KENAI

ALASKA

The city of Kenai is named after the local Dena'ina (Tanaina) word 'ken' or 'kena', which means 'flat, meadow, open area with few trees; base, low ridge', according to the Dena'ina Topical Dictionary by James Kari, Ph.D., published in 2007. This describes the area along the mouth and portion of the Kenai River near the City of Kenai. The local Native people call themselves Dena'ina, but many also use the term 'Kenaitze', which is a Russian term for "people of the flats or 'kena'" which remained in use after Russian contact. The local Native Tribe adopted the name Kenaitze Indian Tribe when they were incorporated in the early 1970s.

Archaeological evidence suggests that the area was first occupied by the Kachemak people from 1000 B.C., until they were displaced by the Dena'ina Athabaskan people around 1000 A.D.

Before the arrival of the Russians, Kenai was a Dena'ina village called Shk'ituk't, which means "where we slide down." When Russian fur traders first arrived in 1741, about 1,000 Dena'ina lived in the village. The traders called the people "Kenaitze," or "Kenai people."

In 1791, a Russian trading post, Fort St. Nicholas, was constructed in the middle of the village for the purposes of fur and fish trading. It was the second permanent Russian settlement in Alaska.

Hostilities surfaced between the natives and settlers in 1797 when what is dubbed the battle of Kenai, an incident in which the Dena'ina attacked Fort St. Nicholas, resulting in over one hundred deaths from all involved parties. Later, in 1838, the introduction of smallpox killed one half of the Dena'ina population.

In 1869, after the Alaska Purchase the United States Army established a post called Fort Kenay. It was soon abandoned.

In 1888 a prospector named Alexander King discovered gold on the Kenai Peninsula. The amount of gold was small compared to the later gold finds in the Klondike, Nome and Fairbanks.

In 1894, the Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Church was built in the village. It is still in use today.

The establishment of shipping companies in the early 1900s broadened Kenai into a port city. Canning companies were established and helped fuel the commercial fishing boom that was the primary activity through the 1920s. In 1937, construction of the Kenai Airport began.

In 1940, homesteads were opened in the area. The first dirt road from Anchorage was constructed in 1951; pavement would not arrive until 1956 with the construction of the Kenai Spur highway.

A military base, Wildwood Army Station (later Wildwood Air Force Station), was established in 1953 and served as a major communications post. Wildwood was conveyed in 1974 to the Kenai Native Association in partial settlement of Alaska Native land claims. The facility was leased and later purchased by the State of Alaska and presently serves as the Wildwood Correctional Complex.

In 1957, oil was discovered at Swanson River, 20(32 km) northeast of Kenai. This was the first major oil discovery in Alaska. In 1965, offshore oil discoveries in Cook Inlet caused a period of rapid growth.

In 1992, Kenai was named one of the All American Cities of that year.

This information from Wikipedia: For more info. go to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchorage,_Alaska

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Anchorage, Homer, Valdez, Palmer, Fairbanks, Tok, Glennallen, Chitina, Slana, Fox, Delta Junction, Paxon, Willow, Talkeetna, Sutton, Huston, Eagle River, Kenai, North Slope, Yukon, Chicken, Dawson, Juneau, Platinum, Mt. McKinley, Montana Creek, Seward, Nome, Wales, Prudhoe Bay and other Alaska cities. What can you do in Alaska? You may: Relax in your room; swim in the pool or soak in the Jacuzzi; have a five course dinner; go gold mining or gold prospecting or find gold and stake your own gold mining claim; go hunting or fishing; camp along the thousands of creeks or lakes or miles of beaches; go hiking, bicycling, ATV riding, trail riding or even horse back riding; go on a cruise on one of the hundreds of tour boats or sightseeing from a bush plane; go on a tour of the Wrangle, St. Elias National Park and Preserve - the largest in North America; visit abandoned villages and gold mining camps; see the Yukon River, the midnight sun, cross the Arctic Circle or visit Alaska Native Villages and Eskimo Igloos; see moose, caribou, grizzle and brown bears, black bear, fox, ptarmigan, salmon, wolverines, coyotes, lynx, mink, otters, seals, walrus, geese, ducks and hundreds of other birds including the Bald Eagle, the Raven and the infamous Camp Robber; go on sled dog rides or see Musk Ox and Reindeer; rent 4x4 ATV’s for trail rides or canoes for a ride down the river; see Mt. McKinley, the largest mountain in North America or visit places that have been here since before Alaska became a state such as Duffy’s Roadhouse at mile 63 on the Tok Cutoff Highway or you may visit the hundreds of other historic places that are on the maps; and you could go to museums, plays, theatres, shopping, antique stores and pawn shops or visit Russian Orthodox Churches built over a hundred years ago or visit fishing villages where the villagers have fished for hundreds of years; and, you could even learn the meaning of the words such as “cheechako”, “sourdough”, “muktuk”, “oogarook” or “cuspuck”.

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