History of Elfin Cove Alaska
Elfin Cove
Alaska is tucked into a safe harbor on the northern corner of Chichagof Island a
few miles off the Gulf of Alaska. Its location is of particular significance to
anglers wanting the 'best of both worlds' when it comes to fishing safe inside
waters or venturing out to the open ocean when fishing is particularly good.This is any anglers or nature-lovers paradise! Your senses will luxuriate in the area's vastness and its unspoiled natural grandeur. The name 'Elfin Cove' came to be around June 1935 when a post office was first set up there. Fishermen had previously referred to the small cove by a number of different names; Gunk Hole was one such name and was borrowed from the East Coast where it connotes any safe harbor. The story goes that Buck Larry left the East coast to cod fish the Bering Sea where a young man named Ernest Swanson soon became his shipmate and eventual partner. These two hearty pioneers tried their hands at a number of different enterprises: raising potatoes and turnips, fox farming and fishing. They started a fox farm not too far from Elfin Cove on Three Hill Island and during that time trolled the area on a boat named ELFIN. |
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A few trollers who lived on their boats began wintering in the cove and Sam Butts put up the first structure ashore, a small dock and storage shed in the inner harbor.  Buck Larry was growing old and feeble and Ernie took him to Sailor's Snug Harbor on Staten Island, New York. A young woman named Ruth worked in the office there and on Ernie's second visit a year later, he persuaded her to marry him and return to Alaska. By then a few families had built homes and settled around the inner harbor, and a post office was applied for. |
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Ruth Swanson was willing to be the postmaster, but not of a post office named Gunk Hole. So it was named for Ernie's boat, the ELFIN. The settlement continued to grow, new businesses were opened and for a time there was a school. But the troll fishery has long been on the decline, and Elfin Cove has suffered as a result. In 1997 the population was reported as 54, but the census-takers in 2000 could count only 32 residents. |
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