More Information on Sand Point

Here's some history about the Aleutians. A more brief history was found at U.S.A. Cities Online and explains:

Popof Island, on which Sand Point is located, is part of the volcanic Shumagin Group. At one time it was covered with ice. With the movement of the ice, the land was ground out creating quite a rugged landscape. Eons of erosion and weathering have smoothed out some of the roughness, but much of it remains, particularly on the coasts. There was on early settlement at Red Cove, but a fishing station wasn’t developed on the north coast until Thomas W. McColam began a fishing station at Pirate Cove. Sand Point was founded in 1897 by Lynde R Hough, a San Francisco company known for its marine-oriented businesses, as a cod fishing station and trading post. The site had already been named Sand Point by the government. The little settlement began to draw people from surrounding areas. Though shortlived, there was a gold mining era in 1904. By the 1930s, fish processing had taken over as the main emphasis of the local economy. About this time, a herd of Bison was brought in and continue to thrive in a remote area of the island. A fox farm was begun by Andrew Grosvold around the same time and employed many local people. When mining and the fur industry dwindled in the entire area, fish processing began to step up. It remains today as the main economic factor for the entire borough. For a brief time in the 1960s, the harvesting of King Crab, Tanner crab and shrimp expanded, but due to restrictions and low prices, the industry has dwindled greatly. The growth of the area was stopped for a time due to the decline.