Yukon Island, approximately 1.5 miles (2.4 km) long, is situated on the southeastern shore of Kachemak Bay, about 9 miles (14.5 km) south of Homer, Alaska. The island was named by William Healey Dall in 1880 after the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey schooner Yukon. Heavily wooded, the island features a rocky shoreline with steep, eroding cliffs. Its highest point reaches an elevation of about 500 feet (150 m). Following the 1964 Alaska earthquake, the island subsided by roughly 2 feet (0.61 m), exacerbating erosion along the shoreline.

The schooner Yukon entered service with the U.S. Coast Survey in 1873, having been built and outfitted in Kennebunk, Maine, specifically for work in Alaska. When the Coast Survey reorganized in 1878 to form the Coast and Geodetic Survey, the Yukon became part of the new agency. The vessel is most noted for cruises under Acting Assistant William Healey Dall in 1873, 1874, and 1880. In 1873, the Yukon surveyed the western half of the Aleutian Islands; the eastern half had been surveyed the previous year by the U.S. Coast Survey schooner Humboldt. The 1874 cruise first proceeded to Sitka in Southeast Alaska, then west along the Gulf of Alaska’s coast to Unalaska in the Aleutians. The schooner entered the Bering Sea, visiting Nunivak Island and the Pribilof Islands, before returning to Sitka. In 1880, the Yukon followed a similar course to that of 1874, but included additional stops at Plover Bay (now Provideniya Bay) on the Siberian coast, the Diomede Islands, and Point Belcher on Alaska’s Chukchi Sea coast. These trips primarily aimed to correct the positions of various bays and islands, which were often misplaced by up to 20 nautical miles (37 km) on contemporary charts, and to document compass variations. The Yukon later entered commercial service under the name Elwood but was wrecked in 1895.

An archaeological site was discovered on Yukon Island in 1924, where ancient female human remains were found in an eroding shell midden. In the 1930s, the site was extensively investigated by Frederica de Laguna. She constructed a 1,500-year chronology of the site, laying the foundation for later research in the region. The site was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1962 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966. In 1976, a detailed survey of the island identified five additional midden sites. One of these includes a midden 12 feet (3.7 m) deep, with historical refuse layered on top. This midden is part of what is interpreted as a village site, which has yielded radiocarbon dates from AD 1100 to 1300. Read more here and here. Explore more of Yukon Island and Kachemak Bay here: