Editing Cook Inlet (section)

==History==
[[File:TurnagainArm from GirdwoodAK.jpg|thumb|right|[[Turnagain Arm]]]]
The inlet was first explored and settled by [[Alutiiq]] people, tribes of coastal-dwelling Pacific [[Eskimo]]s, beginning around 6000 years ago. The [[Chugach]] arrived around the first century and were the last of the Alutiiq people to settle in the area, but abandoned it after tribes of [[Dena'ina people]], an [[Athabaskan]] people from the interior of the state, arrived sometime between 500 and 1600 AD.<ref>''Aunt Phil's Trunk: Bringing Alaska's history alive! Volume 3'' by Laurel Bill, Phyllis Carlson – Aunt Phil's Trunk LLC 2016 pp. 1–5</ref> In the 18th century, Russian fur hunters ''([[promyshlenniki]])'' were among the first European visitors. The Lebedev Lastochkin Company leader Stepan Zaikov established a post at the mouth of the Kenai River, [[Fort Nikolaevskaia]], in 1786.  These fur trappers used Siberian Native and Alaska Native people, particularly [[Aleut people|Aleuts]] from the [[Aleutian Islands]] and Koniag natives from [[Kodiak, Alaska|Kodiak]], to hunt for [[sea otter]]s and other marine mammal species for trade with [[China]] via Russia's then-exclusive inland port of trade at [[Kiakhta]].

Other Europeans to visit Cook Inlet include the 1778 expedition of [[James Cook]], its namesake, who sailed into it while searching for the [[Northwest Passage]]. Cook received maps of Alaska, the Aleutians, and Kamchatka during a visit with Russian fur trader [[Gerasim Izmailov]] in [[Unalaska, Alaska|Unalaska]], and combined these maps with those of his expedition to create the first [[Mercator projection]] of the North Pacific.  The inlet was named after Cook in 1794 by [[George Vancouver]], who had served under Cook in 1778. [[Turnagain Arm]] was named by Cook, "turnagain" being a moniker he had used before, at his annoyance at having to turn around after exploring another dead end. 

Upon reaching the head of Cook Inlet, Cook was of the opinion that both Knik Arm and Turnagain Arm were the mouths of rivers and not the opening to the Northwest Passage. Under orders by the [[British Crown]] to ignore any such rivers and inlets, he had initially planned to pass it by, but at the insistence of [[John Gore (Royal Navy officer, died 1790)|John Gore]] and many others of his crew, he reluctantly agreed to explore the area. Cook anchored at [[Ship Creek]] and encountered the local Natives for the first time when two men approached in kayaks, invited them to come ashore. Under Cook's orders, [[William Bligh]], of {{HMS|Bounty}} fame, organized a party to travel up Knik Arm. Bligh served as Cook's Sailing Master on this, his 3rd and final voyage, the aim of which was discovery of the [[Northwest Passage]]. After meeting with some local Dena'ina, Bligh returned to report Knik Arm indeed led only to a couple of rivers.

Cook sailed up Turnagain Arm in his ship, {{HMS|Resolution|1771|6}}, finding it impossible to navigate against the strong currents and mudflats, and got stuck on a sandbar when he tried to get back out, having to wait for the tide to come in and free his ship. He never actually confirmed it led to a river, which led to a decade of massive speculation until George Vancouver returned to finish the map. Having been in a bad mood since first agreeing to explore the area, and as a result of this frustration, the second body of water was given the disingenuous name "Turn Again". Early maps label Turnagain Arm as the "Turnagain River".<ref>''Captain Cook: Master of the Seas'' by Frank McLynn, Yale University Press, 2011</ref>

[[File:Line5066 - Flickr - NOAA Photo Library.jpg|thumb|[[Fox River (Alaska)|Fox River]] delta at low tide in [[Kachemak Bay]]]]
The SS ''Farallon'' was a wooden Alaskan Steamship Company liner that [[Farallon Steamship Disaster|struck]] Black Reef in the Cook Inlet on January 5, 1910.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Lloyd |first=Steve K. |title=The Farallon Shipwreck Project |url=http://www.lostshipwrecks.com/shipwreck_projects/farallon_project/farallon_project.htm |publisher=WSU Press |access-date=10 June 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728135704/http://www.lostshipwrecks.com/shipwreck_projects/farallon_project/farallon_project.htm |archive-date=28 July 2011 }}</ref> All thirty-eight men on board survived, and were rescued twenty-nine days later. Few white people visited upper Cook Inlet until construction of the [[Alaska Railroad]] along the eastern shores of Turnagain Arm and Knik Arm of Cook Inlet around 1915. The natives of the [[Eklutna, Alaska|Eklutna]] village are the descendants of the residents of eight native villages around upper Cook Inlet.

During the [[1964 Alaska earthquake]], areas around the head of Turnagain Arm near [[Girdwood, Anchorage|Girdwood]] and Portage dropped as much as {{convert|8|ft|m}} by subsidence and subsequent tidal action. Both hamlets were destroyed. Girdwood was later relocated inland and Portage was abandoned. About {{convert|20|mi|km}} of the [[Seward Highway]] sank below the high-water mark of Turnagain Arm; the highway and its bridges were raised and rebuilt in 1964–66.