St. Paul (Aleut: Tanax̂ Amix̂ or Sanpuulax̂, Russian: Сент-Пол, romanized: Sent-Pol) is a city in the Aleutians West Census Area, Alaska, United States.

St. Paul Island in 2008 had one school (K-12, 76 students), one post office, one bar, one small store, and one church (the Russian Orthodox Sts.

Much of its 45.5 mi (73.2 km) of shoreline is rugged and rocky, rising to sheer cliffs at several headlands, though long sandy beaches backed by shifting sand dunes flank a number of shallow bays.

Sediment core samples taken on Saint Paul show that tundra vegetation similar to that found on the island today has been present for at least 9,000 years.

According to their oral tradition, the son of an Unimak Island elder found them after paddling north in his boat in an attempt to survive a storm that caught him out at sea; when the winds finally died, he was lost in dense fog—until he heard the sounds of Saint Paul's vast seal colonies.

The Aleuts were essentially slave labor for the Russians—hunting, cleaning, and preparing fur seal skins, which the Russians sold for a great deal of money.

The Aleuts were not taken back to their home islands; they lived in inhumane conditions, they were beaten, and they were regulated by the Russians down to what they could eat and wear and whom they could marry.

Food and clothing were scarce, social and racial segregation were practiced, and working conditions were poor.

[12] During World War II, as the Imperial Japanese Army threatened the Aleutians; the 881 Aleuts on the Pribilof islands were forcibly removed, with no more than several hours' notice, to internment in abandoned salmon canneries and mines in Southeast Alaska until May 1944.

In 1979, the Aleut people from the Pribilof islands received $8.5 million in partial compensation for the unfair and unjust treatment they were subject to under federal administration between 1870 and 1946.

Saint Paul Island has the largest Aleut community in the United States, one of the U.S. government's officially recognized Native American tribal entities of Alaska.

[21][22][23][24] It is thought that this population died out as a result of diminishing fresh water, brought on by climate change making the island more arid, and exacerbated by the erosion of the few freshwater lakes present on the island that the mammoths used for drinking water as a result of mammoth activity.

In spring (May through mid-June) and fall (August through October), many rare birds, including Siberian vagrants, may be spotted on the island.

The females give birth soon after making landfall, and by mid-July there will be hundreds of young pups around the island.

Endemic to the island, the fox can be found roaming the hills and climbing the cliffs as it scavenges for food.

Though clearly able to capture the occasional gull, foxes near the town prefer to scavenge garbage and explore the fishing docks and Processing Plant.

[citation needed] Of domesticated Russian stock, 25 reindeer were introduced to the island in the fall of 1911, but, after a peak of 2,046 organisms in 1938, the number decreased to 8.

There are more than 100 species of wildflowers, from the Arctic lupine, with its bluish-purple blossoms, to the glowing yellow Alaska poppy, that can be viewed.

The Bering Sea location results in cool weather year-round and a narrow range of mean temperatures varying from 19 to 51 degrees Fahrenheit.

Saint Paul's climate is strongly influenced by the cold waters of the surrounding Bering Sea, and is classified as polar (Köppen ET) due to the raw chilliness of the summers.

It experiences a relatively narrow range of temperatures, high wind, humidity and cloudiness levels, and persistent summer fog.

Low temperatures at or below 0 °F (−18 °C) occur an average of 4.7 nights per year (mostly from January to March), and the island is part of USDA Hardiness Zone 6.

Completed in 1999, the wind energy-based electric and thermal cogeneration facility was widely regarded as one of the more technologically advanced wind-energy power projects in America.

The 120 ft (37 m)-tall turbine is a major point of pride for the ecologically conscious Aleut community of Saint Paul.

Currently the City of St. Paul's Department of Public Safety provides no emergency medical services to residents or visitors on island.

Two advanced life support ambulances sit idle at the community clinic due to a lack of staffing and funding provided for by the city.

St. Paul is a port for the Central Bering Sea fishing fleet, and major harbor improvements have fueled economic growth.

Residents subsist on halibut, fur seals (1,645 may be taken each year), reindeer, marine invertebrates, plants and berries.

RAVN Alaska provides regularly scheduled flights to Anchorage using de Havilland DHC-8-100 turboprop aircraft.

[37] St. Paul is served by KUHB-FM 91.9, an NPR affiliate that broadcasts a wide variety of programming and music.