Nushagak, Alaska

The first salmon cannery in the Bristol Bay region was constructed by Arctic Packing Company in 1883 at Kanulik, just east of Nushagak Point.

The Pacific Steam Whaling Company built a cannery there in 1899 with Crescent Porter Hale as its first superintendent.

Pacific American Fisheries bought the property in 1933 along with others in the region but never operated the Nushagak cannery.

The world wide influenza pandemic of 1918 devastated the region in 1919, and contributed to the depopulation of Nushagak.

After the epidemic a hospital and orphanage were established in Kanakanak, across the river and 6 miles (10 km) from the present-day city center of Dillingham.

Nushagak first reported on the 1880 U.S. Census as an unincorporated village (spelled "Nushegak" and with the alternative name of "Alexandrovsk.

Indigenous Alaskans in Nushagak, 1917
Yupik shaman at Nushagak (ca. 1890s).
Food cache and barabara sod hut in Nushagak, 1917
Getting the fishing boats ready at P.H.J.
Fishing boats at a cannery in Nushagak, 1917
Wharf and scows at P.H.J.
Old Bradford Cannery in Nushagak, 1917
Canneries in Nushagak, 1917
Gillnets on drying racks in Nushagak, 1917
Gillnet boats and fishermen on the beach in Nushagak, 1917
A new ship named Polar Bear in dry dock , Nushagak 1917
Dillingham Census Area map