the ten stamps once operating 

at the mill had been removed. 

A photograph of a building 

said to be the assay office incidentally shows a pile of vanner 

rollers (Figure 60), providing 

more detail about the ore concentrations and sorting systems. Other major industrial 

features on the shoreline were 

a shop and an assay office, plus 

All the buildings are located along the shore of the Tellurium 

and King Bee lodes. They consist of 4 frame dwellings 

each about 20 by 20 feet. Two of these are new, having 

been built in 1930. An assay office 12 by 30 feet, an old 

bunkhouse about 20 by 40 feet, and old mess house about 

20 by 40 feet, a new unfinished bunkhouse 24 by 50 feet, 

unfinished messhall 24 by 40 feet, a new warehouse 14 by 

25 feet, a mill 40 by 60 feet are all of frame construction. 

The mill was equipped with 10 stamps at one time but 

these have all been removed, and at the time of inspection 

the mill was not equipped for operation although the major 

machinery was still there. This consisted of 2 - 100 h.p. 

McKintosh-Seymore diesel engines, crushers, tables, 

lathes and drills. A rail tramway and small locomotive were 

used in connection with the mining....Approximately 3/4 

mile of open ditch had been constructed for the purpose of 

supplying water to the mill....In valuing the improvements, 

one gains the impression that too much money has been 

expended for the results obtained....An old wharf with 120 

feet face and 300 foot approach extends from the Tellurium 

lode to deep water. 

Chipperfield (1935) 

Strategic material surveys conducted in 

support of World War II prompted the 

U.S. Geological Survey to assemble existing mining reports for government 

review. Geologists A.F. Buddington’s 

notes and reports of visits to Funter 

Bay in 1936, 1937, and 1938 were used 

by geologist John Reed (along with 

his own visit) to evaluate Funter Bay’s 

potential wartime mineral contribution in 1942. Of interest was the nickel-copper component of the Mertie 

Lode higher up the slope of Robert 
 

 

 

 

 

63 

Funter Bay Mine 

one and then later two wharfs 

(Figures 58-59). 

Many of the shore buildings 

mapped in 1942 were for housing. Two buildings on the 

north end of the alignment 

were “permanently occupied” – 

one by Rado L. Pekovich, who 

was identified as the watchman, and the other by Mrs.

S. Pekovich – the first wife of 

W.S. Pekovich. A two-story 

24’x50’ bunkhouse on pilings 

over the intertidal zone, with 

space for 20 people, was described as unfinished in 1935 by 

Chipperfield. An older bunkhouse (Building E), identified 

as 2-story from photographs 

(Figures 58, 61), measured 

20’x40’. Three buildings are 

identified as “living quarters,”

with three or four rooms each (Figure 59). Other dwellings consist of 

one “bungalow” and a couple “shacks.”

Two buildings (one 20’x40’, the other 

24’x40’) are listed as “mess house,”each 

with a secondary function – one had 

storage rooms, the other was used as 

a warehouse and office with a dormitory in the loft. The 1942 map doesn’t 

plot the mess house with storage (Figure 61) because it burned down within 

a couple months of the Aleut arrival. 

Utilities for the mine were simple. Water was piped to a large laundry/toilet/

shower building south of the mill –

Building T (Figure 62). The source 

was either a small impoundment box 

on a creek to the southeast or via the 

existing large 3’-diameter penstock 

laid in a 3⁄4 mile-long ditch to serve 

the milling process. A WW II period 

photograph of a kitchen interior shows 

a wood washing basin served by two 

independent sets of 1” pipe, indicating 

a hot-water heater (Figure 63). An 

outhouse serving the southernmost 

dwelling (Building R – the home of 

“Smiley” Jukich, the maternal grandmother of Sam and Andrew Pekovich) 

was perched over a small creek about 

30’ from the high tide line. Outhouses 

serving the remainder of the pre-war 

mining camp are not identified on the 

Funter Bay...has two docks, one at a cannery on the north 

side, where there is a post office, and another, which 

belongs to the owners of the Mertie Lode, on the southeast 

side. A number of buildings, including cabins, a bunkhouse, 

a cook- and mess-house, an assay office, and a mill have 

been constructed near the dock on the southeast side of 

the bay. From the mill a narrow-gauge railroad extends 

southeastward about three-fourths of a mile over bench 

land, in part swampy, to the foot of the steep slope of 

Robert Barron Peak at an altitude of about 200 feet. From 

the southeast end of the railroad a long tunnel, driven 

in the search for gold deposits, extends southeastward 

into the mountain, and from a point nearby, two aerial 

tramways, now in disrepair, diverge from the railroad – one 

southeastward....The Mertie Lode was discovered in 1919. 

It was named for J.B. Mertie, Jr., of the Geological Survey, 

who was one of the discoverers. 

Reed (1942:350-352) 
 

 

64 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

likely not all were in operation at once.

Installed in the mill were two large 

100 horsepower Seymour-MacIntosh 

diesels, accounting for one system.

According to Sam Pekovich, another 

generator was housed in a shed just 

east across the boardwalk from the 

bunkhouse (Building L; though the 

small building isn’t plotted, it shows 

on WW II photographs). Serving 

the mine adits and aerial tram was 

a large onsite Pelton wheel. Archival 

map and may have been attached to 

one or both wharfs extending into the 

bay. Two small buildings near the tide 

line identified as women’s toilet and 

men’s toilet (Figure 59) were almost 

certainly constructed for the mine’s 

new wartime occupants. A wartime 

photograph shows a third outhouse 

on land upslope (east) of a shoreline 

boardwalk (Figure 64). 

The Admiralty Alaska Gold Mine had 

more than one power source, though 

figure 60. 

A one-story frame 

building north of the 

mill (Building N on 

Figure 59) is said 

by Sam Pekovich 

to have been 

the assay office, 

though the 1942 

map identifies it as 

living quarters and 

a smaller building 

further south as 

the assay office. 

Note at lower left a 

stack of rollers for 

vanners – devices 

for sorting ore from 

waste rock. 

Alaska State Library Butler/Dale 

collection PCA306-neg898.187 

(Aleuts) 
65 

Funter Bay Mine 

identified as “permanently occupied 

by Mrs. S. Pekovich” – the line probably extended to her home also. 

photographs show poles and overhead 

electrical lines extending north 

at least to Building B, and – since 

the northernmost cabin A was 

figure 61. 

St. George men 

chop wood for the 

old mess house 

(Building F) that 

was destroyed by 

fire in 1942, thus 

dating this image 

to the early weeks 

of the relocation. 

At upper left is 

a bunkhouse 

(Building E). 

University of Alaska Fairbanks 

Fredericka Martin collection 

91.223.3417 

figure 62. 

Building T south 

of the mill was 

mapped as a 

laundry, toilet, and 

shower facility in 

1942, and was later 

incorporated into 

the home of Sam 

Pekovich. Both 

plank doors visible 

here remained in 

place in 2008. 

Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association 

(copy print, source unknown) 
66 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

World War II and the Camp 

Experience 

By June of 1942 the Admiralty Alaska

Gold Mine had been out of production for at least 15 years, and no longer 

was there the need for a large crew 

of workers or the shoreside facilities to 

figure 63. 

Large pots and 

a sloping dishdrainer suggest 

this may have been 

the interior of the 

mine’s mess hall, 

with two 1” water 

lines indicating a 

hot water heater 

nearby. 

Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association 

(copy print, source unknown) 

figure 64. 

In contrast to the 

cannery’s known 

outhouses on 

pilings over the 

intertidal zone, the 

Funter Bay mine 

had at least one 

outhouse on land. 

Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association 

(copy print, source unknown) 

serve them. Rado Pekovich was the 

mine’s onsite caretaker and at least 

one other related individual lived 

there, while the W.S. Pekovich 

family lived (until about 1950) at nearby Hawk Inlet. Negotiations between 

the federal government and represen­
 

 

67 

Funter Bay Mine 

the bay to the mine. Fewer archival 

photographs are available for the mine 

compared to the cannery, and only two 

wartime images show activity – 

men chopping wood for the mess 

house (Figure 61), and a meeting between Rado Pekovich and 

USFWS officials Lee McMillan, Carl Hoverson, and Roy Hurd 

(Figure 65). 

The mining camp facilities adequate 

for the Pekovich family’s activities 

were not adequate to comfortably 

serve the entire village of St. George,

and an onsite report prepared by USFWS officials three days before the 

arrival of the Delarof and its human 

cargo described those inadequacies.

Old cords and bare wires created electrical hazards, the assay office and mill 

contained poisonous chemicals, the 

tatives of the mine are evidenced in the 

archives only by a July 15, 1942,

letter sent from USFWS General 

Superintendent Edward C. Johnston 

in Seattle to Alaska Indian Service 

agent Claude M. Hirst in Juneau, implying that initially the President of the 

mining company (probably still at that 

time Henry Roden, a well-connected 

territorial politician) wanted $250 

per month to house Aleut evacuees.

Ultimately the mine was leased for one 

dollar per year, according to Pekovich 

family members. 

St. George villagers had more or less 

the same evacuation experience as the 

St. Paul villagers, arriving at Funter 

Bay on the USAT Delarof together 

and disembarking at the cannery on 

June 24. The following day the St.

George villagers were moved across 

figure 65. 

Mine watchman 

Rado Pekovich 

(right) talks with 

USFWS agents Lee 

McMillan (center), 

Carl Hoverson 

(left of center), 

and Roy Hurd (far 

left). At far right 

is the mess house 

(Building K). At far 

left is Building B 

with Buildings C, D, 

and E behind and 

center. 

University of Alaska Fairbanks 

Fredericka Martin collection 

91.223.277 
 

68 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

existing sewage system consisted of only two outhouses 

on pilings over the beach, and 

drinking water was not piped 

to any of the buildings. The 

mining camp’s buildings were 

generally smaller than those 

of the cannery, but were in 

better shape. 

Villagers immediately set to 

work to make the place more 

habitable, erecting tents, repairing buildings, improving 

the plumbing, and addressing 

the most obvious safety issues.

Many cords of wood had to be 

cut – with saw and axe – to heat 

the drafty buildings. Fishing teams, hunting parties and 

clamming expeditions were 

undoubtedly organized to feed 

the villagers as they were for 

the St. Paul contingent across 

the bay. An annotated photograph of the camp (Figure 66) 

indicates that the village priest,

Father Feodosiy, lived three 

winters in Building B (Figures 59, 65). A room at the end 

of the mess house (Building K)

was converted into a small chapel using the icons and vestments brought from the church 

at St. George (Figures 67-68). 

The cannery continued to be 

the social center, having the 

post office, the store, and the 

floats and wharf for delivery of 

The Delarof transport came in from St. Paul, picked 

everybody from over there, and anchored right here. And 

everybody, families, group by group, they go in baidar 

and they go on the ship. We didn’t have time to pack 

anything. They rushed everybody. Four hours. I was 

young enough it was fun, you know. Me too, I thought it 

was fun. Remember? We didn’t sleep. We stayed up all 

night....People didn’t have enough suitcases so they had 

to use sacks and just put them by the warehouse down 

there. A lot of people didn’t find their things because there 

was everybody from St. Paul, even from Aleutian [Atka] 

you know. Seven hundred to eight hundred people aboard 

that one transport. You know what this island manager 

[Benson] did? We put every three gallons of gas by each 

houses, even church, even this building [hotel]. They were 

ready to burn everything. And Coast Guard and Navy 

came and stopped them. They would have been just gone. 

They don’t want the Japs to use them. But they quit that. It 

could have been something like Atka. They burned Atka’s 

buildings, you know, including the church. This church was 

brand new. The Virgin Mary icon came with us, down to 

southeast Alaska with us, and it came back with us again 

and put it back. Maybe it gives us good luck. 

Andronik Kashavarof, Sr., Terenty Merculief, Sr., and 

Victor Malavansky, University of Alaska H1998-34 

Having received orders from the Navy to prepare for an 

immediate evacuation of all white and native population, 

the entire village has been mined with TNT; the cattle 

were rounded up and stanchioned, then shot; pails of 

gasoline stationed in each house to facilitate destruction, 

etc. Everyone was limited to one suitcase only; however at 

the last minute, several small boats and outboard engines 

were salvaged. 

St. George Agent’s Log for June 16, 1942 
69 

Funter Bay Mine 

his outboard motor from St. Paul, and 

Father Feodosiy procured a skiff, according to St. George elders Terenty 

freight and passenger service to Juneau 

and elsewhere. Of the two Pribilof 

villages St. George typically received 

less federal attention and 

resources compared to St. Paul 

because the latter had much 

larger seal rookeries and a harbor – and therefore a larger Native population maintained by 

USFWS. So it was not surprising that the St. Paul camp, with 

three times the population as 

St. George, was the hub of activity. Small resident boats and 

skiffs plied Funter Bay regularly but the Aleut villagers arrived with only two baidars and 

those belonged to USFWS, so 

local transportation was likely 

limited at first. Father Michael Lestenkof had evacuated 

figure 66. 

A photograph of the 

Funter Bay mining 

camp annotated in 

Cyrillic translates as: 

1) Chicken coop 

(possibly misspelled) 

– an apartment 

of Archimandrite 

Feodosiy in which 

he lived three 

winters of 1942, 

1943, and 1944. 

2) Hospital. 

3) and 5) Barracks 

in which the 

inhabitants of St. 

George Island 

(Alaska) resided. 

4) Kitchen, canteen, 

food storage/ 

warehouse and a 

temporary church in 

the corner. 

6) Gold mine mill. 

Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association 

Fr. Michael Lestenkof collection 

The gold mine dwellings were in somewhat better shape 

than those across the bay at the cannery. Two cottages 

had cots, heaters, and cooking ranges, but no plumbing. 

An old two-story bunkhouse was in fairly good condition 

except that its inside was unfinished and the sleeping 

cots were damaged. The old mess hall contained usable 

equipment, as did a newer mess hall, which nonetheless 

lacked a range and heating unit. Unlike the cannery, the 

gold mine had a bath house, a small unit containing one 

shower. This facility had a hot water system that could be 

repaired and expanded. A bunkhouse had been started 

but was only a shell with roof and flooring....There was a 

private residence, a good four-room house. 

Kohlhoff (1995:90) summarizing the USFWS 

Geeslin to Hirst report of June 23, 1942 
70 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

displaced Aleuts. One of the more 

sensational accounts was that of Alaska Attorney General Henry Roden 

as delivered in an often-cited letter 

to Governor Ernest Gruening after 

Roden “had occasion to visit Funter 

Bay in mid-September 1943” (Kirtland and Coffin 1981:43). Overlooked 

is the fact that Roden had been a longtime officer (President and Treasurer) 

in the Admiralty Alaska Gold Mining Company (Alaska State Library 

Merculief, Sr., Andronik Kashevarof, 

Sr., and Victor Malavansky, who alluded in a 1998 interview to a youthful 

wartime event in which some or all of 

the three “borrowed” the priest’s boat 

and almost swamped it in the bay. 

Health and sanitation were chronic 

problems at both Funter Bay camps 

during the internment, and several 

government officials from various 

agencies wrote frank reports describing the dismal circumstances of the 

figure 67. 

The one-story mess 

house (Building K) 

had a room set 

aside as a chapel, 

here seen through 

the doorway with a 

Russian Orthodox 

cross and the date 

“1944” painted 

above. 

Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association 

(copy print, source unknown) 

figure 68. 

St. George villagers 

brought with them 

the icons and 

vestments from 

their Russian 

Orthodox Church 

and reconstructed 

the village altar. 

Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association 

Fr. Michael Lestenkof collection 
71 

Funter Bay Mine 

2002), and he may have been 

the person who had attempted negotiating the $250 lease 

for the property. Roden had 

a long political career that included seats in the 1st Territorial Senate (1913-1914), the 

13th (1937-1938) and 15th

(1941-42), as well as service as 

Attorney General in 1928-1929 

for Governor James Wickersham and later in 1943. As both 

a well-connected territorial 

official and a longtime Funter 

Bay mine investor he may have 

had an influential role in the 

decision to house Aleuts at 

Funter Bay. 

Wartime Construction 

Tents were used to house the 

overflow of villagers at the 

Funter Bay mine until more 

buildings could be erected. 

One of the first construction 

tasks was to complete the unfinished bunkhouse. In early 

August the USFWS vessel 

Penguin delivered materials with which to build a long 

narrow one-story bunkhouse 

(Kohlhoff 1995:94), labeled as 

Building U on the 1942 map 

(Figures 59, 69). It was constructed on a raised bench 

overlooking the camp and was 

reached by a flight of stairs from 

the boardwalk (Figure 72).

Materials were also delivered 

One Elder recalls that Mr. Rado Pekovich...insisted that the 

[gift of his venison] meat be given to the internees over the 

objections of the federal overseers and that he emphasized 

his determination to back down the federal officials by the 

judicious brandishing of his shotgun. 

M. Richard Zacharof, in a November 12, 2001, 

letter to Andrew Pekovich, Juneau. 

Henry Roden was shown as being one of the incorporators, 

one of the directors, and the president in the [Admiralty 

Alaska Gold Mine] Articles of Incorporation dated 

December 20 or 29, 1919, and a director and one of three 

signers of Amended Articles of Incorporation dated April 6, 

1931. He was also one of three signers of the Certificate of 

Amendment dated March 27, 1952, and shown as president 

on a prospective dated October 19, 1954. Whether he held 

the president’s position at the time [when the government 

lease of the Funter Bay mine was negotiated] I have no 

way of knowing. My father was general manager. 

Andrew Pekovich 

At noon every day Henry Roden, Charley Wagner, collector, 

Fox, attorney and Beers meet in my office & we smoke 

cigars and talk for an hour. 

Judge James Wickersham in his diary 

entry of September 19-20, 1935 

I have no language at my command which can adequately 

describe what I saw; if I had I am confident you would not 

believe my statements....in short, the situation is shocking. 

I have seen some tough places in my days in Alaska, but 

nothing to equal the situation at Funter. 

Alaska Attorney General (and long-time President of the 

Admiralty Alaska Gold Mining Company) Henry Roden, 

describing the Funter Bay mine and its Aleut occupants in a 

September 20, 1943, letter to Governor Ernest Gruening. 
72 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

figure 69. 

A one-story 

six-room bunkhouse 

(Building U) was 

built in the forest 

upslope from one 

of the existing 

bunkhouses, using 

materials delivered 

by the USFWS 

vessel Penguin in 

early August 

of 1942. 

National Archives Still Picture Branch 

figure 70. 

The Penguin’s 1942 

shipment included 

materials to build 

a wash house 

(Building G) with 

showers, toilets, 

and a wood-fired 

hot water heater. 

National Archives Still Picture Branch 

figure 71. 

A house 

(Building R) above 

the tide line at the 

far south end of the 

mining camp was 

the home after the 

war of Pekovich 

family matriarch 

“Smiley” Jukich. 

It was moved to 

make room for 

a prefabricated 

metal utility building 

erected in 

about 2005. 

Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association 
 

 

 

 

 

 

73 

Funter Bay Mine 

Funter Bay mine property through 

their stock holdings in the Admiralty Alaska Gold Mining Company 

(which owns 130 acres), their status 

as officers and caretakers for the company, and their eventual ownership 

of about 35 adjacent acres. The Territorial Commissioner of Mines continued to list the mine as active into 

for a wash house (Building G) 

built on pilings at the high tide 

mark across from Bunkhouse E 

(Figure 70). The building had 

four doors facing east towards 

the boardwalk. Based on his 

post-war familiarity with the 

building, Sam Pekovich described the south room as 

containing a wash room and a 

one-hole privy against the wall 

over the beach. The next room 

north contained three toilets. 

The room after that contained 

three showers. The north room 

contained a woodstove and 

boiler, a 300-gallon wood water 

tank, and a 4-kw generator that 

likely postdated the war period. In 1944 ten surplus Army 

Quonset huts were brought to 

Funter Bay, of which two were 

erected at the mining camp on 

the water side of the boardwalk 

across from the assay office or 

Building N (Zacharof 2002). 

Some original mining camp 

buildings were destroyed during the internment. Within 

a few short months a power house 

and the old mess house (Building F)

burned to the ground, according to 

Sam Pekovich. 

Post-War Development 

After the villagers went back to 

St. George, the Pekovich family 

continued their involvement in the 

[Conditions were] terrible. Not really good. We stayed in 

one big building. The smells! Small rooms, about ten by 

ten. Just with the blankets. No privacy. Some of the elder 

guys like my dad, uncles, they go to Juneau. They work for 

Army defense. Like my dad – he was a carpenter, building 

everything down there in Juneau. Big warehouse, stuff like 

that. A lot of people from St. Paul and St. George started 

going to Juneau to get better house for the family, because 

we were losing quite a bit, of the sickness. People. We lost 

quite a bit. You know what really happened? There was 

German prisoners only forty miles from where we are. They 

were fed more better than us, we find out. Government! 

And we just mostly eat soup, every day. Boiled bacon for 

supper or whatever. But I thought it was fun, though. We 

eat clams. But we didn’t know how good they were, you 

just had to take what’s coming. Some of those clams were 

not too hot, I know that. We used to fish down there. We 

used to catch salmons – cohoes. Remember that? We 

used to use that Father Feodosiy’s boat and go out fishing. 

We take them to the St. Paul side, and take them back to 

St. George side....Every time somebody gets sick you just 

have to cross that lake [Funter Bay] to get them to see a 

doctor. Even people with pneumonia. Doctor can’t come 

over, have to take the patient over. 

Andronik Kashavarof, Sr., Terenty Merculief, Sr., and 

Victor Malavansky, University of Alaska H1998-34 
74 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

figure 72. 

In 1970 the 

Admiralty Alaska 

Gold Mine’s 

shore features 

were mapped as 

part of Alaska 

Tidelands Survey 

712 (from which 

this illustration was 

prepared). Labels 

are those of the 

1970 survey; letters 

correspond to those 

of the 1942 map 

(Figure 59). 

figure 73. 

A prefabricated 

metal utility shed 

stands near shore 

at the far south end 

of the mine camp. 
75 

Funter Bay Mine 

figure 74. 

A small gableroofed utility shed 

of corrugated metal 

is located along 

the shore near a 

Quonset hut. 
 

 

76 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

for driving a 1,200 foot tunnel,

[and] a small jumbo [drill],...

the equipment and tools on 

the property are nearly adequate to proceed with the suggested exploration program”

(Guard 1958:3-4). 

The mine’s shoreline was 

mapped as part of Alaska 

Tidelands Survey 712 in 1970,

at which time most of the 

original buildings were still 

standing (Figure 72). Little 

work was done on the claims 

in subsequent decades, but the 

continuing stream of lead, zinc,

silver, and gold from Hecla 

Mining Company’s Greens 

Creek mine only 20 miles 

away has sustained the hope 

that the Funter Bay deposits 

will someday be brought into 

production. For two summers 

in the mid-1980s crews mapping the geology of the Mansfield Peninsula for Noranda 

Exploration leased the twostory bunkhouse, according to 

Sam Pekovich. 

The camp has seen some 

changes in its building inventory in recent decades. Building T at the south 

end of the camp was remodeled and 

enlarged by Sam Pekovich as a second residence to his home in Juneau. 

The dwelling (Building R) at the far 

south end of the complex (Figure 71) 

was removed and a modern prefabrithe 1950s, when 30 people were said 

to have been employed doing maintenance (Holdsworth 1955:75). As late 

as 1958 “the main camp buildings and 

general facilities are adequate to take 

care of a large crew,” and except for “a 

small jeep..., a power wagon, Willyspickup, or other front-wheel-drive 

truck, pipes, rails, ties, vent pipes, fan... 

Our father thought he was doing the patriotic thing by 

providing the property with no lease fee required. We were 

brought up, during the summer, in those same buildings 

that the Pribilof folks lived in. When they complained about 

the conditions, they were actually criticizing where we lived. 

I understand the cannery was terrible – way worse than the 

mine. The water was bad there. 

Andrew Pekovich, May 8, 2008 

They dumped us all in a broken down cannery. There were 

only two bunkhouses there. One was a Filipino bunkhouse, 

the other was Chinese. Everybody slept on the floor that 

night from both islands....The Chinese bunkhouse had 

a kitchen and a big stove where they did the cooking for 

everybody. We lived mostly on beans and eggs when we 

first got there....The bunkhouse where I was staying was 

completely bare. So later on people who were living there 

put the Army blankets for a little privacy. We had no kind of 

heat where we were living so everybody had to wear their 

warm clothes day and night just to keep warm. It was in 

that cold, heatless place that I gave birth to my son Harry.... 

Most of the men from both St. Paul and St. George were 

sent to the islands the next summer to harvest seals. They 

didn’t get back until November. Thirty-seven people died 

during that time and my dad was one of them. 

Martha Krukoff, St. Paul, 1981 testimony 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

77 

Funter Bay Mine 

ic Building T that has been remodeled 

into a home, the two-story bunkhouse 

(Building L), a small shop (Building M), and three small sheds. The 

prefabricated building has an arched 

roof and walls made of windowless 

metal panels with ribbed joints, with a 

vehicle entrance at one end (Figure 73).

The building was erected 20’-30’ from 

shore at the south end of the site in 

about 2005. Other storage sheds consist of two small gable-roofed buildings clad in T-111 serving Building T,

and an older (but not wartime) gableroofed shed immediately southwest of 

the Quonset hut. The latter building 

is sided and roofed with corrugated 

metal sheeting, and is windowless 

(Figure 74). 

The only other new construction at 

the site since the Aleut experience 

is a frame addition to Building  T,

the Funter Bay residence of Sam 

Pekovich, who caretakes the site on 

behalf of the Admiralty Alaska Gold 

Mining Company. The composite 

cated utility building (Figure 73) was 

installed nearby in about 2005. At 

least one other original mine building was demolished for the material by 

local residents. 

Current Condition 

Compared to the five other WW II 

Aleut relocation camps, where most 

buildings have been razed or removed,

most of the Funter Bay mine buildings have decayed in place. Thus its 

remains are the most evocative of the 

six sites. Inland are the mine workings 

and equipment, while the shoreline 

holds the mine camp that had been 

occupied by St. George villagers. The 

buildings described here as “standing”

are those with effective roofs making 

them usable; those described as ruins 

may have one or more standing walls 

but are nonetheless well on their way to 

becoming archaeological features. 

Other features are grouped for discussion according to whether they are 

along the shoreline (part of the mining camp) or inland (part of the mine 

workings). Alaska Tidelands 

Survey 712, made in 1970, 

plots the buildings evident 

at that time and forms a 

good base map for describing 

the 2008 circumstances (Figure  72). 

STANDINg BuILDINgS 

Standing buildings at the Admiralty 

Alaska Gold Mine include a modern 

prefabricated metal utility shed, historPhil Emerson and I got permission from Sam [Pekovich] to 

salvage [a mine building] because the roof was gone. But 

the floor and siding was still good. It had beautiful 1”x12” – 

full 1”x12” – vertical-grain fir planks inside. 

Joe Giefer 

building is an attractive one-story 

dwelling with the addition’s north 

gable end attached to Building T’s 

south gable end (Figure 75). Both 
 

 

78 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

components have a metal roof. The 

addition is clad with T-111, while the 

original building is unclad and has 

nail-stains on the weathered horizontal boards that show the stud patterns.

The older building has an enclosed 

entry facing the water and another 

facing inland, each with a simple plank 

exterior door. Both front and back 

doors are original wartime fixtures 

(compare Figures 62 and 76). Whereas the building once had only six-pane 

fixed windows (Figure 62), now all 

but two in the front entry have been 

replaced with single-pane windows 

(Figures 75-76). 

figure 76. 

In 2008, Building T 

still retained two 

original plank 

exterior doors, 

including this one 

(compare with 

Figure 62). 

figure 75. 

The modern home 

of mine caretaker 

Sam Pekovich is 

composed of a 

modern addition 

(right) attached to 

original Building T 

(left). View is south. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

79 

Funter Bay Mine 

same materials as the bunkhouse, with 

dilapidated drop siding, red-painted 

corrugated roofing, and a single sixpaned window penetrating the south 

gable wall (Figure 79). It still functions as a warehouse/shop as it did 70 

years ago (Figure 80). 

BuILDINg RuINS 

Classed as ruins are buildings ranging from those with deteriorated roofs,

walls, and/or foundations making

them too dilapidated to be of use, to 

buildings consisting of little more than 

rotten boards protruding from the 

forest floor. 

The most prominent ruin in 2008 was 

the mill (Building Q), a large wood 

frame building with several floor levels 

and roof angles (Figure 81). Though 

its walls and roof appeared relatively 

intact during the field investigation,

the building’s interior was a dangerous 

jumble of collapsed beams and equipment that precluded anything more 

than a glimpse from inside one door.

According to Sam Pekovich, snow collapsed the building during the winter 

of 2008-2009. Construction materials 

consisted of 12”x12” posts and beams,

2”x12” planks, and smaller lumber.

The majority of the building’s window 

frames were in place and more than 

half the glazing was intact, with most 

windows – including a massive bank 

on the south elevation – being fixed 

16-pane examples (Figures 81-82).

Some of the building’s siding was of 

Standing side-by-side as a conspicuous part of Funter Bay’s built environment are the mine’s original twostory bunkhouse and warehouse/ 

shop (Figure 77). The bunkhouse 

(Building L) is a simple wood frame 

gable-roofed building on pilings over 

the upper intertidal zone. Five equidistantly spaced windows penetrate 

the east and west eave elevations on 

both floors to create two long identical parallel walls. Each gable end has 

symetrically spaced windows upstairs 

and downstairs, with a door centered 

on each floor of the south elevation 

(Figure 78). The north elevation has 

no doors. The interior was not inspected, but the building style is typical of 

simple two-story bunkhouses built 

by canneries and mines in southeast 

Alaska, with its long axis parallel to 

shore (Mobley 1993:34-41, 1999:16­

25; 2009:42). The building’s materials 

consist of drop siding, red-painted corrugated metal roofing, and 1/1 sashed 

windows replacing original 6/6 sashed 

units. Most of the north- and eastfacing windows are boarded over. The 

south gable end has exterior stairs to 

the second floor and a stovepipe from 

the first floor up to the roofline (Figure 

78). In 2008 the building was inhabited, and has been sporadically for the 

last couple decades, according to Sam 

Pekovich. 

Immediately south of the two-story 

bunkhouse (Figure 77) is original 

Building M. The building is of the 
 

80 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

vertical planks, and some were horizontal (Figure 82). 

The 100-hp diesel engines mentioned 

by Chipperfield (1935) were still in 

place in 2008, on the bottom floor 

midway along the south wall. A large 

Westinghouse switchboard with copper breakers remained in the building (Figure 83). A large metal lathe 

figure 78. 

The bunkhouse 

(Building L) was 

home to one 

full-time resident 

in 2008. 

figure 77. 

Conspicuous 

reference points in 

Funter Bay are the 

mine’s original twostory bunkhouse 

(Building L) and 

warehouse or shop 

(Building M) – both 

on pilings over the 

intertidal zone. 
81 

Funter Bay Mine 

visible through a window had its 

manufacturer stenciled on the side: 

“J. Jacob Shannon & Co., Pasadena, 

N.J.” (internet references indicate the 

firm was a prominent farm and mine 

and drill press were positioned in 

the southwest corner of the building.

Visible from the building’s southwest corner door was an ore hopper 

on the second level. An ore elevator 

figure 80. 

Building M has 

probably served 

much the same 

function for at least 

70 years. 

figure 79. 

Still in place in 

2008 was a small 

frame building 

(Building M) 

identified as a 

warehouse in 1942 

and a shop in 1970. 
 

82 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

shore and a shed-roofed entry facing 

south (Figures 84-85). One of the two 

(Building A) has a second shed-roofed 

room on its north end (Figure 84).

Each of the cabins has vertical plank 

siding, corrugated metal roofing, and 

windows with four and six panes. The 

equipment manufacturer based in 

Philadelphia in the early 1900s). 

Two small cabins shifting into the 

ruin category are similar in design. 

Each is a single-story frame building 

with gable walls perpendicular to the 

figure 81. 

In 2008 the mill 

(Building Q) was a 

large frame building 

full of original 

equipment, but 

collapsed timbers 

and flooring made 

it too dangerous 

to enter beyond a 

couple steps inside 

one door. Snow 

the following winter 

collapsed the 

building. 

BottoM left 

figure 82. 

The mill’s windows 

were relatively 

intact and still 

held most of their 

glass panels. 

BottoM rigHt 

figure 83. 

The mill contained 

a Westinghouse 

electrical 

switchboard with 

copper breakers. 
 

83 

Funter Bay Mine 

board, a wire-chain-spring bed frame, 

and a kitchen with counter space and 

pantry shelves. 

Plotted as Building N in 1942 is a onestory building variously used as a residence and an office. The building is of 

second of the two cabins (Building J) 

still shows remnants of red paint (Figure 85). Building A’s interior (Figure 

86) is similar to that of Building J, with 

tattered beaverboard walls and ceilings.

Its domestic function is evidenced by a 

derelict wood stove, a built-in ironing 

figure 84. 

Building A is an 

unused one-story 

gable-roofed cabin 

with shed-roofed 

rooms at each 

gable end. 

figure 85. 

Becky Saleeby 

examines Building J 

– an unused cabin 

similar to Building 

A that still retained 

traces of red paint 

in 2008. 
 

 

 

84 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

protrude from under it at the eaves. A 

roof extension protects a small entry 

centered on the wall facing the waterfront. The entry has a five-panel wood 

door and a four-pane window; other 

windows are 1/1 sashed examples. 

During the Aleut experience the main 

approach to the mine was by way of 

the north dock (Figure 58), which disembarked passengers to the tramway/

boardwalk running the length of the 

camp and deposited them before three 

buildings in a row. Remains of the 

three – Buildings B, C, and D – were 

easily distinguishable in 2008. Building B is a shed-roofed building with 

vertical plank siding and a decided list 

away from the water due to foundation failure (Figure 88). The porch 

upon which federal officials were photographed in 1942 (Figure 65) is no 

frame construction with drop siding 

and a corrugated metal roof (Figure 

87). The roofing metal – which appears to be only a few decades old – 

is too short, and rotten wood shingles 

figure 86. 

Dilapidated 

beaverboard 

covers the walls 

and ceiling of 

Building A. 

figure 87. 

Building N is an 

unused one-story 

building ruin once 

serving as 

a residence and 

an office. 
 

 

85 

Funter Bay Mine 

are logical functions given its position 

at the foot of the dock. The building 

floor holds a jumble of documents that 

predate World War II (Figure 89).

Ore reports and similar mining documents are mixed with other scraps of 

longer evident. During the internment Father Feodosiy lived in the 

building (Figure 66). The 1970 map 

(Figure 72) labels it “store building,”

meaning either a warehouse or a commercial retail establishment – both 

figure 88. 

Building B at left 

lists inland due 

to a failing 

foundation. At 

right are the pair of 

hip-roofed cabins – 

Buildings C and D. 

figure 89. 

The interior of 

Building B is littered 

with documents 

predating World 

War II. 
 

 

 

86 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

A calendar displaying the months 

of July, August, and September was 

dated 1938 (Figure 91). 

Immediately south of Building B 

are the remains of Buildings C and 

D – a pair of pyramidal hip-roofed 

residences that stand out from the 

mining camp’s other gable-roofed 

buildings (Figure 58). Both have 

failing foundations, roofs, and 

walls, and both are being reclaimed 

by forest vegetation (Figure 92).

The 1942 map (Figure 59) says 

Building D was “used as hospital,”

but nothing inside would suggest 

that function. 

The wash house built in late 1942 

for St. George villagers (Figure 70) is 

slumping into the intertidal zone north 

of the two-story bunkhouse. The onestory frame building’s foundation is 

paper. A receipt dated December 1,

1920, from the company store at the 

Treadwell Mine in Juneau, lists the 

purchase of 56 lbs of ham, 52 lbs of bacon, and 25 lbs of onions (Figure 90). 

figure 91. 

Also noted in 

Building B was part 

of a 1938 calendar. 

figure 90. 

Found in Building B 

was a receipt 

dated December 1, 

1920, from the 

company store at 

the Treadwell Mine 

in Juneau, for 

56 lbs of ham, 

52 lbs of bacon, 

and 25 lbs 

of onions. 
87 

Funter Bay Mine 

few shelves and other furnishings can 

be seen (Figure 94). 

Another ruin of a building constructed 

during the war is on a bench upslope,

or east, of the boardwalk alignment.

Building U is listed on the 1942 map 

giving way, and the north end is little 

more than a jumble of boards, but the 

south end is more intact (Figure 93). 

The building still displays evidence of 

its six-pane windows, drop siding, and 

five-panel wood doors, and inside a 

figure 92. 

The remains of 

Buildings C and D, 

here looking north, 

are overgrown with 

vegetation. 

figure 93. 

The foundation 

of the 1942 wash 

house (Building G) 

is failing and the 

north third is mostly 

destroyed, but the 

south two-thirds 

(shown here) are 

relatively intact. 

Compare with 

Figure 70. 
 

 

 

88 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

forest floor (Figure 95). Here and 

there a window or door frame can be 

seen, and obviously the roof collapsed 

in place, but few structural details can 

be discerned. Furniture 

fragments or artifacts were 

lacking. The 1942 archival 

photograph (Figure 69)

relays more immediate information about the building’s appearance than does 

its archaeological context. 

One Quonset hut is located along the waterfront 

side of the shoreline tramway/boardwalk, between 

Building M (Figure 74) 

and a post-war corrugated 

utility shed. The exterior 

wooden partitions at each 

end are badly deteriorated, and the building leans 

to the north (Figure 96). 

(Figure 59) as a new six-family dwelling with six contiguous rooms. In 

2008 it consisted of a wide rectangular swathe of planks embedded in the 

figure 94. 

The wash house 

still holds remnants 

of its interior 

furnishings. 

figure 95. 

The ruin of 

Building U is a 

rectangular jumble 

of planks on a 

bench 40’ above the 

waterfront buildings. 

Compare with the 

same perspective in 

Figure 69. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

89 

Funter Bay Mine 

is unused. A second tank is stored in 

pieces nearby. 

Parts of two historic water systems 

were observed in 2008. One feature 

consists of a simple 2” steel pipe conducting water to a tap in the north 

part of the camp from a small spring 

upslope. The second system is evidenced by a small rectangular plank 

and sheet metal box or dam buried in 

a creekbed upslope from the mill, that 

once diverted water into a pipe and on 

to the camp. Though not labeled, the 

feature is drawn on the 1942 map as 

serving two gender-specific toilets at 

the high tide mark (Figure 59). Sam 

Pekovich described a 3’ diameter pipe 

that once extended from the dam to 

the mill. 

Suggested by only a few rotten boards

in 2008 was the stairway leading up the

mountainside from the boardwalk to 

It was used mostly for firewood 

storage in 2008. 

SHORELINE FEATuRES 

A pedestrian at the mining camp in 

2008 could not help but notice the 

long path, some of which is graveled 

for vehicle traffic, along the waterfront 

between the buildings and ruins (Figure 97). The path is the current reflection of the wartime boardwalk and 

tram track (Figures 59, 65, 72). Rails 

for the tramway have been removed 

from the camp, but eventually they reappear on the inland section leading to 

an aerial tram station. 

Another feature evident in 2008 is 

a large steel oil tank located upslope 

from the boardwalk (Figure 72). The 

tank is about 18’ in diameter and 12’ 

high, with a prominently beveled upper rim. According to Sam Pekovich,

the tank postdates World War II and 

figure 96. 

One Quonset hut is 

located between the 

boardwalk and the 

shore of Funter Bay. 
 

90 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

Artifact scatters around the mining camp reflect the accumulation,

storage, and discard patterns of the 

mine owners, and several collections 

of building material and machinery 

were noted in passing. One machine 

the six-room bunkhouse (Figure  72).

Since the bunkhouse (Building U) was 

built for Aleut use in 1942, the stairway was likely built then, too. The 

uppermost portion of it shows in an 

archival photograph (Figure 69). 

figure 97. 

The tramway 

and boardwalk 

alignment 

connecting the 

shore buildings is 

now a narrow gravel 

track, visible here 

behind Joe Giefer 

and Becky Saleeby. 

Behind them is the 

shop (Building M) 

and two-story 

bunkhouse 

(Building L). At right 

is Building N. 

figure 98. 

The tramway’s 

steel rails lead 

inland from the 

mill building to an 

overhead tramway 

station, consisting 

of hoisting 

equipment and a 

still-taut steel cable 

leading to workings 

high on the side 

of Robert Barron 

Peak. Note ties and 

rail at lower right. 
 

 

 

 

91 

Funter Bay Mine 

consisting of mine tailings, now appear 

to be part of the natural beach. Sam 

Pekovich and his brother Andrew 

maintain private floats offshore to 

moor watercraft and aircraft, roughly 

corresponding to the old dock location, but historic piling patterns in the 

intertidal zone were not noted. 

INLAND MININg FEATuRES 

The 2008 field investigation included 

brief inspection with Sam Pekovich 

of mining equipment inland from the 

mining camp. The tramway was followed upslope, past the mill, to the 

place where the steel rails meet an 

overhead tram system (Figure 98).

The overhead tram station consists 

of a tripod of steel pipe supporting a 

steel cable – still taut – along with the 

winching equipment. Built to serve 

displaying a bank of three pistons,

with the word FLECK cast into the 

metal, is embedded in the forest floor 

near the old office (Building N). The 

Fleck Brothers Company of Philadelphia manufactured steel industrial 

machines and supplies in the early 

years of the twentieth century (Williams Company 1911). Elsewhere a 

metal object – perhaps a cowling for 

a Pelton wheel – was observed with 

the manufacturer’s name cast into it: 

B.D. STURDEVANT, BOSTON. 

Internet and other sources (Williams 

Company 1911) indicate the company 

was in business at least between 1884 

and 1915. 

The 2008 reconnaissance did not inspect the intertidal zone for features.

Areas identified offshore as fill on 

the 1970 map (Figure 72), no doubt 

figure 99. 

A steam engine 

lies in place near 

the lower mine 

workings. 
 

 

92 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

near the lower workings. One is a 

steam engine (Figure 99). The other 

is a large Pelton wheel, fed by 700’ of 

3’ diameter pipe narrowing to a 1” nozzle (Figure 100). According to Sam 

Pekovich, “it took three mules and five 

Serbs to roll the flywheel up here from 

the beach.” 

workings far up the slope of Robert 

Barron Peak, the system has long been 

inoperable. 

While the overhead tram appears to 

have been powered by a gasoline or 

diesel engine, evidence of two other 

power systems was observed inland 

figure 100. 

The forest is 

reclaiming a large 

Pelton wheel that 

once provided 

electricity for the 

mining camp and 

the lower workings. 

figure 101. 

Buildings around 

the two adits (upper 

right) of the lower 

workings have 

collapsed, leaving 

mounds of rusty 

mining equipment. 

At center is an 

electric locomotive. 
 

 

 

 

 

93 

Funter Bay Mine 

The lower workings consist of 

numerous mining features centered around two adits (Figure 

101). Each adit entrance contains steel rail from the tram 

system, and one has an ore 

cart blocking the way. Both 

are obviously too dangerous to 

enter and are signed to that effect. Waste rock from the adits 

forms an artificial bench upon 

which the remains of buildings 

can be discerned, but in 2008 

they consisted of little more than rotten plank piles over metal equipment 

and debris. That equipment includes 

an electric locomotive (Figure 101), a 

mucker, and drills and bits. Off the 

waste rock at a slightly lower elevation 

are other building ruins, one of which 

contains an air compressor. Vehicles 

noted in the vicinity included a tractor 

and a two-ton Chevrolet dump truck 

with dual wheels. 

Summary 

The Admiralty Alaska Gold Mine 

at Funter Bay is still owned by the 

Pekovich family and their fellow 

stockholders, as it was before and during the Aleut experience there. One 

building has been maintained and expanded upon as the residence of Sam 

Pekovich, and several utility buildings have been erected in recent 

decades. Wartime buildings still in 

good enough shape to use consist of the 

two-story bunkhouse and an adjacent 

shop. Otherwise the mine’s original 

cabins and other buildings are quickly 

We were supportive of the Aleuts revisiting the cemetery, 

but the more attention that gets brought to this site the 

harder it is for us. We have no-trespassing signs. The 

float is on our property. Sam’s [Pekovich] house is part of 

the area where the Aleuts were interned. My house is a 

distance away. People look at it as an abandoned mine, 

but it’s not abandoned, it’s just dormant. There’s not much 

left of the original buildings. 

Andrew Pekovich 

leaving the architectural realm to become part of the archaeological record.

The mill collapsed some months after 

the 2008 field investigation. 

Most of the wartime buildings could 

be identified, even though deteriorated. Referring back to the 1942 map 

(Figure 59), Buildings A, B, C, and 

D were distinguishable. Building E

is completely gone, and Building F 

burned in 1942. Building G – built

soon after the villagers arrived – is in 

poor condition. Building H/I is gone 

and in its place is a stack of wood and 

metal material. Nearby Building J is 

unusable but still has standing walls.

Building K is gone but Building L 

(the two-story bunkhouse) and M (the 

adjacent shop) are standing and in use.

Building N is almost whole but is not

usable. Buildings O and P (two outhouses) and Building V were very small 

and built at the upper tide line, and 

no traces of them were seen in 2008. 

Building Q (the mill) is now collapsed.

Building T exists, and – with an 
 

 

94 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

addition – serves as a residence. 

Buildings R and S are gone, and that 

location now holds a prefabricated 

utility building. The mine’s lower 

workings hold no buildings but most 

of the original machinery has been left 

to deteriorate in place. 

The mine workings are not directly relevant to St. George villagers’ wartime 

experience, which centered instead on 

the mining camp along the shoreline.

Eleven of the camp’s main wartime 

buildings can be detected in their original location, even if some are becoming archaeological features. Despite

the camp’s general deterioration, the 

majority of the building remains and 

features of the Admiralty Alaska Gold 

Mine are discernible and still convey much of the site’s wartime layout 

and feeling. 
 

 

 

95 

Killisnoo Herring Plant 

Villagers from Atka were housed 

during the war in the defunct herring factory at Killisnoo, near Angoon 

(Figure 102). Over 50 miles south of 

Funter Bay on the west side of Admiralty Island is a rich marine environment where the mouths of Mitchell 

Bay, Hood Bay, and Chaik Bay look 

across Chatham Strait at the entrance 

to Peril Strait (Figure 103). The lushly 

forested hills and mountains enclose 

many streams with large salmon runs.

In the 1800s herring were plentiful and 

had long been a traditional staple of 

the local Tlingit Indians. Humpback 

whales plied the waters of Chatham 

Strait, preying on krill, herring, and 

other marine species. The rich marine 

resources attracted the attention of the 

Northwest Trading Company, which 

in 1878 established a station on the 

island of Killisnoo (Figure 103), near 

the Tlingit village of Angoon (de Laguna 1960:49). The Killisnoo herring 

plant was one of American Alaska’s 

first industrial enterprises. 

Early Years 

The company constructed extensive wharf and warehouse facilities 

(Figure 104), began rendering herring 

oil and processing the fish waste into 

figure 102. 

The buildings of 

Whaler’s Cove 

Lodge occupy 

about one third of 

the old Killisnoo 

site, here looking 

south across 

Killisnoo Harbor 

from the Angoon 

ferry terminal. 

Killisnoo Herring Plant 

4 
96 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

fertilizer – then called “guano” in reference to bat dung – in 1879, and began

a whaling station the following year 

(de Laguna 1960:162). Native men 

from nearby Angoon were employed 

in the commercial whaling operation, 

0 2 4 8 12

Miles 

0 2 4 6 12

Kilometers 

Projection NAD 1983 UTM Zone 8N. Base image from 60 Meter NED SE Alaska Elevation 

Relief Model compiled by NPS Alaska Regional Office, 2003. National Park Service 2012 

C 

H 

A 

T 

H 

A 

M 

S

T

R

A

I

T 

Hoo d Ba y 

Kel p B a y 

Mitchell Bay 

Peril Str a it 

Chaik Bay 

Kootznahoo Inlet 

North Arm 

South Arm Killisn oo Ha r b or Fa vorite Bay 

Kootznahoo Roads 

Flor e nce Bay 

Killisnoo

(Atka)

ADMIRALTY

ADMIRALTY

ISLAND

ISLAND

BBAARRAANNOOFF

IISSLLAANNDD

Angoon

CCAATTHHEERRIINNEE

IISSLLAANNDD

figure 103. 

Killisnoo is located 

south of Angoon 

on the west side of 

Admiralty Island, 

about 60 miles 

southeast of 

Funter Bay. 

leading to an infamous matter in 1882 

involving Killisnoo, Angoon, and the 

U.S. Navy. Bare facts of the incident 

are that: a whaling gun exploded, killing a shaman employed on the boat,

leading to a work strike by the Natives 
97 

Killisnoo Herring Plant 

the burning of the village and 40 dugout canoes, and resulting Native deaths 

(Reckley 1982). Seasonal Native settlement was subsequently encouraged 

at Killisnoo, and soon a dense cluster 

of Native houses, sheds, and smokehouses formed northwest of the commercial buildings (Figures 104-105).

The local Tlingit joined a multicultural 

and the demand of restitution (the 

condition for return to the company 

of their whaling boat and two nonNative employees), scaring the nonNatives at Killisnoo, who contacted 

the U.S. Navy, which responded with 

several vessels armed with howitzers 

and gatling guns, culminating in the 

shelling of Angoon and its villagers, 

figure 104. 

Killisnoo included 

a residential 

district – containing 

permanent 

employee homes 

as well as seasonal 

Native dwellings 

(upper right), the 

herring plant (out 

of frame at left), 

and a large wharf 

(foreground) to 

stack the hundreds 

of cords of wood 

required by the 

plant’s reduction 

system. Just left 

of center is the 

company store with 

its gable reading 

“A.O. & G. Co.” 

Alaska State Library Vincent Soboleff 

collection PCA1-243 

figure 105. 

The residential 

district at Killisnoo 

consisted of densely 

packed frame 

buildings, making 

the community 

vulnerable to fire. 

Courtesy of Richard Powers, 

Whaler’s Cove Lodge 
 

98 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

figure 106. 

In 1891 U.S. Deputy 

Surveyor Charles 

W. Gorside plotted 

the facilities of the 

Alaska Oil and 

Guano Company as 

U.S. Survey 5. 

oPPosite Page 

figure 107. 

An enlargement of 

USS 5 shows the 

industrial facilities 

with functions 

labeled as they 

were in 1891. 

workforce of Chinese, Japanese, Filipinos, and Swedes that lived year-round 

at Killisnoo. 

Killisnoo became one of the first federally surveyed tracts in the Alaska 

Territory when U.S. Deputy Surveyor 

Charles W. Gorside mapped the facility in 1891 as USS 5 – the “Trading 

and Manufacturing Site” of the Alaska 

Oil and Guano Company (Figures 

106-107). At that time a collection of 

about 40 “Indian Huts” at the northwest end of the site housed the families of the local Native work force. On 

the hillside south of those buildings 

was the territorial school, then a small 

reservoir, and south of the reservoir 

was the Russian Orthodox church and 

a fenced churchyard. Downslope from 

the church, at the water’s edge, was a 

supply house and the agent’s house. 

Southeast of the church were a group 

of buildings labeled in 1891 as “Russian Houses.” Between those buildings 

and the shore were five small buildings, plus two small covered wells, and 

at the high tide line were two larger 

buildings of which one was the company store. Moving southeast along 

the shoreline from the store there was 

a gap of about 75’ before the large industrial buildings of the plant began.

Archival photographs show Killisnoo 

to be almost completely deforested by 

the late 1800s, with less than a dozen 

tall old-growth trees left standing. 
 

99 

Killisnoo Herring Plant 

and a “salting house.” At the southeast 

corner was the cooperage, or barrelAn enlargement of the 1891 plat shows 

the array of industrial facilities at the 

Killisnoo plant (Figure 107).

Prominent was a wharf perpendicular to the shore, extending 

300’ into Killisnoo Harbor. As 

the wharf approached the shore 

it broadened to create – including buildings – a work/storage 

space measuring more than 100’

x 150’ on pilings over the intertidal zone. At the shore end of 

the wharf was a boiler room on 

land, attached at one corner to 

a large building partly over the 

intertidal zone labeled “Factory.” At the northeast corner of 

the complex was a “press house” 

There were two kilns that were the fire boxes for generating 

steam which ran the plant and the steam engines....The 

main retort was about a 30’ foot long drum that they used 

to cook the fish in...probably about ten or twelve feet in 

diameter....They’d shovel the fish into this drum, which 

rotated like a washing machine, except it was horizontal, 

and it was perforated so the steam could get through it and 

cook the fish as it rolled the fish inside of it. Then the oil 

would drain out into vats – cement-lined vats that they had 

underneath it. Then when all the oil was pretty well cooked 

out of it they’d shovel what was left, and they sold that for 

fertilizer. So they pressed that into blocks or bales.... 

Richard Powers 
 

 

 

 

100 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

making shop, and a building labeled 

“Day H.” – perhaps the crew mess hall.

Scattered among these buildings were 

four others labeled “Guano H.,” where 

product in various stages of manufacture was stored. Continuing southeast 

along the shore from the factory complex were a small smoke house, a barrel storage yard, and a boathouse (Figure 107). At its zenith the Killisnoo 

herring plant was one of Alaska’s largest industrial enterprises, with a bustling harbor and even a steam whistle 

to call the crews to work. 

Killisnoo continued in operation in 

some form through the following decades, processing herring, whales, and 

sometimes other marine products. In 

1928 almost all of the housing burned 

to the ground, leaving only the 

industrial plant and a few nearby 

commercial/industrial buildings 

(de Laguna 1960:49). The story 

is told secondhand by Richard 

Powers that the fire began in a 

smokehouse when two small 

children, instructed to watch 

the smokehouse and not leave it 

under any circumstances, did as 

they were told and stood watching as the building caught fire 

and spread to the village. The 

effects were soon felt. The post 

office was shut down in 1930 after 48 years of operation (Ricks 

1965). Census takers in 1930 

found in the former community 

of Killisnoo, which had for 40 

years a population of around 300 

people, only three people (Orth 

1967:519). After the fire the 

Tlingit work force moved back 

to Angoon, and the nearby cannery at Hood Bay became their 

primary source of income (Mobley 1999:13-44). Frederica de 

Laguna (1960:49) reports that 

prior to 1942 the Admiralty 

...for statistics about Killisnoo, I beg to submit the following: 

Alaska Oil and Guano Company; incorporated under the 

laws of Oregon; capital stock, $75,000. Business, fishing 

and trading. Fish found in our surrounding waters are 

herring, salmon, codfish, halibut. The trade in furs is small 

and does not exceed $1,500 per year. Bear, mink, land 

otter, and beaver are the principal furs. Fishing is our main 

business. We caught from August 4 to December 26, 1890, 

53,000 barrels, equal to about 5,300 tons, or 42,400,000 

herring. Fishing fleet consists of 3 steamers, 4 scows, and 

2 fishing gangs of 2 boats each. A fishing gang has 12 

men. We made 157,000 gallons of oil, about 3 quarts of oil 

to 1 barrel of fish. We made 709 tons of guano; 100 barrels 

of fish give about 2 tons of guano....We put up in 1890 

about 900 barrels of salt salmon and 400 half-barrels of 

salt herring. The oil is sold in San Francisco and Portland, 

and partly shipped to England. Sandwich Islands [Hawaii] 

is the best market for the guano....We employ about 45 

white men, 50 Indians, and a few Chinamen. Indians 

receive from $1 to $1.50 per day of 10 hours; white men, 

skilled labor, from $60 to $100 per month and board, and 

unskilled labor $40 to $50 per month....The mail steamer 

calls regularly twice a month. 

Killisnoo manager Carl Spuhn in a letter to 

Governor Lyman E. Knapp (1891) 
 

 

 

 

101 

Killisnoo Herring Plant 

Alaska Indian Service Director Virgil 

R. Farrell inventoried the facilities at 

Killisnoo with possible camp service 

in mind and prepared a memo dated 

May 13, 1942. Available buildings 

included three houses, five cabins, a 

bunkhouse suitable for two families, 

a warehouse, a machine shop, a shed,

and a store (Kohlhoff 1995:97). The 

water system needed repair, and three 

simple outhouses constituted the sewage system. Most of the buildings

were unheated and not built for winter 

occupation. The Delarof off-loaded 

Island side of the channel across 

from Killisnoo (both sides of 

the channel were collectively 

called Killisnoo by the Tlingit) 

was home to a group of Japanese 

men who were subsequently interned elsewhere for the duration of World War II. 

World War II and the Camp 

Experience 

After Atka villagers were evacuated from Atka to Nikolski, 

they boarded the Delarof and 

journeyed to St. Paul Island to 

witness the boarding of that village, continued on to St. George 

Island to repeat the experience,

then spent eight days at sea 

before arriving at Funter Bay 

on June 24, 1942. Agent McMillan’s log makes no mention 

of the Atka villagers. Kirtland 

and Coffin (1981:27) state that

the Delarof discharged the Atka 

villagers at Killisnoo on the morning 

of June 25, while Kohlhoff (1995:96) 

says the villagers were off-loaded at 

Funter Bay and “at 4:00 A.M., they 

were packed on a ‘hulking red scow,’ a 

‘fish-stinking scow,’ borrowed from the 

Hood Bay cannery” and towed down 

Chatham Strait to Killisnoo. They had 

no luggage. By the time they arrived at 

the old Killisnoo herring plant (Figure 

108), the 83 villagers from Atka had 

spent the longest time in transit of any 

of the evacuees. 

SOS WHOLE VILLAGE OF KILLISNOO AFIRE. CANNOT 

LAST VERY MUCH LONGER. PLEASE RUSH ALL 

AVAILABLE ASSISTANCE....FIRE GETTING TOO HOT 

NOW. GOT TO GO. SUFFOCATING. GOODBYE AND 

HURRY. 

Radio operator John Harris’s last two messages 

from Killisnoo, received by Bremerton Naval 

Station the evening of June 9, 1928 

They told the [1928 fire] story at the [Alaska Native 

Brotherhood] lodge one evening. Two Japanese workers 

hired them [Tlingit children], or ordered them, anyway, to 

watch their smokehouses, to keep the dogs out of their 

smokehouses during the working days. So they gave 

them the instructions that they weren’t to leave those 

smokehouses for any reason whatsoever....So both kids 

(they were like five or six years old at the time) – when it 

caught on fire they debated for some time because they 

were told not to leave for any reason whatsoever. By the 

time they did leave and ran for help it was too late, and the 

fire caught and burned most of the houses on Killisnoo.... 

Richard Powers 
102 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

at Killisnoo received little official federal attention (Kohlhoff 1995:97-98; 

119-123). 

The villagers’ circumstances at Killisnoo paralleled those at other evacuation camps in having poor water 

sources, little functioning plumbing, 

mattresses, blankets, and a four-day 

supply of food, then left for Seattle 

with most of the Pribilof Islands’ nonNative evacuees. Atka school teachers Ruby and Charles Magee stayed at 

Killisnoo as the federal onsite authority until early 1943, when they moved 

to Kenai, and thereafter the villagers 

figure 108. 

Atka villagers found 

the Killisnoo wharf 

to be unmaintained 

but servicable. 

Gable ends of 

industrial buildings 

show at upper left 

in this view to the 

southwest. 

Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association 

(copy print, source unknown) 

figure 109. 

On occasion one of 

the Pribilof baidars 

from Funter Bay 

was loaned to the 

Atka villagers at 

Killisnoo, providing 

the community 

with a welcome 

taste of traditional 

transportation. 

Alaska State Library Butler/Dale 

collection PCA306.1040[1] 
 

 

 

 

103 

Killisnoo Herring Plant 

and poor sanitation, along with inadequate supplies and tools, limited or 

no hunting and fishing equipment,

and drafty cabins and industrial buildings for quarters. To ease the villagers’

lack of transportation a Pribilof baidar from Funter Bay was sometimes 

loaned to Killisnoo (Figures 109-110).

Eventually boatbuilder Constantine 

Golley began crafting wooden skiffs in 

one of Killisnoo’s shops (Figure 111).

Women wove baskets in the traditional Aleut manner using local grass 

(see Figure 227), and sold them if they 

could. Difficult conditions contributed to 17 deaths during the wartime 

stay (Kohlhoff 1995:120), and a small 

cluster of traditional white-painted wood Russian Orthodox crosses 

formed beside the old Killisnoo village 

cemetery in the forest nearby. Men 

sometimes left the village to work in 

a cannery nearby, earning cash to augment their meager government supplies. The funds from Atka’s federally 

managed fur harvest of the previous 

year were used to fund a community 

store at Killisnoo, which became selfsustaining (Kohlhoff 1995:122). 

figure 110. 

Atka men (stern 

to bow) George 

Prokopeuff, William 

Golley, and Dan 

Nevzoroff maneuver 

a Pribilof baidar 

alongside a boat 

in Killisnoo Harbor 

to load freight, 

including three pair 

of new oars, several 

rolls of tar paper, a 

case of Argo brand 

gloss starch, and 

a case of Fuller 

brand paint. 

Alaska State Library Butler/Dale 

collection PCA306.898.143 
 

 

 

 

 

 

104 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

complex during the war are 

few. A memo indicates that by 

January of 1943 Atkans were 

building “new cottages” at Killisnoo (Kohlhoff 1995:122), but they 

aren’t apparent in the archival photographs consulted. One photograph shows small boys playing on 

a stack of new lumber in front of the 

Killisnoo store porch (Figure 114),

and another photograph of the villagers assembled on the day of their 

departure shows the store’s porch 

newly framed-in (Figure 115). The 

new room had been outfitted as a 

kitchen, according to current property co-owner Richard Powers. 

Post-War Development 

When the Aleuts left Killisnoo in 1945 

the infrastructure was more or less as 

it had been prior to their arrival three 

years earlier. Some buildings including 

the store had been improved with new 

materials, making them more suitable 

for the villagers’needs. But the herring 

plant was still a derelict commercial facility of little value. In 1950, according 

to de Laguna (1960:49), “one elderly 

white man lived alone on the island.” 

This was probably watchman Oscar H.

Pedersen, a single man who lived in a 

large two-story cabin that still stood 

into the early 1970s between the reservoir and the lodge’s current shop, according to Richard Powers. Pedersen’s 

occupancy likely included the wartime 

years, but he isn’t mentioned in the 

documents consulted from that era. 

Finally, after almost three years, the 

Killisnoo refugees returned to their 

burned-out village in April of 1945,

thus becoming not only the first village 

evacuated but the last village repatriated (except for the Attuans incarcerated in Japan, who were not returned 

until late 1945) (Kohlhoff 1995:163).

Another military transport – this time 

the USAT David W. Branch – returned 

the refugees to Atka (Figures 112­

113). Photographs of the barge lightering the villagers from the Killisnoo 

dock to the ship show many possessions including two small boats (Figure 113) – symbols of the people’s 

thrift and perseverence in defiance of 

the harsh circumstances. 

Wartime Construction 

Records of buildings added to 

or subtracted from the Killisnoo 

figure 111. 

Atka boat-builder 

Constantine 

Golley began 

building dories 

in the Killisnoo 

warehouse. 

Alaska State Library Butler/Dale 

collection PCA306.1032 
105 

Killisnoo Herring Plant 

that time many of the buildings had 

been cannibalized for material by local residents, as is the custom in southeast Alaska (Wilkinson 1990:82-86; 

Mobley 1999:24), and Jacobson continued salvaging from the complex. 

The fenced property of the Russian 

Orthodox church mapped in 1891 

Most of the buildings in the industrial 

complex at Killisnoo burned in 1952. 

Pederson eventually gained title to 

the property in compensation for his 

long unpaid tenure as watchman, and 

a warranty deed was filed in March 

of 1954 selling the 156.5 acre parcel 

for $3,000 to Carl A. Jacobson, Jr. By 

figure 112. 

Atka villagers 

gather on the 

Killisnoo dock in 

preparation for the 

barge trip to the 

waiting Delarof and 

their return to Atka, 

in the late spring of 

1945. Behind is the 

old boathouse that 

shows on USS 5. 

Note industrial 

debris discarded on 

intertidal spit at left. 

Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association 

(copy print, source unknown) 

figure 113. 

Accompanied by 

two small boats and 

other supplies and 

possessions, Atka 

villagers are barged 

to the waiting USAT 

David W. Branch for 

their return to Atka. 

National Archives RG75-NAleut-C-11 
 

106 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

figure 114. 

Atka boys sit on a 

pile of new lumber 

at Killisnoo in front 

of the store porch 

(left). Left to right: 

Johnny Golley, 

Peter Prokopeuff, 

Paul Zaochney, 

George Nevzoroff, 

Ted Golley, and 

Mike Snigaroff. 

Neither the first nor 

third child survived 

the Killisnoo 

experience. 

Alaska State Library Butler/Dale 

collection PCA306.1061 

(Figure  107) was not relinquished as part of the warranty 

deed, and officially remains in 

church hands (as an inholding within the Whaler’s Cove 

Lodge parcel). 

Richard L. Powers joined Jacobson in several local business 

interests including the intention of developing a fishing 

lodge, and “in 1970, the principals of Whaler’s Cove, Inc., 

started construction by clearing 

the site of dilapidated Killisnoo 

We got to Killisnoo and most of the houses were in 

disrepair. The only decent house there they gave to Mr. 

and Mrs. Magie [Magee], the teachers, the only one that 

had the stove...later on, the men were able to repair 

the homes and eventually everybody had their own little 

apartment. Like we lived in a two room place, which was 

– well, summertime it was all right but wintertime it was icy 

cold and I remember being hungry. Some days were okay 

because we were able to get clams and crabs and fish, but 

a lot of time we had nothing. Well we did not have guns. 

We were not able to go out and get our own food. 

Alice Petrivelli, Atka, in 1981 testimony 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

107 

Killisnoo Herring Plant 

Current Condition 

The site of historic Killisnoo is now 

primarily split between the Whaler’s 

Cove Lodge and the Aubertine Trust

(Figures 117-119). The lodge property

extends from the midpoint of the beach

fronting Killisnoo Harbor (Figure 118)

northwest almost to the point guarding

the harbor (Figure 119), where a new

cabin has been built on Lot 1N of the 

Jacobson subdivision. Abutting the

lodge property and extending southeast to the opposite point are the home

and associated buildings of Tom and

Chris Aubertine (Figure 117). Subdivision lots in the interior of the island 

were not investigated. Evidence of old

Killisnoo among the modern developments consists of features on land,

features and artifacts in the intertidal 

zone, archaeological deposits, and artifacts collected for display by the lodgeowners. There are no buildings or even

building ruins from old Killisnoo. The 

old Killisnoo cemetery immediately

south of the former industrial area is 

a separate but related site component

(Figure 120). 

buildings and dock remains” (Whaler’s 

Cove Lodge 2011). The first year of 

operation for Whaler’s Cove Lodge 

was in 1983. Powers soon purchased 

Jacobson’s interest in the lodge, and 

they divided the property. 

Whaler’s Cove Lodge was built exclusively from the beach midpoint and 

northwest on what was the residential 

portion of old Killisnoo, and Jacobson 

retained the remainder including the 

southeast half of the beach where the 

industrial zone had been. In the 1970s 

the Jacobsons cleared a survey line into 

the middle of Killisnoo Island, platted 

25 lots on each side of it (for a total 

of 50 lots), and put them up for sale 

at $3,000 each, according to Tom Aubertine. The cemetery was surveyed 

separately and offered to the City of 

Angoon about 20 years ago, according 

to Chris Aubertine, but the offer was 

declined. In 2008 the old Killisnoo industrial area was part of a large parcel 

owned by the Aubertine Trust, under 

the control of Tom and Chris ( Jacobson) Aubertine (Figure 116). 

figure 115. 

Seventy-seven 

Atkans assemble 

by the Killisnoo 

store, with its newly 

enclosed kitchen, 

on the day of their 

departure in April 

of 1945. 

Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association 

(copy print, source unknown) 
 

 

 

108 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

Modern buildings overlying the 

historic site of Killisnoo belong 

to Whaler’s Cove Lodge and the 

Aubertine Trust. Owner Tom Aubertine was a willing onsite guide 

(Figure 116), pointing out historic 

Killisnoo features on his property and the adjacent cemetery.

Historic features on the Aubertine parcel were recorded, but 

buildings in use were not closely 

inspected. Five buildings are 

strung out more or less equidistantly along the harbor side of 

the Aubertine property, consisting of two boathouses and three 

dwellings. The most easterly 

building is a small boathouse,

not far from where the herring 

plant’s boathouse was plotted in

1891 (Figures 106-107). Next 

to it is a much larger boathouse 

(Figure 120); both buildings 

are sided and roofed in metal. 

Closer to the lodge are three 

dwellings in a row: a log cabin,

flanked to the northwest by two 

frame cabins. 

The lodge grounds were 

inspected, as was the second-growth forest along the 

shore further northwest. Owner Richard Powers authorized 

access to the lodge property and 

discussed the building history.

Whereas Killisnoo’s three historic use zones along the shore 

from southeast to northwest 

were industrial, commercial, and 

then residential, in 2008 those 

zones roughly correspond to the 

[In 1969 at Killisnoo] there were several buildings. The 

cabin that the caretaker had lived in was still standing. It 

was a small two-story building that sat back on the property 

roughly...between our shop and the pond....I’d say it was 

maybe 20’x30’ on the lower floor and 20’x20’ on the upper 

floor. There was the store, which was I think probably more 

of a kitchen and food service area because the one whole 

end of it had an old stove and cooking facilities and stuff in 

it. It was still standing, but it said STORE on the front of 

it....That was a fairly large building, located roughly where 

Aubertine’s cabin is, behind that just a little bit – probably in 

front of our shop more. There were a number of old steam 

donkey engines. Most of them are still there. Couple of 

them we drug over on the beach a little ways from where 

they were. 

There was still part of the carpentry shop there. The old 

marine ways where they had a shipyard where they rebuilt 

ships was still pretty much in place....There’s still remnants 

of the donkey that they used, the double-drum winch that 

they used to pull the ships out....The barrel factory, or the 

cooperage, was still pretty much intact. And a lot of the 

stuff, the bungs for the barrels, hundreds of galvanized 

rings [hoops] for the barrels, and the tools, and all that stuff 

was still just laying there when I first saw it....We found 

out where the Russian Orthodox church was and where 

the school was. You could see by the artifacts. Those 

were two major parts of the community. They set up on the 

hill above where some of our housing is....There’s an old 

sewing machine and some desks that are grown into some 

of the trees by the schoolhouse [site]. 

Richard Powers 
 

 

 

109 

Killisnoo Herring Plant 

Aubertine Trust property,

the Whaler’s Cove Lodge 

facilities, and the second 

growth forest. 

Whaler’s Cove Lodge includes buildings of log,

frame, and metal construction, with few unifying architectural themes, reflecting its gradual development 

as a seasonal fishing resort 

(Figures 121-125). The 

largest and most central building is the 

lodge (Figure 121), with a cafeteria,

lounge, kitchen, gift shop, and other 

spaces. A power house and a shop – 

two large utility sheds (Figure 122) – 

are located inland. Other utility sheds,

cabins, and two larger residential units 

are of frame construction (Figures 123-125). All the buildings are built on land above the 

high tide mark (Figure 126). A 

floating dock leads to a floating 

small boat facility, but it is seasonally operated and the floats 

are stowed on shore for winter. 

The boundary of historic Killisnoo (SIT-014) has not been 

formally defined by archaeological survey, nor was the brief 

2008 investigation sufficient 

to do so. Observations made 

the length of the shoreline facing Killisnoo Harbor (Figures 

117-119) indicate that historic 

archaeological deposits potentially exist from one end to the 

They [Killisnoo] had a little farm there – some stock. Chickens, 

and horses....They had cattle, some cows for milk. Chickens 

and ducks....They had to have them all penned in.... 

Right in above our pond was where they had the stock at. 

We found some of the old woven wire, fencing, there.... 

They had a pretty good water collection system. They dug 

kind of a Y of trenches up on that end of the island, so that 

anything that flowed towards the island flowed into these 

trenches and into a collection pond – a reservoir....We’ve 

dug out the same ditches – collection trenches. And we’ve 

enlarged the reservoir, so we store a lot more water than 

they had, but that was one of the main sources. They had 

another source of water over on the Admiralty side and 

they had a water barge that they’d fill and bring across as 

often as it filled.... 

Richard Powers 

other, though recent development has 

disturbed some areas. 

Features on Land 

A dense second-growth spruce-hemlock forest covered much of Killisnoo in 2008, reflecting the late 1800s 

clearing there (Figures 104-105); by 

figure 116. 

Tom Aubertine, 

who with his wife 

Chris (Jacobson) 

owns the Killisnoo 

industrial zone, 

points out a 

steam engine. 
110 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 
 

 

111 

Killisnoo Herring Plant 

represents a marine ways – a track 

used to haul boats out of the water for 

storage and repair (Figure 127). The 

clearing is about 20’ wide and extends 

from the shore about 60’-80’ into the 

forest fringe (Figure 120). A gravel 

track about 8’ wide runs through the 

center of the alignment. Along the 

grade to the southeast are the remains 

of two large plank and plywood cradles mounted on steel railcar chassis. 

The cradles where they contact the 

the early 1940s the forest was already 

encroaching upon the facility (Figures 

110, 112). Amid the modern forest are 

patches of bushes and shrubs marking 

past disturbance footprints (Figure 

118), but their meaning is not obvious.

Less ambiguous features observed on 

land were the ruin of a marine ways,

the lodge’s current reservoir, and large 

and/or stationary artifacts. 

A linear clearing perpendicular to 

shore on the Aubertine property 

oPPosite toP 

figure 117. 

Buildings on the 

Aubertine property 

are mostly hidden 

by trees behind 

Whaler’s Cove 

Lodge’s small 

boat floats in 

this panorama of 

Killisnoo. The 2008 

reconnaissance 

extended along 

the beach as far 

southeast as the 

point at far left. 

oPPosite MiDDle 

figure 118. 

The central portion 

of Killisnoo contains 

Whaler’s Cove 

Lodge, with the 

lodge building 

at far left and 

cabins at center. 

oPPosite BottoM 

figure 119. 

In 2008 the 

northwest portion 

of Killisnoo was 

covered in secondgrowth timber hiding 

what was – before 

the 1926 fire – the 

residential district 

of Killisnoo. The 

reconnaissance 

extended almost as 

far northwest as the 

point at far right. 

tHis Page 

figure 120. 

A sketch map of 

Killisnoo in 2008 

was compiled from 

a 1977 survey 

for the Aubertine 

property, an aerial 

photograph, and 

field notes and 

photographs. 
112 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

figure 122. 

Frame utility 

buildings nestled 

inland among the 

trees include a 

shop, generator 

shack, and a 

shed where clients 

check out boots for 

their stay. 

figure 123. 

Guest 

accommodations 

at the lodge include 

this two-story 

building with 

several rooms. 

figure 121. 

The largest building 

at Whaler’s Cove 

Lodge is the lodge 

– a long frame 

building containing 

a large dining room, 

kitchen, lounge 

area, gift shop, 

and office. 
 

113 

Killisnoo Herring Plant 

boat hull are upholstered in carpet.

Several lengths of regular-gauge 

rail protrude from beneath the two 

railcars, and several notched logs 

are associated with the collection. 

The condition of the clearing, gravel track, and plywood-and-carpet 

cradles suggested manufacture and 

operation decades ago. Owners 

Aubertine and Powers stated that 

the system included 4-5 rails salvaged from the Kanalku coal mine 

on Admiralty Island combined 

with rails and cars from a mine in 

Idaho, installed at Killisnoo long 

after World War II by Carl A. Jacobson, Jr., and Powers himself. 

The track and gear have not been 

used since the early 1990s. 

In 1891 Killisnoo had a reservoir 

plotted on USS 5 midway between the school (labeled “S.H.” in 

the upper left of Figure 107) and 

church (Figure 106). The island’s 

feeble seeps were channeled to it by 

way of intersecting ditches, some 

over four feet deep to bedrock, according to historic photographs.

The ditch and reservoir system and 

a creek across Killisnoo Harbor 

(requiring a boat to access) were 

used by Atka villagers as water 

sources (Kohlhoff 1995:120). A 

secondary reservoir about 150’ 

south of the one plotted in 1891 

(Figure 107) must have been in use 

by then, as such a feature was enlarged by Richard Powers to serve 

There was another fire that burned most of the facilities 

of the old plant – 1952....But that was about the time 

Jacobson purchased the property, or just before then. The 

Jacobsons took care of the caretaker – the old man that 

watched the property for about twenty years, without being 

paid for it. He’d acquired the property...for back wages.... 

When he decided to sell he asked them if they wanted to 

buy it. 

We met Carl A. Jacobson....[In the early 1970s] we bought 

a little sawmill, a little mobile dimension sawmill, and 

set it up on the beach and started cutting beachcombed 

logs....1983 was our first year [operating Whaler’s Cove 

Lodge]. I bought Jake [Jacobson] out. We own basically 

about half of the harbor end of Killisnoo Island, which is 

where we were developing, and he retained the other half 

for his family. So the Aubertine Trust property, that’s where 

most of the manufacturing plant was on that portion of 

the property, is still in Jacobson’s heirs, or the Aubertine 

Trust.... 

There were people that had salvaged out of the buildings, 

like the store building that was still standing. Most of the 

structural material somebody had taken out of them: the 

two-by material – 2”x8”, 2”x10”. Somebody had already 

been in there [the store] when I first saw it and taken most 

of the usable lumber out....Probably people that were 

building and rebuilding in Angoon, much the same that had 

happened with Hood Bay cannery later. 

We used the tanks. We built an addition onto Angoon 

Trading Store using the stays out of one of the tanks. They 

were 3”x6” clear Douglas fir. Beautiful stuff. 100 years old 

when I started building. Perfect shape. 

Richard Powers 
 

114 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

the lodge. In 2008 a grassy embankment retained a small pond of dark 

water, backed up to a few spruce and 

hemlock trees (Figure 128). Water retention has been improved with a black 

pond liner. Evidence of the reservoir’s 

historic origins was lacking. 

figure 125. 

One of the lodge’s 

employee quarters 

is a one-story woodframe cabin with a 

hipped roof. 

figure 124. 

Several small wood 

frame buildings 

such as this shed 

and cabin serve 

the lodge. 

At least eight boilers were observed in 

the former Killisnoo industrial area. 

Three (Figure 129) are located just 

inside the treeline immediately next 

to one of the boathouses on the Aubertine property. Another five or six 

boilers were found another 30’ further 
 

115 

Killisnoo Herring Plant 

one large stationary machine was noted in its original position. Located 

near the boundary of the lodge and 

Aubertine properties is a steam engine 

on a concrete pedestal, mounted with 

the power shaft parallel to the shore 

(Figure 131). 

figure 126. 

The Whaler’s Cove 

Lodge buildings 

(here viewed to 

the southeast) are 

all built on gently 

sloped land above 

the intertidal zone. 

figure 127. 

The remains of 

a marine ways 

including a few 

rails salvaged 

from a coal mine 

at Kanalku Bay 

postdate World 

War II. The boat 

cradle and railcars 

at right are from a 

mine in Idaho. 

inside the treeline (Figure 130). The 

large artifacts are rusty and overgrown 

with vegetation, and appear to have 

not moved for decades. 

Several rusty artifacts from the herring 

plant have been moved and landscaped 

into the grounds of the lodge, but only 
 

116 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

local resident Frank Sharp as well as 

Richard Powers mentioned sport divers bringing up historic artifacts from 

the harbor where the dock was located. 

But the only features recorded in 2008 

consisted of an extensive scatter of industrial debris on a long reef marking 

INTERTIDAL FEATuRES AND 

ARTIFACTS 

Killisnoo’s intertidal zone was not 

extensively inspected in 2008. Piling 

stubs ground flush and buried beneath 

the beach gravels are likely present 

offshore, as are isolated artifacts, and 

figure 128. 

In 2008 the main 

ditch-fed reservoir 

for Whaler’s 

Cove Lodge is a 

pleasant pond, 

located southwest 

of the reservoir on 

the 1891 survey 

(Figures 106-107). 

figure 129. 

Three boilers rest 

just inside the 

treeline next to a 

boathouse on the 

Aubertine property. 
 

117 

Killisnoo Herring Plant 

angle iron, pipe and wire in various 

diameters, and some glass and ceramic items. Metals represented include 

iron/steel, copper, brass, and lead alloys. The scatter shows in a 1945 

photograph of the Aleut departure 

(Figure 112), so it holds more than 

the southeast end of the beach (Figures 132-133), and a pair of pilings. 

Within the reef scatter are remains of 

two boilers, cable, chain, pulleys and 

gears, vehicle axles and tire rims, barrel hoops and other sheet metal items, 

figure 130. 

Tom Aubertine 

points to a boiler 

about 30’ inland 

from his house. 

figure 131. 

Near the lot line 

between the 

Whaler’s Cove 

Lodge and the 

Aubertine property 

is a steam engine 

on a concrete 

pedestal. 
 

118 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

65 years of antiquity. Industrial debris 

from Killisnoo has been discarded there 

into recent decades, according to 

Tom Aubertine. 

The pair of pilings consists of one 

at the vegetation line onshore and 

another about 20’ offshore perpendicular from it, approximately 80’ southeast 

of the marine ways. Tom Aubertine 

believes these mark the former location of Killisnoo’s original historic 

marine ways. 

figure 133. 

The barnacle-clad 

ferrous and cuprous 

artifacts on the reef 

south of Killisnoo’s 

beach are fast 

deteriorating into 

unidentifiable flakes 

and lumps of metal. 

figure 132. 

Killisnoo’s wide 

arcuate gravel 

beach is bounded 

on the southeast 

by a reef that at 

low tide reveals 

an extensive 

scatter of industrial 

debris. Some of 

it predates WW II 

(see Figure 112). 
119 

Killisnoo Herring Plant 

in clusters defining a building footprint. Near the far northwest end are 

several concentrations of rotten planks 

from buildings that either escaped the 

1928 fire or were built later. 

The second deposit of archaeological interest is an exposure of densely 

packed shell less than 50’ inland from 

TERRESTRIAL ARCHAEOLOgICAL 

DEPOSITS 

Several localities within the current resort have disturbances revealing black 

organic deposits and historic artifacts.

Intact deposits revealed by natural exposures (primarily the rootwads of fallen trees), were observed in two places.

The most extensive evidence is northwest of the resort where the historic 

village of Killisnoo was destroyed by 

the 1928 fire. Large metal artifacts like 

stove parts protrude through the forest 

floor. Smaller artifacts noted on the 

surface included leather and ceramic 

items (Figures 134-135), as well as 

enamelware utensils. Second-growth 

timber covers most of the area and the 

sod and moss were sufficient to hide 

most cultural features, but clam shell 

clusters showed in several places. Bits 

of rotten planks could be discerned – 

sometimes in isolation and sometimes 

figure 135. 

Domestic artifacts 

such as this 

transfer-printed 

ceramic bowl 

fragment were 

observed on the 

surface of the 

old Killisnoo 

village area. 

figure 134. 

Archaeologist 

Becky Saleeby 

holds a leather boot 

fragment observed 

in the former 

residential portion 

of Killisnoo. 
120 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

the old marine ways (Figure 136).

Overlying the shell and worked into it 

was a layer of crusty black bunker fuel 

visible in 2008; since then bioremediation has almost totally removed the oil,

according to Richard Powers. 

SCAVENgED ARTIFACTS 

In addition to a few large industrial artifacts landscaped into the grounds for 

the enjoyment of lodge patrons, smaller 

artifacts have been collected for display. 

Arranged on the 

southeast exterior 

wall of the lodge is a 

collection of firearm 

parts – mostly metal 

barrels and actions 

– recovered during 

lodge development 

(Figure 137). One 

specimen has a firewarped barrel, and 

the sheer number 

of specimens (at

least 30 on display) 

attests to the speed

of the 1928 fire – 

people had no time to salvage 

essential items such as shotguns 

and rifles. 

Almost as useful were the large 

saws needed not only to provide firewood for domestic use 

but to cut the large quantities 

of industrial boiler cordwood. 

As with the firearms, the large 

number recovered and displayed at Killisnoo gives a sense 

not only of how common the tool 

was in the typical Killisnoo household but also of the speed of the fire 

that prevented their owners from saving them. A one-story frame cabin 

immediately southeast of the lodge,

named the Hasselborg Cabin after one 

of Admiralty Island’s notable historic 

characters (Orth 1967:409), has its 

entrance flanked by saw blades (Figures 138-139). Also displayed with 

They also had some bunker fuel, and once petroleum 

products came in there were two big wood-stave tanks that 

they had bunker fuel in. They were pretty close to where 

our generator building is. In fact we’ve had to do some 

soil remediation there....Up until we started doing that you 

could still dig in there – you find some chunks of that. It 

looks just like tar. Solidified bunker oil. 

Richard Powers 

figure 136. 

Inland from the 

marine ways is 

an exposure of 

densely packed 

shell overlain and 

penetrated by 

solidified bunker 

fuel from the old 

Killisnoo 

industrial plant. 
 

121 

Killisnoo Herring Plant 

the saw collection is a galvanized steel cone used by Killisnoo’s coopers as a barrel anvil.

A second metal cone – this 

one of galvanized tin – is the 

herring plant’s steam whistle 

(Figure 139). 

Inside the lodge building is a 

collection of glass bottles found 

at Killisnoo, arranged in a display case for visitor enjoyment 

(Figure 140). 

KILLISNOO CEMETERY 

The Killisnoo cemetery (SIT749) is a collection of graves 

south of the Killisnoo industrial complex, on a surveyed parcel fronting the south shore of 

figure 137. 

Displayed on an 

exterior wall of the 

lodge are firearms 

recovered from 

the grounds – 

relics of the 1928 

fire that destroyed 

the old village. 

I had friends in the 1960s who dove at the end of the dock 

and found bushel-baskets of opium bottles and rice wine 

bottles. Hundreds of them! 

Richard Powers 

My son who is a diver...says that that’s really good diving 

off of where the [Killisnoo] dock was, because they threw all 

their trash off into the water...Artifacts! 

Frank W. Sharp 

In the 1960s people came over and dug on the island – 

people traveling through. People used to scuba dive out 

front and find bottles. Most of those in the lodge came 

from there. Those rusty rifles came from our excavations 

for various projects. Beads have been found here. But I 

don’t dig. 

Tom Aubertine 
 

122 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

figure 139. 

Besides saw 

blades, the 

Hasselborg Cabin 

collection contains 

the herring plant’s 

steam whistle (the 

cone at left), and 

a barrel anvil (the 

cone at right). 

figure 138. 

The Hasselborg 

Cabin immediately 

southeast of the 

lodge is adorned 

with saw blades on 

both sides of the 

entrance – more 

evidence of the 

1928 fire. 

Killisnoo Island (Figure 120). Vegetation consists of second-growth timber 

and a dense cover of berry bushes and 

ferns, hiding several types of graves.

Cut and polished stone markers with 

Christian motifs numbered in the 

dozens, with Japanese, Tlingit, and 

EuroAmerican surnames appearing on 

them. Granite, marble, and limestone 

were included in the collection, and 

dates of death ranged from the 1880s to 

the 1930s. Some stones are damaged, 
 

 

 

 

123 

Killisnoo Herring Plant 

figure 140. 

Glass bottles 

found at Killisnoo 

are displayed in 

the Whaler’s 

Cove Lodge. 

and some are no longer erect.

Grave fences of concrete, wood, 

and wire mesh were observed 

in various states of disrepair 

(Figure 141). An elaborate 

wooden Chinese grave house 

is falling down, though major structural elements and 

paint are still discernible (Figure  142). At least one example of Tlingit formline design 

was noted – carved in stone 

(Figure 143). 

On the north edge of the cemetery are the remains of five 

wooden Russian Orthodox 

crosses said by Tom Aubertine 

to mark the Aleut cemetery 

from the World War II era 

(Figures 144-146). Both Aubertine 

and Powers remember at least a dozen 

standing at one time, decades ago. The 

crosses are scattered within an area approximately 25’ by 50’ in size, and none 

are upright. Instead they are broken 

and laying on the ground or against a 

tree. Two prone crosses have stubs protruding from the sod nearby to suggest 

their original location (Figures 145­

146). All five crosses show traces of 

faded white paint, and Cyrillic letters 

in black appear to spell out religious 

scripture rather than names. A votive 

candle was nestled in the moss at the 

base of one cross. Another cross is of 

newer wood than the others and has 

Russian lettering “sans seraph” rather than the others’ more ornate style, 

suggesting it might be a replacement 

for an older marker. 

Summary 

The site of the Killisnoo herring plant 

still holds one large stationary machine, at least eight boilers, at least one 

large intertidal artifact scatter, and an 

extensive tract of second-growth forest hiding the archaeological remnants 

of the residential district that burned 

in 1928. There are no standing buildings that date to the operational period 

of the plant or the later World War II 

Aleut occupation. Numerous artifacts 

have been recovered by the existing 

landowners – Richard Powers and the 

Whaler’s Cove Lodge, and to a lesser extent Chris and Tom Aubertine. 

The many saw blades as well as gun 
124 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

figure 142. 

The elaborately 

painted Chinese 

grave house 

includes a wooden 

plaque with the 

date 1899. 

figure 141. 

The Killisnoo 

cemetery 

(SIT-749) contains 

several types of 

monuments. In 

the foreground is 

a concrete grave 

wall, left of that is 

a wood bannister 

grave fence, left 

of that is a stone 

grave marker, 

and behind that 

at upper left is 

the Chinese 

grave house. 

barrels and actions salvaged from the 

site over the years attest to not only the 

utility of those two tool types during 

the early twentieth century but also 

the speed of the 1928 fire that destroyed the dwellings in which many 

of those tools resided. Other artifacts 

displayed by the lodge include glass 
125 

Killisnoo Herring Plant 

toP 

figure 143. 

Among the 

conventional stone 

memorials with 

traditional Christian 

motifs are some 

with Tlingit formline 

art – like this 

dog salmon. 

BottoM 

figure 144. 

On the north edge 

of the cemetery are 

five wood Russian 

Orthodox crosses 

marking Aleut 

interments. 
 

126 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

figure 146. 

The wooden 

Russian Orthodox 

markers have 

barely legible 

Cyrillic lettering not 

of names but rather 

of scripture. 

bottles, a cooper’s anvil, and the herring plant’s steam whistle. The former 

residential portion of the site indicates considerable potential for buried 

archaeological remains. 

The only evidence of the Aleut presence at Killisnoo is the collection of 

Russian Orthodox crosses along the 

north edge of the cemetery. Identical white wooden Russian Orthodox 

crosses can be seen in archival photographs of the Killisnoo cemetery taken 

long before World War II, reflecting 

the local Tlingit Indian’s conversion 

to that faith in the 

late 1800s. But the 

Aleut association 

with these particular 

markers is certain; 

Tom Aubertine 

and Richard Powers mentioned that 

occasional Aleut 

visitors care for the 

graves, such as Alice Petrivelli in the 

documentary film 

“Aleut Story.” 

figure 145. 

Two Russian 

Orthodox crosses 

including this 

example may 

be near their 

original position. 
 

 

127 

Wrangell Institute 

While Aleuts from Atka and the 

Pribilof Islands were taken directly 

to their wartime camps, the others 

were housed during late summer of 

1942 in a tent city on the grounds of 

the Wrangell Institute – a large territorial boarding school on Wrangell 

Island near the town of Wrangell – 

until facilities at the Burnett Inlet cannery and Ward Lake CCC camp were 

readied. Like its neighbors, Wrangell 

Island is mountainous and cloaked in 

deep forest (Figure 147). At Wrangell 

the huge outflow of the Stikine River 

meets the deep channels of Frederick 

Sound, Sumner Strait, Stikine Strait, 

Zimovia Strait, and Eastern Passage 

radiating out like spokes on a wheel 

(Figure 148), supporting a rich marine 

life. In the early 1800s the availability 

of sea otter and other furs encouraged 

the Hudson Bay Company and Russian American Company to develop 

posts for trading with the local Tlingit. The town of Wrangell survived to 

become one of southeast Alaska’s few 

population centers, cyclically relying 

on furs, fishing, mining, logging, and 

tourism during the 1900s and into the 

subsequent millennium. 

figure 147. 

In 2008 the 

Wrangell Institute 

was an aldercovered rectangle 

with mounds of 

contaminated soil 

(some covered 

with white or grey 

tarpaulins) ready 

for removal. The 

boathouse stands 

at lower left. 

Wrangell Institute 

5 
 

128 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

Early Years 

By the 1930s Alaska had a history 

of church- and government-sponsored 

Native boarding schools and orphanages at Sitka, Eklutna, Seward, Holy 

Cross, Unalaska, Kanatak (in Bristol 

0 2 4 8 12

Miles

0 2 4 6 12

Kilometers

Projection NAD 1983 UTM Zone 8N. Base image from 60 Meter NED SE Alaska Elevation 

Relief Model compiled by NPS Alaska Regional Office, 2003. National Park Service 2012 

S U M N E R 

S T R A I T 

C L A R E N C E 

S T R A I T 

Ch ic h agof Pass 

B u r n e t t I n l e t 

STIKINE

S

TRAIT 

A n i t a B a y 

Easter n Passage 

Z I M

O

V I A 

S T R A I T 

M o s m a n I n l e t 

M c H e n r y 

I n l e t 

S t e a m e r B a y 

Burnett Inlet Cannery 

(Unalaska)

Wrangell Institute 

Wrangell 

WWRRAANNGGEELLLL 

IISSLLAANND D

WWOORROONNKOFSKI KOFSKI 

ISISLALANNDD 

ETOLIN

ETOLIN 

ISLAND

ISLAND 

ZAREMBO ZAREMBO ISLAND ISLAND 

R o c k y B a y 

figure 148. 

The Wrangell 

Institute was 

located several 

miles southeast 

of Wrangell on 

a coastal road 

following the 

shore of Zimovia 

Strait. Note Burnett 

Inlet cannery at 

lower right. 

Bay), and elsewhere. The Territorial 

Commissioner of Education had announced the intention to build an 

industrial school in southeast Alaska 

as early as 1924 (Parks 1932:95). In 

October of 1932 the U.S. Bureau of 

Indian Affairs began classes at the new 
 

 

 

 

129 

Wrangell Institute 

Wrangell Institute, a large complex 

overlooking Shoemaker Bay several 

miles south of Wrangell (Figures 148­

149). The school was described as “one 

of the pet projects of the Roosevelt 

Administration” (Yzermans 1979:55).

An appropriation of $171,000 was 

made to clear the land and erect the 

first five buildings (Parks 1932:95). 

Initial enrollment consisted of 71 

high-school students drawn mostly 

from southeast Alaska. Students were 

expected to obtain a vocational education, and school maintenance tasks 

formed part of the instruction. Home 

building, nursing, commercial fishing, and home economics were among 

the list of trades taught (MacPherson 1998a). In 1937, prior to his 

1941 appointment as Curator of the 

Alaska Territorial Library and Museum (a position he held until 1965),

Edward  L. Keithahn began teaching 

at the Wrangell Institute (Alaska State 

Library 1996). He authored articles 

figure 149. 

In 1938 the three 

central buildings – 

the boys dormitory 

at left, the school 

building right of 

center, and the girls 

dormitory at right – 

were surrounded by 

a wide clearing. 

National Archives Pacific Alaska 

Region RG75 (BIA) Box 14 4/8/8(3) 

and books on Alaska topics including totem poles (Keithahn 1945), and 

supervised the student-carved totem 

poles that can be seen in early photographs of the school ( Jordan 1966).

Though ostensibly not affiliated with 

any religious organization, Wrangell’s 

Catholic priest took an interest in the 

school and incorporated it into his 

parish (Yzermans 1979:55-56). 

The size of the Wrangell Institute’s 

land parcel has been reported as 171 

acres or 141 acres (MacPherson 1994,

1998a), with development concentrated in a cleared rectangle measuring approximately 1000’ x 500’ (Figure 149).

Centrally located was a large school 

building connected by enclosed walkways to large flanking two-story dormitories – boys on the left (northwest),

girls on the right (southeast). With 

the school measuring 110’ long, the 

dormitories 144’ long, and the walkways spanning about 30’ between the 

buildings, the enclosed space was over 
 

 

 

 

 

 

130 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

450’ long. Other buildings bounded 

large rectangular yards and parking 

lots; and eventually driveways, sidewalks, and terraces added more geometry and symmetry to the plan (Figure 

150). Reports compiled in 1944 by the 

federal government describe a compact campus with about a dozen significant buildings. Most of the building materials were standardized: walls 

of 2”x6” studs, shiplap, with stucco on 

the outside surface and metal lath and 

plaster (or plasterboard) on the inside 

surface; roofs of 2”x8” rafters overlain 

with shiplap and asphalt shingles; and 

2”x14”joists for the basement floor and 

2”x10” joists for the first and second 

floors, overlaid by shiplap and 1”x4”

hardwood flooring. 

The school building was a 17,620 

square-foot, two-story building with 

a half-basement, and a one-and-onehalf story flat-roofed gymnasium on a 

concrete pad centrally attached 

to the back of the building. The 

main building had a simple 

hipped roof with a central bell 

tower (Figure 149); a central 

cross-hipped entrance block 

with three arched penetrations and a central entry facing the waterfront. Three oilfired boilers in the basement 

provided steam heat to radiators in the school and adjacent 

dormitories. The basement 

also contained two shops. The 

first floor held four classrooms, 

two offices, and the gymnasium, while 

the second floor held four more classrooms, an assembly room, and a library.

When inventoried in 1944 the school 

building had drinking fountains in the 

halls but no bathrooms – likely bathrooms in the boys and girls dormitories were relied upon. 

The girls and boys dormitories were 

built from the same plans as mirror images of each other, attached to 

the school by covered walkways with 

arches matching those of the school 

and dormitory entrances (Figure 149).

Like the school, the dormitories had 

two stories, but the girls dormitory had 

only a partial basement and the boys 

had none at all. Like the school, they 

had a simple hipped roof with a central cross-hipped entrance block and 

arches facing the waterfront. The first 

floor of the girls dormitory contained 

a kitchen, a separate dining room, a 

[Wrangell Insitute] students study the natural life of the sea 

and shore, the village communities and their economic and 

health problems, business accounting, and homemaking. 

...In addition, contributory skills are taught: woodworking, 

building construction, boat building, blacksmithing and 

machine shop practice, engine installation, operation and 

repair, navigation, and the household arts....The students 

also assume responsibility and cooperate with staff 

members in assemblies, control of health and sanitation, 

upkeep of the lighting and heating facilities, student 

accounts, and athletics. 

Colby 1941:140-141 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

131 

Wrangell Institute 

Some Wrangell Institute teachers and 

employees lived in Wrangell and commuted to work, but others lived on 

the grounds in a ten-unit apartment 

complex at the north end of the clearing (Figure 151). The staff house was 

a two-story building with a partial 

basement containing a laundry room 

and the oil-fired boiler for the steam 

heating system. Two- and three-room 

units were available, and the lobby 

was designed as a social area. The 

building contained over 3,000 square 

feet of space. The apartment’s architecture matched the school and dormitories, with a hipped roof and a central 

cross-hipped entrance block with 

three arches. 

social room, and “two rooms used for 

sewing and cooking classes,” according 

to the property inventory form. On 

the second floor were two large dormitory rooms, a bathroom, two private 

rooms, and a three-room apartment 

for the girls dormitory supervisor. The 

first floor of the boys dormitory contained a laundry, two social rooms, a 

bathroom, and three private rooms,

while the second floor held two large 

dormitory rooms, storage rooms, and 

a three-room apartment for the boys 

dormitory supervisor. Unique to the 

boys dormitory was a “smoking room”

on the second floor. Each of the dormitories contained more than 12,500 

square feet of space, housing a maximum of 96 boys and 83 girls. 

figure 150. 

A 1975 Government 

Service 

Administration 

(GSA) auction 

notice for the 

Wrangell Institute 

furnishings included 

a plan (redrawn 

here) that identifies 

building functions. 
 

 

 

132 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

figure 151. 

A ten-unit apartment 

was built in 1931 

near the north side 

of the campus for 

teacher and staff 

housing, on fill (note 

rock retaining wall), 

and was already 

slumping by the 

time this 1944 

photograph was 

taken. The four-car 

staff garage is 

at right. Note totem 

pole at building 

corner. 

National Archives Pacific Alaska 

Region RG75 (BIA) Box 14 4/8/8(3) 

figure 152. 

The rear of the 

medical clinic, 

shown here in 1944, 

had a cross-gabled 

central block to 

create a small 

nurse’s apartment 

in the attic. 

National Archives Pacific Alaska 

Region RG75 (BIA) Box 14 4/8/8(3) 

The medical clinic was completed in 

1932, a year after the school, dormitories, and staff house were built. It was 

a one-story building with a basement 

and attic apartment at the south end 

of the clearing. The building’s hipped

roof and central cross-gabled entrance 

block with three arches matched 

the architectural details of its companions. The side opposing the entrance 

also had a cross-gabled block and a 

rear entrance, and the roof had a small 

shed-roofed dormer (Figure 152). The 

small basement held an oil-fired boiler 

for the steam heat system, while the 

first floor contained a clinic and five 

small wards, a “diet kitchen,” an office, 

a room for the attendant, and three 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

133 

Wrangell Institute 

oil dispensers, and an air compressor 

(Figure 154). The building measured 

20’x45’, or 900 square feet. It was situated near the large staff apartment and 

intended to house staff vehicles. The 

second 1935 garage was a small 11’x18’

one-story building with a hipped roof. 

The ten-unit apartment building was 

not the only staff housing available 

by World War II. In the late 1930s 

the CCC began construction of two 

22’x30’ log cabins behind the six-car 

garage, near the shore (Figures 155­

156). Left uncompleted by the CCC,

one was finished by students and staff

in 1941 and the other in 1942. Each 

cabin contained a living room, kitchen,

bedroom, and bathroom, and was heated by a wood stove. The main gabled

roof was complemented by shed roofs 

over a door at each gable end. 

At the water’s edge students and 

staff built a 20’x60’ boathouse on a 

bathrooms. The nurse lived in an attic 

apartment with a living room, kitchen,

and bathroom. 

In 1934 the school built a vehicle garage, and the following year they built 

two more. The first was a one-story 

L-shaped building constructed on 

the shore side of the highway, with 

four enclosed bays facing the campus 

(Figure 153); another two open bays 

were added on the shore side (facing 

Shoemaker Bay) in 1936 (Figure 150).

Students and staff made the building 

with a hipped roof to match the other 

buildings, and poured two concrete 

grease pits into the floor. The original building measured 20’x43’, while 

the addition measured 20’x23’. One 

of the two garages built in 1935 was 

also a four-car design with a hipped 

roof, open bays, and a shop area, with 

the addition of a gasoline pump and 

a 500-gallon fuel tank, lubrication 

figure 153. 

By 1944 a garage 

on the shore side of 

the road, originally 

built with these four 

bays facing the 

campus, had a twobay addition on the 

other side to make 

a six-car garage. 

National Archives Pacific Alaska 

Region RG75 (BIA) Box 14 4/8/8(3) 
 

 

134 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

a shed-roofed extension of posts and 

trusses on the north side of the building was left open (Figure 158). Rather 

than following the lead of the Sheldon Jackson boarding school in Sitka,

which had its own fishing boat to help 

feed the campus, the Institute built 

watercraft rigged solely for transportation, according to Richard Stokes. 

concrete foundation, where vessels 

could be winched for repair and storage 

using a 40’ marine ways (Figure 157).

Archival photographs indicate construction in 1938. Shiplap siding protected the exterior walls, and asphalt 

shingles protected the roof. The large 

bay facing the water had tall plank 

doors to keep out the elements, but 

figure 154. 

Bumpers of what 

would now be 

vintage cars peek 

out from the fourcar staff garage 

in 1944. 

National Archives Pacific Alaska 

Region RG75 (BIA) Box 14 4/8/8(3) 

figure 155. 

CCC crews began 

two log cabins 

near shore in the 

late 1930s, leaving 

them for staff and 

students to finish 

in 1941. The boys 

dormitory shows at 

right in this 1944 

view to the east. 

National Archives Pacific Alaska 

Region RG75 (BIA) Box 14 4/8/8(3) 
 

135 

Wrangell Institute 

Simple wooden boats named Institute 1 through 3 reached lengths of 40’ 

(Figure 159). By 1942 the CCC had 

completed a dock and floats for the 

school (The Wrangell Sentinel 1942a). 

The 1944 property inventory listed 

several other campus features, including a small building to house fire hose, 

and the two 20,000 gallon oil tanks 

and pumphouse that served the individual buildings (Figure 160). Near 

the waterfront staff and students also 

built an open fish-cleaning station 

in the Adirondack style, with cedar 

shakes on spruce poles and a concrete 

slab foundation (Figure 161). Nearby 

was an elevated smokehouse of similar 

figure 156. 

A 1944 view to the 

west shows the 

second identical 

log cabin (right) 

built beside the first 

(left), both facing 

the bay. 

National Archives Pacific Alaska 

Region RG75 (BIA) Box 14 4/8/8(3) 

figure 157. 

The boathouse 

in 1944 had a 

servicable marine 

ways to haul 

watercraft into the 

building. 

National Archives Pacific Alaska 

Region RG75 (BIA) Box 14 4/8/8(3) 
 

 

 

136 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

Aleut evacuees found themselves, the 

Wrangell Institute was a fully-functioning federal facility at the beginning of World War II. 

World War II and the Camp 

Experience 

The Aleut experience at the Wrangell 

Institute was of two kinds. Villagers 

from Unalaska, Nikolski, Makushin, 

construction, with “plank catwalks for 

hanging fish” (Figure 162). The 1944 

inventory also includes photographs of 

a timber dam approximately 15’ high 

and perhaps 40’ long – probably constructed northeast of the campus up 

Institute Creek and used to collect 

domestic water. 

As the 1944 photographs illustrate,

unlike the other locations where 

figure 158. 

A shed roof 

supported by posts 

and trusses was 

attached to the 

north side of the 

boathouse, here 

looking southwest 

in 1944. 

National Archives Pacific Alaska 

Region RG75 (BIA) Box 14 4/8/8(3) 

figure 159. 

The Institute 3 was 

one of the boats 

built at the Wrangell 

Institute boathouse. 

National Archives Pacific Alaska 

Region RG75 (BIA) Box 14 4/8/8(3) 
 

 

137 

Wrangell Institute 

Akutan, and Kashega arrived there 

directly as fresh evacuees from 

the Aleutian Islands before being 

forwarded to their ultimate war­

time destination (Figure 163).

Then, after being settled in their 

camps, children from the relocated 

villages were sent to the Wrangell 

Institute for schooling. 

The Alaska Steamship Com­

pany’s vessel SS Columbia arrived 

at Wrangell Institute on July 13,

1942, to deliver 160 Aleuts into the 

custody of the Alaska Indian Ser­

vice – the U.S. Department of the 

Interior’s agency for administering 

Native affairs in the territory. The 

six-village contingent consisted of 

41 people from Akutan, 18 from 

Biorka, 20 from Kashega, eight 

from Makushin, 72 from Nikolski, 

and one from Unalaska (Kohlhoff

1995:80-81). Military and politi­

cal matters delayed evacuation of 

Unalaska, and reports differ on 

the event details. On August 1,

1942, 137 Unalaskans arrived at 

Wrangell Institute on board the 

Alaska Steamship Company’s ves­

sel SS Alaska according to Kohl­

hoff (1995:84), while Kirtland and 

Coffin (1981:35) state that 111 

Unalaskans arrived there on July 

26 – one week earlier. 

The Juneau office of the Alaska 

Indian Service began making ar­

rangements in mid-July to receive 

Aleut evacuees at the Wrangell 

figure 160. 

Two 20,000 gallon 

steel tanks (viewed 

here in 1944) 

behind the clinic 

held the campus’s 

heating oil. 

National Archives Pacific Alaska 

Region RG75 (BIA) Box 14 4/8/8(3) 

figure 161. 

A fish-cleaning 

station of spruce 

poles and cedar 

shakes in the 

Adirondack style 

was built near 

the beach. 

National Archives Pacific Alaska 

Region RG75 (BIA) Box 14 4/8/8(3) 
 

 

138 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

figure 162. 

Near the fishcleaning station 

was an elevated 

smokehouse 

also in the 

Adirondack style. 

National Archives Pacific Alaska 

Region RG75 (BIA) Box 14 4/8/8(3) 

figure 163. 

Workers build tent 

platforms in July 

of 1942, on the 

grounds of the 

Wrangell Institute, 

in preparation for 

the arrival of Aleut 

evacuees. Note 

boathouse at 

upper right. 

National Archives Still Picture Branch 

Institute (Kohlhoff 1995:80). The 

broad terraced grounds were to become a temporary city. More than 

twenty large pyramidal military tents 

were erected along the existing sidewalks, each on its own tent platform 

(Figures 163-165). The entry of each 

tent faced southwest, towards the sidewalk and the beach beyond.

Each tent was equipped with 

a small camp stove – photographs show both sheet-metal 

and cast types – stationed in 

a long row outside the tents 

on the opposite side of the 

sidewalk. Obviously used for 

cooking rather than heating,

the stoves’ locations indicate a 

concern for fire danger among 

the closely packed dwellings.

Canvas patches are visible 

on some tents. According to 

one evacuee, women and children were assigned to live in 

tents (Figure 165), eight per 

tent, with one cot per tent,

while men and boys slept in 
 

 

139 

Wrangell Institute 

the vacant dormitories (Kohlhoff

1995:101). The Wrangell Institute tent camp was intended to 

be struck in the fall of 1942, after better accommodations were 

readied elsewhere (and before 

returning students arrived to begin the new school year). Villagers from Unalaska spent less than 

a month there before moving 

to the cannery at Burnett Inlet 

(Kirtland and Coffin 1981:35).

Villagers from Akutan, Biorka, 

Kashega, Makushin, and Nikolski built a barge (probably using 

the Institute’s boathouse) that

was then filled with building supplies and towed to Ketchikan by 

the USS Penguin in late August 

(some remember an Institute vessel pulling the barge); 25 villagers 

accompanied the barge while the 

figure 164. 

Large military tents 

were erected along 

the sidewalks in 

front of the Wrangell 

Institute to house 

the Aleut evacuees 

during the late 

summer of 1942. 

Alaska State Library Butler/Dale 

collection PCA306.2266 

figure 165. 

Most Aleut Islanders 

except those from 

Atka (and Attu) 

spent time at the 

Wrangell Institute 

tent camp. Eva 

Borenin (age 15) 

and Evdokia (Eva) 

Borenin (age 55) 

were residents of 

Makushin. Both 

died at Ward Lake 

in 1943 and were 

buried in Ketchikan. 

National Archives Still Picture Branch 
 

 

140 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

remainder traveled to Ketchikan onboard an Army transport vessel (Kohlhoff 1995:103-104). 

By early September the tent camp 

was gone and the Wrangell Institute 

started its regular school year, beginning the 1942 fall enrollment with an 

unprecedented number of 

Aleut students. Lee McMillan’s log at Funter Bay recorded the USFWS’s Brant 

leaving October  17 for the 

Institute, bringing 20 Pribilof 

Islands schoolchildren, their 

two schoolteachers, and the 

schoolteachers’ children, and 

the children were also enrolled 

the following year (Kirtland 

and Coffin 1981:62). Children from other evacuation 

camps also attended school at 

the Wrangell Institute (Kirtland and Coffin 1981:63), but 

“the record of enrollment of 

children from Killisnoo, Ward 

Cove and Burnett Inlet has not 

been discovered.” 

Post-War Development 

Unlike other evacuation camps,

the Wrangell Institute was in 

operation immediately prior 

to the war, it continued its 

education mission during the 

war, and it remained a boarding vocational high school 

immediately after the war. But 

after the war the U.S. Navy 

no longer needed their huge 

seaplane base at Sitka, so in 1947 

the newly created Bureau of Indian 

Affairs (or BIA – successor to the Indian Service) transformed the Sitka naval station into Mt. Edgecumbe High 

School, reducing the Wrangell Institute to an elementary and junior high 

I was born in Craig, Alaska, in the sixth month, the 25th 

day, year ’29....I came up to Wrangell to attend high 

school....I didn’t come up until late ’42...I graduated in the 

last graduating class as a high school [1947].... Everybody 

had one week [out of four] where you didn’t go to school. 

You had the kitchen, or you had the bakery, or you had the 

laundry, or you had the health center, or you could work for 

staff and get paid.... It was real disciplined. Everybody got 

up at 7:00. Everybody ate breakfast by 8:00. Everyone 

did their chores between 8 and 9, and then you went to 

school. We had our algebra, we had all math classes, 

science classes, geography classes, and history. English. 

And then of course we had a band....We could come in to 

Wrangell every Saturday, and maybe Sunday for a movie. 

Wilma Stokes 

Mr. Barrett, the principal of Wrangell Institute, came to 

Funter Bay on June 16 [sic], 1942, and asked if there were 

any boys and girls of high school age who would like to 

attend his school. As soon as I heard this I wanted to go. 

But I knew that a boy over sixteen can’t go any farther 

in school, because where I come from the Government 

Service of Fishing and Wild Life puts them to work....When 

I got to the Institute I was homesick. The students were 

strangers to me, and the trees looked ugly, because I had 

never seen a tree in all the sixteen years of my life. 

Sixteen-year-old Flore, from St. Paul, 

quoted in Beech (1944:20) 
 

 

141 

Wrangell Institute 

school ( Jordan 1966). The main school 

and dormitory buildings changed little 

(Figure 166), but more buildings were 

added to the campus. A bus shed and 

a maintenance shop were added at the 

north corner of the clearing, according 

to archival photographs. A large building was constructed northeast of the 

school as a maintenance facility and 

dining hall, and another of unknown 

function was built adjacent to the dining hall. Added to the existing staff

house at the north corner of the complex were another large staff house at 

the south corner of the complex (Figures 167-168) and two smaller staff

residences by the road near the west 

corner (Figure 150). A long wharf at 

the south end of the complex that was 

in good repair in the 1940s was quite 

dilapidated by 1961 (Figure 167). One 

of the last buildings added to the complex was a garage near the boathouse 

sometime after 1966, according to an 

aerial photograph ( Jordan 1966). 

In the mid-1960s as many as 260 students attended classes at the Wrangell 

Institute, but the curriculum of four 

decades earlier had evolved, and home 

economics was the only vocational 

course still taught ( Jordan 1966). The 

staff included two registered nurses, 

figure 167. 

The school’s dock 

was in place by 

1942, but it was 

dilapidated by the 

time this 1961 

image was made. 

National Archives Pacific Alaska 

Region RG75 (BIA) Box 14 4/8/8(3) 

figure 166. 

Students stroll the 

sidewalk behind the 

school and dorms, 

looking south, 

probably in the early 

1960s. The boys 

dormitory is at right, 

the school (with 

bell-tower) is left of 

center, and the girls 

dormitory is at the 

far left. 

Wrangell Museum 
 

 

 

142 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

There were two large 20,000 gallon fuel tanks which stored 

heating oil for the school. The fuel was transferred from 

tankers uphill to the tanks by a pipeline and then dispersed 

to the individual fuel tanks at each building by another 

pipeline. There were 12 small tanks on the property. In 

1999, the City removed all of the tanks and excavated 750 

cubic yards of contaminated soil which was stockpiled in a 

rockpit. In 2001, the City performed a site assessment of the 

property, demolished all of the buildings, [and] excavated 

additional contaminated soil which was stockpiled near the 

site....Approximately 6,000-8,000 cubic yards of petroleumcontaminated soil remained on site in the spring of 2007. 

The groundwater is also contaminated....The State will 

receive $2.35 million as reimbursement for past and future 

costs....The soil will be cleaned up to DEC’s most protective 

cleanup levels, which will allow for unrestricted future use 

of the property. 

Website: Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation 

Contaminated Sites Program: Wrangell Institute 

four practical nurses, four guidance 

counselors, 12 teachers, 10 teacher’s 

aides, and three nighttime dormitory 

keepers. Just under 90 students were 

enrolled in January of 1975, when the 

BIA announced it would close the 

facility that June (The Wrangell Sentinel 1975). During its last semester,

in its 43rd year of operation, the school 

employed 45 people including seven 

teachers. Alaska’s continued expansion of rural bush schools lessened 

the need for BIA boarding schools,

and the closure of the Wrangell Institute was warranted on the basis of “rising costs, decreasing enrollment and 

major renovations needed,” according 

to a BIA spokesman (Hanchett 1974).

The campus infrastructure development was at its zenith by 1975, though 

the two log cabins near the mouth of 

the creek (Figures 155-156) had been 

removed. 

The Wrangell Institute was soon declared surplus federal property and 

assigned for sale under the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA).

Cook Inlet Regional Corporation or 

CIRI, a Native regional corporation 

established under the Alaska Native 

Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) of 

1971, announced in early 1977 that it 

was claiming the property under a provision in the Act that 

entitled CIRI to select surplus 

federal property nationwide in 

compensation for the lack of 

available land near Anchorage 

(The Wrangell Sentinel 1977).

GSA issued CIRI a temporary 

use permit for the property, allowing CIRI in 1977 to lease the 

facility to the U.S. Forest Service 

as a Young Adult Conservation 

Corps camp (The Wrangell 

Sentinel 1977). After opening in January, 1978, “the work 

camp employed about 100 16- 

to 23-year-olds as well as about 

40 staff members who worked 

on public works and conservation projects” (MacPherson 

1994). That use continued until 1980 (Alaska Department of 
 

 

 

143 

Wrangell Institute 

and demolition. Asbestos removal 

was almost completed in 1998, and 

in 1999 the City removed fuel tanks 

and removed and stockpiled some 

contaminated soils. According to the 

Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (2007:1-3), in 2001 

additional contaminated soils were 

removed and stockpiled and all buildings were demolished (though the 

original boathouse was found standing 

in 2008). 

Current Condition 

On-site investigations at the Wrangell 

Institute were so brief that a taxi was 

kept waiting. The City’s permission 

to conduct the field investigation had 

not been conveyed to onsite individuals supervising remediation, and time 

was not available to request additional 

permissions. The site visit was long 

enough to photograph the loss of the 

central building complex, the soil remediation process, and the standing 

Environmental Conservation 2007:3).

Title to the property was officially 

transferred to CIRI on August  11,

1978, but the Native corporation was 

cautious about predicting future development (The Wrangell Sentinel 1978).

Some buildings were leased as private 

rental units (Alaska Department of 

Environmental Conservation 2007:1). 

After 1980 the buildings remained 

idle for almost 15 years. Then in 1994 

CIRI demolished three buildings and 

conducted asbestos abatement and 

lead-based paint removal programs, in 

turn causing a fuel spill, and under a 

special 1995 Congressional authorization CIRI relinquished the property in 

exchange for approximately one million dollars in other surplus federal 

property (MacPherson 1998b; Alaska 

Department of Environmental Conservation 2007:3). Since then the history of the Wrangell Institute has been 

one of hazardous materials removal 

figure 168. 

An aerial 

photograph 

published in the 

June, 1966, New 

Alaskan shows the 

final layout of the 

Wrangell Institute. 
144 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

figure 170. 

From the highway 

the Wrangell 

Institute’s main 

campus consists 

of mounds of 

contaminated 

soil surrounded 

by encroaching 

vegetation. 

figure 171. 

The Wrangell 

Institute’s 

boathouse, built 

by 1942, is in fair 

repair (compare 

with Figure 158). 

figure 169. 

In 2008 the 

Wrangell Institute 

had been leveled 

of most buildings 

and workers 

were preparing 

contaminated soil 

(under cover) for 

removal. Compare 

with the similar 

perspective 

(looking southeast) 

in Figure 166. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

145 

Wrangell Institute 

boathouse. Campus features obscured 

by alders or the forest fringe were not 

observed during the brief field visit. 

Most of the Wrangell Institute was demolished by 2008. The property northeast (upslope) of the highway contains 

long plastic-covered mounds of contaminated soil waiting removal (Figures 169-170). These mounds and the 

graveled surfaces between correspond 

to the area once holding the dorm and 

school building alignment and the 

maintenance and cafeteria buildings 

(Figures 150, 166). No building debris 

was observed; the contents of the covered piles were not inspected. Young 

alder, spruce, and hemlock are revegetating other parts of the main campus.

Dilapidated chain-link fence and gates 

guard the upslope Wrangell Institute property on the northeast 

side of the highway (Figure 170). 

On the southwest side of the 

highway next to a playground 

figure 172. 

The boathouse 

has wide, tall doors 

facing Zimovia 

Strait. Vegetation, 

beach berm, and 

logs indicate that 

decades have 

passed since the 

building served that 

function (compare 

with Figure 157). 

Those [construction] workmen were fabulous, ‘cause those 

buildings were just as good as new. 

Richard Stokes 

and tennis courts is the Wrangell Institute’s boathouse, which dates to 1938 

(Figures 157-158, 163). In 2008 the 

building was in fair repair (Figure 171),

but it hadn’t been used as a boathouse 

for many years (Figure 172). Interior

observations were not made. 

The wood frame boathouse has a tall 

gable-roofed main block at the water’s 

edge with large doors facing Zimovia 

Strait that allowed boats to be winched 

or floated in (Figure 159). Three windows equidistantly spaced on the south 

elevation are battened with plywood,

as are two on the east (Figure 171); archival photographs (Figures 157-158) 

indicate they once held 4/4 doublesash windows. The building is clad in 

simple wood drop siding, and roofed 

with ribbed metal. Distinctive eave 
 

 

 

 

 

 

146 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

returns on the gable ends appear as 

they did during the war (Figure 158).

A windowless plywood sliding door is 

centered on the east elevation where 

there was once a plank door perforated 

by a pedestrian door in turn having a 

six-pane fixed window (Figure 158).

A metal stovepipe that wartime photographs show penetrating the roof 

near the southwest corner is no longer 

in evidence. 

In 1944 the boathouse had a low, 

open, shed-roofed block attached to 

the north elevation, supported by roof 

trusses and braced posts (Figure 158);

by 2008 that block was completely 

enclosed. The north and south walls 

are clad in simple drop siding like the 

remainder of the building, while the 

east wall consists of plywood, T-111,

two plywood doors on a track, and one 

hinged plywood door (Figure 171). 

The roof of the shed block is identical 

to the main block, being ribbed metal. 

North of the boathouse, past tennis 

courts and playground, is a small onestory gable-roofed shed with two large 

bay openings. It may be a building 

plotted but unidentified on the 1975 

campus map, but that was not confirmed. In 2008 the building serves 

the recreational complex. 

Summary 

After the Aleut relocation experience,

the Wrangell Institute continued its 

Alaska Native boarding school programs until 1975. The property was 

sold to Cook Inlet Region Incorporated (CIRI) in 1978 and left idle from 

1980 until 1995, when it was traded 

back to the federal government for one 

million dollars in other surplus property. Since then the City of Wrangell 

has acquired the campus and 

overseen the demolition of most 

of the buildings and removal of 

huge volumes of contaminated 

soil. The 2008 field reconnaissance documented a boathouse 

as the one Institute building 

definitely constructed before 

1942. The brief onsite visit did 

not systematically scrutinize 

the campus, and other historic 

features likely remain along the 

margins of the parcel. 

Walter Rudolph was the boat instructor. He was a good 

man. And they built the Institute 1, and the Institute 2. 

There was a lot of skiffs, and stuff [built there], but I’m 

talking the power boats. The Institute 2 was the largest – it 

must have been 40’ at least. [Built probably] ’34, ’35. Her 

[spouse Wilma Stokes] uncle bought it, after they used it. 

They used it for transporting kids back and forth, to here, 

and Sitka, and Petersburg. I don’t know about Ketchikan. 

They were just transportation, but it became a fishing boat 

when her uncle got it. So it could have been even 45’. It 

was a good-sized boat. 

Richard Stokes 
 

 

 

147 

Burnett Inlet Cannery 

Aleuts from Unalaska were resettled 

at the Burnett Inlet cannery, not far 

from Wrangell Institute (Figure 148). 

Burnett Inlet is a narrow water body 

seven miles long on the southwest side 

of Etolin Island, about 30 miles south 

of Wrangell (U.S. Department of 

Commerce 1978:83-84). The island’s 

rugged mountains reach heights of 

over 3000’, and the land is covered in 

spruce/hemlock/cedar forest up to an 

elevation of about 2000’ (Figure 173). 

Near the mouth of Burnett Inlet, on 

the west side, is a small bulbous peninsula known as Cannery Point. 

Early Years 

In 1912 the Sanborn Cram Company 

of Astoria, Oregon, built a cannery at 

Cannery Point (Cobb 1917:50). The 

Sanborn family had a long history in 

business and were part of Astoria’s affluent during the late 1800s; in 1889 

under the name Astoria and Alaska 

Packing Company, George W. Sanborn and a partner built one of Alaska’s earliest canneries at Pavlof Harbor 

on Chichagof Island – across Chatham Strait midway between Funter 

Bay and Angoon (Cobb 1922:40).

The same year they began the Burnett Inlet cannery, George W. Sanborn 

figure 173. 

The cannery and 

warehouses of 

the Burnett Inlet 

Salmon Company 

were wrapped 

around the shore 

of Cannery 

Point, facing the 

photographer 

(looking southwest), 

with other buildings 

on pilings tucked 

into the cove 

at right. 

Burnett Inlet Cannery 

6 
 

148 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

and his son Frank joined several other 

investors to form the Sanborn Cutting Company and built a cannery at 

Kake (District of Columbia Court of 

Appeals 1918:673-679; MacDonald 

1949:33; Mobley 2009). The two companies were based in Astoria and for a 

time were contemporaries – both firms 

exhibited at the 1915 Panama-Pacific 

International Exposition in San Francisco (Wahlgreen Company 1915). By

1920 a large portion of the Astoria waterfront was taken up by the docks and 

warehouses of George W. Sanborn and 

Sons (Pacific Fisherman 1920:21), at a 

time when the elder Sanborn was one 

of the city’s three port commissioners 

(Special Correspondent 1918:142). 

The Burnett Inlet industrial plant 

was contained in four large buildings 

on pilings over the intertidal zone, 

figure 174. 

One of the few 

pre-war images 

of the Burnett 

Inlet cannery 

looks northwest at 

the cannery and 

warehouses on 

Cannery Point. 

University of Alaska Fairbanks 

Southeast cannery collection 

82.108.5 

facing east into the mouth of Burnett 

Inlet (Figure 174), while other buildings crept up the slope and back down 

again into the intertidal zone of a small 

cove to the north (Figure 173). Archival research did not turn up an historic 

map, but likely there were close to a 

couple dozen buildings counting individual cabins and bunk houses. After 

packing fish for six years, the Sanborn 

Cram Company sold their Burnett Inlet property in 1918 to the Burnett Inlet Packing Company, which operated 

the plant for the subsequent 12 years 

(MacDonald 1949:33). Polk’s AlaskaYukon Gazetteer for 1923-24 lists the 

company in its Wrangell pages with 

Adolph Hall as manager (R.U. Polk & 

Company 1923:35). In 1930 the Burnett Inlet Packing Company sold the 

cannery to Alaska Pacific Fisheries, 
 

 

 

 

149 

Burnett Inlet Cannery 

which may have operated it that season (Bower 1931:42). But the company thereafter shuttered the cannery,

and it didn’t pack fish again until 1937 

when the plant was sold to the Burnett 

Inlet Salmon Company. 

The revitalization was short-lived, 

however, because the industrial plant 

caught fire and burned on November 21, 1940 (The Wrangell Sentinel 

1940). The one-line operation 

had been packing fish for several seasons under the ownership of A.W. Breuger – a local Wrangell packer who had 

merged his operation with that 

of the Far West Alaska Company in 1935 (Paige et al.2009:15).

Three dwellings, the main cannery building, the store, and the 

warehouse were lost as well as 

considerable netting and gear.

But no boats were destroyed,

and the buildings were insured,

according to the newspaper 

account. 

The Burnett Inlet Salmon Company stayed in business, purchased a floating cannery – the 

Retriever – from the Red Salmon Packers Association, and 

packed fish on Lisianski Inlet 

at the north end of Chichagof 

Island (Bower 1942:25). Then 

the company moved its operations the following year to a 

facility at Elfin Cove at the 

north end of Chichagof Island 

(U.S. Senate 1941:209), and was in 

business at least until 1948 (Commerce 

Clearing House Inc. 1963:9822). But 

fish were never packed at the Burnett 

Inlet cannery after the 1940 fire. 

World War II and the 

Camp Experience 

The Burnett Inlet Salmon Company still owned the cannery when the 

I was born here in Wrangell, 83 years ago....I spent three 

years in Burnett [before the war]....My dad fished and my 

mother worked in the cannery....They had small houses 

about the size of this room here – they just had it divided 

into two rooms. The kitchen, the parlor, and everything 

else. They had a good stove, kitchen – they had everything 

that we needed. It was right during the Depression, too. 

My mother would make an egg-less, milk-less, butter-less 

cake, and it was good!...There was another bunkhouse, 

yes, for the non-Filipinos...right near the superintendent’s 

quarters. The [Ole P.] Nergaard family lived there, and he 

was the superintendent, if I remember right. There used 

to be a little store there, off the main deal. You could get 

whatever you wanted. I know I used to charge a nickel’s 

worth of hard candy, and boy you could get a lot for a nickel 

in them days. The Native workers lived in those little houses, 

and there was a boardwalk [6’ wide], and there must have 

been at least ten houses. And they usually had people in 

all of them. A gridiron [marine railway], they called it, was 

off the side, in between the cabins. No one lived there 

[Burnett Inlet cannery] during the winter, except the Aleuts. 

It must have been miserable for them. Not much there. 

There was good fishing along in there, though. Halibut, 

king salmon. Lot of deer. 

Richard Stokes 
 

 

 

 

 

150 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

federal government began searching 

for potential camp locations in earnest, and a deal was struck. In late 

August of 1942 when 111 Unalaska 

evacuees were moved from Wrangell 

Institute to the Burnett Inlet cannery,

they found eleven cabins and a large 

bunkhouse still standing (Kirtland 

and Coffin 1981:35). Though dilapidated, the original cannery buildings 

still retained their red paint (Mayberry 

1943:48). One board-and-battened 

cabin on pilings extending into the 

cove to the north illustrates the austerity of the accommodations (Figure 

175). Several of the building’s window 

penetrations seem to have no glazing.

Blankets hang to dry, and five people 

including two men, a woman, and 

two children appear to be hanging fish 

to dry. 

A row of small cabins was hastily constructed among the scorched machinery left from the cannery fire, facing 

the inlet (Figure 176). The example 

photographed in 1943 is a one-story 

frame cabin about 20’ long with a shallow gable roof and a gable facing the 

inlet. The north wall was perforated 

for a stove chimney, and a door was set 

in the east end of the north eave wall. 

Tarpaper covered the roofs (Mayberry 

1943:48). While many of the cannery 

buildings were elevated above the wet 

ground on piling foundations, the new 

cabins appear to have been set low to 

the ground. Plank boardwalks were 

rebuilt to connect the new buildings to 

the old (Figures 175-178). Mayberry 

(1943:48) described the camp layout 

as a “V” with two wings of buildings,

meeting at a low promontory on which 

figure 175. 

A cannery 

bunkhouse that 

survived the 1940 

fire became one of 

the housing units for 

Unalaska evacuees 

in 1942. 

Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association 

Gertrude Svarney collection 
 

 

 

 

151 

Burnett Inlet Cannery 

transferred from the Ward Lake camp 

in late spring of 1944 made matters 

a school and church were built (Figure 

177). The new cabins built along the 

shore over the burned cannery zone 

were one arm of the V with the apex at 

the north end of Cannery Point, and 

the second arm consisted of original 

cannery buildings on pilings inside the 

cove to the north (Figure 173). 

The church was built to facilitate worship in the Russian Orthodox faith and 

housed icons, vestments, candelabra, 

and other religious items selected for 

the purpose by elder Anfesia Shapniskoff, who otherwise buried the majority at Unalaska before the villagers were 

evacuated (Oleksa 1991:50; Kohlhoff

1995:124). It had a shallow-pitched 

gable roof (Mayberry (1943:48) described it as already sagging) and an 

enclosed gable-roofed entry (Figure 

177). The main block and the entry 

were each topped by a white Russian 

Orthodox cross. The entrance was approached by a plank boardwalk and 

stairs fitted with handrails. Mayberry 

(1943:48) refers to “four silver-toned 

bells” outside the church, possibly 

hung from the rack visible outside the 

entry (Figure 177). 

The Burnett Inlet cannery was the 

most isolated of the evacuation camps,

and exhibited the initial deficiencies 

found at the others: crowded quarters, a single outhouse, no bath house,

a limited water system, lack of transportation and medical care, and an 

unvarying diet (Kohlhoff 1995:123).

No doubt the arrival of 46 people 

figure 176. 

By spring of 1943 

new cabins (right) 

were built amid the 

burned cannery 

debris. View is 

south-southeast. 

Note boiler 

at center. 

From Mayberry (1943) 

figure 177. 

The displaced 

Unalaskans built a 

church at Burnett 

Inlet. Compare 

skyline angle at 

right with that in 

Figure 174. 

From Mayberry (1943) 

figure 178. 

The northernmost 

cannery buildings 

survived the 1940 

fire. Note engine on 

concrete pedestal, 

looking northnortheast in 1943. 

From Mayberry (1943) 
 

 

 

152 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

little better (Kohlhoff 1995:130). The 

Unalaskan Aleuts were not pleased 

with the accomodations and lodged 

complaints about the poor living conditions. Perhaps as a consequence of 

the isolation, Burnett Inlet turned out 

to have the lowest mortality of the 

relocation camps, though “at least four 

persons” died there (Kirtland and Coffin 1981:62). 

The couple employed by the BIA 

at Unalaska – Mr. and Mrs. Elmer 

Long – became the federal on-site 

representatives at Burnett Inlet (Mayberry 1943:48-49).

Mrs. Long was the schoolteacher and – with a new 

school building constructed at 

the camp – 36 Unalaska students were taught there rather 

than sent to the Wrangell Institute. Mr. Long became 

“general manager, construction foreman, storekeeper and 

‘complaint clerk’” (Mayberry 

1943:49). A number of adult 

Aleuts left the camp to take 

jobs in Wrangell, Ketchikan,

and elsewhere, as the evacuees were expected to pay for 

the food and other wares supplied to them at the camp. In 

1943 when Mayberry visited 

the camp the community had 

direct access to only one boat 

– a “dory with an inboard motor” – controlled by Mr. Long 

(Mayberry 1943:49). The Unalaskans endured Burnett Inlet 

until mid-April of 1945, when 

the USAT David W. Branch – 

freshly loaded with the Ward 

Lake evacuees – stopped to 

pick them up on the way 

to Killisnoo. 

The Aleut village [at Burnett Inlet] is built in a V-shape. The 

church and schoolhouse occupy the place of honor, for they 

have been built at the top of the walk that leads from the 

float where the boats are tied. They form the apex of the 

angle formed by the two wings of the village. Some of the 

houses are the red cannery buildings left standing when 

the great fire destroyed the cannery at Burnett Inlet a few 

years ago. Other houses are new structures of rough board 

and tar-paper roofs, erected for the shelter of the refugees. 

Every house is on “Front Street” and commands a view of 

the lovely little inlet....The houses, on the whole, are warm 

and comfortable. There are 21...[extended] families. 

On the beach lies many tons of blackened and rusted scrap 

iron – the residue of the burned cannery....Supplies and mail 

are brought in from Wrangell and Ketchikan....A number 

have left the colony and accepted work in government 

defense projects. Some have moved to nearby towns and 

have fitted themselves into the industries there.... 

The colony at Burnett has no doctor or trained nurse. Mrs. 

Alice Hope, wife of the postmaster at Unalaska, is an 

excellent practical nurse and it is upon her that the colonists 

depend in case of sickness. In case of emergency, plane 

service is available from Ketchikan, although there is no 

means of communication save by boat...early in April [of 

1943]...books, desks and other equipment arrived and Mrs. 

Long had begun with 36 pupils and all grades. 

Mayberry (1943:48-49) 
 

153 

Burnett Inlet Cannery 

Current Condition 

From the air the Burnett Inlet cannery 

is practically invisible – no building ruins are evident, and only a patch of second-growth alder hints at the former 

facility (Figures 173, 179). Except for 

that portion in the intertidal zone, the 

site is completely vegetated in mostly 

second-growth spruce, hemlock, and 

red cedar, and the aforementioned alder. Here and there stumps up to five 

feet in diameter sport notches for a 

springboard – the short plank wedged 

into the tree for the sawyer to stand on 

(Figure 180). One old-growth red cedar left standing has two small wood 

cleats nailed to its trunk to create a ladder (Figure 181), with a large ferrous 

staple affixed 20’ above ground surface,

suggesting the tree may once have had 

a radio antenna attached to it. 

Post-War Development 

Unlike the Funter Bay properties or 

Killisnoo, the land and water over 

which the Burnett Inlet cannery 

was built were never patented – a 

process by which federal property 

can be transferred to private hands – 

and eventually it reverted back to the 

U.S. Forest Service. The agency took 

note of the site in the 1970s (Plaskett 

1977), and in 1999 USFS archaeologists began mapping it (Smith 2003). 

The circumstances of the property after World War II are one of neglect 

and decay, as the Burnett Inlet cannery 

gradually entered the archaeological 

record. In 1977 there were at least 

five buildings left standing (Plaskett 

1977:14); 25 years later there were 

none (Smith 2003). 

figure 179. 

Cannery Point 

at the mouth of 

Burnett Inlet, here 

looking southeast, 

cradles a small 

sheltered cove 

(right). Note 

absence of visible 

ruins, and alder 

patch at left. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

154 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

(2003) mapping effort are also reported here. A shell deposit described 

by Smith (2003) but not confirmed as 

a cultural midden was not found in 

2008. Graves have never been identified at the site, nor were they found 

mentioned in archival sources. 

BuILDINg RuINS 

Eleven of the 28 features recorded by 

USFS are building ruins, one is a plank 

platform, and one is a doghouse. The 

plank platform (Feature 23) was described as of 2”x6” construction and 

measuring about 35’x20’, located on 

the east side of Cannery Point where 

the cannery buildings stood before the 

1940 fire. The 2008 reconnaissance 

found a considerably smaller plank 

platform there unlike Smith’s (2003)

photograph of Feature 23. The mosscovered plank platform observed just 

A map of the Burnett Inlet cannery 

site assembled by USFS archaeologist Jane Smith in 2003 guided the 

2008 reconnaissance (Figure 182). The 

team, including Wrangell resident and 

historian Patricia Roppel, walked the 

beach from the protected cove counterclockwise to an indentation on the 

south side of Cannery Point (off the 

USFS map), and also walked inland 

across the narrow rocky ridge separating the cove from the Inlet. Standing 

buildings are no longer found at the 

Burnett Inlet cannery, and most of the 

evidence has entered the archaeological record. Observed were most of the 

intertidal piling clusters, building ruins, stationary features, and large artifact scatters described by Smith (2003),

and her 28 feature numbers have been 

retained (Table 1). Other ruins and 

artifacts discovered outside Smith’s 

left 

figure 180. 

Becky Saleeby 

stands next to 

a large stump 

with spring-board 

notches. 

rigHt 

figure 181. 

A large 

old-growth red 

cedar spared 

by cannery 

development, 

50’ south of 

Feature 23, had 

wood cleats for 

climbing the trunk. 
 

 

 

 

 

155 

Burnett Inlet Cannery 

inside the treeline in 2008 was about 

10’x12’, or about the size of a wall tent 

(Figure 183), and had the appearance 

of a temporary sportsman’s camp a few 

decades old at most. The doghouse 

(Feature 26) could be considered the 

only standing building at the Funter 

Bay cannery (Figure 184), and it may 

postdate the Aleut occupation. 

Of the 11 building ruins mapped in 

2003, four were reconfirmed in 2008: 

Features 2, 11, 19, and 24. Feature 2 

is a collapsed wood frame building 

straddling the treeline, with half of the 

ruin in the intertidal zone and half in 

the uplands (Figure 182). Within the 

pile of lumber are 1”x8”, 2”x8”, and 

4”x12” planks, as well as logs ranging 

from 8” to 14” in diameter. The roof 

had a gable facing out into the cove,

and the northwest half of the roof has 

fallen in place to cap the ruin (Figure 

185). Bits of tarpaper still adhere to 

the roof boards. This building ruin 

and the associated pilings (Feature 1) 

may represent the bunkhouse depicted 

in a wartime photograph contributed 

by Gertrude Svarney (Figure 175). A 

building (one of two) appears at this 

location on the USGS topographic 

map for the locality, based on aerial 

photography decades old. 

figure 182. 

A 2003 map of 

the Burnett Inlet 

cannery site 

(PET-136) 

assembled by 

USFS archaeologist 

Jane Smith was 

used to prepare 

this illustration. 

Feature numbers 

are described in 

Table 1. 
156 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

once stood (Figure 178), but it didn’t 

clearly represent that building. Some 

of the material had drifted in, and no 

piling stubs were visible (Figure 186).

Smith (2003) observed a belt-driven 

In 2008 a collection of round and 

square timbers and other boards (Feature 11) at the high tide mark was 

found near the north end of the point 

where a wartime cannery building 

figure 183. 

A moss-covered 

rectangle of 2”x6” 

planks (possibly 

Smith’s (2003) 

Feature 23) postdates the 1940 

cannery fire and 

appears to be a 

tent platform no 

more than a few 

decades old. 

figure 184. 

The most intact 

building at the 

Burnett Inlet 

cannery is a 

doghouse. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Burnett Inlet Cannery 

Feature Description 

01 Fifteen pilings on the SW end of the cove; 21x11.7 m. 

02 Collapsed plank structure on beach, S end partially in woods; 10.6x7.7 m. 

03 Twenty-two pilings on beach; 22.2x12.9 m. 

04 Possible raft at tree line, dimensional beams bound by iron staves, disarticulated; 4x2.9 m. 

05 Outhouse/trash pits, three pits total, one filled with trash; 8.9x6.6 m total area. Some 

dimensional lumber is present. Two pits are 1x1 m and other is 1.5x2 m. 

06 One piling on beach. 

07 Twenty-nine pilings on beach; 37x9.2 m. 

08 Collapsed plank-lined pit, corrugated metal (roofing?); 1.4x2.5 m. 

09 Plank structure with corrugated metal roof, partially intact but fallen over. Roof is 1.75x1.75 m. 

10 Iron vat set in cemented rock foundation on rocky point that marks cove entrance. Space 

for fire below vat (rendering?), dimensional planks associated, platform/dock? Tar in area; 

vat and foundation 3.2 m L x 1.8 m W x 1.4 m H. 

11 Beam and timber structure on pilings; 10.4x4.8 m. Located on rock outcrop beach. A lot 

of rotten net on top plus some hardware that rotates belts (hauling gear?), possible net 

shed. Could have been floating at one time. 

12 Collapsed plank structure with a lot of tar paper inside tree line above bedrock beach, 

dimensions undetermined. Area dimensions 4.5 x 2.5 m. 

13 Collapsed plank (2 by 4) and beam structure at the tree line above bedrock beach; 3x12 m. 

14 Iron cannery hardware mounted on cement piling at tree line, belt drive system, possible 

water pump; 4 m H, 2.8x1.2 m across base. 

15 Iron cannery “tin man” boiler inside tree line, steam driven; 5.7x1.2 m. 

16 Eleven pilings on beach; 13.7x6 m. 

17 Three pilings on beach; 13.4 m L. 

18 Collapsed plank and 2 by 4 structure in woods; 7.5x3.9 m. 

19 Collapsed plank rack shack in woods, planks painted red, about 15 can racks in structure; 

6.5x4.3 m. 

20 Collapsed framed structure in woods; 7x5.8 m. Peak rafters visible, tar paper, bed frames. 

21 Rectangular pit in woods, moss lined; .4 m deep, 2x1.3 m. 

22 Mostly collapsed circular wood tank on pilings in woods, rectangular base; 7x5.7 m. Metal 

hoops on top, oil spill in area. 

23 Plank and 2 by 6 platform just inside tree line; 10.3x6.2 m. 

24 Painted tongue and groove sided structure in woods; 6.8x6.2 m. Distinguishable framed 

window, most intact structure. 

25 Wood water tank supported by pilings on second bench above majority of features, 

wooden pipe remains lead downhill to other structures. 

26 Intact plank dog house. 

27 Collapsed plank dwelling on second bench; 10x8 m. 

28 Collapsed plank structure on third bench just below top ridge of point (probably dwelling), 

6.5x3 m. 

table 1. 

Features recorded 

by USFS 

archaeologists at 

the Burnett Inlet 

cannery site in 

1999, 2002, and 

2003, from Smith 

(2003). 

157 
 

 

158 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

figure 186. 

Feature 11 is a 

collection of round 

and square timbers 

on the beach where 

the central building 

in Figure 178 would 

have been, though 

at least some of the 

material has drifted 

in (note shackle 

around log left 

of center). 

figure 185. 

Feature 2 is a 

building ruin at 

the treeline on 

the shore of the 

protected cove 

(here looking 

northeast), 

counter-clockwise 

from Cannery Point. 

power train amid the debris, but this 

was not evident in 2008. Though pilings were observed by the USFS at this 

locale, they suggested that the building they recorded could have been on 

floats (Table 1). 

Red paint could still be seen in 2003 

on the frame members of Feature 19 

– a building collapsed upon about 15 

ferrous racks used to hold cans in the 

cannery’s retorts. The feature was evident in 2008 (Figure 187), though the 
 

 

 

159 

Burnett Inlet Cannery 

moss-covered planks formed a rectangle measuring about 30’x20’. 

INTERTIDAL PILINgS 

The USFS gave feature numbers (Features 1, 3, 6, 7, 16, and 17) to six sets 

of pilings on the beach, ranging from 

one isolated example to a group of 29 

(Table 1). The larger samples were 

plotted schematically on the USFS 

map (Figure 182). The pilings show 

up either as vertical remnants protruding from the intertidal zone, or as dark 

organic circles eroded flush with the 

tidal floor. Over time wave action and 

decay create fewer of the former and 

more of the latter, with shifts in erosion and sedimentation further altering their visible pattern from year to 

year. Storms and salvagers may remove 

pilings completely, further changing 

the patterns and their interpretation. 

paint was indiscernible. Other large 

metal items including several 55-gallon drums were nearby. 

The fourth building ruin detected in 

2008 was Feature 24 at the south end 

of the shore facing Burnett Inlet (Figure 182), described by Smith (2003) 

as about 22’x20’. USFS investigations documented tongue-and-groove 

siding and a window frame, and considered it to be the site’s most intact 

building at that time (Table 1). Smith 

(2003) detected paint of an undetermined color on the siding. In 2008 

Feature 24 barely protrudes above the 

forest floor more than any other building ruin (Figure 188). 

Investigations in 2008 turned up

a building ruin not plotted on the 

USFS map (Figure 182), just north 

of the doghouse (Feature 26), where 

figure 187. 

Feature 19 is a 

wood frame building 

collapsed around 

metal artifacts 

including strap-steel 

trays used to hold 

cans for insertion 

into the retorts. 
 

 

 

160 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

Features 16 and 17, for example,

totaling 14 pilings (Figure 182), were 

all that could be seen in 2003 where 

historic photography (Figure 174) 

shows industrial buildings supported 

by hundreds of pilings. 

The 2008 reconnaissance relocated 

Smith’s (2003) four largest piling 

groups. Because the shoreline setting 

of the Aleut bunkhouse in Figure 175 

was comparable to that behind 15 pilings and a collapsed building (Features 

1 and 2) on the southwest side of the 

cove (Figure 189), the pilings were 

mapped to determine if the pattern 

matched the archival photograph. A 

total of 54 pilings were found in contrast to the 15 tallied a decade earlier (Figure 190). Most of the pilings

were on 10’ centers, with two instances 

of double pilings and two occasions 

of a supplemental piling centered at 

diagonal intersections. Despite the 

mapping effort, the pilings didn’t particularly match those of the wartime 

bunkhouse, so correlation of the feature with the building in Figure 175 is 

unconfirmed. 

Along the east shore of the cove is another set of intertidal pilings, designated Feature 3. Smith (2003) counted 22 

pilings in three rows (Figure 182). The 

upper row consists of three tall pilings,

while the two lower rows contain more 

pilings uniformly cut flat 20” above 

the beach gravel (Figure 191). USFS 

measured the feature as a 72’x42’ rectangle. The feature appears to be a grid 

for stranding boats at high tide so that 

hull work can be performed. 

figure 188. 

Patricia Roppel 

and Becky Saleeby 

inspect the 

collapsed building 

designated as 

Feature 24. 
161 

Burnett Inlet Cannery 

figure 189. 

Along the southwest 

shore of the cove 

are intertidal piling 

stubs (Feature 1, 

center) and a 

building ruin 

(Feature 2, left 

of center). This is 

possibly the site 

of the building in 

Figure 175. 

figure 190. 

Together, Features 

1 and 2 in 2008 

displayed 54 piling 

stubs, compared to 

the earlier count of 

15 (Smith 2003). 

Feature 7 is a collection of 29 piling 

remnants in three rows just inside 

the cove from cannery point, spanning an area of about 120’x30’ (Figure 

192). Just south at the treeline USFS 

plotted a single piling as Feature 6 

(Figure  182), but it was not located 

in 2008. 
 

162 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

A collection of 11 intertidal pilings 

(USFS’s schematic map shows seven) 

on the east side of Cannery Point is 

Feature 16 (Figure 193), and a small 

group of three pilings 50’ further south 

is Feature 17. This area is part of the 

industrial complex that burned in 1940 

(Figure 174), and large rusty pieces of 

machinery litter the intertidal zone 

(see Figure 199). Most of the many 

pilings that must have supported the 

large buildings were not evident. 

figure 192. 

Feature 7 is a 

collection of 29 

piling remnants 

in three rows just 

inside the cove 

from Cannery Point, 

spanning a 

120’x30’ area. 

figure 191. 

Along the southeast 

side of the cove are 

three rows of pilings 

(Feature 3) with the 

two lower rows cut 

20”above the gravel 

and three taller 

pilings forming the 

upper row – likely 

remains of a grid 

used to elevate 

boats at high tide so 

that hull work could 

be performed. 
 

163 

Burnett Inlet Cannery 

field notes that the place “reeks of oil,”

and the shore location (Figure 182) is 

typical of historic cannery fuel tank 

placement (see the Funter Bay cannery). Feature 25 is another woodstave tank on a rotten wood platform,

similar in appearance to the first but 

elevated on the rocky ridge forming 

Cannery Point. Smith (2003) noted 

wood-stave pipe leading from the tank 

to various building ruins and consequently judged it to be a water tank.

The rotten staves, compression hoops,

and other structural elements of Feature 25 (Figure 194) are more visible 

than those of Feature 22. 

Three stationary pieces of equipment 

were recognized in 2003 and again 

in 2008: a boiler, an engine, and a vat.

The boiler (Feature 15) is of the tubular type and is devoid of identifying 

OTHER FEATuRES 

Besides the buildings and pilings, the 

USFS team recorded pits, tanks, and 

stationary equipment (Smith 2003).

Three unlined pits (Feature 5), another lined with planks and associated with corrugated metal (Feature 

8), and a single unlined rectangular pit 

(Feature 21) were all surmised to be 

outhouse features in 2003; none were 

seen in 2008. 

The ruins of two wood-stave tanks 

remain at Cannery Point. Feature 22 

is a pile of rotten wood including pilings and other members of an 18’x22’

platform, with the collapsed staves of 

a tank that must have been about 18’ 

in diameter. In 2008 the feature was 

barely discernible under a thick cover of moss and alder growth. Smith 

(2003) observed oil and said in her 

figure 193. 

The shore on 

the east side of 

Cannery Point – 

home to the 

cannery’s extensive 

industrial complex 

until the 1940 fire – 

now displays only 

a few pilings along 

with rusty metal 

machinery 

(Feature 16 is 

at right). 
 

 

 

 

164 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

figure 195. 

A large oil-fired 

boiler (Feature 15) 

remains in its 

wartime position 

just inside the 

treeline where the 

1940 cannery fire 

dropped it through 

a burned floor 

(Figure 176). 

figure 194. 

Feature 25 is the 

ruin of a wood-stave 

tank – probably a 

water tank – similar 

to the cannery’s 

wood-stave fuel 

tank (Feature 22). 

markings (Figure 195). The remains of 

the firebox indicate an oil-fired system 

rather than wood- or coal-fired. The 

foundation is not visible and the apparatus has sunk unevenly into the forest 

floor. The boiler is in its original location judging from a wartime photograph (Figure 176). 

The remains of at least three engines 

were observed at Cannery Point but 

only one – Feature 14 – is stationary.

That feature is a pyramidal concrete 

pedestal surmounted by a large engine oriented so the drive belt would 

have run perpendicular to shore (Figure 196). The feature (a survivor of 
 

 

 

165 

Burnett Inlet Cannery 

the 1940 cannery fire) shows in a 1943 

photograph (Figure 178). 

The third stationary feature (Feature 

10) is a ferrous vat set in a stone masonry vault at the high tide mark on 

the very north end of Cannery Point 

(Figure 182). It measures about 10’x6’ 

by 41⁄2’ high, and the masonry at the 

north end has a cavity containing 

charcoal and reddened rock (Figure 

197). Globs of nearby tar suggest the 

vat was used to heat and liquefy tar so 

that fishing nets could be dipped into 

it, to preserve the cotton web. Boxes 

for dipping seine nets into heated tar 

were a typical feature at early canneries 

(Mobley 1999:62-63), though Richard 

Stokes – who worked at the Burnett 

Inlet cannery before the 1940 fire, insisted the seiners didn’t tar their nets to 

preserve them but instead hosed them 

with “blue stone” (copper sulfite). 

ARTIFACT SCATTERS 

The 2003 map plotted without feature 

numbers three scatters of large artifacts 

inside the treeline: a dozen 55-gallon 

metal drums, another group of fewer 

drums, and – in between – a pile of 

bricks (Figure 182). The smaller collection of drums was noticed in 2008, 

just north of Feature 18, but the other 

two groups of artifacts were not. 

Conspicuous during low tide in 2008 

were large metal artifacts along the 

east shore of Cannery Point, where 

the industrial buildings were prior 

to the 1940 fire (Figures 174, 193).

Between 20 and 30 specimens are 

strewn in the intertidal zone between 

Feature 14 and Feature 17, including 

parts of a lathe (Figure 198), engines 

(Figures 199-200), and other machines 

(Figure 201). Seaweed and barnacles 

left 

figure 196. 

A concrete pedestal 

at the high tide line 

supports a large 

engine (Feature 14) 

– another survivor 

of the 1940 fire 

(Figure 178). 

rigHt 

figure 197. 

At the north end of 

Cannery Point is a 

metal vat encased 

in rock masonry, 

probably to dip 

seine nets in hot tar 

to preserve them. 
166 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

figure 199. 

Large metal 

machine pieces lie 

in the intertidal zone 

where the cannery’s 

industrial buildings 

burned in 1940. 

figure 198. 

One of many pieces 

of machinery in 

the intertidal zone 

on the east side of 

Cannery Point is 

a lathe. 

cover most specimens, making the 

burned, corroded, and wave-battered 

artifacts difficult to identify. 

Summary 

The Burnett Inlet cannery has had 

no standing buildings for a decade 

(doghouse excepted) and is now an archaeological site on Tongass National 

Forest land. Many of the features 

plotted in 2003 (Smith 2003) were 

observed in 2008, including building 

ruins, intertidal pilings, miscellaneous 

features and stationary equipment, and 
167 

Burnett Inlet Cannery 

BottoM 

figure 201. 

Barnacles obscure 

many of the 

intertidal artifacts. 

toP 

figure 200. 

Part of an engine 

lies in the beach 

gravel just at 

treeline, on the 

east side of 

Cannery Point. 
 

 

 

 

168 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

that probably fell through the decking of the cannery’s industrial buildings during the 1940 fire. Some of it is 

basic machine shop equipment, some 

is from the cannery’s power train, and 

some is fish-processing equipment.

Inside the treeline is a small collection 

of 55-gallon metal drums, but another 

such group and a scatter of red bricks 

noted in 2003 were not seen in 2008. 

Few small artifacts such as glass or ceramic shards were noted, though bits 

of melted metal from the 1940 cannery fire were observed in the intertidal zone. A small indentation in the 

shore cliff on the south side of Cannery Point was found to have a separate suite of features including at least 

one cabin ruin and domestic debris. 

Due to the lack of standing 

buildings the Burnett Inlet 

cannery has shifted from an 

architectural property into an 

archaeological site. The site’s 

subtle plank and metal features 

sinking into the earth, and its 

intertidal zone strewn with 

rusty barnacle-clad junk and 

piling stubs, are both typical 

of cannery ruins in southeast 

Alaska. No evidence was found 

at the Burnett Inlet cannery 

site that particularly reflects 

the Aleut relocation experience during 

World War II. 

artifact scatters. Four of the 11 buildings mapped in 2003 were found, and 

all were fast descending into the forest floor. Four large piling groups in 

the intertidal zone were relocated, and 

one was mapped in an (inconclusive) 

attempt to match it with an Aleut-occupied wartime bunkhouse depicted in 

a photograph. 

Other features include the remains 

of a wood-stave water tank on pilings 

in the forest, and another similar one 

closer to shore used for oil. Small depressions observed in 2003 that could 

have been outhouse holes were not 

seen in 2008. Stationary equipment 

consisted of a boiler, a large engine on 

a concrete pedestal, and a masonryenclosed metal vat probably used to 

soak nets. 

The intertidal zone facing the inlet is 

strewn with large pieces of machinery 

They blue-stoned [the nets]. It preserved the nets. They 

didn’t tar it. They used bluestone. The gillnetters here 

used blue-stone, too. It looked like blue rocks. They just 

throw it in there and the water dissolves [it]. Each night 

when we’d come in from fishing we’d have to get a sack, 

and we’d take and put a hose in the sack and we’d walk 

all over the seine and the blue stone would go through it. 

It kept it from rotting. Because everything was cotton in 

them days. 

Richard Stokes 
 

 

 

 

169 

Ward Lake CCC Camp 

The Ward Lake CCC camp – a 

federal work camp north of Ketchikan 

– became the wartime home for 

Aleuts from Akutan, Biorka, Kashega,

Makushin, and Nikolski. Ketchikan 

is the southernmost town in southeast Alaska, in the heart of Alaska’s 

temperate rain forest. The average 

annual rainfall of 236 inches grows 

huge spruce, hemlock, and red and yellow cedar trees (U.S. Department of 

Commerce 1978:54), creating a deeply 

shaded understory (Figure 202). Ten 

miles northwest of Ketchikan along 

the shore of Revillagigedo Island is 

Ward Cove, fed by Ward Creek, which 

drains Ward Lake (Figure 203). Near 

the southeast shore of the lake, at the 

base of a mountain where the sun 

rarely shines, is the Ward Lake CCC 

camp (Figure 204). 

Early Years 

Ward Cove saw commercial activity 

as early as 1883-84 with the establishment of a saltery (Orth 1967:1028).

Then, in 1912 – the same year the Burnett Inlet cannery was built, a cannery 

was built at Ward Cove (MacDonald 

1949:33). In the late 1910s Eugene 

Wacker claimed a homestead between 

Ward Cove and Ward Lake, and his 

figure 202. 

The Ward Lake 

CCC camp is now 

the site of a USFS 

picnic area, here 

viewed to the 

southwest. Note 

moss-covered 

concrete pedestal 

(2) left of center. 

Pedestal 1 is 

directly behind it, 

past the gate 

and left of the 

automobile. 

Ward Lake CCC Camp 

7 
170 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

160 acres became known as Wacker 

– later absorbed by the community

of Ward Cove (Orth 1967:1028).

In 1924 a coastal road known as the 

Tongass Highway was completed between Ketchikan and Ward Cove, 

and in that year Eugene Wacker 

0 2 4 8 12

Miles

0 2 4 6 12

Kilometers

Projection NAD 1983 UTM Zone 8N 

Base image from 60 Meter NED SE Alaska Elevation Relief Model 

compiled by NPS Alaska Regional Office, 2003. 

National Park Service 2012 

C L A R E N C E 

S T R A I T 

P o r t C h e s t e r 

Carroll Inlet 

N I C H 

O

L S PA

S

S A G E 

W a r d C o v e 

B l a n k I n l e t 

B 

E 

H 

M 

C 

A N A L 

George Inlet 

(Akutan, Biorka*, Kashega*, 

Makushin*, Nikolski)

*Relocated to Burnett Inlet Spring 1944

Ward Lake 

(Akutan, Biorka*, Kashega*, 

Makushin*, Nikolski) 

*Relocated to Burnett Inlet Spring 1944 

Ketchikan 

Metlakatla 

GGRRAAVVIINNAA 

IISSLLAANND D

ANNETTE

ANNETTE ISLAND ISLAND 

REVILLAGIGEDO

REVILLAGIGEDO ISLAND ISLAND 

B o s t w i c k I n l e t 

T O N G A S S 

N A R R O W S 

H e r r i n g B a y 

C l o v e r P a s s a g e 

figure 203. 

Villagers from 

Akutan, Biorka, 

Kashega, Makushin, 

and Nikolski were 

interned at a CCC 

camp at Ward Lake, 

ten miles northwest 

of Ketchikan by 

road. Some men 

subsequently found 

employment at 

a military airfield 

under construction 

near the 

Tsimshian village 

of Metlakatla, on 

Annette Island. 

began a commercial bus service between the two points (Ostlund 1980).

This coincided with new federal policies supporting recreational use of 

public forests. Responding to the

Ketchikan Women’s Club’s two new 

picnic areas built near the mouth of 
 

 

171 

Ward Lake CCC Camp 

ment, vocational training and educational opportunities for unemployed 

youth, to enable young men enrolled 

in the CCC to provide aid for their 

dependent families, and to advance a 

nationwide conservation program on 

forest, park, and farm lands” (Federal 

Security Agency 1940:1). By 1937 the

CCC had over 1,000 men working in 

southeast Alaska to address “practically every human need in the territory,

including airstrips, housing, fire and 

flood control, demolition, communications, sanitation, wells, cabins, trails, 

roads, bridges, shooting ranges, fences,

floats and docks, dams, hatcheries, 

Ward Creek in 1925, and a Territorial 

Fisheries Department’s trail cut that 

same year, USFS during the following 

two years extended the trail around the 

lake and stationed two rowboats for 

public use (Ketchikan Museum 2008). 

A decade later, public recreational facilities (Figure 205), workshops (Figure 206), and a residential camp were 

built at Ward Lake by the Civilian 

Conservation Corps (CCC) through 

the U.S. Forest Service (Rakestraw 

1981:95-108). The CCC was created 

in 1933 under Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 

administration “to furnish employfigure 204. 

A 1935 map of 

Ward Lake shows 

the road crossing 

the Wacker 

homestead, passing 

between the CCC 

shop and garage, 

then immediately 

entering the 

residential area of 

the camp. The road 

continued across 

the creek and on 

to a recreational 

beach (labeled Play 

Ground) near the 

upper center. 

Ketchikan Museum 
 

 

172 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

totem pole restoration, and archaeology” (Mobley 1992:4). 

Six small bunkhouses were completed 

at Ward Lake in 1935, soon followed 

by more buildings, creating a self-contained camp with the capacity for 65 

men (Ketchikan Museum 2008). The 

bunkhouses were narrow cabins measuring 10’x20’, set on low piling foundations, with shallow rounded roofs. 

The standardized design was also used 

for other functions: a foreman’s cabin, cook’s storeroom, washroom, and 

figure 205. 

The Ward Lake 

picnic area was a 

popular destination 

in the late 1930s. 

Ketchikan Museum 99.2.1.4 

figure 206. 

Just before 

reaching the CCC 

camp the Ward 

Lake Road traveled 

between the CCC 

shop (left) and 

garage (right), here 

looking northeast 

in 1936. 

Ketchikan Museum 
 

 

 

173 

Ward Lake CCC Camp 

show some sheathed with board-andbatten siding (Figure 209). 

Over the winter of 1940-41 and into 

the summer of 1941 the Ward Lake 

camp “served as one of the staging

areas for the CCC and engineer

troops, their one hundred trucks, five

thousand tons of cargo, and one hundred prefabricated houses bound for

Annette Island,” where a large airfield was being built as part of a chain

of military aviation bases along the

Pacific Coast (Sorensen 1995:239).

For a short time during the winter of 

laundry (Figure 207). The modular 

design allowed construction of a generator shed half the size of the cabins 

(Figure 208). One of the buildings

was used as a kitchen, with two more 

appended at a right angle as mess halls.

The identical buildings were aligned 

20’ apart in two rows with their gable 

ends facing each other across a 20’­

wide street. Other buildings on the 

plan include a large recreation hall, a 

large bunkhouse (18’x52’), coal shed,

bake shop, meat house, cook’s room, 

and toilet. These were frame buildings 

with gable roofs; archival photographs 

figure 207. 

A 1935 blueprint 

of the CCC camp, 

filed with USFS 

in Ketchikan, 

conforms to the 

layout in archival 

photographs. The 

red overdrawing 

shows proposed 

building orientations 

that were not built; 

the meaning of the 

yellow overlay is 

unknown. 

Ketchikan Museum U.S. Forest 

Service collection 
 

174 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

1941-42 the CCC camp was unoccupied, then in late spring it was rehabilitated for housing and training the first

class of “crash-boat” crews (Figure 210),

the units deployed along Alaska’s 

coasts to rescue downed airmen (Bartholomew 1995:131). By Congressional decree the CCC ceased to exist in 

the autumn of 1942, and the U.S. Forest Service turned over all their equipment and supplies to the U.S. Army 

(Gruening 1942:5). The Army unit then

vacated the Ward Lake CCC camp. 

World War II and the Camp 

Experience 

Bartholomew (1995:131) says his 

arriving military unit cleaned up the 

CCC camp buildings, which had been 

vacant less than a year, and lived in 

them until ordered to vacate so Aleut 

evacuees could move in. At that time 

figure 208. 

The CCC camp 

had its own 

electrical system 

powered by a diesel 

generator housed 

in a cabin modified 

with vents and an 

exhaust stack. 

Ketchikan Museum 

figure 209. 

The CCC cabins 

at Ward Lake 

consisted of more 

than a dozen 

simple archedroof buildings in 

two parallel rows, 

among several 

larger gable-roofed 

buildings. At left 

is the recreation 

hall; behind it is the 

gable roof of the 

large bunkhouse, 

and right of center 

is the dry room 

(with smoke from 

chimney). At far 

back left of center 

is the gable roof of 

a building plotted 

on neither the 1935 

map (Figure 204) 

or 1935 plan 

(Figure 207). 

Ketchikan Museum U.S. Forest 

Service collection 
 

 

175 

Ward Lake CCC Camp 

the original 15-building CCC camp was intact, and in a photograph

labeled June of 1942 

all visible buildings are

in their original locations

(Figure 210). Villagers

testifying in 1981 mentioned nine small cabins 

and three large buildings, approximating the

original camp configuration. A timeline prepared

by the Ketchikan Museum (2008) states that

the CCC camp was closed

in April of 1942, conflicting with the June date

attributed to Figure  210,

but either way the archival

record suggests that the

facility was intact and 

functional when it 

was turned over to the 

evacuees. 

figure 210. 

Soldiers with the 

U.S. Army Air 

Corps Marine 

Rescue Squadron 

clown behind their 

officer’s back upon 

completion of 

semaphore training 

at the Ward Lake 

CCC camp in June, 

1942. The gableroofed recreation 

hall can be seen 

at the end of the 

right row in this 

view north. 

Ketchikan Museum 99.2.15.18 

In December 1940, Major Everett S. Davis, Commanding Officer, 

Elmendorf Air Base, saw the success the Royal Air Force was 

having in the English Channel with fast heavy-duty small boats as 

they recovered downed air crews and returned them to fly again. 

Lieutenant Gordon R. Donley...was dispatched to Ketchikan, 

Alaska, in December 1941, where the Coast Guard had agreed 

to assist in training small-boat crews....The official name of our 

organization became the “Air Corps Marine Rescue Service,” 

later changed to the “924th QM Boat Sqdn (Avn),” and then to the 

“Tenth Emergency Rescue Boat Squadron.”...Donley was able to 

rent the Filipino bunkhouse (vacant because it was wintertime) 

from the New England Fish Company salmon cannery for use as 

a barracks. Many of his first recruits came from the local Civilian 

Conservation Corps organization that had been disbanded when 

the war started. I was number six to enlist....We then moved 

to the abandoned CCC Camp at Ward Lake...which, with just a 

little cleanup, was both usable and somewhat isolated from the 

community. That became the “boot camp” for our army training 

as well as our classroom for the navigation, signaling, and smallboat handling classes....As our CCC Camp looked like a good 

place to deposit some of those [Aleut] families, we again had to 

move, this time to the new Annette Island Army Air Field. 

Ralph M. Bartholomew (1995:131) 
 

 

 

176 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

original cabins where, in 1935, planners had directed that “the brush in 

this area is to be preserved as a screen”

(Figure 207). None of the cabins had 

running water, and one large privy 

served the entire community (Kohlhoff 1995:105, 109). 

The experience of the Ward Lake 

evacuees differed from that of the others because their camp was in easy

reach of a major coastal town. With 

a long history as Alaska’s southernmost port of entry and a major Coast 

Guard base automatically under Navy 

jurisdiction during wartime (Mobley 1995), Ketchikan was a bustling 

maritime community during World 

War II. Kohlhoff (1995:105) asserts 

But when the 163 Aleut evacuees arrived at Ward Lake they found a 

compound designed for a group less 

than half their number. Kohlhoff 

(1995:103-104) says the “abandoned...

camp consisted of a mess hall, a ‘toiletlavatory and urinal building,...two 

bunk houses and two cabins,’”in which 

“Aleuts had ‘to sleep...on the floor in 

their bedrolls and blankets’” or “had to 

stay in tents brought from Wrangell.”

Construction began immediately on 

16 new cabins using lumber shipped 

from Wrangell to Ketchikan on the 

same barge with the evacuees (Figure 

211). Some of the new buildings were 

aligned to create a row parallel to the 

original cabins (Figure 212). These 

were probably located just west of the 

figure 211. 

Unlike the 

prefabricated CCC 

buildings with their 

arched roofs, cabins 

built by the villagers 

had shallowpitched roofs and 

unstandardized 

door, window, 

and porch 

arrangements. 

Mike and George 

Bezezekoff (left and 

center) and other 

boys pose with a 

wheelbarrow of 

canned food. 

Alaska State Library Butler/Dale 

collection PCA 306-1047 
 

 

177 

Ward Lake CCC Camp 

that “no regular transportation 

into the city was available to 

the Aleuts,” but Eugene Wacker 

had long provided commercial 

bus service from Ward Cove 

to Ketchikan (Figure 213), and 

thus the new arrivals had access to employment, merchandise, and entertainment to be 

found in the larger town. Day 

jobs could be had – something 

almost impossible to get at other relocation camps, and some 

men got construction work on 

the new military airbase being 

built at Metlakatla (Figure 203).

Nonetheless, medical services 

were difficult to access, sanitation was poor, and disease was 

prevalent (Kohlhoff 1995:105).

The Ketchikan community was 

disappointed that their favorite 

swimming lake was being polluted, and some citizens were 

vocal in their unfavorable opinions about the displaced Aleut 

communities camped at the end 

of the road. Meanwhile the 

unhealthy circumstances and 

poor medical care contributed 

to a high mortality rate for the 

camp’s residents. To help alleviate the overcrowding approximately 46 residents from Biorka,

Kashega, and Makushin were 

moved to the Unalaska camp at 

Burnett Inlet in the late spring 

of 1944 (Kohlhoff 1995:130). 

We were transported from Nikolski to Chernofski by an 

Army tugboat and a smaller boat called YP – yard patrol – 

boats....There we boarded the Alaska Steamship Columbia 

– our mail boat. The people from Nikolski, Makushin, and 

Kashega began the voyage the same day. We made a 

stop at Sand Point, it was said, overnight. 

We arrived at Wrangell and lived on the school grounds in 

Army tents for about two weeks. During that time we built 

a barge as we were told. We loaded our belongings and 

lumber for our cabins, then we were towed by the Instituteowned tugboat to Ketchikan... 

My first impression of the old CCC Camp located eight 

miles from Ketchikan was that of being put in prison. 

Dorofey Chercasen, Nikolski, in 1981 testimony 

At Ward Lake there were three large buildings. One was 

the school, the other a church, and the third one the laundry. 

The laundry was equipped with a large tin tray like a basin, 

and had four cold water faucets....We heated the water 

at home and took it there for washing. There were two 

shower stalls at one end. This was the only building that 

had running water....Taking a shower was a shock to most 

of us. We had never taken one. At Nikolski we had bathed 

ourselves from a small tub but mostly we took steam baths 

in our banyas... 

The other cabins at Ward Lake and those our men built did 

not have running water nor indoor toilet, nor bathroom.... 

There was a large outhouse – a village toilet. 

At Ward Lake when we arrived, there were nine small 

cabins. Each had a very small bedroom with two bunks 

and a small kitchen. 

Lavera Dushkin, Nikolski, in 1981 testimony 
 

 

 

 

178 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

a sign of returning 

normalcy. When the 

Ketchikan Alaska 

Chronicle for April 

17, 1945, reported on 

page  6 that “Aleuts 

Return to Aleutians,” 

the USAT David W. 

Branch had already 

boarded the Ward 

Lake villagers and 

left port for Burnett 

Inlet and Killisnoo 

to pick up the communities of Unalaska 

and Atka. The newspaper went on to announce that 

the camp’s removal was to begin the following day. 

Post-War Development 

Even before the Aleuts left 

Ward Lake USFS was arranging for Tlingit villagers from 

Saxman, just south of Ketchikan, to haul the materials 

away for their use. “Many of 

the structures will be removed 

intact,” said the newspaper account. A USFS agent immediately took responsibility for 

the camp, and it went back 

into USFS management after the war. Shortly thereafter 

the CCC camp was “leveled” 

and covered with crushed rock, 

and the last remaining buildings 

were sold in 1953 (Ketchikan Museum 2008). In the 1950s the USFS 

By war’s end both the Aleuts at Ward 

Cove and their host community 

welcomed the villagers’ departure as 

figure 212. 

Children (left 

to right: Mike 

Bezezekoff, Olga 

Tcheripanoff, 

George Bezezekoff, 

and Angela 

Chercasen) 

pose with a sign 

announcing the 

Aleut camp at Ward 

Lake. Tcheripanoff 

was from Akutan; 

the others were 

from Nikolski. Note 

new white-trimmed 

cabins with old 

white CCC cabins 

behind. 

Alaska State Library Butler/Dale 

collection PCA 306-1044 

I had to build my own cabin with material furnished by the 

BIA. They were about 12x16 foot. Just plain tar paper roof 

and no sidings. 

William Ermeloff, Nikolski, in 1981 testimony 

I have been in practically every barabara and in every native 

house from Unalaska to Attu and from Unalaska north to 

Barrow....I was a party, in a certain way, to this evacuation, 

in that I handled the ship and assisted in finding a suitable 

location for them. This site was picked after a number were 

considered....These people did not want to come here. 

They were brought here as refugees as a war measure.... 

They should be kept here until they can be returned to their 

homes. In the meantime, you can help them. 

U.S. Coast Guard Captain Frederich A. Zeusler, in a 

May 21, 1943, statement to the Ketchikan City Council 

and Mayor (Alaska Fishing News, May 24, 1943) 
 

 

179 

Ward Lake CCC Camp 

areas, picnic tables, pavillions, and 

well (Figure 202). These include two 

concrete pedestals, a large cobble and 

boulder pad bordering the small nearby creek, and remnants of a wood plank 

bridge, boardwalk, and stairs leading 

redeveloped the site and renamed 

it Three Cs Campground (Stanford 

2006:23). Plans have been filed to 

again redesign the Three Cs Campground (Stanford 2007), but as of 

2011 no redevelopment had begun. 

Current Condition 

The Ward Lake CCC 

camp was investigated 

May 4, 2011 – almost 

three years later than the 

other five camp sites. The 

team of Charles Mobley and Rachel Mason 

spent several rainy hours 

at the site, walking and 

photographing features 

with the aid of maps from 

two USFS cultural resource reports (Stanford 

2006, 2007). A few historic features are discernible among the gravel-fill 

driveways and parking 

figure 213. 

Eugene Wacker 

had a commercial 

bus service that 

took villagers to 

Ketchikan and 

back. Left to 

right, according 

to photographer 

Faye Schlais, are 

her father Hugh 

McGlashan, sister 

Annie McGlashan 

(Svenson), mother 

Matrona (Mattie), 

sister Agnes, sister 

Vera, child Axel Jr., 

Eugene Wacker, 

child Mattie, niece 

Helen McGlashan 

(Barber), infant 

Freddie, and 

brother Steve 

McGlashan. 

Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association 

Faye Schlais collection 

I’m not in that picture – I took it! Those are my brothers and 

sisters! I bought the camera here [Ketchikan]. I was 18 years 

old when I came. My Dad was postmaster at Akutan. Our house 

was by the creek [at Ward Lake]. It was a regular house that 

was already there – not a CCC cabin. Seven people lived in it. 

I was babysitting at first, for the teacher. The teacher came with 

the evacuees – her and her husband were both teachers. Then 

my sister and I cooked at Ward Lake, for everybody, because 

the cabins didn’t have kitchens. We just cooked the main meal. 

The government furnished the food. They gave us dog salmon. 

We didn’t cook deer. There was a dairy [that served Ketchikan]. 

Everybody pitched in to do the dishes. There were about 200 

people, I think. 

They had church services, but no church. A deacon led the 

service. Wacker was nice to people. His wife was German. 

Faye Schlais 
180 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

up the creek. Bark-stripped trees indicating traditional Native forest exploitation were also noted. A quick visit to 

the nearby site of the old CCC garage 

and shop (Figure 206) indicated that it 

figure 214. 

Proposed 

improvements 

to the Three Cs 

Campground by 

the U.S. Forest 

Service prompted 

Stanford (2007:5) 

to superimpose a 

schematic of the 

existing public 

facilities over the 

old CCC camp 

building locations. 

This version of 

the CCC camp 

plan has incorrect 

stream placement 

and a slightly 

different building 

arrangement 

than that shown 

in archival 

photographs. 

contained more archaeological 

features than the camp location. 

The field investigation at Ward 

Lake documented the absence 

of CCC buildings, leaving a 

landscape vaguely correlated 

with the camp’s building arrangement. Stanford (2007) superimposed the existing campground improvements over an 

undated archival plan of the CCC 

camp (Figure 214). It provides a useful visualization, although the creek 

doesn’t bend around the south side of 

Wednesday, removal of the Ward lake camp will get under 

way with trucks picking up workers at Saxman at 8:15 a.m. 

and others in Ketchikan at 8:30. All materials at the camp 

are for natives. Many of the structures will be removed 

intact. The U.S. forest service is to lend a truck for hauling 

materials. 

Ketchikan Alaska Chronicle, April 17, 1945 
 

 

181 

Ward Lake CCC Camp 

The south entrance to the contemporary campground matches that of the 

original CCC camp, and a concrete 

pedestal just south of the gate overlies 

perfectly the Generator House plotted in 1935 (Figure 207). The pedestal measures 4’x8’x4’ high; no bolts or 

bolt holes were noticed and vegetation 

obscured much of the feature’s surface (Figure 216). A second concrete 

the camp as drawn (see Figure 204 for 

correct placement), and the building 

arrangements don’t exactly match the 

archival photographs (the 1935 plan – 

Figure 207 – is more accurate). The 

drive that ran between the two rows of 

CCC cabins and connected at either 

end with the road has been kept as the 

primary access for the campground 

(Figure 215). 

figure 215. 

The main drive 

through Three Cs 

Campground, here 

looking north, is the 

same alignment 

as that separating 

the two rows of 

original CCC cabins 

(compare with 

Figure 210). 

figure 216. 

Just south of the 

south entrance 

to the Three Cs 

Campground is a 

concrete pedestal 

(right foreground) 

where the CCC 

camp’s generator 

house once stood. 
 

 

 

182 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

pedestal is located near the campground’s water pump, about 150’ from 

the first (Figure 202). This is where the 

original camp privy was once located 

(Figure 207). The second pedestal 

measures approximately 4’ square and 

is about 20” above the present ground 

surface. Stanford (2006:25) reported 

the first pedestal as measuring 6’x3’x3’

and correlated it with the CCC camp’s 

generator shack; he reported the 

second pedestal as about two and 

one-half feet square (Stanford 

2007:8). 

Bounding the camp on the northeast is a small stream just losing 

its gradient to shortly enter Ward 

Creek (Figure 204). A broken 

wood plank bridge (Figure 217) 

crosses the small creek and connects with a dilapidated boardwalk 

(Figure 218) and steps leading upstream. The bridge is 14’ long and 

made of 2”x12”-4’ planks nailed 

to two 3”x12” stringers. Stanford 

(2007:8) cites Autrey (1990) and 

says “according to Forest Service 

Recreation employees this foot 

figure 217. 

Immediately east 

of the camp site 

is a small creek 

spanned by 

a broken plank 

bridge. 

figure 218. 

The plank bridge 

leads to a rotten 

moss-covered 

boardwalk trending 

upstream (left). 

At back left is a 

picnic pavillion 

at the Three Cs 

Campground, 

looking northwest. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

183 

Ward Lake CCC Camp 

bridge is part of the old trail head for 

the Perseverance Trail which was relocated about 100 meters to the south 

back in 1990.” That doesn’t address 

the features’ age or whether they date 

to the CCC camp, but the trail up the 

creek likely leads to a concrete dam 

which USFS archaeologists have recorded as part of the CCC camp (the 

first-described concrete pedestal is included with the garage, shop, and dam 

as KET-072, while the second pedestal 

and the remainder of the CCC camp 

and the recreational beach area to the 

north are part of KET-087 (Stanford 

2006:25-26, 2007:14). 

The dam wasn’t part of the 2011 field 

investigation, and it’s purpose isn’t 

clear. Stanford (2006:25) doesn’t report a flume or pipe but states a burned 

building at the dam site may have been 

a pumphouse. Was the dam built to 

provide the camp with domestic water 

or hydroelectric power, or both? If so, 

where was the powerhouse? The limited archival and field research did not 

address that question, but it did turn 

up a building that could have been a 

powerhouse. 

Bounding the small stream across 

from the camp site is a substantial 

boulder and cobble platform (Figures 219-221). Stanford (2007:8)

described the feature as “two series 

of stacked rock walls...probably built 

to help channel the creek perhaps to 

prevent erosion,” and suggested they 

dated to the CCC camp due to the 

amount of plant growth. The portion 

of the feature along the creek is higher 

than the remainder, forming a rock 

wall (Figure 220). The feature’s shape

and size (35’x20’ with a rectangular 

indentation on one side) indicates a 

building foundation, while its location 

immediately adjacent to a creek with 

figure 219. 

Immediately east 

of the camp, across 

a small stream, is a 

rock platform lining 

35’ of the stream 

bank (at left). 

View is upstream 

to the south. 
 

 

 

184 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

a dam upstream brings to mind the 

possibility that it could have handled 

water from that dam. Conjecture, 

to be sure. Neither the 1935 map 

figure 220. 

The large rock 

feature consists 

of a wall near the 

stream and a lower 

platform comprising 

the remainder. 

figure 221. 

Observed in 2011 

at the Three Cs 

Campground 

were two concrete 

pedestals of 

which at least one 

(Pedestal 1) dates 

to the CCC era, 

plus several other 

features. The 

base map is from 

a schematic of the 

campground in 

Stanford (2007). 

(Figure 204) nor the 1935 plan (Figure 

207) show a building in that location,

but the ridge of a gabled building in 

that vicinity does appear in an undated archival photograph (Figure 

209). Another undated archival 

photograph apparently shows the 

building that once stood in that 

location, with horizontal and vertical pipes at one corner (Figure 

222). A conservative interpretation is that the rock platform represents the foundation of a utility

building constructed at the CCC

camp after 1935. 

Several culturally modified trees 

(CMTs) were noted at the Ward 

Lake CCC camp. CMTs are 

trees containing scars from culturally removed wood or bark;

if sufficient bark is left, the tree 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

185 

Ward Lake CCC Camp 

begins to heal itself, often eventually hiding

the scar inside the trunk 

(Mobley and Eldridge 

1992). Tlingit and other 

Northwest Coast cultures made extensive 

use of wood and bark 

harvested from live red 

and yellow cedar, spruce,

and hemlock trees. The 

year the scar was made 

can be dated using the 

healing lobes’ tree rings, and since 

some trees live to be over 400 years 

old they contain a potential record 

of traditional Native forest use many 

generations into the past (Mobley and 

Lewis 2009). 

Of the four CMTs noted at the Ward 

Lake camp, one was a spruce with a 

large irregular scar at chest level that 

was not mapped. Two others were cedar trees with triangular scars up their 

trunks and substantial healing lobes 

(Figure 223). The trees are less than 

two feet in diameter, and the scars extend no more than 10’ up the tree. The 

two CMTs likely predate the CCC 

camp construction, since traditional 

Native bark-stripping in the Ketchikan 

area drastically decreased after 1900 

(Mobley and Lewis 2009:266). The 

fourth CMT recorded at the camp is a 

cedar with a very recent bark removal 

(Figure 224). Horizontal hack marks 

show at the bottom of the removal, 

and the bark tore raggedly and for only 

figure 222. 

An undated archival 

photograph shows a 

building where now 

only a rock platform 

is to be found. 

Note pipes at the 

building’s back left 

corner, and arcedroof cabins at right. 

Ketchikan Museum 1680 

a short distance – suggesting the scar 

was made by a novice outside of the 

spring season when the bark strips off

most easily. 

Overall, evidence of the CCC era was 

scarce at the camp, due to the USFS’s 

demolition and redevelopment of the 

site (which began immediately upon 

the evacuees’ departure). This is in 

contrast to the CCC garage location 

(still part of site KET-072) about 300’

to the south. The shop (Figure 206) 

footprint was likely destroyed by road 

widening over the last 60 years, but 

the garage and some of the equipment 

it contained was left to descend into 

the archaeological record. Stanford 

(2006:25) listed at the site “two 36” x 

59” x 25” rusted metal ore cars (Figure 

225), a badly deteriorated wagon bed,

the chassis from a Ford Model A, a pile 

of yellow bricks, a spool of 1.5” diameter metal strand cable, another spool 

of 1” diameter metal strand cable, a 

6.5’ diameter penstock hoop, five 2”

wide rails, two sections of 2” diameter 
 

186 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

galvanized pipe, and some angle iron.”

Most of these items were discernible 

in 2011. 

In 2009, “in partnership with the 

Tongass Historical Society” (Stanford 

2007:6), USFS erected an information kiosk in the parking lot at Three 

Cs Campground (Figure 226). The 

interpretive sign had been advocated 

by the City of Ketchikan for almost 10 

years, according to Mayor Dave Kiffer.

Done through the Youth Conservation Corps (YCC), the two postersize panels display a map, four archival 

photographs, and six paragraphs telling the story of the Aleut experience at 

Ward Lake within the greater context 

of World War II in Alaska. It is the 

only interpretive sign marking any of 

the six World War II Aleut relocation 

camps in southeast Alaska. 

figure 224. 

A recently stripped 

cedar tree with a 

short ragged scar 

was probably not 

harvested during 

the optimal season 

when the bark 

is looser. 

figure 223. 

Two bark-stripped 

cedar trees (both 

left of center) reflect 

traditional Tlingit 

forest exploitation 

probably long 

before the 

CCC camp was 

constructed. 
 

187 

Ward Lake CCC Camp 

Summary 

Very little of the 

Ward Lake CCC 

camp remains to be 

seen in 2011. Features of some age include two concrete 

pedestals, a rock and 

boulder pad, and 

two culturally modified trees of Tlingit 

origin. None evoke 

the Aleut occupation at Ward Lake. 

Though a number

of the camp’s occupants died during 

the war, they were 

buried in the Ketchikan city cemetery 

rather than in a separate plot near the 

camp, as was done at Funter Bay and 

Killisnoo. Buildings from the camp 

were moved to the Tlingit village of 

Saxman immediately after the war,

but no investigation was done there 

to determine if any remain. The site 

of the CCC camp’s garage contains a 

figure 225. 

South of the Three 

Cs Campground 

is the site of the 

old CCC garage, 

containing two 

rusting ore carts. 

figure 226. 

An information kiosk 

erected in 2009 

tells of the Aleut 

internment at 

the Ward Lake 

CCC camp. 
 

 

 

 

188 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

few interesting remnants 

reflecting that use, but it 

doesn’t directly relate to 

the Aleut relocation experience. The Ward Lake 

CCC camp rivals the 

Wrangell Institute and 

Burnett Inlet cannery for 

having the least physical 

evidence from the Aleut 

internment period of any 

of the six sites. 

evacuation – The U.S. Government decided that it would be best 

if the remaining 880 Aleuts were relocated. Initially the Office of 

Indian Affairs disagreed. After the attack on Attu, however, the 

office complied with the Government objective. The resulting 

relocation was plagued by poor planning and sheer neglect; many 

basic needs were not met. Aleuts were given only hours to pack 

before leaving their homes for an indefinite amount of time. Each 

person was allowed to bring one suitcase and a roll of blankets. 

Most were then loaded into the overcrowded cargo bays of military 

transports with no knowledge of where they were going. 

life at camp – Approximately one hundred and sixty Aleuts were 

relocated to the old CCC camp at Ward Lake, the current site of 

the Three Cs Campground. The facility was original built for 65 

men. Before long, sewage systems were overwhelmed and the 

lake had to be closed to the public. The immense trees and shade 

of the temperate rainforest contrasted sharply with the openness 

of the Aleutian Islands, adding to the Aleuts’ sense of confinement. 

return to the aleutians – Aleuts from the four [sic] evacuation 

camps in Southeast Alaska joined the armed forces. Three 

participated in the bloody retaking of Attu, all of whom were 

awarded the Bronze Star. A few of the evacuees decided to 

stay in Ketchikan; their families still live here today. For the rest, 

returning home was in many ways as difficult as the evacuation 

had been. Some villages had been burned to the ground to 

prevent them from being used by the Japanese. Livestock had 

been slaughtered. Structures still standing were vandalized 

and looted by American servicemen. In 1988 the Aleut people 

received financial restitution from the U.S. Government for lost 

property and hardship. Individuals received 12,000 dollars, and 

11.8 million dollars were set aside for the loss of buildings and 

property. The resilience and strong cultural identity of the Aleut 

people is reflected in the re-establishment of their homes and 

communities on the Aleutian Islands. 

Last three paragraphs of a 2009 information kiosk 

at the Ward Lake CCC Campground 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

189 

National Historic Landmark Evaluation 

The purpose of this investigation was

to determine whether the six World 

War  II Aleut relocation camps in

southeast Alaska qualify as a National Historic Landmark, or NHL. The 

NHL program is administered by the

National Park Service (NPS) to identify and preserve “the nation’s most significant historic places...buildings, sites,

districts, structures, and objects [that]

possess exceptional value or quality in

illustrating or interpreting the heritage

of the United States in history, architecture, archeology, engineering, and

culture” (U.S. Department of the Interior 1999:9). Unlike eligibility to the

National Register of Historic Places,

which can be based on local or state 

significance as well as national significance, a NHL must have significance

at the national level. The Secretary of

the Interior has recognized less than

2500 NHLs in the United States since 

the program was implemented in 1960

(Mackintosh 1985:39-42). 

In Alaska there are 49 NHLs, including archaeological sites, buildings, and

battlefields (Table 2). Since 1962, 

several historical themes have been 

identified as of sufficient national interest to warrant NHL designation for

Alaskan properties. Archaeological

sites thousands of years old – evidence 

of early human migrations across the

Bering Strait that populated North,

Central, and South America, as well 

as those reflecting later prehistoric

developments, form 13 NHLs. The 

colonization of Alaska by the RussianAmerican Company, not incidentally

leaving a legacy of Russian Orthodox

churches, has been recognized in 13

NHLs including the Seal Island (Pribilof Islands) Historic District. Other 

European and American explorations

as well as Territorial military activity

form the subject matter of several related NHLs. Alaska’s role in World 

War II is recognized with eight NHLs.

Other themes are represented by fewer or only one NHL. NHLs are not 

distributed uniformly across Alaska;

Sitka has eight, for example. All but 

five Alaska NHLs were designated between 50 and 20 years ago. 

The list of NHLs (Table 2) illustrates the types of Alaskan properties 

judged eligible in decades past, and the 

question addressed in this chapter is 

whether the six World War II Aleut 

relocation camps warrant similar recognition. Except for the exclusion of 

local- and state-level significance as a 

factor, and the use of six rather than 

four significance criteria, the considerations are much the same as those 

National Historic Landmark Evaluation 

8 
World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

facing Pages 

table 2. 

Since 1961, 49 

cultural properties 

have been 

designated as 

National Historic 

Landmarks 

in Alaska.
 

Cultural Property 

Ipiutak Site
 

Iyatayet Site
 

American Flag Raising Site
 

Skagway Historic District and White Pass
 

Birnirk Site
 

Chaluka Site
 

Palugvik Site
 

Old Sitka
 

Wales Site
 

Yukon Island Main Site
 

Russian-American Company Magazin 

Russian Bishop’s House
 

St. Michael’s Cathedral
 

Seal Island Historic District
 

Holy Assumption Orthodox Church 

Church of the Holy Ascension
 

Cape Krusenstern Archeological District
 

Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall
 

Anangula Site
 

Bering Expedition Landing Site
 

Cape Nome Mining District Discovery Sites
 

Dry Creek Archeological Site
 

Chilkoot Trail and Dyea Site
 

Eagle Historic District
 

Fort Durham Site
 

for evaluating a property for eligibility to the National Register of Historic Places. Usually excluded from 

NHL designation are cemeteries, 

birthplaces, graves of historical figures,

religious properties, moved or reconstructed buildings, and properties 

Location Designated 

North Slope 1961
 

Nome 1961
 

Sitka 1962
 

Skagway 1962 

North Slope 1962
 

Umnak Island, Aleutian Islands 1962
 

Prince William Sound 1962
 

Sitka 1962
 

Wales 1962
 

Kachemak Bay 1962
 

Kodiak 1962
 

Sitka 1962
 

Sitka 1962
 

Pribilof Islands 1962
 

Kenai 1970
 

Unalaska 1970
 

Northwest Arctic 1973
 

Sitka 1978
 

Ananiuliak Island, Aleutian Islands 1978
 

Kayak Island, Prince William Sound 1978
 

Nome 1978
 

Healy 1978
 

Skagway 1978
 

Eagle 1978
 

Juneau 1978
 

(Continued on next page) 

whose significance pertains to the last 

50 years or less (U.S. Department of 

the Interior 1999:11). But criteria for 

declaring exceptions to that exclusionary list are also identified in federal 

regulation, and so, for example, Alaska’s major World War II sites achieved 

190
 
 

National Historic Landmark Evaluation 

Cultural Property Location Designated 

Fort William H. Seward Haines 1978
 

Gallagher Flint Station Archaeological Site North Slope 1978
 

Leffingwell Camp Site Flaxman Island, North Slope 1978
	

New Russia Site Yakutat 1978
 

Three Saints Bay Site Kodiak Island 1978
 

Sitka Spruce Plantation Unalaska 1978
 

Onion Portage Archeological District Kobuk River 1978
 

George C. Thomas Memorial Library Fairbanks 1978
 

Dutch Harbor Naval Operating Base & Unalaska 1985
 

Fort Mears, U.S. Army
 

Attu Battlefield and U.S. Army & Navy Airfields Attu Island, Aleutian Islands 1985
	

Japanese Occupation Site, Kiska Island Kiska Island, Aleutian Islands 1985
 

Greely and Abercrombie
 

Coastal Defenses
 

Kodiak Naval Operating Base and Forts Kodiak 1985
 

Ladd Field Fairbanks 1985
 

Kennecott Mines McCarthy 1986
 

Sitka Naval Operating Base & U.S. Army Sitka 1986
 

Adak Army Base and Adak Naval Operating Base Adak Island, Aleutian Islands 1987
 

Fort Glenn Umnak Island 1987
 

Russian-American Building #29 Sitka 1987
 

River Steamboat Nenana Fairbanks 1989
 

Brooks River Archaeological District Katmai, Central Alaska 1993
 

Kijik Archeological District Lake Clark 1994
 

Kake Cannery Kake, Kupreanof Island 1997
 

Sheldon Jackson School Sitka 2001
 

Amalik Bay Archeological District King Salmon 2005
 

NHL status between 1985 and 1987 

(when less than 50 years old) because 

they had extraordinary national 

significance. 

Once significance is established, a second factor comes into play – integrity. 

“Integrity is the ability of a property 

to convey its historical associations or 

attributes,” states the U.S. Department 

of the Interior (1999:36), though “the 

evaluation of integrity is somewhat of 

a subjective judgement.” The integrity of potential NHLs is evaluated 

191 
 

192 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

workmanship, feeling, and association. Generally, NHL 

designation is reserved for cultural properties that are outstanding examples in some way. 

Significance of the Six 

Properties 

The association of the Funter 

Bay cannery and mine, Killisnoo,Wrangell Institute, Burnett

Inlet cannery, and Ward Lake

CCC Camp with the World

War II Aleut relocation event 

was demonstrated in earlier 

chapters. Though the Wrangell

Institute was only a temporary staging area for villagers

destined for Burnett Inlet and 

Ward Lake, all the camps were

supposed to be temporary, and

the school site justifiably joins

the five longer-term camps as a

contributing property to a potential NHL because of its firm 

historical association. 

The six sites investigated are 

here evaluated only for their 

World War II significance.

Each of the sites may deserve 

further consideration at a later 

time for potential eligibility to the National Register at 

the local or state level, within 

different historical periods and 

themes. 

The World War II Aleut relocation experience is nationally sig1. Properties that are associated with events that have 

made a significant contribution to, and are identified 

with, or that outstandingly represent, the broad national 

patterns of United States history and from which an 

understanding and appreciation of those patterns may 

be gained. 

2. Properties that are associated importantly with the 

lives of persons nationally significant in the history of 

the United States. 

3. Properties that represent some great idea or ideal of 

the American people. 

4. Properties that embody the distinguishing 

characteristics of an architectural type specimen 

exceptionally valuable for a study of a period, style, or 

method of construction, or that represent a significant, 

distinctive and exceptional entity whose components 

may lack individual distinction. 

5. Properties that are composed of integral parts of the 

environment not sufficiently significant by reason 

of historical association or artistic merit to warrant 

individual recognition but collectively compose an 

entity of exceptional historical or artistic significance, or 

outstandingly commemorate or illustrate a way of life or 

culture. 

6. Properties that have yielded or may be likely to yield 

information of major scientific importance by revealing 

new cultures, or by shedding light upon periods of 

occupation over large areas of the United States.... 

NHL Significance categories from U.S. 

Department of the Interior (1999:21-30). 

using the same seven qualities used 

for National Register evaluation: 

location, design, setting, materials, 
 

 

193 

National Historic Landmark Evaluation 

whereas those of the Pribilof Island 

villagers were much the same. The 

government-built concrete houses of 

St. Paul and St. George were occupied by Army and Navy troops during the war, and many were damaged 

along with their household contents,

but able-bodied male villagers shipped 

back through the war zone in 1943 and 

1944 to continue the annual Pribilof 

seal harvest (the fur sales were needed 

by the federal treasury to help fund the 

war) – along with federal overseers – 

were able somewhat to monitor military use. After the war the USFWS 

resumed management of the islands 

and their human and animal populations as before. Though their memories would be forever marked by the 

nificant in two contexts: Aleut 

Culture Change, and U.S. Military 

History. 

ALEuT CuLTuRE CHANgE 

The Aleuts of Alaska are a distinct culture and have occupied the Aleutian 

Islands for at least 9,000 years. However, the Aleut communities of St. Paul 

and St. George in the Pribilof Islands 

of the Bering Sea are a consequence 

of the Russian-American Company’s, 

and then the U.S. government’s, commercial exploitation of the fur seal 

rookeries there. Aleut workers and 

families from villages in the Aleutian 

Islands were moved to the otherwise 

uninhabited islands in the late 1700s, 

and though they maintained social 

ties with relatives in places like 

Nikolski and Unalaska, their 

lives were strictly controlled 

for commercial purposes by 

the government then holding the Pribilof fur seal franchise. Collectively, the Aleuts 

of the Aleutian and Pribilof 

Islands had a long cultural 

history with two major interruptions: the arrival in the late 

1700s of Russian explorers 

and merchants exploiting fur 

seals and sea otters for their 

pelts, and World War II. 

The circumstances of the 

Aleutian Island villagers before compared to after World 

War  II were very different, 

Location is the place where the historic property was 

constructed or the place where the historic event occurred. 

Design is the combination of elements that create the 

historic form, plan, space, structure, and style of a property. 

Setting is the physical environment of an historic property. 

Materials are the physical elements that were combined 

or deposited during a particular period of time and in 

a particular pattern or configuration to form an historic 

property. Workmanship is the physical evidence of the 

crafts of a particular culture or people during any given 

period in history. Feeling is a property’s expression of the 

aesthetic or historic sense of a particular period of time. 

Association is the direct link between an important historic 

event or person and an historic property. 

Six NHL aspects of integrity from U.S. 

Department of the Interior (1999:36-37). 
 

 

194 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

relocation, St. Paul and St. George villagers were largely able to resume the 

life they’d had prior to the war. 

That was not the case for many of 

the Aleutian Island villagers. Prior 

to World War II they’d had limited 

exposure to federal or territorial government, and then it was mostly in 

the form of a territorial schoolteacher. 

Adjusting to the governmental restrictions of the relocation experience was 

more difficult, culminating with 

the government’s refusal to return the people of Attu, Kashega, Biorka, and Makushin to 

their original settlements. Like 

the village of Chernofski on the 

west end of Unalaska Island, 

which by 1940 “had already died 

as an Aleut village” (Petterson 

et al. 1983:36), the populations 

of the latter three villages had 

been dwindling for years ( Jones 

1973:19). The forced amalgamation resulted in four Aleut 

communities – Atka, Akutan, 

Nikolski, and Unalaska – in 

all of the Aleutian Islands. 

The Unalaska to which many 

Aleuts returned was hardly recognizable, surrounded as it was 

with a large naval base, airstrip,

and numerous other military 

installations. Atkans returned 

to a destroyed village adjacent 

to an Army airstrip and base,

their burned and strafed houses 

framed by Japanese bomb craters on the hillside. Of all the Aleut 

villages, the people of Nikolski were 

best able to return to the traditional subsistence life they’d had before 

the war. 

World War II caused a marked shift 

in settlement and subsistence for the 

Aleuts of the Aleutian Islands. Archaeological evidence for over 9,000 

years of continuous settlement in the 

Aleutian Islands makes the Aleuts one 

We had a hard time eating on the Delarof, but the cook 

liked me, so he used to give me an apple and an orange at 

times....I didn’t know what an orange or apple or chocolate 

looked like. That’s when I first found out about candy....We 

never seen a dog before. 

Natalie Misikian, St. Paul, 1981 testimony 

Before evacuation everybody was all alike, and after we 

went Outside, boy, when we came back everything was 

different. Just like me going to Juneau. The first time I 

start seeing street lights and blinkers in this town, boy, I 

thought some great thing was open for us. We never saw 

anything like that here [St. George Island]. But when we 

started going to school in Wrangell, we saw a lot of things. 

Andronik Kashavarof, 1998 

Olga Tcheripanoff, from the Ward Lake Aleut evacuation 

camp, is a new pupil in the sixth grade at Wacker school. 

The family is living in a small house near the salmon byproducts plant, where Mr. Tcheripanoff is employed. They 

will not return to the Aleutian Islands when the rest of the 

evacuees leave soon. 

Ketchikan Alaska Chronicle March 24, 1945 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

195 

National Historic Landmark Evaluation 

of noncombatants and keeping them 

out of harm’s way; no one in authority wished the responsibility for risking a potential village capture like that 

of Attu. The removal of Aleut villagers from the Aleutian and Pribilof 

Islands to camps in southeast Alaska 

was an integral part of the Alaska military campaign, and is thus of national 

significance. The theme of World 

War II in Alaska is part of U.S.

military history. 

Integrity 

Six cultural properties have been 

described in six previous chapters,

though some are comprised of more 

than one number in the Alaska Heritage Resource Survey (AHRS) system 

(Table 3). The Funter Bay and Killisnoo cemeteries each have an AHRS 

number separate from the nearby industrial site, for example, and require 

separate consideration, but the overall 

integrity evaluations are little affected.

Both the Funter Bay properties were 

combined into the proposed Funter 

Bay Historic District ( JUN-911) in 

2002, but the evaluation was not finalized and the AHRS number has little 

utility. The integrity evaluations are 

presented according to the six primary 

cultural properties. 

According to the National Register 

Bulletin, “integrity is the ability of a 

property to convey its historical associations or attributes” (U.S. Department of the Interior 1999:36). So, 

of the nation’s oldest and most permanent Native peoples. The relocation 

experience during WW II marked a 

major transition for the Aleuts, and 

the event is the defining element in 

the culture’s recent past. In that regard 

the Aleut relocation experience is of 

national significance, and by association the six Aleut relocation camps are 

of national significance. The theme 

of Aleut Culture Change is embedded within the context of Social History, particularly Native American 

Social History. 

WORLD WAR II IN ALASKA 

The invasion of the Aleutian Islands 

and attack at Dutch Harbor was 

meant by the Japanese to be a diversion, and the Alaska campaign was not 

a major determinant in the outcome 

of World War II in the Pacific (Morison 1982:4). Allied commanders 

weren’t initially certain of Japanese intentions, and responded in force as if 

the enemy were intending to leapfrog 

by land, sea, and air across the Aleutians 

to invade the North American mainland. The Japanese invasion of Alaska put the first foreign enemy troops 

on American soil since Pancho Villa 

briefly crossed the Mexican border into 

New Mexico in 1916, and it remains 

the last such event, making it of national significance. 

In the wartime context, the relocation 

was justified as for the civilian good,

clearing the potential theater of war 
 

 

 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

table 3. 

Alaska Heritage 

Resource Survey 

(AHRS) numbers 

for investigated 

properties. 

Property Cultural Site and AHRS # 

Funter Bay Cannery Thlinket Packing Company (JUN-029); 

Funter Bay Aleut Cemetery (JUN-975) 

Funter Bay Mine Admiralty Alaska Gold Mine (JUN-974) 

Killisnoo Killisnoo (SIT-014); Killisnoo Cemetery (SIT-749) 

Wrangell Institute Wrangell Institute (PET-039) 

Burnett Inlet Cannery Burnett Inlet Cannery (PET-136) 

Ward Lake CCC Camp KET-072; KET-087 

the question to be asked is: “How well 

does this particular site (and the aggregate group of sites) convey the World 

War II Aleut relocation experience?”.

A primary factor in selecting the camp 

locations was not proximity to medical 

treatment, or available subsistence resources, or potable water, or firewood,

but simply shelter. Consequently the 

ability of the sites to convey their significance revolves largely around the 

integrity of the buildings present during World War II. 

The National Register Bulletin goes on 

to say that “the evaluation of integrity 

is somewhat of a subjective judgement,

but it must always be grounded in an 

understanding of a property’s physical features and how they relate to its 

historical associations and attributes.” 

The evaluation of integrity used for 

the six camps is a four-part ranking 

of high, good, fair, and low (Table 4).

The illustrations in this volume are 

meant to provide the reader with 

their own appreciation of the six sites 

and their condition, allowing an 

independent assessment of the integrity classifications. 

FuNTER BAY CANNERY 

The remains of the Thlinket Packing 

Company ( JUN-029) and the nearby 

Funter Bay Aleut Cemetery ( JUN975) are considered together here 

as the Funter Bay cannery property.

Only two intact cannery buildings 

remain in their original location, and 

otherwise the property’s appearance 

is largely formed by a broad bare waterfront where the industrial buildings 

once were, and two new houses. The 

cemetery has been maintained to keep 

close to its original appearance. 

Using the seven aspects of integrity as 

the standard for evaluation, the Funter 

Bay cannery is judged to be high in 

terms of its location and association 

(Table 4). The two standing buildings 

and the ruins of others, the boardwalks, and the large pieces of stationary machinery left are not enough to 

visualize the building complex during WW II, but they are sufficient to 

196 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

National Historic Landmark Evaluation 

Site Location Design Setting Materials Workmanship Feeling Association 

Funter Bay Cannery high low fair 

(Cemetery) high high high 

Funter Bay Mine high low good 

Killisnoo high low low 

(Cemetery) high fair fair 

Wrangell Institute high low low 

Burnett Inlet Cannery high low low 

Ward Lake CCC Camp high low low 

convey some of the layout, and – at 

least to pedestrian archaeologists – 

some of the feeling of the large facility.

The site is rated as fair in the categories 

of setting and feeling. Though a few 

construction details were gleaned from 

the buildings and building ruins, the 

limited physical remains warrant a low 

evaluation in regard to design, materials, and workmanship. 

The cemetery near the Funter Bay 

cannery is much as it was during the 

relocation period. Changes consist 

of: the addition of several stone grave 

markers, replacement of original wood 

2”x4” Russian Orthodox cross markers painted white with white-painted

examples of 2”x2” stock, placement of 

the older crosses horizontally on each 

grave mound, replacement of boardlined grave borders with stone borders,

and a natural evolution in the tree cover from a relatively denuded wartime 

landscape to a second-growth thicket 

in 2008. These slight changes warrant 

a designation of good in regard to the 

low low fair high 

good good high high 

low low good high 

low low low high 

fair low good high 

low low low high 

low low low high 

low low low high 

site’s integrity of materials and workmanship. Otherwise, the Funter Bay 

Aleut cemetery is high in regard to

location, design, setting, feeling, and 

association (Table 4). 

FuNTER BAY MINE 

The Admiralty Alaska Gold Mine

( JUN-974) at Funter Bay is still owned

by the Pekovich family and their fellow

stockholders, who owned it before and 

during the Aleut relocation. One original building has been maintained, and

– with an addition – serves as the residence of Sam Pekovich. A two-story

bunkhouse and a small shop are also

original buildings still in use. Otherwise the Funter Bay mine buildings

are decaying in place and most can still

be identified, making it when photographed the most evocative of the six

WW II Aleut relocation camp sites. 

Other than the addition to the 

Pekovich house, the only visible improvements in recent decades are the 

erection of two small wood-frame 

table 4. 

Integrity evaluations 

for the six 

relocation camps, 

with the Funter 

Bay Cemetery 

addressed 

separately. 

Evaluation 

categories are 

high, good, fair, or 

low. See sidebar 

for definitions of 

the seven integrity 

categories. 

197 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

198 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

many boilers, a large intertidal artifact 

scatter, and extensive archaeological 

remains of the residential district that 

burned in 1928. There are no standing 

buildings that date to the operational 

period of the plant or the later WW II 

Aleut relocation experience. Of 

numerous artifacts recovered by the 

existing landowners, none were noticed to be particularly associated with 

World War II and the Aleut relocation 

experience. The exception is the Killisnoo cemetery (SIT-749), where five 

wooden Russian Orthodox crosses in a 

group at the cemetery’s north edge are 

said to mark the graves of Atka villagers that perished during the war. No 

names are now distinguishable on the 

crosses, and all are in poor condition. 

In terms of how it conveys the Aleut 

relocation experience, the historic 

Killisnoo site ranks high in location 

and association, and low in design,

setting, materials, workmanship, and 

feeling (Table 4). The five deteriorating Russian Orthodox crosses in the 

cemetery rank: high in location and 

association; good in feeling; fair in design, setting, and materials; and low in 

workmanship. 

WRANgELL INSTITuTE 

The buildings of the Wrangell Institute have been mostly demolished,

and the land has been recontoured 

to accommodate the removal of 

huge volumes of contaminated soil.

The brief reconnaissance noted two 

utility sheds, one small corrugated 

metal utility shed, and a larger prefabricated metal utility shed. The mine 

workings inland – though lacking 

standing buildings – have large features representing collapsed buildings 

and their contents. But they are less 

relevant to St. George villagers’ wartime experience, which focused on the 

mining camp along the shoreline. A 

total of 11 main wartime buildings can 

be detected in their original location 

just above the high tide mark, though 

some are becoming archaeological 

features. 

The buildings, building ruins, and other 

features of the Admiralty Alaska Gold 

Mine are mostly discernible and convey much of the site’s wartime layout 

and atmosphere. The site ranks high in 

terms of location and association, and 

good in terms of setting and feeling.

However, the overall poor condition 

of the buildings warrants a low evaluation in terms of design, materials, and 

workmanship (Table 4). 

KILLISNOO 

The site of historic Killisnoo (SIT014) now has essentially two owners,

one being the Whaler’s Cove Lodge 

– which has developed the property as 

a summer fishing resort and maintains 

many new buildings, and the Aubertine Trust, which keeps a residence and 

several other buildings there. Little is 

left of the Killisnoo herring plant except for a large stationary machine, 
 

 

 

 

199 

National Historic Landmark Evaluation 

BuRNETT INLET CANNERY 

Burnett Inlet has had almost no development since World War II except 

for a fish hatchery (Figure 227) built 

at the inlet’s head in 1978 (Wrangell 

Sentinel 1978b), and otherwise its 

shores appear as they did during 

World War II. The Burnett Inlet cannery has no standing buildings and is 

now an archaeological site managed 

by the Tongass National Forest. Observed in 2008 were building ruins, intertidal pilings, miscellaneous features 

and stationary equipment, and artifact 

scatters. The building ruins consisted 

of four scatters of rotten planks inside 

the treeline, and the intertidal pilings 

consisted of isolated examples and 

four groups ranging up to 54 pilings 

standing buildings on the waterfront 

side of the highway. A large boathouse built by the Institute in 1938 is 

still standing in fair repair, with limited exterior modifications, but it isn’t 

being used. A small gable-roofed onestory shed with two open bays, north 

of the boathouse, may be an original 

Institute building but that hasn’t been 

confirmed. Between the two buildings 

are a playground and tennis courts. 

The integrity of the Wrangell Institute 

site ranks high in location and association, and low in all other factors: 

design, setting, materials, workmanship, and feeling (Table 4). Alone, the 

picturesque boathouse is not enough 

to convey much about the Aleut experience there during World War II. 

figure 227. 

One development 

in the vicinity of 

the Burnett Inlet 

cannery is a fish 

hatchery near the 

head of the inlet. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

200 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

per group. Other features include remains of a wood-stave water tank, a 

wood-stave oil tank, a boiler, a large 

pump on a concrete pedestal, a masonry-enclosed metal vat probably used to 

soak nets, and large metal machinery 

dropped into the intertidal zone by the 

pre-war fire that destroyed the cannery 

and warehouse buildings. The Burnett 

Inlet cannery has left its architectural 

state and descended into the archaeological record. Remains reflecting the 

Aleut relocation experience at Burnett 

Inlet are lacking. 

The Burnett Inlet cannery rates high 

in terms of its location and its association with the Aleut relocation experience. However, the disappearance of 

the buildings has greatly diminished 

the cannery’s ability to convey aspects 

of design, setting, materials, workmanship, and feeling, each of which is 

judged to be low (Table 4). 

WARD LAKE CCC CAMP 

The flimsy buildings of the Ward Lake 

CCC Camp were removed or demolished soon after the war, and the area 

has been managed for recreational use.

Other than two concrete pedestals, the 

street alignment, and the rock foundation, there are no surface features to 

suggest the former camp, let alone any 

particular association with the Aleut 

relocation event. 

Ward Lake had already been developed as a rustic public recreation site 

before the Aleut relocation, and – 

though it wasn’t used so much during 

the war because of water contamination, the park-like setting of that time 

has been retained. The site is judged 

high in terms of location and association (Table 4). But the lack of almost 

all surface remains resigns the site to a 

low evaluation in the categories of design, setting, materials, workmanship,

and feeling. 

SuMMARY OF INTEgRITY 

The six sites comprising the World 

War II Aleut relocation camps have 

high integrity in terms of location and 

association. However, the poor physical condition of the sites warrants 

mostly low assessments in terms of 

integrity of design, setting, materials,

workmanship, and feeling (Table 4).

Having the most integrity – best conveying the Aleut relocation experience 

– is the Aleut grave cluster at Killisnoo 

and especially the Aleut cemetery near 

the Funter Bay cannery. Of all the 

camps, the Funter Bay mine still affords good integrity in terms of setting 

and feeling. But overall the six sites as 

a group have very few standing buildings that ever sheltered Aleut evacuees,

and instead the physical record is entering the archaeological realm. 

National Historic Landmark 

Eligibility 

Qualification as a NHL requires a 

property to have a high degree of significance and a high degree of integrity. The cultural significance of the six 
 

 

 

 

 

 

201 

National Historic Landmark Evaluation 

standing at any of the sites, and they 

along with the building ruins and features observed in 2008 are not enough 

to convey significance. 

Comparison with other NHLs in 

Alaska and elsewhere in the U.S. is 

useful in judging the validity of the 

assessment presented here. The subject – World War II Aleut Relocation 

Camps – is compatible with the prior 

subjects selected for NHL status within the World War II in Alaska theme. 

The existing WW II NHLs are devoted to actual military facilities and battlefields (Table 2), and thus the Aleut 

relocation camps form a complimentary civilian element. Otherwise the 

camps – particularly the Funter Bay 

camps where St. Paul and St. George 

villagers lived – have some relationship 

to the Seal Islands NHL encompassing most of the Pribilof Islands. 

Within the national sphere, an historical example paralleling the Aleut 

relocation is that of the JapaneseAmerican internment program during WW  II, which has been judged 

of national significance (Burton et al.

2000). The physical remains of that 

event, consisting of buildings and other features at ten sites scattered across 

the western States, were found to vary 

widely in their integrity, but some were 

sufficiently intact to convey the Japanese internment experience. What 

was in wartime the Manzanar War 

Relocation Center in the Owens Valley of California is now managed by 

properties as a group rests within the 

themes of Aleut culture change as part 

of Native American social history, and 

within World War II’s Alaska campaign as part of U.S. military history.

Thus the six properties are significant 

under Criterion 1, being “associated 

with events that have made a significant contribution to, and are identified 

with, or that outstandingly represent,

the broad national patterns of United 

States history and from which an understanding and appreciation of those 

patterns may be gained” (U.S. Department of the Interior 1999:21). Four 

of the remaining five criteria (see sidebar) are judged not pertinent to the 

sites’ significance, in that they are not 

associated with important persons,

national ideals, distinctive architectural styles, or broad lifeways. Criterion 6, referring to a cultural property’s 

significance in potentially yielding 

important archaeological information,

was not addressed by the field reconnaissance. 

The physical integrity of the six properties is collectively low, though the 

two cemeteries do convey some sense 

of the Aleut World War II relocation 

experience. Thus – despite high national significance for their association 

with important historical events – the 

six properties do not have sufficient 

integrity to warrant NHL status. The 

essential physical features needed to 

convey the properties’ significance are 

buildings, but few buildings are left 
 

202 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

value has more in the way of standing 

buildings and other features that convey their significance, compared to the 

Aleut relocation camps (Burton et al.

2000). Similarly, each of the NHLs 

already recognized for their association with World War II in Alaska have 

more standing buildings and intact 

features compared to the Aleut relocation camps. That is why, to conclude,

the six World War II Aleut relocation 

camps in southeast Alaska are judged 

to be of national significance but 

do not have sufficient integrity to warrant designation as a National Historic 

Landmark. 

the NPS as a National Historic Site, 

as is Minidoko War Relocation Center 

near Twin Falls, Idaho. Recently Congress authorized a study evaluating a 

third property – the Heart Mountain 

War Relocation Center in northwest 

Wyoming – for its significance and integrity. Standing buildings that convey 

the Japanese internment experience are 

the common denominator of the three 

properties, though they are not designated NHLs but are instead National 

Historic Sites managed for their public educational and recreational value. 

Each of the three Japanese internment 

camps recognized for their historic 
 

 

203 

Afterword 

The group of six World War II Aleut 

relocation camp sites in southeast 

Alaska do not qualify as a National 

Historic Landmark. They are historically significant, but they don’t retain 

enough integrity to convey that significance. This reflects the inevitable decay of wood buildings in a temperate 

rainforest – not the degree of hardship 

experienced by Aleut villagers during 

World War II, or the historical importance of their sacrifice. Graves at 

Funter Bay, Killisnoo, and Ketchikan 

remain the most poignant reminders 

in southeast Alaska of the Aleut relocation (Figure 228). 

The investigation was successful in 

acquiring the information needed to 

make a determination of National 

Historic Landmark eligibility. Physical evidence was a critical data set. 

Onsite observations and photography 

recorded each site’s condition in 2008, 

or 2011 for the Ward Lake CCC camp.

That data may be useful for future cultural resource management. Neither 

the archival research nor the oral history effort were exhaustive, and more 

sources remain untapped. However, 

the combination of onsite information, 

archival data, and oral history allowed 

balanced characterizations of each 

Afterword 

9 

figure 228. 

In 2001 villagers 

from St. George 

and St. Paul 

reconsecrated 

the cemetery at 

Funter Bay. 

Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association 
 

204 

World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska 

figure 229. 

While at Killisnoo 

Mary Snigoroff of 

Atka wove baskets 

in traditional Aleut 

style using local 

materials. 

Photograph by Steve Henrikson, 

Alaska State Museum 

site’s past land use. The camp-specific 

focus makes clear that the Aleut internment was but a three-year interval 

within each site’s history. Each property had at least a decade or more of 

operation prior to World War II, and 

each property had a postwar history – albeit in most cases one of 

building salvage, outright demolition, or decay in place. Hardly 

touched upon in this volume 

were the prehistoric or early historic Native occupations of these 

localities. 

Each of the six sites discussed 

here are worthy of additional 

onsite, archival, and oral history 

investigation. Artifacts from the 

relocation period are few (Figures 56, 229). Archaeological 

excavations may someday find 

physical evidence significantly 

expanding our contemporary 

understanding of the Aleut internment experience. In the 

meantime, this volume is intended to transcend the National Historic Landmark evaluation process and 

serve as a commemoration of place – 

collectively, the six World War II Aleut 

relocation camps in southeast Alaska. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

205 

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