Editing Petersburg, Alaska (section)

==History==
[[File:Petersburg Alaska Wikingerschiff Valhalla.JPG|thumb|Founded by the Norwegian immigrant Peter Buschmann, Petersburg is known for its strong Norwegian traditions and nicknamed "Little Norway".]]
[[Tlingit people|Tlingit]]s from [[Kupreanof Island]] had long used a summer fish camp at the north end of [[Mitkof Island]]. Earlier cultures of indigenous people also used the island: remnants of fish traps and some [[petroglyphs]] have been carbon-dated back some 10,000 years.{{cn|date=November 2023}}

European explorers to Mitkof Island encountered the Tlingit. In the nineteenth century, Peter Buschmann, a [[Norwegian people|Norwegian]] [[immigrant]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=27986|title=Profile for Petersburg, Alaska, AK|publisher=ePodunk|access-date=July 28, 2012|archive-date=February 3, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130203061514/http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=27986|url-status=dead}}</ref> settled here, building a cannery, sawmill, docks and early structures. The settlement was named Petersburg after him{{clarification needed|date=November 2024}}, and it flourished as a fishing port. [[Iceberg]]s from the nearby [[LeConte Glacier]] provided a source for cooling fish.

[[File:Petersburg from the water, Alaska, August 1918 (COBB 108).jpeg|thumb|View of Petersburg from the water, August 1918, by [[John Nathan Cobb]]]]
Petersburg originally incorporated as a town on April 2, 1910.<ref>{{cite book|title=1996 Alaska Municipal Officials Directory|location=[[Juneau]]|publisher=Alaska Municipal League/[[Alaska Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development|Alaska Department of Community and Regional Affairs]]|date=January 1996|page=117}}</ref>  The town had attracted mostly immigrants of [[Scandinavia]]n origin, thus giving Petersburg the nickname "Little Norway". The Sons of Norway hall was built on one of the piers. Three other canneries were built and the four have operated continuously since. With the establishment of the cannery, Alaskan Natives, including Chief John Lott, began to work there and live year-round at the site.

The 1939 [[Slattery Report]] on Alaskan development identified the region as one of the areas where new settlements would be established through Jewish [[immigration]]. This plan was never implemented.

[[File:Fishing boats in the harbor at Petersburg, Alaska, nd (COBB 243).jpeg|thumb|Fishing boats in the harbor at Petersburg]]
Fisheries were the mainstay of the economy. In 1965, Petersburg fishermen founded Icicle Seafoods. Fishermen Gordon Jensen and Magnus Martens teamed up with managers Tom Thompson and Bob Thorstenson, Sr. to organize a group of fishermen to purchase the Pacific American Fisheries (PAF) plant (the original Buschmann cannery) at a time when the seafood industry seemed in decline. PAF was traded on the [[New York Stock Exchange|NYSE]] and had been one of the largest processors in Alaska for a half century.  The shareholders, including Board members Fred File, Fred Haltiner, Jr., Robin Leekley, Jeff Pfundt, Aril Mathisen, Bud Samuelson and many others (Hofstads, Otness, and Petersons to name a few) began their work to create, improve and institute the fisheries that sustain Petersburg and many other coastal communities in Alaska today.  The company was originally known as PFI but in 1977 changed its name officially to Icicle Seafoods.

[[File:Alaska - Petersburg - NARA - 23942243.jpg|thumb|right|Petersburg in the 1940s]]
[[File:Alaska - Petersburg - NARA - 23942245.jpg|thumb|right|Petersburg in the 1940s]]

Petersburg incorporated as a borough in January 2013, encompassing Petersburg and [[Kupreanof, Alaska|Kupreanof]], plus mostly uninhabited areas stretching to the Canada–US border and the southern boundary of the City and Borough of Juneau. While the City of Petersburg ceased to exist as a separate entity (the borough assembly created a service area to assume operation of the former city's services), the tiny city of Kupreanof remains separate within the borough.<ref name="juneauempire.com"/>