Meyers Chuck is a community situated along the shoreline of a natural harbor protected mostly by Misery Island and Meyers Island, on the Cleveland Peninsula with Ernest Sound to the north and Clarence Strait to the west, about 50 miles (80 km) south of Wrangell and 37 miles (60 km) northwest of Ketchikan, Alaska. The harbor provides a sheltered anchorage for small boats, and historically, salmon trollers came here during storms in Clarence Strait. The anchorage became known as Meyers Chuck, reputedly for a prospector named Meyers, or Myers, and the descriptive word ‘chuck’ “which comes from the Chinook jargon for an embayment that fills with saltwater at high tide. The Cleveland Peninsula is part of the mainland that extends southwest for 30 miles (48 km) between Prince of Wales Island to the west and Revillagigedo Island to the east. The peninsula was named in 1886 by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey for President S. Grover Cleveland. The southwestern part of Cleveland Peninsula including Meyers Chuck is formed by metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks. The parent rocks were metamorphosed by large masses of igneous intrusions associated with the Mesozoic period. The rocks are dominantly schistose greenstone, breccia, and lava flows associated with black slate and greywacke sandstone.
The western coast of the Cleveland Peninsula is part of the Shtax’héen Kwáan, a powerful and warlike tribe with a reputation for ferocity. The term ‘kwáan’ is derived from the Tlingit word for ‘to dwell’ and refers to the total lands and waters used and controlled by clans inhabiting a particular winter village. The lands and waters claimed by the Shtax’heen Kwáan were more extensive than that of any Tlingit tribe and included many rich salmon streams and lakes near the mouth of the Stikine River and present-day Wrangell. Within this territory, several clans claimed exclusive ownership of some hunting and fishing areas and shared ownership and uses in other areas. The Kiks.ádi clan was among the largest and most revered clans of the Raven moiety at that place. Their name means ‘people of Kiks’ which likely refers to a small stream on the mainland of the Cleveland Peninsula. Like their fellow Tlingits at the mouths of the Taku and Chilkat rivers, their position at the mouth of the Stikine River allowed the Shtax’héen Kwáan to monopolize the trade route to the interior, trading with the inland Tahltan Athabascan, and later, Russian and Hudson’s Bay Company fur traders.
From 1916 to 1945, fishermen sold their catch to a cannery in nearby Union Bay, which in turn sold in bulk to Japan. In the 1920s, a saltery produced mild-cured king salmon. A floating clam cannery and a herring reduction plant were also present in the area during this time. Around 1920, a U.S. Post Office, store, machine shop, barber shop, bakery, and bar supported residents, and by 1939, Meyers Chuck had 107 year-round residents. When salmon runs began to decline in the 1940s, many people left the community to join the armed forces or to work at war-time production jobs in the lower 48 states. The Union Bay Cannery burned down in 1947. Between 1965 and 1969, land was patented to local residents, and the community was withdrawn from the Tongass National Forest. After two major fires in the summer of 1983, residents pooled their resources to establish a fund to purchase firefighting equipment. A school was constructed in 1983 but is no longer staffed due to a lack of students. In 2008, Meyers Chuck was annexed by the newly formed City and Borough of Wrangell and is now classified as a remote community within the Borough. Today, Meyers Chuck remains a fishing community and seasonal home for roughly 25 residents seeking an off-the-grid lifestyle and the tranquility of this remote location. Read more here and here. Explore more of Meyers Chuck and Cleveland Peninsula here:
