Barter Island
The island Barter ( Barter Island in English or island of barter) is an island located on the Arctic coast of the Alaska, in the east of the island Arey in the Mer of Beaufort. It is approximately 6 km long for 3 km from broad at its broadest point.
Until the end of the 19th century, the island was an important center of draft of the people Inupiat and was a place of barter between Inupiat of Alaska and Inuit of the Canada, from where its name.
There existed also right before 1900, a large village of hunters of whales.
About 1919, the merchant Tom Gordon and his wife, Mary Agiaq Gordon, moved Barrow in Barter Island with their family, some parents and friends. The young brother of Mary, Andrew Akootchook, helped has to choose the site of the Comptoir of draft, selected because his port protected and accessible and agreeing well for hunting on ground and sea. Tom Gordon and the colonists built a station of draft and several families settled with dimensions.
In 1953 and 1954, a landing strip and a radar tracking station of the Ligne DEW were built on the island. Several families settled then near the track and this sector was built-in 1971 at the town of Kaktovik.
Source