Little Port Walter is an embayment and research facility on the southern shore of Port Walter, situated on the southeastern coast of Baranof Island and the western shore of Chatham Strait, about 53 miles (85 km) south-southeast of Sitka and 9 miles (14.5 km) north of Port Alexander, Alaska. Local fishermen first used the name, which the US Coast and Geodetic Survey published as ‘Inner Port Walter’ in 1925 and as ‘Little Port Walter’ in 1927. Little Port Walter serves as the estuary of Sashin Creek, which flows northeast for 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from a deglaciated cirque at an elevation exceeding 2,000 feet (610 m) to Sashin Lake, at about 245 feet (75 m). The lake stretches 1.3 miles (2.1 km), and the creek continues another 1.4 miles (2.3 km) from its outlet to sea level at the head of the embayment. Sashin Creek provides spawning habitat for pink, chum, and coho salmon, as well as Dolly Varden char and steelhead trout. The lake and creek are named after one of the 20 Russians killed by Tlingit in 1802 during the Battle of Sitka. Chatham Strait stretches about 150 miles (240 km) and extends southward from Icy Strait to the Gulf of Alaska. Its eastern shore is defined by Admiralty Island in the north and by Frederick Sound and Kuiu Island in the south, while Baranof Island forms the western shore. Covering 1,028,452 acres (416,200 ha) with a shoreline of 617 miles (993 km), most of Baranof Island lies within Tongass National Forest. Historically, the island has drawn attention for its gold deposits in the early 20th century, its chrome and nickel deposits in the mid-20th century, and its substantial timber industry later that century. More recently, interest has grown in developing geothermal power from the dormant Mount Edgecumbe volcano on nearby Kruzof Island and in the commercial development of numerous island hot springs. Baranof Island is also renowned for its scenic fjords, waterfalls, pristine rainforests, and abundant fishing grounds.

The Tlingit traded with the Haida, Tsimshian, and Athabaskan peoples from the interior. Herring oil, salmon, and sea otter furs were the chief commodities long before American and European maritime fur traders arrived in the late 1700s. Coastal tribes honed techniques to harvest, preserve, store and transport marine foods. Herring and salmon were caught in small weirs and temporary traps. Village chiefs controlled fishing rights on streams and regulated the catch. Fish spoiled quickly and were rendered into oil, smoked or fermented. Russian fur traders expanded from Kodiak along the coast. On 7 July 1799, Alexander Baranov and 100 Russians sailed into Sitka Sound aboard the Olga, Ekaterina, Orel and a fleet of roughly 550 baidarkas manned by 700 Aleut Unangan and 300 others. Although the sea otter trade between the Tlingit and American and British vessels was established, the Russians founded a colony first at Starrigavan Bay, relocating it to Sitka in 1804. The Alaska Purchase of 1867 transferred the territory from Russia to the United States. In 1878, Alaska’s first cannery opened at Klawock; by 1889, 13 canneries operated in Southeast Alaska. Salmon were initially caught with purse seines from rowboats and then moved to steamboats. Shore fish traps, sometimes spaced less than a mile apart, soon contributed to a decline in salmon numbers. Trolling for salmon, using hook and line drawn slowly through the water, began in Southeast Alaska around 1905. Gas-powered boats from Puget Sound and refrigeration expanded the industry’s reach beyond canneries. In 1913, rich king salmon grounds emerged at the southern end of Baranof Island, drawing fish buyers to Port Alexander. Canneries there alternated with herring reduction plants and mild-cure stations for troll-caught fish. Trolling peaked at Port Alexander in the 1920s and 1930s before shifting north to Sitka and the outer coasts of Chichagof and Yacobi Islands. This evolution in trade and technology illustrates the region’s response to shifting economic and cultural trends.

Captain Ashton W. Thomas arrived in Alaska in 1898 during the Klondike Gold Rush. He started a transportation business on the Stikine River. When that enterprise declined in 1903, he moved to Juneau and founded the Juneau Packing Company, operating fish traps, producing canned sardines and smoking and kippering salmon. In 1909, Thomas relocated to Ketchikan to run a bait-herring business for the New England Fish Company. Eight years later, he opened a herring saltery and reduction plant at Little Port Walter. The saltery sustained a small community until 1934, when a US Bureau of Fisheries research facility took over. Today, the Alaska Fisheries Science Center and Auke Bay Laboratories operate the site. Nearby lakes and streams support salmonid research. Facilities include an experimental hatchery and floating raceways and net pens—fresh- and saltwater—fed by a controlled source delivering 2 cubic feet (57 L) per second. Historical studies examined the biology and population enhancement of salmon (pink, chum, coho, sockeye, Chinook), steelhead trout, Dolly Varden, herring, shrimp and rockfish. Current research focuses on Chinook and coho genetics, assessing three decades of population-enhancement effects. Steelhead studies compare a wild population in Sashin Creek with introduced rainbow trout in Sashin Lake. Established in the 1920s by transplanting juvenile steelhead, the rainbow trout sometimes escape and breed with steelhead—a dynamic relevant to Pacific Northwest recovery programs. Other research has addressed invertebrate ecology, low-dose toxicity effects on salmon, oceanography, marine nutrient transport and climate variation. As Alaska’s oldest year-round biological station, the facility remains ideal for studies in environmental and resource management, including long-term monitoring of precipitation, water temperatures and nearshore salinity. See a video of the research station here. Read more here and here. Explore more of Little Port Walter here: