Hyder (Alaska)

Prince of Wales- Hyder Census Area

02-34570

Hyder is a settlement in the form of a census-designated place (CDP ) in Prince of Wales- Hyder Census Area, in the extreme south of the state of Alaska. During the 2000 census 97 people Hyder gave as their primary residence.

Location

Hyder is located about 3 kilometers south-west of Stewart (British Columbia ) at the end of the Portland Canal, which forms the border between the United States of America and Canada; the nearest major settlement in Alaska is the 120 km ( straight line ) northwest location Ketchikan.

Population

Data, which were collected in the last census, show that more than half of the residents earn an income below the poverty line; the per capita income was $ 11,500 per year thereafter. This is one of the lowest rates for a community whose population is more than 95 percent of whites.

History

Even the Nisga'a used the area at the mouth of the Bear River in the Portland Canal as a temporary hunting and gathering space, and possibly as an escape area on the occasion of the raids of the Haida. The exploration of the area did not begin until 1896, when an expedition under the leadership of David du Bose Gaillard explored the region and near the border erected a still existing warehouse. Prospectors discovered in the following years, numerous mines, which, although usually lay on the area of British Columbia, but were accessible easily from Hyder, since only in 1974 a road was built connecting the south. In addition, in the years promoted the location in Alaska Riverside Mine from 1924 to 1952 gold, silver, lead, copper, zinc, and tungsten.

Originally the partially built on stilts in the ocean settlement - this time already uninhabited district fell in 1948 to a major fire victims - in the name of Portland baptized, but the United States Postal Service informed the residents that there are already too many places with this name, why the place after the Canadian mining engineer Frederick Hyder was named.

Economy and Transport

Tourism, fishing and a modest mining are the main source of income of the inhabitants.

The ice-free port has been run in the past once a month in the system of the Alaska Marine Highway, this service is set now. About Stewart is a connection to Highway 37 The nearest airport is located in Terrace.

Trivia

The border crossing to Stewart is only monitored by the Canadian Customs, as the geographical location of the place makes an onward journey to another place on the territory of the United States impossible to make the differences in taxation for alcohol, however, the smuggling lucrative.

Weblink

  • Database of communities of Alaska: Hyder (English)
  • Tourist Information
  • Martin Kloth: " Alaska's friendliest ghost town ", " Spiegel Online " article on Hyder
  • Location in Alaska
  • Prince of Wales- Hyder Census Area
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