Unalakleet is located on the east shore of Norton Sound at the mouth of the Unalakleet River, 145 miles southeast of Nome. Both scheduled and charter air service are available from Nome.
The population of Unalakleet is 395. The zip code is 99684.
Unalakleet is between 8 and 12 feet above sea level. Unalaleet has a subarctic climate with considerable maritime influence when the Norton Sound is ice free (usually May to October). Freezing of the sound causes a change to a colder, more continental climate. Winters are cold and relatively dry, with an average of 41 inches of snowfall. Summers are cool with most rainfall occurring in July, August and September. Average annual precipitation is 14 inches.
Winter temperatures average between -4° and 11°F. Summer temperatures average between 47° and 62°F.
There is an airport 1 mile north. Its elevation is 21 feet and the gravel runway is 6,000 feet in length. The airstrip is attended and facilities include passenger and freight terminals, ticket counter and rest rooms. Public transportation to town is available.
Accomodations are available at a lodge. Arts and crafts available to purchase include carved ivory, birch-bark baskets, grass baskets, masks, ulus, beadwork, mukluks and slippers, fur hats and other clothing. The land surrounding Unalakleet is owned by the Unalakleet Native Corp. Trespassing laws are strickly enforced, but permits can be obtained from the corporation office in Unalakleet for camping, hunting, fishing, bird watching, boating, sledding and photography.
The Unalakleet area has been occupied for centuries. Archaeologists have dated house pits along the old beach ridge at 200 B.C. to 300 A.D. More than 100 of these pits extend for a quarter mile near the Unalakleet airport. The name Unalakleet means "place where the east wind blows." The Eskimo name Ounakalik was recorded by Lt. L. A. Zagoskin of the Imperial Russian Navy on an 1850 map. A village site inhabited before the smallpox epidemic of 1838-39 exists along the south side of the Unalakleet River. Reindeer herders brought from Lapland in 1898 settled at Unalakleet and quickly established sound herding practices. Descendants of a few of them still live in Unalkleet. The community was incorporated as a second-class city in 1974.
Commercial fishing and subsistence hunting and fishing form the basis of Unalakleet's economy. A fish processing plant employs up to 50 persons from May through August. Other jobs are with the Bering Strait School District, airlines, local stores, Native Corporation, city and schools. For subsistence, several species of salmon, char, grayling and herring are fished and seal, caribou, moose, bear, birds and waterfowl are hunted.
Unalakleet is the takeoff point for sport-fishing in Norton Sound and the Unalakleet and North Rivers.
The Unalakleet River, above its junction with the Chiroskey River, has been designated a wild and scenic river and is popular for float trips. The area is administered by BLM and additional information can be obtained from the BLM.
Unalakleet is terminus of a long-used winter trail from Anvik, on the Yukon River, that forms a leg of the Iditarod Trail. Unalakleet is a checkpoint each March for the Iditarod Trail Dog Sled Race from Anchorage to Nome.
Communications in Unalakleet include phones, mail plane, radio and TV. The community is served by Covenant, Mormon and Catholic churches. There are 3 schools; public elementary and high schools and a boarding high school run by the Covenant church. There are a community electricity, water and sewer systems. Freight arrives by cargo plane, barge and ship.
