Editing St. Michael, Alaska (section)

==History==
[[Image:New-racket-steamer.jpg|thumb|The steamer ''New Racket'' hired by Al and [[Ed Schieffelin]] at the wharf of St. Michael, Alaska, in 1888 before its departure for the Yukon River.]]
[[St. Michael Redoubt Site|Redoubt St. Michael]] was founded in 1833 by traders of the [[Russian-American Company]], as a trading post for trade with the [[Yup'ik]] people of the area. The trading settlement and the island were named after the archangel [[Michael (archangel)|Michael]].

[[Fort St. Michael]], a U.S. military post, was established in 1897. During the [[Klondike Gold Rush|gold rush of 1897]], it was a major gateway to the Alaskan interior via the [[Yukon River]] Delta (located about {{convert|40|mi|km|abbr=}} to the southwest). As many as 10,000 persons were said to live in St. Michael during the gold rush. St. Michael was also a popular trading post for Alaska Natives to trade their goods for Western supplies. Centralization of many Yup'iks from the surrounding villages intensified after the measles epidemic of 1900 and the influenza epidemic of 1918.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090304043242/http://www.kawerak.org/tribalHomePages/stMichael/index.html HISTORY  ] retrieved December 14, 2012</ref>

St. Michael's population today is largely Yup'ik.  Many residents are also descendants of the Russian traders.