Seward Peninsula

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Lore & Background

The Seward Peninsula is a large peninsula on the western coast of Alaska, whose westernmost point is Cape Prince of Wales. It projects about 200 miles into the Bering Sea between Norton Sound, the Bering Strait, the Chukchi Sea, and Kotzebue Sound, just outside the Arctic Circle. The entire peninsula is about 210 miles long and 90–140 miles wide. It was named after William H. Seward, the United States Secretary of State who fought for the U.S. purchase of Alaska. The peninsula is a remnant of the Bering land bridge, a roughly thousand-mile-wide swath of land connecting Siberia with mainland Alaska during the Pleistocene Ice Age. This land bridge aided in the migration of humans, as well as plant and animal species, from Asia to North America. Excavations at sites such as the Trail Creek Caves and Cape Espenberg in the Bering Land Bridge National Preserve as well as Cape Denbigh to the south have provided insight into the timeline of prehistorical migrations from Asia to the Seward Peninsula. Most of the peninsula is in the Nome Census Area, but part is in the Northwest Arctic Borough. Communities include Nome, Shishmaref, Kotzebue, and others. Other locations include the mining towns of Council, Solomon, Candle, Haycock and Taylor, which no longer have year round residents. There was a United States Coast Guard LORAN station at Port Clarence. The U.S. Air Force operates a radar station at the 'Tin City' site, 7 miles southeast of Wales.

Reader's Guide

The Seward Peninsula has several distinct geologic features. The Devil Mountain Lakes on the northern portion of the peninsula are the largest maar lakes in the world and part of the Espenberg volcanic field. They were formed over 21,000 years ago as the result of an underground steam explosion. The Killeak Lakes and White Fish Lake are also volcanic maar lakes of notable size on the northern Seward Peninsula. Four mountain ranges line the southern side of the peninsula, the most prominent being the Kigluaik (or Sawtooth) Mountains. The highest point in the range and the peninsula is the peak of 4,714 ft Mount Osborn. Other mountain ranges include the Bendeleben Mountains, Darby Mountains, and York Mountains. The Lost Jim Lava Flow north of Kuzitrin Lake is a lava field formed roughly 1,000 to 2,000 years ago, covering roughly 88 square miles. Several geothermal hot springs are located throughout the peninsula, including Serpentine Hot Springs, Pilgrim Hot Springs, Granite Mountain, Elim, Clear Creek and Lava Creek. The Seward Peninsula has several rivers, the largest including the Koyuk, Kuzitrin, Niukluk, Fish, Tubuktilik, Kiwalik, Buckland and Agiupuk rivers. These play a vital role in the subsistence lifestyles of many peninsula residents and facilitate travel, hunting, and fishing. Most peninsula rivers have at least a small yearly run of several varieties of salmon, as well as Dolly Varden trout, Arctic grayling, whitefish of various species, northern pike, and burbot. Most rivers on the Seward Peninsula freeze in mid-October; spring break-up usually occurs in mid- to late May. The Seward Peninsula is the westernmost limit of distribution for the black spruce. Alaska's reindeer herding was concentrated on the Seward Peninsula ever since the first shipment of reindeer were imported there from eastern Siberia in 1892. In 1997 the domesticated reindeer joined the Western Arctic Caribou Herd on their summer migration and disappeared. Cape Prince of Wales, the westernmost point on the mainland of the Americas, is on the western tip. The cape is only 51 miles from Cape Dezhnev, the closest point on the Russian mainland. In August 2011 Russia announced an ambitious project to construct a rail tunnel under the Bering Strait, linking the Seward Peninsula in Alaska with the Chukchi Peninsula in Russia. If completed, the project would cost an estimated US$65 billion and would be the world's longest tunnel at 64 miles long.

Did You Know?

• The Devil Mountain Lakes on the northern Seward Peninsula are the largest maar lakes in the world, formed over 21,000 years ago by an underground steam explosion.
• Cape Prince of Wales, the westernmost point on the mainland of the Americas, is only 51 miles from Cape Dezhnev on the Russian mainland.
• In 1997, domesticated reindeer on the Seward Peninsula joined the Western Arctic Caribou Herd on their summer migration and disappeared.
• The Lost Jim Lava Flow north of Kuzitrin Lake covers roughly 88 square miles and formed roughly 1,000 to 2,000 years ago.
• The Seward Peninsula is the westernmost limit of distribution for the black spruce, Picea mariana.