FS2004 – Koyukuk KYU In Alaska

FS2004 – Koyukuk KYU In Alaska. Koyukuk is a small village on the northern bank of the Yukon River, around 5 miles east of where the river turns from north-south to east-west, east being upstream towards the distant Fairbanks. The mouth of the Koyukuk River that joins the Yukon is just to the east. The population is now under 100 and living from fishing and the land. During the late 1800’s the local population lived off the land and also by the spin off from gold mining in the same way as the nearby Nulato, but when in the early 1900’s gold mining activities moved to Nome and Fairbanks local prosperity plunged. The village only became a permanently inhabited establishment in 1939, when a school was built. The airfield is close by and has a gravel runway aligned 6-24 and 4,000 feet long with PAPI on the approach to 6. There is also a shorter and parallel grass runway that is only used in the winter snows by light planes that are on skis and without wheels. Apart from the airfield itself, and it’s buildings, this scenery modifies the local landclass, adds village buildings while reducing the village size to reality, and creates a new airfield background.

By Roger Wensley

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