North Entrance is a channel connecting Big Salt Lake to Shinaku Inlet at the head of San Alberto Bay on the west coast of Prince of Wales Island in Southeast Alaska, about 66 miles (106 km) south-southwest of Wrangell and 5 miles (8 km) north of Klawock, Alaska. Another channel named South Entrance connects Big Salt lake to Klawock Inlet, an arm of Bucareli Bay. Big Salt Lake is separated from these inlets by an island, on both sides of which are narrow channels obstructed by ledges that dam the tidal waters, creating a ‘salt lake’. San Alberto and Bucareli bays are partially protected from the open Pacific Ocean by San Fernando, Lulu, Baker and Noyes islands. Big Salt Lake is about 7.5 miles (12 km) long and 0.5 miles (0.9 km) wide, with a maximum tidal range of about 5 feet (1.5 m). Big Salt Lake is fed by many small watersheds, including several salmon spawning streams, that have a total drainage area of 50,431 acres (20,409 ha). The lower elevations surrounding Big Salt lake are mostly unconsolidated Quaternary sediment deposits, and the underlying bedrock is part of the Descon Formation of the Alexander terrane. Bedrock on the north side of the tidal lake is composed of greywacke, slate, and some andesitic volcanic rocks formed during the Silurian period, and on the south side mostly andesitic lava, breccia, and conglomerate rocks from the Devonian period. This part of Prince of Wales Island has evidence indicating early Holocene glacial retreat, but unlike other areas in Southeast Alaska, there has been minimal glacial activity in the last several thousand years.

Deep limestone caves at the north end of Prince of Wales Island have the remains of early humans, and stone tools have been dated to about 10,000 years ago. These sites have prompted inquiry into whether there was an outer coastal route by which early humans could have migrated down the Pacific Coast and spread inland below the ice sheets in the vicinity of Puget Sound. About 4,000 years ago, humans buried wood stakes in the intertidal mud to channel and capture mass quantities of salmon. Over the next 2,000 years, the culture and social organization associated with Northwest Coast peoples began to emerge, and by 3,000 years ago, the cultures of the Northwest Coast were largely the same as those observed at the time of European contact. In 1775, Spanish explorers entered the region from the Gulf of Alaska via Bucareli Bay, but they did not encounter any Indigenous peoples. In 1779, a large Spanish exploration of the area took place, but no plans were implemented for establishing Spanish settlements. Around 200 years ago, the Kaigani Haida migrated north from present-day Haida Gwaii. Today, the southwestern boundary of Tlingit territory on Prince of Wales Island abutting Kaigani Haida territory is occupied by the Tlawah kwaan and the Hinyaa kwaan that amalgamated and the descendants of these groups now claim the village of Klawock as their homeland.

In 1868, one year after the Alaska Purchase, a trading post was established in Klawock, and in 1872 a saltery was established to preserve salmon. In 1878, this facility was purchased by the North Pacific Trading and Packing Company that used the site to build the first salmon cannery in Alaska. The cannery was one of two, the other at Metlakatla, that were operated by Tlingit labor, all the other canneries in Alaska were reputedly operated entirely by Chinese laborers. The cannery had a capacity of 400 cases per day and 12,000 to 16,000 cases per season, with each case consisting of 48 one-pound cans. By 1897, industrial fishing techniques such as fish traps, stream barricades and beach seines had depleted the surrounding streams and a salmon hatchery was built to improve sockeye production but was abandoned in 1917. A new hatchery was built in 1976 to produce chum salmon, coho salmon, and later sockeye salmon and this hatchery has been operated by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game from 1977 to 1993, the cities of Klawock and Craig from 1994 to 1996, and the Prince of Wales Hatchery Association from 1997 to 2016, and since then the Southern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association. In 2021, Sealaska Corporation, one of 13 Alaska Native corporations created by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971, transitioned away from logging timber and became a key stakeholder in the Sustainable Southeast Partnership which includes, among many other initiatives, efforts to restore salmon streams in Southeast Alaska. Read more here and here. Explore more of North Entrance and Big Salt Lake here: