Fort St. Nicholas (Kenai, Alaska)

Kenai · Alaska

Quick BriefFort Nikolaevskaia, also known as Fort St. Nicholas, was a fur trading post founded by the Lebedev-Lastochkin Company and is located on the site of modern Kenai, Alaska. It was the first European settlement on the Alaskan mainland. The vessel Sv. Pavel entered Cook Inlet on 1 June 1787 and established the fort at the entrance of the Kenai River.

Coastal defense

History & Significance

Pytor Zaikov commanded the Sv. Pavel, which sailed to Cook Inlet in June 1787 and established Fort Nikolaevskaia.

The fort initially had a staff of 38 Russians, Dena'inas and Itelmens, with Pytor Kolomin overseeing operations. When British explorer George Vancouver visited on 10 May 1794, he recorded about 25 buildings within the stockade.

Relations with neighboring Dena'ina deteriorated over provisions shortages and labor exploitation, leading to skirmishes and armed resistance in 1798, with Dena'inas destroying other LLC posts and killing Russians. The fort came under siege, though militia from competing traders broke off the attacks.

Zaikov continued to manage the post until its closure in 1798. With the formation of the Russian-American Company monopoly in 1799, the station continued operations until the Alaska Purchase. Following the Alaska Purchase in 1867, the United States Army renamed the site Fort Kenay; 104 soldiers occupied the eleven log buildings for only seventeen months before leaving in September 1870.