Galena, Alaska


Galena is a city in the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area in the U.S. state of Alaska. At the 2010 census the population was 470, with a 2018 estimate of 469 inhabitants. Galena was established in 1918, and a military airfield was built adjacent to the city during World War II. The city was incorporated in 1971.

History

Prehistory and early history

The Koyukon Athabascans had seasonal camps in the area and moved as the wild game migrated. In the summer many families floated on rafts to the Yukon River to fish for salmon. There were 12 summer fish camps located on the Yukon River between the Koyukuk River and the Nowitna River. Galena was established in 1918 near an Athabascan fish camp called Henry's Point. It became a supply and point for nearby lead ore mines that opened in 1918 and 1919, and from which the place takes its name.

Military air base

In 1941 and 1942, during World War II, a military air field was built adjacent to the civilian airport, and the two facilities shared the runway and flight line facilities. This air field was designated Galena Air Force Station shortly after the split of the United States Air Force from the United States Army, which occurred as a result of the National Security Act of 1947. During the 1950s, the construction of additional military facilities at Galena and the nearby Campion Air Force Station, in support of Galena's mission as a forward operating base under the auspices of the 5072nd Air Base Group, headquartered at Elmendorf Air Force Base, near Anchorage, provided improvements to the airport and the local infrastructure, causing economic growth for the area.
Following the end of the Cold War, in 1993, operation of Galena Air Force Station was turned over to a contractor, and all military personnel were withdrawn with only small groups of active personnel visiting the base on an as-needed basis. The former military facility remains in use effectively as a that is used occasionally by the military. This use came under scrutiny by the Base Realignment and Closure Committee in the late 2000s and was officially closed October 1, 2010. The Air Force retains responsibility for toxin cleanup in the area and engineers from Eielson Air Force Base in Fairbanks still visit the site on occasion. The base is now totally controlled by the City of Galena, the Galena School District and the Alaska Department of Transportation. The Alaska Wing of the Civil Air Patrol was pursuing retaining one of the F-16 fighter hangars as a CAP facility for the CAP Wing in Galena, the "Yukon Squadron".

Modern era

The City of Galena gained notoriety in 2011 when it was noted in media reports as being the US community which received the most benefits from lobbying efforts. The town evaded bankruptcy by aggressively lobbying for state and federal funds for the GILA boarding school in the town, which produced funds that turned the city's finances around.
In May 2013, Galena suffered a freak catastrophic flood when the spring breakup on the Yukon River caused an ice jam approximately 20 miles downstream, backing up the river and affecting 90% of homes in the city. This flood was on the scale of a flood never seen before by Galena residents. In the part of town closest to the river, houses were submerged to the roofs in water, and properties on higher ground suffered damage also. Most of the residents had to evacuate in thanks to the efforts of the local airline, volunteer missionary pilots, and the Alaska National Guard. Some of the residents chose to stay behind and took refuge in the few last remaining dry parts of town. The flood dike the Air Force built around the runway managed to keep the river from inundating the runway and GILA. Efforts are currently underway to help Galena rebuild, with the assistance of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and volunteer groups.

Geography and Climate

Galena is located at .
Galena is located on the north bank of the Yukon River, east of Nulato. The Innoko National Wildlife Refuge is southwest of Galena.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of, of which, of it is land and of it is water.
Galena is inaccessible by road to other parts of Alaska. Residents rely on river cargo in the brief summer season for the bulk of its needs, and by air travel to access the outside world.

Demographics

Galena first appeared on the 1890 U.S. Census as the unincorporated native village of "Notaloten". It would not appear again until 1930, when it would first return as the village of Galena. It formally incorporated as a city in 1971.
As of the census of 2010, there were 470 people, 190 households, and 123 families residing in the city. The population density was 26.3 people per square mile. There were 264 housing units at an average density of 14.7 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 29.4% White, 0.0% Black or African American, 63.6% Native American, 0.6% Asian, 0.0% Pacific Islander, 0.20% from other races, and 6.2% from two or more races. 2.3% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
In the city, the age distribution of the population shows 29.3% under the age of 18, 11.0% from 20 to 29, 20.8% from 30 to 44, 27.6% from 45 to 64, and 10.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36.8 years. There were 229 females, 166 of whom were 18 years and over, and 241 males, 171 of whom were 18 years and over.
The median income for a household in the city was $60,313, and the median income for a family was $62,917. The per capita income for the city was $26,551. About 11.5% of the population were below the poverty line and 18.9% were below 125 percent of the poverty line.

Government and public safety

The headquarters for the Koyukuk/Innoko/Nowitna National Wildlife Refuge is located in Galena.
The City of Galena is incorporated as a first-class city, governed by a city council. The city's mayor is Jon Korta.
The Louden Tribal Council is elected to represent the local Athabascan Native community. The council's tribal chief is Jenny Pelkola.
The City of Galena operated a full-time police department. There is an Alaska State Troopers post in Galena with two troopers and a trooper-pilot.
Galena has a volunteer Rescue Squad composed of Alaska Emergency Trauma Technicians and Emergency Medical Technicians, and a volunteer fire department which recently received new advanced firefighting apparatus from the U.S. Air Force upon the closure of Galena Air Force Station.

Education

As Galena is incorporated as a first-class city and located in the Unorganized Borough, it is required by state law to operate its own schools, Galena City School District, apart from the Rural Education Attendance Areas which otherwise prevail outside of incorporated boroughs. Along with other such cities across Alaska, Galena's school district operates a boarding school and a correspondence study program, to increase state funding which would not otherwise be available with the local pupil base.
Galena has three schools. Galena City School is primarily for local K–12 students. There is a public library located in the Sidney C. Huntington School. Huntington was a longtime resident of Galena and the author of Shadows on the Koyukuk, a popular book on Alaska.
The vocational Galena Interior Learning Academy is a boarding school which draws students from around the state. GILA is located on the site of the former Galena Air Force Station and is one of three public boarding high schools in Alaska; the second in size behind Mount Edgecumbe High School in Sitka. The third is the Nenana Living School in Nenana. GILA uses the former barracks as a dorm, the former PX and headquarters buildings as class rooms and the dining hall as a cafeteria, along with the gym and other facilities. GILA provides educational and vocational training to young men and women from all over Alaska, grades 9-12, with most students coming from remote Native Alaskan villages from the Interior, North Slope and Aleutian Islands. GILA hosts various training and regional conferences throughout the year. GILA student enrollment grew from 110 to 180 in the 2009–10 school year.
Galena's third school is , a statewide homeschool support program that serves 3,500 students across the state. As correspondence programs are tabulated by the Alaska Department of Education & Early Development as a single school, IDEA is considered the largest school by enrollment in all of Alaska.

Transportation, utilities and other facilities

Galena's Edward G. Pitka Sr. Airport is the former Galena Air Force Station field and with a paved runway of over 8000 feet is the largest public, state-maintained airport in the Interior of Alaska. The control tower was demolished when the Air Force vacated the facility in 2007. The Airport is also the home of the "Yukon Squadron" of the AK Wing, Civil Air Patrol, which covers much of lp the interior region to the Bering Sea for Search and Rescue. A CAP Cessna-172 aircraft is stationed at Galena.
Heavy durable goods, such as oil, vehicles and building materials are transported by river barge in the summer.
The City of Galena, as a first-class city, operates various vital services. The city also owns Nollner Health Clinic operated by Tanana Chiefs Conference, a Native health clinic that offers 24-hour emergency care and routine health care. Eye and dental services are provided to Alaskan natives on a visiting provider basis. Medical emergencies are stabilized at Nollner Clinic and flown by air ambulance to Fairbanks or Anchorage. Dire pediatric emergencies are flown to Seattle Children's Hospital.
Public radio station KIYU-FM, based in Galena, serves the city.

Energy

Galena's remote location, apart from Alaska's urban transportation and utility distribution networks, means that the city must transport and store fuel oil in large-volume quantities. In 2004, the Galena City Council tentatively accepted a proposal from Toshiba Corporation to build the Galena Nuclear Power Plant, a small, self-contained nuclear power plant. In 2010, the plan was abandoned after local start-up costs to build a $27 million reactor core proved prohibitive for the community. The demonstration plant, the prototype for a line which Toshiba hoped to sell to similar communities in the U.S. and Canada, would have been the first civilian nuclear plant in Alaska; Fort Greely, Alaska,
had a small military SM-4 reactor until the early 1970s.

Sports

The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race goes through Galena, as does the Tesoro Iron Dog trans-Alaska snowmobile race. Galena is the halfway point of the Yukon 800, an annual summer speedboat race beginning in Fairbanks and taking place along the Tanana and Yukon Rivers.
The Galena high school boys' and girls' basketball teams were regional champions from 2004 to 2007. The boys' basketball team won the state championship in 2008.

In popular culture

, a character from the G.I. Joe 3.5" action figure toy line, is from Galena.
In the video game Metal Gear Solid, Colonel Campbell announces to Solid Snake that two F-16 fighter jets have been dispatched from Galena as part of a diversionary tactic.
In the 1983 film WarGames, USAF General Beringer, played by Barry Corbin, scrambles two fighter jets from Galena, AK to intercept two invading radar indicated bombers. The bombers are a computer projection and once the fighters are within intercept range they disappear.