Located on the Northwest Cape on St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea, 200 miles west of Nome, 675 miles west of Fairbanks. The island is serviced by scheduled and charter air service from Nome. The population of Gambell is 500. The zip code is 99742.
Gambell is 30 feet above sea level. Its climate is a cool, moist maritime climate with some continental characteristics in the winter when much of the Bering Sea freezes. Winds and fog are common and precipitation occurs 300 days per year. Precipitation is usually very light rain, mist or snow. Total annual precipitation is only 15 inches. Average snowfall is 80 inches and is distributed evenly from November to May. Winter temperatures average between -2° and 10 °F. Summer temperatures average between 34° and 48 °F.
An asphalt airstrip is adjacent and to the south. It is 4,500 feet in length and is unattended. No airport facilities, no fuel and no transportation to the village. Accommodations and meals are available at the Slwooko Lodge. Arts and crafts available for purchase include carved ivory, baleen boats and Eskimo artifacts. Arrangements can be made to rent off-road vehicles or boats. No moorage facilites are provided.
Special Note: Beginning in 1985, the Gambell and Savoonga village corporations, which own all the land on St. Lawrence Island, began requiring all visitors to pay a $100 land crossing fee if they wished to leave the townsite and tour the island. The corporation also requires that any stories or photographs involving areas outside the townsite be submitted for prepublication approval.
St. Lawrence Island has been inhabited for several thousand years. Evidence of Eskimo culture at Gambell dates back to 1700. Sivuquq (Sivokak) is the Siberian Yup'ik name for the village and for St. Lawrence Island. The city was named in 1898 for Presbyterian missionaries and teachers Mr. and Mrs. Vene C. Gambell, who were lost in the schooner Jane Grey on their return from a leave of absence. The name was proposed by the new teacher, William F. Doty. The village was established under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 as the Native village of Gambell in 1939. It was incorporated as a second-class city under state law in 1963.
The economy in Gambell is largely based on subsistence hunting. Residents hunt walrus and bowhead and gray whales in spring and fall. During summer the people fish, crab, hunt birds, gather eggs and harvest seafoods, greens and berries. Seal, fish and crab are harvested throughout the winter. Arctic fox is trapped as a secondary source of cash income. Some reindeer roam the island, but most harvest activities take place out of Savoonga.
The Native people of Gambell still hunt from walrus-hide boats and follow many old customs. A whaling festival takes place in Gambell each spring when a whale is taken.
There are four archaelolgical sites at Gambell which are on the National Register of Historic Places. Villagers dig up artifacts from the sites to sell.
Ivory carvings are a popular retail item and the St. Lawrence Islanders are famous for their beautiful work.
Numerous species of birds, some of them rare Asiatic species, populate the island in summer.
Communications include phones, mail plane, radio and TV. The community is served by Presbyterian and Seventh Day Adventist churches and a school with grades kindergarten through 12. There is a community electricity system. Water is hauled from the laundermat. There is no central sewage system. Freight arrives by cargo plane and barge.
