Gambell

History

Sivuqaq is the Yupik language name for St. Lawrence Island and for Gambell. It has also been called Chibuchack and Sevuokok. St. Lawrence Island has been inhabited sporadically for the past 2,000 years by both Alaskan Yup'ik and Siberian Yupik people. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the island had a population of about 4,000. Between 1878 and 1880 a famine decimated the island's population. Many who did not starve left. The remaining population of St. Lawrence Island was nearly all Siberian Yupik. In 1887, the Reformed Episcopal Church of America opened a mission on St. Lawrence Island. That year, a carpenter, lumber and tools were left at Sivuqaq by a ship. The carpenter worked with local Yupik to build a wood building, the first they had ever seen. When the building was finished, the carpenter left the keys to the door with a local chief and departed. Since the carpenter had not spoken Siberian Yupik, the residents did not know the purpose of the building. The Reformed Episcopal Church had not been able to find missionaries willing to live on St. Lawrence Island, so the building built for the mission was left unoccupied. In 1890, the building was acquired by Sheldon Jackson. He spoke to the Reverend Vene and Nellie Gambell, of Wapello, Iowa, about moving to St. Lawrence Island. Gambell was hired as a schoolteacher and the Gambells came to the island in 1894. They had a daughter in 1897. Nellie Gambell became ill and the Gambells spent the winter of 1897–1898 in the United States, where Nellie was hospitalized. In the spring of 1898, on the return journey to St. Lawrence Island, their ship sank in a storm and 37 people on it drowned, including the Gambells and their daughter. After their death, Sivuqaq was renamed in the Gambells' honor. On June 22, 1955, during…

Geography

Gambell is on the northwest cape of St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea, southwest of Nome. It is from the Chukchi Peninsula in the Russian Far East. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of , of which is land and (64.10%) is water. The town is served by Gambell Airport. Owing to the influence of the cold Bering Sea, Gambell has a polar climate (Köppen ET). Its hottest month averages cooler than . The climate features long, frigid and snowy winters alongside short cool summers. The cold sea creates pronounced seasonal lag, sufficient that April averages colder than December and May colder than October. Compared to most northern hemisphere polar climates, Gambell is relatively moderate, featuring only discontinuous permafrost and despite the freezing of the Bering Sea less frigid winters than typical for Asia and North America at similar latitudes. As an example, Iqaluit on the other side of North America averages colder over the year at a similar latitude, and Arviat on northern Hudson Bay colder despite being two degrees farther south.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Glaucous Gull

  Larus hyperboreus Gunnerus, 1767 · Aves
  2,577
• Lapland Longspur

  Calcarius lapponicus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  2,380
• Snow Bunting

  Plectrophenax nivalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  2,351
• Black-legged Kittiwake

  Rissa tridactyla (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  2,234
• Vega Gull

  Larus vegae Palmén, 1887 · Aves
  2,231
• White Wagtail

  Motacilla alba Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  2,088
• Pelagic Cormorant

  Phalacrocorax pelagicus Pallas, 1811 · Aves
  1,964
• Horned Puffin

  Fratercula corniculata (J.F.Naumann, 1821) · Aves
  1,788

Largest nearby schools

• Gambell School
  Other · Gambell · 166 students · 11.1:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 3.6 — 2025-05-25
  9 km SSW of Provideniya, Russia
• M 2.9 — 2024-05-25
  55 km NNW of Savoonga, Alaska
• M 3.1 — 2024-05-13
  79 km WSW of Gambell, Alaska
• M 2.8 — 2024-04-03
  28 km NNE of Savoonga, Alaska
• M 3.1 — 2024-03-19
  32 km S of Provideniya, Russia
• M 2.9 — 2024-01-16
  49 km SSW of Savoonga, Alaska