Naknek is located on the north bank of the Naknek River in the Bristol Bay Borough of Alaska.  Alaska’s  capital Anchorage is nearly 300 miles northeast of Naknek.  The nearby scenic Katmai National Monument was created in 1918 to preserve the famed Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, a spectacular forty square mile, 100 to 700 foot deep ash flow deposited by  Novarupta Volcano. 

This region was first settled  over 6,000 years ago by Yupik Eskimos and Athabasca Indians.  In 1821, the original Eskimo village of “Naugeik” was noted by Captain Lt. Vasiliev.  By 1880 the village was called Kinuak.   It was later spelled Naknek by the Russian Navy.  The Russians built a fort near the village and fur trappers inhabited the area for some time prior to the U.S. purchase of Alaska.

The first salmon cannery was opened on the Naknek River in 1890.  By 1900, there were approximately 12 canneries in Bristol Bay.  The Homestead Act enabled canneries to acquire land for their plants, and also made land available to other institutions and individuals.  The parcel owned by the Russian Orthodox Church on the north bank of the River was the first land recorded in Naknek.  Squatters built shelters on the church property and were eventually sold lots in what became the center of Naknek.  A post office was established in 1907.  Naknek has since developed as a major fishery center.

Temperatures in Naknek can be very extreme with winter lows dipping well below zero and summer highs reaching into the upper eighties.  Average temperatures tend to be less dramatic with winter temperatures staying close to freezing and summer temperatures rising into the fifties and low sixties.  Total precipitation averages 20" annually including 45" of snowfall.

History and photos used with permission from the Alaska Department of Community and Economic Development.