One of the more unique aspects of living in Alaska is the lack of roads available between populated areas.  If you look at a map you will see that there are plenty of towns and cities within the state but most of which are not accessible directly by road.  A small portion of the towns are accessible only during Winter but a large percentage of the population is not accessible by road.  Only 20% of Alaska is accessible by road and Alaska only has 12 numbered highways.  This is especially true for Bethel.  Sitting on one of the major rivers in Alaska, the Kuskokwim River, it’s only accessible by boat and plane.  Being that the town has more than 5,000 inhabitants the airport is quite large for Alaska.  Over 300,000 people travel to and from Bethel every year which makes it one of the more popular places to travel to in Alaska.

The history of Bethel starts with the Yup’ik people who originated in Eastern Siberia.  They migrated East towards Alaska about 10,000 years ago.  There have been extensive studies on genomes and blood types to determine where the ancestors of American Indians came from and it was determined that there were three large waves of migration across Beringia (Bering Sea land bridge).  Around 1880 the Alaska Commercial Company set up a trading post in the Bethel area when it had just 41 total people there.  By 1885 the Moravian Church established their presence in the area with missionaries from Kansas.  They learned the language and ended up translating the Bible into Yup’ik.  Major changes came to the area due to World War 2.  The first Native-owned and operated radio station in the United States was established there in 1971.  The city has grown in population every single decade since the start of the 20th century, though, recently it has seen a decline in grown since 1990. 

Some interesting facts about Bethel include:

  1. The Port of Bethel is the northernmost medium-draft port in the United States.
  2. Even though it only has one paved road, the city has more cab drivers per capita than any other city in the United States (1 cab driver for every 68 residents).  New York City would need 123,235 cab drivers to compete. 

Population: 6,325
Elevation: 3ft (1m)
Village Website: City of Bethel

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