ANAKTUVUK PASS
The Community
Anaktuvuk Pass is located on a divide between the Anaktuvuk and John rivers in central Brooks Range. The village lies about 250 miles northwest of Fairbanks and about the same distance southeast of Barrow. Anaktuvuk Pass is perhaps the most scenic village on the North Slope, surrounded by tall mountains and near rivers and lakes. The community is located in the Gates of the Arctic National Parks and Preserve.
Anaktuvuk Pass, a historic caribou migration route, is the last remaining settlement of the inland Inupiat Eskimos, the Nunamiut. The original nomadic Nunamiut left the Brooks Range and scattered in the early 1900s, mostly due to the collapse of the caribou population. By the 1940s, several Nunamiut families returned to the area and settled at the broad, treeless Anaktuvuk Pass, the "place of caribou droppings." The community was incorporated as a second-class city in 1957.
There is a year-round museum in Anaktuvuk Pass which focuses on the early natural, geological, and cultural history of the area, including the migration of people across the Bering Land Bridge. The museum also displays Nunamiut clothing, household goods and hunting implements used around the time of the first contact with Westerners.
Population And Economy
In 2003, there were about 329 people living in Anaktuvuk Pass and a work force of 157. Inupiat Eskimos make up nearly 88.3 percent of the population. Anaktuvuk's economy is largely based on subsistence hunting caribou. The private sector employs close to one-third of the labor force, the North Slope Borough employs 44 percent, and the School District employs another 19 percent. Residents also produce caribou skin masks, and carvings for sale. Anaktuvuk Pass is one of the few villages that has a Museum (Simon Paneak Museum).
Quality of Life
There has been a tremendous change in the quality of life in Anaktuvuk Pass with a dramatic increase in accessibility to running water. Nine out of ten households now possess running water compared to one in four just five years ago, because of the completion of the water and sewer systems by the North Slope Borough. In addition, while comparative information from 1998 is lacking, 90 percent of the households in 2003 has flush toilets; the remaining 10 percent being dependent on honey buckets. The North Slope Borough still takes care of trash and honey bucket pick ups.
A health clinic, staffed by community health aides, is open during the day and 24 hours a day for emergencies. Anaktuvuk has a police station and a fire station, equipped with fire engines and an ambulance.
The Nunamiut School provides public education, with classes from pre-school through grade 12. Vocational education and adult basic education is also available.
The local village corporation, Nunamiut Corporation, owns a grocery and merchandise store, and also sells propane fuel and gasoline. The sale or possession of alcohol beverages is prohibited by law.
Transportation to Anaktuvuk Pass is available through scheduled and charter flights from Fairbanks or Barrow. Cargo arrives by air transport. Communications in the village include phone, mail, public radio and cable television.
For more information contact:
City of Anaktuvuk Pass
PO Box 21030
Anaktuvuk Pass, Alaska 99721
(907) 661-3612
This website and its content are ©2000 The North Slope Borough