24/7 Trauma and Biohazard Cleanup in Craig, AK

Craig (Tlingit: Sháan Séet) is a city in the Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area in the Unorganized Borough.

The population of Craig was 1,036 at the 2020 census, down from 1,201 in 2010, living in 425 households.

Craig is the largest town on Prince of Wales Island, the fourth-largest island in the United States, about 56 miles by air northwest of Ketchikan and 220 miles south of Juneau.

Craig was settled in 1907 and named after Craig Miller, who established a fish saltery on nearby Fish Egg Island in 1907 with the assistance of local Haida natives.

Craig was incorporated on March 1, 1922 as a second-class city and became a first-class city in 1973.

The townsite was originally a temporary fishing camp used for gathering herring, and commercial fishing drove its growth, with record pink salmon runs bringing many new settlers in the 1930s.

A large sawmill established nearby in 1972 provided a steady source of year-round employment, and today Craig relies on commercial fishing, fish processing, and the timber industry.

Craig is the headquarters of the Craig Tribal Association, a federally recognized tribe of Alaska Natives.

On January 5, 2013, a 7.5-magnitude offshore earthquake struck 63 miles west of Craig, and despite tsunami warnings and voluntary evacuations, no fatalities, serious injuries, or damage were reported.

In September 1982, the fishing boat Investor was found burning off the coast of Craig with all eight people aboard killed, and a suspect arrested in 1984 was acquitted in a 1988 retrial.