Some Early References to Ninilchik
An interesting early reference to Ninilchik appears in the book A History of the Russian-American Company, by P.A. Tikhmenev. Translated from Russian and edited by Richard A. Pierce (of the History Department at the University of Alaska Fairbanks) and Alton S. Donnelly. Published by University of Washington Press, 1978.
On page 416 of this book there are descriptions of the agricultural products raised by Russian and Russian-Creole settlers and wildlife on the shores of Cook Inlet (at that time called by the Russians, Kenai Bay). A Mr. Murgin toured the Cook Inlet area for the Russian-American Company. He wrote the following in his journal after visiting "the small bay" of Ninilchik:
"Among other agricultural experiments I saw a patch of oats sowed by the settler Kvasnikov. The young growth lookd very good and Kvasnikov told me that oats ripened completely last year, but that wheat and barley did not during all the three years he experimented with them. If the settlers at Ninil'chik had been peasants from our agricultural provinces, the soil would have been better prepared and the experiments could have been more businesslike. The company would have to furnish only the necessary implements and seeds. But what can be accomplished by a former city dweller who left his country thirty years ago and has hardly seen any farming done, or even more so a creole who is unfamiliar with this work or the implements used for it? Still, oats ripened on a spaded plot prove that a good crop of oats could be had in properly cultivated fields around Ninil'chik, farther away from the seashore. Even if only oats would ripen, they could be used for making porridge--an improvement compared to a fish diet."
The settler Kvasnikoff referred to by Mr. Murgin would have been Grigorii Kvasnikoff, husband of Mavra. The "company" was the Russian-American fur-trading company that was so powerful in the colonization of Alaska by Russia.
Geographical references:
In the 1902 U.S. government publication, Geographic Dictionary of Alaska, by Marcus Baker, the entry for Ninilchik reads:
"village of 81 people (1890), on eastern shore of Cook inlet, south of the Kasilof river mouth. Late maps show a fishery here. A small Russian settlement was made here early in the century. Petrof (Tenth Census, VII, p. 27) says: "A number of 'colonial citizens,' or superannuated employees, of the old Russian Company were ordered to settle some fifty or sixty ago (1830 or 1820) at Ninilchik, and their descendents live there still." On Wosnesenski's map in Grewingk, about 1840, the place is called Munina and the nearly cape Neniltschik or Sunit."
Baker mentions an order to settle Ninilchik much earlier than the year of 1842 when the first settlers actually lived in Ninilchik, and, at that, they were there for only a few summer months. Perhaps Baker is referring to the desire of the Russian-American Company, expressed much earlier, that the site of Ninilchik be used for settlement.
In another U.S. government publication, Dictonary of Alaska Place Names, by Donald J. Orth, reprinted 1971, there are the following entries connected with Ninilchik:
Ninilchik: village, pop. 169, on W coast of Kenai Penin., 38 mi. SW of Kenai, Cook Inlet Low.; 60 03' N, 151 40' W; BGN 1944; (map 62). Var. Munina.
This is an agricultural settlement, formerly a fur-farming and fishng village. [...he repeats Petrof's statement found in the quote from Baker's dictionary earlier] Its population in 1880 was 53; in 1890, 81; in 1920, 87; in 1930, 124. A post office was obtained in the early 1940's.
Ninilchik, Cape: point of land, 1.5 mi. SW of Ninilchik and 39 mi. SW of Kenai, Cook Inlet Low.; 60 02' N, 151 42' W; (map 62). Var. Cape Neniltschik oder Sunit, Mys Ninilchika.
Ninilchika, Mys: point of land, see Ninilchik, Cape. [N.B. Russian Mys means 'point' or 'cape'.]
Ninilchika, Reka: stream, see Ninilchik River.
Ninilchik Dome: hill, 1,956 ft., on Kenai Penin., 9 mi. W of Caribou Lake and 20 mi. NE of Homer, Cook Inlet Low.; 59 54'30" N, 151 25'30" W; (map 50).
Local name reported and published by USGS in the 1950's.
Ninilchik River: stream, flows SW 21 mi. to Cook Inlet at Ninilchik, 38 mi. SW of Kenai, Cook Inlet Low.; 60 03' N, 151 40' W; (map 62). Var. Reka Ninilchika.
Native name published by Capt. Tebenkov (1852, map 5), IRN, as "R[eka] Ninilchika" or "Ninilchik River." See Ninilchik, village.
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