Fritz Creek is a stream on the Kenai Peninsula that starts from a watershed divide between Lookout Mountain to the south and Bald Mountain to the north and flows generally south for 7 miles (11 km) to the north shore of Kachemak Bay, about 17 miles (27 km) southeast of Anchor Point and 6 miles (10 km) northeast of Homer, Alaska. The name was first recorded in 1904 by Ralph W. Stone of the US Geological Survey. The term also designates a dispersed community spanning 34,816 acres (14,090 ha), centered on the former Fritz Creek General Store that burned in 20 23. The Cook Inlet Basin separates the Aleutian and Alaska Ranges (northwest) from the Kenai and Chugach Mountains (southeast). The basin spans 62 miles (100 km) by 186 miles (300 km) and holds up to 28,000 feet (8,500 m) of Paleogene sedimentary rocks. They include the Oligocene–Pliocene Kenai Group and the Paleocene–Eocene West Foreland Formation, which overlie Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks and underlie Quaternary alluvium and glacial deposits. The basin is bounded east by the Border Ranges fault and west by the Bruin Bay fault. The Kenai Group beneath the Fritz Creek watershed is chiefly sandstone, silt and clay in thin beds, with occasional fine conglomerate and sub-bituminous or lignitic coal. Lignite beds along cliffs between Fritz Creek and Kachemak Selo have burned, turning adjacent clay and shale bright orange and red. Kenai Group bedrock is visible on the north slopes of the Fritz Creek drainage, in the Anchor River valley and on Bald Mountain’s south face. Most of the Kenai Group is covered by glacial drift and alluvium since the last ice age. The north coast of Kachemak Bay was glaciated; areas north of Homer have Eklutna deposits, while those east contain Naptowne deposits. Floodplain deposits in the Fritz Creek valley are post‐glacial, and uplands carry wind‐deposited silt—from glacial loess and Aleutian volcanic ash. These deposits reflect the region’s dynamic glacial history.
Kachemak Bay’s north and south shores offer distinct habitats for modern life and prehistoric maritime hunters. The south shore is rugged, dotted with islands and backed by high mountains sheltering active glaciers. In contrast, the north shore is straight and lined with layered sediments that yield to rolling hills inland. The Homer Spit projects 4 miles (6 km) into the bay, and extensive mudflats border the coast. Early inhabitants largely avoided this shore; the only major archaeological site is Cottonwood Creek, about 7 miles (11 km) northeast of Fritz Creek. In 1930, Frederica de Laguna launched a three-season archaeological program of excavation at Cottonwood Creek that included a midden spanning two prehistoric cultures: the maritime Kachemak and the later Athabaskan. The Kachemak culture had withdrawn by about 500 AD, and by the 18th century, when Russians arrived, much of the bay lay within Dena’ina Athabaskan territory. In 1786, Captain Nathaniel Portlock, an English trader, discovered coal at Coal Cove at the entrance to present-day Port Graham. In 1798, Alexander Baranov of the Shelikov-Golikov Company tested the coal for smelting iron. The Russian-American Company opened Alaska’s first coal mine at Coal Cove in 1855; the Alaska Purchase of 1867 transferred the territory to the United States. In 1888, the Alaska Coal Company tunneled into the Bradley Coal Seam at Fritz Creek. In 1891, the US Navy mined 200 tons from four bay sites, including one at McNeil Canyon about 5 miles (8 km) northeast of Fritz Creek. In 1894, Theodore Fox of the North Pacific Mining and Transportation Company explored Eastland Canyon, about 9 miles (15 km) northeast of Fritz Creek, and extracted 650 tons. The US Geological Survey estimates several billion tons of coal lie beneath the Homer district’s 750 square miles (194,249 ha). Since prehistoric times, people have collected coal from beaches for fuel, and local ordinances still permit driving on beaches for coal collection.
The Anchor River and Fritz Creek Critical Habitat Area straddles the divide between the Beaver Creek and Fritz Creek watersheds. Beaver Creek flows into the midsection of the Anchor River—an anadromous fish stream that travels west for 30 miles (48 km) into Cook Inlet near Anchor Point on the Kenai Peninsula, about 14 miles (23 km) northwest of Homer. The area covers 19,000 acres (7,690 ha) of river bottoms, muskeg, upland spruce forests, and subalpine meadows. Established in 1985, it protects a natural migration corridor vital to wildlife—especially moose, which depend on one of the few major overwintering sites on the southern peninsula. Moose are widespread on the lower Kenai Peninsula, prized for recreational, aesthetic, and subsistence purposes and among the region’s most economically important species. An estimated 2,000 to 2,500 animals undertake distinct seasonal migrations. In summer, they disperse across subalpine meadows, river bottoms, and adjoining spruce forests. By mid-September, they migrate to rutting areas defined by open subalpine spruce stands and dense willow, congregating there until mid-October before moving upslope to willow brushlands. In December, they descend through timbered drainage areas to winter ranges, reaching full distribution by early January and remaining until April or May. Winter ranges occur along riverine zones such as Fritz Creek or on coastal plains like the benchlands near Homer. Both lie within a moderated climatic zone below 700 feet (213 m) and offer abundant willow browse coupled with protective spruce cover. In May and June, as the snow melts, moose gradually return to their upland summer ranges. Read more here and here. Explore more of Fritz Creek and Kachemak Bay here: