KUPREANOF — How does Alaska’s smallest city celebrate 40 years? By inviting the neighbors over for company. The community of Kupreanof offered free rides for the community of Petersburg to come visit during its anniversary celebration May 14, and people arrived en force. For the full day, Petersburg resident Don Holmes brought passengers back and forth on the M/V Juno. Holmes agreed to be the go-between months ago, and he remembers thinking, “Who’s gonna want to go over to Kupreanof? Won’t be that many.” By the time I hitched a ride from the Petersburg Harbormaster’s office just after noon, Holmes had already made ten trips and a second boat was being called in for reinforcements. Passengers included longtime locals and recent arrivals alike, all happy to catch a free ride to the neighboring island.
April in Petersburg this year meant weeks of near constant heavy rain, until the skies cleared just days before the anniversary. It felt like an island full of soggy Petersburg residents and visitors were physically leaping at the chance to hop off the rock for a day of hiking, sunbathing, and swimming at the Petersburg Creek sandbars.
It was also an opportunity for people new to the island, or just passing through, to visit a place usually left to its own devices. A couple I met from the cruise ship (docked in town for just for four hours) made a point to walk the 45-minute Kupreanof Loop, saying they’d done enough shopping and just wanted to go for a hike.
Old friends and new gathered at the welcome tent, where Kupreanof residents and other helpers were selling commemorative shirts and hats and handing out free coffee mugs and pins. Sharon Sprague and Becky Regula were on hand to show the town’s keepsake photo album, a treasure trove with details of Kupreanof’s history, as well as share stories of the people who made the city what it is today.
Harold and Ethel Bergmann were two of those people, forceful personalities who lived at what was once the Yukon Fur Farm at the mouth of Petersburg Creek. The farm was just one of the industries Kupreanof once hosted; others included barrel-making for the salted fish produced by the canneries across in Petersburg, engine and boat repair shops, logging and a clam cannery.
White settlers arrived in Petersburg and Kupreanof around the same time, and the population of Kupreanof peaked at close to 100 in the 1920s. That number has been on a downhill slide since then, officially resting at 27 residents in the most recent census, while Petersburg has about 2,900. The people who formed the beginning of each community had very different ideas about what they wanted to build, and those differences are apparent today.
It came to a head in the lead-up to the vote about whether to establish a borough in 2012. Community members argued heatedly at times, but in the end the ayes had it, and in 2013 the City of Petersburg was dissolved to become the Petersburg Borough. This left Kupreanof, most of whose residents opposed the very idea of the borough in the first place, as the only incorporated city within the 3,829 square miles located in central Southeast Alaska. The streak of independence and determination is what’s brought them this far, and attracts the occasional new like-minded resident — just enough to help keep it all going.
All of this was running through my mind as we landed on the dock and made our way to the recently built timber frame shelter. Michael Truex built the structure in less than 10 days, after waiting for the worst of the weather to blow over. “I keep wanting to go over and oil some of that trim over there, but there’s people in it now,” he said, ruing the role the weather played in hurrying the process. “But hey, you work with what you have sometimes.” This mentality is what he used to build the structure; the yellow cedar and spruce came from south Mitkof Island, and the red cedar came from Prince of Wales. The rocks serving as foundation for the shelter came from the beach of Kupreanof Island.
After passing the shelter the path in Kupreanof splits right or left; right leads to the community building, located down on the beach and outfitted with solar panels. Those who continued walking in that direction found themselves hiking Petersburg Mountain, a difficult 3.5 mile trail that ends in a steep ascent, culminating in a stunning view of Kupreanof Island, the community formerly known as the City of Petersburg, the mountain range including Devil’s Thumb, and the bays and glaciers beyond.
The popular route of the day was to take a left at the shelter, which led to either the Kupreanof Loop trail or the short walk to Petersburg Creek. The low tide was at 2 p.m., which meant the sandbars were revealed for a few heavenly hours of sunbathing, playing in sand, and other activities so many people on other beaches take for granted. On the way to the creek I realized I couldn’t remember the last time I had walked this direction and had way overpacked; my little childhood legs had remembered steep hills and endless muskeg stretches, with lots of water breaks and a tantrum or two. Actual adult travel time? More like 30 elevation-gain-free minutes. The sand bars were true to memory, and the groups of people spread out among the friendly mix of sand and barnacles were all celebrating in their own fashion. Rumors of a kite spread but were never confirmed as we watched eagles soar on thermals and take a dive at lunch in the creek.
For many the day was a once-a-season situation. Soon many members of this fishing and tourism town will be settling into our summer routines that keep us too busy to really enjoy the season. The chance to celebrate the spirit of Kupreanof was an opportunity for us to come together, introduce new friends to old places, and find our own way to revel in the beauty of the moment.
Petersburg resident Wear Eide went with a group up the difficult Petersburg Mountain hike. It was her own kind of anniversary celebration; this year she’s celebrating her ten years in Petersburg, after moving here from her home country of Thailand. She showed me a picture of Petersburg from the top, saying “I’ve been here 10 years. This was the first time I’ve done this mountain. This picture, this day, was for me. It was a very good day.”
• Chelsea Tremblay lives, writes and sells books in Petersburg. Visit her at ofpeopleandplaces.net.
Michael Truex built the timber frame shelter behind him in less than 10 days, after waiting for April’s storms to pass, for Southeast’s smallest city’s 40th anniversary.
