Kenai is located in the
Kenai Peninsula Borough southwest of
Anchorage, between
Nikiski and
Soldotna along Kenai Spur Highway near the Cook Inlet. It is on the western boundary of
Kenai National Wildlife Refuge.
More than 200 years ago, European visitors to the area encountered the Dena'ina Athabascans. In 1778, English captain James Cook sailed up Kenai Bay, now Cook Inlet, in search of the Northwest Passage. The first white settlement of Kenai was set up by Russian fur traders in 1791. TheHoly Assumption of the Virgin Mary was built in 1849. The Northern Packing Company built the first cannery in Kenai, now part of the Alaska Territory, in 1888.
Today Kenai, population 6,942, relies on industries that include natural gas, oil, commercial fishing and tourism. Visitors can view beluga whales feeding on salmon, grazing caribou, swooping eagles and active volcanoes. A self-guided walking tour of Old Town Kenai is recommended. Also of interest is the Kenai Visitors and Cultural Center.
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