| Summary: | On verso of image: View in Savoonga, St. Lawrence Id., a new, modern village. Photo by Wm. Range, 1925. PH Coll 334.Range.1 Savoonga is located on the northern coast of St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea, 164 miles west of Nome. It lies 39 miles southeast of Gambell. St. Lawrence Island has been inhabited intermittently for the past 2,000 years by both Alaskan and Siberian Yup'ik Eskimos. The island had numerous villages with a total population of around 4,000 by the 19th century. A tragic famine occurred on the island in 1878-80, severely reducing the population. In 1900 a herd of reindeer were moved to the island and by 1917, the herd had grown to over 10,000 animals. A reindeer camp was established in 1916 at the present site, where grazing lands were better, and the herd tended to remain. Good hunting and trapping in the area attracted more residents. A post office was established in 1934. When the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) was passed in 1971, Gambell and Savoonga decided not to participate, and instead opted for title to the 1.136 million acres of land in the former St. Lawrence Island Reserve. The island is jointly owned by Savoonga and Gambell, which are two of nine authorized whaling villages in Alaska. Because of its isolation, a unique culture developed. Even today, residents remain almost completely bilingual, with the Native dialect, St. Lawrence Island or Siberian Yupik, being the preferred language for almost all domestic conversation. [Sources: Explore North web site, http://www.explorenorth.com/library/communities/alaska/bl-Savoonga.htm, and The Alaskan Native Carver's Gallery web site, http://www.bssd.org/eskimo_art/villages/savoonga/savoonga.html]
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