The population of the island was 8,532 at the 2000 census. Almost the entire area of the island is part of the City and Borough of Sitka. The only part of Baranof that is not in Sitka is a tiny sliver of land at the extreme southeast corner, which is in the Petersburg Borough, and includes the town of Port Alexander. This section had a 2000 census population of 81 persons. The towns of Baranof Warm Springs, Port Armstrong, and Port Walter are also located on the eastern side of the island. Goddard, a now-abandoned settlement about south of Sitka, features a few private homes and hot springs with two public bathhouses. There are also five year-round salmon hatcheries, one located just north of Port Alexander at Port Armstrong, another located just north of Baranof Warm Springs at Hidden Falls, two are located in the city of Sitka one at the Sitka Sound Science Center, and another in the Sawmill Cove Business Park; the other just south of Sitka near Medvejie Lake. The latter is accessible by private road from Sitka. All of these communities, except for Port Alexander and Port Armstrong, are under the jurisdiction of the City and Borough of Sitka, of which, Sitka serves as the borough seat. Fishing, seafood processing, and tourism are important industries on the island, which is also famous for brown bears and Sitka deer.
Social and economic history
The first European settlement on the island was established in 1799 by Alexander Baranov, the chief manager and first governor of the Russian-American Company for whom the island and Archipelago are named. The island was the center of Russian activity in North America during the period from 1804 to 1867 and was the headquarters of the Russian fur-trading interest. Around 1900, Baranof Island was subject to many small-scale mining ventures, especially centered on Sitka and on the north side of the island around Rodman Bay. Canneries, whaling stations, and fox farms were established on Baranof Island and smaller islands around it, though most had been abandoned by the beginning of World War II. The remains of these outposts are still evident, though most exist in a dilapidated condition. In February 1924 the Alaska Territorial Game Commission hired Charlie Raatakainen to transplant mainland goats from near Juneau to Bear Mountain. Raatakainen hired a group of Finns aboard his boat the Pelican to complete the job, though one of the group died in the process. The 1939 Slattery Report on Alaskan development identified the island as one of the areas where new settlements would be established through immigration. This plan was never implemented.
Fictional accounts
's novel Sitka describes the conflict between the Russian fur trading empire and yankee settlers. The island features prominently in James A. Michener's multigenerational novel Alaska. The Yiddish Policemen's Union is a 2007 alternate-history novel by Michael Chabon about a Jewish Yiddish-speaking territory in Sitka, including most of Baranof Island. The novel proceeds from the counter-factual premise that the Slattery Report had actually been implemented. Local author John Straley has written a number of mystery novels set on and around Baranof Island. The Sea Runners, a 1982 novel by Ivan Doig.
