The Unalit are the first known Eskimos to occupy the Unalakleet area.  First settling on the south side of the mouth of the Unalakleet River, the Unalit came very close to extinction because of an epidemic disease introduced by the Russians and later by other Western cultures seeking fortune in a prospecting gold fever or commercial whaling in the Beaufort Sea.  The sole surviving family of the Unalit decided to move because of the devastating dissemination of their people.  This move sent the family northward of the mouth of the Unalakleet River.

The late Thora Katchatag (above) is an Unalit descendant and lived a vibrant lifestyle solely on subsistence.  Her family was the sole surviving family that decided to move.  Her Eskimo (Yupik) name is Nagchuk and her father’s name was Mullak.  Thora married into the Katchatag family and many of her descendants still live in Unalakleet.

If you hear of the current places and landmarks with a Yupik tone in and around Unalakleet, the names are Yupik. Yupik was the dialect that the Unalit spoke.  Some samples of the landmarks around Unalakleet are:  Quighaq or Kwihuk or Powers Creek (site where our drinking water source comes from); Ququahuq is a smaller creek were Anna Etageak’s camp is located; Okfi auktoolik is where the Air Force used to have their radar station; Nuveulnuq is now known as Golsovia; and finally, Nuvuuk mean sod or a place of no sod. 

As more people flocked in the prestine valley for food and shelter, the Unalit eventually married into other ethnic groups and either challenged others or made peace with an invading clan.  Sadly, though, the language is slowly dying off and very few of the remaining speakers of the native tongue rarely speak the language.

Recent exposure of the burial sites for the Unalit reflect both infant and adult bones supporting the theory of disease-caused deaths.  These bones were recently exposed by the thrashing storms caused by a pronounced climate change and the persistent southerly winds that normally associates with coastal flooding and erosion.  These prevailing winds and storms normally were not as evident and not succeeding in shorten periods of time.