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Kaviak

A vanished town in Nome (CA) County, Alaska.

Survey record — verification pendingFILED: AK

Kaviak

Nome (CA) County, Alaska

records pending
Classification
Vanished town (federal archive)
Coordinates
65.1500° N, 165.5000° W

What the record shows

The federal survey describes the site: near head of Imuruk Basin, 25 mi. E of Teller, Seward Peninsula High.

"Site of an Eskimo village. Lieutenant L. A. Zagoskin, Imperial Russian Navy (IRN), 1842-44, wrote the name of the village as ""Kaviag-miut"" and said it meant ""Fox."" Members of the Western Union Telegraph Expedition spelled the name variously in the ""Esquimaux,"" their monthly newspaper published at Teller, 1866-67. In the 10th Census, in 1880, Petroff (1884, p. 11) listed a population of 200 Eskimo. The 11th Census, in 1890, (p. 130) included ""Kaviagmiut"" in the Port Clarence village. Subsequent censuses have not recorded this village."

Kaviakappears in the U.S. Geological Survey's place-name archive as a historical populated place — a settlement that once carried a name and no longer does. Our editors are verifying its full story against census records, newspaper archives, and county histories; this record will grow as sources are confirmed.

Before you visit

Unverified sites may sit on private land, and coordinates from historical records can be imprecise. Verify land status and access before traveling. Take photographs, leave nails — removing artifacts from federal land is a crime.

See it in context on the national atlas map.

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From the field

The most valuable part of this record is the part only visitors can write.

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Nearby survey records