Cape Romanzof is a massive headland at the western end of the Askinuk Mountains on the Bering Sea coast of Southwest Alaska in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta between Kokechik and Scammon Bays, about 161 miles (259 km) northwest of Bethel and 20 miles (32 km) north of Hooper Bay, Alaska. The cape was named in 1821 by Gleb S. Shishmarev after Count Rumyantsov, who built and outfitted a 180‑ton vessel, the Rurik, to explore the supposed northwest passage via the Davis Strait or Hudson Bay. The US Board on Geographic Names later standardized the current spelling on maps and charts. The name Askinuk Mountains derives from the Yup’ik language, as recorded in 1878–1879 by Edward W. Nelson of the US Army Signal Corps, who explored much of the river delta. The mountains rise from the Yukon Delta to an elevation of 2,342 feet (714 m) at the summit of Towak Mountain. They form a pluton of granitic rocks—including quartz monzonite and predominantly granodiorite—dating from the Late Cretaceous, with intrusion generally occurring between 85 and 70 million years ago. The delta plain, which borders the Askinuk Mountains to the north, south, and east, formed over thousands of years through sediment deposition from the Yukon River. Its sediments include alluvial, colluvial, and shallow marine (or floodplain) deposits dating from the Late Tertiary, Pleistocene, and Quaternary periods. During the Pleistocene, about 20,000 years ago, the Bering Sea coastline lay far to the west, and the ancestral Yukon River flowed south of Nunivak Island, reaching the Bering Sea near the Pribilof Islands. Over time, as sea levels rose, the Yukon migrated north toward Norton Sound. The lowland delta between the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers comprises as much water as land, with thousands of thaw lakes interconnected by sloughs and streams. The Bering Sea is shallow and the land flat; in fall storms, tides can surge inland up to 30 miles (48 km).

The Yup’ik people inhabit western and southwestern Alaska, ranging from southern Norton Sound southward along the Bering Sea coast of the Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta to the northern coast of Bristol Bay, as far east as Nushagak Bay and south to Egegik Bay. Archaeologists believe their common ancestors originated in eastern Siberia, migrating east to reach the Bering Sea region about 10,000 years ago. Research on blood types and linguistics suggests that the ancestors of American Indians arrived in North America in successive waves before the Yup’ik. Three major migration waves from Siberia crossed the Bering land bridge—exposed between 20,000 and 8,000 years ago during glaciations. By about 3,000 years ago, the Yup’ik had settled along the coastal areas of what is now western Alaska. The Yup’ik primarily hunted seals, walruses, and sea lions. They mainly used wooden, stone, or bone weapons and had limited fishing experience. Families lived together in large groups during winter and later split into smaller units in summer. In 1728, Danish navigator Vitus Bering, in Russian service, became the first European to systematically explore the Bering Sea while sailing from the Pacific Ocean northward to the Arctic Ocean. In 1778, Captain James Cook sailed into the Bering Sea in search of the northwest passage. He reached Icy Cape in the Chukchi Sea before turning west and south, convinced that no such passage existed. Between 1815 and 1818, Shishmarev served as the senior officer of the brig Rurik under Lieutenant Otto von Кotzebue and participated in the discovery and description of the Chukchi Sea, Kotzebue Bay, Shishmaref Bay, Sarychev Island, and Cape Romanzof. In 1909, US President Theodore Roosevelt first set aside southwestern Alaska lands as a wildlife refuge and other lands, including Cape Romanzof, were added through the years until December 2, 1980, when President Jimmy Carter signed the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act creating the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge.

Towak Mountain on Cape Romanzof initially hosted a continental defense radar station built by the US Air Force in 1950 as part of the Defense Early Warning Line to surveil potential Soviet attacks during the Cold War. Construction materials were delivered only by barge or Navy landing craft—possible only when the sea was not frozen—and had to be offloaded at a beach 15 miles (24 km) from the site. With no roads, each item was hauled along the beach and then transported another 5 miles (8 km) inland. The radars were situated at an elevation of 2,342 feet (700 m). An aerial tramway provided access but its cables frequently broke under high winds and ice. The control buildings at the mountain’s base were linked by enclosed portals, so no one needed to go outside in winter unless absolutely necessary. Personnel tours were limited to one year because of the psychological strain and physical hardships. The Cape Romanzof radars transmitted data to the air defense center at King Salmon, where analysts determined the range, direction, altitude, speed and whether aircraft were friendly or hostile. Initially, a high-frequency radio system provided communications, but atmospheric disturbances rendered it unreliable. After evaluating alternatives, the Alaskan Air Command built the White Alice Communications System—a network of tropospheric scatter and microwave radio relay sites. The Cape Romanzof White Alice system was activated in 1957 and deactivated in 1979 when a satellite earth terminal replaced it. The radars were deactivated in 1983 and the station re-designated as a long-range radar site. In 1998, Pacific Air Forces launched Operation Clean Sweep to remediate abandoned Cold War stations in Alaska and restore the land. Today the station remains active as part of the Alaska NORAD Region under the jurisdiction of the 611th Air Support Group, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, though very little of the former Cape Romanzof Air Force Station endures. Read more here and here. Explore more of Cape Romanzof and Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta here: