Gambell, Alaska

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gambell is a city in Nome Census Area, Alaska, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 649.

1 Geography
2 Demographics
3 History
4 Education
5 External links

[edit] Geography

Gambell Alaska is located at 63°46′34″N, 171°42′3″W (63.776098, -171.700889)^GR1.

Gambell is located on the northwest cape of St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea, 325 km (200 miles) southwest of Nome. It is 58 km (36 miles) from the Chukchi Peninsula in the Russian Far East.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 78.6 km² (30.4 mi²). 28.2 km² (10.9 mi²) of it is land and 50.4 km² (19.5 mi²) of it (64.10%) is water.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 649 people, 159 households, and 121 families residing in the city. The population density was 23.0/km² (59.5/mi²). There were 187 housing units at an average density of 6.6/km² (17.2/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 3.54% White, 95.69% Native American, 0.46% Asian, and 0.31% from two or more races. 0.31% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

[edit] History

Sivuqaq is the Yupik language name for St. Lawrence Island and for Gambell. It has also been called Chibuchack and Sevuokok.

St. Lawrence Island has been inhabited sporadically for the past 2,000 years by both Alaskan Yup'ik and Siberian Yupik people. In the 1700s and 1800s, the island had a population of about 4,000.

In 1887, the Reformed Episcopal Church of America decided to open a mission on St. Lawrence Island. That year a carpenter, lumber and tools were left at Sivuqaq by a ship. The carpenter worked with local Yupik to build a wood building, the first they had ever seen. When the building was finished, the carpenter left the keys to the door with a local chief and departed. Since the carpenter had not spoken Yupik, the residents did not know the purpose of the building.

Between 1878 and 1880 a famine decimated the island's population. Many who did not starve left. The remaining population of St. Lawrence Island was nearly all Siberian Yupik.

The Reformed Episcopal Church had not been able to find missionaries willing to live on St. Lawrence Island, so the building built for the mission was left unoccupied. In 1890, the building was acquired by Sheldon Jackson. He spoke to the Reverend Vene and Nellie Gambell, of Wapello, Iowa, about moving to St. Lawrence Island. Gambell was hired as a schoolteacher and the Gambells came to the island in 1894. Thet had a daughter in 1897. Nellie Gambell became ill and the Gambells spent the winter of 1897-1898 in the United States, where Nellie was hospitalized. In the spring of 1898 they embarked on a return journey to St. Lawrence Island on the ship Lady Jane Grey. The ship sank in a storm and 43 people on it drowned, including the Gambells and their daughter.

After their death, Sivuqaq was renamed Gambell to honor the Gambells.

Gambell and Savoonga received joint title to most of the land on St. Lawrence Island under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971.