Unalaska: The 'Ballers at the End of the World
If Alaska—vast, untamed and magnificent—is “The Last Frontier,” then Unalaska is Alaska’s last frontier. Roughly 800 miles southwest of Anchorage on the necklace of volcanic islands known as the Aleutians, Unalaska is out there. Way out there. No community in the United States with more people than your typical high school reunion is farther west than Unalaska.
, a term from the indigenous Unangan (or Aleut) language meaning “near the peninsula,” is the name of both the island and its lone pocket of civilization. It is a treeless outpost twice the size of Oahu and it is also a city (population 4,500) that represents the largest community within a radius of 600 miles. It is home to Dutch Harbor, the largest commercial fisheries port in the U.S. (home port of ) but also to an array of idiosyncratic wonders that seem sprung from Garrison Keillor’s frontal lobe: a herd of feral cows that graze in the shadow of an active volcano, Mount Makushin; a road span, linking Unalaska to neighboring Amaknak Island, named the Bridge to
