Claim Point forms the western shore of Chrome Bay at the northern entrance to Port Chatham on the Kenai Peninsula, about 100 miles (162 km) north-northwest of Kodiak and 33 miles (53 km) south-southwest of Homer, Alaska. It was the site of a historical chromite mine. Port Chatham was named in 1794 by Captain George Vancouver for HMS Chatham, commanded by Lieutenant William R. Broughton and serving as tender to HMS Discovery during surveys of Alaska and the Pacific Northwest from 1790 to 1795. The historical community of Portlock sits on the southern shore of Port Chatham, about 2 miles (3.2 km) east of Claim Point. The US Coast and Geodetic Survey first reported the local name for the point in 1908, referencing chromite-iron prospects. Chromium, refined from chromite, is used primarily in making stainless steel and other alloys. Claim Point is an igneous intrusion in the surrounding McHugh Formation that created a pluton composed of peridotite; the same rock occurs on the mainland just north of this peninsula, with bands and veins of chromite up to 10 inches (25 cm) thick.

In summer 1909 Ulysses S. Grant and Daniel F. Higgins were commissioned by the US Geological Survey to conduct a geological reconnaissance of the southern Kenai Peninsula. They spent two months on the coast between Seward and Seldovia, visiting all known iron, copper and gold prospects. The largest chromite-iron claims had been staked on Red Mountain, a prominent peak about 7 miles (11 km) south-east of Seldovia, by James Linder, J.T. Ballan, and Bruce Markle. But the mining claims with the highest concentration of chromite ore, and the most accessible, were staked by William and Charles Anderson on Claim Point, particularly on a small island to the south-east connected by a narrow reef to the point at low tide. Mining this ore body, situated between high and low water, was difficult because of the tides, but the Reef mine produced most of the chromite shipped from Alaska when demand was created by the first world war. Nearly 1,000 tons were extracted by Whitney & Lass from the Reef mine in 1917, with a concentration of 46-49% chromite, and roughly the same amount in 1918 at 40% chromite. In 1918 a new wharf was built from the mining camp, extending over 500 feet (152 m) into Chrome Bay north of Claim Point. With the market’s collapse after the war, all mining stopped.

In early 1940 the Metals Reserve Company, the federal government’s purchasing organization, sought certain ores and metals for producing equipment, ordnance and supplies for the second world war. Materials most in demand included tin, tungsten, antimony, chrome and mercury. Red Mountain Chromite, a company organized by Portland businessmen including a wealthy lumberman named Blodgett who controlled 75% of it, initiated a plan in late 1940 to mine, crush and ship ore from Jakolof Bay to Juneau for milling. The main ore bodies to be mined were the Chrome Queen Mine on Red Mountain and the Star #4 mine in the headwaters of Windy River. Access to this remote area required considerable development: a mining camp, aerial tramways, conveyors and a truck road from the mines to the wharf in Jakolof Bay. The tidewater mine at Claim Point in Chrome Bay was cheaper to operate, and work began there while the road to the Chrome Queen Mine was built. Nine conveyors were ordered to move ore from the mines to the loading wharf. Two large rock-crushers were ordered, but one was lost in over 20 fathoms of water off Claim Point when being loaded onto a small raft. After spending over $1.5 million and producing little ore, Red Mountain Chromite shut operations at Claim Point and Red Mountain in April 1943. Later that year the Chrome Queen Mining Company resumed operations at Red Mountain and from 1943 to 1958 extracted 6,650 tons of ore from the Chrome Queen Mine and 19,350 tons from the Star #4 mine. Read more here and here. Explore more of Claim Point and Chrome Bay here: